Guild's 7 Masters.

[Jonas Albrecht]

First, I'd like to take a moment to welcome McMourning players to their new status of belonging, in part, to the winning team.

Anyway, with 2.0 approaching each faction is getting 7 Masters. This number includes the dual faction ones as well, so we know who our seven are going to be.

Lady Justice

Perdita Ortega

Sonnia Criid

C. Hoffman (unknown at this time if he's dual Guild/Arcanist)

Lucius - Guild/Neverborn

Lucas McCabe - Guild/Ten Thunders

Dr. Douglas McMourning Guild/Resurrectionist

If C. Hoffman gains dual citizenship, the Guild will have as many dual faction Masters as 10 Thunders. I'm alright with this. They're a large and influential organization, ties and traitors fit it well.

Let's talk about Guild in Malifaux 2.0.

[DeleteAccount]

From what I heard in the Aethervox podcast, Arcanists were "special" and only had mei feng as dual faction, so seems for now that Hoffman will be pure. As for Mcmourning in guild, I really want to see what undead giblies he can use there and how the fluff will make it "not be an issue" with allied death marshals and so on XD

[Jonas Albrecht]

I find that a little odd, since C. Hoffman was a sort of early dual faction Master. Not too bothered by it though.

As for McMourning, I bet we're going to find out a lot of people in the Guild value power over loyalty.

Shocker, that.

[Ozz]

I thought that Lucius being Guild/Neverborn was a joke on the podcast i listened to, now im even more excited about this knowing that current masters are becoming dual faction as well.

As for Mcm becoming dual faction, it makes sense fluff wise for both him and Nico, as they are both employed by the guild if i am not mistaken, and perhaps certain ability's will not be chosen as upgrades when taking things like death marshals with him, allows you to play to the fluff better, having your master deceiving his ally's, then in the next game, take different upgrades and use his summoning skills, and less death marshal style models.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Most individuals in Malifaux are or have been employed by the guild. Leveticus, Ramos, The Viks, McMorning, Nicodem,...

That's bound to happen when you set the Guild up as... well THE Guild.

[Ryu]

I really hope Hoffman is dual Guild/Arcanist. That just fits so well. Having him be pure guild with "Arcanist Ties" isn't as cool in my mind.

[Ozz]

Most individuals in Malifaux are or have been employed by the guild. Leveticus, Ramos, The Viks, McMorning, Nicodem,...

That's bound to happen when you set the Guild up as... well THE Guild.

Hehe, for small periods, but Nico & Mcm work for them don't they, rather than having been hired for a job like a mercenary ?

---------- Post added at 05:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:27 PM ----------

Haven't read the stories in a long time but this is correct as far as i can remember?

[entropolous]

If they make DrDoug's monstrous creation spell an upgrade only available to resser Doug, the rest of his abilitie aren't really all that resser specific. They'd just have to give him guild only upgrade that provides an outlet for chunks of body parts.

[decker_cky]

I want to take McMourning leading a crew of death marshalls and guild autopsies.

[Malovane]

I think it would be amusing to see even heavier cross factioning.

Lady Justice = Pure guild

Perdita Ortega = Gremlin

Sonnia Criid = Outcast

Hoffman = Arcanist

Lucius = Neverborn

McCabe = Ten Thunders

McMourning = Ressers

[Mergoth]

I want to take McMourning leading a crew of death marshalls and guild autopsies.

For fluff reasons, I'm hoping MM has Animosity Death Marshall. Coming from the Resser side my mind is reeling with the possibilities!

[i_was_like_you]

I think Doug's master specific scheme should be "Leave No Witnesses".

[Fetid Strumpet]

Very much dislike McMorning's possibility of being Dual faction. He murders guild agents in every story he is in. I'd still not like him being dual faction, but it'd make more sense to be dual arcanist/resser. His Teacher is Marcus, and he doesn't murder Marcus' agents at every opportunity.

[Ryu]

If it's true that McM is going to be dual faction when 2.0 releases (I haven't listened to all the podcasts), I think it's brilliant.

I loved that story in the 1.0/1.5 rulebook when he goes to meet Seamus, put a lot of character into him I think and he is obviously working for the guild there. Kind of hard to explain how he's been fighting against Lady J, Dita, and co for the past few months (in game time, since a few months is usually the timespan inbetween books) and they still "don't recognize" him though.

[Ausplosions]

Of course he should be dual Guild/Resser.

He is a 'double agent' if you will.

[Rameses]

So here's what I think you'll see something like this in a McMourning crew

Ressurectionists/Guild Crew - 45 - Scrap

Dr. Douglas McMourning -- 8 Pool (unsure what upgrades would be taken)

Zombie Chihuahua [1ss]

Canine Remains [2ss]

Canine Remains [2ss]

Punk Zombie [5ss]

Punk Zombie [5ss]

Punk Zombie [5ss]

Santiago Ortega [7ss]

Witchling Stalker [4ss]

Witchling Stalker [4ss]

---------- Post added at 04:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:53 PM ----------

What are your thoughts on Guild/Rezzer builds.

[Tuttleboy]

I wonder if dual faction in M2E will mean the same as it does now. I can see it being something that restricts which models from your "other" faction or even upgrades you could take when you declare your faction. Maybe McMourning won't be able to take Death Marshalls, Witchling Stalkers, or Guild constructs of any type when he's declared himself as a Guild master. Maybe he can't take an upgrade that improves his summoning when he's Guild.

I think there's lots of fun stuff they can do to keep crew selection flavorful and still be fun.

I can't wait to try Lucius as Neverborn. *evil*

[Malovane]

I wonder if different upgrade cards will be available depending on what faction you announce. So in ressers, he's still all necro/summoning/murder. While in guild, he could be more a support/healing/buffer. I would help enforce that double identify that he is living.

[Turbodog]

This probably won't be the most popular post but...

I hope that they entirely redo the "special forces" thing in 2.0 to be a much bigger deal. For example, guild now has 6 special forces: Death Marshals, Family, Witch Hunters, Constructs of Order, Black Sheep, and Guardsmen. Each Master is tied to a special force (like Ramos is now). In addition, the "Guardsmen" special forces is "open" and can be taken without restriction. If you take the Henchman for that special force, it open up hiring past 2 models. So if you want Sonnia and lots of Death Marshals, plan on taking the Judge since he's the death marshall henchman...

So McMourning going Guild gets access to Guardsmen and a few of his own "choice" models from Ressers ala the 10 thunders hiring list style. I'd envision the same for Lucius but with some choice neverborn models or maybe new guild models.

Probably less popular since you wouldn't always be able to spam Witchling Stalkers or "insert favorite cheap guild model here' in every list, but I like that way of doing special forces better. It should be able to translate well into other factions as well (Cult of December, Order of Chimera, MSU, Showgirls, Railworkers for Arcanists, etc...)

[TheBurner]

I honestly hate the idea of having McM as a Guild master. I own him, but can't even concieve of a reason for him to be part of the Guild still. When we last left him, he was on the run!

I'm thinking they'll introduce new masters for each faction, rather than just Dual-Faction the hell out of everything. And I think that would be the best way to go.

[Ausplosions]

This probably won't be the most popular post but...

I hope that they entirely redo the "special forces" thing in 2.0 to be a much bigger deal. For example, guild now has 6 special forces: Death Marshals, Family, Witch Hunters, Constructs of Order, Black Sheep, and Guardsmen. Each Master is tied to a special force (like Ramos is now). In addition, the "Guardsmen" special forces is "open" and can be taken without restriction. If you take the Henchman for that special force, it open up hiring past 2 models. So if you want Sonnia and lots of Death Marshals, plan on taking the Judge since he's the death marshall henchman...

So McMourning going Guild gets access to Guardsmen and a few of his own "choice" models from Ressers ala the 10 thunders hiring list style. I'd envision the same for Lucius but with some choice neverborn models or maybe new guild models.

Probably less popular since you wouldn't always be able to spam Witchling Stalkers or "insert favorite cheap guild model here' in every list, but I like that way of doing special forces better. It should be able to translate well into other factions as well (Cult of December, Order of Chimera, MSU, Showgirls, Railworkers for Arcanists, etc...)

It has been confirmed that Special Forces is not longer part of the game.

[Forar]

Honestly, the thing that intrigues me most about McM and Lucius (I own the latter but not the former) is how crews can be built with them while announced as Guild. I assume Lucius' hiring options will open up some with his promotion, but wonder if any neverborn models will become dual-faction Guild as well. Those would be interesting to pick up, mess with some heads when designing crews. However, I hope a solid McM crew can be built and played primarily with Guild forces and a minimal need to expand into Resser models. Again, one would assume they can (McCabe obviously having access to a wide variety of figures when building crews), but with changes coming fast and furious, I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic while recognizing that we don't have the full picture, and truth be told, we won't for months to come.

The open beta in a month will be a start, but until I have books and/or cards in my hand, I'll have to assume it's all at least somewhat subject to change, which means September if I'm impatient and can justify a Gencon purchase (and Fedex doesn't hate me), possibly later if the warehouse gets swamped again (let's not kid ourselves, the warehouse will get swamped again).

[Turbodog]

It has been confirmed that Special Forces is not longer part of the game.

Thanks for this. I've not been good about keeping up with the facts/rumors.

Can I ask...what is the point of being a Henchman if there aren't any special forces?

[StormLordXIII]

Interestingly enough, I know that the majority of our speculation seems to revolve around Dr. McMourning being a dual faction master for both the Resurrectionists and the Guild.

This is problematic, although nonetheless interesting, because it ironically fits the fluff and doesn't at the same time. While it is true that McMourning is employed by the Guild, and there is greater emphasis on this than any other Guild-Non Guild relationship, the idea of McMourning leading Death Marshals and zombies at the same time, so it contrasts too much with the fluff. No Guild agent, Death Marshal or not, is willing to work with a necromancer in the fluff, and I think Wyrd is going to stand by that for the sake of consistency. Every person who has ever witnessed McMourning's dark arts ends up a victim to his scalpels.

Yet, McMourning is so tied to the Guild (which is what makes his fluff so engaging) and so he may indeed be dual faction and we can bend the fluff a little to think about new great combinations between Death Marshals and the entities they seek to annihilate.

We also have C. Hoffman. I'm more partial to him being dual faction because although the Guild and Arcanists are enemies, the Guild is not entirely aware of the Miner's and Steamfitters Union's agenda, and so Guild-Arcanist ties are more plausible. We also saw some interesting fluff develop between Ramos and Hoffman in Books II and III which was surprisingly complex.

Finally, although everyone is almost 100% that our dear Mr. Matheson must be Neverborn, the speculation about this has always been what makes Lucius so interesting, enigmatic, and enjoyable to read, so I don't think anyone would want to make his ties to Malifaux's denizens explicit - it would ruin the mystery. Thus, Lucius is probably straight up Guild.

My money's on Hoffman being cross-faction, with McMourning a close second.

Thanks for starting this thread, Jonas. As a primarily Guild player, I'm looking forward to hearing what others have to say. Also, I'm not in any way hating on McMourning... I think he's really cool and I would be wicked psyched if he were dual faction. I'm just assessing the plausibility.

Edited May 4, 2013 by StormLordXIII

[Ausplosions]

Thanks for this. I've not been good about keeping up with the facts/rumors.

Can I ask...what is the point of being a Henchman if there aren't any special forces?

Henchmen are named models that can lead crews in smaller games.