Math Mathonwy

Huh? What's that one trick, then?

That was very well said. I agree with all of that - kudos on a very well-written post! Here's the only part that I have a problem with - that's a somewhat bold claim, you see. Not saying that it is so, but I'm not seeing a lot of evidence either way. I wouldn't call Malifaux more balanced than Hell Dorado, Freebooter's Fate, Dark Age, Alkemy, Eden, Nemesis, Sphere Wars, Infinity or most other games I can think. Arguably more balanced than the current editions of the GW big two, though they've kinda gotten their act together lately as well. AlpBomb is the name of the OP

That was totally three bits of advice!

The way that small games tended to go in my experience was that one guy had a better hand (as is only normal) and then was able to cheat higher on the most important duels. Couple this with the fact that in smaller games recovering from losses is harder and the end result was that games tended to be more luck-driven. When you need about three models to have a good chance of completing a given strategy and the opponent kills two of your five before they had time to activate, it really, really hampers your play in a way that is much harder to achieve in a bigger game. Well yeah, but they make the game seem a bit sillier than it really is. I know I liked the game a lot more when we got to the 35SS-sized games. Not arguing against them, really, just noting something I've experienced.

The most likely explanation is random chance. If Neverborn were so good that them not winning a tournament by a landslide was some extremely unlikely anomaly, I'm sure that Wyrd would've reacted strongly long ago. As it stands, some people are saying that NB have an edge, meaning that their chances of winning, all other things being equal, are somewhat higher. So getting results that buck this trend is very natural. Not saying that it wouldn't be fun and educational to hear from the differences in tournaments, mind you. Just that the results of two tournies hardly prove matters one way or another

You could also try to allow for pre-measuring. That tends to cut down on debate and such as you can simply move the model, measure and declare that it is 5" from that other model or whatever. It does make for a more tactical experience as you can do all sorts of exact shenanigans but it might still be easier for a new player to get to grips with. Or you could simply allow your wife to decide whether something is in range or not if the difference is half an inch or less (so if there is a possibility of debating, then allow the wife to decide - fine universal advice )

A random question: when would you take McM? Which opposing faction and which strategy would mean that McM would be better than any of the other three Resser Masters?

Is that feeling based on tournament experience?

When calculating the damage from Lilitu's Lure it is important to remember Pandora's effect on it as that is an integral part of the deal, I feel.

Would this one work? Just replace the weapons with clawed hands: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Female-Werewolf-Tracker-Reaper-Miniatures-14617-/250864394380?_trksid=p4340.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D15%26pmod%3D250875939840%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D2372650627046820590#ht_1889wt_1163 For a more beastly look, this one might work (though I suppose it's a male): http://shop.dwarftales.com/index.php?products=product&prod_id=28

I have a pretty sizable knowledge of minis but I don't have the book 3 yet, so any description?

I'm a Master of Science doing my phd currently, but I still respect humanities and even think that their methods are more applicable to things like this. I don't agree. Tiers are used in other games and just as nebulously. I just think that your expectations for tiers might be too high. They aren't an exact science - they're an observable tendency. I do agree that tiering in Malifaux isn't as exact as in many other games currently. In games with a longer tournament history and with a bigger player base tiers can be very well established and a useful gauge. Still, I posit that Dreamer is Tier 1. Colette, Kirai, Hamelin and Pandora as well. Perdita and Zoraida I would personally also put there, but I can see debate on those choices and because of that, I think that they should be put to tier 1.5 along with Levi and Vickys. The rest of the Masters tend to be tier 2 with maybe a couple of Henchmen on tier 3 (going with calmdown's tiering that is the one I'm more familiar with - tier 1 being the top guys, tier 1.5 being the almost top guys and tier 2 being the guys that can win tournaments but don't do so quite as often with tier 3 being the guys that win tournaments only extremely rarely). I see no degeneration. I see an intelligent debate. Jonas is one of the most awesome guys here, I respect him immensely. His funny posts are funny (I consider him the funniest poster here by a very large margin) and his serious posts are thought-provoking. Absolutely no bad blood here! Maybe it's the avatars that make us both look so serious Finally, congrats on another victory, ukrocky.

Most of the human world is divided like that. You don't need exact measurements and tons of hard data to compare things semi-accurately. I don't know of any game where tier data would be available in a way that would satisfy hard science scrutiny. OTOH, soft sciences (humanities) do stuff like this all the time. Tiers can be used as a rough gauge of how a game is likely to go if the players are approximately evenly matched skill-wise. Tiers can also be used to balance things as needed and to inform people new to the game on what they should get if they want a crew that's not handicapped in tournaments (or if they wish to be). I get the feeling that you're taking this tier thing way too seriously.

Eh, that's a common misconception that unless you have all the data and the data is perfect you can't make any sort of use of data. It's, of course, a fallacy. In any game, talk about tiers is not meant to be a claim of that level of precision. Tau really, really are lower tier than Grey Knights. No ifs and buts about it. And even if a random dude, let's call him "Craig", wins with Tau all the games that he plays that doesn't mean that they are suddenly tier 1. Because tiers aren't about Craig. They are about the experiences of a sizable number of tournament gamers. So yeah, I'm pretty confident in saying that Dreamer is on a different tier to Marcus (or, hell, Molly, if you want to give Marcus the benefit of the doubt because ukrocky wins every match he plays). Now, the exact tiering is of course an unexact science but everyone knows that (or at least should know that) and take all such tierings with a grain of salt.

Are you seriously going to keep doing this for a full year? Because man... It was amusing the first time or two but you're laying it a bit thick.

Is there a reason to take Samael instead of Nino, though?

I believe the idea to grow a Lelu.

Huh? They work brilliantly in every Neverborn crew. The fog is such an insanely powerful ability against nearly everything and that's just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to Stitcheds. Lilith is the only NB Master who should even think of building a crew without one or two Stitcheds and even she can make use of them.

Any Neverborn: Stitched Togethers (best model in the game, basically)

The game is balanced faction against faction - you should pick up Vickys or Hamelin against the Dreamer. I don't think that Ophelia can really win the Dreamer if Dreamer player has even the faintest clue of what he's doing. A good Dreamer player should neutralize Pere really easily, for example. Have you noticed that Ophelia has paired, btw? She is extremely killy herself but unfortunately the Dreamer crew has perfect counter to her (and her whole crew) in the form of Stitcheds (and Terrifying, but Stitcheds are the real culprit in, when well-played, effectively neutering Ophelia's crew completely).

That's extremely awesome! Loving the glint work and the colour scheme works really well. The battle damage is executed very well. Be sure to take some photos once you get him based! Shame about the bent sword, though - didn't boiled water-cool water treatment help?

If I have understood correctly, you aren't supposed to win with McM against Pandora and everything is working as intended. You shouldn't choose McM when knowing that you face Neverborn (since you might be facing Pandora). It's a bit like in other games making a really stupid move at the beginning except that in Malifaux that "move" is done well before the game begins. It's a bit like asking help in WHFB for a situation where you deployed your whole army backwards or something. So my idea for this match-up is simply "don't". I'm actually hard-pressed to imagine a strategy and match-up where taking McM instead of one of the other three Resser Masters would be a good idea but this game is balanced on the faction level so it's all good. But OK, let's say that you've made the huge blunder of taking McM. Since Nekima can't companion the Lilitu, you have a chance to react before the lure chain hits. Is Nekima's ability an aura or a pulse? I don't have the book at hand currently, but I seem to recall it being an aura? Which would allow you to lure one component off position, right? This defaults to my belief that Belles are the Resser answer to almost all specific problem scenarios, but it would be worth a shot I think. All in all, Pandora has lots of things going on that need somewhat exact positioning and Belles are really good in messing that up.

Even though I'm not 100% convinced that Calmdown is correct in his assessment about the models, his post was infinitely better than yours was. Not sure how often I would go for that 9" walk but other than that I agree that she seems very interesting on paper. The switching places thing is very nice in some situations and I can see great utility for the model.