Math Mathonwy

Oh aye, you are correct. I remember winning by two and getting two from FFM, two from Claim Jump, and one from the Strat. I'll edit it in.

Lower their move, then. Unless you blow them up on the first turn it would still give a window of opportunity for things like Hunting Party and an average Henchman doesn't have much problems killing a Stuffed and netting that VP. Up it to two cards then. As for the Pigapult compaint - I don't rate Stuffeds as Pigapult ammo since Concussion is so horrid so it doesn't change anything for me in that regard. Not if it was on the first turn only. But the point was that there's a multitude of possible solutions that could be adjusted until a combo was found that left Stuffeds as an option but didn't result in the out activation problems. A 50% price increase is lazy and I don't see it as being good for the game. You said that Austringers and Papa Loco got hit but they didn't get a 50% price increase and are still used. This is different. Stuffeds won't be bought anymore and, as an added consequence, Somer's superiority got reinforced so tournaments will become more boring. He was already the best so n€rfing all the other Gremlin Masters seems like a really bad idea.

Must activate last (maybe only on the first turn?) and allowing the opponent to pass after the activation of a Stuffed were suggested. But there's of course boundless other possibilities. Off the top of my head: Chain activation between Stuffeds that must be used (maybe combined with lowered stats if necessary) Make them count as Minions for enemy Schemes 3SS but improved somehow ("Draw a card when this model is Killed" so you can't use it when you pop them or give them Pig Charge or whatever) And unlike some, I actually don't consider a 2SS useless model worthwhile as just an Activation buffer so there's got to be a statline that would make them appropriate for their cost.

"2 useless models" - really? How many useless models did a lot of people now get?

Maybe they could've upped the cost to 3 and then adjusted something to make them actually competitive compared to the Bayou Gremlins at the same cost bracket? Somer was already the best Gremlin Master and now he is even more so because he doesn't care one whit about the cost of the Stuffed Piglets. But I guess that seeing even more Somer in tournaments is good for the health of the game So is that three Factions now that have one Master clearly above the rest? Sandeep, Nellie, and now Gremlins? Arguably Collodi and Hamelin as well, I guess. Back in the Malifaux 2E beta I said several times that activation control is too good and that the game should have a passing mechanic or something to alleviate it. Now I guess I get to say "told you so" but I really don't get much satisfaction from it, sadly.

I think that Stuffeds were broken but they were fixed wrong in a way which makes them probably wholly absent from tournament lists (perhaps barring Wong). Similar to the Roosters who are now getting a new Henchman to give them Reactivate to fix the fix they had...

Please read this post before you start with those stats: And while you're at it, check out this one as well:

If Sandeep is the only tier one Master of the Arcanists, then Somer is the only tier one Master of the Gremlins. Even though Sandeep might be the best that doesn't mean that the likes of Ramos and Marcus aren't up there. And Gremlin Faction seemed to be number five in the UK and US, so the bottom half but not the worst. (According to @Bazlord_Prime's statistical interpretation which seemed to me to be the most reliable.)

At the end of the public beta they gave enemies a Condition that gives Ca Attacks targeting them positive flips. Also Reactivate to Swampfiend Minions and some damage resistance. So Zoraida, Wong, and Brewmaster are the ones most likely to hire them. As for the female - I'd be surprised if these weren't two (or even three) to a box so there's still hope!

I think that Hamelin and Collodi sit comfortably at tier one of Masters in the game while over half of the Gremlin Masters aren't there so I'm not sure whether this balancing has succeeded.

I do think that it is a problem and Nihilism shouldn't work on Scheme Conditions. None of those are cheap Schemers. See Dogmantra's succinct post above. Well, at least your models are still playable. Gremlins lose a key model every errata, it seems (Imagine if the Mech Rider adjustment had been to make her cost 18SS...)

Their only problem was that they were unkillable making them broken in certain strats and schemes. The changes to Mech seem pretty minimal to me. +2 to the Push'n'Summon TN (which was silly low) and the Scheme Marker generation works a bit differently but isn't all that much weaker, really. I do agree with you that I don't understand how the Mech Rider adjustment was considered an urgent priority.

Maybe Bayou Gremlins will become 4SS in the next errata! (I kid because I love!)

A 50% increase in price is quite drastic. Whereas before you could get three for six SS, now you get only two. They could've made the explosion mandatory and took an inch out of their Wk and Cg. Maybe even dropped a Wd.

Certainly a very different look from what I was expecting! It looks good, though. I just dislike painting spirit stuff but I suppose I'll cope.

Ropecon is the biggest non-commercial con in Europe and it has been hosting Malifaux tournaments since the halcyon days of the first edition. We got a nice attendance of 16 players. I took Wong with Do Over, Ooo Glowy, and Dirty Cheater to all three games. I also had two Swine-cursed and Francois with Stilts in all three games. First one was Turf War, Standard deployment Claim Jump Eliminate The Leadership (Wong) Dig Their Graves (Reva) Covert Breaktrough (Wong) Undercover Entourage (Reva) I took, as additional stuff Trixie, a number of Stuffed Piglets, and a Slop Hauler. I played against a really good played from Turku who took Reva, Emissary, Nurse, Yin, Belle, Necropunk, Bete, and maybe something that I'm forgetting. The battlefield was dominated by a gigantic church in the middle which we played like a hard-cover forest but it really made the game a bit weird (especially with Turf War). Ressers took up position behind the church sending a Necropunk down one flank. I sent Francois after the Necropunk and advanced with the rest on both sides of the church. A candle turned into Bete and killed a Stuffed Piglet while Trixie Pushed a Swine-Cursed into position to Charge Nurse and/or Reva next turn. I forgot(!) that Trixie can cheat initiative and so, on the second turn, lost ini in a very crucial way and the Nurse Paralyzed my Swine-Cursed while the other one was killed by Reva. Wong retaliated burying Bete (and my opponent forgot her for the rest of the game(!)). Wong, with help from one of the Stuffeds, did a lot of damage to the Emissary and killed the Nurse. Magical Francois shot the Necropunk. Reva killed lots of stuff and Yin and Reva went to tie up Trixie. Emissary died and at the very end all I had left was Wong. But between him and Trix's earlier efforts I scored full from Covert Breakthrough. Unfortunately Reva had Undercover Entourage and took three from that and my Eliminate the Leadership had failed spectacularly. And Wong couldn't hold Turf War so I lost. Good game and I was surprised by how well I did considering that Reva killed all my models super quick barring my two Henchmen and Wong. Also, this was my first time against Reva. Had I chosen better Schemes (Eliminate the Leadership is always such a gamble against backline Masters) I could've won. Head Hunter, Flank deployment Claim Jump (Wong and Marcus) Frame For Murder (Wong on a Swine-cursed) Leave Your Mark (Marcus) Show Of Force Last Stand Second game was against Marcus on a horrid sewer board. Headhunter so I had Fingers and took Merris as well as Stuffeds. He had three Corrupted Hounds, Cerberus, Luther, Jackalope, Silurid, and the Arcane Effigy. I was really stumped by the board and was being very cautious. All his Leap didn't help things! On the first turn Marcus Alphaed a Swine-Cursed to kill a Stuffed and hit Francois three times draining my stones. My opponent's deck was on fire though naturally the match-up wasn't very fair. Second turn I won ini with Red Joker against Black. I bluffed Frame for Murder with Merris but the Cerberus decided to kill her anyway. She exploded and three Corrupted Hounds and the Cerberus took four burning. Hounds patted one another and the Effigy helped the Cerberus. Francois killed a Raptor and went to a corner to sulk and do Claim Jump. Meanwhile Marcus and the Blessed tag-teamed my FFM Swine-Cursed (Blessed killing it) and the other Swine ate the Silurid. Fingers picked up his head while Hounds picked up Merris's and Marcus took Swine's. A Stuffed sauntered to the Hounds and killed all three of them by blowing up. Marcus and the Blessed started mauling Wong but the little guy held firm though he failed to do anything in return. Cerberus tried to do Leave Your Mark but Swine gave Fingers an extra boost of speed and he ran to the scene and flipped the Scheme Markers. I ended up winning 5-3. A very, very weird game due to the bizarre table. This was only my second time against Marcus so it was very refreshing to get a win. My opponent got maybe a bit too bloodthirsty and didn't quite realize the power of the various death explosions I had access to. Interference, Close deployment Claim Jump (Wong) Accusation Dig Their Graves Recover Evidence (Wong and Von Schill) Tail 'Em Final game was against Von Schill in close deployment. Interference so I took Raphael, a Slop Hauler and three Bayou Gremlins as extras. Can't remember his second Scheme. He had Schill, Hannah, Strongarm, Trapper, Specialist, Freikorpsman, and the Trunk. The game began with the Trapper taking aim at a Bayou Gremlin but I cheated in a 13 and he missed. My opponent came to me boldly but ended up flipping absolutely atrociously. When I flipped bad, he flipped a bit worse and Von Schill and Hannah died in the first activation of the second round. A telling thing was, at the end of round one, Raphael walked twice and took a potshot at the Strongarm when both of us had no meaningful hand left. I flip a 12 of rams, he flips a four or something. Dumb Luck, straight damage flip, severe: 10 damage. When Von Schill and Hannah died I hadn't taken any non-self-inflicted damage and was in strong scoring position with easy kills against the Freikorpsman, and the Strongarm set up while my opponent was completely in the ropes and we ended up calling it then and there - 10-0. Two very tight games and one where my opponent was a bit too aggressive and then flipped absolutely horribly. I came in at fourth out of sixteen so that was nice.

That's a real shame as yours were great. But I totally understand - writing batreps is big work. But I enjoy even this shorter "lessons learned" format with some highlights and thoughts that were provoked by the game. So keep up the good work!

I made it no secret that I consider Mah the second weakest Gremlin Master after Brewmaster. But she isn't horrid in any way and I lost only one game convincingly - I could've easily ended up winning four games with both of my other losses hanging in the balance until the last turn. Wong, Zipp, and Somer are definitely quite a lot better, though. (Especially Zipp makes Mah rather obsolete doing most of the things she does but better and doing many of them a lot better.) And I indeed played Mah five out of five games in ITC but I wasn't the only playing games with her there.

The new Masters will be: Lenny, Ryle, Nix, Fuhatsu, Firestarter, Archie, and Bad Juju. You heard it here first!

That's just such a quality post once again! Damn! Well done, Dogmantra!

Youngs can't use the (0)Actions from Ophelia's Guns unlike Sammy. (It would be seriously crazy if they could!)

Oh, I'm not opposed to a Guild Summoner Master. As I said, I think that the Factions have their identities and a Guild Summon Master doesn't wreck that.

Superb work, once again! I wonder if the host could be made aware of the zombies being taken into account for the faction averages?

Fantastic reports once again! And big congrats on the performance - you faced some top caliber opposition it seemed and yet performed admirably. Gracie in the tree was my favourite photo! Also, mirror image Frame for Murder and Quick Murder for both players - that's a weird dynamic to say the least!

Maybe he could just arrest the whole opposing crew and function more like Brewmaster? Or howabout a dual Master between Dashel and Queeg with weird rivalry mechanics between them?