Math Mathonwy

I don't see much praise for Fingers but I find him constantly very, very powerful. Sure, he is very expensive and sure, his own Actions aren't all that but Chatty on a super mobile platform (3 AP and Wk 6) is absolutely huge. And Don't Mind Me is massive as well. So yeah, I mostly use his AP to Interact or to put on Defensive Stance. Loudest Squeel on both Wp and Df means that he is insanely durable since he self heals. And you can even use it to get to places when needed (you can, for example, Obey him with Zoraida and then use a low Mask for his Wp to get a Prompt-style effect). With Do It Like Dis for Masks you can move him vast distances if needed. So yeah, when I take Fingers he always nets me 3 VP but often more. Many Schemes are completely trivial with him the chief among them Explosives and Charges -style Schemes. But also Exhaust and Distract and such. But that's not even his main strength. Because the more I play, the more I think that winning is highly about denying your opponent VP. Because I feel that in general it is pretty easy to earn VP in Malifaux. GG2016 made it a bit more difficult to get to 10 but still, in order to win you need to deny your opponent. And Chatty in a 6" Aura is absolutely huge. All in all Fingers messes up Scheme Marker Schemes but, and perhaps more importantly, he also messes up Squatter's Rights and Headhunter. Now, since he only has a 30mm base, your opponent can block him off with other models so be wary of that. And his durability is a bit weird and he can die to concentrated stuff and Focus is his enemy but I have rarely lost him. Oh, and he doesn't need any support. Sure, he has some synergy with Brewmaster but for the most part I don't think that his Poison is worth it. You can ignore it pretty safely. So feel free to use him with whomever. Switching Scheme Markers is of course absolutely bonkers but unless you're up against a force which randomly poops out Scheme Markers it most likely just means that the opponent won't be putting down Scheme Markers. Which is great! You can spend those AP to move from place to place, heal stuff or take Defensive Stance. His Heal isn't very special but since you can do it three times in a row it can add up in some situations. And finally, though he is expensive, he doesn't need any Upgrades so the difference to some of the other Henchmen isn't as pronounced as it may look. Though sometimes I do give him Hide in the Mud if I need his Chatty Aura out in the open. So yeah. Fingers is pretty boss.

They aren't very goodl. Neverborn have much better options in that price range. As Summons they can be nice but otherwise I wouldn't take them unless I was trying to build a funny list to take on new-comers or something.

Mud Toss Upgrade for Mancha Roja and McTavish is for the most part the only realistic option other than Johan. Gremlin-See gives Kin Shrug Off but that's probably not what you're looking for (as is Scion of BB).

Not too fond of the anachronistic look. He looks like he's from Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon as opposed to the rest of the Malifaux line. I really dislike smoke effects but his is better than most. Still dislike it. The mask is very cool.

Which models do you consider overpowered in the Outcasts? Or is it a faction made up of only balanced and underpowered models?

It might very well be just you since I don't think that anyone else in this thread has said anything good about them - I think even Nathan dislikes them! (Just teasing - I don't mind that other people like them. In fact it's a good thing that other people like them!)

Aye, but to what extent is the question, I think. Ratjoy has an absolutely tremendous threat range. If you can block them effectively, then that means that you could block a non-Ratjoy crew utterly completely and win against them completely hands down. I'm not sure that terrain that allows for that sort of an outcome is a good amount of terrain. Also note that if the terrain is utterly crazy, Ratjoy can advance for one round and use the engine only on the second turn.

Have you had reliable success with these against Ratjoy? (Not to discount them if you haven't - just interesting to know which ones are theory and which ones are actually tested). I can see that a lot of those depend a lot on whether the terrain favours you or not. For example, with the Guild suggestion, if that works, it essentially means that the terrain is such that you are able to block off the enemy into their deployment zone which is a sure-fire win tactic but IME somewhat difficult to accomplish (luckily, because beating Sonnia on such a table is essentially impossible).

I would buy some of the Pigs first and only then the Ulix box. The Pigs are very usable with other Masters as well while Ulix's box doesn't offer all that much to other Masters (especially if you don't have other Pigs).

So essentially you're saying that it is impossible to have a problematic interaction or model in this game? All the errata that has been done has been unnecessary. Even first edition Nico Dog list was just fine and dandy (if you don't know what I'm talking about, it resulted in you having over 100 models on the table) and people just should've l2p. Your suggestions so far in the thread have been using Gremlins or Colette (and also making sure that your opponent is too dim to hide his Rat Engine if he sees a super fast threat on the other side of the board) but I'm not sure that it's good for the game if everyone needs to start playing three of the seven factions and only very specific lists in them. (Not to mention that I'm not at all convinced that your suggestions truly are solutions - they might work against people who don't know what they're doing or if you have fantastic luck but in general they don't seem too good. Still, haven't tested so maybe they are a silver bullet and two Roosters completely ruins Ratjoy). Somer and Pigapult as threats are really, really far from Levi, Viks, and A&D. People don't seem to have problems with Ratjoy in Hamelin crews and similarly I don't believe that a problem exists in the Somer Killpult list because they lack the raw punch which is needed to make sure that the enemy is unable to retaliate with enough force to repel the alpha strike. Because, let's face, Ratjoy means that you get your Master and a bit above 20 Stones worth of models against the whole of the enemy crew. So those models better have the resources to make a big dent. But of course Levi and Viks are about the killiest Masters this game has. It's possible to get infinite Activations from Skeeters turning Skeeters into Skeeters but that won't work in practice. Is there something that I'm missing that is even close to the efficiency of the Ratjoy when it comes to getting Activations for a really low cost (in in-game resources)?

Exactly. It looks like they were designed just the same as all Malfiaux minis but then printed in 500% size (or whatever). The amount of detail is the same as you'd find on a man-sized 32mm model. They look a bit like toys, in fact.

OK, those two look really nice. Good job!

Got to say that I would've liked a whole lot more details on the titans. They look like they are different scale as opposed to being gigantic in 32mm. The riders are cool but otherwise I'm pretty disappointed. Oh well, I might not be in the target audience anyway. Mysterious Emissary's base looks really nice. Brutal Emissary looks really bad. Lucky is looking pretty nice.

If you had RJ you could Focus and get a cheatable damage flip. But yeah, Colette would indeed have a hard time of it and it would be downright impossible for basically everyone else (I suppose you could have several sources of Obey and then Obey him to both Focus and then hit and have good luck with Severes on damage flips or something but I wouldn't suggest that as a possible solution!).

How does that work? I mean, with Colette, sure, it's possible I suppose, but otherwise it seems a tad unlikely. This doesn't seem likely a likely outcome unless your opponent is a complete nincompoop.

Remember that rat engine can rev the engine for four to six activations without committing and seeing whether you're about to turtle or not. If you're turtling, he can save the proper outactivation engine (Rat King to Rat Catcher) for the next turn. Another very important point is that if you have faced Ratjoy with Hamelin you do not really know what it is that upsets people. Hamelin was tested extensively with this combo and full on outactivation and he is balanced around it. Viks and Levi are not. They are very, very different from Hamelin.

Ophelia and her crew have very liberal access to the Dumb Luck Trigger (or Thinking Luck in Ophelia's case) which doubles their damage making for pretty crazy damage tracks. Pere Ravege can even triple his damage track. And the Trigger can be achieved automatically by being next to Lenny and they all have three APs so that's quite a bit of damage. Rooster Riders can Charge four times in an activation and have a 2/4/6 damage track with easy access to positive twists for both attack and damage. So that's potentially eight attacks at Ml6 with positives. Which is quite a bit for a 6SS Minion. Finally, Ulix shooting a Pig in the Rear with his Bow can result in quite a bit of destruction as well since the Pig will keep on Charging as long as it kills the target.

Aye, I really wouldn't call Sonnia not-evil. LJ maybe (but I don't think we know all that much about her, tbh) and then Perdita and Hoffman might be good people. But then again there's like Colette and then maybe Mah and Ophelia and Ulix who aren't actively evil out of all of Malifaux Masters so that kinda does make the Guild the "good guys" in that they have the highest concentration of quite-possibly-non-evil Masters in their ranks.

She's not fat, she's curvy!

All the Gremlin Masters are somewhat tricky with Mah, Ophelia, and Wong probably being a bit more straightforward. So Mah is a fine choice. She is versatile and can support your crew as well as wreck face. To add to her crew box, I would suggest Slop Haulers as the first purchase. They are amazing support pieces and don't require much in the way of cards which is something of a weakness in Mah's starter box. Another excellent addition would be Burt Jebsen who is a complete terror in both melee and at range. Finally, Rooster Riders, though a bit unpredictable, are insanely destructive and work really well with Mah. As an added bonus, all those models work really well with all Gremlin Masters with the possible exception of Ulix (who is more into Pigs).

I like that she isn't all feminine but rather has this sort of tomboy-look. Uncommon in minis, IME. Has a certain Jimmy Olsen-vibe as well.

Oh ye of little faith - I think we're gaining on the Guild. We have this in the bag! I've got my bubbly moonshine ready.

Which Chronicles was that story in?

Piglets using Truffles to Push Gremlins It used to be quite a bit more involved in the first edition but these days it's pretty simple. Still, quite effective.