Math Mathonwy

Just for a bit of fun - we've had these before but let's do it again since meta tends to change and I don't think we've done this with the Shifting Loyalties out. Always remember that Malifaux tiers are shallow and tier 3 Master has a good chance against tier 1 Master. Oh, and when tiering, suppose that the Strat + Schemes are something that favours the Master. I would rate Malifaux Masters as follows: Tier 1: Perdita, Sonnia, Kirai, Ramos, Colette, Dreamer, Collodi, Jack Daw, Leveticus, Ophelia, Wong Tier 2: McCabe, Nicodem, Resser McMourning, Tara, Molly, Seamus, Kaeris, Marcus, Rasputina, Mei Feng, Lilith, Zoraida, Lynch, Pandora, Vikkies, Von Schill, Misaki, Hamelin, Ulix, Somer, Mah Tuckett, Shenlong Tier 3: Guild McMourning, Lady Justice, Hoffmann, Yan Lo, Ironsides, Brewmaster Tier 4: Lucius Nicodem, Ulix, Somer, and Marcus could be Tier 1 as well. Were there any glaring mistakes there? And how would your tier list be?

If you have no experience with Von Schill, Vikkies, or Misaki, then how can you tell that Jack Daw is more intuitive to you than them?

Haha, always so modest. But you're the professor, I guess. I don't quite get how Francois is situational. I mean, if you don't need ranged damage, melee damage or Scheme running, I guess he isn't all that, but I'm having a difficult time coming up with such a situation. YMMV. Why not 100 games while you're at it? And playing 20 games with Zoraida starter box as Gremlins or with Mah Tucket's box must be an enlightening experience. My advice for getting a new master would be to move up to 50 SS games as fast as possible since starter box games can lead to really weird games and teach you completely wrong things about, say, the Master's endurance and hand management and so on and so forth. If you play a thousand games a year or something, then sure, do what you suggest but if you are a normal person with normal responsibilities and so on, then I think that playing twenty games with just the starter box is a very, very bad idea. YMMV.

"Need" is such a strong word. I don't think that she really needs Lenny, either. (I find Lenny something of a liability and making "proper" use of him limits Ophelia's mobility quite a bit if there's terrain on the table hampering pushes - plus, I find he has a tendency to become a bit of a crutch that people lean on too heavily and then don't know how to play without). Models like Francois or Sammy are really good choices for her (as is Lenny) so I find it weird that you dismiss them so readily.

Certainly a great option as well. I prefer Zoraida mostly because of her ability to exert control over the enemy as well but those (0)Interacts sure are tasty, no denying that.

I would add Mah for Guard the Stash and Extraction. Her Pushes are incredibly versatile in those Strats. Try Zoraida sometime for Headhunter - I think that she is our premiere choice for that Strat, actually. She has focused killing power through the Doll and Obey is of course and incredibly powerful tool in HH. Fingers is also really good in HH (those two Auras make quite the double whammy).

Wp 7 is too low for what you look to do? So you play mainly only Zoraida with Pigapult and Hannah? Got to say that Francois having too low a Wp is likely the weirdest criticism said about him ever. You did qualify with that YMMV so I suppose that it's safe to say that basically everyone else's mileage indeed does vary

I like them better to be Placed By the Pigapult as opposed to being used as ammo. They have 4 Wd so likely will take at least two AP for the opponent to remove and the explosion is of course annoying.

Their biggest problem is that Francois and Burt and Raphael are all 7SS and so much better that it's crazy. Making Pigs fly can be really cool, though, since they generally have really long Cg ranges. A bit dependent on terrain but at least on our tables Flight for Pigs makes them a lot better.

I think that all barring Lucius would work fine against Jack Daw. Lucius is generally considered a bit weaker than others and his box crew is definitely on the weaker side out of the box. All the others should give as good as they get and result in a pretty balanced experience (well, as balanced as you can get with starter box games - the game is truly balanced for 50 Soul Stones sized games). For choosing the crew, I would advice looking at the rest of the Faction as well since you will likely want to expand down the line and expanding within a Faction opens up more opportunities. So if you, for example, only like Lilith out of the Neverborn but like all 10T somewhat, I would suggest going with Misaki or Shenlong. Welcome to Malifaux

I'm a white male with two daughters. But you misread me - I didn't say that white males are probably oblivious to discrimination, I said that people oblivious to discrimination tend to be white males. Which is a huge difference in meaning. That said, there was a big thread on this subject on another part of the forum and it was just shut down for a while to let the topic rest and emotions cool and such, so I don't think that continuing this conversation here is a good idea. Maybe @Aaronwill come around and lock this thread? The other thread is worth reading, btw (see link a few posts above). Lots of good discussion and informative links and such.

Ramos in small games is crazy good since his summoning is so resource-efficient. His starter box is also one of the best in the game (though Ophelia's is really good as well). But really, the game is balanced for 50SS. Summoners are really powerful in smaller games while buff Masters suffer, in general.

Pulp City by Pulp Monsters:

This, so much this! Getting any human-activity to be sexism-free is something that probably won't happen during our lifetimes at least but it's the tacit approval that allows it to flourish and that is something that can change. In other words, it's less about changing the bad apples and more about getting the good apples to boot the bad ones out of the basket. Don't tolerate sexism and there will be less sexism.

That's concept art for miniatures, btw. The minis are quite awesome.

They looks weirdly samey. The heads all look extremely alike, the first two look almost like mirrored versions of one another, even the fur patterns are quite alike with minor variations. All having very similar open mouths and teeth looks kinda weird. Not a bad sculpt but I would like more variation for sure.

Tournament prep games and five rounds in a tournament is quite a bit of testing for a given interaction as far as open beta went (at least for the publically posted data).

Also note that Bayou Two-card works on healing flips as well (This was something that I realized only after a while of using the Slops - others may be quicker on the uptake) Oh, and Piglets are incredibly fun. Try charging something (for one AP) and then going Defensive Stance - they are extremely annoying to remove.

Unfortunately Facebook isn't a very good place to discuss lengthy issues like serious tactics and such.

I'd rate Somer higher than Brewy since Encouragement is excellent in making Roosters Rampage when you want them to.

I read a study about this (whether it is customary/appropriate to call women girls or ladies or women): one of the main influences on this was the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine. When the editor-in-chief changed and the new one wanted a fresh approach, they often changed the way they addressed women and this spread to the society at large. Now, surely there were other reasons (and the editor-in-chief couldn't have a picked a completely inappropriate word and get it accepted by the public at large) but the acceptability consistently fit the change of editor in the magazine. In other words: things change in fifty years!

And the understatement of the year award goes to... *drumroll* ...

Wyrd have historically been accepting of other minis being mentioned on their boards even as proxies. They are awesome like that. I believe this stems from the confidence that they have in their own models - they know that they are selling quality stuff so aren't afraid of the competition.

Even though Aaron already addressed this, let me quote from the post I linked to earlier (written by a white man): "I’ve seen it happen before and I watched it unfold regarding this article now. “That seems exaggerated.” Such an innocent remark. Especially taken against the context that you do need to be very careful about what you read on the internet. (When I’m checking news sites, even on some of the most trusted sites on the planet I’ll often go to multiple sites to verify events). The problem, as I see it, is that “that seems exaggerated” can lead to “I think the author lied about some of that” to “how can I believe any of it if some of it is a lie?” And taken in the context of “I never see that,” the slippery slope of dismissal has reached the bottom of the hill and the author is either viciously attacked for “compromising her situation,” if not outright lying or perhaps even worse, simply ignored. Even I’ve felt those tendrils burrowing through my empathy, hollowing out my capacity to believe. So then I’ve wound back to the question bugging me, especially given the possibilities that its all exaggerated: why have I felt compelled to draft up a giant post and make a public stand? Because of another experience a few months ago. A woman in the industry that I’ve gotten to know and respect over the last year had just returned from a convention; a con I’ve attended and immensely enjoyed several times. And during a conversation discussing that con, she matter-of-factly tossed out numerous instances of sexual harassment across just the few days of attendance: ugly and incredibly brazen, right out in front of people. Now in each case, she backed the guy off with strength and some choice words; she certainly wasn’t looking to anyone for help, as she can take care of herself. But it was—for me—the stunning juxtaposition of how much she enjoyed the con (and will keep attending)…and oh, yeah, the usual sexual harassment. Think about that for a moment. “The…usual…sexual…harassment.” I’ve attended well over a hundred conventions all over the world. And I can recall maybe one or two instances of being uncomfortable in all those years. And yet she keeps going to cons year after year with “the…usual…sexual…harassment.” Just like the woman in that article…just like so many women…." Yeah...

This was pretty great (one gamer's response - not to the specifc article but to the general situation): http://catalystgamelabs.tumblr.com/post/142369662746/im-standing-up