Atticus

Uncharted Seas was pretty popular around here last spring and summer and we played a lot, then there were delays with the models and people got interested in other games and it died. People seemed excited about Firestorm Armada before the release and several people (including myself) bought in, but to my knowledge none of those people ever played. I've never played a game. It's really too bad, because I liked both games also.

Hey nova, Glad to see you getting into this game as well. I can be at the shop on different nights/times if you'd like to try out the game. I've seen a few more wives/girlfriends interested in this game. Mine however is a lost cause for any type of gaming. She's math challenged as well and just too uninterested to attempt to learn rules.

One article I read attributes that to the original "Nosferatu" movie. As you point out, in Stoker's "Dracula" the Count could move around in daylight but did not have all of his powers. In "Nosferatu" the vampire is killed because he stays too long feeding on the female lead and does not make it back to his coffin. He doesn't dramatically burn up, but the coming of dawn kills him. I need to watch it again, I don't fully remember that sequence.

Others have pointed out most of what I know, the zombie (at least that term) has its origins in vodoo and African culture. "White Zombie" and "The Serpent and the Rainbow" are good movies that take the more traditional vodoo style approach. The 1974 classic "Sugar Hill" not to be confused with the Wesley Snipes movie, is another good vodoo zombie movie, in the blackxploitation type genre. Romero's Night of the Living Dead in 1968 was probably the most influential U.S. movie and I think sort of invented the marauding band of zombies, infecting others. The idea of infection is interesting though. Even though vampires and werewolves were created by being bitten by another, zombies were not. However, in Nosferatu, the nosferatu brings the plague with him. So in a sense his arrival triggers a form of apocalypse. I even give Romero credit for coming up with the crazy, super violent living zombie. Check out his 1973 film called "The Crazies." There a biological warfare agent turns residents of a town into violent lunatics. "Pontypool" is an interesting take on violent, living zombies where words and not a virus create the "zombies." It's very similar to the book "Snow Crash." Lovecraft had stories with ghouls and zombies, although I don't think they were referred to as zombies. Herbert West: Reanimator was more of a Frankenstein type story to me, although I see how the line between zombie and Frankenstein's monster is blurred. The Thing on the Doorstep was certainly a reanimated corpse. The Outsider I was never sure if it was a reanimated corpse or a ghoul. Pickman's Model was certainly a ghoul. Although I'm not sure what a ghoul is. I got the impression in the Lovecraft sense, a ghoul wasn't necessarily undead, but just a being that ate dead flesh.

There was a thread earlier where I thought WeirdSketch said Blood Counters can be transferred or picked up if a model carrying one is killed. I was surprised by the ruling because it didn't fit my idea of the "fluff" but I think the wording on counter covers it.

Yeah when you had 2 SS Canine Remains digging up a ton of corpses on the first turn and McM making a Flesh Construct on turn 1 for essentially free, it was really powerful. Now absent Mortimer getting lucky, you need to kill stuff or have stuff die to get corpses.

Chronoscope (Reaper) makes a Jack the Ripper model. He comes with a couple of arm choices, but no gun. It may be a bit on the small side though, since Malifaux figures are 32mm as opposed to 28mm, they always seem a bit beefier than some other lines. Could you avoid the Lucky Charms feel by going with a different, darker color scheme? Or is there something inherent in the sculpt, e.g. the face and the smile?

I understand that completely, before the game came out and I was debating factions I didn't like any of the Resurrectionists, McMourning hadn't been shown at that time. So while I normally like the undead factions in mini games, I had decided to start off with Neverborn, which was actually my first box sets. Seamus didn't excite me and I still don't like Nicodem, it's mainly that stupid vulture on the arm that I don't care for, but it would require serious modding to cut it off. McMourning and the Nurses got me interested in the Resurrectionists. I don't particularly like the Flesh Construct model, but then again I'm not overly bothered by it either. After reading the fluff and playing some games the lure of undead hookers was too much, despite how stupid Seamus looks. I would have preferred a darker, more Jack the Ripper looking figure also. I wish I'd thought of the Lucky Charms leprechaun though, I should have gone all out with that theme. I did do his coat and hat green so it's got a little of that look. Mini Me (Copycat Killer) looks even more like a leprechaun.

I'll agree that with McMourning Canine Remains and the Zombie Chihuahua are a must. You'll only want to use one Nurse in most lists, so hitters to fill up the extra space are needed. Although Canine Remains missiles can do a surprising amount of damage. Punk Zombies are exellent hitters for any Resurrectionist Master. Rotten Belles are also good due to Lure. Basically they can force opposing models to walk towards them, pulling things within your range or pulling them away from their support. Since Flesh Constructs are slow, this can be useful with McMourning. So you can use that to sell yourself on a Seamus box to. :decision: Seamus is a lot of fun to play as well.

Bump. This event is tomorrow. I'm hoping for a good turn-out.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Okay the parenthetical confused me, so just to make sure I understand the rule, is this correct? A model in melee may cast any spell against a model it is in melee with, including spells. A model in melee may cast spells without against models NOT in melee with it. Does that sum up these rules?

The Lilith starter box does pretty well against most other starter boxes. It was my first box set to play, it is fairly straight forward and easy to learn. The box sets seemed to be determined by a mix of available faction models, giving a roughly equal number of models and staying within a comparable price range. Some of the other starters are missing important pieces or have models that are not particularly useful. For example, McMourning only needs one Nurse and Canine Remains would have been very useful for him, but they weren't out at the time. Somer Teeth really needs Mosquitos and Piglets instead of that many Gremlins. I'm sure there are others but those are the ones I'm most familiar with. Adding a Young Nephilim should give you a competitive 25SS list. Before the Youngs were released I bought another pack of Tots and would run two of those in addition to the box set, as a swarm. It worked fairly well. I would also occasionally drop a couple of Tots and add another Mature. So that's what I would add first to the Lilith box set, Young Nephilim, more Tots and another Mature. You'll need those if you manage to pull off Grow or Mature anyway. Then add a Convict Gunslinger, he makes almost any list better.

I guess you are talking about this all happening in one turn, so if Seamus activates first to use Trail of Fear he won't be able to shoot Pandora because the Sorrows will still be in place. A couple of thoughts on that: (1) You are correct, I would activate Seamus last and just let the Belles try to Lure the Sorrows away, with an CA 8 for Lure, they should be successful against the Sorrows. I would save Trail of Fear to make sure I can shoot Pandora and not fail having her run away. (2) My expected list against Pandora will include a Copycat Killer and a Convict Gunslinger with the three Belles or possibly a Crooked Man in place of a Belle. This should allow for plenty of shooting at Pandora and the Sorrows. (3) Taking out the Sorrows is priority one anyway, so even if Pandora sloughs off the damage to Sorrows killing them, that's great. She's not nearly as scary without Sorrows backing her up. Pandora is scary, but I have an idea of how to deal with her if I get the chance. My concern is the alpha strike that another thread referenced, with the Doppleganger she can almost guarantee that she gets to go first, with 7 linked Sorrows using Incite/Pacify multiple times she can move 28" and be within range to kill Seamus before I even get a chance to activate a model. My point with this thread was "what can I do to guard against that?" Careful deployment seems to be the only answer. The rest falls into the general "fighting Pandora" subject.

No, Link says this model may only Link to one model. It does not prohibit a model from having multiple models linked to it. At least that is my understanding of the rule.

That's what I was thinking that more than one Sorrow would be linked to Pandora. Although if the Pandora player is playing a lot of Sorrows on her there will be some daisy chaining. Do you mean the "Hanged"? I think they could be rough on Pandora, but they are expensive at 8 stones. I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at here. Maximum range of Pandora is greater than what, 28"? I think her ability causes a wound loss within 12" if WP duel failed. But losing one wound is manageable, it's the Sorrows causing that to be multiple wounds that is the real problem and they have to be within 3" of the target I believe. So that may be avoidable. It will be tough, but I think it can be done.

I need to read more carefully. That is a good point that I overlooked. He can't put all 7 around Pandora, so only one is linked to her (only one can link?) and the rest are linked to each other daisy-chained? So if the first turn kill doesn't go off, I can break her link by pulling only one Sorrow away, then hope to go first.

Trail of Fear and the WP7 is the main reason I was considering Seamus. My concern was the Pandora player using 6 or 7 Sorrows to move within 3" of either Caster, then using essentially three AP to cast me to death, taking 6 or 7 wounds for each WP duel lost. If the Doppleganger is included, he can win initiative and pull of the first turn kill. I'm not as worried if I can avoid the first turn kill. I can't have enough Belles to lure that many Sorrows away and still hope to field a competitive list. I could build my sideboard that way, but I would have to limit myself to Seamus only, since I run a slightly different list with Nicodem. Seamus still has to win a WP duel to shoot Pandora and if he loses she moves out of range. For this reason I like Nicodem with the blast damage spell. I could put a Crooked Man in though, which might have some uses. Thanks.

I'm afraid a local Pandora player may try this strategy at our tourney this weekend. Any suggestions for a Resurrectionist player to guard against it? I'm planning on running either Seamus or Nicodem in the event, both have WP7 which is good, it will at least be an even match. I'm leaning towards taking Nicodem if facing Pandora, because he has a spell with blast damage, so I can avoid the WP duel if Pandora has any models linked to her. But I have to be able to survive the possible alpha strike. Do you think it's possible to arrange your crew such that Pandora and 7 sorrows can't get within 3" of your Master? I think so, but it might require setting up on the back line and 28" of potential movement is huge. Any other ideas?

We're doing a tourney here 4/17 with the sideboard option. It's a 30SS tourney, but you can have two Masters from the same faction Master and up to 50SS in figures, build your list for each round after determining Strategy. I believe the intent is to follow the book on Strategies and Schemes, although some of these thoughts are interesting. As far as a disadvantage due to collection size, it may just be me, but with as few models as are currently out, I can't see a huge advantage or disadvantage by opening it up to the entire collection as long as you have to play the same faction each round. An interesting thought on the sideboard option we are using, Gremlins especially and Outcasts in general face a disadvantage. Due to the build restrictions you would probably be limited to one Master because with Gremlins especially I cannot build a 30SS list with a 20SS sideboard with enough models for a different Outcasts caster to use. There's not enough overlap in available models. To me having to use the same Master would be a big disadvantage due to some very unfavorable match-ups. I don't play the Viktorias or Leveticus, but I could see them having similar issues.

I think the cheaper entry price for Malifaux (and Infinity to a certain extent) over Warhammer/40K/Warmachine/Hordes is a big selling point. I think that is part of the reason that we've been able to attract some CCG players.

I'll echo a lot of the sentiments already expressed. I was a Warmachine/Hordes player exclusively (after the death of Mage Knight and Heroclix), but after a number of years, numerous changes and the ever-increasing competitiveness/ass-hattery of the typical Warmachine player I was getting burned out. The announcement of MKII was a good excuse for me to start looking around. My first exploration into something new was Uncharted Seas and a naval based game was an entirely different direction than I had gone previously. It did well for a while and it was about all I played for a few months. Then with delayed releases, the game gradually lost interest around here. I was already looking at Infinity, so I picked that up and continue to play that as well, but opponents aren't always easy to come by. Someone on our local site started promoting Malifaux, so I became interested in the game and bought in on release. It had a good following for a while with the MKII rules still in flux, then the Beta Test dropped and many players disappeared to focus on WM Mark II and then Hordes Mark II. Even the guys originally promoting Malifaux went back to Warmachine. Out of desperation I picked up Prime Mark II and have started going through out. I may add WM back to my rotation but I have gotten rid of many armies and will try to keep it on a smaller scale. In conjunction with my LGS we're trying to get interest in Malifaux up again. In a sense I've given up on pulling Warmachine players over, I just haven't had much success. However, we have had some luck attracting Warhammer/40K players and even a couple of Magic players.

I concur that I take the same schemes virtually every time and usually see no reason not to announce. I think certain strategies are almost instant losses for certain masters, and no amount of crew building can alter that. For example, Som'er Teeth and Slaughter is almost never going to happen. He can get the occasional Assassination off, depending on the opposing caster, but Slaughter is really tough. All of my experience has been in friendly games, so I haven't paid a great deal of attention to these, we are usually just playing and I always revert back to my kill everything/kill the caster mode and ignore strategies and schemes. I'll see how that changes after our first tourney in a couple of weeks. We are doing 30SS with a 20 point sideboard and one additional in faction Master. I of course will not be playing Gremlins in that one due to above problems with Strategies and the impossibility of building a list and sideboard with all the restrictions on Gremlins.

Yeah, I was surprised by that ruling also. It might have had an impact on my success at growing and maturing the Nephilim. My opponents have wisely focused on the Nephilim with blood counters in the past. That rule would limit that strategy somewhat.

As was pointed out, the Seamus starter needs damage output. Sybelle and Seamus are the only ones really able to dish out damage and Sybelle has to get into melee to do it. Against heavy ranged she usually doesn't survive to make it into melee. A Grave Spirit to give her Armor 1 helps. The Copycat Killer is great also in that it gives you another .50 Flintlock. I ALWAYS take a Convict Gunslinger with Seamus, the ranged support is invaluable. That would be my first add to a Seamus list. Punk Zombies are good. Frankly dropping Sybelle for two Punk Zombies isn't a bad idea. I wouldn't count on Seamus being a Summon Factory. He needs a 10 to Summon a Belle, which isn't any easy flip and you will likely need any 10s in your hand for combat.