Strangely Brown

Well, again it may be a Nellie 2 thing. Auguste & Field reporters have a (short range but St 6) attack that hands out distracted. Nellie 2 hands out distracted on her main attack and her shockwave Auguste gives out distracted at the end of the turn to someone close to him Nellie's "spread the word" ability means you can multiply that effect out if there are models close to each other I often take Nellie 2, Auguste & 3 field reporters (GG4 minion spam). That's 5 models that can hand out distracted, and might (with Nellie's ability) spread that onto another model each activation. given that you won't need to distract all the opponent's models to blunt incoming damage, it feels like that could be enough?

I don't think I've ever used newsies. I just can't see what they're for. Can I suggest your friend looks at Phiona as a possibility, especially if Lucius is already going to be dropping scheme markers into the fighting area (she gets her +ve flips from any scheme marker, not just friendly)? She provides some offensive threat, and makes it harder to target nearby journalists. Nellie 2 can teleport Auguste very long distances from turn 2 or 3, so maybe putting bombs on him & chucking him upfield to drop those & then scheme for Power Ritual etc. would also force you to divert some key piece away from the rest of the crew? Anyone chasing him down is going to be getting distracted, and he's quite tanky (again, LLC plus his ability to reduce damage with distracted) and if they're chasing him they're not attacking the models in the centre. False witness would be good for Ensnare, as would Nellie 2's shockwave that drops a scheme marker. The false witness will lose manipulative in order to drop the two scheme markers, but if they're near Phiona that might not be such a big issue. I'm sure your friend is already aware of this, but I feel the best approach with Nellie is to distract opponents, diffuse their attention by sending Auguste away to score points and generally blunt their attacks. Others will play her much better than I, but generally I find that when I win with Nellie it's because I've scored a lot of my points rather than denied my opponent a lot of their points, if that makes sense. I think that I generally ignore my opponent and try to score my points (or set up to threaten to score) early. Hope those thoughts spark some new lines of investigation, best of luck to your friend in unlocking Nellie!

Not a Nellie (or Malifaux) expert by any means, but I've played a bit with Nellie 2 (almost exclusively in keyword) and have had better luck with her than some of my other masters. Can I ask how your friend's opponents are getting around things like serene countenance and manipulative? Is it mainly using focus to get past the -ve flip & then maximising the damage on that single hit? Distracted on a model that is facing a built-in negative feels like it should be quite effective at keeping things alive. Also positioning near Phiona so only she can be the target of enemy attacks might help (esp. with LLC & near a scheme marker to get +ve flips to her duels), particularly against ranged attacks where she is likely to always be a legal target. Cover also reduces the amount of damage that those focused ranged shots can do if your friend is struggling to get distracted on more distant models.

Paid! Looking forward to it, last year was brilliant 😁👍

Paid (Russ Shea) 🙂👍🏻

Paid & looking forward to it - Russ Shea

Put me down please! Russ Shea, paid on PayPal 👍🏻

Managed to get the the outstanding models from retainer keyword over the line as pledged: ...and also got my last two Sooey models finished as well. 2 keywords finished off so far this year! Fell short of my target of 7 models a month, will need to catch up over the next couple of months. Still, first month down, no Mulligan used 👍🏻

Paid! 🙂🙏🏻

Strangely Brown signing in! Fizzled a bit at the end of last year but still proud of the amount I got through, thanks in no small part to this challenge. 2023 is the year of the dead'uns, so for this month I am going to finish Yan Lo, Kenshiro & a gokudo.

OK, a few more models for Frontier completed last month: I still have a second Rough Rider, second Austringer & Basse 2 to go - hopefully will get them (and December's 7 models) completed next month 👍

@Shock & Awe congrats on the OSL on Killjoy. That looks brilliant! The basing on the boar is brilliant too - what did you use for the leaves (would like to steal the idea when I get to Titania)?

After a couple of low productivity months (and a Mulligan last month! 😱) I've gone for quantity this month: That's everything for Hoffman (incl. Arcanist versatile constructs) plus a couple of Frontier models that I had half finished. 16 models for 83ss (I think) 👍🏻🖌️

Another slow month on the painting front - hopefully now the summer is drawing to a close I'll be able to get back to churning out some models. Apologies for the delay in posting these; I've been on holiday and I was at a tournament yesterday. I've managed to complete another 5 models for the Frontier keyword - 7 models over 2 months, half my accustomed rate. I'm reasonably happy with the way the piebald pony turned out - although the skin on the rider does not have as much contrast as I thought it did when I finished it - perhaps because I was using lights that I don't normally paint under. Paul looks OK IRL - these pictures are too big & expose the flaws & gaps in my accuracy! As you might imagine, the trained raptors took as much (or as little) time as befits a 3ss, insignificant model with a Stat 4 attack and no bonus action. A small prize to the first person who can explain what these models are useful for (other than summoning other useless models)

Thanks both, some great points to consider 🙏

Hello all, After a long slump in my Malifaux performances, I've decided to return to Hoffman, as a master I had some joy with a while ago. Re-reading the cards has been a lot of fun; refamilliarising myself with all the models in his keyword and all the little tricks I used to know about - good times. One thing I am reminded of is that I could never see what the Warden did for Hoffman. I tried him a few times, but just could not work out what he was meant to be doing - this is not unusual for me in Malifaux in general, but with Hoffman at least I had an idea of what was supposed to be happening, even if my opponent was better at stopping it than I was at executing it. Can anyone share what they use the Warden for with Hoffman? Is there a role that he fills, or maybe just does something that other models do but cheaper if you're stuck for stones? Or is he a better pick in Dashel, and doesn't really have a place in Hoffman? Thanks in advance for any comments

May I please ask you how you get value from the Spellcaster? I'm struggling to use them well in my (admittedly limited so far) games with Sonnia. Many thanks in advance

A quiet month on the 'Brown's painting table; a combination of heatwaves and holidays meant that I only just got to my 21ss pledge with these two; I'll have to knuckle down & get some serious sessions in to catchup in August...

Russ Shea - paid 🙂

Thanks! I'll try & repost with the individual links 👍

Think I've done it... Finished off (again) a few keywords; Family, Journalist & Augmented are once again painting complete.

For some reason I'm not able to upload photos on this thread! 🤔 Ah, it appears I've used up all the space I'm allowed. Will need to find another way to share images.

It's been a pretty good month at the Brown's painting table: I got all my marshals completed, to get that keyword fully done. I also got Sonnia 2 painted to finish off witch hunters completely: I also rebased Phiona & the field reporters to match the rest of my journalists from March: No ss claimed for them this month of course, just an inch I needed to scratch. This is already my most productive painting phase in years (32 models, 236ss & 6 keywords completed), and it's all down to the enthusiasm I get from reading all your posts & looking at the cool models you all share, so thank you all very much for that ☺️

Paid for Russ Shea 🙂

Brown, pledging in! Hoping to finish off my Marshals this month; Lady Justice, Scales of Justice, The Judge, a Domador, an Exorcist & a second Death Marshal gives me one of everything (&2 DMs). That comes to 46ss for the month. Stretch target: Finish off any of the straggly bits I've got on the list: Hoffman's pylon markers The remaining Thalarian Queller (bad start to that paint job, need a way to rescue her) Rebase Phiona Gage & 2 field reporters to match my basing for the journalists from March. Paint Sonnia 2 to complete the witch hunters keyword If I get those 6 marshals & any one of the extras done I'll be a happy painter!