Justin

Well what I am aiming at is a crew that would be easy to pick the rules and also show off the faction. The Gremlins was just to show off the models more so than actually being a beatstick boxset.

Thanks,

Kerry

They are neat models.

It might be a good army for you to use. Eating gremlins with a nephilim might get noobs into the mood.

I have calculated the maximum number of possible bayou gremlins to have on the table during a 6 turn game to be 58, plus Som'er Teeth Jones for a total of 59 models.

The largest game is a 70 soul stone brawl, plus 10 soul stones if you take only one master (Som'er Teeth) for a total of 80 soul stones. Gremlins are 2 a piece so 80/2=40 gremlins. Now, if Som'er Teeth uses his "Git Y'er Bro" ability three times a turn (thanks to reckless fast) successfully, that's an additional 3 gremlins per turn. Factor in a 6 turn game, that's 3x6=18 more gremlins. Now, game length is random so there is another possible three gremlins per turn, until turn 9 at which point Som'er Teeth would be out of wounds for reckless and only be able to summon two gremlins per turn.

So, the maximum number of possible gremlins is as follows:

G=58 + 3(x) + 2(y)

Where x is the number of turns after 6, and y is the number of turns after 9.

Now, you'll notice that as the number of gremlins approach infinity, the game approaches awesome.

If your purpose is to demo, I wouldn't go for what showed off the faction the best, I would go for what is easiest to play and understand. Something new people won't get smacked around with.

To that end, I think gremlins are a poor choice. The starter only comes with 16 soul stones worth of models, less than most other factions, and I think such a small list would benefit more from additional models than additional soul stones, especially since only Som'er teeth can use them. The gremlin player probably won't even really have a soul stone advantage, since most other masters come with a soul stone cash. Add to that that you won't even be able to make use of Som'er Teeth's "Go get your bro" ability because you lack the extra gremlin models which, in my opinion, is rather essential. I'm saying all this because I just played a starter game last night, and my gremlins died horribly. Still a good army though, I think, just not best played with a starter. I wrote up a battle report, if you're interested.

When teaching, finesseless beat sticks are the way to go.

Hadn't heard them - put them on my list to follow up on!

And you can never go wrong with Johnny Cash!

No, you can't.

And can you get any more fitting music for Death Marshals than, "I Carry the Coffin."

Don't get to listen to music while playing unfortunately, but I've been listening to "Miasma & the Carousel of Headless Horses" album "Peril" while painting recently. It's ace.

I shall have to check that out.

It would be a pleasant surprise if the club room was quiet enough to hear music. Too many shouts of delight or dismay, (we have a lot of young players).

I like your music selection though.

To be entirely honest, mine isn't particularly set up for music either. But I have been listening to it while painting, and I will listen to it once I build some terrain for home.

I prefer Ghoultown:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW_TCO5uEbc&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]

http://www.ghoultown.com/

Of course, there's always Johnny Cash:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgW7fHm610E[/ame]

Forum Handle: Lalochezia

City/Metro Area: Concord (bay area, CA)

Game Shop (if you have one): Black Diamond Games

Preferred days/times: Weekends/evenings

Other comments: http://www.blackdiamondgames.com/

Marcus sat in the bar, enjoying his Soulstone gin with his traveling companion, Myranda. Their animal companions waited outside. It had been a long day, he had spent it cataloging strange new plants and animals that lived on the fringe of human exploration. Unfortunately, his peace and quiet was short lived.

Raucous laughter, crude noises, and horrible banjo music floated in from outside. Marcus grabbed the arm of a passing bar maid, "What is all the commotion?"

"Oh, just the gremlins again I would guess. The bayou isn't that far from here and there's a tree out there they, well, they use it as a communal toilet." The woman wrinkled her nose. "Anyway, they're a nuisance, but they're armed and nobody here is willing to risk a bullet to get rid of a few pests."

"Thank you." Marcus dismissed the woman and went back to his gin. He did his best to ignore the ruckus as he sank back in his chair and let out a deep sigh.

Suddenly the window next to Marcus exploded in a shower of broken glass and a handful of steaming gremlin excrement hit Marcus full in the face. His brow twitched as he slowly put down his gin.

"Uh oh..." Myranda said as she recognized the look in his eyes.

Marcus burst from the bar and charged towards the offending gremlins who were still gathered around their tree, erupting in obscene fits of laughter.

He gave his Sabortooth Cerberus the signal and it leapt towards the scum, snarling. The gremlins reacted quicker than the cat expected, forming a line and pelting it with shot as it charged.

One gremlin took the opportunity to creep behind its friend and point his weapon at his friend's boot, blowing off the toe. As his companion fell to the ground screaming he snickered, "Woops." He pulled the blasted boot off his friend's foot and put it on his own, admiring the way the toes wriggled through the hole.

The gremlins had formed an effective line, but the Sabortooth was tough and resilient, shrugging off the blasts. Som'er Teeth stepped forward, adjusting his pants, "I'll take car o' this one," he chuckled. "Someone, pull my finger." A trembling gremlin complied. "Heh, heh, weapon armed." He waddled over to the Sabortooth, adjusted his pants, and let loose his fury. The Sabortooth fell lifeless to the ground, twitching. The gremlins shook their weapons in the air, hootin' and hollerin' as Som'er Teeth took a bow.

Marcus watched, his rage building. He gestured towards the gremlin with the banjo. The razorspine rattler at his side hissed its agreement and charged. The great beast wrapped itself around the little, green musician and squeezed the life out of him, his banjo snapping with a loud twang. Marcus idly thought that it was the best sound the banjo had made all night. Then he got an idea.

He calmly walked up to the gremlin's favorite tree and summoned the strength of the bear. He braced himself against the tree, uprooting the improvised toilet and tossing it aside with ease.

A silence fell upon the gremlin side of the field. Som'er Teeth narrowed his eyes, his lips curling into a snarl. "No..."

In the stunned silence the Rattler charged, taking a hail of gremlin shot on the way in. He engaged the towering war pig the gremlins had brought along, the two titans missing each other with every strike. The gremlins raised their weapons and fired into the melee. When the smoke cleared, the mighty war pig lay dead, full of gremlin shot.

"Woops," Som'er Teeth muttered.

Myranda raised her hands in the air, her body encased in a bright blue light which radiated from her like a small sun. The rattler took on the same hue, its dripping wounds closing and its strength returning.

With renewed energy it charged, ensnaring Som'er Teeth and one of his hapless green lackeys in its crushing grasp. As it squeezed, the two figures in its coils stopped struggling. Then they stopped breathing. When the rattler uncoiled, the lifeless bodies of Som'er Teeth and his friend fell to the blood stained grass.

The rattler kept advancing, chasing down one more pesky gremlin before its bloody rampage was done.

"Knock down our shit tree, will ya?" The last enraged gremlin cried, not quite grasping the gravity of the whole situation. He sprinted across the field; stopping at a tree near the tavern, he unbuckled his pants.

"Is he...?" Myranda's voice trailed off.

"Oh lord, not again." Marcus sighed, padding off after the offending gremlin like a stern parent pursuing a naughty child.

The gremlin screeched as he saw Marcus approach and went running across the field once more, his trousers around his legs. He hid behind the tavern.

"Get back here you annoying little imp!" Marcus bellowed.

Myranda hid her face in her hands as Marcus relentlessly chased the pantsless gremlin around the tavern. This is what the great Marcus, the innovative archanist, terror to the guild, inventor of Chimerancy, was doing with his spare moments.

The set up:

We played a small, 22 soulstone scrap using only starter box armies. I had my good ol' boy bayou gremlins: Som'er Teeth Jones, four gremlins, a war pig, and a six soul stone cash. My opponent was using: Marcus, Myranda, Razorspine Rattler, and a Sabertooth Cerberus. He had a soulstone cash of four thanks to Marcus.

We chose to play in a pioneer town because it fit the terrain we had. The board was 4x4. We flipped diagonal deployment and snowstorm (which we forgot to flip for throughout the game.)

The board:

Objectives:

Gremlins: Slaughter, thwart (announced), sabotage (yeah, I know they can't do this...found out when I tried. To quote my gremlins, "woops.")

Achanists: Slaughter, breakthrough (announced), sabotage.

We flipped and I chose a side and set up first.

After set up:

Turn 1) All models on both sides advanced forward with a walk move for both actions. The sabortooth cerberus pushed an extra 6" with Stalker. I have no images of turn one, all the models just got closer.

Turn 2) Gremlins got the initiative and my boy with the banjo walked forward and flipped for it. The Sabortooth Cerberus then activated, used its leap ability, and walked twice so it was too close to my gremlins for comfort. Som'er Teeth, the remaining three gremlins, and the war pig all rounded the corner of the cottage and shot it to hell. Two shots missed and "woopsed" all over my own guys, but I got the sabortooth down to three wounds, although Som'er teeth had to use dumb luck. The remaining archanists advanced forward with two walk moves.

Turn 3) I cheated fate and used a soulstone to get the initiative. Som'er teeth heroically walked forward and used reckless to "pull my finger" twice while within range of the sabortooth. It wisely chose death over the stench. The razorspine charged my lone gremlin with the banjo, the only one who hadn't turned to gun down the Sabortooth. He was fanged to death. Poor little guy, he only wanted to share his music with the world. The remaining gremlins and warpig moved and shot at the Rattler. Marcus and Myranda moved forward.

Turn 4) Marcus got in base contact with my tree and sabotaged it. (Nooo!) The razorspine charged my war pig and managed to miss with one strike and draw a black joker for damage with the next. The gremlins shot at the rattler, ironically drawing it as the model to be hit with the firing into combat rules and then missing it with the cb-->df duel, only to hit the warpig with woops since it was the closest friendly model...with every single shot. Som'er Teeth walked forward and used pull my finger, the rattler was out of range...but my war pig wasn't. at this point I had done 9 points of damage to my own war pig, and my opponent had done none, in spite of his charge. Myranda healed the wounds on the Rattler from the previous turn.

Turn 5) I decided to start shooting at Myranda and get rid of the healing. So a gremlin fired, got a woops, and hit my pig, killing it. That's right, I did 12 wounds to my own war pig. The Rattler then used his serpent strike to charge Som'er Teeth, killing him (he had been wounded by dumb luck and reckless.) The Rattler still had another action, so it charged a gremlin, killing it. One remaining gremlin walked three times to my opponent's side of the board, the other hit the Rattler. Myranda did more healing and Marcus pursued my running gremlin.

Turn 6) My gremlin on his side of the board tried to sabotage a tree, failing when I realized that it was an anarchist only scheme. (It was our first game!) So, in stead, I ran and hid with it behind a cottage. Marcus moved towards him. Myranda and the rattler easily killed the gremlin remaining on my half of the board.

The game ended. I had one hiding gremlin, and my opponent had Marcus, Myranda, and the Rattler.

Neither of us accomplished either portion of slaughter. My opponent achieved both his schemes (his rattler ended up in my deployment zone and Marcus sabotaged my tree) giving him four victory points. I successfully thwarted him slaughtering me, giving me two victory points. The win goes to the archanists.

Ok, so it was a good first game. It was a little difficult because my opponent works at the game store and had to keep stopping to help customers. (I know, I need to talk to the guy about priorities. Malifaux > Work) But, all in all, very fun. I actually started out alright, massacring his sabortooth without any real losses because he jumped it forward too soon. But I never got to take advantage of survival of the fittest due to range...and Som'er Teeth dying. Gremlins desperately need that. And killing my own pig was not cool. I also never got to use "Go get your bro" because I have no other Gremlin models, owning only the starter. I think, in future games, this army should fair much better. Oh, yeah, I was also hindered by my own reading comprehension. At least I got good draws on every single terror check, I was expecting gremlins to be running like crazy.

Anyway, over all, fantastic game!

Thanks for the kind words. I'm a pretty poor writer, but I'm enjoying the setting a lot. It's one of those fun settings that lets someone do almost anything.

Don't sell yourself short. You set the mood perfectly.

I enjoyed both installments.

actually...if you leave Malifaux through the breach, you end up exiting Dr.Who's phonebox on the Earthside:bootyshak

Yes. An Alternate Earth Doctor Who, who promptly kills you and resurrects you to do his malign bidding.

Seamus needs a phone booth.

Thank you very much!

I wasn't sure if it was buried somewhere in Philip Tomber's journal in the main book and I was missing it or it had been left out intentionally for later books. I was thinking about maybe doing a short story for the writing section of the forum, so I was curious. Although, the more I think about it, the less it seems to matter. There's plenty of creativity to be had without referencing Earthside.

New Amsterdam was the original name by the Dutch settlers for what would become New York City.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam

But is it near the breach?

I mean, why not mention London? Or Moscow?

Interesting fact, though.

I always envisioned it in the Southwest United Sates. Think Bryce Canyon Utah, Monument Valley Arizona or Folsom Site New Mexico.

In the story in the main book it mentions people talking about the happenings of Malifaux in coffee shops in "New Amsterdam." I assume this city is referenced for a reason, but it is never mentioned specifically as the location of the breach.

It would make sense to me that the breach is the site of a booming city with all the trade and business from the railway. But maybe the guild doesn't want it that way and keeps the area desolate? Maybe it is in the middle of nowhere, as you say. (At least, I would consider most of Utah and New Mexico the middle of nowhere. If that offends anyone all I have to say to them is this: move out of the desert!)

On Earth, I mean. Is it located in a city? What city, in what country?

Just curious.

I just scanned through the pictures, I like your terrain.

I also saw the original deadlands book, fantastic game.

Well, I did my part.

I'm making a similar list for myself as well... Don't forget the Mysterious Effigies or whatever those things are on 30mm bases! I'm making mine out of Call of Cthulhu LCG drain counters, as I have 18 to spare!

~J~

Ha!

I have a bunch of those in my linen closet.

Good idea.

I'll have to steal those gremlin ideas.

The Chiwyrdhau is a whispered nightmare that lives in man's myths and dreams, stealing into our minds when we are at our weakest. It is the cold chill at your back, the momentary glance of horror when you're alone in the dark. It is fear and it is death.

Or, you now, it's a cool looking trophy. Whatever.

Oh! Deadlands. How could I forget Deadlands? The original, not the D20 version. It reminds me a lot of Malifaux now that I think about it with the cards and the jokers. Even the old west/horror/steampunk style. I loved that game.

Cool, perhaps we'll end up playing sometime.

I am, almost exclusively, a gamer. In years past I looked at painting and modeling as a chore. I liked the end result, and that I had accomplished something, but not the process. However, more recently I'm enjoying painting more and more. I even got my starter box painted up for Malifaux before I even read the rules. That's a first for me.

I play warhammer 40k, battlefleet gothic, mordheim, space hulk, magic the gathering, warlord, L5R, and a number of others.

Honestly, it's been a few years since I've really done the card games, but I still enjoy them.

Hello was already taken, so I'm breaking out the Spanish.

Just picked up the rules and finished painting my gremlins. Hoping to get a few friends interested and maybe starting a league at Black Diamond Games here in Concord.

Love the models!