Spudstarch

The only one that comes close to comparing to the Golem is the Nephilim. Even then, it has 4 things that put it below the Golem. It has a higher AR, the ability's range is 1/3 the distance, the casting requirement significantly higher and the action is not free. And I understand clearly what you are saying regarding hand management. If a Tome is used to dodge, the opponent has to use a tome to make the attack go through and cause a rip. Or if not, they can use the tome through Ice blaster and cause a rip. Either way they are still trading around the same cards to cause guaranteed damage (one tome and a high card to match the casting requirement or one tome card and high card to match the dodge card dropped). Ice blaster gives the golem player the hand advantage of making their opponent discard the high tome card first, before deciding to cheat the hit. If a high Tome is dropped for dodging and all the Golem player has is a low Tome and an 8+ card, they can just wait to cause the damage as a free action should they draw a low AR card for initiative. Will it cause a rip this time? 100% positively yes. And if the game is so much about hand control, why is it that none of the cards in the deck can stop the damage from going through? It doesn't matter if a player stacks their deck or has a great sense of card management. If their opponent draws the right card or has been holding on to it since activation 1, there is no card that can be used to stop the damage from happening. You know what card has the potential to prevent damage from the Hooded rider? I can think of 53 of them, assuming That Darn Pigeon doesn't get in the way. And if you are sending a Sidekick like Hooded Rider to deal with one of the Golems that makes them open to being "jumped" by my Hooded Rider or Rusty Alice, even Joss would do. If the rider kills a Golem, he will be down to 2 tears. With the only a few cards in and and 1 tome, just one, the Rider will be torn apart. His Defense doesn't matter, his player's cards don't matter, and it is taken out in 1 activation sequence. You can hope to stop the damage to your master by screening, but that makes your movement less efficient. Your opponent can gain ground/ workbenches faster and thus more cards per round (hand control)

I hear what you all are saying and here is my counter points: @Headcase: The puppets you listed are Sidekick level so they should be badass. An Ice Golem is a pawn. You can have 3 and 2 badass sidekicks, granted 2 Golems should be plenty. Your added note strengthens my argument that this ability is broken. It isn't even an attack! When your opponent needs a higher AR card to send a badass sidekick to deal with a pawn, you can drop a deuce and shoot them before they come at you all without the sacrifice of ripping itself. @Ratty: I can't dodge with a tome. The ability doesn't permit it. If you are moving to block line of sight, that is giving your opponent board control. You don’t have to activate the Golem, you just need him to stand somewhere to be affective. And if you send someone to "jump" him, it better have a gun. It will be too far away to hit with a stick and if you hit it with a stick and kill it, it severely damage its attacker from the other auto damage ability, guaranteed. @Karn: As mentioned above, it is difficult to deal with since it will be out of range of most puppets’ attacks, Pawns especially. Tearing it apart is easier said than done, especially with three wounds. You give Nino, a sidekick as an example, but his action is not free and requires you to hit at a lower combat value, chances are you will have to cheat a card to hit the golemn much like a golem will have to cheat a card to Ice Blaster. The differences being that one puppet is pawn ranking, one of the actions is free, and one can bypass a red joker. To me that looks like 3-0 Ice Golem over Nino. Regarding high defense there are far better ways to make this ability deal with those situations. On a successful cast, -X to Defense to target puppet, or instead of making defense numbers higher, add suits to the value instead. This goes more in line with how the rest of the puppets do things, with two or more puppets activating and combining tricks. Ice Golem does it in one activation without needing to equip a torn puppet's items. For stocked hands, the simplest way to get rid of a player's cards is with basic attacks that force them to dodge. The natural mechanic causes them to drop their high cards, which will not return until the deck is reshuffled. So having auto damage to deal with that issue is unnecessary and breaks one of the core mechanics of the game. As far as resource management goes, all it takes is one Tome, 24% of the cards, and any 9+ card to be certain that you can finish off a wounded puppet. Where else can you have that level of certainty of knowing if you will rip a puppet or not? That would be the red joker, <1% of the cards. You have a puppet with an ability that Trumps THE Trump card of the game. Even if I have Nino with a bead on my opponent's 1 tear master, and a king in my hand there is still the possibility they dodge with a red joker or a suit that I just can't match. There is risk and chance and player interaction. Mid or late game when a master has taken a few rips, at the start of a new activation round how often can you say without a doubt, "I won" before anyone activates a puppet. There is no risk and no need to hesitate. Game balance aside, that just isn't fun or exciting in my opinion. It just leaves me with an unsatisfying win or loss.

So the last two games of Puppet Wars have been really anti climactic all because of auto damage. I thought one of the tag lines for the card system was to "Cheat fate", having the option to throw down the right card to get out of a sticky situation. So what is the deal with the Ice Golem? If my opponent has the right suite in hand, it doesn't matter if I have the red joker and 4 kings in my hand, I can't hope to stop it. And with a threat range of 5 including moves, it provides so much board control. Most puppets can't even get within striking distance with one activation. I already got the sense that auto damage in Malifaux was bad enough and thought it would be avoided in Puppet Wars. In Malifaux where one successful casting of an auto damage spell only took off around 10% of your master's life, Puppet Wars makes even more apparent how unbalanced it can be when one casting can take out 33% to 50% of a puppets life. At least make auto damage abilities non-cheatable. That would at least help level the playing field. If I cannot drop a card to dodge it, my opponent should not be able to drop a card to auto hit. Anyone else get the sense that auto damage is just not entertaining?

Your math amuses me, but the odds have nothing to do with it. Especially if you know the Red Joker is 15 cards down... The Douchebag has spoken!

I am sure they had plans but then Steven King was threatening to sue them!

All that said, I present two situation. First Sonia Criid needs to kill a master with 1 wound left on it. There is also a witchling stalker with 1 wound left. Why should she hesitate if it is in melee, since hitting either target would be a win win situation? Secondly, if your mom told you to stay still so she could stab you in the face, I think you would be quite opposed to the idea. My suggestion other than dropping the WP->10 check is to have the attacker and defender perform a WP->WP dual to see if they can make the attack.

1) Seamus's Necropsychosis. 2) moving and attacking is 2 AP. Attacking a friendly right next to you is 1 AP. 3) I can cheat the defense of the friendly model being attacked. 4) In another game, I killed two zombie dogs in base contact with a mature nephilim which allowed him to charge freely at the enemy Master 5) In most situations it is more efficient than whirling death.

Shooting into melee requires a WP->10 check and even then, there is only a chance to hit your intended target. Sacrificing models for souls stones causes a loss of WP. That said, why is it so easy for Lilith to attack her own babies and make them bleed all over my opponent?

woops, thought I did. Think you can move it for me? Thanks

May I target a friendly model with a melee or ranged attack? I am looking to open a can of worms.

Turn 5 step 5: You forgot to mention that I flipped an ace which allowed you to make a straight damage flip and cheat it to severe. Guess it was a bad time to play test an ability. Alluring doesn't seem worth thinking about... Well, I suppose its good for keeping enemies in melee with her, but the "cannot charge" portion is just rubbish!

Oh yeah? Well, judging by how your gremlins look, whoever taught you how to paint deserves to be shot!

I didn't say it was the official miniature, just the one I am going to be using until it comes out. What do you think? Personally, I think the eyebrows make the model. Here is one for scale

Thanks for all the positive responses. I am actually a gamer first and a painter second. I hate painting. It takes so long and it is so simple. I'm like an autistic child trying to express my thoughts but it takes so much effort just to get there. I mostly do it out of spite, just to make my opponent feel more inadequate about themselves.