Rathnard

Just a short update - i tried out the abovementioned Olivia trick, and it worked pretty well! Late in the turn i flung her into a cluster of Experimentals (McMourning, Chihuahua, Nurse and Rafkin). The shockwave did some damage, then i pushed them further together with Perfect Timing (mainly to get McMourning off a Cursed Idol). Next activation, a triple Fzzap from Wong (helped by Olivia's Lovely Assistant) finished off everyone but McMourning (who was down to half wounds). We had to end the game at that point. But had it gone further, Olivia would have wandered off unopposed to achieve Breakthrough. So like i said earlier, loading Olivia into the Pigapult isn't always going to be the best way to go. But when the opportunity arises, it can be a pretty effective combo.

Man, I'd love to listen to this but Facebook is the worst platform for it. It's harder to rewind and catch bits i missed, won't continue playing if my phone screen is off (unlike a podcast) and i can't easily leave it halfway through to pick it up later.

Yeah, with 4 wounds she's pretty much disposable. But by tossing her into the enemy, she'll at least do some nice damage, and improve the shockwave/s of whatever you toss in after her. Also she's not guaranteed to die, especially if you throw her at a flanker to help a lighting bug kill it off. Hell, just last game i did exactly that, and she managed to survive the match with 1 wd remaining. The alternative is to have her sitting behind your crew to support with Scheme Markers, Glowy and condition removal. That's probably her best use in most games. But having her as living ammo is a good backup plan if you need it.

So a random thought I had this morning...Olivia as Pigapult ammo. Basically if you throw her into the enemy, you get to make use of Lovely Assistant to increase that shockwave to a near-impossible Mv 17 duel! Follow it up with a Stuffed piglet, and any resultant Bacon Bomb becomes a much more formidable TN13 Mv duel, or more if you've primed it with Glowy. You could also use her to support a Lightning Bug on the flank. Hurl them both into an enemy scheme runner, then finish it off with the Lightning bug. In later turns they can then start placing scheme markers themselves, whilst using Olivia to keep the Bug loaded with Glowy Tokens for attacks, or a potential final encore with his Demise (Arcane Feedback).

So update time: Looks like I won't get as many games in this weekend as I thought, but I DID manage to get a game last night! It was 50SS Wong vs Kaeris, Corrupted Idols with Wedge Deployment. My crew: Wong Olivia Lightning Bug Taxidermist Pigapult Swinecursed Gracie Slop Hauler Flying Piglet (6SS cache) Opponent's crew: Kaeris Eternal Flame Firestarter Fire Golem w. Soulstone Cache Carlos Vasquez Elijah Borgman Firebranded w. Magical Training Fire Gamin In short, Wong shot forward first activation and alongside some Pigapult-thrown stuffed piglets, managed to brutalise Kaeris's bunched up crew over the first two activations! They killed off the Eternal Flame, Firebranded and Fire Gamin, severely wounded the Fire Golem and put a few wounds on the rest. The rest of the game saw Kaeris throw Wong around until he died, while the rest of my crew waded through Pyre Markers to kill off the rest of Kaeris's crew, ending with Kaeris's corpse being (appropriately) turned into a Flying Piglet. With so much fire and explosions everywhere, Wong would have been proud. Now for some model-specific thoughts; WONG I didn't take the Guille Suit on Wong mainly because there were no Ht 1 walls on the table to foil his Shockwave placement. But I'm starting to think I'm going to take it regardless. Ht 2 makes it easier to take advantage of his Glowy pulse, and Disguised is just too handy when your Master doesn't like to get engaged! Wedge is great for Wong - he starts closer to the enemy and they're more likely to begin the game bunched up. As above, I took full advantage of this! In retrospect the safer option probably would have been to push Wong up with the Swinecursed and maybe wait a little longer to start blasting the enemy with Shockwaves. Or perhaps I should have activated him later, using at least a couple of shockwaves to prime my crew with Fast and Glowy for next turn? In any case, Wong's early assault might have sealed his fate, but I can't really argue with the results! PIGAPULT This sucker is legit. It helped deal massive damage in turn 1 by lobbing stuffed piglets into the enemy crew, then tossed a Lightning Bug on a flanking Carlos to finish him off and (later) push a corrupted idol marker. I feel like one of Wong's weakness's is his crew's tendency to bunch up, which makes it hard to get models up the flank to either achieve schemes or clear enemy flankers. The pigapult solves that. You can hurl any Ht 1 model in the crew to where they need to be and his 12" regular attack can help guard your deployment zone. Given that it's effectively 5SS when you consider the stuffed piglet it comes with, they seem like a really solid inclusion. LIGHTNING BUG I've been pretty lukewarm on these guys lately - they're easy to kill, the heal needs a high card to cast and they're no good when engaged. But I'm starting to see some potential. Basically, I think these are guys are your Pigapult ammo. From now on, my approach with them is to load them up with Glowy and hurl them at an enemy flankers. Between the Shockwave and the Bug's own attacks they should be very capable of taking down most of the cheap scheme runners your opponent might field. They can also move enemy scheme markers to less convenient spots and if they die, they'll explode and hopefully take their target with them! Basically, with some help from a Pigapult, the Lightning Bug is Wong's ideal flanking minion! SLOP HAULER He didn't shine in this game like he had in the previous match, but I think he was nonetheless a worthwhile inclusion. His healing pulse kept Gracie and the Swinecursed topped up on wounds, and his ability to follow Gracie around helped him move up the table and place scheme markers while the Pigs were eating Arcanists. Overall, I still think he's worth the keyword tax for Wong. So long as I'm still taking Gracie and the Swinecursed, I'll likely continue using the Slop Hauler. FLYING PIGLET TBH I'm seriously considering dropping this little dude for a second Lightning Bug. He's not terrible, but I feel like if I'm taking a Pigapult, the lightning Bug is just going to be a much better flanker and scheme runner. Besides, with a Taxidermist around I've got the opportunity to summon one in later in the game anyway. That'll do for now. I'm keen to hear more opinions on what you think works for Wong!

Same here, funnily enough. Right now I'm hoping to get more time in with the Slop Hauler, which seems to have some really good synergies with Wong's crew. I'm also keen to try out the Pigapult, especially as a way to address the crew's mobility issues.

Because last month clearly wasn't ambitious enough... So basically it's Gorysche, Ophelia's crew box, Zipp, Margaret Belle (proxied), 6x Field Intel Corps (proxied), Sammy Lacroix, 4x Broken, 2x Rooster Riders... and a Townhouse. Ophelia's crew is already painted, but I've never been happy with the end result. So I'm going to try and fix that up somehow. The second "Rooster Rider" is actually an old War Rooster from one of Wyrds Easter sales. I don't intend to repaint it, but I do want to rebase the model to 40mm so I can use her as a Rider.

@Caedrus Well a week ago it was looking pretty dicey as to whether I'd paint enough fort the deadline, having finished just Parker Barrows and nothing else. 😬 But fortunately it was a good final week! I didn't finish all of what I'd (very optimistically) planned to do, but it was enough to get over the line; So Parker (15), 6x TOS Infiltrators (30), 2x TOS Sharpshooters (10) and a dodgy-ass townhouse (20) for 75SS total.

Regarding the Glowy on enemy models, I don't yet see that as an issue. Besides the card draw potential, it means that any model with that much Glowy is one failed Mv duel away from getting utterly murdered. That's going to have a significant effect on your opponents hand management - do they keep some mid to high cards to prevent Wong Fzzzaping their Glowy-stacked Master? Or do they risk the failed duel? As for Staggered, I'd recommend adding a Slop Hauler. He's got Staggered on a trigger in melee and at least from initial games, works VERY well with Gracie and the Swinecursed. The Lucky Emissary has a trigger for Staggered too, and is also the only option we have for applying it at range. Neither model is the consistent source of staggered I imagine you're looking for, but it is some extra synergy from models who should already be pretty good for Wong's crew. So back on topic, the Pigapult....I've not yet put one on the table, BUT I have been thinking about what it might add to Wong's crew. One issue I've had playing Wong is in getting models across the table. They're not exactly a static crew, but reliably and efficiently getting a model to the other side of the board for some schemes or strats is not always a simple task. The Pigapult could be a possible answer to this. In turn 1 it flings a couple of models across the board to achieve objectives, then spends the rest of the game either hurling Stuffed Piglets around, or guarding your own deployment zone from enemy scheme runners. It'd be an annoyance for sure, plus as an insignificant model your opponent has little reason to waste AP killing it. For 5+2 SS, that could well be worth it.

I have about 80-90% of every Faction, with a similar % painted. The Pokemon bug bit me hard. I was particularly close to getting the entire Ten Thunders Faction (just 2-3 units left to buy) but these days I'm concentrating more on completing individual Keywords, not Factions.

I had a game last night - 40SS Turf War vs Shenlong; Wong Olivia Burt Jebson Gracie Swinecursed Lightning Bug Slop Hauler Flying Piglet (3SS Cache) We only got through 2 turns (opponent was still learning ShLong), but the crew did pretty well. Wong was taxied up the board by Gracie, then spent both activations Fzzaping Monks. He didn't do a load of damage, but he did kill both Aspiring Students (important!) and stripped a whole load of cards and Chi that could have been used for other stuff. The Slop Hauler has alot of great synergy with Wong's crew. He can mass-heal the friendly damage from Wong's Fzzap, will happily tag behind Gracie or the Swinecursed to save AP and can throw Adversary on models to help Gracie or the Swinecursed brutalise them (as Shenlong discovered...). His Staggered trigger in melee could also help out with Wong's Fzzap attack. It's still early days, but I'm really liking what the Slop Hauler offers Wong. I'll definitely be taking him more.

I love the idea of a Foundry/Tricksy crew led by Sparks. The only issue is one of theme - are arcanists like Neil Henry or Kang going to follow a Gremlin like Sparks?

Jacob Lynch was one of the first three Masters to get a plastic crew box in M1E (along side Misaki and Mei Feng, IIRC). And of the three, his was the roughest by a good margin. Based on that, I'd thus be very, very surprised if Lynch didn't get a new crew box sooner rather than later.

I'm actually thinking about alternative healing options for Wong's crew. I'll admit I've not tried Bokor (don't have the model yet!), but like the Lightning Bug I feel like the high TN makes their healing less reliable than I'd like. Especially for a crew that's regularly damaging itself. Thus I think there's potential for taking an out of keyword model, like the Slop Hauler or Spit Hog? The Slop Hauler should pair pretty well with the Swinecursed. Having a Hauler trail behind a pair of Swinecursed can help them stay alive (they're not pigs, but it's a 3" pulse and the TN is low) and boost their damage output with Adversary (Beast) from his attacks. He can also summon the odd piglet, which can't be a bad thing. The Spit Hog is expensive at 6+1SS, but it's better at healing and the Lure action has some potential. Thoughts? --- Also while I'm at it, I feel like Wong almost needs to take the Gremlin Ghille Suit upgrade. Unless I'm mistaken, At Sz 1 he can't see the ground over low walls and the like, which makes placing his shockwave markers very difficult on tables with alot of Sz 1 terrain. Boosting him up to Sz 2 therefore seems pretty necessary in alot of games.

I think your wrong on both counts, actually. Colette has 7 sculpts so far (original, 3x Avatar, M2E, Nightmare and M3E), but the Viktorias are up to 14 (2x M1E, 2x M1E Alts, 2x Avatar, 2x M2E, 2x Easter, 2x M3E, Metal Puppet and Plastic Puppet). As for Teddy, he's up to 5 sculpts (1st ed, Nightmare, 2nd Ed, Miss, Puppet). Off the top of my head the Death Marshalls might be the winner in that regard - 4 sets of 3 sculpts (M1E, Nightmare, M2E, M3E), plus two puppets (metal and plastic) and a Miss model for 15 total. --- Anyway, I can't imagine Ophelia's Master box too far off. She's clearly getting new sculpts for the Raiders (if not more?), so it'll likely come down to how far along those sculpts are.

I've played a couple of games with Wong now (literally: 2 ), and while I'm nowhere near being an expert, I've started to get an idea of how he works. Wong's crew definitely has bite... it's just not immediately obvious. For instance Wong himself is mostly going to be dealing damage through his shockwaves. Dealing 2 damage at a time (if they fail the Mv duel) might not seem like much. But because it's coming from two shockwave markers, he's often hitting 3-4 models with each attack. What's more, anyone who passes that duel gains a glowy token, which itself increases the damage they take by +1 per token next time they fail the duel. This effectively means that Wong is always "damaging" every model affected by his Fzzzap attack. It's just a matter of whether they're taking the damage immediately, or further down the track! It's also worth remembering that Wong's crew is great at getting around most defensive tricks that enemy crews might have. Wong's shockwaves don't target a model, conveniently getting around Terrifying or Manipulative, for instance. Lightning Bugs can do the same with their Blast damage and alot of the crew have the Full Power Trigger to prevent damage reduction, all of which they can easily get by spending a Glowy Token to gain the requisite suit. I've not tried the Pigapult, but Burt seems decent and Gracie is definitely a great choice. She deals some good damage, but the main benefit is her great resiliance and "Ride with me" action to ferry other models around. Swine Cursed are awesome. They have push effects to move your models around and the potential is there to hit pretty hard thanks to their triggers. They can also take a few hits, with Glowy Tokens acting as ablative wounds if you want. But once the tokens are gone they're not especially tough. The Taxidermist is another option. They're pretty cheap when you consider their free stuffed piglet, and the Critical Strike on their melee attack gives them the potential to deal some serious damage (remember the free suit from a Glowy Token!).

So... this might be a little ambitious for my August pledge. But hey - why not shoot for the moon, right? For this month I'm aiming to finish 6x Infiltrator proxies (using pistoleros), 2x Sharpshooters (Austringers), a Wanyudo, 4x Broken, Zipp, Parker and a house. Wish me luck!

Classic Teddy! He was my first purchase alongside Pandora's original crew box, and he remains my favourite version to date. For this month I'm going to finish off my Broken squad and add another terrain piece to my "painted" collection, since that seems to be going pretty well (even if the last house looked like ass ). I'll likely add a few Malifaux models to that pledge, but I'll have to think about exactly what. There's alot of options!

@bedjy I quite like your stalking portals this month - it's always interesting to see how other people are painting up those sculpts. @Caedrus So this month I managed to finish most of what i pledged; Minako Rei (8), 2x Katashiro (10), 6x Broken (30) and a house (20) for 68 SS total. I'm not happy with the house, but it'll do. I'll just make sure not to paint it that colour again!

I wish I'd finished painting every M2E crew before M3E hit. I have Parker, Zipp and Reva left to paint, but with M3E out I now need to add Von Shtook, Basse, Eurpipides and Youko to that list before I can finally claim the title of Pokemon Malifaux Master. When M3E was announced I actually wrote up a list of crazy crew ideas I wanted to try in M2E before moving onto the next edition. Most of them were pretty stupid, like Marcus w. a Pig crew, So'mer w. nothing but Bayou Gremlins, or Lynch with 3 Samurai, Lust and Torakage to draw most of your deck hand in turn 1. I ticked most of them off, but there were a few I never managed to get around to; 1. Who let the Dogs out - Marcus w. nothing but Guild Hounds, Canine Remians and Corrupted Hounds. 2. Malifaux Press Corps - Nellie w. a Printing Press and 11 Field Reporters 3. Bearforce One - Marcus w. 8(?) Slate Ridge Maulers, It's probably for the best that I didn't do the last two, otherwise I'd have more Field Reporters and Slate Ridge Maulers than I'd ever need for M3E!

You know, i did the exact same thing with my own Trixie. The end effect is great - it makes her look like even more of a grinning maniac. Anyway, for me it's another month, another ambitious pledge. It's school holidays for the next two weeks here, so I'm optimistic; Another townhouse, a full squad of Broken, Minako Rei and her two Katishiro. I'll work out the Soulstone total later on. ;)

@Caedrus Pledge finished for June! So I've got 2x Motor Scouts (2×10), 6x Rifle Corp (6×5) and a building (8x5) for 90SS total. Also, when you find time to update the spreadsheet, i should be at 213SS fort May. :)

It's not just GH players - just about everyone I've talked to agrees that the Immolated Rhino is absurdly strong. It's got the mobility you expect of a Cult unit, combined with being extremely hard to kill and capable of tying up, then devastating units 2-3 times its cost. And it's not even a hard unit to use. At worst, you just need to flip it to Glory before it gets sniped by a rogue Railgunner or the like. After that you literally point it at what you want to kill, and let it go. There's definitely ways to kill it, but it's never a simple matter and it routinely takes a big investment in units and cards to take one down. It certainly doesn't help that the thing prevents nearby morale actions too, which shuts down a couple of potential counters all on its own. Speaking as a Cult player, I've basically sworn off using the Immolated Rhino until it gets an errata of some sort. Dropping Fire Nova is certainly a potential solution. Without it the Rhino loses most of its killing power, but it's still absurdly tough and able to hold up most units for the entire game. Hell, I'd argue that without Fire Nova the Rhino might still be undercosted, but at least it wouldn't be oppressively broken like it is now! As for how to deal with the Rhino now, I feel like the best solution for GH is to accept that you won't be able to kill it, and simply tie it up instead. Barbed Crawlers, Half an Armoured Whelk squad or a Devouring Eel are all about the same cost as a Rhino and should be capable of resisting that Fire Nova. The Armoured Whelk might even be able to strip a Shaken Token and prevent it getting Reinforced with its Spit Mucus attack. Hell, if all else fails a freshly summoned squad of just about anything might work in a pinch. It's not a fool-proof plan. The Cult are pretty good at pulling units out of sticky situations, so chances are you won't be able to keep it there forever. But if you can at least keep it from holding an objective (remember that no morale aura) or hurting one of your more important units, I'd call it a win.

Last month was 213 SS for me @Caedrus This month I've got a bit of non-Wyrd commission painting to deal with. So I'm going to keep it light for the challenge and stick with the house i didn't manage to finish last month, and a few proxies for my TOS Kings Empire Company; It's not as much work as it looks. The TOS company is going to be painted in a simple (yet hopefully striking) monochrome scheme. ;)

God damn, these Torakage look amazing. Between the new art for Misaki and Ototo, it looks like I'll have to buy another Misaki box afterall.