Poko

No. The game is going the wrong direction if the number of sales dwindle instead of growing. Just saying, it's a business.

Well..that lured me out of hibernation, all of this hinted so far is excellent news. Tidying up abilities is great, as is the re-balancing (I quit about halfway after Rising Powers, as the Book 2 Masters simply had much better synergy and well, they all focused on exhausting the enemy, which made game vs them a painful grind). The thing about no more extra-card added from SS is probably my favourite rules-wise change as I hated the fact you could just make an attack completely unblockable. And last, whoever came up with pre-measuring, THANK YOU SO MUCH! Thank you for rewarding TACTICS AND DECISIONS instead of simple physiological advantage of being better at range-guessing. "Blind diststances" is as fair in a wargame as making the models out of bacon and rewarding the player with better taste buds, and as pertinent to the actual game. So again, it might be a minor improvement, but as a stout fan of good game practices, THANKS!

Don't tell anyone, but Lucius is just three small molemen standing one on top of the other.

Ages since last update, so here's a lilitu. I aimed for the "sheer fabric" effect on the art, how well it worked out is not for me to judge really, so here it is.

Yes. But you don't write the rules with the idea that everyone who plays them will be an angel, in fact you should write them with the thought in mind that someone WILL abuse them if they can. Considering how limited the pool of players in most areas is, that's hardly a threat if you want to play anyone at all.

Unless one side has strong shooting/ranged spells and there's no point why they shouldn't do so, since there's nothing to stop them.

And yet one side can say "stop" after placing the first piece of terrain, leaving you with only one more for a grand total of two, three at best.

She doesn't have to to be even remotely competitive. Also, I can get lilith within enemy half of the board on turn one with normal cards on hand. Perdy can do so likewise and still turn on her reactive shot to pose a threat.

I see what you did there!

Played him (and arcanists in general) for almost a year. I managed to get..oh, I think two victories compared to a hundred losses or so. Now, it might be a case of sour grapes, if I haven't met Marcus on the other side of the table, and brutalized him every single time too. He's not good at straight up fighting, but you don't NEED him to complete objectives either, all of his minions are fast enough to do it on their own. So, WHAT is he good for then? Lilith can complete "running" objectives with ease, and still is a beatstick. Likewise Perdita. Hoff is practically untouchable when surrounded with constructs, and Colette is almost impossible to catch. McMourning can go through entire enemy list, healign every wound as he kills stuff. What exactly makes Marcus shine then? Because the Alpha usually is much harder to pull off than simply whacking something on the head, he's not impressive as a fighter, and his minions can run as fast as he does. He's simply unnecessary in his lists.

It's also so situational it's not even funny, and takes up all of his activation. Oh, and a good deal of expensive models one would like to use it on is Immune to Influence, making it limited to scaring small crap into submission. If he happens upon Hoffman, it's also completely useless since everything there has ItI. Apart from that, he's very mediocrete combatant, his synergies with his "chosen" unit type are almost nonexistent (Woo, he can force a healing flip on a beast withing 4", truly a legendary beastmaster with Veterinarian specialization) and the only thing he truly excels at is running away. He's master of fleeing, hero of marathons, lord of evasion and paragon of cowardice in action because if he meets a halfway competent combat unit he'll be slapped silly. Too bad there are some equally fast masters who can also hit hard, like Lilith or Perdita...

I for once would assume a company could manage the task of making sure masters were of comparable power though. I don't expect every possible combination and units to be equally useful in all circumstances, but a master should not be wildly different in power level to others. As it is, Marcus can look at Hoff's Moving Castle scarily and that's it. Masters with no or poor shooting options in their lists have absolutely hellish time fighting Colette, even going as far as being downright tedious. Again, most masters are somewhat balanced against each other, but there are some that are just POOR. Marcus has no excuse, he's only forte seems to be bravely running away. He got some nice options in the new book...but so did everyone else, and that made their lists even stronger, so overall lack of balance is retained in his case. This is NOT normal, nor desirable as far as I am concerned.

Well, for once Lilith managed to not learn the skill "fire magnet" being Ht3 and Df 4:P

Or at least made it clearer to newcomers that it's FACTION-driven rather than Character-driven game.

There's always something resembling WIN button, but it can be small, piddly button that gives you a minor edge, or huge, honking red "PRESS FOR SELF-DESTRUCTION OF THE SPACE STATION!" one. The first one is an irritation, the second type means someone 'ad blundered. As for "not being an arse", groups do often form in vacuum, with people picking up the masters they like. There's nothing in the book that outright states you must have more than one master to have balanced experience, so people assume their master will be balanced against the other master. Then there are the people which simply like the look of one particular master, or his style of play, and why should they be denied their part of fun too? I like Lilith. I hate zoraida and strongly dislike almost all of Pandora's models. Fortunately it seems Lilith is at the top of the curve, but I'd be mighty angry if it turned out I have to get Zor' just to beat my enemy, why should I continue playing if the models I like are useless?

Terribly creepy indeed, just that no one knows why.

Because even feminists (in europe at least) avoid the word "feminist" like a plague because of how negative connotations it holds.

Well, that's how strong, empowered women act, by using the weak women for their gain. And men, but that's obvious. Yes, that's why you have so many strong, empowered women in the game in the first place. And while Malif lacks some of the victorian elements, all the BAD ones are there so assuming just the one that offends your sensibilities would be gone is silly.

The game IS set in XIX/early XX century, if there weren't any I'd say the game is anachronistic. Again, the game is set in a border town/slumcity, and women are either good housewives, powerful cutthroats and magicians, or victims, that's how it works. The men in the game, apart from the ones in power, like Ramos or Lucius, are also mostly runaway bandits, ex-miners and generally treated as shit not worth a second glance from honest people, except maybe to call the guards on the ruffians. Again, it'd be downright silly if those men were treated with respect when they're low-paid or downright convict workers.

Which in turn makes anecdotal evidence rather poor gauge of popularity. If I were to go by my local scene, I'd say Infinity is blooming, and malifaux will fold in a few months, because only a handful of people play it in comparison, and of those a few more dropped the game and think of Helldorado instead.

Nor is it actually sexist in any way, but then again, the only way for a game to be sexist is to add -4Str penalty for women... I quite like the wetnurse, though the model itself is lacking the concept is suitably grim. THe helldorado angelrape is also justified given the setting. The 40k diorama, I found extremely tasteless, and clashing with the cartoony art and setting of the game to be honest.

Context. Lilith, Nekky and the likes are actually flaunting their sexuality the same way men in power tended to use large, blunt instruments as symbols of power. They throw their "weaker sex" physique out there to mock the enemies quite obviously, and to entice..well, the male part of their followers no doubt. Sex IS a weapon in nature after all. As for humans, again, it's an issue of power. The female masters are much more likely to deal with the scum of the malifaux on daily basis than with paperwork and board meetings. They dress to intimidate partially, and partially to show that they're in control-"Yes, you can see half of my chest, what are you going to do about it, wimp?". They have to be, since might makes right, and they have to show everyone around it's not a good idea to f... with them. It's the same way some gangs and groups wear rather idiotic outfits that go against the existing sense of decency and style as a challenge. Cassie and her performers on the other hand make their trade by giving men dreams, and the more you start with, the longer you can hold their attention.

Immune to influence. EVERYWHERE. One does not simply rock into Hoff. Played that matchup actually, and IF lilith can strip away all his constructs while they're getting open-circuited all the time, she can win. Unless she gets a strategy which can completel avoid confrontation that is.

One does not underestimate the frothers.

And you're free to do so. But, as much as I like Wyrd and Malifaux, Human Sphere walks all over the Rising Powers in terms of production quality and rules-writing. It's shocking especially since the game was noted for the often muddled style of the rules, but the supplement is a massive step up, and I can think of perhaps three or four things that really needed to be FAQ'd in it. But then again, I never hid that I am a fan of it, with the massive freedom the ruleset gives the player in deciding what to do with his models on the board.