pharaoh

Well, interesting to see that the same 5 people are having the debate here as for the entire UK scene. I guess that like the whole rankings introduction the rest of the 'community' have learned that the fait accomplis has been delivered and so they may as well ignore it or accept it. Entirely underwhelmed.

Come now, spider swarms are very good, they're pricey, true, but they still do a load of damage, they're survivable, and they explode. What's not to love? And since the Steamborg cloud got obscuring, then he's basically carrying 'the fog' around with him and can effectively screen your entire crew from shooting whilst you advance up. As far as Electrical fire is concerned, I've tried playing Ramos as an offensive caster, and it's tough, but with CA 8 and casting expert, he can do a lot of damage on pretty much anything except Perdita and Lilith. As someone said, with Ramos you need to construct your list with care - the Friekorps librarian is a huge help if you're playing this sort of Ramos, and he can still pop out a spider for free if you've got scrap, or an electrical creation if you haven't. Oh, that's my one real problem with Ramos' book one minions, who decided that making the electrical creation unique was a good idea???? I'm kind of ranting here, and i don't mean to, I'm not saying that because he's not awful, he's top tier, or even close, he's not. He's great at mid-tier games, and he's really characterful, he's just been left behind a bit by the advances of rising powers, where Neverborn in particular came away with some crazy good minions.

I have to say, Ramos was my first master, and he's still a favourite. Sure he's a bit slow, but with spiders, a steamborg, the duet, you can get the speed you need to reach your objectives, and in my opinion, he's still very good. For me the big disadvantage is that the electrical creation is unique only, that would definitely shift him up a gear as far as power level is concerned. From the sounds of it, his avatar and some of the new M&SU assets will make a lot of difference. That said I don't really play in the sort of WAAC tournament environment you seem to be describing, so perhaps he really is rubbish when all people want to do is crush you with all their might, rather than a more story based, relaxed style of play...

I think that having Alyce and the steamborg in the same 35ss crew reduces your flexibility quite a lot. The steamborg and the brass arachnid are a lovely combination, a stoked steamborg can cut almost anything down.

I've played with Ramos a lot, he was my first Malifaux master and still my favourite. You have great games where everything goes you way, and you have some games (like my last game) where you draw a total of one tome into your control hand throughout the entire game (a 7, thanks for asking), which really stymies how much he can contribute and you have to use him as a ranged master, which he's *alright* at, but not brilliant. In terms of totem, for the games where you're getting lots of tomes, and the games where you're getting an average number of tomes, i'd go for a brass arachnid, particularly if you've got a steamborg, because a stoked steamborg is good for taking down pretty much anything on the board, and even the chance that you might have it can keep your opponant seriously on his guard. When you have games where you can't see a tome in your entire deck, you probably wish you had the toolkit.

I agree: some people like the culture it brings, some don't. Personally I don't, but I'll choose the events I attend with care and try to run more story type events to give variety. I hope that other naysayers will join with me and come up with some campaign/narrative/just plain crazy malifaux events that I'd be delighted to come to - provided i'm not otherwise booked that weekend, obviously, I do have a real life too!

That's a good point, and when we did our 'Intriguing Prospect' event, that was what we tried to do, but I'll be honest, it was a vast amount of work, including taking a week off work to make additional terrain, write individual background/stories for each table. It's hard work, but if more people were up for something similar, I'd be there! A nice idea, it means that if I do get tempted by zee's candy (Now i feel a little unwell) and go to a tournament, then at least I can stand aside to some extent from those who's soul objective is to crush my competitive-at-best ass into the dirt. Or at least discourage them from playing with that attitude against me- which will mean we might play in a slightly different, mutually entertaining spirit.

@mythicfox, I confess that I disagree with your prognosis, but I don't doubt your and your henchmen colleagues' intention to make it work, I'll watch with interest, but I think I'll need to be enticed to attend a ranking tournament, because it makes me very suspicious.

Oh, and having re-read your comments up front MythicFox, i'd say that 'changes the way a significant minority approach tournament/event play' is a significant con, though I accept this is a by-product of the system rather than a direct output, nor am I suggesting that anyone or any of the henchmen posting here would aim for that as a goal.

I think that my experience in rankings tournaments (and that's 40k and Fantasy btw) is that once it becomes about rankings, then the other elements become less important, BECAUSE the bragging rights for a start, so you get the win/loss ratio becoming more important than the I-had-a-great-game-and-it-was-a-loss-but-what-a-cinematic-ending-with-the-final-shootout/melee which is, in all honesty, what I play malifaux for. I'm a competitive at best player, and i'm fine with that, but I don't want to be squeezed out of a scene because I'm not optimising my lists or what have you. From my calculations on the for/against comments, it looks like there are more in favour of that line of thought than against, but perhaps that's because rankings systems cause people to migrate to other games...

I think that's the problem, that even players nowhere near the top move to min-maxing, lack of character, best combos plucked off the net and all the perfidiousness of that type of play. The point is that it changes the character of events. And I've always managed to banter without help...

I have to say that, although I can see why some like it, but I'm always reluctant to get involved in anything with 'rankings', it seems to move away from games where people try to make sure both sides have an enjoyable game to the sort of win at all costs drabness which afflicts the WFB scene so badly. The idea that one can in any way claim to be the number one at any game is a bit flawed anyway. But it's OK, I'll stick to narrative events and less formal environments.

Just added the Clapham Wargamers in London, so now, london gamers, you have no excuses!

Well, I decided my super powers long ago: 1. THe power of incidental music - to impose a quasi-dramatic, upbeat or comedic soundtrack to events and people around me. 2. The power of montage: To undertake time consuming and arduous tasks in the form of a montage from an 80s movie, probably with a James Brown track - that'll be 8 hours work done in 30 seconds: cut to - me on the phone, cut to - me in a meeting, looking very wise, cut to - me at my desk - cut to end of montage, day over. Easy.

I'm very much in the Doctor Ramos room at this party - in terms of the fluff, he's got the power, with the right cards he can double his crew in a few turns, he's hard to kill, and I love the steamborg.

For me I'd like to see Alyce, Killjoy and a Ronin

I agree that the toolkit is nice, but for me the brass arachnid is great - it can advance amongst the swarms pumping out arcing screen, and if you get the cards for stoke it's really really good, and the psychological value of being able to stoke a swarm or a steamborg can make even mcmourning or lady justice worry.

I was interested in how the way Earthside is described changed from using actual names in book one, to using euphemisms in in Rising Powers, so The King's Empire rather than England or the British Empire, or the Three Kingdoms as opposed to China. What was the rationale for that? I found it a little jarring, i'm not sure how others felt though, it may just be me.

Erm, Ramos, I'll just knock up a quick construct, play the political map of Malifaux and make a fortune smuggling. He's Malifaux's mafia don after all.

The brass arachnid legs are probably a better size for the abominations, and actually that boiler body could make a great torso for an abomination...

We're doing well, but we#'ve had one drop out, so if there's a potential lone wolf in the london area, free on the 12th, would be awesome to have you along... Just saying...

Looks like we'll have a few from clapham to take part as well.

Well, I'd probably go for Samael, or Johan come to think of it.

hey Joe, that's great. Check out the varous threads here: http://www.claphamwargamers.org.uk/Forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=7 Let us know if you've got any questions, and look forward to seeing your list and meeting you all in person! Cheers Jay

For me the brass arachnid is always worth it, if only because the fear of a reactivation on a swarm, or the steamborg, can really ruin someone's day, so they're always more nervous about closing - gives me a psychological edge against a lot of regular players.