D_acolyte

Who knows, lets see if I have the time to do it or you can.

I played in a league and got a grab bag of gremlins: a box of gators, rooster riders, the sow and just Wong. I also have Bert. As I am opposed of having models I can not play what 1-2 masters boxes or some add on would you all think are good.

Deepends on how out of the Ten Thunders you want to go. I find the metal gamin are still a solid choice even though they got a hit a while ago but you already have them. I also like the idea of Sparks if you are going construct heavy because he can give them fast. Next the shadow effigy and komainu are also good as one helps with scheme and the other can damage and give burning that Mei likes. Finally I love ten thunder archers with her because they do not randomize into mellee and that is a big thing for me as I run most all my crews as brawler hyper aggressive crews.

My father and I got into a conversation about which faction are the strongest in a tournament. He thought it was still neverborn I thought it was gremlins. To address this I decided to look at data from tournaments, there are 2 things I am looking at. The first is simply distribution of faction and the second is there as sign that one or more factions will place more often in the top 3 of a tournament. The theory is what do people tend to think will do in tournaments vs what actually is doing well in the tournaments. My inclusion criteria is the tournament must have the year date in it or have 20 or more participants and no missing data on http://usa.malifaux-rankings.com/#/events as of November 30. Data on the name of the players was discarded. I am trying to get annual tournaments or tournament that are not just there gaming club. Of this I have 27 tournaments in USA and 455 people. Table 1.1 Table of Frequency of Faction Faction Frequency Percent Arcanist 84 18.46 Guild 62 13.63 Gremlins 59 12.97 Neverborn 77 16.92 Outcast 56 12.31 Resurrectionist 67 14.73 Ten Thunders 50 10.99 This shows that the most played factions are the Arcanist fallowed by the Neverborn. If all factions are played evenly then we should see about 65 for each faction. Where numbers like the amount of Resurectionist and guild is probably indicative of this the fact that Arcanists and Neverborn are over 10 higher than 65 and ten thunders is over 10 lower than 65 shows that there may be a belief in how these faction perform in the competitive seen. Next I will be looking at which factions tend to get placed in the top 3. Table 2.1: Table of Frequency of Faction in the Top 3 Faction Frequency Percent Arcanist 15 0.185185 Guild 9 0.111111 Gremlins 16 0.197531 Neverborn 5 0.061728 Outcast 13 0.160494 Resurrectionist 14 0.17284 Ten Thunders 9 0.111111 Raw numbers it looks like out of 81 placements we should see about 11 to 12 places per a faction. This looks like gremlins may be the strongest. Raw numbers are only part of the story. Table 3.1: Table of Frequency of Percent in the Top 3 Based on their Faction Occurrence. Faction Frequency of Occurrence Frequency in Top 3 Percent in Top 3 Arcanist 84 15 0.178571429 Guild 62 9 0.14516129 Gremlins 59 16 0.271186441 Neverborn 77 5 0.064935065 Outcast 56 13 0.232142857 Resurrectionist 67 14 0.208955224 Ten Thunders 50 9 0.18 As we can see a lot of these faction are about 20% penetration based on their population of being in the top three. The question then becomes are any of these statistically different. The answer is yes; note that for this because people life are not on the line I would use a relaxed inclusion criteria of .1 instead of the standard .05. The a logistic regression of faction predicting if you are in the top 3 has a P value of .08. Both Neverborn and Gremlins when compared to Ten Thunders are different with a P value of .0078 and .0374 respectively. This simple model of faction predicting if you are in the top 3 accounts for .62% of the variation in the data. Though I am not a fan of making use of P values as I find they over simplify this all the point estimates and confidence intervals are a little crazy. The Odds Ratio Point Estimate of such as for Neverborn Vs Ten Thunders is between from .99 to 10.07 for it 95% confidence interval. What does this mean, Ten Thunders are somewhere between .99 times to 10 times more likely of getting into the top 3 when compared to Neverborn. Addressing bias real quick. First the fact that I used .1 and not .05 as an inclusion criteria, this can have a looser degree of scrutiny as the negatives of being wrong are slight. Next is my use of predicting in the top 3, I did look at models that use 75 point or higher and models that did the top quartile which was actually about 73.4. In the end I decided top 3 would be less bias or subject to personal influence as most people I know can agree that top 3 is the placing goal in a tournament. I found months also did not matter in various models. Further area of study. I would love to get data on the Masters used, the faction they fought, the strategy, and the points scored or differential from each round. Later looking at this by years and see if that causes a difference could be interesting. I might be looking at UK data latter but getting it usable is a pain as I have to manually fill in the factions. If you have any question I will put them in the bottom.

I do not think mercenary are needed mechanic wise but fluff wise sure.

Maps are never finalized, they are only changing. One day a nation is born and another day a nation is no more.

I want a force from other realms not just earth, malifaux and the between.

So far I am still with the cult, the portals sound interesting. I have watched it a few time just so I can pause and read things. The other option for me is anything but the kings empire.

The trick to building out a tool box for a summoner such as Nicodem or Molly is not to buy it all at once but instead go with what you think you will summon the most. For instance if I had to list 3 common summons I would tell you that belles, flesh constructs and Punk Zombies are good for Nicodem and do not take supper high cards at a 9, 10 or 11 of crow. For Molly going down the horror rout drowned, punk zombies and guild autopsy are all good to start with. Then if you are to limit it down I would tell you punk zombies as they are a good combat summon. You go from summoning one or two models and increase it over time as you say "it has been a month or 3 and I really want to be able to summon X type of model," that how you increase your summoning pool with toolbox summoners. By the end of a year you may have all the summons or all the ones you really care about/use often. Schemes and Stones has a post about building on a budget, I would recommend at least looking at it: https://schemesandstones.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/building-on-a-budget-ressurectionists/

I love Lust for her movement tricks and Greed is a troll hitting what is for most masters a finite resource (soul stones). Wrath would be good if he was not in Neverborn, the Neverborn factions have a lot of models that can do a lot of damage for the same cost or can go higher for some brutal melee.

For the most part I will skip the ones you have because I figure you already know them better then me. Most masters can do or lead a crew that can do most schemes. My recommendation is to look at the drapes, I mean the other models/masters in a faction to decide which you would like. I often would say if you are looking to your master to run schemes then it is dire and something went way wrong or way right. Reser wise Nicodem, Kirai and Molly tend to be very strong summoners. Of them I would say Kirai has the "most" trouble with some schemes because most tend to like to keep models in her bubble. Nicodem is not fast but can make your force more mobile or summon where he want. Molly similar to Kirai tends to like things in a bubble near her but also has one of the best scheme runners in the game. Seamus and McMourning tend to be very mobile masters with various actions. McMourning like to poison people but also has a 0 action to push another model and place a scheme mark. I can not talk to much about Seamus as I tend not to see him. Yan Lo can be fun but takes a works, in some ways if your looking for just a master that can do a little of everything he is probably it. He has a movement trick, can bring ancestors back to life, become more survivable mid game and can work with spirits. If you take him I would recommend no more then 3 ancestors at a time. If your new to the game do not run Tara, one you will get less the feel of the resurs or the outcast and two she can get very complicated with activation order and her tricks. The most restrictive masters on your collection of them will be Kirai, Molly and Tara. In the outcast. Leveticus and Victoria is supper killy but the Vics are more mobile. Parker is very mean in scheme marker heavy pools so probably not what you are going for. Hamelin messes with your enemy plan by preventing charges or making rats. He shines if all your enemies are near him. Jack is a non killy masters and I tend to see him with non killy crews but they can do a lot of scheming and movement tricks. Can you refine what you want in a generalist master? For instance do you want a combat master or something else? There are 19 different schemes and 5 different strategies some of this comes down to know what you want to play for. Also are you playing GG2016 or the main book schemes and strats?

MASON TAKE MY MONEY!!

Please end after Christmas, if I do this and KDM before Christmas I will get shot by someone in my family. It would be justified but I would rather do this and not get shot.

Rebellions are a thing. They are already upsetting there world, why not upset it more.

I will probably be going for the Cult.

I am really happy with how the factions look and how they are different from Malifuax. There is no ten thunders, resurs or outcast. I think this makes a lot of sense. The Ten Thunders are abandoning the Three Kingdoms, though if they add them later to TOS it would still be interesting. Next Resurs really need a world with lots of magic to make there troopers, could there be one coming latter or maybe a sub set of another faction to come sure that could work. I wanted to see a Prussian army or Spanish one but I think going with Abyssinian Empire being Africa base is rather interesting and cool it also gives the game some scope, this is not just a European problem. Other thing (unfounded speculation of the future) I could see doing an American army. This could be USA, Canada, Central America, Native Americans or a combination of any of them. I do think either an Indian or Three Kingdom army could all be interesting especially as human faction that expanded based on magic or traditions instead of technology. May be we will see a Three Kingdom army as a force using this to rebel vs both the Guild and the Three Kingdom: Japan may be? Like I said I like to see another army for Europe. That is one I do not think will happen. I think we will see 2 more human faction based on geographic empires and maybe another monster faction. So who would I play? Cult of the Burning Man. They are sort of ab human, which I tend to not be a huge fan of humans so that sort of works. I like upclose and personally fights and speed so them being hit and run works well for me. They have magic, I tend to like having that a lot. Only thing better would be demonic knights or the inquisition and a few others. I suspect my brother will go Abyssinian Empire and my father would go King’s Empire and a friend will go Gibbering Horde. My one complaint is with the Gibbering Horde or rather the Deep One army. With them and the Cult of the Burning Man I feel we have to much Lovecraftian Mythos here and of the 2 I see a lot more deep ones in gaming. Carnevale even has a faction of them.

I am still a fan of running her with any of our other big beaters, I would skip Nekima as you will want your stones for either prevention or getting the suits you want. Performers are good. I have ran her with a Mature Nephilim, Tooth, Claw and then it is a matter of filling in gaps. Sarrows, Insidious Madness, or any scheme runners. My go to scheme runner is young nephilim because of flight and being combat capable. Widow Weaver is also fun. I am not a fan of her henchmen but she is still ok but if you want another model that shoots into combat go with Hans, Anna or Angel Eyes. I tend to take Queens Champion and it almost always end up on one of the knights. I need to run her with Bunraku soon.

More guild Woes, Neverborn Spirits and I would expect some suring up of the new masters subtypes. We may see some new master upgrades. I also really want more Cult of Decembers. I love the idea of an Alice in Wonderland crew for the neverborn.

Let me know how that goes.

So looking at what is done the Man will probably go Arcanist and the Child Trickster can come with us. I will be focusing on them. Note we may still get one of the two even if we do not win them this week. Child Victories: Guild teaches her and Teddy to kill the undead. Resurectionist lets Teddy tear apart corpses better. Arcanists gives Teddy flaming claws. Neverborn lets use see another side to the Widow Weaver and increases Teddy's horror dual. Outcast lets her channel entropic magic better. Gremlin has Zipp steal the kid. Ten thunders has the child become addicted to brilliance and see things beyond the normal world. I only like the guild and the neverborn ending for the child, yes bad things happen but that does not mean they should. The scenario is to bring the child to your side of the board through an interaction but you will also take a 2/3/4 hit from the small Teddy. Sounds simple. Trickster Guild sounds like she gains the ability to remove cover or terrain. Resurectionist gives protection from black blood and hazardous environmental effects. Sounds like the Arcanists gives her some deployment tricks. Neverborn the ability to manipulate black blood. Outcast sounds like a summoner, like they need one. Gremlin leaves her with the power to get everyone drunk. Ten thunders shows her letting people use flaming weapon. The objective is to have disguised models interact with her or to have Nytemare kill something. I really can only think of guild, ten thunders, and outcast with a lot of disguised models. Who do you want. I want the Child preferably with a neverborn or guild victory but still overall going to the neverborn.

So here is a fun one. Apparently my brother who plays with snipers more thinks they influence the field a lot and that there main purpose where I who never run them but always see them on the other side of the table think I will just make a target rich environment and something will get through. What do you all think? I did play with Hans this past week end at a tournament with a lot of 2-3 terrain on the table and my enemy basically hid out behind it. Just about all of the terrain on that table was Ht2+ hard cover blocking.

A tournament I am going to this week end is doing all the games from the divergent path games, who would you use in Tome Hunt. I am thinking Lilith or Lynch. Tomb hunt is the one where you take damage after making a Ca action = to you shhh condition which increases before you take the damage so some of our masters like Collodi and Pandora are really hurt by that. first ca = 1 shhh and 1 damage, 2nd ca = 2 shhh, 2 damage, and total damage is 3, and so on.

Off of my limited experience: It is not a Lure like the Lure action more like a reverse gobble you up. Medium range 8 and it pushes the enemy to you instead of moves them to you, note this is the same distance as the models charge threat.. It is also vs DF so some enemies will be harder then the standard Lure. It is still useful, especially vs big things like teddy or Izamu but it does not replace a true Lure model though outside of Lynch taking beckoners your fishing for suits with the Oirans. Retract will probably not be used to give other models focus when it dies. The reason for this is because I see a good tern being (0)Obscene Preparation, cheat in an 8 of tombs for the Sharpened to a Point trigger, Snatch and auto stab stab stab trigger, spend your focus on the attack from stab stab stab and then make another attack. Doing so means it does not have focus when it dies. Bunraku are nice little models for a mix of pushes and combat. Snatch is really good if you have others to fallow up and charge the model you brought in.

So yesterday I finally got in a game using a Bunraku. These guys are almost like combat lure models, sacrificing the range of there effect for more reliable damage and defense. I got a good amount of work out of the guy just from him not dieing when I need him to live while being in the front line. He also was fairly reliable on his hitting. The two most hit/miss things where his 0 action focus and getting the infect trigger. What are other people experience. I ran: Collodi with Breathe Life, Threads of Fate, and Fated Widow Weaver with Hand Bag 1 Bunraku 2 Mannequins Arcane Effigy Brutal Effigy Coryphée Beckoner I won my game 7 to 5 vs a Kirai. Normally I would have brought a Stitched Together but wanted to try out the Bunraku and though there rolls are different I think he did very well in the game. I still had 4 models with Ca attacks so lacking Gamble For Your Life was fine.

My MVP for 10 Thunders is Bettari, the fact that you can not use Df or Wp triggers near her has really helped in my fights vs models like Zipp. I will probably take her in most lists. For Neverborn.... Do masters count, I have been having such a blast playing Titania.