D_acolyte

Bore to Tears is great vs some crews and factions but vs others it does not have the mileage.

My primary is Neverborn, I have gotten some mileage out of Tannen but reducing him to the +2 mask -2 tomb action does the model a disserves and that seems to be how people think of him. He and Graves make a good combo though. Give Tannen mimics blessing and Graves retribution's eye and it gets fun fast but that is also a good chunk of stones to pay on two models to get one of them to work.

He is a control model that want to be near his enemy and in LOS of them but lacks some survivability which relegates him to utility to most and not into the control area he should be.

Before I get started, if you are wondering why I did not do an “ask an acolyte” this pass month well the reason is that I did not get any questions. I am not sure where I heard this first but I will quote it anyway “he who controls the field wins the battle”. So by shaping the battle we are looking at often controlling how our enemy and the field of combat interacts. This include how they interact with us, themselves and the terrain. Now for the thing you’re all here for. How do you assess a models worth based on how it shape the games? Simply count the number of times you or an enemy do something because of each models. That seems simple right, well no then it comes to how you wait the type of event. The key thing about how a model shapes a game is it not a measure of what a model necessarily do but more about the reaction to the potential the model has. Now how do you figure out how to threaten and shape the field? There is no good answer other than experience but I can get you started. First thing you need to do is an accurate assessment of what alters your play when it is on the board. Remember this does not have to be models that are combat models but ones that would have a negative effect on your crew. For me it is armor or hard to kill, these are the biggest threat to my crew as it slows me down to a crawl and I need to be fast and make fast work of thing. For some crews it is range damage that do not care about cover, as they are moderate health but with rely on the negative flips to save them. I remember one time I played a game as 10 thunders and my enemy tried to hug cover at first vs a samurai and then seeing it did not work ran to engage another model, yes run as in 2 walk not charge. Is this shaping the field, I would say so. To those that play models that like bubble masters or aura base models they tend to fear lures. Once you can understand how to read your crew and see what has an effect on your play we can now look at how to read other crews. It is basically the same principle with a lot of guess work. The next thing is to try and apply models in a way that forces choices or reaction. I cannot stress this enough, sometimes it is hard to know if you are acting or reacting but it is always better to act. In my opinion (this is tautology), about the best way to tell the rather gray line difference is are trying to stop something or do something. An easy example is if you have a model down to 1 wd and your trying to franticly heal it. A gray example is I move to cover 9 inches from a Joss so he cannot charge but no has to take care of me to accomplish an objective. First one is obviously a reaction the second one could be an action or a reaction depending on how it goes, in fact I would call it a calculated non action. In general the models that tend to have the largest effect on enemies are range models early game, not especially snipers, and tanks mid to late game. The reason for this is enemies may move to cover or less then there full move to have an effect on range combat. The reason why snipers tend to shape the board early game less than normal is because they are focusing as well as gaining a 28+ range attack and therefor cover and distance matters less. Tanks start having an effect on games as soon as they get to where they can be a problem, do I want to engage Joss because I will be stuck there until I die or him and he has a better life expectancy than me. Finally the order of activation threat. Understand that in most cases the threat of a model that turn disappears as soon as it activates. After they activate and you are attacking them you are trying to accomplish something or prevent the threat next turn. Generally up until engagement it is better to hold off on some of your threats in you activation order. For instance I will generally activate my Mature Nephilim last turn 1 and may be 2 but early every other turn where Angel Eye goes the opposite way. This is because early game I want her to move and take pot shots while she can but late game because she does not randomize I want her to threaten my enemy as a cleaner, killing models that get close to death in a hopes that they will spend cards or stones to not get close enough to worry about her. I also like running her with mimic blessing to make dealing with her in this role more difficult. I think that is it. As you can see this is just scratching the surface but covers some good ideas. Let me know if you have any questions. I find the armies that tend to be good at threatening are Guild, Neverborn, and Gremlins because of their attack power and secondary actions. Resurs are not bad but often slow but do it more through harmful conditions and control effects. Arcanist have some good options but I feel are more resolute and resilient, which does not mean that they do not shape the field but it changes it; look to December Acolytes and Joss for shaping the field. 10 Thunders and Outcast really depends on their build. Note all control effects are about shaping the field in some way shape or form.

I agree with this guy. I am working on my anti Journalist plans as we speak but that because they are forcing me to consider guild doing something they have not done before. The Phiona Nellie combo did not look particularly strong to me unless I missed something. I do not play vs them but i have an idea of how to stop this combo... It is to Lure and Kill Phiona because lets face it killing Nellie though possibly and would be handy early game is probably not possible unless you have a min damage of 4 or can put a lot of attacks on her. I think to many people on the internet are willing to jump to a NPE conclusion anytime they see a new master from book 4, it is as if they want that to be the case.

Other then checking out the forum because there seem to a thread on her ever other month.... I tend to go with: Pandora with Open Box, Aether connection and then third upgrade varies. I tend to like Wings of Darkness because my meta has a lot of walls and you can not push past them. Poltergeist, I like him as a scheme runner or a close support to make Pandora a little better. Mature Nephilim with Retribution's Eye as armor is about the only thing that will check my advance and this gets around it really well. The list can be rather big of models to look at because Pandora can go synergy heavy or go crew independent rather well, and it also comes down to your meta. Right there that is about 20 stones depending on upgrades. Other models I like are Greed, Young Nephilim (at 6 stones between there mobility and combat they work well), Stitched Together. For more synergy look at Sorrows, Widow Weaver, Insidious madness, and Barbarous with the goal being forcing WP and pining the damage through Pandora and Sorrows. Also always consider Performers, Lust, and models with a Lure, I tend to like having one either to move Pandora or bring others into her tar pit. The only model from her box I do not like with her is Candy, I find it takes a little to much work to make Candy shine in most list as anything but a combat medic at 10 stones. Kade is a little iffy but I find it is the rest of the list that decide if I want him or not. Iggy.... Though not in the box I feel he needs to be looked at taking for 2 reasons. With mimics blessing or depression he is 6 stones which makes him among the cheapest models that can count in Show of Force across the whole game. The second one is if you are going to be dealing with Riders there trigger to reduce damage does not work from burning damage, I have seen some one cring when a rider gained 8 points of burning in one activation (1 base+3 for the trigger (base tomb, depression giving me a tomb, and the flip)).

I would take her another heavy beater, I like the mature nephilim and they are a threat first and most of second turn. You come to close and I pounce on you as you go for X markers.

As far as him in Neverborn now, Lucius did not need the terracotta warriors as the depleted serve a similar role without taking an upgrade and being cheaper. I am thinking of him, 2 of the undead wolves, emissary, 2 of the knights (Claw and not sure who else), depleted and some upgrades to come out about 46-48 stones. Probably will not do great but might do well. Replaced the scribe with a depleted, knew I forgot something.

Lets face it as far as totems goes, Earl is rather good. Between healing constructs, giving masks and being immune to a good number of things he is a nice support model and all you need to do is get him in the right place before it is to late. As for Zipp, it depends on the scheme pool but often I ignore him and kill all the others.

The issue is not that he is not bringing Earl along it is that generally ending his placements afterwards near still leaves him in danger from something. Also Earls aura requires him to activate and through it up, which means you might not be using him to heal others.

I keep killing/winning vs Zipp but have noticed a few things. I eventually want to do a post about each of the new masters and how we can beat them as there general releases show up, for some I have not played vs I want to do it in the same month. What I have found with Zipp is not taking out Earl but rather the Skeeters and Sparks. Slow down the rest of his force, Zipp is a pain and hard to pin down but if he is trying to say by Earl that limits him some; where the rest is of his crew will scatter. If they scatter we have a good chance of loosing the mobility game. Also Retribution eye on a heavy hitter, if you discard it when you want to charge zipp he can then do no defensive or wp triggers.

I like hitting them hard and fast, the 2 gremlin players I play vs tend to crumble in on themselves after loosing a tough model early like Gracie turn 1. Vs roosters, I like shooting them while they are closer to the enemy then me, thank you angel eyes. I do not play Zoraida but I know she still works well with a mature nephilim. I am going to working on an anti Zipp post soon as I have played vs him a fare bit.

The child has 7 options this week and I am stating my thought assuming she will end up Neverborn: Modifications of Her: Guild gets her a harpoon, I am meh on that. Arcanist teaches her to repair, that can be useful with Collodi and some of our constructs while being different from the widow weaver. Outcast gets her a gun and a vow to kill Rusty, I really like this one but it means she might become outcast which I can not except. Modification to teddy: Reser gives teddy a gravity well generator from Lovelace, cool but meh as we have a lot of pushes that we can use on our or enemy models to counter other people pushes. Gremlin get's the kid trippy for a bit and gives teddy poisonous claws, a Neverborn poison crew anyone. 10T causes the teddy to be more protective of the child and to shred souls, I love this as it means we have another good damage dealers vs incorporeal stuff (something I feel we have problems with). Coming home to NB lets teddy eat souls to gain power, I am meh on this as I feel it will add more book keeping to the model similar to the reser nephilim. What I want is a 10T, Outcast or Arcanist win this week fallowed by her joining the Neverborn at the end. I feel all 3 either have interesting story options or bring something to our faction. I could also live with a gremlin victory this week. What do people want to happen?

I totally for got about primordial magic, yes I do not often take him either.

Retribution's Eye: for 1 stone you ignore armor on all attacks and may discard the upgrade at the beginning of your turn to ignore Df and Wp triggers during your activations. I sure there are others but I tend not to play ones I see as "common ones" for neverborn. I often take a mature nephilim and Lust. I will sometimes take a stichtogether or Widow Weaver. I often skip Nekima and Doupleganger. I feel Tooth has a good chance at becoming common.

I almost always point people to the nephilim box as it has 2 decent scheme runners and combat models in the young and a big heavy hitter in the mature. Sure Nekima can use stones but the mature can have our enforcer upgrades and has a further charge threat. The whole box is 23 stones, of which I tend to bring 12-17 most games. Do not let people fool you into thinking Nekima is so much better that you should never look at the mature. For The Dreamer I would say you will want Stiches, Lelu & Lilutu as those 3 are the models I summon the most. Madnesses are ok, I tend to buy them when I want a pure scheme runner but we are Neverborn, we sort of have the market cornered on cheep scheme runners. After that you can not go wrong with a Teddy or Widow Weaver. The Dreamer is about the only master I do not run the nephilim box with constantly, and even then it is not supper unusual for me to grab both the young with him. Lynch needs the beckoners, otherwise depleted are a tar pit and everything else is optional. I would say Tannen and Graves are good in general but not needed for Lynch. Pandora, I tend to think she can be a crew neutral master because the crew can helper do her stuff but is not needed for it. I would look at Widow Weaver, Madnesses, Mature Nephilim or Teddy (I like the mature but teddy has good interaction with kade), she could probably do well with the banraku that will be coming out. For the most part even those dated buying guides are good to fallow because we did not get much that is like "OMG, I NEED THAT" and all our old stuff is "YA SOLID, 5X5". Sorry been around some people to long. If I use a wave 3 model then it is normally a member of the crossroad or from the starter box and rarely more then 2 though both of those are good buys (I like crossroad more). Of what are in those boxes my top 4 are: Lust, Scion of Black Blood, Greed, Bloodwretches though I have started using Angel Eye more because of book 4 having a lot I will want to kill from range. I got changling last week and will try them out but not super excited about them and I will get the banraku because they look like they will be fun. The emissary I will get but probably skip over him in a lot of games and I am not even bothering with the dogs till I get Lucius to do a theme crew, we have enough at that level. Wave 4 I am excited about the undead wolves. The bandersnatch will be had because The Dreamer can summon it and the will o wisp might be bout eventually, I feel they are really dependent on what else I plan on taking. I tend not to take a doupleganger because of not having enough I am will to take out for it but she should defiantly be some where on your top 5 things to buy after a master box.

Gnomezilla, go home you are drunk or do I have to call Dr. Grimwell for you.

Graves and Tannen are neverborn skinwalkers or skinshifter, I do not have my first ed book on me but I will check.

Killing Zipp is a spoiler??? I thought it was the right thing to do, it felt right. So I will say with use having 2 victories with the child I am fine with her going to boarding school else where as long as she comes back to where she knows her true home is. I recommend Leveticus School for the Gifted Young, the kimono shop or the dreaded Ortegas (outcast, 10 thunders or Guild). Of those I only have 10 thunders so I may switch up and play as them for the kid this week. As for the man I want him to work for Lucius but I am not sure I want that more then I want the Trickster to meet The Dreamer as it sound like a fun read. Altimatly I want the child to come home to her true factions, the neverborn. The other 2 can learn some of our tricks but should go else where, I hope the man goes guild and is a mimic for Lucius.

Looked at it, the UK site is a start.

I will look at the UK rankings. By large I mean 20+ people or magor events like the Vagas tournament.

I got access to SAS again and trying to prep for it basic certification so I will be making a few data sets. One thing that interest me is the results from the nation championships or any large tournaments. If you know where I can get the info on there results please link it below. I am hoping for Year, Championship Name, Faction, Placing, Total Points, Differential. I would love more info like masters played, opponent faction, and opponent master but I do not think that is reasonable or capable of gaining currently. If I see anything interesting I will post it. Thank you.

I do not think anyone is calling in to question yours or the guest credentials (I know that I have listen to just about everything you post no matter which faction it is for) or anything it is just some of us where underwhelmed. When he said he ran her with only swamp fiend I was actually curious on why; what synergy did I miss, what logic for that because I tend to think of her as a crew neutral master most of the time. What I got as an answered is Bad Juju is the reason why. For the most part it felt like he was saying that you could replace the master with anyone and it will run about as well which caused it to feel less like a master spot light and more like how can Neverborn do schemes with a salting of a master and as that it was great. Also for the most part that crew could be used in the gremlin faction as well with Tarot Reading and only recently added a model that could not be used with Zoraida in the gremlin faction because of the Widow Weaver.

I would recommend Sonia, Rasputina, just about any outcast, Shenlong, Collodi. So Sonia, Rasputina, Leveticus and Collodi are viable distance masters. Shenlong can make ten thunder shooters focus for a zero action. Any outcast works because convict gunslingers, specialists, trappers, Rusty Alice and Lazarus are all good range model that can work well with most any master. Same goes with most guild and a lot of the gremlins. Collodi is probably the oddest recommendation, so I will explain that some. Neverborn may not have a lot of attacks but they do have some nice attacks that do not have or , to name 3 models that have it: Stich Together, Widow Weaver, Collodi. Then there are a few useful shooters: Iggy, Angel Eye, Scion of Black Blood. Add to this that Trappers and a few other models are mercs and range minions so Collodi/Dreamer/Lucius can all support them with there support actions. I also would point out I find static armies tend to be weaker in Malifaux then in Warhammer 40k or other games. Generally a static force will miss out on points needed to win, it is better I find to do a run and gun force.

So often after listening I will think, I want to play this or buy it for latter play. This time I thought, "what is the point to this it not the master but the henchmen he is building around."