Ropetus

Pandora's box set works very well without any additional models. The models synergize quite nicely with each other and they fit perfectly for a 25 SS game. In case you want to expand, you will be happy to find out that most models that work well with Pandora, are also great with the Dreamer, such as Teddy, Stitched Together and the upcoming Insidious Madness.

Lilith's box set is also very nice but she really needs Young Nephilim as well to get the most out of her Terror Tots.

-Ropetus

In addition to her boxed set, Kirai definitely wants 5 Seishin as those things keep her alive. In addition to those, some Gaki for summoning and her Totem (released this month) should get you well started.

-Ropetus

Pandora is a Master with a really unique playstyle. She focuses on Willpower based attacks to drive her enemies crazy and slowly drain them to death. She loathes melee and relies totally on spells and special abilities. You can build the Crew around her to be melee based but Pandora is still the main actress on the stage.

If you don't like Lady J or Lilith and want melee, have you looked at the Resurrectionists? Most of the zombies are pure melee beatsticks. McMourning is very melee centric but still has some tricks up his sleeve, such as summoning Flesh Constructs. His Box set does not tend to work too well alone, but some Canine Remains or Necropunks should fix that nicely. Nicodem can also run a nasty melee Crew, where he acts as the backfield commander buffing and reinforcing his Undead grunts very efficiently. He works well with all Undead models. Resurrectionists can also hire some very tricksy models such as Belles which can force your enemies to move to you.

-Ropetus

you should note that the the Fate Deck does not include Tombs, only Tomes . There definitely are some Tombs in Malifaux but not in the Fate Deck no...

What I would like to know is: What does Marcus need high :tomes for? He has all the :tomes he needs for Cb and Df Triggers built in and he can Trigger Surge out of only Wild Heart and Feral, the first is better cast with a low :tomes and the latter is very rarely used. Alpha cannot Trigger it without a lucky Soulstone flip. Marcus usually only needs one low to medium :tomes for Wild Heart and that's it.

At least I think the Raptors look like a fine investment. You would preferably activate them after Marcus has moved into position with Stare Down active and target the big nasty models with them. Those usually have a lowish Df making it relatively easy to hit. Even if they don't accomplish much in combat, they only cost one SS more than a Silurid and this purchase gives you three very fast objective grabbers.

Besides, the point of Enrage seems to be card drain for your opponent. Enraged enemies will either turn close to useless with active Stare Down and Enrage, discard cards to get rid of the effect or cheat to dodge the Raptor attacks. If I can make my opponent discard most of their Control hand to a few attacks from my cheapest models, I think they have done their job.

-Ropetus

If there's one thing that Fear Not Death should prevent it's the Death Marshals fleeing from the creatures they're meant to hunt and destroy!

This one has always bugged me from a background point of view. The Death Marshals' background would suggest they should be less prone to flee from undead. I can so imagine a conversation like this:

Soldier: "All Hail! They have sent us some reinforcements!"

Death Marshal: "We are the fearless Death Marshals! We have come to purge the land from the vile undeath!"

Commander: "Cool. How about you start by slaying that three headed undead monstrosity right behind you?"

Death Marshal: "MOMMY!"

Commander: "Uh, I thought you guys were supposed to Fear not Death?"

Death Marshal: "Yea, we do, but that one is TERRIFYING! Bring me some undead hookers any day over that one!"

Commander: "sigh..."

But yes, according to the rules, there is no attacker or defender in the simple Duel when testing against Terrifying. Fear not Death and Stubborn do not apply.

If the model with Fear not Death is resisting a Spell that counts as a Morale Duel that was cast by an Undead model, then yes. (Of which there are none at this time.)

There is Madame Sybelle's Shriek which causes a Morale Duel in addition to damage. Fear not Death should help against that one.

-Ropetus

It's a way for it to move around the table. You don't get any extra actions for using Multiply. The main point of it though is to bring the Jackalope back after being killed, therefore making it almost totally expendable. Remember any Beast is fine so you can turn an enemy into a Beast with Marcus and Jackalope will return when that model is killed.

The Jackalope is a bargain for 1 SS. It does crazy damage when charging for a model that cheap.

-Ropetus

Since sacrificing a body part gives McMourning "Fast", my assumption is that you can only take advantage of this ability once per activation. I've heard (and probably misinterpreted) the idea that McMourning can slice, gain a counter, use fast to slice again, gain a counter, slice again, etc., but I don't know how true that is.

Fast does not stack with itself. A model will only benefit from one extra AP regardless of how many times Fast is applied on it. Also, the (+1) part means you only get one extra AP from it.

In the future, please post Rules Questions in the Rules Discussion area. After using the search function of course.

-Ropetus

Models always have LoS to themselves.

-Ropetus

There are times you won't want to be running the proxy.

Negative. The way Morale works at the moment a model failing a Morale Duel is out of the game for 2-3 turns: 1 when it falls back, 1 when it rallies (in case opponent is clever and takes advantage of the "no movement" restriction) and then likely one more to get back into action. Usually the game is over by then so they could just as well have been killed by the Proxy .

However, I personally have found Witchlings and Dispel Magic to be a better way to deal with insane Morale Duels. Just dispel the Falling Back state from your models and you're good to go. Only costs one action from a 4 SS model and a medium card.

Sadly the Purifying Flame has little advantages over the Proxy. Governor's Decree, better survivability (enemies don't like attacking the Proxy as it might kill them as well) and the increased Wp are all superior to the speed, ranged attack and minor annoyances the Flame has. If only it had a :tomes instead of :rams for Ca (like the Nephilim has :masks ) then it would be great for Sonnia. But it's not that much worse so using it is just fine. It's no Malifaux Child .

-Ropetus

Just played with my Sonnia vs. my friend's Dreamer Crew yesterday and gotta agree it was brutal. Still lost the game due to him being able to complete his Destroy Evidence strategy round 1 (darn those nightmares are fast!) but any other and he would have been toast.

Sonnia might be the best model in the game for taking out the Dreamer as she has one of the easiest way around Shadowy Form: Arcane Seeker combined with Flame Burst. She can ignore LoS to target the Dreamer so blocking LoS to the Nightmares (if there is no suitable terrain, toss a Flame Wall right in front of her) makes them untargetable, thus the Dreamer does not have eligible Nightmare targets around and with 2 Df and 3 Wd he won't last long against a Flame Burst Bombardment.

Witchling Stalkers and Sonnia casting Inferno and Flame Wall next to her models makes melee costly for the Nightmares. Propably the best bet is to tie Sonnia in melee with something tough (Teddy works nicely) to prevent her from casting Flame Burst.

-Ropetus

There is a separate Vulture Totem model, the one on his arm is a decoration pice. However, Nicodem can get two Vultures (which is great since then they get that much more of the board covered) so you could easily base the one on his arm on a separate base to act as a second Totem if you don't want to have duplicate models. There is also a Vulture in the Graveyard Accessories set (I think it's identical to the one on Nicodem) along with some decorations for your models in case you want to keep the one on Nico's arm.

-Ropetus

Nicodem's box set is quite simple for starters really. Punk Zombies hit crazy hard in melee and are relatively durable, especially when bolstered by Nicodem. Nicodem is your swiss army knife, protecting your crew from ranged attacks, healign and buffing your zombies, adding some ranged support and generally being mean to your enemy. Mortimer is a versatile support model with a few useful abilities. There are not many overly complex tricks in the box set, though you might feel lacking in summonable models (it's Nicodem's specialty).

For additional purchases you can't really go wrong with any Undead model. Nicodem is good with any of them (Bolster). Mindless Zombies are a given for his Arise ability, Crooked Men add some board control and ranged attacks, many also like Belles and Canines for cheap units. Hanged are nice as well, driving your opponent nuts with their Morale attacks, though being a Spirit is a little anti-synergistic with Nico as he likes getting corpses from all models. Also make sure you grab his Totem: Nico can cast spells through the Vulture. This greatly adds to his range, which is nice as he is quite slow.

-Ropetus

Defend Me! does not change any attributes of the attack. It will still count as melee/ranged/magical/whatever and all abilities governing that type of attack still apply. You can reduce the damage with Armor, Bulletproof, Magic Resistance etc. Same applies to all abilities of the attacker, so redirecting the attack of a charging McMourning to a Mole might be a bad idea at times.

-Ropetus

1. Check the updated V2 (V3 for Levi) cards (see topic in Wyrd Announcements section). Levi is not summoned, but placed so he does not suffer Slow. Besides, he would not have been Slow even with the old wording. Models receive Slow if they activate during the same round they are summoned, not for being summoned. Levi was summoned during the Closing Phase and never activates during the same round.

2. Waifs are not always summoned. If Levi and the Waif both survive a round, you don't get to summon it. Still, this makes no difference as the Waifs can never activate the same round they are summoned.

3. Counters are never removed from the board when a model is removed from play.

-Ropetus

I mean, contrast "Get the Stick" with "Fetch", it doesn't seem the discard is necessary for the gaining, but if possible, must be performed?

Incorrect. Effects of all actions must be completed one sentence at a time. If a sentence is impossible to execute, further effects of the action don't happen.

Same thing applies to actions like raising new models with Resurrectionist Masters and growing Nephilim. You cannot complete those actions without first sacrificing the appropriate counters.

-Ropetus

Perdita is a bit special master in the sense that she is very independent and has very few inbuilt synergies with other models. Essentially she is a solo Master who runs around the battlefield alone and shoots stuff to death, relying on her high stats and Wp immunity to keep her alive. Therefore she can work well with almost any other model.

Other family members share the Companion ability with her which allows multiple Ortegas to activate at once. She is completely viable even without any family support though. If you think you can live without Companion, other Ortegas are not a must in any way.

One model you definitely want to add is her Totem. It's very cheap at 2 SS and can cast Obey better than Perdita herself thanks to masked Ca. You can do wonders with granting extra actions to your minions. In a pinch it can provide a nasty surprise in melee.

-Ropetus

Welcome to Malifaux and Guild!

1) Definitely Lucius has most synergy with the Guards. He has plenty of abilities that enhance their combat abilities and is pretty much meant to be played with a Guardsman Crew.

However, other Masters can also benefit from them. Guild has many ranged attackers and the Guardsmen can drop impassable terrain to prevent enemy melee models reaching them. Perdita or Sonnia will appreciate this very much. With Lady Justice they can prevent some enemies from moving and thus protect her from getting overwhelmed in melee.

2) First thing to know about them is: if you take them, take a bunch. Half their abilities require there to be other Guardsmen around. A lone Guardsman is far less useful than a group of them.

Their most useful abilities are law enforcing, as in controlling where your opponent can move. Halt! and Menace can be used to stop a single model while Cordon drops an impassable line between two Guards. This is the main reason to take more than one as a single Guard cannot utilize this spell.

They are ok in combat. While Stalkers are great in melee, ok shooters and Death Marshals good ranged attackers and ok melee, Guards fall inbetween these two. Better than Witchlings in ranged and better than Marshals in melee. They have Armor which is a rare ability for Guild models so they are actually quite durable for Guild models.

Guards are good for the front lines to slow and bog down our enemies.

-Ropetus

Even if Pandora did not have Open the Box and the construct didn't have Immune to Influence, they would be forced to fall back even if immune to Moral Duels. The reason is, Constructs Undead etc are just immune to the Moral Duel and not the effects that come after it like Falling Back. You would have to SPECIFICALLY be immune to Falling Back in order to avoid this trigger. Constructs and Undead would though be Immune to the "counts as losing a Moral Duel" part IMHO because they are immune to that type of duel to begin with. But again, that is 100% a moot point as The Box Open strips away all their Immunity to Moral Duels and honestly, I would not even begin to want to argue what would happen if she did not have The Box Opens. Leave that till another time, or ask Sketch or Kel directly for a ruling on that.

Hmmm, I have always understood that falling back is always the cause of a failed Morale Duel (at least after the latest Errata this has been added to all sources of fall back that didn't mention it earlier). Therefore "Morale Immune" would also make you "Fall Back Immune" (which absolutely makes sense, and I don't think there is anything in the game with immunity to fall back specifically). I could be wrong so I'll have to check the Rulebook when I get home. Or just wait for Sketch to give us a ruling.

After all, Pandora could get stripped of her Box by an opposing Zoraida Hexing her or opposing Marcus casting Alpha on allied Zoraida in a Brawl to Hex her. Hence the question is relevant .

And there are similarly worded abilities like Cerberus Roar which still should not make Morale immune models to run as far as I know.

-Ropetus

All right then so does "count as morale duel" refer to the originally failed Wp resistance duel, or does it refer to a second duel, unflipped-for and automatically failed (causing one more Wd). Furthermore, would a construct, undead, nightmare, etc be immune to it since it is a morale duel?

It refers to the original Duel, which now also counts as a Morale Duel. There is no such thing as a second Duel which fails without a flip.

Undead, Constructs, Nightmares, Spirits and other things are immune due to their characteristics. However, Pandora's "The Box Opens" talent will remove this immunity so they will be affected.

-Ropetus

I have used them a few times with Rasputina and I can say I like them. Rasputina can support them very well with her spells: they really like December's Touch and Ice Pillars for cover. However, you should bring at least 3 of them at once. Only one Pride does not really cut it.

Their defenses are not very good. Early game, they will rely on Harmless stopping attacks or at least drawing moderate cards away from the opponent. However, they are fairly easy to hide from ranged attacks with their Ht 1 and Pass Through. Area attacks are no problem with Evasive.

If you get them to melee in one piece they will be a lot of trouble for your opponent. 2/4/6 damage from a 5 point model is very good and if they get their trigger off, it's insanely powerful. Most things don't have Armor after all. However, try to avoid counter attacks. They will slow down a lot when they get hurt. Even one Wd suffered will drop their weak damage to 1 so getting them to combat at full health is key. Luckily they can heal after killing a model.

The reason to take more than one is Devour + Voracious. Keeping them close by means your opponent pretty much has to kill off the one they engage or they risk getting eaten alive. Ca 6 is huge as the average Df is 4-5. Try to conserve any high Crows is your Control hand for these kittens when facing living models. This should be easy as Crows are a rare suit in Arcanist models' triggers and spells (mostly Tomes and Masks are needed by other models).

I have not found them that useful with Marcus as they don't really synergize well with him (Marcus has no ways to aid their survival like Raspy does). Silurids are better models for his hit-and-run playstyle for the same price. Hoarcats can't really keep the pace with him to be used as main offensive units. Marcus plays best with Silurids + Molemen in my experience.

-Ropetus

EDIT:

I think the issue is Marcus is probably the least played Master and Rasputina relies a lot on Ice Mirror which can't be used through them.

Rasputina has Ice Queen ability which gives Frozen Heart to everyone within 4" so you can Ice Mirror through Hoarcats too. You just lose 2" of range compared to Ice Gamin. You get the same range by casting December's Touch on the Hoarcat first (use a Totem for this) which is a very nice spell for Hoarcats even for the Armor alone.

Can characters swap counters or pass around counters if in base contact?

Generally no. However, some models (like Canine Remains) have Actions which allow them to pass counters around.

-Ropetus

Unless stated in the description, every targeted Action requires LoS to the target. Deliver Orders does not state this. Deliver Orders requires LoS.

It's quite simple.

-Ropetus

I don't think you can remove Bolster Undead. It's not an effect on target model' date=' it is an aura Nicodem projects. I wondered for a moment if you could remove it from Nicodem, but then he's not under the effect of his own aura.[/quote']

The Bolster Undead effect is on Nicodem. It affects all friendly Undead within the Aura. You can't remove Bolster from an Undead model (since the effect is not on them) but you can remove the whole buff from Nicodem. Similar case with Voodoo Doll and Conduit. You can only remove it from the Doll since that's where the effect is.

A model certainly can have an effect on it but not itself be affected by it. Most Auras and Pulses are good examples of these.

-Ropetus

The Govenors Proxy looks ok but I doubt I would try him for fear of failing that one check and haveing him killing off my own guys.

Don't be afraid of the Proxy. Failing a Morale Duel is game over for the model anyway, just as being killed is, so it's no big deal. Besides, only small amount of Wp Duels are Morale Duels and it will help a lot with those.

Also, you can block LoS with your own models if needed and Dispel the Fall Back with a Witchling.

The Proxy also has a high Ca for a Totem and is very survivable with Governor's Decree.

-Ropetus

It's not owning one Crew box versus owning an entire Faction + all the Mercenaries (+all Ht1 models in the game for Hamelin's ability). It's owning part of a Faction (like Tina and Ramos and all Minions in their themes) versus owning all the above.

I find it sad if competitive play would come up to who has the most cash to buy most models to be able to tool up for every single scenario and opponent as opposed to skill in carefully selecting which models you need to be able to adapt. It's one aspect of gaming skill I personally really enjoy in games, fitting everything you need in a limited budget.

And it will take that long if you allow people to have unlimited models to choose from (borrow some you don't have yourself from friends). After all, you need to take into account your Faction, your opponent's Faction, your Strategy, their Strategy and terrain.

A more limited model selection will make events a bit more casual I think. If you have to own a whole model range to be competitive, it will drive some people away from events, at least I feel more positive if I know there is a chance to win even if I haven't bought all the models I don't like.

Can you give me an example of where you cannot fit everything you need to adapt in say, 45 SS?

-Ropetus