Gremlin Swarm

Bishop's big thing is, in a word, versatility. As someone talked about already, he can basically pick which trigger(s) he'll get off turn to turn. By himself, he may not seem so great, but when he's backing up other models... I was teaching a friend of mine the game's mechanics, and we threw together a couple of models on the fly, Bishop being one of them. He was hell on wheels. With actual planning, he'd be even better (as would any model, really). As with any moderately costly or expensive model, though, you've got to be careful about choosing him for a small game (as I think someone already mentioned above).

Definitely avoid the Gremlins until you've got a good grasp of the rules. They really need sneaky/crafty playing to do well. (I have a lot of fun with them, though, even when I lose.) Leveticus is complicated. Though I haven't used him yet, I think he'd be plenty effective, but his player really needs to be ready to keep track of all his quirks and abilities to make him work right. The Death Marshals and the Ortegas are definitely good starter crews, with Lady J being the slightly more complex (relatively speaking) in my experience. Both are fairly straightforward. The Resurrectionists, as mentioned, do need to raise undead on the field, but I played against a first-timer (to Malifaux--he's a veteran of other miniatures skirmish games) who had read the rules and used Samus. He did fine, which makes me think that if you're good a picking up/spotting tricks with new forces fairly quickly, you could do a lot worse than this crew. (That gun Samus has does an egregious amount of damage, even if he can only shoot it once per turn, and the Copycat Killer has it, too.)

I picked up Hans more for the Headshot thing than anything else. Assuming you can get the trigger off, the damage flip becomes irrelevant. Granted, he'd need to be in a position to take a shot when the opponent is out (or almost out) of control cards, but in the right situation, he can be devastating. (Imagine 1-shotting a Peacekeeper.) I admit it's tricky, but if you can pull it off... (And yes, I like trying for those tricky bits.) There's also the already mentioned mercenary thing. Part of Hans' cost is because he can go with almost any crew. Think of putting him with Nino or Rusty Alyce. That's 2 models in the same crew with Headshot. Even more tricky, I admit, but the potential should make any opponent at least a bit nervous. If they go after your Headshot models, they're leaving the rest of your crew alone, and if they go after everyone else, your 'snipers' can go headhunting.

Decided to get tricky (or so I thought), and sent Mr. Jones to go beat a wounded Gremlin to death and summon up a Piglet. The Gremlin, (perhaps understandably) didn't like that idea. It took 2 full turns to kill the little blighter. :cussing: (Same player flipping cards, just got crappy cards (including what was available to cheat the flips).) Of course, there's nothing quite like actually pulling off a Mosquito's infestation on a powerful character. :dancing2:

Wow. That's a 'keep the charts/rules handy' scenario, but it looks like fun. I bet you could do a variant involving placing the board segments as they are moved onto, thus giving a mysterious/exploratory feel tot he game. (Just number all the doors and teleporters and use a system for where the model gets sent when they use one.) Maybe add some traps that activate when someone gets the treasure, as well as a requirement to get back out with it. ("Throw me the idol, I throw you the whip!") (Now you've got my brain in weird (Wyrd?) idea mode.)

Even if your 2 crews are off by a couple of stones, remember you can keep some in a pool for use during the game (in addition to any you might get from your master). Just keep an eye on what the max Soulstone pool size is for the game your playing. The Copycat Killer, BTW, is an excellent addition to Seamus' Crew, even if you only take the extra .50 Flintlock shot into account. (I've faced it, and it's brutal.) Eusebe's right about getting Ronin for the Victorias' crew, too. (You need at least one to do 'Another One?'--one of their more interesting/effective spells.) Also, if you get the Ronin box, I believe it comes with 3 of them, and since they're mercenaries, you could add them to either crew (though Seamus would have to pay 1 extra Soulstone to hire them).

If you've got the right cards (tricky/chancy, I know, though all you really need is one good Ram) you could also pull off Y'all Watch This and compound it with Dumb Luck (since Y'all Watch This is a Boomstick Strike with modified damage). If you get at least moderate damage, that's 4 damage and an explosion to the target(s). If you can manage severe, that's 8 damage (!) with 2 blast markers. On top of that, if you're close to enemy models, they take 2 damage flat-out. Tricky to get off, but well worth sacrificing a Gremlin. (And yes, I admit I like going for fancy/complex combos sometimes.) Just do a Gremlin-equivalent 'BANZAI!!!' and watch the slowly dawning horror on your opponent's face as the damage mounts...and they realize you have at least half a dozen more of those little blighters ready to go. :blowup:

If you're looking at the Guild and you like shooty forces, you might try the Ortegas. They've got a few fancy tricks, but what they're really about is hammering their foes at range, and Perdita is fast, as well. (Not to mention they have a potentially really nasty kamikaze in Papa Loco.) Lady Justice's force is also strong, but it uses a bit more in the way of tricks. I haven't tried Sonnia Criid's force yet, but I've heard good things about her. Unless you're really good at picking up finesse forces really fast, I'd steer clear of the Bayou Gremlins until you're more used to the game. They're really fun to play (I drive my opponents nuts doing voices and such), but they're tough to get the hang of. (As you may've guessed, I'm most familiar with Guild and Gremlins.)

There are basically 2 things a nasty model is good for. #1 is (obviously) kicking serious butt. #2 is drawing fire, which is what Nilus experienced. (The classic 'threat that must be honored'.) A lot of folks seem to just grumble when this one happens (and I admit I have, too), but if your opponent is blowing a lot of time and effort hammering one or two models, they're likely leaving the rest of your force alone. The Peacekeeper fits the bill pretty well. (That armor helps a lot, of course.) Of course, if you can manage to get it to do both at the same time, so much the better. I like this model, even with the breakdown problem. (I can always dump my crappy cards when it comes up.)

A friend of mine found some card sleeves that actually fit the full-sized character cards. Problem is, the company that supplied them to the card shop he found them at is out of business. There might be another company out there making something similar, though. If you can find them, using the good 'ol dry erase markers isn't a problem, since you could just toss the sleeve if it gets too grungy. (I'll keep an eye out for those sleeves.) In the meantime, I usually use dice. I like the idea of specialized counters, though.

I've used Papa Loco as a sort of kamikaze bomber. I just run him in close (but no quite into melee, if I can avoid it), and go to town. That way he's likely to catch more opposing models when he eventually goes Kaboom. I haven't tried him against Seamus yet, but I'm inclined to not worry about them pushing him towards them, since I use him as semi-expendable.

That thing is brutal. Used one (had to proxy, as I'm still waiting for mine to arrive), and it plowed through 3 models in no time. I must admit to quoting Mortal Kombat when I used the Chain Harpoon and followed it up with a melee attack. ("Get Over Here!")

Unless you can figure out a way to have it sticking out of a back pocket, maybe?

I've found that my Gremlins (I tend to go nuts and cram in as many Gremlins and Skeeters as I can) tend to do best when they can steadily wear down my opponents. You could amybe think of the Gremlins as the Tie Fighters of this game--they zip in, do a little damage, then die. The trick is to get enough little whacks in before running out of Gremlins. Of course, if you go pig-heavy, then you can go for the damage-bomb approach. Those hogs can be brutal. As mentioned above (several times), Focus is great with the Gremlins. Don't forget, too, that if the scenario you're playing requires grabbing something, if you've got a lot of models, you have more chances (albeit squishy/fragile ones) to grab it/them. I've also managed to bug a couple of my opponents' bigger models (the Mosquito's Infestation spell) by timing it for when they're out of cards or seem to not be able to cheat their defensive flips up. Each time, I made sure I had the right card to set it off in my hand, of course. It's very luck-heavy, but if you get the cards into your hand, it may well pay off to hold them until you can use them to max effect. I know, most players don't like going for this one, but I've had a lot of fun with it, and really messed up a couple of opponents' plans. Whatever you do, don't forget to have fun with these little blighters! (I usually do the voices for them, but then I admittedly get a bit silly when I play armies like this.) Play them for the fun factor, and you'll enjoy them a lot more, even if you have a hard time winning. This also helps you to get flustered less when it looks like your Gremlins are getting pasted, which can help you keep focused and make fewer tactical mistakes. (Sounds weird (Wyrd?), I know, but it's always worked for me.)

How about a renegade construct master? (Got smart/powerful enough to break free of control and strike out on its own.) Maybe as an Outcast master, but can hire constructs from any faction (with the +1 stone cost, like others can hire mercenaries).

Hmm...New Gremlins stuff... I believe the proper response is... YEEE-HAWWW!!!! (I may lose a lot with them, but they're still fun to play...'Spesh'ly wen ah do da voysez fer 'em ahl gaym.) Curious to see the new masters, too. Are there any new factions on the (presumably (but hopefully not too) distant) horizon?

On the idea of vampires/werewolves/etc.--How about a faction of 'monsters' from Earth trying to establish a foothold in Malifaux to gain power? (Gotta do something to balance out the rise of all those pesky human spell casters...) I like the Flying Spaghetti Monster faction idea. (Pirates for minions...) Hmm...pirates...or rather, some sort of outlaw master for the Outcasts. Sort of a professional claim jumper/Soulstone thief type. How about an Investigator/Archaeologist faction. (Kind of like a scholarly version of the Arcanists that's bent on bringing as many secrets/lost facts/artifacts/etc. to light as possible.) Just a few ideas. Soon we shall see what their evil scheme really is...

Newbie alert... That said, some friends and I have just started Malifaux-ing, and 2 of us use Gremlins. I've noticed that I have a much better time if I go bat poo crazy on one type of model in my crew setup, rather than going for a balanced selection. Basically, this means that if I go for gremlins, I pack in as many as I can (usually 8 or so for a 25ss game), and a couple o' 'skeeters. If I'm going to do pigs, I'd go for either 3 warpigs, or a bunch of piglets, with a 'skeeter or 2 and 1 gremlin. I don't know if this'll work for everyone, but I've found this setup tactic to work for me in just about every wargame I've played. (Better than a balanced approach, anyway.) I have played the Ortegas and Lady Justice and co., but even though I've tended to lose (sometimes by a pretty thin margin), I've had the most fun with he Gremlins. 'Kors, dat kood'a been 'kaus ah did da voyses fer dem da hol gaym. :teeth