Gremlin Swarm

Actually, I believe spirits would still get to make the movement-stopping attack when a model moves out of their melee range, which makes moving/charging through them a problem. (I think there's a thread about this somewhere, but I don't remember where right now.)

I usually send in the Vics, Taelor, Misaki, and either Bishop or a Convict Gunslinger and maybe a Ronin, or a couple of Ronin. I've also sent Johann and Hans in with them. (Johann and Taelor together make for a really freaky amount of punch.)

I use some of the Apparitions for my Witchling Stalkers. (I just ordered the stat cards and models separately.)

He's a bit of a glass cannon, but he's also a good jack 'o trades. He shoots pretty good, and he melees pretty good. As already said, he's good for backing up other models. (I once had him blowing away Ice Pillars almost as fast as they went up, clearing the way for my other models.)

It took me half a game to realize something obvious--they're good when grouped together, since they don't have to worry about blasts and such. They do have to worry about getting tied up in melee that way, but things that go 'boom' aren't a big fear for them. That lets them get boosts and such from the Librarians. You might even fiddle around with actual formations for the Freikorps. They're the crew best suited to benefit from that sort of thing.

I've never even used Somer's card-dumping tricks, and the Gremlins are my first crew. Like everyone said, they are tricky to play, but they do have a few things they can do to make themselves pretty scary. I usually go with a whole slew of the little blighters and just have them blow themselves up doing a lot of damage. (Y'all Watch This and Dumb Luck.) Risky, but worth it if you can pull it off. I was against Gremlins once, and my opponent almost killed (a previously undamaged) Sonnia outright with Dumb Luck. He got good cards and doubled his damage from 5 to 10. :eek: Unusual, I know, but still scary. I had to use a soulstone just to keep her alive. And then there's the aforementioned Pig attacks. Like I said, hard to play, but nasty once you figure out tactics that work for you. BTW: The Pigapult and Gremlin Taxidermist from Rising Powers make for a really fun combo.

And that sort of thing is why, if I get the black joker in my hand, I keep it there.

Don't scoff at the idea of a Peacekeeper. I know I harp on this model a lot, but it's really useful. I use it in many of my Guild crews. It's expensive (both ways), and a real tail-pain to assemble, but worth it. It can both take it and dish it out. I've also used a Convict Gunslinger with good effect with Sonnia. I figure that in either case, she's bringing them along to preserve her more magic-oriented forces for the witch hunting. (Cults do tend to have muscle/goons/cannon fodder around, after all.) Also, to amplify Cereal Killer's mention of Flame Burst, Sonnia is a walking flamethrower. Just make sure you have the cards you need to cast the spell, and she's absolutely brutal. I tend to walk her right up to firing range (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), and have her cut loose. I also try to have at least one or two other models nearby to act as bodyguards/interceptors.

Much more Hoffman than Ramos, I think. Unless maybe Rusty Alyce's older brother?

So the skeeters are recon ships for the main squadron? Maybe you could put those old-school flight caps with the goggles on your pigs, and paint up the Whisperer like ground crew. Hmm...A whole crew done up as the Pig Attack Squadron.

You could use a Star Wars miniatures Nexu or Boma. Just put them on a 40mm base. If you're in a conversion mood, you could even glue a couple of cyborg-looking bits on or just do a bit of metallic-looking painting. Take just a few minutes, unless you get really fancy. BTW: Sketch, where did you find that Ravage jump drive? Very cool.

I know this gets said a lot, but...Peacekeeper. It's tough, mean, and fast. I usually send mine screaming right in. It either draws a lot of attacks (leaving my other models free to act) or beats the crap out of my opponent's bruisers (denying them the hitting power). If you're looking for a bodyguard/covering type of model, you might also look at the Guardian in the new book. That thing's a walking wall. One Pine Box trick I've heard of, but haven't yet tried myself yet, is to bury one of your own models and have the Marshal run up to where you want the buried model to be. It makes the buried model essentially invulnerable for the run, and even if the Marshal gets offed on the way, you still get the buried model back into play.

Bishop is the consummate speed bump. He's got a lot of wounds, and can basically choose which of his triggers he'll get off each turn. Taelor is, as already stated, a beast. She hits like a freight train. So does Johann. Misaki is great. She hits decently, and with Wind can do it 6" away! It's almost like having a gun she can shoot into melee with impunity. (Almost.)

'Spear and Magic Helmet!' I recently used the Pigapult with a Gremlin Taxidermist (both proxied). Tons of fun! I had Som'er doing his Git Yer Bro thing, but I'd have the same Gremlin do the summon twice, thus killing it and leaving a corpse counter for the Taxidermist to make into a Stuffed Piglet. Free ammo! Since I had this going on fairly close to the Pigapult, I'd have the newly summoned Stuffed Piglet use its 1 action (slow from summoning, and all that) to walk over to the Pigapult, which I activated near the end of the turn and had go to town. (Can you say 'Reckless Pork Barrage'?) I also kept a Mosquito near the Pigapult to Sooey the Piglets over to it, if need be--usually when I had the Taxidermist run out and do his thing on a corpse counter in the middle of the field. Given that it's not a Pig, I could also have the skeeter fix the Pigapult. I ended up losing that game, but it was more due to my bad tactical choices with the Gremlins I sent out to attack. (A whole lotta 'Whoops' at the wrong time.) Still tons of fun.

It's expensive and a pain to assemble/build, but a Peacekeeper is a great addition to Guild crews. I've used my to good effect every time I've hauled it out. (It draws fire and kicks butt.)

Squadrons of pigs... Now I'm picturing either 3 Warpigs in an echelon formation with the Klingon Battle Theme playing, or a swarm of Piglets with Ride of the Valkyries (Ride of the Valkerpigs?) for its music. Come to think of it, that second one works for a flight of mosquitoes, too. Speaking of which, a full flight of 4 mosquitoes can be pretty nasty. Just have them buzz up and use Pull My Finger a lot. You have to be careful to avoid the mozzies catching each other (as they're not Gremlins), but each can do 2 points of automatic (barring things like armor) damage to opposing models in a small radius.

A Totem is a type of model that has to be connected to a master. If you look in the rulebook, you'll see some for each faction. (The word 'Totem' will appear in the short list of characteristics/etc. at the top of the models listing.) Some are specific to certain Masters, and can only be taken with their listed master, while other can be taken with any appropriate master. They Generally have abilities that complement the master they are connected to, but they leave play if their connected master does. One example is the Copycat Killer, which is a Resurrectionist Totem specific to Seamus. For most of them, you can only have one connected to a given master, but there are a couple of exceptions (like Som'er Teeth Jones' Mosquitoes).

Any list where you have Ophelia in play, use her to keep Whoops from damaging your models, and blaze away with your Gremlins. (Don't forget Reckless. Those extra shots can add up.) Also, make sure to keep at least 1 Gremlin near Som'er to keep the Git Yer Bro factory going. Personally, I'd get more Gremlins in there, but I tend to send them in in swarms (as if you couldn't tell). Don't be afraid to use Dumb Luck. If you get a decent shot in and do good damage, it can make for great damage. If you can pair it up with Y'all Watch This, you can do some scary damage with the right cards. (Just watch out for the 2" radius blast the shooting Gremlin makes.) You can also have Somer kill wounded Gremlins (or fresh ones, but I'd say it's better with wounded ones) in melee to use Come And Get It to get more Piglets. And, Your mosquito can call in friends (more mosquitoes) in a similar fashion. Basically, the Gremlins are tough to play, but they have a lot of little tricks, especially where summoning is concerned.

We've always played the the Vic you get with 'Another One?' is the one that's been knocked out. Maybe more of a RAI (as opposed to RAW) thing, but I think it fits the character(s) better. Any official rulings on this one?

I'd tend to prefer choosing before the flip, but given that the thread mentioned above was moved to the resolved questions section (presumably by someone high-rankingly official (yes, I know that's not a real word, but it fits)), I'll defer to that interpretation until I hear otherwise from a rules marshal or game designer. I agree with quotemyname, though, that it can have a fairly big impact on how useful/powerful Dual Focused is during play. Like he said, it's nothing broken, but it does make a difference. BTW: I can't picture Hoffmann as Judge Giant. He's just not the big, burly type to me. I never really got into Judge Dredd, but is there a mechanical/nerdy judge in there somewhere? Who would be Hershey? Perdita, maybe?

The Gremlins (my first crew) can be effective--but--they are really tricky to play. I'd go with most of the suggestion above for most beginners.

I just read the rule (Dual Focused), and it doesn't actually say when the suit is added to the total. So...the real question is when precisely a 'built-in' suit (one on a stat) is considered added to the flip total. Anyone have an official ruling on this one? >>Cocks a hopeful compu-/cyber-ear towards the rules marshals/game designers.<< BTW: Lord Shaper, your sig makes me kinda want to start putting futuristic half-helms on my guild figs.

Quotemyname has it right. It's just like a 'regular' stat with a suit attached (which is set before the flip is made), but you get to pick which suit. You'll still need to either get lucky with the flip or make sure you have the right suit in your hand.

The Ortegas and Death Marshals can run right out of the box pretty well. The witch hunters can, too, but I've heard a lot of folks say they would like to add Sonnia's totem (Purifying Flame, I believe). (I run a very nonstandard Sonnia crew, myself.) For any Guild crew, adding a Peacekeeper isn't really necessary, but it's a great addition. The one I'd suggest avoiding until/unless you've got a player who is really good with finessing their crew and/or pulling off a lot of tricks is Som'er Teeth's crew. (This is my first crew, and it took me a bit to figure out tricks and tactics that work for me.) They're really fun to play (especially if the player is willing to get a bit silly playing them), but they are difficult to get the hang of. I haven't tried my full Ophelia crew yet (Born on the Bayou). (I tend to use them in bits and pieces.) I have heard good things about them, though. The Victorias are also fun, and can be very effective. The player will have to think a bit more, though, since while this crew can dish it out with the best of them, they have a bit of trouble absorbing damage. I've also used/faced Zoraida, and while she also requires a bit of a thinking play style, she can also be quite effective. This is one I'd highly recommend getting the totem for. (Voodoo Doll, in this case.) I've faced Seamus a lot (The Redchapel Gang). They're another one that's good for beginners. (Bringing back your dead models makes this crew fairly forgiving to play.) You could run this one without it's signature totem (the Copycat Killer), but I think it'd be a lot better off having it. These are the ones I'm most familiar with/most confortable giving advice on.

You could try Hero System, which is known for its versatility. That one can work for just about any setting/genre you can come up with. If you can get ahold of the older Western Hero and Fantasy Hero supplements, they can still be used (with little to no alteration) with the most current version of the Hero System rules. They'd give you a good base for source material on how to handle both the western-esque setting and magic, leaving just the Malifaux-specific stuff for you to write up/plug in. Even if you can't find those 2 supplements, it'd still be easy to put together teh Malifaux world setting (those would just make it easier, i think). I've run and played in RPGs of all sorts of genres/scenarios/etc. in this system.