Gremlin Swarm

Though it doesn't look really mechanical (at least without a new paint job), I've used a Star Wars Miniatures mynock for the watcher.

Eeeewww... Sticky Gremlins... :laugh: On a vaguely related note--I recently used the Gremlin Taxidermist and the Pigapult in the same game (with Som'er as master). Loads of fun. I had Som'er do Git Yer Bro twice, using the same Gremlin to summon for both, resulting in a dead Gremlin generating a Corpse counter. (Hopefully I didn't miss some rules thing on this. I think I got it right. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know.) This trick let me crank out new Gremlins and generate ammo (via the Taxidermist) for the Pigapult. I was against Seamus, so being able to grab at least some corpse counters away form him (as well as using the ones I deliberately made) was great. (I also had a Mosquito to Sooey the new-made Stuffed Piglets back towards the Pigapult.) I wound up getting my butt kicked (bad tactical choices for the Gremlins I sent out to attack--it was a mutual slaughter scenario), but it was still loads of fun.

I think it'd be best as a shared strategy. Maybe you could grant a +1" movement per model (30mm equivalent) on board if the train is held uncontested, but allow any model within melee range of the train to 'contest' it. (That could represent opposing models messing with the running gear and such, even though they're not currently trying for direct control of the train.) If it were up to me, I'd grant hard cover vs. attacks (melee or ranged) made into or out of the train or between cars. I'd also grant soft cover (vs. ranged attacks only) for attacks made within the same car (to represent ducking behind chairs/benches/etc.).

I like it. You might also want to allow movement inside the train (from car to car), but have it count as severe terrain. (Moving down narrow aisles and dealing with doors between cars and such.) If you get ambitious, you could make some cardstock or foamboard pieces to represent the train cars. Since you could make them a bit bigger, it's make moving the models around on them a bit easier. Hmm...How about an s-shaped track? It could be parallel to the board's ends in the middle, and curve towards opposite corners. (This might be good for the corners setup arrangement.)

Good point. I'd forgotten that change.

I'd do another treasure counter, in case you end up doing separate Treasure Hunts. (I've had it happen.)

You might want to keep the Peacekeeper in, if you can swing it. It's great for drawing fire, and if your opponent is foolish enough to ignore it, it can dish it out just fine. I usually send it in hell-bent-for-leather, expecting it to die but keeping my opponent's models busy while the rest of my crew goes about the business of the objective.

Ice Pillars do tend to get knocked down fairly fast, but that game I mentioned had 4-5 up most of the time, until I managed to knock down enough of my opponent's crew to concentrate more attacks on the pillars. I figure if you've got a dozen or so, you should be okay. (You probably won't need than many (unless you've got some 'Tina on 'Tina action going or something), but better to make a bunch while you're doing it anyway than run out later.

You might want a couple more ice pillars. (A friend and I played a game with 'Tina, and he had her cranking those things out like crazy, even with me knocking them down.) Maybe the same for the flame pillars. As for the others, it probably depends on how big the games you're expecting to play will be. (How many players/how many ss per game.)

Beans is right. Add Taelor. She really is a bloody tank. You might even consider Johann. a lot of his abilities might be basically unused in this crew, but he hits just as hard as Taelor. Personally, I'd keep Misaki. That Wind trick (6" melee range!) is great. You can effectively have her provide fire support to models in melee without having to worry about random targeting. Just my 2 cents. With that thread title, by the way, I'm picturing the Vics in a couple of Colette's outfits.

Yeah, it's harder to pull off Git Yer Bro than a lot of folks think at first. It's still really useful, tough. Also, you can have Som'er kill a nearly dead Gremlin to get a fresh Piglet. (Nasty little trick.) If you do go for what's become known as the Alpha Stank (the 4 Mosquito Pull My Finger attack--I don't know who first came up with the nickname), be careful to not get your 'skeeters caught in each others' damage radii. (They're not immune.) There's not too much blast damage around, but the ones who have it (>cough< Sonnia >cough<) are really nasty with it.

I though I'd seen those minis before, Madman. (The name rings a (faint) bell.) I'm just using my SW minis until the official Freikorps ones get released, so since the bases are fairly close (and the folks I play with are doing mostly friendly games (as opposed to tournament stuff)), I'm just leaving them alone. I just have to make sure my opponents know which is proxied for which. I use my official models for demos and such, though. (Better to avoid potential confusion with new players.)

Here's a question to consider: Would you allow models with the Companion ability naming models controlled by the other player on the same side to take advantage of that ability? For example: Players A and B are on the same side. A has Nino Ortega in his crew, and B has Francisco. (I'm assuming that each side is not allowed to duplicate unique models, though that's another thing to determine.) If A activates Nino within Companion range of Francisco, can A and B then declare Companion, allowing B to activate Francisco immediately after Nino's done? Basically, are you going to treat each side as one big crew with 2 elements hired separately (which would allow the Companion trick), or as 2 discrete crews who are just working towards the same goal (which wouldn't)? I think it'd be interesting to go with he first option (1 big crew), but the second (2 separate crews) would probably be simpler in play.

Madman, those minis look vaguely familiar, but I can't remember where I saw them. (I like the look.) Trag, I'm currently using some Star Wars minis for proxying Freikorps. I'm using Clone Troopers for now (with a Clone Trooper Training Sergeant for Von Schill), but I have been considering using Mandalorians. (I've got Boba, but I think some of the other Mandalorian figures might work even better, along with giving the whole force a more consistent look.)

Nino's multi-shot trigger is called Trigger Happy. (The Convict Gunslinger has it, too.) The new shot must be made against the same target as the shot that set off the trigger. 'Extra' shots made with Trigger Happy are new strikes, and so can indeed set off the trigger again. You do need both suits in your attack duel total, but Nino already has one of them (the :rams) with his cb stat for the gun. You can do any action repeatedly (2 walks, 2 casts of the same spell, 2 shots from Nino's repeating rifle (potentially horrendous), etc.), so long as the ability/action/spell/etc. in question has no rule attached to it that says otherwise, and the model has enough AP to do the action more than once. (One exception, of course is '0' actions, only one of which (no matter how many different '0' actions the model has listed) can be done in a given model's activation.)

If you can get enough Gremlins on the table (and get the right cards) to be able to do a lot of Y'all Watch This with Dumb Luck, you can do a scary amount of damage. With the setup you have now, though, you'd need to summon (Git Yer Bro) a lot more Gremlins for this tactic to be effective. I haven't had a chance to try out my Ophelia box yet (that comes Monday), but as it is, I'd be tempted to drop either Pere or Raphael for more Gremlins. That's just my favorite tactic, though. You might also consider proxying (or converting) a Gremlin Taxidermist, if you can get your piglets in time. If you go with this option, you'd need to rig something so you can do Stuffed Piglets, as well. (Maybe some sort of mini-harness thing that you could put onto or take off of the Piglets to switch them back and forth at will?) I haven't tried that one yet, either (also for Monday, if I can get enough actual games in, as opposed to explaining/helping), but I've been itching to. Especially against some Resurrectionists. In any case, I'd keep Som'er close to Ophelia, since he can heal her (Take a Swig), and she has Calculated Luck. Just some (yet to be tested) thoughts.

There will be a Malifaux Monday this Monday (Labor Day). The gamng rooms at Other Realms/Ward Warehouse might be open early that day. (Call Other Realms on Monday to find out.)

Nino's good. Peacekeeper is great. (A pain to assemble, but worth the effort. It draws fire like nobody's business, and can usually last long enough to be really useful in that regard. It can dish it out, too.) I've sometimes taken the Convict Gunslinger, and been happy with him. (Gotta love Trigger Happy, especially if you also have Nino, who also has it.) I've even used the Judge with Sonnia to fairly good effect.

Karn is right. A friend and I tried out Kirai and Von Schill, and my Freikorps got creamed. (I still enjoyed having a flamethrower, though.) I didn't even think to group them until near the end of the game. (Too much 'don't cluster' reflex.) Formation is definitely a good way to go with them. I agree the armor isn't overpowered. It's great, but (as Sozoa said) players facing Freikorps models will figure ways around it. Basically, it's a gimmick (though a good/cool one).

He ignores cover, intervening models, and forests when declaring his ranged targets. Solid walls (blocking terrain) still stop him cold. The big one here (in poulpox' example) is probably the limit to how much forest-type terrain you can target through, something Hans' Sniper ability lets him ignore. His targets would still get any benefits of concealment/cover, but he can still take his shots at them.

I haven't played her starter box setup, but I've found her to be pretty straightforward, even with her various tricks. I usually run her with just 1 Witchling Stalker, and an assortment of other Guild models (and maybe a mercenary or 2, depending). She is fairly well optimized to go against magic heavy opponents (especially right out of the starter box), so you might want to get a model or 2 extra to have a little more general hitting ability. Sonnia herself can be brutal, though. She's good at range and in close. Some of the specialist models may out do her in one or the other, but she's easily up there in either situation. She was also the first to have an active counterspell. That can give your opponents a real headache sometimes.

You could try the Gremlins. They have a lot of options, especially when it comes to summoning combos. They are, however, tough to play unless you're a real finesse nut. (Lots of fun, though.)

I haven't run her yet, but I'm definitely gonna try my pseudo-trademark swarm 'o Gremlins with her. Like Omenbringer said, they can spit out a truly scary amount of fire that way. (And no Oops!!!!) >FIRST RANK...FIRE!!!< >SECOND RANK...FIRE!!!< :rocketwho:rocketwho:rocketwho:rocketwho

The rulebook also has model stat listings for ones that aren't in the starter boxes (or are in different boxes) that you might end up wanting to get. With the lists in the book, you can try them out and make sure you're getting the extra models you really want, rather than shooting half-blind. It helped me a lot to decide which models I wanted to get.

Zoraida's the more straightforward of the two you're currently considering. Some might balk at the Silurids taking damage if they activate far from either water or each other, but I've found it to not be a really big problem. On top of that, they're potentially really fast. If you do go with Zoraida, make sure you get a Voodoo Doll. It doesn't come in the starter box, but it's very much worth getting for her crew. Leveticus' is much more of a finesse crew. He's got some neat tricks (including being able to hire constructs and undead from any faction), but some of them do involve book keeping and setting up tricks and combos. If you're not the sort to go for a major finesse force right off the bat, I'd go with Zoraida. (Though if you know someone with a Leveticus crew, you could ask them if you could give it a try, first.) If you like potentially complex tactics/etc. then maybe Leveticus is for you. Either way, don't get discouraged if you get pounded at first. Most of us take a bit of time to find the setup for our crews that works for us. (I use a decidedly non-standard setup for my Gremlins, and it works okay for me.)