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I...That's brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? I realize now that the burying of nightmares at the start of the battle is optional (stupid skimming abilities instead of reading them). This will work especially well with Alps, since they don't actually need their activations to be effective! I'm not sure what their burying ability states you can target, but if it's "target any number of friendly nightmares within 6"," the daydream can even bury itself. That would allow The Dreamer to dump it somewhere else later! I'll also experiment with splitting the three daydreams to different sides of the board. Oh man, you just did wonders for me. Thanks! I do realize this. So far, the strategies I have flipped with the Dreamer have required going through the enemy. Shared turf war for example. Were I to flip something like reconnoiter for example, I may just camp some daydreams in the corners, and then ambush anything that decided to come close. Of course strategy affects tactics. Of course. My question was in regards to the situations where one would be required to engage, how do you get around the problem of activation control turn 1?

...is turn 1. The issue basically comes down to activation control. Against every crew other than another dreamer, he faces being out-activated turn 1 every time. After turn one, I can handle the crew fine. So I'm looking for some tips on "The Setup". Alpha striking is fine, but in the few games I've played so far, I can't quite get my models/enough models into play fast enough. As an example, I played a game yesterday, and I dropped an alp squad turn one on the guild. I got them into great position about 2-3 inches from his front lines, and then Sonia Criid activated and blew up the lot of them. He just barely had LOS to the one in front, and that was enough. (And before you comment on this part, My opponent knew I was testing alps, and he selected Sonia Criid on purpose. Disadvantage from the start.) One idea I'm going to try next time is flying up with Dreamer and unburying my daydreams and leaving them all under cover behind some Ht 1 terrain. Then just pass turn with them all instead of flying up. Or possibly drop a stitched and Creepy Fog to block any remaining LOS and protect the crew. The result being that I delay the alpha strike until early turn 2 when I can DEFINATELY drop everything in range. But again, the problem remains: I'm severly out activated turn 1. So, let me hear from the crowd. How do you work your setup for turn 1? I've obviously got some ideas, but I'd like to hear yours as well. Anything you've got that might help. And I mean anything. Weird tricks, inventive use of terrain, sling shotting Dreamer up the field via the "Dreamer Shuffle", anything. Let me have it. Thanks in advance, guys.

So we finally played that game. Guild won. Knowing that I was trying out my new Alps, he selected Criid to lead his force. >_< The alps got blown up turn one. All of them. I fought hard for the rest of the battle, and did a solid amount of damage, but losing half of my crew turn 1 was too debilitating to come back from. That said, I now know how NOT to run Alps. I should have seen that coming. I was hoping I could sneak them into Melee before he knew what to do, but no luck there.

Coppelius would be a good pick, actually. He can be obeyed, though you would only want to do so if he's already in something's face. The dude's got no charge speed, so you would either obey him to walk in and then get three attacks, or you could just get an extra attack after he moves in. An extra attempt at getting off paralysis is a good thing. More to the point, you can leave him next to a living enemy, and use Big Z to Bewitch them. If they can't cheat that Terrifying 13 check, they're in trouble, as they take even more wounds when they fall back next to Copp. Really, any model with (1) effects that can debilitate your enemy (or solid Strikes) is a good pick with Z. Obey allows you an extra chance to get that off.

Here's an idea: If you don't like using/setting shared strategies. Set a few appropriate standard strategies (like Reconnitoir v Treasure Hunt). Set three different rounds of that. Declare one of the strategies "Side 1 strategy" and the other "Side 2". When players show up, have them flip to determine who gets side one and side two. Another idea to compliment the 30ss crew and 45ss pool thing. If a player with more models wants the option of running other masters from his/her faction in different rounds, allow them to include an additional master in their "pool". Each time they do so, they get 10 less ss to work with in their pool (that number is arbitrary, I just pulled 10 out of the air, because that's what a Master is worth in Slaughter). Rest of your ideas look pretty solid though. Good luck! Feedback?

Unfortunately our work schedules have been directly conflicting recently. We're hoping to have another game this weekend. We'll see how it goes this time!

I have to agree with pretty much all of those points. You give some good advice. LCB and his crew are nasty. But if you're brave enough to go toe to toe, and you can beat him out in the activation order, you've got yourself a solid chance. PK is in fact extremely dangerous to this crew. When I went up against it, with LCB, he charged straight into the fray. Luckly, he couldn't get to my daydreams, and I was able to pick up and just fly around him to get to the squishy, tastier models. Because as The Dreamer would say, "He's no fun! I wanna go play somewhere else!" With all this under your belt, though, I'm expecting a better game next time we go head to head

I've been ADHD up until now, playing whatever I feel like. But recently, I completed my collection of the entirety of the Neverborn (except sorrows). I really am trying to set-up a "home base" there. I've lost way too many games to not knowing the intricacies of whatever crew I "felt like running" that day. For instance, forgetting Harmless on a Mannequin cause the entirety of Colette's crew to get blown up in a single spell from Criid. (if only the red joker hadn't come up on exactly that straight damage flip...). That all said, I'm still a "play to win" guy. I now walk up to the table and say "Neverborn" Once the strategy flips, I decide if any of my masters are particularly strong at that strategy. If yes, they're my pick. If no, I play one I'm more confident or have more experience with (Lilith/Zoraida). If it so happens that neither of these apply, only then do I run whatever I feel like. tl;dr: "C".

If for no other reason, I would say scare tactics. I respect Perdita when she is between 3-10 inches away. She's a ranged master and does this really well. Nightmares are very close range. So there's really no deterrent to getting close to Perdita. LJ on the other hand is predominantly melee. I only respect her in melee. Which means I'm going to be reluctant to throw my minions against a master that I know can tear them to pieces, and I really don't want to risk my master on her if she gets a chance to retaliate. tl;dr: I want to be in Perdita's face. On the other hand, I worry more about being in LJ's face. This is an effective deterrent, making her "harder" to kill (with this or another melee crew).

If you trigger Flay, it adds +2 to the damage you deal. If you flip the Black Joker on damage it is worth 0 damage. How do the two interact? Do you deal 0+2=2Dg? Or is the Black Joker that bad that it reduces all damage this attack could potentially do to zero?

Okay, I must have missed that errata, but it's good to know. So by extension, if she Obeyed a model that was not a master, but that does have use soul stone, she could spend her own stones on their behalf, yes? Example: Cassandra in a Colette crew.

Situation: Zoraida successfully casts Obey on another Master. Question: Can she spend her own soul stones on behalf of that master when taking the (1) action or (2) charge allowed by Obey?

I always want to cringe when I hear judgments like this one. Natty, what you're saying has value. SS certainly help Glass Cannons survive. However, you need to respect that there is so much variation in this game that there really is no true way to play a master "correctly". Some strategies are better than others, of course, but there is nothing you can do that is truly completely wrong. One thing I try to think about when I run models is maximizing my effective abilities. You seem to be picking up on this quite well. What I mean is the part where you mention Copp not being able to terrify undead. That said, for a battle like that one, if I could afford the extra SS, I would be tempted to run two Stitched in place of Copp entirely. Fill the rest of your crew with Alps and Daydreams and things that don't rely so heavily on Morale duels. All of these model's default abilities should work quite well on Undead (save for the Stitched trigger, but that's just icing on the cake with those guys anyway). While Copp is very good for his ability to summon more alps, an Alp squad should be able to take care of that on their own. Hope your game went well, sorry this response is so late in coming. --- Zombie Hookers with The Dreamer o_0 I .... I think I need to go use the bathroom, excuse me.

Just to note a few things that I've seen successful: Daydreams. No less than two, and maybe even three. Playing the Dreamer I'd like to see at least one elite model picked by him. My choice would be either Coppelius or Teddy at this point. This depends on who you're fighting. Copp has more morale duels/ hatred for living models. But if you're fighting, say, Rezzers, Teddy might be a better choice. From there, you probably have a few different paths you can take. I would either go with an Alp Squad, or a Mixed Force. Alp Squad: probably runs best with Copp rather than teddy, as he can summon more. Start with at least 3-4 Alps. Drop them all close, but not adjacent to one target. Preferably surrounding it. I won't tell you how to run Alps. It should be a no-brainer. Just let their primary target expire. When you do summon more, try and spread outward, like ripples in a pond as your Alps replicate. If your next available target is too far away, don't bother walking them, just bury them all and unbury them on something else, wash rinse repeat. Mixed Force: You don't really need two stiched together, though I do REALLY like them. Two works, but I feel like the points could be better spent elsewhere (though they are really hard to get rid of). You're other choices would be Insidious Madness, or Lelu/Liltu (correct me if I'm wrong, but you might be able to bury them before they take damage from not having a twin around). I see this working better than the Alp Squad for certain objectives. It really depends on who you are up against, and what your strategies are. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the attention, guys. I'm a Neverborn player, and the other dedicated player in my area also plays Neverborn. I'm kind of loathe to create another main Neverborn player. Also, I don't need anyone else playing Pandora against me He's tried Vik's. From what I gather, he just can't figure them out. They may have combos, but they play too straight forward for him to grasp is what I'm seeing. Too many of their combos end up with, "now hit things." I agree Levi from book 1 would be a good choice. Problem is, he's one of the few masters that I don't yet have. And it would take me another $50+ just to assemble a crew for him that would, "do it right." However, I do have Kirai. I'm just getting my last few Seishin(sp?) in the mail soon, so I'll have a complete crew for her. And if he wants to move on to brawls, he can throw in my Nic crew for some nasty combos. I'll see what he thinks about getting started on her. I have no experience with her yet, but maybe he'll fall in love. Who knows. Thanks all!

Just a general opinion thread: What master / crew do you think is most friendly to a combo playstyle? I ask because I have a friend I am trying to convince to play, and I'm looking for a crew that he would enjoy. So far, he's played some of the more straightforward masters like the Viktorias and Nicodem and chaffed against them. He's always been a fan of combos when he plays Magic The Gathering, so I figured this would be a good try.

I'm telling you, it's all about Black Pearl. Why do I get the feeling that Seamus drinks that stuff XD

Nic was one of my first masters, and I play him frequently. I would have to agree that Rigor Mortis is the more powerful spell in combat. In Malifaux, activation control is KEY. Being able to create a hole in your opponents activations with Paralyze is amazing. As far as decay goes... It does damage, sure. But keep in mind that it heals undead units. Let me say that again. It heals undead units. I would submit that Decay is actually a support spell that doubles as a ranged attack from time to time. It is not to be used as his main source of offense. Nic should be healing his creations with that spell. If he really wants to hurt someone with Decay, he should STILL attack his own units, cheat down their resist, and have the spell blast onto adjacent enemy targets (or more of his zombies for healing)! The only time I really directly target an enemy unit with Decay is if I have a high Tomes in hand and foresee cheating it in for the discard trigger. Rigor Mortis: Offensive Decay: Mainly support; Some offense.

I apologize, I dropped this thread in the wrong place. If a Ref or Mod sees this, feel free to delete it. I've moved the thread here: http://www.wyrd-games.net/forum/showthread.php?p=176922#post176922

You made the comment that Malifaux games are not about beating face. This is entirely true, and a good thing you realize this after just three games. It's one of the things that beginners have trouble realizing. However, keep in mind that killing SOME models does help. So if you plan on doing some damage to your opponent's crew (and with 'Tina this is certainly possible), consider taking schemes that simply reward you for doing what you already planned on. In fact, this is pretty much always a good idea. This is why bodyguard is so great. You want to keep your master alive anyway (Leveticus and such being the exception), so why not get EXTRA points for it? Good luck with your experimentations!

I'm not sure if this was covered in the tactica earlier or not: Can Mortimer use his (All) Make My Own Friends spell to resurrect Nicodem due to Nic's ability to be considered undead, and lack of soul stone cost for being a master?