SinJ

I wouldn't say the Banditos are underpowered for 5 stones TBH. I think taking one for a cheap scheme runner to secure Leave Your Mark is fine. They can gun down enemy cheap scheme runners pretty well with Run and Gun but that is about it that you can count on. That said I think I will take a Dead Outlaw first, he has some hilarious resilience with Coordinated Heist as well as when parker auto-triggers to make enemies drop their goods the Dead Outlaw heals. Hannah is decent with Parker for the extra control card and she can copy Dead Outlaws Curse of the Covetous as well. Parker feels like he's always going to be outactivated but rarely outgunned. I generally start a list with Envy because he synergizes so strongly.

For small point games dictating initiative is a huge factor. I would really try to fit in Trixiebelle and she can run schemes well enough.

I'm planning on rotating Tara through my three masters I generally go to so I'll need to add complete thoughts after. In my eyes especially in my meta with a prevalence of Ressurs and resulting the Carrion Emissary Aionus is extremely valuable. Tara is probably the best master to take Aionus so that's pretty much that. I haven't played the Scion yet but I thonk that she could be pretty solid. Especially as her borrowed attack has two innate triggers which both at pretty great! There are a couple schemes and strats that Tara really excels in so I'm anxious to test those out as well. I would definitely do your research regarding the bury interactions. This is especially relevant to Glimpse the Void as you cannot bury with it if you already have a model buried. The notable exception to this is with the Nothing Beast's Void Shield Upgrade which allows you to bury an additional friendly. I think the Scion is interesting but I do think that Tara wants a heavy beater in her lists or a model that can roadblock or tarpit like potentially Montressor. She is an overall underplayed master so you will likely have the Dark Horse factor going for you in your games.

We are pretty spoiled here in Saint Louis that we have a pretty competitive meta but overall really great people. At the end of your game if you can stomach it ask your opponent what you did wrong and what you could have done differently. Unfamiliarity is very unforgiving in Malifaux in general. If you are playing against a new crew or master there's a high probability you will lose flat out. Playing against people of your same skill level while also having a henchman nearby is also very beneficial to make sure you learn the game correctly.

I'm also going to mention Advanced Deployment here. They make a very good product for a reasonable price. Look for "Gothic Victorian Horror".

They have a trigger on their revolver that ignores Armor, Hard to Wound and Hard to Kill, and cost 6 stones! They still have the "Drop It" trigger as well and another trigger that deals +1 damage against models that have an upgrade attached. So they are great in Show of Force pools in general and with Jacky Daw.

I'm just curious if any of you that say he isn't worth the stones has played against the Carrion Emissary, or Sonnia's Flame Walls, or Lilith's "Forests", Zipp's Smoke or Raspy's Ice Pillars? Aionus can very likely relocate those markers between the low casting requirement plus tome, and his extra walk AP on turns one and two when this is really a problem for deployment. If my opponent announces Ressurs or Guild I can tell you that I am strongly considering taking Aionus. I would need a damn good reason not to with the new filth of the Guild Emissary and Austringers or the threat of Papa in the Box in general. The above is why you really take Aionus but he also has solid attacks that ignore armor, can manipulate scheme markers and can drain an opponent's resources with Out of Time to give out slow. His ability to give out Fast to budget beats like Johan, Big Jake and Ronin is also extremely helpful. Generally for me Aionus builds an advantage in AP between my opponent and I which can make or break a win.

All good man I think I got the gist. I definitely agree that Iwatas are overpriced, I ended up getting mine 50% off here in the states so ended up getting away with it for $90. I generally use my airbrush for basing, priming, base-coating and spraying varnishes. I find that's a good mix for me as I still prefer brushwork for fine detail, wet-blending and metallics. Sometimes busting out the oil paints for high end detail. I got my Sparmax TC2000 compressor for like $50 shipped on ebay and just had to buy a moisture trap/regulator so I'm all setup for for around $200. Not including paints of course. I do love the Vallejo Game Air and Model Air line and have yet to really test those out.

I really like the pallets of dark realism that you have chosen. It fits with the Malifaux theme while also not looking underwhelming. If you wouldn't mind sharing what is the technique you use for the blood splatter on Rafkin and Sebastian's clothing?

I'd recommend starting on the low end of cost for the airbrush itself, and would highly recommend trying out a friend's if you haven't airbrushed before. It takes more time and effort to maintain and troubleshoot compared to paintbrush. That said if you get a great setup going it cuts painting time in half even with cleanup and makes an overall more neat space. I run an Iwata Eclipse HPCS with a Sparmax TC 2000. Do your research on the compressor as you can get a clone compressor for significantly cheaper than buying a flagship brand compressor. Sparmax to Badger for example. I started with a Badger Sotar 20/20 which was something of a lemon, I love my Iwata now as it will take pretty much any paint I throw into it and is very easy to tech and clean. I literally only had it clog after I put varnish that wasn't thinned down through it. In any case do all the research you can before pulling the trigger as their are a ton of resources out there.

Yes model C would block the push. All pushes are closest point to closest point between the bases of the models in the interaction, Model A and B in your example.

In general adhering to a netlist should give your opponent an advantage. However, if you are taking a partially fixed list of a core crew and just make small changes that is an entirely different animal in my eyes. Overall as a somewhat newer player this is how I play. Most of the lists I have saved on Crew Builder are core crews that adhere or are designed to play into various strategies or factions. I personally feel that if my opponent shows up to the table with a completely fixed list, that is something that I can potentially capitalize on. Sometimes subbing in models with Unimpeded is a necessary evil to have a game. I think people just really fear making a substitution on the fly and want to work with what they know, even if that weakens their overall chances of winning. Analysis Paralysis is a pretty nasty side effect of building lists on the fly. I think that to effectively build a completely new list you really need to know your synergies and your opponent's faction overall. The first time I play against a new master and I know my opponent is competent I feel that have a slim chance of winning. If I am banking on taking a crew that I mostly know inside and out that probably gives me the best chance of winning. I don't feel that this is a negative aspect of Malifaux just a reality in that not knowing what you are up against is a huge detriment. This is also probably part of the huge learning curve that unfortunately turns beginners away.

Hans is a model that you may frequently be either thrilled to have or slightly upset that you spent extra soulstones on him rather than a Trapper. What I'm trying to say is that Hans under the best of cirmustances is rather underwhelming. For a Sniper he doesn't have the rule "from the shadows" which normally would allow you to deploy him well outside your deployment zone. In most situations the Trapper, which comes in Von Schill's box is significantly better. The books are great to purchase no matter what as the fluff is excellent in addition to the card information. The Von Schill box is the best way for a new player to get into Outcasts as you will use most to all of the models in a self-sufficient unit. Freikorpsmann make acceptable scheme runners. I would recommend picking up one of the newer fate decks if you do not have a fate deck on hand. The M2E book you will want for rules interactions.

If you want to have official proxies make sure your models are based off Malifaux miniatures. Big Jake can be easily created from the TTB Male kit. For the Winged Plagues I would try to find the old Wyrd Twisted Imp models. They would make decent proxies for the Winged Plagues. Release Schedule doesn't have them too far out though so maybe just hang in there a few more months!

As others have mentioned he is not general release at the moment. No guarantee on availability for Black Friday but that is probably going to be your next window of opportunity. I'd honestly recommend waiting and revisiting him in the future. In general Sue is going to be almost an auto-include and the Dead Outlaws which we only have rules from Ripples on are fantastic with him. If you have previous wargaming experience you can pickup just about any master. The restriction usually comes from what you will have to buy to make them "tick". Fortunately the only model I really think you will have in almost every Parker crew is Sue. You can definitely choose to not utilize all of Parker's "tricks" and still get a lot of mileage out of him. There's also nothing wrong with staying in Outcasts and build out units you will use with Parker eventually... Sue as mentioned is great, as is Envy from the Crossroads Seven box. Jack Daw has a somewhat similar play style with control or ability to switch gears and pump out a lot of damage. The Hired Swords box to get Ronin and Taelor is also a solid option.

The Dead Outlaws at 6 soulstone are a bargain. I think there is some serious play there with the Hodgepodge Emissary and/or Aionus to give Fast. I really like the Hodgepodge with Parker as giving companion to Doc and Regen to Sue really helps long term. Postiives to Attack Flips on the Outlaws lets you either fish for those Tomes or at the very least cheat out of your hand when shooting against cover or another negative modifier. Obviously this is easier with Mad Dog blowing apart their cover. I converted up two of them from the TTB just used a zombie head for one and the "bandit" head for the other. Taking Black Market, Coordinated Heist and Oathkeeper you can set up for a fairly easy turn 2 Convict Labor.

I'm going to be hopefully dropping him tonight so I'll report how it goes. I do think Parker can effectively run Ama No Zako as he can so easily gain Stones to pay for her suits. Also giving her a free walk from up to 18" away is pretty good! Edit: Game was over rather quickly. I was pretty much trounced by McMourning as Parker received a Red Joker on Damage and was promptly murdered shortly thereafter by transfusion and expunge. I did take the Dead Outlaws and I think they are very, very good for their soul stone cost of 6. They have a pretty nasty interaction with Parker and Coordinated Heist in that assuming you are engaged by at least two models you will heal off each scheme marker dropped. Their gun's trigger to ignore Armor, Hard to Wound and Hard to Kill is also significant even if the tome isn't built in. It gives a lot of flexibility to the crew's shooting. My complete list was below and I took Convict Labor, and Exhaust their Forces under Interference. In hindsight these were sub-par schemes at best as Hunting Party would have been an overall better choice. I was roadblocked really hard by the Carrion Emissary's shards on turn 1 which impacted my plan to spread out significantly. Parker - Coordinated Heist, Oathkeeper, and Hail of Bullets Doc Mad Dog - Lucky Poncho and Oathkeeper Hannah Sue - Return Fire 2x Dead Outlaw The draw from Sue, larger hand size and the draw from Highwayman was pretty instrumental in keeping his Flesh Constructs from gaining Reactivate. I just didn't take the best schemes but was planning this list as my overall Ressur drop. I am not completely sold on Hannah but she did copy Curse of the Covetous from the Dead Outlaw which was just okay. Bad things happen.

I haven't given the Raider a go yet as I'm just not a huge fan of proxying but I also am not sold on them at all. They are counter intuitive for Hunting Party which is a pretty common Scheme in the current environment. The bandit characteristic is their real saving grace so maybe, maybe if you want to take Coordinated Heist and get the first turn additional walk they could be alright.

I'm going to go out on a limb here but if my opponent announced Ten Thunders I probably wouldn't play Parker into them at all. Sensei Yu can most assuredly ruin your day by pushing scheme markers away alone and he's not master dependent. As you mentioned Mei Feng would also be a nightmare although potentially playable. Armor can be a problem but Parker has some control options through hands in the Air or just focused, overwhelming firepower. Another potentially nasty avenue is taking Scout the Field on a few big shooters.

I agree that leaning too hard into shooting can be a bit of a trap, but Mad Dog's ability to remove an opponents cover is extremely strong. I definitely want to bring in Johana my next game for some melee threat as well as condition removal. I have tried working round bringing in a Librarian for more effective healing and Magic blasts but then you really want to take Survivalist on Parker which feels suboptimal. Hannah is not great as she doesn't get much too potentially to copy save for Sue's actions. There's definitely some potential with Aionus and Parker as well which I intend to explore over time.

@asrian For the Bandidos it's kinda a hard thing to look at but when I remember they only cost 5 stone it's a bit difficult to give them too bad of a rap. Finish the Job is definitely always a solid ability and I can see their ability to turn enemy scheme markers at the end of a game potentially useful. I did take the hodgepodge effigy in my game but found that he wasn't particularly helpful other than giving me another activation. Doc seems pretty solid as a totem although the crow trigger to get HTW is kinda meh. I agree that Sue is an auto take with Parker for his draw and defensive abilities alone. The list I ran was: 50 SS Outcasts Crew Parker Barrows + 4 Pool - Highwayman (1) - Oath Keeper (1) - Hail of Bullets (1) Doc Mitchell (3) Mad Dog Brackett (9) - Lucky Poncho (1) - Oath Keeper (1) Envy (9) - Oath Keeper (1) Sue (8) - Return Fire (1) Bandido (5) Bandido (5) Hodgepodge Effigy (4) (exported from CrewFaux) I think I am going to drop a Bandido and the Effigy for Johan and a max cache next game. I want to experiment with utilizing his cache to play an obey style via Highwayman.

I got a pretty solid first game with Parker last night against Kaeris and her Arcanists. While I won't run through the whole game my main impressions is that he is extremely versatile. While the options at first are a bit overwhelming his combo playstyle is really fun! The main Combo I executed in my game was against a Rail Golem on Turn 2 that was ready to lay into my crew. Parker walks out of cover, uses Hands in the Air on the Golem with the Hail of Bullets trigger to drop an enemy scheme marker. Then uses Highwayman's Action cheating the mask to take another zero to have Envy shoot the rail golem discarding a stone to not discard the upgrade. Envy blasts onto Willie behind the golem dealing some solid damage. Parker then uses his second (0) for Five Finger Discount to attach the upgrade that lets you discard to take a walk action and discards the enemy scheme marker, drawing two and discarding one for Highwayman. Parker then shoots the Rail Golem in the face dropping another scheme and then discarding the recently attached upgrade to take a walk back into cover and away from the Rail Golem. This netted me another Soulstone marker for discarding an upgrade. Hands in the Air was honestly a pretty big play against the Rail Golem as he was fully ready to steamroll through some of my crew. Making him discard two after potentially cheating a tome for Locomotion definitely felt pretty good. After my opponent activated another model Envy went to town on the Rail Golem dropping him by another 6 wounds or so. I really think that Envy is pretty damn close to an auto-include with Parker. His ability to hand out focus on a Zero and discard to himself or another model within 6" helps with getting the straight damage flips you want. Envy easily gets his additional SH and Tome for blasts with Drop It! triggers on Parker, Mad Dog or to a lesser extent Baditos. Also while a bit costly letting Envy take out of action shots is fairly efficient with his (+) to attacks. I am not entirely sold on Banditos as they really really want to always use Run and Gun, otherwise they are just sub-optimal shooters. I ended up taking two in my game and the second Bandito pretty much ran Leave Your Mark for me on the other side of the board. Mad Dog's Blow it to Hell is extremely useful for a shooting heavy crew and can really discourage your opponent from coming to you by using cover.

@asrian Curious on your thoughts on Envy. He seems like a natural fit into a Parker crew with his ability to easily get a scheme marker where you need it. I poured over the upgrades and agree with your starting upgrades, athough Coordinated Heist is a very good upgrade if you are taking Mad Dog and at least another Bandito to begin with. That extra Scout the Field movement can really get your models into ideal positions. The Undead Outlaws look like they will be a very solid addition once released.

The Specialist is pretty decent with Jack Daw and Nurse/s or against scheme heavy crews. Return Fire could also be fairly decent on him as an Enforcer although not optimal as his Flammenwerfer is at range only. I'd say he's almost an auto include if you are taking more than one nurse with Daw.

I think the new Montressor upgrade does a lot I really don't understand why it's being looked down on? Jack Daw especially already targets your opponent's hand so forcing an opponent to discard is pretty useful. He has decent utility I think you will now at least occasionally see him. How about we play it and see how it goes?