Uncle

Actually, I think my opponent was misplaying the Dreamer, which may have lead to my struggles. He was activating him, using I Can Fly, then moving 14" (two AP) and summoning all his Nightmares within 6" (which would require a third AP that I don't think the Dreamer can use, can he?). If he's able to use all three AP, then yeah, I'm not seeing how you can outmaneuver the Dreamer at all, seeing as how his entire crew can move 20" down the board on T1. And then 20" each turn as well.

I actually work at 45 and 242, although I live in Tomball. But very nice to hear nonetheless. We have plans for Sunday dinner with the folks, so I'll be able to swing by tomorrow and pick up some pink foam, hopefully. Once that gets going, I'll be sure to post some pics up here. And, of course, bring the table to Little Wars when all is said and done.

The problem there is that by the time Dreamer and Chompy have activated, either the Dreamer's in a building, behind walls, or what have you and there's quite a few beefy Nightmares to get through--the local guy tends to run 2 Teddies and then seasons to taste with Lelu and Lilitu or whatnot. Admittedly, it'd be rougher if he ran a bunch of Alps, but I'm having trouble dealing with an entire crew with a threat range of 20" regardless of line of sight. Part of my problem, I know, is that I'm having difficulty using the Performers particularly well. However, with the Dreamer selecting Kidnap and Grudge, it's quite difficult to deny him the 4 VPs.

The issue was, I never got to attack LCB at all. Taking him out, assuming he's on the board, isn't tough. However, each turn would begin with the Dreamer playing Peter Pan and zooming 7-14" across the board, then unburying LCB and his friends another 6" closer to me. After that, LCB would usually trigger All Done and rebury himself, or one of the Daydreams would Companion and bury LCB. Basically, it felt like no matter what I was able to do, at least one model a turn was going to be LCB food, you know?

I admit I'm a complete Malifaux newbie. To date, I've played three games: an 8-player game, 25 ss against Ophelia (wiped him out on T4 or so) and a 35 ss game against the Dreamer (lost 6-8). That said, I can't help but TheoryFaux that the Dreamer is one of the worst matchups for Colette, and I'm looking for any and all advice for dealing with him as possible. I can easily gain 5 VPs for Power Ritual/Sabotage/Bodyguard, but I find myself having issues dealing with the maneuverability of the Dreamer/LCB and the rest of his crew. I'm not overly concerned about taking out-of-"faction" models, but anything that helps would be appreciated.

See, the Lowe's I've checked didn't carry it, although my brother says that there's one by him that does. The insulation I've been able to find is white expanded beads, which won't work for what I want, and it has a foil backing anyways. Hopefully I'll be able to swing by this weekend and get something going.

Well, now that I have my Showgirls all painted up and the like, I've decided to tackle a bigger project: building a set table. The obvious choice, for me, is to use EPS for the bulk of the construction. It's light, it's fairly sturdy, and it's easy to engrave with a pen. Of course, I haven't used the stuff since I've moved down to Houston, and it appears that hardware stores don't stock the stuff, what with the temperature rarely getting below 60 or so. So, I turn to you guys for advice. Help me get my project started! Where can I find EPS foam, either online or in store?

The Little Wars guys just held an 8-player "team" big battle. 25 SS each. I like the guys and enjoyed the game, but big battles like that really don't do it for me. The more players at a table, the longer the wait between "active" parts of the game, which means that you can be sitting there fore quite some time waiting for something to happen. Like I said, I enjoyed the game, but I'd much prefer 2-3 player games, maybe 4 at most.

Well, the girls are (re)painted now and have better bases, which makes my happy. According to my brother, games are happening on Thursday Nights, so I'll try to swing by accordingly, although weekends are certainly better for me in general. I certainly feel like Colette would be at her best in a 40ss scrap, but I'm willing to go as low as 35 if needed (although it makes me wince). 25 is just too small, in my opinion, to get some of the cooler stuff on the table.

And if I did mind you stealing the list, would it stop you? Amarel, I may well be looking at dropping the Student, and replacing him with a fourth Merc to get another Soulstone. That said, my wife really dislikes Taelor's model (something about the underboob) and neither of us are particularly big fans of proxies.

So my wife seems to be somewhat interested in a Victoria crew, despite being "creeped out" (her words, not mine) by Malifaux. I play Colette and prefer 35 SS Scraps, so here's what I'm thinking of putting together for her: Vickies Student of Conflict--marginal, but that's 1 or 2 turns of fast for Swordy Vickie. Convict Gunslinger 3x Ronin 3x Desperate Mercenary That leaves the Vickies with 6 SS, or 3 if they decide to keep the Mercs past turn 3. Honestly, there's a part of me that suggests having them blow the heck up with For My Family and Rapid Fire (or whatever it's called). I think it allows a good mix of close combat and ranged attacks, but I'm willing to hear suggestions.

Those look great! But do you know if they'll be way too big for 28mm?

So I've decided to repaint my Showgirls, since I wasn't terribly pleased with the initial result. I've also used greenstuff to sculpt "stage" bases for them, but they're awfully bare at the moment. Stage lights would help break this up, but I'm terrible at OSL and don't really feel like working on it right now. I have some playing cards coming in, which will add some color, but the bases will still be very, very flat. Therefore, I've thought about adding some bar detritus to the stage, as mentioned in the title. Problem is, everything I've found thus far has been entirely too big--1" wine bottles, for example. Anyone know where I can find some appropriately-sized drinking vessels, or anything else to put up on the stage?

I think the reason why Marcus is so underrepresented is that he doesn't fit like Ramos and Colette do in the setting (I likewise think Rasputina is a poor fit, by the by). It's just the whole living-in-the-wilds-with-the-beasts thing. Now, that said, Marcus is nasty if used correctly. I personally would try, in a larger game, to run him with a Saberooth Cerberus, a pack of Silurids, and a Mole Man for defense--Miranda can sit at home. Throw in a Jackalope and you've got an extremely fast crew that can leap into range before doing their thing. Don't forget, Marcus and the Sabertooth hit pretty darned hard, too. And yes, I expect Marcus and the beasts to kind of leave the Mole Man behind, but that's just what happens. He keeps plugging along and catches up when things get nasty.

Actually, in most cases you're better off using Slow to Die for a Healing Flip, thus not needing to sacrifice a Showgirl. But if you absolutely have to get Colette out of trouble, then Death Defying is neat.

It doesn't even really take a Colette crew "designed for it." If you're taking Cassie and at least one Coryphee, you can get your crew into position to trigger both far corners T2, and then use Dance Partner to avoid being too spready out. Combine that with, say, Bodyguard (because Colette does not die), or with Sabotage (you're already in your opponent's half of the field--might as well bust something), and you've got a relatively easy 5 VP going for you.

I had quite a bit of fun, although I've been inspired to repaint all my Showgirls, since I was rushing a bit to get them "table-ready" earlier. Going to take my time and hope to god that I get the hang of painting female faces ASAP. Are there any plans to start up a regular Malifaux night? I know I'm interested in playing, albeit in a more casual sense than my brother, and would certainly be able to find the time to come up and get a game or two in. But not Tuesdays. I'm not missing Glee for anything.

Personally, I'm a big fan of Sabotage (which, honestly, Cassie can pull off turn 1) and Bodyguard, since Colette just does not die. I can see Power Ritual and Hold Out as being useful, but for my Showgirls, I really believe that those two take the cake.

I may be completely off-base here since I don't have the books or cards in front of me, but I'm pretty certain that the Coryphees can only be hired by Colette. If I'm wrong, my apologies!

For what it's worth, I have every intention on showing up to play with my Showgirls, and in actually coming to play on other occasions, to boot. Quick question, though: are we planning on balancing points after people show up? Furthermore, what happens if, say, three Neverborn players come, but only 2 from each other faction? Will we get "free" masters?

As mentioned, there is a smallish group going at Little Wars in Houston, which is over off Kuykendahl. I myself live over in Tomball (249 and Louetta, to be more precise) and it's hardly a heinous drive, although I haven't really been to play because I just got all my stuff painted and based. If you find anything closer to home, by all means, let me know!

Aside from an issue with an eBay seller not sending all the doves I bought, I now have a fairly complete Colette crew--her, Cassie, 2 performers/mannequins, 2 coryphees, and 2 (soon 3) doves, all painted up and about to be based once I figure out how to cut balsa wood into circles and pin such tiny feet (yeah, I probably should have done that before I painted them). So I'm considering branching out for "bigger" games, but I'm not sure exactly what to do. Ramos seems like the natural choice for a companion to Colette, having some synergy with things like the Mobile Toolkit and fitting in background-wise. I'm just curious, though, if anyone else has been running Colette + Ramos in 40-50 SS games and what they've found that's been working. Any help is appreciated, really.

To be honest, it seems much easier than, say, playing a dueling deck in a certain asian-themed CCG, or playing blue in another. Or playing a certain Middle-East-meets-Mother-Church-themed army in another game. All of which I have done. Also, keep in mind that I'm just going off what you explained rather than the actual rules, which I should get a chance to peruse this weekend. Well, I am currently planning on purchasing Collette's box, a box of Coryphees, and (eventually) a box of Mechanical Doves. I think that should give me plenty of options all the way up to 35 pts, although I may want to pick up Johan and a few others.

@MrNybbles (sorry, not going to quote here), I'm not seeing where the complexity is there. I'm really not. What is sounds like to me is that the logical things to do would be to use Mirrors to protect Cassandra or a Coryphee, utilize the Performers to make the enemy's best targets slow (and steal soulstones), and use Collette to turn all your unwanted control cards into Soulstones. Eventually, I would assume that you would use Cassandra or a Coryphee to attack models up close while still slowing down the enemy and poisoning them with Performers and Collette would take on a slightly more aggressive role with her spells, but keep in mind I haven't read the rules or really looked at stats or anything. I fully admit that the Malifaux playgroup in my area seems to be stuck at 25 soulstone games, whereas just by looking around a little, I'd much rather play at 35 points. I'm just curious, though, would it be considered "better," on average, to take 2 Performers/Mannequins or just one pair and a Coryphee?