Cats Laughing

I completely agree with all of the above regarding markers. Take your 30/40/50mm bases, trace out those sizes on thin cardboard (like cereal boxes or even just the boxes your models came in) and cut them out. You can label them (and even write the effects for stuff like Pyre Markers) if you feel like cutting out a bunch. Just FWIW, the faction symbols on the boxes are supposed to be exactly* 30mm for the purpose of cutting them out to use as markers. *within the same tolerances a 30mm plastic base would be, in anycase As for Henchman Hardcore, I agree on not using it to learn your crew (since you won't get a master and the master is the lynchpin of a keyword), but I think it is a perfectly serviceable game size to learn the basic mechanics of Malifaux, so don't be dissuaded against doing Henchman Hardcore.

I don't expect I'll get any more Malifaux done this month. If I paint this weekend/early next week it'll likely be trying to clear off my unpainted MCP so I can be nearly fully painted there (currently 33 of 38 models painted there, while I won't even both trying to count painted vs unpainting in Malifaux...) So here's my pledge for February: 2 dirty-ly painted Rail Workers These were originally primed white, then given a wash of black (to try a version of zenithal or slap chop), but the black wash came out real splotchy (you can kind of see this on the base) and didn't really mimic zenithal or slap chop and also they sat on the shelf collecting dust for years. Not as clean as much of the rest of the keyword, but I'm fine with that. Checking my pile of potential, with these two done, Miss Fire (alt Willie, as yet unassembled) is the only Foundry model I own that isn't painted, though I don't have Neil (or standard Willie), Mei2, or the Rock Lobster-Hopper. I don't know when I'll get those models, but I suppose I can move onto prepping their bases or another keyword.

Other players will be able to answer this better than I, but let's see... So assuming the M3E boxes you're looking at: 1) Rasputina having: Rasputina, Wendigo, SnowStorm, and 3x Acolytes = 30 stones 2) Victorias having: Victoria x2, Vanessa, and 3x Ronin = 26 stones 3) Misaki having: Misaki, Shang, Ototo, and 3x Torakage = 28 stones You're fairly balanced on stones and number of models. The Stones difference can be made up in the way it is normal made up in game, but giving a crew a cache of stones to spend in game for the things you can spend stones on. I'd suggest calling the games 35 stones games so each crew has 9-5 stones in their cache. On the surface you've got two primarily melee crews (Viks & Misaki) and one ranged crew (Raspy). I don't think any of these boxes are particularly missing anything important to the crew at a basic level, though Rasputina would prefer to have 1-2 Silent Ones instead of the Acolytes. Acolytes are ok, but Silent Ones help her playstyle more. <-competitive players will argue this point, but for learning games and getting into the game I think you should be fine with Acolytes. I think with the right terrain set up you could have reasonably balanced games between any two of these crews. The potential to spiral if terrain isn't balanced (too much or too little) and also if a player catches onto a style faster than the opponent exists, but that's true of any game and also if you play with full access to an entire keyword/faction. You can print cards or just use the App, but it's probably important to note that Rasputina has been buffed since her initial release and the cards in the box might not be the current version of her rules. I don't believe any of the other models in those boxes have seen errata. I don't recall if "faction upgrades" come in these core boxes, but some of those have also been errata'd. I'd ignore those for the first few games anyway.

Depends, TBH. There isn't a concerted effort by wyrd to make all of the coreboxes balanced in game vs other coreboxes as that's not how the game is designed to be played. Instead coreboxes generally follow the format of: Master + Totem + Henchman/Enforcer + Minions(3). This gives you a good based to start collecting into a crew, and add on more boxes to give you a good pool of models to pick your crew for a specific set of schemes/strategies/deployment/terrain/opponent. Some coreboxes are fairly cohesive out of the box, while others might feel like they are missing additional models to make them click. For instance most Summoning masters will feel like they want additional models to summon in. Some coreboxes might not have a focal point and be primarily scheming models that can't really kill opponents (which isn't always necessary in Malifaux but can be a hard thing to grasp for newer players). You also will run into varying points costs of boxes. For instance Molly's corebox (Molly, totem, Philip, 3x Crooligans) is only 20 stones, while the Titania corebox (Titania, totem, Aeslin, 3x Knights) is 29 stones. You can obviously remove/add models to even out the points cost. All of that said, you can take two coreboxes and run them against each other to learn the game. There's a not unreasonable chance that the game will be balanced enough for learning and getting into the game, as you don't need perfect balance for a learning game. In the Molly vs Titania example above, you'll want to remove a Knight or Aeslin from Titania's crew to even out the points and also ensure that their are non-killy schemes in the pool to give Molly's crew something non-killy to do, as her crew lacks strong fighting models but is good at the scheming side.

The Bolster Strength trigger on the Brutal Emissary is "friendly models within range heal 1" on what is otherwise an aura. I don't know if being a trigger makes it different from the Burn It Down question, but if the Heal 1 is an aura effect that procs when you move the aura over a model, would there be anything stopping you from doing a 1mm fwd 1mm back dance to tag a friendly model multiple times to heal it up from 1 to full?

Burn it Down is a tactical action with range Aura 4". It removes all destructible markers in range. Until the end phase other models treat it as hazardous burning +1 terrain. Just checking, but the remove all destructible markers in range only happens when the ability is used (immediately) and doesn't stick around as a huge 4" aura of marker destruction, correct? In other words, if I use this ability then move, I only remove destructible markers within the area at the moment I use the action, but I don't remove markers that I later move the aura over (as the model moves).

On the other hand I've managed to sign up twice

Just FYI, both spreadsheets appear to be locked/private. The Forms I could fill out, but couldn't check to see if I had been recorded properly.

Well, i pledged again, just at the same enforcer level, since I don't want to aim so high I fail, but shockingly I managed quite a bit more than 6-stones this month. I don't expect to paint more malifaux this month, so I'll post my two completed models now. Mei Feng & Kang in a jade and yellow scheme, which mostly matches the green and yellows of my gremlin & golem/gamin Foundry models.

Well I managed to complete the 2022 challenge, with some grifting of easy models at times. I did finish off my Oni Keyword (still need to flock bases... maybe this weekend) as part of this challenge so I figure I'll challenge myself to do this again, though at the same enforcer level. I've started on the Honeypot & Foundry keywords as fillers while working on the Oni keyword, so those might be my focus until Story/Red Library comes out. I've got an airbrush now, so hopefully my primer layers are cleaner and that helps to get overall better results. A lot of what I've painted this last year and in my failed 2021 attempt were rattle can primed models that had accumulated layers of dust on top... Maybe I'll also learn some new techniques beyond my slop on constrast paints. In anycase this helped with the backlog, so it's worth giving a shot.

Well, I snuck in Mr Tannan, the Grinch of Malifaux, so I guess I made it The colorshift paint on his calling card is supposed to be brilliance, but not sure it'll be visible as such at any distance...

I still have concerns with the idea of banning clearly "not overpowered" stuff (Asami2 in the previous cycle and likely some stuff in the current cycle), but I'm coming around on the reasoning of why you're doing full categories as opposed to picking and choosing specific items. It does take most of your bias out of it and I get that a full consensus is hard. Also, it feels like the format is catered to a more seasoned competitive audience as newer players are more likely to be caught out with their new purchases being banned for reasons they won't understand (and potentially not having any backup options to use instead). With that said, something like a worldwide vassal tourney seems like a good place for this format (as no purchases would be invalidated) and local TOs should read the temperature of their community*. I agree with Math above that TOs should feel free to alter their tourney to match their community needs I do want to give props for editing your original post to call the basic game "Standard" instead of your original term, which might feel true to you and others but was quite loaded. *For instance our last local tourney allowed only 1 non-keyword model (OOK or Versatile), iirc, and previous tourneys have either allowed or disallowed double masters. I've discussed with the local TOs the idea of allowing a Crossroads 7 player to pick their faction each game as opposed to the normal use 1 faction for the whole tourney format.

Wait, people actually try to memorize what triggers are on which suits?

I guess I managed 14 stones with a pair of hulked-out Swine-cursed. If I do any painting in the next few days I'll probably cheat a little and intentionally not finish models so I can finish them in December before the holidays completely kill hobby-time Yeah, not super happy with the connection point gaps, but I'n not entering any competitions.

Okay so for October I finished my Shadow Emissary (well it's table top pending basing and I might bling up the gold bits still) and I found out I had missed a Tengu when I last stated that I had finished my Oni keyword, so I did it and am now actually done with Oni, so a group photo with the painted OOKs and Versatiles. They are sort of based with black rims and sandy centers, but i'm thinking to flock that someday.

FWIW, if he does Take the Hit while within 4" of Miya he'll gain a shielded from her Untold Tales prior to getting hit, so that's closer to/better than Armor 2, which helps.

Took me far far too long, but that name is :chefs_kiss

Painted these two back on Sept 10th, but didn't post here in case I finished anything else. I didn't, but now my whole Oni keyword is finished (pending bases and any Madness releases) so yay. Now to work on bases and move onto painting another crew. 2 Katashiro = 10 stones

Banning Asami Shintaku is a take, but I get why you're taking the easy route of banning new masters. It does feel weird that you're allowing potentially broken enforcer/minions, though, but again I suppose category bans/allows is easier than agreeing on specific models. Another option presented was specific bans by an opponent. Obviously people have some concerns about allowing opponents to ban specific masters. It would suck if a Nekima solo player ran into someone who banned Nekima. I would hate it (and look sideways at my opponent as if they were an idiot) if my opponent banned Shintaku. Wyrd already has a ban format, though, that doesn't cause this issue as you do bans after the initial master is declared. Wyrd's existing format allows a solo-master player to always use their master so there are no bad feels concerns there. I wonder if a better solution would be to allow a single model ban (after master selection) as a potential fix. This would allow solo master players to still play their master but would allow their opponents a chance to deny potentially broken combos. This single model would be instead of Wyrd's existing keyword ban (as an alternative target option), so you could ban a single model in the declared keyword or an OOK keyword. I think this idea would work better than an overall new release ban, as many issues are a combination of models that can usually be stopped/mitigated by removing one of the models. In the case where an overpowered combo doesn't rely completely on one model, removal of a key model can still bring the overpowered combo down to just being powerful. At the same time removal of the one model shouldn't keep that same keyword from being able to make an effective but not overpowered crew. This option would allow players the chance to use their new purchases in games while avoiding the biggest issues.

I want some overlap between the two products (some 'solos' in TOS having enforcer/henchmen profiles in Malifaux for instance), but pulling everything from TOS into Malifaux would be a terrible idea. There's already a concern with bloat in Malifaux, also I'm pretty sure no one (including Wyrd) wants to see 120mm bases in Malifaux, so the titans and similar wouldn't get crossover regardless. I didn't buy into TOS due to timing and not being interested in another army game at the time nor in backing another kickstarter. However, since I'm not really interested in the army games I have existing models for, I am waiting to see the two new factions (3K and Kimon) and may either buy into those when they are released or get Shambling Hordes (as that's the existing faction that appeals to me). The idea of TOS appeals to me.

Shockingly I finished a model extra early this month, so anything else done will be gravy. I might power through and get alot of Malifaux done, or I might switch to another game system to get more done there, or if I finish my Katashiro I might finally base my Oni crew as I'll finally be done with the keyword. Anyway, here's my third Jorogumo, in a similar purple & yellow scheme as the other two, but this time a more blotch scheme, rather than a stripe or hourglass scheme

Hmmm Sound of Thunder on Raijin will proc off Jump Off the Page on Linh and I think you could potentially check your opponent's top deck first* with Without a Voice from Miya if you've got tomes in your Configuration. *You get to choose the order of 'when Linh activates' abilities, right?

Confirmed, Ravencroft's other title is Unbound, boxed with Storyteller Linh Ly from the Story/Red Library keyword for Ten Thunders

So apparently it is the title box, with Story/Red Library, the Ten Thunders keyword. It's also updated to $40.

I already noted my plans in my what I finished (barely in the last few days) for July post, but will repeat here to remind myself about August. Looking at finishing my 3rd Jorogumo, then starting on Honeypot with Mr Tannen, and maybe Lynch. I might flip back to MCP for a bit as I am 2 models (Vision & Angela) short of fully painted there, then I can buy new stuff under my self imposed MCP budget.