Cats Laughing

and, iirc, the terrain is still there, it's just Ht 0 Severe after being "destroyed." She will take any benefit she can get. Also remember to drop Ice Pillars on markers you don't want your opponent interacting with. It's really too bad she can't cast Ice Pillars more than once a turn, but that might actually bump her up to top tier/broken. Haha, imagine a Raspy + Snowstorm + totem crew casting Ice Pillars 6 times in a turn.

FWIW, some small part of your success in Necromunda (beyond everyone essentially having the same rules) is that the Scenarios in Necromunda are fairly simple. There are many scenarios, but typically within a single game you only have a single scenario running with a single objective. Typically that objective was also the objective of both players (ie: both players wanted to grab the treasure or one player wanted to do XXX while the other player wanted to stop the first). This combines with the relatively small number of models into a situation where you have a specific goal that you need to shoot for. Many other games simply have a "kill the opponent" goal, but that's not quite as specific as it sounds, as there are many many ways to kill an opponent. Malifaux throws specific strategies at you, but often makes sure that your opponent is not directly opposing your strategy, and then you can add in schemes to make sure that there are many different possible paths to victory, without considering the actual actions of the models. For Malifaux, as other's have mentioned, you really must keep the specific strategies and schemes of the current game in mind while playing. Killing your opponent's Nekima may be satisfying but a total waste of time, if no schemes or strategies are completed or stopped by her death. Another thought I had when you mentioned that you do well with board games but not so well with miniature games is the aspect of measurement. I've been pretty decent with eyeballing distances since game one, and consequently have always done well in miniature games. I know a local player who is really really good at Settlers of Catan, but often finds himself short 0.5" or too close to an opponent when he plays with miniatures on unmarked tables. It doesn't help that his dice hate him.

Not really, the OP did allow you to define weakest. You appear to be going by weakest melee attack rather than overall package. It's a fair argument if possibly misleading (sans smiley

Looking forward to more.

My wife doesn't want me to lose weight so much as she wants me to redistribute it and alter its state from chub to muscle. Less Belly More Chest, she keeps implying... Sadly I have no secrets to share, and haven't really started yet (I keep getting interrupted by being sick, or going on work travel, or both...). Anyway, good luck to all, and I hope I can get started so I can maybe post results as motivation.

Note, in the Rules Manual, those other damage reducing abilities, like Bulletproof, Evasive, Magic Resistant, all give Armor in their specific situations, which stacks with normal Armor and iirc is ignored by things that ignore Armor.

I don't think it is a good idea to attempt to cuddle a single model by removing an ability shared by mulitple models. You end up unintentionally Cuddling models that don't need to be cuddled.

Wait, I can't do this?

Undead Beast?

This is something that annoys me as well. I am also rather annoyed and mystified that Lilu/Lilitu are: Woes and Nightmares. Isn't it weird that they are the only (iirc) non-living Nephilim? (thanks to Nightmare) I half expect them to get Spirit at some point and be total stupid.

If tourneys were for real money (ie: gambling amounts) then I'd either bother with counting cards (or not play at all). But I just play for fun, so I don't bother with counting cards (as useful as it might be), though I do occasionally note when a black or red joker has been used by either side.

Too Long Didn't (Don't) Read Typically included at the end of a long post with a summary of the main point of the post. Apparently used at the beginning of Odin's post as a warning (the "don't read" version).

When you fight Necromancers you end up dabbling in Necromancy. Can't be certain blondie wasn't "(un)dead" to begin with...

What time is it? No, seriously, I'm in pretty much the same boat as you. I started with Rasputina, quickly picked up Ophelia, followed her with Collodi, Ramos, Marcus, Zoraida, Kaeris and Molly. Now I've got my eye on Seamus, Pandora, Somer, Colette, Sonnia and Lady J. I think Raspy will still be my favorite, but she has a hard time getting playtime with all the other masters/henchmen I have.

Not really. Counters I can live without (I have generic dry-erase ones that work fine for multiple games). Hardback books I detest for weight and ease of reading issues. Imho, hardback books are only good for clocking high school bullies with... I voted for more Chronicles and Plushies.

OP didn't ask how to balance the game. He can't balance the game as he doesn't write the rules. The best he can do is try to make the game enjoyable for both sides (which appears to be what he was asking about). That may involve playing models below their full capabilities, when certain models are "broken" or create situations that are not condusive to enjoyable gaming. When the match up is not fair or not fun you have several choices(when you're the one using the "broken" army), continue to take the same models, but avoid abusing their more questionable skills/ability, or take different models that lower your overall power, or attempt to teach your opponent how to counter your army. Sometimes you can't really lower the power of the army enough, simply by taking different models. Sometimes you don't want to take different models because you are playing that army to be able to use those models. People will ignore advice to take different models if they really want to use XXX (because the model looks great, they painted it really nice, they like the fluff, whatever...). Sometimes you can't really teach your opponent how to counter your army, because his army just doesn't have the ability to do so (Ophelia vs Hamelin). Usually it takes a while to teach an opponent how to beat your army, especially if the power levels and skill levels are widely separated. This is often the best option, but can take too long and the opponent may get frustrated and quit before this pays off. It might not be the best option, to play your models below their capabilities, but it is an option, and often is the easiest to start with. You can also combine it with attempts to teach your opponent how to counter your army, and gradually reintroduce the "broken" abilities as your opponent learns how to counter your army. Also, regarding the collection of data to lead to fixes for Hamelin, simple wins/loss data (even combined with army lists) is fairly useless for determining what fixes need to be made, though it can help in determining there is a problem to fix. You really need decently detailed reports of the games for any reasonable analysis of problem areas. Those detailed reports would point out that a player was not using abilities to their full extent (ie: not abusing the kill rats action), which is something a designer should take into consideration. Not using abilities to their full extent can actually be useful data, if properly noted in the report. For instance, the designers could note that Hamelin is rolling face when kill rats is abused, but that games appear balanced when kill rats is only used once per turn and Hamelin appears to get destroyed when it isn't used at all. They might then make kill rats a once per turn per crew ability (rather than removing it completely), which might be the cuddle that works. Note: I'm not suggesting that the above is what I think would fix Hamelin. I'm not even sure Hamelin needs fixing yet, as I like to reserve judgement until I have more experience with/against him.

Another option, with a standard Hamelin list, is to not abuse the Ratcatcher ability to kill all the rats within the area of effect. By not using this ability, you limit the Rat swarm to continually activating over and over and over again, to only when your opponent actually kills them. At least then it's his fault when they swarm over his crew.

Somer's box comes with 16ss (2 Bayou gremlins at 2ss each and one Pig at 8ss). Somer, as an Outcast Master starts with a cache of 0, so of the remaining 9 ss, you can stick 8 in your cache for use duing the game and really only need to spend 1 to not waste any. That said, as the other poster mentioned, you'll probably want additional purchases to make the multiple types of lists that he can use. However, if you are just on a budget, you can technically play with just the box plus maybe one more blister of something (more gremlins, skeeters, pigs/piglets, whisperers, slop haulers, any one or more of the Kin, etc...). Darn, now I'm tempted to pick up his box to add to my Lacroix box...

FWIW, I would let you do that. I think it's an interesting use of her abilities. Given that (iirc) reclaim Malifaux needs to be declared, and your opponent can guess which corners don't have "reclaimable" terrain, he should be able to see this coming and prepare a response. My two cents anyway.

edit: Welcome to the Forums. I don't any experience using the Guild, but you seem to have the parts for a decently well rounded force. Face-beating (Sonnia & Samael) Grunts for dirty work (Stalkers) Objective grabbing speed (Hounds, are they "significant" or "insignificant" can't remember, but that's an important point) Long range annoyance factor (Austringer) I suspect that some experience players will still give you a rough going over, but that will be more due to their experience than to any specific areas of weakness in your list. You'll have a 3rd witchling stalker from the boxed set for swapping out models during specific strategies, or to summon via Violation of Magic. Make sure you read closely the Strategy(ies) you and your opponent flip and also the schemes you and your opponent choose. This isn't your typical game where you want to kill everything your opponent has. Killing his models usually helps, but Strategies and Schemes are where victory points are scored. I made this mistake in my last game. I killed Hamelin on turn 2 (and all his stolen), and could have spent the rest of the game working on my strategy and schemes, but instead I got distracted by having succeeded in killing Hamelin and tried to kill off the rest of his crew, only to have the rat swarm roll over my crew and wipe me off the table. He then spent the last turn doing his objectives and winning the game. If I had concentrated on objectives after killing Hamelin, I could have scored enough VP for at least a tie and probably even a win.

Essentially this. It pretty much always stings to lose. Though I must admit that even against Hamelin, Dreamer, etc... opponents, for some reason, losing a Malifaux game is typically loads more fun than losing in any other game system I've played. (not saying that other games are bad, just I enjoy losing less in those games) Mostly because my loses tend to be "WTF just happened, Holy S--- that's cool!" Like when Sonnia blew up in Marcus's face leaving only one model on the board. PS: dsmiles, I've been listening to Sweet Revenge since seeing your sig-banner. Pretty cool.

Was rereading the v2 pdf for Arcanist, and I noticed that Defend Me doesn't require the ranged attack or charge to be performed by an enemy. What happens if you charge Marcus with a friendly beast, then switch with that beast via the trigger, does the beast then bite itself? I suppose you could use this to charge something with Marcus and have another friendly beast charge Marcus to pop Marcus out of combat and put the beast into combat (for a little extra range for the beast). Preferably something with additional attacks after a charge, like a Rogue Necromancy or Sabertooth. Alternatively, you could try a conga line with Marcus and a shooty model (preferably one with a 1 damage weak). Shoot Marcus, switch with beast 3" away, shoot Marcus again, switch with beast a further 3" down the line. Setting that up would probably be more difficult than it's worth though.

I would switch the Essence of Power for a Jackalope. Marcus has no damaging spells that would benefit from Empower and the Jackalope gives another Defend Me target on top of the "I'll be back" ability.

I think it depends on how you want to play Somer, but almost certainly yes. I understand that there is a Somer playstyle that could be called "cover the tables in gremlins" in which you may end up with over 12 bayou gremlins (depending on game size). I think the additional pack of 4 might be worth while prior to the Somer box, as this would allow you to use them with Ophelia before getting the Somer box and allow the gremlin swarm after you get his box.

Played one of the old Halloween scenarios on (shock) this past Halloween. The Trick or Treat at 4 buildings scenario Took Marcus, 2 Sabertooth Kitties and 2 Silurid (as i didn't want to proxy anything) against Hamelin, some Crooligans, Rat Catchers, Stolen and the Wretch. Turn one involved a lot of leaping beasts, knocking on the two close buildings and getting into position to knock on the 2 far buildings, unfortunately I got nothing but tricks. Hamelin's crew moved up knocking on the two buildings closer to his side, getting nothing but treats (boo). The Wretch sacrifices one Stolen to attempt to make Marcus insignificant and fails. Turn 2 Hamelin sees Marcus in range and tries to make him insignificant, failing on both attempts. Marcus realizes Hamelin is in range as well, charges and bashes Hamelin's head in with 3 severe damage strikes. Yay Marcus. Needed to use all my soulstones to avoid turning insignificant and kill Hamelin, boo. At some point Hamelin's other Stolen had been turned into a rat(can't remember when), so now Hamelin was down Hamelin himself, the Wretch and both Stolen, but up 3 rats. The 3 rats and 2 rat catchers pile into Marcus and take him down. Boo. Following turns follow a similar sequence, with my Kitties running in to kill a Rat Catcher then get overwhelmed by Rats, though at some point I do spend time knocking on doors and getting 3 treats, but by turn 4 all my models were dead and the Rats and Crooligans were still running around knocking on doors and getting treats. Ended up losing 6 treats to 3. I just went back and read the Pull My Finger entry and realized my big problem. "Marcus - The Beast Master. Not a lot of direct damage spells. With his crew of beasts he plays an aggressive hit-and-run game." I keep hitting but I keep forgetting to run. Must run away more. Looking back at the game, after turn 2, when Hamelin and Marcus died, I had 4 models on 4 buildings with enough speed to circle the buildings (since knocking at the doors wasn't needed) trick-or-treat and stay away from my opponent. He was, meanwhile, stuck in an alley between two buildings and would have had trouble knocking on as many doors/buildings as I could, without losing his swarm bonuses. Oh well, at least I'm learning from my errors. Now to actually put some of that into practice.