Cats Laughing

My first Team Marcus game, a rambling romp in the desert: (note, because it's my first Marcus game and my opponent is also relatively new to Malifaux, there are many mistakes, please try not to harp on them, thank you (biggest mistake is that I Alpha'd the immune to influence Peacekeeper, yes we both learned from that) 30stones Marcus (Claim Jump) vs Hoffman (Treasure Hunt) My list was: Marcus 2x Sabertooth Kitties 4x Molemen Jabberwocky (Jackalope) 5 Stones Schemes: Sabotage and Stake a Claim vs Hoffman Peacekeeper Guardian Watcher Executioner "Mobile Appliance" as my opponent called it (Mobile Toolkit) 6 Stones Scheme: Holdout I placed my claim jump in the south and selected two terrain peices in the north for my schemes (thinking to force my opponent to split his forces to try to stop me, while my tigers+marcus speed could cover either scheme or strategy after stopping my opponent's strategy). Corners deployment, Peacekeeper, Hoffman + Toolkit at point, with Guardian and Watcher behind, Executioner nominally flanked to south. Marcus and one Sabertooth at point, with second Sabertooth flanked to north for schemes, with Molemen and Jackalope to south for strategy. First turn, Hoffman wins Initiative: Peacekeeper activates first and drags Hoffman and Toolkit up to treasure hunt objective using 3 walks. Marcus ponders the big gamble, estimating that the Peacekeeper is less than 10" away (charge + 2" melee range), and notes a high mask in his hand (as well as the red joker) and decides to go for it. Wild Heart for the (0) charge and hare (Sabertooth #1's base was nominally in the way of a direct charge so needed to be able to hop over its base) and a successful Alpha (soulstone to put wp resist out of range) and the Peacekeeper began punching Hoffman in the face. Hoffman burnt through a few soulstone to keep from dying and was left with only a few wounds remaining. Hoffman decides that cowardice is the better course of action, picks up the treasure and begins walking back towards his deployment zone. I burn through my red joker to leap my first Sabertooth into a position to charge and triple head bite Hoffman. He burns through soulstones pumping up DF flips and survives with just one wound remaining. Nothing else of mine can reach Hoffman (oh for a gun to shoot him with) and the remainder of the turn is uneventful (moleman go plodding off towards the claim jump marker). Turn 2, Hoffman wins initiative With the initiative, Hoffman activates, assimilates Slow to Die from the Watcher, then uses Machine Puppet on himself to punch the Sabertooth in the face, killing it with severe damage and a double ram critical strike. He then walks further away, dragging the Toolkit along. Marcus is unhappy about the loss of his kitty, and Feral's the Peacekeeper and casts Alpha on it, forcing it to follow Hoffman and shoot him. The first shot I target the Toolkit, causing a feedback wound on Hoffman, who uses Slow to Die for a healing flip (1 wound returned), then miss Hoffman with the second shot as Hoffman burns through another soulstone (he had 1 left). The Guardian walks up to Hoffman and protects him (arrrgh!). My second Sabertooth charges in to kill the Watcher and put some minor damage on the Peacekeeper. Some of the Moles move towards the claim jump, while others make a move for the sabotage, stake a claim and holdout areas. Turn 3 I finally win initiative, but no long have any high masks (or even low) in my control hand. So much for Alpha. Without that shenanigan available, Marcus decides the Peacekeeper needs to die and puts some damage into it, while pack leadering the second Sabertooth to finish the job. I kill it with my (0) and 2 general AP remaining on the Sabertooth (used the three head strikes for the kill) and try to leap into Hoffman but can't flip a mask Instead I figure I can put some damage on the Guardian to make Hoffman an easier kill later, so charge, doing some minor damage. Hoffman and the Guardian combine to kill the Sabertooth (Guardian strikes and Machine Puppet). Then we call the game for time issues (FLGS was closing) Marcus loses 4-6 Hoffman had the treasure counter in his possession in his deployment zone and his holdout scheme. I had skipped on completing sabotage in turn 3 to put some damage into the Guardian and Marcus was a few inches away from the stake a claim terrain, so I only had my Claim Jump. Things learned: -Alpha doesn't work on Immune to Influence Models, stop cheating my friend -Alpha would be super cool if it did -I probably could have simply trashed the Peacekeeper with Marcus and the nearby kitty with straight attacks, and the game would have played differently. -Keep your eye on the schemes and the clock. I could have Sabotaged my target terrain on turn 2 and had VP in my pocket for at least a draw. Team Marcus Game 2 - Kitties in the Trenches For my second Team Marcus game, I drew Slaughter against my Guild opponent's Distract. Standard deployment, so I scrapped my originally plan of trying to bunker Ramos up the table with a Guardian (as it would take Ramos 4.5 turns of walking to make it into my opponent's deployment zone) and decided Marcus should be tough enough to make it to the end of the game and fast enough to make it into my opponent's deployment zone. (second Marcus game, so possibly still some mistakes, though I learned from the big one in the above game) 30 stones Marcus (Slaughter) vs Sonnia (the aptly named Distract) My list: Marcus 2x Sabertooth Kitties 2x Hoarcat Prides Jackalope 7 stones His List: Sonnia Peacekeeper (booo!) Nino Witchling Stalker Misaki ?? stones Schemes, he announced Holdout, I announced Grudge on the Witchling Stalker and Sabotage on an open bunker just across the halfway point. Turn 1, Sonnia win initiative: Peacekeeper relentlessly moves up to "hold" my Sabotage objective. We alternate moving models up, with both Sabertooth kitties fail their leap towards the Sabotage objective so instead move into stalker move friendly terrain. Turn ends with Marcus as one of last models (him and the Jackalope). He decides to throw caution to the wind, wild hearts up some +2 Damage, Hare (for the extra speed) and the (0) action charge. One walk and a (0) charge and he's in the Peacekeeper's face laying down a severe damage, and touching the Sabotage terrain. I choose to learn the lesson from game one and take my Sabotage VP now, rather than whack the Peacekeeper a second time. Turn 2, Sonnia wins initiative, but on a very low flip, so Marcus spends a soulstone to flip a 12 and take Initiative: Marcus activates first and combines wild heart (+2 Damage, +2 Def and (0) attack) with his general AP to turn the Peacekeeper into scrap. Companioned Jackalope moves into position to prevent a charge by Misaki. Sonnia takes two moves to get LOS on Marcus and Flamebursts the Jackalope into oblivion (Defend Me trigger), putting a few points onto Marcus with the resulting blast. Hoarcats move up. Misaki charges and Marcus burns a stone to make the charge miss. More moving closer by both side, except Nino, who puts 5 pts into a Sabertooth (both failing again to Leap and therefore failing to engage Nino). Turn 3, Marcus wins initiative, Marcus again activates first and kills Misaki, with Wild Heart bonuses. Thought about attempting to Alpha Misaki into Sonnia, but didn't draw any masks, so too risky to rely on the flip+soulstone method. Pack Leader lets a hoarcat charge and eat the Witchling Stalker (yay Grudge scheme complete). Sonnia lights herself on fire (Inferno) then attempts to flameburst Marcus again, hitting a nearby hoarcat instead (blast damage on Marcus again Misses completely with second casting, though I think I needed to burn a stone for that. Finally a Sabertooth kitty pulls off leap and is able to charge Nino. He burns the rest of his hand on cheating and Nino manages to survive. Nino then disengages and kills the damaged Sabertooth, spawning a new Jackalope. My last set of Hoarcats charge Sonnia, but are damaged and only do 1 pt to her. Inferno then kills that pride and damages the other (it does what? grrrr, lesson learned). Turn 4, Sonnia wins initiative, Sonnia again lights herself on fire, then whacks the damaged hoarcats once, taking them to one wound, and then Violates them. Poor poor kitties. They somehow become a Witchling Stalker... The remaining Sabertooth then leaps into combat with Sonnia and tries 4 bites, which do some damage and force her to burn a few cards and stones. Nino kills the new Jackalope. Marcus charges in with Wild Heart up and kills Sonnia, but is forced to use all but 1 soulstone to seal the deal. Her death kills the Witchling Stalker and puts 6 on the fresh Sabertooth and 6 on Marcus, leaving him with 1 wound. The witchling stalker then blows up, killing the Sabertooth and forcing Marcus to spend his last soulstone on a damage prevention flip. I flip a 5... End result: 4-6 Marcus dies and loses, Sonnia succeeds at Distract and Holdout while stopping my slaughter. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have charged in with the damaged Hoarcats on Sonnia with inferno. I probably also should have tried to eat the Witchling Stalker with my Sabertooth kitty instead of Sonnia in that final turn. I might have also done well to not go for all or nothing with Sonnia on the last turn. I suppose I could have gambled with Initiative on turn 5 to try to kill her before she could get Inferno up. Oh well, most fun I've had losing...

Quick note: Your flips can max out at +++ or --- which means 3 additional cards on top of the initial card flip, so you actually max out at 4 cards. A relatively minor point but one to keep in mind.

Bete Noire can also gain Fast, but does require specific conditions for this (reinforcing your point). I think it's just not a Rezzer thing.

Though he is in the same faction, Ramos is another interesting choice for a starter opponent for Rasputina. If you drop one-two of the arachnids from his box (which will give you an arachnid or two to summon), he comes in at 22-25 stones. Ramos +2 Cache 10 Steamborg Executioner 9 Arachnid Swarm 3 Arachnid +3 addtional stones to Cache or +1 more arachnid He won't overwhelm her with his speed, and his summoning of new arachnids will probably not keep up with her killing them. On the plus side, by being from the same faction, you two can then combine your collections if you want to face people outside your family.

Sounds like Guild or Outcasts (specifically Gremlins of Frykorps) Most guild models seem to carry pistols that shoot fairly well, with Perdita and her Family doing the best at this. Most of the Gremlins and Frykorp also carry guns of some time, with Ophelia's Kin being a gremlin parody of Perdita's Family, and shooting nearly as well (and sometimes better Guild are more cohesive when you choose to expand from your initial crew, but Outcasts can offer I think a more extreme variety, though their crews are more like "Minions/Mercs" in WarmaHordes, where you won't have many crossover models that you can use with multiple Masters. After that I think you should check out the online store and/or gallery to figure out which models look coolest to you.

From a fluff point of view, I can't see why Soulless don't drop corpse counters. On a balance point of view, I can see the "complaints" about how Nightmare/Soulless don't appear to have the same disadvantages as Undead or Living (immune to abilities that target living, immune to those that target undead, and don't drop counters) At the same time, I do see it as a reasonable possibility that Wyrd has taken this into account with their points costs or other abilities (in the same way that Spirit models tend to have lower wound counts and don't block LOS to counter their half damage and terrain ignoring advantages). Now I don't have the experience to weigh in on either side, but I think you guys should keep debating and supporting your arguments with as much data as possible so that this debate can be beneficial to Wyrd. Note: While Wyrd no doubt has dedicated playtesters who may have a large sample of their own data, the larger population of general gamers can provide more data, but only if they provide detailed reports to support their points and try to keep personal biases out of it (ie: don't just report when you get stomped by hated Master XXX). I suggest posting reports in the battlereports section of these forums

If your master starts with a 0 soulstone cache and you spend all your soulstones in building your crew, then you can start an encounter with a soulstone cache of 0. It's not typically recommended, as proper soulstone use during games can win you games, but you are capable of starting with a small or empty soulstone cache. So yeah, the crews in the starter boxes are probably intentionally designed to make leave you with unspent soulstones and a larger cache. For instance Rasputina's box starts off with 21 soulstones spent and a 8 soulstone cache at the 25stone level of encounter. 8 soulstones on Rasputina is really nice to start with

I thought Avatar Raspy has a spell to summon more Gamin

Slut, total slut. As soon as finances allow I plan to own ~80% of the game, Hamelin and most Ressurectionist being the exceptions (and not sure I can stay away from the undead hookers)

Truer words have never been spoken

To make sure I understand: LCB and Dreamer have 3 shared General AP, but can individually only use 2 of those, unless affected by Fast?

Hell Dorado - have played quite a fair amount, maybe close to my number of Malifaux games. Smaller board than Faux, alternating activation like Faux, but without any ability to mass-companion and alpha strike, which is nice. At best you can string two model's activations together, so you can take out a key model, but it's fairly difficult to wipe large swathes out at once. There does appear to be an almost rock-paper-scissors aspect across the factions, and I'm not really happy with the starter box I was given. Westerners seem to have a shooty box set up in a game where shooting someone's face off can be very difficult. Imagine having guns that take 2 turns to reload in a 4 turn game... I've had much more success/fun once I swapped in some melee models, especially against the Saracens and their ~you can't shoot anyone within X" of my Djinn, who also speeds up my melee monsters~ boxed set. (Seriously? wtf...) Interesting mechanic with the dice rolling (max dice you can roll is 5, but additional dice you should get can become rerolls). Also, melee combats are opposed, so activating and non-activating opponent are both at risk of taking damage (which makes really good melee models disgusting). Both models can take damage, so chance of a dual-death is fairly high. High DEF seems to be a key stat. I would have to say that the terrain rules are even more integrated into the game than Faux's and possibly more annoying. Terrain placement is almost a second game in and of itself. Scenario rules are interesting, though I feel some turn limits are too short. Despite all the critiques above, I have enjoyed playing it and I think the models are very nice. A 4 compared to Malifaux's 5

To play, just the rulebook (small/mini ~5"x8" book, not older 8"x11" version) is needed (plus the cards that come with the models). Rising powers, the older 8"x11" rulebook are all useful for reading background stories and researching your own and your opponent's armies, but are not required and in certain places are out of date (mostly in the rules, strategies and schemes section, but also for certain model rules). 100% optional but suggested purchases. Twisting Fates has the new rules for Avatars, not included in the mini rulebook, as well as new model selections, so while it's still optional (as long as you don't use any avatars), you'll probably want to pick it up.

Honolulu, Hawaii: No banned models. Our biggest house rule is that the entire terrain section of starting/setting up an encounter is more or less ignored primarily due to our current selection of terrain and partially due to the overall newness of our Malifaux group (few of us, not including me, were playing prior to Rising Powers). Some players (due to the same newness/small collections and prior experience with other games) also self handicap by preselecting their crews, prior to strategy(and even opponent) selection, but that's not really a house rule. There's also an opinion that playing against Hamelin is unfun (to the point of suffering Pandora's "Self Loathing" spell and wanting to shiv one's own face), though I doubt he'll actually get banned...

QFT, especially the "typing makes people angry" part

I think you'll find using the (0) action to teleport to Collodi will make using the (0) action to make a new wicked with the kill shot a bit hard to pull off... Still, the whole "my crew is here and now it's there poking needles in your face" thing is fun to pull off. Perhaps Juju or 2 Sulurids would be faster replacements for the Stitched. Alternatively you can keep the Stitched back by Zoraida while Collodi's group goes roaming.

The following is from only a single game of experience (single game including the Effigies, I've played more than a handful with Collodi's standard box setup + extra wicked dolls or stitched together), so take with a grain of salt. Given the speed of Collodi's main group (Collodi + Marionettes + effectively teleporting Wicked Dolls), I found that the Effigies I took just couldn't keep up and played no part in the game. Admittedly, the game was a shared slaughter, so being left behind was a bit of an issue. If we had other objectives in this game, having a separate group to go one direction while Collodi + Marionettes go off in another may have worked. I found that the Effigies being left behind was not an issue with the Outcast Hodgepodge Effigy, as it was able to do it's card manipulation from the rear.

Hmmm, I need to change my screen name

Ohhh, impressed by the Raspy avatar gif.

Hmmm, missing the cool octopus... Sadface

Does Karaoke count? I murder songs like Jack the Ripper, slitting throats and mutilating chords... I'm totally sending the Miley Cyrus link to my friend. After the Friday fiasco(texting his wife and getting her to show it to him , he might actually resort to violence... I was actually expecting worse, though I suppose not watching the video helped it. Ratty, I don't know the original (heresy, I know) but yeah, I can see people liking it. Not my cup of tea. I pretty much hate all covers of Christmas Songs, but that's mostly because I just hate Christmas Songs and the 3 months straight (mid Oct - mid Jan) that we have to listen to that crap. Carolers on Christmas Eve = sweet, touching, inspiring. Christmas Songs piped through the PA system or played on radio 24/7 = makes me wanna go all Sweeney Todd on people, complete with the pies.

Of course I was, I can't be too hard on her, that's my wife's job Anyway, got in the third game. I think I might have a regular opponent.

You're on my dislike list

Yes, they're fun. At least as long as your opponent is willing to stay away from Hamelin, or you don't mind extreme uphill challenges. Against most other opponents you should do fine and at least have fun as your stuff and your opponent's stuff blows up all over the board

...playing her first two games of Malifaux. And she wanted to play a third, but it was past bedtime... Best Father's Day Ever!