Necromorph

Hell yes, indeed.

My head would explode.

It was probably an issue with the quality of the models post production, not the sculpt itself.

Bleh, yeah I mean I guess at least I can get the new book and at least look at the rest of my avatars, haha. Yeah, I guess it will save me money, as even with 1 avatar purchase ill still be at about $150.

Still a little annoyed about that. We couldn't even get an alt sculpt? Ateast I can get kirai and the young lacroix so it won't be bad...well that and the book....and dead justice, lol.

I'm sure wyrd would be nothing but appropriate and tasteful in their construction of said characters.

That was it nilius...I was wracking my brain...I know there was another one out there lol. There's probably more too, just can't think of em.

I can't say I disagree with Dolo...though I might not be quite as vehement haha. I had no problem with the lelu or hooded rider sculpts (2 that have seen some bad commentary), but the collodi sculpt was disappointing enough for me to not buy, and I can't help but say that Im damn glad I don't play Marcus...i'd be livid.

Very true that the Guild controls the influx of traffic into the breach. However, the near east has, historically been very wealthy (even now though most of that is based on oil and the families that control it) and it would seem justified that some rich dignitaries would be able to buy their way into the breach or spend resources to get covert teams through for some purpose.

True, I can see the near east being a controversial subject on occasion, but the two other games I play with any regularity (40k and infinity) have forces inspired by the near east....Tallarn imperial guard, and Haqqislam. Hell, CB even went as far as making a "suicide bomber" type unit that tries to run up and electromagnetic pulse enemy machines instead of blowing up....but the reference is clear lol. Granted, CB is based in Spain so they have a long history with Islam and thus its only ever so slightly less controversial, but still... Hmm...doesn't hordes have a faction with a heavy Persian influence? Just seems like a very historically significant region with lots of possible influences for fluff characters....looking forward to something in the future.

Cryptic as always I see, haha jk. In all seriousness though, thanks for the response, happy to know the idea is at least being thought about in some way.

So...we were talking about this subject yesterday. It all came up because I've been playing a lot of Assassin's Creed lately, and my Minor in College was Middle Eastern Studies. Why haven't we seen any models / characters from the Near (middle) East? The Steampunk genre takes place in what, the late 1800's early 1900's? So the Ottoman Empire would have been around, seems like a pretty rich environment for some character creation there. Will there be in the future? Some kind of Merc maybe? We have characters from many prominent regions: several inspired by Europe, South America, China, Africa (don't know Marcus' background...but uh...shootin in the dark on that one). Just wondering...since it would go a ways toward fleshing out all of the world cultures in the fluff...since I'm sure EVERYONE was interested in the magical potential of the breach and beyond in Malifaux.

I've only played against him once with Mcm...but he can be kind of annoying. Only managed to win because I summoned a RN and a FC back to back turns, and then proceeded to kill a puppet with each swing for 2 turns. The thing is though, like has been said, Kirai can mostly just ignore him and complete your schemes. He can do some decent damage, but without support he'll overextend himself and the Marionettes trying to take your models out. Kill everything else if you have to, and then focus on him when the schemes are done. I honestly wish I could play him, but I can't stand his models and therefore can't justify dropping money on him.

I would love to try Collodi with Levi, but....IMO, Collodi's model is garbage, and it was enough for me to not buy him, so I haven't tried it. I did, however, toy around with list building for the combo. It would be Levi Alyce Collodi Marinoettes x3 ? Can't think of anything to add into the slot. Ryle would be an awesome option but you can't have both Ryle and Collodi due to special forces restrictions. There are no other ranged constructs that Levi can hire, and there are no strong ranged undead that are practical to use as a fire platform with Levi/Alyce. I guess you could add just about anything though.

Yes, keeping her minions tied up in melee is HUGE....getting there is the problem. Everyone knows I hate guild, especially Perdita, but I think a lot of the issue people have when going up against her is lack of terrain. If you play the recomended amount of terrain, and set it up correctly so you don't have 24" firing lanes going down the whole board, then she seems much more manageable when she can't just companion-nuke your crew in the 1 turn when you're out in the open trying to close the distance. Granted, a good 'Dita player could always just cover narrow firing lanes and funnel your crew on a terrain heavy board, but they will be much less likely to be able to use companion effectively on offense. Another bit of advice is that she is incredibly dependant on focus firing. If you flood her with targets, keeping faster, cheaper targets out front, then you have a better chance of getting your units there. Target saturation is the way to go against her.

It seems to me like many of the people posting when we're talking about "balance" and "being competitive" have different views of what each is. Some feel that something is balanced and competitive if you CAN win games with a master, even if they're not particularly good at it, but if you have fun, thats all that matters. Others feel that the two mean that the game has to be balanced so flawlessly that everyone is equal. Neither view is really correct. No, the game cannot be perfectly balanced. Hell, MMO's have trouble balancing 5-10 classes, let alone 20. However, it would be nice if weak masters were more readily addressed through either errata or adding models that help them actually overcome abysmal matchups is some way to give them a boost. For those who say, "Master x is fine, i've seen him win a game once, don't take it so seriously," doesn't work that way. You can't tell someone how to feel about something, and if you're making a GAME, there are some people that will take it competitively/too seriously (sports are games too, you gonna tell someone who just lost a national championship to "not take it so seriously"). I, for one, am a competitive minded player. I'm not win at all costs, but I don't like to lose, and even if I'm playing for fun I'll still be a little annoyed when I lose...unless ofc I'm drunk, but w/e. That's just how I am, from hockey to video games to ttg's, I always feel some need to be competitive, and I know I'm not alone there. If you make a game that promotes league and tournament play, and there are imbalances, then you can bet it will attract a competitive following, and that they sure as hell will let you know about those imbalances in the game. I don't think that the game can be balanced properly, due to it's basic design and the fact that 20 masters and all unique minions, but telling folks that got suckered into playing underpowered masters to "get over it" and "stop taking it seriously, it's a game" is NOT the answer to the issue.

@ Hookers and Magno's conversation about PanO. Uhm...Hookers? Guild? Basically Guild are the HMG wielding PanO of this game. Stand and Shoot. Pretty much the motto of both groups. Do Guild break the game, no, even though I hate them with a passion, but game breaking, no. It's the same thing with PanO. To a new player who doesn't understand their army or the tactics of the game, then yes, PanO and Guild will seem incredibly overpowered, but in the end they are just about as good as every other faction, they just take longer to learn how to defeat. True true, but then again, there is a difference between a "tough matchup" of say like 60%-40% chance of you losing vs. a 90%-10% chance of losing. I'll draw this back to infinity for one quick second by reiterating my statement that really, if you're a decent player, any faction can win. Is infinity completely balanced, no, but at least you know that whatever faction you pick to play, you have a decent chance to win. In Malifaux, when you're against that 1 of several masters/crews that really wrecks your face, and you flip that bulls**t strategy you hate, you can be awesome and still have an incredibly low chance of winning before you even put your models on the table.

@ the OP. Your list is fine, but like others said, drop the peacekeeper for Alyce. I wouldn't however, drop the watcher for 1 SPA, individually they are one of the worst models in the game. If you're going to take them, take 4, that's their only purpose in life (undeath?) is to summon the Desi. If people are using the watcher for flanking and offense...don't. Use it purely for objectives. Treasure Hunt, Recon, Destroy the Evidence, Line in the Sand, etc. Can you use it to zap enemies to debuf them, sure, but they'll be far less effective without crew synergy and far more dead. As for Ryle, yes, I have found he never makes up his points. The reason for this, I think, is that people see how absolutely stupid he is with Hoffman and freak out when they see him, even if he doesn't perform nearly as well with Levi without machine puppet.

@D You're right, I was simply agreeing with the idea in the context ofwhat had been said about players "feeling pressure" or "quitting round 1". Not to derail the thread, by the hamelin gremlins matchup was just a reference to how the design of the game can work wildly against you in a competitive environment. Is it possible for gremlins to beat hamelin? Yes. Will the stars align and the gremlin player flips an awesome strategy while hamelin flips a poor one, yes its possible...but very rarely. Not going to give this topic any more discussion here, but matchups like that are one of the main reasons for this threads existance and if anyone thinks that matchups like that are fair and balanced then you're kidding yourself. Again, all the more reason why I like Magno's idea.

Avatar of Bad-assery! Now that would be.....bad Ass.

+1 Magno Setups like that would do wonders for dispelling the feelings of helplessness in competitive play when someone comes up against their total nemisis master (I.e. gremlins and hamelin) or their worst strategy because they know that they're not losing themselves or their team the event and they can just have fun with it and do their best. @Math Stop quoting me dude, you're embarrassing yourself. Have I played all of those games, no. I have, however been playing ttg's for 12 years and have played enough games, including a few of the ones you listed, to be able to form my own opinions. Next time you quote me to try and take a shot at my argument, how about you quote some information that's actually relevant to the discussion. Thanks, bro!

Awesome idea! I'll likely register soon....just gotta find time to finish painting 55ss for any one of my crews.....I used to paint like a fiend but I have like 0 time now...by ill give it some effort haha.

Didn't even see paradox's posts...but generally agree with pretty much everything you said. On the competition note, I don't think malifaux is unplayable or shouldn't be played competitively, it just that most (not all) mali tourneys will be decided by the "top 5" or top 3 in the case of 40k...and things like that bother me a bit.

@Wodschow Yeah, spending all orders on one dude isn't awesome, but its part of the tactics...and I isn't always the best option as I'm sure you know. I think the realistic aspect is the reaction / cover use systems in the game more than anything. The lack of scenarios doesn't bother me as much, because the design of the game let's you come up with your own scenarios and its hard to make something that doesn't fit with the game. Magno was the league / tourney organizer at the lgc in garden city before he moved to NM, and he came up with some awesome campaigns and scenarios to play through.

@Ciaran Agree. Imo, I just like the fluid and intuitive style of infinity over the alternating activation / static turn based systems....it just makes more sense in my head. I also agree that everyone is going to be into different things regardless what anyone else says. It's just refreshing in infinity to see anyone have a chance competitively and not having tournaments revolve around the "top 5" armies, crews, lists, factions or whatever. I guess, though, if you're in it just for the pure fun then its all irrelevant. However it seems like the WAAC players might find malifaux a bit frustrating...."I'm gonna play an alp bomb so I can crush my opponents and make them cry!". *Hamelin casts (1) Irresistible Lure* "WTF, I quit!". Hahaha....still have yet to do that to someone...but it would be awesome.