The Zinc Lich

I'm really surprised that there are people out there who enjoyed the Leveticus story... To me, it was a very large, very creepy step back in characterization. I mean, I understand that Levy is supposed to be a morally grey character, but does he really have to be such a creep? We finally get an explanation of why his hollow waifs are all girls- its because he wants lifeless slave-puppets he finds attractive. Really, though, it is his treatment of Alyce that has soured me on his character. He patronizes her, he lusts after her, he lets her think he is dead (by manipulating her into thinking he sacrificed his life for her, no less), and he lets her wander into a life-threatening situation for no reason other than killing a bunch of rival researchers. It's pretty obvious that the amalgamation cult wasn't a clear and present danger to him, what with his layers and layers of plans to escape death. So why the theatrics? Why risk Alyce's well being? What, was he just too lazy to do the footwork himself? Did he think that the risk was worth the savings in waifs? This story also really underpins why I am so against Leveticus/Alyce as a romantic pairing, and why the hints to it through the story made me wince. Leveticus is Alyce's teacher, her doctor, surrogate father figure, boss, and, apparently, her only friend. She's also young, naive, headstrong, and gullible. There is no way the power dynamics in a romantic relationship wouldn't be creepy. Even if they were closer to equals, watching Leveticus shamelessly gambling with Alyce's life didn't exactly make for a story I enjoyed reading. The story does set up Alyce for being the one to finally push Leveticus all the way over the river Styx, and frankly, I say all the power to her :/

The one that I've always seen being used is the Guild Pathfinder. Summon traps, sacrifice them for the Devil's Deal. Seems to work fairly well.

In the upcoming Black Friday sale season, the wife is going to be grabbing herself a Miss Step. This means that I'm going to get a free Howard Langston out of her MSU box. I was planning on getting Hoffman at some point in the next few months, so I'm pretty happy with the deal. That being said, he is very similar to the Peacekeeper. The defensive stats don't mean much; either way, the big guys are going to be power loop'd pretty much all the time. I can give the Peacekeeper Nimble with the Hydraulics modification. The big differences are the decap trigger on Langston's claws (which is pretty sweet) and Steam Cloud vs the Peacekeeper's harpoon gun and Advanced Protocol. Has anyone had experience with the two of them? Is Langston worth the upgrade slot for Arcanist Ties and the extra Soul Stone?

So, with the big reveal of the Salvage and Logistics box, the wife has expressed an interest in stealing the Waifs for some slightly better preserved Belles. I'm fine with it, honestly; the fluff behind them has always been a little wince-worthy (especially after Levy admitted to the fact that he picks corpses to use to fulfill his "desires" in the latest fluff. I thought Seamus was supposed to be the necrophiliac, ew.). So now I'm looking for alternate models to run with Levy. Instead of "pretty girl zombie", I was thinking of grabbing something that looks like Leveticus would actually use it as a spare body. Has anyone seen a good homonculus miniature anywhere?

So I read through Hoffman's fluff in Crossroads, and I couldn't help but notice that he was using a lot of magic. After reading through TTB, I was under the impression that anything that wasn't tied to enchanted items would get you a midnight visit from the Witch Hunters. Mentally controlling an entire crew of constructs, not to mention crushing one with mental force in front of an arena full of people, is the kind of thing I know I would write letters to the Guild in protest of. Is Hoffman's mechanical control skill just outside of proscribed magical theory, or is it just another example of Lucius', and by extension, the Guild's fundamental hypocrisy?

So, I just got Crossroads, and as I read through the Outcasts section, I noticed that there were two versions of the new Hamelin art (super excited for that box, let me tell you), one with rats crawling all over him, and one with him just alone. I'd just like to ask if it is at all possible to get rat-Hamelin, either as the main sculpt or an arm option. The rats give the model more visual appeal and tie it into the rest of his crew better than just being the guy with pipes and a stick. Really, I am asking because the rat rearing up on his outstretched arm gets me every time I see it.

I don't know if Drowned are worth the price tag, honestly. I haven't played with them yet, but my crews tend to lean on Guilty for about the same price tag. Jakuna seems like she'd be golden, though. He can scoot her around pretty well without having to activate her, and Comboing Drowning in her Wake with Drowning Injustice is pretty cool. I'm also a big fan of the Nurses with him; Jack can move his crew around pretty well to get use out of Hallucinogens, Montressor loves Uppers, and either dose can keep the enemy from being able to use Penance.

The models moved for Driven by Injustice need to be within 8 of jack, the target can be up to 16 inches away. Montressor will be 21 inches up the board (Deployment + Writhing Torment + Triple Walk), Jack will be able to target models up to 22 inches away (Deployment + Range) without moving. The spacing is a little tight, but if you have the opportunity for an optimal set up, it works. Likewise, the Guilty end up 19 inches (Deployment, Driven by Injustice, Writhing Torment, Follow Pain) up the board, very close to Montressor, before they need to spend an AP. A Trapper isn't Tormented, but a Guilty can activate first and target it with Share Guilt from 21 inches off the back edge on turn 1 without having to walk (Deployment + Writhing Torment + Range). The Guilty in question will lose one AP for using Share Guilt and won't benefit fully from Driven by Injustice (if it is even in range when Jack activates), but that is the trade off for the "anchor" not needing to use its activation to set up the rush. The Guilty do need 6s and 7s to get their mojo going, which isn't an insignificant investment. Silurids they are not.

Well, let's assume you take the entire Jack box set. Montressor activates, is pushed 3 inches, then can triple walk 12 inches. Jack can then activate, and use Driven by Injustice to push everyone 4 inches closer to Montressor. A Guilty can then activate, getting pushed 3 inches forward, then use Follow Pain to push another 6 towards Montressor. In total, the Guilty in question will be 19 inches up the table *before it spends AP*. I'm going to try a game or two swapping out Montessor for a Freikorps Trapper (or two). All you need is something near the middle line on the board for Guilty to hit warp speed, and being able to have something on the middle line without using its first turn activation would be pretty sweet.

First off, I'm not sure what this is doing in general discussion. Wouldn't it be more appropriate in the Outcasts or Ten Thunders discussion forums? Secondly, you're drawing a little bit of a false conclusion from two different games. Seamus is designed to be able to get to a single model and blow it up. All things considered, Ototo absorbed Seamus' gun for three turns, which means he saved three minions from getting killed in one shot. Even though he didn't kill a lot of stuff, he paid for himself by absorbing bullets. Ototo is tough, but he certainly isn't invincible. Did you have him using the Defensive Stance action? I can guarantee that judicious use of defensive stance will keep a heavy hitter alive for at least one turn after they would normally have died. An extra negative twist on damage is serious business. Also, did Ototo use any soulstones to help defend himself? That is the main benefit of being a henchman, along with the second upgrade slot. If you didn't have the extra stones hanging around for damage prevention flips, then you are right, Ototo might have been a bad choice for that game. In the second game you played there was absolutely no reason for the enemy to try and kill Lazarus. Unlike the first game, there isn't a six-point swing based on weather he lives or dies, and as a primarily ranged model, he could engage the enemy from a safe distance. You can bet, if Lazarus had a Bodyguard/Assasinate combo on him, McMourning would have found a way to kill him. Play more games and you'll see that Lazarus, although a tough customer, isn't invincible. Anything that ignores armor, of which there is quite a lot in the game, will chunk him pretty good, not to mention Relic Hammers, the Foundry crew, etc. Laugh Off is also a pretty big deal. Even if they can't kill your heavy hitter, you can bet that the standard-issue Rotten Belle will be available to Lure it away from claim markers and the like. Ototo doesn't care about this, Lazarus certainly does.

I'd also like to see an official ruling on this, mostly because I also have a Dreamer player that I regularly play against, and we've argued about whether or not he's able to Safe in my Bed an infinite distance downwards. From a game balance stand point, I would say no, because the Dreamer standing on a high enough piece of terrain becomes effectively impossible to attack, and can simply stand there, summoning models on the ground floor with no reprisal. And that kind of irks me.

Agreed. The only reason that I would personally take ANZ with the Viktorias is so that they have something that can charge models they can't, like stuff hiding behind terrain or snipers on rooftops. Flight is a big deal that fills a legit hole in the Vik's offense, and ANZ is the only place to get it.

Oh, definitely. It is more a question of "how much is too much?" when it comes to a list like this. You don't want to skimp on models to run objectives and fight in melee, even if your ranged core can't be charged. Not to mention that Hamelin has his own theme models to think about; you will want to bring the Obedient Wretch and season with ratcatchers and vermin to taste. That being said, I think that Hans and the Gunslingers are the premier shooting models in the faction. Sue is pretty good, too, but you take him for everything else he can do, not just to be a gun boat (combining Finish the Job with Infectious Melodies is good for a lol). Iggy, I'm not sold on, but if you are taking Sewer King for Crooligans or Candy, why not?

I'm actually working on one right now, but I don't really feel right putting it up without a few more games under my belt. I've only played six or seven games with him, and there are some non-standard builds I'm currently checking out to see how valuable they are (namely crews focused on abusing Paid in Blood, instead of his normal, supportive playstyle). The quick answer is that Von Schill is a problem solver. There is no situation in the entire game that proper application of Von Schill can't solve. His stats are above average across the board, he can charge into and out of combat ignoring terrain, and he ignores Armor and Hard to Wound. Of particular note is the fact that he has access to the most sources of healing in the game (The Shirt Comes Off, Emergency Syrette, The Freikorps Librarian, Malifaux Child, his Avatar manifest event...), as well as easy access to Hard to Kill through Survivalist. Not only that, but he gives Hard to Kill to everyone around him, allowing the rest of his crew to benefit from all the healing flying around, too. That being said, Von Schill's biggest problem is that he can do everything well, but he can't do anything perfectly. He isn't going to outshoot Perdita, and he certainly isn't going to out melee Lady J. He can't support like Hoffman, summon like Ramos, or move like Lillith. The key to making him work is to identify what the opponent wants to do the least, and make them do that. Neverborn aren't going to like being shot at by Von Schill's huge hand cannon when there is no way to tie him down, and the Guild is going to be sad when their gunline is engaged with Df 7, WP 7, Armor 1, Hard to kill Freikorpsmen. Speaking of which, Von Schill's Freikorps mirror his jack-of-all-trades nature. They are universally well rounded; decently tough, decently fast, decently killy. If you are looking for a true specialist, you will want to hire out-of-theme models like Taylor for melee or Hans for shooting.

A quick, 41ss game against the Ticktock Man. We called it super early due to time and a general lack of knowledge on both our parts. Really, I am just putting it up because I was trying a deep-striking Von Schill list. I took: Von Schill -Paid in blood -Scout the Field -Desperate Avatar Ama no Zako -Scout the Field Librarian Freikorpmen x2 Hodgepodge Effigy Pool: 5ss (I forgot to pay for the Avatar, so I was playing with 7. Didn't matter, though.) He took: The Dreamer -Dreams of Pain -On wings of darkness Daydreams x3 Teddy Kade Insidious Madness Pool: 7ss The strategy was Squatter's Rights, with standard deployment. I declared Outflank and Line in the Sand, he declared nothing. I won the deployment flip, and gave him a deployment zone with forests on one side, a river on the other, and a large (height 5) tower in the middle. For those who might not have seen the tech, Von Schill deploys 14" off the enemy deployment with Paid in Blood, then gets to walk after initiative is flipped. I deployed Von Schill in a building by the river side of the deployment zone, and warned the Ticktock Man about what could happen. He obligingly placed his army on the forest side of deployment, and put the Dreamer and two of his daydreams on the tower. I won initiative, Von Schill climbed onto the roof of the building, and Ama moved into a building near the center of the board. If Von Schill got in trouble, he could desperate manifest to jump back to Ama with MEDIC! Von Schill activates, and puts both daydreams into the dirt, before hitting the dreamer (who passed it off to Teddy). The rest of the round plays out with the Dreamer summoning and full healing both twins, Ama no Zako charging over he building with Know the Terrain and putting 6 damage on Teddy and 4 on Kade, and the Madness, Lelu, Librarian, Effigy, and both Korpsmen running for the middle of the board. On the second turn, Von Schill uses Stand and Shoot again, with Dreamer, Teddy, and both twins in range. After a lot of flipping, Teddy is killed by a bullet meant for the Dreamer, and the Ticktock Man decides to call it a game. Before his first activation, he was down to two or three low cards, and nothing was in range to threaten Von Schill. The only model I had that had taken damage was Ama, and she was in melee with Kade, which would have ended... messily. The list worked exactly as I planned: Von Schill gets into a position to control one quarter of the enemy's side of the table and asks the opponent if they have an answer for him. In the post-game discussion, the Ticktock Man and I figured that he had gotten a little too focused on bringing out the twins and healing them up, leaving the dreamer standing out of cover 10" from Von Schill for two turns in a row. The interaction between Scout the Field and Paid In Blood is SUPER powerful, but I'm not sure if it is powerful enough to change. I certainly would be telling a different story if I had been against Lillith or Pandora. The best part is that the plan has two easy points it can be abandoned; after the initiative flip, if the enemy doesn't present you with good targets or places something that could really threaten Von Schill, you can just use the free walk to move back or to the center of the table. If you put Von Schill forward and he gets in trouble, he can MEDIC back to safety. It is a high reward/no risk plan, and I'm not sure how happy I feel about it. Also, quick question: The dreamer was standing on a height 5 tower and was passing off wounds to a Teddy standing on the ground. How much vertical range do auras have? I didn't really question it because it wasn't really wrecking my plan, but I realize now that it is important information to know.

I am on a wargame diet right now. I spent the last several years flitting from one Warmachine army to another, never getting a respectable collection of any of them. Now I have a big case of half-finished armies that I haven't used in years. Until I buy, build, and paint an entire faction in Malifaux, I'm not allowed to buy a different crew. Also, while I am definitely on the side of "play your whole faction, not just certain masters", most tournaments won't let you bring every master in the faction with you. I think that as long as there are three masters you like playing in a faction, chances are you won't be forced into a bad match-up at crew selection.

A lot of heavy thinking going on in this thread. My heart goes out to the guys designing this stuff, because the Avatars are the thing that went through the biggest change from 1e to 2e. As cool as the concept was first time around, they just didn't work from a balance perspective. Now they're stuck making an entirely new set of rules from the ground up for models they already have on the shelves. It can't be easy. How do people feel about: 1) Manifesting an Avatar breaks VP ties at the end of the game. It isn't quite as valuable as earning a VP for manifesting, but still something that has value. 2) Losing one of the master in question's abilities when you manifest for a more bonkers Avatar benefit? Would you trade Obey off of Perdita or Defend Me off of Marcus for an ability that is 2 soulstones better?

Alright, the Avatar playtest is going on hiatus while they work on printing the wave 2 book. We've seen every model we are likely to see in 2014, but that doesn't mean we can't wildly speculate! What is it that you all feel this game still needs? I'd personally like to see: A Mercenary with Chatty- Chatty is an enormously powerful ability, both for denying schemes (trying to stop a Silurid from finishing Deliver Message or Plant Explosives is enormously difficult without it), and for forcing your schemes through (removing the opponent's ability to remove Distract from their models, for instance). I'd like to see a moderately priced, fairly survivable Mercenary to give every faction access to Chatty in some form or another. Surely there must be con-men in Malifaux willing to shyster people for a bag of Soulstones. More Last Blossoms- either a Last Blossom that is actually dual faction, or even an Outcast with the Last Blossom characteristic. It'd be nice to give Ten Thunders Misaki's Infiltration ability a bit more of a work out. More Outcast Constructs- I'll admit it. I have a bit of a thing for Vanessa. I was sad to see her Arcanist Ties get the axe (maybe it could be brought back as an upgrade? She is an Enforcer, after all). Right now, her choices for in-faction constructs to use her Command Construct ability on are either 4 stones (Abominations, Hodgepodge Effigy) or 10+ (Lazarus, Desolation Engine, Ashes and Dust). They're all good picks, but I'd personally like something in between for more options. A gun with a Blight trigger- or some other way of projecting blight further than 5 inches from a model without Hamelin's pipes. Not that the pipes aren't cool or anything, but I'd like to see Nix get a shot in the arm for small points games. A minion with blight triggers and Leap would work just as well.

While the Outcasts definitely lay claim to some of the best ranged enforcers in the game, I've been pretty disappointed in their ranged minion options, especially compared to what the guild has at lower SS costs. The low minimum damage on Freikorpsmen's pistols is a pretty big hurdle to step over, and there certainly doesn't seem to be as much buffing support out there for the Outcast range game compared to the Guild's. This is actually the reason why I always run with some volume of healing. The Viks are so squishy that if an enemy gets a lucky shot early, they become much easier to deal with. If an Austringer gets a lucky turn 1 raptor strike, something that is not impossible, you *need* to either heal it or spend Soulstones to reduce the damage. Even if you slingshot the sisters into combat and cut everything that costs more than 6 stones to pieces, if your leaders are then killed by a 4 point guild guard, you aren't really trading up in the exchange.

For everyone who is talking about Vanessa and Lazarus, I agree it is awesome, but I wouldn't discount the synergy between Vanessa and the Hodgepodge Effigy. For four points, you get a very tough objective grabber, and Vanessa can Obey it to either get the soft cover aura, which is very helpful for your delicate masters against shooty lists, or you can give it defensive stance and really frustrate your opponents with the Effigy's Df 6. The Loyalty to the Coin action can also net you a fairly big soulstone return if you manage to sling VoA into a good whirlwind zone.

So, I've been picking at Hamelin stuff, and I was wondering if anyone has actually tried running him with a ranged focus crew? His 6 inch aura of no-charging keeps ranged forces safe, he can pull targets out of cover or out of engagements with his pipes, and he has a ton of summoned stuff to get in the way of stuff trying to get out of a killzone. Perhaps something like: Hamelin -The Plague -The Pipes Convict Gunslingers x2 Hans For 26 stones, you can have a lot of lead in the air. You could also add Vanessa with the Howling Wolf Tattoo to see if you can recoup some of the cards from the Gunslinger's rapid fire, but I don't really think she'll pull 10ss of weight without more sisters on the table. From there, you fill out your ranks with whatever kinds of scheme appropriate stuff you need.

Derp, sorry. At some point I will learn to read the rules before I go shooting my mouth off.

Dang, those are gorgeous! Any chance you'd be willing to share your paint choices?

It works *if* you have the upgrade in question on Blood Vik. She's not the leader, so she is fair game for make a new entry. The wording on Sisters in Fury specifically says "this model and all other sister models", which is actually pretty cool. You can also nab Sisters in Battle from her or even Vanessa, if needs be. That being said, its pretty rube goldberg to think that you are going to: A: successfully cast Make a New Record within 8 inches of the Blood Vik B: successfully cast Sisters in Fury C: Charge an enemy with Hannah's suspect charge speed of 5 D: successfully get severe damage for the blasts E: have enough enemies clustered for the blasts to really matter. Pow 6 double blast damage is pretty sweet, but the set up is so situational. Also, what does Oath Keeper have to do with this other than the fact that having an extra attack while benefiting from +2 damage is a good thing?

Does that... work? She can't target the crew leader with her (0) if it isn't a Freikorps model, and Hannah's not a sister unless you discard Howling Wolf Tattoo or manifest her avatar.