i_was_like_you

Yeah, it seemed that the Swarm was being underestimated on this thread. For a model that may just pop into existence for free, thanks to Ramos's diligent efforts at summoning Arachnids, it certainly packs a punch. Other than the Miner, it seems to be the only Melee Master (or anything Master so far, but I suspect certain Avatars will be gaining Casting, Melee, or Ranged Master as a trait). Being able to get in there, attack twice with Melee Master, hopefully triggering Overwhelm to Paralyze a model or two, then still being able to Scatter into separate (slow) Arachnids is quite potent. Then, being able to choose have each of those Arachnids Latch On or turn on their Disruption Fields as (0)s and / or either attack a model they've conveniently been placed in base contact with or just Self Destruct as nails in the coffins of a few models in the vicinity has its own advantages. Hopefully, by the time you Scatter, you can out activate them with these new models, and face no retaliatory strikes this turn. Win initiative on the new turn, and Swarm them back together for more Melee Master, Paralyzing, Self-Repairing shenanigans. The more Swarms and lone Arachnids that make it into the fray, the better the possibilities.

Ramos, alone, can hire the Hunter and the Guardian, as they are both Borrowed Technology, but he can't hire the Watcher. By the way, nice signature spell.

That's cool. I was considering making my spiders look like Portal turret guns.

Both of my sets of Stalkers are in the middle of receiving what was meant to be a quick and dirty paint job. I'll add in the cool extras like glowing eyes and swords later, but I want to get them finished to have at least two of my eight (and counting) crews painted. I'd just started on Hulk Hogan and his Suburban Commandos, err, I mean VonSchill and the Freikorp, and they're nearly done. And yes, I have two sets of Witchling Stalkers. I do intend to pull Violation of Magic a few good times in a scrap or brawl. [Just let me team Sonnia up with a Hoffman using a Mobile Toolkit, I only need to flip or cheat a 10 into play to get it off and maybe spend a soulstone to beat their Wp resist.] Although someone's signature may be wrong in telling Chompy that we all become Mannequins, as it does not affect Masters, we do all become Witchling Stalkers if we're not careful.

Considering Ophelia is copying Perdita, paired pistols makes even less sense. I'd say her hair is hiding a pistol, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The Ronin with the Cowgirl hat comes with a tanto, but no pistol.

This is probably a moot point, but why were the Witchling Stalkers modeled with two, possibly three weapons options (the cloak could be hiding a pistol on the one who is pointing), when they all get the same stats? Losing the pistol but gaining paired Shattered Runed Blades on the dual sword model looks like it would have been an interesting option for this sculpt without having to change the point value of the model. We do already have to keep track of models based on their picture on their cards, and models like the Viktorias, albeit they are Masters, have separate weapons based on their sculpts, or vice versa, so it wouldn't be any extra book keeping than we already do. That's not to say that we should be able to re-sculpt / customize our own models to change their weapons, but if the official models are going to differ, I do think that their stats should reflect it.

That's what I thought. Thanks. It seems at least three of us from my group all want to play Hoffman, but not necessarily as a primary master. I guess, technically, he'd end up being the primary if I used him with Ramos, but that's not quite the same as one of our guys running a whole Guild Hoffman and Lucius Crew or our other guy adding Hoffman to his Colette Crew. Cheap scrap counters would be Ramos's Salvage under fire leading into waves of spiders. Ended the game with 13 Scrap counters sitting there, mostly due to my own crew, but a dead Teddy and dead Hooded Rider added their share, as well.

Here's a question on Hoffman's Maintain Machines and Steamborg Exectioner's Complex Machine: Hoffman Maintain Machines: Other friendly Constructs within 6" may choose to ignore any of their listed Abilities. Steamborg Executioner Complex Machine: This model counts as a living model and may only be healed by Ramos. When killed, it generates 2 Scrap Counters and 1 Corpse Counter. If the Steamborg is within 6" of the Hoff and chooses to ignore Complex Machine, he has to ignore the entire ability, correct? So that means if he ignores it, he: 1) Doesn't count as a living model. 2) May be healed by other models, most likely Hoffman. And here's where my question really comes in, 3) Does not generate 2 Scrap Counters and 1 Corpse Counter. For his base size, would he default to generating 3 Scrap Counters, as he is a 50mm Construct? Is this how people have been running it, or is there some other variable?

You're correct that the doves won't leave counters, but for the wrong reasons. They won't leave counters if you have sacrificed them, no model does. That's the difference between killed and sacrificed. Insignificant, on the other hand, does have three things to keep in mind: RM p. 50 (hard copy), (1) Drain Souls: Leaders Only. Sacrifice up to three friendly models within 6", ignoring LoS. The Crew's Soulstone Pool gains one Soulstone for each model sacrificed. Each time a leader takes the Drain Souls action, every non-leader model in the Crew receives a cumulative -1 Wp for the remainder of the Encounter. Models with the Insignificant Characteristic cannot be sacrificed by Drain Souls. RM starting on p. 90 (hard copy), certain Strategies specify that Insignificant models do not count toward the Victory condition. RM starting on p. 100 (hard copy), certain Schemes also specify that Insignificant models do not count toward the Victory condition. However, if someone is running Hamelin the Plagued and / or Nix, their ability Nihilism gets around this. Nihilism: While this model is in play, friendly models lose Insignificant. If this model is in play at the end of the encounter, no friendly models count as Insignificant. So Hamelin the Plagued can sack any of his Soulless non-Insignificant Insignificant models through Drain Souls, gain Soulstones for them, and still generate more Rats to replace them. And all of his models are counted towards Victory conditions for Strategies and Schemes, unless you can kill both Hamelin and Nix before the encounter's over. He's less fair every time I look at him.

Glad to hear it's one of his worst matchups since I managed to squeeze a victory out of it. It came down to Ramos vs 'Dora at turn 5. I won initiative and managed to flip red joker for my WP duel to be able to target her, then capped her with Electrical Fire for her 2 remaining wounds. Ramos was only still alive because 'Dora had grown weary of Counterspell and switched to mind effing Kaeris instead, the turn before. We were only doing a head to head, no strategies or schemes, to try to save on time. That's what I meant. But it would make sense that more Constructs were Scavengers, though, like how so many Undead are also Graverobbers, not that they are able to search for corpses anymore. It makes sense that Malifaux would be littered with scrap. Littered with bodies is pushing it. But on that note, Ramos could use flying construct that is the equivalent of Nicodem's Vulture, being able to use Bring Back, at the least, and Eyes and Ears would be great as well. Anything to extend his range in a hurry, even at a penalty, just like Rasputina can do with so many of her models. The game ended with 13 scrap counters on the board, only a few of which were within Ramos's 6" range for either Construct Spider or Combat Mechanic. Mobile Toolkit's going to be fun, but Kaeris will be reaping the benefit of that second tome just as much, if not more often than Ramos himself. Add that to the + to damage flips she gets from Essence of Power's Empower, and she'll be quite the mobile artillery piece.

I fielded Ramos against 'Dora the other night, and had some interesting results. I'll post a more detailed entry separately. Of note for this thread, though, Teddy had charged my Steamborg Executioner, but black jokered on the damage. Steamborg flurried for three separate hits, followed by melee expert for a fourth, leaving Teddy with only one bit of stuffing left. Electrical Creation wub wub wubbed its way through (or now based contacted) Baby Kade and a Sorrow, then wubbed through Teddy to deal that last point of damage. Gotta love it when merely taking a walk action can dish out damage. ------------------------------- Why oh why can't Construct Spider be a (1) instead of a (0)? Making one spider a turn, at the cost of a scrap counter (which in turn may cost me (2) for Salvage Under Fire or (all) for another construct to Search for one) is a bit sluggish. At (1) with enough scrap counters, Ramos could have summoned a whole new swarm of them every activation, summoning two swarms a turn if Brass Arachnid managed to reactivate him, and netting one extra spider per turn from Brass Arachnid also summoning one. And on that note, why can't Lilith, Mother of Monsters, summon Terror Tots, most likely at the cost of blood counters?

I agree with the Silurids suggestions. I've been wanting to run them for awhile, but have been shopping around for a good master for them. As they come with Zoraida, she's the default choice, but I'm not keen on her sit back and play with voodoo dolls while her army has all the fun. Besides, in my play group, another player already has dibs on running the Crone with Collodi as soon as he's released. I already run Lilith as one of my Neverborn masters, and I could certainly use the Silurid swarm to take out the opposition before ever having Lilith step into the fray. I think I'll save her for Waldgeists to make more use out of her Illusionary Terrain generated forest. Currently, I tend to use her for the turn one Terror Tots to Mature Nephilim d-baggery that she's capable of (at least when Desperate Mercs and Nekima enter the picture). But Marcus can probably make the best use of them. Call me crazy, but I'd run Marcus, Jackalope, Miranda, and as many Silurids as my soulstones allow. That way I can leapfrog these creatures of Dagon across the battlefield, mauling key targets, all as one activation, then watch my opponent try to scramble to use what's left of his or her force. Alternatively, using them to fulfill most, if not all, of the objectives of my strategy and schemes before my opponent has even activated more than once. Not that an Ortega or LaCroix alpha strike, or any such similar crew can't attempt to do the same, but I'd say Colette's Coryphees, with the help of Cassandra, come the closest in speed to actually pulling something like that off. Also, I second MadArcanist on congratulating the two of you for starting with those crews. I'd say 'Dora is one of the more difficult masters from book one. Book two just got even more complex, at least as far as crew synergy. My buddy's wife started with Kirai and is still having issues learning both her crew and the basics, as it is quite a daunting crew as far as sheer number of abilities per model and interactions among her own crew. I've got quite a bit of crews now, especially after adding Levi, Ramos, and VonSchill this week, but I still default to the Viktorias when I want to Keep It Simple.

Now you've got me thinkin' of how to mod mine. I was already going to try for something a bit different, thus looking for a thread like this in the first place. I've primed the upper torso and the arm muscles white, along with my other batch of models that needed painting. I was about to prime the rest of him black to make the metal really stand out. Not too keen on the idea of Hoffman becoming a walker as an avatar form. Now, Ramos, on the other hand, since he is the pioneer of these things, would make a great avatar walker. Terror Tot Steampunk Arachnids, to me, would look a bit too much like either Necropunks or Steampunk Abominations.

My screen name on here is the same as I've used for quite a few years now. It's a song lyric from two different songs from two different bands. "I wish I was like you, easily amused" from Nirvana's All Apologies, which I had liked for years before hearing the same lyrics pop up again as the last line of Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile, "Before everything else, I was like you".

Maybe I'm missing something here, but the Ronin factory idea doesn't quite work the way some people are describing it. Yes, you can hire one Ronin for 6ss, and maybe get a discount using her ability to hire a second one, but you cannot summon a third one because of the two mercenary from out of faction limit. It's the same as not being able to grow a third Mature Nephilim, or to be able to have a third Viktoria on the table after summoning one to replace a buried one and later having the original one unburied. However, if one wanted to keep sending Ronin after Ronin out on kamikaze runs, then that could work, although probably not as well as just using Doves to spam Magician's Duel or to explode near enemies or to do any of the other aforementioned tricks that they're so good for.

So placing one or more shafted markers under Mortimer who has already used Six Feet Under would make for quite the deterrent to charging him, assuming the charging model in question only had a melee range of 2 or less.

Arcanists, although they can be a pain, seem to go down easily if you have anything that can either bum rush them or have long enough range with enough models to just run them out of high cards and soulstones to modify their defense with. I've had to face down Colette a few times, and Rasputina once. I may not have to deal with Marcus for quite awhile, at least not in my gaming group, as no one has bought him. Same goes for Ramos, but I'm considering picking him up for myself. We're doing a fairly good job not stepping on each other's toes over which crews we run. Anything that can get a person away from WoW is to be commended. My buddy Chris used to run tabletop games all the time, before Everquest came out. Last I'd seen him, he had nine computers running EQ: Five for himself and four for his wife. He has since switched over to WoW. He says it fulfills his need for roleplaying. *shakes head* To me it's just click, click, kill, and I'd rather click, click, kill on an FPS, where I know that it's my prowess that's getting better, not my toon's. Which crew(s) do you run? And which of the Arcanists (and other crews) do you tend to face off against?

Last night, using Viktorias, a Student of Conflict, and five Ronin, I beat Colette and her showgirls 2-0. The first game was close. I was down to two Ronin versus Colette, a Mannequin, and a Mechanical Dove. I didn't overextend myself the second game, so I was able to keep both of my Viktorias safe. Killing one of the Coryphees during the first turn ensured I wouldn't have to face the Duet later on. Cassandra's breathe fire was a bit of a nuisance, but not nearly as bad as her southern charm. Colette activated before Cassandra the next turn, allowing me to dispatch her with Ronin before she could turn on the charm. Turn three I managed to wipe out Colette with shots from two Ronin, a Dove with my Student of Conflict, a Coryphee with Sword Vikie, which triggered Whirlwind, which in turn killed a Performer, leaving only a Mannequin left on that crew. We had the shared Strategy of Distract, which gave me 4vp. I also had used the Scheme Kill Protegee, announced, for another 2vp when Cassandra died. My scheme of Frame for Murder failed because Colette didn't kill my Sword Viktoria.

I look forward to battling your crews again soon.

Printed out the strategy and scheme cards. Time for us to step things up a notch today. We'll certainly be needing a bigger table soon. We've been using a table that's only 30" across, which leads to us getting into combat far too quickly and can only lead to completing some strategies and schemes much too quickly, as well.

Due to the errata on models not being able to strike themselves and Black Blood Shaman's spell Inject Blood being a melee spell, I've pulled it from my Lilith crew with great results. The extra Terror Tot(s) and SS allow for some impressive shenanigans.

Maybe they'll just errata / change it on the card of Black Blood Shaman that Inject Blood is just a range 2 spell without being a melee strike spell. There's no reason, flavorwise, or original, non-cuddled ruleswise, that it shouldn't be able to heal itself or another friendly black-blooded Neverborn. I guess we'll see this month with the Rules Manual or in April with the model for Black Blood Shaman.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't think you're entirely right either. We'll just have to wait and see.

I can't wait for the Rules Manual so we don't have to flip back and forth between two books and the errata. Why would they errata out that a model can attack itself? In the harsh world of Malifaux, one has to be willing to make sacrifices. Sometimes those sacrifices involve spilling your own blood for the good of the crew. Next they'll just errata that we can't attack our friendly models at all, and we'll have to go back to growing our Tots the old fashioned way, by spilling our enemies' blood in combat.