naiatoc

Wait... I just realized. You said you have the Lady Justice box set and you are at 23ss.... What additional model do you have? The box set is 19ss.

I am a little unimpressed with Judge. In theory he sounds good (ie. blades and bullets), but in practice he dies pretty quickly. I recommend replacing him. So your next two purchases should be Nino Ortega and the Guardian. That gets you to 30ss on the dot with a nice crew.

Collette really needs to be run at 35ss. I've played against her enough to know she can be nasty. I am trying to imagine what my opponent could take out to get a 30ss list, but not having much luck. Lilith is also amazing. She is in the lead in your poll and for good reason. She should be the most balanced against any opponent you'll go up against. However, you said you had the least experience with her. I have no experience with Pandora. But I love the twins. At 30ss you could run 2x Lelu, 2x Lilitu, and a Primordial Magic. That won't be best for every Strategy, but the tournament is fixed master, not fixed list (right?) So you don't have to commit to this every game. I also have no experience with Zoraida and can't really offer advice on her.

I agree, Guild is also my least favorite faction. However, I went ahead and painted up the Lady Justice box set because those are some bad ass miniatures! I loved modeling the bases for the Death Marshals and painting Lady Justice was just about the most fun I've ever had painting a miniature. As for the two you mentioned: just do both... Lucius is a henchman. So get a Lucas crew and just add Lucius to it, taking him as a 10ss model.

Sweet. Play it sometime and post a battle report. I look forward to reading it.

I saw the thread below for printing 3d models. I know this is how a lot of miniature companies are going. They are not sculpting by hand, but are using a program. So my question: what program is best for making minis? I imagine there are hundreds of options available. But what option is best for rendering minis?

I was reading over the forum recently looking for Nicodem tactics. Other threads have mentioned combinations that work, but they didn't explain the combos. For example I read Killjoy and Bete Noir go good together, but they didn't say why? Is is just because you can sacrifice one model and get both in play from it?

I saw a tournament results list posted on MythicFox's blog (at least, I think that's where I saw it). Each player had three fixed lists, but the lists were not under the same master, or same faction for that matter. A guy could show up with Collette, Zoraida, and Hamelin if he wanted. Was that tournament broken? It seems to me either can be fine. It all depends on how you handle the specifics.

Kirai could "in the spirit world" twice (she has instinctual). So she can go 78 (your 59+another 19). But seriously! When is this ever going to happen? You could play a thousand games and never see it.

From my experience it depends entirely on the master in question. But I don't play competitively so maybe in a tournament environment things are different. Victorias and Lady J need lots of stones. The more they have the better. When fully stocked on stones I have a hard time beating Lady J. Collette needs few as she can produce some and she can 'use' them without really using them. With Kirai I only bring a few. She's not carrying the fight, my Shikome and Ikyrio are. When I don't have the suit for 'in the spirit world' I don't want to spend a stone hoping for a mask. Von Shill needs some for his slow to die, but I don't take a lot. The 4 or 5 I have is super, super important, but I rarely feel like I need more. In my games against gremlins sometimes I win, sometimes I loose, but it never comes down to stones. Som'er has card draw and Ophelia doesn't seem to burn through them very fast.

For Perdita. I use (and have only heard) the 1st option. Sonnia Criid on the other hand.... I pronounce it like 'crib' but with a 'd'.

This is an interesting topic for me as Victorias and Kirai are my two masters! What I see from your lists: you have an efficient, dynamite 25ss list! That is the optimal 25 point Victoria crew, a great list. When I play 30ss games, I swap out a Ronin for Taelor. It does wonders. His list lacks muscle, as Calmdown said. Datsue-ba is support, but in his list it is the closest thing he has to a heavy hitter. He needs Shikome. Summoning one of them, plus Ikiryo will give him the punch he needs. I have not played a 25ss game with Kirai, so take what I say with some caution. But I would try these options: Kirai- 3ss pool Lost Love Seishin x5 Night Terrors x2 Datsue-ba (This list gives him some objective grabbing night terrors. He will need to summon his attackers.) Kirai- 3ss pool Lost Love Seishin x5 Dead Rider Night Terror (This list gives him a nice big time hitter with the Dead Rider. He only has one Night Terror, which feels a little out of place, but I couldn't think of anything better. Maybe take out the Nigh Terror and one Seishin for an Insidious Madness.) Kirai- 4ss pool Lost Love Seishin x5 The Hanged Insidious Madness (I have little experience with the Hanged, but maybe that would help. Paired with the Madness it packs a punch.) Oh, and when the Kirai Avatar comes out, he might want to get that. It takes away all of her really cool summoning and utility powers (which really really sucks!) but it gives her a soulstone using Ikyrio with a bunch of melee attacks. Essentially it will turn her into a melee master. Maybe that's the answer he's looking for.

Nicodem. Underrated for what he's worth. You should be able to do well with him if you know what your doing.

I have been a gamer for a long time. I've played a few card games, and I've done more than my fair share of role playing. However, I think I like miniature games the best. For over 10 year now I've been playing 40k, Confrontation, and (recently) Malifaux. So that got me thinking. I like the small skirmish level games (such as Malifaux and Confrontation) better than large battles. I like having fewer models to push, but greater detail with those models. Also, I want a game that has a great back-and-forth game play. (Not the 'I take my whole turn, you take your whole turn' of 40k.) But I love the 40k fluff, the universe they created is just what I'm looking for (a dark, gritty, fantasy in space). This led me to the conclusion that I should write a set of rules. Essentially a Malifuax-type game in a 40k-like universe. I've got some great ideas for things I want to include in it. I know what I want out of it. But a game needs to be played by others. I want it to have appeal beyond me and my local gaming group. So here's my question for you guys. What are some things you like about the wargaming hobby? What draws you to a game? What are things you would like a game in include? What are some things that would get you excited if you saw it at your local hobby shop?

You beat me to it! This is very true in my experience. Night Terrors can do wonders for claiming objectives. With flight and their 'flock together' ability they can cover a lot of ground. And Gaki are something she can summon. I like to start with what I can't summon. Also, no body has mentioned Dead Rider yet. He can do wonders in a Kirai list. Being such a heavy hitter with regeneration he can stand up to a lot of punishment. (Although, he still dies more games than not!) He's not a spirit, but he can drag enemys back toward your line. Then when you kill them you can get a seishin from Kirai's ability.

This is exactly my thinking. You just said it more succint than I did!!! But.... I can see the logic behind this. Summoning Shikome eats Seishin up like crazy. So far I have only summoned 2 Shikome per game. This has been enough for me, but I know someday it won't be. What experience do you guys have getting more Seishin? I find it very difficult to get her in close to get more. Whenever she peaks her head out from behind cover, she draws too much attention. My opponents have never managed to kill her, but whenever I move her close I have to retreat before I can do much. Only a couple of times have I managed to get get a free Seishin, and never more than once per game.

I never tried the 'kill your own model for a seishin and a gaki' trick. It sounds good. Quite logical to generate a profit in points like that... it's just cheap! This is my typical first turn. Fast and brutal. My opponent has a difficult time countering it because I get to react to what he does. My turn follows this format, but I have to be flexible to the countless ways he could activate his guys. I love starting with Night Terrors. The reason is that they are fast on their own. They don't need Kirai's swirl spirits to get them into position. Her utility is stretched thin as it is. Any self sufficient piece is good. Also, I like taking things I can't summon. That just fits my way of thinking. Take Night Terrors, Insidious Madness, Dead Rider, Jack Daw. Things like that. Never start with a Shikome. Whenever I choose my prey at the start of the game my opponent can always find a good way to screw me over. I can't get through his guys to get to the one I choose as my prey. It's infuriating!!! So I just summon them after all of my opponents activations for the turn, choose my prey at that time, they activate the Shikome and tear him to pieces!!!

When I think of game balance I usually don't think of certain things being overpowered. But, I am concerned about other things being underpowered. Things that people complain a lot about such as the Alp bomb, Hamelin, and Pandora don't worry me. I care about Bishop and Marcus being loved, but never played. Game balance will always come in cycles. Some factions more competitive at times than others. What bothers me are the factions (or masters) that never get their 15 minutes. Ultimately my vote was for option 3. New characters and units will be coming out all the time. Why not use that as an opportunity to even the playing field a little. It's not about modifying the stats or point costs to debuff certain characters, it's about knowing what is needed and filling in the holes in the environment.

When I'm talking about it at the game table I refer to the number of cards, not the number of pluses or minuses. So for example: :-fate would be "3 take the lowest" or "lowest of 3" would be "2 take the highest" or "the best of 2" This makes more sense to me, because it's what you are actually doing. Talking about the pluses and minuses seem one step removed from the actual act of flipping.

I don't think the Dreamer list or the Hamelin list are cheesy. They just look like standard lists for their respective masters. And while these two masters are highly competitive, that does not make them cheesy. I voted for 23. Killing your own Desperate Mercenaries to grow your little guys... now that's cheesy! So cheesy it goes right up to the point of being tacky! As for competitive lists, I think the Dreamer and Hamelin lists I've already mentioned are top notch. As is 19. The standard Pandora list with all those sorrows.

This!!! While I somewhat like the Shikome model (I don't see why everyone hates her so much) I think another try at it is called for. As for Jack Daw, he deserves a bigger, badder version. And this!!! Great idea. It doesn't always have to be good turned bad. This would be a great counter balance to the Dead Justice box set.

This seems the most logical for that part. While this is quite sensible, I like playing up the idea of teams. I'm in the same boat as a few others here in that the group I played with was kind of small. Why was it a bad idea? It seems like a good idea to me. I really don't like the idea of both players on one team going, then both players on the other. So what other options are there? Is the only good solution to have each team decide their activation order amongst themselves?

The only crew I've played against that out activated me was Gremlins. I had 10 models, he had 12. I really only mentioned it in my post because this thread is about Shikome against Hamelin (so by extension, Kirai against Hamelin). And Hamelin can bring a lot of rats to the table! I haven't played against him yet, but I bet he can out activate me if he tries (maybe even if he's not trying).

This is the way to play Shikome. I learned the hard way never to start with them, summon them during the game. This way you can choose their prey, then attack immediately. The only draw back is when I go against an opponent I can't out activate. Then I have to get creative!

Buy proxy + stat card. I love converting... I mean I really love converting! However, Wyrd's figs have such detail that I would find it very difficult to do properly. 40k figs come in multiple pieces and are often made of plastic. This makes them easy to cut up and assemble in different ways. These figs are solid sculpts (or they have to be assembled in one particular way) so converting is more difficult. Just find a nice proxy.