Nightjar

As to whether or not the game is balanced, there's been a discussion about that on the forums this week; look here. I personally think it's fairly balanced, particularly when you consider that the objective of a game is to accomplish goals that will earn you VP, not to kill all the enemy models. That said, as Cannonfodder already pointed out, some masters are likely to have a harder time accomplishing certain objectives than others. Also, certain masters tend to have a harder time against other masters. Nicodem, for instance, is likely to have a harder time against Lady Justice because she can shut down his summoning advantage. One nice thing about the game, though, is that you don't actually assemble your army list until you know what faction you're facing and what your strategy (i.e. the main objective through which you'll earn VP) is going to be. So, if I come to a game and decide to play Arcanists, and end up with the Reconnoiter strategy (in which I have to have miniatures in each quarter of the table by the end of the game), I'm probably going to choose to play Colette as my master instead of Rasputina, simply because Colette and her Showgirls are really good at moving around the table, whereas Rasputina and her crew aren't. That's why Cannonfodder suggests having two masters within the same faction but with different capabilities - it gives you more ability to respond to the game scenarios. So...you actually have a good amount of control over how your army list responds to the set-up of the game.

Thanks for the response, Ratty. That clears it up for me!

This has probably bee discussed before, but I couldn't find an answer with a quick search, so here goes. I know that a model cannot use an effect that would inflict wounds on itself if those wounds would kill it. However, is this prohibition still in effect if the model is already dead or if its death is postponed until the end of the round? The two very different examples below should help explain what I mean: 1) A nurse casts "Massive Dose: Painkillers" on Kirai when Kirai only has 1 Wd left. Can Kirai then summon one or more Onryo (causing her 2 Wd for each) before she is Sacrificed at the end of the turn? Since she cannot be killed until the end of the turn, the self-inflicted wounds from the summoning won't actually kill her, so is this legal? 2) A Punk Zombie is killed. Can it then use its Slow to Die action to cast "Self-Mutliate," inflicting itself with 3 Wd in order to cause the same number of wounds to an enemy? Since it's already dead (and therefore can't be killed again), is this legal? Thanks in advance for clearing these up for me! I want to make sure I'm doing things right and don't want to employ these tactics if they would be an abuse of the rules.

People in my group sometimes name their non-unique models, sometimes to help differentiate them, but also just because a name occurs to the player. I haven't really done so much myself, though. I think there's also an element of affection tied up in it. Favorite minis often get names, and sometimes unnamed minis earn them when they manage to perform really well during a game. Our Seamus player is especially likely to name his models. He named his Belles Mary (after Mary Shelley), Lucy (after Lucy from Dracula) , and Cheshire (after the cat from Alice in Wonderland). He also sometimes plays my Rasputina army, and calls the Ice Gamin with the outstretched arm and leg "Disco" because of his pose.

Actually, depending on your strategy, moving can easily be much more important than killing stuff. Quite a few strategies or schemes (Deliver the Message, Line in the Sand, Destroy the Evidence, Reconnoiter) rely on being able to move around the table relatively quickly and freely, and Kirai excels at that. It's not always kills that win games, it's VP. The strike force strategy you mentioned using is a key way to use Kirai's movement advantages to attack the enemy. Kirai is superb at using her movement potential and things like the Don't Blink trigger to get her hard-hitting models (Ikiryo and Shikome) onto enemy models that your opponent thought were safe. If you get the right cards, and don't mind suffering the wounds, you can potentially summon something 12" away, Enter the Spirit World to move to the spirit, then summon something else 12" away. This might leave Kirai exposed (so you gotta use it with care), but it could allow you to get Ikiryo or a Shikome all the way across the board in one turn to assault a dangerous enemy or master hiding behind the lines. Between that, Swirling Spirits, and Kirai's ability to out-activate her opponent when necessary by playing her Seishin first, a good player can control the flow of the battle relatively easily. The biggest challenge is managing your resources: your Seishin and Kirai's wounds. If you're not careful and start to run out of one or the other (or both), you'll begin to lose your momentum and a smart opponent will take advantage of that.

Yes, I'm looking forward to Kaeris. I'm hoping she and her box will be a good fit with Colette, as I'm looking for something characterful to run with my Showgirls. For that matter, a female version of the gunsmith would be a welcome addition, thematically! Can't wait!

Yeah, Kirai does have a sharp learning curve. I'm relatively new to the game, and only learned her as quickly as I did thanks to the advice on this forum. However, once you've gotten good at playing her, she can be a really dangerous master. The people I play against really fear her. That said, certain masters give me trouble. I played a game against Ramos a few weeks ago and it was an uphill battle the whole way (and I ended up losing pretty badly). It was hard to get new Seishin against all of his constructs, and half of Ramos' minions can detonate for damage with no defense possible; I had no answer for that. Of course, the fact that I only drew one card higher than a 9 into my hand (and no Crow suit cards higher than a 6) during the first 3 turns of the game might have had something to do with my difficulties...

True. Crooked Men are very solid, and our local Seamus player has been favoring them over Sybelle recently. On the other hand, including Sybelle gives the Belles the ability to companion. I'm not sure how useful that would be in the long run, but in conjunction with the combined activation options for Sebastian and the dogs, it could give you two "clusters" of minions to activate and mob opponents.

Well, he does have the Jackalope totem, so maybe you're on to something there...

I don't really play McMourning, but I've fought against him a number of times, and I think that the set-up you've proposed would probably work out fairly well, particularly if you're worried about Kidnap. I'd definitely try to summon a Flesh Construct or get some more cheap fodder like Guild Autopsies onto the battlefield quickly. As to the idea of getting Seamus, I think you should probably bite the bullet and do it. He's a fun master to play (again I haven't played him but I play against him somewhat regularly), and having another Master choice is never a bad thing .

Ratty makes a good point. The main times I've had trouble with Kirai is when the cards have worked against me in terms of keeping her healed up for summoning. I've never tried the Librarian, but more healing for Kirai could really help her maintain her numbers.

Having considered it, though, Lost Love can turn Bete into a spirit, which might be interesting. I'm sure someone who's tried it can say more about that. I imagine that being able to swirl Bete around the battlefield could be pretty effective.

I don't have as much experience as others, but I agree with tadaka and Ratty. I generally start with Kirai, Lost Love, 4 - 5 Seishin, and then fill out the rest of my points with Datsue-Ba, Hanged, Jack Daw, or Onryo. I know a lot of people don't like taking Onryo, preferring to summon them, but against some opponents, like Guild, I've found that having some Onryo around to start with and then summoning Shikome or Ikiryo directly onto enemy models in game (using Don't Blink for the extra range if necessary) works pretty well too. Especially if you don't get the cards you need to heal Kirai effectively (which happened to me a couple games ago...) I like the Onryo against Guild or other ranged enemies because of their ability to hand out Immediate Revenge 1 and also their spell that prevents enemies from targeting spirits with spells, charges, or ranged attacks. I haven't used Bete Noire with Kirai yet, so I can't say from experience whether she has any synergy or not. Based on stats, I don't think she has much at all. She's not a spirit, so a lot of the movement and healing advantages of Kirai's crew are wasted on Bete, and since Kirai's minions aren't living or undead, their deaths won't activate Drawn to Death, which will make her harder to keep in play. It's really too bad, since thematically she'd be a great fit for Kirai...

thanks for the tip about Dragonforge. I wasn't familiar with them, but it looks like they've got some really nice bases! In addition to their ice bases for Rasputina, their Wasteland and Urban rubble bases look like they'll work really well for Leveticus, whenever I get around to adding him to my collection.

Well, Seamus does have an ability called "Belles at the Dance" or something that gives them extra movement...so I guess they at least dance when he's around.