RotatingPanda

For the record, I'm not pissed off: I reserve judgement until we get the details. So far, Wyrd hasn't disappointed so I'm sure they can handle this in a fashion that pleases me.

I said this in another thread already but if Lady J becomes undead that will be really cliche, lame and disappointing. So far, I'm not digging any of the avatars except Seamus. After two killer books, I really hope #3 doesn't turn me off of Malifaux :/

That would actually lower my disgust to tolerable levels and I would once again enjoy it. While still cliche, it would temper it a lot. Man, I could really go for some lemonade...

So, it would appear she's dead and her avatar form is headless*. That is absolutely retarded. I was really pleased with the Seamus avatar wallpaper (it's my current desktop) but now they do this to Lady J? Well, if it turns out that way, I guess I'll stop collecting/expanding my Guild crew now :/

With rules for Avatars in the next book, it makes sense from a story perspective for her to live beyond death but if they make the leader of the undead hunters into undead herself, that would be kind of cliche and disappointing. Also, I'm just now starting to appreciate her so she better stick around!

We have two Dreamer players, a Levi player and a Kirai player. I'm already banging my head against a wall...

Thank you, everyone! See, this is why I come here! I don't understand the game well enough to get the balance and the like and to have people break it down like this puts everything in perspective. This community is awesome

It's silly, but I never even considered that Lady J would be inspiring to others as far as fluff of why her allies are fearless...but still, if she fled off the board or ran away at all, wouldn't her allies? Doesn't Perdita have Evasive 2? That doesn't strike me as terribly vulnerable to blasts, unless you mean the whole "overcome her Df" thing? I guess I just don't understand Immune to Influence. For example, can Jackdaw to anything to her...? Don't all of his powers, even his melee and ranged attacks, attack Wp? Aside from his "Severed Ties" aura, isn't she basically unafraid of him?

So, while still new to the game, I played 5 games tonight (my buddy has this awesome all day gaming thing at his house) and two things really stand out to me that are really frustrating and hopefully a more experience player can shed some light on them. 1. Lady Justice, head of the Death Marshalls, leader of the undead hunting branch of the Guild, has lower Wp than Perdita and Sonnia and had no resistance or immunity at all to Terrifying. So, she can grant her allies immunity but then she herself runs in the face of Seamus or Killjoy or Jack Daw... 2. How is Perdita not ridiculously over-powered? You cannot target her Wp (so why does she have such a good one?), her Df is one of the best in the game, she has a counter to everything, she's good at everything (far better than Lady J)...how is she balanced compared to other master's? And I know that every faction is supposedly balanced against every other faction but I cannot think of a single instance where it would be better to take Lady J over Perdita. Please, please, please, please tell me I'm missing something or totally wrong somehow. :/

My initial exposure to Kirai was pretty horrifying. I was playing Lady J (starter set) and hadn't read about Kirai at length. My opponent had played a few games and read about her at length. So, in my first game, the Judge was killed on Turn 2, granting my opponent 4 VP from his schemes. Then, I focused all my firepower on the Shikome and Ikiryo, failed to kill them and saw both of them get healed to full before Turn 3. At that point, with 3 DM and Lady J versus Kirai, the Ikiryo, Shikome, Lost Love, some Seishin and a Gaki or two, I conceded. I am very inexperienced with Malifaux (played one full game and three partial games) and so far, my impression was a entire crew that takes half damage, has awesome mobility, can produce more models, can earn 4 VP really easily (through the Shikome and two schemes) and a Master that can come back if killed. I was discouraged to say the least and still don't feel I have an answer yet. I've also played the Dreamer who killed my Rasputina on Turn 2 and I feel pretty discouraged against that crew as well. I understand it's all learning and experience but so far, due to life complications, I haven't had much chance to play lately and I cannot afford new models. Also, I'm one of those pretentious guys that plays really thematic armies so I understand I'm choosing to handicap myself. Oh well. Love the game, love the fluff, will continue to play for a long time to come. /rant

I always feel like I'm posting something that has been covered but I swear I did a search on this and read a dozen or so threads looking for an answer to no avail. So, I tried to make the subject as clear as possible so if anyone has the same question as me, they can search it easily. I've seen lots of people asking about how many mindless undead for Nicodem, how many rat swarms/Stolen for Hamelin, etc. but I haven't found any info on how many Rotten Bells one should have available for a Seamus crew? Should I pick up a second set or is the starter set probably good?

Goblyn13: Thank you for clarifying what the FAQ search does! Ratty: Thank you for explaing, in detail, the difference in Harmless and Pitiful. That makes a lot more sense now although I still resent that Seamus can't just ice her...from my limited experience, Kirai is ridiculous enough without that little bonus.

Thanks a lot, Magicpockets. Unfortunate that the FAQ doesn't work. So, there's no definitive ruling on Terrifying vs. Pitiful yet? I really want to know if Seamus can shoot Kirai in her frustrating face or not without the WP test.

1. I read somewhere that anything that is Terrifying ignores Harmless. Is this true? Page reference would be super. 2. If the above is true, do things that are Terrifying also ignore Pitiful? If true, page reference would be super. 3. Does the FAQ on the website work? I cannot access it or search it.

Not all of us do. Where do you find this information? I would like to share this knowledge with you, sir

Sweet, I get a trial by fire. Nothing like a learning curve that goes straight up, hey? Although, after reading his rules, my brother thinks Leveticus will probably come with his own steep learning curve. Every time I talk about this game, I get more and more excited for the future of it.

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate the general summary of what her and her dirty spirits can do. My big problem was throwing everything at one model (and taking wounds in return, thanks to IR) and then having it get healed before I could finish it off. Oh, and his Shikome killed my Judge on turn 2, earning him 2 VP. There's already a Dreamer in my group and my brother is picking up Leveticus this week. So, yeah, goody goody gum drops?

Valid question and I guess I should address that. Shortly after he responded, we actually spoke on the phone for 15 or so minutes and cleared the air on everything. I, admittedly, was venting a bit and was "gun shy" about WAAC players as my local group had a very bad experience with one (we're talking borderline violence bad) last year. So, with my prejudice against WAAC players (which he is most definitely not) coupled with lack of experience and frustration at getting utterly crushed and feeling powerless against his crew led to me desperately scrambling to figure out what I was supposed to do in future games against that crew while figuring out how I would handle another potential WAAC player in my personal life. Luckily, the forums gave me pointers on dealing with Kirai and his phone call let me see that I reacted poorly and we smoothed things over. I'm usually more level-headed than this but once bitten, twice shy, especially when violence is on the line, you know? Also, it turns out the proxy issue was reflect in our respective backgrounds: he played/plays Magic the Gathering in which, apparently, you can proxy cards you already own in order to protect expensive cards from wear and tear whereas I come from a 40K background in which no one outside of tournaments thinks twice about proxying. So, HeavySet and I spoke and there is no bad blood between us and we're planning a rematch pretty much as soon as we're both free. I may even write a narrative battle report for it, depending on how easy he goes on me P.S. I still hate his crew though. Stupid little gardener...

Mr. Bigglesworth: I actually purchased Lady J and Rasputina but Seamus I won at a local convention so I didn't actually buy him. And I certainly recognize that this game is far cheaper than any other miniatures game on the market...but that doesn't mean I'm not painfully poor at the moment. Oh, and thanks for the links! Right now, I'm pretty thrilled with the responses from everyone and it's nice to know their is such a large, knowledgeable community to come to when I have questions or concerns.

I don't necesarrily believe that "bigger wallet wins" but a lot of people are suggesting certain models (Austringers, Witchling Stalkers, etc.) to help with my crew and, at this point in time, those are not options for me. I have the Lady J crew, the Rasputina crew and the Seasmus crew and that's it. Honestly, it was a learning experience. I know with each game, the rules will make more sense and I'll get a better handle on things but instead of getting frustrated, I figured I would turn to the community and benefit from -their- wisdom and experience. Regarding thematic lists, I do want to keep certain themes to my builds. In the case of Lady J, I want to stick to non-Ortega Guild assets; not too limiting but my group has a big Ortega player who is theming all Ortega with no Guild resources so we're sort of dual-theming in that sense. Artificial handicap to our crews? Maybe but we'll enjoy the challenge of making them work. I think I need to read about how to use Lady J. People say she's pretty obvious and all but what's the point of a melee character that's fragile...? Again, that question is rhetorical and I'm sure I'll figure it out/read about it in time. I have to break out of my 40K mentality and start to think like a Malifaux player Final Thought: I'm loving the stories and fluff of the setting. Also, how do you make those neat sigs? I like being able to see what Crews people play at a glance

I was going to use the term WAAC (Win At All Costs) player but don't know if that's strictly a 40K thing or not. I mean, the objective of the game will always be to win but the point, as I see it, is to have fun and some players just seem to lose sight of that. One thing this guy does that bugs me is that he proxies certain models and uses little tokens or dice or whatever but he does own one of them. If we try to proxy something that we own 0 copies of it (for example, play-testing something to see if we want to buy it), he makes a big deal. And I'm glad you pointed out that knowing what other Masters/crews can do as being an important skill. The more I learn about the game, the more I find myself going back and re-reading Masters and the like and figuring out what combinations are out there and what I can expect in future games.

Oh, no worries Hansel, I'm far from discouraged. It was just kind of shocking how powerful Kirai and her crew seemed. I'm sure I'll run into other "surprises" the more I play. As well, I don't think the Lady J box-set is a good match for Kirai, especially in the hands of a beginner. The guy I played doesn't have a lot of experience with Malifaux (I had to correct him on a few rules) but he has a long history of competitive gaming and I think he approaches it with a more cut-throat attitude that I do. In my local group, we're all pretty laid back and were really drawn to the story element of Malifaux, whereas this guy came to win. But my brother (whom I live with) gets his Nicodem and Leveticus crews this coming week so I can practice against him and start to develop strategies, learn the ins and outs of my crews, and proxy some things to figure out what my next purchases will be

Sooo, it sounds like I suffered from "I own the Lady J box set while he owns plenty of stuff and can pick and choose." Sigh. Alright, so, I was kind of hosed no matter what I did. Honestly, I'm not a fan of Lady J and semi-regret picking her up. I think I'm going to focus on Rasputina and build myself a nice large Cult of December crew. Thanks everyone

Pretty new to Malifaux and played my third game tonight. My Crew Lady Justice 3 Death Marshalls The Judge His Crew (I think?) Kirai Lost Love Datsue-Ba Gaki Shikomi So, anyway, schemes and strategies were mostly irrelevant as he rushed up, slaughtered the Judge with the Shikomi and then just juggled spirits around, healing any that I managed to damage and whittling my force down. So, I considered playing a second game with the Cult of December box set but realized one of that crew's big advantages, armor, doesn't matter. Ignore terrain, ignore armor, only half damage from non-magical sources, Immediate Revenge, Terrifying...I feel like there's something I'm missing. I have a long history of playing Warhammer 40K and this just feels really, really unbalanced. Not much else has in the game so far so I feel like I'm missing something big. What am I missing!? How the hell do you beat Kirai!? P.S. How do you change your signature to include those neat little pictures of what crews you have?