Kadeton

Maybe, in her dementia, she forgets where she actually is and turns up somewhere else. There seems to be a few dirty combos like that in the game. I always feel a bit cheaty when I have a Mannequin bash Colette over to the other side of the board.

Interesting! Nobody around here plays her, so I'm not that clear on her rules. I also didn't realise that one model "losing" a Duel didn't inherently imply that the opponent "won" the Duel. Cheers for the clarification. So the only actions/spells she has that count for Fading Memory are Incite and Pacify, and otherwise she has to rely on Expose Fears and edge-cases like Terrifying enemy models and so on?

Couldn't she just tag her own crew with Project Emotions? Say she covers five models with the template, that's five Wp duels she's won, for a 20" move costing 1 AP.

I imagine the explanation would be: RAI is more important than RAW.

Sorry, that doesn't answer my question... I'm not even sure what "Terrain isn't created so nothing is moved" is supposed to mean. I'll try rephrasing into an example. If I use Cordon between two Guild Guards and then move them both 4" forward, is the impassible Cordon between them, or 4" behind them?

Cordon reads: If one of the models involved in the Cordon moves (or is moved), does the impassible terrain effect move with it since the space between the models has changed? Or is the Cordon generated in the space between the models at the time of casting, and remains there until the turn ends, regardless of where the models are? I can see either interpretation working from the rule as written, and would appreciate any clarification. (I searched the boards and couldn't find anything.)

I have to say, I'm not a fan of the Faction-based balance concept. I tend to play exclusively those masters that I find appealing, and choose to play them with the minions that I find thematically appropriate. So I have Colette for the Arcanists, but I detest both the look and the playstyle of Ramos and Marcus - Rasputina is tolerable, but not interesting. I have Lucius for the Guild, and I can't stand the look of the Witchlings, the Death Marshals or the Family, although Lady Justice, Sonnia and Perdita themselves are all fine. I'm seriously considering picking up Von Schill and the Freikorps, but I'm unlikely to ever want any of the Outcast masters. The Faction-based playstyle really doesn't fit me, so a Faction-based balance system can't either... and I can't be the only one. However, it seems to me as though the Book 2 masters and henchmen are designed with someone more like me in mind than their Book 1 counterparts. The masters encourage the use of thematically appropriate minions through synergy, and the henchmen are explicitly limited to them. In general, the Book 2 leaders seem more capable of meeting objectives across the full range of the game, without the sort of hard counters and bad strategies that limit the potential of the Book 1 masters. At the same time, the minions that are added in Books 2 and 3 seem often to be attempts to make the Book 1 masters more well-rounded and able to be played in an all-comers fashion, shoring up their weaknesses rather than boosting their strengths, and introducing more synergy into the thematic crews. The Snow Storm is the first example that springs to mind, enabling the traditionally sluggish Rasputina crew to more easily maneuver and achieve strategies and schemes that require greater mobility. If this is an actual design trend, then I think it's great.

So by the RAW, LoS doesn't matter but Range does? You declare your target (this is where you check LoS), then randomise the target between engaged models, then check range (but NOT LoS). If the randomised target was out of range of the attack it would fail, but LoS doesn't matter at that point. That's my reading anyway, feel free to correct my logic.

My favourite line was "Did you see, I think they were all in a carriage accident." Nicely understated.

I'm from Perth. Sorry mate, the "tombs" thing was bugging me too. Otherwise awesome segment though.

I just bought exactly that $100 Lucius list. It's nice to have confirmation that I've made sensible choices.

Sort of... the movement aspect is very Dark Eldar-esque, they can run rings around most opponents. There's little to no shooting though. They tend to hit and run - I guess a Baron list with loads of Hellions would be pretty similar.

Yep, looks like you answered most of your own questions there... The Link ends when the models aren't in base contact during the Start Closing Phase. If the Linked model is moved in any way other than by taking a Walk action, the Mannequin isn't pushed to it. The Mannequin can only push when the Linked model uses a Walk or ends its activation. If the Linked model is moved by something after its activation has already completed, the Link will break in the Start Close Phase (unless the model somehow ends up back in base contact with the Mannequin before then).

I'm relatively new to the game, and I started with Colette's crew. The game is mostly easy and quick to learn. There are some rules tangles that can trip you up along the way (getting used to how triggers work took me a few games) but for the most part the rules are well written and clear. Arcanists as a faction isn't really something you learn per se - each master is quite individual and their playstyles are very different. Colette takes a little bit of getting used to. Her playstyle involves lots of trickery and movement rather than brute force, and her minions are mostly pretty fragile. However, I found her ability to generate soulstones during the game made her a little more forgiving, and her crew's unbelievable mobility makes getting position-based objectives easy. Stick to the mission and avoid direct confrontation and you should be fine. These boards and the PullMyFinger wiki have plenty of tactical advice for Colette, and in my opinion learning with her gives you a better grasp on the rules than if you learn with one of the more straightforward masters. I don't know how prices translate (I'm in Australia) but a basic 35ss crew runs to about AU$70 for me. That's enough for a decent-size game, or several options in smaller games. For Colette, you need the box set, a pack of Doves, and a pack of Coryphee. It's easy enough to get other people into the game (I've been dragging my friends in pretty easily) especially if they're looking for a change from GW games. There's enough variety in the masters that anyone should be able to find something that appeals. That said, I don't think the Colette crew is very good for teaching games. The Showgirls have so many tricks that the opposing player tends to get frustrated, especially if they're running a melee-heavy crew like the Viktorias. Their abilities are also complex enough that it's not obvious how they work without a bit of research and planning, so you can't just give them to a new player completely cold, either. Personally, for learning games I'd recommend the more straightforward crews like Perdita, the Viktorias, Nicodem, Rasputina and Lilith. As mentioned, the Arcanists don't really have a single playstyle, and there's not an awful lot of synergy between them for Brawl games - I'd recommend Ramos if you're looking to expand. Colette's crew combines a lot of mobility with a couple of decent melee damage-dealers, spell damage, debuffing, luring, poison and some surprising resilience, and their main advantage is that almost the whole crew can gain the ability to use soulstones. Soulstone management and movement tricks are therefore the main aspects that you have to learn. Starting with the Showgirls has been fun for me, so I hope it will be for you also.

Fair enough. Thanks!

I had a search of the various forums but couldn't find anything on this, so apologies if I've missed it somewhere. Misaki's Foresight ability states: "In any Duel, when the value of this model's starting total Fate Card is the same or 1 lower than the opponent's, choose either this model or the opponent to discard their Fate Card and re-flip." The way this works in opposed duels such as when attacking or defending seems clear enough, but is Misaki able to do anything when resisting a spell? It seems to me that the spell's Casting duel is already finalised, and the Resist duel's starting Fate Card therefore has no opposing Fate Card to compare to, but I would appreciate some clarity on the subject. If Misaki can use Foresight in a Resist duel, can someone explain how it works? If not, what duels can she actually affect with this ability other than attacking with or defending against strikes? The phrasing "any Duel" seems to suggest a broader application. Many thanks for any clarification.

Wouldn't it only be a 4 Dg blast? Still a good idea.