Hateful Darkblack

And that Crew? That Avatar Leveticus, four riders, and some Hollow Waifs crew? It's incredibly fun to play and plenty effective for some strats.

Oh, hey, finally figured out how to tag this post. Yay!

Dirial, Lady J looks fantastic. Thanks for the edits. Do you want to track the Guild pages?

I actually wrote the Hamelin M2E article before this whole populate-the-Wiki drive started, but Vaiuri was kind enough to improve it with more updates afterward. Please do write up his Crew models! You're not going to step on toes as long as you're making the Wiki better.

Here's mine! (I got distracted by PMF stuff.)

1337 words, all themes used.

The Toast It wasn’t quite wine nor spirits. It tasted like something in-between, with a sudden kick to it. They served it in antique jars and rusty tin cups, in potsherds and steam engine caps and old metal hats. They passed it around with ruckus cheers and knowing smiles. I let it burn down my throat and into my stomach, enjoying the potent flavor the drink left behind on my tongue. I was finding life surprisingly good, living among the Garbage Men, scavenging what others threw away, drinking away the evenings, getting used to the dense stench of forgotten things. We bartered in scrap and corpse, and built up shanty structures from the same. Garbage Town knew how to sort things to the people who knew how to repair and salvage them. Once in a while some suspicious character would slip into town asking for something “special.” More likely than not, we’d have it for them. It was dangerous work, and not very profitable. Poisonous work, but simple and relaxing all the same. Some days out in the stinking sun I pined for my employer and wondered when she’d find me, hoping she was okay. Some nights I was struck by guilt for a job I wasn’t sure if I’d failed or not. The great brass artifact I was assigned to protect out in the graveyard had appeared in the center square of this low-gully shanty town. The Academic told me that I’d done that — that it was built from my unconscious dreams, a replica of a thing that was tied into my fate. He didn’t explain how that sort of thing could happen. Apparently he’s just used to a kind of world where dangerous contraptions spring forth from the skulls of drunken mercenaries. Some mornings, I told myself I was still guarding that thing for her. It was the Academic who had brought the fortified wine. “It’s a celebration,” he told me in confidence, his breath musky with alcohol, “I’ve figured out how to activate the thing.” I looked outside and, indeed, something had begun. The wheels of the gyroscope were rotating lazily in time. There was a hum in the air. Something was beginning. He looked at me, and handed me a cup. “Why don’t you make a toast?” he offered, with a false smile and serious look in his eyes. Well, why not? I stood and made my toast. The crowd surprised me when they echoed the cheer back. “To the Neverborn!” Another man stood up and raised up a long thin blade in one hand, and his improvised cup in the other. And I found myself toasting along “To that blade!” It was a strange, compelled feeling, like the toast was forcing its way out of me. The bitter-faced woman with the pistols looked at me with an expression of surprise and concern that must have matched my own. Some folks at another table grumbled nervously. People were getting wise that something was happening. It wasn’t worth the wine. They started making excuses and making it for the exits. The hum from outside was getting louder. The Academic tried without much luck to push out through the crowds. A thin mean wisp of a woman stepped up for her own toast. And we all toasted along. “To cannibalism!” And then we pushed harder for the tin doorways and even out the jagged windows to get out of there. It was a Garbage Town disaster. People came here because they had secrets to hide from. The last thing anyone needed was the dread curse of honesty that was picking us off one by one. Out here the threat of revelation scared us more than ghosts or guns. The fear was on every darkard’s face and I felt relief that my own secrets weren’t so bad by comparison. The Academic was almost at the doors when he turned around and lifted his jar, wincing with regret. “To the Brass Herald!” we all cheered along in unwilling accord. The hum was growing stronger. People were starting to talk over each other in their drunken confessions. We didn’t want to hear it. My stomach felt queasy. The stampede to get out started in earnest. Fists flew. People screamed. I saw one man across the crowd taking a razor to his own tongue. Eventually, Old Beatrice got outside and banged on the brass contraption with the heavy lead pipe that she’d kept behind the bar for unruly customers. Something fell off. The hum stopped. “Someone had to be a responsible adult around here,” Old Beatrice said. And just like that it was over. Some of us cheered. Some were still fleeing. Some of us just sat and cried. The mob turned grabbed the Academic, of course, and scattered his precious clever brains all over the packed dust of Garbage Town, but even the gunman executioner wore an expression guilty, half-hearted afterthought. We were all mostly mourning our secrets. And it wasn’t an hour later that we heard the sound of distant horses, and started to see silhouettes surrounding our gully. Exhausted and sad, one of the other Garbage Men stood and lifted his now-empty Mason Jar. I stood up and looked at the paths out. There was a Guildsman at every one, all advancing inward slowly. The little shanty town was looking smaller and smaller.

Drool Bucket, all good points. I don't think there are any super simple crews any more, but some require learning a complex new mechanic or interaction, balancing new Master-specific resources, or pursuing counterintuitive gameplay. I don't think the power/complexity curve is absolute (I think, for instance, that Lilith's going to be winning more VP in general than Hamelin, even though she's a little less complex) but I think there's some tendency. Maybe it's just that a more complex and counterintuitive crew also requires your opponents to learn more. Maybe it's just that more moving parts means more options.

Here's my very subjective list. Straightfowardish: Lady J, Perdita, Sonnia C, McMourning, Seamus, Marcus, Rasputina, Kaeris, Lilith, Jakob Lynch, Viktoria of Ashes, Von Schill, Misaki, Ophelia, Mah Tucket Pretty Complex: Hoffman, Lucius, Lucas McCabe, Nicodem, Kirai, Molly, Yan Lo, Ramos, Ironsides, Mei Feng, Pandora, Zoraida, Collodi, Hamelin, Jack Daw, Somer, The Brewmaster, Ulix, Wong Very Complex: Tara, Colette, The Dreamer, Leveticus, Shenlong

Generally, the most complicated to play are the most complicated to play against. Often they're also a little more powerful once you learn them.

Here are my notes on things to improve for The Dreamer. Here's TheRat coordinating articles on Neverborn Henchmen, Enforcers, Minions, and Peons.

Yep, indeed! Right now, The Dreamer is pretty light. Way ahead of the curve of where the Masters articles were on May 14, but with all the improvements that have happened, it's now behind the pack of great articles we've gotten done. Large sections of it are quick summaries, which were great when they were written but we can now definitely do better. So, at this point, I think edits are very much going to benefit the article.

Perfect. Thank you!

Zfiend, thank you for thinking about stepping on other peoples' toes. Godlyness definitely has a go-ahead to update the Dreamer. But you definitely do as well. The purpose of this thread is to make sure we get coverage, and to encourage people to update that Wiki. It's not to stop people from contributing. The point of a Wiki is that anyone can contribute. Plenty of people can update the Wiki without ever seeing this thread on the forums, and that's by design. I'm sorry I missed marking The Dreamer as claimed earlier. Honestly, I'm still very pleasantly surprised by the massive response this thread has created, and doing my best to keep it organized. If I missed a post you made, I'm very sorry. Please rest assured that if you contribute to the Wiki, and post about it in this thread, you'll be credited for your work. I'm going to update the first page to note both you (Zfiend) and Godlyness as claiming The Dreamer. Please please please both feel very free to contribute and improve the article. I'll chip in with feedback when I can as well. I just hope my mistake doesn't cause long-term bad feelings on this, and that it doesn't stop people from writing and contributing to the article.

Godlyness, thanks so much for your work on The Dreamer! Please do continue. What you've done works great. But also, others are likely to chip in, add more, alter and so on. That's how Wikis work, and it's very intentional -- Wikis end up more complete when everyone chips in. That's one of the big differences between a Blog (written by one person at that person's pace) and a Wiki (which everyone can edit.) No one is trying to insult your work or cause problems, but Wikis are designed for everyone to chip in. I've been posting to coordinate to make sure that stuff does get done, not to stop people from editing. Please, please, keep updating, but do expect that others will chip in on the same articles sometimes, and try to coordinate with them. Don't edit over people, and try to collaborate positively. It's good to worry about hijacking, but the solution is to merge conscientiously, not to stay away from articles. Thanks!

Please, do take The Dreamer! Let me know who worked on it!

I'll do another proofreading run, probably on Monday. Thanks for the updates, y'all!

You got it!

You make it more difficult to kill the Waif than would be worth their time. If they spend a ton of PA hunting and killing your Waif, and you spend your AP doing Schemes and Strategies, you've just won and they've lost, whether or not the Waif lives. Many opponents don't bother Waif-hunting because it's often not worth the effort. That said, it is good to protect your Waifs. Keep 'em hidden, and have your anchors kill things that roll up on the Waifs. With the Abominations, just getting within 2" means that they have to make a check or take damage, and that they lose suits and (0) actions. If they walk before doing anything else, you've drained their AP by forcing them to walk somewhere instead of staying where they wanted to put their model. If you get within 1", you can try to stop them from leaving, which is even better. If they spend their AP kiling the Abomination, you've drained their AP by forcing them to attack your Abomination instead of somethign important. Abominations are great that way: they pop up incidentally, sometimes for free, and they waste the enemy's time and resources, and they weaken nearby enemies.

You hide the Waif behind terrain. And activate it early-to-mid turn so it has that trigger and does damage to anyone who attacks and misses. But mostly you hide them behind terrain.

I want you to levi. I really do! Something to keep in mind about levi: He's got literally the most crew choices in the game. So, pick some models you like and hire them, but don't feel like you need to cover every possible hire option, or even every possible GOOD hire option. Just figure out a Crew or two you'll want to play. Otherwise, you'll be paralyzed by too many choices and go utterly mad.

Yes. "This Attack ignores Armor" means that the Attack ignores Armor -- whether on the initial damage flip, or on other effects from the Attack like blasts.

Yay! I had just run out of Growling Cow to listen to, and I have a long roadtrip ahead of me today, so this will be awesome!

Well, you can summon another one as a (0) that sacrifices Leveticus, but that's it. Keep those Waifs safe! So many choices! I usually want to have three babysitters each game. Lazarus is my favorite anchor, because he's so durable and stays in the back line. The Mechanical Rider is nice because he's just generally so good. Rusty Alyce works well, too. Dead Doxy (Pariah of Bone) and Soulstone Miner (Pariah of Iron) are really solid 6-soulstone cost choices if you take the appropriate upgrade, since they provide a lot of other benefits to a crew as well. Ashes and Dust is really good for a babysitter because it's crazy durable, but it can sometimes outrun a Waif because it's so fast, and it is kinda bound to the edges. I use it sometimes as a Waif anchor, even though it's not ideal, because I'm buying it anyway and it's so good for a lot of other things. Lately I've been playing with Vasilisa, who is great for this. Yeah, I don't buy them myself. The important thing to know about Abominations is this: Don't use them to attack enemies or grab objectives. Push them up 2" from an enemy model (especially an enemy Leader) to deny suits and (0) Actions. And use their (1) for more card draw. They're more like an industrial byproduct than a standard model: use them to bog up enemies, and make them appear when the opportunity presents itself. I've never managed to bring a Desolation Engine into play, but the threat of it is enough to drain enemy resources and AP sometimes.

Yay! Congratudolences, Mindshred!