Hateful Darkblack

What I heard was that everyone else's Avatar is that they evolve into Von Schill.

Do you think she'd benefit from synergy with a Doppelganger? Seems like the Initiative bonus helps Nekima, and the ability to copy Lorelei helps the Doppelganger. But boy howdy is that expensive.

You'll want to talk to your TO about that, but I think the answer is yes.

Yeah, stupid The Guilty. They should have taken the extra effort to become a Mercenary, but noooooo. They had to be Tormented instead. Seriously. Every Crew I can. I never realized how much I needed this model.

I blame the Guilty for this. They are clearly at fault. And now I plan to field the Guilty (with a Wuppwecht proxy) in any Outcast Crew. And then blame them when anything goes wrong.

Yeah, it looks like Impossible to Wound takes precedence over Flay.

Thank you! Congratulations to you, too! Great story!

Fifth turn waif in enemy deployment and sac A&D! That's brilliant! I will have to remember that.

And congrats to Brewmaster for a fantastic fun story!

I love the idea of adding Location! I say keep both of them. As far as the length goes, I like the shorter form, because I think stories seem to clock in just above that length and then get better once they're edited down. I also like it because they make faster reads, which means hopefully more people will read them. That said, I actually think it could be awesome to have a different length sometimes - sometimes a 100 word nanofic, sometimes a 5000 word novella. Honestly, I am up for either word count.

You can still do the trick. You just need a second model with Terrifying.

Sybaris, thanks for your analysis. I know you have long been the big proponent of Nekima and improvements. I was wondering if you thought she'd been done justice. I've actually just bought Nekima because of the improvements. I'm likely to use her mostly in Lilith Crew, since that's where I see the most synergy. I could see her in a Pandora Crew, especially if Pandora hired a few Terror Tots to go along, but mostly I'm expecting to field her with Lilith.

If you pay shipping, I'll send them to you, CRC. I'm in San Francisco.

Nix's Upgrade Hollow has the following Ability: "Release the Hounds: Crews including this model may hire models with the Hound Characteristic that are not the Crew's declared Faction." Penelope is now a Hound, but she's also a Totem of Ulix. Can Nix hire Penelope anyway? (In other words, which takes precedence, the "You can't hire someone else's Totem" or "You can hire Hounds now".)

Yeah, I am really happy with how Leveticus turned out. Of course, now I don't need those Unmade tokens I had laser-printed. I think someone was saying they'd like them. Who wants 'em?

Oh! True. It turns out I always killed it before that could come up anyway, so that is fine. Updated my post to correct. Thanks!

Someone asked me during the beta what I like about playing Leveticus. I wanted to play a fresh game with him (using the 1/21 beta rules) before I answered. Finally got a chance, and yep, he's super fun still! What I love about playing Leveticus: 1. His survival mechanics! He dies easy but keeps coming back in a wonderful way, but his Hollow Waifs are super fragile and must be kept hidden and precious. 2. The way all his models are simultaneously precious and disposable. They all come back in some way or another (except Alyce), but you have to be careful with each one in a different way - keep Ashes & Dust near the edge and activate late, make sure the Abominations leave a Scrap Marker in a useful spot, hide the Hollow Waifs near an ally behind terrain but close to the action, etc. 3. The movement tricks! You can fight a war on multiple fronts and have Leveticus hop between them on different turns using different Waifs. 4. The kill potential. Rusty and A&D and Leveticus all pack a huge punch in different ways. They clear out and claim whole sections of the board. 5. Leaving behind Abominations as kind of hazardous byproduct of combats, especially because Abominations are so very useful in M2E (much more than in 1.5, where they were always speedbumps or DE delivery systems). The extra thrill of turning an enemy model into another Abomination. 6. Crew flexibility. You can pretty much just pick models you like from many many factions, and suit your Crew to the Schemes and your mood. 7. The cyclical nature! It feels during play like you're in a constant cycle of decay and rebirth, where you don't mind getting hurt or dying because you know you will come back. It's appealing that the gameplay really kind of has a perverse philosophy to it. 8. The opportunities for surprise maneuvers! Last game I got a bunch of extra VP on Turn Five by heavily wounding my A&D with Burn Out, then having a Hollow Waif move up and kill it, which let me place a Dust Storm across the table for Outflank and unbury Leveticus near the Hollow Waif on the other side for more Outflank and Protect Territory. There were three people watching and no one but me imagined that as a possibility, even though they were all aware of the Crew. 9. The suspense! Leveticus' play style feels like he's constantly on the verge of losing everything, but always just barely pulling through and winning. There's never a dull moment with Levy. He feels powerful but not overbalanced. He's not exactly a glass cannon, more like a self-destructing cannon that will come back again unless you also smash that glass of water hiding behind a crate nearby.

I've definitely been digging this. Fantastic work everyone! Sending my votes in now. It wasn't easy to pick a favorite with such a strong collection.

Oh, I like this revision a lot! Very different style, and it feels really lively. It still introduces the setting, but the details really make the story pop.

Coleete and friends can put scheme markers within 4" of another scheme marker if they're using a special action to do so. The "can't place a scheme marker within 4" of another scheme marker" is a restriction that is specific to the (1) Interact action, not a general restriction on Scheme Markers. I don't know the answer about Twist and Turn / Now You See Me. I'm guessing that the trigger doesn't apply, but I don't know.

You're still restricted by rarity.

He's like a Nephilim ostrich: wings but not flight. I wouldn't call him that to his face, though.

Lucius is fun as a Neverborn. Mimics have some synergy - Candy and Doppelganger may be worth it. The Illuminated do really really well - they pack a great punch and Lucius can use them to good effect. I really enjoyed playing Lucius with Wicked Dolls. It may not be optimal, but it's kind of frightening.

Yeah, Paralyze, Fast, and Slow are all a lot more useful since they last until the next activation.

Get the bonus to initiative Upgrade. It's worth it. Tara: Most turns, you want to have Tara act first and last. This is especially good if she's going to use her second activation to unbury the Nothing Beast (or another beatstick) on some folks. Sometimes, though, you don't want to do this. If you win initiative, you can bury it again on your turn. Bury Killjoy (or start him buried) to give Tara a monstrous melee attack. Student of Conflict can help give Tara fast. The best time to give an enemy model Fast is when you're surrounded by your allies and about to kill that enemy. Combination: Tara attacks a friendly model to bury it. Then a Void Wretch heals it. Death Marshalls are a great way to bury friendly models. Killjoy starts buried, which is great. However, both of these interfere with Tara's ability to bury, since she can only bury if nothing else is buried. Sometimes, Tara's best action is to shoot someone with her Peacebringer. Other times, her best action is a brutal spell. Pick your Upgrades beforehand with one or two tricks and combinations in mind.