Sybaris

It seems the new Nekima model won't be released at Gen Con, so Black Friday would be the next option...unless there'd be a story encounter box in the making.

I agree, there's a lot left to discover, but at the same time, the greatest monster is often the one we do not know everything about. That is, of course, if one wishes to maintain a horror flair to the story.

Just for a complete record, she appeared in one of Sonnia stories (on the way to Latigo) and Tuco's background (the first hybrid?). The lack of material (yet) is also a mean to explore new avenues and giving old ones a new purpose. If they ever release the new model (to go with the new artwork), it'd be a great time to do so.

What a nice thread.  There was alway something odd about Lilith's appearance within her subsect of Nephilim. It wasn't explained for a long time until the Core TTB rules, apart from the fact that lilith's model pre-existed Malifaux's setting.

The fact she's that easy to relate to for us humans is my reason why i think she doesn't fit Nephilims too well. She behaves too much like humans would, and the Nephilim shouldn't be understandable from a human point of view in my mind. That's why Nekima always felt like the right character concept for the job in the first place (to me, of course).

I also hope that Nekima eventually replaces Lilith as a master for Neverborn, as i've always found her more fitting for leading the Nephilim. That doesn't mean there isn't a place for Lilith. Although i'd be happy with a red queen's off-with-her-head exit, she could very well be sent to Outcasts after a confrontation with Titania. At least such event would make a major and awesome evolution for the world, while not changing the metagame too much.

Just my opinions and wishful thinking of course.

I see malifaux just like i see any other fantasy world (Conan, Star Wars, Warhammer, etc.)...and i distance myself from our real world issues when it comes to society. In some cases, I feel it's absolutely necessary since some characters or factions are real abominations from our society's standpoint,  and otherwise those fictions might be derailed into social debates and the whole story forgotten.

As a side note, I think wyrd has done a tremendous job in including women in their main character lineup, and has gone so far as giving them traditional male niches. In fact most melee dominant master characters are female afaik

18 hours ago, Ergonomic Cat said:

Uh, by "Villains" I assume you mean "Native species that are trying to preserve their lands against the gorram Guild and their assorted detritus" right?  I mean, everyone knows the Neverborn are the heroes of Malifaux.  Humans literally breached their world, moved in, and started ripping the heart from the land.  

I've always been the DM in all the rpg's i've played, so i have always taken the side of the "evil" faction from a human/player character perspective. This is how TTB was written in the first place, too (the odds of getting a neverborn character is extremely slim). Of course we all know that the guild ain't nice and that there's alot of bad stuff going on with humans while neverborn sometimes look like the real victims out there (waldgeist in particular), but that's what makes the world interesting...it's not black or white. Still, from a roleplaying point of view, which is about following human characters as they cross the breach, nephilim are a stereotypical villains, and Nekima can certainly be seen as a stereotypical nemesis (obvious, brutal, dangerous), and i like it like that, even more so if there is actually more depth behind the appearances.

So you're saying Lilith could be more of a unique kind of Nephilim rather than an offspring of the Tot-Young-Mature line?  That her appearance is not just a choice but a reflection of her mindset, while her sister evolved more into the more usual steps. Could be an interesting twist...in that lilith would be forced to wear the face of the enemy after all? There's very few nephilim females apart from masters and henchmen. The only example we have is the lilitu, so we don't really know what they usually look like or what the typical maturing process is like.

My annoyance with lilith is that she behaves/looks like a human character everywhere in the stories, even in front of Titania's court. I mean if you're attending to a diplomatic event and trying to convince a species that you're the rightful leader, wearing their hated foe's face ain't driving the right nail in imho.

It's actually Nekima who writes/talk on the Scion and the Bloodwretches description. She lets the Blood Shamans have a little fun in return for support...

Interesting that i feel the other way (but i understand what you mean, it's fine either way), it's just that i want them to be the villains in that setting, to be the evil monsters. And we have alot of ninjas and martial artists around Malifaux. Nephilims are probably the face of the Neverborn, in that they are easily recogniseable and operate in a more obvious, militaristic manner. An organised force, if you will. In that sense, i like their wild and brutal way to be represented in their gear. That's the reason i never liked lilith...she's too civilised to my tastes

Depending on how this model turns out to be, it might be possible ot model out the clothes for a more barbaric appearance...at least i think i'll attempt it if i can get my hands on 2 kits.

Agreed...i think that logically, nephilims wouldn't care one bit about clothes...especially clothes designed in a human fashion. I'd see them using straps of leather *made of flayed skin" to protect their limbs but little else. In that sense, the current model is probably more acurate than the 1st. Besides...it amuses me to imagine any Nephilim Seemstress offering a bodice to Nekima, or Nekima actually manufacturing her clothes to designer quality...or Zoraida giving sewing classes to Lilith, Pandora, Lelus and Lilitus in the swamp.

Let's just look at Titania, who wouldn't even bother repairing her dress, and that's a Queen. Of course Malifaux is not Kingdom Death and nude miniatures would rise too much heat for the market.

There's always been something awkward about Malifaux's neverborn on that question. They hate humans but they want to copy them too much. I'd like to see Lilith's true face one day.M aybe TTB's Core will shed some light on what's what.

In any case, this new model looks like it's much larger than the current one and just for that, it's better in my book. I can always customize the clothes with a modelling tool if need be, but i can't resize a miniature that is too small (imho) so i am also in the camp of "when can we get this?" as above.

Of course the odds are on your side, but my wishful thinking is still an attractive theory, at least to me.  I'd even go so far as to hazard a guess that this "simple" alt model might end up being more popular than the regular one...just saying.

I actually like the clothing more come to think of it. It puts Nekima more into the malifaux world...in the sense that a winged female demon with a bikini is quite common in other fantasy worlds. Dressed like that, she looks more like a Nephilim and more like Lilith at the same time.

Upon further inspection, while there are masters represented by an alternate art on the website, the new portion of the bios containing henchmen, enforcers and minions don't seem to contain any alternate or "gender-switch" special edition artwork, and i certainly understand why as to to avoid confusion when buying the models. The masters articles were already there and the alternate models are mostly a different pose of the same character. In addition the master's article contain more artwork and even a picture of the boxed sets. Nekima's art revamp is a major change in appearance and one couldn't associate it with the current model.

This makes me think that there is a slight possibility that the new nekima replaces the old altogether...and i hope this is the case obviously. They could even continue to sell the current Nekima as an alternate Barbaros...it's already at 25$  ...How about Barbarella for a name? (goggle that if it doesn't ring a bell).

Was there any timeline shared for Nekima's Alt/neo model ? Are there other pictures of the sculpt? It looks like there's big miniatures behind it (though they might be for The Other side)

You're probably right, seeing as Kaeris and Perdita are showing alternate art on the site. Then let's hope it's accessible.

oh about the current model, i like it...it's just too small to portray Nekima as depicted in the stories imho. If it had been sold as an alternate barbaros (or even lilith with wings), i'd have 0 problems with it.

If this is a 50mm base, it's -much- larger than her 2E version, and while not as tall/wide, she looks meatier and bulkier (the flaw in the M1E version was that she was so thin)...so this is great news. Goes with the fluff, goes with the Ht3 tag.

Given they chose this new artwork to put on the website, and not her current mini version, i'd wager it might be more accessible than a 300/150 incentive. Correct this if i am wrong, but this would be the only alternate art model on the website?

I like this, alot. My only constructive criticism is the sword which looks strange at that angle, but that's real easy to convert...if it is my only nitpick, i'll be more than happy to get this (after so many years lol).

Seems i was out of the loop on this one, it is interesting for sure.

Imho, nephilim don't really care for clothing...it's suitable to them for their purposes (especially the mimics or dopplegangers...or Lilith). I am not sure what Nekima is doing with a trench...but i mostly wonder who designed and produced the clothes, maybe the widoweaver has a sideline job after all.

P.S. if there's a new model on the way, i hope she'll be sizeable this time.

It seems both Lynch and Lucius have means to get down to 4 wounds. 

Given Lynch's ability to use aces repeatedly, he can "Play for blood" and loose to suffer wounds, dueling against Nekima's Wp 7 should do the trick...and even if she looses, she'll regain the wounds with her Birthright. It might be annoying if you don't have a very weak card to fail the duel, but it'll come up eventually by taking Mulligans. If you get the ace of mask, make sure to activate those Tots before doing Birthright, as they can sprint automatically with it.

Lucius has 2 ways of getting hurt; he can simply use Devil's deal to suffer wounds when he uses a soulstone, but he can also use Commnanding presence to allow a friendly model (let's assume Nekima) to strike him...at a slightly higher risk. With her very high Wp, odds are she'll pass the Horror duel right away, or can cheat it through, but there's that little Black Joker somewhere which could ruin your day. If going that avenue, Nekima could bring the Pact upgrade, almost ensuring she doesn't get paralysed by Commanding presence. Since she must use Birthright in her own activation, she could get a free "walk" in order to move toward her objective through Lucius's own walk...effectively making the "birthright" coup completely AP free.  It does make a nice image of Lucius prancing around Nekima only for her to cut him down like a fly.

Lynch brings in the Hungering Darkness though, for free, but he has a cache of 1 while Lucius has a cache of 4.

Knowing this...which one would be the best to bring in?

Interesting once more, i never even looked at lucius actually...he's not my cup of tea. Might have to take a look.

Any reason you picked Lucius in particular? there was a previous thread that mentionned Lynch would be a good candidate due to the Hungering Darkness.

Nicely done, here's something to add on my to-do list.

Agreed that the pauper dress is clashing a bit with a certain fantastic vision of a queen...but not with many of the neverborn, who could care less about clothes. The fact that Lilith is the one who mentions Titania's clothes in a derogatory manner further demonstrate how removed she is from the Nephilim "esprit de corps" who in general go with rags and leather straps....Even Nekima doesn't care about it anymore (she visibly dressed far more elaborately in M1E). As far as i am concerned, Lucius and Lilith would make a great couple.

I wonder what neverborn would be the most likely to side with Titania, even if their leaders are not going to. Her stories does tell that quite a few neverborn actually joined her...but who? Is it simply to explain how she can recruit from the neverborn faction in games?

Waldgeist: I really think these guys would side with her as they have never acknowledged any other master.  Could they actually be former fae?

Apart from those, i wonder what minions would side with Titania. All woes and nightmares benefit from human presence in malifaux too much, imho. While it's obvious that Titania cannot "win" her struggle (it'd be the end of Malifaux as we know it), it's a great thread to have to see how the story could affect the factions.

At the very least she might offer a deal to Hayreddin.

I am pretty sure we'll see regular autumn knights in a release of the future. On the cover page of the last book, we do see alot of "green striped dead looking" people crawling out, and i do believe there is more than 3 knights+aeslin.

We've no idea what Titania's power was like back then nor what she did to scare off her own people like that...it had to be quite bad, considering the tyrants were even more powerful then.

Can't wait for the showdown...but first i hope there's one coming. I don't think the other factions are in such a troubled state as neverborn atm.

Mmm come to think of it if Mason is referring to the new incoming book...now i understand the smiley. I haven't read it of course. I was refering to existing material from either TTB or Malifaux.  To make it short, it was always about a practical way to enact a terror campaign on the "prey". Can't wait to see what new material they come up with.

I agree with you, Nephilim shape is a mess apart from the Tot-Young-Mature-Nekima lineage...Imho Lilith should have done away with her old "metal" appearance when they made her plastic. No horns, no hoofs...no wings...clothes...she's nothing like a nephilim and in fact looks like the "enemy". Titania looks like a more suitable model.

It does, although it doesn't go as far as explaining how come Nephilim accept it for their leader. I would expect a brutal race to see it as a weakness rather than strenght. Fine for undercover operations, but not so inspiring to lead troops. Of course neverborn mindset is far from understandable from a human point of view...but at least i hope that Lilith's story comes to a closure at a point...maybe she even takes on her true form, after all.

Titania might be what's needed to quell the tyrants encroachment, although that would have so much repercussion on the world that i doubt they will go that route. I am afraid that they can't get rid of the tyrants by now...they are directly involved in too many crews across factions.

I can't see Lilith ally with Titania, ever.  Now as you said, Nekima is boiling under Lilith since a over a century and Titania could tempt her to make a deal. While Nekima would undoubtedly not be happy Under titania, vengeance on her sister plus leadership of the nephilim might be enough of a promise to accept. I've always seen Lilith as an outcast more than a leader for Nephilim...this could be an interesting twist. For one i would love to see a reversal of fortunes between the two sisters, if only for the duration of a campaign or event.

As for the trio, i think it has sailed. In any case, if they are to act as leaders of a faction, they should do just that, lead...and we'd need more stories of them doing so. None of them seems to be thinking straight from the more recent stories. Titania really came of as a true leader compared to them in the last book.