WaywardSun13

The Viks can hire Hamelin the Ratcatcher (the minion), they cannot brawl with Hamelin the Plagued (the master).

It honestly depends on the Strategy and opponent. I played a slaughter scenario at 35 SS w/ the Viks and I went w/ 4 Ronin, and Convict Gunslinger, a Student of Conflict, and my cache. It worked well because there was a lot of armor and not a lot of ranged models on the board. This was also before book 4 came out. In brawls maybe 6 would be useful, but again, it depends. So in strategies that don't require running over the other side of the board and interacting w/ things, then maybe Ronin-spamming would be worth it. I never leave home w/out one when I play the Viks. I know people think they're slow, but I really like them and they've never let me down. It doesn't hurt to have 6 I guess. Just keep in mind that the more Ronin you field, the less flexible your crew becomes. As with all things in Malifaux, your crew really should be designed around the Strategy. That's what makes list-building fun and challenging. The "take-all-comers" list building from other games really doesn't apply in Malifaux (at least in my opinion).

Mounted McCabe's base is very nice! Excellent stuff!

From what I've experienced, the new starter sets are a bit more cohesive and playable out of the box than their predecessors. I've had quite a bit of experience w/ Misaki, and the box set gives you a decent feel for her as a master. The models in the box come in at 29 SS, so you can easily play a 30 SS game right out of the box. The Mei Fang box is pretty similar, in that you can play out of the box to get a handle on things. I'm not sure about the other 3, because I don't have a lot of experience w/ them at this moment. For the most part, the box sets contain the master, their totem, 3x minions, and then some have a unique minion. The nice thing is that each TT master has other things they can hire, so you're old figures can find a new home. The example that comes to mind right now is Ronin, Hans, Taelor, and Desperate Mercs can all be fielded w/ a Misaki crew and count as Ten Thunders. All that said, I've expanded my own Misaki crew w/ Yamaziko and Archers and such...and in the long run those are definitely worth while purchases!

Yup. Those are socks, but not like crew socks...like those socks that show up in a lot of drawings of Samurai and such. They're more like slippers. That way she can be all sneaky I suppose. And yup, they're white. Sure. I'd love to actually demonstrate it, but currently I don't have anything fire-like to paint. Hopefully words will be enough for now! --So I primed the figure white. I then grabbed a spectrum of colors from white to red. Every successive highlight was done w/ thin, watered-down highlights gradually spreading out towards the end of each tongue of flame. The "base color" was a 50/50 mix of white and yellow, and then I gradually worked my way up to a mid-red as the final "highlight." The important thing to remember is to leave a bit of each previous highlight behind. So basically, once you get towards the red end of the spectrum, you shouldn't be adding that much paint. To maintain that initial white/yellow color, I periodically washed the whole figure w/ the initial 50/50 white yellow mix. I figured a lot of this out through trial and error...and it took me a very long time to paint Shang. I actually painted my Shang 3 times. The first time I tried to just take shortcuts and drybrush each highlight, but the result was sorely disappointing. The second time I went too dark w/ the final highlights, and I elected to redo it. The third time wasn't perfect, but I was happy with the end result.

A friend of mine keeps trying to get me back into the game. I really liked it, but it was such a drain on my wallet. I guess I prefer pewter/plastic crack to cardboard crack! I actually picked up a Clan War Kisada that I'm going to proxie as a Toshiro the Daimyo...w/ some slight modification.

Very cool looking group of brilliance'd dudes! I like the color scheme on the HD. What glow in the dark paint are you using...that's a very cool effect!

Lynch looks solid. The subtle purple flame on the skeleton is a nice touch. Very smooth looking crew...looking forward to seeing more!

So I finally got Misaki finished...well at least for now. I may go back and do some OSL off of the energy-streak-thingy...but for now I'm going to leave it. The crew: Misaki: Now that my initial TT crew is finished I'll be moving on to another TT master. I'm thinking of moving on to Lynch/HD next. I've also got a pack of Oiran to paint. C&C appreciated. Thanks for looking!

A pimp-cane w/ a sick trigger. And he's terrifying. And he has all those negative flips. And Slow to Die/Use Soulstone.

A Witchling would be great, but in a Lucius-led crew they're unavailable. That's why I'm usually a fan of Lady J in my Lucius crews as opposed to the Captain. So in a Lucius led list, your options to protect your Riflemen gunline are a Warden, a Guardsman, Hounds, or the Captain. And then there's Lucius (who isn't terrible in combat himself).

I used to play a lot of L5R, and feudal Japanese history is another hobby of mine, so I glanced at some artwork in history books or old cards I had and came up with the color scheme that way (along w/ using color theory). Thanks for looking!

Ok, it's a New Year and I finally got the TT archers done. ...and here's the whole crew: So, now that I have my initial Ten Thunders purchase painted, I'm going to quit dragging my feet and finally paint Misaki. I usually paint the leader first, but this time I figured I'd paint everything else in the starter before. So coming up next will be Misaki. I just cleaned up my Oiran, and Kang and the Rail Workers will be joining the ranks soon. I also got a Dark Debts boxed set for Christmas, so Lynch and the HD are coming down the pipes eventually. I've found a figure I'm going to proxy for Toshiro from the old Clan War line. Lots coming! Not sure how I'm going to paint the Oiran yet. Being that they're mercenary/TT and they're geisha, I'm considering painting them in different colors than my core crew. Thanks for looking!

I've played against the Hoff-ball a couple of times w/ my Misaki crew (which was essentially the box + Yamaziko). I really just wanted to reinforce how useful Downburst was. Even if your opponent cheats to resist all of the duels, they're burning their entire hand to keep their troops bunched up. If you're able to cast it again, chances are they'll be failing a few of those duels, and then you can go in and start dismantling the Hoff-ball. Also, pay attention to the Protect chain order. Plus, Ototo smashing things is fun.

Got my Izamu yesterday...there's a head/face on the sprue. Still can't decide if I want to include it, or just do him like a suit of armor though.

Sure. I use GW Dwarf Flesh in all of my flesh mixes. For Marcus, I mixed some Reaper Dirt Brown, Black, and Dwarf Flesh in equal mixes. I built this up w/ the Dirt Brown and the Dwarf Flesh, and then I added Ivory in for successive highlights. To do the shading, I made a shade wash w/ Black, Brown ink, and a midnight blue.

So, I'm still alive. Just finished up my boards and my residency interviews, so I've finally had time to paint. I took a brief hiatus from my Ten Thunders crew to crank out a quickie Marcus crew and my Hangin' Tree. Pics are attached, for your viewing pleasure. My TT Archers are on my painting table now, and they'll be up soon! More TT goodness coming soon!

I kind of figured it was the time of the year. Our group has been 2-4 (and more often than not, 2) lately. We play at Books, Comics, and Things Georgetown on Tuesday nights and The Keep on Friday nights on Goshen Road. Thanks!

So a month or so ago we had a pretty solid group of Malifaux players coming out for at least one of our area game nights a week. We had grown from a group of 4-ish players to 12-15. Recently, I've noticed a trend downwards in people showing up to play. My gut reaction was that this was just due to the busy holiday season, but I was wondering if it was something else? I wasn't sure if people were just busy, burned out on the game, or...? Has anyone else noticed this trend in their playgroups due to the holidays, or anything else?

Very cool effect with the gel!

...wow. Awesome. Pretty jealous.

The Keep is also raffling off a free LE Guild Miss Terious on Friday nights. To enter, you simply have to show up and play a game of Malifaux. The winner will be drawn on 12/14/12 (that's TWO more chances to enter!)

Marcus—7SS Shikome x2 Silurid x2 Night Terrors x2 --Power Ritual and Breakthrough Perdita—5SS Lucius Sue Nino Watcher Brutal Effigy --Stake Claim and Breakthrough Strategy—Shared Destroy the Evidence Deployment: I deployed first, with Marcus and the Silurids on the left side of the board, and the Shikome/Night Terrors on the Right. Perdita deployed opposite Marcus, Lucius was in the center, and the rest of the crew was deployed opposite my Resser spirits. I picked Prey on Nino and Sue (probably not a great idea). Round 1: The Night Terrors activated the table corner and then threw up Night Falls to give myself a bit of a range screen. The Shikome moved forward utilizing this screen. Sue did his card draw thing, and then that corner of Guild troops advanced up the board. Lucius advanced towards the central objective and failed to Reinforce Perdita near the central objective, and Perdita gambled a huge hand and then ran towards the middle of the Guild deployment zone. Marcus and the Silurids advanced towards my evidence markers. Round 2: Lucius was finally able to Reinforce Perdita into base contact with the central evidence marker. Perdita took a shot at one of the Night Terrors and destroyed the center evidence marker. The Night Terrors both advance up the flank keeping the Night Falls screen up to protect the Shikome. The Shikome positioned themselves to attack the next turn, while the Silurids destroyed evidence. Marcus used his Wild Heart and took Serpent and Bear, and then charged Perdita, bringing her down to 3 wounds with only 1 or 2 soulstones. I figured this was an opportune time to bring her down, and if it weren’t for a couple excellent soulstone flips I would have. Unfortunately, this left Marcus pretty exposed. Round 3: Perdita won initiative (despite me burning a stone…mistake!). She unloaded on Marcus, bringing me down to 3 wounds and no remaining stones. This is where I made a huge mistake. I could have easily finished Perdita off and gotten far enough away from Lucius to recuperate. Instead, I chose to activate a Shikome to keep Nino from doing his thing. The Shikome brought Nino down to his last 2 wounds with Poison 2. The other Shikome engaged Sue, while my Night Terrors assisted. I unfortunately forgot that the Brutal Effigy has a magical weapon, and it brought down a Night Terror. My Silurids finished obtaining objectives, giving me all ¾ Power Ritual interacts, and all of my evidence markers were destroyed. Round 4: Perdita, Lucius, and the Watcher got themselves in position to start burning evidence tokens while my Shikome finished off Nino and Sue. Again, I should have ignored the Brutal Effigy and moved back towards my deployment zone to start harassing the wounded Perdita. Instead, I got my last Power Ritual corner and tried to bring down the Brutal Effigy (which I for some reason couldn’t do). The Brutal Effigy finished off a Shikome while my Silurids moved to reinforce my spirits. Round 5/6: The Brutal Effigy finished off my second Shikome after I failed to bring it down while the Watcher and Lucius finished destroying the remaining 2 evidence markers. Perdita ran back towards her own deployment zone, but my Silurids were able to finally bring her down. My Night Terror failed at taking down the last wound on the Brutal Effigy. Round 7: The Brutal Effigy moved towards my deployment zone while one of my Silurids leapt and charged across the battlefield in an attempt to engage both Lucius and the Watcher, kill the Watcher, and then Self Preservation it’s way further into my Deployment Zone to prevent Lucius from scoring for Breakthrough. When I checked melee range, I was a half inch outside of melee with Lucius, and I conceded. Final Score was Perdita 8, Marcus 7. We learned after that Lucius and the Brutal Effigy can’t be in the same crew. I definitely shouldn’t have thrown my spirits away against that thing (not smart). Having a beast nearby to get Marcus out of the beating Perdita gave him would have been nice. I definitely overextended. So, for a first game, not bad. Lots of mistakes though!

Always like seeing your stuff, Viruk. Inspiring.

What about non-beasts? Are ranged minions worth including (Convict, Gunsmith, etc?)? Or is Marcus better off pure beasts?