Cadfan

1. Sorry for not putting this in the rules forum, its late and I'm tired. I posted this right after getting home after a long game that came at the end of a long day. If a mod moves this, I won't mind. 2. Here are the official rules for Companion. Companion (Model or Characteristic) Before activating a model with Companion, nominate any number of the referenced model(s) or model(s) with the corresponding characteristic within 6" of one another. These models activate simultaneously. The rest of the quote is irrelevant for our purposes, so I'm going to stop typing. My reasoning was this: You have to activate a model with Companion. In my example above, Joe has Companion, Bob has Companion, and Simon does not. So if you want to use Companion, you have to activate either Joe or Bob. If you activate Joe, you can nominate any number of the referenced models. The referenced model is Simon. It isn't Bob. Vice versa if you activate Bob. His Companion ability references Simon. It doesn't reference Bob. If you activate Simon, you wouldn't be able to do any Companion hijinks at all, because he is not a model with Companion. I'll go hunt around the answered questions. I'm tired but not sleepy. ---------- Post added at 02:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:37 AM ---------- http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?28162-Companion-Shenanigans&p=359108&viewfull=1#post359108 That's probably the answer. I'm studying it now. ---------- Post added at 02:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:43 AM ---------- Well, I lose.

I'm sorry if this has already been asked, and I'm pretty sure I know the answer. But I want to be absolutely, 100% sure, because if I'm wrong, I owe someone a giant apology. I field three figures. Joe, Bob, and Simon. Joe has "Companion (Simon)." Bob has "Companion (Simon)." Simon has no companion ability at all. Is there any way to activate all three simultaneously? My understanding is no, because Companion requires that you activate a model WITH Companion, and then designate as many models as you like who fit the criteria inside the parenthesis. So Joe and Simon could activate, or Bob and Simon could activate, but Joe, Bob, and Simon could not activate all together.

I don't think there's any problem with only one player having an avatar. But then, I think most people misunderstand avatars. Most people think they're power-ups for your master, but with a very small number of limited exceptions, they're not. They're specializations for masters with diverse powers, or diversification for masters with specialized power. Or just a new specialization, for certain masters. Most of the time you're just doing yourself a disservice if you spend all your time trying to manifest your avatar. There are a few exceptions, of course. Nicodem's avatar exists to protect him from Lady Justice. Pandora wants to rush her avatar if she's in a scenario where she needs to guard a specific region of the map. The Victoria's avatar is all about going off at the perfect moment in the perfect place. But for a lot of them, its situational, and relies on good timing to be worthwhile. Like Lady Justice- her avatar increases her support powers at the cost of some of her combat prowess. So you want to get in, smash things, then avatar and back off when the time is right. Or Rasputina, who uses her avatar to deter melee rushes. Some are so niche that they'll probably never get much use- Colette's is for when you're better off with more hand control than dove summoning. When is that exactly?

This was my fifth game of Malifaux (if you count my learning game where we did everything wrong). I played Colette, and opposed Criid. Colette Cassandra, Coryphee x2, Performer/Mannequin, Dove, 7 soulstones Treasure Hunt, Bodyguard: Colette, Sabotage Criid (w/Avatar) Samael, Nino Ortega, Watcher, Guardian, Guild Hounds x2, 7 soulstones Plant Evidence, Kill Protegee, Holdout This was my first game of Malifaux where the game revolved entirely around objectives, and not around fighting. Every game I've played so far has involved some degree of confrontational objectives, or a pairing of objectives where both players need majority control of the same region, and therefore duke it out early and aggressively. Turn one: Criid advanced. I raced the Coryphee and Cassandra up to the evidence marker and a nearby piece of terrain on my opponent's side of the table. I used the Coryphee to sabotage the terrain, then swapped her with Colette, so that on reactivation I could swap Colette with my Performer. The Performer grabbed the evidence marker and walked 4 inches back towards my deployment zone. The turn ended with only one troop anywhere in the potential line of sight of my enemies: the Performer with the evidence marker. But right by the performer, behind some walls and around some corners, were two doves. Turn two: Criid won initiative, and Nino opened fire on the Performer. Two doves were sacrificed to prevent him from landing a shot. I think I may have miscalculated here: I probably could have gotten away with dodging only the first shot, and taking the second. If damage was high enough to kill, I could have sacrificed a dove for a damage prevention flip. The black joker would have been a risk, but I might have been better off taking that gamble for the potential to save a dove. In any case, once Nino finished, the Performer activated and ran behind cover. Criid spent the turn advancing; Colette spent the turn monkeying with her hand and her soulstone count. The only other events of note were the Hounds getting into position to plant evidence, and the Coryphee Duet sliding up the right hand side of the table to get nearer to the Watcher, which was sweeping across the top. At the end of the turn, the Watcher and Coryphee were behind buildings near each other, the Hounds were in the center of the map in cover, and everyone else was well hidden and irrelevant. Turn 3: At this point my memory isn't quite as precise- some events between turns 3 and 4 may be mixed. The Coryphee swept in and killed the Watcher, then pushed/ran back behind cover. The Hounds planted evidence, ran out from their cover, and planted evidence a second time on a second piece of terrain. Smart dogs- I imagine a Hound carrying a pistol wrapped in a piece of cloth, and dropping it next to a corpse. Nino and his Guardian got into position to plant evidence next turn. The Coryphee hid behind some trees, but with a double move Samael managed to get into contact with the tree line, allowing him to draw line of sight to the Coryphee due to Hunter. He would be able to fire next turn. Criid walked up behind him to support. At this point the right hand side of the table had Samael and Criid near each other, with the Hounds a little bit south of them. To their immediate right was a woods piece with the Coryphee behind it. Cassandra used Dance Partner to appear by the Coryphee, where she had a clear shot at breathing fire at the Hounds. She flipped a max damage, so she roasted one, damaged the other, put a little bit of damage on Samael, and ended her turn by running down the board towards my deployment zone to get a little more cover. I realized that Samael was a credible threat to the Coryphee if he activated first, so I sent my two remaining doves to help. I put one in melee with Samael to prevent him from using Rapid Fire, and the other in melee with the remaining Hound. Turn 4: Criid won initiative. Samael was forced to attack the dove, striking successfully, but getting a black joker on damage. His second attack killed it, with a minimum damage equal to its life point total. The Coryphee responded by killing the wounded Samael, and then slipping away up the board. The remaining Hound was finished off by a channeled Magician's Duel from the Dove that was engaging him. Nino and the Guardian planted evidence in two more locations, completing Criid's Strategy. Colette did more hand manipulation, considered trying to Mannequin Replace either Nino or the Guardian, and decided against it. So... no more action. Criid went Avatar though, and took some shots at Cassandra. Soulstones were spent and no one was hurt, except for a Dove caught in the blast zone of one of Criid's pulse spells. Turn 5: Criid fired on Cassandra a bit, and many soulstones were spent by both sides. At some point Cassandra took a hit and spent a soulstone to reduce damage, I forget exactly when. She ran away afterward, knowing that her life was worth 2 points to Kill Protegee. The Performer finally hit the rear corner of my deployment zone, basically guaranteeing her survival (nothing fast enough to catch her remained except possibly Criid, and no guarantees on her). The Coryphee got in position to run into Criid's deployment zone and ruin Hold Out. With 8 points possessed by Colette, 4 points possessed by Criid, and no clear way for Criid to close the gap, we called the game at turn 5. Lessons learned: I haven't used doves to give out soulstones before. It was... expensive. You pay two soulstones for one use, and you have to spend an action to summon the doves (and sometimes a card to cheat the summoning cast). But since it was done to complete a Strategy, it was worth it. Colette seems to be at her best when she can focus on only one or two models per turn, particularly if they're isolated from the rest of her crew. If my opponent spreads out, I can focus the entirety of my offense on just one location, kill it swiftly, and be safe from retaliation. I think I would be much worse off if I were forced to fight a crew that was more bunched up.

Wait, I don't think that Union Miner thing works. Colette avoids out of faction cost increases, doesn't she? She doesn't just take 1 point off cost. So Union Miners would still cost her 4 points. And they'd still be part of a Strike Force, so you'd still be limited to 2.

Or worse, in the Coryphee's case. Sacrifice both models. Replace one. Bwuh?

Dustcrusher- That's a 33 point list. Is it intended to be an avatar list?

Could you measure the aura upon its activation?

Shadai, I'm looking at the Replace rules, and I'm not seeing what you think is there. From what I see, on the Coryphee, you do the following: 1. Sacrifice both Coryphee 2. But before removing the active Coryphee from the table, replace it with the Coryphee duet. So only one model is being replaced. The other is being sacrificed. Nothing in the replace rules changes that (if so, what would it be? I'm looking at it right now). So if the active Coryphee had 2 actions before it spent 1 on Dance Together, the Coryphee Duet would have 2 actions (1 carried over, 1 from Fast). If this is not the way the Coryphee work, then it must be super secret forum "clarification" that really means "errata." Because as written, that's what happens. The part where the Coryphee Duet is subject to effects on both Coryphee isn't part of the Replace rules, its part of the Dance Together rules, which add additional effects. So... I can't see why the Victorias wouldn't operate the same way.

On Prosecute- constructs are immune to terrifying. They aren't immune to morale duels. Feel free to Cross Examine Hoffman's favorite construct. Edit- I'm less and less sure of that over time. Nothing in the morale section makes constructs immune to morale generally... where else should I check? Ok, now I'm kind of angry. On page 9 it says that constructs are non living and immune to morale duels, and cites page 56. But on page 56 it says nothing of the kind. It does state that non living models are immune to terrifying, but specifies that terrifying is just one kind of morale duel. I guess page 9 is still rules, so constructs are immune to morale. Even though... argh. If you want your game to run like a CCG, you need to write it with the precision of a CCG.

When does a companion-ed model's activation end? When the individual model runs out of AP, or when the companion group collectively finishes?

That's not what it says, though. "Choose one of the nominated models to activate first" "Then the Controller chooses and activates another nominated model." "Continue activating the nominated models" None of these wordings would make sense unless companion allows you to chain activations in a sequential order. I don't see the need to envision some new state of activated-but-not-REALLY-activated for companioned models who haven't yet had their turn... except for the first sentence, which does say the opposite of how I'd interpret the rules, but also doesn't make any sense.

Does companion actually activate every companioned model simultaneously, rather than activating them in a chain? The quote from the rulebook: "Before activating a model with Companion, nominate any number of the referenced model(s) or model(s) with the corresponding Characteristic within 6" of one another. These models activate simultaneously. Choose one of the nominated models to activate first, and complete its entire activation. Then the Controller chooses and activates another nominated model. Continue activating the nominated models until all nominated models have completed their activations." I know it says "These models activate simultaneously." It then goes on to directly contradict that with "Choose one of the nominated models to activate first... Then the Controller chooses and activates another nominated model." The latter quote would be impossible if the former quote were correct. You can't activate simultaneously and sequentially at the same time. Plus, if you go with the theory that all companioned models are active even though they're not actually, you know, taking actions, you'd get some really wonky effects. If a model has a special power that's active during its activation, it would be active during the activation of all of its companioned allies. Which doesn't seem to be how people play things.

I'm pleased to announce a Malifaux League at The Keep in Fort Wayne Indiana. Its an achievement league designed to reward players who experience as much as possible of what Malifaux has to offer. I've attached a copy of the achievement record sheet. When the record sheet features two columns for check marking your achievements, one will usually be for trying a particular feat, and the second will be for succeeding at it. For example, if a player attempts the Hold Out scheme for the first time, that player would receive one check mark in the first column on the next page. When the player actually achieves that scheme for the first time, he would receive the check mark in the second column. It should be fairly self explanatory once you read the page. The goal is for the League to be fairy casual and friendly. Players are rewarded for playing and opposing a wide variety of masters, and we encourage players to help one another participate as fully as possible. For example, if a player who owns a Pandora crew and a player who owns a Leveticus crew want to trade crews and play against each other to get the achievement for running the respective crew, we'd encourage them to do so in the spirit of friendly competition. Malifaux Score Card.pdf

The exact rules from the book are this: They recommend that the battlefield feature 2 to 4 terrain pieces of 3x3 per square foot. The battlefield is 36 inches per side, so that's nine square feet. The recommended board therefore has 18 to 36 items on it, each taking up approximately 3x3 inches. This isn't a hard and fast rule, and conflicts slightly with all the rules for forests six inches deep or further. But its a general guide to what you should be looking for. If you play the game on a giant open field with clear line of sight, Rasputina is going to clean house. She's not only got some of the longest range high damage attacks in the game, she can even create her own terrain.

The rulebook suggests that terrain be approximately 3x3 in size. I'm not sure how this quite squares itself with the rules on forests, which clearly involve forests at least 6 inches deep. But elsewhere, it suggests 3x3 as a good size for terrain pieces. This dramatically reduces the amount of models you're likely to freeze in place with that spell.

The thing is, if your interpretation is correct, the first phrase is unnecessary. "Joe must do X at the start of his turn. If Joe does not do X at the start of his turn, then Y." If that quote means that Joe has the option of doing X or else choosing to let Y happen, then the first sentence can be entirely omitted without doing any damage to the meaning of the quote. While it isn't unheard of for people to write inefficiently, generally, if an interpretation renders a portion of technical text completely redundant, that interpretation should be disfavored.

Personally, I like their avatar. I don't play Viktorias, but if I did, it would be to play the avatar. Drop her right in the middle of your enemy's forces. Let her kill absolute everything she can reach. Don't worry about the future. The game usually ends on turn six, and if she's standing on an objective burning 2 hp a round, your enemy isn't taking it.

It seems to me that if the Viktoria Avatar doesn't have someone within its charge range, its pretty much screwed. It "must" declare a charge. So it does. It doesn't reach its target. Then its activation ends.

You need to take a step back and consider the game in its entirety. First: An avatar that changes a master's play style halfway through the game is automatically a power upgrade, even if the avatar form is flat out weaker than the original master. This is because it gives you the option of playing one way early game when that way is best, and then customizing yourself to a new situation part way through the game. Rasputina is a good example: her avatar form is basically a giant insurance policy against melee attackers that only costs two soulstones. Or consider Colette: Her avatar is an insurance policy against the death of the Coryphee and Cassandra. Very few avatars are actually designed to be manifested as rapidly as possible. Most are intended to be manifested at the perfect moment. Second: In Malifaux you create your list after you see your strategy, and after you see the board. For avatars that are better in certain situations rather than others, you can just take it when its needed, and not take it when it isn't. So Pandora's avatar roots you in place... ask yourself: Is this a game where that's actually useful? Or harmful? Then take it or not, based on the situation. Third: Avatars only cost two points. They aren't supposed to be more useful than having two soulstones in your cache.

Do you have any pictures of that, Ozz?

So at present I play Colette. I figure I should get a second master to handle the strategies that Colette isn't the best at. From what I can tell as a new player, Colette is good at being fast, but not so great at defending a position or at wiping out large numbers of small enemies. Would Rasputina be a better choice for those sorts of scenarios? What about with this list? Rasputina (alternative sculpt, of course) Essence of Power Snow Storm Silent One 3x Ice Gamin 8 Soulstones Is that moderately tanky, thanks to the Snow Storm, and the range on Rasputina? The goal would be to keep everything together, moving as a unit, blasting things that get into range. For games where that's a bad idea, I'd play Colette. And if this list is solid, does anyone have any advice on modeling Ice Pillars? I'd like to have actual dedicated bases for ice pillars, preferably with some sort of crystals on them. The crystals don't need to be clear necessarily (I can paint them to match the rest of the army), they just need to be crystal shaped. Suggestions?

If one crew is entirely wiped out on turn 4, do turns 5 and 6 still happen so that the remaining crew can achieve their victory points?

Can Lady Justice riposte a spell with a range of melee?

I know that I'm going to be playing the following 35 point list: Lady Justice w. Scales of Justice Judge Executioner Guard Captain 3x Death Marshals 4 soulstone cache Should I run Colette Cassandra 2x Coryphee Performer Dove 7 soulstone cache or should I run Colette Cassandra 2x Coryphee 2x Performer 3 soulstone cache Neither one of us has any meaningful experience playing the game. I figure on the first turn I can make a dove and a soulstone (paid for by making a soulstone on that activation), no matter what, since his list is slow moving. So the first list will end up with 2 doves and 8 cache once combat starts, and the second list will have 1 dove and 4 cache. Any suggestions?