explorator

The best master for Asura is Nicodem, in my experienece; not super competetive, but there were some fun tricks to pull, and you actually got enough Mindless Zombies to get utility out of a few. I agree that Asura is kind of left out at this point, and needs a slight boost to survivability.

I agree with Ebb, as written, the rules do not allow you to boost the Terrorize Talent in such a way, but it is your game, and you can allow whatever you please. Understand, allowing your player to tweek the rules and enhance their Terrorize ability is going to be very strong. Personally, I would encourage your player to find a more creative way to enhance Terrorize; maybe a Manifest Power that attacks opponents WP, etc.

Boosts to Physical Stats should boost Derived Stats, just remember any extra wounds can turn into a deficit when the bonus wears off. You only need meet a Talent Requirement when you gain the talent; once gained, the Talent is permanent, even if the requirements no longer are being met.

1. Penny Dreadfuls are mostly one-shot advemtures, though they (often) stretch over several sessions. The only linked adventures are Northern Aggression/Northern Sedition. 2. Picking Pursuits is normally done at the beginning of each Session of play, BUT in practice it may take more than a single session to play out a scene. FM's determine when players can choose new Pursuits for their characters. For the most part, players tend to stick to each Pursuit for at least a few steps. Once my group had to perform in a theater as a distraction, so some of us took the Performer Pursuit just to benefit from the Pursuit Talent, and card-draw mechanic. 3. As written, ONE character advances a single Destiny Step at the close of each Session. 4 characters = 20 Sessions. In practice, some steps take multiple Sessions, but in any case, it is not a hard cap; characters can be played after they have 5 steps, often just to wait for others to get to their 5th step. Some FM's run Sessions without resolving any Destiny Steps, which is how I play my opening Session. 4. Characters can become VERY skilled at a few things over time. Some combos of Talents are very powerful. But, like WFRP, TtB uses a Critical System, meaning characters start taking serious injury once their Wound pool hits zero, so combat CAN be deadly. Like most RPG, characters have most advantages, but in Malifaux, Bad Things Happen. 5. NPC's can be hard to balance, unless you know your group very well. Minions and Peons are not a threat unless there are many of them; Enforcers are the lowest-level boss, and gain benefits that a savvy FM can use to extend their lives. I have not found balancing encounters to be very difficult once the campaign gets rolling. One danger is if you have vastly different characters, say a min/maxed Gunfighter, and an Academic; things that can only scratch the Gunfighter may KO the Academic. There are many Talents avaialable to help extend the lives of characters. 6. When Peons and Minions hit zero wound they fall unconcious. Fated Characters and NPC Enforcers and above revert to the previously-mentioned Critcal Tables. The Crits come in Weak, Moderate, and Severe. All Crits stack, and the Crit Tables are progressive, meaning if you flip high enough on the Weak Chart, it passes on to the Moderate Chart, etc. Weak Crits are mostly debuffs, but they get quite deadly by the time you hit Severe. TtB and WFRP are VERY similar in this respect, and I Iove the drama Crits create. 7. I am just diving in to being FM online. I am going to start with roll20 for the character sheets, and Vassal for the Card mechanics. There is a way to make all the Decks in roll20, there is a blog on the subject. The Vassal Mod has maps, but they are smallish, and their are not a ton of images available, but you can track models, their wounds, auras etc. I plan on using maps for combat when it is meaningful; a snipers duel across a canyon does not need a map. Many groups coming from Malifaux use minatures on the tabletop IRL, to add that visual tactical element. I have not actually tin a game online yet, but I have made some maps etc and they work pretty well.

Is there a way to make larger maps in Vassal? The map size seems pretty small by default. If not, is that something a 3rd party could mod? Is there a living character sheet somewhere?

Queeg is not the most obviously useful Henchman, yet I take him in every Dashel list. Prison Suprtintendent is a great bubble to provide extra movement to your Guard minions. 2" reach is powerful for engaging enemies with a shorter reach. Sabatoge Their Plans is one of the most powerful free actions in faction for Guild. The potential downside to Queeg is that he needs to run with the pack for his Prison Superintendent, but is also useful for potential summoned models to be a move boost when they are slow their first turn. 3" push can get most models unengaged if you need them out of combat. 2" reach is rare, and really is a pain for some enemy models because it forces them to waste an AP to close the distance. 2" reach also allows you to engage multiple enemy models when they bunch up. Sabotage Their Plans is just plain money late in games; there is no resist, and it is a free tactical action, meaning Queeg can walk twice and still use it with its 6" range. Many times, Queeg can threaten more than one enemy scheme marker before choosing which one to take out. In a VP-based game, flipping a scheme marker can absolutely win games. Queeg has utility early and late game, getting him in the best spot at the right time is the biggest challenge. Like many Henchmen, he can be durable if you have Stones to help reduce damage, and can take out random enemies if they are weakened enough. I usually keep him moving early on, while throwing an occasional shot at targets of opportunity. If I need to tie up some enemy models to prevent them from scoring, I use the whip's 2" reach. If I need to challenge for those scheme markers, I keep him UNENGAGED, so he can pounce at the right moment. I like Queeg, he just needs to be used like the specialized tool he is.

It seems the Henchman Program is in flux; I hope Wyrd is making adjustments, and not simply ending the entire program. I would expect an announcement in time.

Two Mounted Guard can slingshot two Executioners up field, who can then benefit from Trail of Gore if the Dispatcher is nearby to get into the mix. Your Executioners will die, but like you say.....summon more! A late-game Executioner can really clean up a damaged crew.

How long, on average does a game on Vassal take, if you don't mind sharing?

Nice move taking Joss and Ryle! Tough matchup.

One of Dashel's strengths right now is that he can play to most Strats and Schemes, which also means there are fewer standard set-ups. I play Dashel a lot! Sometimes I start with two executioners, sometimes I start with two mounted guard, and once before GG1 I took all four. Queeg is in all my lists, because of his utility. I favor two riflemen in many games, but not all. Wardens are a bargain. I never start with dogs or guild patrol. The steward is nice, but I stopped taking him and really don't miss it. Sergeants usually outperform their cost, actually. My new pets are Mounted Guard; they can move other models with their free action, have high move, can shoot, and don't sleep on thier close-combat attack. Having a 0" melee range is not so bad with move 7 and a chance to get other models in base-to-base. Plus, their demise ability is money. I used to semi-plan summoning, but those type of plans are very easily ruined, so now I am very much an opportunistic summoner who also considers situational circumstances. GG1 makes Strats and Schemes such a focus, you just never know at the start of game what kind of summon might get you VP's end game. Sometimes, mutiple guard patrol are better than a single higher-cost summon, and I don't really find starting Slow to be that much of a burden. Summoning is only possible while Dashel lives, obviously, so if you absolutely NEED that summon to win or tie, be careful with him. Dashel is a pocket beater, who CAN lay down decent damage, but he is also pretty soft and can go down quickly if over-extended. Saying that, don't be afaid to sacrifice Dashel late game if it gains you those VP. Often, opponents do not expect you to Charge Dashel into the center of their crews, and you can leverage that into a major disruption. The Dispatcher is the key to easy summons, so don't let him die too easy; his utilty overall is pretty high. Loot Corpse will help with soulstones, but be aware when your opponent plays a crew that drops no corpses. Don't foget to use Pursue! Dashel is a fun master to play and has a ton of low-key synergy, and the changes to the Dispatcher make his crew more playable.

I have scored a VP's using an Executioner's Scatter ability once or twice. I have gotten some denial value out of Investigator's, but they are hit and miss for me.

Adran is right. "When a Fatemaster character is involved with a duel with a Fated character, the Fatemaster character can use any suits associated with its Acting Value as well as any suits in the Fated's final duel total to declare its Triggers." Page 286- call out box Fated characters can gain the Specialized Skill Talent, which allows them to add a suit to a skill. Page 221

I like to add one or two Changelings with Lucius; they can pull a bunch of tricks through their copying ability. Investigators are a must, I always take two.

Hard to Kill on Ronin is pure money when you stay alive with 1 wound before committing Seppuku and getting a 2 SS REFUND! It is situational, yes, but on certain models HtK is valuable. SS user can really frustrate opponents with HtK.

+1 on the Riotbreaker! Blow it the hell is just money vs. certain match-ups, and the bonus is he keeps enemies from taking actions outside activation.

I was HIGHLY critical of the M3E launch and initial product rollout, and posted my frustrations at the time. Now, I will say Wyrd is stepping up and giving players everything they can, as close to schedule as possible. Some regional distributors have taken responsibility for failing to get the product to retailers on time, but I think Wyrd is more on their radar than was previously the case. The APP is really the best sign of which direction Wyrd is headed in, as a company. That may seem super weird to say about a miniature gaming company, but NEW gamers in 2019 just intuitively interact with the "Cards" in the app in a way they do not with physical copies. FFG is a much 'bigger' company than Wyrd, and their X-wing app is universally derided and subpar, but Wyrd gotb it right. Malifaux is the best skirmish game there is. The rollout of M3E was bumpy, but I look forward to 2020, and really just playing a bunch of games!

Following with great interest. Thanks!

I like the Riotbreaker over Papa when facing a crew with destructable terrain...very under-rated. Plus it has a 6" aura that prevents enemy models from taking actions outside their activation! Very nice counter.

If Ronin were Minion (4) I would NEVER take any Despised Mercs, but they are not, and in some (obviously situational) Scheme pools, a cheap minion or two exactly fits the bill. Just another part of the toolbox. Vannesa is a needed part of this crew. Into the Fray is just bonus heals, her main support is to spam her heal action. Being centerline is another bonus, but thanks to being able to stack three cards off the deck at the start of her turn, means those heals are likely going off, even if she never gets close to the centerline. Being a Merc is just another nice bonus. I love Librarians, but Vannesa is my choice in a Vik's crew.

Jack Daw and Hamelin would be the one's I would add, both are killable, but demand too many resources to do so.

I am just now painting two Desperste Mercs for the exact reasons you say; their 14" range attack. For the same cost as Hans, you get a solid number of weak shots, which is nice in some situations.

Dashel with Queeg, Sergeant, two Mounted Guard and two Executioners. Can move all over, effectively being Reckless for one turn, shoot some stuff, and kill stuff in melee. Dashel's heal will be vital. But, Hoffman is probably best. Decent movement with very strong heals and armor +2 means markers are going down and will score points.

Introducing Strats and Keywords is vital, but needs to be limited in demo games to avoid overwhelming new players. Maybe the strategy and one scheme in a 25-30 SS game? I like the idea of using two crews with strong themes, something Malifaux has plenty of. The crews should have straight-forward Keywords with limited complexity; that way players get a sense of how significant they are in-game, without being overwhelmed.

Epic write-up, very comprehensive, and since I am just putting together a translucent Daw crew I won in 2nd ed, very timely. I was planning on running Daw as Resser, with Hanged and you sealed it. Many thanks.