sssk

With the new "simplified" puppets (ie not many actions, and the abilities are pretty straight forward) do you think you need a series of intro scenarios? I'd probably just run a small game (master + in suit sidekick + 3 pawns, one or two of whom is out of suit) with the full rules. The only thing I might miss out would be the attachments, but even then, if the player seems like they're getting the hang of it, it's not too much to add in attachments. Having said that, maybe this is just the way I learn. If I was teaching myself for the first time, the intro scenarios might be useful, but if someone who knew what they were doing was teaching me, I think I'd be good to go with some step by step explanation as we play. Just a thought

On closer inspection, rusty only applies when the puppet is not in play (ie when it's in the toybox or scrap heap), whereas +/- animation requirement (refering to the effects section, rather than the basic animation requirement stuff) is only while the puppet is in play. So they are two distinct things... my bad. Similarly, the stitches from upgrades is clear, I just read through it too fast.

Hi Folks, I've just had a read through the rules, and spotted a few things (though they may fine, and I just missed the key bit). Stitches from upgrades: it makes sense to outline this in no uncertain terms from the start. If a puppet has an upgrade which gives it an extra stitch, and only has one stitch left, what happens if the upgrade gets removed (does that remove the final stitch, or will the extra stitch already have been taken off). Odd ordering of things: there are a few parts (for example "dodging", and "what pretty buttons you have" in the puppets torn apart section) where the order tells you how to do stuff, and then at the end says "actually, at step 1 or 2, the opponent can do xyz". I can see that this makes things easier in terms of "this is the basic rule" and "this is an extra bit", however to me it would make more sense to have them in chronological order (eg, declare attack - dodge (or not) - flip over Cb cards etc). Scrounge: There seems to be a cycle here, where in the standard actions section, it says the cost is "special", and "you do not need to meet the Attachment Difficulty to perform this Action. See the section on Attaching Upgrades for more details". However, when you slip down to the attaching upgrades section, it says the cost is "special", and "You do not need to meet the Attachment Difficulty to perform this Action. See the section on Attaching Upgrades for more details"... but you're already in the attaching upgrades section, and it doesn't seem to be explained. Effects: "Animation requirement", and "rusty" seem to be two different words for the same thing. Is there a need to have 2 terms? In the Skillful bit, instead of "flipped or", it says "flippedor" (perhaps this is some kind of matador for cards?) Anyway, those are generally picky points. Overall I think it looks really good, a lot faster and smoother than before, though the proof is in the playing. I've not had a proper look through the puppets yet, but what I've glanced at looks a lot easier to understand than before. Obviously the original version isn't difficult when you get the hang of it, but if I'm introducing a new person who's never played any wargames etc, it's a lot better if they're not faced with a card full of text. It feels like with the unstitched version I could pretty much run straight into the full game with a new player, and it would all be fairly straight forward for them (instead of going through the build up scenarios). So all round, good job. If anyone fancies some test games with the new rules via skype, give me a shout (yes, I'm still pushing puppets via skype).

ha! Silurids it is then. I definitely view the death bunny as this guy (surely Eric and Nathan had just been watching the holy grail when they came up with the jackalope): Mine (on defensive stance, or whatever it's called) fended off a rail golem for a turn... then got pulped. Anyway, thanks for the help

So I was thinking of making a new thread, and then I found this one, and thought I'd tag along instead. I'm in a similar place, looking to beef out my marcus crew a little before a possible tournament in a few months time. I've only just started, so I'm aiming to take Marcus on his own along to a "faction" tournament, but it would be nice if I could at least have a go at any strategies which might be flying around. Anyway, I currently have: Marcus Jackalope (my favorite piece so far) Myranda 1 sabertooth cerberus 2 razorspine rattlers 3 molemen 1 hoarcat pride Sadly my painting/modelling time + money allowance (baring in mind I've got a stash kept safe for the new puppet wars when it appears) means I'm vaguely limited to £20-£30 and not many models. I've been considering the silurid or night terrors, but then I like all of the models in the Kaeris box too... So basically, do I go for speed or shooty powers? Cheers

Well, after the puppet league, there seems to have been a deathly silence on the puppet boards. This is a shame, because puppets need love too. This just won't do! I've been floating a few ideas for puppet scenarios around my head for a little while now, and finally decided to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and type up the first one. I've not play tested it, so there're probably huge gaping holes somewhere. But baring in mind it's just a bit of fun, who cares!? This scenario is called "New toy on the block" and describes what happens when Zoraida makes a new puppet. Please feel free to have a play through, and give me feedback. Hopefully there'll be another scenario up within the next week or so. New toy on the block.pdf EDIT: Heh, strong start, already I've noticed a rules conflict. "It's dark in the corner!" takes precidence over "Where am I?". That's the only reason the new puppet will move of its own free will.

With a whole 1 game under my belt, and a very loose understanding of (some of) the rules, I'm tempted, but I think I may need to play a few more games before I jump in there.

Hi Folks, just a little note: Check out the announcements forum thingy. Long story short, in the next week or so, Eric is going to be releasing the proposed updated puppet rules on the puppet wars website, so we can play test them and see what works. p p p pick up a puppet... P.S. game via skype anyone (yes, I am going to continue my international puppet drive)

Gah! Looks like I've been stood up. Ah well, We'll just have to play another time, outside the league.

Hmmm, so I need to win the game, and achieve one achievement to draw with inukai. Well I already have my toybox sorted out, it's a seamus box, and there's no convict gunslinger there, so that's lucky duck (achievement 18) out of the window. Of the others, the only achievements I realistically might be able to get are "we don't need no stinking work benches" (don't take any extra work benches), and "stealthy stuffing" (win a game killing nothing but the opponents master). So I'll aim for those two... I foresee a loss on the cards

Woo. I've got a game against my friend who's done a runner to Malaysia tomorrow! My second (and last) game of the league (sigh). I think we can now say with some certainty that puppet wars has gone global. I may post an "end of turns" summary report as we go, or at the end, though the photos will just be a load of lumps of silvery metal, as I don't have any of the starter set models painted now (because Mr Malaysia has those ones!)... I await plastic puppets with baited breath (and loaded bank account).

So to follow on from that massive success (*cough* I now have more points in this league from "extra curricular activities" than from games *cough*), does anyone fancy a game via skype over the next few days (I'm vaguely available from Thursday afternoon/evening until sometime on Sunday)? It's dead easy, promise.

Hi folks, I was a bit bored, and thought I’d just give a more thorough example of playing puppet wars over the internet. First up here’s the codes for spaces on the board. In this case I’ve put seamus against Lady J (so the codes are S... from the seamus player’s perspective, and L... from the lady j player’s perspective). When playing through an activation just follow this list of stuff, and all should be fine: 1) Say what you’re doing with your activation card 2) Say what the activation card is. 3) First player says who is activating, where they’re activating from, and what they’re doing (basically do this all in one go, until you get to something which requires cards). 4) When you get to anything which involves cards, state what you’re doing, and how many cards you’re flipping etc. If this requires the opponent to interact (eg dodging), give them the opportunity to do so. 5) Say what the cards you’ve flipped are (and any you’ve played from your hand). 6) Work out the outcome of the event. 7) Do the next thing (be that another ability, some more moving, or “end of activation”). So here’s a little example of what a game might look like in a messenger window (against a guy called Harold). It’s absolute bare bones (so doesn’t have any hilarious banter etc), and I’ve made it so that you can see how some different types of interactions work (hence most of the moves are a bit silly in actual game terms). I’ve taken a photo at the end of each activation (at the bottom), I’ll apologise now A) for the unpainted models, and for the rubbish lighting. It’s map 1 in the pattern book. Hopefully it makes sense. Sssk: Turn 1, activation 1, activation flip Harold: playing Sssk: Playing from hand Harold: 4 rams Sssk: Drew 4 masks, playing 8 masks Harold: Seamus activates from SF3, moves to SE4, and “run” to SE5. End of activation. Sssk: Ronin activates from LF3 and sprints to LE5. End of activation. Harold: Turn 1, activation 2, activation flip. Sssk: playing Harold: Playing 11 Masks. Sssk: 13 masks. Harold: Re-activating Seamus (Seamus takes a rip). Seamus moves from SE5 to SF6. Casts “taking advantage”. Harold: flipped 2 masks. Cheat in 7 crows. Harold: Seamus attacks ronin (ronin can’t dodge due to hide and seek). Harold: Flipping 1 card Harold: Flipped 6 tomes, cheating in 13 rams (tomes + 13). Ronin torn apart. End of activation. Sssk: Judge activates from LF3, moves to LE4, “run” to LE5. End of activation. Harold: Turn 1, activation 3. Sssk: Playing from hand Harold: Playing Sssk: Flipped 3 crows, playing 9 masks. Harold: 9 masks – flip off. Sssk: Ace of rams followed by 6. Harold: 11 rams. Harold: activating punk zombie from SF3. Moves to SD3, “run” to SC3. End of activation. Sssk: Judge re-activates (Judge takes a rip). Cast “Pins and Needles” on Seamus. Flipped 2 rams, playing 11 masks from hand. Sssk: attack number 1, dodging? Harold: Playing 3 tomes. Sssk: flipping 3. Sssk: 4 rams, 13 tomes, 6 tomes (Seamus takes a rip) Sssk: attack number 2, dodging? Harold: Playing 13 rams Sssk: Flipping 3. Sssk: 2 crows, 7 tomes, ace of crows followed by 8 crows (no damage). Judge moves to LE3. End of activation. If anyone has any questions on how anything works, give me a shout. If anyone wants to test out how it works, give me a shout, I’m always happy to play some games.

Hi folks, Just as a little intro to this (probably dead end) topic, I spend a lot of time staring down microscopes in a quiet lab, so I've taken to listening to podcasts quite a bit recently (to prevent myself from going crazy). My podcast listening has moved into the world of Malifaux (namely malifools, cheated fates, aethervox, and gamers lounge), and this led me to thinking "there're no puppet podcasts!" (...as well as picking up a Marcus crew for malifaux). Now, just as a disclaimer here, I'm not necessarily leading anywhere with this thought, it's just a thought. From those malifaux podcasts, it strikes me that there are generally a few key sections which occur a lot, and people seem to like: 1) Intro to the game, explaining what it's about (both fluff and rules) and how it works (either all in episode 1, or as an ongoing thing) 2) Hobby stuff (what've you painted recently, modelling, scenery, etc) 3) tactics 4) "battle reports" 5) Interviews with "top" people from the game, and talk of events being run around the place They tend to be somewhere between weekly and monthly. So my question to you, is do you think puppet wars has enough legs to make a podcast? ok, now that I read back over this, it sounds like even more of a dead end than I imagined it to be initially (for instance there are various youtube videos which give a good summary of the game, and I don't know that there would be enough interest in it to actually make it worth the effort to make it), but it's something different to chat about on the puppet front. P.S. If anyone fancies some puppet wars over skype sometime, (as usual) give me a shout

Hi folks, I'm sssk. I've been playing puppet wars for a little while now (can't wait for the new plastic version of it), but have never voyaged into the world of malifaux... until now. I won't go into the gory details of my gaming past, suffice to say I'm a convert from GW (though I haven't played any GW games for a good 2 or 3 years now). I've been listening to various podcasts recently (Malifools, cheated fates, a bit of gamers lounge, and I've just started on the aethervox) which inspired me to give it a go. I've picked up a bunch of Marcus stuff; marcus, Myranda, jackalope, 2 razorspines, a sabertooth cerberus, 3 molemen, and a hoarcat pride, and hopefully I'm going to get some intro games from Ninjahamster in the near future. I'm still trying to figure out the colour scheme to go with, I'm thinking blue and yellow... or possibly purple and yellow... or green and yellow.... so I guess I can make a start on the yellow parts. So that's me.

Hi folks, Once again I find myself with a wall of work and no interesting windows to peer out of. So if anyone fancies a game via skype messenger in the next week, give me a shout (by which I mean a pm... I guess you could try giving me a shout, but unless you're within a few hundred meters of me, I doubt I'll hear). I'm available pretty much any UK evening (which is vaguely afternoon for anyone in the US) except Wednesday, and I should be around any time at the weekend, except perhaps a period of time on Sunday which is yet to be defined. Anyway, long story short, give me a shout if you fancy a game. If you don't have time to play a game all in one go (they can take a little longer than usual over messenger), it's perfectly possible to play a game over a few days, and just make a move when you have time (as long as you have somewhere to keep the board/cards etc in place, without them being eaten by the cat). cheers sssk

Hi Puppeteers, This is a happy day and a sad day. Happy, because I've finally finished the puppets from the starter set: But a sad day, because this is the last I'll see of these little puppets for a year! I'm sending them off with a friend of mine who is going to Malaysia for the year. I'm also sending all of my duplicate puppets with him, so no more double puppets for me. Fortunately, I do have another starter set (obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be sending mine halfway round the world), so my puppeteering shouldn't be diminished too much (and when the plastic set is out, I'll be back to full puppet strength). I make no promises, but this could result in another skype based puppeteer for the puppet league (perhaps not this one, but maybe another one in a few months time). I think I'll do the plastic puppets in a different (and faster) style, but anyway, hope you all enjoy these guys. sssk

Hi Folks, This is a somewhat eclectic mix of models/books which I'm looking for. I don't play Malifaux at present, they're really just for painting/reading, so preferably unpainted/well stripped models if possible (if you have the appropriate cards, that'd be good too). PM me if you have anything to sell. Thanks. Here's the list: Guild: Perdita (Not the alt sculpt) Death Marshals (particularly the jumping one and the one kneeling on the coffin) Enslaved Nephilim Hoffman box set Witchling handler Arcanists: Rasputina (NOT the alt sculpt) December acolyte Kaeris (would consider the Kaeris box for a reasonable price, though I have little interest in the fire gamin) Gunsmith male Gunsmith female Silent one Outcasts: Alternate Viktorias Ronin (any/all of the models) Freikorps trapper Desperate mercenary male Books: Rulebook 1.5 (or the original rulebook if it's cheap enough, I'm not looking for the mini one though, as that doesn't have the fluff in it) Rising powers Twisting fates The underlined ones are ones which I'm particularly interested in getting. I could get these off ebay (and definitely won't pay more than I could get them from ebay for), but I figured if there's someone with models to spare (a bit cheaper than ebay), I might as well help you out. If I get a lot of offers, I may have to turn some people down, simply due to lack of money, but I'll keep you in mind and get in touch when I have more cash to spend. UK sellers only please (for simplicity). Thanks for looking sssk

GAH! Sadly I'm off to see Batman this evening (afternoon for you). I may be around on sunday afternoon/evening (morning/afternoon for you I guess). Hope you find someone to play against

By that logic, if anyone would like a game over skype messenger, give me a shout (either here, or pm me). I'm around for the rest of the day (UK time), which I guess is roughly until 6 in the evening (plus or minus a couple of hours) across most of the US.

Hi again folks, Thanks for the lovely comments. I'll try to make updates a bit more regular. I'm afraid the more I look at what I've done on the puppets, the less I like it. The earlier ones are good, but I think I'm rushing the more recent ones, which is a shame. So this is a non-puppet based help request. I failed a will power duel (that's a malifaux thing right?) with the alternate lady J model, and was forced to order it. So that's all lovely etc. But I need to figure out what base to use. I think I'll stick with a 30mm base, but I don't really want to create a base from scratch, so what would you guys suggest? I've had a look through the wyrd base inserts, and I quite like the victorian ones, but I also like the tiny worlds cobblestone bases , and paved dungeon bases, which are a bit cheaper too. Are there other good street/paving style bases out there? do you have experience of either the wyrd inserts or the tiny worlds bases? It's not urgent, but any help would be great

Hi folks, Though I've not posted anything up here for quite a while (over a month!), that doesn't mean I've not been painting... Having said that I've not been painting much. Just chipping away at random puppets really, but here's a summary of where I am with everything I've started so far: On the top row: Judge: completed Lady Justice: completed Nino: half way there Guild hound: just about completed Death Marshall: completed Austringer: completed Executioner: completed Witchling stalker: washed, nothing more Second row: Zombie chihuahua: half way there Sebastian: washed, nothing more Seamus: completed Bete noir: completed (I don't like painting black) Guild Autopsy: washed, nothing more Rotten belle: completed Nurse: 95% complete Punk zombie: completed (but still not happy with the head) 3rd row: December acolyte: 95% completed Razorspine rattler: completed Marcus: a little over half way there (but not very happy with him) Joss: same as marcus Baby kade: just needs his hair and safety pin doing Pandora: completed Silurid: completed 4th row: Convict gunslinger: completed rusty alyce: completed Ronin: completed Bad juju: just brown and washed, but I'm not sure where to go with him (not too keen on the model) Misaki: not far off completion Gremlin: washed, nothing more Malifaux cherub: 75% complete Sorrows: just need to highlight the purple one up Mature nephelim: maybe 50% complete With the new puppet wars coming out sometime in the relatively near future (with awesome plastic models, check some of the threads in the puppet wars forum), I suspect I'll finish these off (and a moleman who's not even started), and then wait for the awesome new plastics. I have different plans for how to paint them, but I'll come to that when I come to it. In the meantime, I got a bit bored and decided to check out some malifaux models (I don't play it at the moment, but the models are pretty good), and then I discovered the alternate lady j and alternate Viktorias. Once I'd finished skooping my jaw off the floor, I've started some plans to at least get lady j as a painting project. I can't quite decide whether to make a little diorama, or put her on the normal (30mm) base, so that if, somewhere down the line, I do end up playing malifaux, I'd have a nice master to start me off. More on that if/when the plans develop. In other news, if you are a puppet wars person and haven't got involved in the online league which is currently occuring... do so... now!

Hi folks, Just a little offer. If anyone fancies a game via skype messenging later on today (I'll be around in 3 or 4 hours time, which will be approx 14:30 in the UK... until late), or the same sort of time tomorrow, or any time on Monday (again, Monday defined by UK time) then ping me a pm or a post on here. As you may be able to tell, I'm writing a report at home this weekend, and it's very very dull.

Hmmm, I thought I'd sent one yesterday.... perhaps some random person now has a very random email in their inbox. I'll send you a pm (at some point in the next few hours) Edit: by hours, it seems that I meant minutes. PM sent

well, I think PBF (or play by skype's messaging function, as it turned out) works pretty well. We had 1 moment of slight confusion right at the start, and after that it was really smooth.... unlike some of the decisions made through the game. I'll leave the good doctor to tell the tale (briefly, as he has been doing), but one note to all of you budding puppet warriors: Rotten belle's have umbrellas to fend off marauding pidgeons EDIT: P.S. if anyone else fancies a game of PBF/messenging puppet wars in the near future (I have MSN or Skype, though I don't seem to have a microphone, so I'm restricted to messenging rather than actually speaking), PM me