akaean

Lawyers still do work. Objection also targets Will Power, and a Paralyzed Lilith is a Lilith who is not swinging a Living Blade into your face. Highest Authority is also nice in general for dodging attacks. Lilith is not unbeatable. What you are more likely facing is that the player at your store who uses her primarily is a cut above the grade so to speak, and everybody is scrambling to counter the model, and not realizing that it is a difference of player skill and not game balance. Almost no amount of list tailoring will beat a better opponent in Malifaux, especially if you are neglecting the scheme pool in list building. Which is why, coincidentally Master Disaster noted not to list build. Because if you are so focused on countering Lilith that you don't take models to complete the schemes... you will almost certainly lose. I bet you would see a similar situation if the Lilith player were to switch to Seamus, Dreamer, Perdita, or any Master really. Malifaux as a whole is a game where everything you face against feels overpowered, but you have to remember that often times your opponents feel the same way (especially when I play Hoffman or Sonnia). Lilith is not the best master in the game, and she is far from unbeatable. But the player might well be the best in your local community, which has nothing to do with game balance. Sonnia should be a fine Master against Lilith. Just leave Hopkins at home. Witchlings, the Purifying Flame, and Austringers should be all that you require to defeat Lilith.

Guild have some incredibly potent minons, and they are more than capable of killing bigger enemies. - Death Marshals can shove somebody in a box, up to and including Lilith Herself. A 6 ss minion with the ability to take almost anything out of the game for extended periods of time should never be underestimated. - I've killed opposing Masters with a Hunter, multiple times. - Wardens are capable of handling almost anything thrown at them, as long as you have tomes in hand and you get your armour. - Lawyers can disable their targets with Objection, and Fees can and does cripple beatstick models - Stalkers as previously mentioned hit silly hard for their cost in close combat. Most models in Malifaux can be taken down by Minions, you just have to keep hitting them.

The Chuckman? I assume you are talking about Hoffman? He cannot be plucked if he has taken Remote Mines (since that prevents him from being pushed or moved). So if you are really worried about Lilith grabbing him, she can't. What is dangerous is her picking up your constructs. And moving them out of the Hoffball. That said. Many of Hoffman's models are minions. Which mean he isn't growing Matures out of them, she is unlikely to pick up your Peacekeeper, because the chariot of doom will be at df6, ml7, defensive +2, and probably fast from machine puppet. Otherwise the Peacekeeper is fast enough to get right into Lilith's face even with her illusiory forest, remember you can give him the nimble upgrade, slap fast on him from the machine puppet trigger, which is ANOTHER move on top of that. Barreling into her with the Hoffball can do a lot to put her on the back foot. I believe Rapid Growth is a , so if he takes it on Barbaros it can be shut down with dampening field. Dampening Field Shuts down Barbaros pretty hard, he is a lot less nasty without challenge. If you are worried about growing matures, Don't take Enforcers or Henchmen. Take Minions. He'll still be able to grow his tots, but only a master kill will get a mature, and Tots tend to be better scheme runners than Youngs anyway. Also an Austringer can one shot a Tot if you have a severe card in hand, and doesn't care about illusory forest like most shooters. Get kills while you can, and remember to spread out and move towards completing the objectives. Taking minions has the added benefit of giving you an activation edge against your opponent. And Guild have some awesome minions.

Vent Steam is a pretty solid ability, but it either requires an action or a trigger on her melee. If she's hitting on melee, try making her work for her hits. She'll have trouble keeping Vent Steam up if you are forcing her to use a high or a soul stone every time she wants to get the trigger off. Sonnia can deal with it a bit, as she gets built in against targets with wp6 or more- which means Mei has to put considerable effort into venting steam to make casting difficult against her. And Focusing isn't awful with Sonnia, because the to damage can help you generate those , which is really where Sonnia's ranged power comes from. And any blasts you DO get off are going to be devastating due to models clumping up under the steam. Hopkins can be a beast in close combat if you can set something on fire, Hunting Tools gets +2 damage from the target being on fire, +1 from a built in Critical Strike, and that's not even counting what he can do with soulstones or cards adding additional . I believe the number is minimum damage 7 (if that sounds good to you ). If you've got the cards in hand, a counter charge against a burning target from Hopkins will floor most things in the game. The biggest issue is having Hopkins in position for a key charge without his weak defenses and low movement getting in the way. Pushes from Witchling Handlers, or the Judge are very helpful for positioning Sam. Executioners obviously can wreck things in close combat, especially Rail Workers who don't get their defensive trigger against him. Once again pushes help here. Death Marshal taxi service can potentially deliver Papa Loco right into the heart of the Steam Bubble for maximum damage. If your opponent is stacking the vent steam with Langston's steam cloud, you can shut that down with Dampening Field. If you can get Francisco in there with Deistro, you may be at a or two from vent steam, but so are they... and your attack stat is probably higher- especially on Sonnia or Dita (9 or 7 respectively). Sometimes you just need to administer the Guild's Justice up close and personal.

I find as long as you stick primarily to minion models, Lucius does pretty well for himself in whatever faction he decides to play in. Typically when building a Lucius list I try to limit myself to 2 enforcers or henchmen to keep points free for minions. The thing is, you can find Lucius quickly running out of steam after only a few casualties if your opponent picks off too many minions, so its always good to keep a few extras on hand. There aren't too many *bad* minions that Lucius can take- from the Guild Constructs like the Hunter, Guardian and Warden, to flesh bags like Death Marshals or Witchling Stalkers, Lucius can help everyone get the most out of their activations. The biggest issue is making sure you've taken enough minions so that there are at least a few left for Lucius to command in the later turns. As was noted before, Lucius is a support piece, and he only support's minions. So its important to take a lot of them. Beckoners are alright... but you are almost certainly better off waiting for the Performer to come out. For 1ss cheaper than a Beckoner you can take the Performer as a Mercenary and she does everything you want better. Including the ability to detonate friendly and enemy scheme markers- which Lucius can be very prolific at. The Performer is also great with McMourning (Guild or Res) so offers a bit more to the Guild as a whole. Doppleganger is amazing. If you are looking for a damage combo in a Lucius Crew, Doppleganger can pair exceedingly well with Sam Hopkins. Mimicking Burn them Out, and potentially casting it 3 times with the Perfect Blend Trigger. Then you've got some lit up targets for Hopkins to rapid fire into.

One of my regular opponent's plays Von Schill, so this is bound to come up at some point. * Can Opener is a trigger which lowers defense by 1 for the rest of the game. * Power Loop allows a model to use the highest stat of any other model in the power loop. Lets say the loop consists of Peacekeeper, Hoffman, and Guardian, and Von Schill has charged the peacekeeper, hit and declared Can Opener, on his next attack.... 1) The Peacekeeper defends at df6, because he is now Df (4-1) but because he is in the loop he can use the Guardian's Df6 2) The Peacekeeper defends at df5, because he may use the Guardian's Df6 from powerloop and has the Can Opener effect on him lowering his final defense by 1. 3) The Can Opener Effect is applied to the Guardian because it was the Guardian's stat being used, lowering the defense of every model in the loop. I am leaning towards 1, but I may be biased as a Hoffman player, and was looking for some perspective.

The more I think about it, the more I actually like Dampening Field a lot. Its not a ranged attack, and it has no casting value or resist. So as long as you can see your target, you can basically say no or . No resist, no nothing, just sight and range. Sebastian, a well placed model with Black Blood, Montressor, Hanna or Librarians, Papa Loco, the Mechanical Attendant, the Steam Trunk, Dashell, anything that explodes on death, Howard Langston, Snowstorm, TANNEN, anybody with Chatty, Barbaros or Mancha Roja, Candy, the list goes on. There are a lot of nasty and effects and being able to shut one of them down almost guarenteed is really nice. Especially for Henchmen or Master's who don't have a good (0) action, like Guild Sebastian or Sam Hopkins.

It sounds like you fell right into your opponents trap and wasted an inordinate amount of resources targeting Perdita. As opposed to picking off the more vulnerable support pieces your opponent had. I picked up Sonnia recently (guild mastery 5/7!) and have played several games with her. One trick you can use against shooters is to block off a shooting corridor with a Flame Wall (you ARE taking Cherufe's Imprint, aren't you, because it is amazing). Furthermore if your opponent declares a faction that you suspect might be heavy shooting (Guild and Gremlins come to mind) you can take a Malifaux Child to cast a second Flame Wall. Your opponent cannot shoot you if they cannot see you. Speaking of that, while the Ortegas and most other shooters typically need to see what they are shooting at. Guild have a ton of ranged threats that don't care about pesky limitations like "seeing the enemy". Guild Austringers can hide out of sight and shoot shots out to 18 inches away. As soon as somebody is on fire, Sonnia and Sam can unload without any regard for line of sight at all- which is especially helpful when you can generate your own ht5 blocking terrain. Make sure that you have some soft cover in any "shooting cooridors" at least give yourself the option to dart from cover to cover as you approach. Perdita herself may be able to ignore cover, but if she's doing that she's not ignoring armor / incorporeal, or drawing a new hand. It doesn't really matter as much for Marshals and Witchunters, but if you include a few Constructs in your crew- especially ones with grinding halt- it can help immensely. If you have a 6+ in your hand, the pathfinder is an excellent tool for slowing down shooting opponents. He can place a Clockwork Trap within 4 inches of himself for a 0 action, or move one 6 inches away, 6 more inches in any direction. With movement 5 and from the shadows, you can deploy him out of los on a flank, and use him to throw traps at shooters. Move, Trap, Move out of line of sight, etc. Each trap has a 2 inch (engages the enemy so they can't shoot), and has a 2 inch that forces a wk13 duel or gain slow (and most shooters have a pretty low walk). And while the Pathfinder doesn't randomize onto his traps... the enemy will have to randomize into the combat if they try to shoot into it. And with df5 armour+2... most shooters will have an exceptionally difficult time removing them. Also consider the Hunter or Peacekeeper. Chain spear is very usefull against ranged opponents. You shots automatically give out slow, and drag your opponent into your loving arms. and not many shooters (except Dita herself) can stand up to a Peacekeeper or even a Hunter in close combat. Added Hilarity if Nino is on high ground and the Chain Spear Drag trigger forces him to take fall damage. The Hunter is an excellent shooting platform as well because his end of turn push can help put him into a good position and his flips against models who haven't activated yet gives him a bit of flexibility when shooting at targets who are in cover.

The Guardian is actually a really nice model to include in Lucius Crews in general. Not just in reckoning. Defensive +2 can really make your models, especially ones like the Lawyer or Pathfinder with high base defense, significantly more durable. Add to that he has the Mend Trigger, which you can use to counteract devil's deal, and bring some healing into your Crew. The Guardian is also a minion so benefits from Lucius' ml bubble with 3 inch attacks, and can have order's issued to him to him. He is a huge help in reckoning as he can greatly increase the resources the other side needs to expend to get a kill, and he can lock down a large area with his engagement range.

As a Guild player, If I had to pick one master to play for an entire year, I would go with Douglas McMourning. McMourning and his crew is incredibly flexible, and an excellent balance of speed, durability, killing power, and scheme marker tricks. McMourning is a terrifying opponent in Reckoning or Make them Suffer, and at the same time, he is extremely adept at schemes like Plant Explosives thanks to his excellent 0 action injection. McMourning is an incredibly fun master to play, both in Guild and Ressers, and I feel that he is deep enough that he would engage somebody for a year of playing him.

If you are interested in trying to go a completely different route and are still really frustrated by slignshots, consider "The Body of Evidence". McMourning is actually an excellent Guild Master, and his crew has unparalleled ways of shutting down a beat stick before it can do too much damage. McMourning himself is probably the fastest Master in the game with the Plastic Surgery upgrade and Sebastian. (he gets a 5 inch push from taking damage from poison, and with Catalyst on Sebastion he will take poison damage when he activates and at the end of turn, for a total 10 inches per turn of pushes. Add that to incredible healing, and a terrifying knack for murdering single targets. Doug can go from just about anywhere on the board, to support where you got hit by the Slingshot. You also get a couple of Nurses who can, with a good hand, disable one or two models per turn with take your meds. Looking at your general Lucius list I'm not sure I agree with some of your choices. Running Graves, the Doppleganger, and a Guild Sergeant puts a lot of enforcers in your crew, typically when I run Lucius I try to limit myself to 1 or 2 henchmen and enforcers and fill the rest of the list out with minions for him to order around, that gives a bit more flexability to the crew and Lucius' activation, and give's you more varied solutions. I'm not sure how I feel about Grave's in a Lucius list. He is expensive, and a model that cannot be ordered around by Lucius, replacing him and the Sergeant with more minions I think would give you a more flexible approach overall. Guild Sergeant is good, and an excellent model for certain schemes (plant explosives, spring the trap, etc) but overall I don't think he is really worth it unless you are going heavy heavy guardsmen. Currently he is really only buffing your 2 riflemen, which I don't think is enough to justify his cost. Death Marshals for instance are awesome minions for Lucius. They are excellent counter charge units, as shoving a model in the box can really take a lot of pressure off of your crew, and Lucius can order the Marshal to take more box attempts- potentially with the focus trigger. They also have solid leadership which helps with commanding presence. Witchling Stalkers are also worth looking at- especially if you've ever black jokered a commanding presence duel and need to cure up paralyze. They also have solid melee stats, and really benefit from Lucius' Ml bubble (although you have to be careful because you don't want them exploding on Lucius!).

Exactly. Its important to keep focus even when you are losing models early and quickly- whether that be from a slingshot or from snipers. You mentioned Sonnia and Lucius, both have counters available. Sonnia can block off an attack avenue with flame wall, and if you run the child you can use 2 flame walls. This can seriously disrupt the slingshot's attack avenue. Lucius has an edge winning initiative with the Doppleganger, and that may be all you need to disable the Beatstick with Objection. Or start slapping on devestating amounts of fees. Or tossing a trap his way. I am convinced the Pathfinder is one of the very best models in the faction. Being able to place and relocate traps where they are most useful is very powerful. For Sonnia as well who can use the trap to generate a big blast if she randomizes too it

I don't play Neverborn, but I do love me some Lucius, and I've done a bit of thinking about this. Check out this combo. Lucius-Surprisingly Loyal Guild Pathfinder Young Nephilim * Pathfinder deploys a trap for a 6 * Lucius uses a soulstone for whatever reason * Devil's Deal targeting the Clockwork Trap, Killing it * Pathfinder Draws a card from Scavenger * Young Nephilim gains fast from a model dying nearby So for a 6+ , you get a soulstone, a card, and fast on the young. That's not even getting into the mischief you can cause combining Clockwork Traps test or slow aura with Tannen and luring people in with Beckoner's or Performers...

Just a bit of general advice, not necessarily tailored to OP at all, but just in general for people looking to take their Malifaux game to the next level. The biggest obstacle I've noticed people have is that they are unable to focus on scoring victory points and / or get distracted by killing models and losing their own. I've found that the primary difference between players who lose often, and players who win often is that the winning players are razor focused on scoring as many victory points as possible as quickly as possible. Sure that sounds obvious, and its easy to say. But it is actually rather difficult in practice. Especially for players moving into Malifaux from Warhammer or similar games where the focus really is on engaging and defeating your opponents army. Sure, nobody will deny that it is *easier* to achieve your strategy and schemes when your opponent's crew is dead, but you don't often get victory points for actions spent murdering things. For instance, if I'm playing McMourning, and I have a chance to use my 0 action to push a model up 5 inches and place a scheme marker in prime range for plant explosives, or make a play for my opponent's Master or Henchmen with Expunge, its almost always a better choice to get the 3 Scheme points in the bag. But its easy to be distracted by your opponent's master, especially one like Sonnia or Perdita, who may be carving chunks out of your crew, and you really want to see them dead to take pressure off of yourself.

Lets not sell Doug short. He is one of the Fastest masters in the game with "thats the stuff", injection can place key scheme markers, and on the clock allows for out of activation interacts, and passing out precise. Sure Doug can do tons of damage, but he also has a ton of support and scheme ability. He is very versatile

I personally find that Lucius' close association with guardsmen is a hold over from 1.5 where he was a special forces henchmen and could only take guardsmen and elite division. I'm not saying guardsmen are bad- the Austringer and Pathfinder are some of the best models in the faction, just that think its important not to get tunnel visioned on guardsmen when playing Lucius. Lucius doesn't really have any particular synergy with Guardsmen that he doesn't have with any other minions (except for a situational range increase on issue command). I found I started playing a lot better with Lucius when I moved away from all or mostly guardsmen lists, and started including more varied Guild Minions, like the Hunter, Death Marshals, and Witchling Stalkers

Haha, I really this sculpt for Lucius and I want the Scribe and the new Dash Scultp since I don't really like using the Drill Sarge Totem as Dash... so I'm probably going to pick this box up. What am I going to do with 3 lawyers and 5 Guild Guard however, I have no idea.

Bringing up Flaming Bullets is an Excellent point, as it synchs right into the Doppleganger's which one is real. You can run the Dopple into a group, drop flaming bullets once or twice, then rapid fire into the engagement. With no fear of hitting the Doppleganger

So Sam Hopkins does one thing very well. Buckets of damage to single targets, especially if that target happens to be on fire. Obviously Hopkins is closely associated with Sonnia, where he can take shots of opportunity, and use Witch Hunt to set things on fire for her to reduce to ashes. Lucius allows Sam to really shine however, maximizing his already impressive single target damage. Here is the basic combo as I would run it. (1) Lucius- Surprisingly Loyal (11) Samael Hopkins- Witch Hunt (7) Doppleganger (6) Performer This combo will run you about 25ss, which is substantial but that number is slightly misleading, the actual investment is really closer to 11 because the Doppleganger and Performer are excellent additions to any Lucius crew. Lucius' crew can save Sam a lot of AP points, allowing him to focus on what he does best, killing things with shooting and close combat using his absolutely massive damage profiles. The most important part of this combo is how well the Doppleganger and Sam work together- with the Doppleganger essentially acting as a second Hopkins. Depending on positioning, you can use one to set things on fire with (1)Burn the Out, and the other to take pistol shots at the burning targets. The Doppleganger herself is a bit more flexible than Sam, with a higher walk, and the ability to perfect blend to take an additional action. The Dopple's inability to declare triggers isn't a big drawback with Sam's attacks, which have the damage boost built in against burning targets. The other key piece are the movement tricks that Lucius can offer to get Hopkins (and the Doppleganger) into position for maximum carnage. This comes mainly in the form of extra AP for the Performer, who can use her push to draw enemies into position, or pull Hopkins / Dopple into position to strike. The performer also offers Seduction, which can seriously cripple enemies' defenses, and Lucius has some great methods of getting a scheme marker where you want it- if your opponent doesn't have one of their own nearby for you to target. Lucius can also position Hopkins through "What Lakeys are for" Potentially placing him into close combat range, with a scheme marker nearby for the performer to target. Brutal. Just a bit of food for thought, I think this combo has a lot of potential to be incredibly destructive, which a lot of people may not be expecting from a Lucius crew. Happy Hunting!

Judge- Unrelenting Leader, Thalarian Stone Exorcist Death Marshal Brutal Effigy Unrelenting Leader competes with Lead Lined Coat, Armour +1 is nice, but ultimately Unrelenting Leader offers a bit more support as well. Thalarian Stone because I can't take Vengence Bullet on the Exorcist, am a point short for Lead Coat, and with Hard to Kill the discard for heal might really come in handy. In other news, Fear not the Sword combines really well with Bullets and Blades, helping keep the Judge slashing and alive. Exorcist provides ranged support, helps deal with Incorporeal, and can turn somebody undead for his own instant kill trigger, or Judge's Bound by Law. The Marshal is very powerful in Hardcore, as throwing a major threat into the box really helps take a ton of pressure off the rest of the crew. EDIT: Make them suffer is a very good addition for some games. It really adds a new element of trying to protect your minions. Especially in more elite crews that only have one cheap minion.

The Peacekeeper is absolutely brutal. Especially with Hoffman. He is a nice blend of defense, and offense, with a good scheme denial ability. He is pretty slow though, and I'd hesitate to take him without some way to help get him into position to start smashing faces in. I don't take him often outside of Hoffman Crews, mainly because I tend to favor larger crews of mid tier models 5-7 ss generally. The Peacekeeper definitely benefits from extra mobility, and not every master can provide him with that. I've had some success with the Executioner as a murder and scheme control piece in scheme heavy scheme pools as well. I've definitely played games where 4 of the 5 schemes available require scheme markers, making Trail of Gore more reliable and adds a powerful scheme manipulation tool to your arsenal. I will admit that I field my Executioner relatively rarely. Part of the problem I have with him is that I'm not a huge fan of many of the Guild Upgrades, and once you start talking about an Executioner with an upgrade, you are suddenly in the Peacekeeper price range- and i'm not convinced an upgraded executioner can really measure up to a Peacekeeper. I'm looking to pick up Lucas McCabe as my next master (its between him and Sonnia), and I think he'll help the Executioner out a lot in terms of shoring up his weaknesses. Sidir w/ promises gives him a nice boost to his offensive hitting power, and the badge of speed tricks as noted before are especially helpful in terms of getting the big boy to where he needs to be to start hitting things and healing back up.

I would have to go with Hoffman. He gives me a full package of cool support tricks and synergies, combined into a devestating close combat package. Ironically, for a guild player, I love dispensing the Guild's justice up close and personal, and the Hoff does that exceptionally well.

the Exorcist cannot declare triggers. Because his aura does not say OTHER models. Basically only McMourning gets any triggers.

Plastic Surgery in general is a very strong upgrade for Guild McMourning. You get the extra pushes from poison which are huge, but it also works really well with certain Marshal models. Bound by Law from the Judge, and the instant kill trigger on the Exorcist's melee. Plastic Surgery is actually very interesting with the Exorcist, who also has a 3 inch aura where undead cannot declare triggers. However if the Exorcist is within 3 inches of McMourning, HE can't declare triggers either. Still if you can position it right, it can be a devastating combo.

That was my bad. I was posting on my phone, at around 7:40 in the morning. And I forgot to spell out the Brutal Effigy by name. I think he is incredible with McMourning, between Fear not the Sword and Organ Doner combined I've head 8-10 wounds in an activation easily.