akaean

I love Doug. He is an excellent master and can almost keep up with Lucius at schemes. Played right, he is the fastest single model in the game, with scary healing and good damage. Dont underestimate Seb. Skin Graft is necessary for Thats the Stuff, and Sebastian is needed to get catalyst. That way you can load Doug up with poison and get 2 5 inch pushes. One at the start of activation, and one at end of turn. 10 inches of push movement allows for crazy movement shenanigans. That is a huge boon to Doug's mobility. The souped up poison damage is also great, as you still have it in the crew, just not as much as in ressers. If you dont think Doug heals enough try using fear not the sword, pushing into some enemies, and rancid transplant someone. Healing for every model effected. Bonus points if expunging the target gets you a card draw.

I've actually put a lot of thought into this, and here is my list. Its rather different- so i'll post reasons. In order 1) Hunter. The hunter is my top pick because he does everything well. Chain Spear is an awesome attack, handing out slow guarenteed, and a push is useful in any game. Combine that with excellent melee, several pushes, (hint: you can use pounce on chest to move out of engagement with one model to move into engagement with another.) +flips, and armour. There is very little the hunter doesnt do well, and he is often the mvp in my games 2) Pathfinder. This is a more odd choice, but the more I use him the better he becomes. It really is all about the traps. Never over extend him with from the shadows, unless he is framed for murder. Instead support your lines with blast shooting... and traps. Once you wrap your head around him you can cause endless trouble with traps. Put traps by enemy models, force walk 13 or slow duels, combine with pushes for free attacks (Judge, Performer, Chain Spear) or just make an area of the board hell for an opponent. Drawing a card whenever something dies is just the icing on the cake. 3) Austringer. Boring choice. But Deliver Orders is that good. 4) Brutal Effigy. With the right Master, this guy is auto include. The only reason he isn't higher on the list is he isnt great with Lucius, Hoff, or McCabe. However with Doug, Justice, Perdita, and Sonnia... hes off the hook. Fear not the Sword adds a ton of healing to the damage Guild Masters,and gives card draw on kills. He would be worth it for that alone, but he is also a significant 4ss minion with df6, wk5, armour +1, h2k, and finish the job for good measure. 5) Death Marshall. Its one of the most feared models in Guild. I've shoved Seamus in the box before. Enemies give them a wide berth, and they can use that to do what they need to do to win the game.

The Warden is a great general combat model, as mentioned. Although his range threat comes in the form of the restraint trigger. Grinding Halt is great, and his melee is versatile. Toss can be very good at the right time. Hunter is fantastic. Very fast, chain spear is great, and the +flips can help shoot into cover. You do pay for his versatility though, and he lacks grinding hault. The Peacekeeper can be a one man crew. Tough, scary at range, and even worse up close. Especially with healing- nurses + stalker combo in McM, or Ryle, Hoff, or the Proxy. Don't forget about the Lawyer. Objection is a very good attack if you can get at least moderate, and special damages is excellent for stacking on your opponents hitters.

Hoffman is outstanding in Turf War. The Hoffball is a melee wrecking ball, with incredible durability.

One more point in favor of McMourning. Declare faction -> Determine Schemes and Strategies -> build crew This means players are better served by collecting in one faction as it gives them more flexibility to build a crew to suit the mission. You mentioned that your girlfriend started with Misaki and has Viks on her list. This means she can declare outcasts (Misaki is duel faction) and pick whichever master is better suited to the task after seeing what will scores points most effectively. Picking up McMourning, gives you that same flexibility. Doug is far more suited to scheme and interact based objectives than Justice, look at injection and his on the clock upgrade. McCabe could be good too, as he offers a lot of overlap with your girlfriend's Misaki crew- Lucas is duel faction Ten Thunders. Which lets you pool models a bit. The big issue with McCabe in demo games is Wastrels are only 4ss minis and aren't really going to stand up without McCabe throwing them upgrades. So you'd need to play with upgrades, and with a master to really get a fair game.

I would definitely recommend McMourning. He is an excellent Master in both Guild and Ressers, and played as a Resser is a very thematic match up for Lady Justice. You can even get some basic summoning in your games, as Sebastian can summon dogs off corpse counters, and McMourning can turn enemies into flesh constructs when played as a Resser. While nothing in McMourning's box can be used with Lady Justice, the stuff in Justice's box meshes very well into a Guild McMourning Crew. Doug has an upgrade that makes all model's within 3 inches of him undead. Judge has a spell with a 2/4/8 damage spread against undead. Absolutely brutal. And Death Marshals are amazing in any guild crew. Pine Box man. The other model you should look into are Witchling Stalkers. Just pick up the box of 3. Condition removal is incredibly powerful, especially in a Guild McMourning crew (you can heal stuff or give armour +2 with the nurses, and remove the negative effects with the Stalkers). And if you eventually pick up Sonnia, you'll still be glad you have the extra stalkers because she can summon them with her reincarnation upgrade... which means you'll want extras because she can summon a LOT of stalkers.

Eh, it wouldn't be so bad. I've noticed from playing Hoffman that you really only need to clump together for the first few turns to use your souped up stats to get an early advantage. So taking that mentality and using the Hoffball to sweep INTO your opponent's most contested table quarter, and use Watchers to claim another relatively uncontested table quarter. Then once the Hoffball has smashed away a large portion of the enemy crew, use Machine Puppet to disperse your crew to the various table quarters to try to prevent the enemy from scoring more points. That said, he probably isn't the best at it...

Reading is hard. Judge has Bound by Law, which also applies the Arrest effect (discard a card before walking or charging). Bonus for taking the Exorcist to turn your target undead to ramp up Bound By Law's damage spread to 2/4/8, in addition to throwing out banish and pinned.

I have been having a surprising amount of luck in Recon with Lady J. Justice - Last Stand, other upgrades depend on opposing faction Judge- Lead Lined Coat Hunter Death Marshal Death Marshal Austringer Watcher Brutal Effigy Overall, you get a decent number of Significant bodies, and Justice and Judge can slow down traditional summoners pretty well. The Hunter is nice because he can take up a central position and drag enemies into the no score zone- and pass out slow to help keep them there. Judge can also hinder mobility with bound by law, and use stand for judgement to pull your crew or your enemies crew into a place where you can score points. Overall the crew all operates pretty well independently and doesn't suffer from spreading out like a lot of crews do. The Marshals are especially effective in Recon as a well played offensive pine box can really throw a lot of crews. The Effigy and Watcher are just cheap significant models. The watcher can run schemes, and the effigy adds a lot of durability to Justice, as well as card draw.

It sounds like your opponent played a solid game, and really demonstrated the benefit of focusing on starts and schemes. You scored a solid amount of VP. I've won plenty of games with 7, but I've also lost games with 8 or 9 VP- and those tend to be really exciting. I think the biggest problem you faced was not being aggressive enough with the strategy. By not going after squat markers until turn 5, you were essentially out 3 VP. Squatters rights vs Neverborn is tough for Guild, but killing the tots early with your snipers, especially austringers- who have higher ml, and a severe just high enough to pop a tot in one bird (or crit strike moderate) can really help slow your opponent down in scoring his vp. Ninos spotter is very powerful vs an opponent with lits and in squatters rights, so once you get your squat markers it can be very hard to take them from you. I also agree with your assessment that early placement of protect territory hurt you by spreading out. I hope some of those musings are useful

I think legalese is a must take upgrade. It can really mess up opponents schemes, and counting as friendly for pulses and auras can let Lucius walk all over some crews. At 1ss, its a steal. Lead lined coat can only be taken on models without armour, so guard sergeant can't take it. I only really like the Sergeant when I'm running *lots* of guardsmen- or plant explosives is in the pool . In most cases I think the lawyer would give you better support. His + applies to all your models, and he can pass out h2w which is nice on your armored guardsmen and Ryle. Fees and objection are great attacks, and as a minion can be ordered around by Lucius. Also I don't think watch my back in your crew is the best. Remember it only effects guardsmen, so in your crew it only effects Dash and your 2 Guild guard (since the sergeant already has accomplice baked in). Ryle is great. I run him often with Hoffman and occasionally in other crews and hardcore. If you have tomes, saving them for grinding halt can do a lot to keep him alive. He's just a solid model overall, he has durability, movement, and a heal. He's flexible and good.

I actually think that because you own the lynch box, doubling down on Neverborn isn't a bad idea. Especially due to Lucius being able to drag a large portion of your Guardsmen into the faction. Illuminated are devastating with Lucius, who can support them up close with his ml bubble and he can hand out to hit with his sword cane. Lucius is also interesting in that he can bring some solid ranged support into neverborn. And tots and young are pretty good in a Lucius crew. Check it- Guild Pathfinder summons a Clockwork Trap, Lucius uses a soul stone, Devils Deal passes 3 damage onto the Clockwork Trap to keep his stone, the Trap is killed, Pathfinder draws a card from Scavenge, Young Nephelim gains fast from thirst for blood... Basically you get a Soulstone, Card, and Fast for the price of a 6+ Perhaps lilith and the nephilim pack might be your best bet. She's got some some great assasination abilities, which are useful for a lot of schemes

Looks that way. I picked up his box set today, and I'm planning on starting him up during Joe's escalation league this July. This'll put Sonnia on hold, and bring me up to Justice, Lucius, Hoffman, and Doug. Fun times.

Sometimes late at night I get carried away. Anyway, I just wanted to talk a bit more about McMourning. He brings Nurses into the Guild. Take your Meds can be awesome on your own models. Like throwing Uppers on a model you want to move into position for a scheme marker. They also have a lot of other nifty tricks. Like putting Hallucinogens on an Executioner, and then pushing him into base contact with some enemies with McMourning. You can cast precise on him while you're at it. If you have some nice Rams in your hand, with Critical Strike you can be looking at a 7/8/9 damage spread which ignores hard to wound and armour what fun! You can also heal your guys, then remove the Paralyze with a Witchling Stalker.

I don't think its truly fair to leave out the Wave Two models. They are later in the release schedule, but to be fair, many of the wave 1 models are still Metal. Like the Peacekeeper, Austringers, etc. while models like the Guild Guard and Executioner are only just being released. You also mention being a seasoned competitive gamer, and in a game like Malifaux, effectively cutting your model pool in half will remove a ton of tactical flexibility from your crew. Now, you won't notice this really on a casual level, but avoiding certain models like the Witchling Handler in Sonnia, Latigo Pistoleros for Ortegas, and the Brutal Effigy for any of Guilds damage masters, you're really looking to set yourself on the back foot in a tournament setting from the word go. So I'll go through some of the Wave 1 stuff first, but I think you are doing yourself a disservice competitively by not looking at any of the Wave 2 stuff. Now, the top 2 scheme masters for the Guild are Lucius and McMourning. Since you are more interested in Wave 1, I'll talk about Doug first. Douglas McMourning is an epic scheme master for several reasons 1) Evidence Tampering causes all enemy scheme markers within 4 inches of him to become friendly scheme markers instead at the end of the game. This can ruin somebodies line in the sand, or breakthrough. 2) Injection. One of McMourning's 0 actions, this one lets you push a model 8 inches and place a scheme marker. Since the model is "placing" the scheme marker, and not making an interact action... it makes schemes like plant explosives trivially easy. And Ninos spotter? Doesn't work. Placing a scheme marker =/= interact 3) If you want more pushes, you can take Unknowable Pain, which gives all your models the ability to push towards enemies who damaged them. Out of activation movement makes certain schemes, like Deliver a Message, Cursed Object, and others far more manageable to accomplish. And Douglas is no slouch in close combat either. Another thing I noticed in your post is that you are looking a lot at "cost per interact" I don't think this is the best way to look at it. Guild Guard might be some of the cheapest interacts you can get in guild, but if they can't get into position in time, or don't have a way to plant the explosives in a key spot, they are making absolutely worthless interacts. The game is about scoring victory points, and sometimes you'll be interacting with a Henchmen or even your Master. Most plans don't survive contact with the enemy, and being able to adapt and not being afraid to change a model's role mid game. Take a look at the Peacekeeper. He's 11ss of face beating. I've seen a Peacekeeper tear through an entire crew on his own. But the best use of him isn't always doing what he does best. His 0 action Advanced Protocol is actually very good. Your opponent guarding markers for Line in the Sand or Protect Territory. Advanced Protocol can clear those markers, in a huge circle, regardless of whether the Peacekeeper is engaged or not. A well placed Advanced Protocol can win you the game, more than any amount of killing the Peacekeeper could have done. Speaking of beatstick enforcers, the Executioner is a good choice in schemepool heavy games because he can turn enemy scheme markers into extra attacks and walks. Which is great, because it helps the Executioner do what he does best, and gets rid of enemy scheme markers at the same time. Awesome. Now, I know that you don't want to hear about Wave 2, but competitively I think you are severely limiting your options. The best guild dedicated scheme runners are in Wave 2 Watcher Walk 6, Flight, 4ss. These guys are fast, and they are great for placing scheme markers where they are needed. The best part is that the Wave 2 Guild Masters can juice them up and make them even faster / better. Hoffman can give them Nimble or lower the cost of interact markers on them, which makes them blindingly fast, and some of the most reliable models for Deliver a Message or Power Ritual in the entire game. McCabe can give them reactivate, and toss them the badge of speed to give them Nimble. Just make sure you keep the Watcher within 10 inches of McCabe unless you don't mind losing the upgrade. and Lucius can order them to make additional activations. Guild Houds 3 ss models, when there are at least 2 together (or with McCabe's totem) they become significant and can take interactions. One of the cheapest objective runners in the entire game. And it helps that they are fast as well. I'll run through some of the interact heavy strats and schemes and talk about how I typically handle them. - A Line in the Sand: Lucius is a great master for this. He has a lot of scheme marker generation, and gets free interacts as a trigger off of his Issue Command. The Guard Sergeant has a 0 action which can move a scheme marker to a new location. Lucius also has an ability to let minions near him make interact actions while engaged, allowing you to get precious scheme markers down in contested areas - Distract / cursed object: Lucius again is excellent at this. He gets lots of extra activations from his minions to move them into position to interact and still get some swings in. Austringers are also worth mentioning as they can deliver orders to push a model into range. Generally I try to district my enemies with my sturdier pieces, keep your distracted enemies engaged, and they usually can't shurg the condition. Guild Guard in Pairs are great for this, df6, to disengaging strikes, and some armor. - Plant Explosives: Douglas McMourning is outstanding at Plant Explosives due to the big push and placing a scheme marker. Although Lucius is right behind him. Lucius has a trigger on his hidden sniper to place a scheme marker near enemies, he can use his what lackeys are for to get one there. Also worth mentioning the Guard Sergeant, who can move a scheme marker placed away from the enemy into position for maximum points for plant explosives! - Deliver a Message: Hoffman or Lucas upgraded Watchers make this trivial. Lucius can order models to move next to the opposing master out of their activation leaving them free to deliver the message when their turn roles around. Perdita can make use of Obey. - Spring the Trap: Lucius is really the only Guild master who can hope to generate enough scheme markers near an enemy leader to score on this reliably. Although Doug's injection and the Guild Sergeants ability to move a scheme marker help a lot. - Power Ritual: Watchers again. Have you ever seen a watcher move 18 inches? Or with programmed Directive move 12 and (0) action down a scheme marker. Its a beautiful thing. My Watchers have probably won more games for me than any other model in the game. - Breakthrough: I tend to like Death Marshals for this, they're fairly fast, unimpeded lets them take more difficult routs to the opponents deployment zone, and they can box stuff that gets in their way. But... er... Watchers. Anyway. Sorry for the unorganized rambling. Those are some of my impressions of Guild Scheming. And you really should look at wave 2. Watchers are far and away one of the best objective runners in the entire game, and have access to some really amazing buffing to make them just off the hook.

I would vouch for the Judge. While not very fast himself, Judge has the 0 action 'Stand for Judgement' which pulls a model towards him. You can use this to speed up your crew- move the Judge first then pull one of your own models forwards so that their activation begins further up the field, or move enemy models out of position. Note that the ability has a , so it has to randomize into engagements. The Judge also is a pretty solid fighter, he's got some triggers that can give him extra attacks. Lead Lined Coat is pretty nice on him, as Hard to Kill, Hard to Wound, and Armour +1 means he can usually stick around for a bit. Another model to consider is the Peacekeeper. He's not terribly fast, but he also has a chain spear which can drag enemies around and give out slow. And he is also one of the most powerful beat sticks in the game. The Peacekeeper is the guild giant monster beat stick, and one of the few things you can try to go toe to toe with other giant beat sticks like Teddy. Sometimes just having a big powerful close combat juggernaut to fall back on can help a lot, especially for a new player, and the Peacekeeper will definitely give that to you.

Eh, the Guild Guard have always had two pistols. All three of the metal Guardsmen sculpts have 2 pistols, its just that they all have swords drawn, and the second pistol holstered. I think the issue people are having in terms of uniform is they don't have the red sash, and to a lesser extent the breast plate that was present in the old art and models. I think they look fine as Guild Guard- I just wish they looked a bit more like the metals. I probably won't be picking em up, unless I want to put 5 Guild Guard on the table for some reason. And I also consider the old Guild Guard models some of the best sculpts the company has produced in any medium- so that would be a hard act to follow.

Guild Guard can 'Menace' targets near Tannen, horror duels are a bit more scary out of activation. Also don't forget the Performer, a well timed seduction can give your opponent a major headache, and a Lucius crew has a lot of crafty ways of setting it up. Lucius walks up to a group of enemies, uses 'What Lackey's Are For' to place Tannen and a scheme marker into that group. Issue Command the Performer to cast seduction targeting the scheme marker... and manipulative is up on both the Performer and Tannen... Brutal. And if she gets killed, you can probably get a reactivate out of the deal since Lucius tends to take a ton of minions. While not directly benefiting from the discard to cheat ability, in any situation where you are draining your opponent's hand, Kill Triggers, like from the Executioner, Nino, and the Exorcist (vs Ressers) are all worth considering. Its a symbiotic relationship, since the discard is especially scary when dealing with decapitates. EDIT: Also consider the Governor's Proxy. He can throw down some heals, and if you can keep him near Tannen that TN13 WP duel or die becomes a bit more scary.

Check out the wave two cards. The arsenal pack isn't out yet but you can download them here http://wyrd-games.net/community/files/file/53-malifaux-wave-2-cards-low-rez/ That has all Hoffman's upgrades, and his rules. The 'must have' upgrade is 'Field Mechanic' as thart lets Hoffman give upgrades to your troops, and the pulse heal. OSA and remote mines are good, but more situational. Arcanist assets is needed if you want Arcanist constructs

While I really do like Sidir, and think he has great potential in a Hoffman list, I would probably leave him be in a triple threat list. You are already hurting pretty badly for activation, and its such a shame to leave the watcher at home. Whenever I play Hoffman, while sure, the giant mechanical beaters like Ryle and the Peacekeeper are great at grabbing my opponents attention and providing a threat that they have to deal with, its the upgraded watchers who are out scoring scheme points, delivering messages, dropping scheme markers, doing whatever needs to be done. IIRC a big part of what made that Colette list so effective was its ability to score objectives. I feel that it is the Watchers which really provide that role in a Hoffman list. Dropping Sidir opens up enough space to take a pair of Watchers, which really opens the list up in terms of scoring schemes, while the opponent is scrambling to keep 3 massive constructs from crashing down on his face.

I would say a Warden if any thing. He's got pretty solid defenses, and he's not competing with anybody for tombs- so grinding halt all day long. He also gives you a model happy to go last, and can maybe paralyze someone. Pathfinder is a risky proposition, if you can get some traps on board awesome- but he loses a lot if there is no summoning allowed. I can't remember Joe's stance on the matter. Also in blind deployment the defenses and close quarters hitting power of jailbot are indespencible

Next hardcore game I play want to try this out Judge- Lead Lined Coat, Flames of the Pit Brutal Effigy 2x Death Marshals Brutal Effigy because he unlocks some pretty serious healing for Judge who can generate a lot of attacks with his triggers. Between the healing, hard to kill, hard to wound, and armour... he should be a bitch to take out. Flames of the pit just because I've seen a lot of terrifying when playing hardcore, lets you save those cards for boxing. Thalarian Stone could work as well to give Judge an emergency heal if he is on his last leg and needs to go before the effigy.

That is a pretty decent all around Justice crew. But remember that in Malifaux its important to look at the schemes when selecting models as well. For instance in Reconnoiter sometimes I'll take a pair of guild guard just to get extra bodies into position to claim table quarters. I would definitely take the Brutal Effigy, potentially dropping the Scales of Justice if you need to. The Scales are a pretty situational totem, and the healing and card draw that the Effigy can get for Justice is awesome. He's also a minion with armour, and finish the job, so he can survive better and help claim objectives. Brutal Effigy is nice with Justice, and the only reason I don't run one is I don't own one. The other option is to run the Governor's Proxy if you have one, Judge can pull him around with Stand for Judgement which helps mitigate his low speed, and his heal action makes Judge a lot more durable since he can essentially reset Hard to Kill. As for upgrades, I tend to go pretty upgrade heavy with Justice. -Last Stand is almost an auto include as Unimpeded pairs amazingly with Blind Fighter, and the push to nearby Marshals can be helpful. - Implacable is great because it gives Justice an extra bit of protection against enemy shooting. That said, against factions that don't typically have a lot of shooting, like Ressers, Neverborn and to a lesser extent Arcanists, you don't really need it. - Justice Unleashed can be pretty good depending on your opponent. Its almost always excellent against Ressers, and I usually take it vs 10T as well- Toshiro can do a lot of summoning, and Mei Feng likes scrap laying around. If you expect to be playing against Ramos, it can be a godsend as well. - Vendetta or Badge of Office are solid choices if you don't expect to be needing one or more of the other upgrades. Vendetta gives you Onslaught for a , which can help with hard to kill, and Badge of Office can save your skin. I tend to leave Vendetta at home, as generally I'm happy just critical striking with Justice. On Judge - Unrelenting Leader is good. The Flip to attacks targeting his Willpower can be very helpful against some crews, and it Combat Effectiveness lets him do some cool tricks. Like ordering an Executioner to make two swings for 1 ap, or the legendary Judge 8 attack limit break. ( Combat Effectiveness on himself triggers Unison + Longarm triggers Blades and Bullets + Pistol + Combat Effectiveness on himself + Long Arm triggers Blades and Bullets +Pistol =You've just done 4 attacks for 1 AP) Although the Limit break will probably nuke your hand and your entire soul stone pool. - Lead Lined Coat is expensive, and a lot of times enemy attacks will ignore armour. But whenever I don't take Lead Lined Coat I almost always wish that I had. Armour pairs very nicely with Hard to Wound and Hard to Kill.

Eh overall I've been very impressed with Wyrd's offerings. I started like you did Baalbamoth, except that was back in 1.5, I bought the mini rulebook for 15 dollars, and all my stat cards came from the crew boxes and models I bought. I never really felt like I was missing anything. I could always ask my opponents to see what their cards were, and PullmyFinger was (and still is) an excellent resource for determining what future purchases to make. The fact that you get the full rules for your models with each box purchase is awesome. Malifaux is by far the cheapest wargame that I have played. I bought the full rulebook for 2E, and the Guild Arsenal deck to get the rules for my metal crews. I really like the new cards, and the upgrades are nice. I'll definitely be buying the Wave 2 arsenal deck for my Lucius and Hoffman crews even though I have the print outs. The fact is I like a lot of the "gear" that Wyrd is releasing. Like the scheme / strategy cards, when those come out I'll probably be picking those up too, and I was a huge fan of the metal base inserts (which are going rapidly out of production much to my great sadness) Overall I have no real problem with the way Wyrd does business. Your friend had it right. All you need is the 15 dollar rules manual, and a few packs of models. All the cards you need come with the models, you can get an overview of what they do on PullMyFinger to help guide your purchases. If you want to know the exact specifics of every model in the game at all times, then yes. You will need to buy the big rulebook, and the second big rulebook when it comes out. But the fact is that you don't *need* any of that stuff to get into the game, or make educated decisions on what you want to pick up next, and if you are planning on sticking with a faction, buying the mini rulebook and your faction's arsenal deck will pretty much get you everything on your faction contained in the Big rulebook for about half the cost. Its an amazing deal compared to companies like Games Workshop.

I play both. Lady J was my first Master, Lucius was my second (back when he was still the guild henchmen) and I would argue that it depends on what your friend's situation is. If your friend has very little experience with miniature gaming in general, OR if he prefers self sufficient, and self explaining models, then Lady Justice is a better choice. If your friend has some experience with different miniature games, AND is one of those people who "loves it when a plan comes together", he may very well be happier with Lucius Lady Justice is very straight forward, and in her base crew, most of the models she'll want to hire don't really need a whole lot of help to do their jobs. I really like her in Reconnoiter for this reason, as I don't feel like I am losing a ton of my crew's power by splitting them up to take different table quarters. Justice herself can carve bloody chunks out of an enemy, the Judge is a solid (if expensive) Henchmen when upgraded, (he's got a pull, an anti incorporeal spell, can order models to take ml actions, and is a pretty fearsome fighter himself), and the Marshals are quick, drop scheme markers on death, and can instantly remove dangerous enemies from play by shoving them into their boxes. That said, Lady Justice does feel like she loses a lot of inter crew synergy that other Masters (like Sonnia with burning) have. Lucius is a tricky guy, who works best in lists featuring a lot of minions that he can order about, especially minions with strong will power. He works well with Guardsmen, but really he works just as well with any other minions as well, such as witchling stalkers, death marshals, the lawyer, and many of the guild constructs. Lucius is all about tricks. What Lackey's are for can drop a scheme marker in a key place or throw a huge beatstick directly into your enemy's face (like an executioner), your minions can take a lot of extra actions through what Commanding Presence and Issue Command, and you can make interact actions while engaged with minions within 6 of Lucius. Practically speaking, my decision to take Lucius in large part depends on the scheme pool. He has a lot of tricks to get models into position making him excellent at Deliver a Message, he has a lot of ways to drop scheme markers while engaged- either through guild intelligence or the Doppleganger- which is ideal for plant explosives and helps with a lot of shemes like Line in the Sand, the Guild Sergeant's Issue New Orders is also excellent for moving markers into position to score VPs. Defensively, Lucius can destroy enemy scheme markers with Hidden Sniper or take Tannen to prevent the enemy from taking interact actions. The thing with Lucius is that his crews typically lack a lot of straight up killing power. Most of my games with Lucius are very close drawn affairs where I either win or lose by a few points thanks to my stalwart devotion to getting victory points through schemes and strategy while my opponent guts my crew. Yes, winning in Malifaux is all about victory points, but it is a bit easier when your crew is the one doing the killing Overall, I would suggest Lady Justice based on your model selection. You really lack a lot of the models that really benefit from being in a Lucius crew, such as the Warden, Hunter, Witchling Stalkers, Guild Riflemen, and Neverborn Mimics. Death Marshals are good with Lucius, don't get me wrong, but you want more things to order around, and ultimately better things to order around than basic Guild Guardsmen. Your Justice Crew on the other hand feels very complete. You can use Judge to pull your models up the field with Stand for Judgement, he can give your executioner more attacks (unrelenting leader works on all non leader models), and the Brutal Effigy can give Justice bonus healing and card draw just for doing what she does best, carving a bloody path through your opponent's lines. I would try to avoid playing Lucius until you have access to a wider seleciton of minions at your disposal. I hope that helps, good luck to your friend! Also to answer your question, the fat man with the axe who comes in the Lucius Starter Set is the Guild Sergeant. This is evidenced by the fact that both models share the same equipment, breaching axe and mauser. Captain Dashel, who is armed with a Baton, is the old Drill Sergeant Totem. As this fits the armaments description.