Gorbad

To me the current entry point for Malifaux is so comparatively low and the variation in master choice so big that I do think it is hard to compose a decent starter. When I recently restarted Hordes I bought the two player starter because I wanted to play Circle, was passingly interested in Legion and it was a good deal in terms of miniatures. Especially since I knew that I'd want to use several of them in many lists When me and my wife started Malifaux it was with Raspy v. Viks. A starter set of say Lady J v. Seamus (one of the likely combinations) would have been entirely uninteresting as they were miles from what we wanted. You could even do different master from those factions, say Ramos v. Hamlin and we would still have auto-passed, pretty much regardless of the price point. The value proposition is really low if I don't want at least one of the two masters. And the wide appeal of the many different masters looks to me like one of the key things drawing people into Malifaux. In that way having 'approved starter masters' might even work against the game. I also find two-player starters a little tricky because they only contain one rulebook. Its great if I want it all, but if its two people sharing (the ideal, IMO) then you are a rulebook short. There is also the question of who the target audience is. The more bits you add for completely new players the less appealing it might become to gamers looking for a new game. Like the mat that's been talked about, if you play other games it would need to be really good to be interesting at all. Same with terrain, I heard some discussion of the Infinity starter and someone saying they would just throw away the cardboard terrain anyway so the box seemed expensive to them. I'd also never used a brooklet introducing rules over a handful of slow build games, but that might just be personal choice. It makes me think that a starter 'kit' with rulebook and accessories would be the best approach, so you just need two items to start playing the game. You could even include said introductory booklet in the pack. It would leave out terrain and the like, but I've played many games with improvised terrain. Or had some from other games and it could keep the price low. If you can sell it for about £15 and have the small rulebook, fate deck, strategy and scheme cards, intro booklet and a measuring stick then you only need a crew box and you can play. Maybe soulstones as well. But to me that's the kind of budget you are looking at for a starter kit. Then you can start playing for as little as £35, that's less than the rulebook for some games. And it provides an easy item to pick up to start the game with.

I think you would be better off with a 'starter kit' containing all the extra bits needing to play and then you add a crew but I'm honestly not really sure it would work. With the Warmachine ones if you are going to play one of those factions you are going to want some of the stuff in the starters. Maybe not all of it but it will go into many lists. On the other hand if I'm doing Arcanists and there is a Raspy box in the starter bit I really want to do Colette and Kaeris odds are good I'm not going to want any of it. You would have to think quite hard about offering all-purpose utility models and double so if its supposed to be narratively based. In addition to that it would have to, IMO, not be redundant with buying anything else. So no including half the content of a crew box and then force them to buy the whole box anyway. That's just going to annoy people. Ultimately though, you can get rules, cards, card deck and a crew for £40-50. And that gives you everything you need and a force close to standard size. Its going to be really hard to improve on that in a sensible way.

It could be a Coryphee instead of a Mannequin. I kind a hope so because it does look neat and I don't rate mannequins much. And I really want the coryphee plastics. I've used the metals for less than a handful of games, they could definitely benefit from a resculp. (Mind you, so could the mannequins)

I thought more of her was obscured, but just went back and looked. The funny thing is, I've liked the showgirl art we have seen so far. I really want a new Cassandra (I never got on with the old model. Only model I've stripped a handful of times!). And both the limited edition Performer and the Performer and Mannequin in the main book (p. 71) are good. The annoying thing is that she didn't have to be flashing her panties or anything to retain her style. A little more elaborate dress and some colour would probably have done it. Swapping the goggles (really?) for a top hat would help as well. I still think that painting her with some colour will make her more exciting right there, and with a little conversion you can add some of the other details. It would just be a shame if that becomes the first of the new plastics where I feel I need to work to make it a model I want. (Although there are a few other, like Johan I'm just going to replace with something else)

I don't think it was as much that people would look specifically for Colette and that would draw them to Malifaux. More that people who saw the models would be interested because of the different style and flamboyant miniatures. They might never play her, but she was a flashy model that could draw attention if you randomly saw it on a table. But while models have generally looked very similar to the artwork it's still hard to judge it. It's partially obscured and I'm still choosing to believe that with something more interesting than a pinstripe dress it can still look quite flashy. Shame about the lack of a hat and cane though.

Too many people are buying our product, let's make them stop? There is a big difference between running an online community and selling people products. Besides, I've not seen her be more popular than anyone else. I don't think I've ever played against someone else using Colette and it doesn't happen infrequently that people say they have never played against her before. If any arcanist master is everywhere its Ramos, there is a lot of people playing him currently. Also, its not like me maybe not buying the box will result in the sale of a different box. It just means a lost sale. I don't think there is a 'motive' behind the art change. Presumably that's just the style they wanted. Its just that a bunch of vocal people aren't keen on the new look.

Hmm, sadly I have to admit to being a bit disappointed by this. Now we can't see the lower half of the model very well because of the text box and we haven't seen the model yet, but so far it does seem to have lost much of it's 'flair'. I don't think they have done themselves any favours by having it be effectively a pinstriped dress suit. I do think that you can do a whole bunch with the model by going with a different (I'd say more interesting) colour scheme. The art seems to me to be less Colette, the celebrated performer and magician, owner of the Star and a controversial and risqué figure, but who still might mingle with high society in Malifaux, and more Connie, her school mistress cousins, who live in a small pioneer village out west and teach the kids to read during the week and then run an amateur theatre in the school hall on Sundays. And while I can appreciate the argument that she wouldn't wear her show dress out smuggling, no one else 'dress down' for participating in the actual game so IMO it's a shame if Colette have been made to. I'm also a little disappointed that she doesn't have a cane. Since her new rules have one and since it looks really cool with Angelica I was rather hoping she was holding one. I thought that would have been a cool addition. Also, it was mentioned that we would get another 3 plastic models with the avatar so there would be lots of choice. But I really rather hope they go with something else for the avatar. Or at least that it have seriously reworked rules from where we saw it in wave 3, because those rules were very far from being fun and playable and the concept just didn't seemed to work at all. It's a bit of a shame really, because the new Colette box went from an automatic purchase to, "lets just have a look at the actual models". I'll probably buy it anyway, I really want a different Cassandra model, but I might keep using my old metal models for most of it. We will see how the whole thing turns out. I still got hopes that better colour schemes will make the model pop a little more as well.

I have only ever seen it played as 2. You fulfill the criteria for both and unlike scheme markers models don't have a rule saying they can only count for one scheme.

Smouldering Heart is a defensive trigger that Kaeria have. The Df/Wp means it can be used both with her Df stat and with her Wp stat. Also note that it requires you to have a time in your duel total to use.

I would go with an Acolyte instead of Angelica. I love her, but she just isn't needed in this format. And Acolytes are so good, slow is brutal in small crews. Another option would be now upgrades, two acolytes, one silent one and Cassy.With a little luck you can seriously hamper anything your opponent might want to do.

Thanks to Mike, Lee, Conrad and Matt for organising this and to everyone else there as well for making it a great weekend. It really was a lot of fun and I'm really glad we went. I really liked the different format for the games. Especially the story encounter with blind deployment, will have to do that at the club. And the mixed faction on as well was a lot of fun. Soulstone Poker felt like a really good way to end the weekend for the captains, although the amount of points available for it was perhaps a little much. It was good fun being a captain, although with all the things you needed to do you did spend more time with the other captains than with your team. It also meant you had less time to play your games than anyone else. And I was pretty lucky in that we had enough territories and soulstones that it didn't really needed much management. But some sort of captains phase where you are not rushing around the hall as they set up games might be an idea. Also, the veto card seemed unnecessary/confusing. I never had time to figure out what to do with it. The achievements was a good idea, but some of them resulted in non-games where people would just take 2 8ss+ models and not really play the game. My only outing with Jakob was him and Graves, never looking at my hand, never cheating and never using soulstones. It took us maybe 20-30 minutes all told to play but gave a ton of points. You also had others that basically required you to dedicate your Master and\or other models just to that and not really do the game. Maybe fewer achievements overall, but more specific ones and more focused on things to do in the games will still letting you play. Maybe also having whatever you won or lost your game matter more? So you can't just throw the game for lots of points. Also, and I can't believe I'm saying that, but fewer games. I think it worked out okay, the original 7 would have been really manic. I think 5 good games should be enough for the weekend. Or have more games, but then do them in variable sizes. Overall though it was a lovely weekend and we meet some really great people. Got to put faces to a lot of names (that I'll then forget again!) and we had a lot of fun. So once again, thanks to the team for running it and to everyone there for making it fun. Edit: in terms of reporting scores, if they don't actually influence your next game would it be easier to just collect everyone's sheet after then first day and then update there score then?

I've made a habit of beating the Viktorias to death with Colette's cane (and she ain't a vicious combat master anymore). I can't see her making a habit of beating Jakob and Buggy to death with her cane. The durability, treaty ranges and risk involved in using them are just vastly different.

I've been thinking about trying out a Colette list featuring 5 or 6 Acolytes and while they are quite different I don't see why it shouldn't work for Rasputina. It will be a different crew than the "standard" one, but I would have thought it could do fine. Don't forget the Wendigo and maybe some cats. I don't think you need the ice constructs at all, they are decent but there are many other ways of playing Rasputina.

Added the Solent Wargamers to it.

All the effigies are in the wave 2 rules that you should still be able to find in the download section.

There is always the option of traveling where ever you are going on the Saturday, but that does rather increase the cost of going to an event. Another option might be to ask and see if anyone would be traveling in the same direction and could give you a lift?

Have you actually looked at them? They are really good scheme pieces. With Don't Mind Me they can interact while engaged and they can blow up enemy scheme markers at range. Not to mention having a quasi-lure(shorter range) with better triggers (damage or paralyse). They can find they place in a surprising number of crews.

Eh, I think the amount of scheme markers you need with Colette gets exaggerated. She can put down lots, but usually after about half a dozen you are facing real diminishing returns on doing so and need to so other stuff. Over a game you will put down more, but she also spends them and I found it very rare to need more than 10.

Interesting. For me that is almost an auto take along with Distract and Protect Territory. I very rarely/never take aLitS, outflank or take prisoner. I've seen take prisoner done successfully, but it really doesn't match my playatyle at all.

I like sorrows, but they are certainly not mandatory. One can be a good buy inany Neverborn lists though and I often bring two with Pandora but it really depends on what else I need. Also disagree with the assertion that Fears Given Form and Sorrows don't mix. I run 1-2 Fears Given Form models in my Pandora crew all the time and as long as you plan for it its not really a problem.

I'll definitely get some Guards when Lucius arrives at some point. Possibly some molemen as well. The rest are fine, but nothing to make me want to get a crew to include them in.

Me and Liz are definitely up for this, will ask around at the club tomorrow to see if anyone else wants to come down as well, but there will be at least two of us.

Yeah, both the Acolyte and Angelica have become stables in my Colette and Raspy crews. I usually use Langston in favour of fthe golem, but I could see using the golem if more resilience is required. And the two crews do play fairly well together, a little dependent on how many ice mirrors you feel Raspy needbut some showgirls can add a lot of interesting aspects to that. I really so think that Colette is an excellent second/utility master for Arcanist because she will work with whatever models you already have while not being very demanding in terms of you having to bring 'her own' models. And she makes every one better.

Colette is a lot of fun to use, so if your interested in her I can only recommend her. As an added bonus she is very flexible and can make good use out of a lot of different models. She will play well with anyone else's models. For instance my standard crew with her includes a December Acolyte and I'm tempted to try her with the Golem as well as she can make him a lot faster. And some of her 'own' models are also very good for other masters, Angelica, Cassandra and Performers all have roles in other crews.

I tend to use both Cassandra and Langston, but the benefits of Cassandra is that she is cheaper (by 4ss), she have a good range attack, she can use soulstones and she is, in my experience, harder to kill. She doesn't hit as hard as Langston, but she can hit hard enough.