DavicusPrime

I'm noticing a trend... The choice tends to depend on which faction you have the most models from. I started Malifaux in 1.5 with Ramos then Kaeris, so when I added Mei to my collection, I naturally use her as an Arcanist. My usual opponent has quite a lot of 10T models and has offered to let me borrow some so I can run her as 10T, but I'm so unfamiliar with them, I just haven't tried it yet. -DavicusPrime

Hey Jordan... A little birdy told me he was tossing his Tara crew to someone in Auburn and I thought it sounded like you. -Dave

One other thing I just remembered... Never spend stones on Ophelia's weapon upgrades. Since she and/or her totems can equip them on the fly, spend those stones on more models or upgrades for the gang. -DavicusPrime

To sum up... The all caps Text indicates the model has additional traits that allow certain masters' special abilities to interact with those models during crew selection and potentially during play. An example from my collection: with Mei Feng as my master, I can take her as a Ten Thunders or Arcanist. Her special rules allow me to take up to 4 "Foundary" models in her crew that are not the same faction I declared. As of right now her hiring options include Kang (Ten Thunders), Rail Workers (TT or Archnist), Metal Gamin (Archist) and Rail Golem (Archanist) all have the FOUNDARY trait. The main thing this does is let her declare as TT and still be able to bring in the Rail Golem and the metal gamin. If she goes arcanist, it lets her bring Kang along even though he is TT. -DavicusPrime

Main draws for me: *Low cost of entry: Starter Box + Deck of cards. There are lots of game-aid resources downloadable from this forum (Counters/markers/summary sheets) that folks have made on their own and share with us for free. The only other things you need to acquire are tape measures and terrain which you ought to have from your warmahordes back ground. *Low model Count: My background is 40K and I have never had a fully painted army. Ever. I love building and converting miniatures as well as building terrain, but painting is like pulling teeth. I've got three masters and associated crews for Archanists which add up to 28 models that I can mix and match to build all kinds of configurations typically totaling up to 6-8 models on the table. 28 models is barely enough to get started with a 40K army, and would never get past 50% painted. As of now I almost have my Ramos crew painted which is a huge moral victory! *Cards > Dice: In every game I've ever played, my dice have hated me. I may get a periodic streak of luck quickly petering out to strings of 1's. The card mechanic in this game has been so much more enjoyable. You aren't at the mercy of a die roll, you can tweak the outcomes through your control hand and the use of soul stones in such a way that really puts more tactical power literally in your hand. The black joker still mocks me, but there's only one of those in the deck so it doesn't hurt so bad. :-P *Wildly varied themes that strangely make sense together: The way this game melds multiple genres into one unified whole is amazing. I like the Steam punk elements (the main draw for me initially) which turn up in both the Guild and Archanist factions. But you've got Victorian Horror (Seamus = if Jack the ripper was also a necromancer, McMourning = Dr. Frankenstien, etc.), Asian crime syndicate/mythology (Ten Thunders), Weird Western (The Ortegas, Gremlins), surreal nightmare fodder (pretty much all of the Neverborn) and a bunch of soldier types and sword wielding mercenary chicks (outcasts). Malifaux, the ultimate melting pot! *Scenario/Schemes matter: I've had my crew all but wiped out and still won the game. This game rewards playing the scenario, not just slaughtering everything that moves. Eliminating models is usually a good idea, but not if it gets in the way of getting those precious victory points. MY main problem with the game is that there is a steep learning curve. Every model, even the lowliest of peon, has a lot of options that interact with each other in good and bad ways. Learning how to utilize all the abilities and available upgrades well has been a struggle for me, especially since I only get to play every other month. If I had more time to absorb and test things on the table I'd probably see this as a feature. Your Warmahordes background will probably be an asset to you in this regard. You're used to building a list around a warmaster's abilities and adding units that synergize well with his/her strengths/weaknesses. I've found this game to not be quick, however. A typical 50 stone game takes me 2-3 hrs (rule and model familiarity shortens that, but I've never seen a game that's fairly even go less than 1.5 hrs). Running a game with 12-16 models on the table (6-8 per side) can take a while. The later turns tend to speed up nicely as casualties increase and objectives become more clear. If you start with a smaller sized game would reduce the time too. -DavicusPrime

Thanks for the update, Nate.

Ophelia's is the only crew I have for Gremlins so I've gotten used to just having the kin and a pair of slop haulers. When my Somer box finally gets shipped, I'll get a clue how to use the more "Vanillia" gremlins with the kin. But I'm getting a lot of ideas how the mix and match action will open up some new options. Models I have... Ophelia Francios Raphael Rami Pere Young Lacriox x 3 Slop Haulers x 2 How I typically run them: Gremlins Crew - 50 - Scrap Ophelia LaCroix -- 7 Pool +Dirty Cheater [1] Young LaCroix X 3 [6] Francois LaCroix [7] +Dirty Cheater [1] Pere Ravage [6] Rami LaCroix [7] Raphael LaCroix [7] +Gremlin-see [1] Slop Hauler [5] Slop Hauler [5] The full cache lets you add/change the upgrades that make sense for the scheme/strategy mix. The above is just a generic 50ss list using the limited models I've got. If aiming for a smaller game I drop Pere and a young lacroix or two. Ophelia, Raphael and Francois go in and tear things up while Rami plinks targets and holds ground. The young can either tag along with O and/or hang back with Rami to add their meager fire power to the mix. I use O to catapult Pere into the opponent to tie things up for a turn and soften them up when he inevitably bites it and goes explodey. The Haulers follow the action as frontline medics and slopping the enemy when they make the mistake of giving me targets. O's aim high ability lets her and her bro's shoot the smeg out of what ever Pere is able to engage. The main issue with a kin heavy list is that you can't take casualties like Somer's crew can. You've got an enforcer heavy list that can dish out tons of damage but requires that they take a lot of damage along the way to do it. I consider the Haulers mandatory to keep all these little green psychos on their feet. That really makes the kin feel very different from Somer's gang. I'm looking forward to adding Lenny to the Kin to see how powerful that Aura of Dumb Luck triggering Rams turns out. -DavicusPrime

Foundry Models as far as I can remember: Mei Feng (Arcanist/Ten Thunders) Emberling (Arcanist/Ten Thunders) Kang (Ten Thunders) Rail Worker (Arcanist/Ten Thunders) Rail Golem (Arcanist) Metal Gamin (Arcanist) -DavicusPrime

It's the later. Wyrd is the old english word for fate. -DavicusPrime

I'm an old 40K player too. And since the standard for that is 25% terrain on a 4' x 6' board , I've got plenty of terrain to populate a 3' x 3' board between 33% and 50%. All of my "wilderness" terrain pieces fit right in which was a couple dinner plate sized forests, several hills, rock formations and rocks and bushes scatter pieces. I've since added a 3 part bayou piece that fills about a quarter of the board by itself that includes a bridge, island and shack on a platform. I added in some terraclips sets to the mix to bring in some victorian looking stuff to replace my old cities of death stuff and add some height differences, and I'll eventually start making some victorian style buildings of my own to add variety. -DavicusPrime

I use FFG Standard Card sleeves (63.5mm x 88mm, or 2.5" x 3.5"). But any brand will do For stat cards I don't use sleeves, the plastic coating on the cards is fine for dry erase, but for any of the cards I've printed out, either errata'd cards or Beta test, I print on regular printer paper and slide it into a sleeve. -DavicusPrime

I'm right there with you. Howie is a must include for me. Being faster and with Nimble, Howie is able to get in and make a mess of things quite nicely. And when Howie doesn't work out, he was at least drawing a lot of fire off Ramos and his spider buddies. I have an LSA model, so I plan on using it at least every once in a while. But his stats aren't inspiring. I could totally see using it as more of a body guard for Ramos than a front line beatstick. But last edition I found it the same. It's a minion level melee construct, not an enforcer thug like Howie. -DavicusPrime

As mentioned above, the size does indeed matter for markers in this game. For many of the games I've played over the last couple years, we've bought and used extra bases as they're already the right sizes. In the last year I've found folks on this forum have put together pdf's with the nice art for various markers and tokens used in this game. I've printed these out as needed, glued them to card and cut them out. Making them pretty darn cheap and very easy to use as they are about 1.5mm thick the way I make them (double sided with two layers of poster board) and very flat so stacking them and placing models on them are never an issue. Since M2E came out I've been looking at all the options I can find for markers out there and the cost for acrylic and wooden markers puts me off. I'd rather not spend a starter box worth of cash on a play aid. So the paper markers have been my solution, thanks to all you folks who are smarter than me regarding putting together the art and who've been kind enough to share the results of your work. -DavicusPrime

I can think of one interesting use of the Young Lacroix and Jug Rocket. Since the shot can be made w/o LOS which then lets you use them as a short range mortar team from behind terrain. More and more, it seems that Ophelia's upgrades are situational. But the fact that you can swap them out during a game as needed makes O very flexable. -DavicusPrime

The starter covers the majority of what you'll need. I would add an electrical creation or two if you like the idea of summoning those (I just picked up a second one now that they aren't unique). And depending on how you base the spiders, you'll probably want a third set of them. If you're able to summon 2-3 more than a couple times during a game and they don't get killed off very quick you'll start running out of models to summon. I've magnetized mine, but even then I grabbed 3 sets. -DavicusPrime

I'm looting this here idea. Now I've got a reason to wander through a section o the local Hobby Lobby I've never had reason to enter before. :-P I've seen a couple variations on this and it can be extremely well done but it seemed that an airbrush or spray paint are needed if you want things the color you want. I guess I'll need to hit the fabric store now too. I've seen many 40K terrain pieces with aquarium plants right out of the box, but for scifi you can get away with odd colors. I found rocks and small bits of clump foliage can make good "wilderness" scatter terrain. I use scrap bits of foam from making hills to make the rocks, glue them to some old 60mm and 30mm GW flying bases I had handy add sand and paint. Then put a few bits of clump foliage around the base of the rock. There's nothing keeping you from just grabbing some small stones out of your yard to save time and cash. For trees and other things, a trip to the model train shop and a couple blisters of 50mm bases and you'll be fine. I really like making my own stuff but it does take a lot of my hobby time. I end up with some very nice boards with lots of unpainted minis :-P -DavicusPrime

Thanks for this, Crikeymiles. And Thanks for all the rest of you who helped him refine the cards. Pays to be late to the party/ *smug* -DavicusPrime

I guess I'll jump in... Painted: Ramos Howard Langston Electrical Creation 1 Arachnid Swarm 1 Ready for Paint: Brass Arachnid Arachnid Swarm 2 Ophelia Rami Pere Raphael Francios Slop Haulers 1 & 2 Young Lacroix 1-3 Large Arachnid Gunsmith 1 Kaeris Johan Need Assembly/Conversion: Joss (Adding mechanical arm to old metal Fig) Arachnid Swarm 3 Electrical Creation 2 Rail Crew Gunsmith 2 Fire Gamin 1-3 Current Ratios: Painted/Unpainted/Unassembled 4 / 16 / 12 12.5% / 50% / 37.5% All the metal models from the Kaeris box are on hold as I may just replace them with the new plastics when they finally roll out, same with Johan as the model really doesn't fit the new stats. But all the Gremlins and Non-Kaeris Arcanists need to get done this year. The only new additions expected for the year will be the Somer and Brewmaster plastics when they roll out and the metal gamin and rail golem when I can scrounge up the cash. -DavicusPrime

I'm in agreement on all of the above. But strength isn't the only consideration for Ice Gamin. Their ability to be Raspy's extension and their ability to complete schemes is their main strength. The Ice Golem is meant to be a cruise missile that punishes you for killing it. The december acolyte is another very good model for Raspy. Their harpoon gun trigger can be used to pull attackers off of Raspy and the From the Shadows ability lets them be in the right place from the beginning of the game. Again, I agree. I started with Ramos in 1.5 and was very disappointed as he got overshadowed by just about everybody post book 1. I've been having a lot more fun with him in M2E. So I guess I got lucky this time around. -DavicusPrime

Raspy's ability to hand out slow and paralysis as well as letting her minions do the dirty work while she stays in cover is going to keep folks off of her the early part of the game. Opponents with movement tricks are probably the biggest threat. She has plenty of ways to protect herself as well. Cold Nights lets her put up two touching 50mm Ice Pillars between her and an opponent. Child of December lets her ignore pulses and blasts as well as lets her use a 0 action to thrash anyone she successfully paralyzes. And then her defensive trigger shuts down the attacker's activation once they land a hit. Just because she's not a melee master doesn't mean she's defenseless. -DavicusPrime

I play Ramos and have faced off against Raspy once since M2E. Ramos: I have used the trick mentioned above with the hired Electrical Creation and Ramos' Magnetism to start the summoning. I've also just started out with a hired swarm and a pair of single spiders. Both ways seemed to work great. My MVP for Ramos' crew was Howard Langston (Howie) in two out of 4 games. With Imbued Protection, he held the center against the Ice Golem for quite a while and also held a whole side the entire game vs. the Viks, taking out a Ronin, Hannah and tar-pitted a strong arm. I found the combination of individual spiders latch on ability and Ramos' Ranged attack to be quite effective as it ignores armor and doesn't randomize when used against engaged models. A great way to keep the old guy in the fight. And when a construct bites it in LOS and inside 8" he heals 2 points, so having construct body guards is a good move. Joss is very effective as well and once he starts chopping things up, he drops scrap counters regardless of what he kills. Giving Ramos more material to work with. I was having a lot of trouble utilizing the Brass arachnid early on with having to be within 6" to cast reactivate, but with a little planning and a good card in the ole' control hand helps out with that. The main lack in a Ramos crew is ranged attacks. I've used a gunsmith once early on in the beta with mixed results. I suspect that the current rules are more favorable. He helped greatly with softening up the Ronin that Howie eventually eliminated but had trouble getting damage to stick on the Viks. As for the spiders... A swarm is awesome for it's ability to "clean up" scheme markers. If an opponent looks like he's setting up to claim line in the sand or other such schemes, the swarm can walk into the middle of them and eat every scheme marker in a 4" pulse. Just be careful of your own markers as they eat 'em all. The single spiders are useful objective runners and a general nuisance. Latch on can make the more difficult targets easier for the rest of your crew to handle and their ability to be used as bombs by Ramos makes them dangerous anytime. Metal Gamin seem to work well with Ramos and Mei Feng. Their primary abilities tend to favor a defensive stance. So seem to work best as bodyguards. Gunsmiths are a needed ranged threat any arcanst can use. I think they work best with Kaeris and her burning centric crew, but can hold their own with the others, as mentioned above. Fire Gamin aren't really all that impressive to me. They, again seem to favor Kaeris over other masters. Ramos' spiders can do most of what they can do and can be spawned as needed. Haven't tested out the Miners or Mages yet, so others will have to report on those. Raspy: I've only played against her once (using Ramos) but it was a pretty hard fight. The Ice Golem was a potent force to be reckoned with. It and Howie met in the middle and beat the smeg out of each other during turns 2 & 3. Raspy never had to expose herself the whole game, using her minions to launch her spells. So I never really got a shot at her. I won in the end by VP. But losses were high. -DavicusPrime

I recently played a 35 stone game with a list similar to your first one (subtract one Youngin, Pere, Lenny and the Bayou Gremlins and add a slop hauler). Ophelia doesn't need to bring in any of her weapon upgrades as she and the youngins can grab those on the fly. If you're going enforcer heavy with the core LaCroix models, having a way to heal them is a good idea. Rami can heal himself, but the rest either need someone with the Quality Mash Liquor or a slop hauler (which I prefer as they can give upto 4 models a healing flip at once). The swarm list probably can get away without needing a healer. I'm still working out what upgrades are the best. I like Gremlin See because my opponent likes running Sonnia who hands out burning a lot. Stilts and teamwork feel pretty situational, but Dirty Cheater and Quality Mash Liquor seem more universally useful. -DavicusPrime

It does take some getting used to, doesn't it? :-P My usual opponent has the new Hired Swords Box, but he got it at Gencon so he has a bunch of stuff the rest of us have only recently been able to get. Beckoners are Neverborn who can be hired by any of the other Neverborn masters or Jakob Lynch who is a Ten Thunders Master. Arsenal boxes are useful for getting the generic upgrade cards for a faction and for getting the M2E cards for any of the older models you might already have. You can theoretically just photocopy the cards out of the rulebook and put the copy into a card sleeve so you can use dry erase markers, but it's annoying. On the flip side, since you're just getting into the game, you'll have less need for the arsenal decks than us established folks. What I've been finding is that buying the decks and new models, you're going to end up with multiple copies of cards you only need one of. But that seems to be par for the course. My usual opponent and I have ended up spliting arsenal boxes since we have masters in the same factions. Then we've photocopied the generics so we both have a copy. -DavicusPrime

Argentbadger hit a lot of the main points. I'll see what I can add. You build lists in this game by faction. You and your opponent pick the game size in soulstones (Translation: Soulstones = points). Then you declare the faction you'll be using. Then you randomly generate the strategy and schemes that will determine the winner (Think Mission and side missions). You, then, pick which master or henchman from your chosen faction to lead the crew (Master or Henchman depends on the size of the game) then you hire your crew from whithin the faction. Some models are dual faction which means either faction shown on their card can hire them, and some are mercenaries that can be hired by anyone but cost an extra soulstone if they're from outside your declared faction. You can only ever have a single master in your list, but there are no other restrictions by type. For markers, you'll need 30mm and 50mm disks. There are folks who have made some nice art work that you can print onto card or on paper then glued to card (like I did) that you can find on the forum here. I've used a combination of extra 30mm bases and card markers with graphics from Ratty's token and marker pdfs. Scheme, Scrap and Corpse Markers are all 30mm, while blasts and Lilith's temporary terrain markers are all 50mm. Start with any of the new Starter boxes and the main rulebook. I suggest the full rule book rather than the small one as it has all the rules for all the wave one models so you can see what's available to all the factions. Hope that helps. -DavicusPrime

It's only been a problem during my first game for my Ramos crew. The issue was not realizing that scavanger is no longer a part of the rules. I was used to being able to spend my first activation creating a scrap counter out of thin air then summoning an arachnid right off the bat. Now you've got to kill something to generate one. And, as stated, Joss has some tricks that lets you get additional scrap markers out of anything you kill. The Large Arachnid Beta has the same rule as well. Now days I bring an electrical creation along with my crew to get killed first turn so Ramos can start the spider building machine. This is only an issue in the first couple turns though. About half way through the game, there are usually more counters on the table than I can use. I assume it's a similar story for Rezzers and corpse markers. So if you need a corpse marker during your first or second turn, you'll need to be creative. After that, they tend to pile up. -DavicusPrime