iamfanboy

Well, because then you can have backup and won't lose an angle if you lose a model: Angelica AND the Captain together mean that you'll have plenty of pushes available, Cujo and the Captain together means that you'll DEFINITELY control multiple areas of the board, Johan and the Captain do a massive amount of melee together (and reinforce each other!), and so on. But what you're asking is, "Is it better to pay 12ss for Joss and 7ss for Angelica, or 13ss for the Captain who can do the job of either depending on what you need during the game?" I mean, my heart will always belong to Cass and Carlos, but sometimes you need flexibility, not focus. Joss has a razor-sharp focus on cutting down tanks, but he is predictable, a known quantity... and his main defense is the one that everyone expects when you declare Arcanists.

Huh. Looks like one of my drafts somehow lost the words that the checklists are 'meant to be a guideline, and there exist models which don't explicitly fit a category yet are definitely in it." *edit edit edit* However.... Remember the target audience: beginning players, either coming to Malifaux from wargames where a model is a special snowflake if it has even TWO rules unique to it or completely new to wargaming altogether, and existing players who struggle to eke out wins because they pick Ophelia over Zipp in a Squatter's Rights game (sorry Brian). If he had looked at the two Masters and understood that one is a Beater/Tank and the other is a Buffer/Controller with a bent towards preventing Interacts, then he would have done better. Establish the baseline, then the deviation from the baseline. Or if you prefer, KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. I can look at every role (aside from summoner) and see models that don't fit in the guidelines yet are that role. However, each role's exception is only like what, 1-5 models out of 300ish? 80-90% coverage is within acceptable deviation in a game as complicated as Malifaux. Not like the Alpha Strike system where a simple program with fewer than 20 lines can easily establish a model's role (and Role is an actual, important game aspect!) yet the designers went with "What feels right in universe." Feh. Lucius is a Buffer, which states in its text: "Oftentimes they're the linchpin of a list, the combo piece that other models rely upon - and since few of them are Tanks, it means that special care should be taken in identifying and removing Buffer models." Emphasis added. He adds soulstones, generates AP, redistributes AP, gives negatives to flips, and allows Minions to break the Interact rule. I mean... was I too wordy? Did I somehow lose the focus of the reader?

Oh, darnit. I forgot to write that I count each type of damage reduction. Should Soulstone use be counted as well? Because that can make some models mighty tanky with damage reduction or buying on Defense flips. And you're right about the Rail Golem and some other models, like Sue, don't count either... Should it be all the way down to 5 with a ? Or just 5? Because 4 is unreliable, but 5 by itself I feel is borderline at best. 5 would be acceptable.

What you might do is go over the Masters and their backstories on the Malifaux Masters web page and see which ones grab her - I know my fiance didn't want to play Malifaux at all until I talked about the Dreamer... That said, Rasputina has several different advantages: 1) She herself is very easy to pilot as a ranged beater that can use any unengaged Frozen Heart model within 10" as an arc node (to use a WM/H term). 2) Her theme is VERY strong - with Ice Dancers to move around the table, a player can accomplish almost any set of scheme and strategy with just Frozen Heart models, and Frozen Heart straight ignores Horror which a lot of models rely on for defense. 3) Her storyline is that she came to Malifaux as a prisoner, made a deal with a god of winter for power, and has since given that god the middle finger and told him who's boss - and it's HER. Who WOULDN'T like that story? 4) A lot of her theme models (Silent Ones, Acolytes, Ice Dancer, Snow Storm) are really strong for Arcanists generally, making her a good starting place. Downsides: 1) The Ice Golem in the box is a "toss in the bits bin, don't bother putting it together" piece... one of the very few like that in Malifaux. He's just too slow and dies too fast. 2) She's very predictable and her crew in general is very slow - if you kill the Ice Dancers she struggles to do any serious Interact or Scheme Marker based Schemes. 3) Models with high WP or that have strong anti-Ca stuff (such as Sonnia) can be a hard counter. Generally speaking, the soundest way to start Malifaux is to pick two Masters that balance each other well and add the vital pieces from there.

I usually don't do it myself, but I tried it the Oiran I painted above. I used a dark metallic green instead of black and... It doesn't pop very well. It's THERE, I can zoom in on the unshrunk image and see it, but at a tabletop level it's not as effective as black. Ah well, failed experiments and all that.

Bloody hell, sorry, I meant "Line in the Sand" and "Claim Jump" - somehow the two got conflated in my head into one name that already existed. I blame the pneumonia on top of allergies. I made changes. Seven roles, obviously, but I switched "Killing" to "Removing" - and let's face it, that would deserve ANOTHER article, and I'm sure it exists somewhere - and expanded a bit on the Buffer section. I forgot about removing Conditions, can you believe that? Changed the criteria for Schemer, and added a notation about burying models... not that a whole lot of models can actually DO that (mostly Tara's stuff?) but still, needs to be noted.

I wish I could find an '-er' word for the Chaff, just to fit with the aesthetic of the other categories. Fodder! It also gives us a category to place "After dying, x" models; it's hard to think of Pere Ravage as anything other than a mobile bomb. I think the criteria for the Fodder category is: 1) Is it 4 Soulstones or under? 2) Is it Significant? 3) Can it be Summoned? 4) When it is removed from the table, does it have any special effects? If the answer to ANY of these is 'yes', then it's Fodder - but the more yeses, the better the model is. Fodder is vital for activation control; if you have 10 models and your opponent has 7, that lets you stack 3 models in a row after theirs. Most of the time, Fodder dies quickly, but if activated quickly it can still do its job - especially if that job is dropping a Scheme Marker or two. Fodder also usually have few options and are obvious in what they're doing, meaning that little information is revealed if you activate Fodder early in the turn, compared to models with lots of options that you may wish to hold back and respond to the opponent's moves. Sometimes, fodder even WANTS to die, and can thus serve as further activation control: Your opponent has to target this 2ss model before it Bacon Bombs all over his face, or your opponent doesn't want to target the Performer because Colette just finished activating and is within 2". Does that seem all right for an entry? I kind of like seven anyway, it has a pleasant asymmetry and matches the Malifaux faction number.

First off, thank you guys. The last couple of days I've posted on some other forums and been completely ignored. Paranoid delusions and all that, now cured thanks to you. @Nikodemus and @Angelshard, I agree with you, after looking at it on the table. 4" is enough even for Stake a Claim, because a 30mm base is more than wide enough to drop Scheme Marker - move 4" - drop Scheme Marker directly opposite the first. 6" is a safety margin, and I was looking at the Necropunk specifically when I created that metric, but doing so also excludes other good models. Schemer also needs another metric: Can it ignore any part of the Interact rules? Specifically Don't Mind Me, but also placing Scheme Markers closer together than 4", or being able to place Scheme Markers in places other than base contact. Sigh, nothing is ever perfect in a first draft... Angelshard, Schemes like Bodyguard and Undercover Entourage are considered Killing VPs because Killing VPs are all about removing and keeping models on the table - if one player wants them gone, the other player wants them to stay. The only difference is which side of the table wants what, and whether it's about denying or earning VPs thereby. They're two sides of the same coin. I need to clarify that point, maybe rename the category to Removing VPs. A while ago I thought that there should be two separate categories, like you, but then I realized that they were the same thing, only flipped backwards. @Dogmantra... *looks at Bayou Gremlin* It can move 10" and generate 1 AP for Interacts with Drunk & Reckless, which is one of the reasons I picked that specific number - along with Terror Tots and Crooligans (albeit the latter moves 5", Interacts, and then teleports 5"). Where my metric DOES fail is on Insidious Madnesses. 4" with 2 AP and 7" with 1 AP are, I think, the new numbers when I revise the document. Chaff is definitely a solid idea, but what else should be in there? What should the defining criteria be? Extremely cheap models (4ss and under)? Influences the boardstate through sacrificing itself? Controls activation order through extra bodies? Yes, this has potential. There are other rare excluded models as well - Rooster Riders fall through the cracks of the system (though I suppose they could Beak, Beak + Stampede into Beak, Beak for Beater, and 7" Walk + 1 AP makes them Scheme well), Void Wretches... Ah! Controller should also have a notation about "Removing models from the game," that would put Void Wretches in the proper category, I think - and give Death Marshals the dual category of Beater and Controller, which is what they do. Frigging thing, boxing The Captain for three turns of Henchman Hardcore... I also really want to split Healer into another category. Removing Conditions or recovering Wounds is rare, but important enough that it should be taken special note of... and then I keep deciding against it. And thinking it should have its own category. And deciding against it. And then... However, I EMPHATICALLY disagree that Summoner and Buffer are the same thing, and any MMO player would agree - and that was one of the main reasons I disagreed with @Rathnard's original article in the first place. If newly created models are counted as an extension of the Summoner and it's a Tank thing because it means more Wounds the opponent has to get through (as was his original point), then it's also a Beater thing because the new models can deal damage... and a Schemer thing because of additional AP... and a Control thing because of influencing the boardstate through placement... and a Buff thing because of additional AP and activation control... while being none of those exactly, because the new model is not the Summoner. Does the Mechanical Rider hold a table quarter for Interference, or does the Metal Gamin she dropped? Does the Dreamer Lure a model in for Pounces, or does Lilitu? Does Colette give the + to flips, or the Mechanical Dove? ...And so on. Today I'm off to visit my mom in the hospital (nothing serious, they're keeping her there for observation), and then it's my weekly Malifaux day, so I may not get back to this until 12 hours from now.

Another advantage of the Captain: in a highly mixed Scheme Pool, it's really hard to predict WHAT he's doing for you. Joss just does two things: be hard to kill, and kill things. The Captain kills things. Or moves things. Or burns things. Or creates terrain. He's as much a controller as he is a beater. On top of that, in this current "FFM is on Rams" environment, a simple "This model gets Burning" with no risky damage track attached is helpful. The Firestarter does that, but he also has "I Did It!" which negates the whole REASON to stack Burning on a model for FFM.

First off, I want to say that I'm not all-knowing and I'm writing this to help out some friends who are having a bit of trouble with the difference between Malifaux and other wargames. If you want to offer some insight, I'd be glad to read it! Second, I know that @Rathnard put an article similar to this in Wyrd #8, but it was... well... it's obsolete now, and I'm not here to heckle another man's writing, particularly when it served as a foundation for my own work. I just felt as though a more organized method of evaluating a model would help players understand what category it fits into and when to use them. Anyway, off to the body of this thing! THE SEVEN ROLES OF MALIFAUX MODELS AND HOW TO USE THEM Games of Malifaux are won or lost on ignorance. Period. Luck can be a factor, as can skill, but when you see lopsided games that came down to 10-0 it was because one player possessed knowledge, and the other did not - and often, the difference between a 9-7 score can be attributed to an unfortunate moment of "WHAT?!" Not knowing your opponent's models is understandable; there are nearly 300 models in the game, each one with unique niches and twists. But not knowing your OWN models - what they are capable of, what strategies and schemes that they can achieve for you - is asking for defeat. Some people pick up the knowledge in a try-and-die way, others fanatically study podcasts and wikis and battle reports, but neither are necessary if one actually looks at a card and evaluates it logically to see which of six roles a model fits into. And I'm here to teach you how to do just that. Not only will it help you understand your own models, but using this method will let you quickly assess your opponent's models and note what roles they're likely to do... which will give you more knowledge of how the game will proceed. Five of the roles will be superficially familiar to any MMORPG player - with twists just for Malifaux - but one is unique to the game. Those roles are Beater (Removes models from the table to win), Tank (Endures damage to win), Buffer (Modifies statistics, enemy or ally, to win), Controller (Causes extra movement to win), Summoner (Creates new bodies and more Action Points to win), Schemer (Generates extra Interacts to win), and Fodder (Outweighs activation order to win). Many Malifaux models fit into several of these roles; for example, Colette can do almost all of them. She can attack four times in a round at a high Ml and decent damage track; is nearly impossible to kill if she's laid Scheme Markers properly and the opponent lacks an ability to bypass triggers; redistributes her own AP and generates Soulstones/Cards; moves friendly models around; summons Peons; and can benefit from her own aura as well as various triggers to generate additional Interacts and Scheme Markers. She's better at some of them than others, (only rarely will she take swings on models herself), but she CAN do them. Conversely, Sonnia Criid is ONLY a Ranged Beater - while she can absolutely delete enemy models, particularly grouped up ones, Sonnia struggles to do anything else aside from some highly circumstantial options on her upgrades. Each role is suited for different categories of Victory Points (Schemes and Strats), which I'll briefly touch on before going into the nitty-gritty of how to evaluate a model. They are Placing, Removing, Interacting, and Mixed. Placing VPs are earned by having models in specific locations - center of the board, edge of a table, quarter zone control, and so on. Beaters, Tanks, Controllers, and Summoners are all good for Placing VPs. Beaters remove scoring enemy models, Tanks stand their ground, Controllers move enemy and friendly models, and Summoners just outplace their opponent - and Fodder, summoned or not, can be important for simply outnumbering the enemy. Turf War and Take Prisoner are examples. Removing VPs are all about taking models off the table (permanently!) to win - the only twist is whether it's you that wants to remove the model, or your opponent. It's both sides of the same coin. Beaters and Tanks are REQUIRED for this one, all models but Schemers have a role to play in these VPs. Frame For Murder and are examples. Interacting VPs are earned by that unlisted action, Interact. Schemers and Summoners are the go-to models for Interacting, but Controllers can move models to more easily use Interacts, and Significant Fodder can simply bury the opponent in cheap AP to win. Mixed VPs require two different categories above, and are more common in the Gaining Grounds documents. Headhunter, for example, requires Beaters to kill, but also likes Schemers to Interact with the dropped heads. Undercover Entourage is both Placement and Removing (or the lack thereof). When you flip over the game's Scheme and Strat mix, mentally divvy them into the above categories and see if there is any overlap that might make your selection of models easier - if you have Reckoning, Make Them Suffer, and Assassinate in the pool, it's easy to see how you can earn multiple VPs from well-chosen Beaters. Reconnoiter and Outflank, Line in the Sand and Squatter's Rights... all similar VP conditions that certain models could easily dominate. Now that we've loosely defined which VPs go with which model roles, let's explain how to DEFINE a model's role. While this is meant as a guideline and there exist exceptions to each role, the vast majority of Malifaux models are covered herein. BEATER Beaters are raw damage dealers. and as such are generally necessary in almost any build - yes, VPs may depend on scoring Interactions and placing, but removing enemy models can deny opponent VPs, which is just as important as scoring them yourself. Defining a Beater is usually as simple as running the raw numbers. Do they: 1) Have at least one attacking stat at 6+ which they can use often? 2) Deal at least 6 damage total minimum in one activation, including Poison, Burning, free and normal Actions like Flurry and Sidearm, or Triggers? 3) Ignore any Tank abilities such as Armor, Hard to Wound, or Triggers? If at least two of the above apply, the model is a Beater. Like most wargames, Beaters fall into Ranged and Melee categories, but unlike most wargames they also may target different defensive stats, which gives a further level of definition. The reason for #3 is that some models with those may not deal a great deal of damage overall, but when an opponent has a hefty Tank on the field they are invaluable for removing said Tank. A lot of models, especially Masters, qualify for the Beater category, and in a pinch can do just that - but the difference between a Master that could deal damage or one which is dedicated to dealing damage is usually obvious and defined by how many other roles they fit into. My personal notation for these tends to go "Sonnia Criid Beater Ranged Wp" but you may prefer something different. TANK While nothing in Malifaux is invincible, Tanks are defined as models that require a great deal of AP to remove. This requires real calculus - is removing said Tank necessary for your VPs, or can you ignore it? Tanks rely on more than just raw Df/Wp and Wd to survive; the other abilities on the front and back of their cards are just as important if not more so. When evaluating a model to see if it's a Tank, look at the following: 1) Does it have at least one Defensive stat at 6+ and more than 8 Wounds? 2) Does it have reliable defensive Triggers with the necessary Suit built into one stat? 3) Can it force passive duels just to target it, such as Horror or Manipulative? 4) Does it have any kind of reliable self-healing, either through a Tactical Action or Regeneration? Suited Triggers on attacks shouldn't be counted unless the Suit is built in. 5) Does it have damage reduction, through Abilities like Armor and Hard to Kill, or Actions like Bat Eyelashes or Southern Charm? Count each one seperately. Usually, if at least three of those apply, then it's a tank - and the more that apply, the better. Exceptions can be made for exceptionally strong stats and/or upgrades; as mentioned, Colette is ridiculously hard to kill if she's been dropping Scheme Markers, and Pandora with The Box Opens is almost not worth targeting with anything less than an El Mayor'ed Perdita. BUFFER I place Buffers and Debuffers in the same category, because they do essentially the same thing: Modify printed or unprinted statistics - amount of AP, cards flipped and in hand, or Soulstones in Cache - to help you score VPs. If it helps you to divide them into two separate categories, then do so, but sometimes in Malifaux an Ability or Action (such as Zoraida's Obey) is both a buff and debuff. Defining a Buffer is tricky but possible. Can it: 1) Redistribute its own AP to other models? 2) Generate or restrict certain Actions? 3) Modify printed Statistics, either through Abilities or Actions? 4) Modify number of cards flipped? 5) Add or remove Suits on duels? 6) Modify unprinted statistics - AP generated (lowering or raising), Soulstones in cache, or cards in hand? 7) Change the number of Wounds dealt? 8) Change the order of activation? 9) Restore lost Wounds to any injured model, not just itself? 10) Remove Conditions? Any of these means it buffs, but only models with at least two or three could be called Buffers. Oftentimes they're the linchpin of a list, the combo piece that other models rely upon - and since few of them are Tanks, it means that special care should be taken in identifying and removing Buffer models. The last two numbers, #9 and #10, are especially important, as healing models are rare in Malifaux. CONTROLLER Superficially, Controllers are similar to Buffers, but with a major difference - whereas the Buffer focuses on the numbers OFF the table (stats and cards), Controllers focus on what's ON the table and where it is. There definitely is overlap between the two; Zoraida's Obey can be used as a buff (to create extra attacks) or as control (to move models around the table via their own Walk actions). However, the number of models with Control abilities outstrips the number of models with Buff abilities and do something else entirely, so it's helpful to have them in their own category. Defining Controllers seems simple, but has a few twists. Does the model: 1) Redistribute its own AP? 2) Generate any inches of movement for friendlies? 3) Generate any Terrain? 4) Remove models from the table via Burying? 5) Generate extra movement for enemies? While any model with these abilities count as Controllers, and the more the better, it's only the last point, #5, which defines the strongest Controllers - moving your own models is great, but moving enemy models is fantastic. SUMMONER Summoners create extra bodies and more AP, simple as that. The advantage of Summoners is that they trade one of their AP for multiple AP over the course of the game - if the Dreamer summons a Lilitu that has three total AP and then takes two AP to kill, then the Dreamer player is up a total of (3+2-1) 4 AP. That is incredibly important, and good players behind a Summoner can control the entire course of a game. However, while there are a lot of models which can summon, they are not equally distributed, and many of them are bound by tight restrictions that make them nearly useless. Sonnia Criid's Reincarnation Upgrade is hardly worth planning a game around, whereas Nicodem's entire game is about placing models. The most important factor is whether the Summoner can generate Significant models. Summoning such models can make many Schemes and several Strats almost trivial to achieve if used well. However, even Insignificant summons can weight a game's activation order in a short time, and help other models achieve the VP condition. Almost all the worthwhile Summoners are Masters, but there exist exceptions - the Mechanical Rider is probably one of the best models in the game partly because of its ability to generate Significant models. SCHEMER Schemers are unique to Malifaux as a wargame. While any Significant model can spend their precious AP to Interact, Schemers are defined as models which can generate extra AP that allows it to use Interacts and still perform other Actions - moving, attacking, and so on. When evaluating a model to see if it's a good Schemer, check for the following: 1) Can it move at least 4" and still have two AP to Interact, or 7" and still have one AP? 2) Can it generate Scheme Markers through any Triggers, Abilities, or Actions? 3) Can it move or remove Scheme Markers? #1 is important because that's the distance between two Scheme Markers, meaning it can lay out most of an entire Scheme's needed output in one turn. #3 is important is because removing an opponent's Scheme Markers prevents them from scoring, which is just as good as scoring themselves - and often, models which remove Scheme Markers do so in exchange for benefits, such as the Guild's Executioner. Taking a Schemer is not always necessary, even if there is a solid Interact Scheme in the pool; Controllers and Buffers can turn any model into a highly effective Schemer, and Summoners can place Significant models right where they need to be in order to Interact. In fact, not choosing one can be a solid misdirection about which Schemes you've selected. On the other hand, it's hard to argue with a Silurid's or Necropunk's ability to catapult itself across the board and do its job. FODDER Fodder models are, in essence, disposable. Fodder is vital for activation control; if you have 10 models and your opponent has 7, that lets you stack 3 models in a row after theirs. Fodder also usually have few options and are obvious in what they're doing, meaning that little information is revealed if you activate Fodder early in the turn, compared to models with lots of options that you may wish to hold back and respond to the opponent's moves. When checking the card for its Fodder potential, look at: 1) Is it 4 Soulstones or under? 2) Is it Significant? 3) Can it be Summoned? 4) When it is removed from the table, does it have any special effects? If the answer to ANY of these is 'yes', then it's Fodder - but the more yeses, the better the model is. Most of the time, Fodder dies quickly, but if activated quickly it can still do its job - especially if that job is dropping a Scheme Marker or two. Sometimes, fodder even WANTS to die, and can thus serve as further activation control: Your opponent has to target this 2ss model before it Bacon Bombs all over his face, or your opponent doesn't want to target the Performer because Colette just finished activating and is within 2". IN CONCLUSION There's a long standing Sun Tzu quote about knowing yourself and your enemy and how it influences victory. I won't repeat it; if you've read it you'll skim over it and if you haven't go look it up yourself. Besides, this entire post is a paean to that quote! Using this method is very, very simple; most experienced players have arrived at a method much like this one for judging models. This is just an explanation of the process and how to do it yourself in a highly organized fashion. I hope that reading this helps you play the game. Malifaux is a game with outstanding rules and wonderful models; but it is also crowded with highly complicated models and difficult to understand interactions. Simplifying each down to a broad category has helped me as a player, and I would like it to do the same for you.

So, I hate taking pictures and seeing flaws in them that are frankly invisible at a normal level. Case in point, Lust. Another commission - a friend asked me to paint her like Lindsey Stirling and I decided to go "Extreme Ginger" - and make a real effort at it. There's a weird brown mark on the right of her face, and SOMEHOW there's a green smear on the violin's side. Thankfully this is still not sealed and I can go back and fix it, but still... A year ago I would have shrugged and said, "Good enough," because if I don't let go I get upset, but it's a pay job. I need to figure out something to take an underlit picture of the face because man, I put a lot of work into it and she's just shadowed. Maybe I should move one of the light strips from the top to the bottom instead... hmm... Also, got the Silent One done... mostly... What I thought was her nose must be a bit more of the mask extending upward and I need to fix that. Also extreme ginger because I had the color mixed up and said, "What the heck." Lastly, the Oiran I'm putting on a stage with my other Showgirls - the claw fist Oiran I don't much care for, and the naginata Oiran looks way too aggressive, but fangirl here looks like she'd be a perfect stage show. Her name is Korein (Colleen), a half-blood orphan from the streets of Nagasaki, and she parlayed her striking copper hair, natural grace, and charm to rise up in the Ten Thunders and become one of their Oiran capable of passing for a non-oriental. Yes, I made a TTB character based solely off this mini, though I did cheat in the Ten Thunders Station because, well, I had to.

I really should not find it adorable that you signed that base after painting it, but I do.

The Starter Set may as well be called "The Demo Set" because each part of it is carefully formulated to introduce players to Malifaux mechanics. Yes, all the models are Mercenaries so can TECHNICALLY be used with any Faction choice after you buy it, but they're frankly of dubious usefulness as mercs - it's more useful to people giving demos than anyone else. Though Angel Eyes is in almost all of my Neverborn Crews. Just so good at sniping! There are five scenarios, each one adding on new rules - #1 has just two models in melee for the core mechanic of card number + skill number = result, #2 has two models on each side to introduce movement and charging actions, #3 has Henchmen to introduce Triggers, (0) AP Actions and bonus AP, #4 adds Enforcers with pushes, Conditions, and situational skills, and #5 has full Soulstone use and Upgrades. Each model is also designed carefully to make sure that new players don't get overloaded. The Minions have no Triggers at all and only two Actions apiece, only one of the Henchmen has (0) Action and the other has the bonus AP from Nimble, and while the Enforcers have a typically Malifaux number of Triggers, they're also introduced last. The scenarios seem to be designed for people who've NEVER played a wargame before, however. For experienced wargamers, I tend to skip over scenario #1 and go straight to #2, then have #3 with Soulstones (because Henchmen don't feel like Henchmen without that), and then do #5 to introduce the concept of Victory Points and Enforcers. You can generally wrap all that up in an hour.

So, constructive criticism. I did nod several times while reading it - for example, I certainly never saw the connection between the Samurai and fishing for Aces, and it certainly helps fuel Lynch's end-turn bomb. I do like how you ran through most of the models. While I certainly do share your view on Beckoners versus Lilitu/Performers (I made the conscious choice to buy the twins over Beckoners for that very same reason, and already had Performers), I think where you're underselling them is that their ranged attack doesn't have a gun icon (meaning it can be fired into enemies already engaged with your Illuminated and Huggy, giving them Brilliance before the beaters go to town!) and in some Scheme Pools A Pleasant Distraction would be endlessly frustrating to an opponent, particularly if you've got Depleted acting as a tarpit to block easy access to your Beckoner. Mr. Tannen does seem like he does more work supporting other Masters than Lynch, despite the thematic tie-in, and has a sharply limited Scheme pool usefulness. There were several problems with it as an article, though. First off, you're incorrect about Depleted. Under The Influence gives the Brilliance Characteristic, meaning they're free to push towards anyone with Brilliance. Second, you were... cutesy, nonsensically so in some cases. Example sentence: " He’s Incorporeal and fast with a solid attack (weaboos beware) and an excellent Obey action." Why toss in a random and unimportant reference to Japanime fanboys in the middle of that sentence? There are two halves to good writing: Knowing how to write, and knowing how NOT to write. That's why editors are important, but a man can be his own editor if he's careful - just read over something that you've written and ask, "Is this necessary? How few words do I need to make my point?" Lastly - and I'm REALLY trying to say this nicely - the pullmyfinger wiki overall has a much more easily read and comprehensive look at Lynch. You have many good observations to make, many of them about Lynch as Ten Thunders that would no doubt be welcomed on there - the Samurai's ability to fish for Aces, along with the 10T Bro's natural synergy with Lynch's Ace-recycling, are easily the best arguments I've seen for running him in 10T, yet aren't even mentioned on Lynch's page! But as a separate article? I think your work is worse than the wiki's. That sounds harsh, I know, but when writing you've got to consider the body of literature that already exists. I literally tore apart a floppy disk of my stories when I heard about the Dresden Files because of how similar it was to his, and I refused to read the novels until last year - while I can see where I would have been different, it wouldn't have been ENOUGH different to feel like anything other than a Dresden Files clone, even though I'd written them long before I'd heard of Dresden.

Considering that there's a whole big thread in the Guild section partly about how Frame For Murder is basically free VPs for their opponent? I'd start there. Colette also avoids the pitfall of being super killy so she's unlikely to give away the full VP amount on it. Inspection would force them to make some hard choices about hunting down models and splitting their crew - and Guild may not have the mobility to move for both corners and maintain a presence in the center. Dig Their Graves would also be surprisingly hard, I'd think, since they'd have to carefully plot where to drop the Scheme Markers in order to kill your guys whereas you can spray them across the table for free and spend your AP killing. Set Up would be good for much the same reason. And of course, there's always Claim Jump. Always. Colette is surprisingly hard to kill, and so is Cassandra provided you always have Southern Charm up. One horrible thing I did to a beginning Perdita player was charge an Oiran into her and nail her with the No Witnesses trigger so she couldn't attack any Showgirls.

@Franchute, the vibrant yellow and blue contrasts perfectly with the rusty augmentations. That Joss really is awesome. Now, for my, ah... much less spectacular works. It's strange, I wish I could say that I was envious and really WANTED to emulate you, but truth is I can and I just can't bring myself to do it. I'm lazy, I want to play with fully painted forces instead of just wishing they were done, and I've had my heart broken in the past on spectacular paintjobs which were ruined by accidents. Oh, my poor Belldandy garage kit... But onto what I've finished since Wednesday. Stitched Together are just so... characterful, and part of the Essential Dreamer Kit. The gloss isn't really showing up well on their gory bits, though. *sigh* I'll admit, I LIKE this miniature. It reminds me of Final Fantasy 4's Sylph Cave, and while I can see why people call it the pukeworm, I always considered that to be because of an... unfortunate... color choice by the original artist. I went with blue because blue is the color of magic in my palette. Who am Groot? This guy Groot! For some reason, he's not photographing well at all; I swear to Ghost that he's highlighted well and looks like an old tree, not a brown mass. His base is a mix of the two different Neverborn themes I have (silvery gravel and black gravel) along with grass to represent his forest spirit. The most fun part of Gluttony was the python - yellow ochre details on its scales were fun to do. I realize now I forgot to paint the detail on his gremlin hand necklace. Ugh, tomorrow's job. He's not done because I have yet to fill in water on his base and figure out a method of flocking him. It's hard because I need to match basing done by someone else entirely - the customer bought a prepainted Ophelia crew and I don't have the same flock. Plus the painter used some fancy-ass long swamp grass that I can't find except from a German manufacturer selling it for a lot more than I want to pay and in far larger lots than I'll EVER use. Might have to steal a clump from one of the other minis he already owns. Same deal with the slop haulers here - I have to fill in their swamp water bases and couldn't do that until after sealing them. But I had my camera out and they were done otherwise, so.... The red, gory contents are nasty and interesting at the same time. Wasn't sure if it would work, but it does. So that was 16 models this week. Next week I have a lot fewer, but a lot more care to put into them. I'm looking forward to the Lindsey Stirling-based Lust. Figured out a good way to do coppery ginger hair.

A fair point, but maybe logfaux tracks too much data if that's the case - do we want to know - "Okay this master loses if FFM and Spring the Trap are on the table" - or do we just want more general data - "Guild McMourning is up, Guild Sonnia is down"? The idea of weaker/stronger players messing up the data, though, is harder. I know X-wing list juggler solves it by having two data entry points - between the 'entry' lists and the lists that actually make a cut in tournaments, Top 4/8/16 - so you can easily see what's rising to the top among a field of potential casuals. For example, the only T65 X-Wing that matters for top cuts is Biggs but lots of noobs bring Wedge, Luke, and other EU characters to the table. But I think that it's just the noise that we'd have to accept if we want any data at all on what masters are being used successfully or not. Or we could just, ya know, play whatever. I think defining what's good/bad is nearly impossible for a game like Malifaux because it's so situational and each player can choose NOT to bring a certain Master into a bad scheme/strat set. Compared to WM/H, where it's basically one game - "Capture the Flag and/or Kill the Enemy Boss" - Malifaux's games are all over the place and frankly, I think that data would be almost uselessly noisy in the general game. It's nearly unsolvable even if there were only 20 different models in the game TOTAL, let alone in the 200-300 range! Henchman Hardcore would be different, because the number of optimal solutions is smaller, but even GG17 doesn't look easy to solve, and filtering the data would be just... useless IMHO. EDIT: Example, there is GOOD, and there is BETTER, in a game like Malifaux (Gupps are best Scheme Runners in Neverborn, but Silurids/Terror Tots/Insidious Madnesses are also valid choices in certain pools). Sonnia might be bad AT certain Schemes, but that does not make her a BAD Master - and data which showed her down in successful usage would be noisy because of how variable the game itself is.