Anaxiamander

10 minutes ago, Old Man Gloom said:

Gremlin witch doctor? Very interesting, especially if he can use and/or summon wicked dolls. Hm...

This is a Pursuit for the Through the Breach RPG, rather than a model for the Malifaux skirmish game, I'm afraid.

Regardless, it's looking great, and I can't wait for this book to drop. Not so much for the Gremlins themselves, as such, but for more information about the Bayou in general. I do love those Swampfiends, and I'm hoping these Pursuits will be available to non-Gremlins to boot.

I haven't seen any other posts related to what was shown off on GAMA, either. I'm eager to hear about their panel, and would love to see a few photos of the prototype Other Side models they were to be showing off. Here's hoping some show up soon!

Under the "Dead and Buried" section of the "Buried" rule (p.47), it states that if a model is killed while buried, "it will not benefit from any abilities that happen on the model's death (like Finish the Job)."

Finish the Job begins its rules with, "When this model is killed, ..."

Leveticus' Pariah's Soul begins its rules with, "When this model is killed or sacrificed, ..."

Leveticus can indeed be killed while buried, ignoring his Pariah's Soul, if I am understanding this correctly. A few Void Wretches could possibly put him under for good.

Though this does point out that the section discussing Dead and Buried doesn't have wording in it for models being sacrificed while buried, which could probably use fixing.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the alt sculpt Perdita Ortega exclusive to the most recent Black Friday? (The one with the pistol-blowing art)

The multi-part models were always stated as planned for general release. When that will be, though, I haven't seen any firm dates. Ditto for the retail release of TtB. As Docschlock mentioned above, though, given that things are complete, I'd be inclined to expect it before the new year at the latest, but that is just an estimate on my part.

Back in first edition, the Effigies were hirable by Zoraida as well (since, as best I can remember, she was the one who made them), so it's theoretically possible that we might see a day where that becomes possible again through an Upgrade.

Other than that, Void, Fetid, and Lupercal have given you a much better overview of the Effigies than I could.

As best as I have been able to tell, he is still usually going to want his in-theme models; Abominations, Desolation Engine, Hollow Waifs, and Rusty Alyce all fit well with him. Ashes & Dust has good synergy, The most relevant things regarding his crew composition, in my opinion, is relating to his hiring options:

1. He can now hire freely within the Outcasts faction (as part of the general faction-integration that's happened in 2E, mainly with Outcasts Masters and 1E Henchmen). This means that your available options expand beyond Undead and Constructs, offering some neat interactions and otherwise unexpected choices.

2. If you want to hire Undead or Constructs, as he used to, it will require 1 SS and an Upgrade slot to do so (Masters have 3 total), and you'll have to pick between the two. Still presents plenty of options, and gives Leveticus the broadest hiring options of any given Master, but there may be times where a third Upgrade may be more worth it, if the right tools for the job are available in the Outcasts hiring pool.

I'm not a Levi player (yet), so I'm not great for knowing exactly what works great for him, but he does appear to have good access to problem-solving.

It strikes me that Karina's summoning could be helped in Outcasts lists by using Nix. The Nihilist Upgrade, Infectious Melodies, would mean both never needing to unbury the summon or worry about a buried Horror preventing one from summoning again, and gain an extra AP for the summoned model through Fast. Has anyone had any general success with using Nix in a Tara list prior to this? I play mainly Ressers, so I'm not too familiar with that end of the aisle.

Found this on twitter

 

https://twitter.com/Tograth/status/500606676026654720/photo/1

 

Basically, nothing new to see, we already had the full picture through bits and pieces here, though now I can put them on the table without thinking I may screw them up. Tomorrow will play a match, still undecided if I'll keep on doing Kirai which is my current or give Tara a pass to test them out.

There is one new thing to see, though it's not currently relevant, as best I can remember. Karina will be able to summon non-Resurrectionist Horror Minions, should they ever be released. I had to do a double-take to remember whether Steampunk Abominations or Guilty were Horrors, but they aren't (as far as the post-beta digital cards show, the book could be different, since there are clear changes, like Tannen's cost change, but they're the only things I can think of that could fit). Really glad to see the final versions of the upgrades, though; thanks for sharing (and finding)!

My first thought looking at him was that he was a Rat Catcher. I suspect y'all might be right about it being Hamelin, though. I suspect I'll be making a decision as to which model to pick up once we get closer to seeing the render. Kind of sad about this; the Rat King art moved me from literally not caring about Hamelin to squirreling away money to purchase him ahead of other Outcast Masters who would probably mesh better with my Ressers, like Jack or Levi. I could be better surprised once I see the full art or render, though, given that we do have a couple of parts missing from cut-offs or glare.

EDIT: Now that I've seen the Outcasts chapter opener, which shows him in a clearer light and with embellishments, I'm much more keen on this new one.

I wager that, given the GenCon prereleases on the list are meant to carry through straight from October to January according to the email, that there will be precious few crew boxes that we haven't already seen before Q1 2015. 

I truly think if they have Hannah models they should/would sell them. During the KS there was never an indication that she would be a 'hard to get' model. I think it was even stated that Hannah would just be available to KS backers BEFORE general public.

 

Since ALL TTB KS rewards have shipped they can technically offer them at Gencon (as long as they have enough of em), at her normal price. We will have to wait and see.

Just for clarification, the relevant paragraph from the TtB KS page:

 

 

Special Edition Malifaux Sculpt - Hannah, Chief Freikorps Archivist: We haven't even released the rules for this model yet, but we are already giving you the opportunity to get an exclusive sculpt of her. 

So it is indicated that the TtB sculpt will not be a normally available sculpt (as this one is identified as exclusive), anything else is really up to one's interpretation of exclusive. It's referred to as simply "Special Edition" elsewhere on the page, so I wager they mean that it'll be an LE sculpt, but not KS-exclusive.

With Gamin having their own keyword in 2E, a Gamin based master could be interesting.

Heck, even just a Gamin-support-based Henchman/Enforcer would make me happy (akin to the idea of a Witchling Handler conceptually, for example), and tempt me into taking up the Arcanists.

It was clarified in the Fall Schematic KS page comments that Miss Direction will be an alt. sculpt of an unreleased Outcast with the Mercenary trait. I'll edit in with the proof in just a moment.

Edit:

 

 

Drawn By Clouds on April 15

Hi All, 
A few things. We have been INCREDIBLY busy these last two weeks as the kickstarter has brought a lot of attention to these games and the project, Far far more than our 2-4 person operation anticipated. We have some big news coming tomorrow for everyone involved in the kickstarter (it's good news!).

Miss Direction will be a mercenary outcast, useable by anyone who can choose mercenaries! So she'll be an good option for many crews.

Thank you all for the continued support, I am looking forward to sharing the future of Fall Schematic with everyone!

 and

 

"Miss Direction will appear in an upcoming issue of the Wyrd Chronicles where you can learn about this new **Outcast** (and her sister, which will be the standard sculpt)." (emphasis mine)

A thought that's crossed my mind, given the Neverborn dislike of Tyrants, was that perhaps Lucius is a Neverborn playing the long game, as it were; by placing himself (or taking directly by killing the man who was Lucius and replacing him) at or near the head of the Guild, he can control the actions of the Guild to guide them towards Neverborn interests (specifically, the interest of being anti-Tyrant).

I think it would have been a poor choice to simply not mention races; future-proofing your rules set is generally a good idea, at least for core products. However, including a line or two along the lines of "The default race for Fated in Through the Breach is Human, which has no modifiers. Future modules/expansions will include rules for Fated Neverborn, Bayou Gremlins, Stitched, Invested (and more!), and the rules surrounding their creation will be found in their respective books." would likely have removed any potential confusion.

It's worth noting that Tara was initially planned as a Wave 2 Release, but ended up being a part of Wave 1 and GenCon due to two reasons:

1. Wyrd found themselves with an opening regarding their Nightmare Edition release of the year, and felt that Tara and her crew would be a perfect fit for the Nightmare treatment. (This is the reason for the model release.)

2. Leveticus and his crew were supposed to be part of the Wave 1 Book (this is why the Outcasts story involves him), but were not able to be wrangled into being fun and balanced in time for the ending of the Wave 1 Beta. Thus, they needed to be removed and placed in Wave 2; Tara, who was being worked on internally (but saw no open beta testing) was moved into his place. (This is the reason for her being in the rulebook.)

As a result, Tara and her crew will have their normal crew box released amidst the Wave 2 schedule (as it was initially scheduled, planned, and budgeted for) in its original place in the manufacturing queue, despite her rules being in the Wave 1 rulebook. I believe the initial estimates involved fall/winter 2014 at the absolute earliest, but it's been a while since I read up on all of this. Plus, schedules have shifted or fallen behind a few times, so I'd wager we'll see her by Christmas if we're lucky, Q1 2015 if we aren't (not that I have anything to judge this by, just gut feeling). 

By the first edition rulebook, it's noted that Johan takes the M&SU philosophy of anti-totalitarianism to an extreme, following only the tenets of the Union's charter, rather than the mandates of the Union leadership. He was even cheaper to hire if one's crew contained an M&SU member (from an ability named Dues Paid), and gained Ml and Rg (well, the M1E equivalent) when near an M&SU member (from an ability named Solidarity). He was a true believer in the Union, in the best possible way. The change in tack in the M2E book has always rubbed me the wrong way, as it suggests a near-total retconning of his character (unless what's written in M2E is the Union cover for his activities, which is not clear at all if it happens to be the case). He changed from a genuine true believer in the M&SU's charter, loyal to its goals but not its leadership, to a small-time prospector defending his claim against the M&SU troubleshooters, to the point of their relationship afterwards being described as an animosity. Yet, his rules still indicate a connection with the Union through his new Solidarity (giving a + to Attack Actions) and his healing action for M&SU named Open Revolt. Johan was, in many ways, one of the characters closest to being described as a hero in the 1st ed. setting, and it seems to have disappeared in his new version.

Given the apparent rift between the M&SU and Johan shown in M2E, it's not clear how or why they'd ever hire him, while his mechanics are still built off of the "old Johan", so to speak, and thus quite lucrative to Arcanist players. Getting fluff justification for the change would be much appreciated (though not as appreciated as a reversal to the older version of the character, story-wise).

As a side note, I'd love to see an eventual Upgrade for Johan (or for Johan and Kang, maybe even part of Ironsides' Crew) that interacts nicely with Union Miners. Just feels right.

I'll admit, Forar, it's starting to convince me of a possible June release. It's exciting, in that it means I might actually have the game and accompaniments in hand relatively soon (which means I will finally be able to convince my friends to give the game a try, due to their preference to print books), but it makes for building frustration about the lack of information/provision regarding a projected send date. I know that it is not of the same caliber (that is to say, shops require a release date of some kind, ditto distributors, by virtue of the sales model), but it does kind of bother me that (if the whole June thing is the company line, and not something going on with a distributor) Wyrd is willing or able to give a projected date of June to wholesalers/retailers, but not give a date to backers beyond "when it arrives".

We're getting close to another month between updates on the KS (the last update, while offering up something people were interested in and excited by, not offering any information about progress, save for those few that pledged bigtime for a painted Hannah), and just shy of two months since Nathan's comment about being on someone else's schedule. If something has progressed since then, I'd love to know, and if nothing has progressed due to issues with transoceanic shipping or customs, I'd like to know that too (and I feel that a fair chunk of backers would be understanding of such a thing, dealing with customs is a nightmare sometimes). Heck, given that everything is at the printers (presumably, given what we know, I'd wager this to be the case), then there would surely be art samples or renders that could be offered from things like the FM screen, the enhanced character sheets, or the fate deck that could be shown or offered in the meantime in conjunction with a progress update. I know I've said this before more than a month ago, as have others, but opening up more frequent and transparent communications would go a long way towards assuaging the fears of some, but the longer radio silence continues the more likely that, for others, any such action will be too late, as they'll have already made their mind up. 

Keep in mind that there are plans for 7 more books, plus articles in the Chronicles. There will be plenty more Advanced Pursuits as time goes on. Plus the FM Guide gives advice on creating new Advanced Pursuits.

I thought that there were only plans for 6 more? By my reckoning, there's Into the Bayou, focusing on the Bayou and the Necropolis while providing info on Fated Bayou Gremlins; From Nightmares, focusing on native denizens and wild places while offering info on Fated Neverborn; Under Quarantine, focusing on the Quarantine Zone and necromancy while providing info on Fated Stitched; Within the Steam, focusing on enlarging the armory and elemental magic sections and exploring the more steampunk-ish aspects of the setting while offering info on Fated Invested; In the Guild Wars, which raises the issue of the Great Guild Wars flaring back up Earthside, discussing the effects and secrets of that war; and Beyond Fate, which is designed to take the game to newer, higher stakes, providing rules for Avatars (and, I hope, providing expanded rules for playing Fated after their Fates are completed). I don't think I missed any, unless you were referring to the Penny Dreadfuls. They could have additional rules stuff like Advanced Pursuits, if such a thing is appropriately tied to their themes, I'd wager.

Wyrd/Nathan, has there been any kind of progress on this on the shipping/customs end of this? The KS hasn't received an update in around three weeks, and with the trickle of new information through e-retailers and magazines many backers are growing antsy again about the lack of communication.

As a more general aside, an interesting bit of info from that trickle: the higher price of the TtB Fate Deck compared to the retro deck may have something to do with this, from the item description on The War Store: "Combining the special Malifaux suits, as well as a major arcana of Through the Breach art, this Fate Deck is sure to flip Red Jokers!" (emphasis mine). If the phrase "major arcana" is used intentionally and correctly, that could mean additional cards in the deck, expanding it into a tarot-style deck of sorts. Alternatively, as one backer on the TtB forums indicated, they may have mistakenly meant court cards (Jack/11, Queen/12, King/13). We'll have to wait for a further preview, or the item itself, to say more.

Also, the item description for the Fatemaster's Kit describes it as containing the Fatemaster's Screen and the Deluxe Character Sheets, with no further contents described. Additionally, though I suspect this was just a hiccup, Miniatures Market still shows the "Fated Alamanac" cover, while The War Store shows a corrected cover, so I feel that there's a good chance that issue was well taken-care of. The many typos in the copy written for the pre-order items is a small disappointment, though; hopefully they were errors on the shop-level, since the errors differ between retailers.

Dreamer and Kirai were part of the Wave 2 Rules, and the stats for that entire release can be found, for free, on this website http://www.wyrd-games.net/community/files/file/53-malifaux-wave-2-cards-low-rez/. As many have mentioned above, all of these Masters are balanced with the assumption that you'll be fielding both; they aren't as potent as Masters without such attachments, but make for some potent synergies that make up for it (as well as, in the case of Viks/Jakob, also adding to activation advantage).

It's worth noting that there are Mercenaries in other factions as well (Performers in Arcanists, Oiran and Torakage in 10T, Burt and Gracie in Gremlins, etc.), while using the Master named Zoraida increases the Mercenary pool for her (Living things with Wp 4 or less). For cases of models with both Ten Thunder and Outcast markings, it just means that the model is a member of both factions. 

Nathan, first of all, thank you for responding. I appreciate the input, and much of what you've said is to be lauded. I am glad that you allowed the book to be delayed and improved, rather than push it out the door for the sake of fulfilling the project. That the books have taken additional time bothers me only in the most insignificant of ways. Furthermore, thank you for apologizing for the delay, and for your continued confidence in your product.

Also, that there were people sending hate mail at you, Mack, etc. over this is frustrating and disappointing. Most (nearly all? All?) of the delays which happened were for the good of the product, and while frustrating, should be respected as such.

Finally, with regards to communication, I am glad to see your being open to improvement in that area. I hope to see improvements there, in remainder of this project but particularly in any future Kickstarters Wyrd is involved in, Malifaux or no (I do know that the project you're partnering with Drawn by Clouds on, Fall Schematic, has some model-related questions that they haven't fielded; it may be helpful to get in contact with them to address those; that said, it is their project, not yours, so not entirely relevant here, don't know how much of it is your call beyond manufacturing). I would like to emphasize though that a final, physical product isn't always necessary to show something off. You've had a copy of Hannah in-company for half a year, and while it's true that backers have likely seen it by now through leaks, it should definitely have been shared through an update; it's an exciting milestone! Final digital images of things are also perfectly acceptable things to show off; a glimpse at the anatomy of a card in the TtB Fate Deck, for example, would both explain the value of an item they are receiving while also providing content to explore. Also, for frustrations that might come from backers not understanding certain aspects of the manufacturing industry (like the air vs ocean shipping issue you mentioned, or the time-of-year manufacturing issues), an update is an ideal way to educate those backers, turning frustration into understanding (at least for some; again, won't ever make everybody happy). I think that, with your learning from this aspect of the project and applying it, you'll find a lot more receptivity from backers. Many frustrations and rants that come out of Kickstarter come out of either misunderstanding, lack of knowledge/awareness, or missing information, and the easiest way to circumvent all of those is to simply provide sufficient education to stop them before they start.

I am confident that, once I have it in hand, I'll be pleased with the produced results of the project. Heck, I'm pleased with it already, with only the pdf to speak of. I am looking forward to seeing Wyrd improving their communication with backers and fans as a result of learning from this project, though, as it is really the only element I can think of that has been less than exemplary. Thanks again for responding, Nathan, and I look forward to seeing the product (and, hopefully, a few updates to the Kickstarter project before then, aggressive commenters or no).

I understand frustration. I do. I understand anger even. But it is not doing anyone any good. it won't change anything. Assuming for the Moment that the generally honest people at Wyrd are telling the truth, something went Kaka in shipping. Not much Wyrd can do, and I bet they are just as frustrated by it as you. 

It's true; if there was a manufacturing or shipping snafu, there isn't much that Wyrd could do about that hiccup. However, its impact on backer perception is something that was, is, and will be at least in part controllable. That there is a delay, of any kind, no matter how justified, is going to piss some small group of people off. There's nothing you can do to change that, you can't have everyone be completely happy. Not every unhappy person is like that, though; some backers may just feel alienated. The easiest way to mitigate that frustration is to give your backers something, frequently, and to be honest and open with them. In a multi-part project such as this one, involving models, cardstock screens, custom character sheets, fate decks, and books, each step moves along at a different rate. Not everything is going to be at the same stage, which can slow some things down. It does, however, offer an increased opportunity for providing small updates about small steps forward. Things like "Hey, look at this! It's a finished panel for the FM screen!", "Hey, here's a prototype/fully assembled version of the KS-exclusive Hannah sculpt!", or "Hey, here's a short blurb about how we'll be designing the TtB Fate Deck!". Even, "We had a manufacturing snafu, here's what it is, here's what it means to production" would serve to show involvement. Little things like that help maintain interest in the game/product, show excitement about the progress on the company's part, and show measurable progress, all of which builds confidence in the product's success. This is doubly important for replicating updates that are leaked elsewhere (e.g. Hannah being in at least the assembled prototype stage), so that the project can be a central location for information on the project.

Having said all of this, from reading all three of Wyrd's Kickstarter projects, I can tell that they increasingly prefer to keep their manufacturing processes close to the chest, and it's their prerogative to do so. Still, maintaining regular updates and responding to comments on the KS page, progress or not, at least helps people not feel ignored, as they might in the face of silence. It's why Mack's occasional commenting on the TtB board has gone a long way toward assuaging this, even if he doesn't have all the information to offer. While the only official requirement of a Kickstarter project is "deliver the stuff you promised you'd deliver", there is a general expectation of involvement, input, and participation by backers in seeing a project through to its end (even if it's only watching the project to its end, without actually having a hand in it beyond monetary offering). It's the "perk" of backing, in much the same way interest and returns are on loans and investments.

I'm not concerned about my own particular investment in saying all of this. I know that my books and swag will come, when it is ready, and when it does I will enjoy it. I'm also not terribly concerned about the lateness of it; once M2E was announced, I knew things were going to end up being late (even though we now know that it wasn't slowed by that in particular, at least in writing, as Mack has stated he worked on M2E outside of his working days over on the TtB backers forum), and I had already assumed when I backed the project that I'd be waiting until December. I mean, sure, it's annoying, but not disruptive. I mostly just want to see Wyrd rejuvenate the connection with its backers that it built during the campaign proper, and to make that connection a priority in future endeavors, so that I can see them succeed even more than they already have.