Sklertic

This is a bad idea. Time hasn't been a big issue at the tournaments I've played, and I can't recall ever seeing a big discussion about it on these forums, but that's not so relevant. 

Malifaux can be a pretty stressing game, and a chess clock would dramatically add to that. If someone is slow playing, you tell them to hurry up or contact the TO and work it out that way.

Some crews have a complex order of operations, and it would punish them more than a simpler crew, which isn't fair.

My two cents.

2 hours ago, anencephalous said:

Right, but I could get a 2/4/5 damage with positives from a 5 point Rail Worker, if that is what I feel I wanted. If you pay for his upgrade, he costs as much as Izamu (or two Rail Workers), but with less defensive tech, less damage, no self heal and one less attack. Sure, you can sometimes flurry, but it costs a card, and half the time you need to charge. It isn't like he doesn’t do some damage, it just woeful for a model of his cost.

As for the slow, for the huge cost of an opponents mid range card (or a 50ish% chance on flip) it wont land, and his trigger one is directly competing with his damaging triggers. 

If my opponent really wanted him to stop mildly slapping their models (as I say, this hasn't really been a problem yet) they can always apply something to his WP 4 to make it stop happening. Once I picked him into Collodi. Oh the fun. I alpha-struck something in turn one, and then did not get another proper activation from him the entire game. Collodi had him dancing like... well... a puppet I suppose.

As for McCabe, well, any model with nimble is better, certainly. But saying a bad model is better when buffed seems a bit curious, surely all models are better when buffed? For McCabe I tend to prefer my minions doing the heavy combat lifting. Incidentally, his damage track is less effective than a 3 point guild hound in a McCabe crew.

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Ototo has a zero action heal. I didn't say he was better than Izamu or better than two Rail Workers. I said your overtly negative look on him is undeserved, as he does have things going for him. He's also a henchman, so he can stone for the suits he want. If you hit the aoe slow on multiple targets it can really drain your opponents hand,  with a bit of luck.

I don't understand this contempt for 2 dmg. Sure there are beaters with min dmg 3, but with triggers Ototo can easily reach those numbers. If your opponent ignores this model and, as you say, never once in a dozen games have taken him below his threshold, then I am curious what you use him for?

He can also walk over Ht1 & 2 models, which provides some possibilities for him to reinforce models, who would've otherwise been blocked off from your forces.

His wp is his biggest vulnerability, particular against nasty conditions. Smoke Grenades or Servants of  Dragons can alleviate this somewhat.

To summarize: He's alright, but not great. 

I don't agree with the assessment of Tengu and Ototo. They have worked quite well for me.

If your opponent is ignoring Ototo, and you're not punishing him for it, then I don't know what to tell you! 2/4/5 dmg, flurry, loads of possibilities for slow. Recalled training + his personal upgrade and you're looking at min dmg 4 against slowed targets 

Put him with McCabe for nimble and he'll be charging left and right!  He's not our strongest model, but your opinion of him is wrong, in MY opinion

The Tengu works best in pairs, sure, but it can help a model with regen and it can discard enemy scheme markers relatively easy. It's not durable or killy, but it's rather inconspicuous and a decent runner for 4ss.

I agree with Mei Feng needing a (0) action.

I think if the Brewmaster bubble lasted until his next activation it would be too strong.

My 2 cents! 

No, it differs from trigger to trigger. 

Please make the models have "Retainer" keyword, I don't wan't to waste my money on resser models (I play Yan Lo in TT).

Some masters (and a good chunk of models) will wreck new players, that's the nature of this game. He's trying to learn ways to counter something he views as strong, for a way to let his friend play what he wants to.

That's a noble goal.

Please don't start muddying the discussion with vitriol about meta-balance, and be constructive and help the guy out instead

Models with "stubborn" or natural defenses against willpower based attacks are also great against Brewmaster. I'm not an expert in Ressers, but you might want to look after moels with some of those special rules

I played against in a tournament yesterday, and I'll echo what Ludvig said: Send in someone expendable to get caught in the bubble, while your killy models destroy and scheme the rest of his crew to pieces, as they arent durable at all.

Congrats to the winner

A reminder to the Gremlin players: Make lemonade

I don't think either side will get any point across in this discussion. It's basically been reduced to edoperscietti echoing his argument, Daniello_S dropping a passive aggressive remark and then the other players trying to reverse their arguments. I'm just waiting for a nazi reference so Godwin's Law can be instituted and we can have the same 10 page discussion next errata. 

The Mech rider is fine at 12ss, it's a really strong model, and the summoning is quite good. I think the other riders should've been 11ss, not 10ss.

I think you guys are too quick to throw Johan in the trash. If 1ss breaks your lists, then you need to revise your lists, which I feel this errata will force some players to do, which can be a healthy thing for the game. Condition removal is good, but sometimes overvalued I feel like.

As someone who's been playing Marcus since 1.5 I can say, that I am very happy. I regularly hire the mauler, rattler, cojo and the hoarcats and thought they were fine for their cost. Hurray for me   

The rest is alright I think, and I'm looking forward to GG2018.

Will be interesting to see how the riders will perform (and how often) now that they are cheaper. I'm really happy this discount wasn't applied to the mech rider as well.

Many of my slightly dusty figures will see the table now, so thanks for this (and Lucius will probably find his way into my collection soon as well  )

Happy new years to all as well!

And it's just a fun little thread/experiment anyway, so call it a crutch, favorite model, mascot or whatever, the end result is bound to be the same.

My favorite when I play Arcanists is Willie: Fast scheme runner, with some great defensive tools. When it's Ten Thunders I tend to gravitate towards Yin, as she's just good on the table and can frustrate my opponents. Sue is my overall favorite and almost my mascot for the game. I love the model, the abilities and the jokes imbedded in the character

Playing with the BJ in hand all game limits your hand though, so I never do that.

Removing the jokers is a terrible idea, as it removes some of the randomness of the game and the fun. Some of the best moments in Malifaux are the ones where a Black Joker screws you over in a pivotal moment and vice versa; the red joker saves the day. 

There's got to be some flavour and risk in a game such as this, or it'll become dull.

I think people are overreacting.

The draw is good, but I disagree it's OP. It's an investment from the Arcanist player ( a solid one, no doubt about that), but compared to so many other tricks you can find in this game, this one is rather tame in my opinion.

New generic totems I fear would make certain master specific ones even less used. Balance the existing ones and maybe add another specific one per master, I could get behind that.

For M3E I would prefer they polish the rules instead of adding anything new. Restricting summoning is a must and writing a book with an index that doesn't suck would be a major step forward as well. It's way to hard to look stuff up in the rules book as it is now.

Joss, December Acolytes and recently Union Steamfitters are popular in my lists.

I think Gremlins can be hard on new players, as they (the new players) tend to focus more on the combat side of the game, than scoring points, so I get where your friend is coming from.

Try swapping crews, or suggest he should build a terror crew with Pandora, as that can be tough on Gremlin. due to their low wp.

When I started playing, many years ago, I lost the first 10-12 matches just learning the game and my crew, and Malifaux can be really hard on new players, so encourage him to experiment with his crews (and maybe don't take francois in all your games  ) and I bet he will come around.

Remember a Malifaux table is supposed to have lots of terrain, so a gunline won't dominate easily.

Those are my 2 cents, hope you guys get back to playing.

I've been playing Hoffman with the Improved Harness, and it's really fun to be able to have some staying power with the old machines

My opponents are not so happy though

Peacekeeper and two Wardens have been my core so far, and it's working pretty well.

Df +1, Nimble and Reference the Field Guide would make him worth the 8ss I feel.

Thanks for pointing that out, I've been playing that all wrong. I still stand by the recommendation though

I'll recommend the Guardian again. Queeg + Guardian = 2 Protects per round

I appreciate the spirit behind the upgrade, the implementation is just awful. I dare say Sonnia got the worst new upgrades in the book. Needs some errata.

Might just be me then

Buffs

TT Archers: Drop them to 5ss or give them a (0) push out of melee or something to that effect.

Yamaziko: She's supposed to be this great tactician, so why not allow her to reduce the cost of 1 upgrade she takes by 1ss?

Ototo: Give him Nimble.

Misaki: Min dmg 3 is a good idea.

High river monk: Lower the price by 1ss or up min dmg to 2.

Nerfs

Illuminated: Remove regen 1 or their heal spell.

Kamaitachi: It's too good compared to the master specific ones, but I do not know what could be done about it.

There's probably more, but that's what just popped in my head

It's an odd upgrade, that basically cost 9 ss, seeing as you have to have Francisco as well. When I first saw it, I wanted to use her as a suicide bomber a la Papa Loco; charge in, deal dmg, then activate her version of exploding demise.

The problem is, that you're stuck with ml 5 for this to work and without Francisco: df 4 as well. I don't know what the designers were thinking, when they made this. Isn't Francisco enough of a crutch for Guild players already?

Anyway, for your list I would suggest maybe a Guardian for some added survivability, and a Witchling Handler to help with the summon engine and burning.

Good luck!