Jordon

Absolutely yes... unless it's the headhunter strategy (Gaining Grounds 2016), then the little guy might be more of a liability. Honestly Marcus has a very decent boxed set, however some people are on the fence with Cojo. I tend to like him, but only when the situation calls for him. The cerberus is fantastic, as is the blessed. They will provide you plenty of hitting power on top of Marcus himself. The almost mandatory combo is to take Imbued Energies (a generic arcanist upgrade) on Myranda. When she shape shifts, it counts as her being sacrificed and triggers the 4 card draw on the upgrade (also the jackalope if it's dead). If you can, I highly suggest finding this upgrade as it's also amazing on the cerberus/blessed since it gives out "fast".

Yeah I think I would have rather it be "last until the end of the turn" and have to re-cast it it every turn instead of having it always up, but never allowing anyone to move outside of 3" of the gamin. I rarely have a use for it's AP as is anyway.

So it's been over half a year since the metal gamin got it's errata. I'm thinking some people have had enough time to figure out where the little guy stands compared to where they were before. Do you notice the change from how it used to perform? Is it still a solid model, worthy of it's 4ss price tag? Is it still the #1 consideration for mech rider's summon? So for me personally, I didn't find the change had a huge impact on how I played the metal gamin and I still find myself hiring it from time to time. The loss of H2K seemed somewhat needless as I don't really think it was every an issue for the metal gamin, but at the same time I hardly notice the loss since it usually only ever takes a single point of damage anyway. I was aware of the whole protection of metal on itself loophole, but I never used it on the gamin. I often found better targets to protect rather than themselves anyway. I still find the metal gamin to be decent, but I will admit I find its purpose to be a little more allusive than the other gamin models. Specifically I find it's protection of metal ability to be frustratingly and needlessly difficult to use. I really wish it functioned more like the Guardian from guild with it's "protect" ability. On anything other than a static shooting model, I just find it way too difficult to stay within it's bubble. As a bodyguard, I think it's really lacking, but as a cheap tank, it does a decent enough job. So what are other peoples thoughts since the glory days of the pre-errata'd metal gamin?

I find the gunsmiths to be decent in other lists but amazing with Ironsides. Gunsmiths tend to be some of the biggest benefiters of Hand Picked Men due to their ability to be effective at both range and in melee. The big thing about gunsmiths that I find invaluable for Ironsides is just how versatile they are. They are able to ignore armour (a huge problem for Ironsides) and both their experimental as well as explosive triggers become extremely potent when combined with Hand Picked Men. Combo all of that with some other synergies such as The hard way with Ironsides Message from the union, as well as their ability to be pushed around via Ironsides You looking at me spell (with a potential to gain fast out of it). I think they fit with her better than just about any other M&SU with a notable exception for maybe Johan. Willie and the Firestarter are also near auto includes as well, but there is only so much you can hire.

Hey, just letting anyone who may be interested that I run a weekly Malifaux event every Thursday at All Star Sports and Collectables in the Bonnie Doon Mall here in south Edmonton. I give preference to any demo games and I'm usually available most Saturdays. My name is Jordon and I have enough models and spare decks to accommodate you. I hope to see you there! All Star Sports & Collectables Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre 83 St. NW 780-465-3771 6:00 - 9:00 Current Month: Sept. 2016

I'm really digging his artwork, but the sculpt has me a little concerned. I've wanted a gamin-centric master ever since I seen the "gamin" characteristic. I can't wait to see what the rest of his crew ends up looking like.

I would tend to agree with this in most circumstances, but the need for both a high crow and a soulstone makes her trigger virtually impossible to use. Not only does it require a very optimize setup, but it burns a tremendous amount of resources for what amounts to a glorified blast damage. I think at the very least it should have been a different suit as high crow's are almost always going to be used to fuel any of her other abilities. Seeing as her sword IS a soulstone, I would love it if once per game she could declare a free trigger (ala sympathetic echoes). That way it prevents it from being abused, but that one time when you need it, you can use it reliably.

I dont want to give the impression that Tara is underpowered because I don't believe she is. In the right hands she can do some pretty impressive things that can be extremely difficult to counter. What I would like is a better method to explore some of her other abilities. I want to be able to use Whispers From Darkness, I want to use Sympathetic Echoes, I want to try out Voiceless Words and Long Forgotten Magics. I would love to rely on Glimpse the Void (basically drop the TN and simply bury a model as long as no other enemies are buried). I reeeallly want to run her in theme and have a reason to do so (better synergy with her void buddies) She's got a bunch of other neat mechanics that I think are worth exploring, but she just seems to gravitate to a select few. Maybe it's impossible at this point to try and clean her up, but I still would love to see some direction with regard to making some of her other abilities more accessible. Maybe an upgrade that could either increase her Ca, or decrease her TN's. Maybe make it a (0) so she cannot get 6AP worth of it though. Give her an upgrade that is exclusively tied to void models. I couldn't really tell you how to give better synergy between these models, but maybe giving her a way to offset the drawback of the low Df (from having lots of cards). I'm sure people here could suggest better things than what I can think of ATM. Maybe an upgrade to give her a little more survivability, give her a void-ish trigger on her Peacebringer to help it stand out, give her a on her sword attack, or play more with the fact that she has a soulstone sword, which should be more interesting than it actually is.

I'll admit that I don't play Tara as much as many of you have but one of my biggest pet peeves is just how many stipulations many of her abilities have. A few examples Sympathetic Echoes: I have never had this work for me yet. I'm sure people have their stories of how this trigger completely wrecked face, but in my opinion it's an obscenely difficult trigger to pull off for such a situational effect. Would it be overpowered if she had one of the built into her attack? Glimpse the Void: This has to be the most bandaid'ed ability she has as it seems like they are constantly releasing new ways to burry models. Having it be a simple duel makes it somewhat un-reliable and using fast as a way to increase the TN is an example of a huge risk that may or may not pay off. Pull the void: It's short ranged, has a decently high TN and cannot be used if she is the last model to activate. I just feel like it's highly penalized due to Tara's potential to reactivate. Other issues I have Voiceless Words/Long Forgotten Magics - Both Karina and the NB have upgrades that "fix" them and so they will almost never have the opportunity to take this upgrades (not that they are particularly great, but still) Whispers from the Darkness: This is a cool ability, but again I just find it too difficult to use due to its high TN. The problem with this ability is that your often going to burn your high cards trying to get this ability to go off and then the action you borrow has no resources left to actually work from. Knowledge of Eternity/Obliteration Symbiote: Both being almost mandatory upgrades (especially with beast bomb) and both being 2ss. It's just very expensive. To me it just feels like most of her abilities have really high TN and require very specific circumstances. I'm just wondering if this is a direct result from her having the ability to gain 6AP.

So I'll first start off by saying that I love Tara. She's such a left field master that most people don't account for her dropping. I think she has some really good matchup's and she has some really bad one's. She feels completely unique compared to just about any other master and takes a great degree of skill to master. I love the idea of a high risk/reward style with her giving fast to enemy models. That being said, I really dislike how "messy" she feels as each wave tends to add some "bandaid" to help untangle the mess. I feel like she's a new players worst nightmare with how compounded her abilities are and how other models exist to try and help with some of her playstyles. As mentioned, I love her risk/reward style of play, but I tend to find that the risk is usually not worth the reward. So my question to the community is this. If you could design one upgrade for Tara, what would it look like? Is there one or two abilities that you think could untangle the mess and help streamline Tara? I'm not necessarily advocating for a power increase, but maybe more of a way to help some of her more difficult play styles.

Maybe if it were a DF trigger (like the molemen), but having it naturally reduce to 0 would probably push it too much in the other direction as lower costed models essentially become completely ineffectual. Personally I would love to see how it performs with 14 Wds. The Df 2 would still mean it's still going to loose just about every DF duel, but perhaps the 14 wounds would be enough to keep it around for a few turns, or at the very least eat up enough of the opponents AP to make the trade more favourable. I sort of feel like it could also benefit from some sort of terrifying since it's actually quite a intimidating looking model. This would also help it from it's death by a thousand cuts since it generally dies from a barrage of low attacks. At least with terrifying it would prevent some of the lower costed models from pouring a ton of attacks into it.

Jack has a ton of really interesting combo's, which makes him a very deep and fun master to play. I usually bring all three curses, but I switch between his other upgrades depending on what theme I'm sticking with in my crew construction. Popa Loco combo's extremely well with Montressor and Envy since they both have extremely high moderate damage. It's one of the only ways I tend to get any milage from Montressor actually. The crooked men combo amazingly with gluttony since his Rhyme attack pushes models into scheme markers and crooked men use their "shafted" ability to serve up some potentially very high damage. The best part is that it's non-resistible as long as you have gluttony's condition. The Hanged plays well with Montressor who can debuff WP and can cause damage from passing horror duels, which the hanged can do multiple times a turn. There is just so many ways to go with Daw, whether it's building a list to strip cards from my opponent. A terror build to shut down models or drain resources. A heavy scheme list with all the ways Jack can drop scheme markers, the C7 for something thematic. Sprinkle in all the little combo's that jack can hire and you really have a lot of variety from one master. Also as a side note, you don't hear many people mention the emissary, but truthfully I think he's a very strong pick for jack and gives you another really good curse.

I've tossed around the idea a few times, but it's really tough taking the child over the lady. Being able to turn off cheating can completely cripple an opponent and often makes Ligeia top priority to kill. The more I use her the more I see her as one of the most dangerous totems in the game. The only really interesting thing I've thought about with using the child was to get Daw to copy Monty's Comfort in fear, then have the child use twist and turn to also copy Comfort in fear. If Monty himself also uses Comfort in fear then you can have it stack three times, meaning opponents will be taking 6 damage for passing horror duels which in most cases models will more likely want to fail than pass. The problem is that it requires a string of activations, lots of AP, and for a model to be within range of all three models to work. It sounds like a lot of fun if you can actually pull it off, but competitively I don't see it as a very viable tactic.

I agree with admiralvorkraft, the extra from challenge the crowd will statistically net you more success than the +1Df. It does mean that if the opponent has the right cards, they can generally guarantee a hit, but with three cards, you'll be consistently flipping a high number, meaning the opponent is burning cards. Also the increased likelihood of flipping a is usually enough of a deterrent. At the end of the day, you really shouldn't be afraid to get Ironsides killed (unless neutralize the leader is up - in which case you probably shouldn't have brought Tony in the first place). She plays the support role quite well and thus can stay out of trouble until your ready to commit her. Generally I'll play her back until turn 3-4, catching things on fire, pulling key enemies out of place, and getting that sweet sweet HPM buff on my friendlies. Once I send her into the thick of it, it'll usually eat up so much of my opponents AP to put her down that I usually feel like it's well worth the trade. Hopefully you'll get a good adrenaline turn and take a few down with you, but I usually look at adrenaline as a "bonus" and don't ever really count on it as a valid strategy.

I think the ice dancer will eventually do wonders for Raspy's scheme potential, but as is she mainly relies on more of a denial mechanic than say enabling her own crew. Since ice mirrors gives her just about a board wide threat, you can always try to hit them where it hurts. And if you can't kill it, just paralyze it. If you come out swinging hard enough, it will make your life much easier when it comes to scoring since a typical Raspy crew tends to be slow. As for current recommendations. The blessed is an excellent model as it's not only very killy, but it's insane speed makes it a great secondary scoring model to get schemes out to those hard to reach areas. Just be careful not to let yourself become too exposed as the blessed can't take a huge beating.

You really think it's that bad? I really didn't think the loss of htk was even a big deal considering it's armor+2 generally meant it was only taking a single point of damage anyway. It's only issue with me is that it's a lousy bodyguard due to "protection of metal" being obnoxious to maintain. I can think of other models I would consider "worst" such as guild guards, desperate merc's, low river monks, and the absolute worst - electrical creation. Speaking of, I'd actually wish the electrical creation gave me any sort of reason to hire it other than turn one scrap for Ramos. It's such a terrible use of 4ss and I can't think of any sort of combo or synergy in which I'd ever bother hiring it. I know it primarily exists as a summon for Ramos, but I don't see why it couldn't have been at least cheaper to entice hiring it.

Well just by comparison to other 4ss models, they are actually quite capable in combat. They have a slightly above average damage track and the benefit of a Ca that is resisted by WP so it gets around a lot of defensive abilities and incorporeal models. Both of it's triggers are amazing and one of them is even built in. I find them to be reasonably survivable with something like bleeding edge tech since they usually only take 1 damage at a time. Otherwise i'm not sure there is too many tricks with them outside of a Colette list. Unfortunately though, it is a insignificant peon so spamming them can take away from your ability to score points.

I really like the emissary but I am less convinced on some of it's master specific upgrades. I think Raspy got the best of the draw hands down. I think Kaeris, Ironsides and Mei are all decent worth a looking into. Colette's is pretty meh. Finally we have Marcus and Ramos who I don't think I will ever bother with as they are too situational (Marcus) or just plain bad (Ramos). Fortunately both of those masters have plenty of other options in that price range that are great inclusions. As for Ramos getting access to guild constructs, well that already exists in the form of avatar Ramos. It's a shame it's not campaign specific as it's one thing from version 1.5 that never got carried over to m2e. To be fair though, I personally think arcanists have better constructs anyways.

Yeah but what doesn't prompt make better though?

But you also have to factor in the increased cost associated with that. Yes having the metal gamin protecting the golem does give him an incredible boost in survivability, but you also have to factor in the 4ss increase. At 14ss you can make a lot scarier more efficient models than this. Not to mention how frustrating actually keeping something protected actually is since neither model can move far away from each other. I do think the ice golem has some great things going for him. I think his Icy Talon damage is probably a little underpowered with it's 3/3/6 track for a model as expensive as the golem, but it's compensated with melee expert and a very nifty built in trigger for slow. I've never once seen the use of his other trigger as it has never had any sort of relevance in any game i've used it in so far. Smash is incredible if you can survive long enough to use it and is enough of a threat to the opponent to entice killing it early on. I just think Df2 is just a deal breaker. Ask anyone who plays with the nothing beast and they will say the same thing. It takes no effort to hit it so even Ml/Sh4 models can add up some big damage rather quickly. You compare him to Joss at the same cost who is just so much more survivable with 3 extra Df, H2K, and the ability to use soulstones and arguably similar in damage output (sort of depends on the model your facing). I don't think many people would say the Rail Golem is overly survivable, but that extra 2Df he has over the Ice Golem makes a huge difference in my opinion. Just look at Izamu who is nearly identical with his armor +2 and melee expert and even has a better damage track (with a built in positive to damage flips) with longer reach and at least has Df4. I think at 10ss there is no comparison in my mind who i'd rather be taking.

I'm a little surprised no one has mentioned the ice golem. Ive personally gotten him to work, but it usually required the assistance of snowstorm to teleport him into battle. Otherwise I find Df2 is not properly compensated with his armor and wounds, he just gets plinked to death most times I take him. I honestly feel like he could be bumped up to 12 Wds since he's basically always going to be hit in combat. *Oh and also Marcus being able to alpha masters can lead to a loss of friends... It should have probably been non-master.

Although not the most popular model at the moment. It's probably also worth considering the slate ridge mauler for general staying power. At least by comparison to most of the other arcanist beasts, the mauler can take some decent punishment. It's good for strategies/schemes that involving holding positions. I will agree though that most of the time you'll probably want to change into a cerberus or blessed.

She's a huge blessing for Raspy considering how lacking she was with marker based schemes (strictly speaking with regards to in-theme options of coarse). The ability is suit dependant and even though the TN is relatively low, those low tomes are a valuable resource for Raspy given her ability to surge with low tomes on two of her spells. Colette on the other hand is obviously not as hurting for more scheme markers so their inclusion with her is less critical. Especially since she can sort of replicate this using her trap doors upgrade anyway. It's still a good model with her and I could see myself running it with Colette every now and then.

Stealing this from a thread started in the guild forum that I found quite interesting. If you could pick three models from our faction and change them. What would they be? Keep yourself honest and pick not only boost's but also cuddles 1) December Acolyte - He basically invalidates any other shooter at his price range. He could either be increased to 8ss or simply change his gun to a 2/3/5 with auto slow and a non built in trigger for maim. 2) Metal Gamin - I really wish protection of metal was less restrictive. I would either make it a simple aura that effects all models within range - or make it a condition that lasts until the end of the turn like how the guilds guardian "protects" 3) Myranda - She probably shouldn't have been able to turn into a beast that costs more than she does. It basically means we'll never get a high cost beast model in our faction simply because she breaks it.

Captain Dashal - He just sucks on so many levels. Maybe if he were 7ss he may be justified. Sonnia Creed - I really don't think any model should be able to hit any stat above a 7 (maybe 8 in very rare instances) especially one with 14" range and 3AP to boot. I'm okay with confiscated lore in general but I don't think it should have been able to boost her Ca actions. Fransisco - For the same reason as Sonnia. El Mayor is one of the most insane stat boost with a nigh negligible cost. It should drop at the end of the turn, only increase stats by 1 and have a discard price attached. Special Mention: Austringers because they give no craps about anything. Probably a little too effective for their cost.