Thana.

Wild, I'm definitely excited for the new edition. Since m2e had its over and under-powered choices I wonder if we're going to get into a situation where some of the thematic models sets are going to be drastically better than others and that will be the driving force for what becomes the competitive meta rather than the strength of the master itself as is currently the case. Eyes peeled!

The idea that Leveticus and A&D are in any way subpar is pretty wild to me... grass must always be greener I guess :P.

Coming from NB the things I'm most envious of are: Francisco, Brutal Effigy and Debt to the Guild.

Tier 1: Collodi, Dreamer, Pandora, Lilith Tier 2: Lynch, Zoraida, Titania Tier 3: Lucius

Agree with Ergonomic but imo Lilitu replaces Graves or Johan, not Nekima. I tend to use 2-4 of these models irrespective of master, schemes and strategies. Very, very rarely take all 5-6. The models that most often round out the crews are totems for some masters (Lynch and Dreamer mostly), Waldgeist, Illuminated and scheme runners.

Your argument is that we can't know the social climate of a fictional world and yet we can (somehow) know that divergence from social norms would be seen with disdain. Furthermore, that since homosexuality is a divergence from social norms in 1800-1900 in the real world that it "is a safe bet" that these standards would apply in a fictional world that we can't know the social climate of. Logical flaws aside we could ask: Are there any examples of social norms from that time period in the real world being violated and are they met with disdain? I can think of plenty: Women with prominent roles in front line combat, lack of the use of racial epithets in casual speech, lack of conspicuous religious displays, and marriage and children frequently being absent from female characters' lives. Are any of these met with disdain? No. Yet you think it's safe to assume that in the special case of homosexuality it would be? Finally, in my opinion, the people who, civilly, called you out for using autistically as a slur were right to do so. Putting people down for something they have no control over is crummy behaviour. The fact that it's semi commonly done on the internet doesn't justify your doing it here.

No, but the 1900s in that article aren't the historical 1900s either. The story you linked makes that abundantly clear right away.

The game already applies modern sensibilities to the world of Malifaux, consider the prominent role of women in front line combat and leadership positions. I consider this to be a strength of the game's setting. Also not sold on Malifaux counting as a historical setting.

@whodares First question: On the fence about hiring lelu in a starting crew, it's true that he's a decent bit better with his 0ss upgrade but he's also competing against other hiring options that imo, outclass him a bit. Second question: Torsul answered it. Third question: I think the NB emissary is weak for his cost and wouldn't recommend hiring him in any crew. If I was to hire him in a summoning dreamer crew I'd take the mysterious conflux because + flips to stitched together duels is better than everything on conflux of nightmare. Bonus Question: I think your core build is alright, I'll be upfront and say I don't love coppelius with on dreaming wings (or at all). 10ss for a min damage 1, 2 ap, squishy model is (imo) highway robbery, even if said model has walk 8 and flight. Some people do like him so I'd try him out and see how he works for you. What I found was that people would put a stronger, usually cheaper model on his flank and just kill him before he can accomplish much. Stuff like miranda and francois will go through coppelius like butter and have no trouble matching his speed either. I also think you're overestimating the value of flight on alps. They only have flight while within 6" of coppelius, can't charge and come in slow so they're mostly just going to walk the turn they come in and then the next turn double walk somewhere to be annoying by which time they'll likely be well outside of the flight aura.

If you want to use the playtime into card draw combo none of wisp, ronin, and bloodwretch are the way to go. Of the three mentioned the ronin is the best because you can push the teddy forward 4" with a daydream and then push upfield on the ronnin's attacks. This will let you draw 3 cards at the cost of 1 and push both models upfield. If you have a model that can drop a scheme marker the thorn can charge upfield and draw 4 cards at the cost of 0. Furthermore, you have a thorn instead of a ronin. The other benefit is that she inflicts only 2 damage instead of the ronin's 6 while pulling this off. She doesn't pigeon hole you into taking a teddy.

The problem I see is that almost everything you're hiring has no threat and no resilience. What's to deter your opponent from just rushing your lines and killing all your stuff? Dreamer, tannen and weaver are all squishy support pieces. Coppelius isn't even threatening once he gets 3 eye counters but before that he's paper. Try running stuff like Nekima, doppel (with a summoned lilitu gives a great mix of hitting and lures) waldgeists, illuminated/depleted etc. Those models buy you the time for your support (lilitu), schemers (madness) or damage (stitched/chompy) to come online.

For me, Nekima's higher walk, flight, higher min damage, less feast or famine 0 actions, and melee expert are worth more than the 2 extra stones you pay for her. I still like Teddy, especially his model. If you have the time, what you might try is playing both of them, learning their strengths and weaknesses and going from there. You'll learn a lot more by taking that route and it'll be more fun too :).

Personally find Nekima better than Teddy irrespective of schemes, strategies and crew composition so I'll recommend her. Second Azkral on graves, very useful model. Tots and gupps are usually semi interchangeable with insidious madness but Jacob likes them more. Pukesnake is very useful. The most glaring omission to me is no brutal effigy for Collodi. The only model that I think is an auto include for Collodi. Best of luck :).

Collodi with bag of props can pretty much just take the pmagic and lose next to nothing in terms of summoning :D.

Yw I agree that there isn't a wrong choice. All the masters play differently enough from one another that I don't think you'll be hurting for diversity of play experience no matter how you go about things. Personally, with NB, I focus on building a crew that can complete the schemes and strats and then almost tack a master on after that's been decided. I don't think any of the NB masters benefit much from investing heavily into synergy with their crew, just little things like bringing a brutal effigy with collodi to heal up his strum the threads damage or tending to favour gupps/tots vs madnesses as jacob. Zoraida got a huge buff in book 4 through wisps. Check them out!