Rob Lo

I'm with trikk on this one. Anyone that Whooms is awesome.

I would hope to see something that revamps the height/vantage/LoS/intervening terrain problems, which would only need to be a version 2.1, and trigger timing clarification/simplification, which unfortunately because of how it would affect so many cards would be a 2.5 or 3.0 situation. I'd be fine with either of those at this point, but not sure we really need a full 3.0 change just yet. I think model bloat is a real thing, for me thinking about starting a new crew at this point almost feels like a chore, figuring out what might work with what, simply because everything is spread out over (soon to be) 5 books with dual faction and merc stuff spread everywhere. The official app with readable cards would help with that massively, and I think not having that out a year ago has lost potential "all in/main game" type customers, simply because other games have unified info on peoples' phones, and people want to stare at their phones these days. More models has to happen, of course, Wyrd needs to make money. Finding the right new models that will be useful but not discount already existing stuff is important. Not always going to happen, sure, but when it becomes obvious that certain models just don't stack up against other options, having that model sit in a bag for a year and a half or more until it gets a 'fix' makes people wonder if they should bother buying anything else. I'm fine if erratas happen only twice a year, but the # of models being changed should be increased. Hell, it's not even errata, not that the model is broken, it's just 'you sold me this model and it's pointless, change it, try something different with it'. Who knows what will actually happen, there's only so much of Wyrd to go around. Faux is still one of the most interesting games out there, it's just starting to get into its unruly teenage years.

As if I needed more convincing, that just sealed the deal that I made the right choice. Abyssinia! Superb tough looking model and artwork! Have a feeling I'm going to wish he wasn't fully assembled to get a decent paint job on parts of him.

If the problem being addressed was indeed ridiculously cheap activations, rather than change the costs which changes their usefulness in other areas beyond activations, why not just address the activation problem and leave everything else alone? Amazed Bewilderment: When this model activates, the opposing crew may choose to pass their next activation. I guess we'll see how the cost change works out going forward.

Given it hasn't been nearly this much of an issue until now, wouldn't it, at most, be: GG17 just showed how undercosted reckless is for GG17. Which really just translates into "GG17 favors a style of play that reckless plays into extremely well".

My first picks for my Kaeris crews were always the Malifaux Child, who would spend his time tossing out burning onto a couple Large Arachnids. Those guys might not seem like an obvious choice, but with the right upgrade on Kaeris, with burning on them, they get to basically create their own scheme markers for fueling their + flips mechanic, making them put out a lot more damage than people expect. I played her before Carlos was around, but I'd give him a strong look on his own, and even better with Practiced Production to go with a raptor.

I'll go a little more basic than what's been said already even. My first games of Malifaux had me caught up in a trap of both playing the game and watching the game. I'd finish a turn, and then stand there watching what my opponent was doing as if I were a spectator just watching a match happen, instead of as the guy actually in the match. I'd watch them do whatever, they'd say "okay, over to you" and then I'd switch back to playing the game and start thinking 'okay, what am I going to do now?' If you don't already have an 80+% idea of what you're going to do when your activation starts, you've wasted the time they were measuring and moving models around or reschuffling or whatever, where you should have been already planning out your turn. Yes, be involved in the turn, get into the story of it, decide if it's worth cheating the defense flips, etc, but don't zone out and go full spectator. Speeds up play a lot, especially if both players are actively working to get through the game like that.

Okay, so I let the bloodlust get to me. What can I say, pigs (PEEGS!) are fun, and apparently deadly. Definitely a different playstyle to learn. Love this format, by the way, for anyone that wants to give it a try and has a fair spread of a faction to choose from. Make 3 lists with no duplicate models, pick your opponent and play them until someone wins 3. Pick the list you'll use for the game after generating strat and schemes. Win with a list and you can't use that list again. It's rougher if you don't have a larger model pool. My Mah list is basically what I have left after putting together Ulix and Somer, and if I had another master other than Mah I'd have gone with them, most likely. The good part is, as you lose, you still have lists to choose from but your opponent has less choice, and maybe gets stuck with a sub optimal master/list for the next game because that's their only choice left. The most difficult part for me playing gremlins is, there's things like slop haulers I'd want in all 3 crews, but no duplicates, so learning to live without certain things becomes it's own test.

He may work well, but I'm immediately drawn to a different idea than getting yan lo severes. If you know your Lightning Dance target, and you know where you're going to put it, say perhaps right next to Izamu, you can set up Heyreddin just far enough away from izamu so that he's safe from the aura, but your target hits the landing zone in serious trouble and probably dead on your next activation. Heyreddin is a difficult model to use well unless you are very strong on positional play, and that is something you should be anyway, to get anywhere near the most out of Yan Lo.

As someone in the same gaming group as 4thstringer, please don't encourage him. I'll never hear the end of this crazy theory. Hey buddy! Look at those shiny Thralls over there! Aren't they nice, works really nicely with Lucius, too.

Just finished up a run in NB where Titania was my master of choice more often than not (painting her crew was the reason for dipping my toes into NB, so I probably played her in some games that my other available masters, Lilith and Lynch, could have done the job better/differently.) Any time there were Dig their graves/set up/ffm in the pool, her base crew was my go to choice. Aeslin only made it a couple times, I can't disagree she's a little too costly for the result, but the anti-push aura did catch people off guard a time or two. The knights, I'd take two almost always, three almost never. Which two jumped around a lot, they all have uses depending on strats/schemes/my general plan. The attack on Tooth as part of her pull made me not use it as often as the other two by a large margin, but there are times it's worth it. Gorar was taken every time, somewhat because I get tired of 'must take' models crazy quick. I'd say I brought a model back using him about 60-70% of the time, with the other times my opponent spending activations & positioning to take him out first, which if they wanted to do I was fine with. Queen's Champion almost never. NB beaters are already well established good, I never much saw the point of adding 2 SS of cost for the benefit, especially when you had to force specific things to get it on the model you wanted. Even if you go in not caring which beater it gets on, just thumbing through the book, how man of those guys are you willing to pay 2 stones more for to get those buffs? Beyond willing to, is it necessary? Moreso than those 2 SS going elsewhere and taking up a slot of a different upgrade? Titania/barbaros are a great lock down combo. Barbaros is zone defense and titania is more specific target, saving just the model you need from certain doom and destruction. Her positional game is great when you include the right upgrades, which you should. You want her up near, if not exactly in the thickest part of, the action anyway for the auras. Make an effort to heal back whatever first damage she takes from the enemy quickly by getting scheme markers dropped and many people immediately put her in the 'not worth the effort' category, precisely because she's not the deadliest or most controlling. In this faction where there are loads of stand out models, she's able to be a bit of a generalist. and flight 6 lets her get where you need something to be. She doesn't have that one thing she does crazy well, but combined with those knights she can shine very brightly. Definitely a whole is greater than the sum kind of situation. In a faction of stand out masters, she has a tough time looking as good as them on paper. In game for the right kind of player she can groove.

I could never fit as many models in there as I'd want for a normal night's gaming, but damned if my Yan Lo crew doesn't need a special place to call home. Not sure I can justify the price, but their release date is my birthday...

Everyone's already hit most of the important points on what to get and where to look for info. My two bits of advice for new players are first, find out if you've got a local henchman, and hook up with them to meet the local players. If you've ever played any other tabletop games, go into your Malifaux experience assuming these people are nicer than your other games were. 9 times out of ten it's true. Second, don't buy much more than the couple crew boxes and couple loose models that have been suggested for you here. It's very (VERY) easy to want to rush in and buy this cool guy and that cool thing and before you've played two games you own 90% of one faction and other stuff from 3 other factions. That's great if you like to paint but honestly really terrible if you're learning to play the game. For your first handful of games, stick to a small core of models and no more than 2 masters (preferably 1 in most cases). If you constantly switch in new models and masters and upgrades, all you're ever learning is how that new model works, and it distracts from learning to play the game as a whole once you have down what the specific models you're using can do.

Sounds like a great idea for a podcast. Should be very helpful for newer players. Props for putting it all out there, too. I don't think I'd want to have my game last week analyzed, much less my first games back when M2E started.

I have always thought it was simply because the text for "Final Form: You may not use this model and the <whatever> effigy in the same crew" or whatever even wordier version would be needed wouldn't fit on the already overflowing Emissary cards. That you can use both just becomes one of those odd quirks of the game.

Making terrain is all about what effects you want the terrain to have on the games. Making the platform Ht 3 or 4 will mean falling damage from pushes or lures can come into play, unless you put a railing around the edge. Ht2 would get rid of dealing with the fall damage. It also makes it more likely for someone to actually climb the sides to get up there, rather than everyone funneled up the stairs you want. Yes, they could climb Ht3, and rarely will, but given the extra 2" of Mv it takes to go that extra Ht point, it strongly cuts down on it, from what I've witnessed over the years. Beyond that, it's all about what type of other terrain keywords you want to add to your board. Maybe the front is open, the sides are soft cover but passable cross braces and the back is solid wood hard cover, impassable. Maybe the hangman has an assortment of axes or other painful looking bits hanging from leather straps off one edge and suddenly it's a small bit of passable hazardous right there. If this is your first piece, you're really in luck because you should make it however you imagine it. Once you've got some terrain already built, tailoring the rest of the pieces you come up with based on what you already have so that you have a good assortment on the board becomes more important.

John! Great meeting you! Nova was a lot of fun the whole way through. Man, I kinda got stomped on my last game. Ressers were definitely my first love but still, Kirai is harsh! Was one of those situations where Casey knew what he needed to do, did it right, and I was wishing Nova was only 5 rounds still. Going for Public Demonstration "for the hell of it" was probably not my best call of the weekend, too. All in all I think Arcanists gave a good show, will be interesting to see how Sandeep changes things up in the coming year, with a different kind of summoning to add to the mix.

Yeah, just saw this, too. I played Kaeris all 6 games of the GT, loads of fun. Ended up coming in 15th I think? I put up my thoughts on that in the Kaeris thread. Got to run Rail Golem in at least half those games, so a good way to close out Arcanists for me, as they're my favorites in the faction. Only used Howard in one game, even better.

Asked of Aaron while at Nova Open during a GT game this weekend, "on the enemy half" doesn't mean fully on the enemy half, as long as part of it is, it counts. That was only him acting as a TO for one tournament and making an on the spot ruling there, and is no more official than that, but that was how I understood it to mean in every conversation I've seen on it up to that point. I just wanted an official "before I make this move" ruling while he happened to be standing nearby. We did not get into the specifics of if it is touching the line but not over it. Personally I'd say that doesn't count.

I took Kaeris to the Nova Open GT this year, 6 games, as a way to finish out my year of Arcanists. She is my favorite of the Arcanists, versatile enough that while not the obvious choice for some strats/schemes (one of the things that annoys me about Arcanists, the obvious choices are beat-you-over-the-head glaringly obvious), she can do remarkably well in any situation. I don't consider myself terribly competitive (but no one likes losing, eh?), and walked away with a 3/2/1 record which was better than expected, and not quite what I hoped for. I spent a lot of time struggling with Kaeris when I first started playing her. The anti-synergy in some of the things you think you want to use always made her feel a bit clunky to me. You want fire, but getting it out there in any great amount is unreliable at best, card intensive at worst. Oh, well here's Rail Golem, he can help, but then he's out of fire he really wants to get work done. So many "that doesn't work the way I was hoping" moments. Anyway, lots of time spent working out what I liked about her, what clunky things I could live with and what wasn't worth it. In the end, what worked for me was getting a little bit away from the standard burning crew and going more with steam. My go to crew was Grab and Drop Kaeris, Malifaux Child, and 2 large arachnids. If I owned a 3rd I might sometimes have used it. Flying, flaming, robotic scheme marker dropping spiders are a wonderful thing. Being able to use their own scheme markers when needed, or the enemy's when available, you can fairly regularly surprise your opponent with 6 point damage hits where needed. As long as you have any tome at all in your hand (and even without you have two cards flipped to luck into it), the trigger to allow the Child to put burning on both spiders guarantees two scheme markers per turn that can either be fuel for their attacks or VP for schemes, and your opponent has to constantly guard against either of those. Around 80% of the time there's a performer in the list. Their utility is never in question anyway, and having extra scheme markers around that may blow up for double negatives gives even more for your opponent to worry about. Rail Golem when you need damage output (chosen slightly for fire synergy, mostly because he's my favorite model in the faction, Howard being the more obvious if boring choice), Joss if you need staying power and consistency. Firestarter for speed or more fire. Kaeris herself on any given turn is what I need her to be. Damage output if really really needed, but much more just a target. There was never a time she was attacked where I said "if she dies I'm totally screwed", but then, never a time she actually died, she can take a punch and soak up enemy activations quite well. People want to attack masters, even if it's not the best thing to do, especially the one with the big flaming wings. Sometimes dropping an extra marker in an inconvenient place. Often repositioning models, getting the most out of grab and drop can be huge. In one game, I used it twice, first turning a loss into a tie, and then turning the tie into a win. Learn well to place an enemy model on one height (top of a height 2 box, building, whatever), and Kaeris within 2" but at a different height. For most models this breaks engagement, allowing Kaeris to fly away. Did this twice to McCabe (and his horse! ha!!) allowing me to pick up head markers that were otherwise completely unattainable. Some masters, you read their card and you know exactly what you're going to be doing (game after game after game.. blech). With Kaeris, half the time doing what you think you should based on reading her card, you find some other card or ability that screws up the obvious things. Finding the other, less obvious ways to pull out the most from her abilities is what's going to get you where you want to be with her.

I may be mis-remembering things, but if you're submitting an HTTPS link, try it with just HTTP, or the other way around. And if it's not a required field, just submit it without it, and when their automated system sends you an email to confirm your report, you can reply to that with the link and it will get added into the conversation.

Many people thought that the Levi change was a signal that perhaps change could happen more often going forward, such as all the talk to fix Lucius. Of course that lasted the day or two until Justin came out and basically said "don't expect more". Certainly my local group talked about changes then, and again on Justin's news of departure. Personally I'd think it more odd if at least some things weren't done differently, now that they're being done by a different person. Unless Justin and Aaron are just Changeling clones, I suppose. As to the bigger balance question, I think a side note that has to be considered in any similar discussion is what rules clarifications could be made. If they decide to tackle Elevation, for example, in a 2.5 or even 2.1 kind of document, that alone is going to shift whatever balance we're discussing. Further clarifying and codifying trigger and event timing could be huge for specific models while not affecting others at all. Beyond that, I always take cries of imbalance with a grain of salt, especially from any particular US meta. In any one club, master X might be considered the best of the best, and simply because of a lack of ability to inter-mingle, the guys in the next city over look at that same master and laugh. But if one of those guys gets on the forum and cries foul, and gets support from two other people in two other places, and they do it in a reasonably well spoken manner and are decently well known names on the forums, well then internet wisdom will pick up that idea and run it to death. That's just the way the internet works. Given the fluff in the new book, I'm fully expecting new versions of at least some masters/models in our future. Whether that takes the new limited/restricted upgrade route ("Path of the Beyond" Yan Lo Oni limited upgrade), whole new cards ("Lucius Unmasked", "Mecha-Schill"), or some other mechanic is anyone's guess. If it were me, my guide would be 'perception is reality, different is good'. Collectively we've been saying Lucius is low tier since we saw him. Doesn't mean it's factual, but it means that for everyone except a few die-hard rebels, it might as well be true, so he gets a new card, new abilities. Collectively we're tired of seeing Papa Box, or Doppelganger/Primordial Magic, so depending on how they would make changes, perhaps a new Sonnia card/upgrade that is good, useful, and has no need or use for Papa, or NB upgrade that makes taking Primordial much less attractive by making unique totems more attractive, or just simply maybe their cards get changed and old cards invalidated. And all of this without even having played with or against any of the book 4 models, which will certainly change the perception of things. It's a constantly moving target that frankly, I think Wyrd gets closer to the bullseye more often than most.

I keep track of score on a post it note (keep a stack in my bag). I do it turn by turn in case there's ever a question of what happened when, or all the other little questions when you're playing casually and not focused on keeping track of every little thing. It also helps answer the 'what turn is it' question. Write my noted models on the back, too. If the guy who invented Post it's only knew just how important his work has become (to my gaming)!

Speaking for, I'm sure pretty much everyone... how has this experience not made it's way into some crazy Malifaux crew, scenario and/or terrain yet? Next year's Nightmare crew? C'mon, something!! Rodeo Levi and his 4 Horsewomen and/or Men of the Cowpocalypse?

Just to follow up, by 10am this morning I had a reply from Wyrd with a very satisfactory resolution. Top notch customer service from Wyrd, light years ahead of other gaming companies I've had to deal with in the past.