OrangeKnight

I have played Lilith a couple of times recently (mostly a Dreamer player) and after listening to the podcast I realized just how powerful she can be. Nothing says "Deliver a Message" like dropping a waldgeist into base contact with an Illusionary Forest and within 4" of a master who thought they were out of range and LoS of shenanigans. Also the ability to every turn use the best six of your top 11 cards is absolutely insane. In one game recently, out of my top 11 cards my highest card was a 10, my opponent also had a crap hand but my deck was on fire after that. In the same game I got a Royal Flush of masks (including the red joker) and an Extra 13. That ability is so incredible if they can't kill your vomit worm and you don't need to spend your stones anywhere else. And not related to Lilith but the point they make about focusing on 1 - 3 masters until you can stop worrying about your crews and actually get better at Malifaux itself is a great one. It has inspired me to stick to a few masters until I feel truly comfortable with them and now I can't imagine Lillith not being one of my mains.

Fair enough I just wanted to clarify because your post read more like you could use the Hodgepodge effect just after damaging. In fact at that point it makes more sense to spend the stone on a than on a suit since you are killing the model anyway. But yeah, if you're planning on finishing off some bros it seems like a cool combo.

Hodgepodge Effigy says you have to kill or sacrifice to get the discard/stone. Unless you are surrounded by 2 and 3 wound models its probably not a very efficient use of Collodi's amazing attack. Cool idea though.

In my mind these figures help define the flavor of their factions. The belles help show how the rezzers make horrible twisted versions of their past lives more powerful in undeath and the austringer helps enforce how the guild is the best faction with a gun. There doesn't seem to be any reason to cuddle these models unless you want each faction to be nothing more than a reskin of models elsewhere. Balance does not require symmetry. The austringer is yes, going to hit someone, and deal a bit of damage, but that doesn't seem that worrisome. The belles can reliably cast lure, good, that is what they are there for. But they don't do damage or have any other real utility besides being rather tanky. I firmly believe that niche models can have stats comprable to masters and enforcers in order to reliably affect the game. If the only use of minions is to kill other minions while the big models play together, then the game has lost sight of what skirmish sized games are about. I personally love the belles and austringer as are, and having played both with and against them recently, I think they are completely appropriate in terms of flavor and power.