Isefaux

From my experience it doesn´t - at least not against Kings Empire. Besides the stats problem, the Chaos Fissures stratagem is much better in dual commander, because there are more flips. At a certain point of the Chaos Fissure stratagem, the Cult player will have a decent hand and can improve it from flip to flip - This works simply better, the more actications are on the table. Also their area damage is even more frightening with more stuff on the table.

I did not play the artillery yet, but the problem I see is, that even when inspire tokens may cancel cover, it's only av3. So even when putting a high card in the duel, the defender may win with a medium high card. Or use his own inspire tokens. For shooting at titans, the artillery may work. I'm not sure yet, if that's enough for me. To be honest, I would have an artillery piece expected to have indirect fire and built in area and a reasonable av.

Yes, I also consider the cult being more durable than the empire. Their units in general seem extremely cost efficient. But there were two points that had massive influence on our last match and that simply were completely unfun to play against. First was, that you can't really defend against the portals mechanic as they can be moved and a new portal can easily be created via stratagem. Put a new portal on the table in a sweet spot and send a rhino with its pulse through. You can't defend against that move and will suffer a huge amount of autohits you can't defend against either. Similar with exploding breachling, no defence possible. You could even chain activate two breachlings or rhinos to do even more damage. Just imagine a 12 inch diameter template autohitting with str 3 or 5 two times. And you can just watch and let it happen. Another thing we are concerned about is the chaos fissures strategem. We tried it recently at a dual commander game and it was a complete game changer. At the beginning of the turn it was a bit tricky for my opponent, because he had no hand to defend with and suffered some damage. But then the strategems card draw mechanics began to work and things became terrible, since as soon as he had some hand cards, he could also cheat from his hand to get the high cards he fliped before, while still winning the duels. I. E. he cheated a 9 from his hand and won the duel. Because he flipped the red Joker before cheating, he was allowed to put the red Joker in his hand. At the end of the chaos fissures turn, he had 6 handcards between 11 and 13. That strategem appears to be not that good on the paper, but actually give it a try.

My impressions of the game rules are very positive. Some slight twists make this game feel different from Malifaux [at least m2e, m3e I did not play yet]. The mechanics how tactic tokens, hand cards and strategems work together feels very smooth, yet still challenging. What we are concerned about, is the game balance. Having yet only played kings empire versus cult of burning man, kings empire is performing very bad in comparison. The cult has very strong units and tricks your opponent simply can't defend against. Not by clever play, not by flips. Next week I will have my first match against the gibbering hordes. Let's see, how this works.

They are fine to summon. Imho they are a bit expensive, if you hire them.

The Belles are really very strong and imho a must-have for any Resser player. The Hanged is a bit situational imho, its big asset is whispers from beyond. Against some foes, that works very well (stop eat your fill and regeneration), but they also have some difficult matchups (high CA foes or obey). Imho the Hanged can be very nice, but I would not consider him a must-have....

Komainu are Retainers and can be played with Yan Lo. They are really good and one of Toshiros summoning options, so I would add them to your list. Another model I would add is the new Carrion Emissary (Kirai Avatar can be used to proxy it). I had only one game with this guy yet, but imho it is incredible good. I would also add some Crooligans for the strategies/schemes. Belles are also nice and perhaps your buddys don´t mind, if you substitute the models of the Belles by some Onryo to keep your theme...

I learned, that the Hanged can be a serious thread for my own crew too - if my opponent has acess to "obey" or similar effects. Just make your opponent regret his decision to put 2 hanged on the board by whispering Seamus with his own hanged... Not a tactic for all factions, but if you can, just give it a try.

I did not have any games versus Sonnia, but Sebastian could provide a very solid anti- bubble. Crooked men are also very solid, when resisting normal shooting.