tmod

No, not for everyone. But they cannot physically fit in every minority with a limited number of models. I think they've a good job from the start with inclusivebeds, but I'm still glad whenever I see new minorities represented as the scope of the game increases... (On a jokier note I'm still waiting for a mid-thirties Western Norwegian white heterosexual male with glasses, and an interest in sport, science, politics and history... And yes, I'm prepared to be at back of the line... :-p).

The cards should be updated, but the pictures are still old. Was a big issue earlier in the winter/spring...

Let's see if I can get the quotes working here... Crap, my phone isn't cooperating, I'll just add a numbering in the quote... 1. I think this might be a case of what people are expecting to see. The thing is, I followed that debate closely, and I couldn't see any "horde" or "horde mentality" except the anti-L. Lovelace side. There was one loud, female, and obviously smart and well-formulated poster who frequently posted claims of an anti-feminist horde, but I couldn't see any trace of them on the forum* **. There was one or two obvious trolls on the pro L.L. side, but no more than om the contra L.L. side. Thus I don't think there's anything brave about Wyrd's choice, I would characterise it as a change of heart due new information at best, otherwise expedience or even cowardice (no critique implied, I would have reached the same conclusion!). The wast majority of posters where either indifferent, anti-L.L. or even very vocally anti. When a company gets accused of condoning rape and gender violence it's only sensible with full-on damage control! * There were many warnings about moderation about at those times, so I might have missed some deleted posts due to time zone differences. ** I only followed the debate on this forum, so any postings on Twitter, Facebook or other media I would have missed. (I know there were rumours about threats via email, and I hope that was dealt with by the police). 2. I might not have gotten my stance through clearly. I'm very much NOT opposed to Wyrd adding more LBGT characters, overt or covert, and I thought I'd stated as much (but obviously not clearly enough). I'm opposed to adding ANY character just to be able to check a box. So far Wyrd have done a great job doing that, and I'm confident we will see more minorities, including sexual orientation, represented both in the open and more hinted at in the future. What I take issue with, and my only reason for getting involved in this thread, is that I worry about people peer pressuring Wyrd to rush to add more overt LGBT characters. That's the only way, in my opinion, that Wyrd can get this wrong, and we might even get stereotypes that in the end will do more harm than good. Wyrd will do this om their own, I don't think they should be bullied into doing the right thing... 3. I agree, not a huge achievement at all, but then again, they're in the business of making games, not politics. I appreciate their progressive agenda, and I think we should applaud the fact that they are best in class (or close) and applaud every move in the right direction. Ie, it's a better endeavour to call out any suspected LGBT characters already in the game (or even write and publish fan fiction), than to lament a real or perceived lack of representation for a specific group. 4. Appreciated, even though unnecessary in this case. :-) PS! I haven't addressed the bit about male-female ratios, so I will briefly as that was the other feminist issue that exploded. I think the premise is a little bit faulty, for several reasons. There are a whole host of reason why some personality types might be more common in any given setting, and the idea that every single group should be represented, and represented equally is unrealistic in my opinion. Also, there are very few settings where you get a perfect gender distribution. That said, I think the seemingly increasing rate of female representation is great for the game. In my opinion there will always be things lagging, but Wyrd is getting there, and should be applauded when improving. Edit: slight clarification

Replying to this last bit, just to tie it together with something... I'm not (and this is no linear discussion, so I speak only for myself!) worried about the writing per se, I'm worries about Wyrd and the writers being pushed for specific agendas. There are already LGBT+ characters in the game, and I hope Wyrd keeps on pushing the envelope in having an ever more diverse character set. But in my opinion we've already seen how peer pressure led to one change, which left a character less rich. I'm referring to the Lizzy Lovelace debacle, where an awesome tribute to a female scientific genius and a nod to a famous female serial killer combined in a brilliant way so the name itself translated to "female evil genius". Someone took issue with there being a character named L. Lovelace*, and after a while Wyrd was condoning rape just by using that name. It got ugly enough (and spilled over to venues other than this forum) that I think it was a wise decision to cave and change the name. A wise decision, but one that left the game poorer than it would have been otherwise. Hence I take issue with the idea that Malifaux is not diverse (it is, and it's getting more diverse with every book), that Wyrd is not remarkably inclusive and progressive for a game company (they're job is to sell a game, not an ideology. That said, I love that they have a progressive message, but that message is worthless if they focus more on the message than the game), or that the forum users in general are bigots opposed to any form of representation (I have not seen anyone opposed to LGBT characters in general in this thread). I'm think it's legitimate to worry about politics taking the upper hand in a game, especially given the context (the feminism/rape culture debacles), especially when Wyrd is probably the most progressive game company out there! TLDR: Wyrd is a really progressive game company on social issues, let's not accuse them of anything else. Let's enjoy the diversity already in game, including LGBT orientation, and look forward to more in coming books and Chronicles, not complain about things not being fast enough from a truly progressive company. * I have always considered myself a feminist, and being a university educated male I have a lot of feminist friend, of both male and female. When this thing struck, I discussed it with many of my friends, and every single one of us felt Lizzy Lovelace was a much more empowering name for the character than Anna Lovelace...

I think Wyrd does a great job of being inclusive, and we've already gotten a crossdressing penguin, a bearded lady, a male showgirl, heroes and anti-heroes with a Western European, Indian, Slavic, Middle Eastern, East Asian and various African and/or African American/European background as well as at least one explicitly lesbian. We've got several people with hinted lgbt+ orientation, while one of the developer and the company owner confirming there are several sexual orientations amongst the characters in the game, as well as the writer of one of the stories confirming that he wrote on of the stories for two of the characters as a lesbian couple. I think Wyrd is doing pretty great here, actually! Now, if one or more characters "come out" at a later point, that's just great, but I'd rather have ambiguous sexuality than stereotypes. It seems to be an annual summer thing, bashing one another on whether Wyrd is inclusive enough (women, ethnicity, sexual orientation). I think Wyrd is doing great, and I think asking questions is part of what makes them so great, but flame wars over lack of representation in the game is NOT something a great company like Wyrd deserves! How about we try to spot the (most probable) non-heterosexual characters already present in the fluff instead? So far we've got E.B. from TTB (as someone mentioned earlier), as well as Tara and Carina. Who want to add more?

Good luck! :-)

Very little, unfortunately... One of the less popular changes was from first edition was the simplifications to the vertical side of the game. The streamlining does make a lot of sense mechanlocally (less so the elevation rules), but vertical tables are cool, so it's a trade off between fun to play and cool to watch...

Bump

Perhaps the biggest issue with Citadel paints are the combination of poor bottles, high prices and low volume in each bottle. In other words you pay a lot more for less, and it's more likely to dry out earlier. Also other ranges can offer "more" when mixing different ranges. Citadel tends to be very highly saturated, which may or may not be what you are looking for. But using only Citadel gives you little choice. Army Painter is a lot cheaper, and is very high quality paints with better bottles. They tend to be similarly saturated as Citadel. Vallejo Game Colour has a similar type of saturated colours, but is supposed to be more wear resistant. Other Vallejo ranges are more realistic, and especially shades and highlights benefit hugely from some of the options here (Deck Tan/Offwhite for warm/cool highlights, etc). Formula P3 supposedly uses liquid dyes instead of pigments, and this is supposed to make them more flexible when thinning. Not noticed much difference, but good quality paints with some really useful tones. Not really used Reaper paints, but they've got a great reputation. There are others as well, such as Scale75, but those are the most common. I'd suggest trying out different stuff, but no reason to bin your Citadel stuff. Simply replace them with better/cheaper stuff as they run out, and get specific colours from different ranges as you need them. No reason to buy Citadel, but neither to avoid them, and sticking to a single brand will just limit your palette. But more importantly, make sure you get good additives! A good matte medium (Vallejo or artist's brands), a glaze medium (Vallejo is great!), flow improver and extender/slow-dry is as essential as water if you want to make glazes, transitions, washes, etc. I would also consider a wet palette (I mostly just use a ceramic tile, but everytime I get out my wet palette I promise myself to never go back), and definitely buy some premium brushes and a brush soap. I use mostly W&N series 7 size 0, 1 and 2 for finer work, but cheaper brushes for basecoating and similar. I've used medium quality brushes in the past, including cheaper sable brushes, but the series 7 was a revelation. They are insanely expensive, so I have to look online, but definitely worth it (my size 1 cost about $40 in an artist's store!). The brush soap is a cheap way to protect the investment in proper brushes...

I really like the Wyrd stands for flyers, but it seems pretty random which models come with them included. I've got most of the range, but so far only the Shikome have come with them. Especially the new Iron Skeeters could greatly benefit from flying stands. Anyone know where to get more?

How about a ticking condition with a blast explosion at the end? If the Survivor is killed before self-destructing the bomb is defused. Will give them an interesting mechanic as must-destroy summons and set them apart from the flickering TT...

Haha, why not? Take Captain Dashel and summon to your heart's content... ;-) Necromantic fluids can be used for more than summoning, and apparently making dimension-gates-in-a-box is one of them... On a more serious not, if anybody is not familiar with this part of the fluff, it's mentioned several times that Death Marshalls decay over time, due to the necromantic magic they use, and it's also mentioned by the old GG before he became the Burning Man that he knows that all the Special Divisions are tainted; Perdita have some form of Neverborn connection (who is her mother? just how did Papa go Loco?) that is the reason she's s effective at hunting them (check out her old Avatar model with her riding a Neverborn monster if you won't bother to read through all the fluff), Sonnia draws her power from using the same forbidden lore everyone else get turned into Witchling Stalkers for even thinking about, and Lady Justice and the Marshals using the same Necromantic magic as ressurs to fight them. The same goes for Hoffman using Amalgation to fight against the steamfitter's part of the Arcanists. The guild very much has a fight fire with fire attitude to the threats it faces, and the desire to end all this was much of the motivation for the previous Governor General to try to ascend and become a Tyrant so he would be the only "abomination" needed in Guild Service. Spoiler alert: it didn't exactly work out they way he intended... Again, there are no black and white in Malifaux, just shades of grey; and most of the shades are a lot closer to black than white...

As has been mentioned the Guild is not "just a company" like Microsoft or Wyrd are companies; they are modelled on the Dutch and British East Indian Trading Company. In that sense they are closer to Indonesia, Rhodesia (modern South Africa and Zimbabwe) and indeed India than they are to Ford or Volkswagen. In the 17th-18th century a lot of colonization was organized by organizations set up by (or in cooperation with) the Government (king) of a European country with the mandate to conquer territory abroad. This was the beginning of the stock market, but they were also very different organizations than modern companies. The Guild's goal is power, not just profit. The Guild is just what the name suggests, a guild of mages and their organization. Using the shortage of soulstones after the closure of the first breach as leverage they were able to control most governments Earthside prior to the opening of the second breach. The real threat for the Guild with the second breach is that smuggling threatens their monopoly, which is what kept them in power Earthside. With the last few books it has been revealed that some powers Earthside (Abyssinia notably) managed to stay out the Guild's grip all the time, and others used the turmoil spilling over from Malifaux (the emergence of the Burning Man) to break free from the shackles, and the Guild's political control Earthside has pretty much been shattered. It seems like they have returned to being a guild for mages and a commercial enterprise, but I guess the fluff in The Other Side will tell us a lot more... When it comes to descriptions of Malifaux/Neverborn in the official fluff it's pretty obvious that when no view-point is given then we should assume the information comes from the Guild/human point of view. To relate to the above text, no Neverborn storyteller would say of themselves something like: "The appearance of monsters in this world seems linked to a great cataclysm, occurring ages ago, that transformed it from a place not unlike Earth into the ruined splendor seen today." This is the voice of humans describing the unknown. Furthermore, just like the Guild call the Ortegas "Neverborn hunters", not "Neverborn murderers", whereas the Neverborn are not "above indulgent murders", Neverborn voices are likely to describe Nekima as a "alien hunter" (or maybe rather "vermin exterminator") rather than "indulgent murderer". Humans in Malifaux are scared of Neverborn, and with good reason; they are vicious and violent and more than capable of shredding most humans to pieces. The Neverborn are terrified of the humans, and with good reason; they meddle with things they don't understand, and have almost destroyed the world several times over in the last decade or so. A point on propaganda... Of course anything said by the Guild has to be treated like propaganda, and the same anything uttered by Lilith or Ramos. Doesn't mean there isn't some truth to it. Good propaganda is always telling the truth, or at least a version of it, what makes it propaganda is which parts of the truth are emphasized and which are censored. The guild are likely to repress what exactly happens to "Arcanist criminals" when the witch hunters get their hands on them, but will tell it exactly like it is when a rogue mage cause havoc in a failed experiment. The Guild will NOT tell you that the necromantic magic used by the Death Marshalls is pretty much identical with the magic practised by Ressurectionists, but WILL pass on any gory details on the horrid exploits they have done at the cemetaries... Finally a point on the "official descriptions". Most "neutral" fluff seems to be from the perspective of ordinary citizens well connected with rumour-mongers. Thus most of the information seems to come from Guild propaganda, and most of the rest seems to be propaganda/rumours sourced from the M&SU. This is actually quite cool, as it helps put us in the shoes of the regular human inhabitants of Malifaux, and as humans those are the ones we are most likely to connect with. It does mean that the Neverborn, Gremlins and Ten Thunders are more "shrouded in mystery" than the better known Outcasts, Guild and Arcanists, and Ressurs become more alien/evil than mysterious. If you read all the books, all the Chronicles stories, all the campaign stuff and TTB material the total picture becomes extremely complex, and it's clear no faction is all "good" or all "bad", and neither are individuals. They are all capable of great evil, and more likely to commit evil then not, and thus no one can be said to be good because they oppose those who are evil. It's all shades of grey...

As to the OP, what about this one: http://elementgames.co.uk/wargames-and-miniatures/cult-steampunk-other-miniatures-games/carnevale/morgue-doctor-and-the-being A decent Rafkin proxy included... I like this one better than Wyrd's old metals, so it's what I use if I need a third...

The choice of specifically orphans was due to the Malifaux Child being an orphan available to all factions, ie all are willing to use children as their agents and kill them in the service of others. I agree, the Aztecs didn't become nice guys because they were attacked by the Spanish, but relatively speaking they were the lesser evil in a theoretical Aztec vs. Spanish comparison. The Spaniards' native auxiliaries were perhaps the closest thing to good guys in that story, but hey, that's another discussion. All factions in Malifaux are evil, except perhaps Gremlins who are possible not self-aware enough to distinguish between the two. I'm not arguing that not being aggressors somehow makes the Neverborn into Dalai Lama. I'm arguing that the Guild is as evil or worse, and arbitrarily killing Neverborn does not make you a good person. Let's compare them: Actions are similar, they kill one another in a complete war of extinction. The Guild has an active and official eradication policy, whereas among the Neverborn there are sub-factions with the same intent. The leaders among the Neverborn have decided to tolerate the existence of humanity for now, which is more than can be said of Guild leadership attitude towards Neverborn SO FAR. Aims: Guild wants total worlds domination (both worlds), whereas Neverborn want to control Malifaux for themselves and keep both worlds safe. Impossible to say whether Lilith might want to invade Earth after a complete victory in Malifaux, but absolutely nothing to support it so far. Hard to see Guild in a good light in this comparison... Alternative options: Guild's alternative to the war is to accept a magic-starwed world, and loss of totalitarian control over Earth. Basically go home and compete for power like any other group without a equilibrium-breaking advantage unavailable to all other countries and organisations. Neverborn alternative is to accept loss and for, knowing full well that their entire species, as well as humans WILL GO EXTINCT in the process. The only thing Guild has going for it is that it's an organisation og evil HUMANS and as humans we connect to them better. The Neverborn are big, scary-looking, different/weird not-humans, and thus commands less sympathy. Fine, sympathise with Guild and the humans, I probably would as well if I had been living in Malifaux. But that doesn't mean the humans are the good guys. Both are bad, but on a whole different level. The only thing that makes the Guild look better is just that; how they look. It's fine to identify with the Guild because their race, but let's not conflate that with good/evil, or it can quickly get more than a little scary...

Don't feel shame for killing anything, it's just a game! :-) I meant that the argument that these things are alien/scary/ugly/not belonging to my group (human) and thus killing them are good/not evil, is, if taken seriously, a lot more scary than nine foot tall monsters hidden under my bed... There's evil (or capability for evil) in us all, and the only way to keep it in check is to be aware so we can bat it down ourselves whenever it rears its ugly head. I truly believe games like Malifaux with complex antiheroes everywhere has a cathartic effect and allows us all (potentially) to learn more about ourselves and grow as human beings. If there where stand-up good guys in the game these nuances would be lost and the game poorer for it...

A lot going on here, but a more general reply... There are no truly good guys in Malifaux, just like in the real world. Some try to do more good than bad, succeed some of the time, fails other times, whereas others don't give a shit. On an individual level every single character in Malifaux is perfectly happy to kill small orphans, so they are all a children-killing bunch of maniacs. On an individual level everyone is willing to do evil. If we are to look at morality in any meaningful sense we would have to look to how they justify the evil they do (or could justify it if they bothered). Ressers as a group comes out pretty poorly here, the ultimate goal seems to be to make sure everyone is dead. Not necessarily the goal of everyone, I don't think Kirai/Molly/Reva are aware for example, but the overarching goal anywayn. Murdering as many as possible innocents for the heck of it is the means, so they come out on top of the evil list. Next is Guild. They are fascist (and yes, in most definitions of evil that's pretty much spot on, never mind wars; inherent in fascism is the devaluation of others, of individual freedoms, the value of human lives etc for the benefit of one's own group. They glorify violence and diminish the value of human lives and individual opportunities. Doesn't mean that all fascists as individuals are inherently any more evil than others, mind). The Guild is an amalgam of the worst in 18th century British imperialism, 18th century American exceptionalism (Manifest Destiny), the worst of early German Nationalism coupled with the worst excesses of modern multinationals, just without any checks on their power Earthside (before the arrival of the Burning Man). Power is their only motivation, and dominating/killing/exterminating other just in order to be perpetuate your ability to do so is also pretty much text book villainy. The Guild IS bent on extermination of Gremlins and Neverborn, ie all other races they cannot fully control, (read all the earlier books), and the only reason they lost world domination Earthside was events in Malifaux. Basically the local threats (Gremlins, Neverborn, Ressers) put them in a weak enough position that allowed the M&SU (and Arcanists), Outcasts and later the Thunders to establish themselves and create a complex power balance. This weakened the Guild on both sides of the Breach, and caused the GG to try to manifest, eventually causing Guild control Earthside to collapse. The only thing Guild has going for them is making and keeping the law. This might seem like a big deal, but keeping the law is only a good action as long as the law is good. The Gestapo was helping keeping the law in Nazi Germany, but is considered a criminal organization having committed crimes against humanity doing so. Note that Sonnia of the guild's perhaps most inherently evil subdivision (witchhunters) is also one of the most heroic good characters in the game. Yes, she's ruthless and willing to go to any measures to reach her goals, but those goals are to save the world(s), and she's perfectly willing to make huge sacrifices herself for no personal gain... Next is ihmo Outcasts, not because they are inherently evil, but because they are inherently willing to do evil for a coin. Also, Tara and Hamelin fight for Tyrants, who would rank pretty near top on this list if they were a faction. Leveticus is probably the most cruel and selfish character in the game (shout out to all other Levi players out there!), yet seems to be aware of having a big role in saving the world at some point in the future. The others are simply without morals more than anything, though not incapable of heroic deeds (Vics). Next is Thunders, who seem to have two goals: stop the apocalypse and accumulate as much power as possible in the process. In other words they have some notion of responsibility, but are mainly there for coin/power. Total ruthlessness adds to their villain index. Arsonists are a bit of a puzzle. They are also ruthless, but mostly more caring than the other factions. Their goal of freedom from oppression is a good one, but the machinations at the top seems to make it clear that they don't really want freedom, they want a continued freedom fight where they can play the role of the good guys (tm). Raspy has a Tyrant contained, but like Sonnia she struggles to keep him that way. A lot of unpleasant characters and habbits are tolerated/encouraged, from protection money to cannibalism seriously stains their reputation. Next up is Neverborn, who is a generally unpleasant bunch. Some could probably fit right in with the worst (ie Nekima), but the leaders of the faction scheme to make the world of Malifaux safe for themselves AND Earth safe for humans. This bit is kinda important: if no one keeps the Guild/Ressers in check ALL HUMANS WILL DIE. The sisters, Lilith, Pandora and Zoraida, is the only group fully committed to stop this (most others are also unaware/unwilling to believe). If ends can ever justify means this gotta be it! The others are a mixed bag, but none have a directly evil grand scheme. Collodi is probably worst, driven by a thirst for vengeance, which is definitely evil, but pretty tame compared to some others. The Dreamer isn't aware of what he's doing, so though destructive it's problematic to dismiss him as evil. Titania's plan brings her on a collision course with saving the world, but probably due to lack of knowledge. She's also the tragic hero if Old Malifaux, so not all bad... Lynch is just a pitiful creature, unable to control his own life because of the squeeze he's in. He's a victim more than anything. So overall pretty close to a good guys faction, but the individual cruelty of most of them kinda makes sure they are more best of the bad guys than truly good guys. They are not human (anymore), and tend to look ugly/scary; that doesn't make them evil. Their violent culture kinda does though, but not more so than the other factions. For me I agree that Gremlins are the least evil faction. They have a cruel culture, but they are more chaotic than evil. They are only just self-aware, and mot truly capable of knowing the difference between good and evil, hence neutral seems right. So there it is, my summary of the factions. Again let me draw attention to the fact that this assessment is of factions and trends, not of individuals. I think Hoffmann is pretty close to an all-around good guy, even as he's part of the Guild. The new governor seems to be pretty ok, and we'll have to see if events Earthside change the goals and methods of the Guild. I also think that not being the aggressor doesn't prevent you from committing atrocities, but being the aggressor IS IN ITSELF an atrocity under international law, and hence pretty evil under modern standards. Also, economic justifications for war are also by definition an atrocity, and hence evil. This means that magic disappearing or losing power is not a justified reason for anything. Otherwise EVERY single offensive action by anyone would be justified... Finally, this is just a game, and I think one of the really cool things about Malifaux is the cathartic feel one inherently gets while playing out the role of one of.the game's many villains. That doesn't mean one cannot sympathise more with some than others. Personally I sympathise most with the freedom fighting Arcanists. I have a certain admiration for people willing to give up their (more or less) comfortable lives to fight for something they believe in. Doesn't mean I play them all that much or believe they are justified. In fact, while I started out with Neverborn, the more I realised they weren't all that bad the less interesting they became to me. Poor Lynch, my first master, hasn't seen the table in ages...

Either there is some irony here I'm not getting or there is some seriously scary stuff going on in this post... :-/

Odd thing to say... Our closest equivalent is native Americans; scum is kinda harsh... Violent, yes, but their overall goals are to protect their world from alien invaders and save both worlds from the Grave Spirit. Sounds like the stuff of heroes to me...

How much is shipping to Norway in Europe? Might be interested in the Rasputina Avatar...

Hey all! I've done a little bit of led work in a few of my minis, and less have been toted as the Next Big Thing in minis for a while now. But the big issue always seems to be fitting batteries in the bases. Some have built up bases a lot to get more space, but sometimes that isn't possible. I've used CR2012 batteries earlier, but I still struggle fit them under 50mm bases, never mind 30mm ones. Any experiences to share? An other issue is the leds themselves. It's pretty easy to get tiny leds (railway modellers buy smd leds with leads already soldered on), but often we need flickering leds, and they are harder to get in small form factors. I've been thinking about using optic fibres to be able to use bigger leds "under the hood". Any thoughts?

With the Easter Sale looming I thought I'd start a thread for wish listing. Naturally it's too late for this time around, but maybe we'll inspire some good ideas anyway... We've seen several similar threads earlier, and I'll repeat my preference for more alternates of spamable models, like Malifaux Rats and Bayou Gremlins. But otherwise I thought I'd focus more on the other side of limited releases, the translucent/dayglo kits. Personally I'm not too fond of the dayglo kits, but I do like them as quick alternates for singles only available in master sets, like my dayglo trapper. Translucents on the other hand can be really cool. I've seen some awesome lighted kits, and with washes and translucent paints they can be really cool, especially for ethereal models. The downside is of course when half a crew is see-through, ethereal and spooky, and the other half is solid. For some crews this is fine, but for others problematic, eg translucent Kirai with two Seishin and Datsue Ba with two more solid ones. Thus I'd really like a matching translucent Datsue Ba. Other Kirai ghosts would be welcome as well... Another would be Widow Weaver for the Dreamer, and possibly Teddy. One could argue that the supporting models for Rasputina should be available as well, but there is a distinction between the ice constructs and the human/beast models imho... Lynch could be use some translucent depleted and possibly Stitched Togethers, maybe others... What do you think?

There is a huge catch-em-all aspect to this game. Started out with just a few models because I wanted to paint them; now I've got 43/47(?) masters (just missing four or the wave 4 ones), most of the individual boxes, and quite a few doubles/nightmare editions and old metals... It started as a small sideshow, but has quickly taken over my hobby completely... :-) T.

My take is similar to others' here. Try to make the four sides balanced, but asymmetric. And set up the board first, preferably by someone not playing. And a slight tilt (ie no streets parallel with any board edge). This goes a long way in making the games interesting and deployment more meaningful...