LunarSol

I've found specific cards around the web, but I don't think they're intentionally public.

Mostly its just a sense that in most turns, there's really only one way to manage my resources. A model generates a set amount of Energy each turn. There are things that can affect this, but there's no allocation across your force or general benefit for saving any of it from the previous turn. You get X Energy and when you activate you more or less use it or lose it. On your actual turn, you spend Energy for everything. You spend different amounts to move different speeds (generally 1 for a walk, 2 for a fast walk, 3 for flyers to really move), you can spend one to bump up to one to bump one of your defensive stats (having reread the rules since then, I may have been taught this wrong) and the rest take take whatever actions you want, which you can spend more to boost the accuracy on or to pay for extra effects. It sounds like a lot of choices, but generally a character's actions and usage limits on those actions are such that you end up doing the same thing every turn. I never felt like Thor could really do anything other than move a bit, throw his hammer with a boost (which from what I could tell damages him if he uses it in melee?) and bump a defensive stat, for example. Choosing not to do some of those actions didn't provide resources to be spent on other abilities. In part, that's because the dice curve feels like its in a weird spot where not boosting feels unlikely to succeed and boosting feels unlikely to fail (2D8 often needing above average 10); plus you generally get notable bonuses for boosting that are often the most important part of the action. There's also no variance in damage, which means nothing truly explosive ever happens and more a sense of chipping away, which is probably a part of the sense of doing the same thing over and over. I just never felt particularly engaged with the combat engine the way I have with other games. Often I felt like characters did one thing, then their turn was over and if the dice failed, their turn was just over. Compared to something like a fully loaded heavy in Warmachine or Influence filled player in Guild Ball or even a Malifaux charge, I just didn't feel like aggressive plays and big rewards nor have I felt like I've seen a point where something clever really turns the tide of a game. Like, I've had Thor slam Colossus into a car and blow it up catching Cyclops in the blast, but it didn't really significantly alter the game the way that sounds like it should.

I've played it a couple times and thus far it hasn't really wowed me, but I've felt like the tools are there to make something of it. It's hard to gauge my internal bias on this one though, because for every part of me that wants to really love it, there's another desperately afraid I'd be unable to stop myself from buying the entire line. I'm not sure why the game hasn't really clicked with me, but I guess I just wasn't overly compelled by the choices available when I activate models. The game is loaded with cool things you can do and that can happen; fastball specials, knockbacks, terrain explosions and the like, but character activations themselves felt rather limited to me. You get a lot of resources to manage but things are generally also very expensive, so for the most part I felt like it was a very clunky way of letting characters get a single move and attack each turn. Compared to a model activation in Malifaux or Guild Ball, I just didn't get that sense of options, despite the cards looking like there should be quite a few of them. By virtue of the turn structure I feel there's a tendency for an early activated model to get piled on and focus fired down. This isn't really something unique to this game, but when every model on the board is so iconic it feels odd. That said, the game is very young and the system is robust enough to really shine as it grows and more options are available (I've literally only played with the starters). I think in particular if it gets some well crafted objectives and guidelines for how to best include terrain, there's lots of potential for a real winner. As is.... I'm still sorely tempted to give it another go... or 5.

If nothing else, it would really make Show of Force more interesting.

Often design gets pigeonholed into "good design"/"bad design" and neglects to appreciate that design is all about trade offs. A combat engine, for example, WILL favor something; be it high volume or high quality or something and its a matter of costing that mechanical favoritism appropriately. I do think the decision to go "keyword lite" is one that's become problematic. It makes sense in the Wave 1 mindset, as the core model line doesn't provide much variety for masters within their keyword bucket. Perdita doesn't even have a Family Minion option for example. Not relying on the keywords creates a healthy amount of diversity with a small subset of models. The problem comes when you expand the line with Wave 2. Now there's a healthy diversity within a keyword, but since few rules utilize them, the only thing that promotes model diversity is passive synergies that tend to be less thematic (obvious passive synergies tend to get stomped out in playtesting) and harder to incentive breaking up. Warmachine has the #DesignSpace joke going right now, but keyword synergies are exactly that; benefits that apply to a limited subset of models in order to allow the creation of other models that cannot benefit from those abilities. I do think they keyword upgrades have potential to improve this and are an element worth revisiting in a future wave. There's some cool potential to even make them master specific upgrades that ignore slot restrictions or even maybe upgrades for the totems. Designed properly, Malifaux could do really well with a theme force kind of design, but it would require a lot of thought to implement correctly.

Given we have two rules that target "non-Austringer", I think its fairly safe to assume Austringers affect Guild design.

Not super fond of the undead hounds. The whole set has a neat, beware of the woods, vibe, but the big dogs are a little too Resser rotting flesh than I'd like out of Neverborn. The blob things do Neverborn undead better, IMO, looking a bit more like magically warped unlife than simply rotting monsters.

Sonnia's Counterspell

I think the abilities becoming a bit more niche is probably ok. The models (particularly Lucius) could use some buffs in other areas anyway. The new scoring style is so much better for the game as a whole I don't consider it a crippling loss. I wouldn't complain if they were errata'd to a once per game kind of trick to be more flexible but I wouldn't make the change just because. Some of the models that lost power over that change did so for the better of the game anyway (looking at you, Primordial).

Really like spirit Samurai guy. Worried about what it will take to paint him though.

The thing is, "failing" to pay for those things is the only reason he's on par with what other factions expect from their henchmen.

Pretty much all the Guild Henchmen have a problem of being almost indistinguishable generalists on their base card with their unique abilities tied to overpriced upgrades. Unrelenting Leader might be a 2 SS ability, but it doesn't make the Judge an 11 SS model. Similarly, Sidir really needs by your side baked in. Honestly, even Francisco suffers from this, but he wins out by being best of breed due to being a cheaper model with a cheaper upgrade that efficiently steers him towards a successful playstyle. We also generally suffer from a lack of a really strong generic upgrade to make use of the second upgrade slot. I do think really all the Henchmen need is a cost savings somewhere; generally of just a point. Whether that comes from the upgrade or base card depends a lot on the specific model.

A lot of the TT Masters could use a little more unique sharing faction wise. For example, it would be nice if there were some Black Sheep that weren't dual faction.

More friends for Misaki? Hurray!

The whole reason to buy a house is to have more space to store minis, right?

I'd definitely contact the individual privately before making anything public. There's no reason it should become a public thing unless they want it to be. In general though, its important to form a dialog with a problem player and work with them so that if it comes to banning, its easy to make clear that it was a last resort. In general, if I get complaints about a player I will pull them aside with the following information: 1. I have received complaints 2. I am not assuming the player is at fault, nor am I taking action on things I've simply heard of 3. I will suggest calling me as soon as they get into a disagreement or a potentially contentious situation simply so I can be a neutral observer. 4. Make it clear that I will be watching their games closer so that I can get a better idea of what's going on, whether its a problem we need to discuss further OR to be able defend them if I hear complaints in the future. Generally, that starts a path that fixes things. Either the player shapes up or continues to cause problems that I am more directly involved in, causing the escalation to occur with me directly instead of forcing me to act as a proxy for other players. The important thing though is just that "call the TO" culture for all sides. Most competitive events have a dedicated referee after all and most minis games play well with a judge on hand to answer any questions and make any of those iffy calls regarding close measurements and iffy LOS. I implore players to call me when they're about to do anything high stakes or involving complex rule interactions simply because having a neutral pair of hands makes things run smoother. It's just best for everyone to have the TO involved and from the other side, its a much better day for the TO when they're constantly helping even with minor things.

This is the first time I've seen the parts layout and they really nailed the cage. It's pretty simple. Build the model as 3 parts. The big guy holding everything including the top half of the cage, the bottom half, and the prisoner. Paint them up separately, then glue the prisoner into the cage, then the cage into the top half that's already part of the Emissary. Its a matter of preference, but you can do the wash/shading before or after final assembly. The nice thing to remember is the prisoner doesn't need a lot of highlights. He's inside after all.

I'm sure they have, and that's the real issue with Francisco. He's really not all that good compared to other Henchmen out there, but a lot of Masters in Guild feel pretty actively handicapped without El Mayor. He also suffers from a lot of his competition being a bit below the curve too. Removing Francisco doesn't suddenly make Sidir worth his effective 10 SS or Dashel any less of a huge tax on Riflemen.

If you want to buy hounds, get McCabe. They are pretty inseparable. His box doesn't add a whole lot to other masters though, so mostly get it to play McCabe himself. I wouldn't consider anything in either the Lucius or Hoffman box mandatory for Lady J. She works fine with what you have and will add Death Marshals and the Judge to your option. Her box is generally just a good, standalone purchase.

The chained guys are more like how I thought the Sanctioned Spellcasters would look. I like the skeleton in the coffin being all like "get in here old man!"

I've had a bit of experience with something similar, and to put a little in the TOs corner, its worth noting that this may not be the full extent of closed door communication. It's very possible that the TO has had players come to them in private with concerns and may even have players who are unwilling to participate in the event if the offending player is present. The TO may be facing a choice of cutting one player to save 2 or more. That said, its really not the right way forward. I think one of the silver linings of these sort of situations is that they're a great opportunity for players to learn to take advantage of the TO who much of the time sacrifices their day to be a figurehead rather than a properly utilized resource. What I have done in the past in these situations is instill in the rest of the community the idea that at no point should they argue with their opponent. If contention exists, call me as the TO, let me help make neutral measurements and provide rulings (and suffer the ire of whoever I rule against, particularly if I'm wrong). There is no point of contention to small for a third party arbiter to assist with and the more you utilize the TO for small moments, the less difficult it is to include them in major disagreements. As a TO, I'm generally bored and wishing I was participating in all the cool games going on around me. It is not a burden to include me in your fun. Most of the time, that's all that's really needed to keep an abrasive personality from escalating into a negative game. In the rare instance its not, its a great way to have the TO aware of situations so they can make a fair call when things do get out of hand. There's nothing worse than hearing about issues after an event is over because its really not fair to act on a player based on hearsay. If I'm involved from the beginning I can hopefully put a stop to things ahead of time and if not, well, I've got plenty of actual evidence to support a legitimate ban.

It's easily my first pick and pretty much the one of the bunch I would buy a new crew for. The alt-Sonnia is growing on me though.

Cheating opponents damage is ok on a master, but on other class of models it'd probably be too resource intensive to be worth it. HtW/ItW do something similar to every attack without the card investment.

Titania seems happy to make it in name as well.

Sounds like an excellent Nightmare box for Ramos or Hamelin.