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Excellent changes. The rat engine completely changes the way the board state develops, which is perfectly fine for a single master, but not fitting for a whole faction. Much appreciated!

Perdita, of course!

The crew I used was Widow Weaver with Marcus. I had a Large Arachnid killing my own Jackalope and Raptors over and over, netting four corpse/scrap markers per turn. Markers that Widow Weaver turned into Teddies at a rate of one Teddy per turn. Unfortunately I black jokered an attack on turn 2 and had to go for the backup plan, which meant I never got my third Teddy. But it didn't matter, on turn 3 I simply used the Widow Weaver and arachnid for other purposes instead. Also, Angelica did a fantastic job letting my models advance while working 'the grinder', meaning the Teddies popped up closer and closer to the action. Other combos I thought of using include: Nekima + McCabe. Giving Nekima her fourth AP in Nimble is pretty crazy in itself, but then you can for funsies have Nekima kill off McCabe and get five APs. Good luck standing up to that kind of power. Sammy LaCroix + Dreamer. Sammy takes the summoning upgrade and Dreamer takes the Chompy upgrade. Mayhem ensues. Francisco + Anyone. It's not very creative, but hey, a good model is a good model.

Yep, this pretty much matches my experiences with the rat factory. When all the rats are done the opponent can't do anything to respond, and that's when Leveticus jumps forward and murderizes the most important model, accompanied by a beater of choice. Then, if you win the next initiative you're pretty much guaranteed to win the game. It works great with Victoria as well. Rogue Necromancy is an interesting choice though. I've mostly used Killjoy since he charges for (1) and has the 'attack again'-trigger. But hey, whatever works!

Some time ago, me and a frequent Malifaux sparring partner decided to try out an alternative format over Vassal. A format called The Deserter. The rules are simple: You CAN and MUST hire exactly one Henchman from another faction that you couldn't normally hire. Henchmen that have special hiring restrictions like Hungering Darkness and Victoria of Blood are not allowed. This henchman is called The Deserter. The Deserter can buy upgrades from its own faction, and can't buy upgrades from the master's faction. If The Deserter is dual-faction, you must choose one of those factions for The Deserter's upgrades. Building a crew with these rules is a unique challenge since it requires you to look for synergies that are normally not your radar. Some are obvious, some are not. Furthermore, we used some themed variants of GG2016 schemes: Neutralize the Deserter - like Neutralize the Leader except you target the opponent's Deserter instead of master. Deserter Entourage - like Undercover Entourage except you must choose your Deserter. In the end I won the match with my Widow Weaver Deserter (can you guess which master I used?) and it was overall a good time. So if you're looking for a way to shake up your casual matches a bit, try out The Deserter. What crazy combos can you find?

Muchas gracias!

Hi, rules gurus! For Malifaux Raptor's trigger "Rake the Eyes", do I choose between putting ALL cards on top of the deck or ALL cards into the discard pile? Or can I do any combination? (eg one card into discard, two cards on top of deck)

On the first day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the second day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the third day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the fourth day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Four cuddled Metal Gamins, Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the fifth day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Five Tomes required, Four cuddled Metal Gamins, Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the sixth day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Six Weak damage, Five Tomes required, Four cuddled Metal Gamins, Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the seventh day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Seven broken minions, Six Weak damage, Five Tomes required, Four cuddled Metal Gamins, Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the eighth day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Eight cheap activations, Seven broken minions, Six Weak damage, Five Tomes required, Four cuddled Metal Gamins, Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the ninth day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Nine Defense/Willpower, Eight cheap activations, Seven broken minions, Six Weak damage, Five Tomes required, Four cuddled Metal Gamins, Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the tenth day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Ten easy VPs, Nine Defense/Willpower, Eight cheap activations, Seven broken minions, Six Weak damage, Five Tomes required, Four cuddled Metal Gamins, Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the eleventh day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Eleven card Lilith, Ten easy VPs, Nine Defense/Willpower, Eight cheap activations, Seven broken minions, Six Weak damage, Five Tomes required, Four cuddled Metal Gamins, Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! On the twelfth day of Christmas, Wyrd Games gave to me... Twelve obvious soulstones, Eleven card Lilith, Ten easy VPs, Nine Defense/Willpower, Eight cheap activations, Seven broken minions, Six Weak damage, Five Tomes required, Four cuddled Metal Gamins, Three crazy upgrades, Two Joker start hand, and a Dark Carnival Coryphee! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! (images taken from Malifaux stat cards, Vassal, Faux Strategy Generator, The Breach)

Mini update! - Changed the crew building headline 'Mandatory' to 'Highly Recommended'. I liked the symmetry of having that term for both upgrades and models, but it just didn't fit well enough. - Francisco is now Highly Recommended. - Expanded the Intro to better present the material. - Added a line about the Nephilim using Shackle on itself. - Added another First Turn Play. - Fixed some typos and poor language.

I like that Abuela is one of the more unusual models, with the very high damage on her attack and unique talents. I think the best way to play her is to capitalize on the Obey-like action, and make sure to use it every turn. I really don't think Diestro is necessary if you want to pair her with Santiago. [-] to defense flips is nice, but both Santiago and Abuela have pretty high Sh, and Diestro really is quite expensive. Yes, exactly. Family models are generally strong (except Nino, the only one I really don't like), but they have some weaknesses that could be exploited. By my count, Perdita currently has access to 36 Guild models, and only 7 of those are family (counting the Nephilim). If you include mercenaries, the ratio is even worse. By virtue of sheer numbers alone, that makes it conceivable that a non-Family model is the best choice for a given task.

Presumably because a beginner playing straight out of the start box runs 100% family (counting the totem as honorary family member), which means an intermediate player can't exactly play more family. All joking aside, a more experienced player will recognize the situations in which Family models just won't cut it and will look elsewhere. A crew built from a pool of all available models will always be as good as or better than a crew built from a pool of only Family models.

I do post about the crew that coems with Perdita. Way down at the bottom is the section 'Starting Perdita', where I give recommendations about how to use the box to get started with crew building. I can't control what people assume, but I can say that I never intended to lead anyone to believe the guide was about Family when it isn't. And I specifically used very broad formulations such as "other Guild models that are likely found in Perdita's crew" to make this clear. However, if the default assumption is that a Perdita guide be about Family, then I have no problems making it more clear that this one is not. I'll put it on the list! Personally, I think 'Standard' is 'whatever gives you best chances to win'. If you have a well-protected tower on the field, Nino can be standard. If the opponent is running all-melee, Peacekeeper can be standard. Since the guide can't cover all possible situations, I base recommendations on how generally useful models/upgrades/etc are, and comment on cases where they are more or less so. The guide is not primarily for new players. It's for intermediate players. I tried to make that as clear as possible so that I wouldn't need to include beginner stuff like explaining game terms or very basic tactics. If it's not clear enough, I will gladly make it more so.

I also want to thank everyone that commented! I like the encouragement, and this is exactly the kind of discussion I wanted to see. P.S. I will argue you all forever about austringers.

Exactly! And I'm not sure it applies, but that also gives me the opportunity to use this bastardized quote: "The master we play, if one doesn't want to lose every battle, one plays Family or Guild! You chose your way, I chose mine. Mine is harder!" Well, as I mentioned at the beginning of the section, the ratings on models are actually quite close together, so it's expected that people have different perceptions depending on terrain used, local metagame, et cetera. But this is good, ratings are there to be debated! Francisco as mandatory, well... it was close. He really is a fantastic model, and for a great price. However, I disagree on Diestro being a default upgrade. That upgrade is very expensive and conditional. You can build a crew to take full advantage of it, in which case it's likely great, but I don't think it qualifies as a default choice. So having Santiago is like having two Diestros? That is, two stone drains that are worth a Guild Hound each? All joking aside, I just feel that he doesn't do anything special, all he does is shoot things. Putting Tormenta De Plomo on him makes it a bit interesting, but I think Hair Trigger is the upgrade of choice for him. As for Nino, well... I don't really have anything to say. I would very rarely consider using him, but that has more to do with my somewhat excessive love for Austringers. Sure you can move Santiago out of melee! But every action has a cost. You don't need to move Gunslinger out of melee, you simply activate it and whatever it's engaged with ceases to exist. That leaves the Nephilim/Austringer/Francisco/whatever free to use their movement enabler elsewhere. And the biggest benefit Gunslinger has over Santiago is not the crows, but having [+] on attack flips. That's huge. Guardian is a support model for 8 stones where you often need to spend even more resources just to make it work, that's my primary gripe with it. The fact that it's slow and has problems keeping up only makes things worse. I agree about Peacekeeper, it would be a nice model if it didn't cost 1/4 of your crew budget. Well, if you find yourself with a finished crew list and have one stone to spare (that is, 8 stones in the pool), then buying Vengeance Bullet is not a bad choice. At least it will always come into play during the game. But I would rather have a stone for defense that buying that upgrade. There's also the problem that if you want any of the situational upgrades and the avatar, there is no room for more upgrades. Vengeance Bullet is not terrible, I just have a hard time recommending it. Use Silurids! Those things are terrifying.

I disagree; you can run Perdita for any number of reasons, ranging from "I like the models" to "I want to kill the enemy master on turn 1". And Freikorps is an entirely different faction, I don't think that's comparable.

Santiago and Convict Gunslinger are pretty similar models. They are primarily ranged, have about the same stats, and cost the same (Gunslinger has to pay the mercenary tax, Santiago has to pay the Hair Trigger tax). If you compare the differences, Santiago is better at pretty much everything. He's faster (quite important), has better protection, has longer range, and can remove conditions from himself. But there are some areas where Gunslinger shines. -Plus flip on attacks. I find that ranged models very often need to spend their activation walking once and then firing against cover. This varies a lot depending on terrain, and I'm used to playing with many small pieces of blocking terrain, so enemies are basically always out of LoS and with cover. The plus flip means that all of the Gunslinger's shots will be cheatable, where most of Santiago's shots will miss without a chance of saving them. -Aim Low trigger. Few, or no, other models in the crew have crow triggers, which means Gunslinger can put those cards to very good use. Slow can really ruin the enemy's day. -Melee fighting. No plan survives first contact with the enemy, right? Ranged models will sometimes find themselves locked in melee, and that makes Santiago totally miserable. Gunslinger, on the other hand, still has full Sh 6, all triggers, Rapid Fire, and has 2" close range. -Bonus benefit: Santiago has his upgrade slot filled, Gunslinger can still carry one. At the moment I don't think any upgrade is worth it (Lead Lines Coat? Nah.) but there might be one in the future. It's too bad you can't import the excellent Outcast upgrade Oath Keeper for the Gunslinger. Family synergy is a real thing with real benefits, but it's not how I usually build my crew, and not how this guide is written. I want Death Marshals to attack the enemies' Wp, Witchling Stalkers to remove conditions, Austringers to poke things, and Guild Hounds to run objectives. And that's why I don't value Family synergy as highly, these great models are all non-Family. (Disregarding Abuela shenanigans!)

Hahaha, what an excellent comment! They are very similar! But I'm on the other side of the fence, I think the gunslinger wins out by a small margin. I'll make a case for the gunslinger in about 8 hours or something (need sleep).

Hehe, yep, I expected comments on the austringer love. But fact is, they have overperformed in pretty much every match I've played with them. Personal experience and all that! I do allocate resources (like Nephilim activations) to them and capitalize on their strengths, so that obviously contributes. All in all, I've just found them fantastic for harassment and map control, and with many schemes every austringer activation secures one VP. Every activation. But I'm not going to keep ranting about them, I think my opinion on them has been made clear! And sure, they're not MANDATORY, absolutely not. I just used that word instead of 'strongly recommended' because I think it has more oomph to it. If you want to keep discussing austringers, I'm up for that! Here's an opinion that's certain to be impopular... I think Santiago compares unfavorably with a Convict Gunslinger (that might be added to the guide if/when I do mercenaries).

Perdita Ortega - An Intermediate Guide Intro So, you've chosen Perdita Ortega, leader of clan Ortega, as your master? An excellent choice! This guide will hopefully give you some insights into playing this versatile and powerful master. The guide is intended to give information pertaining to Perdita in play, not in a vacuum. As such, some advice will be focused on other Guild models that are likely found in Perdita's crew, most notably Guild Austringers. The crew building advice in this guide is not focused on Perdita's box set or the Family models, but instead explores what crews are possible when using all available Guild models. The monetary aspect of not using a box set is not at all considered. The target audience for the guide is intermediate players - those that have played a few matches with Perdita or many matches with another master and are familiar with the game rules. New players are encouraged to begin at the end, with the section 'Starting Perdita', for some tips on how to build from the Perdita box set. Content that is currently in beta is marked with [bETA] and is most likely out of date by the time you read this. Needless to say, this guide is primarily based on my own perception and experiences, and should be evaluated as such. Feel free to ask for clarification, dispute my words, or call me nasty names! Overview Perdita is a prime example of a beatstick master. She is very deadly in ranged combat, even more deadly in melee, and has exceptionally good targeting capability. Her utility talents include the versatile Obey, the potentially game-changing Hero's Gamble, and the powerful but somewhat restrictive Relocate. With her large toolbox and high-impact abilities, Perdita will never feel useless or incapable. No one would claim that Perdita is one of the hardest masters to play... but she's not one of the easiest either. Firstly, you'll need to pay close attention to positioning to make sure Perdita reaches her highest potential. Secondly, you need to manage the two resources of cards and stones carefully, Perdita is very capable of burning through resources quickly for great gain, and you need to determine when it's safe to do so. Mobility With the very modest Wk 5 and Ch 6, Perdita is not exactly a highly mobile master. You will often spend 1 AP per turn just walking to find a target to attack, but that's probably all you need. She only has one ability to help out with movement, Relocate. and while it has a very strong benefit, it's quite restrictive in that you can only move towards other Family models and only at the start of the activation. Decide before a game whether you want to focus on this ability or simply take it when you can get it. If you choose to focus on it, designate one Family model that will be used primarily to help Perdita. Lastly, Perdita's totem can also help out with its Shackled action. The totem is slow and will usually not be able to keep up with Perdita, but make sure to keep this action in mind. Offense She might not look it with the mediocre damage line, but Perdita is actually quite formidable at offense. The power comes from the upgrade Trick Shooting (see 'Upgrades' below) which allows her to ignore most common forms of protection, and together with her long range and good accuracy, Perdita's attacks are quite fearsome. Perdita's Peacebringer has two triggers - Witched Bullet and Critical Strike. The latter is mostly unremarkable, but Witched Bullet is interesting. Not only is it fantastic to randomly flip a mask for attack and get a cheatable damage flip, you can also stone for suit to force a cheatable damage flip, making Perdita deal 5 damage per attack as long as you have severe cards to spend. Only do this if you're sure you can get a kill, it's extremely resource intensive. As great as Perdita is at range, she's actually even more potent in melee, thanks to the Point Blank ability. One extra damage per attack might seem minor, but it can certainly impact decision making. See 'Perdita Tactics' for details. Resilience Perdita firmly believes that the best defense is a good offense - even her defensive talents are offensive. The relevant protection she has is her excellent Df and Wp and being able to use stones. Quick Draw triggers when a Sh attack misses Perdita's Df, and deals a little bit of damage. It's a nice ability, but unlikely to make significant difference. Finger on the Trigger is a (1) action that allows Perdita to make an attack as response to a declared charge or projectile action. It has its moments, like being able to delay an attack until the Defensive condition wears off on the target, but if the opponent simply chooses not to take a triggering action, the AP spent is lost. Also, Finger on the Trigger has shorter range than normal attacks and is less accurate. Don't expect to use this action often. Utility Indulging in Perdita's utility is rarely the primary plan since she usually needs all her actions for the elimination of priority targets. However, her utility actions can have enormous impact and easily turn the tide on a turn or the entire game. With the powerful spell Obey, Perdita can make a friend or foe take a (1) action controlled by you. In a vacuum this isn't a very good trade, since Perdita's actions are probably more valuable to you than the action of any other model, but it's very situational. Having a melee model walk around a corner to let it charge on its activation can result in two attacks where otherwise there would be none. It also gives Perdita another attack vector since this spell is resisted by Wp. The problem is that you need a 7 mask to make the spell stick. That's less than 15% of the cards in the deck, so be prepared to stone for suit. Hero's Gamble is a very powerful effect that you need to consider every time you start a new turn. The effect is potentially fantastic, but has two big costs. First, it means Perdita can't take other (0) actions, potentially crippling her offense this turn. Second, it locks you in to activate Perdita early in the turn, which might not be what you want. See the 'Perdita Tactics' section for more details on how to use Hero's Gamble. Soulstones You usually want to go into the game with 7 stones, meaning you have to reserve 5 stones from your crew budget. It's possible to start with less, say 5 or 6, but don't go lower than that. Stones are the best way to keep Perdita alive. Stone for cards: Often a good choice unless you're going to use Hero's Gamble. Remember though that you need bad cards to pitch to Perdita's Relocate and Francisco's Flurry, and that moderate cards are put to very good use by Austringers. A hand with two severe, two moderate, and two weak is perfectly playable as-is. [bETA] This option is naturally better if you have Avatar of Revelation, but don't buy that upgrade only for this purpose. Stone for initiative: Winning initiative can sometimes mean taking out a not-yet-activated enemy model and saving one of your own. Make sure you work out how much you have to gain from winning initiative and compare it to your probability of winning after stoning. If the opponent is showing a 10, you have roughly 30% chance of beating that with a stone, minus 2% for each card in your hand over 10. For values higher/lower than 10, reduce/increase the probability by 8.5% multiplied by the difference. Stone for defense: Spending a stone on defensive duels is an excellent way of protecting Perdita and henchmen, and highly recommended. Especially useful when the enemy model has [+] to damage which means the damage flip will probably be cheatable. Stoning for damage prevention is perfectly fine if it saves a model's life, but it's fairly expensive. Stone for offense: Stoning for [+] on attack flip is rarely worth it, but should be kept in mind for special situations. Stoning for suit is expensive but powerful, as adding a mask to Perdita's attacks often ensures a cheatable damage flip. See the 'Perdita Tactics' section for more details. [bETA] Avatar Perdita's avatar is the Avatar of Revelation. It mainly helps cover Perdita's weaknesses, but also gives some generally useful benefits. In the pre-manifested state, the upgrade increases the amount of cards you get when stoning for cards at the beginning of a turn. This is nice, but certainly not worth the cost of the upgrade. Get the avatar upgrade only if you're actually planning to manifest. The manifest event lets you look at randomly chosen cards from the opponent's hand, which will most of the time be inconsequential. Once manifested, Perdita gets a very welcome increase to Wk and Ch, receives [+] on attacks against masters and henchmen, and gets a new attack. The [+] bonus is particularly strong against models with armor or incorporeal, since you won't be able to ignore cover if you want to ignore their protection. The Revelation attack allows Perdita to attack enemy models' Wp, which can be invaluable. Upgrades Perdita has many upgrades to choose from, but only a few should really be considered. This section covers only Perdita's upgrades, not upgrades for enforcers or henchmen. Mandatory Trick Shooting: The only scenario I can think of where you don't want this is if you're playing without any terrain at all. Recommended [bETA] Avatar of Revelation: Perdita's avatar gives decent benefits, including the possibility of attacking Wp, which is highly relevant against many crews. Situational Aura Ancestral: Can occasionally offer decent benefits. If you know you're going to face a crew where it's relevant, you might want to pick this one up since it's cheap. Os Veo: Offers very good protection against certain crews, buy it only if you know you're going to face such a crew. [bETA] Dampening Field: This will really ruin the plans of some crews. Buy it only if you know you're facing such a crew. Not recommended Badge of Office: The opponent knows you have it, and will adjust tactics accordingly. The two stones are better spent on damage prevention flips. Hermanos De Armas: Perdita needs her (0) actions for more important things. This is a good upgrade for henchmen/enforcers though. Plant Evidence: Perdita is not an objective runner, and you should be doing your utmost to make sure she stays alive. The Thalarian Stone: The first ability can only increase Df or Wp by 1, which most likely is not a stone well spent. The second ability competes with Perdita's other, much more potent, (0) actions. Tormenta De Plomo: If you're this close to enemies you're often better off charging, which gives you movement and focus fire. Trying to position Perdita to hit as many targets as possible will probably just put her in danger, since most targets survive 4 damage. Vengeance Bullet: Similar to spending a stone on the attack flip, except it can only be done against certain models. Note that you don't get the second ability if you use the first one. [bETA] Expert Sleuth: Perdita has more important things to do with (0) actions. Not usable Diestro: This upgrade was a little too good on Perdita, and it was limited to non-Master in official errata. Shame. Strategies Turf War: This is a difficult strategy. The safe option is to deploy Perdita and Austringers to target enemy models that approach the objective and get some easy kills, then trying to take the objective later. The risky option is to rush middle with Perdita and Francisco and then try to stay alive. Bring a Pistolero De Latigo for the defensive bonus, and walk forward with the Austringers to make sure they are within 12" and can shoot into melee. Reckoning: Very good strategy. Perdita can easily generate a kill every turn on her own, and Austringers should take care of the other one. Use your other models to finish schemes and maneuver around enemies, denying them kills. If one of your models is locked in melee and about to die, you can use Enslaved Nephilim or an Austringer to push it out. Reconnoiter: For standard deployment, place Austringers close to the middle so that they can reach anyone entering "your" quarters. For corner or flank deployment, claim one nearby quarter with many of your models, then make careful advances into another quarter. Take your time with this strategy and go for schemes and safe kills, you won't win by rushing. Squatter's Rights: Good strategy. Austringers have reach to all the three center objective markers, which is fantastic both for attacks and Deliver Orders. Send some objective runners to take one of the outlying markers and keep a strong middle presence. If your opponent tries to ambush your objective runners, send in one of your beatsticks and take out the ambushers. Stake a Claim: Go for early kills, make your opponent think twice about spending an entire activation on placing an objective marker. Try and take control of the board by advancing to the middle and keeping models in positions for attacking anyone who would enter your half of the field. Enslaved Nephilim can give a fast model an extra push in the first turn to bring it over the other side and able to place an objective marker on turn 2. Or you could just use Guild Pathfinder. Schemes A Line in the Sand: At best a mediocre scheme since you need to announce it to get 3 VPs. If you want to go for it, consider using Guild Hounds since you need to put down so many markers. Distract: There are two types of models in this world. Those that work well in melee, and those that don't. Your melee models are probably better off attacking the enemy, and you're going to try keeping your ranged models out of melee as much as possible. This is not a scheme for you. Breakthrough: A good, easy scheme, but a bit tricky. Your Austringers may not be able to support your objective runners when they are that far away, so that means you have to clear a path for them with the rest of your crew. Alternatively you can send a model to pick off the opponent's objective runner and then spend the rest of the match placing markers. Assassinate: Killing off the opponent's leader is something you want to do anyway, and something Perdita is particularly good at. Highly recommended. Protect Territory: Very easy scheme, and a perfect fit for Perdita's crew. Should you fail to find a good target for an Austringer they can almost always use Deliver Orders to secure a VP. Use Guild Hounds or other expendable models to 'activate' the scheme markers at the end of the game. Note that a single model can activate up to three scheme markers by placing them in a regular triangle formation. Bodyguard: Your models are mostly focused on offense, and as such this scheme is not the greatest choice. However, if you can deploy Nino somewhere really inaccessible this might be easy VPs. Cursed Object: Your models mostly don't want to be in melee, and if they are, you probably want the enemy model dead as soon as possible. Don't pick this scheme. Outflank: Having your objective runners this far apart makes them very vulnerable. You could announce it and go for 2 VPs only, that makes the scheme much easier. Leaving a Hound at the table edge is cheap and your opponent is unlikely to try and break through your frontline and Austringer cover just to kill it, in which case this is a pretty good scheme. Plant Evidence: Gives you a lot of choices in where and when to place the markers, which is great. This scheme doesn't require objective runners since all of your models will be around terrain most of the time anyway. Every activation of an Austringer likely results in 1 VP if there's no good target to attack. Entourage: Choose Perdita. On close and flank deployment, this is quite easily done and by turn 5 you will probably only need to walk once or twice to get into the deployment zone. On standard and corners deployment, consider announcing it and only going for 2 VPs. Perdita is not an objective runner, don't waste her APs crossing the entire field. Vendetta: Very heavy requirements on this one, and very hard to get the full 3 VPs. Don't choose one of your Austringers for this scheme, their target selection is too important to interfere with. Guild Pathfinder could work, but make sure it doesn't get killed immediately. Plant Explosives: Looks like three easy VPs, but the opponent will likely suspect what's going on since they know the scheme pool. Can be effective against a melee crew where they don't have any choice but to run up to your scheme markers. If you don't need the attack, you can probably use an Austringer or two to place the last scheme markers before blowing them up. Make Them Suffer: This is exactly what you want to be doing with Perdita anyway. Great scheme. Deliver a Message: Your crew doesn't work like this. The enemy leader is a target for Perdita's bullets, not a target for hugs from your minions. This scheme is not for you. Take Prisoner: You could try and take an enemy objective runner or totem or something, but this is not really how your crew operates. Your models are not defensive enough to make this safe, and Austringers can't help at all, Deliver Orders or otherwise. Spring the Trap: Not a strong scheme. If you can get to the enemy leader, you want to get a kill as soon as possible, not play around. And you get an extra VP if the opponent has more models on the field, which is the opposite to what you want. Murder Protégé: A scheme that rewards you for taking out enemy models is always great. You can either poke it to death with Austringers, throw Perdita at it, or let it face Francisco, depending on what fits best. Frame for Murder: Extremely easy to throw a Hound at the opponent for two or three VPs. If you're willing to give up a 3-cost model for two VPs, it doesn't get much easier than this scheme. Note that the Hound is not a total loss, since the opponent probably needs to spend 2 APs killing it. Power Ritual: Easy if announced on corner or flank deployment, where you send one objective runner to the corner and move other models in to cover it, with Austringer support. Much worse on standard or close deployment where you need to move deeper into enemy territory. Building a Crew Guild models in M2E are well balanced, and while a few models stand out as clearly above the curve, none are truly terrible. Some models, however, are made primarily for different crews, and will not fit in well with Perdita. Going into the ins and outs of every model is clearly beyond the scope of this guide. The goal of this section is to provide a rough grading of models, and to give a brief explanation of the grades. For more details, see 'Crew Tactics' below. Highly Recommended Guild Austringer: By far the strongest guild minion, using two of them is highly recommended. If you keep them in a strong position, they will offer great map control. They can threaten to instantly take out any model with 6 or less wounds that enters their range. They give you something to do with low moderate cards. They can push friendly models into or out of melee. In short, you will be hard pressed to find a model with more tactical worth, control and versatility. Enslaved Nephilim: Perdita's personal totem. And it's a good one. With one quasi-Obey and one friendly push, it creates superb mobility for your team. Note that it only has Wk 3, so you need to deploy it with care, or make sure you can always move it where you want by Shackling itself. If you want to make a strong first turn play with Perdita, see 'Crew Tactics' below, you might want to use Student of Conflict instead. Francisco Ortega: A melee monster with a passable backup range attack. Has a fantastic personal upgrade. His Flurry will do 9 damage with all weak, and an impressive 12 damage if you cheat for severe once. Recommended upgrades: Wade in, Hermanos De Armas. Recommended Death Marshal: Decent mid-range model with good mobility. Its Ml and Sh attacks are unimpressive, but Pine Box gives the Death Marshal some truly wonderful utility. Witchling Stalker: A fairly strong melee model that has a backup 12" range attack, for the affordable price of five stones. But what makes them stand out is that they can remove conditions on both allied and enemy models at a range of 12". They need a 3 tome to cast it, but since most models in your crew will likely only use rams and masks, it shouldn't be a huge problem. Guild Hound: Very fast and cheap, and with the surprisingly high Ml 5. Preferably used as early objective runners and then used to ambush enemy runners or block advances. Fantastic for out-activating the opponent. You will need two of them to drop scheme markers, but most strategies don't care if they are Insignificant. Guild Pathfinder: Amazingly versatile model with a decent ranged attack for an affordable price. Try to summon a new trap each turn for maximum value. Pale Rider: Fast and powerful beatstick. In turn 3+ the opponent can basically forget about damaging it, so don't engage before that. Preferably used around your scheme areas, since Revel in Death will be used every turn and drops scheme markers all over the place. Recommended upgrade: None Pistolero De Latigo: Nice, well-rounded model that has the advantage of carrying the 'Family' keyword. Can be used as objective runners or supporting fire. The low cost makes it easier to out-activate the opponent. Decent Guild Guard: Simply awful offense, but has nice defenses when two are paired together. Can be used as objective holders and the cheap cost makes them good for out-activating. The Judge: Very defensive model that can push both friend and foe closer and has strong mask triggers. Much better against crew containing many undeads. The Lone Marshal: Very mobile harasser that can push itself out of melee. Likes facing off against enemy shooters. Would be a great model if the damage profile was a little stronger. Papa Loco: Gives a very useful buff at the start of his activation, which can alone make this model qualify for inclusion. The Sh attack ignores cover, which is great, but has very short range, and the model is potentially a hazard to the rest of your crew. Santiago Ortega: Has potential for enormous damage output with his fantastic mask trigger. Note that most triggers of this kind specify that the extra attack "may not declare triggers", but that's not the case here. Is very vulnerable if caught in melee and will need help to get out. Abuela Ortega: Fantastic damage on the Sh attack, but unfortunately her range is way too short to be useful. The Obey-like ability and Shotgun Wedding could potentially be used for specific tactics. Brutal Effigy: You might have to choose between running objectives or buffing Perdita, since they are often incompatible. This thing's attack is terrible and four stones feels pretty expensive for a buff bot. Worth it if you need to out-activate the opponent, though. Clockwork Trap: Two stones is sort of expensive for a model that can't even be activated, but if you can block a critical passage then it might be worth it. Exorcist: A nice pick against crews with undeads or that rely on Incorporeal and Hard to Wound. Otherwise it compares unfavorably with a normal Death Marshal unless you specifically want an enforcer. Guild Lawyer: Giving out Hard to Wound as a (0) action is a good benefit, but it only lasts until end of turn which means you're in a really bad spot if you lose initiative. And if you win initiative, you probably have more important things to do than buff on your first activation. Also, as a support model this is really lacking a movement enabler. Hunter: Handing out Slow without needing a trigger is always welcome, and it's actually quite capable in melee too. The usefulness of Drag varies with the terrain. The more Impassable terrain, the worse. Ryle: Can move itself as a (0) action, which is great. The ranged attack has built in [+] on damage which means it will often be cheatable. Unfortunately the damage profile is not so impressive. Sidir Alchibal: Well rounded henchman with nice accuracy on the ranged attack. Has access to two special upgrades, but they're not great. Comparable to Francisco, but not as versatile. Wastrel: This model is really meant for McCabe, but will pull its weight in Perdita's crew as well if you're looking for healing. The ranged attack is very accurate, but the damage is lacking. Watcher: Flight and Wk 6 makes this a formidable objective runner. Denying enemy models cover is good, but your best models ignore cover anyway. View From Up High is powerful, but takes the entire activation which means you won't be able to get in position. Don't count on ever using it. Witchling Handler: Has a (0) action movement enabler, which in itself makes this model worthy of consideration. But it has a lot of requirements for just 4". Having the opportunity to turn spare tomes into more Witchling Stalkers is also very welcome. Not recommended Executioner: It has Wk 4 which is bad to begin with, and the only way to get additional movement requires enemy scheme markers within 3". Has no backup ranged attack or anything. Governor's Proxy: Could be annoying against crews that rely on suits but also somehow have low Wp. But you can't hire two totems, and both the Nephilim and Student of Conflict are much better. Nino Ortega: With a very mediocre Sh 5 you're unlikely to get a straight damage flip even on focus attacks against models in hard cover. Even with a straight flip you need to get severe to do significant damage. Spotter is a nice effect, but objective runners are usually fast enough to be able to hide out of LoS. Peacekeeper: It's got great offense and defense, but when you have a 50 mm base and this lousy mobility you will get outmaneuvered all day long. Samael Hopkins: Play Sonnia if you want to use this one, the reliance on Burning is too heavy for a Perdita crew. Captain Dashel: This one does nothing for your Austringers, which are your best minions. The buffs it can hand out are strong, but Guardsmen are often spread out to catch objectives or block the opponent's advancement, so not many will get the benefit. Guard Sergeant: Compared to a Pistolero De Latigo, the two should perform about equally, but the Pistolero is cheaper and is Family. The bonus to Wp duels is situationally powerful, but only applies to other Guardsmen, so the opponent can just target this one first. Guardian: This thing's entire shtick, Protect, requires a 7 to succeed. There's about a 46% chance you won't succeed, and sometimes that means you have to cheat with one of your better cards to make it work. Guild Rifleman: The range attack is undoubtably very accurate, but this one needs too much outside help. With Df 4 and Wd 5, this will fall over as soon as any decent enemy model sneezes nearby. Warden: To access the good triggers, it needs both a ram in the duel and a target that has already activated. That's a little too restrictive. The damage profile of the ranged attack is terrible. Perdita Tactics As stated above, Perdita is not a simple master to play, and there are many things to keep in mind every turn of every game. These include the very basics of playing Malifaux, like resource management and positioning, but this section will focus on tactics that apply to Perdita herself. Pick your targets well. Perdita's ability to ignore Cover, Armor and Incorporeal means there aren't many bad targets for her. Realize that this makes target selection harder, not easier. Most of the time, you're best off using Perdita to take out the opponent's strongest models, especially ones that rely on Armor or Incorporeal for protection, and leaving easy kills to your Austringers. However, getting a kill on an enemy model this activation is in many cases better than only wounding a more serious threat. Target selection is highly situational, but what you should focus on is how much of the opponent's plan you're ruining with your activation. If your options are unappealing, try activating some of your less important models first to potentially give Perdita more targets. Perdita's ranged attack has a range of 14". Her Wk plus Ch plus close range add up to 13", almost as far. Whenever you would attack a model within 13", consider charging instead of shooting since a charge gives you movement as well as attacks. A Walk followed by Charge results only in two attacks, where you could've gotten three by shooting, but charging has additional benefits that are not immediately obvious. First, two melee attacks have a minimum damage of 6, the same as three shooting attacks, so if you only need 6 damage you're better off charging and having to cheat a maximum of two attack flips, instead of three. Second, you don't need to ignore cover for melee attacks, which leaves Perdita's (0) action open. If you need to ignore Armor or Incorporeal, that's a given, but otherwise you gain access to the very powerful Hero's Gamble, either before or after your attacks. Third, if you don't kill the target, being engaged is a half-decent protection against enemy projectile attacks, and if the enemy model is primarily ranged you're probably crippling it by locking it down in engagement. Keep Perdita alive, almost at all costs. She has strong defenses and can use stones on defensive flips, so she can definitely hold her own, but she's not invulnerable. Identify the enemy models that can actually threaten Perdita and either take them out fast or make sure they can't get a good shot. Keep an extra eye on things that give [+] to damage flip or [-] to your defense flip. Blasts bypass Perdita's formidable defenses, but they can usually be avoided by simply not being close to other models while an enemy with blasts is nearby. By keeping Francisco close to Perdita you can increase both her Df and Wp to 9, making her very hard to hit. This is not necessary and often restricts your options, but it can be useful. Remember that the bonus lasts until Francisco's next activation, so almost two full turns if you activate Francisco first one turn, then last the next turn. Using the Witched Bullet trigger, Perdita can force a cheatable damage flip. This means that as long as you're willing to stone for suit and cheat a severe card, Perdita can push 5 damage per attack. Assuming you're using one AP to walk, that's still 10 damage in one activation, which will destroy most models in the game, excluding masters and henchmen who will certainly stone on defense. This tactic is very powerful but incredibly resource intensive, and you should only use it if you're sure to get a kill on a priority target. When you draw cards at the start of each turn, you need to choose one of three options. If your hand is good enough, do nothing. If your hand is partially good, stone for cards. If the hand is poor, use Hero's Gamble. The option to stone for cards is mostly covered in the 'Soulstones' section above. What factors influence the choice to use Hero's Gamble? To begin with, the cards, naturally. If your hand is complete garbage, the possibility of throwing it down and drawing a new one is most appealing. The second most important concern is probably activation order. By choosing Hero's Gamble, you're locking yourself in to activating Perdita early and accepting that you won't be able to defend your models until you can get a new hand. This can be devastating if many of your models are engaged with enemies that will certainly kill them unless you get excellent flips. Third, using Hero's Gamble means you can't ignore Cover, Armor, or Incorporeal this turn. Sometimes this can be solved by picking a different target or charging instead of shooting, but sometimes it cannot. The best thing you can do is to always keep this situation in mind, and playing each turn always prepared for having to activate Perdita first the next turn. Crew Tactics While you can certainly build a Perdita crew by simply adding whatever models you like, building your tactics around model synergies will not only increase your crew's potential, it will also give you a primary plan, which should speed up the game. Some of these tactics could potentially be used by any Guild crew, not restricted to Perdita. Austringer Agenda Your two Guild Austringers are incredibly powerful, and it's important to capitalize on their potential, for instance by using the excellent support in Perdita's crew. Guild Hounds: Hounds and other cheap models are excellent for out-activating the opponent. This means that you can delay the activations of the Austringers until the opponent has been forced to move most models, hopefully into the Austringers' range. Enslaved Nephilim: Since Austringers normally use both their actions each turn for shooting or Deliver Orders, they are typically not very mobile. This totem can give them some decent movement by deploying close to them, using Influence to move one and then Shackles on the other. You'll probably need to cheat a 10, which is terrible, but it's worth it if it can get the Austringers in range to take out a target. Papa Loco: Since the Raptor attack doesn't have the projectile symbol (unless focused), Austringers can shoot while engaged and shoot into engagements without problems. The issue is that you're likely only doing 1 damage per shot, which is hardly impressive. That is, unless you can find a way to get [+] to damage, almost certainly making the damage flip cheatable. Papa Loco does this. He can also use the Hermanos De Armas upgrade to move the Austringers around if needed. Francisco Ortega: If your opponent has flying models, you can bet on those coming for the Austringers. That means you might want someone there to protect them, and Francisco is a great choice. If an enemy model lands among the Austringers, use Deliver Orders to push Francisco into melee with it, and then activate Francisco (maybe with companion), use flurry, the enemy dies. Francisco can use Hermanos De Armas to move the Austringers around a bit. Block the Path When a highly threatening enemy model is closing in on your ranks, the primary plan is to have Perdita kill it. But that's not always possible. So what do you do instead? Throw dogs at it. Most Malifaux games only last 5 turns, so if you can bind up the opponent's high-impact models with chaff for a few turns, you're probably in good shape. Other times, the terrain has bottle necks where you can stop the opponent's advances. Perdita's crew has quite a few choices for this. Death Marshal: Best case scenario, you use this to Pine Box a big threat and then run for cover to make sure the Marshal isn't killed. Don't worry about the trapped model escaping - since the Wp duel takes place at the beginning of the Marshal's turn, even if you fail it you have two chances to Pine Box the target again immediately. Note that Pine Box can be used with a charge. Guild Hound: Throw these at a big threat to waste a couple of its APs. The Hounds actually have respectable Df and will probably not be taken out by just one attack. Best case scenario they even score a wound or two. Guild Guard: Use a pair of them. Shoot focus shots with one and engage with the other, keeping them within 4" of each other. Sure you might shoot the other Guild Guard, but who cares? Just take the low card on the attack flip or, should you somehow still hit, cheat for weak damage. When the engaged Guild Guard dies, you can choose to engage the other one or run away. Witchling Stalker: Position them behind terrain so that you can get in a melee attack or, best case, a charge on the target. That way the Stalker will deal quite a bit of damage before going down. Clockwork Trap: Cheap way of blocking the path between two pieces of impassable terrain. Even if the opponent simply destroys them from range, that's precious APs wasted. First Turn Plays By using Perdita's Relocate ability together with Fast from Student of Conflict, Perdita can launch a formidable attack on turn 1. This is easiest with the close and flank deployments, but can be done with any deployment. The theoretical maximum range you can get on the attacks is 8 (Relocate) + 5 (Wk) + 14 (Rg) = 27". This is assuming you spend exactly one AP moving. 27" effective range gives great field coverage, shown in pictures below. Target selection is helped greatly by deploying last. The red lines show deployment zones, the blue area is within Perdita's effective range. Note that terrain, not shown in the pictures, almost certainly will affect field coverage. There are several variations of the first turn play, but the basic idea is always the same. Give Perdita Fast and [+] to damage flips, then use Relocate and one Walk to find a suitable target. Lastly, activate the (0)-ability to ignore cover and shoot the target three times, this should kill the target or severely deplete your opponent's resources. Things to keep in mind: - Execute this attack as late as possible in turn 1. This makes Perdita less exposed to attacks from models that have not yet activated, and gives you more target options. - If you can cheat damage to make the second shot kill, do it. Flipping the black joker on the last attack will wreck you. Use the last AP to hide or shoot at something else. Below are some versions of this first turn play. First Turn First Blood Standard Usage: Good against targets that rely on Cover to protect them. Crew: Perdita, Papa Loco, Student of Conflict Deployment: All three close to each other Upgrades: Trick Shooting 1. Stone for cards at the beginning of the turn unless you have a fantastic hand. 2. Activate Student of Conflict, use Assist on Perdita. 3. Activate Papa Loco, choose Perdita for Hold This. Walk as far as possible towards the intended target. 4. Activate Perdita, discard your worst card to Relocate to Papa Loco. 5. Walk as short as possible until you can fire at the target. 6. Use Bullet Bending to ignore Cover. 7. Shoot the target up to three times, cheating for damage as necessary. Notes: -Since Papa Loco only has Wk 4, Perdita won't get the full 27" effective range. Options: -If you want to wait until the last moment to choose target, you can Companion Perdita after Papa Loco's activation, denying your opponent a chance to react. This further reduces Perdita's effective range since Papa Loco cannot end the movement more than 6" away. -You can swap Papa Loco for another Family model with higher Wk if you need the extra effective range or if you don't want to put Papa Loco in a bad position. [bETA] FTFB Avatar Sac Usage: Good against masters and henchmen, particularly those that rely on Armor or Incorporeal to protect them. Crew: Perdita, Papa Loco, Student of Conflict, Pistolero De Latigo Deployment: All four close to each other Upgrades: Trick Shooting, Avatar of Revelation (Sacrificial Manifestation) 1. Stone for cards at the beginning of the turn unless you have a fantastic hand. 2. Activate Papa Loco, choose Perdita for Hold This. Walk away, preferably to the Austringers. 3. Activate Student of Conflict, use Assist on Perdita. 4. Activate Pistolero De Latigo, Walk as far as possible towards the intended target. 5. Activate Perdita, discard your worst card to Relocate to Pistolero De Latigo. 6. Use Sacrificial Manifestation, sacrificing Pistolero De Latigo. Don't forget to draw and discard two cards. 7. Walk as short as possible until you can fire at the target. 8. Use Bullet Bending to ignore Cover or True Mark to ignore Armor/Incorporeal. 9. Shoot the target up to two times, cheating for damage as necessary. Notes: -Since the manifestation costs 1 AP, Perdita will only be able to shoot twice. The effective range is longer than 27" since the avatar has Wk 6 and you gain 50mm from placing the avatar model. -It's possible that your opponent will stone on defense to stop you from cheating damage. You can counteract it with Perdita's Witched Bullet trigger, so be prepared to stone for suit unless you're holding high masks. -Don't choose a target with both Armor/Incorporeal and hard cover, since in that situation you will likely not be able to cheat on damage. Soft cover is no problem, the [+] from Hunt Them Down negates it. Options: -You can Companion Perdita after Pistolero De Latigo, denying your opponent a chance to react. This reduces Perdita's effective range since Pistolero De Latigo cannot end the movement more than 6" away. [bETA] FTFB Avatar Blood Usage: Good against enforcers or models that cost 8+, particularly those that rely on Armor or Incorporeal to protect them. Crew: Perdita, Papa Loco, Student of Conflict Deployment: All three close to each other Upgrades: Trick Shooting, Avatar of Revelation (Bloody Manifestation) 1. Stone for cards at the beginning of the turn unless you have a fantastic hand. 2. Activate Student of Conflict, use Assist on Perdita. 3. Activate Papa Loco, choose Perdita for Hold This. Walk as far as possible towards the intended target. 4. Activate Perdita, discard your worst card to Relocate to Papa Loco. 5. Walk as short as possible until you can Charge the target. 6. Use True Mark to ignore Armor/Incorporeal. 7. Charge the target and attack it up to three times, cheating for damage as necessary. 8. If the target is killed, use Bloody Manifestation. Charge another target, preferably one in a relatively secure location. Notes: -Effective range for a charge is much shorter than for shooting. Options: -You can Companion Perdita after Papa Loco, denying your opponent a chance to react. This reduces Perdita's effective range since Papa Loco cannot end the movement more than 6" away. -You can swap Papa Loco for another Family model with higher Wk if you need the extra effective range or if you don't want to put Papa Loco in a bad position. FTFB Nephilim Usage: Good against isolated models. Crew: Perdita, Francisco, Enslaved Nephilim, Papa Loco Deployment: All four close to each other, with the Papa Loco at the very front. Upgrades: Trick Shooting, Hermanos De Armas (on Francisco), Wade In (on Francisco) 1. Stone for cards at the beginning of the turn unless you have a fantastic hand. 2. Activate Papa Loco, choose Perdita for Hold This. Walk as far as possible towards the intended target. 3. Activate Enslaved Nephilim, use Shackled to push Francisco and then Perdita towards Papa Loco. 4. Activate Francisco, Walk once as far as possible towards the intended target. Use Cover Me to push Perdita to Francisco. Walk again towards the target. 5. Activate Perdita, discard your worst card to Relocate to Francisco. 6. Use Bullet Bending to ignore Cover or True Mark to ignore Armor/Incorporeal. 7. Shoot the target up to three times, cheating for damage as necessary. Notes: -This play leaves Francisco very exposed to enemy counterattacks since he's the model that advanced the furthest. This is not a problem if there are no significant threats nearby, but otherwise you'll need to be prepared to use stones to keep him alive. Options: -You can swap Papa Loco for any model, if you're willing to give up the bonus from Hold This. -You can swap Francisco for any model that can use the Hermanos De Armas upgrade, but they are much more vulnerable since they can't use stones. Starting Perdita In the 'The Latigo Posse' box you get Perdita, Francisco, Santiago, Papa Loco, Nino and Enslaved Nephilim. With some upgrades, the total comes to 37 stones, which is perfect if you want to play 41 stone matches. If you want to play 50 stone matches, which the game is designed for, the total is unfortunate and you'll need to add models. Start by picking up two Guild Austringers. They fill roughly the same role as Nino, who is also the weakest link of the starting box, so out he goes. You'll need at least one objective runner, so pick up one Pistolero De Latigo. Throw out the Hair Trigger upgrade and the total comes to 46 stones, which is great. If you want to keep the upgrade or use one more stone you can get a Watcher or Brutal Effigy instead of a Pistolero. Now that you have a workable list, you'll want to pick up some of the more specialized models to use for specific strategies and schemes, and against specific crews. Keep playing games and see which models you can do without, and you'll be well on your way to a great crew. Not Covered Also known as 'Soon To Come' or 'Someone Fill In The Blanks'. This guide doesn't cover everything at the moment, but will hopefully be updated. To Do: -Update beta content when released. -Mercenary models. -More details on upgrades for enforcers and henchmen.