Drats

Thanks, all. The more I study up on Leveticus, the less I'm worried about the learning curve, and with that Desolation Engine I can even field him as a 50ss crew if I drop everything I have on the table. It's not an optimal setup by any means, but if I make good and sure to use Vile Reclamation and Rebirth to the fullest advisible degree I should be able to kill off Abominations fast enough to have one on hand when I need to summon one. I've never heard of anyone actually starting with the Engine on the table, but hey-- that means I can give it an upgrade, and win or lose, it might be worth 14ss to see the look on someone's face when I sac Oath Keeper and it's suddenly capable of vaulting over a third of the table and still making 3 attacks at 3" reach

Ahhh, so there is. I was studying the Outcasts and 10t so hard trying to pick my first master that certain subtleties of the Gremlins obviously got away from me. The pigapult hadn't occurred to me as a construct, either; I thought "Non-Gremlin Constructs" was to keep him from recruiting a Whiskey Golem. Heh.

Very much obliged for putting up with me the first time, but the situation's changed and I'm sorely in need of some advice again. Long story short, my girlfriend got Seamus but my options have been narrowed by circumstance to either Leveticus or Hamelin (frankly, because we can get them both for much, much cheaper than the other crews I wanted). Neither of these are optimal beginner's crews, I know, but it is what it is. For the exact same price, I can have either Leveticus' box or Hamelin's box plus a blister of Ratcatchers. Either one would allow me to field a decent 40pt crew, which is going to be fine while my girlfriend and I learn the game. The question is, which crew is probably the better starter-friendly option, considering it'll be awhile before I can afford any of their extra crew (which means only one waif for Levi, only three rats for Hamelin and the catchers)? (I do have a Desolation Engine on hand that I was lucky enough to pick up in trade, which will make Levi a lot more resilient on the field, but if I do the flesh up in undead grey, temporarily affix it to a 40mm base, and give it a little Sculpey tail it can just as easily be a ridiculous Rat King proxy for awhile.)

I think a dual-faction Gremlins/Ressers master could be pretty cool-- some kind of mad-eyed roughneck with a folksy philosophy of the eternal cycle of decay feeding new growth in the bayou, raising his deceased kin and whatever dead gifts the swamp bears up and leading a clan that's backwater even by gremlin standards, with a creepy, almost cultish "Innsmouth by way of Deliverance" feel to them. The "non-gremlin undead" bit on Leveticus' Pariah of Bone upgrade made me raise an eyebrow because there aren't any gremlin undead AFAIK, but that got me thinking about how intimidating it would be to have to fight off an endless horde of shambling lumps of re-animated swampflesh, some of them perhaps taxidermied into twisted new forms (the winged monkeys from Wizard Of Oz spring to mind). It'd be tough to design a master around the concept that didn't end up treading on Zoraida's toes with the whole "swamp witch" theme or on Nicodem's "hordes of cheap undead" niche, though.

Hullo, all. My situation is this: My girlfriend and I, both completely new to the hobby, have agreed to each pick up a crew to start with, followed close behind by a more complicated master once we've got things nailed down. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of cash for extra minis, and each crew is probably going to be limited to a box and two blisters at time of purchase, and for a good while thereafter. This means it's also pretty important to make our picks with a focus on versatility. My girlfriend's pretty set on picking up Seamus and Yan Lo, and I've got my selections narrowed down to McCabe, J. Lynch, Hamelin, and Leveticus. That said: ***** 1. First and foremost, is there any general consensus on which of the four crews I'm looking at would be easiest to master? Toughest? 2. It looks like half of the models in Leveticus' box are either zero-cost or usually start off of the table (SPAs, I'm looking at you), which means that I'm likely going to have to buy a fair number of extra models to play him in a 50ss game. On top of that, it seems he's going to require an extra blister of Waifs, probably one of Abominations, and a Desolation Engine right from the start. Is it at all feasible to expect to field him on a budget? If so, what models besides the Engine and the spare Waifs/SPEs would you suggest I pick up to cram the maximum utility/synergy into a single 50ss crew? (I get some extra budgetary wiggle room if I get Levi since he's far and away my top pick, but I've still got to keep it reasonable. Ashes & Dust isn't quite off the table, but if I get that I won't be getting much else.). 3. Hamelin, same basic question. Am I going to have to go nuts buying rats or crew filler? If not, do you think he'd be a better choice than Levi? (And what are people using as Rat King proxies, anyway?) 4. My starter's probably going to be Lynch or McCabe. Is one of them typically better to learn on than the other? Better to learn against? (My girlfriend has even less exposure to mini wargaming than I do and I worry that facing a crew too cheatsy or nuanced may frustrate her away from the hobby). 5. Which two blisters would you recommend picking up with Seamus's box as of M2E? And is the Copycat Killer all that good? (She's prefer his crew in metal, but not if she's going to really feel the lack of the Copycat at the table.) 6. Does Yan Lo's box and a couple of extra Ancestors comprise a well-rounded crew on their own? ***** Sorry to go on at such length, but like I said, I have zero familiarity with the hobby, so my knowledge of the available models and my ability to translate stat cards into likely tabletop performance is still pretty shaky. I really appreciate you taking the time to read this, and any help or perspective is likewise welcome and appreciated.

^ That. This also means that if an action with a built-in suit has a trigger whose only requirement is one of that suit, you basically get to trigger it "for free."

I'm brand new to the game and I'm strongly considering picking up a Guild Pathfinder or two, but I'm a little confused about its Hunting Musket ability, and by extension, blasts in general. I couldn't find any answers in the rulebook or errata, so... here we are. I'll try to stay concise, but I don't have a great handle on the terminology yet. Sorry in advance. Long story short, Hunting Musket is a straight-up damage-dealing attack that also generates a blast on medium and heavy damage. Simple enough. It's also got two triggers, though, worded like so: and Now, I can see three ways to interpret this: A. The first trigger would apply to all models caught in the blast, as it directly applies to damage dealt by the attack, of which the blast is part, but the second would only affect the initial target of the action as the blast victims weren't specifically targeted by the attack, B. A blast "targets" all models caught in its radius, so any triggers on the attack that generated the blast apply to anyone affected by it, or C. Blasts are, themselves, effects generated by the initial attack rather than a "part" of the actual attack, and so triggers never apply to them unless the action's text specifically says so. Any clarification you lot could offer would be greatly appreciated. The "Blast" section of the manual doesn't seem to mention triggers at all, and vice versa.

Anyone have any experience with this one? I'm just starting up Malifaux and I don't have a lot of money to lay down on models so I wanted to pick some better brains before shelling out, but it looks to me like the Pathfinders would synergize pretty solidly with his typical cohorts. They can lay down decent blast damage at range, and the area control from those clockwork traps could get a little nasty when coupled with the repositioning tricks the Beckoners or Graves bring to the table. On top of it all, I'm given to understand that Lynch's crew is pretty adept at dropping bodies, which means that Scavenge Supplies would be providing regular card cycling to Jakob's already impressive hand control abilities. Fluff-wise, it feels kind of weird, but the Ten Thunders are going to tap every asset the mission calls for, no? Apart from that, the only downside my (admittedly, completely untrained) eyes can see is that they'd take up soulstones ordinarily spent on Brilliance dispensers, but there's still plenty of room for some of the usual suspects, and if you're not doing a Bril-focused crew the sky's the limit. What do you think, sirs? (And madams?)

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate the help. Now, to wait for that crew box! (The "extra model" in the new Salvage and Logistics art turned out to be an Abomination. I'm just not used to seeing them standing as tall as HT 2 characters. Looking at it again, the new set is going to come with an extra waif, though, at least..)

First of all, let me apologize if this is a better fit for the Outcasts forum and say I won't be surprised if I log on and find it moved. This is only my second post and I'm still getting the lay of the land. Right down to business, though. My girlfriend and I are planning on starting up Malifaux soon, and as new players (new wargamers in general) we're doing a meticulous abundance of research on which masters we want to pick up. Leveticus looks like he's the guy for me-- I know he's not for beginners, but he seems to "click" with how I think and I'm picking up a second, simpler master besides-- but I spent a great deal of time plotting and researching only to discover that the info I was basing things on was all at least half an edition out of date. I've got the M2E update now, and I just wanted to make sure I was reading this right. I'll try not to ramble, and please, correct me if I'm wrong: Hiring Pool: Leveticus, as of M2E, now has the same hiring options as any other Outcast and can choose between opening up non-Gremlin Undead OR (not and) Constructs for a 1ss upgrade. Death & Rebirth Mechanics: Dying is no longer advantageous or necessary to Leveticus, nor does he suffer any restrictions to card drawing. The act of summoning a Waif now kills Levi and the act of bringing Levi back now removes a Waif from the board, meaning that the functional immortality he had previously is now, in practice, "two extra lives," and after that, "the ability to fully heal himself each round if you sac him at the end of his activation and can keep the resulting Waif (and its 6ss attendant) locked down tighter than Fort Knox until End of Turn." (Steampunk) Abominations: It looks like they've lost their Keep Pace cluster move trick in exchange for losing their hobble ability and picking up a deal of extra survivability/enemy frustration. Also, given the high-ish cards/extra suits generally required for Leveticus/Alyce to trigger Desolate Warping, it seems to my untrained eyes that SPAs are a tad difficult to summon, as well, and/or that this crew throws out Soulstones like beads at Mardi Gras. Desolation Engine: Like Levi, he no longer seems destined for the scrapheap the moment he hits the board, and in fact looks to have become kind of a bitch to kill if you don't hit him with Burn Out or overuse Desolate Supplications. If I'm right about the SPAs, the Engine becoming Rare 1 shouldn't matter because I'll rarely have enough fodder to summon more than 1 Engine at once anyway, no? Rusty Alyce seems like she lost quite a bit when they streamlined and rebalanced her for M2E, though she still seems solid overall. Sorry to have gone on for so long, and thanks for your time. Leveticus just really kind of speaks to me, cheesy as it sounds, and I want to make sure I've got him figured out before committing a hunk of my very limited budget. (For that matter, is there any word, or even a glimmer of a hint, as to when his plastic crew box is coming out? I like the look of most of the models in it a lot better, not to mention the extra mini, whatever that thing is supposed to be.)

Hey, all. Broad-spectrum not-quite-30-year-old geek and would-be wargamer checking in. I'm a bit of a vagabond, but love and long-term disability have me settled in New Mexico unless the latter gets better or the former gets worse. My girlfriend and I started hosting Arkham Horror nights for some of her co-workers, and it turned out that two of them were avid local/YouTube wargamers. Time passes, info is exchanged, more shared nerdery is engaged in, and long story short, the girlfriend and I, complete tyros to the wargaming, are about to jump feetfirst into Malifaux. I've got precious little experience with tabletop miniatures, but with a background in character-based board games, p&p rpgs, and collectible card games, the Malifaux ruleset is looking to be a snap to pick up. It's also one of the most budget-friendly mini games we've found, to boot. I'm going to have far more questions than answers starting out, but I'll try to keep from getting too incessant here.