skoatz

I think I'm missing something here. Grimwell walks with nimble AP, drops a marker for the Investigator push for 1 AP, and then discards a card for his 1 AP action. Where is the other AP coming from? Fast?

Mages only give out slow on an after damaging trigger. Henchman and Masters can stone to prevent gaining slow. Acolytes give out slow more consistently as the slow effect is built into the attack. Acolytes can also deploy just about anywhere on the table and they're immune to horror duels and paralyze which is good against ressurs and neverborn. I think they both have their uses, so I wouldn't say one is inherently better than the other. Outside of Sandeep or Ironsides crews, I lean towards December Acolytes more than Oxfordian Mages though.

And nowhere does it say you don't get to count his cost twice. Regardless of anyone's ruling, it's definitely ambiguous enough where I'm hopeful for an FAQ on it soon. Until then, most events I've participated in rule Big Jake and Tanuki as counting their cost twice. So Nellie is my go-to when Ours comes up. Models I like to take with Nellie in Ours: Phiona because of her 1 AP action to place in base contact with an enemy engaged with a friendly model. That can be useful if you need to get her to a different table quarter. I always take Phiona with Nellie though. Peacekeeper because its sturdy and can run pretty independently and has a high SS cost. Big Jake for counting twice. And Anna if I'm going up against Ten Thunders, Ressers, or Arcanists.

What models do you have so far? Or are you planning on buying models prior to the event based on recommendations?

Thanks so much y’all!

Any chance the erratad cards for Wind Gamin B and C could be added to Wargame Vault?

Sorry! I must not have clicked send before closing out of my browser. I just sent it.

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Agreed. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but it just amazes me how consistently strong Jakob Lynch has been through all of the GG versions. At least as TT. My Lynch crews start off with Lynch, Hungering Darkness, and Sensei Yu. Everything else is just gravy. I can take anything I want after that and Lynch is still very strong regardless of what I choose. Lynch is much more flexible than I first thought when I started playing Malifaux. It makes me wonder why I don't see him across the table as much.

A single model changes the way people play in every single game. I'm playing against Arcanists, so I choose my crew accordingly. Then my opponent reveals Rasputina. Well that means I'm probably going to spread out more. But what if my opponent had revealed a different master? My crew is still the same, but the way I play against that master is going to be different than the way I play against Rasputina. One model changing the way you play isn't unbalanced. Especially because your opponent is also changing the way they play because of the models you chose. It's not just one single model in the entire game. Lots of models change the way people play across all crews/factions. Your opponent has access to strong combos, but so do you. That's why I feel like it's balanced. Meta is impossible to avoid. Every competitive game has a meta. Hell, even chess has a meta of sorts. But I don't see how Malifaux having a meta makes the game inherently unbalanced.

Are you expecting to not have to change the way you play in order to counter strong combos/synergies in your opponent's crew? And that's an honest question. I'm not trying to be sarcastic or anything like that. I'm just confused at what you're discussing at this point. If Myranda + IE is not unbeatable, but it requires you to adapt, is that a bad thing? Isn't the ability to adapt and counter your opponent's plans a show of skill in Malifaux? I definitely recognize that there have been combos/interactions in Malifaux that are just too strong or just terrible to play against. generally, they get fixed with the erratas/FAQs. Myranda + IE has been around so long (for over 4 years) and I wouldn't classify it as too strong or terrible to play against.

I don't feel like Phiona benefits that much from cheating damage. She has a consistent spread of 3/4/5 so cheating the damage increases her output by 2 at most. It's just not worth an upgrade slot and a severe to get that additional 2 damage. She puts out a lot of damage as is in a Nellie crew. I'd much rather put A Debt to the Guild and Numb to the World on Phiona (or replace A Debt to the Guild with Journalism when Dig Their Graves is in the pool). Other than that, I definitely agree with the above. The absolute must takes with Nellie are Phiona and the Printing Press. Frank is next on the list as well.

Uhh tell me more

That's a fair point. I guess I should try Hoffman in Ours more. It sounds like I've been underestimating him for this strategy.

Hoffman can easily hold two table quarters. It's harder to contest that third quarter though because you don't spread out as much with Hoffman. You certainly can, and with his new upgrade, Hoffman can place up to 6", so that helps. Still, he wouldn't be my first pick for Ours. Although I haven't played Ours much so that could be why I think that he isn't the greatest pick for the strategy.

Ours is one of the more difficult strategies for Hoffman to do. Not impossible, but definitely difficult. I would also hesitate to take Hoffman into a pool with Hold Up Their Forces. Hoffman crews tend to be bunched up so that would be a fairly easy 3 points for the enemy crew. I don't think either of those things though are enough to say Hoffman would be a bad choice though.

I'm not saying the errata is without any issue. I'm saying that the errata does not increase complexity. More specifically to your point, when I play Malifaux, I have to put some level of trust that my opponent is being honest and has all of the up-to-date information for their crew. I can't stop at every moment to ask for a model's card in order to fact check my opponent. I have to take at least some information from my opponent on good will. Inevitably, things are played wrong and mistakes are made. And that happens outside of errata'd cards and models. Having errata'd cards and such does increase the chance of that happening. I will admit that. I personally think that it doesn't increase the chances of that occurring by a significant amount, but I know not everyone agrees. However, I would rather have a twice yearly (not even that frequent) errata to improve the health of the game even if it increases the chances of things slipping through the cracks like in your example. My only concern about the errata is that the playerbase will start shifting away from looking for ways to beat strong models/combos/synergies rather than look for an immediate nerf. When Reva first came out, frequent topics on the forum called for cuddling her. Now, you hardly hear much about her. As a playerbase, we've found ways to deal with what Reva does. However, there are certainly cases where something needs to change for the health of the game. Which is why I said what i did in the beginning of the thread. I hope erratas are necessary changes but kept to a minimum as much as possible.

Thanks for the info. I'm looking forward to the update!

Pre-errata: You have to check the stats of, say, a Death Marshal every time you play against one. Post-errata: You have to check the stats of a Death Marshal every time you play against one. How is that more complex? How is that different from pre-errata? Your opponent has a new card, sure. You're still doing the exact same thing as before. You're still checking the card. The only difference is that the card changed slightly. But you were going to check the card anyway.

I think 4thstringer has a great idea there. Even if your group doesn't normally pre-generate strats/schemes, maybe you could setup a game ahead of time and ask to pre-generate the encounter? You could even ask for them to declare their faction so you know the strats/schemes and faction you're going up against before the game. Then, like 4thstringer suggested, we can recommend a list with some things to practice.

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I want to like this a million times.

That's fair, I can't speak to the fiction (I've only read some of it). And I agree that TT is placing higher than guild pre-wave 5 so there's something to be said for that. For Arcanists, it's tough to say. It's the most popular faction in terms of the number of players. That affects the average that Malifaux rankings for each faction. Gremlins have a higher average score than Ten Thunders with Neverborn just under TT. I want to see the faction breakdown for top 5 places since Jan 2017. Unfortunately I can't export the USA Malifaux Rankings raw data. So one of these days I'm going to have to copy it out by hand. And again, I wouldn't say TT is underpowered. TT is definitely on the stronger end of the spectrum (not factoring in Misaki's new upgrade). I know this isn't what you meant originally, I just don't see how they're the favored faction in terms of power level.

I just looked again at the US rankings for any tournament with 20+ people since Jan 2017: Live Free or Die Cheating - No TT top 3 Bremaster Classic - Derrek Chu 1st place Nova Open - No TT top 3 (Although Duncan did make it to the top table in the last round, but Duncan won Nova Open the year before as Guild) GenCon - Derrek Chu 1st place Capitol City Meltdown - No TT Top 3 Califaux Master (second day of the Califaux Masters tournament) - TT player was in 8th overall Field of Dreams - No TT player in top 10 Adepticon - Duncan in 3rd Midgard Malifaux CaptainCon Day 1 (I can't find Day 2) - No TT in top 3 I can't find Las Vegas Open 2017 results, but either way, you're seeing Derrek Chu getting 1st twice and Duncan placing high who also placed as high or higher as Guild. The top TT player in the UK placed 1st in one 14 man tournament.

The Storm looks like it's going to be a problem. I'll agree there. But before Wave 5, what major tournaments in the US were TT winning? In the past year, the only major tournament that a TT player won was Gencon (that I'm aware of. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please). Derrek Chu won with Mei Feng, and I don't believe he used any of her new Wave 5 upgrades. Duncan Bilz played TT for most of this year, but he hasn't placed first at any major tournament this year. I think he placed third at a couple events but that's it. TT has some strong stuff, but favored faction? I don't know about that.