admiralvorkraft

I won't play the title 'till it gets an errata so there's that. 

OG Perdita you're bringing in against heavy armor and high model-count crews I think. She has a perfectly decent ap-spam approach to the game, she's just more of a friendly obey crew than an aggro crew. I like her fine. 

16 hours ago, HomelessOne said:

Your pain is inspiring, admiral.

Well then it was all worth it

Yeah, I thought there was some fun stuff you could do with him when he first dropped, but there's nothing that comes close to touching, "hire a grab bag of efficient models."

You can listen to my crushing defeat on Schemes and Stones for more 😛

5 hours ago, trikk said:

I initially don't like the fix. I would just prefer for 4-6SS models to require more effort to kill

I also don't like that fix. I think the best fix is the hardest one, which is to restructure schemes to reward more starting AP so there's a meaningful trade-off to consider when hiring, and also change some of the scoring conditions to make controlling the bottom of turn less of a binary win-con.

2 hours ago, Adran said:

The problem with laying the blame there is that in last edition you typically had a greater range where you could make 2 attacks on an opponent than you do this edition ( the range for 1 attack has increased, but 1 attack without focus typically does not kill a cheap model). 

Last edition you probably had the ability to make 2 attacks at about 9" away. This edition a  similar model can make 2 attacks at 6" and 1 attack at 11". 

But that was your whole activation and if you were slow or half an inch out you were screwed and focus didn't persist. Now if you've got a Focus stack you can easily gank a minion on a walk+charge.

I think (and yes, broken record) the issue is the scoring format. The advantage to taking cheap AP is you get more of it in the first couple turns. Unfortunately the most important time to have an AP advantage is turn 5 and your cheap minions aren't making a big difference either way to your T5 position. Change the EoG point on schemes to be "at the end of any turn after this scheme was revealed" and we're having a very different conversation. Also some rewriting of schemes to allow for a wider scoring window than "I control bottom of turn activations and held onto my efficient scoring pieces, they activate and print me points."

Yeah, my push for writing Levi out is more that he's got this glorious purpose teased for two full editions now, let him serve that purpose yeah? Narratively there's nothing to do with him other than tread water, which would be one thing if he were a cool character or had really engaging mechanics but instead he's Levi...

Seamus is written very differently. He's a bad dude, but you love to hate him, and Wyrd has pivoted him very well in subtle ways - like having him throwing dresses on Guild Guard during the assault on the compound. He's frightening and evil, but there's depth there. There's a degree to which his sociopathy is almost a performance to appease the whispers in his head. I'm less bothered by him than I was about the cheesecake Viks in 2e (love their 3e box).

Levi is just a creepy old man with plot armor. He doesn't bring anything particularly interesting to the game or the setting in my opinion, but that doesn't mean give him a pointless death. Dude has an epic fate, let him fulfill that narratively and move him on. Alyce is great fun as a character and her growth has been the good bit of Leveticus' narrative. Let her level up.

That being said, I really wish Wyrd would commit to what the DMH actually is. I'd like to see certain keywords rotate out each GG to be reintroduced with errata/new models the next year. To use one of my favorite keywords (and contender for worst person in Malifaux) as an example maybe Sonnia gets fired and Witch Hunter gets rotated into the DMH for a season. When it comes back she gets some new tech representing the work she did for the Guild Earthside, Witchlings are changed because she doesn't have access to make more of them anymore, and she gets a new enforcer, the Handler who is friends with Ironsides and dual faction M&SU.

When I think of reactive crews I think of crews that can adapt to play where the opponent is weak, rather than ones that want to play where they are strong.

So Hoffman and Jedza are defensive, but not reactive - they are posing a specific question to the opponent just by showing up.

Crews with high mobility and loose synergies tend to play the reactive game well. In Outcasts I'd say Viks1, Von Schill1, and Tara (either) have strong reactive play. Schill of course is the most defensive of those three in that his crews can take a hit and shrug it off, where Obliteration and Mercenary need to skirmish and pounce when the opponent over extends.

I know that I never want to see Darth declared against me, but that's because aggro Masters are boring (to me) on either side of the table.

OG looks way more fun and interesting but I think it's a matter of evaluating whether you need to get in your oponents face, and how quickly. You might run Darth with more of the minions if you wanted to do that for some reason?

Tara2 (minus the kidnap) is a very cool friendly control piece. She can dramatically reset board position on her turn, and she really supports her keyword. She's a fun puzzle to work through with a lot of potential and plenty of rope to hang yourself with.

41 minutes ago, Azahul said:

The handful that don't, interestingly enough, all have a heavy emphasis on moving models and suddenly Rusty Alyce becomes quite attractive indeed. 

She's great with Timeless for instance.

I just played my first in person 3e tournament, took second which was good because I'd carved the wooden spoon myself and didn't want to bring it back home with me. I soloed Unmasked all three rounds which is why I'm posting it here.

Round One

Deployment: (Ram) Standard
Strat: (Crow) Turf War

2 - Detonate Charges
4 - Assassinate
8 - Catch and Release
10 - Outflank
11 - Research Mission

I took;
BBQ Time! (Guild)
Size: 50 - Pool: 4
Leader:
  Sonnia Criid, Unmasked
    Lead-Lined Coat
Totem(s):
  Purifying Flame
Hires:
  Samael Hopkins
    Lead-Lined Coat
  Spelleater
  Spelleater 2
  Witchling Handler
  Witchling Stalker
  Pathfinder

vs. a Ulix2 crew with Ophelia second master. The board was full of forest pieces and a big ol' river. I was the defender, I had my opponent deploy the Ophelia half first, he stuck her on one flank. I deployed everything on the opposite flank. I took Assassinate and Research Mission and won 7-3 as I basically blew up anything that tried to cross the river and kept hiding from Ophelia behind Dense forests.

Round Two

Deployment: (Crow) Corner
Strat: (Mask) Break the Line

1 - Breakthrough
2 - Detonate Charges
5 - Claim Jump
6 - Hidden Martyrs
9 - Let Them Bleed

I took;

The Red 'uns Go Faster (Guild)
Size: 50 - Pool: 6
Leader:
  Sonnia Criid, Unmasked
    Lead-Lined Coat
Totem(s):
  Purifying Flame
Hires:
  Samael Hopkins
    Lead-Lined Coat
  Orderly
  Orderly 2
  Sanctioned Spellcaster
  Sanctioned Spellcaster 2
  Thalarian Queller
  Spelleater

vs. Viks2 with the usual suspects (Midnight Stalker, Ronin w/Wanted Criminal, etc.)

I took Hidden Martyrs on the Queller and Spelleater, and Detonate Charges. We tied 3-3. I could have won, but top of turn two he dove Viks in (big surprise) and I let myself get suckered into trying to kill her. It didn't work obviously. At the end of turn three she had 13 burning and I had to remove it with the Queller to score Detonate. I also made a couple positioning errors that cost me a second point on the strat. It didn't help that I couldn't win initiative to save my soul, but that's pass tokens for you.

Round 3

Deployment: (Tome) Flank
Strat: (Ram) Corrupted Ley Lines

3 - Vendetta
6 - Hidden Martyrs
7 - Death Beds
12 - Spread Them Out
13 - Bait and Switch

This was a weird one. I'd intended to take Phiona Gage and give her the lodestone to claim the center marker turn 1, toss it back turn 2, but the center marker was surrounded by these impassable, destructible walls so I switched things up and took;

A Curious Burning Sensation (Guild)
Size: 50 - Pool: 5
Leader:
  Sonnia Criid, Unmasked
    Lead-Lined Coat
Totem(s):
  Purifying Flame
Hires:
  Samael Hopkins
    Lead-Lined Coat
  Spelleater
  Thalarian Queller
  Guardian
  Alan Reid

vs. Lady J1 and Guild "good stuff" (Pale, Lone, Domador, Steward, LLC on J, I think the only mild surprise was Grimwell but he's fast so I get it).

We drew again! This time it was 5-5. I scored 2 on Vendetta (Sam-Pale) and 1 on Death Beds as I finally battered J to death turn 5. Mostly I can't figure out where I went wrong with this one. I did a good job kiting and picking his crew apart piecemeal, limiting angles of fire from those long guns, Alan Reid single handedly kept J out of the fight until turn 4. Sonnia killing the Steward bottom of three might have been a bad call, he was obviously a Martyrs target but my brain was shot by that point in the day. So shot I left a point of burning on Alan for three turns when Sonnia could have used it at any time and kept him alive.

The big swing point was I started the Purifying Flame with the ball, claimed the center marker as planned bottom of 1, but half way through 2 I figured instead of pulling back to claim the far objective on my half, I'd spread some burning and push into his half to claim his far objective, force at least the Pale to double back if he wanted to deal with me, and if I died I'd pass the ball to an unactivated Spelleater able to claim the marker in my home corner.

It worked in that both the Pale and J had to pull back to kill the Flame, I claimed my home marker, but then he was able to jam up my lines of approach to the third marker and hold me to two strat points. If I'd taken Martyrs I think I would have won outright - probably the Flame and the Spelleater. 

Anyway, all in all it was three really fun games on very full boards in a gorgeous game store (shout out to The Forge in Chaska, MN). Now I feel I can stop soloing Sonnia and pivot to Journalist for a while.

Yes. My thought is that this - as with most issues raised around minions - is a product of the way the scoring timing works. 3/8 points are only available at the end of turn five and with very few exceptions (assassinate namely) you can't lock those in early. So AP advantage, which is what those cheap models are supposed to bring to the table, only really starts to matter turn 4/5. 

If gg3 simply changed the eog point on schemes to "at the end of any turn after this scheme was revealed" every cheap, struggling minion will potentially find a place.

I don't have a ton of experience with her - she's my next keyword to tackle after my Witch Hunter deep dive. But I'll give my 2 cents after a couple of games.

No other keyword blunts an alpha like Journalist. Nellie is reliably slapping two models a turn with Slow/Distracted/Stunned until a critical mass of markers hit the table and she starts just deleting stuff wholesale. Gage is a great control piece and a low resource beater (everything at positives all the time is nice) but Dade actually does more damage. The crew has some surprising speed - mostly Nellie herself and the Field Reporters. 

My two lists have been Nellie 1 with Gage, Dade, Undercover, August, False Witness, Field Reporter, upgrades. Or I swap Auguste for a second Field Reporter. Once I'm focusing on the keyword I'll try out Voice of Disorder of course, it's one of those master/title pairs where you really need to know both because they play into very different matchups and games.

I like her. She plays a strong reactive/denial game but has trouble forcing board states. If I think I'll have to be more proactive given the matchup I'd probably take Voice of Disorder.

She doesn't check a lot of the boxes that the vassal meta likes, but she works for me.

He's Mv6, unimpeded, with Creep Along. I'm keeping him.

The Hex Bows will swap in with Spelleaters for me depending on the board and matchup.

As Maniacal said, Sonnia1 likes the ranged burning. Ignoring concealment and Incorporeal is nice, ending a condition is nice. These are good models to have in the toolbox.

But honestly the keyword is over-stuffed with mid-cost minions as-is. I'd have been more excited about a new enforcer or Hench. 

Oh, hollow Levi should become Alyce's totem! 

Oh, he's a piece of work to be sure. Definitely the character I want to see go DMH sooner rather than later.

For what it's worth, Leveticus keeps it deliberately unclear as to whether there's a sexual thing with the waifs, and he seems to be grooming Alyce more as his successor than his partner... Maybe I'm just giving Wyrd the benefit of the doubt.

Most of Guild is still oriented around board control and denial play. I've run a fair bit of Family, Elite/Mimic, and title Witch Hunter. With the exception of Lucius Dishonorable the plan is always pick the schemes that require the least movement, and narrow down my opponents options through killing/body blocking/conditions.

That being said, Grimwell and one or two Orderlies are a pretty decent scheming package in most crews. 

13 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

You can snag Alan for Nefarious Pact if you need.

Okay, but Alan is just baseline very good so why not include him in the first place?

Dishonorable brings somewhat less card draw, but he puts a lot more pressure on your opponent so the cards he does draw go further. Granted, I've only played against him, ymmv.

Honestly the only use I can see for him is to hire him into Jack Daw to stack Distracted on Auguste Hart.

12 minutes ago, theamazingmrg said:

I'm finding this is very true for Unmasked.  Much moreso than for the original.

 

So much so that I really miss not having a summon! 

 

I want Sonnia to get a Witchling-summoning Enforcer so that I can spend all the stones on the support pieces, then bring in the Witchlings to smash face!

The errata really helped. And I haven't even gotten my mages and gunners yet...

I've got a half dozen games of Unmasked under my belt now and am starting to get the hang of her. Against an opponent who respects her she's a potent control piece with a wide variety of tools at her disposal. And of course if the opponent doesn't respect her, well, it's still Sonnia.

She's got decent durability even without LLC - I'm happy to spend stones with her knowing that I can generate them back quite easily, and between Confiscated Lore and all the incidental Drain Magic discards my oponents are top decking much of the turn.

She's got a lot of mobility in keyword though I've brought Dr. Grimwell and a Guardian to buff her personal movement, and I often stone for the mask on Confiscated Lore. I really like the Witchling Handler for the movement buffs, and Sam Hopkins and the Purifying Flame make a great flanking team.

Her keyword has a lot of good tech. Thalarian Quellers are going to make any ss using alpha piece think twice about diving, especially if you can force their target selection and turn off triggers. Spelleaters are awesome buff pieces - in corner especially you can push two models forward with Sonnia and have spelleaters turn the Burning into Focus+2 and it's just neat - and they can pivot to putting out a surprising amount of hurt, to the point it's hard not to hire two of them.

I could go on but suffice it to say Witch Hunter is one of those keywords where I always run out of stones before I run out of choices. This is only compounded by it being the only keyword where I consistently consider every Guild upgrade as viable.

Things I'm struggling with; not a lot of resource generation. I can cycle cards, sure, but I don't draw them except sometimes with Grimwell. It's fine (see above for how I put my opponent in similar straights) but there are a decent number of tns and discard effects to budget for so it's something to keep in mind.

Friendly burning generation, after turn 2 it's hard to get burning out for Sonnia to capitalize on. I need to work on where I'm placing my pyre markers, and on remembering that my models don't treat them as severe! 😛

I also need to remember Enraged by the Mage. Being able to capitalize on every bad card I stacked with CL is important and I often forget this option.

Fair enough, I'm running him in Hamelin where he's very much not the most problematic thing going...