madaxeman

I think I agree - auto-slow is just ridiculous - but wouldn't that be better written as "after succeeding" ? After all, it's a trigger that lets you do two things - removing stuff from the target and then also adding different stuff to the target. In that context the use of "After resolving" in connection with the second part ("adding stuff") could be read to mean that if you fail to do the "remove stuff" part, the second "adding stuff" part still happens?

So...the Oxfordian Mages Elemental Bolt trigger includes an “after resolving” bit at the end. “After resolving” triggers appear to apply whether you succeed or fail the action... but in this case is that succeed or fail the_duel, or succeed or fail in doing “one of the list of stuff in the first half of the trigger” ?

OK, shame I do like the model, however it's keeping him in play that's the challenge... As a Henchman he feels like he should be doing stuff to the enemy, but actually he's kinda brittle - especially after a Reckless or two. I guess he's a better Wind Gamin...

So... Firestarter, and Light Under Their Feet... Assuming you target a friendly who's in combat and probably already Activated (then of course go for the Relent...), choose to strip off maybe 1 or even zero Burning to push them 2" just out of enemy engagement range, and if you use a Stone for an Tome as well as using a Tome in hand... is this the best way to do a long-distance Detonate Charges in the game? Orr am I over-egging it with an unjustified assumption that "2 Tomes = 2 Scheme markers" ?

ooooohhhhh

Having now tried this, yep it makes sense 🙂 Presto-changing a dove which was handily sat next to the Duet with an already-activated enemy beater (that believed itself to be safe, being the thick end of 18" away from the Duet) - and then hitting it 4 times with attacks on 7 (Duet) and 6 (solo Coryphee), before reforming ... very dispiriting for the opponent!

Firebranded and Bormann - useful enough for someone who already has the 2e box with the Golem to pick up Bridges and try and eBay the second Golem?

Soooo... splitting the Duet - is that just an activation gaining thing? When I look at it I struggle to see how to use the extra activations without ending up too far apart to recombine again at the end of the turn? Am am I missing a sequence here ?

OK - so there and now just 11 upgrade cards ? Thats quite a change!

Erm... am I missing something, or are there hardly any crew-specific open beta upgrade cards posted by Wyrd on the Open beta forum at the moment? I know we don't have long to wait for new decks... but I'm starting to dabble in getting the figures on the table again ..

The weird thing is that I've already got a (metal) v1 Hoffman figure - I bought it in a blister pack when I was starting out collecting, and assumed he was an Arcanist model due to the mechanical stuff he has attached to him. Wouldn't be the only model I could end up having in metal and plastic though... !

OK, so now this is out and I've found myself wanting to scratch the "painting a Malifaux model" itch again, whats the best one to pick up out of the following do you think? Paul Crockett Neil Henry Ferdinand Vogel Rafkin Sparks Iggy Backdraft box set Hoffman box set ('cause I think I've already got everything else...oops!)

I've not really got anything to add, but it seemed a shame to let the Arcanist forum lie fallow for a whole month with no new posts. And what with Raspy being the "December"-est model this seemed to be the ideal thread to post to as well...

Of course... ! Seriously though, I - and I'm sure almost everyone else - have absolutely loads of models which I've bought and painted up but never, ever use. Boredom, lack of effectiveness, change in the local meta, or being superceeded by new better options at their points level are all reasons why stuff doesn't get used. And sometimes my painting is a bit crap and I'm embarassed to put the stuff on table too 🙂 In M3E I am 100% sure that I will still have loads of models that I will never, or hadly ever use. All that will change is which ones I no longer use, and the "why" of why they won't get used. Boredom and lack of effectiveness are things that a new version 'should' address. The meta will also inevitably change, and the shift in game balance towards more tightly themed crews appears to have been specifically chosen to address the 'better options at their points level' issue too. M3E does admittedly bring in a new reason as well - "faction changes mean I need to buy more stuff if I want to keep using this model" - but on balance I think I can live with that if it helps keep Wyrd in business and keeps Malifaix alive as a system. Otherwise all of my models will end up unused.

Not "only". But at least "partly". I'm absolutely sure there is exactly such a strategy on the part of Wyrd. It's one of the two main standard business models for every miniatures-led gaming company I can think of. The other approach is to make rules changes that render all of your existing stuff non-legal or non-viable. Of the two I feel that latter is far more distateful, and without adopting one of these approaches I'm pretty sure that the companies concerned would go to the wall or cease to support existing systems entirely. I suspect the Wyrd marketing team would want to swap ""..a good proportion of them become re-engaged in the system and the new rules mechanics and gameplay possibilities, and are as a result motivated to choose to.." for "..they feel compelled to .." - but otherwise I think you've absolutely nailed it.

I'm very, very dissapointed to now find that if I want to play with some of the hundreds of Wyrd models I've bought over the last few years under this entirely new edition of the rules I might have to use them with cards with different coloured edges to the ones I have been used to using. This issue is most painful when it comes to the vast majority of the figures I own, most of which I rarely if ever use mostly because either I became bored with using them, because they proved to be nowhere near as effective/fun to play as I hoped when I bought them, or because the meta moved on and once-great models became less and less effective in recent years as the huge roster of models and rules of the game teetered out of balance and the core engine and game mechanics began to creak under the increasingly impossible to follow incremental layers of new models and rules. Despite the fact that these effectively redundant bits of plastic, all of which I bought at great expense, spent hours painting and which have not seen light of day for (in some cases) literally years might actually be much better and fun to play under the new rules (and that those same new rules should hopefully be easier and more streamlined leading to a better overall game balance and game playing experience), I cannot help but think that surely it would instead have been better to leave the factions and mechaics essentially the same so these 90%+ of my collection comprising these effectively deep-storage-packed models could continue to enjoy their restful slumbers at the back of the cupboard instead of being forced onto the tabletop? But no - the gurus at Wyrd do not want us to do this. So, the dreadul reality is that I might now have a chance to again deploy and use these models. But to do so i will need to use cards with different coloured edges, or even - horror of horrors - buy a few more new models in order to use these existing models in totally new crews with new play styles and new tricks and fun stuff to try out. This is nothing short of an utter life changing disaster of incredible magnitude, it is utterly ridiculous, and I for one I would much perferred to have left all of my long-unused models languishing in the dark than go down this new route which we are being forced to do. Personally I cannot see why Wyrd didn't just take the obvious option of sending someone round to my house to take a detailed inventory of my collection, including the thematic basing conventions I have chosen to adopt, and use that as a foundation for all of v3. That would have been much better for me. Whilst I accept that it may have caused challenges for some other players, and perhaps hindered Wyrds business model a little by reducing their future revenue potential to around $80-100/year from me, certainly as a customer I would at least have felt a much more valued part of the Wyrd community - a spirit which is sadly being lost all too often in these harsh modern times. 🌧️

Yeah... Lovelace's aura is pretty effective in lots of GG18, and against a lot of the Arcanist place and move tricks - I had a similar experience last night with Mei Feng.. I found myself hoping that stuff that has such a wide area effect might be one of those things that gets toned down in V3 maybe?!

I used Rail Lines last night for the first time - it proved to be a very handy trick to give the 50mm base Rail Golem an absolutely enormous threat range, allowing him and Mei to bounce off the MechPig and then drop maybe 10+ attacks onto an area way outside where they started Added to a MechPig for the + on attacks from charges, and a Steamfitter to toughen up the Golem's defence as well as being able to pick up another "locomotion" tome from the discard pile and the Golem felt close to being the massive 11-stone beater it looks like it should be. You'd probably pick the MechPig and Steamfitter anyway on the basis of their own utility, so its not like you are building a crew around one synergy.

has anyone actually gotten their sweaty hands on these models as yet?

Its a good theory, but having tried it, its a lot harder to pull off. It depends on getting 3 models in alignment not just 2, and also makes your activation order immensely more challenging - as Howard ends up waiting to activate after being teleported. If you think of it as an upgrade giving Howard an option for a 10 inch+ place as his zero action.. thats oretty cool as an upgrade and nly means you need to fit in one or two cheap, fast or tanky beast models to your crew to make it work. I've found that its also still so rarely used that opponents don't really know what it will do.

Try Blade and Claw on Howard. Gives him an insane threat range combined with any forward-deployed small Beast as a swap-places option.

Not the end of the world if its spiders in the melee... ! Given the strike markers come off once they have dealt any damage at all to anyone, getting multiple attacks might still be worthwhile I'd have thought. Interesting to see what the 'casters think and why Mages weren't on the list maybe?

Interesting ideas in the 'cast. Wouldn't the Mages be a better component for the Vox Populi crew though than the Captain and a minion - all three have up to 3 ranged attacks per turn that have an up to 6" push that deals damage as well as pushing into the terrain - and also benefit from activating late in the turn (ie after the strike markers are down) ?

Have we got timings for it as yet?

Im in