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    Pandora Tactica

    in The Neverborn

    Posted

    Hey guys, seeing as how there's already a Collodi and Dreamer Tactica, how about trying to get the other Masters up? In the Arcanist section, they already have 4 Masters' Tactica as stickies, we could certainly catch up to them. This is a good time too, since Wave 5 would add to every Master's repertoire, generating more interest and questions about each Master. 

    I could start the ball rolling for Pandora and let the other more experienced players chip in. 

    Pandora Quick Rundown:

    The Good

    • High Wp
    • Excellent control through Paralyse and Activation order
    • Kills through death by a thousand cuts, getting around Armor, HtW, HtK
    • Can be deceptively mobile thanks to pushes on winning Wp duels from defending with Wp and attacking with Incite
    • Highly survivable against normal attack actions since she can use her high Wp to defend and push out of engagement

    The Bad

    • Low Df
    • Moderate Wd, can fold quickly to beaters that get around her defensive tricks
    • Vulnerable to simple duels, pulses and blasts
    • Low Wk, has trouble getting to the middle of the board initially
    • Small cache
    • Can be rendered toothless by a Crew that ignores pulses and auras 

    Main Builds by Limited Upgrades

    • The Box Opens - Commonly known as Melee Pandora, Box gives Pandora Terrifying 13 and makes targeting her even more dangerous. This allows her to sit in the middle of the field and tie down models with her 3" engagement. Fears Given Form and Aether Connection are often taken with this build, the former to give her more passive threat, the latter to increase her survivability. Best taken in a pool that has heavy bunching in the middle of the board. 
    • Voices - A more control oriented Pandora that hands out Paralyse and dictates Activation order, this is the Pandora that gives her the NPE rep. Upgrades that will go well with this are Depression to add a reliable suite and another way to dictate activation order, and Fugue State to limit interactions. I do not play this build, so any additional input will be appreciated. 
    • Woe is Me - The new Wave 5 upgrade that gives Pandora summoning and Woe Infiltration. As of now, the only out of faction Woe is the Guild Reporter, but she brings some decent utility and control for her price. Summoning allows Pandora to bring in Sorrows right in the thick of the action, circumventing issues of their squishiness and allowing for a more aggressive Misery aggro build. Coupled with the Poltergeist summon on death of a model via Misery, Pandora can bring a whole lot of Misery pain to the enemy Crew even when they don't want to move towards it. 

    Pandora in detail:

    Stats

    Pandora has the characteristics of Living and Woe. That means she is affected by Terrifying (Living) and she benefits from Woe interactions such as Martyr (on Iggy) and Depression (when attached to another model).

    She has 10 Wd, the average for the Neverborn faction. With a lowly Df 3, it seems like she’ll crumple to any heavy hitter targeting Df. Fortunately, this is negated in most cases with her ability Expose Fears, which allows her to use her respectable Wp 7:mask stat in place of her Df in an opposed duel. She is however, vulnerable to simple Df duels, so be careful not to park a model with Fears Given Form anywhere near her. The duel will require her to pitch a high card or take a likely 3 damage. She’s also on the slow side, with a Wk 4 and Cg 4, but she has some movement tricks up her sleeve to push her along.

    Abilities

    Misery:

    Her signature ability, Pandora pings an enemy model for 1 damage whenever it fails a Wp duel within her 6” aura. Do note the phrasing and timing – the ability triggers when the model fails a duel, so it means that the damage still happens even if the model or Pandora pushes out of 6” due to other offensive or defensive triggers. However, the model suffers 1 damage after resolving the current Action, which means an attack action would deal all its damage first before the Misery damage kicks in. This is particularly relevant for getting around Hard to Kill.

    Also, Misery auras stack and are considered separate sources of damage, so a model caught in between Pandora with a Sorrow will be hit by 2 separate sources of 1 damage, getting around Armor.

    Finally, Misery only pings when an enemy model uses their Wp stat in a duel. If an enemy model attacks Pandora using a Ml, Sh or Ca action and Pandora defends with her Wp successfully, the enemy model would have failed the respective Ml, Sh or Ca duel, not a Wp duel.

    Expose Fears:

    This ability significantly increases Pandora’s survivability. Being able to resist every opposed duel with her high Wp means she should be able to successfully defend herself most of the time, barring some bad card flips. This combos well with her other ability, Fading Memory, allowing her to push 4” in any direction, which is practically out of almost every engagement range.

    Do note that Expose Fears is not a defensive trigger, so models that ignore triggers cannot get around it. Also, in situations models can choose to target either Df or Wp (such as Bishop), they have to call which stat they are targeting first, so Pandora still has the final say of using Wp. This is confirmed in the FAQ.

    Fading Memory:

    With this ability, Pandora can push 4” in any direction whenever she wins an opposed Wp duel against an enemy model. A common misconception for beginning players is what constitutes a Wp duel. In this case, it refers to duels in which Pandora uses her Wp stat, regardless of what the enemy uses.

    In practice, this translates to 2 scenarios only – when she’s attacked by an enemy (not friendly) model and uses her Wp stat to defend, or when she uses Incite, the only attack action she has that uses Wp as the attacking stat. In the former, she can use this defensively to push out of enemy engagement or into cover, and in the latter, she can use Incite offensively to push into engagement with more models, making it a movement trick for her as well.

    Martyr:

    This allows Pandora to take 1 damage to reduce 1 damage another Woe within 6” suffers. This allows her to keep her otherwise squishy Sorrows alive longer. This can also be combo-ed with Iggy who also has Martyr to either reduce 2 damage from a Sorrow, or extend its range by passing the damage down the line. E.g. Sorrow is 12” away from Pandora but Iggy is 6” between the two of them. Do weigh carefully when to use this ability though, as a typical Pandora crew has little options for healing unless you bring Candy.

    Attack Actions

    (1) Self Loathing:

    Ca 7:mask attack action with engagement range of 3”, resisted by Wp. Attacking an enemy model with this will trigger Misery if the attack is successful, as the enemy model essentially failed a Wp duel. The 3” range is great for tying up models and affecting them with the Fears Given Form upgrade. Being a Ca attack, it gets around Incorporeal as well.

    However, the attack uses the printed damage track of a 1 AP :melee attack action of the target model, so attacks are more effective against heavy hitters and less so against scheme runners. The new Wave 5 upgrade Rile Them Up now offers Pandora her own damage track when using this attack, letting her deal with weaker models more effectively.

    Do note that even if the model has no damage track, both Self Loathing and Self Harm can still be used, dealing no damage but triggering Misery. 

    (1) Self Harm:

    Similar to Self Loathing, it is the  version with a range of 10” and Ca 6:mask using the target's 1 AP :ranged attack action damage track. 

    (0) Incite:

    The bread and butter of Pandora, this is something to be cast almost every turn. It sports a decent range 12” and is resisted by Wp. On success, it gives the target Mood Swings, a condition that allows you to force the opponent to activate this model instead of other models if it hasn’t gone yet.

    The condition is important for setting up activation control, especially if Candy is around to Paralyse the first model to go in the Turn. It also allows you to compensate for losing Initiative if placed on an inconsequential model. With Wave 5, it is one way to setup for summoning Sorrows, since you need to target an enemy model with a condition to summon.

    Also, important to note that it is Wp 7:mask and not Ca 7, meaning it triggers Fading Memory for a free 4” push. I usually try to keep a high :tome or stone for the suite to trigger Mass Hysteria on the first Turn, allowing this action to be taken twice and thus pushing Pandora into the thick of things faster.

    The Rile Them Up upgrade allows Pandora to further capitalise on this action by discarding a card to take Incite as a (1) AP action once per turn. While that’s potentially 4 Incites in one turn, I think that’s a bit of an overkill. I find that there is a diminishing return for Incite. Beyond 2 models with Mood Swings, it becomes less useful for activation order control as the 3rd and 4th models are unlikely to be inconsequential chaff. In those cases, beating on them with Self Loathing or Self Harm would be more AP efficient.

    Tactical Actions

    (1) Inflict:

    Pandora can force enemy models within pulse 4” to take a TN 14 Wp duel or suffer 1 damage. In reality, this translates to a minimum of 2 due to Pandora’s Misery aura, possibly even higher depending on whether there are Sorrows in range. It’s a great way to burn the opponent’s hand if models are too tightly bunched up in an area.

    Upgrades:

    This section will focus on relevant Pandora upgrades, starting from the non-limited ones to understand their role, followed by the Limited ones that will determine her play style. 

    General Neverborn Upgrades

    Aether Connection: A defensive upgrade for 1SS, this allows you to prevent 1 additional damage when stoning for damage prevention. Good when you anticipate a lot of beat down on Pandora and intend to use your stones heavily for keeping her alive. This is almost essential for Melee Dora. 

    Fears Given Form: For 1 SS, this upgrade makes all models within engagement range take a Df 14 duel or suffer 3 damage. Given Pandora's 3" engagement range, she is a good option for FGF to tie down and threaten a lot of models at the same time. This ups her passive threat level to combo with Misery for increased damage output. Even if it doesn't actually deal any damage, it is good for draining cards if you throw her into the midst of 3+ models. However, it also paints a big red target on her, so be prepared for countermeasures.

    Important note: FGF is crew agnostic - it affects your own models too! 

    On Wings of Darkness: Nah.

    Pact: Nah.

    Stone of Tyrant Echoes:  Nah.

    Pandora/Woe Upgrades

    Cry For Me: This 2 SS upgrade gives Pandora a 1 AP Attack Action that can put the Pity condition on enemy models, making them suffer -flips on Wp duels till the end of the turn. The more important function is the double mask trigger, allowing a Blast Marker to be placed, triggering additional TN 14 Wp duels for all models except the target touched by it. On failure, they also gain the Pity condition.

    For 2 SS though, this upgrade feels a little too expensive for me. In Melee and Summoning Dora, her AP is usually better used for other purposes. Moreover, there are other models than can generate similar Wp debuffs in a bubble such as Insidious Madness, Tannen and Poltergeist as passive abilities. This might see more use in Control Dora, where a successful blast will make it much harder to defend against subsequent attempts to Paralyse models. It also depends on models bunching up, so perhaps a strat like Guard the Stash would be an appropriate time to consider this.

    Again, do note the phrasing. The blast affects ALL models, including friendly models and Pandora! So beware where you place the marker.

    Fugue State: Another 2  SS upgrade, this one is great for controlling the game in Interact heavy scheme pools. It gives Pandora Monotony, forcing enemy models within 8" that declare an Interact Action to take a TN 15 Wp duel or suffer 1 damage. With Misery around, this is likely to be 2 points of damage, possibly even more if there are Sorrows. It also gives a 1 AP Attack Action to make models Insignificant till the end of the game or until Pandora is killed, further shutting down enemy models from Interacting. Great way to deny your opponent from playing the game (and losing friends). 

    Given the competing upgrade slots and its cost, I'd consider this only if I'm really playing a full control Dora. 

    Rile Them Up: A new Wave 5 upgrade that costs 2 SS, Pandora can now discard a card to take the Incite action as a 1 AP action once a turn. With the Mass Hysteria trigger, she can potentially Incite 4 times a turn now. 

    It also gives her a 2/3/4 damage track to her Self Loathing and Self Harm attacks, making her better able to take out scheme runners and models with weak or no damage tracks. Within a Misery bubble, this is essentially a 3/4/5 damage track or higher. 

    I find this upgrade to be a bit too situational for consistent use. Most times, one Incite + trigger is sufficient, especially if there's Iggy supporting with additional Incite. It competes for AP use, which I often need for other purposes. Similarly, I'd rather be using other beater models or Misery to take out weak models, as Pandora's Self Loathing is most efficiently used on big beater models, which should be her primary target for the Attack in the first place. The odd exception to this is when Pandora is taking on a Master with a weak damage track, but even then, there are other ways to deal with the Master. 

    Depression: A Woe specific, Rare 1 upgrade for 1 SS, this can be taken by Pandora, Candy, Iggy or Baby Kade. It gives a 0 Action to discard a card to add the card's suit to all duels for the rest of the Activation. It also gives all other friendly Woes within LOS a 1 AP Attack Action, Melancholy, which can give enemy models the condition Nobody Likes Me, forcing the affected model to Activate last. Used in combination with Incite in the presence of Candy's Sweets and Sours auras, it can have a devastating effect of activation order control + Paralyse and damage. 

    This upgrade is typically taken by Baby Kade in a Dreamer crew for his :crow trigger. In a Pandora crew where Kade is less often present, it can be taken by Candy to help with her healing action which requires a :ram to succeed, or give her a :tome on her Attack Action to trigger Mood Swings. It might also be worth taking on Summoning Dora if there are available slots. While the 0 Action for suits is unlikely to be taken because of the competing Incite action, it offers all the summoned Sorrows an attack that is resisted by the Wp to trigger Misery, something the Sorrows otherwise lack. Of course, this is dependent on how you play your other support models since a Candy in the middle of the action or an Iggy in the back field can play a similar role and free up Pandora's upgrade slots. 

    • Like 9
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  3. Homefront Achievement League - 6/10 - 10/12, Singapore

    in Asia

    Posted

    In conjunction with the Homefront Global Campaign, we'll be running an achievement league for the campaign duration. Do note that while the Campaign officially begins on 2/10, our league will start a little later on 6/10 due to the 7 day pre-event forum post requirement.  

    There will be standard achievements available throughout the entire duration of the campaign, as well as specific achievements available within the duration of each block. Block specific achievements will be announced 1-2 days after the results of the previous Block is revealed. 

    All these achievements will be available in a hard copy achievement list for purposes of tracking that you will need to collect during sign up.

    Entry fee: $5

    Location: The Card Geeks, 195 Pearl Hill Terrace

    Day/Time: Malifaux Nights every Tuesday 1800 onwards

    Feel free to PM me with any questions!

     

  4. M2e Kaeris

    in The Arcanists

    Posted

    Had a game with Kaeris against Mei yesterday. Wasn't expecting to take her and haven't played her in awhile, so I didn't consider the Wave 5 upgrades.

    Bat Rep's a little lengthy, but check it out here if you're interested.

    TLDR:

    Raptors & Carlos rock, while I failed to get much utility out of Kaeris. 

  7. M2E Ironsides

    in The Arcanists

    Posted

    Had my 2nd outing with Wave 5 Ironsides. Not as exciting as the first, but a number of bad plays on my part. She will need to be positioned carefully for her Challenge and HPM auras, as well as her lure effects, something which I did not use actively before. Full bat rep on my blog if you're interested.

  8. M2E Ironsides

    in The Arcanists

    Posted

    7 hours ago, BFOmega said:

    Something I noticed while reading this, did you take into account that Nico would have had to take the WP dual from challenge in order to give things fast? Because that's totally a thing.

    Nope, I believe we forgot in the excitement. To be fair, I also realised I forgot to take a horror duel from Toshiro in Turn 2, when walking Ironside to engage Nico. 

  10. Ironsides vs Nicodem 50SS Storied Battle Report

    in Battle Reports

    Posted

    Ok, I was inspired by an old battle report of Viktorias vs Mei Feng, so I had to do this for my recent game as well. 

    Here goes! Any feedback is welcomed. A more standard version of the bat rep is also available on my blog: http://malifauxsg.wordpress.com 

    --

    It was a quiet, chilly night and Nicodem was bored. Mortimer had taken off on a self-declared holiday while Kirai had slipped Earthside. With his army of corpses greatly reduced from the recent ambush by the Ten Thunders, Nicodem had nothing much to do but bide his time and await the graveyards to fill up again.

    "Perhaps we should go out and get us some corpses eh?" Nico mused to the Belle in front of him.

    "Urrrr." The Belle groaned and stared at him blankly.

    Snapping his fingers, Nico exclaimed, "Great idea! We can collect some fine Head specimens while we're at it."

    --

    Turn 1:

    Not too far from the Quarantine Zone, the newly minted Union President, Ironsides, had just finished visiting a miner who was injured in a recent accident. As she stepped out into the streets of Malifaux, she felt a sudden drop in the temperature - something wasn't quite right.

    She glanced to her right at her guide for the evening, Angelica, who nodded and went slightly up ahead to investigate. Seeing some silhouettes in the distance, Angelica motioned to the Oxfordian Mages in Ironsides' entourage, positioning two of them in a line beside her. They were ready to rain Elemental Bolts on any threat that might appear.

    The silhouettes moved. Two child-sized shadows slipped forward on either flank of the Union entourage. Immediately, a pungent odour struck Ironsides' nostrils and she crinkled in disgust.

    "Undead!"

    A lumbering monstrosity with three heads loomed into view, protectively tailing one of the child-shadows.

    "Looks like we're going to be having some fun tonight!" Dr Alexei Sokolov smiled as a soft purr escaped from his arc axe, which now glowed a bright blue. He was eager to test his latest pneumatic enhancements. To his right, Union strongwoman Johanna hefted her hammer and grinned back at him, before moving ahead to cover Angelica.

    The lone Wind Gamin that Sandeep had sent to monitor Ironsides went quietly to a corner to watch the potential battlefield unfold. Its standing instructions were to look for any individual of power and Tail 'Em.

    Suddenly, one of the Mages called Anton cried out and pointed into the shadows.

    "There's a damsel in distress, we've got to save her!"

    All eyes squinted in that direction. In the dim glow of the streetlights, they could barely make out a hulking figure with a long nihonto, raised threateningly above the silhouette of a well-dressed lady.

    "It looks like one of our Star Theatre girls," Angelica muttered in disgust.

    Of the three Mages, only Anton had mastered had mastered the art of Combat Casting. Wanting to impress his fellow Mages and perhaps meet the girl of his dreams, he charged forward with a roar. Perhaps after this skirmish, he would finally be able to date a performer and get away from the hours of dreary study at the University's arcane libraries.

    Lost in his reverie, he failed to realise his folly and only skidded to a horrified stop a few feet away from his damsel.

    Unlike the beauty he had imagined in his mind, in front of him was a rotting carcass of a female, with torn patches in her dress and bits of hair falling off. She held a parasol in one hand and beckoned in an awkward motion to him, her dead eyes staring straight through him while her stiff, undead lips tried unsuccessfully to pucker into a kiss. Behind her, a large, rotting carcass with a topknot waited menacingly with his sword raised high above his head.

    "My, my. What a hero."

    The sound of clapping echoed along the empty streets as two more Belles stepped into the light, accompanied by their master, an impeccably groomed gentleman in a fine top hat. Nicodem smiled at the naive young Mage.

    His insides filling up with dread, Anton knew he was a dead man walking. He was too far ahead for the rest to support him and there was little he could do to resist the onslaught of four undead and a Resurrectionist master. In a last ditch attempt to save himself, he summoned all of his energies and Furiously Casted Elemental Bolts at Nicodem, hoping that Eliminating the Leader would scatter the rest of the undead. Nicodem smirked, crushing a soulstone nestled in the folds of his pocket to absorb the Mage's feeble attack.

    The flashes of blue and green energy in the distance signalled a battle to Ironsides and the rest of the crew. In the momentary brilliance, they could finally see what dangers lay ahead. It did not look good for Anton.

    Grimacing, Ironsides could feel her Adrenaline going up. No way would she let one of her men die on her watch, even if he was an airheaded fool. Unlike Ramos who treated his men like dispensable pawns, Ironsides knew each one of her crew personally, especially the struggles they faced in coming to Malifaux and the mouths at home they had to feed. Anton was a young graduate of the University, a poet and a dreamer. As President, she felt obligated to ensure each innocent soul returned home safely.

    "Make way!" Ironsides yelled as she sprinted forward and Rushed at Toshiro, vaulting over him and landing squarely between the undead daimyo and two Belles. They would have to deal with her first before they could advance on Anton.

    --

    Turn 2:

    Ironsides was throbbing with Adrenaline. She could feel the rush in her veins as her muscles started to bulge and fill with energy.

    "Come get me, you undead scum!" She shouted out a Challenge to the rotting troupe as she readied her Brass Knuckles.

    Dodging their sluggish attempts to grab at her, Ironsides deftly weaved her way to engage Nicodem, throwing her fists at the Resurrectionist leader's face. Surprised by the speed and ferocity of her onslaught, Nicodem was caught off-guard and suffered a flurry of blows as Ironsides launched a 1-2 combo of straights and Uppercuts. Under the hail of fists, Nicodem whimpered helplessly as he felt his proud nose break and his glasses shatter. He crushed more soulstones to summon an aura of green energy to soften the blows, but he could feel his body gradually weakening.

    As her Adrenaline rush started to fade, Ironsides slowed down and began panting heavily. Sensing his opportunity to retaliate, a battered and bloodied Nicodem responded by imbuing his undead minions with unholy speed and strength, making Toshiro and the Belles come suddenly alive. Toshiro swung mercilessly at Ironsides, his now Fast movements making it difficult for Ironsides to dodge. With a flick of his nihonto, the rusty blade cut deep into her side and drew a splatter of blood. A familiar feeling of pain jolted another rush of Adrenaline into Ironsides' veins and she grinned devilishly at Toshiro.

    "Good Shot, you bloated corpse! My Turn!" Ironsides cried out as she traded blows with the rest of the undead surrounding her. It was a mess of blade, claws, blood and rotting flesh, as nails dug into human flesh while knuckles connected with undead body parts.

    Inspired by Ironsides' display of courage and martial prowess, Anton charged headlong into the fray, picking the weakened Nicodem as his favoured target. Unfortunately, the seasoned master was hardier than he looked, again batting off Anton's feeble attempts as he tried to launch Elemental Bolts and Strikes against the old man.

    Even then, Nicodem could feel his strength waning and knew he could not last another flurry from Ironsides. He willed the Rogue Necromancy to come to his defence, abandoning the Crooligan to its own devices. The monstrosity shambled over to engage Ironsides, exhaling its putrid breath all over the brawler.

    With all the action at the far end of the district, Dr. Sokolov was disappointed. He lumbered forward as quickly as he could to join the fray, but he was still getting used to his augmentations and his heavy pneumatic limb made his movement slower than he would have liked.

    Angelica, horrified by the Belles and worrying that she might recognise them as former Starlets, decided to hang back and let the Union do the 'talking' with their fists.

    Meanwhile, the two Crooligans crept stealthily forward, flanking the rest of the Union crew. Afraid that they would be up to no good, the Mage Brady moved forward and fired an Elemental Bolt at the Crooligan on the left flank, trying to push it nearer for Johanna to take it out. The Crooligan survived and playfully darted away to mark some inscriptions on the corner of a street.

    "Boo!" It suddenly reappeared giggling in front of Brady, giving him a scare.

    "Aaiieeeee! Get it away from me!!" Brady squealed, having not seen such a creepy child in life before. The few illustrations in the University library were actually cute and made no mention of the putrid smell.

    Sighing, Johanna shook her head and muttered to herself, "Never knew why we needed these good-for-nothing University freshmen."

    She charged forward and brought her hammer down onto the chest of the Crooligan, pulverising the undead corpse into a mess of embalming fluid and flesh. Its Head popped off its neck and flew into the air, landing with a sickening thud beside Brady.

    Brady screamed again as the filthy ichor splashed onto his robes and mask. "Aaaah! That'll take me ages to clean the smell out!"

    Johanna simply sighed again.

    Watching from the side, Casey, the remaining Mage, decided to move forward and grab the Head of the Crooligan.

    "The University might be interested in this. We should bring it back." He stuffed it into a satchel as he threw a disapproving look at Brady who was still haplessly trying to wipe the ichor off his robe, smearing it all over his hands and arms instead.

    On the right flank, the other Crooligan made a similar inscription on a street corner before melding into the shadows. Sandeep, seeing through the Wind Gamin's eyes, recognised the inscriptions to be some sort of arcane marking. If completed, it would mark out the area as Nicodem's territory, allowing him to Claim all the corpses in the area under his influence. Realising the potential threat of such an outcome, he sent the Gamin forward to erase the inscriptions.

    --

    Turn 3:

    Ironsides gasped as pain shot up her leg from the deep gash across her thigh. She was in bad shape, having sustained the brunt of the assault from an augmented Toshiro and the three Belles. While the smaller cut across her cheek was starting to close, her other more severe injuries would not regenerate so quickly. Despite taking out one of the Belles, there was no reprieve as the Rogue Necromancy was within an arm's length and would soon be tearing into her. The rookie mistake she made of underestimating the undead might just cost her her life.

    Still, her Adrenaline was through the roof. With some luck, she might be able to take out most of the undead before she went down. Anton had better give a good eulogy at her funeral.

    Cracking her knuckles, she yelled out another Challenge and started beating down on Nicodem again. Fortunately, luck was on her side. The undertaker had drained all his soulstones and his weak constitution was no match for the hard blows that Ironsides was meting out. Summoning the last of his strength, he swapped his body with a spare corpse he kept nearby, fleeing the scene. To Ironsides' non-magical eye, it seemed like she had delivered the killing blow, her signature Uppercut sending Nicodem's Head rocketing into the sky before landing next to Anton with an unceremonious thud.

    Without their master, the undead seemed dazed for a moment. Pressing her advantage, Ironsides spun around and continued her flurry into Toshiro. She spotted an opening and landed a fortuitous kick that twisted Toshiro's knee in an unnatural angle, sending the giant corpse hurtling to the side. As he fell, Toshiro's Head hit a street lamp and snapped off at the neck, bouncing to the floor and landing again next to Anton. The sheer rush of Adrenaline from taking out the daimyo gave Ironsides a sudden burst of strength and hope, which she channelled into closing her wounds. Her bleeding stopped and she felt re-energised, ready to See the battle Through To The End.

    With the remaining Adrenaline pulsing through her veins, Ironsides launched herself at the Rogue Necromancy, giving it a hard right hook that sent one head colliding into the other two. The beast tried to create space for its own counterattack, but it was too massive and too slow. With a well-timed Uppercut, Ironsides snapped one of its Head back, causing the beast to rear up in pain. She followed up deftly with a straight punch to its heart, her Brass Knuckles penetrating its rough hide and spilling black ichor all over the street floor. Somehow, its ram's Head wasn't as well stitched to the body, and the force of Ironsides' impact caused the stitches to tear. The ram Head rolled over to where Anton stood.

    By now, Anton was in awe. He could only open and close his mouth soundlessly as he failed to find his voice. Nevermind a Starlet, here was his angel, his dame in shining armour! Dumbstruck and befuddled, he absent-mindedly picked up Toshiro's Head, stroking its top knot gently and mouthing sweet nothings to it.  He could only wonder - is this what love felt like?

    A loud screech announced the arrival of Dr. Sokolov as he finally arrived at the scene of Ironsides' carnage.

    "What?? That's it? I didn't even get to test my new axe!"

    Ironsides merely shrugged while Anton grinned in a silly, child-like manner at the Professor, still cuddling Toshiro's Head.

    "At least I get some trophies for the workshop," he muttered under his breath. In frustration and disappointment, he proceeded to hew the remaining two Heads off the inanimate corpse of the Rogue Necromancy.

    Unnoticed by the rest of the crew, the lone Wind Gamin wiped away the inscriptions that Nicodem's Crooligans had made. Sandeep knew that the master Resurrectionist was far from dead, but it was unfortunate that the Gamin was unable to Tail him. Still, it had stalled the undertaker from Claiming more corpses for now, buying Malifaux more time before another undead assault.

    With Nicodem gone and most of the undead in pieces, the remaining few either collapsed without any nefarious magics left to animate them.

    "Looks like that's the end of another dust-up," the Veteran Fighter declared, wiping off the desiccated flesh and rotten fluids off her Brass Knuckles. "I could get used to this."

    • Like 6
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  12. NEVERBORN - ALT MODEL

    in The Neverborn

    Posted

    Anyway, casting my vote for alt Lilith to match alt Barbaros and alt Nekima, or a refreshed Dreamer. 

    Generally, agree that we could have a wave of alt masters to update them to match the book progress too. 

    If we're not going masters (because something is already in the works), how about, MOAR TEDDY!

  14. M2E Ironsides

    in The Arcanists

    Posted

    3 hours ago, spooky_squirrel said:

    It's worth noting that if you're bringing any (or all) Oxfordian Mages with Ironsides, they can still shove her halfway up the board before she even activates, especially if you're supporting them with other M&SU Academics to help their Resonance ability without putting them in an awkward location, like Shastar Vidiya Guards and Amina Naidu. Just make sure that you're still thinking about how to complete the scenario.

    Her new upgrades make it so that she can exploit being shoved up to the front with significantly lower risk. If she took 6 damage from pushes getting up the field and is activating relatively late in the first turn, she can take advantage of the new healing effect on her attacks. There's actually a few combinations I'm curious to try, largely because the combination of negating Red Joker damage flips and healing back when doing damage (while having a Ml 7 attack!!) seems like a great way to have a controller make a nice brick in the middle of the opposing crew while your own crew works on scenario.

    This. I forgot about it as I keep thinking of activating my mages last. But this is a good play for Turn 1 at least, if you need to move her quickly up the board to establish control. 

  15. M2E Ironsides

    in The Arcanists

    Posted

    Played Ironsides last night with the 2 new upgrades + warding runes into Nicodem. 

    Damn, they really shake things up! 

    With an adrenaline +1 on activation, you can now basically catapult Ironsides into an enemy Crew turn 1 with her 0 place action at 21 inches away, without pushes from any other model. Quick setup for a turn 2 adrenaline rush if enemy models bunch up together. Also helps that you're not losing 1 adrenaline each turn, so by turn 2 you can already combo into a decent uppercut. 

    The 0 challenge action means Ironsides will have to go first if you want to protect your models, so that makes the healing trigger for brass knuckles a little less useful if the opponent piles into Ironsides after her activation. It also competes for the trigger into uppercut. Still, it's a good heal with the 2/3/4 potential, especially at the end of a brass-uppercut-brass combo. 

    Managed to chain a 4 hit combo with one AP, taking out a hurt Nicodem, a hurt Toshiro, and a full health Rogue Necromancy in one activation, while healing 6 from the brink of death. A very impressive outing. 

    • Like 3

  17. Wave 5 Master Upgrades: Neverborn

    in The Neverborn

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Sandmann said:

    So Pandora can take Field Reporters now? I wonder what's the fluff behind that. Mechanically its nice, as the Reporters target WP, but I really don't know... seems Guild can't have anything nice that others won't immediately get too :)

    How are guild reporters? Haven't played against any yet. Debating whether to get the Nellie box for them. 

  20. Wave 5 Master Upgrades: Ressers

    in The Resurrectionists

    Posted

    1 hour ago, entropolous said:

    You can do both just not at the same time.  The rule says you MAY reduce wounds suffered my the number of scheme markers instead of the number of enemy models.

    His answer was in reference to the question of any scheme markers or only enemy scheme markers.

    In summary, as you've mentioned, it's either reduce wounds suffered based on enemy scheme markers or enemy models, not a mix, and not off friendly scheme markers. 

  23. Wave 5 Master Upgrades: Arcanists

    in The Arcanists

    Posted

    I feel like a child in a mega candy store! So many sweets and shiny things I can't decide which one to take first! 

    Really excited for Kaeris as I absolutely love her and find her play style very fun and dynamic. With the new upgrade, she becomes a bit of debuff and control as well, adding to her already wide repertoire. 

    Curious to see how Ironsides will work out. The challenge aura means she probably wants to go first. Was hoping she got something for WP duels as well, since there are very few ML Df attacks in my meta. 

    Sandeep's versatility comes from the summoning and the attached upgrades, at least for me. Not sure how likely I'll be willing to give that up for what seems like a Banasuva only summon? Especially since Banasuva still needs gamins in sight to deal damage to when he comes in. Which means you need to have gamins around and can't summon him once they die. Unless there's something else on the card that's not mentioned yet. 

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