OneLittleThunder

Well, tournament, you know - I don't pick the matchups, and Mason gonna Mason. Sounds good, though unfortunately there's not much of that in native 10T. Shooting, though...that we can do.

I played one game against the Viks when I was just learning Malifaux, and they murdered me...but then everything murdered me back then. Recently I met up with them again for the second time (Hi @Mason!), and I had a much better idea of what to expect...and they still murdered me. Does anyone have any particular recommendations for dealing with this whirlwind of steely death? I feel like the general plan is to have something killy in position to counter-charge them and burn one or both of them down before they get to activate again...but with their high defenses, healing. and soulstone use, that seems like it will take a HUGE amount of burst damage to work reliably. What have folks used successfully? Or do you take a different approach?

Nice writeup! One correction though: Actually, it makes NOTHING count for Headhunter; Peons don't drop heads. It does, however, make everything count for Hunting Party, which I think is what you meant. It's great for Collect the Bounty, too, since enemy peons can't score points, but they also count as whatever else they are for purposes of scoring your points. Also provides a nice bubble of protection against Exhaust, Catch and Release, and Mark for Death. Don't make the mistake I did, and assume it will help with Turf War/Extraction/Guard the Stash, since his aura goes away before points are scored. Nope, I was right the first time - his aura lasts until the start of the NEXT turn, presumably for just this reason.

I just want to know where I can find that map of Earthside!

The female Illuminated. Been putting my third one together tonight, and it sucks just as much as the first two. There's no way to tell which arms go with which torso, and even the "right" ones don't want to fit because it's impossible to tell where the sprue ends and the model begins. The torso and dress require immense trimming and leave huge gaps...argh. I've put together harder models, but this one is just BAD.

Black Blood, Hazardous terrain, various forms of Explosive Demise...

Being engaged in melee doesn't make you a non-legal target. The action would have been illegal if the Ice Dancer were in melee at the time it was declared, but the action has already passed that "gate," so the jump doesn't help.

I started a rules thread on this very topic a while back. Consensus seems to be that enemies in Sun Quiang's aura are never considered non-peon models, so they count for Hunting Party, cannot Exhaust or be Exhausted, etc.

Very pretty! Looks like it comes on an 80mm base...does it fit on a 50 without too much crazy basing?

Watchful I miniatures (who did the very nice Terracotta Warrior proxies I'm using) have just announced these models, which might be good options for Yasunori. (Sorry I can't link the images here for some reason...picture realistic Chinese soldiers with polearms riding Komainu.) Palace Guard Palace Guard Officer

If you don't want to bring Sensei Yu - and I tend to take as few Henchman as possible in that Strat - the Shadow Emissary offers a lot of the same support.

Maybe Rasputina or Von Schill?

Yep. Anything that specifies "non-Peon" would not count models that were in Sun Quiang's aura.

Sun Quiang has the following Tactical Action: (1) A Recitation of the Essential Formulae (Ca 5 / TN: 13): This model gains the following Condition until the start of the next Turn: "5,300 Formulae: Enemy models within 4 count as having the Peon Characteristic in addition to any other Station Characteristic they have." A number of Strategies and Schemes will score or not based on whether a certain model is a "non-Peon model" or not. Now that a model can have multiple Stations, that definition is no longer as clear-cut as it might have been. Is a non-Peon model: (a) Any model which does not have the Peon Characteristic (regardless of what other Station Characteristics they might have). (b) Any model which does not only have the Peon Characteristic. So if an Enforcer stands within Sun Quiang's 5,300 Formulae aura, it is both an Enforcer and a Peon. Under definition (a), that model: Could not take the Interact action to Exhaust an enemy in the Exhaust Their Forces scheme. Could not be the target of the Interact action to Exhaust an enemy in the Exhaust Their Forces scheme. Would not drop a Head marker if killed during the Headhunter strategy. Would not count for purposes of holding a Stash marker in the Guard the Stash strategy. Etc. Under definition (b), none of those statements would be true. I feel like (a) is the correct definition; "non-Peon model" means "model that is not a Peon," and Sun Quiang's aura makes that model a Peon (even though it's also a Minion/Enforcer/etc.). Related question: How many Bounty Points is an Enforcer/Peon worth in Collect the Bounty? 0 (Peon) or 2 (Enforcer)? (Or, to future-proof the question, 2+0 for both?) I feel like 2 would be the correct answer, but the reasoning behind that one is harder to articulate other than just saying it "seems right."

In the interest of decorating my game room...what are the odds of being able to get some official, good quality prints of some of the iconic Malifaux artwork? I could certainly print my own, but I'd much rather support Wyrd and their artists and get something a little nicer than my inkjet can provide. @Aaron? @Mason? @Nathan Caroland?

This is a factor that's been driven home to me very strongly lately; general tactical and strategic ability and knowledge of the game are a lot more important to your win rate than list-building is. "Darth Bilz" has a strong and well-tuned list, to be sure, but that's not why he keeps winning championships. I've never played against him, but I am pretty confident in saying that he has an excellent understanding of positional play, momentum, hand management, and probability, and I'll bet he at least broadly knows what every Master (and most other models in the game) does. That's pretty consistently true of the players who play and win at a highly competitive level, regardless of their chosen faction or home meta. Yes, there's definitely value in discussing lists and models and counters and strategies, and it's also fun. But if you take a look at this list (or any other list from a top-performing player) and think, "That's nothing special, I could beat that," remember that the list is not the opponent. If there is a strong tactical mind on the other side of the table, that player can probably pilot any given starter box crew to victory (well, maybe not Lucius ); and if you don't have the tactical fundamentals down (and I'll admit that I still don't), all the net-listing in the world won't help.

I can probably hook you up. Headed to work now, but PM me.

Random thought - if you can spare the points for both the Emissary (with Conflux of Inebriation) and Sensei Yu (with Fermented River Style), the Emissary can use his 0 to make Yu Blind Drunk, which is effectively like giving him a Recalled Training that doesn't go away. He'll need some healing to deal with the Poison damage, of course, but it might be entertaining/surprising.

And when Shenlong uses Recalled Training, Yu gets it...

If you're taking Guild Hounds, take Luna; otherwise the Kamaitachi is awesome. McCabe also loves... Beaty minions that love to reactivate: Dawn Serpent Jorogumo Katanaka Sniper Mobile minions that become death machines with a Glowing Saber: Guild Hounds Oiran (if someone has Hidden Agenda) Tengu Ten Thunders Brothers Torakage Wandering River Monks Durable Minions that can take advantage of either or both: Illuminated Rail Workers

These days, I will only take Thunder Archers if there is a place on the terrain where they can be pretty well isolated from the enemy (e.g., a Ht 2+ wall they can stand behind) and still be close enough to impact the main battle front. If there's a defined combat area (e.g. Turf War, Guard the Stash) that they can hide and be in range of, great - I'll take 2 Archers and someone to hold blot the Sky for them (preferably someone who can also be useful at range, so they're not useless, but also has some melee ability in case the enemy closes). It's a lot of points and a lot of conditions to be met, which may be why I haven't taken any Archers in over a year. Otherwise they are just too easily shut down for my tastes. I am considering trying them out with Blot the Sky on Shenlong; as @Eclipse mentioned, he can move the archers once by discarding Blot the Sky and then Yu can pick it up and take over. Still not convinced it's worth the cost, though.

I doubt that I'd hire them, but they can be a useful summon for Asami if there's other Poison in your crew, or if you're up against a Poison-heavy crew (e.g., McMourning or Brewmaster). They are cheap, give out (and gain) Poison like candy, and can just steal Poison from another model for free when they activate. Placing Scheme Markers as a (0) is also nice.

I have just recently started a campaign myself, so while I'm no expert, here's my advice. Have the players generate their characters - or at least their Fates - as early as possible. For me, the trickiest part of the campaign has been trying to weave the prophecies together into a coherent story (or set of stories), and if their Fates give you a good idea, that may guide you in where/how to start the campaign. I used a modified version of Legacy of Darkness as our first adventure, because it was relatively easy to get the disparate characters into. (One was a Ten Thunders operative escorting the mummy, two were mercenary/guards hired to keep an eye on it, one was a Resser who heard the Whisper telling her to keep an eye on the crate, etc.). It also did a good job introducing future plot threads/friends/antagonists, and was balanced pretty well for starting characters. And it is, by definition, for characters just heading into Malifaux. I'm mostly modifying one-shot adventures for the first steps in everyone's destiny, because they offer a good bit of variety, introduce a lot of factions, and let everyone get their feet wet. Through those, we are establishing the characters' personalities/backgrounds/goals, so once the first round is set i'll have a good foundation to start making custom adventures for them. If you can, try to have each Fated know at least one other; it makes it much easier to form these random people into a coherent group. I usually do that when starting a campaign; I didn't this time, and am already regretting it. Hope this helps!

Yeah, I feel like I'm going to want to run Asami with a full or nearly-full cache; between the need for Masks and her own potential vulnerability, I feel like she'll need them. As for Feign Weakness, I would never deliberately let my opponent get ahead in order to have a free summons, but depending on the scheme pool, it may still be worthwhile.

I used the top half of a Bunraku (mask, hair, two swords, I'm good) with a green-stuffed "robe" and the original Bunraku legs. It'll do.