Tzarcastic

My group has been playing a growth league using the Beta documents, and it's lead to this bizarre situation: one of the strongest Crews is a Ten Thunders group, who picked up a Relic Hammer on Week 1. Now, they've finally attracted the attentions of Shenlong, who (as the biggest melee beatstick) is now using the hammer instead of Kang. ... A Tyrant. Using a Relic Hammer. My pleas that he should face a 1/2/3 Damage Flip each activation for touching the thing have been ignored.

With the "evil Victorian" theme running rampant among the Ressers (I'm looking at you, Seamus!), this seems cool and flavorful! The first mechanic to cross my mind was a ranged CA debuff, with a harder to get trigger handing out Paralyzed. Some sort of Raptor-style "look at the top cards of a deck" trick might also be in-theme. ... I am deeply amused by the idea of such a unit needing to make Horror Duels to target Tyrants. What? There are some spirits you just don't want to photograph. Probably too specific for actual gameplay, though. A cursory search failed to help me, so - where is this past thread about Native Americans in Malifaux?

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!

Great. So, at the risk of exposing my ignorance, what is "cylinder line of sight"?

I'd say that Quan Chi needs his own Master. Maybe Yan Lo (with teleportation and angry ghosts), or Jakob Lynch (who controls others). But it does avoid the "arms race" of making a Goro model, so either way.

I think the idea is Frame for Murder + Deliver a Message. Myranda teleports in, Messages, then dies horribly. +6 VP. I'm not totally convinced by this (multiple iterative attacks could kill her before she can Deliver, and Frame for Murder would obstruct Myranda's shifting potential), but I think that's what HUNT.ER meant.

Ah, no. I just meant to allow a little more variety in which Ten Thunders Henchmen got to carry themed upgrades, and have a few other tricks. A small change, not a totally absurd one.

Hurm. I wonder what would happen if a later release had a set of cheap (1 Stone?), Rare 1 TT Upgrades which each did nothing save give the one who had it a trait: Last Blossom, Black Sheep, Darkened, Ancestor (this one probably also makes Living models into Undead), etc. Would this be too good? Or just the thing to really shake up a lot of undersupported thematic crews?

Shenlong is all about swapping styles, and you have Goro as his right-hand man. There can be only one answer - Shang Tsung! As a fellow believer in MK-themed Ten Thunders, I fully endorse your project.

Yeah, I feel like Imbued Protection and Lead Lined Coat both had this problem of being crazy good for 1 SS, but really debatable for two. Funny how much difference a single point can make...

As someone who really likes the idea of a bunch of multi-height stuff - any ideas on house rules to make it work more smoothly? SpiralingCadaver opines for 1/2 the normal Climb penalty, but calculating 3/4 of a model's Move seems a little extreme (and would remove differences between Speed 3, 4, and 5) - what about Unimpeded letting you ignore the Climb penalty? Or a flat -1'' penalty? Or both? What about melee attacks at different levels - maybe models can hit things up to their Height in Inches up or down from them (though against Cover if hitting up), to make higher ground valuable, whilst not making the whole game a shooting skew? Any other issues? Any other solutions?

Hurm. You know, I've been thinking a lot about tiny 2'x2' (100'x100') tables lately, for things like the indoor Story Scenarios - how often do you run across a tavern half the size of a rugby field, after all? But it's true - things like Turf war and A Line In The Sand change completely in such a case - I'll need to crunch some numbers and come up with a plan for how to compensate!

Those steam pipes are so awesome, they make me regret my strict no-basing policy. Very nice!

Yeah, I'm staying away from Marcus (and Rasputina) for now, exactly BECAUSE if I got them, I'd end up getting a ton of other models I don't use so much with the rest of my people. But it's a fair point about lots of outside movement sources in the faction - I'll do a few more goes around with my spiders and see how it shakes out.

Lots of interesting thoughts here - thanks! Sadly, the main thing I've learned is that I just have the wrong Arcanists - to keep costs low by mostly reusing the same models, I decided to start with Ramos, Mei Feng, and Ironsides, who people call out as weaker on scheme-running. I guess I need to bite Molemen bullet, or start trying to find/proxy Kaeris or Colette (hard to say which - Colette looks stronger, but Kaeris uses more of the same M&SU/Construct Crew I've already got).

Um... wasn't Ash somewhat famous for his staunch opposition to zombies (up to and including the zombie version of himself)? Shouldn't you Resurrectionists hate that guy?

Getting into Arcanists, I'm a bit at a loss for a good Scheme Runner. Yes, yes, I know - Molemen. A pair of them can do a good bit of movement and Scheming. The trouble is, I really hate their model. It's effective at getting across what twisted monsters they are, but I have no desire to paint something that hideos and miserable-looking - if I did, I'd have just played a different faction. But... that seems to be the only choice? All the other things that Pull My Finger recommends for the job have Move 4'' and a lack of innate Movement tricks. It seems to think that Steam Arachnids are "among the most mobile in the game" due to Unimpeded. I mean, it's a decent rule, but really? It's no Leap. That leaves me with either spending 12 Stones on the (as-yet unreleased) Mechanical Rider or... nothing, as far as I can tell. Am I missing something?

So, 5-ish models per faction with a focus on crazy new rules stuff and dipping into other factions' tricks? Sounds awesome! Thanks for the info - as someone very new to Malifaux, the details of a lot of things which most people talked to death ages ago are a little opaque to me.

Campaign rules, Avatars, and Emissaries. Is that primarily what's in Phase 3? (NOTE: This is not intended to parse as snide or harsh. Campaign rules are the thing which intrigues me most in Malifaux, so getting around to those is a big draw.)

Yeah, I've been using those for Monks of High River. And the Hybrid Sword Master for Shenlong, less because it makes sense than because it looks so cool.

Because 12+ Killjoy attacks in a turn is just AWFUL if it's still not 24. If it makes you feel better, assume you've got some other trick to help cycle your deck.

Malifaux, even more so than most miniatures games, has a ton of little references to other characters and properties. This thread is a place to list them, so people can catch ones they might otherwise have missed! Sue: Everything about the Man In Black is some sort of shout out to Johnny Cash. Stitched Together: The look and the gambling theme makes them Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas. Hans: He uses a rifle instead of a pistol, but he sure look a lot like Trigun's Vash The Stampede. C. Hoffman: The bald, crippled, psychic Englishman with a brother who became a rampaging engine of destruction? Surely he's not also allied with an Eastern European man of questionable morality who has electric powers! Oh, he is? Well, at least nobody would be so brazen as to name him Charles... dang. Wong: His "Three Demon Bag" upgrade calls out to a line in Big Trouble in Little China. Zoreida: Her "you remind me of the Babe" action makes voodoo dolls, because that's how David Bowie (a human commanding a horde of small, stupid goblins) begins Magic Dance, in which he also talks about the Power of Voodoo. (I realize that some of these are alluded to on Pull My Finger, but going to every model's PMF entry is time consuming, so I still like having them all gathered here for quick perusal.)

I mean, loads of things go away at end of turn somewhat nonsensically. Being on fire is probably the classic example, but I really love Under The Influence. Brilliance gives you the shortest trip of any drug, ever. Another flavorfully vague area: what it means to discard a card. Is it tapping into some "inner strength"? Is it a burst of random luck to keep your head from getting cut off? Or is it... money? You've gotta love it when Hans is shooting at your Master and you're all like "damn - I could bribe the man into not firing... if only I hadn't used Rapid Fire!" Maybe Hans is paid in bullets. He must use pretty nice ones, too - he can shoot Von Schill's shirt back on!

Also, should I need Colette before her metal release, I'd just grab a HeroClix Zatanna.

Priceless. Not really an interaction but always a bit odd: Ironsides' "Rush 'Em". I know that she's an Arcanist Master and all, so her having magical powers isn't a stretch, but between the name and the Adrenaline usage, I still feel like it's supposed to represent augmented physical abilities, rather than true teleportation. What I'm getting at is, Ironsides can get so mad she jumps through walls. (Still trying to think of a model that can take MI actions when damaged, to make an endless loop with Ironsides.) Also, Shenlong's brutal training and incredible chi (along with the Tyrant riding shotgun in his soul) may mean that his focus never wavers, and he is inured from even the deadliest of poisons... but he can still get drunk. Brewmaster don't care about you taking damage from that poison, you know. Flying models can still trigger bear traps. They must be flying SUPER low to the ground. Likewise, several units literally made of fire can still be frozen enough to Slow or Immobilize them. Shouldn't that... kill them?