retnab

I'm in the same spot as you are right now, pretty new to the game and started with Ramos.  If you do get more spiders (and so far I've found even 6 to not be enough sometimes) they have a box of 6 right now for only a couple bucks more than a box of 3 so I'd say grab that: http://giveusyourmoneypleasethankyou-wyrd.com/collections/arcanists/products/arachnid-swarm-2-swarms

Okay so we're steadily getting more responses in but I'm noticing that most of the "Not in _" comments are just for the first one or two Strategies.  In the interest of filling this out with more information, Colette is voted the best Master to bring for Reckoning (tied), Squatter's Rights, and Stake A Claim, also second best in Reconnoiter.  Are there any factions or Schemes you would not play her into with those three Strategies?

Added that in, thanks Whut  I've also stretched it out so you can see the full list instead of just the top 3 for each category, and in the case of ties I've given each name their own line (listed alphabetically) with all ties sharing a number to make it easier to tell.  I hope you all have been enjoying the list so far!

Okay, now that we have 10 responses I've edited in the results so far in the original post!

I'm assuming your two Swarms are just the two medium bases?  If you get the plastic Ramos box then you'll have duplicates on Ramos and Howard, but you'll get the Brass Arachnid, Joss, and more Steam Arachnids so that's something.

I've never played Kaeris (yet, very excited for her box to come out) so can't help with her unfortunately.

So it's more to do with Firestarter but he's kind of Kaeris related, I don't have Firestarter's card (preordered the Kaeris box at my LGS though) but is it possible to have him triple Ignition the Rail Golem to bring it up to 7 Burning turn one?  That seems like it could make for a good alpha strike in scenarios where that's handy to have.

I would love to grab the Dark Carnival box but $90 plus international shipping is well beyond what I can explain  If it had been something like $70-75 I could do it but...

I'm very tempted to grab the Colette and Arcane Effigy boxes, they look great!

My LGS orders Battlefoam so that's what I've used for Warmachine but I've heard good things about KR so I decided to look into it.  Turns out the equivalently sized KR and Battlefoam Malifaux bags are almost the same price (about $50) which really surprised me - how is the cardboard box Not cheaper? :/  Magnetic trays sound interesting, but... I travel entirely via buses and the local skytrain so there's a lot of banging around.  I wouldn't trust my models not to go flying every sudden stop on the bus.

Eventually I'll get something for it in foam, I was just shocked that Battlefoam and KR's prices were so close (and both of them were doing $40+ for shipping alone...).  Are there any other comparable brands people would recommend?

Hey all, I was wondering how people are transporting your Malifaux around?  Skimming old threads on here it sounds like KR and Battlefoam are pretty popular but the shipping costs those two companies are giving are obscene (even with the July 4th sale for the latter).  Right now they're just piggybacking in my Warmachine battlefoam bag but I'm already running out of spare space to give their way.  Does anyone have any recommendations on foam companies that don't charge about the price of the bag again on shipping to Canada?

Where do you find the stats and abilities of the new stuff?  I can't see anything anywhere.

Thanks!    I painted all the wood at the same time to make sure it'd look like it's all from the same place.  They have much less interesting bases but Joss and Kang are next!

An update here, I decided after talking to some people to go ahead and work on making my own bases, at least for the Rail Crew guys.  I just finished putting Mei Feng's base together and painting her up, I think she turned out alright!  I like the base at her back most, I wanted it to look like she was ripping apart the beams on the tracks as she was powering down them.

Thanks, good to hear the Rider's coming out soon.  As far as Mr. Cooper goes, do they usually put the special stuff on the webstores or should I be looking for a Gen Con ninja?

Hey, do we know when stuff like the Mechanical Rider, Colette, and Mr. Cooper boxes are going to be releasing?  The two crew boxes just say "available at Gen Con" in the magazine and the Rider is just "in the summer", do we know any more than that?

This is a great idea, as someone just barely getting into the game (I only have the Ramos and Mei Feng boxes, along with December Acolytes and Metal Gamin) trying to figure out the arsenal packs and what I actually need for the game has been frustrating.  Putting everything into a "Start Here" sort of box sounds like a terrific change.

As a newb, where do I find info on new models?  Sounds like a cool new model in here!

Oh geez, the Claws trigger is built right in.  That makes a lot more sense on why people are saying it's great for crowds.  I really need to learn these cards!

I haven't had Vapormancy come up more than once or twice for a free Vent Steam but I can see the benefits behind having Blast access too.  I think my next game I'm going to try her with Imbued Energy instead of Seismic Claws, even in that last game with lots of clumped targets in Turf War (my opponent tried to jam up the middle) the trigger for multiple claw attacks never came up where just getting Fast on demand might be what I'm wanting.  I wasn't too sure about Imbued Protection but Df 7 is pretty great, especially when I knew Assassinate was in the pool.

An update: I played a game today with Mei vs Lynch and won 10-4!  My December Acolytes came in so I was playing the following list:

Mei Feng (Imbued Protection, Seismic Claws, Vapormancy)

Joss (Bleeding Edge Tech, Imbued Energy)

Kang (Imbued Energy)

December Acolyte

Rail Worker

2x Steam Arachnids

Emberling

It was Stake a Claim and both my opponent and I chose Assassinate and Protect Territory revealed from the pool.  Mei with Df 7 was just too hard to pin down for my opponent to get the assassinate off and while Mei couldn't take out Lynch herself (I followed the advice here and ran an Arachnid in base with him for the -1 Df which helped), she managed to soften him up so a Fast Kang could get the last bop on his head for those points after being on Scheme marker duty to prepare for Protect Territory.

The game went far better and while I'm still not 100% on Mei I think I'm getting a better feel for her.  I'm really uncertain about her upgrades though, I've still never had a game where Seismic Claws have come up.  Are they really an upgrade that should be taken standard or should I be looking for something else there?

So it sounds like I was working off of some bad information as well, I thought the movement part of the Kick was only on hit so the last two attacks could have been Claws.  Additionally I did have Kang nearby but when I asked my opponent if he had any Undead or Constructs he said no.  Guess I'll know better for next time as far as those go.

That's a good idea about the Arachnids, that particular game was Reckoning so we were both just bringing as many big nasty things as possible but giving her a bump from Ml6 to 7 definitely would have helped a lot there.  Remembering I'm only running off of the two crew boxes still, how would this work as a revised list for her?

Mei Feng (Arcane Reservoir, Seismic Claws, Vapormancy)

Kang (Imbued Energies)

Howard Langston (Imbued Energies)

3x Rail Workers

2x Steam Arachnids

One of the major problems I've seen in her play is committing her into the middle of a gigantic scrum or against a few elite hitters.  Mei wants to hit a target (including a group) hard and then jump back out to safety.  She has decent Df and Wp, but it will not hold against big hitters (Lilith, Teddy, Lady Justice, Howard Langston, etc.), so try to plan for an escape route.  If you can't or have a high priority target that you need to commit to, save a high card (ideally a ) to leap away if you're taking too much heat.  Take enough attacks, and eventually you will be hit.

 

If you have any specific examples of what appears to not be working for you, I know the forums can offer you a lot more focused information that can help improve specific aspects of your play, too, so if you can think of anything, let us know.

Okay, so an example of one of the problem points I had with her would be in my vs Lilith game.  Turn 2 I Railwalked off of a Rail Worker's head into a Jackhammer Kick against his Hooded Rider.  My opponent cheats to force the miss, so I use my second AP to try again (not in range to Claw) and he cheats high to stop her again.  Try a third time and it finally connects and does about 2 damage.  Everything I read says she's this combo monster but both times I've used her it's been the same thing, she struggles to hit and when she does it's with the force of a limp fish.  I don't know if I'm just not using her AP right or what but I'm not seeing the power in her.

As far as my lists involving Rail Workers, Steam Arachnid Swarms, etc. I currently only have the Mei Feng and Ramos box sets, I do have some stuff on order but my LGS carries very little and it has to all be shipped in.

Hey all, so I've managed to play a fair few games with Ramos and Mei Feng and while I'm really enjoying the former (even pulling out a 10 scenario point game with him!) I just can't seem to get Mei Feng to click at all... I can get her to the fight no problem but once she gets there she just doesn't really do anything and just falls apart after that.  I've read basically all the articles on her I've found on the forums and thought that'd give me enough info on her.  I've been taking Price of Progress, Seismic Claws, and Vapormancy with her.  So far I've played her against Neverborn (Lilith) and Gremlins (Wong).  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to play her better than I'm pulling off?

Edit: The last list I used was:

Mei Feng (Price of Progress, Seismic Claws, Vapormancy)

Kang (Imbued Energy)

Howard Langston (Imbued Energy)

3x Rail Workers

Steam Arachnid Swarm

It was Reckoning, I chose Bodyguard (Kang) and Protect Territory.

At the moment, yes. You'll also need both Arsenals or both the rulebook and Crossroads. It's not the very best distribution plan, admittedly, but selling cards on their own doesn't seem a lot better. Maybe it'll change in the future.

Yeah it's a bit confusing... :/  Thankfully I found someone who hopped factions so I'm using his cards for now.

Hmm okay, so I can only find them in the rulebook or the arsenal pack then?