Dereikt

Kudra's Df/Wp trigger to draw a card-is it specifically against enemies, or against anyone? If it works against friendly actions, it has a lot of potential to be useful.

Also regarding the rules, I can find nothing in the Rules Manual to support your assertion that upgrades "count as printed on the stat card" regarding Sandeep's Beacon ability, while the context of other abilities like the Wendigo's 'Magical extension' which use more general language implies a definite intention to exclude Ca options on upgrades. 

I actually like the Essence of Power as a concept for a generic totem-it's themed to the faction as a whole rather than any generic master, and benefits any of them that are using Ca actions or soulstones. It just feels a little bit too restricted in having to remain immobile to boost Ca actions to quite be worth taking, especially for the masters that have a very good specific totem.

With this in mind, and accepting that a new generic totem is needed, I'd rather see the Essence of Power improved to be able to fill that role by changing it's (2) action to a (1), giving it some other means of moving, or simply increasing the range of it's aura. 

If I'm required to name a new totem rather than an improvement of the existing one, I'd like to see some sort of sinister Tome of Arcane secrets, either levitating under it's own mysterious intelligence or accompanied by an equally sinister keeper. However, it would probably end up being very similar in it's role during the game to the Essence of Power, so it feels somewhat redundant.

20 minutes ago, Krosanreaper said:

"Miss Cochrane, it doesn't matter what you or those lawyers say the Union is well within it's rights to be here. If you do not leave we will be taking this to court" Howard Langston and a peacekeeper are duking it out behind them as they carry on. Another day in Malifaux.

This does kind of fit in with the current background on Arcanists, and the covert nature of their conflict with the Guild. While Marcus and Rasputina oppose the guild openly, Ramos, Mei Feng and Colette are all out there in plain sight, and relying on a strong public image as heroes of the people/best theatre act in Malifaux to keep them safe. They're too popular for the Guild to act against without very strong evidence, and too careful to have given them that evidence. In this respect, the important battle between Ramos and the Guild is whether they can change public opinion to the point where they can freely investigate Ramos without risking an all out revolt. It's quite nice to see that reflected more solidly on the Guild side.

5 hours ago, Krosanreaper said:

From his description on his page the limited upgrades are his Gamin summoning upgrades.

"He has two Limited Upgrades: To Behold Another World and To Command Another Plane, both of which allow him to enhance his Gada Attack [...] Both Limited Upgrades also allow him to summon Gamin, but which Upgrade you choose will come with different benefits and drawbacks for the summoned Gamin"

So you then have two slots for his other upgrade (Unaligned Sage) and general upgrades.

This is precisely my point. He has two limited upgrades, he's designed so that he has to take one of them, and rather than conferring differing playstyles and themes, as with Kaeris, they're both  summon Gamin upgrades. There's no prospect for playing a version of Sandeep which isn't focussed on summoning weak minions, and even if I was interested in playing that style of master, it feels redundant in a faction that already has Ramos and the Mech Rider. 

Aside from anything else, Gamin simply aren't interesting as the theme for a crew, being not even true bound spirits but merely sub-sentient spells. Even more than their usefulness, their character is dependant on their being a small element of a larger theme, meaning it's lost if they are removed from their original crew.

True, but considering that the bonus from Arcane Conflux applies to all minions, it feels like a waste to use it on the weakest minions in the faction rather than the stronger ones, and most of those stronger minions will usually do better using their own attacks than borrowing Sandeep's with a -1 Ca penalty.  

Generally, I'm finding it hard to see how the Gamin can form a useful summoning pool given they are not only the factions weakest minions, but also in most cases designed to provide specific synergies to a specific master and crew which don't apply to Sandeep. One Gamin focussed upgrade wouldn't be too bad, but two definitely feels excessive, especially in the context of 'a Master who will always want to take one of his limited upgrades'. 

(Limited to four due to a lack of personal experience)

Silent One-Excellent support model for its cost even in crews without any other frozen heart models, but gets even better with the extra synergies.

Myranda-Pretty much on her own merit as a support model for any beasts in the crew, combined with a useful melee attack, Df7  and Wk 6, but Skinwalker is a very useful extra tool to have available.

Arcane Effigy-just for the resilience on a 4SS minion.

Wind Gamin-Flight and Leap is a lot of mobility over any other cheap minion available, and should it suffer the common fate of cheap minions, I get a useful free push.

My guess would be unrelated-he seems most likely Colette themed, with Kaeris themed also possible.

I'm not seeing anything obviously in common with Sandeep, and I'd expect the new masters to have strongly themed models, especially where they introduce a new Aesthetic to the faction. For Sandeep, an ACADEMIC henchman seems likely, since I doubt he has ACADEMIC solely for the sake of a single minion, and the preview in the rulebook looks like a Non-ACADEMIC minion. His totem raises some interesting possibilities-a new GAMIN type is quite possible, but what sort is unclear. As a big fan of the Prince of Persia-Sands of Time computer game, I'd love to be able to field a Sand demon, but I have to admit he seems more Indian than Persian. I'm not very familiar with the minor spirits of Indian mythology, so I'm not sure what seems most likely there.

23 minutes ago, retnab said:

I have a feeling the whole Gamin interaction is just going to be the fact that they can all borrow his spells, so he can load up on a bunch of 4 stone models who are suddenly all spell slingers.  Now the question is which one is best to use... Arachnids, Wind Gamin, and Fire Gamin are Wk 5 and Armor +1 but only 4 wounds, Ice Gamin's Wk 4 but Armor +1 and 5 wounds, or Metal Gamin's Wk 4 Armor +2 and 4 wounds.  I'm kind of leaning more towards Arachnids or Metal Gamin honestly, with the good mobility on the former and the tankiness on the latter.  What do you all think, what Gamin do you want to be Sandeep's pro spellslinger models?

Definitely Wind Gamin-the beacon seems ideally suited to mobile, fast moving minions with limited actions of their own, and with Wk5, flight and Leap, Wind Gamin fit that profile ideally, answering the earlier question of what synergies would be possible with them. Hoarcat Prides and the Arcane Effigy also come to mind. Of the other Gamin, Fire Gamin have a decent shoot attack of their own, and Ice and Metal only have a Wk4 compared to Wk. Of course, an oxfordian Mage can use his ACADEMIC status to guarantee a tome to use with 'Student of All', but like Fire Gamin they replace a decent ranged attack. Overall though, this feels like a power which is strongest in its flexibility-I can see myself taking this option with most models I use under good conditions.

This doesn't feel in itself like it justifies a specific mention of Gamin in his description, so I'd guess there's something else. Perhaps his limited upgrades are split GAMIN synergy/ACADEMIC synergy. Really happy to have an academic spellcaster in the faction however his upgrades turn out, and as I said earlier there's real potential for a great character based on the possible mythologies.

Exactly what synergies are possible with a wind gamin is actually a good question, since they are a very generic model even compared to other gamin. They don't confer or interact with any conditions, have no auras or buffs, and aren't even constructs. They just have good mobility and a passable(for their SS bracket) melee attack, which I've found to be very useful to a Kaeris crew, since Kaeris likes a mobile crew, but would probably be nearly as useful for a lot of other masters. The only special part of their card is the 'bury then sacrifice for a 5" push' mechanic, and since they're specifically forbidden from being unburied by friendly models it's hard to think of how you would write a rule to synergise with that. A synergy with the GAMIN keyword is an outside possibility, but even there I find it hard to think of one that would be very useful, especially since his own minions don't seem likely to be Gamin. It seems more likely that any synergies will be based around either the ACADEMIC keyword(although the reporter/artist type is also a strong candidate there) or else, as with Reva and Titania, a completely new keyword introduced for the purpose

While there's only a few ONI, they are quite varied and distinct, meaning they form a decent basis for a summoning pool-you have a cheap, easy to summon minion with a focus on speed and scheme running, a slightly costlier damage focussed minion, and an expensive and powerful minion. Also, while she would be the first master to be able to summon a henchman, having one available to hire means extra use for ONI-based support abilities.

By contrast, the 4 types of Gamin are all cheap four soulstone minions, with minor variations that tend to focus on synergies with a specific master, meaning there's much less to base a specialist summoning master around. It would also overlap not merely with Ramos, but also the Mech Rider, both of whom specialise in summoning this type of minion. A token summon along the lines of Kaeris's 'Born of Fire' upgrade is possible, but I'd be surprised by anything more specialised.

While I wouldn't be surprised to see Djinns of some sort as minions/enforcers, it doesn't really feel like there's enough Djinn-type models to support a summoning master-the various Gamin types are too disparate and focussed on particular masters to work very well, and not really distinct from summoning spiders, so Wyrd would have to be adding a lot of Djinn-type models to form the summoning pool, more than I'd expect them to. 

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As for the guy in the rules manual I sincerely doubt he is the same person as the master silhouette, very possibly a minion or whatever for it though. I also think his weird arm is just poorly drawn, it doesn't look fused to me. 

I'd agree on the minion interpretation, but the interactions between arm and scimiter looks a lot more like a deliberate effect than a badly drawn hand, particularly in the context the rest of the picture, which is well drawn. I'm inclined to suspect either a lesser Djinn(or similar spirit) that wears a (mostly) human guise, or magically enhanced guards.

Does anyone know of any examples of either of those in Abrabic/Persian/Indian mythology?

Outcast seems most likely. 

Does anyone else think the preview picture in the Online Rules Manual looks more Arabic/Persian than Indian? There's some real potential for a great sorcerous master in that, even if it's probably too much to hope for a horde of sand-demons in support.

I agree that a Master should be a power in their own right even where technically loyal to another master, but I'd say that the problem isn't having three M&SU masters, but rather the degree to which Kaeris and Ironsides are both completely loyal to Ramos, and dependant on him for their own influence. An M&SU master which was a genuine rival to Ramos would be acceptable. 

I'd also like to see another Mage type, and in particular one who owes their powers as much to hard and laborious academic studies as a particular elemental affinity, but I'd actually say the bearded master with a turban is the best chance for this type of master. Looking at both the silhouette and the preview picture sneaked into the online rules manual, he's likely either Arabic/Persian or Indian, and both have a rich mythology of Mages, Sorcerers, and magical creatures to base a spell casting master around. Also, if you study the preview picture in the rules manual, his hand seems to be fused to the hilt of the scimitar, which to me strongly suggests some sort of sorcerous influence. There's real potential for a characterful master(plus associates/minions) there.

The gunslinger feels a lot more Outcast than Arcanist-while there may be a striking similarity to Gunsmiths, Gunsmiths themselves stand out as odd besides the rest of the Arcanist faction, and are already themed to work with Kaeris. I think they may actually be the only model in the faction that even carries a gun. It's a thin and Tenuous connection to me, while Outcasts by contrast have several gunfighters in their ranks. 

I regularly field one, even in crews without any other frozen heart models. Mostly, I use it in support of my melee elements, both with the zero action heal and for adding in wounds where I need them. While freeze isn't a high damage attack, Ca6 ignoring cover, engagement, and terrifying makes it very reliable, and the triggers and blasts are useful bonuses when I get them. The extra healing and ice mirror if used with other frozen heart models are also useful bonuses, but  not essential for a Silent One to be worth taking. I'm somewhat wary of taking more than one however, since they do feel like a support model, and with two I feel I'd be taking out too many of the models they should be supporting. As for mobility, I find they have enough in the context of their long range and the presence of other, more mobile, models in the crew, but it is another reason I'm not keen to take multiples of them, particularly not with Rasputina, who is even less mobile.

There's a lot of ambiguity between the non-guild, non-gremlin silhouettes, since all could easily fit with two or more of the remaining factions. One interesting angle to consider-we've already seen an Arcanist preview, Carlos Vasque. Which of the new masters, if any, would this model be most likely to fit with?

As a player considering Kaeris as a new master, I found it helpful, and particularly liked that you included Kaeris's weaknesses rather than focussing too much on what she's good at. 

One thing I found intriguing-near the end there was a comment that all the box sets included models a Kaeris player would want to use. Does that include the Rasputina box set, and if so could you elaborate slightly? I'm having trouble quite figuring that one out, and I'm genuinely interested in what I'm failing to see.

"Crash of wings" By the Waterboys is pretty good for several of the female masters, one slightly more than the others. Then again, she's also one of two pretty strong contenders for "All the Things".

Pandora-"Stay here, and take care of the chickens" by the wave pictures.

A few by British Sea Power-

"Larsen B" for Rasputina-a lament for an antarctic ice shelf, enough said.

"Carrion" has the right heroic feel for Lady Justice.

Only on real choice for the indestructible Leveticus-the theme song from 'Captain Scarlet' . Plus, I think he could like quite dashing in the uniform.