Saduhem

One of my absolute favorite things about M3e is that you don't really have to commit to a faction when it comes to purchases/collection. You could get a Titania crew rolling with her box + bultungin + Rogarou and be good to go. So you could maybe get 1-2 keywords for each faction, getting the best of both worlds. If you're picking only 1-2 Ressers: Forgotten are fun and effective. Although I love Jack Daw, you might want to look into Urami (The most well rounded keyword in faction IMO, and arguably the strongest) or Experimental for a keyword that's going to cover everything that Forgotten don't. That said, if you're set on Jack, go for it. For Neverborn, Dreamer can do pretty much everything and do it well. Fae are very solid and Titania is a tanky, mobile, and lethal master. I'd say if you like masters across factions, M3e is perfect for that and it's not going to tax your wallet (unlike every other skirmish/wargame). It's time to have your cake and eat it too :}

No problem! And yeah, like you just said, you can vary the distances and activations to get different results. It's a fluid crew! And yup, Reva's always hanging back. Since your Lampads can move Pyre Markers in pairs, saving a 4 for The Unquiet Dead can be huge as models are likely to be within 2 of both Pyre Markers. Reva has no card draw, and this action has often emptied my opponent's hand.

Restless Spirit usually activates first, uses Grave Robber, placing the marker so everyone I want focused on is within 3 of it. Mourners can bring their own through Recent Funeral. If you plan to charge your own models to get extra movement, the Restless Spirit can end within 1 of such model. Now it gets tricky based on what you want to do. For example, I often want my Lampads to be far up but close to a pyre marker, especially if I'm planning to light the center of the map on fire for Claim Jump or Harness the Ley Line. In that case: Restless spirit drops corpse marker Corpse candle walks twice Shieldbearer uses Blasphemous ritual, walks, then charges the corpse candle on a mask (even a 1 of masks is alright). You're never going to accidentally kill the candle because it's 1 damage no matter what. If you don't have/flip a low mask, 2 is all you're going to get. When charging with the Shieldbearer, end movement to the side of the corpse candle so you get extra distance (candles only Mv 4). Push corpse candle in desired direction. So far the candle has moved up to 14 inches. If you're doing the following step with the Lampad, the mask trigger is pretty irrelevant anyway. At this point if: You had the mask: Lampad uses Hovering Flame, then walks, then charges the Corpse candle. Ends activation adjacent to 2 Pyre Markers You did not use the mask: Lampad uses hovering flame, charges candle, then takes a walk action and carries both pyre markers with him due to Dancing In The Flames. It also moved through the pyres, getting the burning condition which leads to a potential next step: Draugr Can potentially walk twice, then place in base contact with the Lampad up to 18 inches away by using Draw Off Flame, landing in pyre marker if desired. Depending on the board, this could mean a huge advantage or an early dead draugr. Now, that's not a rigid sequence, but a good example of how much movement the crew can get. As for your other questions: Yes, the push is from Shield Slam. This is a good dump for low mask cards if you want the extra 4 inches. Shieldbearers heal 1 on runic blade automatically. That's 2 if you decide to kill your own corpse candles. Questions are good!

Turn 1 I'm giving focused +1 to as much as I can, then charge the corpse candle (love doing this) or my other models with shielded +1 to give them an extra 6 inches. Activation order is key in Revenant crews. After that, they're acting as attack vectors for Reva through their Shielded at the edge of her range, healing up through their own attacks, the final veil, and embrace the flame. Their Df is terrible, but your opponent has to commit to kill them or they can come back from Hard to Kill really fast.

My regular opponent always uses a high card to guarantee a bandersnatch jump into my ranged models turn 1, which usually means a failed WP duel and a stitched unburying in the middle of my crew. After that, it's just gumming up the crew with more and more summons every turn. Dreamer is probably one of the best masters in the game. Summoners, in general, are just so good. This edition feels very tight when it comes to VP, where having a single extra action can mean the difference between winning and losing. Dreamer is good at generating a ton of actions (It's hard not saying AP) while making you invest a lot of yours in non-VP related stuff. That's, to me, what makes it hard to play against him. I haven't played Bayou personally, but as a Resser I bring Vincent so I can trade 1 card for 1 card (Dreamer summons, Vincent Exorcises) when it comes to dealing with summoning. When I happened to play Tormented against him, the fact that all summons have upgrades lets me take advantage of that aspect at least. Unless I get presented with a golden opportunity, I don't even bother going for the Dreamer directly. It costs me way too many resources to get to him, and if friendly fire/concealment stack on top of serene countenance, I have to consider spending a stone and focused, all that knowing that the attack might just get passed off anyway. The combination of shielded, incorporeal, and healing also makes hitting the other models feel quite pointless at times. Attacking Dreamer's hand has also worked for me more than trying to kill him. The only things I can think of that are universally useful against Dreamer are: Ping Damage (Burning/Poison on Dreamer) Ruthless Marker removal (way easier to remove markers than to take out Vasilisa and Widow Weaver) Things that ignore armor/Incorporeal Things that force discards But yeah, I don't think there's an easy way. Several layers of damage mitigation across the crew, lots of actions throughout the game, having a favorably stacked deck, great damage, incredible mobility, summoning through multiple models, all contribute for a really, really good crew. The only thing Dreamer doesn't really have is card draw (although Lucid Dreams can mitigate that).

Mainly bailing out whenever a threat is too close. Hit something with a to push it away, then leave. Feed on Grief on a on your own corpse candles to heal 4. She is not that hard to take down, but I'm ok with it. More than playing at the edge of your range there's not much else to do. I also never keep the shieldbearers close to her, as I find them too useful up the field, where Reva doesn't want to ever be.

Drowned I usually only take if Jaakuna's in the mix. Strictly speaking, they're better with Kirai because their Mv4 becomes a non-factor when they can be summoned forward, and they come with their baked in. The reason I like them with Jaakuna is the fact that a 1 of is always useful for the free undertow with no downsides to Jaakuna. Just use projectile vomit on her and pull in everyone within 3 of her, which would be an auto-staggered if in LoS of a Crooked Man. But you also see the pattern here, lots of moving parts and a hefty SS investment. Without the Crooked Men, they're still good at keeping Jaakuna alive, as serene countenance is bypassed by focused, but serene countenance + distracted is a whole different story. They can also generate blasts off the Guilty, but keep in mind that you need a moderate and you're fighting against hard to wound. You also have to balance your hiring between slow models that need support to move, and models that support it all. That's why I consider a Dead Outlaw before I consider a drowned, as the former one is granting movement, while the latter needs it. Jack is amazing at shuffling his own people around, but he can't do it across many models. If you know you're going to get rushed hard, drowned are the better investment over crooked men. They cost less, have Vengeance, and can be frustrating to deal with due to combat finesse (a role they better serve in Urami). If you bring ways of handing out focused (Blasphemous Ritual), they're much better as they're more likely to get blasts. As for out of keyword models: Both Daw and the Hanged really, really need heals. Models like the carrion effigy and Gravediggers can save Jack a card for each point they heal, and their presence on the board alone is a huge deterrent as damage inflicted to Jack or the Hanged seems like a bad investment. The gravediggers also bring a whole lot of focus between the free corpse+blasphemous ritual and their preparations trigger. They're also decent scheme runners and can grant you Dig Their Graves. The restless spirit can give shielded +1 to Jaakuna or Ligeia so Jack can charge turn 1 instead of walking. On a , that's a free push for a tormented model turn 1. He's also bringing you a corpse for Blasphemous Ritual. Then, till the end of the game, he's dropping 1 corpse marker and 1 scheme marker every turn for Dig Their Graves. Mortimer and Sloth can speed up your crew a lot but I end up regretting picking them because they're just as slow as the rest of the crew but they don't benefit from the Tormented movement tricks. They just end up using their actions to move the other models forward in the first turn, and stay behind for most of the game. You're already saturated with Mv4 models, be careful about hiring more. If you're thinking about Outcasts, the effigy brings heals but, most importantly, the Hodgepodge Emissary grants you a TON of movement, especially when paired with the Dead Outlaws and the scheme marker drops. All his trinkets are great for Tormented, and he brings healing to the table too. The Midnight Stalker can technically be obeyed by Montresor if you position him right so that he is out of LoS from Jack. With proper placement, he can benefit from the crew's shenanigans and start turn 1 on the opponent's side of the table, getting Fast for it. I'm sure I'm forgetting something... that's all I got from the top of my head :}

And I almost thought I wasn’t going to spend money this Gencon... :}

That would definitely get you started. You'll be hiring pretty much everything in his crew box every game (maybe not three guilty! One or two max). I find myself taking a hanged (occasionally 2) most games too. I'd try to squeeze in a crooked man though, then a Dead Outlaw as your next one. Jaakuna is amazing and she's going to be worth the purchase, but I'd put Crooked Man + Dead Outlaw as slightly more vital. Drowned are not absolutely essential, but they do combo well with Jaakuna and are a bit tougher to kill. Similarly, a crooked man will make Jaakuna's aura give auto-staggered. Daw can be amazing in Reckoning! McMourning/Reva arguably have a bit of an edge there perhaps, but Tormented have loads of neat tricks.

Archie is barely any different than he was in his pre-final version. The only thing that changed was whether Flurry/Numbskull were turned on or off. When either of these was off his card, he ended up being a pointless model that was either eating conditions all game or hitting once or twice a turn on min 3 (And 3 is all he's hitting for). He's got only 1 decent trigger on his close attack and his blasts do a single point of damage in the vast majority of the cases. If you're after damage, you got the wrong guy. Against anything with armor, incorporeal, or serene countenance, you're better off just jumping around and dropping markers. I can't see why he suddenly needs a +2 SS cost increase. Months of testing and he didn't bother anyone, if anything, he was a bag of wounds falling fast for half a year. The game, more than ever, is about synergy. I'd never hire Archie over a Hanged in a Daw Crew because, even if he's better on paper, he doesn't do what Jack needs. With Reva I'd take the Golem before I ever consider Archie. With Kirai, he's never coming. Comparing models across SS brackets doesn't take any of this into account. The damage and mobility a Rider brings to a crew is orders of magnitude higher than Archie's, and the Rider's accordingly more expensive. The Rider's turn 3 is incredibly scary and he can ferry around models in an edition where friendly pushes have been decimated across all factions. It's waaaaay too early to ask for buffs and nerfs.

It's more a meme than anything. Everyone that tested Archie thoroughly in Beta had him die over and over. I never found a single report with Archie being over-the-top. Even @Flippin' Wyrd Jamie had the same issues and fought hard to get Archie where he is now. He'd lost flurry at a certain point and he was doing tickly-non focused attacks in an edition full of damage mitigation. There were several tournaments and not a single complaint about the guy except well, he was dying too much. The game just released and there's already talk about nerfing models based on perceptions from what they look like on paper. Let's let the tournaments roll in a bit first.

@Kharnage, I’ve had extremely similar experiences with Redchapel. My belles always have both Fast and Focused most of the game with Sybelle around and they eat a ton of high value actions between lures and being so AP intensive to take down. It’s so frustrating for melee beaters to deal with disguise. Similarly to your game, I don’t get much out of mourners with Seamus (Although I do with Reva). So yeah, I like the Sybelle + 2 Rotten belles a lot. Not sure if it’s going to be “meta” in the long run, but it hasn’t disappointed me yet.

I go back and forth on how I think that works. Technically it’s a “may” clause to consider them enemies for actions, abilities, and triggers. It’s unclear if I can choose one of the aspects. As written, It looks like I may consider them friendly for the action, but enemies for the trigger. The other interpretation lets you achieve the same result, you just have to cheat more cards. I hope we get a clarification. If the Guilty can’t relent on that, it kinda defeats the purpose as you’d always need a high-ish card for your trigger and a lower card for cheating down. Playing Jack Daw on an empty hand is a death sentence. There's a whole bag of tricks enabled by targeting your own guilty, having them unable to relent would really limit their feasibility.

Definitely depends on the pool :} I often can’t afford Jaakuna. I also often take either a crooked man or a drowned, but not both unless I need a specific interaction.

Not sure whether to post in the the Outcasts section or this one, but here is where the most interest seemed to be sparking from. Please forgive potential typos. It's late :} Tormented Tips I played Jack Daw a lot during Beta, and I think Tormented is one of the most fun keywords to play. That said, the Ghost of Malifaux requires some finesse to play due to how many interactions are available across individual models. Here are some of those interactions. Some might seem obvious, some might not. For now we’re looking at movement, scheme marker manipulation, and how to get the staggered machine going (outside of handing out upgrades). Movement tricks: Tormented are overall slow as a crew, with several Mv 4 models. That said, the crew also has tricks to get around that aspect. Look for a 6 of crows in your opening hand! Have the Dead Outlaw put up Too Greedy To Die early in the turn. Then, use the Crooked Man’s I can Dig It trigger to drop a scheme marker as a bonus action within the Dead Outlaw’s aura. One of your models just earned 3 inches of movement! In this crew, that’s huge. If you manage to pull off a good Shifting Sands trigger with the Crooked Man, you could get several pushes with one bonus action. Jack and the Hanged have On your Heels. Expect to be burning stones for those as they will mean the difference between a slow crawl and an 8-10 “free” place. This is where your masks go. Remember that you can declare On your Heels against The Guilty! A low mask in your hand could let you jump across the map. Sadistic movement! You’re going to be inflicting some punishment on your own models in this crew, which is very thematic. If you really need movement, you can use Jack Daw to charge a friendly model instead of taking a walk action. On a crow, that allows you to use Punishment to push another Tormented model. Although less action efficient, you can use Suppressed Memories and have the crow baked in. Remember that you can use this to force irresistible movement effects on an enemy model. Once you attached an upgrade to an enemy model, they’re considered Tormented, and you can hit your own guys, declare Punishment, and push the enemy model towards you (through other models!) and your opponent can’t do anything about it. Obviously this is going to hurt your own models quite a bit, bit if it scores you points, it’s worth it. In a pinch, you can use Montresor’s Cursed to Watch to trade an action with something that really needs to move. Using Run and Gun with a Dead Outlaw lets you effectively charge, shoot, put up the aura, and still have an action left. You can use this to give out Fast, potentially thanks to the markers dropped by the Crooked Men. Jack can grant a 6 inch push, through models, by using Drawn to Betrayal. Remember that this can also be used against enemy models! Although the average Mv of the crew is one of, if not the, lowest in the game, you have a combination of incorporeal, The Ghost of Malifaux, and Depths of Malifaux to make up for it! Scheme marker manipulation: This can get a little tricky, as you don’t really have an in-keyword scheme runner. You’re going to have to rely on a couple of different tricks instead. As mentioned, a 6 of crows goes straight to the Crooked Man for the I Can Dig It trigger on Malifaux Mining Law. That nets you a scheme marker for a bonus action and a potential 3 inch push from the Dead Outlaw’s Too Greedy To Die. With the Dead Outlaw, declare a charge action and shoot The Guilty with a low tome. You can decide to treat the Guilty as an enemy model when declaring the trigger, and have it drop an enemy scheme marker through Drop It! - With a single action you moved your Dead Outlaw Forward, obtained (an enemy) scheme marker, and a 3 inch push to boot. You can then use the remaining action to give out fast or, if you want to be cruel to The Guilty, use At Gunpoint to have him drop a friendly scheme marker for an additional 3 inch push. If you’re inclined to make him attack instead, you get the added benefit of having Buried Grudge baked in for +1 damage. Why would you want an enemy scheme marker? Well, the 3 inch push is nice but the benefits don’t end there! Dropping an enemy scheme marker allows you to place a friendly scheme marker right by it without having to worry about the distance between the two markers. Then, you can use the Shifting Sands trigger on Malifaux Mining Law to convert the scheme marker to friendly, getting an additional 3 inch push. While the crew is slow, they have a few more tricks to place scheme markers in close proximity to each other and/or without using interact actions. This makes Tormented pretty good at Harness the Leyline, Detonate the charges, search the ruins, and Dig Their Graves In fact… The Hanged has been my money-maker when it comes to scoring VP out of nowhere. Between the incorporeal, extra movement from Jack, and potential 10 inch jumps with On Your Heels, the Hanged can score you Take Prisoner, Detonate the Charges and/or Dig Their Graves on targets 18+ inches away. The Hanged is going to eat a chunk of your stones, high masks, and high tomes, but he can be well worth it. Use Horrifying Whispers and a mask to place into base contact with an enemy model (or The Guilty!) and dump 2 tomes/stones for Draw Out Secrets to place two friendly scheme markers anywhere you need. Remember that you can use Draw Out Secrets when attacking any model! That means that, against your own models, low tomes can translate directly into scheme markers that require no interact action. Within the Dead Outlaw’s Too Greedy To Die aura, that’s a lot of movement too! Those markers are also hazardous and hand out Staggered if within range of Malifaux Mining Law. The staggered machine: This crew lives and dies by handing out staggered. Your damage output changes drastically depending on whether or not the enemy model has the condition. In addition, the accuracy of the entire crew is enhanced as many of your models have some way of targeting Mv, which can get around annoying defensive triggers. A few things to keep in mind Do not expect Jack’s upgrades to be handing out most of the staggered condition. Jack is usually not going to be able to attach upgrades before turn 2 (sometimes 3). Considering that the staggered condition does not kick in until the beginning of the following turn, you simply can’t afford to rely on Suppressed Memories to get the staggered condition going. Your most reliable tool to spread out the condition is the Crooked Man. While the damage spread on Earthquake isn’t particularly impressive, you’re always guaranteed a blast on a hit, and all models damaged by it become staggered. For this reason, he tends to get murdered as soon as possible in my games, and his Df 4 doesn’t help much with that. If you get a Crooked Man in position to start blasting away, consider using Montresor’s Cursed to Watch to attack a few more times, or give him fast through Covetous Cravings. Additionally, you can also target a Guilty and consider him an enemy model to get a blast off him. Just remember that your Guilty will be staggered after that. This attack is very accurate as it both targets and lowers the enemy Mv stat. Oh, and your Crooked Men are going to get murdered. A lot. The Drowned are a bit less reliable than the Crooked Man, but tend to survive more and technically get one more chance due to having Startle as a bonus action. That said, the Drowned have a couple of tricks up their sleeves! If you think you can get at least moderate damage, you can give out staggered by creating riptide markers on top of handing out distracted and poison. They have a really great interaction with Jaakuna Ubume, as described next: Jaakuna Ubume can create her own Hazardous Terrain through Drowning Aura. Any enemy entering such aura (from her Lure or Jack’s Punishment) will also automatically become staggered if in LoS of a Crooked Man. The Drowned can make this combo particularly effective by attacking Jaakuna on any mask, even a 1 (If you can/want to cheat for a moderate to get the blast, go for it). Since Jaakuna is incorporeal, she will not take damage, poison, or distracted, no matter what you flip. But since you used a mask, you can declare Undertow and push all enemy models within 3 of Jaakuna towards her, giving out damage and staggered. Remember that Toss the Noose on Montresor and The Hanged give out staggered regardless of triggers. Montresor has a built-in mask to hand out staggered on Noose. Montresor can deal 1 auto damage to models that start within 6 of him with the staggered condition, and 1 damage with a 6 of crows during Montresor’s activation to everything around him if the enemies are staggered, or 2 if they have a Curse attached too. Against staggered opponents, Jack does min 4 on a ram and forces a discard. Against opponents with upgrades, Hanged do min 3 damage with the baked in ram. Targets Mv. Forces discard on staggered opponents. Against opponents with upgrades, Montresor does min 3 damage on a ram, and targets Mv. Alright, that’s it for now! I’ll post a couple more tricks when I have the time and lucidity!

At this point this thread is about a single angry person telling a company how to do their job. Hoping it gets locked as I can’t see any good coming from it.

Archie is great, but he gets killed pretty fast, and that’s ok. I had him melt to Carver and Teddy many times. I had daydreams pelt him to death with those stats! I’m very happy that he got flurry back, but the inability to gain focus usually translates in lots of min damage hits. I like his price point, especially considering that he’s in a very low-damage keyword. I remember when he didn’t have numbskull... putting him on the table was a sorrowful experience.

During Beta Belles were mostly disruption for me. It takes an ungodly amount of effort to kill them for 5 stones. They also had Fast/Focused on most turns. The amount of disruption they cause made me always bring 2+ Sybelle. I wasn’t too worried about killing (especially with Mcmourning/Kirai/Reva in faction) and Seamus/Bete were always exactly where I wanted them to be on the board scoring me points. So while they scored VP, Sybelle + belles were just preventing my opponent from doing the same and dragging models near Sybelle. Disguised is so, so good, and stacking penalties for ranged attacks is the easiest it’s ever been. This was also before they got their current attack, which turns them up a notch too. If I can find the battle reports I posted during Beta I’ll put them back up.

Although it might look like the game has lost some personality, it's the opposite on the table. Unlike before, the game is much more than having the same crew of "best models" with a different master. Forget about all-stars lists! The crews all play so uniquely that it feels like a completely different game with each keyword. And there's still a lot of flavor in the names/actions/abilities!

Printing these cards is going to be costly and short term. If at all possible, stay digital till you get hands on the product. I have some of the official cards in front of me right now, and I can't see any printer doing these beauties any justice. If you can, I think you should really wait. More money for your game store, more money for Wyrd, and an absolutely gorgeous product for yourself.

Wyrd made the game playable, for free, to anyone in possession of a screen device. I'm sure they want your money and they'd love for you to get your hands on these beautiful cards. I'd dare say that Wyrd wants that more than you do. If your group isn't willing to use the cards provided online, then waiting is the only option. I get the frustration, but these statements are based on assumptions about a company that's being really transparent with its community right now. There was an enormous amount of work behind this product. Each of these hateful comments is an unwarranted dart thrown at the human beings that made all this possible.

Congratulations :}

I've played Jack Daw ad nauseam in the Beta. I'v been ungodly busy lately but I'll post a write up on tips and tricks with him as soon as I can. In retrospect, I should have saved those massive posts before the forums closed :}

I'm seeing a few tweaks here and there (And some amazing name changes on attacks/abilities) and, so far, I think they're all spot on!

Holy Diver.... the art. Leveticus was off my radar until this very moment. I need this crew, the whole crew, in my life! Also.... does Levi's equipment remind anyone of the big sisters from Bioshock 2? (Although I guess the old art sort of did that too). Going to have to paint Marlena (who suddenly got on my "to buy" list) as a little sister.