LeperColony

As a Colette main, I find the idea she's simpler than Kaeris or Ironsides pretty amusing, but that's a discussion for another topic and let's not de-rail the OP's thread. My standard answer to this sort of question, in all games not just Malifaux, is that it's best to pick the master that seems coolest to you. Since you're new, your playing style will naturally come to be shaped by your initial master. As you branch out that'll change, but at the start I tend to think that while there are of course certain degrees of variation, in the end they just won't matter as much. If price is your primary issue: No master is going to be a 50ss crew right out of the box. Colette can be cheap if you just run showgirls, since that's mostly her box plus Coryphee and/or Angelica. However, many Colette players like to have a high quality beater like Howard to prompt, and that means another master box since they are almost invariably Henchmen. Or a Mech Rider, and then summoning comes into play... Rasputina doesn't summon and, while other people have already mentioned that her box needs more help than the others, the additional models you'd want for a Rasputina crew work well with other Arcanists too. This isn't necessarily as true with Kaeris (all the burning) or Colette (how often do you see Angelica in a non-Colette crew?). Kaeris is a good option price-wise, because I think with a Rail Golem and your choice of support minion, you're probably pretty solid. Ramos is a summoner, but there are stop-gaps (especially if your opponent isn't a stickler and/or you aren't doing official events or tournaments. Cheap plastic spiders and cheap 30mm bases are not hard to come by), and Howard and Joss are both really high quality models that end up in many other crews. The thing about this box that isn't necessarily true about the others is that if you become a serious Arcanist player, you'll end up getting this box at some point, even if you never intend to play Ramos. Never played Mei, so couldn't say.

I tend to run all showgirl lists just for thematic reasons. But Colette is such a useful support master that I tend to think she'd be effective with a lot of different builds.

Any time you surround Colette with quality, you're giving yourself options, and that's always useful. Still, I personally would think about replacing Joss and using the resulting budgetary space to gain some utility. This will be somewhat ironic since I was just arguing they aren't that useful, but in your list an Ice Dancer may be nice. They can throw two Scheme Markers, and your low model count and lack of showgirls will put you a little behind on scheme running relative to most Colette crews.

I certainly don't think she's worthless, but I don't think she's all that useful either. Like the Oiran, I could see situations where I'd want her, but I wouldn't expect to include one in my core list. And I don't seem to see them suggested to others as a core component either. Like I said, a (1) Your Opponent Discards a Card would be an ability I would take, and I think plenty of other people would too, even if it were limit once per activation. Discard effects, while not common, are also not so rare that you never see them. And Colette gains a lot of value from low masks. Which would you keep, a low mask or a high ram? If the Ice Dancer's greatest defense is a deterrent to attacking her, what do you do when you're attacked? Sure, it's better to discard a card than lose a 6ss model, but a lost card for a (1) is not the worst thing in the world for your opponent either.

Colette makes the Interact a (0), and you can't do more than one (0) action per turn. So in a Colette crew, I thought the Ice Dancer couldn't put down two markers. Sure, her attack is in line with her cost, but it's no reason to take her. As for the whole deterrence factor, I feel that's significantly overrated in Malifaux. If I'm playing against a Colette crew, I want to burn that hand. If I had an ability on someone that was just (1) Your opponent discards a card, I'd do it. So I would definitely spend (1) to attack a model that might escape by discarding.

I would say that Oiran could be situationally useful. If you expect to face a lot of WP duels, replacing a Performer with an Oiran could be worth it. How do people feel about the Ice Dancer? I've been looking at her, but she just doesn't seem worth it to me. Her abilities require suits she doesn't have built in, her attack is mediocre, and her defense ability, though really nice, requires discarding a card. Maybe that wouldn't be such a big deal in other crews, but I feel in a Colette crew it is.

If I'd known earlier I could have made today's demo. In general, since I am coming from so far away, I really have to know something is going to happen. So when you guys get your schedule set, let me know.

I am in Gardena.

Thanks for the reply! The valley is really far from me, but it might be doable. What times do you play? I'd need to be sure there was something going on before I make the drive.

I've been wanting to try Malifaux for a while, but picking up a Colette crew box cheap finally gave me the push I needed. Anyone in the L.A. area interested in teaching a new player? I'm in the South Bay/