Four_N_Six

The problem with what your doing is that you're not giving models fair chance (I did the same when I started in Neverborn), so it makes them seem like they underperform. When I started Gremlins back in January, I played each master 3 games in a row, forced myself to take their entire crew box to give the models fair chance, and then hired outside of the box for the remaining stones. Sometimes you put your master into a strategy they aren't great with, or their crew box into schemes they're not good for, but it gives you a better feel for the crew and master and what they can and cannot do. In 3 games, you're at least better likely to get situations where the master and crew will fail, as well as situations where they'll shine so you can get a good idea overall.

I feel the same way about Som'er's box that most people feel about Mah. I only bought it to get Lenny. I will say, I've now used Som'er a bit, and I enjoy him and I'm good with him, but he isn't my go-to master in situations yet. I use Mah all the time. Wong, her, and Brewmaster are the ones I use mostly (though Brewmaster hasn't been working out as well for me as he has in the past). I find her to be very flexible in her crew. If you're playing Som'er, there are certain models that you essentially are forced to take to run him effectively. There's play styles that dodge that of course, but most people will run at least a couple of Bayou Gremlins and at least 1 Slop Hauler. Not exactly breaking the bank with stones, that's barely 10, but I prefer complete flexibility. Besides, a good opponent will crank down that Slop Hauler as fast as they can, and an opponent familiar enough with Som'er knows that if those 2 or 3 Bayou gremlins are dead, your summoning stops. Of course we can protect them with various techniques, but it's still an added concern. With Mah Tucket, I run her with whatever crew I feel like running. She can go off on her own killing and causing mayhem, and the rest of my 49 stones go towards whatever I need my crew to do. I've run scheme running crews with her, kill heavy teams (both melee and shooting) and had very good success with all of it. I understand why people love Som'er. I do, too. I had a match a few weeks ago where Von Schill ended the game on the board alone completely surrounded by Bayou Gremlins, Lenny, and Som'er. It's a very funny visual (especially when he rips off the shirt in a last ditch effort to terrify them all). However, I prefer Mah Tucket personally in a lot of situations.

I tend to use Pandora if the schemes and strategy allow it. Using misery to dodge around hard to wound/kill is my go to jerk move. Doesn't always work out, but it's not bad. Besides, using Incite to control activation order could give you an easier time against summoning masters.

I've still avoided even buying their box. I think the best use of them is probably hunting down opponent scheme runners. Use them as scheme runners yourself, but if your opponent has something going off dropping markers, toss a Rider at it. Like it's been mentioned before, if I need melee damage done, we have other great models to hire instead.

I mean if all he's doing is running schemes, you're better off with an IM. Although I would argue for their WP debuff over his in certain instances, just due to their larger range on it.

The only problem with that is if it's all you plan to have him do, insideous madness are faster for the same stone cost.

Mah is in my top 3 favorite gremlin masters. I've had a lot of success with her. Thing is, I started as Neverborn, and had a lot of pain getting used to Lilith before I finally liked her. So when I switched to Gremlins and picked up Mah, I didn't have much to adjust to get good with her. The main trick I learned with Lilith that I brought to Mah is to ignore her box. I like the Bushwackers, but I agree that their discard abilities don't synergize with Mah well. They're solid stats make them worth it for me, because those stats are well above average for gremlins. I tend to use Trixie with her, but the emissary is a good replacement if you want to use it anyways, just so you get the Chore you want. When I ignore the box, it means I'm hiring my crew for scoring my points. Strategy and schemes rely on them, and then Mah is just there to screw up my opponent. So far, she's only failed me once in this regard. However, since she's just there to murder hard, it doesn't matter if she dies, so as long as she's done a good amount of damage, I don't sink resources into keeping her going if it's not completely necessary. Generally I bring at least one other melee beater with her, as long as it's fast enough to keep up with her. The Whiskey Golem, Lucky Emissary, and Mancha Roja are good candidates. Mancha especially. If you get the Ram for Chores that's +1 Ml, and his (0) action can give himself another +1 Ml. If you want to be a real jerk and sink a lot of points into 2 models of death, I've been meaning to try the Emissary and Mancha together with Mah. Emissary can slow/paralyze, Mancha can get the instant kill. If you're smart and run Old Cranky with them, use Mah's pushes to keep them in range, then you can guarantee that Mancha always has the soulstone for his finishing move trigger. Mah gets a lot of crap, but honestly I prefer her to Ophelia. I can run Mah anytime I want with any crew I want. If I run Ophelia, I feel like she is required to bring and stay near Lenny. Without Thinkin' Luck, her damage isn't reliable enough.

He has casting expert. It's at a lower CA, but use her close range attack and the opponent is at negatives, so it should connect Edit: not expert. Forget the name. Where he can use her attacks

I almost always run Poltergeist with her. If you can protect it, it's too good to ignore. Especially if you're playing melee Pandora. Keep the poltergeist out of Fear's range > Bring Barbaros > profit

He does like his little piggies. Maybe he squeezes too tight sometimes and they bite.

I don't know if that's enough for me to dust off Candy, but I HAVE been interested in trying to use Sorrows in other crews, so I'm pretty happy there's a good option with Titania.

Thematically speaking, I'm guessing their explanation will be that the masters weren't around or were still coming into power during the event.

I thought the whole point is that he's a control master, so he doesn't really need to be putting out a ton of damage. The fact that it ignores defensive triggers and armor is one hell of an added bonus, and throw in that he gets to reposition the target and I prefer this to some other master attack actions. He's insignificant, but who cares? You use him to reposition models from the enemy so your crew can always interact. With Zipp still available to activate, you shouldn't really ever have to worry about your models being engaged and unable to interact.

I have only used my Gators once, but I had two of them and they were pretty effective. I frequently find myself needing an extra cheap model or two, and I feel like Gators do well. If I just need someone to tie things up in melee. If I need some flexibility, I'll use Lightning Bugs. I love the Whiskey Golem. I don't bring it with Brewmaster, but I do with Mah Tucket frequently. He's fast, he smacks, he can defend himself well. Besides, big guy with Nimble that can still Flurry is rough. I also love Brewmaster. I use him in almost every tournament I play in. You just have to get past the desire to trap a ton of models drinking. If you can lock down one or two, especially if one is the master, then you have a huge advantage. Then you can just use his AP to give important targets or highly dangerous models negative twists to EVERYTHING and they're either not a problem for you, or pretty much can't be kept alive if you're really trying to focus it down. I've wanted to try a list with Brewmaster using heavy melee attack models. He gives a target Swill, and the melee storm just trashes it while it can't protect itself.

I've tried Sammy as my summoner for both Ulix and Som'er with differing success. I have decided that Ulix needs to summon himself, so that the pigs are near him for his triggers and moving. Whenever I bring Sammy, it's just one more positioning model I have to worry about, and she tends to fall behind, which screws up my summoning. I've never tried Ulix's Bow on her, but I will have to try next time I run Ulix. I honestly have no idea why it never occurred to me before. Tunnel vision to have her summon, I suppose. With Som'er, I don't seem to need the Bayou gremlins as close to him to be reliable. It helps, but his aura is also larger than the one Ulix needs so you have some flexibility with positioning.

That's a great look. I'm not very good at painting yet, and I decided my Neverborn were all going to be Nintendo themed, so I think she'll have to be Pit? I haven't given it much thought yet in terms of other winged Nintendo characters.

Well that part I was unaware of. I'm not as familiar with the lore as I'd like to be, so I'm just going off of her page on the website.

I'm guessing her appearance is part of her undeadness. Not sure if the rest of her crew will share that trait. It also says in her fluff that she was betrayed by her followers after they took care of the Tyrant problem because they feared her power, so that's probably got a little to do with it as well. I don't recall it saying specifically how they took care of her. My guess is that the Fae will come out to be the original inhabitants of Malifaux, which would make sense considering her royal status she's walking around claiming. Whether Lilith is willing to give up her position is a different story. And I know damn well Nekima won't without a fight. So some interesting Neverborn stories coming up, I'm sure.

I haven't used the survivors yet, but they're the only ones I've considered using. Sparks I can see maybe using in some situations, maybe a campaign game where I want to theme mechanical for some reason? I see myself using survivors with our new pal, Zipp. Obviously we don't know what his crew is capable of, but I'd be pretty shocked if there weren't some other options for constructs or reasons to want more constructs in the crew.

I only would really use the Emissary in a couple of cases, I think. If I need a heavy beater, or if I'm running Som'er to summon. His conflux for Som'er is great if you're going to just bathe your opponent in bayou gremlins. I don't know why I've never considered it for Ooo Glowy, but I'll have to try that next time I run Wong. I tend to be at a loss and just throw it onto Burt, which is fine, but he's becoming a crutch model, along with Lenny. The main thing I've used it for (having only hired it two or three times) is with Mah. She can move it around pretty reliably, and it's fast enough on its own, too. Throw in Mancha if you want to be 20 stones deep with only 2 models, but having Mah, Mancha, and the Emissary moving up the board is relatively terrifying, and should be able to cover most of your damage requirements.

There are actually quite a few of us. Joe and a few others (around 6-8 last I heard, but I haven't been there in a long time. New job and new kid) play at Flat Land games in Wixom every Tuesday. I tend to gravitate more towards Thursday nights when I can, at Pandemonium Games in Garden City. They usually have between 4 and 5 people Thursdays. Me and a friend usually play Wednesdays when we can (almost every week) at RIW in Livonia, but there's not a big crowd then, just us. I thought there was a store in Royal Oak as well, but I'm not sure if they get a crowd, I've never been there. There are 2 Facebook groups I tend to follow where they post when they're able to play. Sometimes I get a notification during the weekend when someone is just headed up there to try and get a game or two in. There's usually a small tournament every month, too. Usually alternates between Flat Land and Pandemonium.