RarerMonsters

Unironically and weirdly perfect:

Rasputina

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfuAyxzeFJk

Looks awesome! Only thing I'll suggest is to try and keep it consistent with Malifaux Card Sizes for sleeving purposes if you haven't already.

Preparing for potential matchups is an important part of being skilled with Sonnia. Yes, a crew largely immune to Blast Damage is harder for Sonnia to deal with than a Nicodem summoning army wielded by players of equivalent skill. A player who ignores this and treats all opponents the same is not playing skillfully. And no, saying "the better player will win" is not advice or helpful.

People are correct that Von Schill and the Friekorps can ignore her blast damage. She is not doomed against them, however, as she can still do damage to her primary target, cause burning damage, and her crew can achieve objectives which don't involve killing as well as anyone else can. If you're up against Outcasts, it could be a good idea to bring more Single target models. If you're sure your opponent will bring Friekorps, you'll probably see more success out of Perdita or Lady Justice.

Other tough Matchups include Mei Feng, Ramos, Hoffman, and other construct heavy masters. They can run fewer, more expensive models supplemented by disposable smalls that you don't get too much out of killing, and armor dampens blast damage. Again, with Sonnia focus on her spellbreaking and dampening abilities rather than just blasting. Also, keep in mind the guild's option for armor cracking.

 If you wanted a more dedicated anti-construct master, Hoffman and Lady J both work, either by playing the Construct game as well himself or killing tough targets with truly overwhelming force

Here's my first entry for one of these! Tres excited, be cruel! Stupid

Word Count: 1741

Elements:

Thread
"Why me"
The Bayou

(Author's Note: Apologies about the uneven indentations, apparently Google Docs don't get along with forum code, I'll work on it in the future.)

Stupid: A story by RarerMonsters

    Quentin went ankle deep into mud with the sound and feeling of kissing an unwilling catfish.

    Gady Dautrive slapped his little green thigh with a guffaw. “Ya step’d in stuck-mud.”

    Quentin wrenched his foot about, the sunken shoe holding fast.

    “Wiggle all you want coz,” his guide continued, “dat aint get’n out.”

    “I can’t walk around barefoot!”

    “Aint never pried nothin’ outta stuck mud. My papy fell all the way in once. Loss my two best sticks tryina get him out.”

    Quentin stopped fidgeting. He hadn’t yet considered that a Gremlin was capable of family and loss. “I’m sorry, Gady.”

    “Yeah,” he lowered his conical straw hat over his heart, “dem was good sticks.”

    “I meant your father!” He worked his bootstraps angrily.

    Gady bellowed even louder. “Papy aint dead stupid! He still sunk in stuck-mud, aint moved for nigh on two year. We bring ‘im pork and shine when he ‘ollers for it. Still teaches da younguns howta trap rabbit.”

    Cursing his own empathy, Quentin planted his bare foot into cold, slimy bayou ground.

    “See, aint so bad if’n ya just watch for critters. Now get to movin’, coz. Aint wanna be stuck in the bottoms when night comes round.”

“Why me,” he quietly asked, “why do I always get the crap jobs.”

    Quentin opened a satchel full of children’s clothes. He fished out a cloth tunic and wrapped torn strips of it around his bare foot. “Are we at least getting close?” he asked.

Gady offered a positive grunt and kept walking. Quentin grumbled and followed.

Within the hour, they spotted bright orange through the line of overgrown greens. “There ya go, coz, Fauntaine land. Sumbitches won’t shut it ‘bout all the scratch they pinched offa dat blowed up wreck.”

“Perfect,” Quentin answered, genuinely happy to see some actual progress in this fool’s errand. Four days ago, the Neverborn had savaged a Guild carriage. If Gady was anywhere near the truth, then these were the Gremlins who’d scavenged the abandoned wreck.

“Aint no thing for nice hat, coz!” Gady tipped fondly at a conical Three Kingdoms hat: Quentin’s trade for guiding a human this far into the bayou.

“Now, you still need’n me round? I aint sure I can walk in that hole.” He spit a burst of what Quentin hoped was chew. “I like yo comp’ny an all, bein’ of dat scholaly type, but dem Fauntaine boys is stupid.”

Quentin fought the urge to rid himself of Gady. “I’ll still need help getting out of the swamp,” he said, holding up the novelty tortoiseshell glasses that went with the hat.

Gady nodded solemnly.

“Fauntaine Land” was a settlement only in that the riverbank shanties were near enough to string “washed” garments up to dry. So many pigs wandered about, snuffling the ground and wrestling with children, that it was more open air pen than town. In the center of this mess, near a large campfire, a roasting pig, and a thick knot of Gremlins, Quentin spid his goal: a steel coffin hanging from a tree.

Sloshing through bayou mud, Quentin could feel the eyes atond barrels of a whole warren settling on him. Fortunately he was outnumbered by enough that they didn’t need to shoot yet.

“Gady!” A voice both baritone and shrill cut through the trees. The whole village snapped to attention, following it to the new visitors. “You got crap for brains comin’ back round ‘deez part.”

Quentin tensed up.

“Aww don’ be like dat, coz!” Gady called back without even a slight change to his jovial tone. “Nice threads, by the way.”

    The voice came from a paunchy Gremlin by the barbecue pit. He was trailing a Guild duster and carrying a guild Scattergun, each recently scavenged and twice his size.

    “Gady,” Quentin whispered, “what is he talking about?”

    “Aww, nothin’,” Gady answered at full volume, “just tol’ dis Calhoun sumbitch he aint no good cookin pig.”

    “D’as a damn lie Gady Dautrive!” Calhoun’s scatter gun aimed at Gady, at a range that was as likely to clip Quentin.

    “Please, calm down,” Quentin yelped. When nobody calmed down, he desperately added, “I’m sure your pig tastes great.”

    “It aint” Gady corrected.

    “Shut up,” Quentin whispered back.

    Calhoun kept the gun steady on Gady. With a free hand, he snapped twice.

    “Whassa snappin’ mean boss?”.

    “It means grab a chop dummy!” He yelled, smacking the confused subordinate. Receiving a chunk of cooked pig, Calhoun hurled it across the “town square” to Quentin.

Thanking heaven that he caught it, Quentin took a hearty bite. It had the bold, smokey taste of burnt sand painted onto a jellied rat. He wasn’t exactly a gourmet, but it seemed that putting the pig in fire after you’ve killed it was still a novel concept among the Fauntaine boys.

“It’s,” he choked out the words, “it’s amazing. Damn fine chop. Listen, I was hoping I could ask you about... “

“You full of it, coz,” Gady interjected.

“Now who’s stupid Gady,” Calhoun beamed, “this feller knows him some chop!”

“I’m glad you think so,” Quentin rushed, physically restraining Gady, “listen, that coffin you have up there, can you get it down?”

Calhoun’s grin collapsed and his gun fidgeted, “tha’s my box, fella. Shows all the kin round who got the big scratch.”

“I know,” Quentin continued, suppressing his tension, “I just need what’s inside: A bunch of paper. Worhtless to you.”

Calhoun’s face twisted in circles, mind at war between not trusting and not understanding.

“You good dere, Calhoun?” Gady prodded with a smug grin.

Changing the subject fast, Quentin opened his sack and drew out a child’s top hat. “I’ve brought trade?”

In an instant, all grudges dropped before the hypnotic glory of a big hat. A Fauntaine boy reached for it, but Calhoun smashed him with the butt of his scattergun. He then turned the gun on Quentin, and the lone human could feel every other boomstick following suit.

Quentin grabbed the hat by both ends and tensed his muscles, ready to rip it in half.

“Woah ease up feller,” Calhoun yelped, “so uh, trade huh?”

A few boys lowered the coffin. Calhoun blew the lock off and kicked it open. This time Quentin was mesmerized: an entire Marshall payroll in guild scrip; easily more than his yearly salary.

“So this’s all you want then?”

Quentin nodded. “The hat, and everything else in my sack for these papers. You can even keep the coffin.” He shared a firm if awkward shake with Calhoun’s tiny mitt.

“Got yourself a deal, feller!” Each smiled, convinced they were ripping off a rube.

The scrip found its way into the sack, and the clothes were spread among the Fauntaine boys. The Gremlins, now resembling a young men’s cotillion for plague victims, were already breaking out the shine.

Quentin was all too ready to take his leave. “Let’s go Gady.”
    The Gremlin guide grumbled and turned toward the best path out

“Yeah, go on’n get Dautrive-” Calhoun slurred at him.

Quentin tensed, but Gady seemed to shrug it off.

“-stupid sumbitch-”

Still no reaction. Quentin relaxed.

“-ann’er dumb hat.”

“Whatchu say?” Gady turned, a killing glint in his eye.
“You ‘erd me!” Calhoun’s words were practically wet with liquor.

“Just go Gady, he’s drunk,” Quentin pleaded.

“Dis hat,” Gady spat bacl, “is a treasuh a the Or-ee-ent. Supid Dautrive kin jus’ don’t know scholaly mattahs.”

“It’s small’en mine.” Calhoun tipped the children’s top hat proudly. “So, seems like you the stupid one, Dautrive.”

Quentin was pulling Gady away by the arm. “Yeah, well, you so stupid you aint even think ‘bout why he want that paper so much!”

Quentin froze. He could see wheels turning and boomsticks rising.

“How bout you drop that sack ‘fore you leave, fella.”

Quentin took stock of his situation. He could negotiate with a Gremlin, but not a drunk, armed Gremlin. And he could kill Gady when they were out of the Bayou. All factors weighed, he hurled Gady over a shoulder and took to a mad swerving dash.

The first few boomsticks were impulsive and only kicked up dust nearby. Calhoun tried aiming, but tripped over his oversized duster and took out several kin with a wild shot. For each that went down or stumbled over drunk, though, more emerged to chase.

    Quentin and Gady broke free of the camp’s edge, Fauntaine boys close behind. Quentin unholstered his Collier, but would need about five times the ammunition he had. “Please tell me you can get us out of this mess you put us in.”

    “Keep calm coz!” Gady answered, “just follow me.” Gady hit the ground and scampered ahead.

    Quentin barely kept pace with the nimble swamp native. They cut away from what passed for a path, climbing through tangled vines and along an unsteady treebranch over a familiar patch of slimy ground.

“Now,” Gady declared, “just need some bait.” Without hesitation, he stepped ankle deep into the edge of the stuck-mud.

    Soon after, the charge of Fauntaine boys barreled after the vulnerable Gady. Triumphant and careless, dozens piled into mud so deep only a few still had heads over the surface. Only Calhoun remained, stepping over his stuck comrades and angling the scattergun at the stationary Gady.
    “Who’s stupid now, Dautrive?” He asked, grinning wide over the massive gun.

    “Still you,” Quentin answered, easily downing him with a Collier bullet to the head.

    Gady cackled, “nice shootin coz.”

    “I... can’t believe you did that, Gady,” he said, awkwardly moved. “You sacrificed yourself stop them.”

    “Sac’a’fice?” he pondered quizzically, and then looked at his feet. “Aww damnit all! I did, didn’t I? Hey get me outta here coz!”

    Quentin sighed, and nearly pulled Gady’s feet off. The two were at an impasse.

    “Decent tryin, coz, but guess I’ll be here ‘while.” He grinned, looking over the exposed Fauntaine heads. “Least I gotta best hat ‘round. Real scholaly.”

    Quentin shook his head at the delighted Gremlin stuck in the iron grip of wet mud. Wet mud. There was one way to fix this. Quentin grimaced.

    “Smart thinkin’ coz!”

    Quentin winced thinking about the piles of paper scrip he’d used to soak up the stuck mud. He would rather have cut off a limb.

    “Yeah well, I had no choice. I still need a guide,” he lied.

    Gady slapped his thigh. “Aint no thing, coz!”

    Quentin shrugged, handed over the novelty glasses he’d stashed in a pocket, and the two headed home.

Badass Pose on others means you can safely jam people up with her other models so you aren't taking the whole enemy force at once. It's a valuable defensive screen.

Ugh, tell me about it. Best pick in the faction and no plastics

I'd grab Ten Thunders Brothers, a Shadow Effigy, and Yin the Penangalin, all three are excellent choices in most lists. Katanaka Snipers are okay but not mandatory, Izamu is a great Beatstick but also overlooked as a control piece with his ability to lock people down.

Okay, I was clearly misreading it. Thanks for the clarifications. I'll probably start running it on Yan Lo a lot more.

Still not sure about it on Mei Feng, I think Seismic Claws, Wings of Wind, and Recalled Training is too good a Combo, and you already have all the defense you need with Step Aside and Badass Pose.

Am I the only 10T player who doesn't put any faith in Misdirection?
 

It seems like the definitive newbie trap. It's good if your opponent doesn't know about it and bad otherwise.

First you need them to attack you with another model nearby. THEN they need to attack you with a mask or soulstone to spare. THEN you need two cards to toss. This on Mei, who already hurts for Upgrade slots, and you're really throwing all your resources at a trick that any smart opponent will play around just because you saw it work on scrubs a few times.

Molly

I tend to take 1-2 Wastrels with Yan Lo, they make cheap soul fodder, can scheme run decently, and have access to a cheap somewhat reliable healing outside of Chiaki.

Or just hire Komainu?

See, I don't see this strategy as very effective because you're throwing so much effort and resources into creating normal Komainu (Decent, but not extraordinary minions)

Summoning can seem amazing since you're multiplying your forces, but turn wise Malifaux games are too short to really utilize most of the things you'll create (since you need to get most of your armies work done on turns 2-3. Obviously this is a little different with a summoning focused master like Nicodem or Dreamer, but they have tools designed to be exceptional at it.

Command the Graves Toshiro with Mei Feng is a great upgrade and master choice, but I think you'll find you get more mileage by simply taking efficient constructs like Metal Gamin and Komainu and then using it where Scrap markers appear more naturally. Sensei Yu is great, as is Chiaki, as Condition control is vital, but healing summons is a bit excessive since one of their virtues is being expendable. If you take Yu, I think you're better served with Wandering River style to take push farther upfield to exploit the rail network.

Personally I love Mei Feng at Turf War. With Seismic Claws and multiple models bunched in together she can routinely pull 3 attacks out of a single AP, and if you can get one or two Badass Poses off with Sensei Yu nearby your opponent will not have much luck getting them off.

Take plenty of SS for Prevention flips, and you're still left with enough other models to get schemes done.

No idea how the metal 10T brothers could top any list x.x

Yeah. Yeah that's right. You square a number 1 smaller that actually means multiple square feet smaller. Mathbrains.

Point stands.

Awesome, thanks

Is there an chronicle order of books/chronicles available? 

I think summon spam like that is a bigger issue in that it dramatically slows down games

It depends on what you mean by Movement Shenanigans exactly.

In general, a difference between Malifaux and Warmahordes is that in WMH you have one move/charge, one action each turn where as in Faux, you have set AP you can spend on Movement OR Actions, the most efficient being charges that include a longer than average movement and 2 (1) melee attacks for 2 AP.

As a result, Movement Shenanigans are just as often AP shenanigans. So, you may consider masters like Collodi, the puppeter who functions by turning his actions into targeted, boosted actions by other models.

Also, consider 10T since the Henchmen "Sensei Yu" and Mr. Graves can very effectively push dudes around the table, plus the general upgrade "Wings of Wind" gives any master a versatile push on their minions.

Also also, remember that the Malifaux Board is a square foot smaller than WM/H (3x3), so movement will be more about controlling and manipulating a constant skirmish than about positioning an alpha strike.

Seriously, I hate Yan Lo's beard. Lost the piece in carpet, had to get an entire new box to replace it, lost that piece too. Had to assemble a new one out of green stuff.

Yan Lo's beard is a one man discrimination campaign against stubby fat fingers like mine.

Regarding Oni, you're in luck since we're due to get several in the next wave of Minis (sadly not THAT soon but soonish), including a hulking standing demon and a Spider demon. Plus, we're getting Tengu who are pretty efficient scheme runners, which although not out for a while you can pre-purchase through the upcoming Black Friday sale. Also, although not an Oni Yin the Penangalin is a suitably horrific monster that combos very well with Yan Lo, since if you can give her even +1 Chi through the Soul Porter or Chiaki passing it to her (she is an ancestor) her casting actions go from solid to downright punishing.

Other models wise, a benefit of Yan Lo is that he can work well with most models so you shouldn't have too much trouble taking the stuff you want and still making him work. His primary trick is Lightning Dance, so the key is to Focus on a two tiered approach. Closer to the front you have smaller defensive models, Ten Thunders Brothers would work great here and look good in a L5R motif, and then farther back you'd have Ototo, Oni, or an Undead beater like Izamu or Toshiro. Send the enemy toward your small guy which is standing in charge range of your more fragile beater. 

Synergy Wise, Yan Lo can either play the solo game by focusing on upgrades like Brutal Khahkkara and grabbing the 1 and 3 Ascensions for survivability and Curse/Assaults, OR with he can look for the 2 Ascension which provides extra action economy for spirits, which is unfortunately more of a Resser strategy since Ten Thunders don't have a huge range of spirits to choose from. If you go that direction, you can infiltrate in Ikiryo from Kirai's crew box (they are Retainers), and pass out Spirit to one model a turn, and then basically spam spirit actions.

Also, as suggested above, proxying in for the Shadow Emmisary would be an excellent way to include a large Oni, Bushido has some models that would fit that task quite well, as do more than a few others.

http://www.bushido-thegame.com/sites/default/files/styles/uc_product_full/public/rashka_promo.jpg?itok=p4Fiu6aA

http://www.bushido-thegame.com/sites/default/files/styles/uc_product_full/public/yusha_promo.jpg?itok=Vh4HnPQO

Yeah, it's not their typical practice though.

"In my country if we make a significant change to a product which is documented in the documents that come with it. All documents that describe the former version need to be updated and made available to former buyers for free ... aka pdfs here."

They did. They released updated PDFs of cards and full errata documents for free on their website.

Updating PDFs would be an unearthly hassle people don't seem to fully recognize. I really hope that we have some option for getting updated cards but frankly this is still the best option.

Any other game system would either just compensate by releasing a new op model for each faction that you HAVE to buy in order to make the old OP stuff irrelevant (PP) or force you to buy unrelated products in order to get the upgraded rules for the stuff they didn't balance the first time (FFG)

I hugely prefer a company which makes difficult rules tweaks in the interest of an ongoing playable game vs a company which lets problems fester in interest of not ruffling feathers.

Also, Metal Gamin and Rail Workers are still totally playable, and Mei is still a competitive master bringing in other faction resources. I really can't sympathize with insisting that you want to only play a narrow single aspect of a master you consider fluffy AND also wanting to be on the same competitive tier as people who are willing to be versatile.

You expect Mech rider summons not to die easily? Honestly riders are becoming one of the worst crutches seeing regular play... it's why I can't stand powerful "cycle" models.

Vs Rail Workers... yeah, Rail Workers are probably slightly better if you don't face constructs (hence +1 SS cost) but Gamin are EXCELLENT offensively if your opponent does have constructs, since Magnetism is an excellent attack and mobility source.

I think you're expecting too much out of Railwalk. That is an option to improve Mei's abilties but it's not the be all end all of using her well. Playing with her I rarely chain railwalks more than one or two turns, most times once you're in the thick of things you're better off charging and you generally only need railwalk to escape bad situations or get to a scheme marker. At that point, having dropped an upfield scrap is enough.

It's a huge cuddle no doubt, but I still see Metal Gamin being one of the best picks for a Mei Feng list at their cost and I think further play will only remove the brainless quality of exploiting Protection of Metal.