Jinn

The push for fast thing is on a 2SS upgrade, so you'd also need to let them take upgrades with the restriction of "model name" as well.

Yeah, having Wp7 and Terrifying (13) living let her easily block the stolen's attacks. My opponent didn't bring any other bleeding disease attacks besides Hamelin, so she was able to survive by running out of range.

I've mainly played Mei Feng, Asami and Misaki in TT, though I just got Yan Lo, so don't take my silence on some of the other masters as thinking they're bad against Hamelin. I would not recommend playing Asami into Hamelin as he can easily obey Oni to (1)action charge her when they are within 4 of her, which also deals a damage to her. Also, Yokai like to charge and Hamelin has an 8 no charge zone. Misaki would like to be able to charge, but I think with her new storm upgrade she may be one of the better picks against Hamelin with those ranged blasts killing rats and the stolen quite easily. Mei Feng should be solid against Hamelin with her anti-cast aura and her ability to get a lot of attacks against model spam. Her summoning with Toshiro should allow you to keep up with Hamelin later in the game. You may want to bring a Katanaka sniper to threaten the rat engine on the first turn. Even if you can't stop it, you may be able to slow it down by killing a rat. You probably want to bring a couple of Monks of Low River to remove blight (and heal) and maybe Chiaki for the same reason. Also, with Hamelin's new plague pits upgrade you will be unable to avoid getting blight on many of your models. You will also get to obscenely high blight if you get into combat near one as you'll get +1 for activating and +1 for every action after that, (0) actions unfortunately included. I had my Ama No Zaka on ~20 blight by the end of my last game against Hamelin.

Just realised an interaction between Asami's Totem, the Amanjaku, and the Shadow Emissary. Using the Amanjaku's action that increases conditions you can increase Destined on the Shadow Emissary by +1 for an unsuited 9. Using this you can get the (0) action on the Emissary for Focused +1 on every friendly model on turns 3/4/5 (if you get 1 point of the strategy each turn and increase it to Destined +2 with the Amanjaku). Getting Focused +1 on every model is a really powerful effect, and getting it in 3 times a game starting on turn 3 is way better than mostly just once a game starting on turn 4, assuming that you score the strategy on every turn after the first. Alternatively just increasing it for the healing may be worth it, but if you bring the Amanjaku you probably have better things to be using a 9 on. Has anyone tried this out and, if so, how did it go?

Obviously a lot changed between the start of the beta and the end of the beta and then will have changed again by release, but my (tiny) local group who played a few games found the card draw of Abyssinia very potent. I'm not trying to start a balance discussion when obviously the game's final incarnation isn't even out yet, I'm just trying to find out if anyone else had a similar experience pertaining to the beta version of Abyssinia, or if this was just my group overreacting. We had 1 player of each faction except for Gibbering Hordes, so a rather small sample size. My faction during the beta was Abyssinia, so my opinion on whether or not they were too strong may be a bit biased.

@KingCrow I've found that having an enemy get into melee with my mage ball usually ends pretty badly for them simply because they can so easily be pushed 4-6" out by the melee mage and then have to deal with the other two mages possible furious casting them. Also, that (0) action gets deadly fast when near a few academics, especially for the + mage who has the inbuilt execute. I feel that the Oxfordians are a bit too strong at 15SS for three, at least when combined with the discard the upgrade (and a card) to reduce 2 damage ability.

Hmm... I can't really see much extra synergy beyond what they have with Wokou raiders. Is it the fragile? I feel like if your 8 cost beater is spending their activation setting up a model for your master beater to kill, you might be doing something wrong. Misaki should be able to kill a model without help, you'd hope (though that min 2 does make that a challenge sometimes, I guess). Maybe her new The Thunder upgrade makes it easier for you to get them up to a respectable Ml on their 3/4/6 attack? Thinking about models made for Misaki makes me wish there was a model in TT with stalk (other than sensei yu)...

The action doesn't specify that the markers have to be placed within range, they specify that you place them within 12" of the casting model. If the wording was "within range and within 12" of this model" I would agree with you. The markers also don't need LoS which is also quite weird..

The weird thing is that the Night Terror's aura would reduce her range stat to 8 but she would still place the markers within 12" by this interpretation, which I think is unintended. I just hope an official ruling of some kind is made so we know whether this is intended.

Why would you ever bounce it if you don't benefit from a range increase though? It doesn't have a Line of Sight requirement.

My problem with that is that when you are most able to get value out of that (0), if your opponent wins initiative they can just block it by activating the minion and taking that valuable 1AP Saber charge. An ability as niche and conditional as that being so easily blockable as soon as it is actually usable is really annoying.

I don't think it's worth running the Emissary with her anymore now that Flaming Angel exists, and I don't take gunsmiths with anyone. I mainly run the Oxfordians, Carlos with warding runes and often the Firestarter with warding runes for that free reckless.

Why would the Rg value be required for the Wendigo? It would just place the markers within 12" of itself, like Raspy.

I think it might just be an oversight, not intentional, as it seems like it is intended to be Rg 12. I hope it is FAQed or Errataed as it seems pretty weird for Raspy to be unable to cast through her models with one of her spells when that's her entire gimmick.

I don't think Challenge the Crowd is anywhere near good enough to be autotake now that Ironsides has two new upgrades to take up two of her slots and with adrenaline being a condition, Armor +1 being a condition, and the Oxfordian Mages being incredible for 15SS, Warding Runes is hard to justify not taking as it blocks most cleanses (almost all) and gives the Ox. buffs. Now on to upgrades you never take: Skinwalker Both of Colette's new upgrades (they are so bad, they seem like they were designed with pre-nerf Colette's power level in mind) You've covered most of the actually horrible ones, I only disagree with a few of your assessments. To Command Another Plane is amazing simply for the to attacks 3 Gamin upgrade. I guess that might just be a meta to meta difference, depending on how much killing goes on. In GG2018 killing seems somewhat prevalent, especially at range for the Public Execution strategy, so I expect this upgrade to be even more effective there. Well, my opponents hate when I take it, which is good enough for, me and it has good synergy with the Union Steamfitter to conveniently draw the face card I flipped for initiative into my hand on turns where initiative matters less.

Be wary of enemy crews who summon a large amount of models or are able to kill a lot of models, like the Viks, in low SS games. Malifaux is balanced around 50SS games and in smaller games the Viks are going to be a lot more effective. If the Viks kill two models in a 26SS crew they might have killed half or even more of your models, if they do the same in a 50SS game they have a much lower impact. For Ironsides in particular, the Viks are pretty scary as you usually want to be in melee against your opponent. What I would recommend is making sure your board has sufficient blocking and impassable terrain to block a portion of possible charge vectors and then sacrifice a model or two to slow the Viks down in their alpha strike by blocking even more charge lanes. After the Viks go for the kill they should be vulnerable to counterattack (unless the new upgrades are in play, I don't have any experience with those). The advice below is more general, and not specific to the Viks match up. To maximise your chances in a small game you should probably bring all three Oxfordians with both their rune upgrades and the new patch upgrade that makes them cheaper. You get all three for 15SS with good synergy with Ironsides. You should probably be aware that The Captain is considered a rather poor model, as is Ironsides totem Mouse. You should probably grab Ramos's box for Joss and Langston (and Ramos) who both go well with Ironsides and will put you closer to a 50SS crew which most people recommend you start playing sooner rather than later (or at least 35SS, 26SS is insanely low). Other great models to pick up on their own are Johan and the Arcane Effigy who will enhance your crew a lot and get you closer to the 50SS mark. One of the new models from book 5 can give her Armor +1 until the end of the game, which is really good. The new upgrades for Ironsides should be in stores soon, or if you can get your hands on the new book, you should be able to try them out from there. They make Ironsides a lot better. Her new 2SS upgrade makes her not have to lower adrenaline at the end of the turn and gives her a new (0) action, and her new 1SS upgrade makes her generate +1 adrenaline when she activates and allows her to heal on a trigger (which is inbuilt) on her (1)Ml action. Good stuff.

Isn't that 12" the Rg? If it isn't, then why does the spell even have an Rg value?

I just don't use those models.

Must have: The Arcane Effigy (the only model I'd consider in literally any list) That's it. Other than that, masters can mostly do their own thing with wildly differing crews. Good to have outside of crew boxes: Johan Angelica Mobile Toolkit Never hire: Molemen Razorspine Rattler Cojo The Captain Metal Gamin (still summon them sometimes) Fire Gamin (still summon them sometimes) Poison Gamin The Ice Golem Mouse Eternal Flame (the Malifaux Child is just better) The Scorpius (unless poison Marcus actually works) Hoarcat Pride Rail Golem Essence of Power Probably missing a few models, but that's my list.

If there are some competitive Arcanist players in your meta you might want to ask them for some advice, as that advice will be more tailored to what your local opponents will be bringing against you. Also you should try to find opponents who are willing to play some less competitive games, I personally wouldn't enjoy playing nothing but hyper competitive lists, especially as a newer player. Warding runes will block lures from Belles (and a few other models) entirely and make other types of lures and cast actions much harder to get off against you. If you don't have the upgrade on hand, it gives Counterspell to the model it is attached to. It is rare 2 and can be attached to any henchman and also Ironsides. The counterspell removing their printed suits means that Rotten Belles cannot, ever, lure the model with warding runes attached. The other thing Warding Runes does is give some benefits if your model is within 10 of the Oxfordian Mages, a different benefit for each mage. One mage gives regen +1, one mage gives to Df duels with the enemy master, and the other mage makes you immune to conditions applied by enemy models (this one is really good). The mages were recently buffed so that if you hire all three they cost 1SS less each and they are little bit tankier, this requires their new 0 cost upgrade from Ripples of Fate. The Oxfordian mages and Warding Runes are pretty good against Ressurs and Neverborn because of their cheap cost (15SS for all three, and they can dish out some serious hurt and conditions) and their to Wp while in LoS of a friendly M&SU master or henchman model. At 6Wp they can make your opponent spend a lot of resources to take down some pretty cheap models. Because they can hand out burning with their attacks they are really good with Kaeris, as she is M&SU. From what I've heard, Ironsides with her new upgrades from broken promises is a massive pain for your opponent to deal with, so there has never been a better time to play her. Against Neverborn you're probably going to want a lot of condition removal; if you don't have the Arcane Effigy you should probably get it for this reason (and because it is amazing). Collodi, Pandora, Zoraida, Lilith and Titania can give out some really annoying conditions so you may want to go all out and bring Johan (who is extra good in Arcanists because of his M&SU synergy) for his cleanse, as well as the Effigy. Johan also ruins Collodi's day with his Relic Hammer. If your meta is competitive then the new upgrades and models from Broken Promises are probably going to begin making appearances soon and you'll want to pick the upgrade deck up, or get the Arcanist upgrades off of someone. Of the new models, I'd recommend getting some Union Steamfitters because an Armour +1 Ironsides is very scary, and so is a Ramos who draws his 11+ back to hand after he summons three spiders. Steamfitters can also drop scheme markers, generate scrap and give burning to armoured enemies. I'll just finish off this post with a common and powerful Arcanist strategy you may or may not be aware of involving Myranda and Imbued Energies. It is quite simple: you hire Myranda with Imbued Energies and then use her (0) action to transform (into the Cerberus or Blessed of December typically) which sacrifices her, allowing the death clause on Imbued Energies to trigger drawing you four cards. Good luck and I hope some of this helps.

The upgrade it gets to take with Rasputina gives it Frozen Heart and the Node ability which makes raspy not consider it engaged for the purposes of her abilities.

Nooooo! Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a good reason to bring the Emissary one of these days... Just not today.

Wow. So if you bring the Emissary and the Essence of Power with Sandeep you can negation the EoP and still summon the Banasuva? That is highly interesting considering the fact that his crew benefits a lot from the +1 Ca aura. I may have to try this out...

She has a big 10 upgrade that stops that from happening though. That aura is another reason why Lilith deleting Asami really hurts.

You think that's bad? What really hurts is playing a 5 Wp master into her and then getting it deleted t1 or t2, and, if your master survives, the doppelganger lets your opponent win initiative for a full Lilith activation of suffering. I kind of wish it had a non-master clause or something so I didn't feel hard countered when playing Asami. Or that master of malifaux didn't allow her to see through enemy models as well as her own and terrain, so that you would have some counterplay.