Bramowy

Ok, back from the event. It wasn't bad after all. As you people said everyone was easy going, friendly, helpful and patient. All in all a very positive experience. I have managed to end up on the 5th place out of 6 participating people. Being newbie it's not bad and I'm very happy with this result. My first game was again Misaki, pulled a draw 9-9. Generally she was killing one or two of my models every turn, until Madame Sybelle decided it's bad for business and ripped her head off with single attack (with the fluorish or something). In the meantime Seamus pulled off 1st turn Detonate the Charges like a boss ( thanks again benjoewoo !!) then terrorised the backfield together with necropunk, dropping scheme markers left and right. Second game was against the boy who summons nasties. Dreamer ? Anyway, got Teddy in my face very fast and table was soon crawling with ugly monsters. I figured out that since winning might be impossible then being obnoxious is the way to go. To my opponent surprise ( he later told me he got Frame for Murder on Teddy counting that Seamus will shoot him) I revealed Catch and Release and Exhaust their forces. Almost everything entered melee, where I refused to hit things. Instead I was handing out slows (Undress) and conditions required for schemes. Also made things like picking up the heads very hard or outright impossible. Meanwhile Seamus was busy hunting the Dreamer. I have not managed to kill him, he had way to many little monsters around him, but due to constant pressure he wasn't able to summon more monsters, which is a big plus. We both ended the game with 3-3, another draw. So far I was undefeated...... Last game I got wasted 10-1. Well, being tired and inexperienced finally had to kick in. I misread scheme and didn't know the golden rule: never bunch up with Nekima around. Yup, the winged lady dropped on five of my models standing very close to each other and that settled the deal. Live and learn I guess. All in one it was very nice day, I had a lot of fun. Thanks to all the people who encouraged me to participate and provided great advice.

Thanks for a very detailed response. Malifaux community is as helpfull and informative as ever. I have already been told that the people I'll be playing against are relaxed and easy going bunch so hopefully they won't spoil Malifaux experience for me. Seamus setting up Detonate the Charges turn 1 blown my mind off ! If the enemy bunch up even a bit and cards won't punish me to much it's easy 3 points. Making such tricks possible makes this game truly great. Forgot to mention that I own Wave 1 Arsenal Box (basically upgrade cards) for Ressers. Does it change much ? Besides how many Flesh Construct do I need to make McMourning viable ? Not planning to use him during tournament, just need to plan future purchases.

Hi ! I just (reluctantly) agreed to participate in my first ever Malifaux tournament. I can't care less about winning, but my goal would be to at least try and play decently. To that end I would like to ask for any useful advice. It might be about list building, how to use models in any of the given strats and schemec etc. Basically anything would be good. The event will take place in Saturday 22nd. There will be three rounds. Local meta ? No idea. 50 SS, fixed factions. Here's schemes and strats: Standard deployment. Strat: Extraction. Schemes: Convict Labor, Show of Force, Hunting Party, Covert Breakthrough, Detonate the Charges, Flank deployment. Strat: Headhunter. Schemes: Convict Labor, Leave the Mark, Exhaust their Forces, Catch and Release, Frame for Murder, Corner deployment. Strat: Guard the Stash. Schemes: Convict Labor, Exhaust their Forces, Take the Prisoner, Neutralize the Leader, Occupy their Turf, As for my models: - Seamus box ( Seamus, Copycat Killer, Madame Sybelle, 3x Rotten Belle), - McMourning Box ( McMourning, Sebastian, Zombie Chihuahua, Flesh Construct, Canine Remains, 2x Nurses), - 3x Canine Remains, - The Hanged, - Yin the Pengalangan, - 3x Necropunks, - 3x Crooked Man. The most of my little experience is with playing Seamus and his crew banded together with a nurse or two. I understand that giving advice based on so little information is hard, but any drop of knowledge would be appreciated.

Right, I promised to tell everyone how it went. Well, good news and bad news. Bad news is that we agreed to play really small game: 20 SS with Henchmen leading the crews. No point starting big, as we are still learning. I brought Madame Sybelle, 3 Belle's and undead dog. My friend fielded group of Nephilims. It consisted of Scion of Black Blood, Terror Tot, Barbaros (leader) and Young Nephilim. We took Reconnoiter for a strategy, Breakthrough and Line in the sand as schemes. The good news is that I have read everything you guys posted, learned from it and managed to put some of it to use. I have played belles before, but it was the very first time when I took my time to actually think before moving and use synergies. Between lures, bonus to Wk from Madame Sybelle and Call Belle all the ladies got catapulted towards the centerline, which gave me a significant advantage for the rest of the game. My opponent relocated his Terror Tot from my left to right flank (this thing is FAST!!!) after noticing that he won't be able to run by 2 Belles without ending up outside the range of Lure. He also moved Young Nephilim on the right flank, preparing to attack my Canine Remains, who held this side of the table. Scion and Barbaros took position in the center. By the end of 2nd turn I had all the markers set for LITS. This costed me a point for strategy as some of the belles were within 6'' of the center zone. It got me worried at first, as I again forgot about all those silly little details in schemes and strategies that make very big difference and usually costed me most of the few games I played so far. Still 1 point is not much of a difference. 3rd turn saw the demise of Canine Remains, which got eaten by Young Nephilim. Together with Terror Tot they had my right side open, ripe for planting markers for LITS and Breakthrough. On the left one of the Belle's managed to run towards enemy deployment zone and planted a marker for Breakthrough. The other one on my left got charged by Barbaros and started to get whacked hard. Yet I had to keep her there for some time and possibly let her die, for as long as she was there the markers for LITS were safe. Madame charged Scion and started to hit him, dealing pathetic 2 dmg with every hit despite me using soulstone once. On the good side she made Scion Insignificant. Last Belle moved towards right side, threatening to spoil most of which Young Nephilim and Terror Tot achieved. At the end of the turn I got a point for a strategy, yay ! My opponent got nothing, as he only held one quarter of the table. Next turn started, I lost initiative, didn't get any card higher than 9. Barbaros kept hitting the poor Belle. When he was done she was standing on 2 HP left, but she was holding. I have only repositioned her a bit. Didn't want to take an attack action, since getting Black Blooded standing on 2 HP didn't seem as a good thing to do. Madame Sybelle kept hitting Scion, missing with first attack and hitting with second.......again for a meager 2 HP. As her last (0) action I Called Belle and teleported the one who put a marker for a Breakthrough. I hoped she will help me finish Scion sooner, but her attacks were pathetic and costed me more HP lost from Black Blood than taken as a result of attacks. Scion tried to retaliate against Madame Sybelle, failed a terror roll and ended up paralysed. Belle who was supposed to interfere on my right flank did well, as she moved forward and removed one enemy marker from the middle line. Terror Tot and Young Nephilim were generally busy with planting markers near my deployment zone and positioning themselves to grab table quarters. He has forgotten about something, which resulted in not getting point for strategy. Can't remember what it was, probably placed the Terror Tot on the line between table quarters. Next turn started, my hand was pathetic again, lost initiative despite spending SS and prepared to say good bye to the belle engaged by Barbaros. She was left on 2 HP, so I didn't even bother to cheat when the enemy henchmen activated. Barbaros took focus, got a straight flip........and flipped Black Joker for all his trouble Now that was really lucky for me, but I stil don't understand why my opponent took focus. He could easily 1 shot the belle, then nimble forward and remove one of my LITS marker. Or just take a second attack. Well, seems I am not the only one who makes mistakes. Anyway Madame finally managed to finish the Scion off, then called the Belle which fought Barbaros. The other one, which was helping her fighting Scion run off again and placed another marker for Breakthrough. Belle on the right hand side put scheme marker on the center line and failed luring Young Nephilim to her table quarter to deny him scoring for strategy. On the last turn (failed initiative again) Barbaros removed one of my LITS marker and placed his own. Everything was now depending if at least one of my Belles manage to Slow Terror Tot or Young Nephilim. I have obviously failed both duels, they managed to run towards the center and put their own markers for LITS. The game ended as a tie ! I have to admit I am very happy with the result and my general gameplay. Finally I have managed to shake off the ' jump all your models on their models and kill them all' way of thinking and focused on VP's. Despite that it was very close and could easily swing into one way or another. I am very happy with the general playing experience. Next time we bring masters, bigger crews and no upgrades. Thanks for all the advices, and seriously, I congratulate everyone who actually managed to read through all that !

Wow, now that's a lot of quality information ! And friendly community, too. I was aware that playing guerilla style warfare with Seamus might take me far, as it did ine the past. There is no doubt that he can easily kill a gamin with 1 Sh attack. The hard part is not getting killed/perma paralysed afterwards. If I was in Raspy shoes I would gladly allow Seamus to .50 cal my gamin so I could move another mirrored model and paralyse him afterwards. Red Chapel Killer won't work here, as gamins and Ice Golem are constructs. Still, it may just work. With Belles supporting him, luring everyone into cold embrace, handing out slow, Seamus and Copycat shooting what's left.........Just need to work on my model placement, calculate when to punce and add a cheap scheme runner. The game(s) is scheduled for Sunday. I will let you guys know how it went. Most probably I'll get my teeth kicked in due to lack of thinking ahead and forgetting about VP's, but that's the FUN! part of learning

Thank you all for answers. I have to admit that the picture painted for me is rather bleak. Trying to fight the her minions in melee as I first planned appears to be a suicide. I most probably won't be able to engage all three gamins at once. It will take just one free minion for Raspy to knock out or paralyse any of my models that will try to tie them up in combat with. Can't win here unless they separate. Seems the only way would be to run McMourning fully loaded with poison together with Sebastian into her face and pray that she won't blast me apart before I unload the bomb into her. Or, failing that, keep something engaging her all the time. Hopefully McMourning is fast enough to get to her on turn 2 after she moves. Even if I manage to close the distance she might still be able to waste McMourning, especially since there is no way for Sebastian to keep up with his master. All that makes me rather sad. Being a newish player I am still afraid to try to ignore enemy models and go after VPs. That would probably have some chances of success against pure melee oriented crew, but Raspy can just park herself somwhere in the middle of the board and cast spells through gamins. With 22'' range my models will start to melt fast. I can replace crooligan with necropunk, but have no access to Bete. My only possible heavy hitters are the zombies from University of Transmortis, but as huntroll mentioned most of them are to slow. Are you sure I should not take a Nurse ? She gives me a nice shot of poison early on and generaly can speed everyone up. I was briefly thinking about going with Seamus and just shoot Raspy dead, but his fear/heal mechanic will just not work here. He will probably teleport, shoot her, deal some dmg and die next turn to a massed ice bombing.

Hi, I'll be playing my McMourning against Rasputina in a few days. My opponent keeps yapping how OMFG POWERFUL she is, how she's going to wipe me from the table with ease by casting through ice gamins, how bullet proof she is, how Ice Golem will keep dealing 9 DMG, how Ice Gamins going to crush my by shooting their friends in melee - yada yada yada. It's getting boring. So please help a scrub out. It's going to be 30 points game, I'm planning to take the good doctor with Moonlightning, Plastic Surgery and evidence tampering. Then Sebastian with Transfusion, Nurse, Rotten Belle and Student of Steel. I know you can't create an all-comer list, it all depends on the scheme and strat etc, but my model pool ain't to big at the moment and can't be to picky. Will that list really going to fold when spells start to fly ? Is going for Raspy early a viable tactic ? Any advice from seasoned players will be very appreciated.

Well, that solves it ! Thanks to everyone who took his/her time to answer

Hi ! Not sure if it was brought up already, but here it goes: 1. Duel against own models. Today I have attacked McMourning with Nurse in order to fill him up with poison. My opponent states that I can elect to loose the duel, sure, but since Df of McMourning is +1 higher than Mi of Nurse I must cheat with a card higher than flipped one. So for example if I flip 11 with Nurse I need to cheat it with 12 in order to succeed. My opinion is that since page 27 says: 'Whenever two friendly models are engaged in an Opposed Duel, the defending friendly model may choose to lose the duel' I need not to cheat even if opposing Df is higher. It's an auto win for attacking model. 2. Rasputina has that upgrade (didn't catch it's name), which allows her to push herself 3'' and get +1 armor. If she does it 3 times during a turn will armor bonus cumulate to +3 ? Not that I care about armor with McMurning, but might be usefull for future. Thanks !

I won 4:5. Yes, this is not the place to put batreps, but you guys helped me out so you at least deserve to know how it went. My friend left Freikorps Specialist at home to even the odds. We went for Stake a Claim for a strategy. My opponent picked Assasination and Murder Protege (wchich he revealed), I took Murder Protege and Take Prisoner aimed at von Schill. On the second turn he kind of exposed Librarian, who ended up lured straight into 3 belles. They took forever (2 turns, 6 activations + pounces here and there) to kill her, earning 2 VPs for scheme. Madam Sybelle spent her sweet time hiding behind terrain or running like hell from von Schill. She did not do much else, but denying 3 VPs to my opponent is a lot. 2 Freikorpsmen didn't do much, except for running into my half and placing markers, sometimes shooting a stray shot at targets of opportunity. Seamus wen guerilla style, back alleying his trapper (took 2 turns to kill him, darn armor +1 !), then raising one of the fallen belles. On the 4th turn he back alleyed into charge range of Schill, which my opponent happily took. That bold move gave me 3 VPs, as Seamus easily survived the attack. As for the Schill himself he wasn't such a Rambo as I feared. He moved on the flank, supported only by some strange trunk, took some potshots at belle's, Seamus and Madame Sybelle, killed just one of the girls nad charged Seamus, winning me the game. Overall I did not care about placing or removing markers at all knowing, that my schemes will probably give me a win as long as Madame Sybelle is alive.

Hi ! Three questions: 1. Pounce. Last time we played my opponent insisted that a single belle may use Pounce ability only once per turn. It wasn't mentioned on the card, supposedly it had something to do with chain activation rules or something. Don't have to say that it made my Belle trap much less usefull. Tonight I have been listening to a podcast about Seamus and learned, that people not only pounce their belles everytime something is being lured into range, it even got a name: belle bomb. So I'm a bit confused right now. Do I get to pounce every time something ends a move in range or not ? As I think of it my opponent was using Black Blood on me every time he got slapped and some chain activation rules didn't stop him from doing that................. 2. Lure. Let's assume my belle is base to base with enemy model. I use lure on it, win the Wp duel. The model can't go anywhere, since it's base to base with me. Will that trigger pounce ? Or does the model need to actually move even a fraction of an inch ? 3. Jump and charge. Can a model with jump use that skill to charge ? If yes then does it count as jump or as a charge ?

I would like to say thank you to everyone who posted in this topic for being helpful and informative. Before playing I'll be visiting a local store to pick up McMourning box. Will any of the models inside ( nurses) be able to rebalance things ? Or is Yin/Hanged a better choice all the way ? There was a huge target painted on the librarian before this post, you guys just made it even bigger.

Hi ! New player here. I have only played 1 game with Seamus, and like three 2 player box set games of Malifaux total. Tomorrow my friend brings von Schill. It's going to be a box against box play. I have read his cards and checked all the info on pull my finger website to learn as much as I can about the other team. I will try to back alley Seamus tu hunt his support models ( trapper, librarian, chest) while doing my best to lure other models away from each other straight into waiting teeth and nails, so they won't be able to support each other easily. As for the Schill....he seems to tough to try to take him down, unless some golden opportunity arise. Perhaps swamping him with Belles will prove to be a better solution ? Anyway I will try to remember about VPs first and killing stuff second. Is there anything wrong with this plan ? Maybe some underhanded tactic I should try to employ ? Any advice will be very helpfull.