hydranixx

Yes, Hayreddin himself only gets the Vitality bonus once per turn from nearby damage - though I'm not sure this even works with Seishin since they are "Only Aether", and thus ignore auras from other models. I haven't checked this out yet. However, there's a trigger on his melee attack () that gives him one additional point of Vitality if he kills the target. I'm just not sure if the target needs to be an enemy or if it can also be on of your own models. The question was for Vitality - Hayreddin's resources - not Chi. Chi gathering isn't capped - you could theoretically get +10 in one turn if lots of things die to enemies near Yan Lo - Vitality on the other hand has a once per turn cap on being automatically gathered. During the course of the entire, 5 turn game, you might end up with more Chi than you can spend, absolutely. However, I've found that the early game often shapes how the rest of the game plays out, so there's a massive premium on acquiring it Turn 1/2. If he's not getting enough resource to work with early on, he's going to struggle to give you the positional, supporting results that he's meant to be doing in the mid game, and at that point I would rather bring a different master who can bring more upfront damage or more upfront summoning. The cap on your Ca bonus from +3 Chi is misleading; getting +3 Chi isn't enough - I want to equip the 1ss and 2ss upgrades on Turns 1 and 2, without exception, but I also want to have at least +3 Chi by Turn 3, so that: - Lightning Dance cannot be stopped. - Instill Youth heals are bigger and/or need lower cards. - Rebuild Corpus works with mid Tomes instead of high Tomes. As for the late game, Bone Ascendant can be equipped on turn 4/5 without reducing the capability of my spells if there is a pressing need for it to be purchased. Alternatively, if there's no need for more damage, I often use up my reserves of Chi near the end of the game on Transcendent and give everyone +2 Armour and Spirit.

Yeah, that totally works too. I didn't think about killing the Punk for more resources since he's a good model, but I do like how you can choose scrap or corpse for Toshiro depending on your control hand and/or what model you want. However, I feel like you should probably hire something without Hard to Wound in the first place and make the process even less card intensive, since you'll need cards to summon with in this case too. Komainu or Ashigaru are good since Yan Lo would be on Ca6/Ca7 against Df4 targets, with s to his damage flips, so he's got decent odds of hitting Severe even without cheating. He can hit twice for Severe both times leaving it on 1 Wound and gaining +2 Chi (in addition to Focus Chi for the +1 when he activates), equip whatever's clever, then Hayreddin activates, finishes off the Komainu/Ashigaru with his automatic trigger for the extra Vitality and flies into position to score or deny points on Turn 2. Does this trigger work on friendlies? I don't have his card currently. If not, Yan could finish it off for a further +1 Chi. This only works if terrain and deployment suits it, but it seems like a nice way to trade early game AP into mid game resources.

Reckon you'll mention some information about the actual series of league matches we're starting soon, here too? Perhaps once we have finalised how we're doing things and who's going to be involved.?

Yan Lo likes Chi. Hayreddin likes Vitality. More importantly, they both like acquiring it in the early game, so they can get access to their upgrades and actions as quickly as possible. This got me thinking about how to gather these resources as efficiently as possible on turn 1, without neutering the rest of the crew itself. Hiring Hayreddin and Yan Lo won't always be the correct choice, hell, its unlikely even to be a "most of the time" thing either. But if it's corner deployment and the terrain suits it... Farm away! Turn 1, Yan Lo ditches a card for Focus Chi, Spirit Barrages a Necropunk, cheats in Severe damage (Hayreddin's to damage aura negates Hard to Wound), gaining +1 Chi and giving +1 Vitality. Yan Lo then spends +2 Chi to equip Spirit Ascendant and uses Fury of the Yomi on your choice of nasty Spirits. Fury of the Yomi is truly Yan's hidden gem; a 3-model Obey that doesn't need any card flipping. This seems nuts with 1 AP Goryo charges, and Datsue Ba's Weigh Sins action when Hayreddin is standing near the enemy. When the Necropunk activates, it heals 2 Wounds, and then goes about scheme running for the rest of the game. If Hayreddin is desperate for more Vitality, he could kill it before it activates with his trigger, but I'm skeptical on whether this would ever be worth sacrificing such a useful model for. Otherwise, he goes last and either flies off to a flank on his lonesome or hunts things in tandem with Datsue Ba. Any thoughts?

I mirror everything that's been posted above. A lot of people come to Malifaux from backgrounds similar to @-Loki-, myself included, where we got sick of losing games purely because our opponent bought the newest release and we did not. There's only so many times you can scoop up half your army to GW's latest $300 robot in the first shooting phase of the game, before walking away from the game. With balance being your biggest concern, just like it was for me, I'm happy that you found Malifaux. There's very good external balance between factions, and reasonably good internal balance within most factions, particularly in Arcanists. Every Arcanist model has a purpose, even the ones that aren't good when you hire them; Cojo, Steam Arachnid Swarms, most Gamin, since these can be summoned anyway. Even with just Rasputina's thematic models, you have enough to pieces to play competitively. When in doubt, add Malifaux Raptors

I also think Misaki is a pretty good fit for starting with. Her Torakage are fast and they can do a little bit of everything. Malifaux is a game of specialists, but a generalist model is nice when you're learning the ropes. Once you've become comfortable with Misaki, you can move onto other masters, while being able to come back to her for strategies where you need your master to be a mobile, accurate source of damage. Mr Graves is a good all-rounder and can help get Misaki where she needs to be. I read his card the other day when I was up against him and was amazed by how much he does for his ss cost. I think he's definitely a viable choice and would be a nice addition as you learn the game. Perhaps start with her boxset, Mr Graves and a Thunder Archer for a few games and see how you go.

Agreed. Interestingly, models like these in a FFM pool bring extra mindgames to the table, as they excel at both potentially being a FFM target and for shutting down potential FFM targets. The Nurse in your example can simply throw high cards at Blood or Langston or Yasunori all game to invalidate them.

Guard the Stash, especially for Rasputina. Headhunter can already be a little difficult for her, but when the player is brand new it's really not a good first-game experience. If you're doing two schemes, try make one of them Frame for Murder/Set up/Entourage etc where you have to specify one model and let your opponent figure out which one. That would immediately show him a part of Malifaux that's very unique - the mind games within mind games type of schemes. The second scheme should probably be one that promotes interacting between models, like Accusation, Mark for Death etc. 1 strat and 2 schemes might be too much though*. My intro game was literally just Turf War with Assassinate as the sole scheme, and while that sounds rather dull, it's still immersive enough for someone brand new to the game to enjoy without being overwhelming. * I think a lot of would-be Malifaux players stop playing shortly after playing their first game or so because there's just so many decisions involved, and some people feel inundated with options and choices to make. Ironsides is the Von Schill of Arcanists, I presume you mean? The Von Schill of Outcasts is Von Schill himself

Oh, I referred to Bazlord. We're in the same country.

I had wounded and tied Bettari and Yasunori down with some summoned models, poised to kill Bettari in my next activation. But with Recalled Training and one of her triggers, she just pushed one of them backwards and charged Molly for half her wounds. I then Lured Molly back to try get away, and in response the Yasunori killed 3 models in combat for with 1 AP (those triggers..) before charging Molly over the top of 3 more models for 1 AP to kill her. You learn pretty quick to respect a 12" threat range with Flight. I think you're absolutely right though. I should not have brought Molly forward until Bettari was removed.

The Miner is plenty on his own if the schemes are marker-based. If there's an interact heavy pool, you might struggle a bit. Honestly though, I think the synergy he has with every other model in your crew makes it kind of a shame to lose anyone. If one of them goes it will lessen the incentive to take him in the first place.

Agreed, number 2 list seems good. I don't know much about campaigns but one of the best things Gunsmiths offer is their versatility and easyish access to Fast. Normal 50ss Malifaux doesn't really care about versatility, and Fast on a 2/3/4 minion isn't exemplary. However, in smaller ss games Fast becomes even more valuable and the versatility they bring is worth so much.

Hey lads and ladies, I've a tournament coming up, and I'm really struggling get to my head around Round 2. Stake a Claim on Standard Deployment. - Hidden Trap - Set Up - Eliminate the Leadership - Leave your Mark I tried this pool last night, where I thought my list had a decent amount of bonus movement between Datsue Ba, Sybelle, Belle and Doxy (Molly was my master) to score Claim, but it wasn't sufficient to drop markers early enough. Laying down markers and then Luring things in seemed promising for scheming, but trying to keep Molly alive against the Bettari+Yasunori combo (I was against Asami so it's very dangerous) is not easy. The model pool I'll have: Seamus, Molly (-Crooligans), Yan Lo boxes. Toshiro, Izamu, Yin, Anna Lovelace, Datsue Ba, 1 Dead Doxy, 1 Necropunk, 2 Goryo, 2 Hanged, 1 Nurse, 3 extra Belles, 2 Onryo, 3 Gaki, 3 Seishin I've hardly ever played Stake a Claim, and never with Ressers, so that's the biggest hurdle for me. I *think* a Necropunk should have been brought in, maybe? Looking forward to any help

Whenever I've played vs Titania - and in fact, against the same player that you refer to, I'm sure @Bazlord_Prime, there's at least one Fears Given Form, and often a second one somewhere else in the crew. Combined with her playstyle, yes, I agree with the OP, it's really quite oppressive if you're not prepared for it. Armour turned out to be really good - FgF and most her attacks & the knights attacks are consistently 2 - 4 damage, so strapping on even just Armour +1 goes a long way towards taking the bite out of the simple duels you can't afford to win. Another good idea to bring some repositioning tricks and try stack the crew together; force him to take those FgF duels instead. I used Ressers so I had Belle Lures etc, but with Gremlins you might have some success with something like Trixibelle's push Lure thing or even better Crackerjack Timing. Healing is tops against this crew as well, and luckily Gremlins seem to have it in spades. If you throw something like Gracie with DC at her, supported with Bugs or what have you, Gracie shouldn't die instantly. This is one of the NB crews, typically, that has fantastic damage over time but not much burst so she should stick around a bit? Also, I also agree that McTavish is really quite nice in this match up for all the usual McTavishy reasons. His (0) will be so useful for you against Titania I reckon.

It doesn't stop abilities or actions, it just means that Conditions from enemy models can't be applied. If an enemy action or ability does 1 damage and applies 1 Burning to a model with the upgrade and near the Blood Ward Mage, you take 1 damage but would NOT get Burning Condition. It's really good with schemes like Accusation and Marked for Death as your model can't get tagged with these Conditions unless the Blood mage dies or pushed away.

I hear Johan can push your models around. It only costs you a and 3 damage. Hmm, Lust is already a welcome addition to Pandora players for making wp duels, doesn't she also have some movement tricks that can target friendlies? I presume Beckoners can push their mates around with their Lure, but they're not as efficient or multipurpose as Graves.

In my eyes, Guild's biggest weakness is that they're fairly static, especially when I compare them to Ten Thunders. They have few instances of Incorporeal or Flight and there aren't many pushes to go around. Most of their damage comes from models that are either slow and shooty (think Riflemen and Austringers) or slow and stompy (think peacekeepers, and until recently, executioners). It's the masters themselves that usually offer mobility to their crew or are super mobile themselves - think McCabe, Perdita, McMourning, Lucius, Nellie, I think, just off the top of my head. If the opponent is well versed with their master/henchman choices, they'll know when and where to apply the few movement tricks they have to great effect. Since you mentioned Lady Justice, we may as well take a quick look at her. While she doesn't hand out a tonne of mobility, she can still give pushes to her Marshalls when she charges (which she will, as often as you let her), much of her crew has Unimpeded, and last but not least, the charges that she performs also ignore intervening terrain/models. She hits decidedly hard, as befits a skilled swords-person with a massive sword, so yes, a strategy of tying key things up will often fall short against her. Also, her 8" spell that nukes Conditions can be very strong against some Ten Thunder crews - say goodbye to your Chi stacks / Defensive Stance+Focused Condition spam / Reactivate+Nimble (McCabe) and all your Oni with Flicker. Guild players have to play quite astutely to work with their slow movement, doubly so if the board is full of terrain. Thunders should be able to achieve your schemes while running rings around them, but if your plan is to hold them in place, a lot of Guild models are going to punish you for it. A quick note on your Keywords, Critical Strike, and to a slightly lesser extent Armour, are plentiful in the faction, you're right on both those points. However, Bury is a mechanic that is pretty much exclusive in Guild to Lady J's Marshalls and their Emissary. You won't find anyone else using it.

I face off against a pretty scary Shenlong player often enough, and it's really rough to play against the first few games. Peasants secure Focus for other models, use up activations, then get sacrificed and resummoned. With your list, you'll be fully activated and an average Shenlong crew will likely still have 2-3 models left to go with. Any decent shooting model becomes exemplary with Shenlong and Peasants handing out Focus like they do; snipers are undoubtedly popular, but I've also seen Archers, Samurai, Dawn Serpents etc getting out of hand. I've double Vent Steam'd in Hard Cover with Mei and the Sniper can still get a straight flip if he wants to hit something. If you're against a shooty Shenlong list, particularly if Snipers are present, engage as soon as you can or prepare to get wiped off the board by turn 3/4. Schemes and deployment allowing, aim to get all of your models into combat by end of turn 2. If there's multiple melee fighters (The Lone Swordsman/Yasunori/Izamu/Jorogumo sometimes), especially with Emissary or Sensei Yu present, you really can't stop them getting wherever they want to go. As mentioned above by others, they will all get some combination of Fast/Focused and get pushed into Cg range of your things. The plus side is all these things are very costly. There's not many SS left over once your opponent buys Sensei Yu, some shooters and a melee combatant or two, saves a few for his or her cache and all the upgrades he'll want in there (there's lots of popular 2ss upgrade choices...). Depending on the schemes and the Shenlong list, I'd either bait the melee elements in his or her crew into overextending or if they're not too scary (which indicates he's probably gone very shooty or schemey) just go balls to the wall and get engaged with everything you have, as soon as you can. If you're able to catch their Melee model(s) facefirst with Strongarm Suit or vS himself, maybe even Hannan, you should probably survive and be able to heal up. They're all tough as nails as not many Ten Thunder models ignore Armour (though definitely be wary if you're up against The Lone Swordsman. Hiding in combat with your models will force Shenlong/Yu to re position their friends instead of handing out/ stealing Conditions. Good luck!

Foiled again! I should read the fine text more. Agreed, it did seem too good to be true. He's not a true beater model. Too much of his ss cost is spent on utility and positioning, which is each really good for support, but is wasted text when you're primarily interested in using him to punch things. He's almost always going to buy Patron's Blessing, but at that point 9 wounds for a 12ss model sucks. He does do a lot for Kaeris though. If you own him already, try him out to see how you find him. But don't make him your only source of damage, and perhaps don't spend all his AP on his Relic Hammer.

Well, perhaps more forgiving terms are in order, over-costed does describe it better. Anytime you would consider hiring one of them, it's probably worth checking if you're not better off spending more and taking Valedictorian outright.

Yeah, it's legit. You cheat your lowest card for the target and any card 3-6 higher than that for Kaeris, depending on how much damage you need to do. Have a spare 3 and 7 in hand? That's one dead Malifaux Child right there, even if the initial flips are awful, for cards that were unlikely to change much.

@retnab to be fair, not much can kill Yan Lo once he powers up and Yin & Izamu are each a pain to deal with in their own way, not to mention being healed and/or resummoned. You had an easy time securing Leave Your Mark and Hunting Party and could have done Claim Jump with your eyes closed so I think your list is totally fine. Rather than critique the list, consider the game flow and choices made in game once schemes were revealed. Once your opponent reveals Last Stand and Accusation, I might focusing on killing off my own models. You wouldn't drop heads and your opponent didn't take Hunting Party, so it's not a liability for those. Both the Malifaux Child and Arachnid are now expendable, while The Firestarter doesn't add much once he's secured Leave Your Mark (IE + Reckless do it in record time and helps wound himself in the process). One weird quirk is that Kaeris can efficiently use Grab and Drop to kill her friends since cheating their Ht duel with a low card basically yields 5 or 6 damage outright. This would almost oneshot the Arachnid, Firestarter, Envy or Malifaux Child for example or could take out anyone else who's low on wounds. It also solves tarpitting issues (Izamu/Yin are annoying to get away from with Walk actions) so getting to place 7" away for (0) and picking up a Heads and/or double or triple Walking away is going to work wonders for Kaeris. Consider when you used Grab and Drop against Yin two turns running - if you instead used this spell on a friendly model in each of these turns, you'd be two model counts lower, potentially denying Heads, Accusation targets and Last Stand. It's easy to reflect on these kinds of things after games, though. I understand it's hard to pick up on these little interactions and choices during a complex game like this one.

Fair call. Yeah, it does seem very expensive when it's just for cards. Part of me wants to justify it because the Doxy gets to push Philip or a high value model of your choice - Izamu/Rogue Necro/Sybelle as a biproduct of this scheme marker generation. I will try with and without the Doxy to see how I feel about this.

Or if you don't mind the Black Blood! He can get hurt pretty bad when all his friends around him keep getting hit, since Molly doesn't lend this ability to him. This happens to Sybelle too, as for some reason she isn't a Belle herself. The fact Molly doesn't give Non Belles + Horrors/Spirits Black Blood, nor can she lend them her (0), slightly waters down the incentives to hire some of them. Sybelle and Toshiro are still great force multipliers even with the above applying, and can still be the correct choices, but the player needs to keep these limitations in mind during hiring and playing.

Students can be either exactly what you need, or overpriced garbage. You never really know what type of enemy models you'll be up against, but the ability to bring in whatever tech you need, is one of Horror Molly's biggest strengths, by far. For example, if your opponent says he's playing Arcanists, his crew could either be very Armour heavy with almost no Living models, perhaps a construct-based list, or have an entire Living crew which completely lacks Armour, such as a Beast or Academic based lists. In the first case, the Student of Steel will be fantastic while the Student of Viscera will be useless, while in the second case, it's vice versa. The same is true against Resseructionists - will he bring spirits or undead? Again, either the Student of Sinew is a great choice or a terrible one, and you won't know until he reveals his crew, so it's better to summon them. Everyone will tell you that Punk Zombies are good, and they're all right. Their attacks are good, they're reasonably resilient and they are not card intensive ('s on their attacks). Even so, these guys share one trait with Students in that they're both slow and relatively expensive, so they waste a lot of their AP and your SS by slowing walking around when you hire them. Instead, summon them in against 'generic' enemies that aren't heavily countered by one of the Students. If you can get it close to 2 or more enemies, they'll get enough wounds to make their Hard to Kill worthwhile; this is one of their strongest abilities. Valedictorian can be very good with Molly. She's already a painful model for your opponent, so when she gets Black Blood added for free, it's even more horrible to face. Molly's limited upgrade can offer her a free (1) AP action, which does a lot for her. She can fly 6" during Molly's activation, then chain activate when Molly's done and begin Flurrying. With a damage track of 2/3/6, Focusing is also an appealing choice. The free (1) action to Focus before Walking and then attacking is very welcome. I've also heard good things about Archie with Molly so you might want to give him a spin. He would probably replace The Valedictorian as they're both quite expensive and you can only offer the (1) free action once per turn anyway. My observations with Philip is that he is superb if the schemes are scheme marker or interact heavy, and still decent if otherwise. If you lend him Molly's (0) he can give you some cards or set up Chatty without losing Manipulative, which is always nice. I like to give him some scheme marker placement support to get cards flowing in the early game. My choice is a Doxy, which can lay 2 markers per turn while also moving Philip up to 8" with her (0), so that he's not left behind as you move up. All of this is opinion-based of course, so feel free to test things for yourself to see where your preferences lie.