iamsssk

As a bit of a Razorspine connoisseur, I'll state for the record that I can count on... probably two hands, the number of times my razorspines have hit and damaged things (and caused poison). It's not what they're good at or what they're there for.

Good stuff! A pleasant read and some good detail in there. I'll ignore the Ramos games because all I know about him is that it's usually amusing to Alpha him... Your claim crew is one I ran at UK Nationals last year, but with a Razorspine rather than the Performer and Raptor. Similar to your experience, I went hyper agressive and got a big win. If you can get a Cerberus attacking Sonnia, particularly if she's domesticated, she simply disappears. I believe that's how Sonnia has died in every single game I've played against her (maybe sometimes with a shillelagh to the face too). It also helps that you can usually do it either as the last activation of turn 1, or the first of turn 2. Another way you can do it is to put Darzhee's Chaunt on the Cerberus (assuming it's the last activation of the turn) which makes you run through so many cards the tombs just pop out left right and centre... but obviously it's easier for Sonnia not to be able to cheat. My usual approach is (after opponent is all activated) Myranda walk-walk-cerberus, Marcus walk-Alpha (plus 0's), AlphaCerberus Walk-leap, Cerberus leap-charge. That way you can pretty much get to the far side of the table with it before your opponent can react, and because Myranda has died you have 4 extra cards in hand for Mauling. The Headhunter crew is an interesting one. With Quick Murder in the pool, the Cerberus is always a risky option. Obviously without that your opponent would just have picked Myranda, which is even worse, but Cerberus's rarely survive games. This is where someone like Joss or a Rogue Necromancy (or a Dawn Serpent?) is useful to have in your back pocket just in case. I'm intrigued with the Gunsmith. They're lovely models, and I've had some success using them with Kaeris, but with Marcus I'm not sure that they pull their weight. Me being me, I'd take a Razorspine instead, but the other obvious alternative is the December Acolyte. That being said, I do appreciate people trying "non-standard" compositions, and if Gunsmiths work for you, then keep using them. Hard to Kill and their triggers are certainly good things to have. You were unlucky to lose 3 big models to Lilith in 1 turn. It may have been better to hit people in the face, rather than Alpha Lilith, but it's certainly not a bad play. Again, at Nationals I had a game where Marcus ended up in melee with Lilith and Nekima at the same time. If you Feral Lilith (wp5) and melee nekima with your trigger (df5), neither of them can hit you, because you can just use your defensive trigger to stick the damage on the other one... very funny. Also Law of Meat can be useful for shutting down Nekima (if you can get rid of Johan). Either way, an 8-10 is certainly not a bad outcome, and as you say, the deck can ruin the best laid plans. Sounds like you had good fun. I look forward to your Kaeris games (the only other Arcanist I have a reasonable amount of experience with).

Wooo, let's hope for a re-match. Our games last time were 2 of my favourite of the year! Dave/sssk

Hopefully I'll be around for this one.

Hi David and James, I've registered on Bag O Tools, but might as well add here that I'll be Neverborn (yes, Neverborn, not Arcanists!) for both this and League of Extraordinary Henchmen. Ta Dave/sssk

Could I go for Imge Lamb (Kofte) please. I'm only small, so fine without a starter. Cheers Dave/sssk

Getting back onto topic, you have plenty of hitters and plenty of survivable stuff there. Aside from Marcus himself, you're lacking a bit of scheme running potential. While Cassandra is an obvious scheme runner, I much prefer molemen instead. They're cheap, so you get more activations, survivable, so they're good for more than just putting down scheme markers, and they're minions, so count for the various strategies which require minions in specific places. People also like Silurids for scheme running, which is valid, but as you don't really have many cheap activations (Jackalope being the exception), molemen would certainly be a good investment, which you wouldn't regret. Dave/sssk

Sometimes there's a place for three of something. Wind gamin are the obvious example (in headhunter specifically... in which case some folks use 6!). I often run 2 Molemen, and certainly for beginners with small collections, I can see 3 molemen being of use for various things. Most of the time though, I generally use 1 of each model I have in my crew (molemen are a special exception)... except Razorspine Rattlers, where I'll often use 2 to give me a nice solid core to the crew.

Still need to sort out my calendar of stuff for this year, but if I'm free, I'll be there.

I very much agree with the two above posts (Joss is excellent at filling in a lot of gaps which Marcus crews often have, I've not used Shikome myself, but I've seen them used to good effect by others). My approach is usually just to hit armoured things extra hard. That means I can build my crew to achieve my schemes and strategies/counter my opponents, and don't need to play the mini-game of "do I need to counter armour". That being said, often Joss is a good solution to many things (he's much better at tanking than most other things) in my experience.

Yup. One of my most common Alpha's is to turn Myranda into the cerberus, Alpha to leap/walk, and then activate to leap/charge and get eating. Gives an outrageous range (particularly when you consider Myranda can walk 12 and then turn into a Cerberus), which is very good for taking out squishy things which are hiding.

Glad you enjoyed it. On a related topic, here's another post: https://playitlikebeatdown.wordpress.com/2016/12/12/pigs-in-blankets/ This time it's a report from "Pigs In Blankets", a tournament I was at over the weekend, and my final tournament of 2016. Enjoy Dave/sssk

Well, what a day. I had an absolute blast, hope everyone else did too. Thanks to everyone who voted my Kaeris best painted (I honestly think you're wrong, but hey, time to whip out the paint brushes again!). Also thanks to my three opponents, Owen, Alex, and Alessandro. If any of you lot are on twitter, come find me (@iamsssk). Every game was an absolute joy. Finally, once again, thanks to McPigish for running an excellent tournament. If you keep running them, I'll keep attending (if I'm available). Cheers Dave/sssk

Hi folks The final of the Nationals posts is up at https://playitlikebeatdown.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/nationals-the-aftermath/ It's general reflections on the tournament etc Enjoy Dave/sssk

Hi folks, The final game of UK Malifaux Nationals 2016 is up at https://playitlikebeatdown.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/nationals-game-7-living-the-dream/ Slightly more detailed than the others. There'll be a summary of my thoughts on the tournament in a follow up post sometime soon. Enjoy Dave/sssk

Hi folks, We've nearly made it! Here's the third nationals post about games 5+6, ie the first 2 games on Day 2. https://playitlikebeatdown.wordpress.com/2016/11/18/national-games-56-the-use-of-actual-tactics/ Enjoy Dave/sssk

Molemen are my standard scheme runners even outside Marcus crews (well, sometimes Cassandra, depending on schemes etc). They're fantastic

A fascinating question. The obvious answer is that I have a bit of a reputation in the UK as "the guy who uses rattlers", it's kind of an ongoing joke, and to some extent I put them in for fun a few times where other "better" (don't get me started on the massive flaws in X is better than Y logic in Malifaux) stuff would fit equally well. For instance for 1 stone more I get Cassandra, 1 stone less I get Willie, or for the same I get a December Acolyte, all of which the Internet will tell me are better than Rattlers. I like them though. For a 3 year old overview of my thoughts on them, check out https://playitlikebeatdown.wordpress.com/2013/11/17/something-special/ from back in the days when I wrote ludicrous essays for blog posts with no pictures (Scroll down to "THE RSR POST" in order to not get totally bored out of your skull with a massive rambling pile of pointless intro). Fundamentally, they're excellent defensive models. If I want to have a model in an area, and have it stay there, I will probably use a Rattler. wk 5 is alright, df6 is ace, 9 wounds is ace, terrifying 11 is hilarious (Lilith failed it with only a 13 and red joker in her hand to get her out of it). On the off chance my opponent wants to disengage, they probably won't manage it. Slither lets them get to precisely where they want to be to hold up as many models as possible. They're good for Exhaust/Catch and release/Mark for death etc, as the opponent often can't kill them, and can't disengage from them, so my Rattler can just keep on Exhausting, which isn't a bad thing, as the attack is fairly mediocre. Cerberuses have diminishing returns when taken in numbers. Myranda turning into one is great. In some strats/schemes, hiring one is good (to go alongside the one which Myranda will inevitably turn into), but you only have so many masks and tomes in your deck (and even less in your hand), and if a Cerberus isn't leaping and getting a few extra attacks, I tend to find it a bit mediocre. Long story short, I would never go anywhere near 3 or more cerberuses because they're too specific. Rattlers are more "jack of all trades".

Hi Dave, apologies, payment seemed to fall at the first hurdle yesterday (not sure why). Sent again for both events today (Dave Chandler). Cheers Dave/sssk

Hmmmm, for some reason payment didn't seem to go through yesterday. Sent again today for Dave Chandler for both events. Apologies Dave/sssk

Might as well post here too, payment sent for both events (Dave Chandler)... but what faction to play....?

Payment sent for both events (Dave Chandler). With Dave and James organising and Connor attending, this is already shaping up to be an awesome weekend.

yargh, suffering from the curse of the first weekend of the month. Always busy at the moment. Sorry, will try harder next year. Dave/sssk

*cough* https://playitlikebeatdown.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/nationals-games-12-stumbling-out-of-the-blocks/ *cough* How did that get there? Must've slipped

Hi folks, It's a long time since I've lingered in this thread, but having played Marcus 6/7 games at UK Nationals over the weekend (and arguably should've used him instead of Kaeris in the other one...), I thought I'd just throw some thoughts into the blender and see if anyone wants to try a delicious smoothie. Whilst I adapted my crew to strats/schemes, I did seem to stick with a base crew of: Marcus - Trail, Feral Instincts, Hunger Cry Jackalope Myranda - Imbued energies 2 Razorspine Rattlers (I only used one in the final game) Then added for particular schemes/strategies were: Cerberus (with or without imbued energies, depending on stones) 2 Molemen (sometimes only 1) Night terror Willie Cassandra Johan (once) In general I really enjoyed getting back into Marcus, and was pleasantly reminded of how manouverable, hitty, and (to my surprise) defensive he is/can be. I maintain that while he can do some serious work himself, Alpha is a phenomenal ability. Most of the time he was hanging out pretty much in the middle of the board, putting in attacks, and holding up enemies as needed. His highlight was turning Lilith and Nekima into Beasts, and holding up my opponents whole crew for a turn (he survived another turn too), giving the rest all the time they needed to bag Victory Points. Cerberuses are cerberuses, enough said. Myranda was excellent, and always turned into a Cerberus. Minor note which you may not have tried, I turn her into a Cerberus very aggressively purely for the card draw if I need it at the time. Obviously she has a lot of power as Myranda, but if I need those cards, then I'm afraid she's getting sacrificed. The Jackalope was its usual annoying self. I don't think it hit anything with melee attacks, but it was surprisingly good at disengaging strikes, and in one game survived 2 belles attacks for 3 turns running (keeping them in melee so they didn't count for Interference). Razorspines were great for holding objectives and surprisingly good at objective running too. Their defense and wounds is hilarious when most people haven't played against them. I like them for exhausting models and holding things up in melee, plus their slither action lets them get models into melee easily, which stops a lot of scoring in Gaining Grounds 2016. Attacking with them was a last resort if they had nothing else to do, and didn't achieve a great deal. Molemen are excellent scheme runners, and I particularly liked taking them a few times when Leave Your Mark was available, faking it, and then pulling them back for various strategy reasons. They're great little tanks too, and obviously good for re-summoning the Jackalope, and defending Marcus (Defend Me). I hadn't used Night terrors much before, but my word they're fantastic. Most stuff needs to be able to deal 5 damage to kill them in 2 hits, and they're manouverable enough to get wherever you need them. Also in Gaining Grounds 2016 many of the schemes/Strategies purely require Minions to do things, not "significant" models, so they're great cheap minions for interference, Guard the stash, etc. I doubt if Cassandra, Willie, and Johan need much comment as they're excellent models, though I found Johan to be very disappointing this time. This may be because I usually use him with a heavy M&SU Kaeris crew, so he usually gets positives to hit, and he just seemed thoroughly underwhelming with Marcus. Anyway, I ended up going 4 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses (one to the tournament winner, and UK number one), and came 32nd/123, so it was a pretty good result. Hope this inspires folks to return to book 1 a bit. There's some flippin' good stuff in there. Dave/sssk