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TheJoyInGaming

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Everything posted by TheJoyInGaming

  1. Just wait for them to start posting in the Rules Forum
  2. You have typed a lot to parse through. I will try to contribute to each, likely insufficiently. I have given some deal of thought in the past to my own perspective, and the various factors that have likely contributed to its development, and I have come to the conclusion that the only objective fact about the matter regarding the issue is that I personally have a problem with it. Various people groups have their own views on the matters of sex and violence, and their respective places in media and entertainment, and I find it unlikely that I have stumbled upon some grand truth that God happened to forgo writing in Scripture that must be preached to the masses. More likely, my perspective was formed by my immediate family, and that perspective will no doubt be impressed upon my children. I pray I adequately teach them they can have an opinion without beating someone over the head with it. (As an aside, the Bible Belt does have a very unhealthy view of sex... I suggest a daily reading of Song of Songs.) I cannot say much about your perspective regarding the brushing-over of the... less digestible... parts of the time period except that I agree 100%. I know not why the range of Malifaux models have been designed thus far, but I hope that broader market appeal hasn't constrained any designer's desire to portray the time period's nitty gritty details because it is possible to portray realism respectfully. Ultimately though, I believe Wyrd should design the game however they want to and I will likely keep supporting them in the future, barring something truly Wyrd happening.
  3. I am glad you brought this up! Personally, the reason I am able to happily play a game with violence and killing, whilst still balking at plastic skin, is because I find I am able to more easily stop myself from being influenced by the former than the latter. To elaborate, when I play Hamelin and use his brainwashed, disease-ridden children as pawns to Plant Explosives* before being eaten by a few Rats, or a gigantic spider-demon, I do not bring that home to my family. I don't fill my kids with pox, and I don't have them try to commit acts of terrorism. I don't harbor any secret desire to do so, nor do I feel one developing. I am a very image oriented person though. When I see models like Youko, or M2E Nekima, their exposed skin does catch my attention initially, and my firm conviction is that the only exposed skin I should expose myself to is my Wife's. I feel to do the opposite is to dishonor her, and my God (again, my conviction is derived from my religious beliefs). All that being said, I would never try to shame anyone from feeling differently than I do about the skin issue, nor would I insist on my perspective being catered to. *Yes, I know they are Insignificant...
  4. Takeaways- Non-Keyword General I decided to begin this section with a brief description on the inherent opportunity cost of hiring any non-Keyword models into Hamelin's crew. One must always consider the careful balance between hiring Blight vectors, and Blight payoffs, when building Hamelin. Some models, like Nix and Hamelin himself, can act as both a vector and a pay-off model, and as such they can prove to be doubly valuable. Inversely, any OOK models hired are going to contribute neither to the crew's synergies. They will need to both plug significant enough gaps in the crew and contribute enough VPs to warrant this opportunity cost. Personally, I try not to spend more than 10ish SSs on OOK models due to my preference for upgrades and a large Cache. Below are the models that I believe can be worth it. Prospector (6) This one may be a bit copy/paste from another thread... Realistically, I always try to evaluate Prospectors as 3 Stone models when hiring them. This enables me to not be as disappointed if/when they die, and it frees me mentally to not get so preoccupied with Mine Soulstone that I miss out on the Trigger of their action. Viewed at this cost, or even at their actual 6 Stone value, I think they bring a lot more value to the Plagued as a mid-field scheme runner than Hamelin's own WP (see previous posts). Appraise is a great action for the crew as they have no use for the corpse markers that will naturally Drop from the deaths of Stolen and Rat Kings, though I find I don't need to use it that often. The crew's inherent card draw is usually enough to maintain a strong hand, and I find that Mining Tools and "I've Struck Soulstone!" can be very useful for Hamelin, albeit situational. The former complements Coughing Fit well, and the later complements Lure. Their Manipulative also pairs well with the crew due to the Plague's usual activation advantage. Speaking of, Manipulative is also the single point I have against the Prospector since I am always a little hesitant about hiring a model that can be countered by tech the opponent is already going to be bringing. Then I remember this is basically a 3 Stone model and I feel better. All this being said I don't think I would ever feel the need to bring more than 1. Arik (11)/ The Nothing Beast (10) Arik Arik is entirely a theory-faux pick for the Hamelin crew as I haven't yet had the chance to test him. He does seem to tick all the boxes for filling gaps that the crew needs though. Diving Charge enables him to not be hedged in by Hamelin's Rats, and his possibly built-in pushes, and Gravity Well, can be used to aid with controlling enemy model placement for denial and Blight purposes. He can also have either a Min 3 damage attack (that can ignore armor) or a large shockwave, all of which Hamelin's crew lacks. His main defenses of Armor +2 and SS reduction can also prove to be more reliable as no one in Hamelin's Keyword(s) has access to Armor, though this isn't a given as both Nix and the Rat Catcher do both bring a different form of damage reduction. The biggest reason I view Arik as a good pick though is his Kinetic Amplifier. With this ability you can either deter the most common forms of indirect damage Hamelin's crew is likely to suffer, or you can funnel your excess cards into stacks of Focus for Arik to beat face. The Nothing Beast I have only taken the Nothing Beast once, but that single time did convince me that he can be a good consideration for the crew for future games. Good stats, situational self-healing, Terrifying, 2" Melee, and Incorporeal all add up to make a good dive-buddy for Nix as he can help trigger Sweet Taste of Failure more often. He also has a form of ping damage, can help tar-pit enemies with Time is Meaningless, and just generally be a nuisance with Storm of Shadows. You do have to watch out for Irreducible damage though as this could be brought along due to Nix's Incorporeal. The reason I have listed these models together is because they both compete for similar roles with each other, and with the Rat King. A Rat King can already do a good impression of a Beater model, albeit a squishier one, whilst also maintaining the synergies of Hamelin's crew. Competition is fierce for this role. I hope you enjoyed the read and have a great day! Shalom.
  5. I’ll bite. I am uncomfortable with any female characters that are depicted with too much skin, or depicted in a provocative manner. I simply do not purchase those models, and have avoided investing in Keywords where such a model may be too central to the crew functioning. For those that are wondering, this does derive from my Christian beliefs.
  6. Wow... I did not know that his name changed. I just looked that up... Thank you @Myyrä @Yew Arcane and @Thedeadclaw for your responses. Your posts have helped me to gain some understanding of where people with these concerns are coming from.
  7. The different experiences of the people illustrate what I mean well. I know people that would not be offended in the slightest by Big Jake (almost used his initials there...) and these are people that look like him, except for the fact that they have a dad-bod. You know people that are uncomfortable with how he looks, which is just as valid. Why is this a case of cultural appropriation rather than a case of divergent opinions about a more easily communicable sculpt for a Native American model? On another note, do you view Joss as better example of a Native American model?
  8. Can you elaborate? What are some examples and why are they edging on cultural appropriation? If you do view them that way, how would you recommend Wyrd go about representing so many vastly different cultures through minis? In other words, how do they convey a culture through a model without edging this line whilst also not requiring someone to minor in Asian studies, or visit the forums for an explanation, to tell the difference? I do wish to understand where these views come from, but I honestly find it hard not to dismiss them outright when I see them.
  9. Is Big Jake really an issue though? I attended a ceremony with Native Americans* several years ago and the only reason Big Jake would have looked out of place there is because he has a "rad bod". It is odd to consider him a caricature when I know people who un-ironically dress the same as him, and do so with pride (AFAIK). *Not sure on the proper name and it may have been multiple.
  10. Thanks very much for the explanation. Based on the definition I came to the same conclusion.
  11. So I have a question: what exactly is cultural appropriation? And is it possible for a smaller culture to appropriate another culture? I ask because I am an American-born Hispanic who grew up in California and moved to Missouri though I have never put stock into any of that as part of my identity.
  12. Clearly they need an epic sung by Queen. Edit: I guess the Crossroads 7 could do it to. Does anyone know their rate?
  13. The same thought has crossed my mind to be honest, though I expect it to just be for giggles. Trying to become competent with Hamelin's core mechanics has been keeping me busy enough though so I haven't tried it on the table...yet. I have also considered putting S4H on the Obedient Wretch too, though that is more for trolling purposes. It would be funny if it turned out to be worth it.
  14. That was a longer break than I expected... Anyways, I am back with my Takeaways, though I am going to discuss some from Hamelin's crew rather than just limit it to models from my last game. Takeaways- Keyword Stolen The Stolen is a very interesting model as so much value is packed into its 1 SS cost. It can help whittle Blighted models down, pad activations, be used as a health pack, and even give Fast to friendly Vermin. Given my growing preference for SoDP on Hamelin, I am trying to test how aggressive I can use these amazing little Totems. If I don't mind one using a Rat as a surfboard, I can technically block off a Table edge from being available in Idols (in Standard Deployment) or I can engage an enemy with its Diseased aura and hope it is annoying enough to be killed and give out more Blight and Rats. Technically speaking, the Stolen is also the only model in the crew that can turn into more SS through the Rat cycle*. *(Stolen (1)- 2 Rats (4), 4 Rats (8)- Rat King (7), Rat King (7+)- Rat Catcher (6)) Obedient Wretch I have not been shy at all in describing my love for this model's sculpt, and rules, so I find it interesting then that I am not fitting her into my lists as often as I thought I would. With Hamelin's crew being a position-and-attrition control crew, I need to make sure that every Soulstone counts because even 5 misused stones can end up costing me the game. With all this being said, I have come to the conclusion that her best use, for me, is in being an excellent Vendetta target, assassin, and flex model for helping other models complete other Schemes and Strats. To explain my reasoning, I think she is a great Vendetta target because her entire kit seems to be designed for it. She is only 5 stones, meaning that she has a wide range of models to choose from as her target. In addition, her defensive kit of Manipulative, Tummy Aches/Diseased, and Stealth combine with her 2 ranged attacks to allow her to be able to proc Vendetta at range whilst maintaining some modicum of defense from both Melee and Ranged models. She makes a great assassin, especially for Assassinate, because Tummy Aches prevents that pesky business of the enemy using his control hand whilst Bleeding Disease limits Soulstone use to damage prevention. She can also be hard to keep in place since Tummy Aches works on the Disengage action (do remember though that she can't both Disengage and Interact). If I see either Assassinate or Vendetta in the pool from now on I think I will always take her. Winged Plague I have discussed the Winged Plague a couple times before in other threads so I will keep this short. Due to the WPs' squishy nature, they are unfit to be the long-distance schemers Hamelin needs. Instead, they seem to best operate as a Scheme-Marker-Alpha-Striker ie a friendly model sets them up by stacking a huge amount of Blight on an enemy model Turn 1, and the WP thereafter spams Festering Wounds to cleanse the model of Blight whilst dropping a load of Scheme markers. This in turn sets up The Plague Spreads which in turn sets up Diseased and Gross Explosion. A lot of resources have to be used to make this viable, and a lot has to go right to make this all work as you can even mess up this sequence by stacking an odd number of Blight on the target model. In addition, even if it does go correctly you are always doing this at the opportunity cost of expunging the very Blight that powers up the rest of the crew. All this being considered, I don't feel that the Winged Plague are worth hiring when I can either save the Stones for more triggers, or hire a Prospector instead (more on this later). I don't even know if the WP are consistent enough to earn back their 4 Stone cost. That is it for this post. Sorry for any repeat information. I will cover OOK models next time. Have a great day! Shalom!
  15. Don’t be hating on my Reva. She is an angel. Its not her fault others recognize it and want to protect her...
  16. To add my personal take on the matter, I don’t feel there has been enough data to make a judgement call one way or the other as to whether or not Zoraida is OP and requiring a nerf. I think that it is best to let her stay the way she is, and try to do any small corrections through Scheme and Strat design in the coming GG if only for the fact that a nerf this soon to a Master could further damage the public’s perception of Malifaux. People buy models for rules too, and there is no need to sour them with quick errata when the existing distribution issues are already causing problems.
  17. This reminds me of the Reva panic when she first dropped and some were concerned about her ability to shoot through corpse markers (I say this as someone who played Reva against those who were concerned about it). Reva’s range was never tuned down in M2E, however, it was stated in Reva’s gameplay description for M3E that her range was shortened to give opponents more of a chance. It seems strange then that Zoraida would be able to use her nodes more affectively, and arguably with a much more powerful action, than Reva if Reva’s M2E board presence was considered too much of an NPE and had to be changed. Take this line of thought with a grain of salt though; Wyrd is known for being tongue-in-cheek with their descriptions of things. I think it likely she will be nerfed, mostly based on principle. I don’t think it likely to happen anytime soon though. Most likely the first GG will attempt to change things for the better and 1 of 2 things will happen. Either the game designers will be successful but get tired of designing various Strats and Schemes around balancing Zoraida; or they will not be successful and she will be nerfed, though hopefully not down to pre-errata Lucius power level.
  18. No problem. I just hope some of what I said ended up being correct. The good news is that Outcasts is not lacking when it comes to fun Keywords to play so if you do choose a different 3rd Master you should have a blast regardless. Well, that is unless you choose Jack Daw. I've heard it is an absolute Torment to play against.
  19. Realistically, I always try to evaluate them as 3 Stone models when hiring them. This enables me to not be as disappointed if/when they die, and it frees me mentally to not get so preoccupied with Mine Soulstone that I miss out on the Trigger of their action. Viewed at this cost, or even at their actual 6 Stone value, I think they bring a lot more value to the Plagued as a mid-field scheme runner than Hamelin's own WP. To elaborate, I have felt more freedom to use a Prospector's actions when hired with Hamelin than I have with other crews because in others I can tend to get a "little" Appraise-happy. Don't get me wrong; Appraise is still a great action for the crew as they have no use for the corpse markers they will naturally Drop from the deaths of Stolen and Rat Kings. I just find that the crew's inherent card draw is usually enough to maintain a strong hand, and I find that Mining Tools and "I've Struck Soulstone!" can be very useful for Hamelin, albeit situational. The former complements Coughing Fit well, and the later complements Lure. Their Manipulative also pairs well with the crew due to the Plague's usual activation advantage. Speaking of, Manipulative is also the single point I have against the Prospector since I am always a little hesitant about hiring a model that can be countered by tech the opponent is already going to be bringing. Then I remember this is basically a 3 Stone model and I feel better. To summarize, I think the Prospectors are great with the crew if I am going to be using their full toolbox since it complements Hamelin nicely. I would NOT bring them solely for their Appraise action, and I don't think I would ever bring more than 1. Most importantly though, I would bring them only if the scenario called for it. Synergy doesn't matter if it doesn't earn you VP. Hope this helped! Shalom.
  20. No problem @Phinn. Happy to help. I do ask you take my advice with a grain of salt though. I am also an inexperienced Hamelin player, and though I believe my conclusions to be correct on how to play Hamelin, it is always best to test advice against others’, and especially against tabletop experience. The Winged Plague Boy do I love these sculpts! Unfortunately, I think that is the last positive thing I can say about this model. Due to the WP’s squishiness, it lacks the durability to be able to make it to the far off objectives the crew already struggles to get to. Ideally, the WP would have had some sort of evasive ability that would permit Hamelin to complete objectives like Power Ritual or Breakthrough more easily. Instead, it appears to have been designed to be a midfield scheme runner that can complete Harness the Leyline or Dig Their Graves. It looks like the best use of them is to hide them behind some tall Blocking terrain while the rest of the crew stacks tremendous amounts of Blight. Then, at an opportune time, it will emerge to spam Festering Wounds to drop several scheme markers. Afterwards, it can push into the melee with The Plague Spreads so that the enemies just cleansed of Blight will have it reapplied by Diseased when they activate. This play-style is ultimately what turned me off of them as it comes at a great opportunity cost. Why use up so much Blight when it can be used for so many more powerful things in the crew? And why not just hire a Prospector instead if I need a mid-field schemer? The Prospector will likely end up costing 3 SSs, has some defensive tech, can card cycle, has a situational pseudo-Lure to complement Hamelin’s Lure, can be solid counter tech against some crews with its corpse and scrap removal, and can occasionally drop 2 scheme markers a Turn without using Blight. The Obedient Wretch I’ll be up front, her metal sculpt is what originally drew me to the Plagued in the first place so I may be a bit biased. I absolutely love this model due to Tummy Aches. The power of the ability to turn off cheating from an enemy with Blight cannot be overstated. This, combined with Manipulative, Diseased, and Stealth, makes her far more annoying to remove with targeted actions than most opponents’ feel comfortable with. It is for this reason that I don’t actually make much use of Analyze Weakness at all. Don’t get me wrong, it is a powerful action, but it must always be considered against the use of Bleeding Disease as it is not a . In situations where you cannot affectively capitalize on AW, whether it be lack of follow up damage or counter-play from the opponent, it is not worth the action. I have had more success with her being a hard to pin down assassin (Tummy Aches works for Disengage actions) than using her as a counter for armor/Shielded. I have used her gun in the past for Infestation, though it isn’t why I bring her. This preference could be due to my play style though. I generally have fewer enemy models with Blight, though the stacks are bigger. Think 7-9 Blight on a few models by Turn 3. Misc Questions I treat Rats as circumstantial bonuses to use rather than to focus on. I generally produce Rats through Voracious Rats, or the death of my Stolen, rather than trying to summon them. I have used them to make a Rat King, though not at every opportunity. Sometimes it is more beneficial to leave the Rats there then it is to gain a King. I have not yet made a King a Catcher, though if it would get me more points or deny my opponent I would not hesitate in doing so. I have used my Stolen’s to die and gain 2 Rats, though more often than not I use 1 to pressure an enemy model and hope it dies, and hide the other 2 for Hamelin until later in the game. I don’t think I could bring myself to kill the Wretch... I like to play Hamelin very aggressively with a large Cache and Servant of Dark Powers. I try to Lure prime targets in to stack large quantities of Blight and love to Stone for extra s for Taint or extra s for Skittering Vermin Turn 1. Most of the time I also have Rat King upgraded with SoDP to charge in and get an early kill. This should help widen that resource gulf and trigger Spray of Filth to Blight a couple more enemies. Other suits I am not concerned with so I will also card cycle at the beginning of each Turn to make sure I have the s and s needed. Hope this helps!
  21. That is correct. They do take up space though, and can’t be walked through unless shenanigans are involved, so you will have to be resourceful to block models. Use multiple Rats to block one from moving, block an important charge lane, or cause a model to be stuck against blocking or severe terrain. Rats are the ultimate nuisance model (not counting Zipp).
  22. To preface, Hamelin’s play-style isn’t suited for everyone. If you like more elite crews, or detest having your models die, then he isn’t the Master for you. I am also unsure if key models are available right now. To start you will need Hamelin’s core box along with the Brotherhood of the Rat encounter box. The core box gives you Hamelin, 3 Stolen (his totems), Nix, Obedient Wretch, and 4 Rats. The encounter box gives you 2 Rat Kings, 2 Rat Catchers, and 8 more Rats. I have had trouble locating the encounter box but was lucky to snag the last one off of a site several weeks ago. All that being said, onto how he actually plays. Hamelin’s crew will be leveraging 2 resources throughout the game to control and wear down their opponent through attrition: Blight, and their very lives. Your models are intended to be expendable (some even have a Demise ability named as such), and each of their deaths are supposed to waste the opponent precious resources, usually by way action inefficiency. For example, I may block off a model with a Rat or two so that the model will first have to kill a Rat to move freely. As your models meet their inevitable fate (which is the name of a action in the crew) you should also be gaining more resources. In the above example, when my Rat dies so that the model I blocked off can finally move, I will be able to draw a card because of its Demise ability. So not only did I cost the enemy model an action in the above example, I gained a card for doing so. Of course, it doesn’t matter how slow the opponent is going if you are not doing anything at all. This leads us to the most important resource: Blight. Whilst the resource disparity described above begins to grow, the enemy models should be accumulating Blight which helps to strengthen the crew. Hamelin’s crew can use Blight for a wide variety of effects such as Bleeding Disease for damage, Tummy Aches to deny cheating, Voracious Rats to spawn Rats, and Loose Bowels to deny Interact actions. If played well, both of these should snowball into an insurmountable advantage by Turn 3. Cagey play is important to making the crew work so positioning and target priority are key. Knowledgeable opponents will bring models that negate Demise triggers, hurt multiple models, or do indirect damage. You will need to play around these models whilst you grind the opponent down. Or you could just kill them. Its up to you.
  23. It all depends on what you are trying to do with your Blight and how you’ve built your list for your available Blight Vectors. Here is the list of effects keyed off of Blight (* Indicates actions that reduce Blight when used): Blight 0: The Plague Spreads Blight 1: Tummy Aches, Coughing Fit*, Voracious Rats, Loose Bowels* Blight 2: Festering Wounds*, Black Death Blight 3: Vomiting Disease Blight X: Bleeding Disease Here is the list of Blight vectors (* Indicates actions that give Blight due to the Taint trigger): Diseased The Source of the Contagion Hungry Rats Pestilent Tumors Spray of Filth Drink Spirit Spectral Bite* Claws* Lure* The Black Staff Rusty Trap Yellow Teeth Swarm of Yellow Teeth With how my list was built, my best vectors were the Source of the Contagion, Diseased, and Lure. Assuming that I just Lured for 1, and best case scenario they ended up in range of both TSotC snd Diseased, they would only have 3 Blight if they activated. My Wife’s crew had a few ways to move friendlies out of activation so that wasn’t something I could count on, hence the heavy investment in Lure’s Taint. Stacking this much Blight also allowed me to avoid wasting many actions on attacks which also mitigated the role of her armor and healing. A single Bleeding Disease that could kill in one hit means no counter play, and this allowed me to use my actions to position more thoughtfully to box in models and protect my Rats from blasts longer. Though it did not come into play this game, such a large stack of Blight could have allowed me to mitigate Mei Feng’s ridiculousness with triggers. I do always use stones for triggers with Hamelin, though usually it is not solely for Taint. I lean towards aggressive Rat King lists as they are very good models and Spray of Filth can stack Blight well. In those lists Skittering Vermin is gold as it helps me maneuver better for various shenanigans, or it could simply add another slow duel.
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