Ergonomic Cat

What: Malifaux tournament in La Crosse, WI, La Crosse Convention Center, CouleeCon!

When: Saturday, August 25th, 12:00-20:00

What: 50ss GG2018 Tourney!

Who: You!

Come join us for the first Winona tournament on May 26th, noon-10 pm at Jimmy Jams in Winona MN. 

This is is a full 50ss tourney, but it’s focused on new players. Full GG2018 rules, with no painting enforcement. If you join, please consider playing “friendly” crews - leave Hamelin at home!

Prize support will be provided! Hope to see you there!

2 minutes ago, Hot4Perdita said:

I just checked CrewFaux. The updated cost of models are there, but not GG2018. 

The official app - Bad Things Happen. 

But only on Android I believe. 

1 hour ago, edopersichetti said:

Looking at Neverborn, it's one of few factions that only got point reduction. I don't mind, but I don't think this is really fair, compared to the likes of Gremlins, Outcasts or TT. I guess complaint about Trappers and Burt were louder than those about Doppelganger and others. Politics

Aaaaaanyway, most changes in Nvb are welcome, but some leave me a bit perplexed. Beckoner at 6SS is going to heavily shift the balance - it's going to be the cheapest "lure" available to Nvb. Well, now Kade is also 6 - I didn't think that was needed. Rider -2 is also probably excessive. The rest is mostly good, Bunraku and Lelu might see some more play but, just like for some of the models I mentioned before, I don't think a simple points reduction will fix Bad Juju or Tuco, for instance, their mechanics are still too clunky.

So this confirms my impression that this errata works for 80-90% of the models impacted, but there are some for which a simple point cut just won't do.

Borbs only got reductions, but they were very much there to shake things up.  There's a reason that the Neverborn All Stars is a thing - in most cases, we have specific models in most point costs that are almost always better than the rest.  Beckoners going to 6 mean they might be picked over Lilitu.  Kade at 6 may see play again (which also means Teddy may show up more often, which means a couple of our most iconic models might leave the shelf occasionally!).  No one took Lelu outside of Dreamer summons - now he might show up to support his much better sister.  Tuco was a model *no one* cared about - maybe at 6ss his gun might come out.  Vasilia, Badjuju, Spawn Mother- all interesting models that just sat on the shelf because of cost.  Now maybe it'll be more than just the All Stars!

But there's also a hidden cost increase to Borbs - pretty much all our favorite out of faction models got cost increases! Johan was a member of the All Stars - he's +1.  Nurse was in a lot of Zoraida crews - +1.  McTavish the same.  Even Burt was starting to show up.  Trappers were often a must have in Collodi with Changelings.  +1.  Terracotta Warriors were one of the best things to import in to Lucius on NB side.  Probably still are at +1. 
 

Stuff we like that got cheaper: Lawyer and Guard never showed up - maybe they will now.  Hans was always just a *bit* too expensive to include, and now is a consideration (certainly going to knock Angel Eyes out of the few crews she was in).  

A question I've never asked - can you order other stuff during a Black Friday sale too, to count towards the $100?

Perhaps in the future, to avoid so many confusions, the clever web monkeys could include pictures, or links, in their internet enabled emails and web pages?

The most anticipated episode 24 about Resurrectionists this year!

The second string Lecturers (I was dying, or drunk, or playing games, or something) continue the Broken Promises review, this time going over the Dirty Ressers!

Come one, come all (except not Guild, because we hate you) to the Super Fun Demo and Game Day in Winona Minnesota at Jimmy Jam's!

Come see the beautiful Mississippi and drown dirty Ressers in it!  Enjoy the brisk fall weather that makes Rasputina smile!  Claim another city for the Mother of Monsters!

We'll be at Jimmy Jam's from about 13:00-21:00 with availability all day for demos, games, painting parties or general Faux-down!

When: 11/11/17, 13:00-21:00

Where: Jimmy Jam's, 113 E 3rd St, Winona MN 55987

Why: CAUSE MALIFAUX, YO!

Nothing to see here.

On 10/7/2017 at 5:44 PM, Cadaver_Junkie said:

Don't forget the Bandersnatch!

Personally, the idea of hiding these in a Teddy and forcing enemy models to fail Terror tests against the Teddy is hillarious.

I still keep wanting to try this.  It just seems so hilarious.

10 hours ago, Argentbadger said:

I've tried two Teddies with Dreamer several times to reasonable effect.  You could consider a crew like this:

Dreamer (Dreams of Pain, Otherworldly)
3 Daydreams
Nekima
2 Teddies

I'm still undecided if the best option is to include the third Daydream (as in this example), or remove it for either 2 extra Soulstones in cache or 2 copies of One Thousand Faces.  The general idea is to get stuck in early with the Teddies.  They'll get killed but do some damage.  Then Nekima swoops in to clean up any heavy hitters that survived the Teddy onslaught.  You can be ridiculously aggressive with the Teddies since you can push them forward with the Daydreams; note that my testing suggests that you have to be a bit circumspect with this otherwise they'll be taken down one at a time whereas your goal is to have both Teddies hit the enemy crew at once.  While all this is going on, the Dreamer can summon whatever you think will win you the game.  Be aware that although the Teddies have a lot of wounds they are not actually very hard to kill and in particular they are pitifully easy to control.  You can mitigate the latter to some extent using Dreamer to clear undesirable conditions from them but it is something that you would  have to play around.

A sample game from a recent tournament can be found here.

I play Collodi without Puppets all the time (at least, without Puppets that are not the Brutal Effigy) and don't consider it to be weak at all.

 

I agree with this idea.  Dreamer can summon Stitched Together to add to the tremendous amount of pure damage flying around, he can summon Lilitu to give you some control, or he can summon Insidious Madness to go score while you tie everything up.

If you're going to go with Baby Kade, I'd definitely put Depression on him, so that you can guarantee his knife goes off to full effect.  

As for the three Dreamers:

1. Summoning Dreamer - Dreams of Pain, usually Otherworldly and Wings of Darkness.  He summons things.  Needs high cards, stones for masks, or daydreams.  Also should be using his buffs on things that are summoned.

2. Shooty Dreamer - Restless Dreams and Tantrum.  That gives Dreamer ranged expert (1 ap for ranged attacks), a good ranged attack, and +1 Waking every time he does damage with a shooting attack, and gives Lord Chompy Bits Melee Expert (1 ap for melee attacks).  Basic plan there is to shoot things 4 times, hitting every time, and then summon Chompy, who gets 3 attacks, then turns back in to Dreamer.  Sometimes Aether Connection is good to keep Dreamer alive post LCB, but Sleep Cycles, from Wave 5, is probably the best - it allows Dreamer and LCB to chain activate each other.

3. Melee Dreamer - Growing Up, from Wave 5.  Gives Dreamer more wounds, a Charge, a good Melee attack, and melee expert.  He can ping pong around the board with his melee and end his activation as LCB in safety.

On 9/28/2017 at 7:50 PM, Da Git said:

I've probably been way spoilt playing Ten Thunders & Ressers where Chiaki is amazing (10T also have MoLR & Shen) and Guild (Witchlings & now Jury).

But I also don't see that as a reason for Neverborn's options to be sub-par.

I've always considered that part of our Faction identity.  We don't really do condition removal.  It's not our thing.

And I'm fine with that.  We shouldn't be good at everything.  Our condition removal comes as a part of something weaker.  We can do it if we want, but it's going to be harder.

Now I don't disagree that Scion should get a bit of work, but I think his condition removal is fine and flavorful for us.  

2 hours ago, Joachim said:

About the changeling: I'm not sure but I think i forgot to mention, that what I plan to do is, the changeling gets a sort of pounce once a turn, but he can copy tooth's attack, which has a push in it (not from a trigger!), which then again triggers rougarou's pounce. It's at ml4 but if it hits, that's again 2 attacks. So if tooth lures, thats 1 attack from rougarou and changeling, changeling's pounce attack if it hits is another push, so a second attack from rougarou and then tooths attack from the lure and can spend 2 more ap attacking, if everything hits that is 3 more pounce attacks from rougarou. You can then even attack it with the changeling during your next activation and maybe get some more pounce attacks, but that would just be an added bonus. So assuming tooth doesn't miss, with the plus flips and cheating thats not automatic but at least probable, then you get 8 attacks. If the changeling hits his pounce you get a 9th one. It is minimum damage 2 on all of these attacks, but if even just half of these hits thats 9 wounds and that kills a lot of models in just tooths activation.

 

There's a lot of hypothetical stuff going on here, but I also believe a lot in threats in malifaux. The sheer threat of that 25ss trio when it does lure something in is simply something you can not ignore. So the opponent has to stay outside of the lure range, or invest some of his offense into breaking it up, etc. And then I'm a big fan of putting a second threat out there, say nekima, or teddy, or maybe a cyclops if you want to spend less, and than you make the opponents make decisions real quick and then he can also make mistakes.

 

I'm throwing another question in here, if you're investing in this tooth/rougarou combo, is there a place for the gorar? I've read a lot that he's not very good, and I agree that he actually doesn't do anything, he's an insignificant peon, so he can't score anything, and he has to be in the middle of the board and wait till something dies. But then again, the opponent can't really break up the combo untill they take down the gorar, which isn't that hard to do, but he still has to spend (at the very least 1) ap on it.  So maybe in some situations he can come out and be a sort of extra distraction?

 

 

Changeling gets the plus flips too, right?  Ml4 with plus flips is not at all bad.  And yeah, the look on your opponent's face when you pull off 9+ attacks on a single turn has to be amazing.

And yeah, I think you're right about the threat.  Just knowing that any model that gets in the range of that awful bubble could very well get destroyed with minimal AP investment is worth a lot!  

You're really selling me on the Emissary.  + flips to Tooth, Rougarou and Changelings is just fantastic.

I think this is probably one of the exceptionally few situations where the Gorar might actually be worth it.  Because taking down either Tooth or the Rougarou turns this from a doom ball to "oh, you have a good minion."  Being able to laugh maniacally and say "BUT WAIT!" is pretty amusing.  Is it worth more than +1 card draw from Pukesnake?  Maybe, maybe not.

23 minutes ago, esqulax said:

Yeah, but if the plan is to lure them in with tooth, won't they be engaged to her anyway? It sucks a bit that he has half the melee range of the Rougarou, but if you get him engaged then his attack is a lot better. 

I have also often heard that Kate is a crazy glass cannon, but I have honestly found that df 7 can sometimes get you surprisingly far. He is definitely no rock, but If you have a couple of high cards you can usually keep him alive if you want to. That is my experience at least. 

His lure is also not to be forgotten. It may have a low cast, but it can still be handy at times and he is slightly cheaper than the Rougarou. 

Again, I have never tried the Rougarou so this is all in theory for me. It is just when I read the situation described in this thread where they are used for their pounce I just can't imagine that Kate isn't better. 

Realistically, Kade is the same cost, because 99% of the time, you're going to put Depression on him so he can get his triggers.  

For me, the key differences are that 1. The Rougarou has so much more range.  Kade is a 30mm base with a 1" range, which works out to a bubble about 80mm/3.2" (15mm from center + 1" radius).  Rougarou is 50mm base with a 2" range, which works out to a bubble about 200m/6.2" (25mm from center + 2" radius).  That's a lot of increase.  Rougarou has 50% more health, but 5 vs 7 def *probably* makes that a wash?  However, Rougarou can heal 2 or push for free (assuming a scheme marker, which is pretty likely give The Tooth).  He also has Hard to Kill.  So if he's not taken out, he's likely going to activate, heal for 2, and take another 2 AP to kill at least.  And while Kade has a Lure, which is fantastic for triggering his own ability, Rougarou's 0 is pretty useful (and kind of hilarious).  Kade gets a slow on his attacks, which is huge if you don't get the kill.  But I think the reach of the Rougarou (he can even attack over Tooth's head, at 2"+HT3) can't be discounted in how much easier he makes it to get the combo off.

For me, it's mostly down to the fact that Kade feels small and fragile, while Rougarou feels big and tough.  Combine with Titania's ability to pass out Armor now....

That being said, I think Kade is still a model that gets unfairly dismissed in a lot of cases.  

6 hours ago, Joachim said:

And it's not a game changer, but if you have an emissary behind that, every one of those attacks is at plus flips, and stat 6 with plus flips is generally gonna hit pretty consistently.

Also the emissary can bring in a changeling which has a sort of pseudo-pounce. Ok, this is not really what you're going for, but the changeling(s) will get you an extra attack here at ml4 with plus flips, it's an added bonus when it comes up. And tbh, in malifaux any way of making yourself usefull without spending ap is awesome.

With the emissary, rougarou and tooth, I'm spending 25ss and i'm getting a lot of offensive threat out of them and a lot of utility out of the emissary. So far I'm really liking that 3 man team. Changelings summons will depend on my hand and if I need them, cause the scheme markers should be around in a titania crew. The hazardous terrain again depends on the map but add in a 1/4/5 damage flip when challenging someone through the hazardous and then triggering 7 attacks is usually a dead model. Though a lot of things have to go right for that to work, it is devestating when it does.

I've also been thinking about aeslin aura where people can't move any of your models. As that is something that counters this combo pretty hard. That is a 34/35ss investment though in this group so I'm not convinced on this yet, as you're having 35ss that has to stay grouped to be effective, it is easy to outmanouver.

Interesting. I've been taking a Changeling with the package a lot of the time too, since they're a nice little 4ss package.  I'm so desperate to use the Emissary *somewhere* that I like the idea of dropping it in here.  Thanks!  Both Lilith and Titania seem like they'd really like this, for different reasons.  

I'm bringing Rougarou any time I need to move people around or any time I can move 2-3 models as a unit and not sacrifice my scoring ability.  Given that we're Neverborn, that's about 90% of the time.  There are very few pools where "Move people where I want them" is not a path to victory.

I find it *really* hard not to put the 15 point Tooth + Rougarou package in almost every crew.  The amount of devastation those 15 points can dole out is crazy, especially given how tough Tooth is.  

If you haven't done the math, assuming all successful duels:

Tooth uses a 0 challenge to lure an opponent.  Rougarou gets a pounce.  Tooth gets an attack and pushes the opponent .25".  Rougarou gets an attack.

Tooth uses 1 AP to attack, pushes opponent .25".  Rougarou gets an attack.

Tooth uses 1 AP to attack, pushes opponent .25".  Rougarou gets an attack.

Opponent has to flip to avoid slow on activation.  

So 2 AP from Tooth gets you 7 attacks and a slow flip.  And Tooth has 2" melee (right?) armor +1 and hard to kill.

<3.

13 hours ago, Kadeton said:

The July 2017 Errata was specifically described as only addressing "some of the most outstanding game issues that have persisted for some time" - it wasn't an overall rebalance in the way that the January one was. The January Errata was nominally pretty even-handed, though I'd suggest that all of Tara's Void stuff got a significant boost as a result, as well as Brewmaster, even though they're listed in the "General Clarity" section.

I can't find the reference, but I'm 90% sure the design philosophy is that the mid-year errata is to fix things that are broken and the January errata is to make basic changes.  

Also, they specifically said that the Collette prompt change was because they didn't want people triple prompting.  The fact that Howard/Joss was very powerful may have influenced it, but their stated reason was that Prompt x3, go was not a fun style.

3 minutes ago, Lakshman said:

I like the general direction it is taking. Regarding the layout, if you need to tap each ability to display its description, I hope the app will be really well-optimized. Also, the order of factions seems to be odd, I'd expect either the same order as in books or alphabetical one, but maybe that is due to it still being in the works. 
 

It's sorted from best on the left to worst on the right, except that Outcasts had to stand at the front to get shot, and Gremlins are just tagging after Neverborn because they're annoying.

On 7/22/2017 at 11:41 AM, Azkral said:

To kill brewie you have to start killing Wesley, but he is not very tough, his main defenses are Trixie (gremlin only) and misdirection (10T only)

I agree with Sharp. Brewie cannot score on his own (except accusation, he is the best scoring accusation)

Yeah, but most of the pools Brewmaster plays involve controlling an area or interacts.  And he shuts both of those down very well.  But on the flipside, I generally only need 4-5 points to win a game against him, because he's not scoring either....

On 7/21/2017 at 1:30 AM, Ludvig said:

Killing him with McTavish or Angel eyes might shut him down. Collodi can steal his first ap I believe (unless that trigger is non-master) to walk away. 

Lilith could use Tangle shadows instead of her push to replace something in the bubble or maybe even moving brewmaster himself. If you hang onto a high card from her silly card cycling and try it late in the turn you should have a shot at moving Brewie himself. Graves is ruthless so he never takes WP duels during his activation and has a push attack.

Don't forget that henchmen can spend soulstones to gain a positive to duels and that bases bigger than 30mm block out auras quite well.

These are all excellent.  I keep trying to not play Lilith, to get time with the others, but Tangle Shadows is super useful.

And holy cow, I didn't even connect that with Graves.  I was playing him last game, and completely forgot about his ability!

And I also never remember to check LoS for auras.  

17 minutes ago, Chris Rivers said:

Lucius has an upgrade that lets him treat enemy auras as friendly. 

No, no, I'm playing Neverborn, not Guild.

This is a true statement.  I keep meaning to try Lucius again.  Maybe this is the time.

One of my frequent opponents reallllllllly loves Brewmaster.

Brewmaster is not highly effective, but he's super good at just making things do nothing.

I'm trying to look for interesting tools that we have to deal with Brewmaster - primarily ways to either shut down his aura or push him around.  

The main ones I have right now are a Doppleganger to win initiative, Lilitu's Lure (which is rarely effective, because Brewmaster usually ends up in the middle of things) and the Bandersnatch's ability to pull.

Anything super handy or amusing I'm missing beyond the basic "Spread out"?

That's more than enough.  Matches about what I figured.  A giant scrum in the middle to take the most advantage of Nekima's 3" Doomblade and all the growth.  Very nice.

So, roughly, what did the game look like?

Turn 1, Lucius gets himself killed, Nekima shouts triumphantly, Graves pushes things up, and the tots spread out?

Turn 2-5 ???

Turn 6 Profit!!

On 7/18/2017 at 8:59 AM, Adran said:

Having followed tournament results for about 7 years, I have found that the name of the player is a better guide to where they place than the name of the master/faction used.

I've not looked at Logfaux for ages, so I haven't a clue what data it shows. but I'm not sure faction win percentage is a very useful stat on its own until you start getting to some very large numbers

Does it break down the 10 different strategies? Does it take into account the schemes? Does it tell you that Lucius has fewer neverborn games because his starter set is rubbish for Neverborn?  or that I haven't played him in the past 6 months because I haven't gotten round to picking up his erratad cards? Does it tell you crew constructions? After all things like witching thrulls look to make him much better, but aren't out yet. Are people who proxy them (or bought pre-release)  getting better results at the moment that people waiting for the release?

 

In short, yes I do feel that just reading  the result for 200 games is not really enough to get a picture of a master.

Does it say why someone picked that master for that game? And what other options they had when they picked it?  

 

 

 

 

 

That's somewhat a Catch-22 though.  If everyone logged their games in Logfaux then it probably would be possible to do that sort of analysis.  If there was enough data to play around with, you could find interesting bits and do stuff.  But if no one is logging games, no one will log games because it's not worth it to log games....

I try to log all my games in Logfaux because *somewhere* has to be the source, and it's the best I could find so far....

On 7/16/2017 at 8:27 AM, Da Git said:

Lots of cool ideas coming up!

Whilst I doubt it's gunna happen for a while, I'd love a Master Nekima (I've actually been tempted to do some of my own rules for that very thing for a while now...)! 

Really hope her storyline advances in this book... Hope she sides with Titania and really shows Lilith who's boss!

She kinda sorta already has rules - give her another AP for melee, call it good.