Nikodemus

FAQ entry you quoted states: " If a model is killed by an Ability, the model with the Ability counts as having made the kill. " FGF is an ability. If say my Barbaros with FGF is standing next to an enemy minion who dies to my FGF, Barbaros counts as doing the kill and gets to place a head marker.

Fears Given Form reads : "This model gains the following Ability" As per above FAQ entry, model with the ability (in this case FGF) counts as making the kill and will therefore get to place a head marker.

Good one. Story bits aren't my thing but they were easy to pass over so I don't mind. Maybe deploy the pathfinder a bit closer to friendly deployment zone, or just keep him out of LOS for first turn, or try to activate him late if you're going to expose him. That or start putting Frame for Murder on him

I haven't had a lot of interference games lately but it's my least favourite for her. I think she can support an aggressive way of playing interference, but doesn't have as reliable AoE as some other masters. Headhunter is best, Kill-Next Target-Interact. I don't think she has any specific strengths in central strategies but I like playing her in those because she can operate near her support models. I think she does fine in Collect the Bounty but it's not my favourite because it forces my targeting choices somewhat. Schemewise I like everything that rewards her talents in killing and mobility. Strong picks: Eliminate the Leadership, Dig Their Graves, Undercover Entourage, Recover Evidence, Mark for Death and Quick Murder. Diving Charge let's her pick targets freely, Next Target gives extra mobility. Wandering River Monk combo's well with some of these since they can move 12'' and interact before or after Misaki's +10'' charge to secure VP. Few weeks back I managed a last minute entourage scoring by charging my own frontline model and next targeting from it to within walk distance of enemy deployment. You didn't ask but on the deny angle I think Misaki's pretty decent at blocking Show of Force, Hunting Party and Last Stand depending on how many eligible models opponent brought in. Eliminate the Leadership takes a little cagey play to deny but I've had no trouble with it. As a frontline model she's vulnerable to Tail'Em/Set Up, but also has mobility to dodge those so I don't know. Need more experience against those schemes. Frame For Murder is something I don't have an answer to. At least I'm not consistently giving points for it and I don't think I've ever given 3VP for it while playing Misaki. Schemes I hate tend to be those that rely on leaving the opponent alive. With Accuse I could leave a harmless VP battery somewhere and engage it with a cheap model, but most models eligible for Tail'Em tend to be ones that I want dead to score/deny other schemes that call for masters or henchmen. I don't play to table my opponent, but I like having the option of leaving nothing standing. Last Stand is another tough one. Misaki herself tends to be expensive with upgrades and I like her activating later in the turn so small elite crews don't really fit for me. Other schemes I'm fine doing, but don't rely on any specific talents Misaki herself has.

Good luck. Misaki box is a pain to assemble. I wouldn't let that stop you but expect cursing. Shenlong box varies from easy to middle of the road-Malifaux fare. Samurai were what drew me into the game. Just recently my local LGS owner/Henchman borrowed mine because another prospective Malifaux player got his jollies on by those Samurai. They're not fun to assemble though. Up to you if cool factor weighs more than ease of assembly. Yamaziko is easy to assemble, thematically tied to Misaki and useful on the table as well. On the "easy to assemble mercenary models" side there's Big Jake and Gracie. Gracie in particular has that goofy Malifaux charm to top her off. Jake is a good utility piece that just so happens to be easy to assemble and paint. Wyrd themselves recommend this (Brewmaster has character I'll give them that): https://www.wyrd-games.net/retailers

Book schemes? Rad. Cool Misaki. Debated doing mine red but purple won in the end. Anyway: Really interesting list. How did disguised and cutpurse work out for you? Do you ever take cutpurse outside of assassinate? I should probably start experimenting with it, haven't given it a chance yet because it seems so situational. Do you feel you got your stones worth out of the archer? Any tips? I'm still trying to get mine to work at a level where I'd feel comfortable taking them to a tournament. For reckoning especially I think they're way too fragile. How did Fermented Monks perform? I've been eyeing them as nice budget models, but even ignoring the fact that brothers exist I'm not sure. They seem a bit card hungry with their (0) for questionable gain.

My primary dedicated scheme runner these days tends to be either Wandering River Monk (wave 3) or Yamaziko (wave 1) depending on rest of my crew, schemes, opponent and terrain. Most of my stuff is waves 1 & 2 and I feel plenty competitive. My wave 3-4 stuff all feels good but I can generally find a "close enough" replacement from earlier waves that does roughly the same thing at roughly the same competence. I've never seen Oiran or Yasunori on the table so I won't comment on them and Izamu. So while I don't necessarily think new stuff eclipses the old, it's kind of hard not to have new models taking some of the spotlight. NOTHING does quite the same thing as Terracotta Warrior, and while Yasunori is "just another beater", he's a 12ss model that hits like a 12ss model and we didn't have that back in waves 1 & 2. Our Emissary from wave 3 does seem silly good, I'll give you that. Seems to me the most recommended model of our roster remains Ten Thunders Brothers (wave 2). I don't know if that says more about the brothers than it does about general viability of earlier waves.

Right you are. Only 3ss above, assuming Izamu. I'm so used to playing 50ss master games that I didn't even consider not paying for a henchman Good that that got cleared out.

"Big Samurai with the naginata", do you mean Izamu? https://giveusyourmoneypleasethankyou-wyrd.com/products/izamu-the-armor Izamu is 10ss alone, in addition to what Ludvid wrote. Opponents list, such as you wrote it, is way above 30ss.

Played a small 4 player tournament. Standard 50ss encounters, but we were only allowed two masters and self made list of 100 stones worth of models to hire (summons & upgrades free). Played single master Misaki for 2 close wins and 1 tie, winning the event. Game #1 against self buffing Collodi (bag of props?), Illuminated and Teddy for muscle: Close Deployment, Guard the Stash, Dig Their Graves, Accusation, Recover Evidence, Inspection Both went for Dig Their Graves and Recover Evidence, figured I could slaughter my way through his crew. MVPs include Equality-Lone Swordsman for being reasonably killy yet survivable and Big Jake for Don't Mind Me. Untouchable is a great upgrade for saving your control hand. Theoryfauxing performers would be solid for this pool. Don't Mind Me with scheme marker disruption added. I've already gushed enough about Misaki and Recover Evidence. Game timed out at 6-6 but since it was just before lunch we decided to play the game out for an unofficial 8-6 to Misaki. In retrospect I might have been better served taking Claim Jump instead of Dig Their Graves. Killing things near scheme markers is easy, rationing killing them down to one per turn is the hard part. Misaki died towards the end after taking a beating from Collodi and Teddy. Won me a lot of VP though. Game #2 against Perdita with some family and death marshals: Flank Deployment, Extraction, Accusation, Leave Your Mark, Tail'Em, Last Stand Picked Claim Jump and Accusation, only scored Accusation in the final round. Perdita took Claim Jump and Last Stand (four eligible models). This is one of those pools where all I saw were bad options. Not a fan of Leave Your Mark on flank/corner. Table was fairly open which made approaching Perdita's crew difficult and I had a hard time justifying leaving things alive for accusation since there was a lot of killy stuff. I did manage a 7-5 win but I was just scraping by. Unknowingly blocked Last Stand by killing two eligible models on turn 2. Amusing interaction early in the game included Ama No Zako obeying Francisco come closer, allowing Misaki to bash him down to hard to kill. Turn 2 I got initiative and had Shadow Effigy shiv him to death. Equality-Lone Swordsman ended up scheme running Claim Jump for me while rest of the crew blocked his. Misaki died halfway through after Perdita took out her support and I panic charged her all over the middle for maximum disruption. By the end of turn 5 Perdita was barely scoring the strategy while all I had was an effigy at death's door Accusing folks. I kept feeling like I should've taken Shenlong for this match. I struggled to play Misaki with any sort of proficiency. Probably just a failing on my part, but it was good to see what schemes she (=I) struggles with. Game #3 against Resurrectionist Yan Lo, lots of big models with Toshiro, Yin, Izamu and Datsue Ba: Corner Deployment, Headhunter, Frame For Murder, Accusation, Hidden Trap, Quick Murder I picked Frame For Murder (Big Jake) and Quick Murder (Izamu). Yan Lo took Frame For Murder (Nurse) and Hidden Trap. Felt good about this pool. Sure enough I ended up scoring 3 for headhunter and 3 for Quick Murder. I could've played Jake a lot better and into some henchmen, as is he ended up near Yin who hit him for 5 wounds and 1 poison, robbing me of Frame points. With two Monks of Low River I was able to get by with the nurse living through the game and deny him Frame points. He telegraphed Hidden Trap a bit too early in the final turn allowing me to get out of dodge with my remaining models. This included Misaki using Downburst on herself to push an already activated Ototo away from a scheme marker. All in all a close fought 6-4. Untouchable kept being awesome against terror crews. Some takeaways after an intense day of Misaki games... I'll be taking Untouchable and Untouchable+Misdirection a lot more often. The Lone Swordsman w/ Equality really proved himself to me. Fielded the model in all three games, opting for Recalled Training instead in the final round. Equality makes him more survivable while turning him into more of a card hog to get things done. This is fine in my typical crew as I like stuff with +flips, which includes Misaki herself who doesn't need as much from her control hand after the initial discard for Stalking Bisento. For a budget price of 9ss I get a credible, self-sustaining threat that takes a lot of pressure off of Misaki. In the right pool I love taking Big Jake with Death Contract. Don't Mind Me makes scoring easy while I Thought You Were Dead and Death Contract make killing him annoying since it costs you and he comes back turn 5 anyway.

Played a week#1 game, except using Extraction instead of Turf War. Misaki 2ss cache -Stalking Bisento -Recalled Training -The Peaceful Waters Shang The Lone Swordsman -Equality -False Target Big Jake -Death Contract Wandering River Monk Ronin Torakage Monk of Low River Shadow Effigy Ended up against a somewhat elite Guild Lucius list, I think 7 models versus my unusually large crew of 9. Picked Tail'Em and Recover Evidence. Could've taken any scheme really, I've never gelled well with Accuse or its predecessors and Recover Evidence feels like an easier Dig Their Graves in practice. Misaki and Lone Swordsman took out models but prioritised their own survival to maintain my activation advantage. Rest of the crew played cagey. Misaki charging in and Next Target'ing back towards my healers worked really well for this. Equality on Lone Swordsman seems to work well if I don't need him to be hyper aggressive. I ended up snowballing and we called it on round 3 or 4. Lucius might have gotten it up to 10-5 had we played to the end. Lucius got a few points off of Accuse and none for Recover Evidence. I don't think this crew is particularly vulnerable to Accuse but he managed to box my accused models in to prevent disengaging or pushes out of engagements. Tail'Em seems extremely easy if you have activation advantage and keep it. Lucius didn't take this so I don't know how well Misaki plays against it, she likes to be up front but also has built-in pushes to get out of dodge. Not a fan of this scheme though, and how I generally like to build my Misaki crews it will be harder to out activate. This was my third(!) Recover Evidence game with Misaki. I love the scheme in general but I think it's a great fit for Misaki. Next Target makes it easy to charge someone and push to a marker just outside enemy's engagement range to pick it up, or heck just stalk+diving charge someone and recover evidence next to their corpse marker Wandering River Monk is great for scheme pools like this and has mobility to keep up with Misaki. If she can't or won't spare AP to do interacts the monk can do that after threats have been cleared, or just leap around threats. Opponent can't leave unguarded evidence markers in the backfield because of him. I don't always have room for him but seems to work well with Misaki in schemes that mix interacts and killing. Partners in crime, hopping over the battlefield. With a centre based game like this I prefer a more cautious Misaki with friendly heals. One source of healing feels like enough, but I like having both Shang and upgraded Low River Monk for extra insurance and for non-healing reasons. Helps her survive and keep projecting a 15'' + pushes threat radius throughout the game.

There's no dictionary definition but when I think of a heavy hitter I think of a nasty damage track with a reasonably high attack stat to go along with it. 6 is good enough for that if you're not after Lilith. Min damage 4, 'high' severes, +10 damage on red joker, able to ignore defensive tech... Things like that.

Holy rules lawyer! I never read Shenlong's ability like that. Recalled Training is strong alright. I don't think it's too strong, but I'd still get it if it cost 2ss. At least it's discarded and offers no benefit if the user dies, unlike quite a few other upgrades. Far as models go Brothers are somewhat bonkers for 5ss. And I keep being amazed at how both Katanaka Snipers and Thunder Archers occupy the same 7ss slot.

Lots of pretty pictures. I like! As for feedback, I prefer to know what schemes were chosen at the same times as you write crew lists. Makes things easier to follow in the actual turn to turn report.

Besides the model cards it has following upgrades: Misaki specific: Disguise, Stalking Bisento, Cutpurse, Untouchable Last Blossom: Smoke & Shadows Ototo (sounds like you skipped him, but posting for completeness sake): Call The Thunder Obviously make sure you're getting January 2017 errata card for Misaki.

My Misaki is very honest. She just hops over and bops people on the head. Interested to hear what others come up with though. Disguised+Anna sounds neat. With any luck I can play week#1 scenario on Wednesday, would love to compare experiences with that if others manage to play it. ___ I've got a game coming up later today and I'm wondering what and why you might bring to the table. I try not to counter-build specific masters but if you're into that my opponent is most likely playing Yan Lo, faction unknown. Standard Deployment, Extraction Claim Jump, Eliminate The Leadership, Dig Their Graves, Undercover Entourage, Last Stand I'll try and remember to take a picture of the table. Maybe even write a few words of the game, what worked and what didn't.

That Shang looks amazing Almost makes me ashamed of mine.

Wyrd site confirms they're due in March: https://www.wyrd-games.net/upcoming-releases

This is awfully relevant for my current single-master ambitions. If you see some strange picks or omissions odds are it's because there's a few "faction staples" I don't own. List is aiming for Dig Their Graves and Recover Evidence, will settle for Claim Jump and Accusation, not personally comfortable with Tail 'Em: Misaki - 5ss -Stalking Bisento 2ss -On Wings of Wind 2ss (Easy to swap out if you hire someone to push Misaki, I'm trying to learn her without "crutch" models so 3'' push from this upgrade is a godsend) -Recalled Training 1ss (Flexible slot, RT is great but only somewhat redundant with Stalking Bisento) Shang - 3ss (I've gotten great value out of him. Healing has been surprisingly reliable, rush of magic, cheap activation) Samurai - 8ss (Budget tank for the middle, easy to upgrade if you're ok with a smaller cache. If I expect wp4 to be an issue I'd consider Gracie, or any in-faction wp6 tank that I don't own. -Favour of Earth 0ss -False Target 0ss The Lone Swordsman - 8ss (If Samurai is our budget tank, Swordsman is our budget killer. RT is better for killing but I've been experimenting with Equality as it can keep him in the game for a round or two longer. For tournament play I'd go with tried and true RT, but for casual games I try to test drive equality as I think it has potential) -Recalled Training 1ss Big Jake - 6ss (Mainly here for Don't Mind Me, could easily swap with a performer but then you'd need another Peaceful Waters carrier. He'll probably die so death contract is an easy pick, though you could put DC/FT on pretty much any eligible model) -The Peaceful Waters 0ss -Death Contract 1ss Wandering River Monk - 7ss (Move 12'' and interact? Don't mind if I do) Monk of Low River - 4ss (Never leave home without it. Even without healing I'll take one for condition removal and being a cheap significant minion, though I expect to get one or two casts out of his heal as well) Shadow Effigy - 4ss (Significant minion for that price makes for easy list padding. Accomplice is useful with Dig Their Graves and Accusation. Misaki appreciates the leader buff. He doesn't always rock the show but I've never regretted hiring him) No henchmen was a conscious decision to deny Tail 'Em. Plan is to have Jake, LRM and Samurai scoring Turf War, Misaki and TLS kill who needs killing, WRM leaps around and interacts for VPs and Shadow Effigy does any errands I need him to run. Dig Their Graves is a fairly sure pick, just dig some holes near the Turf Marker and kill model a turn. Recover Evidence seems like a fairly safe pick against mobile crews who move all their models up. Misaki and WRM are pretty good models for it as well, Misaki charges Evidence guards and Next Targets to pick them up. WRM leaps to unguarded Evidence. Against crews with a lot of backfield support I'd swap Recover Evidence for Accuse. Reluctantly pick claim Jump if placing scheme markers near the centre seems like bad idea. To criticise my own list there's not a whole lot of Accuse denial in it. I could swap in some Torakage or Ronin. Effigy is easy to swap out, then maybe Big Jake but I really want Don't Mind Me for this pool. I'm also probably telegraphing not taking Tail'Em by not spamming minions, though WRM is probably a good tagger and I've got a few minions loitering around. Hard to say, I've played against it a few times but it's never struck me as a scheme I'd like to pick. My crew is also not very efficient at placing or removing scheme markers, there's only two marker schemes in the pool but that could bite me. Finally on an important turn Misaki discards one for Stalking Bisento, TLS discards two for reactivate and WRM cheats a 6+ from my hand. Consistency wins and top decking isn't very consistent. Hand efficiency is one reason I like Samurai here and why Ronin were a serious consideration. Should get a game in next Monday. Plan is to take notes so I can at least muse a bit about it.

Summoned model belongs to Myranda's crew. Small rulebook page 60:

I've gotten good use out of Torakage. Agile walk 6'' and scheme or agile walk 12'' and score/deny VP just standing in the right place. Ml5 1/3/5 isn't amazing but with innate +/+ they're actually quite decent damage dealers in an emergency. Ditch a card for defensive and that df6 holds a point fairly well. You are paying for their toolbox and at only six wounds they will die to random severes. There's cheaper schemers, cheaper moderate damage 3 dealers, cheaper df 6 models. But I like them. Yamaziko is tricky. I love her but df4 wd8 takes a bit to manage. Cover and LOS block are her friends. Or you end up playing against WP targeting crew and suddenly she's your tank. Nimble makes for great scheming. 3/3/4 makes for surprising damage potential. 12'' movement with 3'' engagement is useful for denying interference and interacts. Brace Yari is a real charge deterrent. I take her for nimble scheming and anything else I get out of her is a bonus.

When I first got them I was worried about their short range. No charge, walk 5'' + 1'' engagment means they're only ever removing conditions on a 6'' radius. That's actually not horrible on a somewhat central strategy like Extraction. Later I realised that their range can, depending on the activation order, be up to 16'' which is pretty good. I had Misaki activate first, do her thing and later get paralysed. Monk activated afterwards, double walked towards Misaki and activated first in the next turn to remove her paralysis. Misaki activated as normal and did her merry thing. Sure they're not as long range as Chiaki with her ranged condition removal, but they're cheaper, no TN and situational 16'' range should be good enough. Plus I don't want to buy Yan Lo box just for her

If it hits hard and is in your face, it's probably their FFM guy But in my experience there's a few categories: Something that's in your face, killing all your guys. Bonus points if it takes a bit of effort to kill (example: Izamu). Something that earns a bunch of VPs (example: Necropunk). Something that's super annoying or disruptive without killing all your guys (example: Nurse). Basically anything that will cause you lots of trouble as the game goes on if it's not dealt with. Big killer is generally an expensive option but also hardest for the opponent to ignore. One for the newbies: any one figure that just runs straight at your most threatening master or henchman is probably the FFM guy.

Big Jake and Gracie were easy. Both are mercs too so anyone can use them. I don't think either is bad as a merc but Gracie is easier to substitute with in-faction models. Can't go wrong with Big Jake though. Misaki box, Thunder Archers and Samurai were awful. Lots of stuff in the middle. I support the idea that you look at models you like the look of and then google to see if they have horrible sprues or reputation for being awful to assemble. Then again I started Malifaux/miniatures building with Samurai. Awful, awful, awful to put together. But I managed. And afterwards everything felt less bad.

Book 4, "Ripples of Fate" gave Ten Thunders a healing upgrade "The Peaceful Waters" that lets Low River Monks near the ugprade holder take a healing action. Upgrade is found in Generalist Upgrade Deck #2. To make a disengaging strike you need a action, such as over the pebbles. Disengaging strike does no damage or apply any other effects, in this case condition removal. It is strictly used to check if the disengaging model can indeed disengage. At ml7 Over the Pebbles is one of the better disengaging strikes in the game. See page 48 of the small free rulebook for disengaging rules.