jchrisobrien

4thstringer: I've found that having fewer models who needs masks works better with the Jury. Between Lady J, Santiago, and the Doxy (plus maybe others) you might have a hard time keeping everyone close enough to make use of the pitched cards ( also your hand will get small fast!) I usually take 1-2 models for the Jury to assist: Lady J and a Recruiter, Perdita and Santiago (or something else ;) ) There are several others I'd like to try before 3rd edition lands.

I can probably push him forward via Investigator or the Belle. I might be a little light on hitting power (one ranged hitter, one melee hitter).

The Ultimate Team Showdown is in two days, and excitement is high among the players! Team videos have been released, diss videos have been released, and by Sunday one team will be #1. That team will not be mine! LOL In fact, we are favored to be Wooden Spoon winners. We'll see about that! It's very likely I'll be playing Standard Outs with the following pool: Guarded Treasure, Search the Ruins, Show of Force, Inescapable Trap, Set Up. Here's the list I'm thinking of using based on Duncan's list (who will be attending this event!) Sonnia: Cheruffe's Imprint, Counterspell Aura, No More Masks Malifaux Child Francisco: lead lined coat, wade in Papa Loco: numb to the world Domedor de Cadavers: lead lined coat Rotton Belle Brutal Effigy Guarded Treasure: Somewhat doable, if I get Sonnia up to the center of the board turn 1, she can sit there and blow things up for the rest of the game. Set Up:I could lure a target in late game and drop markers around it. I wouldn't go for this until turn 4 at least, spend the rest of the time blowing things up. Inescapable Trap: I never take this scheme. Show of Force: I HATE always seeing Show of Force in this strategy. I might risk sitting the domedor or papa near the center if terrain is favorable, but again I need to blow a lot up to justify losing 7 SS to hold a quarter. Search the Ruins: Doesn't jive well with Ours, but if I clear the board and drop markers last turn, it could work out. Thoughts?

Viking, you should check out Schemes and Stones, a Malifaux podcast where they have episodes dedicated to every Master. Their Nellie episode is very good.

Game 3 was against Chris and his very unique Neverborn list: Dreamer (growing up), Primordial Magic, Serena Bowman, 2 Mature Nephilim (all with Warped Reality) and Killjoy! I brought Nellie, Printing Press, the Jury, Francisco, Phiona Gage, a Queller, a Watcher, and a Field Reporter. We were playing Close deployment so I know he wanted to blitz me. I deployed everyone extremely far back with all my henchmen close to Nellie. The Nephilim came in, one charging, and Dreamer summoned a daydream that died and spat out Killjoy. I actived my weaker models and pitched cards until his crew finished activating. I almost killed one of the Nephilim turn 1, but a few failed Terror tests kept him alive (I had no cards for horror tests.) I lost this game as well, 2-3. I scored Guard the Stash twice but the game ended on turn 4 and I didn't have a chance to get all my Search the Ruins markers down (I was one short). I couldn't score Guarded Treasure either, taking those two schemes together isn't a great idea. Chris scored Take Prisoner on the Printing Press (he basically forgot about Guarding the Stash, and he also failed to get Search). I was pretty disappointed with myself, but keep in mind I'm operation on four hours of sleep and one meal. I definitely wasn't as focused as I should have been. I should have also taken Take Prisoner on the Dreamer, since I can out-activate and get Nellie where she needs to be on turn five. I did get a free Miss Ann Thrope and custom Fate Deck just for showing up. I also won a set of painting brushes as a painting contest prize, and got a boxed set (No Shelter Here) for my placing (5th our of 8). I decided to head home that night since we weren't having a fourth game. I would have liked to play 4-5 games, but in the end I learneed some new tricks, got a lot of cool swag, and played a bunch of Malifaux!

Angel Eyes was Johnny's favorite model, he said he always takes her. She did do a cool thing by finishing off my Monster Hunter with her 0 action pistol attack. Then I chopped her up! He did Set Up on Phiona, Wong's What Goes Up... helped him out here (and helped him score Covert at the end of the game). "And then the murders began..."

Game 2 was against Eduardo (possible the one from this forum?) a Gremlins player. He took Wong, McTavish, Sammy LaCroix, a Taxidermist, 2 Swine Cursed, and a Wild Boar. I brought my Sonnia crew (child, Francisco, Phiona, Master Queeg, Papa Loco, Guild Investigator, Effigy). Eduardo hid behind several houses while my crew slowly advanced. Things got violent quickly as McTavish started killed the Effigy with one shot. I replied by blowing up the wild boar and killing the taxidermist and wounding Wong. Wong blasted back doing lots of damage to my models, then pushed Papa back and killed him, wounding my models even more. By the start of turn 5 I was down to Sonnia and the Investigator. Wong and a Swine Cursed were alive but badly hurt and hiding, McTavish and Sammy were still in play. McTavish missed his first shot and Black Joker's the damage on the second shot. Sonnia blasts back knocking him to two wounds, but due to cover I'm on negative flips and miss my second flame blast (I focused for the first shot). That was the most exciting exchange of the day! I lose the game 5-8. I scored 2 for Covert Breakthrough and Show of Force, but only 1 for Public Executions. He scored 3 for Set Up and Covert Breakthrough, and 2 Public Execution points. It was a violent and very fun game!

Ah, Zookscon. I drove four and a half hours from Boston the East Rutherford NJ the morning of the event, because the hotel was fully booked (according to them). We have ten players in the event, I found after round two that we were only going to play three games, not four. Game 1 I fielded Perdita (totem, Francisco, Abuela, Phiona, Effigy, Monster Hunter, Queller) against Lady Justice, Master Queeg, a Peacekeeper, three Wastrels, and Angel Eyes. Everyone who could take Debt to the Guild had it. For the most part our crews circled around each other holding table quarters while our Masters moved to score Entourage. I won the game 10-5 by holding all my quarters and killing the one model that held a table quarter for him in the last round. Normally I struggle with Dig Their Graves (which is why I took Phiona) but I came up with a second solution for it: Abuela walks up and drops a marker near an enemy model, then tells Francisco to "listen up" and walk up. He then companions and either charges or flurries against the model, killing it and earning my Dig point.

I got it from the con Facebook site, under discussions

All very good points about Phiona, which is why I'll give her more table time. I just worry about missing the condition removal, and the guaranteed rams. The Jury is also a Guild Marshall so the DM Recruiter can protect her. That may not always be an issue though. Double flames walls are awesome according to everyone, but I haven't gotten much mileage out of them yet. I mean I've used him in several games. Just a matter of practice. I've been working with Allison lately but with not much luck. It does look like a fun list and I will give it a whirl. It's funny to see how quickly Lead Lined Coat replaced A Debt to the Guild in most crews. What a difference one soul stone makes!

Round 1: I like that idea. Holding a few models back to hold quarters and blitzing with Lady J (and keeping her alive with the Recruiter) can really put your opponent on the back foot. They are so worried about dealing with her that they forget about their own schemes. I don't run Phiona as often as I should, I think it's time to put her to the test. Round 2: The only thing I'm not crazy about in that list is the Child. Most of the time when I go heavy on the flame walls my opponent just uses them for cover to rush me. Now if the Child copies her Flame Blast, that could work. Round 3: I agree about Nellie. There's nothing stopping me from doing Lucius multiple rounds (or other Masters) but I like being proficient with all of them. I don't like the idea of having to solo a Master for a tournament, and with GG2018 and Wave 5 upgrades many of the Guild masters can shine. Between close deployment and delegations from Nellie I can be all up in their faces quick. Nellie can push models away, monster hunters can push models away. Round 4: Lucius, this is your time to shine!

I can't bring myself to take McMourning to a big tournament these days. Zooks Con has updated their list to include Schemes. They are also only holding 4 rounds (a bit of a shame, maybe I'll get a pick up game in later Round 1 - Ours, Standard Deployment: Guarded Treasure, Undercover Entourage, Dig Their Graves, Public Demonstration, Inescapable Trap. Sonnia is still a good choice for this pool. She can sit back far enough to help perform Guarded Treasure and still affect the battlefield. She's not the best for Undercover Entourage, but Dr. Grimwell (who shows up in a lot of her lists now) is great for it. Public Demonstration is always an option depending on the other crew. Dig Their Graves is low on my list these days, and Inescapable Trap is even lower. Round 2 - Public Executions, Flank Deployment: Eliminate the Leadership, Covert Breakthrough, Undercover Entourage, Set Up, Show of Force My initial choice (Lady Justice) wasn't bad, but it means I have to get close to kill and risk my own models. Perdita may be a better choice here as we can hang back and shoot more. She can also Obey people out of cover, and a Domedor supplied Belle can lure people too. Covert Breakthrough is easy on flank deployment, as is Undercover Entourage. Show of Force is always a favorite for Guild. Set Up is probably the lowest priority in this pool, and I can always Eliminate the Leadership against the right opponent. Round 3 - Guard the Stash, Close Deployment: Guarded Treasure, Public Demonstration, Take Prisoner, Search the Ruins, Hold Up Their Forces This will likely be my Nellie round. Since deployment is close, any of these schemes are viable. Search the Ruins and Guarded Treasure are probably the easiest, followed by Take Prisoner and Public Demonstration. Nellie's activation control will be clutch for this round. Round 4 - Symbols of Authority, Corner Deployment: Punish the Weak, Covert Breakthrough, Dig Their Graves, Vendetta, Undercover Entourage I'm thinking either Lucius or Lady J here. I've used Lucius for several Symbols game and won big in them. The schemes favor Lady Justice a bit more: I have to run over and get their Symbols, so Undercover Entourage and Covert Breakthrough are great. Vendetta isn't hard for the Guild and neither is Punish the Weak. I can again ignore Dig The Graves (unless I take advantage of Lucius's Guild Intelligence).

I'm strongly considering it!

There's a 5 round Malifaux GT this weekend in East Rutherford NJ that I'm attending. Here are the scenarios and what I'm considering using for them. Standard Ours - Sonnia should be a pretty good start for the tournament, clearing out table quarters at range. Flank Public Executions - Lady Justice and Perdita both excel at this. Close Guard the Stash - Nellie's ability to push other models makes her extremely good for this/ Corner Symbols of Authority - Lucius and Perdita are both very good here, Perdita has a slight edge since Punish the Weak is in the pool. Close Interference - Perdita or Sonnia should do well at these, or a shooting based Nellie crew. Just try to stay disengaged while killing weaker enemy models. How would you approach these scenarios? Who doesn't like a little theory crafting?

Lots of good discussion here! I did some number crunching after work. I've taken Show of Force in Ours five times, scoring either 2 or 3 each time. One win, two big losses, two narrow losses (narrow by 1 points). The moral of the story seems to be "Don't take Show!" I often pair Guarded Treasure with Show of Force in those cases (usually the Jury or another tanky model) I've been playing it poorly, but just having that model touch the center of the board. That means my other model has to sit near the back with little impact on the game. Better to put that model deep in the center, so my second Guarded marker can be closer. The Guild Sergeant is also a common model in Ours; kicking a scheme marker around is sweet!

thewrathchilde, I like your points on the Executioner, I'll have to start using him more.

Whenever I play the Ours strategy, there is a 75% that Show of Force is one of the schemes involved (or so it seems!) The Guild are great at Show of Force, but if we take that scenario, it makes winning Ours harder. Most of the time I still take it, because my opponent may not suspect it, and I aggressively go after one of his quarters. Would you take Show of Force in this strategy? What other conflicting strategies/schemes have you run into, and how do you address them? (Obviously it depends on what the other schemes are, but I'm interested in figuring out ways to make those conflicting strategies work for us.)

I'm surprised about the Jury hate! I can see she's not the best choice in the Lucius or Nellie list. There's not a lot of need for masks in the listed crews. I've had terrible luck with the Executioner. I love the model, but my opponents usually target them early and kill them quickly before they get to shine. I'll keep trying to make them work, though. The Jury is always in my Lady J (and Perdita) lists. Both of them use masks a lot, and the DM Recruiter uses them too. Another big plus in the Jury's favor is her healing and removing conditions. I also like the scales a lot for card draw. If you are pitching cards for the Jury, or for "justice on the edge of a blade" you should have plenty of chances to draw cards. If you are even on cards you can do defensive and then draw one!

re: my Sonnia vs Collodi match. It was brutal and short and ended on turn 3. He had Collodi, 3 marionettes, Nekima, Hooded rider, Stictched Together, Brutal and Arcane Effigy. Turn 1: Maneuvering and flame walls Turn 2: His Stictched took two shots on Sonnia, then Collodi ordered it to shoot four more times, I won two of the duels so knocked the Stiched down to one, so it reactivated and cast at me again! I won the duel and the Stitched killed itself, but Sonnia was down to 2 wounds. Sonnia and Nekima were engaged, the Hooded Rider had charged the Peacekeeper and crippled it thanks to Ret's eye. Nekima killed my Effigy, but both Quellers scored Public Demonstration off Nekima. Turn 3: Collodi wins initiative, and within a few activations Frank and Sonnia and the Peacekeeper are dead. I'm left with the Quellers, Investigator, and the Child, so I can't score Guarded Treasure. He's attacked all my models except the Child, so I kill the child (which was his Take Prisoner target). I couldn't prevent him from scoring Guarded Treasure or Ours each round, so we called it. Final Score: Collodi 7 (4 Ours, 3 Guarded Treasure), Sonnia 3 (1 Ours, 2 Public Demonstration)

Heading back to the dojo tonight. I'll be playing against Collodi (likely with Nekima and Hooded Rider) The scenario will be Ours and I'm bringing... Sonnia Criid (cherufe's imprint, counterspell, no more masks) Malifaux Child Francisco (wade in) Peacekeeper (numb) 2 Thalarian Quellers Guild Investigator Brutal Effigy I have double flame walls to keep him away from me. Frank and the Effigy do their things. I'm trying to peacekeeper for protection from Nekima/Hooded Rider (though I'm sure Ret's eye will show up). The Quellers and Investigator are there for practice. Suppression markers would be good against some of his models, and enchanting weapons will nullify the Hooded Rider's defense. Investigator could also make Hooded or Nekima "act casual" to limit their attacks.

Tris: After consulting with our local Guild guru Travis, I must concede that you are correct. *throws minor tantrum*. Fortunately, the area suppression markers I was throwing out ARE effective against lures. *welcomes sanctioned spellcaster back into the rotation*.

I didn't get the chance! LOL I had a line up all my models lined up "Western showdown" style. I should have gone into cover instead. Using a Henchman AP to make the spellcaster shoot a model and keep it from charging might just be worth using a Master AP on

I tried a game where I was going to use the spellcaster as a "gun turret" with AP from my other henchmen. Unfortunately the spellcaster was gunned down before she could cast, and generally Henchmen AP are better than spellcaster AP.

I went to Bad Things Happens (local Malifaux tournament) this last week. Lots of 10 Thunders and Neverborn crews, a few Gremlins, and two Guild. No Arcanists or Ressurs, very strange! Game 1 was Standard Extraction: Surround Them, Dig their Graves, Set up, Hold Up their Forces, Undercover Entourage. It was a Nellie vs Lilith match up! Nellie (misleading headlines, delegation, guild funds), Printing Press, Francisco (wade in, debt), Phiona Gage (transparency, lead lined coat), The Jury (numb, lead lined coat), Thalarian Queller, Watcher, Field Reporter. Lilith, Primordial Magic, Hooded Rider, Lilitu, Doppelganger, Changleing, Walkdgeist, Grootslang! It was a very tight game, with both of us circling around a big water tower near the center of the table. Lilitu, the Doppelganger, and the Changeling were hoping for multiple lures a turn; I shut this down with a few Supression markers and Numb to the World, then charged to kill Lilitu and the Changleing. Francisco was rooted by Lility but got around that by placing next to the Grootslang and killing it. I lost Francisco and Nellie shortly after that (which was bad because Nellie had Entourage for me), but before she died she helped secure 3 points from Set Up on the Hooded Rider, and full points for Extraction. My opponent scored 2 each for Hold Up and Entourage, and 3 points for Extraction. A 7-7 draw! Game 2 was Flank Ply for Information: Surround Them, Set Up, Show of Force, Search the Ruins, Take One for the Team Perdita (fastest draw, trick shooting, shooting cans), Enslaved Nephilim, Francisco (wade in), the Jury (numb), Abuela (lead lined coat), 2 Monster Hunters, Brutal Effigy Asami, Amanjaku, Ama No Zaku, Ohaguro Bettati, Shadow Emissary, 2 Yokai (I might be missing something) This game quickly turned into a big brawl in the center of the board, since we were both going for Search the Ruins. We were both losing models right and left, the key part of the game was in the last turn when Perdita relocated out of an engagement, shot two of his scheme markers off the board, and dropped one of her own to score Search. I ended up winning that game 8-4 (full points for Show and 2 for Ply). Game 3 was Close Headhunter: Eliminate the Leadership, Set Up, Show of Force, Vendetta, Public Demonstration Lilith, Primordial Magic, Hooded Rider, Lilitu, Baby Kade, 2 Young Nephilim My opponent spread her crew across the board while I stayed in a clump just left of center. I was able to corner and kill one young nephilim early on. Baby Cade and Lilitu lured the recruiter across the table while the rest of our crews headed to the middle. There was a titanic brawl between Lilith and Lady J! The Recruiter hurried back to the center as fast as he could, but not in time to save Lady J's life. Lilith then goes on to stave off three attacks and stay alive with 1 wound left! Both of scored points for Eliminate, but I had two Heads and all my Show of Force Points for a 6-4 win. At day's end I was 2-0-1, which was enough for Best in Guild and second place overall! The event was fantastic, as were the players.

I'm a big fan of lead lined coat on the recruiter.