Regelridderen

4 hours ago, Math Mathonwy said:

I actually think that Burns was remarkably well balanced considering the absolutely insane scope of doubling the number of Masters in the game. Sure, there were a couple of OP ones and a couple of lackluster ones but I think that no one could've gotten that amount of stuff right on the first try.

Madness is a sadder case, IMO, since the scope was so much smaller and the OP stuff being so far above the curve.

But all of that said, I very much doubt that they are intentionally making the new stuff OP. There is always the incentive of making new stuff appealing and erring on the side of too powerful instead of too weak kinda makes sense (making stuff that doesn't have any impact seems like a bad idea even from the players' POV) but I very much doubt that anyone in the design team is going "let's make Witness completely bonkers in order to make it sell well."

No, it’s not that 100% of the stuff is overpowered, Lord Cooper and Basse never caused much of a fuss either, but it’s the obvious outliers that are way too efficient and just seem to ignore the design principles of the rest, Spiritwalker, ‘dita, Damian to name a few. And then why have a mock ‘nerf’ round, when you just bring out new stuff with the same problems later. Then you might as well just not bother.

15 hours ago, zeno said:

Hopefully Wyrd isn't taking cues from another certain tabletop Games company.

Explorers, Burns, Madness... The pattern is hard to ignore, it seems that Wyrd banks on a pay to win strategy.

Which is sad, as it becomes harder and harder to endorse the game, as you set people up for disappointment.

It's got the best and most interesting design core of any miniature game out there. A vast and diverse model range – that counter to purpose gets invalidated by the Nexuses, Damians, 'ditas and what else that comes out off the charts.

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I, personally, have given up on buying anything new 'faux. And with 20+ crews I'd otherwise be what the game industry would deem a 'whale'. Except I don't do Pay–To–Win, I play to have fun, and if getting a Damian ends up invalidating my Collette or Ironsides, I end up with a third of the fun.  

M2E ended with Sandeep vs. Nicodem being the only viable masters in the game. There's no point in repeating that scenario.

1 hour ago, FoundryWorker said:

@Moinetbeard …should result in quite a large crew in the end!

Don’y worry. Collecting never ends - I’m on my 21st keyword 😉

Good choice. I’m Diving into my Thunders collection at the moment - primarily Honeypot, Wastrel and Ancestors. 

For Misaki, I’d get the Kharmic Debt first. Minako and her summons is one of the best ‘tricks’ of Last Blossom.

For Thunders in general, I’d pick up the samurai box. The Lone Samurai is a very strong shock trooper, while the Samurai minion can control an area like no other. 

15 hours ago, santaclaws01 said:

The extra attack and pass through are mutually exclusive.

Ah yes, I see. 

2 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Oh I forgot to mention you can have Parson give Matron extra positives to damage to make it even more consistent/can even straight flip stone users.

And you can take it to 24+ given that it has a built-in Pass Through -trigger.

@regleant it really says a lot about a keyword, when you can bring 3 core minions, but the illuminated are just so versatile and having Huggy’s Obey means, you can always react to stuff.

I do like OG Lynch over the Dak Bet. Nothing beats thecsatisfacrion of turning a giant teddy into a demonic prostitute or junkie.

I think, I derailed the discussion. I'd leave it to the designers to be creative about fixing Lucid Dreaming – like it was a priority. 

Besides, with the current direction of the game, and the rise of a need for a BalanceFaux format etc., I wonder if we aren't coming to an end of M3E and we can look forward to a re-worked M4E version soon enough. We might see less of summoners, maybe have Dreamer/Chompy do their old switcharoo like in the days of yore.

3 hours ago, esqulax said:

I feel like it is not quite as bad as you make it out to be. It is more. 

Take a bunch of crap from Shelf A and put it to shelf B. Then after one whole round with less crap on your shelf, but half of the crap back. 
 

So you feel it makes a difference in your games? That’s nice, I don’t.

Do you go through your fate deck multiple times in a turn, so you get the effect of a thinned deck? I rarely do so, not with Nightmares.

10 hours ago, esqulax said:

To be fair, it was also way too strong before, and the cards go into your discard, so you still won't see them for the next round. 

I don't know, I still prefer this version of dreamer. 

Yea, it was absolute too strong before – at least until Malifaux got mad  – but no one says, it needs to be like it was.

You might eliminate the optional choice, so it was less optimised and still reliant on Stitched, or it could be a minion-wide arcane reservoir, it could even be something completely unrelated to card draw but with a crew synergy, like a 6" Stat5 Wp attack to give Distracted+X, or.. or.. or.. anything but "Take cards from shelf A to shelf B, then return cards from shelf B to shelf A, rinse and repeat.".

3 minutes ago, esqulax said:

I agree with those except Dreamer1. Summoning insidious madnesses is still rough for a lot of crews to handle and Nightmare as a whole is a very solid keyword. Not to mention Chompy

It’s less a balance issue with Dreamer and more that his entire crew is centered around having a useless mechanic. You’re basically wasting time doing LD for little effect.

I’m less concerned about the overtuned stuff and more about the weak keywords - although VS and Perdita could use a light tickle with a nerf bat. 

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Dreamer1 hasn’t recovered from his past nerf. The idea that LD now only works to set up Stitched with severes is just… less than satisfying. 

Seamus1 still couldn’t care less about his Keyword, I’m down to fielding Bete, the rest is out, and although his title makes better use of them, playing a bubble doesn’t feel like Seamus. 

Somer - where’d he go? It was the best place for Barbecue in the Bayou, and he’s just gone. Make the Bayou Greasy Again!

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Of course these new masters with their fancy chain effects is an abomination that should be dealt with, but some of the most iconic masters are not getting fielded, not because they’re bad Per se, but due to their mechanics simply not working. 

Choose the keyword that makes you want to paint the most.

Play the objectives. Outmaneuver him and kill everything around Dashel. 

Thanks @djmacbest my process is mostly starting doing a volume sketch - I have some early shots of the centaurion as well : 

From there, it just went downhill, as I started dousing it in colour with my paintbrush, while I was telling myself I tried to create ‘texture’.

I find, that I care less and less about fidgeting with tiny details, using light in this way kinda takes control of the viewers eyes, so you miss the little things. 

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I’m very much inspired by Marco Frisoni - here’s a link to the video that inspires my work with the Centaurion Marshall : 

So… I needed something else and came upon a Centauron Marshall. Awesome model and I’m in full swing.

I decided to try and work with three sources of light. A green top light, shining down on the back. A blue/teal reflection of a magical explosion off to his left. And a warm red/yellow glow from a lava stream below. 

Here’s my WIP.

Orange light on the front/stomach green across the back

Experimenting with working in a fur texture.

The colour of magic

Never worked that spear beyond the initial airbrush priming and an edge highlight.

Warm and glowy transition into cool tones.

Looking great

If, say two Coryphee or three Steam Spiders combine and two of them have Focused +1 each, what will be the Duet’s or Spider Swarm’s Focused condition be?

10 hours ago, Hot4Perdita said:

Thanks. I have the Discord for my local game store. I thought it was more for stuff like that than an actual forum. Doesn’t seem to be too user friendly for a forum, though I’ll admit I don’t use it much and am not well versed in its use.

Ditto on the having fun. I learned in the past that Malifaux is not a game I enjoy in a tournament setting. Casual is the only way I play it. 

Then don’t worry about a thing ☺️

I do find tournaments fun - you can either go to win, or casually to meet new players and face crews that you don’t see in your normal meta, it’s what you make of it I guess.

It was one of those classic stories. Hopeful artist aim for the stars, when love struck crimeboss and casino owner enters, stage right, and promises him the world - only for a night of sweet, sweet love. And when the crime boss won’t take no for an answer it ends with the inevitable dance off.

STRATS : Covert Operations, Flank

SCHEMES : Breakthrough, In Your Face, Catch and Release, Vendetta, Spread Them Out.

HONEYPOT :

Lynch + Huggy + 8 Stones

Kitty Dumont

Gwyneth

Mr. Tannen

Lone Samurai

2x Beckoners

THOUGHTS : I ditched my usual Illuminated for Beckoners, as I wanted to be able to Catch the performers on their poor Wp and beat them up. Lynch2 is probably the better, but here was a chance to turn monkeys into junkies.

PERFORMERS :

Mr. Cooper + 3 Monkeys + 5 stones

Baritone Lola

Carlos Vasquez

Ferdinand Vogel

Gunsmith w. Magical Training

Gunsmith

THOUGHTS : Lynch hates getting shot, and I could get the best shooters in the biz and teleport them around while giving them +flips on the defense. Vogel is a great Circus act to complement the performers, both providing healing and Wp attacks. While scheming would be left for Lola and Carlos.

SETUP :

TURN ONE :

Both crews were reluctant to advance. Knowing very well it could spell Doom for the crew. Lynch passed, and Cooper sent a Flying Monkey up to survey and make way for his deadlier performers. Yet, the lecherous monkey fell for the siren’s call of two Beckoners and soon found itself in the midst of the Honeypot, a brilliant sheen now glowing from it’s wings. Seeing where it headed Cooper sent a Gunsmith to dispatch of the monkey, but the Hungering Darkness immediately called for it through the Beckoners.

Cooper worked his magic Presto-Change-o-ing himself and the second Gunsmith to center and Vogel off to the flank. But suddenly the Despicable Mr. Tannen got in the way. The Gunsmith rushed into help his buddy and bladres 4 health off of Tannen. Only to see Lynch come in block LoS between the two, while pumping his mate full of Brilliance - but sadly not managing to kill her.During the fighting Baritone Lola scuttled off on the flank, while Vogel dumped a scheme marker by the objective on the other, turning into a mighty werewolf to face the Lone Samurai and Kitty.

TURN TWO :

A fierce fight for initiative, each crew cheating twice ended with Lynch winning and turning both Gunsmiths into addicts, one Illuminated, one Depleted. Cooper did his best to block the Honeypot advance throwing himself and Carlos in the way, then stabbing Tannen to death with a neat Sword Trick. Carlos proceded to set the Honeypot on fire and blocking their way with a big Pyre, but died to the claws of the Illuminated Gunsmith as the Beckoners doused the flames.

Huggy set his sight on Lola who hid by the far objective dumping yet another scheme marker, while Cooper vanished in a puff of smoke.All alone Vogel/Beast made a boo-boo. He let out a mighty Roar turning both Sammie and Kitty into Adversaries, then charged deling out two impressive Severes and a Weak damage, before the Sammie hit him for seven, letting Kitty advance remove the scheme marker and claim the objective.

SCORE : Performers 1 (Strat) vs. Honeypot 3 (Strat, In Your Face, Vendetta (Sammie vs. Vogel).

AFTERMATH :

It was fun if quick, the Performers eff’ed up. Getting into a center scrum instead of leveraging their superior mobility, but I never considered how fast Mv7 will get you in Trouble, when used against you. On the positive side, I finally think I’ve got the hang of how to unpack via Presto-Changeo.

The basic game haven’t changed much. Some language has been made more precise in the rules, but that’s about it.

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As others have explained Titles have come out, and in your case you’ll want Perdita2, as she’s suddenly taken a subpar crew into broken territory - along with a versatile guild mage.

The latest expansion Madness of Malifaux introduces a new breed of hyper efficient masters, where one action easily escalates into three, mostly invalidating existing model collections, if you’re more into winning than having an even game. Hopefully designers realize that this is a wrong path to take, when you invalidate 90% of your product. Otherwise we’re hopefully seeing an M4E just beyond the horizon.

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Most discussion have migrated to Discord, for unknown reasons, so the forums are dying out.

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But just get back in the game. You’ll feel right at home and have loads of fun. Most of the broken stuff only get to reign tournaments for a year before nerfs (and the next wave), and most faux players just want some fun and a great game.

@The Neon Gnome I’m really looking forward to story - if only to paint it up. At first glane they don’t seem at Madness ridiculousness, which is only good, but they do seem to be able to do some really, really cool stuff. 

Not really true, I actually got out of the Dojo and faced a real live opponent - at least I believe they were, they all wore masks, so maybe…

STRAT : Cursed Objects, Corner Deployment. 
SCHEMES : Set the Trap, Breakthrough, In Your Face, Catch and Release, Public Demonstration. 
 

ANCESTORS - the usual suspects

Spiritwalker + Soul Porter + 6 Stones

Yin

Toshiro

2x Kabuki

Samurai

In Your Face, Catch & Release (Kabuki)

vs

ELITE/MIMICS 

Lucius + Scribe + 3 Stones

Agent 46

2x Geryon

2x Guild Lawyers

Investigator

Set the Trap, Catch & Release (Investigator)

TURN ONE :

Lots of shuffling. A central forest blocked the straight line between corners. The ancestors held back a bit, slowly advancing, weary to overextend and fall into a wave of out-of-activations. Yet first blood was drawn, when a Kabuki with Yin Reliquae met a  Geryon on the center line. 

TURN TWO :

The fight was on, the first Geryon was Pulled bloody out of the scrum, when the Scribe had his back, but Lucius isn’t the only one with out-activation pranks, and the Geryon fell apart to a charging greatsword - bringing my Yin/Kabuki far away from the Agent 46 coming round the forest stapping the Samurai in the weak bits. 

Yet the sneaky Mimics sent an investigator up to question the Spiritwalker about his immigration status - luckily they were in order and Yan was let go.

SCORE : Ancestors 1 (Strat) vs Elite 1 (Catch and Release)

TURN THREE :

Another Geryon fell, while the Agent saw his chance to kill the samurai. Fearing more surprises from 46 the ancestors focused on taking him out, but it took a lot of shuffling as Yan Lo wanted to see it happen up close, giving Lucius’s Hidden Sniper time to appear and put some wounds on a Kabuki, who’d just turned his sword against Yan Lo on a lawyer’s orders - the agent went down though, and since Yan suddenly realised he had to move to win, he executed the investigator as well. While the Yin/Kabuki and Yin teamed up against a poor lawyer.  

SCORE : Ancestors 3 (Strat + In Your Face) vs Elite 2 (Strat)
 

TURN FOUR :

To no surprise the first lawyer died quickly, then Lucius’s Hidden Sniper took out the Kabuki. Feeling the pressure Toshiro ran towards the opposing corner, but an impudent lawyer threw up some red tape and sent him back across the center line. Yin engaged the Lawyer, but also got caught in the red tape of bureacracy, but the Yin/Kabuki managed to reach Lucius, stabbing him once just for funsies.

SCORE : Ancestors 5 (Strat + Catch and Release) vs Elite 2 (Strat) 

TURN FIVE :

The Elite put up a brave fight, trying to Set a Trap and Lucius engaging the Kabuki to deny points, but the ancestors would have none of it. Reserving a couple of high masks for Obeys allowed Toshiro to reach the corner deployment from 14” away, and freeing Yin from being engaged to the Lawyer, so the Vampire could charge in and tear Lucius away from the Kabuki and dump him in pool of lava.

SCORE : Ancestors 8 vs. Elite 3

AFTERMATH :

Lucius is a tough crew to play. He can juggle a lot of actions, but quickly loses his punch, when you hit his beaters. It didn’t help that he held Lucius back and wasn’t able to channel actions into the Geryon.  The Geryon was an interesting choice, the Extended Reach was a challenge that wasted a lot of actions, while HtK demanded some thought.

The kabuki did their usual amazing stuff - Yan did not like the few times they turned around to hit him. Nor did the Kabuki enjoy the Hidden Sniper. They’re great at doing their job, but they are brutale glass cannons, when out of their element. The samurai might not have accomplished much, but he did manage to hold back Agent 46, and adding staying power was what he was there for.

This ancestor crew isn’t easy to play. You get a lot of synergies, but need to be ever mindful of positioning and cards to make it work. Especially Yan’s activation is hard, he wants his suits, and he isn’t getting the freebies he’s designed to get. The big advantage is it’s ability to shift focus and gears with most of it’s models being Mv6.

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Thumbs up to my opponent. I think, I have more games with Lucius, than he have Malifaux, but he had a better eye on schemes/strats than I’ve ever had. He’ll be a force to be reckoned with, once he cracks his take on Lucius - or switches crews. Till then, he’ll take some hard beatings.

@regleantwhen it comes to Honeypot, I prefer the old casino master. It just has a certain charm turning opposing models into junkies and prostitutes. Although, number two offer great mobility and versatility - and I think, probably is the better choice most times - and I just love to Rig The Deck.

With my Ancestors I’ve found a fast hard-hitting style based around Kabuki Warriors and mostly Spiritwalker that’s just loads of fun. Basically min3 beaters with constant ++flips to hit and damage and multiple activations.

I’m still finding my way around McCabe (Rollins), I like the Tomb Delver, but I’ve no real preference. 

I’ve decided to throw my attention to my Thunders for the moment - I’ve collected and painted Last Blossom, Ancestor/Retainer, Honeypot and Wastrel + most versatiles - and will likely add Story to the collection as well. So I thought it about time, I started playing with them too. 

I think my ‘tournament pack’ will end up with Ancestor/Retainer for the more fighty focused, Wastrel for the most scheme-y and corner deployment and Honeypot for what’s in between. These, to me, are the most fun/rewarding and I love themes more than the rest.

But what are your preferences?