DuBlanck

Rules consistency and clarity, with a timing chart that actually works unambiguously with the models and abilities. I feel like the game's reputation as "too dense/complex to learn" would go away if the first time you read an ability interaction, you could work out how to use it from the rulebook's sequencing guide instead of an unofficial Discord's council of law technicians. I want a shedload of deep crunchy complexity, but Malifaux having an overly technical rules language grammar that isn't always the same as real world grammar is incredibly tiresome.

Unless Cackle's changed their stance, it maybe bears repeating that Balancefaux is a format suggestion for one sector/circuit of competitive play, not intended to entirely supplant Mainfaux in all tournaments - maybe you'll see a small reduction in 'top-tier' players playing new releases, but the overwhelming bulk will be events that run vanillafaux and attract the celebrity headliners by virtue of their wider player field. Edit: Unless your concern is that some those celebrity gits tend to main only two or three crews for months at a time, crews which won't be new releases if they can't play them in the big tournaments, in which case... fair point I guess.

Why Joss over Golem?

Clouds of spooky mist (cotton wool on a base) can be a good thing to block lines of sight without just obstructing every travel lane with mausoleums and fences. The pauper's pit reanimating- a patch of ground with grasping hands bursting out of the soil (Hazardous: Staggered), maybe Destructible individual hands?

Oh, yeah, it absolutely is. But it is still how I feel about the situation. Whenever I talk to people, I focus on the objective system being actually objective-based (rather than killing with seasoning), and every individual model having a unique contribution to the game's outcome. That's the easy sell. Most of the new entry players I have met in the physical world bought in because they liked a specific crew aesthetic, so I can't just feed them a simpleton crew - we're playing the game because they want to try out their new e.g. Jedza, which means we have to spend a chunk of the game butting our heads against the twenty-four step timing chart and managing Auras and tokens and terrain markers (which are and are not terrain) and and and. I don't want to say "this game is sufficiently corner-case-riddled that I'm going to give you three websites and two Discord servers to do homework on" in the middle of someone's first game. It's manageable, it's just a drag that I, personally, in my opinion, don't feel enthused to teach.

I have been put off doing intro games or demos for folks because I don't want to have to mess up explaining the timing charts, or why this or that doesn't work the way it 'should'. The point about the value of new players is well made - Malifaux is far better suited to casual play than Guild Ball, but it feels like it is drifting into the same territory of being inaccessible to some degree due to the depth of knowledge needed to play it as (ostensibly) intended.

Is that how that works for Pulses? I'd assumed that, absent a declared target, the origin was "this model" - so there is no range or LoS to draw.

I'm fairly sure the program is dead, I'm afraid. They'll make good local bragging rights event rewards?

@Maniacal_cacklechannel name? Are those directly related or coincidentally adjacent? Weak-Keyword Masters tend to be stronger individual models because they are designed/power-budgeted to be good without the help of their Keyword? Which leaves you free to spend Stones on good Versatiles and OOKs. Whereas Masters that are intended to be heavily involved in their Keyword crew, so you effectively pay a 'tax' by taking less-good in-Keyword options to enable the Master?

@Wyrd Dawg there's a small circle that (historically) play at Dice Saloon in Brighton. There's an FB page for Brighton Malifaux too. I am planning on getting back to the table when being outside becomes a less enticing prospect.

Perhaps this is more obvious to someone experienced with Nellie - why Nellie without her Keyword? Just to control the Cursed interactions?

This is, I think, a preferable solution - some sort of free upgrade for hiring multiples. Hire 3 Mages, all Oxfordians get a free Suit. Hire 3 or more Dogs, one Dog is Pack Leader, gains Pack Mentality (+1) always on, and gets Follow My Wag, or Coordinated A Pack, or some other Dog-only version of a medium-impact utility skill (bearing in mind that impact is tempered by Dog-only). Aside, I've noticed that a lot of cheap Minions have a Trigger for every Suit somewhere in their actions, so perhaps this was intended to be some sort of flexibility thing allowing max value output, it just doesn't really work in execution.

Not to impugn your academic rigour unduly, but was that seeing if they were decent models, or finding pools where you would actually take that model in a crew over other options? There's a number of models in this class that are decently playable, but barely ever first choice for a position/role - usually because there's a better model for 1-2ss more. [Edit: I realise I'm duplicating @Avatar of Butter's post here.]

Along the same lines as @regleant, there are a few minions I'd take three of, but I'd strongly prefer keeping the model count safely under a dozen per crew.

From Guild Ball times, there was a lot of constant verbal interaction that negated the need to ask "do you want to clock over?" As said above, players usually already know if they would cheat a duel before the cards are flipped, so if your opponent doesn't announce "no cheat" within a couple of seconds, you can ask, and tap over if there's no answer immediately forthcoming - perhaps 5 seconds of running on the wrong clock. The Other Coast podcast, among others, had a good episode about clocks. Most of the 'bads' can be avoided or significantly mitigated by a talk at the top of the tournament - run the clock while you are active, flip the clock if your opponent is doing a lot of thinking, try not to be a dick about aggressive clock flipping.