Mycellanious

It was something I did in GG1. It was really strong when you could use Mark Territory to give Cojo 4 Focus Turn 1. Obviously it is still good and it is a great reason to take Cojo against Ressers. He can rather reliably one-round something like Archie. This type of approach however tends to leave you a bit AP hungry; it is a powerful combo but it's kind of like a haymaker that can leave you overextended if you whiff

That's true, Triggers are considered part of the Action so it would resolve an Action while in Hazardous. But we can take Magical Training to mitigate- oh wait nope. Yea SS Miners are just not good lol

In Anya's case, a Pushed Marker would only trigger it's Hazardous Effect if the actual Marker came into base contact with the enemy model. If it only moves within an inch of the model there would be no hazardous damage from that movement

Does this mean the attack is also controlled by the attacker

After a couple of games, I think I am tentatively going to call it a buff. Pros: +++ Soulstone usage. Absolutely a game changer, Sparks has now seen Turn 5 in every game I have used him. It also makes Sparks very good at certain Schemes, like Hidden Martyrs. In fact, I have had opponent say they don't even want to bother attacking Sparks now, since he can Stone away the first attack and Scamper away from the second. ++Synergy with the Porkchop. Previously, Sparks and the Porkchop had dis-synergy which was unfortunate and sad. Since the Porkshop can't benefit from Fast twice, there was no reason to use Now Yer A Robot on it. Now however, Sparks can give the Porkchop a Fourth Action which is very powerful. Being able to set up Vent Steam early, or even just taking an extra Walk Action is very strong. Plus, Reckless damage is both prevented by Shielded, AND procs Packed With Explosives. ++Increased Versatility. The advantage that Command Construct has over Burn Out is that it is more versatile. Being able to get an extra Action on another model during Sparks' Activation can be a game changer. For example, using Command Construct to have another model Ride the Rails so that both Sparks and that model can evacuate the area before the opponent has a chance to attack either of them. It can also be used on Enemy Constructs, which is useful because previous enemy Constructs where difficult for the Foundry to handle, as they ignore Vent Steam. Plus, it is an Attack Action, so now Sparks has a use for Focus! ++Sparks no longer needs to consume Scrap for his Tactical, which means your Turn 1 has a decreased resource cost. + Sparks can turn your Living models into Constructs, so when they die you get an extra Scrap! Cons: -Increased resource cost. Command Construct require a NINE, in a crew with ZERO card draw and lots of discards. It is definitely not going to go off every Turn, maybe once or twice a game. At least it can be mitigated a little bit by spending Focus? Oh, also it has no Triggers... - Sparks can no longer give himself an extra Action. Previously, you could Burn Out Sparks for a 3rd Action, but you can't Attack yourself so you cant Command Construct on yourself. - The range of Scrapyard Mines got reduced and it is now an Aura. Most of the time, I'm throwing the enemy into the Scarp so the range reduction isn't seriously impactful. The fact that it is now an Aura is mitigated by Stone usage, as it is now acceptable for Sparks to be on or near the front lines. - - With the Focus Changes, Galvanize is not a great Trigger, particularly if you want to bring Kang. - - Command Construct is affected by Concealment, so you still have the issue where your Turn 1 can be messed up by Diesel Engine, except now you don't get your extra Action if the model you want to target is in Vent Steam. - - - The Maximum amount of health Sparks can save you in a Turn has been reduced. Previously you could Heal twice and give Shielded, for a total swing of six Health. Now that his Tactical is no longer a Bonus Action, the most HP you can swing is four, or if you Ride the Rails, only TWO. Neutral: Analyze Weakness is still a dead Action. Sparks has even more Action AND resource pressure than he did before. In my 60+ games of Foundry, I have attempted Analyze Weakness twice and succeeded zero times.

Falling is not movement. The rules for Malifaux are written from a 2D perspective, which makes them a bit awkward at times. Essentially, pretend you are looking at a Vassal board. If a model is on top of destructible terrain and that terrain breaks, the model does not change location, strictly from a 2D perspective. All that happens is the SZ of the model changes.

The Forgeling is quite good. Being able to pump out 2 Scrap markers a Turn is crucial on the early Turns of the game, and infinite Condition removal for a FOUR as a BONUS ACTION is godly, not to mention it turns that Condition removal into healing. Not to mention the shenanigans a significant, 2 Cost model with Ride the Rails can get up to.

This was my basic list that I learned the crew (and M3E) on. I generally start with this in crew building and then swap models out. Basic Foundry (Arcanists) Size: 50 - Pool: 9 Leader: Mei Feng Totem(s): Forgeling Hires: Kang Neil Henry Soulstone Cache Rail Worker 3 Magical Training Rail Worker Metal Gamin Metal Gamin 2

I play a lot of Mei Feng! It's a super fun crew with a great diversity of model type if that interests your hobby side. Mei Feng herself is definitely a combo driven master. She plays very well with the models in her Keyword, but also just with the abilities on her own card. For example, a powerful combo is Breath of Fire -> Condensation Trigger -> Deadly Claws -> Jackhammer Kick. In this way she creates her own Hazardous Terrain, that she kicks people around in for bonus damage, as well having the Aura active for when the enemy Activates (if it survives). She is definitely a low floor - high ceiling Master. If you want, you can literally just run her in and punch some dudes. Some times it will go well, sometimes it will go extremely poorly. Learning how to determine whether it would go well or poorly is an important skill for this Master! She's also a Master that at any given moment will have tons of options available to her. More than just picking the correct option, learning to identify all your options will take time. For example, Jack Hammer kicking an enemy model off a Lodestone, using Constant Motion to push 2" backwards into range to remove Scrap Markers for you Bonus Action in order to Rocket yourself 9" to the other side of the board and around a Corner isn't a play that is immediately obvious. In short, this is a Master that can really reward dedication! Every model in the Keyword (Foundry) is defined by their Ride the Rails Ability. This ability essentially allows them to teleport between Scrap Markers up to 12" away. This is incredibly strong but also difficult to master, for two primary reasons. Firstly, because you need to learn how to set up networks of Scrap Markers in relevant places, and secondly because it requires a Walk Actions. Generally, taking the Walk Action does not win you games of Malifaux, so Ride the Rails needs to be used in clever ways to make the most of it. The rest of the Keyword as a whole is divided into 2 categories: those who create Scrap Markers, and those who use Scrap Markers. Some models have the Walk Forge Ability which forces them to drop a Scrap Marker at the end of their Activation. These are generally your non-humanoid robots and you are going to want 1-2 of them in every Crew. Your other models tend to be humanoid and can consume the Scrap Markers for various benefits, such as increasing their combat Stats, buffing the Crew, or declaring unique Triggers. You need to be careful about how many of these models you hire compared to your Walk Forge models, because if you consume your Scrap too quickly you can leave key models stranded at inopportune moments. The result of this is a Crew that is greater than the sum of its parts with a unique "board warping" style of play. Now, how does the Foundry score points? Firstly, they tend not to be efficient at Interacting, having no special tricks to drop Scheme Markers, however they are excellent at leaving Engagement Ranges so they can drop that 1 crucial Marker in combat. They have average killing power with solid damage tracks (2/4/5), low defensive Stats, but with a myriad of Defensive Tech (they tend to reduce damage rather than avoid it). The crew has excellent Horizontal Mobility if you set up Rail Lines properly. I would say they have above-average Vertical Mobility. Their models have low Movement, so getting to the other side of the board initially can be tough, but all it takes is a single Scrap Marker for the rest of the Crew to join. They also have several models that can bypass the enemy frontline to get a Scrap Marker near their squishy models.

Core box Basse likes to play front to back. You have Basse and Reichart on the front line taking damage, and you have the Frontiersmen positioned 6" behind them. On Turn 1, they Concentrate and Walk / Drop a Scheme Marker. Then, they essentially perform an Overwatch function for the crew. If your opponent decides to attack Basse or Reichart, you can discard multiple cards, using your Focus, to seriously punish whatever model made the attack. Rather than plinking several shots off over multiple Activations, you can focus all your fire on a single model during a single Activation. Furthermore, they are very cheap sources of both Home on the Range as well as Dust Clouds, which is super helpful. They are also very resistant to one of the more significant problems with cheap models; getting shot off the board. They are super weak to mobile mele models, but hey its a 5ss minion. It should have a weakness. This is in addition to potential healing off of low Tomes, and their Follow My Path allows them and your other models to make the most of their abilities. For example, often Reichart will engage a model at the start of the Turn, for the purposes of damaging them, gaining Friendly Fire for himself, w/e. The Frontiersman can Follow My Path to move Reichart out of engagement so that he gets a clear shot on his own Turn. This is great because many cheap models with guns tend to drop immensely in value once mele combat begins! Also you can do a fun little trick where Reichart uses Bring It to intentionally get attacked. That way you get a free attack with Hold Down, 1-3 extra attacks from Frontersmen, and then the rest of Reichart's Activation! It's cheeky and memey!

I really like the Bellhop Porter and Jessie in Fronteir Crews. Both can take a significant advantage of the Dust Cloud Markers. The Bellhop Porter is great because it is another denial front-liner to help protect your backline, and it has different defensive tech than the rest of the Crew (Armor + Shielded) meaning your opponent is not likely to bring models that ignore Armor. Jessie as a piece is a mish-mashy mech, however her combination of Skills makes her an excellent denial piece into specific Scheme Pools (which is a good place for a Versatile to be!) I also REALLY like Frontiersman; I feel that they are an excellent 5 stone model and hire 1-2 in every list

You could always try them out on Vassal if you are interested! The Vassal scene has exploded over the past year due to Covid. Oh, also I don't know how closely you have been following M3E but there is a new, free app that is fantastic and lets you see all the cards (including Explorer's Society).

I think there is a good chance you would enjoy Jedza. She plays kind of like a combination of Parker and Leveticus. Her crew is based around healing in order to proc their Chronicle Abilities, which means they want to play as a bubble and get stuck in, though it is less of Levi's "grind them down," and more of a, "withstand incoming attack." Furthermore, the crew has a TON of Marker Shenanigans, including Scheme Markers. They are one of the best crews in the game at dropping Scheme Markers thanks to Jedza's Bonus Action, Leap, as well as Lamplighters. The super interesting thing about the crew however is that they have a subtheme of creating and manipulating various Terrain Markers, such as Lamp Markers, Geode Markers, Ice Pillars, etc.

I think step 6 is just there for anti-heal auras, or if it would live on 1 and suffer Hazardous, or if the Coryphee Duet would Dance Apart at 1 Wound.

technically Bayou Gremlins are the cheapest thing that can do objectives...

There biggest issue is that the rely on your other, more expensive models dropping scheme markers so they can keep up with the crew. Why would I spend the Activation of my expensive model trying to make my 4ss model useful? Cheap models are supposed to support your crew, not require support. For this reason adding them to your crew actually can make then worse than the sum of their parts. Technically they have a possible little denial role. You can leave them 15" from the Centerline to try and threaten your opponent's Schemes but like, their Bonus is Friendly Scheme Marker only and they can only remove Markers by Interacting. If you wanted something for this role, why would you not just hire a Sabateur?? And finally, they dont have any way of discarding Upgrades, so if you put things on them that upgrade is gone until they die.

To be pedantic, Silent Ones are only Minion (2). Furthermore, Acolytles actually come in Rasputina's Core Box. Therefore I nominate Acolytes as December's actual "Core Minion," they are just so bad no one thinks of them as relevant to the crew. I'd go with Rail Workers as the best Core Minion. They are extremely versatile: they can beat, scheme, tank, reposition, missposition, stun, or tie-up. Plus, they work very well with Arcanist upgrades. Their only real weaknesses are WP 4, vulnerability to spike-6 damage, and that your opponent gets to choose where Creative Salvage is placed (pls fix q-q)

If Titled Masters start to be released would they be playable in this event?

A version of Study would be perfect on a Mei Feng alt. Replace a Scrap with a Scheme marker and draw a card.

I think I'd be down for an Experimental-Chimera Title crossover. Marcus gets access to some poison shenanigans, and Dougie gets to hang out with his niece

Umm dude. Are you psychic? Waldo's Weekly just dropped...

I'm not sure I agree with that. Wouldn't "Until the End Phase Effects" fall under the category of "anything that resolves during the End Phase, resolves now" step?

"It's quite simply really, you start with small-grade bombs and work your way up and then eventually you build up an immunity to explosives!" -Willie

There are two ways for a competetive player to curb their competetive advantage without ruining either player's game: 1. Pick up a new crew. While learning a new crew your decision making is affected simply by virtue of not knowing the limitations of your crew. 2. Pick inefficient schemes. Rather than choosing schemes you commonly take and know you can score, try something new. For example, Research Mission when you cant generate Markers so you need to figure out how to kill a Living and Contruct model near each other (or by a strat marker).

Yea apparently I am the only person to actually win with ArcMei so far...