Vangerdahast

I often delay her activation Turn 1. It permits me (with Presto Chango) to take back a model that I may have a bit overextended. The opponent think that he will charge the Rider or the Duet at the end of Turn 1 or beginning of Turn 2 and he suddenly faces Colette. Generally my opponent changes his mind or charge Colette but then it is ending with a buried Colette.

Same as you. I don't put enough Distract to be able to use it at full effect but it has already permitted me to place a Distracted +1 Judge in the arms of the Duet, for example. It can be seen as a lower version of Presto Chango (no Mask required, lower TN) but don't underestimate the Delay Trigger that hand out Slow. It can be really good versus a beater that you need near you (for Take Prisoner, for example) but you don't want that he kills half your Crew. It can also be a cheap way to take one of your models out of a melee without using the Disengage Action and lose movement. In the right circumstances, it is a good action but you don't use it that often. I should have used it less than ten times in thirty games. Even a 2 inches place effect can be effective when you want to mess with the placement of your opponent's models to deny him a point in certain schemes (Take Prisoner, Outflank, Claim Jump, Hold Up their Forces). The more I play Colette, the more I find that activate her late in a turn gives her a huge nuisance role by screwing opponent's plans or by scoring her own points without possible retaliation. Concerning your idea of dealing Distract, I don't know if it would be OP but it will make the action more attractive for those (like me) who struggle putting mass Distracted but you will be less inclined to use it on your own models.

For the moment, the best way to deal with it , in my opinion, is to hit the rider to force your opponent using his Fate Tokens to reduce damage and then don't keep enough to spend for Devastation. Same advice for the Dead Rider (irreducible damage too) and the Mechanical Rider (a possible second activation of a Coryphee Duet is very frightening usually).

After 4 or 5 games with Hoffman, I have the impression that Ryle could be a little overpowered. He can use his Power Token to gain the Mask necessary for his Quick Reflexes Trigger on his Gatling Gun. He also has a positive flip built-in which permits to compensate defensive techs like Serene Countenance, Concealment,... He can self-heal and the Augmented Keyword has plenty of other sources of healing (Hoffman + Attendant at minimum). As well as Armor +1 and Hard to Kill. He has regulary Fast from Hoffman and can shoot six times with Quick Reflexes (not each Turn but 4 or 5 shots are frequent). Even engaging him doesn't prevent his shooting as he can use Creep Along to leave a fight. I generally manage to have 5-6 Power Tokens on him in Turn 2. If he is well placed he becomes a shooting tower. He basically never need to use Soulstones apart from damage reduction (perhaps to gain a Mask if he runs low on Power Tokens). I think he should lose something. The positive flip on Gatling Gun cannot be touched as other models have the same weapon. Perhaps he could lose Hard to Kill, his Heal or the Quick Refexees Trigger. That don't make the Hoffman player win games automatically but it can be frustrating for the opponent. Have Hoffman players (or opponents) the same impression?

Hello Jellyroll, Happy to know that Family is finally playable. I should give them a try soon. Perhaps we will confront our respective Family crews during a future tournament. What annoys me with 2 Masters list is if it becomes a necessity in competitive play. As long as a 1 Master list can win versus a 2 Masters list, no problem. If you are "obliged" to make 2 Masters list (even if you don't want to) to win games, then it will become a problem. In my experience I only faced once a 2 Master list (the Justice+ Perdita team you are speaking about) for the moment and won with a single Colette list. Not enough to decide if 2 Masters lists are too strong or not but it is a potential problem.

Don't know if you are overapying. I think I need to test Diesel Engine in a next game versus Seamus (could be a good answer to reduce the impact of his Flintlock). Concerning Magical Training, it is difficult for me to play with less than 7 Soulsotnes so don't think I will take it especially on non-Minion model but I see that the Shielded is useful. Maybe I should try it in Reckoning games.

Generally I split the Duet Turn 1 and after that it depends what ennemy models are near. With no big threat around I don't hesitate to split it and reform it. Four actions a turn is priceless to hit or to scheme. Being a big fan of splitting the Duet I think I will never take Diesel Engine. Perhaps I will test it as my opponents are actually finding solutions to counter Colette Crew and I need to surprise them a bit. It also depends of who you are facing. I often face Lady Justice which isn't a fast Keyword so it's more safe to split. When I face McMourning with Kentauroi and/or Dead RIder I never split the Duet. For the moment I play Performer Crew without Upgrades (in M2E I was playing with a total of 4 or 5 Upgrades per crew, no matter the Master I played, a big change for me). Having Arcane Reservoir would be very good but for that I should give it to a Showgirl who will be dead before or during Turn 3 generally. Don't think it is worth the 2 stones for hiring the Upgrade. I may be wrong.

Very interesting idea. Generally the Duet pairs with the Mechanical Rider in my crew, but I should try this. Generally I use Cassandra to scheme because of her speed, often paired with Angelica who can give a push to Cassandra with Give Them an Encore. One drawback to Diesel Engine on Duet is that you cannot split the Duet. Doing this will discard the Upgrade (see Replace rules in rulebook). But I can see the advantage of Diesel Engine on Duet. And Magical Training on Cassandra doesn't give Arcane Reservoir (not a Minion), which is sad.

In my games, Cassandra is generally alone scheming too far away from her colleagues to use Upstage. In keyword, only Heals from the Duet and the Mannequin seem valuable. I would agree with CD1248 that Upstage gets more value when Cassandra is hired OOK. I need to test it when I will play my other Arcanist Masters.

Today we had a game with Korgal and we have exchanged our Crews. He played Colette and me Lady Justice. The game was Plant Explosives in Flank Deployment. Schemes were: Dig their Graves, Assassinate, Outflank, Claim Jump and Detonate Charges. Korgal played Colette, Cassandra, Mechanical Rider, Coryphee Duet, Angelica, Showgirl, 3 Mechanical Doves, 7 Soulstones (my usual list). He took Outflank and Detonate Charges. I played Lady Justice, The Judge, The Jury, Pale Rider, Recruiter, Death Marshal, Death Marshal, Scales, 3 Soulstones. I took Outflank and Claim Jump (Jury). The game ended in a draw 5-5. He scored 3 points for Strategy, 1 point for Detonate Charges and 1 point fort Outflank. I scored 3 points for the Strategy, 1 point for Outflank and 1 point for Claim Jump. We had certainly made mistakes as we weren't playing our favorite Crews. I did'nt targeted Colette at all. Turn 1 I shot two Doves to reduce activations and to reduce possible unbury areas for Colette. The Jury and the Recruiter were there to discourage Colette from burying. I think that the Jury would have been enough. Perhaps I should have recruited something cheaper than the Recruiter. I was too short on Soulstones for my personal taste. On Turn 1 and 2, Lady Justice has made all of her attacks versus the Duet which came down to 3 Wounds guarantying that the Duet would never split during the game. Trying to kill other models than Colette was more effective. At the end of the game the Performers were reduced to Colette (full health), Duet with 1 Wound left and Mechanical Rider with 2 Wounds left. I "only" lost Judge, Scales and 1 Death Marshal. The Jury had 4 Wounds left (just what was necessary for the end point of Claim Jump). Lady Justice, Pale Rider and Recruiter were at full health. I didn't killed the Duet because Justice was obliged to plant explosives instead of finishing the Duet. Putting damages on the Rider obliged him to use Fate Tokens to reduce damage and then hadn't enough Tokens for Revelation and a possible reactivation of the Duet. Concerning Korgal, he played well the Performers. Perhaps he should have less extended the Duet Turn 1 to avoid some attacks from Lady Justice. He did'nt buried Colette at all. Perhaps a mistake there, I think he could have done that one time without taking big risks. He suffered from the quick losses as he has taken Outflank. At the end the Rider was in one corner and Colette obliged to stay in the opposite corner. The Duet was stuck in the middle of the table to guard a Strategy Maker. Last Turn he used his last Soulstone to draw two cards at the beginnig of the turn which was in retrospect a big mistake. He tried to do Presto Chango on the Pale Rider in order to be able to score the second point of Detonate Charges by palcing a second Sheme marker near him. He hadn't any high Maks in hand so he tried three times the Presto Chango but two times no Mask on the card he flipped and the last time a mid Mask but I flipped a high card. He had a 12 in Hand and if he had kept his last Soulsotne, he could have made two failed Presto Chango (in order for me to cheat) and on the third used his Soulstone for the Mask and cheated the 12. In this case, I would have needed a 12, 13 or Red Joker to make it fail. Perhaps I would have it but the probabilty was higher than without the Soulstone. Ignoring Colette and reducing rapidly the number of her models seems to be the best way to deal with her. Models that can target buried models are a good way to discourage her from burying. The Crew is not very killy so there is less need of big beaters. Korgal generally plays 6 or 7 models Crews with beaters like the Executioner. I played with 8 models replacing a beater by two Death Marshals to be able to run after all of those speedy girls. I used more shooting attacks than Korgal. I had enough killing power at my disposal and enough models left on my side to achieve my goals. The lack of speed of the Marshal keyword was a problem for the second point of Outflank. When my Scales died from the Rider's attacks the last Death Marshal was too far away to go back to table corner to replace the Scales for this Scheme. The Strategy was one of the best Strategies for Colette but I managed to keep up with the Performers. It was a difficult game with a lot of choices to make for the two players but in the end for the first time Lady Justice didn't lose (but didn't win either). Playing versus Colette is difficult but she can be beaten even in games that favorise her. Hope that it gives ideas to the players who struggle versus her. Her Keyword is trong in some Strategies but she can be countered. It can take some time to find how to play versus her but solutions exist. This week I also made a draw in Plant Explosives versus Seamus (another tough game).

In a first time, Miss models and Nightmare will only be available during Gencon on Wyrd's webstore. After that, they would logically be available during Black Friday sale and Easter sale.

As I told for Miss Seamus: AMAZING! Don't think I will buy this Crew but awesome models.

I play mainly Colette since the end of Open Beta and have something like 25 games with her. What is your "core" performer crew? For the moment, I have one Crew that works perfectly for Plant Explosives and Turf War. The Crew is: Colette 3 Mechanical Doves Cassandra Angelica Coryphee Duet Mechanical Rider Showgirl Soulstones: 7 For Corrupted Idols, I am still experimenting and don't have a real core Crew. A Reckoning Crew is even harder but that's not Colette's best Strategy. What models in the keyword have most impressed you? First of all, Colette. Her capacity (via bury) to redeploy where she exactly need to be for scoring or denying points is her best feature. If you can safely self-bury her at end of Turn 4, you can activate her late in Turn 5 (don't hesitate to use all the Pass Tokens you will have) to score that point that will win you the game (or denying opponent's win). The Coryphee Duet is also a center piece of the Crew . It can be used as a beater (not the best of all but still solid) but also as a schemer with Agile that allow to Interact each Turn if necessary. Cassandra is a good model but a little less awesome than her M2E version. I still take her in almost every game. What models in the keyword are underwhelming? Same as Khyodee. I haven't played them but Carlos and the Ice Dancers seem to be more efficient in their other Keyword. Still need to test Carlos but the need to keep him away from the girls (Fiery Presence) is something that makes me reluctant to use him in a Performer Crew. How has the keyword felt and performed so far? (strong, weak, fun, ect.) Great success at the moment. I played approximately 25 games and have more or less 17 wins, 2 draws and 6 losses. The Crew I gave above is undefeated in Turf War and Plant Explosives. The losses are mainly in Reckoning (no surprise here) and Corrupted Idols. But in the last weeks, victory has became harder (my opponents have found counterpicks recently). For me, Performer is a very good Keyword but not for all games. If you need speed and Interacting go for the girls. For more killy games, better avoid them and take another Master (even if iI still try to find a good Crew for that occasion). Agree with Khyodee that they are fragile and you will end the game with few models if the opponent focuses on killing. If he focuses on achieving his Schemes and Strategy, the Crew can survive reasonably well. I still struggle to hand out mass Distracted but as long as I win often, I don't really bother about it. What weaknesses have you found with the keyword? It's no surprise that their main weakness is their fragility (no real defensive tech apart from Manipulative that can be easily negated). Colette and Duet being the exception but can be killed with some efforts. For these two, irreducilbe damage, pulse damage and passive damage (like Black Blood) can make them crumble fast. What cool tricks have you discovered with the keyword? Concerning the Mannequins, I need to test them more. Don't think that Colette is a good choice for pushing Mannequin as she rarely walk (mostly use Presto Chango or Bury/Unbury to move her, perhaps a matter of personal playstyle). Mechanical Rider is Duet's best friend. Take Ride with Me to throw the Duet forward on Turn 1. If you split the Duet, it is 4 actions in the turn with a free push of nearly 7'. In a Turf War game with Corner Deployment, you can claim one of the most distant Markers and still Concentrate in the same turn (needs to split the Duet). Turn 3, 4 and 5, activate the Rider after the Duet and use Revel in Creation with Revelation Trigger for a second Duet activation (potentially 8 actions if you split and reform the Duet in each activation, not yet achieved it). Your opponent won't like it at all. Other best friends are Cassandra and Angelica. These two girls can claim a distant Turf War Marker Turn 1 (even in Corner Deployment) but are also very good in Plant Explosives. They can interact even if they are engaged or are disengaging and are fast enough to drop Strategy Makers far away from your opponent's models. Search the Ruins and Breakthrough are easy with them. In Plant Explosives, let your opponent drop his Strategy Markers and use Don't Mind Me to take them back (no need to kill the Tokens holder before he interacts). For this, Colette is superb. Unbury, walk, interact with Don't Mind Me then Sabre Trick on the oppoent's model and self bury. Magical! Generally I use Cassandra and Angelica to drop Strategy Markers. Colette and the Showgirl take back the opponent's Strategy Markers and the Duet and Rider keep opponent's beaters busy. Concerning Sabre Trick, it's a good way for scoring endgame Point for Assassinate. If you have a 13 in hand (a 12 can suffice depending on opposing Master's Df) activate her after the opponent's Master in Turn 5 (easy versus melee Masters who loves to activate early). Remember that buried models at the end of game are killed. Easy Victory Point. Don't hesitate to use your Pass Tokens to delay Colette's activation (tested and approved versus Viktoria, McMourning and Perdita). Presto Chango can be used to score the first point of Take Prisonner. Keep a Dove near Colette. Target the prisonner (cheat a high card if necessary), swap the prisonner with the Dove and you have a Prisonner engaged with Colette (not sure that he will complain) and far away from the rest of his Crew. As always do it at the end of a turn after the prisoner has activated. You can also deny some Schemes by moving your models with Presto Chango at the end of a turn (especially Take Prisoner, Hold up their Forces, Detonate Charges). You can also mess with your oppoent's Schemes by moving his models to deny Schemes (Outflank, Claim Jump). Generally, Colette should be activated late in each turn in order to have the best opportunities to shine as the Master illusionnist she is. Colette is fond of Soulstones. Always take a big cache (for me 7 is a minimum and I end the game with only 1 or 0 left). Use it for Presto Chango and self bury on Sword Trick. Some can be used to draw cards at the beginning of the turn (I use it two or three times per games). Some Soulstones to reduce damages on Cassandra is always good. I think that numerous trick still need to be discovered. Is there anything you fear to see across the table from you? (faction, master, model, etc.) As said by Khyeodee, focus heavy Crews and irreducible damage as well as action that don't target Df or Wp. The Pale Rider and Dead Rider are especially good at that with their pulse that deals irreducible damage. Things like Black Blood or Entropy also are dangerous for Colette and the Duet. Is there anything you love to see across the table from you? Slow Crews without movement tricks are a pleasure for the Performers. Especially Guild which may be the slowest Faction (exceptions exist). Elite Crews that don't have enough actions to go after all the fast models of the Performers. Is the Performer keyword have a place in a tournament players rotation? I have played two M3E tournaments (8 players each time) with only Colette and have placed 3rd each time. Did well in Turf War and Plant Explosives, lost in Reckoning and Corrupted Idols. As it should be. Even if it is possible to do well in all Strategies (cross your fingers that a tournament Reckoning game ends on Turn 3 or 4 and Assassinate is in the pool), I think that Corrupted Idols and Reckoningare easier with another Master than Colette. In Plant Explosives and Turf War, she is, in my opinion, the best choice in Faction with Marcus (and perhaps Kaeris).

Colette Crew is fragile (as it was in M2E) but I don't think that Colette has been nerfed. My opponents (see original post of this topic for example) generally think that she is very hard to play against. Losing models is a fatality for the Performers. You must lose them as late as possible in the game. Their defenses like Manipulative, Finesse for Cassandra or Distracted (which can be difficult to give to many opponents) can be countered but that should give you enough time to achieve your goals. If you have only two models left at beginning of turn 3, then you will probably lose but if you can make your models last longer, victory is achievable even with one or two models on the table at the end of the game (please see my post of 25 June above for an example). Could you detail what lists you play and who are the Masters you play against?

Thanks. As soon as I play Guild again (for the moment, focused on Arcanists), I will test it and give feedback (if I remember at that time).

@Adran: I don't play Lady Justice (don't like melee Masters) but I have a Lone Marshal. Do you think he is a good hire with Perdita or Sonnia? The fact that he is a loner seems to make him a good hire, but I am not sure with Perdita and Sonnia who already have many ranged threats.

@Da Git and @Zeroflatline : Thanks for the advices. I will probably proxying for testing before diving into Ten Thunders.

Haven't thought about him! Must check this at release if he hasn't changed after end of beta. Even Stat 5 would be good.

It is more reliable with the Emissary (Into the Cage, Stat 4) or Recruiter (Stat 3) than Death Marshal (Stat 2). And they are much more resilient than the Death Marshal. Always a pleasure to kill a Master that way! Especially melee oriented Masters who activate early in a turn.

Amazing! I was thinking that I wouldn't make an order this year. I don't even play Resurectionists (but I have some Alts). But, now, it will be hard not to succumb. If the new Colette box is also available...

Si jamais l'occasion se présente, n'hésites pas à me contacter! On est une dizaine de joueurs sur Bordeaux. Il y a des possibilités pour jouer du Jeudi au Dimanche.

Hello, I am in Bordeaux but there is some players in Rennes. Here is the link to the forum of french players: http://www.malifaux-soulstone-union.com/forum/index.php?topic=3380.0 Our newest member is near Rennes (cf. link above). Perhaps you could contact him. If one day you plan holidays near Bordeaux, it will be a pleasure to have some games with you.

@Da Git: Thank you. I will consider Fuhatsu. So no need to have Misaki as a beater in Qi and Gong Crews (would love to play my vintage one)?

I don't have for the moment Ten Thunders Crews but I am interested in Qi and Gong. I own a Vintage Misaki (for the killing) and Kunoichi. I could buy the following: Youko Box Hinamatsu Bunraku Charm Warder Tanuki Would buy Kabuki Warriors when they will be available. Do you think that it will be enough to run a Qi and Gong Crew or what will you add or remove? Do you think that Youko can handle all Stratégies and Schemes. It seems that Reckoning can be hard for her.

Concerning Revel in Conflict, during the Declare Triggers phase, you can discard any number of your Fate Tokens to gain the same number of Rams (Chasing Fate). In theory, if you don't use your Fate Tokens for other things (like reducing damages), you can use three times (Turns 3,4,5) the Devastation Trigger. And I can guarantee that it hurts really hard when your are the opponent of the Pale Rider. I have yet to try these cavaleries but I think that the three can be included. It depends on your number of Soulstones left for hiring ans some other corner cases. For example, if you face Neverborn and think there will be Terrifying duels, forget the Mounted Guard.