Maniacal_cackle

Someone posted Apex with the Micro Art Studio bases, turned out incredibly well: https://old.reddit.com/r/Malifaux/comments/lco2ri/lord_cooper_and_his_hunting_party/

The text says to ignore Laugh Off. How does it have an effect if it is being ignored?

Also have to decide between Anna and Dead Rider. Both have huge upside in this matchup.

Lol, I'm cracking up at the idea of Rabble Risers with GST. I've never tried it, but I'll consider it at least.

Molly against English Ivan again! Going to be wayyyy harder without my tech options, and I didn't really think how badly my keyword plans line up (rogue necro makes distracted, Philip has WP 6).

Round one is against Explorer's Society for me!

But the errata literally mentions Laugh Off as an ability that doesn't apply.

Overall, Dreamer is considered one of the best masters in the game. Definitely don't feel bad for struggling with it! That said, he can be beat and it's not like people are just smashing tournaments with him. So keep at it, you'll find a way to take him down

As Jesy says above. However, note you can always use the interact to remove scheme markers in base contact, so that will be the default thing an opponent does if they have control of the action.

Ahhh, okay, that makes sense.

From memory, you have a ~40% chance of flipping two moderates or better on a damage flip with a single minus. Two hits, and I think you have about a 65% chance to have at least one of the attacks do moderate or better. So yeah, two min 3 swings will typically be enough! I like the point about slowing the game down with a summoning engine/forcing the opponent to come to you. There are a lot of matchups you can only win if you can put out that sort of "answer my engine or lose the long game" strategy.

How do you figure half? I believe there's 13 models in the game that ignore resistance triggers. Ressers alone have 9 models that stun on attack. It seems quite wonky on Zoraida, Basse, Horsemen, Zipp, etc (although at least that's mostly only for DF attacks). And since you can often activate immediately after receiving the stun, it's super difficult to tech against defensive triggers (other than those 13 models).

It's not really for one model. It is a bit wonky the condition meant to stop triggers can't stop the initial trigger.

I think Wastrel is the most efficient keyword at growing them, being able to do it turn one without much effort.

I just noticed you can hire both a Dead Rider and an Effigy (with upgrade if you wish). That's pretty potent! The Rider can deposit people in the Effigy's aura, which can be great. In general, the Rider combos well with auras that it can deposit people in.

Signed up!

What I would have done for Archie, and could work for Cerberus, is to give a new ability instead of leap: Gargantuan rush: push 6 inches in any direction. Terrain still affects it (though Cerberus gets unimpeded), models can block it, etc. And it feels appropriate for these giant brutes to be able to be stopped in their tracks by a size four ice golem (while tricksy silruids sneak past the lines).

I don't know about Mei Feng, but I really feel this with other crews. The problem with using lots of TNs or especially suits to balance a crew with card draw is your plans become unreliable. And given that the opponent is doing everything they can to mess up your plans, it stinks to stumble over your own models.

I think Archie himself can operate at essentially the same power level, but now acts as a resource drain rather than occasional resource generator. But that is in the context of a card-draw crew with lots of activation control. You can really feel the difference to the crew, but the final effect is the same (with greater card loss and loss of activation control). And of course it largely killed Archie OOK (still good with Reva though for the other synergies). I'm not sure how much card draw Marcus has, or how the dynamic of the crew works. So that's an angle to consider nerfing leap suit may not impact the model itself, but the rest of the crew might have to alter its patterns to ensure the leap happens. EDIT: note as much as I complain about it, ultimately the removal of Archie's suit was an improvement and game balance improved. EDIT2: but then, some games I flip the leap off the top four turns in a row and feel like I have a pre-nerf Archie (leaping even without any cards in hand to cheat for leap). So from that perspective I don't like it compared to other possible changes.

Yeah, a nerf to 6" would be huge. That reduces it from 16" to 12" (plus base size). That's about the scale of change I think would be appropriate. I absolutely hate when they nerf a model to unplayable, and we have to remember she has an overall weak keyword as well. As for Rider, how is it dropping 4 scheme markers? It can drop one itself, and if it reactivated a schemer that is at best two more? It can't ride with me and revel in the same activation, so it cant do two scheme markers per activation itself. Plus all the Riders are strong schemers. Personally I generally find the card draw trigger on its gun scarier to play against. Colette for example is weak in terms of card advantage, and the rider can just negate that. That said, they could nerf Dead Rider and Mechanical Rider, and maybe Pale Rider, and I don't think that'd be unreasonable.

None of those stop Colette's who spend the game buried, but Laugh Off is a good point. And Scion of the Void of course.

Yeah, my biggest objection to the single/double master split is it is very hard to balance the game around both. Although the 'leader only' abilities really help with that, they're only an answer for the OP combos and not for the masters answered by doubles.

As for Coryphee Duet... It at least has a lot of weaknesses. Cant take upgrades, is vulnerable to repositions and blasts and big hits of damage when split, severe terrain, unkillable models, WP attacks, etc. It is the strongest non-master in the game. But it is also the most expensive non-master and comes with some counterplay. Colette's counterplay is "don't get within 16 inches of any model you don't want to swap places with", which is pretty insane (although maybe fine with double masters). As you can see, I don't have a firm opinion 😜

Also, if I can come full circle on Colette... I think she is especially strong in the single master format (since she is a bit weak to support master + summoner master, especially if you have irreducible damage in there). So if the game is balanced around double masters, she might be fine as is (and I assume that's how the game is balanced).

Well, you're also using 23 stones (25 with upgrades) of models to pull it off. That's half your allotment!