Maniacal_cackle

Just thinking one potential fix to this would be to make the hive mind upgrade re-attach at the next start phase (after the model is killed). Then there's temporary counterplay of killing the model holding the upgrade. Not sure how viable it'd be with the rest of the crew, of course! I like the flavour of it, though. Kill the nexus/hive mind holder, temporary disruption to the parasite mechanic.

The more I think about it, the less I like the design (no comment on power level yet). It offers so little counterplay. Cadmus forces last activation, no matter what. You could kill five models in a turn and still not get the last activation. You can't negate the upgrade except with extremely niche stuff (VS, burying, etc). Why does it pass along on death? That just removes the main way to counter it. Tokens are inherently an anti counterplay mechanic (can't remove or do anything to them). Normally this is limited by limited scope (do some damage). Here, parasite tokens do SO much! Even making them a parasite upgrade would have more counterplay (and even that would be niche). Possibly other issues Normally when a crew does this kind of stuff, you have some methods of shutting it down (kill Tara or molly or Zoraida, etc). Here the abilities are just active the whole game. Can't comment on the power, but don't like the design after thinking about it.

I agree this is a factor often not considered, but also the really brutal combinations look at 12-15 cards a turn (Molly + Kirai + whisper, Dreamer + Zoraida with inconsistent use of the redraw, etc). First turn combat (or securing objectives) is another big factor. But I feel that is a smaller factor now that you can't secure several objectives in advance like you could with Plant Explosives and Turf War. Late game presence ends up mattering more than it did last season. One issue with calling for nerfs of course is we have no idea what the objectives are next season, which are a big factor.

Anyone know how to do that? Do you still have to print and sign a form? XD

Will be interesting to see how they do in the vassal world series! They don't seem too bad to me so far, but haven't played with/against.

Are you swapping to Explorer's Society then? 😜

Oh true, I guess those technically count. I even main Reva atm and didn't think of her xD For all those masters, I tend to think of their totems as walking markers rather than models, but Zoraida being able to summon her totem OOK is super powerful so is a good point.

Ah, Zoraida is a good example of this. Her big OP combo is providing scrap markers for Widow Weaver, and can do that by hiring across keywords. I guess an unspoken part of it in my mind was that it is tons of AP, and extremely high quality AP (all the AP can be Goryo and Ikiryo if you want, or mixed in Drowned, etc). The issue is that you're not just comparing having the model to start vs. summoning it. You're looking at: Crew 1, which has Kirai OOK + 49 stones + someone else's totem. 49 stones including the master who hired her. Crew 2, which has Kirai IK + 50 stones of models + her totem. In either case, you've got ~50 stones of models + a totem + Kirai. So looking at what summoning Kirai is doing regardless of the other 50 stones + totem is reasonable. (Of course you can argue that Kirai's totem is stronger than say Necrotic Machine, but I don't think that is the case, particularly when you can summon Kirai's totem. Looking at that setup, even if I had the option of taking Ikiryo over Machine, I'd take the machine). All that said, I think it fair to say perhaps it doesn't qualify really as a design mistake, or is borderline at least xD Certainly taking away Kirai's ability to summon Ikiryo OOK would effectively kill her off as a second master potentially. Just out of curiousity, who else does it? I've only experience with ~5 of the summoners or something.

Oh sorry, you are correct I believe! That narrows the scope quite a bit. Looking at the design, that seems to be the intention - pretty narrow scope for its use.

Also depends on what abilities the crew has. If you can command your own model to use a knock aside trigger for example, it opens up a lot of new avenues even without perfect parasites.

The thing that seems bonkers to me is that you get guaranteed final activation. Even if you only use it to obey your own models, there's a LOT of utility in being guaranteed the final activation. In fact, I'd say the majority of my close games involve battling for last activation on the last turn of the game. Very strong even if it couldn't target enemies IMO.

I used OBS for my last game, and had two major problems: Whenever I swapped to another window within vassal (like the cards), it stretched to take up the entire video. I have ADHD, and I constantly fidget the screen to look around the map. The first problem is one I'd like to fix. The second one I'll just work on myself xD Maybe I can find a way to make vassal full screen but still big enough to see everything.

You could still play it quite aggressively. I assume you're not aggressive until the end of turn 1, so start of turn 1 could be BBS double focusing your whole crew, then the crew goes and beats the enemy's faces in. Then you have the Mature/doll/Vasilisa to score all your points while your team kills stuff. Of course, depends how many stones you're using to set up the rest of the aggression.

Good to know that this is a good strategy! I disliked it at tournaments when I get stuck on a table, so figured it must be a thing xD

Vasilisa uses their ability to make a minion (the BBS) take an action (so it uses its ability to eat a corpse marker a second time, giving it two tokens in one turn so it grows into a mature turn 1, and you double blast focus).

New Zealand, we are currently under 'elimination' status (although I think there's two cases discovered recently out of quarantine so we may go up a level).

Just have to mention... Everytime I see this thread time, I am reading it as 'onionized vs onionized'... Use this information as you see fit.

Although also Malifaux really rewards just putting the work in. If your friend researches on the forums, uncovers crazy combos that you're not familiar with, etc., they may be able to surprise you with new tactics as well. There's a lot to be said for reading, and even experimenting with turn one in vassal without an opponent. A solid turn one is the foundation of a good game IMO.

I find that the best thing is getting a bigger meta/other people to play against. I have over a 90% winrate locally, and often if I take a new crew against a new player I learn my crew faster than they learn theirs. So they never catch up no matter how many games we play. I've tried a few other things, but other than taking a large disadvantage or intentionally misplaying, there isn't much to be done. It is possible the skill gap is too large for them to catch up to you (as you're learning at the same time they are). Growing your meta and playing against other players will give them a chance to grow without playing you. It also means they will get some wins in, so the losses against you won't feel as bad. And if they play enough games without you, you may find that they suddenly leap forward in skill and beat you.

That's a good point. Kirai isn't nearly as reliable if you can't look at 12-15 cards for her summon. EDIT: note Pandora's mood swings is a leader only ability.

Oh, you are quite correct!

Looks like, yes! Can't find any reason not.

One thing to note is that was a pool specifically tailored to favour the hyper-aggressive double summon to counter Plaag's elite list (with irreducible thrown in). But that aside, yeah, it feels pretty bonkers, but haven't played it enough times to fully call for a nerf. So far, out of the crews I've played, I have called to nerf three of them (and never called to errata my opponents stuff). So I may have an overly rosy view of my own stuff xD That said, Molly & Kirai OP, etc etc xD

Yeah, I'm not sure either! "Ignoring range" is used on tons of other abilities, and the ones where it doesn't say "ignoring range" seem clear cut meant to use range. This one is an oddity and I can't find identical templating with "ignoring range" added in. EDIT: although the steps for an attack include checking range and LOS iirc, so the attack would fail once you start it?

Just note you can score 3 leylines without crossing the centreline. Symbols is really the only strategy where castling isn't viable.