Maniacal_cackle

Very true! I'd be a Transmortis player if I could have found any University boxes for sale.

Just wanting to double check my thinking... Grave golem unburies via corpse markers, and if it cannot it is killed. After the grave golem is killed, its demise heals it (with some ambiguity due to bury rules). However, if you are killed by a non-damage effect that just kills you, healing up doesn't actually keep you from dying anyway, right? So a grave golem that fails to unbury is categorically dead, right? No ambiguities?

All great points! Even for Neverborn, I wonder if it may be a popularity thing. You see some players dominating with Nekima for example. Personally I like the existence of generically strong versatile models. It makes it easier to get into the game for players with small collections, and you still don't take them in synergy based crews (Kirai and Dreamer are pretty happy going 100% keyword for example).

Here's a list I brought today: Molly Necrotic Machine Dead Rider Grave Golem Archie Philip and the Nanny w/ GST Rabble Riser 4 stones Into a pool of Reckoning Wedge Detonate Charges Take Prisoner Power Ritual Outflank Claim jump The list felt very solid for denying reckoning points. The grave golem tied stuff up and Philip and the Nanny was a great claim jumper (though I foolishly just let her die by repeatedly putting manipulative down). Definitely a list I'll try again (although maybe ditch the rabble riser). Could use some focus pulses for the grave golem.

Wow, brutal!! I want to buy this crew even more now xD

On Your Heels is enemy only, I believe. Sorry for all the rules comments xD

His totem is insignificant, are you sure that was the model that scored?

I've thought about just gluing together a a stack of corpse markers and using them as a mindless zombie. They're just walking corpse markers!

I don't know the crew very well (but do like HH), so maybe test them all out Could even try double Austringer potentially xD Just be sure to have a plan for scoring and for enemies that just dodge your crew.

One thing to note is you can't do this in Explorer's Society (he is a guild aligned model). That aside... A 4" boost to your deployment zone is pretty crazy on wedge deployment! HH is all about getting into position, so this is a major benefit. The austringer option seems awesome for harassing the enemy and making positioning even more awkward. Pathfinder seems bad as you can't summon in HH. So that leaves the frontiersman!

If you want to win, at most skill levels sticking with one crew (with a few flex slots) is the best bet. If you're really good and can master several crews, it is probably the overall strongest approach. However, that means mastering not only those crews in many scenarios, but against a variety of crews as well. I'm not sure it is possible to play enough to master that many crews. It easily takes at least 20-50 games to get really good with a crew IMO.

@Ogid, yeah, I think Teddy is a fine model if you have something dedicated to carting him around (like Baby Kade) or you have the appropriate deployment (like flank), but his lack of movement really hinders him from being an all-star in every game. In Dreamer's crew, day dreams are too in demand to really rely on them for any one model. Especially since one of the best daydream tricks is to move your models after they're engaged. Dreamer shouldn't be considered a beater, but at the same time, if you're never swinging his bat, you're probably not playing him aggressively enough/punishing enemy mistakes. I often have at least one buried model anyway (since I don't always deploy models when people fail willpower duels, and sometimes you just have a backlog). I don't like Inhuman Reflexes on Chompy just because there's so many other options (and he is so easy to keep alive with his other abilities). My upgrade priority is: 2 ancient pacts, 1 inhuman reflexes on serena or teddy, one on lord chompy... And it is rare I get to that fourth upgrade. That said, his fast healing does make it pretty potent. That's a neat trick with Bandy and Alps

Lol, sorry, I got in a Dreamer craze and started recommending him everywhere, forgetting this thread is about Pandora xD Wicked dolls with ancient pact could be good. If he alpha strikes one, it is not a big loss for you (as your counterattack will cost him a much bigger model), and he can't summon off of them. Aversions may not prevent an alpha strike, but will at least eat resources (so for instance if you're able to spam some executes with carver?). Be careful of 7-8 cost models, those will be the sweet spot for him to summon students easily. Pandora's self-loathing will be pretty awesome some of the time, but careful using it against the valedictorian (it will typically hit for one damage). Teddy will be much stronger at tearing her apart if he gets a chance, but he isn't maneuverable enough to do it... Fortunately ping damage is great against armor, and your crew will have it by the bucket loads. Transmortis has amazing triggers, so make good use of your stuns. For that reason, it could be worth fielding some sorrows. At most he can summon one necropunk a turn off of them, and if he does that, it is his only summon. I don't think you can try to stop him from getting a summon every turn (the crew is designed to get those summons), but hopefully you can stop him getting a student on key turns. I only know Transmortis in theory (and will likely buy the crew soon), so sorry I can't be more helpful!

I think Dreamer is really good for corrupted idols generally, and possibly matches up well against the Valedictorian. Anna Lovelace will be a major pain though (stops model placement), so would have to have a plan for her. Should be easy to secure breakthrough and outflank. They also can't summon students off of most of your summons, so the model costs line up poorly for them. Careful of insidious madness though! Whatever crew you choose, be prepared for a massively powerful alpha strike at the end of turn one.

Ancient pact is extremely good on corrupted idols, IMO, and taking two seems good where possible (not sure how possible it is with those crews). Serena is a great call for giving a claim jump option. One thing to be conscious of is you need really good board coverage for idols, which I'm not sure Lucius does? I'm a dreamer player, so for myself Id go dreamer, two daydreams with ancient pact, Serena with inhuman reflexes, coppelius, and not sure what else. Then take two of hold up, claim jump, vendetta. Lord Chompy and coppelius would be well positioned to deny scheme markers. Power ritual is horrible on standard deployment IMO, so I'd be wary of it in general. It is even harder on idols where you are already struggling for board coverage. For this reason, both scheme marker schemes seem like they'd be tricky. Sorry I can't be more help with your own crews!

One thing to note is some models can happily be taken across the entire faction (like Archie in Ressers) as a decent piece in any crew. They'll typically be at full power in specific crews, but can be okay in others. One sad thing is there is often a mismatch between what looks amazing and what plays well in most situations. For example, Teddy in Neverborn draws tons of people to the crew, but he is really only viable in specific scenarios (though he is great for those). If you're wanting a generic model that will be semi-competitive, you'll have to make sure to do plenty of research (I suggest the faction specific forums). If you're wanting viable for casual play, you can make anything work! Give it a go! Malifaux is a game where skill matters a LOT more than crew. However, at equal skill levels, you will really feel gaps in crew power levels. My suggestion to new players is to buy a core box and play a few trial games. You'll get a good feel for what the crew is missing, and what models to add next.

Oh, another thing you can do is if you have a scenario coming up (or a past one), you can post the information here and we can give tips as to what crew we would have built.

In my view, deployment type will often have a bigger impact than strategy for what models/crews are strongest, so I will try to reference that here. I mained Dreamer for a number of months. He has been one of my favourite masters so far (although unfortunately I'm probably going to end up selling off my Neverborn). Hopefully I can give some helpful insights, though! One thing to note is that you can play minion heavy dreamer (with lots of lucid dreams and a strong deck) or elite dreamer (with lots of powerful models). I play elite dreamer, with usually only 4-5 lucid dreamers at the start of the game. So my advice may not be as relevant if you're a minion dreamer player. Others have given some useful information, so I'll try to break it down model by model: The Core Here's what I take every single game: Dreamer Lord Chompy Daydream with Ancient Pact Daydream with Ancient Pact 5-6 soulstones Serena Bowman almost makes the list, but occasionally she stays in the box for some matchups. The soulstones are super, super useful. Dreamer needs them for summons and Nightstalker. Lord Chompy can use them for a few purposes (but if you're using them defensively more than offensively, you're probably screwing up positioning or being overprotective). And occasionally widow weaver will get some (especially in some scenarios). Many players take 8-10, but I try to push myself not to rely on soulstones and generally go for a 5-6 stone cache. Generally this crew is not the best at scoring second points of schemes. Instead you're usually aiming for board dominance, 3-4 strategy points, 1 point from each scheme, and just killing your opponent out of the game so they can't score. When you can net a second point of a scheme (for instance, claim jump), it is a major boost to the crew. The Dreamer Reasonably tanky, but extremely resource intensive. In an ideal scenario, you're not wanting him to get hit at all unless you are happy to let him die (and after his third activation, he is reasonably expendable). His Diversion aura can be devastating, preventing many important bonus actions. Since he is incorporeal, he can dodge and weave through terrain to stay safe. He of course summons (and unlike many summoners, positioning does not matter at all for him), and you generally want to do this as much as you can. However, I wouldn't recommend relying too much on it (sometimes you just don't have the cards), and I personally would never take ancient pact on him. Only ~1/54 summons are going to fail to the black joker, and honestly I don't rely on summoning enough that it matters if I do black joker them. He is also a reasonable beater (going up to min 3 damage if you have two buried summons). His "Nightstalker" trigger is one of his best abilities - sometimes I skip summoning entirely to go move, move, soulstone + Your nightmare + cheat a high card to Nightstalker Lord Chompy Bits across the field. His bonus action is super good, but you won't get much use out of it after turn one. Still, occasionally it will be handy. Generally for the first two turns, you're always keeping him safe and summoning. From turn three onwards, it is summons, nightstalkers, cricket bats, twist realities, disrupting with his diversion aura, or even scheming as necessary. Lord Chompy Bits What a nuts model! However, he is super squishy, and you have to be careful to keep him somewhere safe. He can take a bit of a beating (especially with a soulstone as backup), and heals up quickly, but concentrated fire will bring him down. Try to avoid it. Don't rely extensively on soulstones to keep him safe. Use positioning, and then a single soulstone at a key moment. His Trail of Gore ability is the most efficient scheme marker removal in the crew (and nearly the best in the faction). For this reason, I generally assign Lord Chompy Bits to defense and scheme denial. However, The Dreamer can reposition him to switch to offense at anytime after turn three. Yes, this is a bit backwards compared to some. IMO, Dreamer doing the front line (after turn 2) and Lord Chompy doing the back line just works better for me in many games. Of course some games are a meat grinder from the get go and Lord Chompy goes straight into the action (and promptly dies after serving his purpose). Don't put him on the backline if you don't have good reason to think your opponent is going for scheme markers, however (if the only scheme marker scheme is power ritual and your opponent doesn't have high manueverability, don't use him for scheme denial). His Tear off a Bite is his most important trigger, IMO, and high rams are generally going to be used to heal Chompy. With a single rams trigger, he will heal FOUR damage on his activation when combined with his regen. Very, very good. On your heels is probably good sometimes, but honestly landing a Twist reality + on your heels followed up by only one melee attack isn't that powerful. It is way better on models that can follow it up with 2-3 attacks. Neither of these are (usually) worth soulstoning for. The Carver The only model I don't own, but I think he is better for Pandora anyway. However, note his ruthless ability. If you face lots of opponents with terrifying or manipulative, bring Carver or Hooded Rider. (Or both). Widow Weaver (+Bandersnatch) Generally you take these together, so I'll cover them in one section. However, note that taking only widow weaver is useful for some stupid summoning combos (like Zoraida as a second master, you take Widow Weaver). I'll ignore those summoning combos here. This is your most manoeuvrable tag team. Corner deployment and standard deployment, you should always pause and ask yourself if this pair would be handy for the scenario. Especially on something like turf war or plant explosives, they can cover an insane amount of territory and stay safe. For corrupted idols, they can't really spare the health, but sometimes I take them anyway (sacrificing a model to secure a point is legit at times). They are good at schemes like Breakthrough because they can easily cross the distance, but they struggle with schemes like Search the Ruins or Harness the Leyline because they simply can't pump out that many scheme markers. They can really help score outflank, being able to teleport into position and push others out of position. Widow Weaver is insane at repositioning. Terrorize is one of the best abilities in the crew in my view. Use spare tomes to give extra web triggers to Widow Weaver, but don't stone for them. Terrorize and Into the Dream Web are both extremely effective Take Prisoner tools, so she is solid at that scheme. Bandersnatch is a good nuisance and tag-teamer, but is pretty squishy. It can be useful for harrying the enemy, but if you full out engage it will die (which is fine if that's the plan). His primary reason for existing is to double up on webs and teleports. Coppelius He IS really good, I just don't find myself using him very often. I'm not sure he is the 'best' at anything. His agile + movement seven means he can be very useful in some situations. He hits reasonably hard at an incredibly high stat. I find his unhinge ability largely useless (Terrorize is sooooo much better in my opinion). Shifting sands is... Okay, but is a lot of effort compared to Lord Chompy's bonus action. However, if you DID pull it off on harness the leyline, you'd be cackling maniacally... Frightening reminder is solid, and really pushes him from "a model with some pretty good abilities" to "a solid all-rounder." However, I prefer Daydreams for repositioning. So overall, well-rounded model that is solid for a number of purposes. I'm not sure he is number one at any task, but he is a good number 2 for many things. His ability to swap from scheme-running to beater can be very potent, especially if he gets a chance to kill enemy scheme runners (he shouldn't get that chance if the enemy has good scheme runners and knows what they're doing). Serena Bowman Wowza. I seriously under-rated this model when I read the card. She is GOOD. She is almost an autotake for me. She is probably one of the best Claim Jumpers in the faction (in a faction that is extremely good at Claim Jump). Between Disguised, Demise, and the ability to heal herself, she is extremely hard to kill. Beware ranged crews, however, as they care less about her disguised! Her Hole in the World would be amazing for Take Prisoner, but she cannot soulstone for it. As such, she can supplement Take Prisoner, but she shouldn't be your main plan. She is also super good at Vendetta (she is very good at killing, and she is very hard to kill). She hits like a truck (particularly after you lucid dream 10+ weak cards away), so her primary role is beater in my view. Set up some melee attacks through her extra reach ability, but don't be afraid to send her in directly. She gets a higher stat! That said, I do think she is over-hyped. She isn't ungodly powerful, or even Archie-in-Forgotten powerful. If she isn't hitting things a fair bit or scoring the above schemes, she may not be worth taking. If you're finding she is spending her turns moving twice and using her bonus action heal very often, you're not making efficient use of an 8 stone model. Teddy The coolest looking model in the crew! For many of us, Teddy is one of the reasons we got into the crew. Unfortunately, he is not the best model around. If it is a high maneuverability matchup (such as corner or some standard deployments, or any corrupted idols), he may not carry his weight. However, if you're wanting to slog it out in the middle (such as in a flank deployment + claim jump situation), he is pretty good. Super good attack, good healing, armor 1, terrifying, flurry... He'll do well in a melee slog. However, with his defense four, he'll fall to concentrated fire or to anything that ignores armor. I've got your back and Terrorise make him very good at repositioning the board, which is extremely important. Both abilities are very, very good. Learn to master them! Alp They're really outshined by stitched in many matchups, but they do have their uses. The free attack on unbury is nice. Natural musk is the most unique thing they bring to the table, and can really mess up your enemies plans. If you're worried about enemy damage, consider spam-summoning alps. Between musk and biting insult, they can REALLY hinder your enemies' ability to focus fire your guys down. And if they can't focus fire, they can't stop you from activating and healing 4+ from regeneration and triggers. This crew is all about using tricks and positioning to mitigate damage just enough that you can heal back up and make them start all over again. A red joker can summon two of them. A 12 will get you an alp + a daydream. A 9 will get you an alp. I hire zero, summon when I don't have something better to do. Stitched Some elements of stitched are broken and they need a nerf. However, in many ways they're over-rated. Stitched do two important things: get high cards back into your deck if you lucid-dreamed them out and damage. That first role is pretty important, especially if you're getting a bad run. That second role... The crew already does SO MUCH DAMAGE. More damage is nice, but can be overkill at times. On the bright side, they can do their damage without using cards from your hand or soulstones. This is extremely important. If you're finding yourself resourced starved, you probably could do with more Stitched on the table. Having a damage-dealer that doesn't need cards from your hand is VERY good. This is your default summon, but be mindful of not using high cards for it if you could be better off using them for something else (for instance, teleporting Lord chompy). A 13 can get you a stitched + a daydream, which is often a good turn one play, but not so good later in the game when you're using high cards for battles. I hire 1-2, summon when it doesn't stop me from doing something awesome. Insidious Madness Potentially our best summon, simply because of the scheming power it grants. Scatter is very good (if you can't tell, I value repositioning very highly with this crew). Plus, its attack is willpower based, so can bring in more summons! Disembodied voices is icing on the cake. Occasionally useful. EDIT: And it is our tankiest summon! I've won games off of terrorize summoning an insidious madness into engagement range. The enemy was so tied up and it took so long to deal with my madness that I carried away the game on the rest of the board. Daydreams Fundamental to the crew. Lead nightmare early on gets you a solid movement advantage initially. For the rest of the game, you can pop in and out of combat with models. Combine this with 2" engagement ranges on most of your beaters and this is BRUTAL. And of course, with a few on the board, their bend reality damage really adds up. I take two with Ancient Pacts every single time. The additional initiative is game-breaking, as are the two extra cards (33% increase in cards per turn!!!) And unlike many minions, you actually want daydreams in your backline anyway, so they tend to stay safe unless your opponent dedicates tons of resources... Which is what you want them to do to kill a 3(+2) stone model! Daydreams play a particularly important role on standard and corner deployment, as the extra maneuverability can make a big difference. They're also fantastic for corrupted idols (initiative + extra cards + movement is a potent package). Summoning Well, there is too much to say to really capture it here. Stitched together are a good default, but if you're not regularly summoning your whole toolkit, you're not fully utilising the crew's versatility in my view. Summoning is a support to your crew, not the entire point of it. Other summons can summon 8-10 stone models. We cannot. However, we field a very strong starting crew and a snow-balling deck. Use the summons as a toolbox to augment this awesome crew, but don't see it as the main point of the crew. Just my thoughts! EDIT: to start you off, I've attached two lists. They'll not be optimised, but should be good to learn the crew. One if for mobility (especially corner deployment) and one for brawling. Note that they require good resource management, so you may struggle with resources. If so, you may want to swap out some big models for stitched or other minions.

I don't understand Nekima as well as I'd like, but... If the list is super murder-y, can bog enemies down while scheming so well that it wins even if it isn't killing... It seems like a pretty great list? What does an unfavourable matchup look like?

Kade is only 7 stones, so he is reasonably expendable. There are times when I happily expose him to danger and put his manipulative down, knowing I will counterattack whatever goes to attack him. If he is near Pandora for instance, whatever goes to kill him is going to be hit by a few self-loathings. Rams is the most critical suit on him. Rams on his lure gives him an extra attack, and fast, making it easy to take three attacks in a round with him (with rams trigger for extra damage making him min 3). Execute is cute, but giving him crows doesn't work nearly as well as giving him rams and using his lure in my experience. I keep him and Teddy about 10" apart, so they can ping pong each other around based on whichever position needs reinforcements.

The puncture trigger is reasonably common, but I'm not seeing it on carbines. Rougarou only have <EDIT> 4 defense, so focused attacks are actually going to do this a fair bit of the time just from the flips (haven't calculated exact odds, but stat six and focused should have an average of winning by about 4 from memory), so that is going to get very card intensive very quickly. I know, as Archie suffers the same problem and melts like butter if you let him get hit by stat six focused attacks (of course, in his case he just leaps away and hides behind terrain). But for less maneuverable rougarou, I wouldn't be surprised if skilled players can make it very awkward to keep them alive. They still look awesome on paper to me, but can see why some matchups would make it rough for them (especially if the table doesn't have enough blocking terrain to just stop shooting completely).

This part is particularly important. Some crews/matchups just stop being viable entirely with little terrain (Molly's Lethe's Caress, shooting, sorrows, etc).

That's really useful info! Picking terrain sides has felt like a major factor in many of my games.

Honestly, I rely on GST way too much 😂 But I find that Archie is way less likely to die if he has the upgrade. The Whisper is reasonably potent on Molly. The reason being both constructive criticism and lost knowledge feel soooooo much better to use if you flip the card off the top of the deck rather than having to cheat it. Any game where I have the spare stones, I take it on her (especially since you really only need 2-3 stones for Forgotten. They're just so efficient at... everything). But that's still only about 30% of games where I feel like I can fit it in. It is different with like Seamus for example where you're making extensive use of intuition AND the draw a card off killing. So I would say the Whisper is not at all mandatory compared to some crews, but sometimes useful as it can smooth out your plays on Molly. I've seen people take it on Archie, but feel like the card draw really isn't that necessary (and the intuition even less relevant on him). Overall, I'd say my priority for upgrades is: Make sure to have 2-4 stones for the pool. Grave spirit's touch on archie 2nd Grave spirit's touch if necessary (for instance, if I need blasphemous ritual or am playing corrupted idols) The Whisper on Molly But it is pretty low priority. And I know we have a third upgrade, but honestly I can't even remember it atm... Had to look it up in the app xD Killer Instinct - ruthless is seriously good and I could see grabbing it if we needed a third ruthless model after Archie and Dead Rider. Deadly pursuit on a minion could potentially do some crazy shenanigans, but I think we're mobile enough for our minions. Loot their corpse feels pretty pointless in most crews, but especially for Forgotten.

Yeah, I fall into this trap at times! I just try to remember that if I spend my resources healing, and my opponent spends his resources attacking, my models will eventually die. The game is balanced towards killing (perhaps overly so), and as a result, models will die if your opponent wants them to. Far better to spend your resources killing one of their models for every one of your models that they kill!