Maniacal_cackle

Also worth noting the shadow emissary is fantastic, and the shadow effigy has a very useful ability on the back line (aura of concealment), so could be worth hiring.

If kabuki warrior has inhuman reflexes, you probably want to charge every activation anyway (one damage from blade rush and repositioning to 2" is better than a plus flip on that damage track most of the time).

I'd read it as: Move to ice pillar Remove it Keep going until building. Stop. Take 2 damage (covers both interrupts). Remove the markers Take all the hazardous

Workable enough! It is clunky with how it is worded, but basically the designers seemed to need to differentiate between impassable terrain (stop and take 2 damage) and destructible impassable terrain (stop, take 2 damage, keep going). That's always going to be a bit clunky!

Wowza, both great tips! Having a min 3 beater that good at scheming is awesome. They're a bit slow, but some schemes seem perfect.

@santaclaws01 I think we both arrive at the same conclusion on this one anyway, but since this comes up a lot... Here is an example of what I think a defined game term looks like (from MTG) Malifaux doesn't rigorously define game terms to the point they could be put in a glossary. It instead illustrates what happens in particular scenarios, and we are left to extrapolate from there. So some confusion is understandable. The rules here aren't as ironclad (which is fine, it is a different type of game).

Hmmm... She still has two actions left after the shock waves. Is that usually movement and the Despairs Influence? I usually set her up as a gun turret, getting her into position somewhere and then just smashing anything that gets in her 20" bubble. Edit: note I'm quite new to her. Maybe 5 games so far, none at 50 stones.

The more I play, the more I find schemes dictate a lot of my choices. So I want to get a feel for opinions on which models are best for each scheme (scoring or denying). To start us off... Hold Up Their Forces: we lack a super tanky, low cost, 2" engage model like Ashigaru. But Aversion help. Deadly pursuit is also fantastic for Hold, so our three pursuit models (rougarou. Bultungin, constrictor) spring to mind. Dreamer is nuts for his summoning mechanic on this. Take Prisoner: we are amazing at this. Serena, Teddy, Widow Weaver, and more can reposition enemies. Bultungin can reposition enemies without damaging them. Outflank: much trickier for us than other factions. Not sure who in our faction is well suited to this? Perhaps Nephilim? Assassinate: as one of the glass cannon factions, we can destroy enemy leaders with great consistency. However, hunting them down may be harder and best left to mobile crews like Nephilim or Nightmare. Matchup dependent. Deliver a message: doppelganger seems amazing, as she can't be stopped even by nearby enemies. And our many mobile models are great for this. Still, we would rather be killing? Claim Jump: Serena Bowman with inhuman reflexes feels like one of the best claim jumpers in the game (biased view). Deadly pursuit is also an amazing claim jump ability, so Rougarou may be a nice way to fake out your opponent (especially if they assume you would use Serena to claim jump). Aversion can help deny. Vendetta: yes. So many options. Candy in particular I find to be brutal, as normally enemies want to avoid her, this punishes them for that. A hooded rider helps her get to her target, but is also very likely to be a vendetta target. Scheme marker schemes! Of course Iggy and Lucius models are going to be fantastic here. And Zoraida, don't forget how strong she is (especially with her out of faction schemers). Detonate charges: all our big bases are a disadvantage here. Not sure who excels at it other than Doppelganger. Breakthrough: widow Weaver + Bandersnatch make a great tag team for getting this in corner deployment. Big investment, but usually pays off for me. I'm sure there are tons of options (bultungin, hooded rider boosting schemers, etc). Especially good when we only want one point, as then half our faction can do it. Harness the leyline: sooooo many interactions. Very difficult for us, except maybe for puppets and Lucius crews? Pairs well with a claim jump/harness the leyline dominate the centre strategy, so keep an eye out for that combo. We are hard to beat in an all out brawl. Dig their graves: corpse marker generation is king here, so Nekima's pup seems like the best. For the rest, we kill well, so can get the first point. Beware playing non-corpse marker crews like Dreamer if planning to score the second point. Our 2" engages also make it super hard to score the first point for some crews. Power ritual: we are bad at scheme markers and bad at outflank. This almost doubles up on the problem. However, getting one point here is easy, and we can set up for the second point in our own base. Situational, but good. Again. Widow weaver + Bandersnatch are my go to team for this. Search the ruins: Titania is queen no more Any of the above really, but five interacts is a lot. A good option for scoring only one point. What are your thoughts?

Who do you use self-loathing against if using a Woe crew? Some of the abilities seem bad to self loath. Although a couple models can slow/stagger themselves.

That was a huge problem last edition I hear. Guaranteeing last activation is extremely powerful, and easily worth 4 stones for a couple of gremlins hiding in the corner somewhere. I agree the pass token issue punishes models like these, but it is an important balancing factor. A general rule could be a solution, such as capping pass tokens at 3. The rat solution is also good (rats can skip their activation to eat an enemy pass token).

Part of the problem is that Malifaux doesn't typically define game terms. The sentence: Does not (necessarily) define interrupt as a game term. It does outline one instance of what happens with interruptions in a particular scenario, but that does not rule out other uses of the word as well. It'd be nice if Malifaux was developed enough as a game to have a glossary of defined terms, but I imagine that is several more years off at least. That said, on the face of it, interpreting the ability as not being harmed by hazardous terrain as you roll through it is pretty bizarre. If you're not accepting the definition of interrupt meaning "the model stops", why are you assuming that the model stops for your definition of interrupt? You've taken half the definition provided in the above quote and ignored the other half.

One thing to note about Pandora is she is fantastic for removing conditions from enemies, but she is not that much better than other crews at removing conditions from allies. Against a poison heavy crew, I don't think she is necessarily great. One crew to draw your attention to is Titania. Bultungin can end conditions on another target for an action. Rougarou can end conditions on itself with a bonus action, which discourages people stacking poison on it. Aeslin is immune to distracted, which is helpful. The concealing also helps against some of the enemy attacks. Bad Juju can also remove conditions on targets, but is too expensive to be efficient IMO. Grootslang is also immune to distracted. So Zoraida might be okay, but I'm sceptical as she also throws out lots of poison on enemies and will buff them? I've not played against Brewmaster, but that's some preliminary thoughts!

Awesome What sort of scope are you expecting? How many games would a player need to commit to? I'm tempted to learn vassal and join, but want to have an idea of what I'm getting myself into.

Haha, I've actually wondered this myself, so thanks for asking!

Correct. Grenade belt says "after this model resolves an action" (referring to the model with the upgrade). Hannah is the one taking the action, not the model with the upgrade.

Well, the 'cost' of her pulling it off when activating last (and thus doing it safely) is: Hiring an emmisary Have the Emissary end its activation within 6" of the Valedictorian. Have the totem end its activation within 3" Position the master within 10 inches of her. Use a master bonus action (to put the upgrade) and an action (to give fast) Her full activation Discarding a card for flurry. And for all this, you alpha strike her and get two attacks. Which is great, but then your 9 cost model is in the middle of the enemy crew, with no free disengage, no fast, and able to move a maximum of 10" on the next turn (so the running away option is not actually that possible). And on top of that, your master, totem, and emissary are 14-20" away back where she started. The game isn't just about AP. Positioning matters, and positioning requirements are a cost that matters. Incidentally, a Dead Rider with sloth can get two attacks at 19 inches, and potentially drag the other model back 6" towards the crew, then on its next turn drag the model another 8" towards its crew (more likely is 4" + 6"). And of course Archie can solo rush ~19" and attack twice, then leap away to disengage at the start of the next turn. Ressers are a faction with fantastic 9-11 stone alpha striking options. It is one of the perks of the faction. But we of course lack the crew-wide alpha strike options available to say Neverborn or Ten Thunders, which is how you counter us. You punish the alpha strikers that are removed from the support of their crew.

It seems super mean. But if you have a 10 stone model buffed by a master (fast), another 10 stone model (emmisary), and a totem... It should feel like it is doing something mean. Alpha strikes are a part of the game, and other crews can do it with their master to hit even harder. Archie can do two attacks from ~19 inches away with no support. So I don't think it sounds overpowered necessarily (though her attack is better).

This one breaks the game even more horribly. The ideas would clearly need tons of work, but the base idea of having Henchmen have leader only abilities would have been neat if it was still in design stage. Would be great to see it next edition/partway through this edition.

Yay, glad it is getting used!

This comes up a lot, and I think inevitably you have to conclude it is ambiguous. "If a model is ever without any of its base supported by terrain or the table" Without any of its base supported could mean any % unsupported or could mean 100% unsupported. People seem to always have opposite interpretations.

If one of the Viktorias is the killing model, and so Lady J and Viktorias kill each other/heal simultaneously... Would Viktorias perma-buff for her partner go off? I guess it depends if you play heals at 6a or 6c? EDIT: the effect Im reffering to is: after dying, the other Viktoria gets a plus to wp/df duels for the rest of the game.

I feel like she is probably one of the best claim jumpers in the game with inhuman reflexes on! She is super durable, can push enemies out of combat, even if you have her on one life she can get back to half health on her activation, etc.

That'd eliminate Lord Chompy Bits and the Hungering Darkness, but agreed, they could just work around that (for instance, "other than these two).

Love the idea of leader-only abilities for Henchmen to make them viable leaders! But worry it would ruin Henchmen Hardcore.

I've only played against her, but I wonder how much of it is that some of the themes seem like red herrings. Reva herself's most powerful ability is her melee attack (she can take 3 attacks against a target ~16 inches away), so corpse markers seem like the synergy I'd focus on. Ressers have pretty amazing corpse marker abilities, but they often struggle to find a home (blasphemous ritual, Toshiro, Grave Golem, etc). Her totems turn on other corpse marker abilities, which is great. I'd try something like: Size: 50 - Pool: 4 Leader: Reva Cortinas Totem(s): Corpse Candle Corpse Candle 2 Hires: Restless Spirit Toshiro, The Daimyo Gravedigger Lampad Grave Spirit's Touch Lampad 2 Grave Spirit's Touch Mourner Grave spirits touch gives extra blasphemous rituals, the crew starts with 4 corpse markers (and could easily pulse 3 focus + summon an Ashigaru). Mourner stops ruthless from piercing the Lampads. Toshiro summons and provides a nuts aura. Etc. I think Reva probably is one of those masters that needs to go pretty heavy into OOK and versatile?