MrPieChee

Corrupted hounds are awful in their own keyword, and even worse with Marcus! All hounds across factions need a rework.

Your first comment leads to the most suggested change to Marcus - having adaptive evolution moved to the upgrade cards. Your final comment is the exact opposite of what I've seen from every other Marcus player on this forum - Marcus builds elite crews and ignores cheap models because that's the most efficient way to use master ap/upgrades. I'd like to see Marcus able to give upgrades to multiple models, with the target number based on the model cost, so you can dish out lots of upgrades to cheap models, or one to an elite model. A pre game upgrade ability might be an easier way to make cheap models more efficient...

How are slate ridge maulers rated, in general, but mainly with neverborn Marcus? Sabertooth's get talked about a lot, but not much gets said about the equally costed maulers. They are a lot slower, and to get min three they need to be 4 health or below, so I'm guessing armour is a must have mutation?

Nope. They aren't available yet. I imagine they will appear in the next batch of special orders: https://www.wyrd-games.net/special-orders

So, my understanding of savage (not played with them, nor have I built them yet) is that it's generally weak but interesting. They suffer from needing ice pillars and being very limited in getting them. Also, thoon seems very situational (frozen trophy). Now, I want to say breath of frost fixes both of these issues, but I'm not so sure. If you could dump 4 more ice pillars in a turn that could be a huge help - bubble crews could really suffer (a wall through the center of their bubble!) but, is that likely to ever happen? Since breath of frost limits placing pillars next to opponents, thoon being able to move them makes him more useful... Basically my rambling is asking does the damned fix savage, and is it an auto include?

Ha! Yeah, I completely misread that!

Hopefull prospect can only turn into a cost 5 or more minion - run away is only 1ss.

Rampart cathedral and temple sets by Archon studios are pretty good, although not very Malifaux in aesthetic.

I can't see this ever happening, and tbh, I can't see why anyone would want it. If Marcus only works with attuned on his enforcers, then add a mutation that gives attuned. I had a new idea for Marcus changes - currently he only works with high cost beasts because that's the most efficient way to attach mutations. Well, how about changing his chimerancy action to be based on the cost of the target model instead of the cost of mutations, and allow it to include any number of models in range. Then, turn one you could pulse out mutations to loads of cheap models, or target specific more expensive models, opening up other list possibilities... Cost might need to be 4+cost of beasts, or could be cost of beasts + mutations? Should this wish listing go in a different thread, or in one of the many Marcus improvement threads? I'm still a big fan of moving adaptive evolution to the mutations upgrades. The space this opens up on cards already with adaptive evolution could then be used to add "shed skin" where a mutation can be discarded to remove any number of conditions or other upgrades. Tbh, the best fix might be "if Marcus is the leader, attach any number of mutations upgrades to any beast or chimera models after deployment but before the first activation" (or similar wording). It would need to go on an upgrade card, since Marcus's card is already jam full with text, but that plays well into wyrds plan of doing as few card changes during an edition as possible. That also opens the option to have a card that lets a beast take a pre game move for free... (Since fast beasts is/was meant to be the theme for Marcus).

They may well get official cards for war pigs, so it'll be just like the war rabbit.

Could I just point out that the op's statement "lots of cheap models are terrible" seems to be countered by "there are a few great cheap models, therefore all cheap models must be good", which obviously makes no sense. It's worth mentioning (as brought up in several other threads), that one reason elite models are favoured over cheap ones in a tournament setting is time. A fix to this could be to improve the stats of cheap models but drastically cut down on their rules, keeping only what defines their role (although this would require a change to lots of cards, so won't happen this edition). This might however only offer a small benefit to experienced players as those cheap, low complexity models, still could have high complexity interactions with rules from other models... But there would still be some improvement.

The Whisper is a good option on Reva for the card draw. When playing into a summoner, its worth taking on Vincent too.

And steel drills are super effective against ice!

As with most things in Malifaux, it's not a problem that an action can be shut down, but it does matter how much it costs your opponent to shut it down. Having to send a model back to the deployment zone is a big cost. Blocking LOS from a 50mm base isn't easy. You should be expecting a charge on Asura, and thats effectively a lure... However. It does feel like the crow requirement needs to go on her tactical action(s). Not sure an 8ss model which then needs several stones in game to get something useful done is worth it. Also the 50mm base is a pain. I'd like to see her on a 30mm base with mindless zombies becoming minion 7 or 8. She could gain an ability to move all mindless zombies in b2b with her when she makes a walk action to simulate the current two on her 50mm base...

I was trusting Wikipedia... Didn't look at their source though.

They already are in Malifaux -> Onryo (urami). Would be interesting to see an alt model without the mask...

I'm sure you could pick up a sprue of 5 zombies from eBay - I've probably got 100+ zombies from kings of war/ The 9th Age, so no chance I'm dropping £35 for five more! (Although Asura does seem tempting, but a 2e box might appear for her).

I was thinking about this some more, Hounds could gain a new ability, fetch, where they can move a scheme, corpse or scrap marker with them when they make a walk action. This would give them some utility, and could be paired with insignificant to stop them being schemed on, but make them a useful tool for other scheme runners. Combine that with making them versatile, and my two pack mentality changes, and I think it's a winner? Quite a hefty change though...

I think wanting to be able to use faction upgrades from both factions just highlights the problem more. If models can't function without a specific faction upgrade, then theres something wrong with those models. If a crew can't function without a specific model with a specific faction upgrade then the whole keyword has a problem. Having an upto 10ss totem on a 15ss master seems incredibly OP to me. Ridiculously so. The idea that a beast master can have one of many beasts as a totem is pretty cool though. (Although thematically, putting mutations on a jackalope is morphing it into other beasts). I think looking for the smallest changes possible to make greater variations in crew setups viable is probably the most likely way to see change. But, if there is a better solution which requires a change to ever Chimera card, I've got no problem with that. I really like the suggestion above of a deployment aura for upgrades - give an upgrade to every beast or chimera within 8" of Marcus when deployed. That's a single card to errata. Possibly adding an extra mutation upgrade or two might work - Regeneration? Terrifying? Still a big fan of moving AE to the upgrades and adding condition removal. Adding aspects of the wild to chimera models might see them get some OOK use. Mutation upgrades could drop to one each unless Marcus in the leader to balance that. And/or they could become plentiful 3 when Marcus leads...

Would giving all/most chimera models aspect of the wild be too much? It could be modified to "Aspects (name of mutation)" so each model in the keyword can attach a specific mutation. Also, if adaptive evolution was moved to the upgrade cards, then that would make space for another ability: "Shed Skin: model may discard an attached mutation upgrade to end one condition".

You can order here: https://www.waylandgames.co.uk/resurrectionists/72388-mourners https://www.goblingaming.co.uk/products/resurrectionists-mourners?_pos=1&_sid=ff20c969e&_ss=r https://www.the-outpost.co.uk/product/resurrectionists-mourners/?v=79cba1185463 Goblin gaming says they are pre-order, but the other two just say out of stock.

They were released a while back... Not sure what's going on with miniature market, but if you look elsewhere they should be available.

Underbrush markers are both concealing and severe

I've not seen anything good said about corrupted or guild hounds, and assume the same is true of canine remains. So, I was thinking, as a small buff, to make better use of pack mentality, they could all gain a bonus action to move another model with the same name and receive slow. The idea being, you move the second hound towards the same target the active hound is aiming to charge, so you get the pack mentality bonus on both hounds in their respective activations. Adding slow means you don't gain any extra distance, although it could mean you loose a fight action from a charge. The other simple option I was thinking about was removing the "during this models activation" condition from pack mentality, but the rule is shared with several other models - Bultungin who could do with a buff, but mindless zombies who I assume are fine as is (although generally use for things other than combat damage, so don't make use of pack mentality often, if at all). As a side note, it would be great if Heyreddin's life from blood was any size 1 nephilim, instead of just terror tots!

As a curve ball, has anyone considered Heyreddin OOK and a few hounds? I originally thought life from blood was any size 1 nephilim, but actually it's only terror tots, which drastically reduces how useful he could be. Anyway, use call of wild to gelp get multiple hounds into combat. Use hayreddin for extra damage and healing, and Paul for even more attacks with the pack bonus. And then hayreddin can turn their target into a terror tot, offsetting the likely death of one or more hounds. Bit niche, and probably more fun than competitive, but I've got hounds already, and hayreddin is boxed with BBS's which seem very useful for most of neverborn. Might work well against crews like daw who punish Marcus's normal play style.