SEV

I don't understand your point. Killing is a core mechanic of Malifaux. It's a skirmish wargame after all... Almost all gameplan will integrate it. The fun part of Faux is that you can't just go on a killing spree and expect to win every game.

Also the scout ignore 1" of the terrain but Gwyll doesn't so Gwyll can't shoot at the Scout.

Short answer : no.

Agreed. Malifaux is a great game with horribly written rules. They need to consolidate their ruling asap... At the moment they're so bad that triggers with the same name will do different things on two different cards.

There's a Malifaux gathering at l'Abyss store in Montreal this weekend (Saturday 20th). We also have one player from St-Hyacinthe and an other from Beloeil on our discord server (https://discord.gg/Wn4jUXMN). Finally, I'm from Montreal but If there's enough demand, I could come in your town to make a demo (pm if you're interested).

The best fix imo : at the end of turn dreamer take X damage where X is 1/2 weak cards removed from the game

Imo Neverborn and Bayou have some of the best master to learn the game, respectively, Titania and Mah. In resser Prof VS is also a good option.

Amazing work as usual. I love the pointillism technique on Sonia's cape.

I suggest you to experiment it by yourself... But Envy's gun is a different beast than the (mediocre) Catalan Rifleman gun. 5+ is way better than 5 (especially to get through concealment). Same for the damage track. 2/4/6 is straight up better than 2/3/5... Envy trigger give him a +1 damage against a lot of target (and removing positive conditions is strong on its own)... 3/4/7 can one shot minions with ease. A full activation of envy is scary for a lot of models in the game (ofcourse hard to wound and armor 2 counter it a bit). Finally, it's a crossroad, so he'll have 2 focus almost all the time (one from activating near a friend and an other from his bonus). That give him a access to that with 6 on severe with a lot of consistency. This is just for Envy's gun... Being a crossroad, armor 2 henchman that punish positive conditions within 6" and a decent melee attack just put him in an other league.

Pride is a good leader (the other choices are Wrath and Envy). Wrath and Envy are auto-include (don't sleep on Envy gun, you can't do better). Sloth also make 90% of my list so I won't disagree with you here. The other 3 are situational (the best one being Glutony for the markers removal option). I would always hire at least 4 CR7 models (including the leader) and give the upgrade to the effigy. So this is 23 points. CR7 operate in small (2 to 3 models) or big (all of them) bubble. So they're not the best at scheming. They also need card draws. I didn't play them since the release of the outcast starter... I don't see much synergy with the CR7 tough (brawler is fine to protect them, but I think Marlins is way better). For the outcast versatile, the only one I hire are prospector and Midnight Stalker. A scavenger OOk is nice (especially when hidden martyrs is in the pool) as is Marlena when you need a bit of protection. No upgrade are needed with this crew (outcast don't have upgrade anyway). (Edited : I realised that I wrote this in an assertive way, but it's just my view on this crew, feel free to disagree... And enjoy the band, they're really fun to play).

And DMR... loosing the box on 33 hurts though.

Why is judge in your core?

McTavish is extremely squeeshy : 5/5 no defense tech is horrible for a 9ss model. Even though his gun ignore FF and concealment (wich is good) it's only stat 5 and super vulnerable to cover. His melee attack is fine, but he'll melt in combat so he is reduced to prey on easy kill/scheme runner... And TFM will do that as well but more efficiently and with more survivability. Toss in the mud with no trigger is useless 90% of the time. Gator snack is annoyingly RNG but is fine. Swampscreen is ok. This is really bad for 9ss... I think he's in the top 5 of the worst henchman in the game...

Gators are really good ! McTavish is pure jank but you can do a lot of mileage with the gators. They're part of a nice all-stealth list (with Silurid and TFM). My suggestion : convert one of your Silurid in TFM (easy) or buy Zipp box. Even with TFM you'll need an other beater (Juju is ok, but really struggle in a lot of matchup). if you plan to buy Zipp already, go for Mancha. The Emissary is always nice to have. If you buy in to Ophelia, I think Raphael is now a better OOk choice than Frank since it's nerf. You can also go mini wizz-bang with Alphonse + Samy + Bokor (24 pts) and feel with KW models. The new Auntie from the antler KW has a lot of potential as well.

As much as I dislike balanced Faux as a format, I totally agree with @CapShinChan#2785 view on the state of the game. Something must be done, and at least @Maniacal_cackleis trying something. I hope that Wyrd will tackle those issue quickly.

So what is your alternative hiring rules?

We did the same here in Montreal. We played 25ss crew 2 vs 2. The matchup was Cooper 1 and Kaeris 2 vs Zoraida 1 and Viks 2. The later won, but we didn't finish the game... It's hard to be disciplined and to stop talking to your teamate. Everything was super slow, but it was quite fun. We also played the all-out brawl variant and this was really fun. Quick, eventful and with a lot of laugh.

The Skulker / hermit combo is probably great at area control, but is this really needed in GG3? Also you're spending 12 points of models on defensive duty so it better score you points and/or denied points. This will definitely see play, but you need to pick the righ pool for it. Also, it's kind of easy to denied. Incorporeal, marker removal, pushes, blast, etc. Almost all crew in the game have a (somewhat) easy way to stop that. Killing the hermit is not out of question too if you have amor denial option or a lot of ping damage.

So will this be the new MWS format?

In my mind it should be run by Wyrd (maybe with the input of some competitive players). In the meantime, for something like the MWS, I would simply have an open survey with the players every quarters. Anything that is consider OP by more than 80% of the community got banned. Quick and easy to implement. Not perfect, but this would lead to an interesting format, more balanced than an open one with a built in self correcting mechanism. Morr importantly, It's way better than banning a whole cycle of release... Cackle himself said it 😜:

I strongly disagree... It's like saying Well we were not able to settle on a maximum speed limit on our street, so we just banned all the cars (wait, this could be a nice idea actually 😋). A committee should stated some guideline (ere on the side of caution, banned any that does X + Y until reviewed by wyrd, etc.) Than work for consensus banning within those guidelines. Is it subjective? Yes (but there's not a lot of things that aren't in life). Will everyone agree? No, but we're not looking for that. People will accept those rules because they'll know that they are way better than an open format (even though their pet Master get hit from time to time). How do I know? Because it works I most competitive games with models or cards introduced o a regular basis. And for the people that want to have a wilder experience, they always have access to an open format. I would gladly played in a targeted ban format, but probably not in what you proposed.

Delayed Faux? I would much prefer a banned list handle by a committee and revised every X months. 80% of the stuff form MB is fine for tournament played. Just banned the stuff that isn't and we will have a balance format.

Shove the blade in the middle of your oponent crew, pulse damage, profit. Thank god it can't engage models. The minions look incredibly good for 5 SS... Just compare them to Sorrow (wich are totally fine) to see the power level gap. Unfortunately they're green (but can be played across 3 factions).

Parker is a great first master. He scale very well with the learning curve of a new player. As Cackle said, I think he can be competitive... He just have a weak KW (except Mad Dog and Pearl... and Benny in the weird @Azahullist 😋).

In a casual game you can do without it, but for tournament play I think it's one of the best summon. Lead the way give you a lot of movement. His aura is one of the best passive healing options (and make brutal obsolete) and it give you random focus on a mask. Shadow and Carion are needed because they do specific stuff, but intrepid is probably the best utility effigy (and one of the best T1 summon because of that).