daniel sprayberry

Our local play group is unoffically testing the concept. Below are what we came up with: Blighted Joey 4 stone Minion (6) Plague DF-4 WP-4 MV-4 SZ-1 Insignificant Diseased- 3” gain a blight token Playing Possum- At the start of this models activation, this model may end it’s activation. If it does so until the end phase all enemy attack attacks outside of 2” receive a – to attack and damage flips. Mindless Where’s Mama?- If Big Mama Poss is not taken in crewlist this model deploys as the bushwhacker’s From the Shadow ability. If Big Mama Poss is included in crew list This model must be deployed in base contact with Big Mama Poss. AAAAAAAAA- 6” 4 WP - Target moves it’s movement away from this model Mask Trigger- 57 Teeth- Target gains Distracted +1 Tactical Action Opposable Thumbs- - 5 - 14 Once per turn-This model places a friendly scheme marker as if dropped by the Interact action (I.E. following all requirements as Interaction) Health- 3 Big Mama Poss 7 Stone Enforcer- Plague DF-5 WP-5 MV-6 Sz-3 Diseased- 3” Blight Playing Possum- Same as Joey Scavenger- At the end of this models activation it may remove a corpse maker within 2” and heal 2 Mother of the Passel- This model may never target friendly Joeys with an attack action. Attack Action Big Bite- 1” 5 DF - Target Suffers 2/3/4 and gains a blight token Mask Trigger- 57 Teeth-Target gains injured +1 Big Scream- Aura 6” 5 WP 13 All enemy units in range take a TN 12 WP test or move their movement away from this model Mask Trigger- Wide Mouth- Increase TN of WP test by +2 Tactical Action Hitchen’ A Ride- 2” 6 - 12 This model may target any friendly Blighted Joey within range- As Ride with Me Pouch Full Of Joeys - pulse 4” 6 - 14 Once per turn-Target all scheme makers in range and remove them. For every 2 scheme markers removed in this way Summon 1 Blighted Joey in base contact with this model with the New Born upgrade attached. (New born upgrade says if this model would place a scheme marker instead it draws a card then discards a card. When this model dies controlling player draws a card) Bonus- Maternal Call- 5” 6 - 12 Any number of friendly Blighed Joeys within range may be placed in base contact with this model. Mask Trigger- Mother’s Milk- Remove 1 condition from each Joey moved. If a Condition is removed the Joey may Heal 1 Health-7

Tried him, honestly not worth his points with this crew. The crew is real stone hungry and Hans at max can do less damage than a ronin on average and scheme runners tend to be weaker so a 4 stone issue for my opponent with the potential to stop him and most certainly slow him down is better than ending the runner and the opponent diverting resources to stopping the Vict Pain Train

Yeah I've tried that route. Doesn't seem to work out if I'm honest. Yeah you start deleting units turn 2/3 but the crew is so slow one tends to get bogged down and beaten in VPs. It could very much be my meta though. My last couple of games were against Dashel .Pandora, and Sandeep. Maybe it's down to my play style, I am partial to the rattos. Although I have had some mixed success with the winged. Against heavy melee crews they do some work. A good fix for them would be a non-conditional 3" end phase push towards a non-blighted model. Its generally Nix/Hamelin that stacks the blight. The possum isn't meant for an alpha strike. it's meant to be a sort of cancer the opponent has to pick when to cut out. If left alone they will score points but spreading their crew out means Hamelin can more efficiently focus a model or two to death. In my head the possum model didn't really have any offensive options (much like in real life) its plan was to be there, be able to drop markers, and "scare" enemy models away from a position making the ranged option the better option. This in turn creates a game of when to allow the possum to "activate" and not play dead. Just an idea I had this morning thought I would share and get feedback on.

I really wanted to call the hiss ability AAAAAAAAAA lol. Hamelin is my favorite master but the Plague keyword does need some support. It's the lack of non-vermin movement options and conditional summoning. Basically Plague almost requires Versatiles to be functional. I'm new to the game but from what I understand Hamelin use to run rampant. The game is about board control now as far as I can see and the need to stay in a bubble and drop markers makes it difficult to come back if one isn't able to establish the ratto factory at a certain distance from enemy stuff. Of course I may be playing him wrong but I feel like a unit like I described could make him easier for new players to pick up and generally more competitive.

One thing I would love to see is a forward deployed unit. I had an Idea for it. A 5-6 stone unit called The Blighted Opossum. It would have the same rule as the bushwackers for forward deployment but it would also have the ability Playing Possum. Playing Possum would end the units activation but would give it stealth and serene continence or something to that effect, maybe just negative flips to ranged attacks. it would have 5/6 health and be a minion 3 but not have the vermin keyword unless playtesting found it to not unbalance plague. it would have a bite attack and a hiss that would push the enemy 3 inches away from the unit with a range of 6 inches. The point of this unit would be to deny an area to help Hamelin with board control. The opponent would have to dedicate units to dealing with the Opossum while the Hamelin player would have the choice of endangering the Opossum to enemy fire or getting something done. Giving the Opossum the Blight aura makes the Melee option again reversible as they gain blight. Anyway just a thought.

Do Malifaux Rats Like Driving Cars as Much as Earthside Rats? Null Hypothesis: Increases in the ratio of dehydroepiandrosterone to corticosterone in Rattus Rattus Supermundanae will have no effect on behavior. Method: Through classic conditioning teach the Malifaux Rat to drive small vehicles for rewards. Using the same processes employed by Kelly Lambert at the University of Richmond, Earthside (Journal reference: Behavioural Brain Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112309). With all testing set to a 95% confidence threshold the rats droppings will be tested for hormonal levels. These results combined with observational data taken at the time of sampling will be considered for final conclusion. In this context "relaxed" will be attributed under the same criteria as it earthside cousin. One assumes all Malifaux rats are proportional more aggressive than their earthside counterparts. A control group has been established and trained rat catchers employed to interact with the subjects owing to their danger to research staff. Below is a link to the article that lead this researcher to this consideration for the readers pursual. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2220721-scientists-have-trained-rats-to-drive-tiny-cars-to-collect-food/

*update* New York, then New Amsterdam, was colonized in 1624 becoming a British colony in 1664. The black rat introduced by the Dutch displaced the marsh rat (Oryzomys palustris ) which was displaced by the brown rat in 1776 (as far as I can tell not sure if this is science or just repropagation form the Pixar short, but they did their homework so I'm going with it). The breach opens in 1787 and then reopens in 1897, 110 years between. Accounting for the logarithmic growth of city's (I'm using Geoffery West's body of work if anyone is interested) we can ,for sake of argument, assume the city didn't reach a long form doubling of size till the 1900s. In 2016 New York's rat problem became so over whelming and the rats had gotten so smart that the city had to call in biologist and animal behavior experts to combat the problem. This (to my endless amusement) has had mixed results owing to the rat's ability to adapt and intelligence. So much so that the downtown rats and uptown rats have diverged and are considered subspecies of the brown rat. Malifaux has had the same relative amount of time with presumably unchecked population growth. As Malifaux's self appointed rat expert with due prudence to observational and academic research name the Malifaux rat Rattus Rattus Supermundanae after the Latin word for otherworldly. Obviously, this is pending a taxonomy study and peer review. However, I urge the Guild to allow and support studies into this phenomenon to ascertain any threats to city dwelling humans this rats may pose.

I'm pretty sure I just can't find the rule but if I give a Ronin SotDP do I get to move the 6 then the 2 for battle tempo or do I have to pick which one I activate at the appropriate time turn 1?

(I actually love just about everything about the lore and mechanics this is just me being one of those pet owners) I've recently got to about episode 64/65 in the breachside broadcast as well as soaking up as much lore as possible. The rats in Malifaux are a bit of divergence from their earthside counterparts. First, their teeth are yellow and not orange/rust. This is due to a excess of iron in there teeth rusting. Any rat owner will tell you that their little snoots seen from under shows the mouth is a little open (exposed to air) when not stuffed with snacks. It would make sense that the Malifaux rat is a descendant of the Black Rat (Ratus Ratus) as here in America the Brown Rat (Rattus Norvegicus) has mostly displaced their smaller cousin. However, as a "fancy rat" (Rattus Norvegicus Domestica) caretaker I can tell the development team a terrain destruction ability on contact is appropriate. Anything in reach of their little grabbies can and will be chewed upon and with a bite force of nearly 12 tons psi I can't imagine a non-magical material that can withstand that for long. The Rat King seems like one of the most terrifying things ever. I can think of no more gruesome a fate than death by hundreds of tiny razors wiped into a frenzy. Shake a yogie bag at a mischief that wasn't expecting it an marvel at the speed and manic energy they exhibit. I think I speak for all rat owners when I say we love our babies but even we don't like to stick our hands in the middle of that XD (again top notch job on lore and mechanics balancing to the dev team keep up the good works !)

*Update* So played my first game with the Victs and going from Hamelin to them was a bit of a tempo shock. Man, can they hit hard and fast. My list was Vanessa, 2 Ronin, Taelor, Big Jake and a Prospector with 6 stones to spare. I had Servant on the Ronin but forgot about it so I was effectively 4 stones down that game. I'm on the fence with Big Jake. He is a good model and if he was Versatile I would take him a lot more in other crews but I feel like a third Ronin would just be better. The prospector did Prospector things as this crew seems very stone hungry. I would imagine one would stone every damage flip aimed at the Victs until turn three making them a focus point while the Ronin run strats and make the final push turn 4/5 or run counter strat. All in all I like the crew and its simple yet overwhelming style. I can't really think of anything it needs besides maybe some more minions or enforcers to give it more options than just run screaming into the enemy + all the attacks = Profit!

I'm not sure how intentional it is but the various factions and characters in Malifuax seem to all have historical or mythological counterparts. It has been especially interesting for me as I do research for my dissertation I have had to learn the history of the rail road. I keep finding little things that seem to be tips of the hat to historical events. So of the ones I haven't seen yet (I'm only gotten threw episode 40 in Breachside Broadcast so keep that in mind) some of the major events or organizations I'm hoping to see are the Pinkerton Detective Agency and their turn from workers rights to worker suppression, some minion to represent the Irish Navvy , and the boom of business empires like JP Morgan and Standard Oil ( I know the time line is a bit off but the steam punk vibe makes me think 1900s). Dealing with the apparent multidimensional nature of the world would be cool too. Like are we dealing with two dimensions on the same timeline or a string theory sorta thing? With the library of things and how it worked out the option on pocket dimensions are apparently a thing. I want to hear about anyone's local history or urban legends they would like to see made into a character or story arch or just general musings on the base mechanics of breachside.

So I picked up Victoria's core box the other day. I do like the stark difference between her and Hamelin. I ordered the loyalty for coin box and await bases to test her out. They seem like a strong crew but not much in the way of hand cycling. Is the emissary worth including ? I'm having a hard time finding a crew he works in besides maybe bandits. Big Jake seems cool but I agree the Ronin is just a stronger pick. The Desperate Merc seems to have a niche too, most of your models you'll want to use to keep the pressure up and he is a good cheap model to use as a back line strat denier. I mean the speed and damage output potential in the crew is a little ridiculous and if I knew it was coming I would send a strat runner around the side and try and make it up in points. What are some suggestions for goo strat picks anyone has seen?

This is just something I've been working on in my head and I wanted to get feedback on its merits and holes So, followers of boxing will know what I'm talking about straight away, for those that don't here's a quick run down. Think rock paper scissors but your opponent is trying to beat you senseless. The three points of the boxing triangle are sluggers (power hitters who look to take you out one swing, Mike Tyson), Swarmers (prefer to be close and launch a flurry of attacks, can't think of a boxer off the top of my head), and Outboxers (like to tire the opponent out and keep distance, Ali). I've noticed a similar dynamic in Malifaux, but the points are Area Denial (through lures/model count/teleport etc) , DPA (damage per activation), and Tactical Denial ( adding conditions/attacking the hand or fate deck). Area Denial trumps Tactical Denial which trumps DPA which trumps Area Denial. Each master I've looked at so far is not a paragon of any one point but they do heavily tend towards one point with a minor in another. For example, Hamelin (when played as a summoner with Benny) is an area denial with a minor in DPA. This is due to the plague being a choice in the mind of the opponent based on area (Nix is a tanky beast), amount of models that he can put down, and the lure at a solid stat 7. Then of course the bleeding disease just nuking models late game. Jack Daw (Res style) is a Tactical Denial and is the closest thing to a paragon I can think of. The hand cycling and discarding along with the terrifying and the discard to just take 1 damage is brutal if your crew relies on a suite or high numbered cheats to dish out damage. Even with the triangle analogy there are sub-categories of boxers so I assume if taken to its most logical end there will be some pop up in this game so please go nuts with the concept and let me know what comes of it.

*mind blown* i honestly didn't even think of that. So long as an attack doesn't say enemy only, or via rat bomb or something similar. However, my general experience thus far, and again may be due to my locals meta, is turning them into rat kings is most value creating. However, I did just play a Jack Daw crew, first time playing him, and he made Benny almost useless. Got raked over the coals but I had 20 stones devoted to the rat factory in Benny and 2 Prospectors so maybe a little change up or more data is in order.

Well loyal to the end is once a activation I think and maybe its my meta but the rattos tend to be taken out in groups, cards for days tho