How to take on a Ranged Heavy Crew: A Beginner's Guide

[Dirial]

I'm Dirial, and welcome to Malifaux!

If you are reading this, chances are you are a beginning Malifaux player. You have probably picked up a Crew Box because you liked the look of. Someone in your play group did the same thing. You started your first match and you were utterly destroyed by turn 2. And now you worry about the game's balance and/or if you picked a sub-par crew.

Alternatively, you are an experienced player with a few matches under your belt. And now this greenhorn marches in, with his new unpainted crew no one in your group plays. And that greenhorn blasted you from the table and you doubt your sanity or something.

 

Alternatively, you are a veteran player coming in here to give your nod of approval or hark on me. If so, feel free to correct me or chime in with more advice.

This is a small guide on how to deal with ranged crews. Since similar questions were asked repeatedly in the forums, I thought collecting the answers in one place might make for a useful resource for new players. Normally, these questions are about a single Master that gives people grieve. Often, it's Perdita Ortega. Also often, it's Rasputina. Sometimes, it's other Masters, too. And almost always, the problems would have been similar if one of the other ranged Masters would have been on the other side of the table. So, I'll first talk about ranged crews in general, and then about some specific Masters. This is not a guide on how to beat ranged crews handily. I give in to the wishful thinking that the game is perfectly balanced and that winning doesn't come down to ranged or not ranged but gaining victory points. This guide should turn the game into a tactically challenging experience for both players.

So, first, some short things about me, so that you can evaluate my pointers. Earthside, my name is Florian and I'm a psychologist from central Germany. (I'm no native speaker, obviously, so if some error disturbs your reading experience, please PM me and I will correct it.) I played Warhammer in my youth and I'm an avid Hordes player. I started Malifaux just when the beta for 2nd Edition started. I don't have that much gaming experience since our group is small and spread out, but I make it my pleasure to read as much as possible. In that regard, I thank all the more experienced players and forum users whose ideas I have shamelessly copied and pasted. Also, I play Guild, so if you have problems with ranged crews you will usually find me on the trouble making side of the table.

Now, what to do if you get riddled with lead in an absolutely unfun way:

Step 1: Be a good sport about it. This is my inner psychologist talking but especially if your opponent is learning the game, he doesn't want to hear how overpowered his crew is and that his victories are tainted by insufferable cheese. Furthermore, don't rant at him for bringing such a crew in the first place. Hurt feelings don't help anyone. Instead, talk about it and ask him for his opinion. Most people don't like winning too easily any more than losing that way. Now, if you ask yourself „What is the condescending git talking about? Who would do such a thing?“, you didn't need this first step. Which is an admirable trait.

Step 2: Check your terrain. If you come from other games like Warhammer or Warmachine, chances are you are used to way too little terrain. Read the following articles by Ratty and Mister Shine:

How much terrain do I need
What terrain do I need and why

This is the most important step for bringing your games up to balance. Too much terrain and the ranged crew will be at a disadvantage, to little and it's the other way around.

Step 3: Now that the terrain is properly placed you should have a good look at it. Watch for fire corridors. For sniper positions. Regard the table from all sides so you aren't surprised by some window you didn't see. Most ranged crews will let you deploy your models first, either for From the Shadows, or just to see where you will go. Choose the side that will grant good cover or where the ranged crew will have to move before the get good lines of sight. In short, know your battle field and don't walk into a shooting range.

Step 4: Be prepared to lose stuff. Ranged crews do their damage before the melee starts. It's only natural. Often, your opponent will play a mind game where he tries to kill an important model Turn 1 so you are too scared to come for him. If this brings him another turn of shooting it's worth the investment. Don't fall into this trap. Keeping your distance will not keep you safe. Clinging to your models will make you vulnerable to this psychological warfare.
Many ranged models are severely hampered if they are in melee. Double walking into melee can be worth it even if you can't attack. It will keep the shooters busy and your other models can come out of cover to line up charges. Be prepared to lose that tar pit model, as well.

Step 5: Identify lynchpin models and take them out. In short, know your enemy. Read his cards. If you get beaten, call for a rematch. In most crews, some models are keeping the crew together. The have an important bonus or guard the sniper or can get others out of melee. These have to die. The faster the better.

Step 6: Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. If you know the opponent will shoot (if he declared Gremlins or Guild, and probably Outcasts, as well, or if you know him and he just prefers shooting) bring some anti-shooting tech. Many factions have some models who can generate cover or block line of sight. The latter thing is generally best, but cover or similar abilities seriously hamper the damage potential of shooters.

Step 7: Okay, now comes the obligatory, but ultimately best advice: Play your Strategy and Schemes. Malifaux is a game about victory conditions. Theoretically, you should choose your crew for the victory conditions and the faction of your opponent. This is skewed normally for beginners, as they only have one or two crews and normally know what their opponent has, as well. But the game is not won by killing the most models or the enemy Master. It's won by keeping your goals and the goals of the opponent in mind all time. Deny your opponent his victory points while playing for yours. If the opponent has to come to your half of the table, wait for them to do so, for example. It will save you walking into the gun line.

I hope some of these pointers can help you on your way to the tactically challenging game you deserve. For their (unknowing) contributions to this first part and the second below, I'd like to thank all veteran forumites who give advice to new players, and especially dgraz, Fetid Strumpet, Mister Shine and Ratty.

 

Now, I will get into some of the crews the play the ranged game with some more specific advice. Since I haven't played that many of these, I would greatly appreciate someone chiming in. I will gladly edit such advice into my post later.

[Dirial]

Perdita Ortega and her Family

The dreaded Neverborn hunters of the Guild. They are tough, they are fast, and all of them shoot like it's the End of Days. Worse, some of them are good in melee, too. What to do?

 

As mentioned, bring anti-shooting tech. Perdita herself can ignore much of it, but the rest of the Family cannot. Even Dita needs LoS.

Perdita is ridiculously resilient, as long as Francisco is protecting her with his "El Mayor". Francsico is by far not as resilient as she. Try to kill him first (perferably with something expendable, as the killer is likely to be taken down by Dita in response).

Perdita really doesn't like blasts. Really not. I mean her stats are marvellous, but her Wds are not. Blast onto her and she will go down.

Don't bee-line for her in turn one. Dita has a very strong assassination game in the first two turns, so try to keep your Master away. Warning signs that your opponent may attempt this are the Student of Conflict, Papa Loco and the Vengeance Bullet upgrade.

Dita and Francisco don't like conditions, as they cannot Shrug them off. Burning is especially hated by them.

Don't underestimate Perditas speed. She only has Walk 5, but don't let it fool you. Especially if the Nephilim is in the crew, Ortegas are blindingly fast. The Neph can also free other Ortegas from melee. Something like that should die. I mean, look at him. It's probably a mercy.

Ortegas put out a lot of pressure, but they can't take it as well. Harry them with pot shots, kill the Nephilim. Once one of them goes down, they begin to fold quickly. They are also always starved for cards. If your opponent holds onto high cards to protect Dita, go for the others. If he plays them to do damage go for her. Her stats are good, but they can't protect her forever, especially if Francisco hit the dirt.

 

Von Schill and the Freikorps

I don't have experience with these guys, but from the cards I'd say they are similar to Ortegas. More Minions and slightly tougher, but not that precise with their shooting. Similar tactics should work against them.

 

Ophelia LaCroix and her Kin

These are similar to Ortegas. But they shoot more and their shooting does more damage. Sounds fair, right? Well, they also fold faster than Ortegas. Look for a Slop Hauler and kill it, and the shooting will be cut in half. Also, as always against Gremlins you are encouraged to bring some Wp attacks. Luring Rami off a tower is just great, as is Obeying Pere. Apply anti-Ortega tactics for the rest.

 

Rasputina and – no, it's just her

Rasputina is ranged Master with a non-ranged crew. Well, not quite, as she like her Acolytes and Silent Ones, but the main ranged threat is Rasputina herself. And the difficult thing is: You can't really hide from her. She can draw LoS from her Minions, and if you bind them in melee, she will just blast into that, as she doesn't care about them. You also can't destroy them, as they will end your activation if you punch them. Further, she can paralyze your key models. In short, she just bones melee crews.

 

A big thing to consider vs Raspy is not to clump up your models. Raspy gets a lot of her overall dmg from the blasts she deals out. Take those away and she's still good, but not on the stellar end of damaging masters.
The reversal is to ignore that advice IF you can dogpile Raspy herself so she can't push away if she took Armor of December.
When charging or moving into melee with ANY frozen heart model DO NOT, EVER stop in base contact with them. Always, always, always leave a space between the models. Raspy can paralyze from range and if she hits one of her frozen heart models and you are in base contact you don't even get a resist. Leaving a space might not save your model from paralyze but it forces raspy to spend ap moving into base to base with you rather than just getting to to do 2 AP worth of mischief and then paralyzing you.
And the best piece of advice is, as always, look at the scheme pool and try to figure out which of the Schemes Raspy is going to have the most trouble stopping and do them. Make her inefficient at stoping you from getting points, make her spend AP and burn actions as best you can.

Also, you should probably bring something with a ranged weapon. Rasputina arcs her spells, but she needs LoS to the Frozen Heart and needs to be in 10“. If you Lure her Minions, she has to walk. Every AP she is not casting is a win for you. If you shoot them dead, she can't arc in the first place.

 

 

Sonnia Criid and the Witch Hunters

You think, Perdita is bad? You think Raspy is a mean blaster? Welcome to the horror show that is the Guild's Chief Witch Hunter. She can see you through walls and can ignore cover. Then, she will hit your whole crew with only one attack. And if you die, you will be turned into her best friend, the Witchling Stalker.

 

Most advice given about Rasputina is valid against Sonnia, as well. Don't clump up. Try to shoot her Minions instead of killing them in melee. Bring something that can end Conditions. Dogpile her. Oh, and Armor is rather good, as her damage is not that high.

[dgraz]

Awesome. You get my nod....no harking here.

 

I play several ranged masters (and have been since Malifaux was new......2009 I think) and this is all solid advice. You covered the Masters I know best very well ('Dita, Sonnia, Raspy).

 

All I'd like to reiterate is TERRAIN......TERRAIN.....TERRAIN. This is the biggest most common problem I have seen from new players. Unless you're an Infinity player, most of the other common games use far, far too little terrain, and of too little variety.....and most of it is big honkin' stuff like 8"-12" across.....it's just not suitable for Malifaux. The two terrain articles linked in the OP are spot on and very useful.

[Gipsy_Danger]

Excellent advice, thanks for writing it all up!

[Mister Shine]

Great guide! I feel all warm and fuzzy I got mentioned

[Adran]

Good article. The only thing I can think it might need is a how to use cover section. It might seem obvious to most, but line of sight rules differ from system to system. Things like being within 1"  are vital to its use, and knowing where you are safe and so forth.

[Bodiless]

One question I've had in reading this and the other terrain articles is how hard is it to get right terrain right? Is there a pretty broad range of terrain mixes and setups that will give you a good game? Or do you have to be pretty careful in walking the line between creating a table where Perdita dominates to one where Seamus does, to take the two masters listed in the terrain articles. From the detailed discussion of type and percentage it seems like you have to be very careful and precise in setting up tables to avoid throwing the advantage to one master or the other. Or is there a pretty broad range of setups that are 'close enough'?

 

Thanks for the time in putting this together, and for answering so many of my questions to begin with.

[dgraz]

One question I've had in reading this and the other terrain articles is how hard is it to get right terrain right? Is there a pretty broad range of terrain mixes and setups that will give you a good game? Or do you have to be pretty careful in walking the line between creating a table where Perdita dominates to one where Seamus does, to take the two masters listed in the terrain articles. From the detailed discussion of type and percentage it seems like you have to be very careful and precise in setting up tables to avoid throwing the advantage to one master or the other. Or is there a pretty broad range of setups that are 'close enough'?

 

Thanks for the time in putting this together, and for answering so many of my questions to begin with.

While it is important to get terrain right compared to other games, it is not quite as critical as your question makes it seem. I have one box of terrain that has nothing but some forests, some rocks, some individual trees, some ruined walls, and some mud pits. That covers the gamut of what you need as far as variety of terrain types, but it isn't anything crazy. Having a good mix is more important to me than anything else........then, as long as the amount of terrain is between 35% and 50% of the table you should be good.

 

There is no magic 'this is perfectly balanced terrain' formula......some crews may have a minor advantage or disadvantage in some cases (and unless you're setting up a WarmaHordes table.....if you follow the advice given here, it will be very minor), but next game it will be different. This minor advantage may seem bigger to newer players, but it really isn't......all it does is create new tactical challenges which can only help you. If you think you're at a disadvantage with terrain, look at it as a learning experience......how can you still use this available terrain? It will make you a better player when the terrain favors you more.

[Bodiless]

Ok, so what I take away from this is that you have a pretty wide tolerance in setting up terrain before you completely throw the balance off. Tipping it a bit one way or the other is not uncommon, but totally game-altering imbalances should be easy to spot and correct before play begins. Fair statement?

[dgraz]

Ok, so what I take away from this is that you have a pretty wide tolerance in setting up terrain before you completely throw the balance off. Tipping it a bit one way or the other is not uncommon, but totally game-altering imbalances should be easy to spot and correct before play begins. Fair statement?

Totally. Once you have greater experience, it can be quite fun to skew the terrain balance one way or another.......like playing on a big forest table full of dense and severe terrain.......a Marcus crew would love that, a 'Dita crew not so much........but it presents unique tactical challenges to overcome........and if the 'Dita crew can still pull off a win it's a feather in the cap.

[Dirial]

Thanks for the support, guys!

 

Good article. The only thing I can think it might need is a how to use cover section. It might seem obvious to most, but line of sight rules differ from system to system. Things like being within 1"  are vital to its use, and knowing where you are safe and so forth.

 

Good idea. I'll be away for the weekend, but afterwards I'll work on something.

[SpiralngCadavr]

Quite nice write-up. One thing I'd add, you got the name right, but then didn't actually cover what you do bring to a knife fight . Regardless of crew, I try to bring at least 1-2 competent gunfighters, particularly if I know I have a decent chance of fighting a range-heavy list. Being able to provide covering fire to your melee crew really helps when your opponent might otherwise just stand out in the open, blasting away as you try to run at him with your pointy sticks..

[paradoxstorm]

Two newbie questions:  

 

A "ranged" crew would be one that fights well and benefits from wide open spaces while a non-ranged crew prefers cover and close spaces?

 

Would game balance be reasonable if both crews are "ranged?"

[Dracomax]

Two newbie questions:  

 

A "ranged" crew would be one that fights well and benefits from wide open spaces while a non-ranged crew prefers cover and close spaces?

 

Would game balance be reasonable if both crews are "ranged?"

That is one way top look at it, but I'd rather say a ranged crew is  a crew that prefers to sit further back and attack at range, often suffering and overcoming penalties for terrain in the way, whereas a non ranged crew prefers to be up close and personal. Therefore, Ranged crews prefer open Lines of Sight, with less cover and blocking terrain, whereas a Melee crew wants those, so they can get close to the ranged crew before getting killed.

 

Balance? maybe, but it's hard to say. You have to keep a few things in mind. First, the goal is not "kill your enemy" so setting up what is essentially a shootout would probably be more distraction than anything. Also, because you are focusing on schemes and strategies, whichever crew has better tools for accomplishing those is going to end up with a much larger advantage in such a situation, because once the shooting is done, they don't have to spend as much AP to accomplish their goals.

 

And of course, there is no way, RAW, to know if both crews will be shooty.

[dgraz]

Totally, totally agree with Dracomax on all points.

 

A further point is although people call them "shooty crews", a shooty crew in Malifaux is much more likely to be a Combined Arms crew that favors shooting. More than half the models may be shooters....and the entire crew may actually have a ranged attack (the Ortegas with some Pistoleros for example) but some of those models will be used for melee........(Pistoleros don't mind getting in, Papa can get in so he can blow up......'Cisco usually prefers melee....and 'Dita really doesn't mind it either). Raspy is probably considered a ranged crew by many, but it's usually only Raspy that's really ranged....the rest of the crew's job is to get in.

 

You'd have to pick a pretty specific crew and really only play in a specific way to be a true "shooty crew".