Jump to content

What's floating in your pool?


Kogan Style

Recommended Posts

Honestly, I wish I knew. It's been floating there a while and it's starting to smell. I just try swim around it.

I see that you cracked. I've been resisting the urge for well over a month now - everytime I see this thread title, I have been sorely tempted to answer something like "It's just a Snickers bar, I swear!"
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Honestly all these references to pools and floats has muddied the waters of this thread! 

 

With 36 days until the first pools event (followed by one in February) I'm getting close to the finalised list with a view to bashing out some games to temper the crew choices. I've left a 10ss gap to be filled by one of the Ressur's big boys - namely the Rogue Necromancy, Izamu the Armour and the Valedictorian. Originally I was going to have space for 2 of them but tinkering and gaming has shown that unless the strategy is Reckoning, having two big boys restricts the options when looking at the other strategies. So I ran a bit of side by side analysis in an attempt to understand what I need from my beatstick and which one fits best:
 

Speed

 

Valedictorian - Move 6 / 6 with Flight

Rogue Necro - Move 5 / 6 can Stalk

Izamu the ARM - Move 4 /  6 Rust has set in his joints.

 

Threat Range (native to model)

 

Valedictorian - 9"

Rogue Necro - 8"

Izamu the ARM - 11"

 

Defences

 

Valedictorian - Terror 12 (All), Def 5, WP 5, Wnds 10, HtW 1, ARM + 1

Rogue Necro - Terror 13 (All), Def 4, WP 5, Wnds 10, ItW 1

Izamu            -  No Terror        Def 4, WP 5, Wnds   9, No HtW, ARM + 2

Offence
 

Valedictorian  - Ml 6 :crow DMG 2 / 3 / 6 Triggers - Push or  :+fate  :+fate dmg flips

Rogue Necro  - Ml 7 :crow DMG 3 / 5 / 6 Triggers - Poison or  :+fate dmg flips

Izamu             - Ml 6 :crow DMG 3 / 4 / 5 Triggers - Ignore Incorporeal or draw a card

 

Ml 'tricks'

 

Valedictorian  - None

Rogue Necro -   :+fate  to attack and dmg flips when above 4 wounds

Izamu            -   :+fate to dmg flips and Ml Expert

 

Shooting

 

Valedictorian  - None

Rogue Necro  -  Acid Breath

Izamu             -  None

Other Abilities

 

Valedictorian  - Can remove triggers, Flurry, can use soulstones

Rogue Necro -  Can Stalk, Smell Fear

Izamu            -  Can heal, Ruthless

 

I know others (notably Feitd) have pointed out that the R.N's offensive power is related to its wounds, and when you compare its defensive stat line to the other two I find that for what I need, its very fragile! My Masters won't be big on the poison theme so the Necro's ability to put poison on isn't a big plus.

Izamu I see as a great beatstick, but not someone I could assign a scheme to and leave him alone to get the job done. In pools I am seeing the need for models to be able to fulfill their purpose without relying too much on the synergies between various models - in my mind the more links the combination chain has, the more opportunities  the opponent will have to break that chain. With tight time limits and no guarantee that 5 turns will be played, the need for speed and reliability seem paramount to me, which fits my playstyle thankfully!

I do think the Valeidctorian pays for her defensive buffs though, the damage track isn't stellar even at moderate, but I do like the Push trigger, which can drag out those models which are key to some of the bubbles of doom people can create ( Mr Tannen, Nicodem for example)  or pull models into a Belle slap-fest. Its a little  situational but handy.

 

The big thing I like is the turning off of triggers. Given some models play largely off getting their triggers going (Mei Feng, Raspy) shutting down that for a Zero with a Ca of 7 against WP feels like a real menace, even if I don't use it my opponent will have to worry about getting within 20" of her incase she decides to hit them with it just before they go on the rampage.

 

SO I think in my Pool I will now be trialling the Valedictorian, not a model I've much looked at previously (and only half painted while the rest of the students are done!) but this side by side really helped my theoryfaux on these three, and what situations each may excel at. 

 

I hope it helps you too!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She's in my pool!  Although the damage track is pretty average unless you hit her trigger for the double :+fate  she is good for several schemes.  She is very durable (HtW, Armour, Terrifying and being a Hench meaning she can use SS) which makes her decent for Bodyguard.  Her maneuverability also means she is a good option dropping scheme markers for Plant Evidence, Protect Territory or Breakthrough and can be a good for Entourage as well plus she can be in the right place at the right time for Reconnoiter.  Also Necrotic Preparation and/or Unnverving Aura make her very good at tying things down and making them pay for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Got three games in over Christmas and discovered Nurse + Chiaki + Johan is a little bit of Overkill! But it was nice to heal my summons up to full health and clear the resulting paralyse.

I want to use Chiaki more with Yin on the table, to collect the Chi and pass it on but I'm very wary of her squishiness (she was blasted by Nino very quickly), have peopl had much success with boosting her cast or has it been a niche ability that's second to her ability to remove conditions and heal?
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I take her mostly for her Condition Removal.  The Heal only goes off on a Trigger and only heals two Wounds so is pretty unreliable.  Her upgrade allows her to hand out Slow and re-cast it on a Trigger too so is worth taking.  I can't think of a game where I've got any Chi on her to be honest (although it's likely I've forgotten about it outside a Yan Lo crew!).  I think with her Manipulative and Incorporeal coupled to the fact she's often hanging around at the back and rarely dealing damage (so not attracking attention) means she is very survivable, so much so I've been known to take her as my Bodyguard target.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Forgot about this thread! "Arise maaaah sweet!"

 

So I ended up in 4th Spot, losing out on VPs to 3rd place. Overall, for my first 4 games of Malifaux this year I was very happy with how I placed (given that I couldn't be much happier without actually winning!)  Winner was Jonahmaul, who was raving about this thread when I briefly spoke to him (Well okay, he mentioned it before walking off to play his 4th game, details details..)

As for what I took, here goes:

Molly

Seamus

 

Ama No Zako

Validcotrian

M.Sybelle

 

Chiaki

 

Performer

Nurse

Rotten Belle x 2
Crooked Man
Necropunk
Canine Remains x 2

Night Terrors x 2
Copycat Killer

Upgrades - Sinister Rep, Bag O'Tools, Redchapel Killer, Mad Habadashery, Tear of the Gorgon, Forgotten Life, Terrible Knowledge, Spare Parts, Corpse Bloat, Unnerving Aura, Necrotic Prep, Take Back the Night, Pull of the Grave, Bleeding Tongue, not too banged up.

 

Rock Stars

 

Ama – Meanest Scheme Marker, I love her! Turn 1 of a game she obeyed Mr Graves to pulp a terror tot that hadn’t been activated yet. She played in 3 for the 4 games, and scored VP in each. Unnerving Aura and Necrotic Preparation are win!

Canine remains – Charged and held up Huggy in the mid-field area to deny full Entourage points. Also a solid choice for Protect Territory and breakthrough….. Except when its breakthrough on Corner deployment (I am a moron)

Copycat killer – Seamus was staring down the Riposte duo in Reckoning, Lady J and Sidir! My lil mimic charges Sidir, gets riposted twice and dies… leaving a corpse marker for Seamus to back alley 16” away to safety, leaving the duo more than a little miffed :D

Rotten Belles – as always. One lured Lady J away from Seamus at one point, sending her into the river by the docks. They were solid Vendetta models, getting revenge on previous clients, especially the Guild pathfinder who obviously came from the shadows…

 

 

 

Lame Artists

Madame Sybelle – Other than being a Molly Taxi service, which once Molly was in range to do her thing I didn’t need Sybelle’s services. I need to find something else for Sybelle to excel at, I am thinking Decaying Aura and shrieking at SS users so they can’t use SS to prevent damage (yes, I’ve just read Bane…) The madam needs to earn her keep!

Chiaki – admittedly I didn’t face anyone using conditions so her main strength was neutered, but I was left with just drifting her through walls for lack of anything better to do.

Valedictorian – Slightly unfair, as I gimped myself one game by selecting the wrong scheme and having to try and get Val to do it, but when I had Ama in the game Val just looked a bit poor for the same cost. Maybe I just need more game time and find opponents who love their triggers.
 

I feel I went Upgrade-heavy. I didn’t get any use out of Sybelle’s specific upgrades, terrible knowledge, pull of the Grave, Spare Parts or Corpse Bloat (although I did blow up two markers for no real gain), couple that with a few other models that didn’t really do anything and it felt like I had around 40ss worth of “stuff” in the pool that didn’t serve me as well as I wanted.

I have another Pool’s tournament this month, and I’m looking hard at my list to see where I can make some gains. It is fixed Master this time so I’m torn between Seamus, who I feel more competitive with, or Molly who I have more fun with but play too slow in a competitive environment to maximize VPs. I’ll update this thread with more info soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Forgot about this thread! "Arise maaaah sweet!"

 

So I ended up in 4th Spot, losing out on VPs to 3rd place. Overall, for my first 4 games of Malifaux this year I was very happy with how I placed (given that I couldn't be much happier without actually winning!)  Winner was Jonahmaul, who was raving about this thread when I briefly spoke to him (Well okay, he mentioned it before walking off to play his 4th game, details details..).

 

Rock Stars

 

Rotten Belles – as always. One lured Lady J away from Seamus at one point, sending her into the river by the docks. They were solid Vendetta models, getting revenge on previous clients, especially the Guild pathfinder who obviously came from the shadows…

 

 

Lame Artists

Madame Sybelle – Other than being a Molly Taxi service, which once Molly was in range to do her thing I didn’t need Sybelle’s services. I need to find something else for Sybelle to excel at, I am thinking Decaying Aura and shrieking at SS users so they can’t use SS to prevent damage (yes, I’ve just read Bane…) The madam needs to earn her keep!

Chiaki – admittedly I didn’t face anyone using conditions so her main strength was neutered, but I was left with just drifting her through walls for lack of anything better to do.

Valedictorian – Slightly unfair, as I gimped myself one game by selecting the wrong scheme and having to try and get Val to do it, but when I had Ama in the game Val just looked a bit poor for the same cost. Maybe I just need more game time and find opponents who love their triggers.

I don't know how to divide quotes up on the Wyrd forum so I'll just quote these bits and give my thoughts!  I definitely remembered your thread from the third game when I heard you calling yout your crew!  Though I was surprised there was no Nico around as I thought from this thread that was what you'd take.  I've still not taken Molly so I was interested to see/hear about her as you played my friend with her.

 

Rock Star - Belle - heard about you using these guys for Vendetta and was something I'd never even considered before.  5SS means virtually everything on the opposite side can be a target and Lure is an attack action which means the first VP is easy to score.  I think that it would be very hard to score the full 3VPs from but getting 2VPs looks pretty easy.  Definitely something I'll consider in the future.

 

Lame-Artist Sybelle - shoot something near Seamus.  It's a Wp blasting attack so if he's giving out -2Wp then you are going to get through (and it's a failed Wp duel if you do so healing for Seamus).  She also combines very well with Yin who can give out :-fate to Wp duel.  I also like to use her to hit Seamus so he can Back Alley for free (usually only good early game).

 

Lame-Artist Chiaki - you have one very important condition in your own crew that Chiaki excels at.  Mainly Paralyse/full heal from the Nurse.  Jacking something that's almost dead up with a Nurse then using Chiaki to remove to Paralyse is a lovely combo.  I also find Chiaki a good choice for Bodyguard as she hangs back a lot and her ability to run through walls means she can usually run away from most things pretty easily.  Having a Nurse give her +2Wk and only Interacts is also good for things like Breakthrough (again see running through walls).

 

Lame-Artist Valedictorian - I really like this girl but I'm never sure that she does as much damage as her card suggests she will.  I mainly use her for tying down areas as a large base with Terrifying, Armour and HtW means she can tie up large areas and I almost always run her  with Unnverving Aura for this reason.  Give her Necrotic Preparation and/or Black Blood with Molly and she becomes really frustrating.  I tend to use her as a flanker to achieve missions like Breakthrough/Outflank and send quicker things like Necropunks with her so that she ties things up then they run away and drop scheme markers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I'll be playing at Gertfaux at the end of Feb and the strategies and schemes have just been announced.

It looks like I'll be getting my first taste of the new gaining grounds scenarios and one evil thought I'd like to get comments on is for Collect the Bounty (and possibly also Headhunter - both of which I'll be playing)

Use Sybelle's Death mark trigger. For reference: Death Mark makes the model a peon for encounter purposes and can not make interact actions.

 

If she hits my master and other beatsticks, I could send them out to go wreck face for the bounty, knowing I'll give almost nothing up in return. It will place extra reliance on my scheme runners to complete the schemes, as I'll have no back up from the master (although Molly can always help by splashing in some drowned) Chiaki could heal the damage back up, and I guess could remove the death mark condition later if I need to.

I'm also looking at Bert Jebsen for Crackerjack timing and reckless. I think bunching up models can be quite a pain in a crew that already contains lots of positioning options (Belles and Doxies).

 

I'm still undecided as to whether to pick Seamus or Molly, or after reading some of the other threads - try my hand with McM!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know how to divide quotes up on the Wyrd forum so I'll just quote these bits and give my thoughts!  I definitely remembered your thread from the third game when I heard you calling yout your crew!  Though I was surprised there was no Nico around as I thought from this thread that was what you'd take.  I've still not taken Molly so I was interested to see/hear about her as you played my friend with her.

 

Rock Star - Belle - heard about you using these guys for Vendetta and was something I'd never even considered before.  5SS means virtually everything on the opposite side can be a target and Lure is an attack action which means the first VP is easy to score.  I think that it would be very hard to score the full 3VPs from but getting 2VPs looks pretty easy.  Definitely something I'll consider in the future.

 

Lame-Artist Sybelle - shoot something near Seamus.  It's a Wp blasting attack so if he's giving out -2Wp then you are going to get through (and it's a failed Wp duel if you do so healing for Seamus).  She also combines very well with Yin who can give out :-fate to Wp duel.  I also like to use her to hit Seamus so he can Back Alley for free (usually only good early game).

 

Lame-Artist Chiaki - you have one very important condition in your own crew that Chiaki excels at.  Mainly Paralyse/full heal from the Nurse.  Jacking something that's almost dead up with a Nurse then using Chiaki to remove to Paralyse is a lovely combo.  I also find Chiaki a good choice for Bodyguard as she hangs back a lot and her ability to run through walls means she can usually run away from most things pretty easily.  Having a Nurse give her +2Wk and only Interacts is also good for things like Breakthrough (again see running through walls).

 

Lame-Artist Valedictorian - I really like this girl but I'm never sure that she does as much damage as her card suggests she will.  I mainly use her for tying down areas as a large base with Terrifying, Armour and HtW means she can tie up large areas and I almost always run her  with Unnverving Aura for this reason.  Give her Necrotic Preparation and/or Black Blood with Molly and she becomes really frustrating.  I tend to use her as a flanker to achieve missions like Breakthrough/Outflank and send quicker things like Necropunks with her so that she ties things up then they run away and drop scheme markers.

 

Thanks for your comments Jonah, I find that Seamus is rarely in the same location as Sybelle (typically because Sybelle is in the carry case when Seamus takes the field) but I'm trying out options (see the previous comments for the Madame)

Yeah Lure Vendetta is almost guaranteed 2 VP, as I will usually lure the target and have some beatstick rush it. With Vendetta I feel that 2 VPs that you can lock in are better than trying to find the right combo to get the full 3, especially in a tournament where time is limited.

 

For a Henchmen beatstick, I have not seen Val kill anything yet so I agree I don't think she lays down the pain. I have to add Unnerving Aura and Necrotic Prep to keep up a consistent damage output. I like her as a Flanker though, and in Reckoning she has enough toughness to move and survive.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I can't comment on Molly I'll say that both Seamus and McMourning do well because they're pretty independent of their crews (and I obviously did quite well with the good doctor!).  For Reckoning I've started ignoring it and just focusing on getting my schemes done.  It's pretty hard most of the time to kill two things in one turn and if you're playing Ressers you can be fairly confident that it's difficult for your opponent to do the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But its not quite Reckoning - in Collect the Bounty you get bounty points depending on the level of model you kill. Peons - 0, Minions - 1, Enforcers - 2, Henchmen - 3 and Master - 4. So killing even one model can net you the VP, but if I use Sybelle to turn my Master and Beatstick henchmen into Peons, I can deny my opponent the points he would like for the Strategy.

Headhunter is almost certainly going to require big melee ranges and Mortimer/Phillip for Chatty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw Reckoning in the Valedictorian post and just started rambling sorry!  Haven't properly looked at the new strats although playing one this week for the first time (with a new faction too!).  I wouldn't be surprised to see Collect the Bounty FAQ'd so it's just the characteristic on their card that counts rather than what they are in the game (Chiaki can make things Peon for a turn and I'm sure there's other stuff too) but for now that is very sneaky!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to disagree with you here. It specifically says that the models counts as a peon for encounter purposes. In my mind that means that when you are calculating points they would count as a peon. That being said, with this new strategy this might need clarification. If the ability just said "this model gains the peon characteristic" I'd agree with you. But since it specifically says it counts as a peon for encounter purposes I have to disagree

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm going to disagree with you here. It specifically says that the models counts as a peon for encounter purposes. In my mind that means that when you are calculating points they would count as a peon. That being said, with this new strategy this might need clarification.

 

Hm. You have a point there. I think it might need clarification as well. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Fetid is right: It doesn't overwrite being a Master. They count as Peons for Encounter purposes, though, just as InsidiouslyMad said, and the VP from the strategy are an Encounter purpose. (AP are not.) Thus, by my reading, they'd net 0 points.

Alternatively, they might count as both. Wouldn't make any difference with the usual non-Peon wording (like in Reconnoitre), but in this case they'd net both 0 and 4 points.

 

Clarification would be advisable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I run him then it's always with Nico and it's always the full 13SS My Favourite Shovel and Corpse Bloat combo.  The former gives him a bit of manoeuvrability whilst the latter is what he's for!  He can put out a lot of corpse markers and if you need to heal him back up then Nurses can do the job.  Having said that his Shovel is Ml7 and if you jack him up with some meds from the Nurse he can be a proper combat monster.  Chatty is also very frustrating in the right circumstances.  I really should try to use him in alternative ways but I see his main role as corpse counter generation for Nico to do his thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if I don't want to use him as the NHS' back up organ donor I think I'll need to experiment. My Favuorite Shovel looks good as he his ranged options are all spells, and will provide the crew with more mobility, which can be fun in recon or just move soon to be killed models in Headhunter for extra annoyance.

Fling Rot: while I'm not running a poison list this can help with those HtK models, and canine remains/Shikome charging for (1) is a nice lil bonus!
 

going to need some table time before next week! Strats and schemes for Gertfaux:

">http://http://s1077.photobucket.com/user/Kogan12/media/gert_zpsvp13pjzt.jpg.html'>gert_zpsvp13pjzt.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information