New To Pandora...Seeking Advice

[James Yohe]

My wife is starting to play Pandora and her crew and rather than go out and spend alot of money on models that might work well with Pandora, I suggested we seek the advice from those that have played her to see what works well with her crew.

[Dassenkop]

I started Malifaux about 2 months ago and bought Pandora so I'm not sure I can give the best ideas. People advised me to go for Teddy and after having read the cards for the crew and looking at the Pullmyfinger info I added beckoners in the mix ... hoping they will fit my playstyle.

[PositronMike]

Models that I like to take with pandora are:

 

Beckoners - Ranged will power attacks, plus lure lets you move enemy models in misery auras

Silurids - Excellent scheme runners (Terror tots are good as well)

Bad Juju - Good beatstick model for pandora as attacks against defence but has a pulse which causes will power duels

Primordial Magic - Ranged wp duel that makes models insignificant and provides ability to draw and discard a card a turn

Waldegiests - Provide cover for your crew that does not block line of sight so misery aura goes through it makes sorrows even harder to kill with  attacks if they sit inside it

 

Three that I want to try out with her are Barbaros, Tannen and Graves but not managed a game with them yet.

[Durza]

Barbaros and Bishop are two excellent choices, and if you can find some Insidious Madnesses they apparently work wonders too.

[Bodiless]

If you can find one, Widow Weaver is an auto-include for Pandora in my book. 

[asrian]

First off, Welcome to Malifaux to the Mrs. Second, Pandora was my first master (and still one of my favorites). I will say, however, that I play more of the lockdown style with her vs the damage dealing style (I primarily use the Voices upgrade and go paralyze heavy, whereas most people I see use The Box Opens upgrade). 

 

When I think of a core Pandora crew I think of things like:

- 2x Insidious Madness: Absolutely beautiful scheme runners, support pieces, have the same cost as Sorrows but more durable, a 7" incorporeal walk, a 4 that causes people to discard to cheat WP tests, a 2 Terror test, and an attack that can hand out -1 WP until end of turn (currently only in Pewter and a bit hard to find)
- Doppelganger: a wonderful toolbox piece that fits into any Neverborn crew. She can copy any non-Leader ability, her crew or the enemy crew, that doesn't include a target name and can't use triggers from the ability copied, up to three times if she gets the trigger off. She allows you to cheat Initiative flips, and to make interact actions even while engaged.

- Primordial Magic: a great, all around totem to me. Extra card draw, counts as a scheme marker making things like Plant Explosives and Spring the Trap easier if used late in a turn, and can potentially make enemy models insignificant.

- Teddy: A great beat stick that has great synergy with Baby Kade. Can get a free attack a turn, as a bonus, when enemies fail WP tests, does vicious damage.

- Widow Weaver: Great henchman for any Neverborn Crew that messes with WP (so most of them) and considering Pandora loves her WP tests she's damn near a perfect compliment to the crew (Just hard as hell to find now as the pewters are few and heavily sought after and the plastic isn't released yet)

 

Other good general models to compliment any Neverborn crew:

 

- Silurids: Beastly scheme runners. They are my #1 pick for any scheme/strat that needs a marker placed or an interact used (so most all of them) and my #1 recommendation for anyone playing Neverborn.

- Waldgeist: Stalwart tanky models for Neverborn. They pack a decent punch, can create severe terrain, and are great for holding down an area as their melee range is increased from 2" to 4" if they are touching or in severe terrain (which they can create).

- Mr. Tannen: In and of himself he's not damage dealing nor tanky, but he's great for his 6  of Chatty to keep people from using interacts, and his 6  Cooler that causes people to discard if they want to cheat fate

[UTasteSoSo]

I am starting my Malifaux career with Pandora while I wait for the new Dreamer crew. I appreciate all the responses to the OP. Very helpful for many of us I think!

 

Im thinking Teddy and the Pandora Crew Box is a great start and what I will be starting with. I am likely to do a bit of proxy-ing with many of the suggestions above especially given many are not readily available.

[Vorschlag]

Insidious Madness are a great replacement for the sorrows that come in her box, sorrows can work but more often than not don't.

Widow Weaver and Bad Juju are the two henchman I would suggest as further additions.
Bad Juju is not fluffy unless you can come up with a reason behind him being around but due to his abilities works very well with Pandora.
The widow weaver both fluffwise and game play wise complements Pandora but you'll need to hunt down one of the metals or wait for the new release.

Tannen definitely works well with Pandora and gives you another woe to play with, his Companion Graves less so.
Iggy is another woe and gives you a different type of damage dealing which can be useful for dealing with high wp models.

Teddy not only works well with Pandora but has the built in synergy with Kade - both of whom will also help her deal with high wp models if the weavers web counters and insidious madness just aren't dropping wp enough.

Beckoners work reasonably well with Pandora and give you a couple of extra lures to drop people into the Candy/Pandora bubble of death and a doppleganger can either steel the lures or add to the death bubble by stealing attack actions from Candy, Teddy, Kade etc.

Also consider getting the vomit worm to replace the Poltergeist so she has another option there.

Apart from that Stitched will give you some card drawing and some more df targeting models and work well with the Weaver.

[Bodiless]

I think you can justify Bad Juju turning up in just about any crew, because Zoraida is constantly meddling in everyone else's business. I think there are lots of scenarios where one can imagine Zoraida 'loaning' out her enforcer - whether the other master wanted him or not.  

[Vorschlag]

If nothing else the tortured soul trapped forever in a mound of filth might have the masochistic tendency to enjoy the company of the woes of Humanity.

Misery loves company....

[Nical]

Because other people already recommended good models for Pandora, I say about "why" they are good with Pandora easily.  

 

Simply, Pandora's main tactics are Damage Dealing & Denial by Wp Dual. She can do them very well, but she is poor at other things (just relatively). 

So Her main synergy is very simple. If some model can force Wp dual to Opponents or get bonus by Wp dual, it usually has synergy with Pandora.

= Barbaros, Insidious Madness, Beckoner and so on. 

 

And many Woe models are fragile and their damage are usually not brutal, so Pandora sometimes needs big models for those problems.

= Poltergeist(If opponent don't have useful anti-incorporeal attacks), Teddy, Bad juju and so on. 

 

Finally, Pandora hardly has advantage for VP(except VP by kill something). So Models for VP are very useful, too.

= Primordial Magic, Silurids, Terror Tot and so on. 

 

These "type" classifications can be overlapped. And 2~3 types models are usually more useful than only 1 type models.

For Example, Sorrow can help to damage dealing by Wp Dual (And It is in Pandora's crew box.) 

But Insidious Madness can do like Sorrow and it is more useful than sorrow as Scheme Runner.     

So many people think Insidious madness is better than Sorrow. 

[EnternalVoid]

Going to throw out one that I don't think I saw on other people's lists; Iggy.

 

He is pretty cheap at 5ss and while his primary attack does not target Wp he does have several things that work well with Pandora.  First he gives you another Incite in your list, this is big for me as I love controlling my opponent's activations and he pretty much gives you a second attempt to do so, or allows you to double layer it.  I have messed with my opponent's plans a good number of times with Incite.  Also his Matyr lets him take damage for Pandora or other woes.  I have had Pandora and Iggy soak damage for Kade before so he would survive a beating and attack back.  Finally iggy works pretty well with alot of neverborn masters due to his ss cost and independance.