The Zinc Lich's Malifaux Personality Test

[trikk]

Well, I was just being a Smartass

[zFiend]

Well, I was just being a Smartass

 

Wow! What a surprise there! I'm shocked.. 

[doombladez]

Wait! I know this one.

zFiend's Master future is... Lucius.

Impressive! Maybe we should all be asking you these questions

[zFiend]

Impressive! Maybe we should all be asking you these questions

 

Damn.. Out of likes. 

 

EDIT: Of course Pantser had to come in and like this. That evil little Neverborn. 

[Kalkris]

ZFiend, what happened to your face?!!?

 

 

~Lil Kalki

[zFiend]

I'm a Guildy now.  

[Kalkris]

I'm a Guildy now.

Or ARE you???

 

I guess we will see when Zinc's test tests you positive for Neverborn pathogen.

 

~Lil Kalki

[zFiend]

I am hoping for that.  

[The Zinc Lich]

Okay this seems cool.

My favourite games are: God of War Series, Killzone, Final Fantasy 7, Borderlands 2, Metal Gear Solid 1 & 3.

My favourite characters are: Kratos obviously, The Hellghast in Killzone series, in FF7 my favourite was Nanaki and Sephiroth. Borderlands 2 I absolutely loved playing Krieg the psycho. Solid Snake.

My most memorable moments: Kratos climbing the mount Olympus with the titans in God of War 2, that assh*** can't be kept down no matter what same goes for Solid Snake. Nanaki just had a really cool story line and a cool character altogether and come on Sephiroth with that goddamn sword that don't quit. In borderlands, playing an undying psycho that goes on ragemode with a goddamn chainsaw-axe. Doesn't get better than that.

Do you need more info?

 

I'm going to jump the queue a little to talk about this, seeing as we are having a lively discussion about you

 

Seriously, I would recommend Seamus from what you have given me. The thing that links all the characters and situations you mention is an air of inevitable villainy that follows them all. All the characters are invulnerable (Krieg, Kratos), untouchable (Solid Snake, the Helghast), immortal (Nananki), or all of the above (Sephiroth). When Seamus is put on the table, you know two things:

 

#1: your minions are going to die.

#2: Seamus probably won't.

 

However, we all knew that. Let's try moving outside of the Resser zone and look for someone else. Have you ever tried out Lillith? She is an inhuman, immortal predator, enraged by the presumptuous nature of humanity, and dedicated to returning Malifaux to its "natural state". If I had to name one master that makes playing the game feel like Metal Gear Solid, she's the one I would pick, moving through terrain enemies can't and attacking them from angles they can't watch, dismembering them in a gory spectacle fit for Kratos' quicktime kills. I suppose she doesn't have a "rage mode", per say, but you have Mature Nephilim for that.

 

Also, she has a sword that just won't quit.

[zFiend]

Hahaha. 

 

I have not tried Lilith, but I am starting a campaign with her this month. So you shall get your feedback once I've gotten some games in. But I agree 100% with your reasoning on Seamus and I believe what you say about Lilith. Great to hear that she might be a fit for me.  

 

Also cheers for not recommending Guild.  

[Patzer]

I'm going to jump the queue a little to talk about this, seeing as we are having a lively discussion about you

 

Seriously, I would recommend Seamus from what you have given me. The thing that links all the characters and situations you mention is an air of inevitable villainy that follows them all. All the characters are invulnerable (Krieg, Kratos), untouchable (Solid Snake, the Helghast), immortal (Nananki), or all of the above (Sephiroth). When Seamus is put on the table, you know two things:

 

#1: your minions are going to die.

#2: Seamus probably won't.

 

However, we all knew that. Let's try moving outside of the Resser zone and look for someone else. Have you ever tried out Lillith? She is an inhuman, immortal predator, enraged by the presumptuous nature of humanity, and dedicated to returning Malifaux to its "natural state". If I had to name one master that makes playing the game feel like Metal Gear Solid, she's the one I would pick, moving through terrain enemies can't and attacking them from angles they can't watch, dismembering them in a gory spectacle fit for Kratos' quicktime kills. I suppose she doesn't have a "rage mode", per say, but you have Mature Nephilim for that.

 

Also, she has a sword that just won't quit.

Incredibly spot on! Funny since he is going Lilith for a while. Can't wait to see what you are cooking for me ^^

[Tzarcastic]

Damn.. Out of likes. 

 

EDIT: Of course Pantser had to come in and like this. That evil little Neverborn. 

There's a limit?  Harsh.  Though I suppose I can see why.

 

This thread is great - in addition to the fun armchair psychology, seeing a breakdown of the "philosophy" of assorted Masters is very interesting - one more arrow in my quiver when I actually face them.

 

(Except for the stuff about Pandora, which only served to further persuade me that there is nothing I can do against Pandora.)

[admiralvorkraft]

There's always something you can do. Even if it is taking schemes based on avoidance and trying to play the denial game.

 

And, I mean, Sonnia's great against her.

[dgraz]

 

And, I mean, Sonnia's great against her.

I'll never forget the time she jumped through all kinds of hoops to paralyze Sonnia......I waited until end turn, activated my last Stalker, dispelled the Paralyze and......well, Sonnia did her thing.

 

Or the time Sonnia blasted her a couple times and Pandora tried to get revenge while I had the RJ in my hand........oh the defensive trigger joy :D

[ArcticPangolin]

Alright, I love you guys, but it is going to take me a little time to get through the backlog. Being popular sure is a burden 

 

 

The GDI are Gremlins, period full stop. They move fast, have middling to poor defensive stats, and all of their most powerful weapons are self destructive. They win fights by getting places that the enemy doesn't want them to be and by making sure they outnumber the opponent before they commit to a fight. I spent my shift at work wondering about this, and my official answer is: Wong.

 

The Toxin General gives up the big blasting power of the Demolition General and the sneakiness of the Stealth General for anthrax everywhere. Toxin damage just sweeps away infantry and light vehicles, meaning you can build more anti-tank units to make up for the generally lower effectiveness your units have against them. Wong is a card carrying member of the super blaster club. You point him at a cluster of enemies, and anything without more than six wounds is probably going to be gone by the end of his activation. There are some targets that Lightning jump just isn't crazy effective against, and Wong relies on the rest of his list to clean up what he can't. Fortunately, he has Glowy, which helps the other heavy lifters in his crew get the job done.

 

There isn't a great analogue to Toxin Tunnels, but What Goes Up has the same feeling of winning the game with the added benefit of killing unsuspecting fools.

 

 

 

Semi-serious answer? Nicodem. You just have to line up Nico, corpse counters, and high crows to win the game instead of block shapes.

 

 

 

Brewmaster! I know that you said you don't want a 10T answer, but hopefully, Brewie is gremlin enough for you. The archetypal elf deck is made up of a combination of masses of 1/1 elves and synergistic cards that take advantage of them. Sounds like Gremlins to me. You specifically choose the Lannisters for their control abilities, you select the CC-focused support roles, and even your non-duo picks are champions with access to very meaningful stuns. Not only does Brewmaster have access to his frankly ridiculous Drinking Party aura, but Pick Yer Poison, Hangover, and Blaaaargh are all really good control options. 

Thank you for taking the time to think of one for me The Zinc Lich! Really good answer that I wasn't quite expecting. There was just something so cool about a herd of rocket buggies backed up by a few battlebuses loaded up with rocket troops and a few toxin troopers, popping up through tunnel networks. Those buggies have to be one of my favourite units in an RTS.

 

Having gone Guild to 10T, my plan is Brewmaster as 10T (got my Golem!) then Zoraida as Gremlins; hopefully I'll have some variety of models to add to a Wong box afterwards 

[The Zinc Lich]

All right, I'll bite.

 

Favorite Rise of Legends faction:  The Vinci, primarily for the steampunk aesthetic.  My favorite unit should be obvious.

Favorite Alpha Centauri factions:  Peacekeepers for their all-round nature, University for the science.  The Gaians and Morganites seem interesting but I haven't finished a full game with them.  I have minimal experience with the Alien Crossfire factions, but I do like the Pirates and Free Drones.

Warhammer 40K:  I collected tank-heavy mech guard with Vendetta support and planned on a warrior blob Necron force, but that never really came to fruition.  I also collected Eldar, but never really had an organized army plan with them.  That said, Warp Spiders are .

D&D:  My only character in a full campaign was a crossbow-specialist ranger.  I do kind of want to try a bomb-focussed alchemist in Pathfinder one day.

Pokémon:  I have a deep-seated love of Baton Pass chains, as impractical as they are these days (BP, for the record, switches the Pokémon in play out for another on your team, but the newcomer gets any stat changes and some status buffs.  So, incapacitate the opponent, buff your stats, switch to a heavy hitter who either can't or is too fragile or slow to do it themselves).

CCGs:  Only one I play is the MLP one, and that only barely.  If I played it more, I'd probably lean towards control, though.

Preferred strategy in general:  Turtling.  I prefer my enemy coming to me to getting too aggressive.

 

Nothing else really indicative of me comes to mind, I think.

 

I used to think that the University was my favorite faction, until I played the Gaians. There's nothing quite like ruining someone's terraforming efforts with sentient alien death mold...

 

So, you have an affinity for defensive play and late game domination, a love of mechanized forces, and enjoy piling up buffs on things. My recommendation is Ramos! I know that kind of seems like the low hanging fruit considering your forum name, but hear me out. There is nothing that bricks harder than Ramos does, thanks to his access to things like Metal Gamin, Vent Steam, and arcing screen bringing his fellow brick-mates defenses through the roof. When he eventually gets to the enemy, he rolls right over them with Overdrive and Powered By Flame.

 

And then there are the spiders. This is the reason why Ramos' brick is the most useful one out there: while he has his crew bathing in layered buffs, he has a nigh-infinite amount of disposable spiders to go out and run schemes for him. Hoffman's death ball needs to stretch a tentacle out to influence anything outside his immediate area, while Ramos can just spiders. And if the enemy ignores the spiders and focuses on Ramos, by the end of the game, you're going to have tons of the little buggers clogging up the board and swarming together into surprisingly deadly swarms.

[The Zinc Lich]

I'll give this a go!

Soul Calibur: Setuska! I love her tricksy ways, but her combination of unexpected combos and raw speed is what made me stay. She was never the most top tier of characters, but she was one of the ones that when you played her well the other player was never angry when they lost, because they where far to busy being confused on 'wait what just-'

Magic: I played a lot, though my favorite deck was probably a white black combo orzohov deck. Throughout all the time I played magic I very much gravitated to 'tribal' decks though. I really enjoy the models I use having a unified visual theme , and building inlaid synergies is something that really appeals to me as a play. Once more though, I have to admit I got a certain glee at having to explain to my opponent how they just lost before they realized it.

League of Legends: Shyvana. What do you get when a dragon sneezes? Out of the way. I play her in the jungle, and once more I valued this champions aggression and speed. She doesn't have tricks but sometimes, she doesn't need them. She has the raw speed and physical power to threaten a large amount of the map at once. This allows me to keep my options open and respond quickly to where I feel I'm most needed, and the enemies weaknesses can be most exploited.

Warmachine: Skorne is my warmachine and hordes faction, and within them my favorite casters are Supreme Archdomina Makeda (Gotta go fast) and Tyrant Xerxis (ALL OF THE BUFFS). The army itself doesn't have many tricks to be honest. It's going to punch you in the face repeatedly, but it can be much faster then it has any right to be, and I enjoy the durability.

Role playing: in regards to dnd, pathfinder, or what not, I don't have many strong tendencies aside from a typical aversion to magic classes. I don't mind them, and enjoy the sometimes, but I usually like things with a martial bent more then spell slingers. That's not a hard line though, and I do enjoy Binders.

Music: I love alternative, Rise Against was probably the first music I got into, and I have a fondness for them. In particular any band that blends traditional orchestra with modern electrics something that I enjoy.

Favorite movies: Prestige, Fistfull of Dollars, House of Flying Daggers.

 

Our good friend Toni Ironsides is the master for you. Don't listen to the haters, if you like the idea of pressuring lanes with Shyvana, you'll have a pretty good run with her. She's not an assassin (although she can certainly kill stuff if you line it up right), nor is she really a tank (though she does come pretty close). What she is is a lane bully, coming down on fights in progress and making the enemy run away or eat fists.

 

If you like buffs, she's got buffs with her Hand Picked Men aura (a fast gunsmith targeting something burning in that aura is pretty much a bazooka). If you like surprising speed and "wait, what?" moments, Rush 'Em, combined with a moderate amount of Adrenaline, can lead to some pretty clutch beatings. MSU has a united theme that Ironsides rewards you for playing with, and they exemplify the "durable, face punching" style the Skorne is otherwise known for.

 

I would personally like to recommend listening to Episode 5 of Schemes and Stones, to listen to Nick Hrenda talk about her. I was pretty confused about what her game plan was (and I was more than a little down on her effectiveness), but that podcast really gave me a new appreciation of her.

[CannibalBob]

Lets see what you come up with for some more esoteric choices.  I will use my favorite games when I was a kid.

 

I remember when the Nintendo Entertainment System came out - I was 7.  I was not able to convince my parents to get me one until 1987.  When I did, my Dad took me to Toys R Us and gave me the choice of either purchasing the set that came with Super Mario + Duck Hunt, or the set that had no games and I could choose 2 games.  I chose the basic box and then wandered around for a while before finally settling on Metroid and Mega Man 1.

 

Those 2 games blew my mind.  Mega Man was the first game I can ever remember where the levels were not presented in chronological order.  In that game you chose the order that you fought the first 6 robot master levels.  When you defeated each boss you received the ability to use their weapon, and the game really rewarded you for finding more optimal paths through the games as you could find secrets using the weapons in different levels and bosses all were weak to certain weapons.  I remember playing through the game repeatedly to try using different weapons on different bosses and trying to see what the best pattern would be.  Eventually, Mega Man became one of my favorite game characters of all time (I just dumped a stupid amount into the Mega Man Board Game Kickstarter) and I got most of the games (although I never played the 3d ones that were on the Playstation).

 

Metroid was also completely different from other games at the time.  The game simply dumped you into a massive world with no levels and said "go forth and explore".  It had no clues or hints, and the game was a very creepy and lonely experience.  However, it was absurdly full of secrets.  Like with Mega Man you gained items and weapons that allowed you to access other areas and the game required you to explore and backtrack constantly.  I spent untold hours with that game, and Metroid is probably my overall favorite video game series ever made (although I do really love Zelda as well).  In an era where most games are now played through once and then discarded, I find that I can pick up and replay just about any Metroid game and it is just as fun as when I first played them.  I really love the puzzle aspect of the game which gives you few hints and requires you to think your way through the problems.

 

I could give you a big list of games I have played and enjoyed since that time, but those are the 2 games that truly got me hooked on playing video games many moons ago and I still love them.  I am curious to see what connection you can make from those to Malifaux.

[DrakeRaids]

Our good friend Toni Ironsides is the master for you. Don't listen to the haters, if you like the idea of pressuring lanes with Shyvana, you'll have a pretty good run with her. She's not an assassin (although she can certainly kill stuff if you line it up right), nor is she really a tank (though she does come pretty close). What she is is a lane bully, coming down on fights in progress and making the enemy run away or eat fists.

 

If you like buffs, she's got buffs with her Hand Picked Men aura (a fast gunsmith targeting something burning in that aura is pretty much a bazooka). If you like surprising speed and "wait, what?" moments, Rush 'Em, combined with a moderate amount of Adrenaline, can lead to some pretty clutch beatings. MSU has a united theme that Ironsides rewards you for playing with, and they exemplify the "durable, face punching" style the Skorne is otherwise known for.

 

I would personally like to recommend listening to Episode 5 of Schemes and Stones, to listen to Nick Hrenda talk about her. I was pretty confused about what her game plan was (and I was more than a little down on her effectiveness), but that podcast really gave me a new appreciation of her.

Hah! That's ironic, you read me well. I have no miniatures for this yet, but I did before I registered here pre ordered Ironsides box. I really enjoyed how she looked and what I read about how she played Interested me, and I've already looked into expanding Arcanists focusing on the MSU sub Faction! I was hoping you would suggest anyone else though, so I'd have another idea of something to try in addition to them.

[The Zinc Lich]

I don't know what you'll do with me honestly.

 

My favorite board games are co-op; Pandemic/Defenders of the Realm/Forbidden Island, or hidden roles - Battlestar Galactica/Coup/etc. With an honorable mention for the game Quantum. I played chess competitively in elementary/middle school and used to be part of a late night Go league.

 

In RPGs I like to play Bards, the crunchier the system the less I'm interested in a combat effective character. My favorite gaming systems are Dogs in the Vineyard and Mage (either the Ascension or the Awakening).

 

When I played 40k I rocked Eldar (Aliatoc or Saim-Hann depending on the day) but in Battlefleet Gothic I always played Cruiser heavy Imperial Navy.

 

In Mordheim I ran Undead and Dark Elves.

 

Upstream Color was the best movie I've seen in a long time, and The Lies of Locke Lamora was the last book I went head over heels for.

 

I really spent a lot of time mulling over this one, and I even consulted with my partner in crime, Ferossa about it. I think that I'm going to have to say Collodi. You immediately start talking about cooperative games (good choices, by the way. I'm saving my pennies up for Forbidden Desert right now), and there are plenty of crews that operate as a kind of symbiotic body on the table top. You specifically mention losing interest in tweaking for maximum combat effectiveness as things get more complex, and there are also plenty ways of winning Malifaux without murdering everything you come across. 

 

What really tore it was your choice of Craftsworlds, actually. You didn't bring either of the Eldar hitty craftsworlds or the Eldrad one, instead choosing the ones with tons of skimmers and the one with tons of Advance Deploy models. Collodi's crew moves fast, achieves objectives easily, and works together to be more than the sum of its parts. Marionettes, in a vacuum aren't good for very much, but they are three stones, hard to kill, and significant. There's a bunch of neat tools Collodi has to get more out of them, but in the end, they provide 8 ap per turn for 12 points, and that makes him an incredible threat for completing schemes and collecting all the VPs.

 

I also remember you mentioning that the two things you don't really like to deal with are getting alpha struck, and getting out activated. Collodi might not be Hamelin, but he has access to some really cheap, quality activations, and no one alpha strikes like the Neverborn.

 

 

Hah! That's ironic, you read me well. I have no miniatures for this yet, but I did before I registered here pre ordered Ironsides box. I really enjoyed how she looked and what I read about how she played Interested me, and I've already looked into expanding Arcanists focusing on the MSU sub Faction! I was hoping you would suggest anyone else though, so I'd have another idea of something to try in addition to them.

 

Well, you have two routes you can go down from Ironsides, as far as I can see.

 

Option 1: You love Ironsides, and want more of the same, but a different flavor. Pick up Mei Feng. The woman herself is pretty much the eMakeda bullet, getting some really wild charging angles with Rail Walker, and she brings Kang to the faction, who is literally Xerxes. They bring a lot of interesting tools with them that Toni doesn't have. They bring some level of immunity to Moral Duels, Paralyze, Slow, LoS blocking markers, Armor, and Hard to Wound, which adds up to a cool pile of narrowly effective tools. They operate fairly similar manner to a bricked-up version of Ironside's crew, and Mei Feng and Ironsides both like the M+SU Constructs.

 

Option 2: You want to get a good pairing to cover Ironside's weaknesses. This is important, because Ironsides really has some bad matchups. She is great when you have to hold a Turf War zone or Guard the Stash, but she doesn't really bring much game to scheme-marker heavy pools. Colette has pretty much the opposite favored matchups to Ironsides, not really bringing much to hold an area, but able to get minions and scheme markers anywhere on the table without breaking a sweat. You can also pick up Ramos, who plays fine in scheme marker schemes and has the added benefit of winning Reconnoiter and Interference pretty much for free forever. Ramos' box set also gets a big thumbs up, because Joss and Howard Langston are *fantastic* additions to Ironsides' crew. Double dipping on Warding Runes is really good tech, you guys.

[admiralvorkraft]

Collodi certainly likes to turn Malifaux into a co-op game...

 

I would love to play him, but I would feel pretty hypocritical considering how much I hate playing against him. He's in the same boat as Jack Daw in that regard.

 

Really great analyses though, and I'm having a lot of fun following this thread.

[Gremlin guy]

My favorite video game was probably fallout, new vegas. The character type didn't really matter, eventually I used a lot of different builds. I believe my first build was a scientist/engineer build with lasers for weapons.

For mmorpgs I've played EQ (enchanter), WoW (all of them, but I liked the healing shaman and the corruption warlock the most.

Pen and paper RPGs: Shadow run is my favorite. I tend to play a physical adept (fast), or a fomori (troll variant) bear shaman (hard to kill). I have more experience with D&D though and my favorite characters where a half-farspawn totemist (2-4 tentacle attacks, 2 gorrilon arm attacks, a bite,a sword, and a shield) and a shadow creature catfolk warlock.

Other wargames: in war machine/ Hordes I play trolls. That's my competitive game, so I play what will work the best at the moment (Calandra EE is causing a few tears at the moment). Fluffwise I really like epic Doomshaper, but I'm not a fan of his play style or his theme list (and I really like theme list). If I were to play 40k, it would be tyranyds. Mainly because I dislike box shaped vehicles. There is another faction with vehicles that aren't shaped like the Nissan cube I drive, so I could play those, but the Tyranids look cooler to me.

[The Zinc Lich]

I'd like to get in on this:

Warhammer Fantasy: Lizardmen

Warhammer 40k: Necrons

Warcraft: Undead

D&D: Sorcerer

MTG: Blue and Black, Control decks.

Diablo: Necromancer

Starcraft: Zerg

 

I particularly like attrition style factions and ones that are really hard to kill. Thanks in advance!

 

Coming out of the gate strong, having been recommended no fewer than three times by me, I think you should look into Nicodem. Attrition battles are firmly the forte of the Resser faction. Barring some weird cases, no one wins a straight up war of attrition with them. Nicodem skews the attrition angle even more than the other Ressers, able to summon bigger and better minions out of the corpses of stuff you just got finished killing. Even when he isn't summoning new guys, he buffs his minions and debuffs the enemy ones.

 

Coming in as a strong second contender is McMourning, who frequently trades in his enemies for Flesh Constructs which, when backed up by nurses, are the most powerful attrition forces in the game. Its just that Nicodem brings so much more to the table when it comes to a crew designed to just roll over the opponent's crew in an unkillable wave. Its defensive versus offensive, really.

[Otylia]

Admiral - I've gotta say - Excellent taste in board games, RPG character types, and books.  You've made me interested in checking out Upstream Color

[doombladez]

Coming out of the gate strong, having been recommended no fewer than three times by me, I think you should look into Nicodem. Attrition battles are firmly the forte of the Resser faction. Barring some weird cases, no one wins a straight up war of attrition with them. Nicodem skews the attrition angle even more than the other Ressers, able to summon bigger and better minions out of the corpses of stuff you just got finished killing. Even when he isn't summoning new guys, he buffs his minions and debuffs the enemy ones.

 

Coming in as a strong second contender is McMourning, who frequently trades in his enemies for Flesh Constructs which, when backed up by nurses, are the most powerful attrition forces in the game. Its just that Nicodem brings so much more to the table when it comes to a crew designed to just roll over the opponent's crew in an unkillable wave. Its defensive versus offensive, really.

Excellent synopsis, I'm currently enamored with Nicodem and hope to expand into McMourning soon after. You know your stuff, you got me down precisely. Thanks!