new arcanist looking for advices

[saxcloud]

hello I'm a new player I whish to know who the arcanist master are and briefly what they do...

and eventually which master is better for a beginner...

[Fetid Strumpet]

Welcome. As a quick primer based on my impressions (and note I'm a resser player not an Arcanist):

Ramos: Head of the Arcanist movement, Public leader of the M&SU. Support/Summoning Master.

Rasputina: Leader of the cannibal Cult of December. Ice Witch. Ranged Blaster.

Marcus: Leader of the Order of the Chimera. Beastmaster. Can be played in varying ways and has a large hiring pool due to ability to hire out of faction beasts.

Colette: Burlesque Dancer and Magician. Tricksy support master with a focus on Scheme Marker manipulation.

Kaeris: M&SU troubleshooter. Flame based blaster and support.

Mei Feng: Dual Faction Arcanist and TT master. Head of the Rail construction crews. Kung Fu based Melee master with Mobility and limited support.

Ironsides: M&SU enforcer and leg breaker. Support/melee master.

You can find more detailed descriptions at https://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com which is the community tactics site.

 

You can also find detailed descriptions of the masters on the podcast Schemes and Stones: http://schemesandstones.podbean.com/p/master-spotlight-list/

 

[hydranixx]

I don't have personal experience with them all, but I've scoured countless wiki's & forums for information on our 7 masters. They're almost all specialists - very focused at doing one or two things really well, to the exclusion of everything else.

I started with Kaeris, and I think she's actually quite a good master to begin with; flexible, mobile, capable at both melee and range. She's got loads of synergy with fire (burning) , but isn't completely reliant on burning either.

Ramos is also a good choice. He can do a little bit of everything, and Joss & Howard (come in his box) are such strong models in their own right that they end up finding their way into many Arcanist lists. His spiders are pretty good for their price too. If you're going to play Arcanists in any meaningful way, Ramos' box is almost must-buy material. 

[osoi]

Welcome.

 

Fetid pretty well summed everything up quite well. AS far as what to start with as a beginner I would say that you should go with what you like the look of or what suits the way you would like to play (do you like to tank or zip around quickly or lots of tricks etc)

From there I do think we have a really well rounded set of masters in the Arcanists, Colette has a bit steeper learning curve, Rasputina is pretty easy to pick up initially and Kaeris and Ironsides I do really like and enjoy playing have a bit of learning curve to get the most out of them.

[Sklertic]

Ramos is probably the best for a beginner. He is safe, easy to play and can handle most things.

[decker_cky]

Ramos is a nice master for a beginner to be effective, but his playstyle encourages a slower buildup that is at odds with what really wins games of malifaux (eg, be careful not to just sit back summoning spiders). 

But malifaux is a funny game and there will be a learning curve regardless. Read up on pullmyfinger and choose the master you like the look and playstyle description of. Some will need a bit more of a purchase to get started, while others are pretty much ready to go out of the box. 

 

[Nutella]

Wyrd's site has a really nice section that briefly describes the background of each master, the contents of their starter box and an overview of their tactics. It can be found here: http://www.wyrd-games.net/malifaux-arcanists

I think Ramos would be make an excellent starter into the faction as his box has models that will work well with the other masters. I started with Rasputina purely for her theme's aesthetics, which is always a good place to start! Games are always more fun when you love the models you're playing with. 

 

 

[dancater]

Power wise masters and crews vary widely depending on player experience/preference, opponent crew composition, strat/scheme pool.  While there are certainly masters and crews which are more flexible and in circumstances ridiculously powerful this is such a variable as to be nigh impossible to predict or advise on.

However commenting on the learning curve of masters and their "normal" crew, this is easier (so my opinion on easiest to play to hardest):

1. Rasputina; she blasts stuff with ice, her typical crew is resistant to horror (which can be a major issue for new players to manage) , while she is vulnerable she can cast through minions protecting her.  The major problem is she is slow (problem in many scheme/strats) and fairly one dimensional (but it is a good dimension).
2. Ramos; is a summoner and support guy, crew moves quickly and leaves resources he can use when they die, has some real heavy hitters available.  Problem with him is he is reasonably vulnerable and summoners require careful cheat/card management in order to maximise them which can be tough on new players.
3. Kaeris; very fast fire blaster support (almost opposite of Rasputina), she can work with her crew to heal and harm really effectively - good synergy, fast and thus useful for many scheme/strat pools.  Problem is she is fast and can be fragile - easy to over extend, does not have the summoning or immunities of several other masters, relies on stacking the Burning condition and this can be tricky to do for new players, as a cascade master (stacking and building damage) you need to understand the basic tricks.
4. Marcus; the shear variety and flexibility of options is both a draw and a negative - many beast options, plays very well as a fast moving smash face master/crew and he can set up to either do the melee heavy lifting himself or be more support nicely, very fast list options, good strat/scheme utility.  Problem is he is not the most durable and nor is his crew in the main - really the list of fast alpha strike, his list 'width' can also result in a dilution of strength as selections can be a bit here and bit there instead of focused.
5. Mei Feng; very tricksy fast melee master with surprising durability when you understand her tricks, crew tends to be slower and more durable, good synergy with crew grinding it out and supporting Mei bouncing around the battle field like a rabbit on meth.  Mei can rapidly over extend and you need to understand how to get her out of trouble as fast as she can get into it, while crew is durable they can be slow so position game can be tough especially in some scheme/strats combos, access to Ten Thunders can create some weird (though useful) combinations which only experience teaches.
6. Ironsides; Interesting but odd master, melee beast when she is placed correctly and has the right combinations operating, lots of wounds and base durability - but you need to take pain to deal pain so double edged sword, synergy with crew is not as simple or obvious as many masters, this means she can be flexible because she does not have any themes (such as Frozen Heart, Burning tokens, Beasts or Constructs) she simply should take.  Really the trick here is that her play style is very tricky to maximise when you are inexperienced and she does not have much room for error.
7. Colette; The showgirl is really all about the rehearsed performance, both extraordinarily vulnerable (low Wds, no armor) and durable (Df tricks) at the same time and this is true for a wide selection of her typical crew (such as the Corphees), her crew excels at scheme/strat manipulation and scheme marker tricks but mastering this aspect of the game is a lesson unto itself.  Colette is a master who should have you flailing at feints, illusions and smoke but if you play her poorly you can't kill much and die real fast, she relies on pulling your opponent around by the nose her crew fulfilling schemes while the enemy futilely chase them around.

I think Raspy is clearly the simplest master/crew to initially learn then Ramos and Kaeris follow.  Marcus, Mei Feng and Ironsides are all pretty closely grouped and each bring a slightly different fast/melee master/crew combo to the battlefield, preference and play style will define which is easier to learn here as much as any inherent 'power'.  Colette has the oddest play style and steepest learning curve, having said that you can play a Colette power list (Howard, Joss, Mech Rider combo) and simply smash an unwary opponent into the ground but even then the small number of models with (relative) vulnerability means this list is still hard.

Hope this all helps.    

[admiralvorkraft]

I've got to take exception to your characterization of Ironsides. I would say she is a support/control master that is VERY tightly themed to M&SU models masquerading as a beater.

[decker_cky]

I'd say Kaeris is among the harder masters to get a handle on - she suffers from "one too few actions" syndrome, unless you're taking the emissary to patch her. 

Mei is easy to get a handle on (jump in and combo punch stuff), and not hard to get a handle on her full breadth of options (eg, once you learn to rely on vent steam).