Next master to buy

[thewisp]

Hello all,

I just started to play malifaux and bought the ulix box with gracie, piglets and slop haulers.  After a few games, i was thinking about buying another master or maybe even more pig stuff.  So the question is who works well with what i bought?  I was thinking about possibly wong or somer though i am open to any master.  Let me know what you think.  Also my regular opponent is a resurrectionist player.

[Dogmantra]

Som'er can do basically anything, and one style of play likes to hang around with piglets - he's not quite as pig heavy as Ulix but he can make use of them all. His box is also just generally really useful to have as a Gremlin player. You can also play him as either support or a more confrontational master which is nice when you're just starting out because you can handle pretty much any scenario at least decently.

Wong looks pretty blasty on the surface and somewhat one-note but there are some nice tricks you can do with him, particularly with his (0) action that lets you move scheme markers, and he's a nice contrast to a more support-based master like Ulix. Lightning Bugs are also really fantastic versatile models that work well in any crew. Wong also has a nice synergy with Gracie, since he can give a model bonus damage and regeneration. The regen cancels out the damage she takes from gaining reactivate, and she then gets bonus damage on top of it.

Both of them are good picks to compliment Ulix and give you some great cornerstone models in the faction. They're also probably the two masters I'd suggest as a second purchase after Ulix even if you didn't specify you were interested in them.

 

If you want to double down on piggies, you definitely want at least one War Pig because Ulix can summon them, and they're pretty nasty. Burt Jebsen is also always a suggestion because he's an amazing generalist model but he can also push pigs around with an inbuilt trigger on his gun. McTavish is also a thought, he has some synergy with swampfiends (which Wild Boars are), but also has an upgrade that lets him have Pigs or Swampfiends perform an action. He can also shoot into engagements freely which works nicely with pigs tying up models. Down the line you might also want the Pigapult because it's a catapult that flings pigs.

Once you have more Gremlin faction stuff, I'd suggest looking into Zoraida if you like playing with pigs. She really likes anything that can charge as a (1) action because she has an action called Obey that lets a model make a (1) action... normally that's would just be an attack but for piglets & war pigs, you can make them charge. The only downside is that her henchman and minions are all just Neverborn, and you can only hire them in Gremlins if you bring Zoraida with a specific upgrade.

[thewisp]

Thanks for the write up dogmantra.  You made a lot of good points and was a very informative read.  Well done sir!!  I see the brewmaster has obey, is he in the same league as zoraida and could rock a pig crew?

[Math Mathonwy]

 

Thanks for the write up dogmantra.  You made a lot of good points and was a very informative read.  Well done sir!!  

Dogmantra is consistently awesome like that!

 

I see the brewmaster has obey, is he in the same league as zoraida and could rock a pig crew?

He needs a suit for his Obey so he does it quite a bit less than Zoraida (though he does have access to Binge which you can cast on your own dudes and discard a Masks card to get an Obey-like effect). The general consensus is that Brewmaster is the weakest of the Gremlin Masters though there certainly are people who think otherwise and enjoy him immensely ( @Four_N_Six ). I for one couldn't get him to really work despite playing him heavily last spring.

[Dogmantra]

 

 I see the brewmaster has obey, is he in the same league as zoraida and could rock a pig crew?

I don't really play Brewmaster, he's one of the two Gremlin masters I'm not really interested in. But as Math said, his Obey is a bit harder to get off than Zoraida's. He has the advantage that his totem can also cast one of his spells once a turn, so you could theoretically Obey (or Binge which can do the same thing) 4 times in a turn, but that will cost a lot of resources since you'll need the suit each time. His crew box is an interesting one though. Fingers is a little situational but really excels when it's the right situation (any sort of interact strategy/scheme is great for him) and can be an extra source of healing if you feel like you need it. Moon Shinobis are one of my personal favourites. Their main trick is turning all s to s and vice versa. Generally again, they're a bit situational which is a shame because they're super fun. Since your main opponent is Resurrectionists, you'll probably get a bit more mileage out of them than most, since Ressers have a lot of Hard to Wound, which becomes an extra for Moon Shinobi damage flips.

From what I understand, one of Brewie's main tactics is to tarpit the heck out of enemies. Pigs could definitely fit into that, since piglets are frustratingly difficult to kill or disengage from and Brewmaster could hand out flips to enemies engaged by them. He's not the best pig user, but he can get some use out of them, definitely. And if you're looking for a totally unique master in Gremlins, Brewie isn't really like any other master.

 

 

Dogmantra is consistently awesome like that!

<3 ur a sweetie math!

[Math Mathonwy]

Oh, one more thing about Brewie - he really likes The Sow as does Ulix. Smell Fear and Terrifying and Brewster's Wp shenanigans and the ability to put enemies onto negative flips can make The Sow shine. And now with the new Upgrade from the newest book (Pork Whisper'n) allowing better control over Pigs I could see using Brewie Pig-heavy. I often take just Binge and Stilts for him so you could even put the Upgrade onto him directly.

[thewisp]

Hmmm, I have been reading up on brewmaster seems like he is a bit tricky to play and could use trixiebelle and lenny.  Though I do like the Sow idea, that seems fun!  So Though if I pick up Som'er box or brewmaster box, what do folks recommend to pick up to accompany it?

[Bazlord_Prime]

I've just been playtesting Brewy on Vassal a little (okay - once), but haven't taken The Sow with him yet.  I will, cause she will nail anything that fails a Wp test within her 2" engagement, which will be happening every turn within the drinking contest.  

I'm interested as well in what other models folk recommend for Brewy.  I know the standard thing is "Performers", and I completely get it - they're a-mazing.  But not sure what else.  

The new Banjonistas have a slight Wp synergy with him, but I'm not sure it's enough to take them over Shinobi.  

Sammy LaCroix should be excellent with him, and Trixiebelle seems almost inescapable. 

But I found that - just using the Closing Time crew box for 35ss - I didn't have enough scheme running, or enough to force enemy models into Brewmaster's drinking aura.  I probably didn't use Fingers very well though.  But it's why I'm thinking just some regular Bayou Gremlins might work with him, along with the Performers to "Lure" folk in.  

[Math Mathonwy]

Burt is good as he can bunch up enemies and inflict serious damage.

Francois is golden as he can inflict serious damage and can Companion so Brewy can debuff something (twice, if they have Access to SS) and Francois can kill it. There is very little in the game that can't be killed this way (I'd like to say that you can kill anything but there's always things like A&D and Colette).

Roosters are good because they can inflict serious damage and make prime targets for Obey and Binge.

McTavish is golden because he can inflict serious damage and shoot into melee.

You might notice a trend in my suggestions   But seriously, Brewster is debuff so you need someone else to make use of that and IME the best way of doing that is to cause untold damage. A forte of many a Gremlin, luckily!

Sparks might also be nice since limiting the targeting of enemies' own dudes makes it a lot more difficult to remove conditions or get models out of the drinking contest bubble. But I haven't had a chance to try this yet so this one's theory.

[thewisp]

Lol I like the way you think.  Its a choice between Zoraida, Wong and Brewmaster.  Brewmaster seems like he needs a lot of support pieces to me to get him to really work. 

[Izzinatah]

I'd grab Wong and Burt. I like Brewmaster too, but you have some synergy with Wong's box already. You have Gracie, who is amazing with Wong, and has great synergy with Burt. 

I really like Zoraida but none of her box is usable with other Gremlin masters. Wong would give you more options for now. If you grab her down the line, I recommend Waldgeists & Will O' Wisps (unreleased for now) with her. The Waldgeists are amazing models and are great in-game too, while the Will O' Wisps I think will have a lot of synergy with Zoraida.