Help with picking a Crew

[Andrey]

Hi all

 

New player interested in Malifaux, I was thinking of buying two crews and play against my bro for learning experience.

I was thinking of getting Sonia Criid crew for my self but dont know what would make a good match against her.

Thanks for your time

 

Andrey

[JDAntoine]

Hi Andrey, welcome to the forums and the game! I hope you went for asthethics first and tactica later, largely because I feel that is still the best way to get started with Malifaux.
A small while ago I made a compendium with the input of several posters which might be helpful aswell:  

The compendium is set up in such a way that you more or less know what your going to get, if you want to get something.

A small while ago I started with Perdita and slowly am getting the hang of Sonnia amongst other Masters. What I really like about Sonnia is the way she can clear out a Minion heavy field. The turnside of this is that she might have more problems with tougher models equiped to tank those blast damages.

Which brings us to Sonnia's expertise, which is her blast damage. Flameburst becomes amazing with several combinations (the most well known is Papabox, using a Death Marshal and Papa Loco to stick on the 'Hold This' ability and never let it expire). As it allows you to really clear the board and usually when she finds herself a way to the center of the board her control aspects become extremely difficult to stop (often thanks to a combination of a Watcher and/or Burning + Visions of Flame) because of Pyrokinesis. Before using the Flameburst you'll often find yourself looking for high Wp targets because of Ancient Runes but otherwise you'll have the option to use Confiscated Lore. 

Sonnia Criid is extremely potent into oppossing builds who rely on many Henchman/Enforcers/Minions who also happen to stay close to their Master. The prime reason for this is that Masters usually have high Wp and thus the blasts Flameburst creates really allows you to obliterate builds who rely on 'bubbles' to get by. This makes Sonnia incredibly potent in almost everything but in particular against Guild, Neverborn, Outcasts, Gremlins and Ten Thunders. Then there are two Upgrades who are commonly seen with her because they improve her board control aspects even more, being:

• Cherufe's Imprint, which allows you to place two Wall Markers who can cause damage and allows you stop the use of Soulstones within 3".
• Counterspell Aura, which allows you to remove suits on Ca targeting models within 3" and can even make someone Grounded.

Her other Upgrades such as Reincarnation and The Mask are less commonly used by large because they are more specific in their effect. Malifaux is full of Ca Actions and Soul Stone use and as a result the above two are simply said always very good.

Other models who are commonly seen with her (competative) builds are:

1. Francisco Ortega, Sonnia is not that difficult to thake down in melee or fast, so any help is very welcome Francisco provides help for both with his commonly seen Upgrades.
2. Malifaux Child, Sonnia's control options massively improve if you can place more Wall Markers.
3. Papa Loco, Sonnia's Flameburst becomes incredible with every  to damage you can add.
4. Death Marshal, largely to put Papa Loco in his coffin. This way you will constantly have Papa Loco's buff and in the end game you can use Papa Loco savely to deal with high Wd models.
5. Watcher, this way Flameburst gets into every corner.
6. Brutal Effigy, to make Sonnia more resilient, thanks to healing and possibly draw large ammounts of cards, which further fuels your grip to use Confiscated Lore.
7. Guild Austringers, to finish what you couldn't kill with blasts.

From my perspective Sonnia is one of the most competative Masters we have but as a result is a bit harder to learn the game from or pick the game up with. As seen in the above 7 mentioned models, none of these actually come with her starter box. Sonnia's starter box does provide you with some great Witchling Stalkers, Samuel and Totem but out of those I use the Witchling Stalkers the most and find less use for Sam and Totem. 

Overall Sonnia is a Master with massive offensive powers and board control, her only weakness really is seen in Melee so when oppossing builds can really reach her fast you will get into trouble. 

[Hagisman]

If you are buying two crew boxes just starting out I'd suggest grabbing either Lady J or Perdita.

Perdita's box has Francisco and Papa Loco which are really good with Sonnia. In particular Francisco will up Sonnia's Df and WP while Papa Loco can buff her Damage output. Perdita herself is a very forgiving starter master.

Lady J is also good if you are looking to have a complete different experience than Range Guild. A lot of Lady J's box is very close combat focused. Death Marshals in particular have Buryattack which will remove a model temporarily from the field.

Hoffman's box is really good if you want some good Construct minions. In particular the Watcher and hunters are very versitile depending on the crew. Hunters are my favorite because they marry Shooting and Melee very well with their Chain Harpoon attack action and Pounce 0 action.

Lucius is hard to justify to a new player because he is very resource heavy. There are a lot of minions that have been added to the game to help him (i.e. changelings, terracotta warriors, and Witchling Thralls), but he requires the most thinking to get him to work right. Especially since his models die in droves as they are low cost models.

 

[JDAntoine]

Sonnia beginner tactica aside, you can get her to learn the game with and practically every other starter box will allow you to have some great time to play. It's really the competative builds who can make Sonnia outright devastating into specific factions/specific oppossing crews.

So the real buyers advice is to pick another crew which visually your brother would like. 

[Andrey]

Thanks guys for quick replies

I did go for visual appeal cause Sonnia looks totally badass, do you are any experince with Gremlins? particularly Zipp crew? 

 

[JDAntoine]

45 minutes ago, Andrey said:

Thanks guys for quick replies

I did go for visual appeal cause Sonnia looks totally badass, do you are any experince with Gremlins? particularly Zipp crew? 

 

No playing experience with Zipp, but I'd certainly go for it! 

Zipp is one of the fastest Masters in the game and allows you to significantly drag down Interact Action options, Wk options and his Noxious Smoke really protects your key models, he has a potent shot and really allows for some interesting movement. His downside is that he's Insignificant which does make the movement awesome but it's a pitty he is what he is in that aspect otherwise he has good survivable allround stats, you can't really complain with Df 6, Wp 6, Wd 12 and the option to place Zipp 6" from his former location after a hit. 

His box is awesome in terms of rules, specialized Totem, awesome Henchmen and very cool Iron Skeeters. I just don't know if the Iron Skeeters are really fun to assemble but visually they do look awesome and in the end that's all that matters.

In terms of competative approach I think Zipp is very cool. The Sky Pirates are legit with him, despite Zipp being more obnoxious as anything. I don't play Gremlins however ...
 

 

[Andrey]

Thanks again, I will buy then Sonnia for me and Zipp for him.

btw how to I respond directly to another post?  

[JDAntoine]

Just now, Andrey said:

Thanks again, I will buy then Sonnia for me and Zipp for him.

btw how to I respond directly to another post?  

By pressing the Quote button in the right corner OR alternatively put @ before the name you want to include. Such as @Andrey This way everybody will get informed.

There is even more Zipp discussion in the Gremlins board, this seems to be his topic:
 

 

[Andrey]

4 minutes ago, JDAntoine said:

By pressing the Quote button in the right corner OR alternatively put @ before the name you want to include. Such as @Andrey This way everybody will get informed.

There is even more Zipp discussion in the Gremlins board, this seems to be his topic:
 

 

Great I shall take a look at that, thanks again you have been super helpful