Dreamer Crew - New Player

[english_boar]

Hello all,

I have recently decided on a Jack Daw list but I am wanting at least another two to be able to use / lend to others for games / to play against my sons with.

Same as the Jack Daw post, I am a Rule of Cool player aiming to use models purely for aesthetic purposes but would like there to be some sort coherency within the force if possible.

As such, I have come up with the following:
The Dreamer
Lord Chompy Bits
Teddy
Coppelius
Serena Bowman
Bandersnatch
Alps x2

I believe that I can summon in the Alps if I have read information correctly, is that correct?

This would leave me with a SS cache of 6.

Any pointers / suggestions / other is appreciated

[Adran]

Are you trying to create a list to plan your purchases, or do you just want to generate a generic list that you can use to learn with from what you already own?

The reason I ask is because one of my favourite things about malifaux is that you create your list after you know what mission you are doing. So whilst using a fixed list is often a good idea when you are learning the game, its not such a good idea later on.

The dreamer can summon models, so its often a good idea to have spare models for him to summon. His Summons are the Alps, Daydreams, Insidious Madness and Stitched together, so you probably want to look to own some of the models from that list. He can have up to 5 summons in play at a time.

The rule of cool is certainly a good way to start. Other than the lack of summons available to you, the list doesn't look like its intrinsically terrible and should be able to attempt most things.

[LeperColony]

5 minutes ago, Adran said:

The reason I ask is because one of my favourite things about malifaux is that you create your list after you know what mission you are doing. So whilst using a fixed list is often a good idea when you are learning the game, its not such a good idea later on.

To me, this is one of the things that sets Malifaux apart, but I'm not sure I'd call it one of my favorite.  In fact, in my local meta, it's not uncommon for people to run set lists.  And these people also tend to play very few masters, so as a consequence list building resembles 40k or other miniature games where you come to the event with a pre-determined army.

When I know I'm going to be playing against one of those players, I also try to stick with something fairly generic rather than try to find the rock to their scissors.  These players tend to be less experienced, but not universally so.  I think some people just don't really like the "build on the go" aspect, even if they enjoy the game otherwise.

I've never been much for the competitive scene, but I'd expect that spot list building skills are much more important there.

To the OP, I think the keyword models provide a decent level of support that you should be solid enough against most comers.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Summoning is any Nightmare minion (not just the ones you hired). Since you can summon any minion any game, you definitely want to own all of them/buy them first.

Day dreams are also super useful, so you almost always want to hire 2-3.

If you're wanting Rule of Cool, Widow Weaver and Bandersnatch are a super neat combo. Spider webs everywhere. Widow Weaver can also make puppets like stitched together! Teddy is also just a cool model.

Serena and coppelius are strong models, but don't feel as cool/fun as the others IMO.

Stitched together feel ridiculous to play, so recommend them over the alps. They're strong models and more fun to play. Alps are fun summons. They get a free attack when summoned.

Maybe you could change your list to - coppelius, - Serena, -2 alps, + widow weaver, + 2 stitched together, 2 daydreams, and one more stones for a bigger cache or upgrades.

[Ogid]

As they said, it's a decent list, the only change I'd really recomend is summoning the Alphs (extra attacks) and include the daydream instead (they are much more useful early for pushing your models and lucid dreaming), you can include 3 daydreams instead of 2 Alphs and gain 1 SS for the cache.

You have a lot of option in the Nightmare keyword, so just try different things, a few quick tips:

• As @Maniacal_cackle said, WW + Bandersnatch is a great combo, both will benefice a lot from the extra webs.
• Lucid dream heavy team + Stiched is another very good combo.
• With Teddy, Vasilisa is great for extra support and give staggered to the ones engaged with him.

Also check this thread for extra ideas: 

 

[english_boar]

So I've swapped out the Alps for Daydreams as suggested but left it at just 2 Daydreams for now.

 

Am I better off taking the other DD and having a larger SS cache or going all in on Vasilisa or Widow Weaver and have only a couple of SS cache left?

[Adran]

2 hours ago, english_boar said:

So I've swapped out the Alps for Daydreams as suggested but left it at just 2 Daydreams for now.

 

Am I better off taking the other DD and having a larger SS cache or going all in on Vasilisa or Widow Weaver and have only a couple of SS cache left?

In all honesty, I think the right answer to this depends on how "you" play the list, and what you're trying to achieve, so may well change game by game. Vasilisa might be a relatively expensive model to buy, depending on how she gets packaged in M3, because her M2E version is only available in the Collodi box.

 

There are also upgrades you can use to change lists (a little like war gear or magic items in GW games) around a little. Not using them as you learn is a good idea for reducing complexity, but once you're comfortable with the core rules and your models they can easily be used.

What I'm trying to say is don't "lock" in a list just because that's what you would have done in a different game. Malifaux has a lot more in game choices for piloting a list than most games I know, so "net listing" is less effective than most because if you don't understand why something is in the list, you won't always use it the same way. For example, you will probably fine some dreamer players will always have 3 daydreams in their lists and 1 of them with ancient pact. They probably play in a way that they want to maximise Lucid dreams, and so keep the daydreams well away from danger. You might prefer to use the daydreams as a combat control model, able to shift your models into better places. Both are sensible uses, but the second use is more likely to see them die, so they are less useful holders of the Pact upgrade.

 

 

[english_boar]

That makes sense.

I appreciate things will change, was just trying to get a good foundation together.

 

Thank you for your help.

[Hawkoon]

2 hours ago, english_boar said:

That makes sense.

I appreciate things will change, was just trying to get a good foundation together.

 

Thank you for your help.

A good way of getting practice is locking in schemes and strat for a few games. This makes it easier to figure out what each models do, and also makes it easier for the community to give more detalied feedback on what you should/shouldn't bring in a list and why.

After a while you will probably notice that even with the same strats and schemes over and over, your opponents crew also has quite an impact on how you play and should also be taken into consideration when you build your crew. (A good example here is Misaki vs Tara, where Misaki's main strategy is burying and unburying to move about and stay safe, but Tara has a lot of models that can do nasty things to buried models. So unless the Misaki player wants to lose her turn 1, that player must play and build the crew very differently)

Remember that you only declare your faction before you choose your master, so it's quite hard to counter build unless you're certain of your opponents choice of master.  Once masters are declared is when you start building your crew, and where you can start looking at synergies that fits with the opposing master, strategy and scheme pool, (Remember that you get to see your oppnents crew before you choose your 2 schemes, so try to build your crew in a way that can score on most of them)

[Noah]

I'm surprised it hasn't been brought up yet, but you need to get some wicked dolls if you plan to run either Weaver or Vasilisa, as they are the cheap summon for them that you can do once all of the stitched together are in play