Anya Lycarayen (Syndicate Keyword) Discussion

[HomelessOne]

The infamous Condor Rails finally throws its lot into the fray.

MASTER

Anya Lycarayen

Anya Lycarayen, Rail Magnate

HENCHMAN

Corvis Rook

Winston Finnigan

Yannic Waller

ENFORCER

Catalan Brawler

Sovereign

MINION

Catalan Rifleman x2

Drudge x3

Surveyor x3

Operative x2

 

VIDEOS:

 

COLLECTING:

Core Box: Anya, Sovereign, Winston, and 3 Surveyors

Outcasts Starter Box: Yannic Waller, Catalan Brawler, and 2 Catalan Riflemen

"Dirty Work" Box: Corvis Rook and 2 Operatives

???: Anya (Rail Magnate) and 3 Drudges

[MajorUndead]

You can add these guys in the minion category :

 

Also Anya's box seem to be planned for end of february if this is to be trusted : https://www.waylandgames.co.uk/malifaux/79195-anya-core-box
 

But we know there has been delays before, of course

[HomelessOne]

I forgot all about them, thanks.

[Sarah Cole]

I'm obsessed with her already. Close combat + scheme marker shenanigans should make for a really interesting crew. Her totem is wild; 6 wounds, Armour +2, and a 2/3/6 damage line. I'll be looking out for her box for sure.

Also, I'm very happy to see some more Indigenous people in Malifaux! I'd love to hear what Indigenous/Native people think of Anya.

[Maniacal_cackle]

2 minutes ago, Sarah Cole said:

Also, I'm very happy to see some more Indigenous people in Malifaux! I'd love to hear what Indigenous/Native people think of Anya.

I thought the Neverborn were the indigenous people of Malifaux? Or are some humans native to Malifaux as well?

[Sarah Cole]

4 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

I thought the Neverborn were the indigenous people of Malifaux? Or are some humans native to Malifaux as well?

Yeah, in-story the Neverborn are the indigenous inhabitants of Malifaux.

I was referring to the fact that Anya seems to be a character of Native American descent. I'm Canadian, and in Canada the people groups that are known as Native American in the USA are called Indigenous Peoples (because they are the indigenous inhabitants of North America). So my first instinct was to refer to Anya as Indigenous. Although, given that the Breach is in Santa Fe, she's probably more accurately Native.

Anyway, point is that Native Americans were very important in the historical Wild West setting that Malifaux plays on, and are still an important part of America and Canada today, so I'm just excited to see a Master who reflects that! Plus, her design is just generally gorgeous.

[SEV]

All the syndicate models seem really good imo. The totem is awesome. Price of progress is an interesting ability. Always having the trigger you want when you need it (as long as you have 2 wound or more) is really good and if you don't need anything they have alot of heal 2 triggers (net +1, better than nothing).  

[MajorUndead]

2 minutes ago, Sarah Cole said:

Yeah, in-story the Neverborn are the indigenous inhabitants of Malifaux.

I was referring to the fact that Anya seems to be a character of Native American descent. I'm Canadian, and in Canada the people groups that are known as Native American in the USA are called Indigenous Peoples (because they are the indigenous inhabitants of North America). So my first instinct was to refer to Anya as Indigenous. Although, given that the Breach is in Santa Fe, she's probably more accurately Native.

Anyway, point is that Native Americans were very important in the historical Wild West setting that Malifaux plays on, and are still an important part of America and Canada today, so I'm just excited to see a Master who reflects that! Plus, her design is just generally gorgeous.

In the M3E book, it mentions that since temporary portals have opened throughout the past between Malifaux & Earth, some Neverborn went to Earth (like the people in the court of two), and in some case mingled with humans. So some groups of humans, particularly Native Americans, have Neverborn ancestors.
On top of that, it says that when the Burning Man went over Canada, it "awakened" this Malifaux ancestry, giving them shapeshifting abilities :

Quote

The slow path it burned through the skies of nothern Canada forced the Native Americans below it - those whose ancestors had bred with Neverborn - to fall to the ground in agony as their Malifaux heritage violently asserted itself, awakening the shapeshifting abilities that had been buried in their blood for generations

So maybe some day we'll see those shapeshifters in Malifaux or The Other Side

[Jesy Blue]

Sounds like what happen in Shadowrun.

That ended up fine so I foresee no issue.

[J4bberw0ck]

1 hour ago, Sarah Cole said:

Also, I'm very happy to see some more Indigenous people in Malifaux!

I am too, and I'm even more excited that Anya isn't just an enforcer or leg-breaker, or "noble wanderer", she's actually the CEO of Condor Rails! It's so rare to see Indigenous/First Nation peoples represented as being in any sort of position of power, I'm over the moon for her. @Jesy Blue has it right with the Shadowrun comparison, and I hope we see some great representation in that same vein.

[Rufess]

She is by far my favorite master in Explorer just because of her giant robot bird (just cannot say no to any machine beast). But by herself Anya is a decent vary master with a mixed toolbox of offense, scheming and control.

・Melee attack with stat 7 and min 3 and Scry 1

・Limited leap

・Hazard terrain and irresistible push 

・Able to drop 3 scheme markers in an activation

With the help of Sovereign and Winston, Anya can be the libero of the crew and switching gear during the game.

[Da Git]

Love me that birdie!

Don't forget the Outcasts starter set is made up of Syndicate models too. Catalan Corps going from the Iktomi shuffle art and Steam Powered Scoudrals...

Don't know if she is native American though... Her name is awfully similar to Licarayen from Chilean legend https://www.jasspuertovaras.com/post/2017/10/25/chilean-leyends-licarayen

Although the story sounds quite a bit different...

In game, she seems pretty good, fast, great at dropping schemes. A bit of Stunned going around. Great movement between her "leap", Sovereign, Winnie's Dirigibles and Surveyors' Chain Gang.

So far only really hard hitting thing is Sovereign with Puncture... We'll have to see what the Catalan in the Starter box brings... Hopefully Augmented fists for the that sweet 2/4/6 damage spread and a healthy dose of guns! Dare I dream for a Chesterfield shotgun on that middle dude?? (doubtful as that make him Rusty Alice and Mad Dog a true horror in Outcasts!)

[Jesy Blue]

The double wings on the "Thunderbird", tomahawks, and the attire scream native american, and fluff confirmation of the daughter of the company founder practically confirms it.  Makes sense the train & dirigible company combined would all have movement tricks. This keyword is probably gonna be super fast.

The Catalan Rifleman fluff leans towards snipers rather than shotguns.... but there are 4 models in the box.  A henchman heavy crew of All-Star shooters could be the future. Good thing we have Prospectors.

[Plaag]

broken master and keyword

[Nathan Caroland]

2 minutes ago, Plaag said:

broken master and keyword

Gonna plant that flag on that hill huh?

 

[Plaag]

1 hour ago, Nathan Caroland said:

Gonna plant that flag on that hill huh?

 

what that means?

[Maniacal_cackle]

4 hours ago, Plaag said:

what that means?

Planting your flag means "declaring one's standpoint firmly."

Basically you seem firmly committed to declaring everything in Explorer's Society OP.

[SEV]

She does seem powerful but a bit fragile. I don't see how she could be overpowered though (maybe in a scheme marker heavy pool but it's narrow). At first glance she seem more balance and streamline than the spiderqueen or the shadow master... but in a complicated game like malifaux it's hard to tale before playing imo... Maybe if you're a really advanced player (like Plaag) you'll be better at evaluating the power level of a keyword, but it's still hard (for example, look how often magics pro make mistake in cards evaluations when anew set release).

[Maniacal_cackle]

Just now, SEV said:

 (for example, look how often magics pro make mistake in cards evaluations when anew set release).

And this game is wayyyyy harder to evaluate than Magic IMO.

[Plaag]

hazardous near scheme markers in los!, hostile work, move without resist, broken totem that u can move with almost every model and enemy must pass tn around 50mm base, a lot of dmg without resist; broken henchman that can be hired in every crew; and how u can talk abt fragile or not with emissary?

[Rufess]

Anya is definitely a fragile master. Many other masters/henchmen, even with better defensive abilities, can be easily removed.

Emissary is a good defense piece, but not a reliable option for Anya because (a) the Emissary can hardly keep up with Anya's high mobility, and (b) Anya and other revealed models have very limited to no way to draw card.
Also all healing from the known models are a single point of healing, which means it is action consuming and hard to give out enough healing within a single activation.

The best way to play Anya is to avoid the main battle field, like handing out at the second line or flanking. Threating enemies with her pseudo-Leap (her bonus action does not require LoS). Also her placing 3 scheme marker in an activation can be brutal in the end game in certain scheme like Leave Your Mark, Breakthrough and Sabotage.

Note that her Hazard ability does require LoS, so a enemy charging to a spot between Anya and the marker would only suffer hazard effect once from moving.

[Jinn]

34 minutes ago, Rufess said:

Note that her Hazard ability does require LoS, so a enemy charging to a spot between Anya and the marker would only suffer hazard effect once from moving.

Note this is only if they're a 40mm or above, given 30mm models can't block LoS between two other 30mm objects. 

I do think that the syndicate crew has a good chance to be very high tier. This much power, versatility, and consistency is going to be devastating in a strong player's hands.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Just now, Jinn said:

Note this is only if they're a 40mm or above, given 30mm models can't block LoS between two other 30mm objects. 

I do think that the syndicate crew has a good chance to be very high tier. This much power, versatility, and consistency is going to be devastating in a strong player's hands.

If you stand perfectly between two 30mm objects, you can block LOS. I believe there's an example in the rulebook with exactly that scenario.

[Adran]

Just now, Jinn said:

Note this is only if they're a 40mm or above, given 30mm models can't block LoS between two other 30mm objects. 

I do think that the syndicate crew has a good chance to be very high tier. This much power, versatility, and consistency is going to be devastating in a strong player's hands.

30 mm bases can block line of sight between two other 30 mm bases. They don't block line of sight if they are standing directly on top of it. 

[Jinn]

4 minutes ago, Adran said:

30 mm bases can block line of sight between two other 30 mm bases. They don't block line of sight if they are standing directly on top of it. 

Really? I could have sworn there was an FAQ. I must be going crazy.

That is weird though, how does that even work? I'd think if you couldn't block LoS by standing on it then you couldn't block it by standing slightly off of it as in both cases the same effective sightlines apply. It shouldn't be a balance issue as 40mm models exist. Seems weird. Still, as Maniacal_cackle said, a 30mm blocking LoS to a 30mm is definitely used as an example in the rules.