Agressive active play style vs Reactive Defensive. What crews favour the latter?

[Cranky Old Man]

I have been thinking long and hard about my play style. I think I run into trouble when i have to be Aggressive and go on the offense. I am really bad at chess because I cant see more than a move ahead. Is there a keyword that favours a defensive reactive style? I know just git good but I have been gaming for 30 odd years and the armies I played in for example Warhammer was the dwarfs. Very much a defensive and reactive force.

So can you help? Suggestions?

 

[Maniacal_cackle]

Molly is potentially one example of this.

She is reactive with list building, shaping her list to tailor to the enemy crew.

She is careful and cagey with her play, since she is an activation control master. She carefully picks fights and then wins them. That said, she does have to pick those fights at some point and go really hard on killing stuff.

You could also argue that most of Guild has a reactive style of 'kill anything that crosses the centreline.'

Colette is a pretty good master for focusing solely on scoring, that might be what you're looking for?

[Cranky Old Man]

I must admit I do love playing Molly. I have the nightmare collette crew and I love those models. I might rotate through few crews and see where I end up. I am painting up Jedza and it’s crew and I still love English Ivan.

Maybe I need to be more patient with my games. I am usually trying to score points asap and this leads to overextending usually get picked off after that.

Thanks for the reply Maniacal 

[Regelridderen]

47 minutes ago, Cranky Old Man said:

Maybe I need to be more patient with my games. I am usually trying to score points asap and this leads to overextending usually get picked off after that.

Make a plan.

The game 'requires' you to start scoring the strat by T2, so have that be your main concern.

T3-4 is then your window to score the first points of your schemes.

And then T5 is all about shoring up the last points.

-

When it comes to selecting a crew. I'd recommend to just shop around. Check things out - Colette as you mention, is able to adjust and react within no time. Her crew is fast, often allowed to do three moves or just from being Mv6. Ironsides might just be the most 'dwarfy' of all crews, drawing opponents into her circle of death, and being able to reduce even Seamus's .50 to naught - combine that with Gunsmiths and you do have a decent threat at most ranges. 

But 'faux requires you to be aggressive. Scoring is mostly done on the opposing half of the board, and so you need to get going right away. Particularly in strats like Break the Line or Turf War, where your scoring makes it harder for your opponent to score points as well.

[Rufess]

Who's the Beatdown

It is an old MTG article and not directly relate to Malifaux, but I think some, if not most of the theories are still hold true in Malifaux. And it is definitely worth a read.

To summary it and apply to Malifaux: No crew is absolute Aggressive/Defensive since it should depend on the match up and game flow.

To elaborate it more, most of the keywords in Malifaux falls in between Aggressive or Defensive. With different list building, they can play either side or other. Some keywords, Nephilim for instance, lean toward one side way more, but one can always find a way to play it in another side. Especially after the release of master titles.

And even in a Nekima 1 mirror match, it would hardly be an Aggressive vs Aggressive game at all. Based on the crews structure and playstyles, one of the player would be Aggressive and another would be Defensive. And it could be shifting around during the game. the Aggressive player might play more defensively after received a big hit on the important model, or the Defensive player might took the lead in VP and wanted to press the advantage.

With these in mind, here are the characteristics I think a Defensive keyword should have(but still can play in Aggressive if needed):

• Reducing Efficiency:
  • Maybe the most core part of the Defensive playstyle. By reducing opponent's efficiency to doing anything, their choices and options are limited and, usually, not bring the largest benefit to them
  • Terrain Marker, Damage reducing, Distracted/Stunned
  • Example: Hoffman, Pandora, Titania, Toni
• Resources Attack:
  • Not as good as card game, but attacking opponent's resources is still a good way in Malifaux to disturb their gameplay.
  • Discard, Deck Manipulation, Force movement, Slow/Stunned
  • Example: Jack Daw, Youko
• Recovering Power:
  • Most of the time the Defensive crew would be in more passive position. Recovering the damage dealt from the Aggressive crew is the key to maintain crew efficiency and capability to fight back.
  • Healing, Summoning.
  • Example: Jedza, Nexus

Edited June 7, 2022 by Rufess

[Math Mathonwy]

Out of Bayou, I feel that Zoraida can pull off the reactive playstyle the best and play a control-oriented game. Obeys are a natural fit but also her card manipulation, Conditions, and the scheming potential of Swampfiend keyword should fit perfectly. Title version trades off a bit on the Obey front but provides Summoning and activation control.

[DemiMurgos]

On 6/6/2022 at 10:33 AM, Cranky Old Man said:

I have been thinking long and hard about my play style. I think I run into trouble when i have to be Aggressive and go on the offense. I am really bad at chess because I cant see more than a move ahead. Is there a keyword that favours a defensive reactive style? I know just git good but I have been gaming for 30 odd years and the armies I played in for example Warhammer was the dwarfs. Very much a defensive and reactive force.

So can you help? Suggestions?

 

I'm more of a "the best defense is hitting them first" type of person when it comes to wargaming. What I have gathered so far as the most important is to "know your crew", as in know how they can work together as a team. This way, pretty much any crew can be both used as offense and defense, with minor tweaks here and there. Do take my words with a grain of salt, I'm a newb.

I have been only playing since January and have limited access to models (I mainly test crews in Tabletop Simulator before buying them), but I'd recommend giving McCabe a try if you want to hone a bit of fighting in you. The Wastrel crew is pretty mobile, they have pretty good range and they also pack a punch in melee as well. I +1 to Zoraida, even though I know her only from the opposing side: she can pull off some (positively) disgusting feats on a table with the control she provides (she also mills the deck like crazy). The summoning/terrain manipulation with the Undegrowth tokens shapes the field you are working on, ideal to create concealment for your army from which you can then ambush and then crawl back into hiding when needed. I am unsure if McMourning's crew fits more the defense rather than the offense. The heal from the poison conditions definitely add salt to injury when it comes to keeping your crew alive (much to the discontent of your opponent). Killing off a few smaller value members of your own to summon stronger monsters from the corpse markers is just *chefs kiss*.

Jedza is a slower paced crew (similar to Mei Feng), they both set up the board before they can launch into action (lamp markers vs. "scrap train"). Both are good on the scheme play.

But these are just complete newbie rantings, I think @Rufess and @Regelridderen describe the best strategy for a defensive player.

[Da Git]

If you like the immovable brick of the Dwarfs, then Jedza of Hoffman could be right up your alley. A solid bubble moving up and daring the enemy to come get some! Other options could be Daw or Irosides.

Another crew that does reactive play could be Von Schill's Freikorps. Good ranged, good melee, tough to remove. All this enhanced with upgrades to react to the opponent or make them a bit zippy with rocket boots. Actually, depending on whether you like their aesthetics, I reckon this could be the crew for you. Just sculpt Von Schill a beard!

[admiralvorkraft]

When I think of reactive crews I think of crews that can adapt to play where the opponent is weak, rather than ones that want to play where they are strong.

So Hoffman and Jedza are defensive, but not reactive - they are posing a specific question to the opponent just by showing up.

Crews with high mobility and loose synergies tend to play the reactive game well. In Outcasts I'd say Viks1, Von Schill1, and Tara (either) have strong reactive play. Schill of course is the most defensive of those three in that his crews can take a hit and shrug it off, where Obliteration and Mercenary need to skirmish and pounce when the opponent over extends.