Kastore!

[Mindbadger]

28 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

I think that's a tricky thing about having so many masters per faction.

Obeys, stagger synergies, black blood randomly on a card or two... that all overlaps with various Neverborn masters.

Indeed, in a vacuum, I think it would suit Kastore, but for the Neverborn faction, it might not be a good fit. It's a bit of a moot point, it's not going to get changed any time soon just wishful thinking on my part. 

So far, I'm hoping the other Kastore gives more flexibility and has more gameplay options.

[TimH]

27 minutes ago, Mindbadger said:

Indeed, in a vacuum, I think it would suit Kastore, but for the Neverborn faction, it might not be a good fit. It's a bit of a moot point, it's not going to get changed any time soon just wishful thinking on my part. 

So far, I'm hoping the other Kastore gives more flexibility and has more gameplay options.

Yeah, I like the idea of Kastore but the fact that absolutely everything he does seems to come with limitations stapled on is pretty sad. Not just all the once per activation limitations either. Even his scheme placement trigger is limited to Friendly Returned, so can't be used for value off of meleeing enemies and can't be used to pull some extra value out of Wicked dolls or Mindless Zombies (faction dependant). Granted most keywords limit their abilities within keyword but considering all the other limitations placed on his card it would have been nice if either Final Preperations or Ritualistic Sacrifice had a bit more freedom to it.

Also very slight quibble, would have been nice if he was 13 or 14 stones instead of 15. I don't personally play duo masters but considering that his bonus action is useless unless he hires his totem it would have been nice if he had been given a slight discount.

[Mindbadger]

I think not only is it problem of fun and thought-provoking gameplay, having a one-dimensional strategy let's enemies counter it much easier. If the enemy can get a stun onto Kastore Awakended, he's pretty much neutered. No healing from his melee, no powerful triggers from Dominate, he'll have one strong melee attack and that's it.

Bountiful Feast seems a bit safe too, there would have to be quite a lot of models in range for me to consider using it over anything else. The damage and healing feels a bit low to be threatening. 

[TimH]

I'm personally hoping that one of the unrevealed models for returned (probably resser) has the ability to summon blood vessels (maybe the ladies with the urns could do it?). If you could summon a low health Vessel half reliably then it would start opening up some options for you. If it were to summon on 1 health then with a variety of tools available to the keyword you could top it up to 2 and have hard to kill tank a hit on it. If you invested bigger heals and got the vessel back to 4+ then its stats improve and it becomes a functioning model. Alternatively you forgo healing the vessel and serve it up to Kastore giving him an easy target to throw out ritualistic sacrifice against. Something like that would certainly add a wider range of options to an otherwise somewhat predictable kit.

[Mindbadger]

Yeah, I was hoping the urn ladies would do that too, would make a lot of sense, given that there are currently no great targets for Kastore to sacrifice.

[TimH]

It also would work make for a potentially nice turn 1 play with Athorak. Move Athorak up and wardstones with either a stone or a moderate ram to drop the corpsemarker. Move up an urn lady and turn it into a minion. With the marker and then the minion being concealed behind the stones it would also be hard to snipe either of them out before Kastore has an opporunity to have his way with them.

I'd like to think the corpse marker generation on Athorak indicates the crew may have some abilities that play off of corpse markers but it's also possible that it's just there for when he is used in Nephillim

[Thatguy]

Any more leaks from new book? 

[Strangedane]

Does anyone know when the new book is supposed to be released? Know it has been pushed back a few times so now I'm unsure what is the supposed release date.

Also, how soon after is the app updated with the cards? 

[SteampunkCake]

9 minutes ago, Strangedane said:

Does anyone know when the new book is supposed to be released? Know it has been pushed back a few times so now I'm unsure what is the supposed release date.

Also, how soon after is the app updated with the cards? 

The book has dropped, several people in the UK forum have it already, there have been postal strikes in the UK which is causing some issues with distribution. But it is out in the wild. As for the app, its usually 2-3 weeks after launch.

[TimH]

I got my copy of the book on the 30th of November. When I preordered back in October I'd also ordered a Malifaux game mat at the same time which meant it was delivered via courier on account of being a "bulky item". Managed to dodge the postal strikes purely by mistake.

Not sure on the rules regarding leaks but the following info should be fine.

Apart from the previously revealed models there are 3 additional models for the Returned Keyword+Kastore2. All of these we have seen the sculpts and art for already which means that the gencon photo of that one cabinet were effectively showing off the full returned keyword+Halloween Iggy and a 10T starter set.

The remaining 2 core returned models are both NB, the ladies with the urns are returned only while the big bat looking nephillim are also (unsurprisingly) nephillim. Interestingly this means that the entire size 2 pool of the Nephillim growth list now have a 2nd option of models to grow into.

The shared model is (as people expected) a Returned/Bygone model, primary faction is Explorers. Looks pretty decent ruleswise.

[Strangedane]

I can only hope it will hit North Europe soon then 🤞

[Mindbadger]

On 12/6/2022 at 6:16 PM, Thatguy said:

Any more leaks from new book? 

I thought Kastore 1 was a bit straightforward, but this guy is definitely less subtle! There is no doubting he's strong, but Returned seems like the least complex of the new keywords.

Guy hits like a truck though!

Seeing the rest of the Keyword, it does make Kastore 1's friendly-killing trigger a bit confusing. Difficult to use it on the Blood Vessel, with their hard to kill. I guess the Urn Bearers? Everything else doesn't seem as expendable.

[TimH]

8 minutes ago, Mindbadger said:

Seeing the rest of the Keyword, it does make Kastore 1's friendly-killing trigger a bit confusing. Difficult to use it on the Blood Vessel, with their hard to kill. I guess the Urn Bearers? Everything else doesn't seem as expendable.

I think the intent must be that if you have a Blood Vessel get knocked down to 1 via HtK you have him finish it off before it gets sniped by any incidental damage? Otherwise the only other thing I can think of is having kastore act last on turn 5 and have him go on a friendly model killing spree to pop markers down and win scheme points at the last moment (it's not once per activation after all). Its going to be something you pull out to score points from nowhere with or alternatively something you just constantly threaten as having the capacity to do. In theory he does appear to be the schemey Kastore to Fervent as the killer.

[Thatguy]

1 hour ago, Mindbadger said:

Guy hits like a truck though!

I think he's interesting. He definitely has a master level attack. Unlike other melee masters with triggers like Quick Reflexes or Jackhammer. Instead he has potential blasts for spending damage around.