Sooooo...

[Amateur Contender]

I haven't seen too much in the way of theory crafting for the new Cav models. 

Do we have a consensus on what pools to take the Cavaliers in? What master do you see them being a problem for? 

Personally I'm not the best theory crafter and my knowledge of the other factions/crews is very limited. 

*edit*

Bigger hat has a spoiler page showing the released models from Madness of Malifaux. 

 

https://biggerhat.net/spoilers

[Amateur Contender]

It looks like the Sappers are just the best little scheme runners. With stealth, they can operate behind enemy lines with near impunity. And if they get caught? A guaranteed 5" push away from danger. It's not impossible to pin them down. Any fast beater (Dawn Serpent?) could easily make quick work of them once pinned down.

The Keywords "Heat of Battle" ability makes it so that you can move, interact to drop a scheme marker, pitch a card and move again! And if your scheme markers aren't exactly where you need them to be? Just use your robot dog friend to shoot it 2" across the board. 

 

I can see bubble crews that rely on range being left feeling completely inadequate after facing off against Tull. 

[Paddywhack]

I am very excited about this keyword and can't wait to buy the models. Whenever that will be.... 

[Amateur Contender]

I'm  ecstatic! I'm currently working on getting them on the board to see if they play as good as they look.

[Paddywhack]

Now that the book is in the wild, has anyone been able to get in any games with Cavalier?

 

[Amateur Contender]

19 hours ago, Paddywhack said:

Now that the book is in the wild, has anyone been able to get in any games with Cavalier?

 

No...

I've started to really hit my stride with Family. Thank TBM Perdita was untouched during this errata. 

But I do have a fellow player whipping up some Cav proxies for me! Soon....

[Paddywhack]

I'm still waiting to get the book... taking forever to show up in the local store. I could buy online, but wanted to support the new store in the area.

[Amateur Contender]

First game with Cavaliers. 

I'll be back later with thoughts! 

[Paddywhack]

Love your proxies  

[Beta]

those proxies are banging...might have to steal that idea

[Amateur Contender]

Thanks friends, someone in my meta was nice enough to make them for me.

[Amateur Contender]

Alright, first off, I apologize for taking so long on something I promised much earlier. Unfortunately, the game I was able to play with the new Cav crew was only a two rounder. Not only was I playing a new crew, but opponent was playing Shen Long 2 for the first time as well. We also stopped frequently to read over the new FAQ and Errata. So my experience was very limited. 

 Crew:

Harold Tull, Artillerist

Walking Cannons 1&2

Kings Wall

Louisa Fusi

John Watson

Rocketeer

Sapper

Guild Mage with LLC

5 Soul Stones

 

Deployment: Standard

Strategy: Cursed Object

Schemes Chosen: Breakthrough, Set the Trap

 

I think the biggest hinderance to this crew was how timid I was playing them. Going up against a Master/Crew I've never seen on the table before is a bit intimidating, especially with a crew that I (and most nobody else) haven't played before. As a consequence by the middle of Turn 2 the crew felt stalled out. Like an automatic truck that wants to move, but the driver was too skittish to give it the gas it wants. 

The main idea of the crew I had, and I think most people can agree, is to send the Kings Wall and Doc Watson up the middle (or where ever the bulk of the enemy crew will be) and just act as a tar pit. Harold probably wants to be just outside of engagement, raining down pain and confusion. Louisa Fusi seems like she wants to act as a delivery service for the Kings Wall Turn 1/2, and then either go off scheming, bringing weaker enemy models into the tar pit, or weakening potential Tull victims with Soulstone Flare.  Gertrude and Ethel help you when you're low on cards mid-turn. The Guild Mage does what the Guild Mage does best in a crew that wants to pitch cards. The Rocketeer and Sapper were kind of hard for me to pin down role wise, but they looked like they wanted to be off to the side and do their own thing.

 

Harold Tull: I think I played him too timidly and kept him literally 9.9999 inches away from his target. This is silly. Why limit yourself with just one target, when you can be closer and have many targets? Especially when 3/4 of your Actions are Enemy Only. Especially when you have 1900's Iron Man and a Medical Prodigy Bulldog protecting you. Even so, I think his back of the card gives you an idea of what he wants to do. And he does what he wants to do pretty well. Starting with You Have Your Target not only handed out Adversary, but also pulled in two other models towards his target. Two shots of the MFGL had all three enemy models on life support and forced my opponent to completely abandoned his strategy to heal them up. 12/10 would recommend. 

 

King's Wall: Theres's not much to him. He's awesome. Just be sure to get him in the thick of things as soon as possible. 

 

John Watson: He would have shined brighter if he was up close and personal with the enemy. However, I felt like I had to keep him back a bit, helping Louisa Fusi take care of a slippery monk trying to score on Breakthrough. He's definitely a good support piece, with an answer for a lot of stuff. I would love to see him get a second Trigger on Medical Tools that hands out Staggered, helping Tull with his Rain Hellfire ability and keeping people from running away from the King's Wall or Assault Markers. Maybe that's a bit greedy of me though. If you set him up right he can have four AP. 

 

Louisa Fusi: When I was playing her I was confused about the Hop On Trigger for Claim the Land. It felt like it wanted to act like Ride With Me, targeting a model before you move and placing them in base contact with you after you're done with your movement. But it also reads like Louisa moves first THEN she places a model within 1" of where she ends movement into base contact with her. I opted for the former interpretation, not wanting to accidentally cheap my opponent. But now that people are talking about the Cavaliers the general consensus seems that Hop on is another Ride With Me. With that being said, she could have been more helpful shuttling the King's Wall into combat early game. Outside of that....boy is she fast! All Terrain, 6" move, a Bonus Action to move AND Interact. With all that and help from Tull and Watson, she netted 25 inches of movement in one turn. 

 

Ethel and Gertrude (Walking Cannons): I activated these in the middle of the turn to pick up weak cards I had already discarded so I could pitch them again. Recalibrating was nice to move Assault markers closer to enemy models that had already moved. They weren't really close enough to get use out of their healing ability though. I feel like they're too useful for their card drawing abilities as well as upping the TN for Bombardment to risk getting close enough to heal. 

 

Sapper: Unfortunately he died pretty early on thanks to my opponents Four Winds Golem.

 

Rocketeer: I used him as a scheme runner. 6" move with flight, why not? If anyone has any other ideas on how to use him, please let me know. 

 

Guild Mage: As far as OOK Models go, I feel like the Guild Mage is a gimme for this crew. Not only does it heal when a model discards a card, which this crew wants to do, but it came in clutch removing enemy scheme markers and denying the opponent from scoring their schemes. 

 

I would consider other OOK models that hand out stagger and interact with all the friendly scheme markers being dropped. I wouldn't go heavy on OOK models though, since a lot of Cavalier Actions and Abilities are Keyword locked.

 

Overall, this crew was fun to play with and I look forward to fielding them again. I definitely misplayed them and didn't see their full potential on the map this first time. Hopefully this is helpful to those looking to run Harold Tull. Any insights or recommendations would greatly appreciated!