Kin Chat

[A Goose]

Hey there!

I'm looking to get into Kin as my first Malifaux crew and I thought it'd be useful to see if my inexperienced first reading of the cards is more or less accurate as to the role each one is intended to play.

Francois

Feels like the first opposed duel you make is a really important decision because of Rapid Reaction. Looks like he mostly wants to be using Gremlin Menace and melee to take advantage of his high sword stat but he can shoot acceptably as well. 9 health, effectively 6/6 defenses, sometimes shielded and potentially Challenge for additional defense makes him seem pretty tanky but I've heard folks say he's not really usable after his nerf which is a bit surprising to me; is it just that he's still not tough enough to stick around long enough for his 9 health cost, or is he not putting out enough damage because you are limited to 2/3/4 most of the time without cheating/stoning?

LaCroix Raiders

They can draw you cards in a couple of ways which feels potentially useful given how many cards Ophelia can burn through on her own. They will die if anything serious looks at them though.

Ophelia

She shoots the guns that makes the peoples fall down. I don't feel like she's very difficult to understand and she does look very good at throwing out huge amounts of attacks and ping damage with some useful other options if needed (my first opponent is likely to be Kaeris so Rebel Yell to clear off huge amounts of burning seems like it might be clutch).

Pere Ravage

He runs towards the enemy and explodes? Am I right in thinking that if he gets the No, Down Pig trigger the target takes +3 damage from that and then +3 damage from the explosive demise trigger? That's a lot of damage if so! 7 stones seems quite expensive for a bomb but I can see it being interesting to put him somewhere as a deterrent for your opponent's big expensive pieces they don't want to trade. Probably not into Kaeris though.

Rami

He has a big gun. Long range, potentially longer if needed, will suffer if he is shooting into concealment but otherwise he looks like someone you just leave in the backline and plink away with. Two Gremlins in a Ghile Suit seems like it might be a useful upgrade to make it more difficult for the enemy to charge his position?

Raphael

Good gun, good melee, some control and some condition removal for himself. He seems like a solid all round piece that hates willpower duels but can otherwise handle most comers. Doesn't like enemies that put out lots of attacks because Hard to Kill and Shielded is his main defense tech?

Sammy

Petty Illusions with the number of Wild Shot triggers in the keyword is a good source of card draw you otherwise lack. 7 WP is big into some matchups. Putrefy seems more cute than good - you're not sad if the opportunity comes up but specifically needing an 8 (or higher) of crows probably limits it a bit? I guess you can stone for the trigger if you really need the scheme marker removed? Jynx seems like the main thing she's going to be doing and voodoo pins is mostly there as a consolation prize if she gets engaged.

Merris

She's real fast and she can drop a scheme marker at range if you have a tome. Shockwaves might be good at the end of the round if your opponent's hand is drained and you've somehow held on to a lot to discard. Up We Go with effective stat 3 is also very nice but she will die extremely fast if people get the opportunity to hit her a lot and/or don't care about her concealment so she mostly wants to jump in at the end of a round, do her thing and get back out again.

 

Is that more or less accurate? Am I missing any nice obvious synergies? I haven't got the title box yet so I'm not too worried about that (Ophelia2 looks fun but also you need to know which upgrades to give to who and when so I'm not going to worry about her until I've got a good few reps in with the base crew).

[Rufess]

Welcome to Malifaux and the Bayou. Ophelia and Kin were my first crew into Bayou too and are still my top 3. They are straightforward and easy to learn, yet have enough tools for vary match ups. I believe they will give you some impressive learning experience.

I am by no mean a pro player, so take my following opinion with a grain of salt.

7 hours ago, A Goose said:

Francois

is it just that he's still not tough enough to stick around long enough for his 9 health cost, or is he not putting out enough damage because you are limited to 2/3/4 most of the time without cheating/stoning?

The main reason is that, to play him with best potential, he has to activate first and/or needs high ram cards which are also important to the rest of the crew. But I still think he does pay his cost more often than not. After all he is the toughest Kin other than Ophelia with Soulstone and Showdown.

7 hours ago, A Goose said:

LaCroix Raiders

They can draw you cards in a couple of ways which feels potentially useful given how many cards Ophelia can burn through on her own. They will die if anything serious looks at them though.

They are not bad model, but there is always better choice...until you start playing the title version of Ophelia. So you may just ignore them for first couple of games.

 

7 hours ago, A Goose said:

Pere Ravage

He runs towards the enemy and explodes?

If that win you advantage, then yes. But the main reasons you hiring him into the crew are: 1) Blow It to Hell, and 2) set enemies on fire to enable Ophelia's most powerful attack: Tar Bomb.

 

7 hours ago, A Goose said:

Rami

He has a big gun. Long range, potentially longer if needed, will suffer if he is shooting into concealment but otherwise he looks like someone you just leave in the backline and plink away with. Two Gremlins in a Ghile Suit seems like it might be a useful upgrade to make it more difficult for the enemy to charge his position?

He has only one job and it is to snipe out the troublesome enemy from range. Important totems, schemer running outflank and Armored target. he can also apply Staggered on long distance, which can waste a melee beater an Activation to move.

And unless the opponent crew has no Sz 2 models, otherwise never attach Ghillie Suit to any Kin model with The Bigger They Are. Because they want to stay small for the duel bonus.

 

8 hours ago, A Goose said:

Sammy

Petty Illusions with the number of Wild Shot triggers in the keyword is a good source of card draw you otherwise lack. 7 WP is big into some matchups. Putrefy seems more cute than good - you're not sad if the opportunity comes up but specifically needing an 8 (or higher) of crows probably limits it a bit?

She is the main drawing source of the crew. You can have Young LaCroix shooting each other to draw card(and heal with Bo Peep). And don't forget the Hard Knock Life gives her Fast and Glowy token for free suit. She can ensure the Draw Out Secrets, Glimpse the Void and Putrefy if needed.

And for any reason she has Mv 6. Combining with Fast she can travel a surprising distance and do scheme/anti-scheme that the opponent don't aware of.

 

8 hours ago, A Goose said:

Merris

She's real fast and she can drop a scheme marker at range if you have a tome.

 She once was the main scheme runner of the keyword until now we have Sly Six Shots. Her main duty now is to reposition the enemy with Up We Go, like when you are doing Secret Meetup. Remember that the Sputtering Exhaust also affects enemies, so beware of her position.

 

And if you are planning for expanding your collection outside of Kin, I would recommend Bo Peep and Gautraeux Bokor. Bo Peep is a speedy Henchman who can help your crew unpacking during turn 1 and provide some passive healing, which is critical for the Sammy-Young drawing engine. And Bokor, despite being nerfed, is still a reliable healer with good synergy with Sammy. 

[A Goose]

Excellent, thank you!

I picked up the Gator box and the Emissary purely because I wanted to paint them, which was great fun, but I'm not going to sweat about using them until I feel like I've got the basics down pretty well. I'll add the Jokeys and the Bokor to my next up list once I've finished painting everything else on my table. 😅

[Hubb]

I’ve had the same experience with Kin. Fairly straightforward but lots of tools.  The Emissary is a good addition to Kin (and almost any Bayou crew really) for scheme runner/beater, in addition to also dealing with marker removal.  Inferiority complex has gotten me some mileage on Rami especially but I could see it doing great on Ralph or Ophelia herself.  Francois could also be good with it, but I was thinking 12 cups on him since he’ll be in the thick of it and that diversion aura can shut down some other crews that depend on their free actions.  The Bokors are a great idea for healing and Bo Peep has pretty much been faction MVP since she came up due to doing mass movement and heal, so I expect she’s gotta get nerfed soon.  Good luck and welcome to Bayou! Also Gators are great!