Waldo's Weekly - A Big Hat Rework!

[Hobby Wyrd]

Som’er Teeth Jones is one of the original, and much beloved, Masters of Malifaux. Long ago, his metallic First-edition form hung proudly in game stores, and he was even the first Master for one of the current Wyrd Developers. Unfortunately his Keyword, Big Hat, doesn’t see as much play as it deserves these days. To rectify that, we are going to Errata every Big Hat model in the game, at the same time, to update and modernize the Keyword. The benefit of this kind of “Keyword Rework,” is that it allows us to freely adjust rules that have been difficult to Errata in the past, due to things such as their presence on multiple cards or their interlocking effects they have on the Crew as a whole. Gremlins might be short, but the Joneses always go big!

Big Hat had three major problems that we identified. First, the Bayou Bash Ability forced Big Hat models into a small bubble in order to maintain optimal stats, which made the Keyword feel rigid to play. Second, the Keyword was always short on cards for the number of models it fielded. And lastly, the Pass Token mechanic punished players for utilizing a core mechanic of the Crew: summoning loads of Bayou Gremlins.

The Bayou Bash Keyword Ability, while great in a vacuum, was really holding the Keyword back. It forced Big Hat models to bunch up and made players act in ways that were strict and unfun. Big Hat as a whole is all about getting lots of models on the table, and it felt really bad to need to keep them so close to each other, which all but guaranteed that they would get in each other’s way. One of the biggest advantages of having so many models is being able to affect lots of different areas on the table at once. Bayou Bash negated this benefit. 

Furthermore, Bayou Bash created complications on models with multiple Keywords. It was hard to justify giving a model a Stat 6 Attack in one Keyword, because in Big Hat it would increase to a Stat 8, which is a massive swing in power. Bayou Bash forced Big Hat models to have lower than average Stats so that they wouldn’t be overpowered when they did bunch up. To address this we did two things. We dropped Bayou Bash and upped the Attack Stats of many models in the Keyword so that Big Hat models can now function properly without Bayou Bash. This article will not point out every single stat increase but, if you compare the cards in this article to the older cards, you will quickly see the increases.

The next thing we had to do was come up with a new Keyword Ability. We decided to emphasize one of the most unique aspects of Big Hat, the ability to gamble on success in exchange for the potential to fail even harder, and rework an old favorite:

This change relieved the pressure on the Big Hat player’s hand; now they will always have a way to Cheat Fate, even without any cards. Because this Ability forces the Big Hat player to declare Triggers if able, it allows us to create tense, risk-reward scenarios, without always having the restriction forced into the Action itself. For example, Big Hat players can now use Actions like Boomstick more reliably without being forced to declare negative Triggers, unless they want to use Bayou Two Card to double-down on success without spending a valuable card from their Hand.

This only left the issue of Pass Tokens. Previously, Summoning lots of Bayou Gremlins was often a detriment, because they were (and still are) easy to kill, providing a reliable source of Activation Control for Som’er opponents. To rectify this, we replaced every instance of Demise (Expendable) with a new Ability: 

With this Ability, summoning Bayou Gremlins is Activation-neutral. If your opponent kills them before they Activate, your opponent loses the Pass Token they gained when the Bayou Gremlin was Summoned. Big Hat players are once more free to unleash their unruly Gremlins on Malifaux to their heart’s content! 

With the big picture stuff out of the way, let’s look at some of the cards! Keep in mind these are not final, and subject to change.

 

At his core, Som’er Teeth Jones is a Master that focuses on Summoning, so the Gang Up Action is a good place to look first. The Extended Family Action was non-interactive with the opponent. Going forward, we want Summoning to generally be more interactive, for example by requiring Markers as resources, which can be removed or guarded by the Summoner’s opponent, or in this case requiring an opposing model. This makes Summon Masters more interesting and engaging. We have also adjusted the way we have written the Action to make the math involved in Summoning a bit more intuitive.

While Som’er now needs a nearby enemy model in order to Summon, the Action remains a Tactical Action. The cards needed to Summon are also lower on average by a value of 2. In addition to that, Som’er’s new play pattern is designed around bogging down your opponents with cheap Minions, (a.k.a. cannon fodder), while he and his Enforcers output damage from a safe distance away. Models with the Drunk And Stupid Upgrade now gain the Hunting Partner Ability, so you can lock your opponents into melee combat and continue blasting away with no penalties.

The rest of the Som’er card further rewards this style of play. His Boomer now has a Trigger on every suit, including Coordinated Attack and “Loot ‘em!” which both become stellar Triggers when your target is surrounded by rowdy Gremlins. The “I’m An ‘Expert’ Shot!” Ability also leans into this, making even shots that miss turn into devastating attacks.

Finally, Foul-Mouthed Motivation is both an excellent Bonus Action and incredibly thematic for Som’er. There are few characters in all of Malifaux that can rival his foul mouth.

Now let’s have a look at the title version!
 

It is probably a good idea to talk about the design goals behind title Masters in general here. The title Master should work just as well with the Keyword as the original Master while introducing a fun new way to play the Keyword. So let’s look at how Loot Monger is a mirror image of Som’er’s non-title version.

Where original recipe Som’er throws Gremlins into combat while standing back and shooting into the melee, Loot Monger gets right up into the opponent’s face while encouraging his Crew to rain lead down on the enemy with Gremlin Raid. Similarly, where the original Som’er Summons loads of Bayou Gremlins onto the table, Loot Monger uses “Take this Seriously!” to turn puny Bayou Gremlins into more valuable models. They are each getting as much value out of the Keyword as the other, but in opposite ways.

Sack o’ Loot is probably the Action that got the biggest boost with this rework. Now, instead of removing a Scheme Marker for extra damage, it deals +1 damage if there is a Scheme Marker near the target. This gives it a fairly reliable 3/4/5 damage track when a Scheme Marker is near, which is amazing. 

We should also point out that the Spot the Goods Ability got better as it no longer requires the Cheated card to be of a specific value, while Ransack now allows Som’er to Summon Skeeters in addition to Bayou Gremlins.

Loot Monger saw fewer changes than original Som’er because part of his issue was that the Keyword as a whole did not do enough with Scheme Markers to support his mechanics. Luckily, doing a whole Keyword Rework allows us to change that! Look out for things that affect Scheme Markers as you read the rest of the cards (including the Drunk And Stupid Upgrade, featured above).

That’s it for the Masters, let’s look at the rest of the Keyword. As you do, keep in mind that this was about updating the Keyword as a whole. As such, some Actions or Abilities may have been taken away or gotten worse, but it was almost always in exchange for something new and exciting. We were not trying to make each specific model better; we were trying to make the entire Keyword better. As you read the cards, think about how this Keyword now functions as a whole. For example, Big Hat pumps out lots of Bayou Gremlins, so keep an eye out for ways to put those bodies to use like Old Cranky’s “You Can Handle it, Sonny!”

Without further ado, let’s look at the rest of the cards!

Now that you're excited, I'm sure the next question is “how will I get these?” They will be available for free to print from the Wyrd Dropbox and in the Malifaux App. You will also be able to order them from Drive Thru RPG or order a Big Hat Keyword pack with all of the cards directly from the Wyrd store once we get them printed. They will not be a part of the upcoming Gaining Grounds Pack - Season 4 as there are just too many cards in this rework (more on Gaining Grounds next week).

That’s it for Big Hat! We hope you enjoy getting your Gremlins with impractically large hats back out of the closet and onto the table as much as we have! If this update goes well, we have our eyes on other Keywords in need of an update to Rework in the future!
 

 

[GrumpyGrandpa]

The single greatest update of the year - Thanks Wyrd! ❤️

Silly question, but when can we expect these to be released? They won't be part of the GG, but will they be released at the same time?

[Regelridderen]

Sounds like they’re up for reworking summoners in general. 

Crossing my fingers for a Dreamer1 rework to fix Lucid Dreaming. 

[Hobby Wyrd]

7 hours ago, GrumpyGrandpa said:

The single greatest update of the year - Thanks Wyrd! ❤️

Silly question, but when can we expect these to be released? They won't be part of the GG, but will they be released at the same time?

We're estimating 2-3 weeks to get them on the app and up on the digital spaces once everything is finalized!

[Da Git]

If nothing's gone to print yet, can OG Somer get a Title? Bayou Boss?