A slew of Pandora questions

[Teal]

First of all, this is my first post, so let me insert that mandatory "hello world" here. Long time Warhammer 40K player, recently introduced to Malifaux. I plan on picking up a Pandora box, and a rulebook, while my friend is going to grab Lady J.

So my first question is about the doppelganger. From what I've heard, he (it?) would go well with Pandora, but there is no model currently being made for it. I guess I could use any other figure, and pretend that it's mimicked said model, but I figured I could try my hand at using green stuff to make a model myself. So I was wondering if there is any established fluff or pictures of the doppelganger in it's natural form, or if it has one at all?

Also, due to a combination of the preview stats (as I don't have my rulebook yet) and lurking on the forums here for about a week now, I think I can about an idea of how each model in Pandora's box functions, but I'm curious about how the whole crew operates as a whole. Also, if there are any tips out there about how to shut down Lady J's crew, I'd love to learn (besides kill her first, as doesn't she allow models near by her to ignore WP tests to target?)

[Tonytone]

Doppleganger is fabulous with Pandora yet no model. Have not seen any artwork or description which does not mean it does not exist. I always assumed it would look something like a Sorrow but I dunno.

Kill her first is about it on Lady J. She is one of the easier matchups for Pandora because of no ranged threat from her.

I could write pages on using Pandora and her crew so best bet is just to read the Pandora threads here if you have not already.

There are 2 basic ways to play Pandora however. Standard box set pretty much is all about Pandora and Candy killing everything with failed willpower duels while you have some Sorrows withing 3" of the target. Nutshell but thats about it. The other less used but no less viable Pandora list is what I call the Terror list. You will need another model or 2 from outside the box set to run this. (Teddy is the obvious addition). In this list you want to use Kade's 'Kids got a knife' along with your other Terror models to keep your opponents crew falling back while you kill them off. Liberal use of Pandora's spell 'Project Emotions' is a must.

Hope this helps somewhat.

[nebiros]

Allow me to be the first to respond. I've been playing Pandora's crew from quite some time and I win more than I lose (those I still lose...I'm not that good).

First off, my advice would be this: get her starter box and learn it. Her starter box is an excellent crew and doesn't need a lot of tweaking. Teddy is a nice addition, but I wouldn't worry about him yet. Learn the box first.

The reason I say this is that her crew is a very different kind of crew. Using her crew is more like playing chess than playing an assault army in 40k. The whole point of her crew is to position your characters in such a way that you can bleed the enemy through WP duels.

How to kill Jady Justice? Don't. Go for the strategies and schemes more than worry about killing her crew (unless you get stuck with slaughter). Pandora seems to excel at strategies and schemes that focus on defence and board control. Slaughter and Assassinate are not your friends. Neither is Kidnap. However, Treasure Hunt, Bodyguard, and Breakthrough are good ones. Just try to chose objectives that play to your strengths.

Last piece of advice. Patience. I lost my first 8 or 9 games with her before I learned how to use her crew. Since then, I've won most of them using that set-up. I recently decided to add Teddy and remove the Sorrows...I just lost a game after making that change. I think I'll probably lose a few more before I get Teddy ironed out.

[Tonytone]

Slaughter and Assassinate are not your friends. .

I could not disagree more with this statement. Slaughter well yah nobody does slaughter well. But I cannot think of a better Assassination master in this game than Pandora.

[Teal]

Thanks for the responses guys. Sadly, as an avid Tau player in 40k, I'm quite used to getting my face stomped on for my first handful of games with an army (or crew in this case). I guess I just have a thing for the hardest things to win with at first.

It does seem to me that Pandora would be rather good at Assassinate, by throwing Sorrows at one model and WP dueling it to death, but with my lack of in game experience I could be completely wrong.

For project emotions, I'm assuming liberal use of pity is the way to go, but low self confidence combined with dementia seems to be a great way of completely shutting a unit down for a turn, as does depression and sicking Kade on a model. That's a very nice, multi-use spell right there, a pity the effects can't stack.

Although we still haven't gotten our rulebooks, my friend and I will hopefully be proxying a 25 soul-stone game tomorrow, using the previews of cards and our knowledge of the rules gained from demo games and reference sheets. I believe I'll be running Pandora, Candy, Kade, and Bad Juju, and he'll have Sonnia, Nino, and a handful of Death Marshals. If we manage to meet up and play, I'll try to get a narrative battle report written up (and, by the way, that whole prize drawing thing is an amazing thing for a company to do, especially as I could conceivably be getting free things for doing two of my favorite hobbies, writing and playing tabletop games)

[Rathnard]

I'll be playing my first game with Pandora tomorrow. Got the boxed set plus Teddy almost completely painted up (just some details on the bases to go).

Obviously I don't have any advice on using Pandora but I do have a suggestion about the Doppleganger. Due to the lack of model, I'm planning on just buying another Pandora and painting her up like a sorrow. But I suppose you could buy any model from the malifaux range and do the same.

[Wombats]

Had my first two Pandora games yesterday against two different Lilith players.

Fielded Kade, Teddy and three Sorrows.

It went beautifully, first game I forgot to use Expose Fears a couple of times which cost me the game, although there were three or so junctures where 1 difference in a duel saved my opponent's skin.

The second game was a curb stomping with Teddy and Pandora activating last for a Smell Fear rampage on round 1.

Terrifying Kade packed in with three Sorrows and Pandora soaked anything charging in and did 4 Wounds every failed Willpower test.

I really like Pandora, her lack of Companion means you can leave key models to activate last (Pandora, Candy) having had Teddy set up Smell Fear.

Looking back I'd probably take Candy over Kade and lose a Sorrow, her volley of four Willpower tests is brilliant and basically gives you another Pandora without Soulstones.

The Doppelganger could easily set himself up as Pandora and give you another two casts, I think he might even get a third Incite/Pacify from being in base contact with Pandora?

Can the Doppelganger steal (0) actions? If he could steal Teddy's Teeth or Claws then with Smell Fear he would be hilarious.

I was throwing Incite and Pacify at models who had already activated just to trigger 1 Wound. That gets devastating with Sorrows around.

Lilith transposing in and pulling Whirling Death really sorted out the Sorrows but she was dead soon after.

Her crew was usually dead by then but had she lead an alpha strike it would have been a different story.

My Sorrow spam isn't going to work well against area of effect Masters like Rasputina, Somer or Criid but they really take apart melee crews.