Bought my initial army!

[Consuelo_Ortega]

Hello, all,

I am new to Malifaux and new to the Guild. After playing a few demonstration games in my local store, I am totally hooked!

I read the book from cover to cover three or four times, and I think I have decided upon my first army. Of course, as I get into the game, I will get more and more minis, and that will give me more and more options. But, for now, here is what I have decided to run:

Perdita Ortega (This model is the entire reason I got into Malifaux in the first place. I'm just glad she's also a badass on the table. )

Francisco Ortega

Nino Ortega

Santiago Ortega

Maria Ortega (Guild Guard)

Carmela Ortega (Guild Guard)

Consuelo Ortega (Malifaux Child)

My initial plan is to use Cordon to "herd" enemy models into the death zone created by Perdita, Nino and Santiago. Francisco moves to directly challenge whatever the ugliest bad guy is, and use Consuelo to force weak-willed bad guys to shoot or charge each other and hope her Harmless protects her for as long as possible.

My main concerns with my force are:

1) Wounds. Everything in my army seems to have an insanely low relative wound count. I can't take a lick back, so I have to off the enemy as quickly as possible.

2) Melee. My army wants to shoot, shoot, and then shoot some more. If the enemy gets in close, I'm probably toast.

Have I correctly assessed my forces? What do you think of the set up overall?

Thanks for the help, vets!

[Ropetus]

Welcome to the game!

I guess that list is to be used in a 30 SS game. I would look for a way to squeeze in a few more soulstones for Perdita to use during the game. Her Cache is only 2 and with only 8 Wd she can't really afford to get hit a lot. With a bunch of stones she becomes one of the hardest masters to take down since she is immune to Wp based attacks and has Df 8 combined with Stones. The first model I would drop would be the Malifaux Child since its quite expensive (3 SS for being a mercenary) and doesn't really have any useful abilities. However, I can see you have built the list more around a theme so I'm not telling you to pick the Nephilim instead, just spare it for larger games. Perdita is very much a solo master and doesn't really need a Totem to get her job done.

I have found Perdita to be the best model to send in first. She is very durable against attacks and can hold enemies off almost forever. Early in the game, she is best used to secure areas using her Quick Draw Action.

The rest of the family should follow her around close enough to support her. Played correctly, enemies have to pass around Perdita to reach the meleephobic crew members (Nino and Santiago). I usually keep Fransisco a bit back in reserve as he is the squishiest family member. However, he is the best option to rescue Santiago or Nino if they get tied in melee: Obey him with Perdita to Charge and a Flurry should take care of any opposing model present.

The Guild Guards and Cordon should synergize really well with the Ortegas and their shootiness, been thinking about the same combo myself. However, I would try to fit in at least 3 Guardsmen to have more options with Cordon. According to errata, Austringers are Guardsmen too so one of them should work. However, this might be hard without dropping a family member.

-Ropetus

[TimeLapse]

Just to let you know its vary hard to get Cordon to work and even harder to get it where you need it in the game. Its cool on paper kind of rule, but there halt rule is vary useful focus on that and let Cordon be a bonus if you can get it.

2nd look into getting The Enslaved Nepholim, you will find quickly that obay is awesome when used on your own models and the totem allows you to obey twice in a turn.

As for Melee, its is tough but francisco does well and I would look into getting the executioner or peacekeeper for some heavy hitting.

Hope this helps.

-Andrew

[shekbo]

In regards to your wound count: yeah, it's pretty low. But not as low as it could be. Your defenses and willpowers are on the high end, especially with stubborn, and keep in mind your opponents will be relying on ranged attacks a lot, which are generally speaking less punishing than melee. your real concern is with the melee, for which I would agree with timelapse that the peacekeeper is a great addition.

[Gremlin Swarm]

I really like your crew's theme (keeping the name thing going even with 'non-Ortega' models).

Tactics aside, things like that keep the game fun. (You should hear me when I'm playing my Gremlins.)

(Tactics are important, since a game without a challenge for all players is boring, but little things like this add just enough of that pure fun factor.)

Speaking of tactics, don't discount Papa Loco. I use him as a near-pure kamikaze. I just run him up as fast as possible (and away from my own models), and have him do Take Ya With Me! If I can keep him around for a second turn and get him close enough (within BOOOM! range), he can do a positively hideous amount of damage to several models. Great for clearing paths to/taking out objectives. Alternately, an opponent may well decide to just keep clear of him (because of the above tactic), and maybe try to pick him off from range, basically letting him act as an effective distraction. He won't last as long as something like the Peacekeeper, but knowing he's doomed anyway frees me to just throw him right into harm's way (trying to do as much damage as possible in the process, of course).

Edited July 12, 2010 by Gremlin Swarm

[Consuelo_Ortega]

Thanks for all the responses. Gives me a lot to think about...

The first model I would drop would be the Malifaux Child since its quite expensive (3 SS for being a mercenary) and doesn't really have any useful abilities.

It is a fairly expensive model for a mercenary, but on paper, it seems like she does have one very useful ability: she can cast a second Obey per turn, and can activate at the same time as Perdita. That means I can, for example, use Nino to shoot an enemy, then use Consuelo to Obey an enemy to shoot his friend, then Obey Nino to shoot that same friend, then shoot that same friend with Perdita - possibly hitting the same guy as many as four times in pretty rapid succession. A few decent damage flips, and that guy is eating dirt in one turn.

So yeah, she's expensive, but I wouldn't say she has -no- useful abilities.

As for Melee, its is tough but francisco does well and I would look into getting the executioner or peacekeeper for some heavy hitting.

I am really trying as hard as possible to stick to an Ortega theme. That means I'm not using any of the Steampunk stuff; no gribbly robot crabs for me. Not really the kind of visual style I'm looking for in my forces.

I may be able to find a way to convert the Executioner into an Ortega. A head swap and some green stuff (like maybe a poncho and a sombrero), and he could be Tio Manuel Ortega or something. I bet I could figure something out. I'm pretty good with green stuff.

Speaking of tactics, don't discount Papa Loco.

I'm not discounting Papa Loco. It's just that of all the models, his is the only one I really don't like. I'm going to work on converting a suitable alternative, and then I'll start using him on occasion. I think there's definitely room for a guy strapped with dynamite who I can just run at the bad guys and dare them to kill him.

[Ropetus]

It is a fairly expensive model for a mercenary, but on paper, it seems like she does have one very useful ability: she can cast a second Obey per turn, and can activate at the same time as Perdita. That means I can, for example, use Nino to shoot an enemy, then use Consuelo to Obey an enemy to shoot his friend, then Obey Nino to shoot that same friend, then shoot that same friend with Perdita - possibly hitting the same guy as many as four times in pretty rapid succession. A few decent damage flips, and that guy is eating dirt in one turn.

The Child has Ca 3 and no suits. It will need at least 11 :masks (there are 4 cards in the deck that allow him to cast Obey) or a medium :masks + a Soulstone to get the spell off and even then the casting value is not that high. Besides, it's more efficient to Obey your own crew: being Guild they most often hit harder than your enemies and you don't need to worry about the enemy resisting the spell. Also, I'm quite certain you can find a better use for that 11 :masks like using it for some of those extra Strike triggers of Francisco/Santiago/Nino (gives you almost the same effect Obey would, works more reliably and will not consume AP).

All Ortegas can already activate the same time with Companion (Family) and all Totems have Companion. Nothing special in that department.

The Enslaved Nephilim is MUCH better at casting Obey since it has the correct suit tied to its Ca and only needs 10+ of any suit. He is also much more mobile, can do some damage in melee and is more durable. All this for 1 SS LESS than the child.

The Nephilim also makes much more sense in a Perdita crew from background point of view, being Perdita's personal expendable pet and tracker. Perdita is supposed to be one of the "good" guys in the game (everyone is gray but she could be argued to be less dark than some others) and according to her background viewed as a folk hero. I can't imagine her bringing children to a battlefield and risk them getting killed ^^.

If you want the child for your theme reasons you should definitely do so, however, on this point level I would prefer 3 extra stones for Perdita. I'm just warning the Child is terrible in all its abilities when compared to Enslaved Nephilim.

-Ropetus

Edited July 13, 2010 by Ropetus

[Gremlin Swarm]

Maybe find a model with a good pose and do it up with big knives for the Executioner conversion. (A Ronin model, maybe?) You'd have to get the Executioner card separately that way, but they're cheap.

If you do just convert the Executioner model, maybe do him up with the ubiquitous sombrero, switch his claws out for machetes or short swords, put one of those bit instruments that look like a cross between a guitar and a cello (I can't remember what they're called) on his back, and do him up as a mariachi band musician.

Edited July 13, 2010 by Gremlin Swarm