Sell Me On: The Showgirls!

[Uncle]

So, I'm thinking about picking up Malifaux (my little brother's been pushing the game on me a bit), and I'm currently debating between three different groups: the Ortegas, the Showgirls, and Som'er Teeth's Gremlins. The way I see it, Perdita comes in a somewhat distant third--I love the idea of her group, but the models just aren't exciting, if that makes sense. Plus, they're rather single-purpose: I don't know of a lot of games that include Mexican gunslingers (and aren't Deadlands). The Gremlins are adorable and would be a lot of fun to play, I think, but man, the introductory price is high for these guys. And honestly, swarm tactics aren't what I was really looking for with Malifaux, so I'm shying away from them. I really like the aesthetics of the Showgirls, but I'm not entirely certain they have a victory condition--keep in mind, I'm absolutely a newbie here. Do they have what it takes to deliver a stylish, teasing beatdown, or do they fall flat? Furthermore, are there anything other than performers, coryphees, and mechanical doves that Colette should regularly bring along? If not, then they're a heckuva lot cheaper than the gremlins--another plus. So sell me. Tell me why these ladies are so great.

[LoboStele]

Johan is a good fit with the showgirls as well. I've lived them so far, and they definitely have what it takes to beat some of the other crews. They don't do the really high amounts of damage that some crews can, but they get more attacks overall, I think, so it all evens out. Colette's spells can be just brutal, and with the whole crew having access to Use Soulstone, they are all tough nuts to crack. I've been having a blast with them. Only thing they fell flat against so far has been Lord Chompy Bits, but I played that game poorly as well.

[Mentat_Canis]

It is the crew I started with and I have loved them since getting them. The models look great but most of Malifaux's do but they just play tricky. Playing tricky in mind I won my first 3 games with them while still trying to learn. The one thing they miss is a hammer or an anvil but they have 2 amazing scalpels in Colette and the Corphree.

I will tell you when I tell everyone getting into any game. (I play the 3 main tabletop games) Be prepared to drop $150 to play this game with rulebook and cards and models and paints and so on. If you can't spend that much keep you money for more important things in life. The other thing with Malifaux go with the crew that you like the fluff and the look of because there is great balance so go with what you like.

[Uncle]

It is the crew I started with and I have loved them since getting them. The models look great but most of Malifaux's do but they just play tricky. Playing tricky in mind I won my first 3 games with them while still trying to learn. The one thing they miss is a hammer or an anvil but they have 2 amazing scalpels in Colette and the Corphree.

To be honest, I play best without hammers and anvils. Speed and precision, and trickery, are much more fun than relying on one big unit to see you through.

I will tell you when I tell everyone getting into any game. (I play the 3 main tabletop games) Be prepared to drop $150 to play this game with rulebook and cards and models and paints and so on. If you can't spend that much keep you money for more important things in life. The other thing with Malifaux go with the crew that you like the fluff and the look of because there is great balance so go with what you like.

Good advice, but most, if not all, of the incidental costs are already covered by having a sizeable collection of several other wargames. I honestly don't intend on buying a rulebook (I know, I know, bad gamer!) because I have a little brother who shelled out for it. Sure, he lives 15 minutes away, but that's no issue. And, of course, should I so desire at a later time, I can pick up the books.

My main concern is that I do not want to throw down a large sum of money--and yes, I would consider $150 to be a large sum--on a game that I am not entirely certain about. The thing about the "big three" is that even if they are not my favorite games, it is easy to find a game if so desired. Malifaux doesn't have that distinction, yet, in my area, but the games are smaller and quicker, which in and of itself is a good thing--I have much more free money than time these days, it seems.

[Mentat_Canis]

Well if you don't get the rulebook and paint and others it will be 50-65 bucks all in for decent Colette Crew $39 for the box, $16 for Corpy, and 7.50 for a deck. So well that I don't think is too much money.

As for the playstyle it really isn't a hammer and anvil you have to stay light on your feet and dance. I mean you are playing Showgirls so that makes sense. I hope I have been helpful.

[MrNybbles]

First off, I do not recommend Colette for someone who has never played. Her showgirls are rather rules intensive. Then, once you understand the rules is understanding how to use them well.

I'll try to give an example of how her box set crew could work in a 25 Soulstone game where both players have the Strategy Slaughter. Assume 36" x 36" area with 12" deployment and terrain and proxy Mechanical Doves.

I'm not going to go into great detail about the enemy since the point to all this is how complicated things can get just doing some basic stuff with Colette's crew on turn 1.

If this seems a bit complicated, well, that's because it is. That's the Showgirls for you. This doesn't even really highlight their strong points.

Assume the enemy has 6 models, one of which is a Master and another one is the Convict Gunslinger. Both players have a control hand of 6 cards.

* Colette (Master, Cache: 3)

9 Cassandra

6 Performer & Mannequin (Two models akways hired together).

6 Performer & Mannequin

2 Mechanical Dove

---

Total Cost to hire: 23

Starting Soulstone Cache: 5

[Turn 1]

Enemy Activation.

Mannequin 1 activates.

We'll assume it was in base contact with Cassandra. It successfully casts (1) Mirrors (via cheating fate), then (0) Links to Cassandra. Mannequins are slow so it has no more actions it can perform. Because it used actions other than Walk or Pass it no longer has Harmless.

Enemy activation.

Cassandra activates.

She uses (0) Southern Charm to make hitting and damaging her more difficult. She walks and because she is Nimble it does not use any of her general Action Points to do this once per activation. She walks again, this time it costs 1 AP. Cassandra uses Sultry and gains Harmless. Cassandra has not made any attacks yet and because of Celebrity she can only be attacked by ranged strikes or spell attacks.

Enemy activation.

The opponent moves Convict Gunslinger. Convict Gunslinger then makes a ranged attack targeting Cassandra. Convict Gunslinger cheats fate to win the Wp > 12 duel caused by harmless. Convict Gunslingers has Paired Pistols which gain a positive twist which cancel out the negative twist from Cassandra's Southern Charm. Convict Gunslinger cheats fate with the attack flip and wins combat by 8. Winning combat by this amount doesn't change add any twists of fate to the damage flip. Because of Southern Charm the damage flip will also be at a negative flip. With no positive flips to modify this Combat Gunslinger flips two cards and takes the lowest which inflicts weak damage. Because of the Mannequin's Mirrors spell Cassandra suffers no damage when weak damage is inflicted.

Mannequin 2 activates.

It moves towards the enemy and ends it's activation. It still has Harmless.

Enemy Activation.

Mechanical Dove 1 activates.

It moves within 3" of Cassandra and ends it's activation.

Enemy Activation.

Colette activates. She uses her Artificial Soulstone take the (0) Soulstone Infusion action to gain Reactivate. She then uses Soulstone Manipulation to discard two control cards and gain one Soulstone. She then walks towards the enemy being careful to stay clear of enemy line of sight (possibly using other crew models to block line of sight). Her first activation ends.

Enemy Activation. (This was the opponent's last model).

Performer 1 activates and moves towards the enemy and within 4" of Colette.

Colette's Aura provides her with +2 Wp. She uses (0) Mesmerizing on one enemy and successfully makes it Slow. The Performer then casts Expensive Gift on the enemy master, but he enemy wins the duel.

Performer 2 activates and moves towards the enemy and within 4" of Colette and in base contact with Performer 1.

Colette's Aura provides her with +2 Wp. She uses (0) Mesmerizing on one enemy and successfully makes it Slow. The Performer then casts Expensive Gift on the enemy master who loses the duel. This causes the opponent to loose one Soulstone while you gain one Soulstone.

Colette activates again thanks to Reactivate. She cheats to successfully cast (0) Trick of the Hat and summons a Mechanical Dove. She then uses Soulstone Manipulation to discard 2 control cards and gain one Soulstone. No more control cards remain in the hand of Colette's player. She now moves behind the two performers who will help block line of sight to her. (Watch out for blast damage)!

Mechanical Dove 2 activates. Because it was just summoned it is now Slow and gets one General AP. It moves near Cassandra and ends it's activation.

End of turn 1. Some notes: If a Mechanical Dove is within 3" of a Showgirl it can be used like a Soulstone (even if they can't normally use Soulstones) but gives it a positive twist.

Hopefully someone else can link to or write up a Showgirl Tactica because I think this post is too long already. I do really like running the showgirls but they really do need a Tactica.

[Iamwyrd]

FUNBAGS, enough said. Lol

Also she is a good master and fun to play as well.

[Uncle]

@MrNybbles (sorry, not going to quote here), I'm not seeing where the complexity is there. I'm really not. What is sounds like to me is that the logical things to do would be to use Mirrors to protect Cassandra or a Coryphee, utilize the Performers to make the enemy's best targets slow (and steal soulstones), and use Collette to turn all your unwanted control cards into Soulstones. Eventually, I would assume that you would use Cassandra or a Coryphee to attack models up close while still slowing down the enemy and poisoning them with Performers and Collette would take on a slightly more aggressive role with her spells, but keep in mind I haven't read the rules or really looked at stats or anything. I fully admit that the Malifaux playgroup in my area seems to be stuck at 25 soulstone games, whereas just by looking around a little, I'd much rather play at 35 points. I'm just curious, though, would it be considered "better," on average, to take 2 Performers/Mannequins or just one pair and a Coryphee?

[MrNybbles]

. . . , I'm not seeing where the complexity is there.

It's really in all the little rules and keeping them and the errata straight. In my previous post I gave very brief descriptions of the rules for Mirrors, Link, Walk, Nimble, Sultry, Harmless, Celebrity, Paired, Artificial Soulstone, Soulstone Infusion, Reactivate, Soulstone Manipulation, Mesmerizing, Slow, Expensive Gift, and Trick of the Hat. Okay, Pop quiz time! Just kidding!

Since you play other tabletop games you shouldn't have any trouble picking up Malifaux. I would still recommend going to your local Malifaux play group and borrow an easier to learn crew for a game or two for learning the basics. That's what I did before I got into Malifaux.

What is sounds like to me is that the logical things to do would be to use Mirrors to protect Cassandra or a Coryphee, utilize the Performers to make the enemy's best targets slow (and steal soulstones), and use Collette to turn all your unwanted control cards into Soulstones.

This is exactly why we really need a Showgirls Tactica! Even knowing the rules for what Mirrors does it still isn't clear when you should use it, when you shouldn't, if it is worth cheating fate for it, and why.

Having a Mannequin cast Mirrors and Link to Cassandra may be worth burning 9+ of :masks if Cassandra uses (0) Southern Charm. Doing the same thing and linking to any other Showgirl is not worth it. Here's why. (Yes, this is a generalization and there are always exceptions).

If an attacker wins the attack duel by at least 6 then the damage flip won't normally have a negative twist ().

There is only a 37% chance of the damage flip causing weak damage (1..5) and being negated. However, the attacker can cheat this to moderate(6..10) or severe(11..13) damage which won't be negated.

Now with Cassandra's Southern Charm this is less likely because both the attack and damage flips will have .

If the attacker wins by the attack by 6 or more (and no other twists of fate other than Southern Charm are applied) then the damage flip will be at a which can't be cheated and means the attacker flips two cards and takes the lowest. The odds of flipping weak damage is now about 60%.

If the attack was won by a mere 1..5 then the damage flip receives which stacks with Southern Charm's . Now three cards are flipped and the lowest one is taken which can't be cheated. The odds of flipping weak damage is now at 75%.

If the attack and defense duels tie then the damage flip receives :-fate which stacks with Southern Charm's . Four cards flipped, lowest is taken and can't be cheated. The odds of flipping weak damage is now at 84%.

These odds are based on a fate deck with all 54 cards in it. In reality the Control Hand and discard pile would skew these odds one way or another.

(A big thanks to Wodschow for posting how to calculate the odds).

I'm just curious, though, would it be considered "better," on average, to take 2 Performers/Mannequins or just one pair and a Coryphee?

There really is no right answer here. Coryphee are more effective in melee and ignore Terrifying while Performers have range attack, poison melee, Debuff your opponent, and deplete your opponent's Soulstones while gaining more for you.

If you were going against opponents with low willpower it may be better to take Performers. Against opponents with low defense (like The Dreamer who also has high willpower) the Coryphees may be better. One of each might not be a bad idea either in a 25ss game.

[Uncle]

It's really in all the little rules and keeping them and the errata straight. In my previous post I gave very brief descriptions of the rules for Mirrors, Link, Walk, Nimble, Sultry, Harmless, Celebrity, Paired, Artificial Soulstone, Soulstone Infusion, Reactivate, Soulstone Manipulation, Mesmerizing, Slow, Expensive Gift, and Trick of the Hat. Okay, Pop quiz time! Just kidding!

To be honest, it seems much easier than, say, playing a dueling deck in a certain asian-themed CCG, or playing blue in another. Or playing a certain Middle-East-meets-Mother-Church-themed army in another game. All of which I have done. Also, keep in mind that I'm just going off what you explained rather than the actual rules, which I should get a chance to peruse this weekend.

If you were going against opponents with low willpower it may be better to take Performers. Against opponents with low defense (like The Dreamer who also has high willpower) the Coryphees may be better. One of each might not be a bad idea either in a 25ss game.

Well, I am currently planning on purchasing Collette's box, a box of Coryphees, and (eventually) a box of Mechanical Doves. I think that should give me plenty of options all the way up to 35 pts, although I may want to pick up Johan and a few others.

[MrNybbles]

Well, I am currently planning on purchasing Collette's box, a box of Coryphees, and (eventually) a box of Mechanical Doves. I think that should give me plenty of options all the way up to 35 pts, although I may want to pick up Johan and a few others.

If you get a chance to look at the Rising Powers rulebook then check out the Arcanists Gunsmith and Soulstone Miner. (Neither has been released yet).

The Gunsmith is good against everything except spirits.

The Soulstone Miner has potential though seems more viable in a Colette & Ramos Brawl since Ramos works really well with constructs.