Tips for a newb runnig a Sonnia crew..

[boothdom]

Hi all!

I'm brand spanking new to Malifaux! Woop woop

I've just bought both rulebooks a couple of fate decks, a Sonnia crew for myself and a Kirai crew for the wife.

Now, foolhardily/ambitiously/optimistically/stupidly (delete appropriate) I've entered a tourney on the last weekend in November. My thinking behind this is twofold: 1. I'll give me motivation to get a decent crew up and running and 2. It'll get some games in against some different opposition.

I plan to fully digest the rules as soon as the postie brings them and I’ll play against the wife to get the game mechanic down, but I'm pretty sure she won't want to play as much as me (she's a good few rungs on the non-geek ladder above me! ).

Once I'm au fait witheverything I may even be able to get a game or two around here (in London, UK) but there's not that big a scene so I'm not counting on it....

My questions is, to all the seasoned players out there, what advice would you give to a newb like me? I'm sure there are quirks etc. that you've picked up over time that would help out since I have minimal time and games to make the mistakes myself!

I'm not looking for a killer tactia or a "...do this for the win" kind of thing, more a few gentle pointers as I’m working on such a short timeframe.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help. I really can't wait for everything to arrive so I can crack on with what from first inspection looks to be a great game!

Cheers,

Dom

p.s. I've read all the chronicles and have the FAQ/Erratas ready to go!

Edited October 20, 2010 by boothdom

[gunpowder saint]

to get the most rape for the least ammount of effort go to three models when playing Sonnia

Samael, Exacutioner, and Witchlings

if your opponents have high cast Sammy will tear them to pieces, easy. I'm talking hot knife through wet paper easy. Keep him at a distance though he's bad ass in melee but works best at range. Also he's kind of fragile so don't go too crazy leaving his ass in the wind or anything like that.

Exy, Fatty as many call him. Also bad ass, will tear a whole in anything and after he kills something with the claws he fully heals himself. Causes alot of pain and alot of awesome, not as cool as Sammy, he's also fragile, you want him near Sonnia most of the time, as back up.

Witchlings, your bread and butter. Stop spells, bad ass in melee combat, explode when they die. [[beware a chain reaction, loose one witch, you might loose them all]] they can also dispel effects such as: slow, paralyze, poison, things like that. Cheap easy and effective. Interchangeable with Death Marshals. Marshals are more shooty, they have a decent melee combat and are ALOT more durable but can't stop magic or dispel things. but can up the damage done by all death marshals.

Austringers, if you feel like a dick. take two of them and every turn double attack with both at range 18 inches at combat 7. Sure damage sucks but seriously we're being a nuisance, so it doesn't matter.

Sonnia herself, use flame wall to your advantage, always come with At Least Seven Soulstones, you'll need them bad. Flame Burst should be considered her primary ranged attack. She's not a slouch in melee but it's preferred you keep her away from sharp pointy objects. Don't be afraid to abuse the hell out of Violation of Magic as it will bring you more Witches and that's always a plus. And if you ever feel as though all hope is lost and she's going to die. Turning her into a Time Bomb is always fun, use Inferno and the opponent will be very hesitant to finish her off. Also don't be afraid to use counterspell, you have a 3" NO SPELL ZONE around sonnia, abuse it. It'll save your life, but it might empty your hand. Don't let your opponent take advantage of it either, they'll spam spells just to see you counter them and empty your hand. Also, Reflect, if someone tries something on you and you have a high tome, try and resist it and drop the tome. If you successfully resist, the tables are turned and it's as though you casted it on him. Reflected, I trapped Pandora in a nightmare like that once. She ran screaming off the board edge.

Your army is slow, alot of things that work well with Sonnia are 4-5" of movement, and it sucks. Abuse the terrain, also if you target something with cast 7 or more you don't need to see them.

If your going to a tournament you'll see a model called Karia, she's a bitch. You'll probably see Colette, she too is a bitch. I play casually so I don't like tournaments because of the super competitive feel. You'll see alot of cheesed out armies. Nicodem with nothing but dogs, mortimer and Killjoy. Lady J with... whatever lol. Just know, if you get your face torn off it's because it's a tournament, don't feel bad, it's not your army, fate, or your opponents fault. It's the environment :\ I wish you the best good sir. I hope this helped.

[cerealkiller195]

Sonnia is the typical witch burning inquisitior, I would agree with the above that sonnia would benefit greatly from additional soulstones. The stones are pretty handy when you use Confiscated Lore for the additional tome and +1 to casting her spells.

Inferno surrounded by enemies? This is easier than outright attacking enemies solely for the fact that the enemy does not get a defense flip against it. Should they be foolish enough to actually attack and kill you they will take tremendous damage. If you really don't want the enemy to escape put a flame wall blocking off their retreat.

Flame Burst with the explosive burst trigger if you manage to do moderate/severe damage you can reposition the blast markers for maximum hurt. My tip is when you have targets to pick from, pick the character with the weakest defense since it is easier to hit them and gain a high enough margin for a bonus flip to damage. Then do the shuffle and place the templates at the target you really wanted to go after.

Flame Wall is a good deterrent and can funnel enemies to where you want them to be. Even if it only burns 1 action from the enemy that is one less action against your crew. As I have mentioned above, you can block off escape routes for an enemy if you cast it early in the turn.

Violation of Magic I don't think I have ever really used this against an enemy, it is on the higher end spells to cast so I don't want to take any chances with the enemy cheating fate. If one of your guys is about to die cast this on him summoning a witchling stalker 6" away.

I usually cast it on a dying witchling stalker in combat, killing them off causing 2 damage to an enemy (due to immolating demise). Summoning the new witching stalker in melee range of the same target. If your Comfort Weight Wolverine (Executioner) activated already and is in an ongoing combat cast this on him to "kill" him. This will activate his "slow to die" attack the enemy (hopefully killing them) and activating "Love the Job" to heal back to full wounds. It is ruled that the executioner will not die since he is no longer "dying". All else fails you have another witching stalker to throw into the fray!

[Gremlin Swarm]

Don't scoff at the idea of a Peacekeeper.

I know I harp on this model a lot, but it's really useful. I use it in many of my Guild crews. It's expensive (both ways), and a real tail-pain to assemble, but worth it. It can both take it and dish it out.

I've also used a Convict Gunslinger with good effect with Sonnia.

I figure that in either case, she's bringing them along to preserve her more magic-oriented forces for the witch hunting. (Cults do tend to have muscle/goons/cannon fodder around, after all.)

Also, to amplify Cereal Killer's mention of Flame Burst, Sonnia is a walking flamethrower. Just make sure you have the cards you need to cast the spell, and she's absolutely brutal.

I tend to walk her right up to firing range (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), and have her cut loose. I also try to have at least one or two other models nearby to act as bodyguards/interceptors.

[TimeLapse]

Hello and welcome to the game

Also welcome to the guild.

Sonia is an interesting master, I am guessing that you bought the box set and plan on running just that at the tournament. It’s a strong box set. I disagree with my fellows who posted here and would say the next model that you should buy is Nino. Nino is long range and fits well in the list. The exactuioner is good as well I would get him as well. As for the peacekeeper, I don’t own it and have yet to see it used well, It seems to be that it’s a bit pricy for what it gives you but that’s enough about other models I want to focus on the box set and what you will be running.

I don’t know about tactics that will win each game, I think each game is diffent and you need to ajest you game plan for each. But here a few ideas for you to play around with.

So Sonia Criid has a few quirks to her, first off she uses soulstones like nobody else. She needs a lot of them at lest 6 if no all 8. For Criid its all about timing so placement and timing when you uses your soulstones to deliver one decisive strike is vary important to her list.

I use the Witching stalkers to as a front buffer, send to the front and bunch up the enemy models or use them to get VPs with scout and Hunter they are some of the best 4 point models in the game. Stalkers also have CB 6 for there swords witch is awesome for there point level and all the other things they can do, plus they do a lot of damage.

With the guild you have to remember Critical strike, its on a lot of the weapons and since they have rams on there weapons there damage will always get at lest +1 damage as long as you don’t use another trigger.

Samuel does do good damage but I would swap him out in a heart beat for Nino.

As for spells

Flame Bust: Use Confiscated lore to have Explosive Burst trigger go off without needing the cards, then cast Flame bust x3 ceatching as much stuff as you can, it seems simple but this is about timing, if you get the timing off right you can destroy a whole list in one turn. You can also cast Flame burst on you own Witchling stalkers so you can make sure you can get a positive damage flip and the witchling stalker will receive -2 to the damage due to Magic resistant 2.

Violation of magic trick, if your witchling stalker has 1 or less wounds on it cast Violation of magic on them and gain a fully healed new one.

Infernal is self explanatory, if you get swarmed or think you will use the spell. This spell is more effective if you use it when you know you are going to be swarmed but the models have moved into possiton you can slow them down or prevent the swarm tactics.

Flame wall use a useful spell but it depends on the terrain. If you can close off access to parts of the table or place it between buildings it can be interesting.

Also remember that every model in her box set has spells or triggers that result in your opponent discarding cards, if you can get those triggers or spells off then you can limit you opponents ability to cheat fate setting you up for criid to get her spells off.

Hope this helps,

Andrew

[Daniele]

I usually cast it on a dying witchling stalker in combat, killing them off causing 2 damage to an enemy (due to immolating demise). Summoning the new witching stalker in melee range of the same target.

Nice I never thought of that before

For the Flame Wall:

You can also use it to shield Mission objectives from enemies!

[boothdom]

Hi all,

Thanks for the responses, some really interesting stuff to think about there!

Firstly, I’ll give you all a bit of background on the tourney. It’ll be 4 games total. 3 at 30SS and the final game at 40SS. You have to have a nominated Master (mine’ll be Sonnia, obviously) and a 15SS retinue. The rest can be selected game on game from an unlimited sideboard. There’s some limit on proxy models too for unreleased stuff, but I’m not going to worry about that. No need to muddy the waters further!

Model-wise, I’m going to kick off with the Sonnia box then add a few bits and bobs depending on how much time I get to paint them!

I was thinking along the lines of:

Convict Gunslinger

Executioner

Couple of Death Marshals

Student of Conflict

I have a funny hang up about using Nino, for me (and this is probably stupid, but….) it feels odd using one of the Ortegas just because he’s great in gaming terms. Doesn’t “sit” quite right fluff-wise, but as I say that’s my own problem.

I have no delusions that I’m going to win anything in the tourney. As I said in the initial post, it’s just going to be good to get to play against some other factions.

One question I do have. Will 3 witchling stalkers be enough? With all the talk of them exploding and Sonnia making more I was wondering if I should bolt on a few more?

Cool, thanks again for all the advice. Now all I need is the postie to turn up with my new toys so I can crack on! I’ll be setting up a painting blog if anyone’s interested. I always find they help with the motivation. I’ll call it something along the lines of:

Malifaux in a month – Boothdom’s countdown to a tournament.

Cheers,

Dom

[cerealkiller195]

I have never used totems before mainly because I think the temptation to use a certain spell makes people horde high cards which can be better used for other things. Which isn't so bad when you are targeting your own guys (since you can auto-fail the resist flip so the spell goes off).

Though totems do have their uses at times, I use the drill sergeant because of all his other abilities rather than a real augment to my master (Lucias).

Convict Gunslingers seem like the toolbox option just like Nino, again I haven't used either but I can see the great potential for both. Suppressing Fire in particular can be used to target a few miniatures to make the opponent discard their control hand.

Paired Pistols means that you are more likely to flip the "trigger happy" trigger and continue firing. Yes before you ask you can keep triggering "trigger happy" from each flip. Mix that in with "rapid fire" and you can whittle down even the biggest monster in Malifaux in no time.

Death Marshals are pretty useful, having critical strike in both melee and shooting. Hard to wound will mitigate some of the damage thrown their way, meaning on most occasions versus the same cost models they should be able to take 2-3 solid hits before they are put down. In addition Slow to Die gives them a bonus AP when they do manage to die!

I think it would be a good idea to have death marshals in your initial list, if they are ever low on wounds just "Violation of Magic" them to finish them off. This will give them a bonus AP thanks to "slow to die" which they can use to attack or move. Followed by a brand new Witchling Stalker.

Though some people aren't fully convinced by the Executioner I think that they are pretty cool models. They are a bit slow but once they get into combat they are pretty mean. Paired claws meaning he gets an extra flip to see if he hits. His damage is a minimum of 4 (with critical strike), if you are facing the undead "final repose" is a good way to get rid of corpse counter (denying them the ability to raise them again).

Make sure to post pics of your work/progress you have plenty of time to practice before then. Also feel free to ask about anything you are unsure of, be it a rules question or tactics.

[TimeLapse]

Hi all,

...

I was thinking along the lines of:

Convict Gunslinger

Executioner

Couple of Death Marshals

Student of Conflict

I have a funny hang up about using Nino, for me (and this is probably stupid, but….) it feels odd using one of the Ortegas just because he’s great in gaming terms. Doesn’t “sit” quite right fluff-wise, but as I say that’s my own problem.

...

On Nino, fluff wise using ortegas with Criid fits quite well, as they team up in the 2nd book.

Nino in my mind is not only better game play wise but a fun model to play with, he opens options to your list and force your opponet to react to him. He is slugish and never gets to far in the table but what he does and how your oppent has to do just because he is on the table is priceless. Hans will have the same effect but a weapon with 16 inches of range okoay damage and a CB of 7 or 9 with his spell is really good. If you end up playing high DF models he is really handy at CB 9.

Death Marshals are my lest favorite Guild model, infact i would use guild gaurds over them any day. they have a few tricks and are okay as they are but Stalkers are way better, with hunter and scout plus CB 6 on there sword makes them way better, i would buy more witchling stalkers to add your list then the Death Marshals.

The convict gunslinger is good and is in alot of list because of that fact. He is a must have for any malfuax player because he can go in any list.

The Executioner is wonderful, i love the model and it fits in almost every list. the more and more i use him the more and more i like him.

The Student of Conflict idea of giving fast is a good one and I have seen players use it, and I have used it myself. There is two major flaws to useing the model. first it costs 4ss witch is alot for a totem. And 2nd to give a model fast it has to use all its actions meaning that it gets bogged down in the back, if you move it forward it then becomes a 4 point model that just moves and hides from things. It will work in some games but its pricey and will take getting used to.

Hope this helps,

Andrew

[boothdom]

Woop woop!

Went to the post office on the way in to work and picked up a lovely box full of new Malifaux toys! I'm like a kid at Christmas!

Am away all weekend so will be frantically reading the rules and ruminating over the advice given here. Thanks again everyone!

Have to say that on first quick inspection I'm really impressed with the quality of the minis. I'd only seen pics before but actually having them "in hand" make me even more keen to slap some paint on them.

Cool! Thanks for everything everyone. I'll post back with (undoubtably loads of) questions. I'll also post a link here to my blog once I get painting.

Cheers all,

Dom

[cerealkiller195]

No problem, always here to help. Though thinking back on it what Timelapse said was right as far as paying 4ss for a totem. That's just about any low level guy for that much...

[boothdom]

OK, update.

I've been reading and re-reading the rules over the weekend and I think things are beginning to fall in to place. I've got my first game tonight (running Sonnia straight out of the box) which I'm super excited about and I've even started making the bases for my crew!

I've also decided on my sideboard for the tourney. It's going to be the following:

Sonnia

Samael

Executioner

Nino

Convict Gunslinger

Stalkers x3

I should realistically be able to paint that lot up in a month and it gives me some decent options.

Now, I have to nominate my master (Sonnia) and 15SS of crew that I have to take in all games. This CAN include SS allocation to the master. I figure this should be a kind of utility base, so my initial thoughts were:

Samael, Stalker and 3SS for Sonnia

Samael just seems right, both in game and fluff terms. I figure I'll always be taking at least one Stalker and given the comments above Sonnia needs all the SS she can get.

This then gives me a load of options at 30SS.

+Nino, Exy, 1SS

+Exy, Stalker x2

+Nino, Stalker x2

And everything bar one stalker at 40SS.

Hope that makes sense?

I also have a couple of questions;

Markers. I seem to need quite a few. I can think of blast, flame wall and snare, but what about corpse and body part? How many of everything do I need? I'm good on scrap as I have no constructs but is there anything I've missed?

Do Stalkers leave corpse counters when they explode?

I'm not sure on the wording for Sonnia's blasty spell with the trigger. Do you place the first template then get to place the second (or third) within 2" rather than touching? Does this effectively increase the range or do all the blast templates still have to fall in the spells range?

Thanks in advance all. Sorry if this is a bit rambling!

Will report back after tonight's game.

Cheers,

Dom

[Iron Skies]

Going to try and answer your questions here.

Counters:

Flamewall is a definate counter to make (50mm X 2)

Blast is a handy one to have though you will need three (50mm again)

Snare useful as well though found I hardly use it myself

Corpses:

witchlings DO leave corpse counters when they explode (Only if there is a model with graverobber in the game though)

Sonnia:

You can place the first template anywhere within 2" of the target model then the others in a line away from the first template

[boothdom]

Hi all,

So, I had my first game of Malifaux “proper” last night having previously played a couple of intro games. It was a small 20SS affair. I took the following:

Sonnia

Samael

Witchling Stalker

Convict Gunslinger (because I’d just bought the model and wanted to give it a run out)

2 extra Soulstones to give 6 with Sonnia’s cache of 4.

I was against Rasputina, a Sabertooth Cerberus, two Ice Garmins and a Totem thingy that gave +1 damage.

My strategies and schemes were Treasure Hunt and Eye for an Eye while my opponents were Slaughter and the “don’t let people in your deployment zone” one. Deployment was corner to corner.

So the first two turns were fairly straight forward, lots of running around, a couple of ice walls went up. I sent Sonnia and Samael toward the treasure and put the Witchling and CG up my right flank for cover and to attack the deployment zone later. Rasputina hung back sending the Garmins forward and the Sabertooth round the left flank doing all sorts of funny movement things in cover.

Turn 3: Out of nowhere a sabertooth leaps in to melee with Sonnia and Samael. O.k. this may hurt. My opponent announced that he has 4 strike actions. Hmmm. This is definitely going to hurt. Gulp. The first two attacks I manage to flip really well (12 and 13 IIRC) nullifying them and the second two I manage to cheat down to a weak and a moderate so all in Samael feels a bit of pain (5 wounds) but not bad considering. Payback time! Samael activates. I had to spend the first action to get in to melee range (I think I played this correctly, the sabertooth was 1.5 inches away with melee 2” and I only have 1” so have to move first, right?) Then dealt some pain with the hunting tools. Severe plus critical strike. Nice.

Next up, my opponent fiddled with his totem, maybe casting another ice wall, I can’t remember, but nothing major and I activated Sonnia. First up I finished off the Sabertooth. Awesome! First blood to me! J Next up deal with those annoying Garmins. I did some blasty damage and hurt them both, but didn’t kill anything. They’re surprisingly resilient little things with cover and armour et al! Not bad, not bad at all. I’m next to my objective, my flank crew is in a good position to dish out some pain soon, I‘ve killed the big scary thing all is good in the world. Wrong. VERY WRONG! I think what happened next is called a “turning point”. Rasputina activates. Using the Garmin who’s tucked up next to an ice pillar as an ice mirror conduit thingy and I get whacked on the CG with December’s curse. Red joker. Ouch. Severe, not a lot I can do about it. Overpower so I have it again. Double ouch. By now I’m down to 1 card in my hand, the ace of masks. Not that helpful. Nothing I can do really so I’m Decembered again. Severe again. Dead CG (didn’t fire a shot the lazy criminal so and so), dead Witchling from blast fall out. PAIN. Ok, that was one action. Pretty effective! Let go again! Same story. Samael got toasted and Sonnia frantically burnt Soulstones to try and stay alive, which she did, with two wounds left.

Turn 4: As I saw it I had been “pwn’d” in the parlance of our times. I figured I had one chance to save face. Run away. Alas the card Gods (I think they’re in cahoots with the dice Gods that have hated me for so many years) deemed this not so. My opponent flipped a 12 for initiative and I had nothing to better it and no stones left. Although burning one to try and beat a flip of 12 would really have been the last desperate actions of a dead woman. She died ignominiously to a Garmin ice shard. Game well and truly over.

Although it sounds like a pretty bumpy ride, I thoroughly enjoyed the game. It was great to be playing properly and getting stuck in. I figure I’m going to have quite a few “surprises” like the Sabertooth attack while I’m learning the game. I barely know the ins and outs of my crew let alone my opponents.

The December onslaught. Well, it was certainly spectacular. I definitely learnt that I shouldn’t burn through my hand so readily, as having nothing left in the locker really stings. I don’t remember having particularly bad cards, but I must have spent a few to finish off the Sabertooth, thinking it was the most present danger. How wrong I was.

My main takeaways:

My crew DON’T have a magic resistance bubble. My initial tactic focused around using Sonnia and the Witchlings Aura to protect the crew. Supposedly it doesn’t work like that! I thought that any spell cast in to that bubble had minuses to flips. Wrong. I’m told it’s only spells CAST by enemies in that area that are affected. You live and learn but I was still in that mindset and had Samael in Sonnia’s bubble and the CG in the Witchlings. They gave me no protection and helped my opponent no end as they were tastily in blast range.

Ice Pillars die! On my third activation I blasted the Garmins with a flame burst. They were right up against the pillars and I had 3 50mm templates. They should have all been removed as they were touched, but I didn’t think about it and left them all as lovely cover.

On Ice pillars, I’d like to get clarification from somewhere. Are the 1 entity or 2 separate pillars. I would have thought a one spell, 2x50mm base Ice pillar would be 1 thing. If you shoot it, it goes. Or do you have to shoot both bases individually? If so they’re pretty good! 1 cheap action that requires 2 shoot actions to negate.

I need to get to grips with my ranged attacks. 10” isn’t that cool when you start 34 odd inches away from your enemy and there’s cover everywhere. Perhaps Nino’s 16” Gatling gun would be better?

All in I had a really fun game and went from “big scary tiger killing” hero to “dead” zero rather quickly. I definitely have to change my “protracted grind” Warhammer head for a “One time uber-strike” Malifaux min-set, but I’m sure that’ll come.

Cheers all,

Dom