Duh, me silly Malifaux player?

[dgraz]

1I can't see her doing better than Perdita. 2Isn't that the benefit of having all the Masters?

1) Don't discount anyone that can throw that many blasts around. That said, I also prefer Perdita.

2) Yes, yes, yes. This is something I try to preach. Malifaux is balanced by Faction. Not by master. That's why you choose your crew after setting up terrain and flipping for strategy.

[LupusFerreus]

You see, that's what I didn't understand when I started playing. I took Sonnia first and realise this is a mistake. It has probably tarnished my opinion of her somewhat as I tried against things which is an uphill battle, even for the most established player. I now own Sonnia, Lady J, Lucius and Perdita and after Hoffman I will have them all (take that Ash Ketchum). I am now more open to getting Sonnia out, I just have to get into the habit of using her and now thinking "nah". Everyone deserves a chance!

That being said, it's my first time with Perdita tonight. Wish me luck!

[dgraz]

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

[LupusFerreus]

Well, it went okay as far as learning the models went. Not so much as winning.

A few key lessons:

1 - Just because they do well in a fight doesn't mean you should chuck things forward. I was too aggressive and lost the Judge to a Canine Remains alpha strike, and Santiago to the same.

2 - There was nothing I could do to avoid being outactivated. Still, I'd like to know how to deal with it better.

3 - I was just unlucky at points. Twice, TWICE I brought McMourning down to 1 Wd, and my last shots missed because of Fate. He then healed by attacking his own models. Nothing I could do about it.

4 - I need to think carefully about LoS and firing lanes.

5 - Sadly, as the Judge died without doing anything, I didn't get to see how good he is.

6 - No game goes bad enough to justify THE FACE.

[dgraz]

You learned some valuable lessons. Sometimes things just happen. You won't be able to get a good feel for what everything does until you have several games under your belt. I played a bunch of games with Francisco before I got any use out of him (he always died by turn 2) but now I use him all of the time....my opponents rightfully fear him when I have him properly positioned. He is an excellent model to use for the 'Frame for Murder' scheme. Obey him to charge the enemy master and if they don't take care of him then his CB7, Duelist with Flurry is going to do some damage - just be careful to either; not announce the scheme, or make sure there are no enemy minions close enough that haven't activated yet and can kill him before the master goes..

Dougie is a bad man and will make you pay if you can't finish him.....but that's one of his things, I don't really get to play against him so I can't give you any specific counters to him.

As far as being out activated; what was your list? I prefer to maximize my activations if I can. That's why I started using more DMs and WSs. You can take two of them for 1 ss more than the one 7ss model that we want to use. Using Obey for extra movement or Charges can help also. Against some crews you won't be able to avoid it. If the Dougie crew that you faced included several cheap models (which Rezzers love to do) then you're going to be out activated no matter what you do. I have faced Gremlins a lot and there were plenty of times that they had twice as many models as I did.

You have to make your activations count. Try targeting models that haven't activated yet....if you can take them out then you reduce what the enemy can do on when you run out of activations.

[LupusFerreus]

It was a 40ss game, my list was:

Perdita + Enslaved

3 Death Marshals

Judge

Santiago

Francisco

His was:

McMourning + Zombie Chihuahua

Sebastian

Rafkin

3 Belles

2 Desp Mercs

4 Canine Remains (these annoyingly teamed up to alpha strike the Judge - with blood scent they could charge with 1 AP and he got rabies off a few times)

I may be slightly wrong there, The Face my rage has clouded my memory.

In my only defense, terrain was against me. Damn those terraclips! I got bottlenecked trying to destroy the evidence and the weight of numbers/body part counters worked against me.

Edited July 10, 2012 by LupusFerreus

[dgraz]

Two glaring things I see there.

1) When learning a new master...play a smaller game. I've been playing Malifaux predominantly since 2009 and I still play...maybe 25ss for the first couple of tries with a new master. It's hard to figure out all of the interactions with so much going on at once. It allows you to focus on a few models and learn just what they can do.

2) In my opinion, you short-changed yourself one model.........unless my math is really off, you had 33ss in models...leaving 7ss + Perdita's 2ss for 9ss. You would have had to throw one away...at that point I'd rather throw in something cheap and go a couple SS less.....Desperate Mercs are perfect fillers for this at only 2ss, it's an extra activation, they might do something cool and if not you only lost 2ss for them (and in this case it would only feel like losing 1ss because of the one you threw away).

The only other thing that I might have a little differently was maybe take only 2 DMs and throw in a WS....they're fair against lots of cheap models if you can engage a few...then when the WS dies it might take a few with him....plus the utility of Disrupt / and Dispel Magic is not to be overlooked.

[LupusFerreus]

I do agree about the game size, especially since my opponent is arguably the most-skilled in our LGS. I have figured a rough 25ss which is Perdita, Francisco, Santiago and two WS or DM.

Sadly I don't have any Desperate Mercs yet, I have something coming up which means I'm going to need to count all my pennies. I should get them though, as I have a Lilith and Sonnia crew which could benefit from them.

Is it a fault of Guild that they lack a lot of cheap models? It seems like Ressers have plenty of cheap models which synergise well (look at me, moaning about Ressers being overpowered!).

I am facing Ramos next week, so I'll be going back to Lady J and keeping Perdita on "practice mode" for a bit. I have a friend who's new with Raspy so it'll be good for both of us to learn.

[dgraz]

I'd go with this @ 25ss all day....and with most strats too;

Guild Crew - 25 - Scrap

Perdita Ortega

--

5 Pool

Enslaved Nephilim [2ss]

• Death Marshal
  [4ss]
  
  
• Francisco Ortega
  [5ss]
  
  
• Santiago Ortega
  [7ss]
  
  
• Witchling Stalker
  [4ss]
  
  

Not as much a Guild weakness as a Rezzer strength. That's their thing....cheap replaceable models....or cheap models that with a little work they can turn into bigger better baddies. But there is a little to it as a Guild weakness....they feel more elite / more well-trained to me, so they're going to cost more.

[Headcase2]

4 ss for some of the best minions in the game just doesn't feel expensive to me. We do have an extra-large selection of 7ss models, but many (most?) of them are worth those 7 stones (under the right circumstances).

[LupusFerreus]

I guess I'm just learning what those circumstances are. Do you ever go for games with Perdita without having a "large beatstick"? Such as nothing more than 7 points (maybe just Santiago).

[Headcase2]

Sure, you don't need the expensive guys. Witchling spam works (although it's slightly boring). Also, I think 7 points qualifies as a "large beatstick" for most smaller games (9 point models in a 20 point list: rarely a good idea).

[LupusFerreus]

If I took a dedicated Sonnia and Witchling spam list (I guess that includes Desperate Mercs) I'd definitely take a Handler too. Seems like it would buff them past the 4 points level nicely.

I beat my friend by the way with his 30pts Rasputina list. It was pretty much Santiago's Rapid Fire and correctly using Companion that won it for me. I just had to smash up his Ice Mirror minions and Raspy was allk by her lonesome. Also I got lucky killing the Gunsmith.

[dgraz]

I've played this list @ 35ss many times.

Guild Crew - 35 - Scrap

Perdita Ortega

--

7 Pool

Enslaved Nephilim [2ss]

• Death Marshal
  [4ss]
  
  
• Death Marshal
  [4ss]
  
  
• Francisco Ortega
  [5ss]
  
  
• Santiago Ortega
  [7ss]
  
  
• Witchling Stalker
  [4ss]
  
  
• Witchling Stalker
  [4ss]
  
  

I prefer the smaller costed guys most of the time....but remember that just because they're cheap it doesn't mean that they're weak. DMs and WSs are some of the best 4ss minions in the game.

The list gives a decent number of activations and a nice little Companion group if wanted. I use my WSs as utility and as speed bumps to keep enemies off of my shooters (Santiago and DMs).

It's also a pretty good 'all-comers' list since it includes a little of everything. Shooting, Melee, Magic attacks, anti-magic, staying power (DMs and Santiago can be tough to put down sometimes). The only thing it really lacks is any type of Blast generation so it will struggle against a lot of little guys....like a Collodi crew (learned that the hard way), or against lots of Gremlins (especially with Ophelia).

But in casual games I will take the bug guys just for fun..because they are. I love some Peacekeeper action, and the Executioner is just mean if you can get him stuck in (he is awesome in something like a Shared Treasure Hunt with the inevitable scrum that happens over the treasure counter).