Vanessa the Treasure Hunter

[TranquilitiesEnd]

the Gun Vik will spend both Ap to switch and then Push the Sword Vik in front of her. (melee expert if possibly, but unlikely this early)

The Sword Vik will then charge and use Melee Expert.

[BlueStar86]

I still don't think you should have swordvik charge, she'll get too far away from Gunvik to companion, and that's a bad idea tactically speaking.

[Dumb Luck]

Solution to not being able to take a totem: Take Von Schill. Attach Student to him. PROFIT!!!

[Sniddy]

Joss is more expensive than the rider...

He does make Johan cheaper though, if you were considering taking him.

My bad - completly messed costings up though the mech was 10

Joss johnan combo is tempting...anyone know if we have to pay the extra soulstone for out of faction?

[Mekboy]

I don't have the book, but on the crew creator it appears that they become mercenaries and so cost one more for out-of-faction.

[Zerous]

Triple moving Vanessa and then swapping places with her is impossible. She needs to do a (1) action to allow herself to be affected by Sisters in Spirit. She still, however, can double walk.

[Barbagianni]

What I'm thinking now is how lazarus can benfit from this arcanists non-living models running in viks crews.

[Zerous]

Well, he can steal more powers now without relying on the enemy having a construct crew, that's for sure. Are there any nonliving Arcanists that have Ranged Expert?

[decker_cky]

Here's the Arcanists Vanessa lets you hire:

Fire Gamin

Ice Gamin

Ice Golem

Joss

Mechanical Rider

Snow Storm

Steampunk Arachnid

Steampunk Arachnid Swarm

Performer and Mannequin

Snow Storm isn't a construct so nothing good to steal there.

Mechanical Rider has some fun stuff to steal (nimble early game is nice in particular).

Arachnid swarm has some nice stuff - strength in numbers for on damage and scatter could certainly be handy in certain circumstances.

Mannequin is neat for link, but I think that works better in other lists.

No ranged expert or fast in a Viks list though.

edit: Missed Large Steampunk Arachnid, Rail Golem and Soulstone Miner. Tunneling from the miner is the only thing that stands out there.

Edited September 14, 2012 by decker_cky

[Rathnard]

Wait...the OP said that Vanessa can hire a non-living Arcanist, right?

So what about the Arcane effigy? You'll lose the chance to take Von Schill, but gain arcane reservoir and the +1AP for casting should be a great option for any of the Vs. Also, since the Arcane commits you to taking SF: Dolls there's nothing stopping you from throwing in the Hodgepodge as well.

[decker_cky]

Wait...the OP said that Vanessa can hire a non-living Arcanist, right?

So what about the Arcane effigy? You'll lose the chance to take Von Schill, but gain arcane reservoir and the +1AP for casting should be a great option for any of the Vs. Also, since the Arcane commits you to taking SF: Dolls there's nothing stopping you from throwing in the Hodgepodge as well.

Not sure why, but Ratty's crew creator has Vanessa preventing the taking of Hodgepodge effigy and doesn't allow arcane effigy.

[Sybaris]

That is because she also has aetheric demands, like effigies.

Edited September 14, 2012 by Sybaris

[Da Git]

How does aetheric demands effect the hiring of effigies? Unless Vanessa's is different, the effigy's rule only prevents the connection of totems to the designated leader.

[decker_cky]

It's definitely not fully explicit, but I can see how it's implied that you need a master for each aetheric demand. For each model with aetheric demands, you need to designate a leader. If you could designate the same leader, it wouldn't do anything to the second leader in brawls. I wouldn't have noticed if not pointed out, but I can see where it's coming from.

[Da Git]

that makes far too much sense... in an unfortunate way!!

[WaywardSun13]

So...thread necro given, had a question.

Would there be any utility in Vanessa hiring the Soulstone Miner with her Arcanist Ties ability?

Good objective grabber. Decent in melee. Can tunnel around the board. Plus...soulstone generation to feed the SS hungry Viks or Vanessa's card draw ability? The cost is a bit of a deterrent though.

[Adran]

Personally I think using the soulstone miner to mine soulstone is a waste of it.

If I've spent 6 (or in this case 7) ss on it I want a better return than 3 SS before it dies.

It certainly has a possibility as an objective runner/support assiniator. I don't use mine all that often in the arcanists though, so I'm not sure how much the Viks want it.

Its good to have access to it, but I don't think its an auto include.

I'm not sure what I'm likely to take with Vanessa yet, I'm waiting till she is out before I experiment.

[gonzo917]

With Vanessa i'm leaning more towards the Steampunk Arachnid Swarm.

Pros - Melee Master, Healing Flip, Scatter for increased activations, messes with kill protegee schemes, Steamunk arachnids can latch on and drop defense, and they blow up with a cumulative 6 dg.

Cons - Expensive, becomes insignificant after scatter, not too durable

[Guy in Suit]

Viks really struggle with activation control - so swarm seems like a pretty sweet idea to me!

[xKoBiEx]

Also if go by the crew creator if hire viky in a brawl with a Neverborn master you can still hire a totem

And snowstorm, but I think that is a bug

Vanessa does make the Snowstorm legal. He is non-living. Aetheric Demands is removed from one of your masters being Neverborn and you are able to hire Vanessa because the other is Vik. There seems to be bugs, but they are more preventative than they should be according to the rules as written. It may be just that they are still being updated.

Still, the negatives for running Viks with a Neverborn master seem too steap. I would gladly give up my totem for Vanessa. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if Vik became a 10T/Outcast dual-faction master and then you could use her beside Jakob with no penalties.

[Barbagianni]

Arrgggh! No please, I like my viks as pure mercenaries, not paws of someone else (even if they'll be very well paid pawns ^_-).

[i_was_like_you]

Arrgggh! No please, I like my viks as pure mercenaries, not paws of someone else (even if they'll be very well paid pawns ^_-).

Agreed.

It would be nice if there was a dual faction 10T / Outcast master, like Misaki could have been listed as. That way every one of the new masters would be dual faction. Heck, with her nice list of Purchased Loyalty, she might as well still be an Outcast. And, all the contacts / ties she made as an Outcast mercenary shouldn't just fall by the wayside now that she's the face of her faction (despite her dad still being very much in the picture).

[Rathnard]

It would be nice if there was a dual faction 10T / Outcast master, like Misaki could have been listed as. That way every one of the new masters would be dual faction. Heck, with her nice list of Purchased Loyalty, she might as well still be an Outcast. And, all the contacts / ties she made as an Outcast mercenary shouldn't just fall by the wayside now that she's the face of her faction.

She can still hire all the outcast mercs though (well, aside from Vanessa, Bert & Bert's friends, for obvious reasons), so she's hardly lost her contacts.

I'd also like to see a 10T/Outcast Dual faction Master but personally, I'd rather it not be Misaki. If nothing else, I like that she gives her faction a "pure" 10-T Master.

[i_was_like_you]

She can still hire all the outcast mercs though (well, aside from Vanessa, Bert & Bert's friends, for obvious reasons), so she's hardly lost her contacts.

I'd also like to see a 10T/Outcast Dual faction Master but personally, I'd rather it not be Misaki. If nothing else, I like that she gives her faction a "pure" 10-T Master.

*shrugs* It works and it doesn't. But how is it that her Purchased Loyalty ignores that those folks should be using up her Merc slots, but Nicodem hiring Killjoy or Marcus hiring Ama No Zako gets one less Merc? I get that hers has the newer wording of gains 10T faction, but in turn other Masters (and other models in general) should definitely get the benefit of newer terminology. This book felt like so many new models all got some wonderful new abilities that older models should have had all along.

I'd have preferred Misaki got to be the dual faction Outcast Master, then her Dad could have been the pure 10T Master. Give him some awesome ability like:

Crews led by Oyabun may hire other 10T Masters as if they were a Henchman. They each cost 10ss.

Work out the wording so that the intent of in a Scrap, he can hire another Master as a Henchman. In a Brawl, he could team up with another 10T Master and hire two of them as Henchmen.

It'd certainly show the solidarity and diversity of the 10T, and their allegiance to the Oyabun.

[Kadeton]

Arrgggh! No please, I like my viks as pure mercenaries, not paws of someone else (even if they'll be very well paid pawns ^_-).

Out of interest, what does the word "mercenary" mean to you beyond "very well paid pawn"? That sounds like a perfect description of a mercenary to me.

... other Masters (and other models in general) should definitely get the benefit of newer terminology. This book felt like so many new models all got some wonderful new abilities that older models should have had all along.

Every book feels like this, doesn't it? Each one is an evolution of the rules - not necessarily more powerful, but more consistent, streamlined and coherent. I'm pretty sure I could go through almost every model in Book 1 and find at least one ability in a later book that represents a conceptual update of their mechanics.

I really hope that they eventually do a Malifaux 2.0 with a complete overhaul of every model, bringing them all up to the same iteration of the rules with a view to consistency across the board.