Crews for a demo

[Gremlin guy]

While not a henchman (I don't have a camera to take pictures of my models), I've gotten to the point where I would like to hold some unofficial demos at my LGS. There are very few Malifaux players, but a lot of wamahorde and 40k players.

yesterreday I wanted to show off malifaux to a long time 40k players and showed him the crews I had. I felt Ophelia would be the most straight forward as basically a straight ranged attack type, since he had the basics of war gaming down, and he liked the models. Of the other crews I could take (Nico, pandora, zoraida, Collodi, Som'er, and Marcus) I thought pandora would be horrible broken, Zoraida would too easily be able to abuse obey, and I don't know Marcus that well, so I chose Nicodem.

it turns out this was a horrible pairing,t 30ss since gremlins die a lot and leave lots of corpse counters for Nico to abuse, and the other player just got frustrated. (he also had terrible luck with the cards).

When we called the game after 3 turns, I explained that although many of his low cost models where dead or dying, he was still doing fairly well, since his models were blocking the route to my objectives, and my models were very slow (I wasn't going to summon necropunks). He, however, was on his way to achieving bodyguard, and may be able to make claim jump since the MZ's I was summoning were insignificant, and not part of my crew.

Based on the leaders I have, what do you think would be good pairings for a demo, and at what ss limit?

pandora box

zoraida box

collodi box

Som'er box

Nico boxMarcus box

2 blisters of mz

2 blisters of piglets

2 blisters of stuffed pigs

gracie

wong

burt (somewhere)

1 blister of necropunks and belles

grave spirit

the undead goat tiger snake thing

flesh construct

bete noir

killjoy

Canine remains

gremlin taxidermist

pigapult

av zoraida and Som'er

vodoo doll

Stitched togethers

and some others(I'll try to get a full list by tomorrow

[i_was_like_you]

While not a henchman (I don't have a camera to take pictures of my models)

If lack of a camera is all that's holding you back from putting in your Henchman Application, then, by all means, buy or borrow one.

Hey, man, can you snap a few shots of my crew and email them to me?

Even phone cameras can be good enough.

With that being said, I think the Nico vs Ophelia matchup is probably one of the better ones, of the crews you have. Gremlins may die easily, but their guns should have kept them away from a lot of the shambling hordes. Or maybe take Ophelia and the other LaCroix out and just fight Somer & Co. vs Nicodem.

Admittedly, there are easier crews to demo, but if players don't like the idea of a crew, or the crew doesn't function optimally without a somewhat rigid order of activations (Collodi, 'Dora, grow lists, etc.), then it's not going to be fun to learn.

...Hmmm, now that I think about it, as you said you weren't all that familiar with Marcus, he'd be a great crew for you to run against Somer, Ophelia, or Nicodem. Gives you a chance to learn him, while they get a chance to learn the game in general.

[Gremlin guy]

Thanks for the reply. The match probably would have been better if I hadn't included bête noir, but I just finished painting her and wanted a field test.

In addition to the list above, I have rafkin, some malifaux raptors (unpainted), teddy, Nekima, and some terror tots.

If I were to get another box set or two, which ones would go well with the ones I have for demos?

[Omenbringer]

Was he running a Gremlin Taxidermist by any chance? He is great for countering Ressers since he can use Corpse Counters also (and those wonderful Walking ones that Nicodem travels with).

I would also probably bring Som'er instead of Ophelia just so you can hire Piglets, who also happen to love Corpse Counters (might even be worth running pig Heavy vice Balanced).

[Gremlin guy]

No taxidermist or pigs since I didn't want to introduce to many things at once, but that probably would have been a better pair up. He had the Ophelia grew with some bayou and a slop hauler. I think he left out Francois.

[Omenbringer]

Inclusion of those models along with Som'er would really even up the field.

It sounds like the Ophelia list was set up as a Death Star which definately doesn't favor her. The Taxidermist could help it but he isn't the most reliable summoner (and is limited to the number he can pump out per turn). I would probably push more for a Kin/ Ten Thunders list (with Wong).

[Evilbleachman]

What I see in your crews is that you generally have more or less 'complicated' or more difficult to play masters. Masters with a larger learning curve than most.

I generally tend to pit a 'difficult' master with an 'easy' master in demos. This helps show off the variety in tactical depth, an important part of the game. I usually use 'Dora + Seamus. His crew is sturdy enough to survive her harrass and he can easily single out specific key models with his Belles and flintlock.

For demos I would only use a starter + a totem tops. Totems are cool to show off more of the depthly mechanics the game has to offer with a secondary caster to your master.

[i_was_like_you]

For demos I would only use a starter + a totem tops. Totems are cool to show off more of the depthly mechanics the game has to offer with a secondary caster to your master.

On that note, would you recommend opting for the specific totem for that master?

The new crews come with them, which makes their inclusion in crew selection almost a given, at least for a demo, and the old ones, even though they had 'em separate, they still were thematically meant for their master / henchman, even if they weren't the optimal choice.

[Gremlin guy]

How do these matches look?

Pandora vs zoraida at 25ss

Nico vs som'er at 30ss

Marcus vs Collodi at 25 ss

Ophelia vs (probably my next box set) Lucius 30ss

[Mattyjudo]

Ophelia v Lucius is always a fun matchup in my experience

[i_was_like_you]

Ophelia v Lucius is always a fun matchup in my experience

As long as it's Lucius right out of the box, not Lucius with a couple of Gremlin-eating cb 7 (cb 9 if he controls them) LoS ignoring range 12 / 18 Austringers.

---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------

How do these matches look?

Pandora vs zoraida at 25ss

Nico vs som'er at 30ss

Marcus vs Collodi at 25 ss

Ophelia vs (probably my next box set) Lucius 30ss

Seems legit. I'd save the 'Dora vs 'Raida match for when you're teaching an advanced game.

[Gremlin guy]

I'm going to run a demo this Saturday, and since I won't have the lucious set in, much less painted, I'm thinking of a 30ss som'er vs nico. Which strategy would be balanced for these two crews?

[Omenbringer]

I might go with Supply Wagon (Gremlins) and Treasure Hunt (Nicodem).

[Gremlin guy]

Just finished my demo. I went with Collodi versus Marcus. I'll try to do a short write up today or tomorrow, but I will say that everyone won since I now have 2 new Malifaux players in my area. One bought the Collodi box set and a blister of stitched and the other bought the ortegas.