Malifaux General

I stopped playing Hamelin for over a year just so new blood would join.

Been playing Leveticus gimmick lists lately just to mix things up till Parker officially releases.

Since the nerf Levi should not be considered "Tier 1" in any competitive scene. In any casual area he should be similarly powerful but he is ridiculously easy to counter once you understand him and very limited in what he can do.
In Outcasts Von Schill is the best at "hold the middle" strats, Levi is despite my complaints still quite good at strats involving spreading out, Jack Daw is a solid generalist who can do well in most schemes and strats who has some model crossover with Leviticus thanks to "Tormented" models being largely undead, Parker is either amazing or shit based on who you ask, Hamelin might be high tier 2 or tier 1, but he can be slow to play so you need to practice him a lot to speed up. The Viktorias and Misaki are usually not considered Tier 1, but honestly if the scheme and strats lead towards killing and there is no "Frame For Murder" in the scheme pool they are the most fucking killy masters we have.
He isn't that bad to play against if you are fast enough at playing him.

Outcast Misaki does get the benefit of Ashes and Dust, Rusty Alyce, Ronin and Hodgepodge Effigy all in the same crew though, so you can have a largely unchargeable crew that can generate its own cover against ranged attacks.

Rumours do say the next book will have buffs for her, so it will be interesting to see how that affects her.

The most direct change for her are triggers for thunder rather than anything which makes disguise more useful. Still good though.

I meant in a more general sense it could see her being shifted in power, not specifically the "fuck charges" list.
Personally i think cheaper access to Sue, Johan, Killjoy, Bishop, Convict Gunslingers and access to Ashes and Dust, Montresor (he can put foes out of position so misaki can kill them rather than her usual dive into the enemy crew risky shit) are useful things, but there is a problem that the majority of useful models to her are just "cheaper" in outcasts rather than not available in thunders, thanks to the mercenary characteristic.

>Hamelin
>He isn't that bad to play against if you are fast enough at playing him.
It's not a matter of time - the game's built around alternating activations.
Hamelin plays an IgoUgo game.
The only enjoyable part I've ever found about playing against him is that you can throw caution to the wind and go as hard elite as you like and build silly lists, since activation control is never going to be on your side anyway.
Otherwise, he's a decent Master, with access to all of the Outcasts good models, and nigh-untouchable activation control.

>Jack Daw is a solid generalist who can do well in most schemes and strats
I've never played against him, but is he not hideously complex?
That's the impression I've been given from here and a few podcasts - between bubbles, Upgrades and Curses flying around, he's either incredibly good or a confusing mess.

>Parker is either amazing or shit based on who you ask
I look forward to this shaking out to a settled measure of gud-ness - as a Colette main player, I have a professional interest in knowing how scared I should be of him.

A friend of mine started with the Viks, but gave up on them after getting repeatedly tabled because they are fragile post-alpha.
Part of that is he's just a baby, but they are tricky to play well, even if the 'how to use' is straightforward.

I was trying an two-Oiran list with TT Mei last night - while terribly underwhelming, Disguised is amazingly useful for Scheme running, not just lane-blocking.

Are you a playtester? Cause if you are I'm sure you know that people like you talking about playtest cards is a pretty big deal with Wyrd, and they've spoken about scrapping the program because of it. You sign an NDA for a reason, stick to it

newbie here. i've already bought the 2-player starter but im looking to branch out into some crew boxes. i've already decided im going to get the lilith box for my free-loader friends, and for myself im debating either collette du bois or tina. any recs?

also, is 2-d terrain acceptable for this game? or is having various levels of elevation important like in infinity?

Any experiences with the rpg to this, "Through the gate"? It seems to have a pretty neat character-focused mechanics using cards instead of dice. Is there any quickstarter to it?

I'm thinking of getting into the game and might buy one of the box sets. I like the ortega box, lady justice, von chill and viktorias, and also parker barren.

Which one do you recommend for a complete noob?

I don't think I will play this A LOT or even competitively, as I lack the time

All those are good starter crew boxes. You need more models than one box though consider vik + chill or ortega + lady j.
Supplements good core book messy. Wait till core revamp this year to try it.
Elevated terrain can be fun but often causes rules confusion due to bad elevation rules. 2d plus some walls/fences works fine usually.
Doubtful, hes regurgitating a rumour supposedly from a playtester. real plautesters backed off this time around.

You can play with 2 crew boxes? And 2 masters?

Question for experienced Levi players - how many abom models do you need to play him summon-heavy (like hypothetically bring the whole Desolation crew, maybe even include a couple aboms in the list to start, and either try to actually get the engine out or exploit the threat).

In one game? No. But you generally want at least two masters in your bag to play the game, since default mode lets you pick your master after strategies/schemes are announced, and different masters are good at different things.

Personal assassin type masters usually aren't all that competitive, but they are GREAT for beginners because it's very straightforward how they work. There might be more hypothetical power in a support master or a summoner, but a new player will have a harder time exploiting it.

When I started, Dreamer was considered the best master in neverborn by a wide margin, but I had way more success in my early games with Lilith.

>Does anyone have experience with making models look robotic?
All of my models are secretly robots.

I put a tiny tiny TINY fleck of metallic paint in each of their eyes, so you can tell.

The average game is 50 soulstones, the average crew box only has 30ish stones of models. Also different models are good for different strategies, you randomly determine what the objectives are, THEN pick which models/which master from your faction you will play.
Generally i would never hire more than two aboms and i would be hesitant to hire more than one. However you could potentially in some cases end up with as many as six on the field if you really summoned a lot.

My favorite way to use them is to hire one abomination and the desolation engine, since then i only need to make one new abomination, then when the desolation engine dies i get two more bringing me back to four so i can bring him back. Remember the desolation engine is not as strong as other models for his cost, but summoning two models on death makes up for that, plus he has great synergy with rusty alyce's reactivate since he can heal all the damage back.

Hah, not a terrible idea.

The laternative is porcelain and seams for exposed skin

Having painted all the bits, I just tried to assemble Alt Raspie.

Doesn't quite line up.

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaage.

Don't panic guys, I think I've saved it.

I have the Lucius crew box.

What's an interesting next purchase to expand?

Witchling Thralls aren't out yet (are they?) and I don't really want to blend the Latigo cowboy angle with the straight-laced side of the Guild.

Ideally a small box, but well-justified crew box suggestions are fine too.

>Levi
Thanks. So I'll probably just convert up two aboms in addition to the 4 that come with the box set.

The bigger modeling challenge is going to be the Desolation Engine - I want to convert it so it actually looks like it's made of Aboms. The official model doesn't look at all to me like the kind of amalgamated monstrosity described in the fluff.

If you want to keep it themey, you can just add more guild guard models, there's quite a few of them now. Remember he can also bring mimics regardless of faction (like Doppleganger), although that's more interesting if you might also play him in neverborn.

I think I might be too snobby to bring Dopplecrutcher.
It's pretty sad, but I do have some sort of emotional reaction to the idea.

I like the idea of a Rifleman line with Dashel, but I have this nagging suspicion it's actually crap...

Something I just noticed thinking about abomination conversions... their card has them being Height 2. Seems kinda weird looking at the current models. Only the ribcage one is even close to man-height, and head-spider and snakey are both smaller than gremlins.

>I think I might be too snobby to bring Dopplecrutcher.
Well, in this case it's pretty thematically appropriate. Fluff strongly implies that most of Lucius's "staff" are actually dopplegangers and other mimic neverborn passing as humans. The remainder are humans like Dashel who just really like bribes, or are too scared of Lucius to argue.

Get Terracotta Warriors and a Doppleganger, and of course Austringers and Wardens. Mounted Guard are pretty great as well. In Neverborn at least they function as great Illuminated delivery systems.

Dogs would be the best choice for stone cost. They work really well with Dashel's zero and Lucius's melee buff. Laying down a scheme marker should be easy enough. Austringers are a good choice as is the pathfinder. The mounted guard are out now so they might be worth picking up but I haven't used them yet. The guardian and 2 hunters from Hoffman's box also are solid minions.
>but I have this nagging suspicion it's actually crap...
I mean they look great but yeah unless your enemy misplaces and allows you to chain activate all of them onto their master while being buffed by Dashel they're not so great. The biggest problem is that no scheme rewards sitting and shooting, their movement/defense is lousy and their range is mediocre.

Many models in malifaux have such issues.
The official model does look cool though, like its out of quake 1 or something.

Teracotta Warriors, Changelings, Austringers, Witchling Thralls, Nellie's box, Master Queeg, Guild Riflemen, Guild Hounds, Guild Pathfinder + Clockwork Traps, Hoffman's Box (Guardian and Watcher from it are great for Lucius) and/or Wardens. Witchling Thralls, Wardens and Guild Hounds are probably the best 3 choices. Seriously Wardens kick fucking ass with Lucius and if you ever do get Hoffman they will go great with him too.
Witchling Thralls,

>But Lucius is a goddamn Mimic
Aye, this is true.

I'm usually a gigantic faggot about playing in-theme, but this is one of (I think) only a couple of mechanics-related snob-isms I hold.

For example, I just don't really see a good reason to take Teracotta Warriors with Lucius, since the rest of his crew is smart and Lawyer-y, or uniformed.
And they are clay men.

Also, Witchling Thralls, I presume?

I have to say that Nellie's box is one of the least appealing of all of them - Nellie herself is a powerfully unattractive miniature, the Printing Press is of course no use without her, Phiona should be a Living Construct with undercover ties to Charles, not a Journalist, and the Reporters make the whole thing reek of a Guild Colette box rip-off.

Lucius is a collector of rare and expensive things. He has a Stradivarius violin that he never plays, and only has to say that he has it. Bringing some Chinese artifacts along to show off doesn't seem like that much of a stretch for him.

It's a visual thing. I know it makes sense in the fluff, but I don't like the look of it next to the rest of the crew.

The only thing I can think of is some pool that might let you take Last Stand and a killy Scheme and Strat, so you can camp your shit near the gunline and dare folks to charge you.
But yes, I don't see how gunlines can ever work on a proper Malifaux board without some bizarre perfect alignment of Strats and Schemes.

What sort of pool would make a Guild Guard and Rifleman list work?
With Nucius letting Guild Guard interact while engaged, +flips to Ml, and giving them extra AP, combined with Dashel's buffs and Reactivate, I can see them being OK at things like Mark for Death and Dig Their Graves and such.

>(1)Fierce Head Butt (Ml 4 / Rst: Df / Rg: 1): Target suffers 1/2/3 damage.
>If the target is engaged with a friendly model that has the Metal Protection Condition, the target gains the Burning +2 Condition.

Question:
If the Metal Gamin Headbutts a target also engaged with a friendly Protected model, does the target gain Burning +2 regardless of the attack's success or failure?

It reads like it would, but that seems improbably powerful.
Is it a quirk of the way the writers have grammar'd the rule?

After success, before damaging.

The Pen is Mightier is recommended for Lucius more because Reporters are really good scheme runners, rather than for looks if that is what you are going for. I don't really see the resemblance with Colette beyond both being all women troupes. If you mean mechanically then I can don't think that they are that similar, though my experience with Nellie has been limited thus far. With the properly scaled Mounted Guards out that will change however.

If you want more guys in suits regardless of how mechanically effective they are, then Mr. Graves and Tannen might be worth filling your surprisingly loyal slots with over a Doppleganger or Terracotta Warriors. They can look pretty suave parked next to Master Queeg.

>The detail definition, or lack thereof
Gross. It is sad that Guild Ball is going the same way.

What would you recommend for expanding the Jack Daw crew box? It seems like he wants some resser models but I am not too familiar with them.

Does anyone kniw lists frpm adepticon henchman hardcore?

Jaakana ubume, hanged, nurses and the crossroads seven are the best with drowned and crooked men coming after. In outcasts he wants dead outlaws.

>I just don't really see a good reason to take Teracotta Warriors with Lucius
That part I agree with. It can be explained, but the aesthetics don't mesh. On the other hand, I think a Lucius crew with all the neverborn mimics thrown in is super fluffy.

>The official desolation engine does look cool though, like its out of quake 1 or something
Agreed, and if it represented something Levi built in his lab or something like that I'd take it in a heartbeat. But it's supposed to be Abomination Voltron, and the model doesn't convey that AT ALL to my eye.

What are some tier 1 resurrectionist masters? I personally love the idea of any game where I can use my enemies dead bits and turn them into mooks that I can then use against them.

the only LGS in town does not sell this. wat do?

They can probably order stuff from the distributor.

To be clear, Abominations are not meant to just "Voltron up" in that sense, think more "The Thing" but with metal bits. Remember that Abominations are also not made from humans either (other than when they are), those corpses are of an unknown species, possibly the original inhabitants of malifaux. Spooky.

Before i answer that, there are two pieces of important context to understand. Firstly, the gap between master tiers in Malifaux is much smaller than in similar games, second different masters are stronger in different strategy and scheme pools, so no single master is the best in all situations.

Now that we have that shit out of the way supposedly Tier 1 is Kirai, Reva and perhaps Nicodem, but i would argue Seamus and McMourning deserve a place at the top as well, though McMourning REQUIRES a cleanse effect in his crew to be played at high level. Tara, Molly and Yan Lo are still good, but it'd be hard to say they are as good as the others, especially poor Tara.

Well you could always do some conversion work to alter the aesthetics. I reccomend putting a clear plastic case around the model on the base, so it looks like they are trapped in a display or having a tag come off them. Hell, give them a tux.

The ones that Leveticus makes are human though. He is modeling them after the original abominations.

>Nellie's box
>I don't really see the resemblance with Colette
It was more that she's the push-pull efficiency and Schemes Master, with Scheme-runner theme Minions - Guild's answer to Colette.

Graves and Tannen and Queeg might look pretty nice, yeah.
At that point though I guess I start running out of points to buy Minions to do the control-y shenanigans with though.

Christ, they'd be better off not showing shots at all and having people worry that they'd look shit.

"No seriously guys, we're working really hard on getting nice clean sharp lines with our new specially formuateld PVC blend!"
>Displays clay people.

The idea of someone wheeling him around in a glass case on a pallet trolley tickles me.
I might proxy one in an Indiana Jones-style wooden crate instead of a glass case though.
Tough to get it all on a 30mm base, unfortunately.

Tell them to stock it.
You will buy it if they stock it.
This earns the moneys.

>I think a Lucius crew with all the neverborn mimics thrown in is super fluffy.
True, mite b cool.
I guess I'd have to do it in Neverborn though, if I've only got four Mimic Infiltrations into Guild.

Yes, but thats only in the fluff. The models themselves represent these "originals". Look closer at the models sometime.

I've never played against her, but I don't understand how someone who can throw Fast and Slow around all willy nilly can possibly be bad.

What does she do, and why is she not crushing the game top to bottom?

Terracotta Warriors a target for the next round of nerfs?
Or just a small cost bump?

I've heard much grumbling on the podcastsphere that they are just too good/handy to be so cheap.