This week’s Monday preview brought
us the first in a series of reveals for the masters in Malifaux’s next book,
Ripples of Fate. Confidentially, I’ve been looking forward to this one for a
while, as the first preview was…Titania!
With a name that hearkens to Shakespeare’s
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” it should be no surprise that Titania is the Queen
of the Fae. The resemblance ends there, however, as details revealed from the
Nythera Penny Dreadful (stop reading if you plan on playing this or don’t want
this spoiled) let you know that she was once ruler of the Neverborn before she
made a pact with the Grave Spirit to defeat the Tyrants by shattering their
physical forms. The Neverborn were not thrilled with this (their hatred of the
undead continues to be one of their defining traits, as Hayreddin can likely
attest) and they locked her away beneath Nythera before she could bring the
Grave Spirit fully into the world. Since then, she has leeched the energy from
the Badlands, turning them into the wastes that they currently are, before
being released by Fated at the end of this summer’s events (assuming that your
Fated released her. I am aware that not all are as impulsive as others but, as
my players put it “We’ve come this far, there’s no way we’re NOT going to find
out what’s locked under here.”
Fluff-wise, I like this character a
lot from the little bit we have so far. Someone who is an enemy of the
Neverborn from the inside, who is returning and going to make the other masters
decide how they feel about this person being back, could lead to some very
interesting stories going forward. Also, it occurs to me that all of us should
feel some sort of affinity for her, as Titania is one of the first characters
any of us ever saw in Malifaux and one who many of us have spent games praying
would appear in our favor.
 |
| Look familiar? |
But what about in game? Let’s take
a look at the front of the stat card.
For Neverborn players, it should be
apparent that this is something very new and different for the faction. This
character is very tough. With twelve wounds, Impossible to Wound, and the
ability to heal two wounds every time her crew drops a scheme marker within 6”
of you, it’s going to take some doing to bring down our new Undead queen.
Additionally, enemy models that activate within 6” while in base contact with
her scheme markers have to make a WP duel or take some damage. This seems like
it would be sort of difficult to set up, but still makes some interesting
possibilities for using her to defend markers in schemes like Convict Labor.
Walk 5 and flight on a master usually means speed, though that’s nothing new
for Neverborn. Still, good to see she will be able to keep up with other
members of the faction if she needs too. And, frankly, nobody is likely to say
no to a 4 cache. That’s good stuff, and will let you feed stones into the crew
without having to save them for her (usually.) It’s tough to gauge anything
past that without seeing the flip side of the card and her upgrades, but so far
I like what I see.
***
As an aside, I’m happy to
officially announce that roving reporter Jon has joined the blog as an official
coauthor, and should be posting soon about his experiences at the Cool Mini Or
Not Expo tournament.
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