I’m in the middle of the Through
the Breach review at the moment. Had hoped to have it done by today, but it
will definitely be ready for next week’s post. So, since Broken Promises is
available now, I thought I’d take a moment to recap and mention some of the
things I’m looking forward to getting onto the tabletop myself. But first, a
couple of mini-muses.
Mini-Musings
-Gencon finished up a couple of weekends ago, and orders
from the webstore are being processed/delivered. So far there’s only been one error,
which is refreshing given some of the early releases at Gencon previously. The
Cyborg upgrades from Hoffman are Rare 3, but the upgrade deck only has 1 of
them. To make up for this, you can print the card for free from here.
-Derek Chu won the Gencon Tyrants tournament, playing Ten
Thunders Mei Feng. Congratulations to him!
-Ostensibly the US National Championship for Malifaux, the
NOVA Open, is occurring now. It’s the last major tournament pre-Book 5. So
enjoy Plague-Pit-and-Flying-Viktorias-free tournament games now, while it lasts. Everybody be sure to say hi to Phiasco if you meet him there!
-Finally, Wyrd Chronicles came out this week. It includes a
number of cool articles, including a Through the Breach module written by your
humble bloggist and featuring the cuddly-creature pictured above.
***
Since it’s
September 1st, this is our first month on Patreon. I’m thankful to the
Patrons who’ve signed on already, and I want to remind you to sign up by theend of the month to get in on our raffle. This month’s prize is the alternate
Teddy model Miss Ery! You don’t need to give me $10 or even $5 to get in the
drawing. Just one dollar gets you into the action! But, if you feel like giving
me more, there are rewards like access to future Malifaux writings and a slot
in upcoming Malifaux Musings Vassal Leagues!
***
Top 5 Masters I’m Looking Forward to Playing from Broken Promises
1. Titania
I have to start here, contractually,
as I’ve been a big Titania fanboy since Wave 4 playtesting. Also, I’m not
allowed to say that she needed help, or she’ll tear my heart out and turn me
into one of her Autumn Knights.
Titania:
It’s adorable you think so, slave. Perhaps, if you’re lucky, you MIGHT be good
enough to become a Gorar. MAYBE.
Sigh,
yes my queen.
Anyways,
the Autumn Queen got lit in this wave of upgrades. She has two fairly strong
playstyles now, a smashy style with Pact with the Grave Spirit and a tanky
version with Royal Indignation, and more importantly she has tools to possibly
be successful while doing both. I think the tanky one will be the most obvious
starting point, as it’s the way we’ve been playing here up until now and she
essentially just became tough enough to survive it. The smashy one will be a
change of gears for her, and it may be a case of “Why would you take Outcast
Misaki when you could take the Viktorias?” where there are other, smashier,
more efficient crews in the Neverborn, but it could be fun to have in the back
pocket to surprise opponents. She’ll likely be strongest in games where you can
force the action into one place (Guard the Stash, Turf War, etc.), especially
if you’re bringing her best pal Barbaros for that sweet dual-taunt goodness. Additionally,
she has one of the few confluxes for the Mysterious Emissary to make him really
a strong part of her crew. Time will tell if this upgrade makes it a
must-include for Titania crews, but it definitely makes them stronger by
enhancing the rest of her crew. And I’m almost as much of a fanboy for my
Poison Ivy Mysterious Emissary as I am for Titania. And, also, I made Hungering
Land markers with Piranha Plants on them. And I gotta play that shit.
2. Hoffman
Once
upon a time, I built Hoffman for the Tale of Malifaux Bloggers. The paint job I
did for those is one of my favorite of any I’ve done so far, including a number
of rust and corrosion effects on the metal that I’d never used before. Also,
Hoffman is one of the most interesting characters in Malifaux proper, being a
person who is honestly trying to be good while working for the Guild but, in
truth, is falling steadily deeper into hypocrisy as he goes along. He’s allowed
his brother Ryle to be turned into the thing he’s supposed to be policing as
head of the Amalgamations division. He has ties to the Arcanists that won’t
stay buried. And now he’s been basically promoted over Lucius by the new
Governor-General (it should be noted I haven’t read the fluff from Broken
Promises yet, so if things have changed don’t spoil it for me.) His new
upgrades seem to indicate that he’s leaning into it at this point and
converting people into Cyborgs. This opens up some definitely interesting crewbuilding
options. I don’t know that you’ll want to use his Arcanist upgrades and Pneumatic
Upgrades together in the same crew (that’s a lot of points spent before you’ve
even hired any models.) But one or the other will probably be a sort of pseudo-limited
upgrade for him. Meanwhile, his new harness and its defense of his crew’s Armor
makes his Hoffball nearly indestructible. You want to go through a Peacekeeper
when you can’t negate his armor? Good luck.
3. Seamus
Most
masters in Malifaux have some elements of good and evil to them. The Guild are
law and order, but they’re also oppressive jerks. The Neverborn are horrifying
monsters, but they also happen to be right and are doing all they can to keep
these dumb humans from releasing the Tyrants. Even some of the Rezzers have started
to have shades of light, particularly Molly and Reva. But then there’s Seamus.
Seamus is a villain. Period. He kills people, particularly women, and brings
them back to undeath as his slaves. He does it because it’s fun, and because he’s
an anarchist, and because the voices in his head told him to do it. He’s what
you would get if you crossed the Heath Ledger Joker with a Victorian Hannibal
Lecter, and he does it all with a sense of style. He’s Malifaux’s boogeyman,
and that is fun to play. His AKA Sebastian Baker upgrade is nice and all, and
it opens him up to a handful of new hiring opportunities (though not as many as
you’re thinking, and not enough that I think it’ll be required for the
strongest of his crews.) But the one I’m really drooling over is his new Do You
Know Who I Am? I already preferred the Sinister Reputation version of Seamus
before Wave 5, and this makes it even stronger. It lets him take advantage of
Terror the way McMourning manipulates Poison, taking a mild hindrance ability
and turning it into a major problem for opponents. I want to play a Terrifying:
All Seamus-Yin-Sybelle crew, maybe with a Hanged to just really break your
opponent’s will to live. And then, of course, you shoot them with your
Flintlock. And possibly cackle.
4. Misaki
I wrote
a post a long time ago (near the beginning of this blog, actually) about theMisaki switch, pointing out that she had two very distinct playstyles to choose
from. The Terracotta warrior allowed you to start with one and then shift to
the other mid-game, which lets you go from defense to full-out offense as
required. With Broken Promises, she gains a third upgrade that allows her to
add a third mode, AoE blaster. Wow. I mean, if you’re looking for a master for
a fixed-list tournament, I think she would have to be one of the best choices
you could make, as you can literally go from defensive to single-target beater
to AoE crowdcontroller in the same game. Man, that’s strong. AND THAT’S NOT THE
BEST UPGRADE SHE GOT. Risk and Reward lets you have the benefits of soulstones
for hand manipulation while keeping her perpetually in range for her 0 soulstone buffs. I don’t go to enough tournaments to say whether this
makes her a top-tier master now, but I would have to think she moves up
exponentially. Once I get my Throwback Misaki painted (not that I don’t have
the normal one, but I have to do something to keep from just switching to
Misaki straight off) you can bet I’ll be rejoining Phiasco in service to the
Katanaka clan.
5. McMourning
If you
don’t know me in my real-life, I work in Science. Specifically I’m a
Virologist, which you would think would point me towards playing Hamelin. On
the other hand, I’m not a terrible person, so I can’t play that crew *waits for
hate mail.* So if I’m going to play myself in Malifaux, Doctor Doug is probably
the closest thing (plus I have a dog that most assuredly inflicts Poison on the
people around him.) And, in a way, McMourning is a great choice for my chronic
Magpie syndrome, because now he can build a crew containing models from every
faction. You got beasts? You got academics? Come on down into the lab, and let’s
see what we can do for you. (Author’s Note: Yes, you could build a rainbow crew
before with mercenaries. And Marcus could probably do it before now also. I don’t
care.) Beyond that, McMourning probably has some of the best fluff in the game.
He’s the comedy version of Seamus’ full out horror. He and Sebastian are a
classical comedy duo that you actually want to have on the board together. They
gain access to the Scorpius, who becomes legitimately decent in this crew now.
There’s poison all over the place in Malifaux. If you’re playing Guild
McMourning and hire Kudra and give her Debt to the Guild, she can become an
actually fairly scary melee beater on top of throwing out tons of Poison. There’s
a lot of good stuff here, is what I’m saying. And, you know, McMourning was
already pretty good. So time to borrow some scrubs and scalpels from work for
cosplay, I’m thinking.
Well,
that’s the crews I’m looking forward to trying (on top of building Collodi. I haven't forgotten. Don't worry.) Who are you wanting to try out? Let me
know in the comments!
superb..carbon monoxide poisoning
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