Hobby Happenings-It’s been a little quiet on the Malifaux front recently for me, as I wasn’t able to attend a tournament in Des Moines due to family obligations and a change in Phiasco’s work schedule has prevented us from getting in any games online. I have done a bit of hobby work, however, mainly focused around members of the monk keyword. My Shenlong, Sensei Yu, 2 Peasants, a High River Monk, and a Charm Warder are now table ready, with a second charm warder part way there. They’re all very excited to introduce themselves to Brian Spence’s Leveticus crew.
Media Musings: As mentioned, I thought I’d include this
segment to introduce some things from the media I’ve consumed that remind me of
Malifaux. In this case, I’ll point you to the series that Last Podcast on the Left
are currently doing taking a look at the founding of the Mormon religion. It’s
not safe for work, and if you are a Mormon it could potentially (ok, likely.
Depends on your ability to separate your faith from some of the slightly shady
characters who brought it into the world) be offensive, but it will help you to
get into the right headset of the Hucksters and general Wastrel-y ness of
McCabe’s bunch of rogues. Jo Smith was essentially a grave-robbing con man,
after all, who spent his early life as a participant in a large social movement
to loot native American burial mounds, and who seemed to have written the Book
of Mormon essentially as a last-ditch commercial effort to keep his family’s
farm from going under. He also had magical relics (a magic knife, seeing
stones, golden plates, etc.) and a loose relationship with the truth that ultimately
led to world-changing consequences (lest we forget, the whole “Burning Man”
thing going on Earthside is more or less McCabe’s fault. At least it can be
argued that Smith’s hucksterism led to a religion that has arguably brought more
good into the world than bad overall.)
Now on with the main event, wherein I ask Rob Perry,
winner of Wyrd’s 2019 Gencon Tyrant Tournament “How do you do that voodoo that
you do so well?”
***
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| Come give Nana a kiss, deary. |
Crew Questionnaire
“Typical” Crew List
How Does
the Crew Work? (Brief, one paragraph discussion of how the crew plays on the
tabletop. What does the keyword ability(ies) add to the strategy?)
Positioning!
Mama Z is a beast at controlling positioning on the board. Her list is
chock-full of butterfly jump to give melee opponents fits. This forces
decisions that your opponent is not used to dealing with. On top of that, Her
Obey action is the best in the game. How close does my opponent keep his beater
to a key model? Can I use that against him, and do some disruptive damage? Or
should I just grab a model and run it in the opposite direction of where my
opponent wants it?
How Has the
Master/Crew Changed Since M2E?
N/A didn’t
play 2e
Editor’s
Note: Zoraida through most of 2E was an “ok” obey master with some gimmicky lists
that could be effective in the right circumstances (IE piling up massive
amounts of burning on the voodoo doll, Obeying across the board, throwing the voodoo
doll off of buildings to kill the opponent with falling damage, etc.) Towards
the end of the edition, she got a boost with the last round of errata to let
her force a charge with Obey, but still never seemed to take off the way people
hoped. Now her keyword models have Penetrating Stench and a large amount of Stealth
for some atypical defensive tech. She can draw Line of Sight and range from
Swampfiends within 12” of her, which helps extend her range. You can’t channel
as much damage through the Doll anymore, which limits its versatility somewhat.
But probably the biggest thing here in the early days of M3E are how much the
current scenarios play into her strengths. Obeying an enemy model to pick up
their own explosives marker or drop it in the enemy’s half of the board, or
messing up the Corrupted Idol placement, can be absolutely crippling to some
crews.
Who are the
Key Pieces in the Keyword, and What Are Their Roles?
McTavish & The First Mate
Both of these model are super deadly
and have so many toolbox abilities.
McTavish is model crazy threat range
beater, and TFM is my disrupter.
Rate the
Keyword on the Following Criteria from 0-14 (feel free to comment if necessary)
-Killing
Power
12
Ed: The
brunt of the killing power rests with McTavish and The First Mate in this crew.
McT is a rare combination of effective ranged and melee beater in one. TFM is
less of a natural beater, but his maneuverability lets him get to where you
need him quickly to pick off somewhat softer targets. And don’t forget the fact
that you can use Zoraida to hijack the opponent’s heavy hitters and Obey them
to lay some hurt for you!
-Survivability
10
Ed: The
preponderance of Stealth, Stench, and/or Butterfly Jump in the crew makes them
extremely obnoxious to kill off. That said, they’re still Neverborn at their heart
(even if the Silurids are Bayou exclusively now) so they’re still somewhat
brittle. Be careful!
-Scheming/Maneuverability
14
Ed: I mean,
they’ve got Silurids in there. And a henchman Silurid. Leap for a low card that you can rely on every turn, plus Stealth, plus Butterfly Jump means your frog-men are going to be easily completing objectives without much in the way of molestation from the enemy crew. That would be enough,
but then you’ve got Zoraida’s Obey on top of it, giving you a rare ability to
support your own scheming and deny your opponent’s in the same package.
-Card
Manipulation
12
Ed: Reading
the cards on Zoraida lets you set up the next duel in advance every time the
opponent cheats fate within her LoS, which is very strong. Her threads of Fate
free action allows you to play recklessly with your hand, safe in the knowledge
that you’ll be able to discard the junk and redraw back to 6 whenever you need
to do so, while potentially forcing your opponent to discard something they’d
rather keep at the same time.
Which
Keyword Models (Outside of the Master) Are The MVP and the LVP?
MVP McTavish – simply won me sooo
many games
LVP Swamp Gator – He’s literally
there to 1st turn disrupt, draw fire, just annoy my opponent
Ed: Since he's a model that comes in the boxed set, I asked Rob about Bad Juju, and his thoughts fall in the same lane as mine. For a 9 point tanky-beater, Df 3 is simply unacceptable. No amount of Hard to Wound, Regeneration, or the Demise ability will save him. Just not worth the points, which is a crying shame for fans of the model and/or Swamp Thing.
Are There
Versatile Models and/or Upgrades You Take Routinely and, if so, why?
Inhuman Reflexes – MORE BUTTERFLY
JUMP
What was
the biggest thing you learned after mastering this crew that you didn’t know
when you started learning it?
The power of Inhuman Reflexes on
McTavish, make my murder machine more survivable
or get him closer to his prey.
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