Top 10 Lore Reveals from Through the Breach Core Edition

I’m working on a lengthier review of the book, but to start out with I’d like to share my top 10 history lore reveals from the “World of Malifaux” chapter of the Through the Breach Core Rules. It should go without saying but, if you want that sweet, sweet Malifaux lore to remain unspoiled, this would be the time to turn around and go back. See you next week for less spoilery content.

These were answers to a number of questions that have been in the background of Malifaux’s canon for quite a while now. I’m a lore nerd and this stuff makes me excited, so I thought I’d share.

1)     The First Undead

Titania is the very first undead creature in Malifaux. The energy she channeled to defeat the Tyrants killed her (probably explaining why she isn’t an unbeatable godling at this point, since she’s not alive anymore) and she arose as an undead creature after destroying the Tyrants’ physical forms. Her people locked her away after seeing what she could become inside of Nythera, a structure that echoed the Kythera gateway through which the Grave Spirit had nearly entered the world.

2)     Path of the Dragon

The tyrant known as the Dragon was on Earth since shortly after Titania’s time. Her servants, realizing that the tyrants’ essences were still around despite their forms being broken, had started binding them away in prisons like the Red Cage or Plague’s prison in the Necropolis. Seeing this coming, the Dragon split itself in half and flung itself through the aether to Earth to escape. It landed on Mount Etna in Sicily, triggering a massive volcanic landslide and tsunami. He later took over a Cretan shaman to travel to Tibet and, realizing he would burn out the physical body of any but the strongest humans, he built a monastery there that would let him train replacements (eventually ending in the current iteration, Shenlong.) Meanwhile, the Dragon’s trip through the Aether weakened the barriers between the worlds, probably making it possible for the breach to be formed in the first place.

3)     The Neverborn on Earth

Malifaux stuff has been on earth for a long time. Some Neverborn got into early North America and interbred with the natives, so Native Americans in this world are likely to have at least some amount of Neverborn blood in them. This, apparently, has some consequences when the Burning Man arrives later and awakens this latent heritage in them. The Amazon rainforest had a handful of Waldgeist wander into it in 220 AD. They thrived there and slowly wiped out most of the indigenous human tribes in the region, leading to rumors in Europe and east Asia that the deep forests are haunted with dangerous plant life. A valley in Mexico was the site of a portal, through which the Aztecs saw the blasted, burned ruins of a part of old Malifaux with still burning flames, leading to the creation of their god Huitzilopochtli in 1332 AD. The Horomatangi, a massive creature that served the Tyrant Meridion, was dumped near New Zealand and fed on the Maori for a while before being poisoned and sent into a deep sleep. And, of course, we know from The Other Side’s lore that the Abyssinians had their own breach into Malifaux for a short time and had discovered and reported on Soulstones long before the opening of the “first” Breach by the Council in 1780.

4)     Shez’uul and the Masamune

The first of the Tyrants to escape its bindings happened a long time before humans came to Malifaux. Shez’uul was freed by a shaman of some kind, and promptly possessed him. This ended predictably (the shaman burned out) but he was able to sustain himself for a time by feeding on the blood of victims, ending in its becoming a creature of flowing blood. The Nephilim managed to beat him by turning their own blood into black ichor that would destroy red blood. Rather than let itself be bound again, Shez’uul hurled himself to Earth like the Dragon had previously done, landing in Kanagawa, Japan in 1293AD. It bound itself to a Samurai Lord and forced him to slaughter his subjects to supply him with blood. He was only then defeated when a sword was forged by Goro Nyudo Masamune, the Masamune Nihonto. The blade cut Shez’uul away from his host and bound him inside. That would have been the end of the story, but it was stolen decades later and proceeded to influence its wielders to greater feats of violence to feed itself. Eventually it passed into the hands of Kenshiro, the Weeping Blade, a hero of the first human entry into Malifaux. It played a key role in stopping December from escaping through the first Breach to earth (though it cost Kenshiro’s life to do so.) It was then thrown back through the breach and faded into the background of history before Zoraida directed Viktoria Chambers to recover it (not knowing about the Tyrant within, of course.) Though the Neverborn’s to kill her with a Doppleganger and claim the weapon failed spectacularly, Viktoria, her newly acquired “sister,” and the Masamune were able to foil December once again at Kythera. And they’ve been slingshotting across battlefields and murder your whole crew in one turn ever since.

5)     The Council

This has been discussed before, but we learn a lot about the Council of wizards who were in charge of the first expedition from Earth into Malifaux. Earth’s magic was dwindling, and so a group of sorcerors, wizards, warlocks, shamans, etc. formed a group to try and restore it, travelling to the new world and to Abyssinia to work on the problem. Eventually, they realized there was a world beyond ours (probably because of the East African people’s experiences, in large part) and combined their forces to punch a hole through to it. They gathered in Santa Fe, New Mexico for whatever reason and performed the ritual there, causing a massive explosion that killed many of them and supercharged the survivors. These newly empowered magic users travelled through the new Breach and were the first humans to enter Malifaux. They spread out, gained new Malifaux power, but became the ruling power for humans in the city.

6)     The End of the First Human Settlement

The time of the first humans in Malifaux came to an end due to December’s first attempt to escape. Some of the Archmages from the Council went into the Ten Peaks and, because they’re dumb, broke the bindings that were keeping him sealed away. It then took over the strongest of them, who then either subjugated or ate those archmages that remained. He then went to Malifaux city because he wanted to feed on the energy of the breach to complete his ascension to godhood, using a massive blizzard to conceal his arrival. Lilith and Nekima arrived to stop him, defeating his followers, but December would have succeeded if Kenshiro hadn’t arrived with the Masamune Nihonto to kill his host body. The day was saved, but the two Nephilim sisters determined that the humans had to go. In less than a decade, multiple Tyrants were already freed, and the witch Zoraida offered to seal the place up with magic. Zoraida sealed the portal while the Nephilim went through the city, butchering all the humans they found. At the last moment, Nekima hurled one final corpse back through the gate after scratching the word “Ours” into its chest.

7)     The Black Powder Wars

There are quite a few more details about the war that happened Earthside between the time of the two breaches. In a lot of ways, it’s like World War I broke out a century earlier than it did in our history, sparked of course by the sudden panic in the world when the flow of soulstones dried up. All the nations of the world signed a series of fragile treaties after the first breach closed, and a revolution in Eastern Europe triggered a series of these alliances to be triggered. This drew the nations into a war that would spread across the whole world. I very much enjoy the descriptions of how many of the nations fought in the war, including combinations of cavalry and musket lines along with magic, Spanish use of Necromancy, revolution in South America, and much more. There’s also a lot of information on the history of the Three Kingdoms (who, the book now explains, are Japan, China, and Vietnam. I always figured Korea was in there, but I was incorrect.) They stayed independent for most of the war but were eventually drawn in to attack Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Western US. When the dust settles, the world ends up underneath the Guild’s bootheels despite the war not really causing national borders to end up moving much. The Council imploded, fractionated, and ended up becoming the Guild because they could control the Soulstones everyone was fighting over in the first place.

8)     Rise of the Union

When Book 1 starts (in M1E) all four factions are in place and ready for action. However, the story of how the unsafe working conditions in the mines led to the M&SU’s rise is interesting as well, particularly since it really should have been the story of “the good guys.” After all, the original workers in Malifaux were convicts, so the Guild really didn’t care that much for what happened to them. When more independent workers started to come to handle the unexpected workload, these new men and women banded together more out of a need for mutual safety than anything else. The Guild didn’t realize the danger this posed until they ordered a group of miners underground during a torrential rainstorm, leading to their being trapped for days as the mines flooded. Of those that escaped their leader was not Victor Ramos, but a man named Erick Ulish. He then went on to rally the workers around the idea of standing together in mutual support to demand safer working conditions and better pay. They formed…not the M&SU, but the United Miners Union. Rather than rely on the Guild to do the work, they used the money from membership dues to hire engineers who did the work of improving the conditions, including Dr. Ramos whose Hollow Marsh Pumping Station prevented another flood from happening ever again. Given how important the engineers were to the cause, the union was expanded to incorporate them (which is how they became the M&SU.) But, after that, an “accident” leads to Ulish’s death and Ramos’ ascent to the leadership. After that, of course, the organized crime part of the M&SU grows up, the Arcanists arise from under their cover, and basically things go really wrong really fast from there.

9)     Rise of the Ten Thunders

I also enjoyed the discussion of how this faction secretly came to power in the shadows of everything else. The Guild had been forced to close the whole city off after the Event, meaning the people in Malifaux City needed food, water and supplies and the people earthside needed the Soulstones that had been cut off. The Arcanists made a good living smuggling stones home, but the Katanaka crime family was able to grow up in the shadows of the ignored district of the city, the Little Kingdom, and solidify their power there by helping people the Guild had neglected. They became the Ten Thunders to disguise their origin, bringing their people through a secret, second Breach of which only they knew or were able to use. They grew quickly, infiltrating the factions of Malifaux and insinuating themselves in the city. Their power reached its zenith when they saved the city from “a Necromancer” (read: Nicodem) who was trying to take advantage of the chaos following Governor-General Kitchner’s failed ascension to power. He had killed off a large number of the other Necromancers in the city, adding their undead to his own, and attacked the Guild Enclave itself. Things looked doomed until the Thunders agents attacked in the flank, scattering the Resurrectionist forces and saving the city. The Ten Thunders have, however, contributed to the instability in the city as well. Lynch’s Honeypot casino is spreading dangerous drugs with nefarious purposes. They’ve brought the Tibetan religious leader Shenlong with them, not knowing that he is currently possessed by the Dragon who is all too happy to return to his home.

10)  Death of the Governor General and Birth of the Burning Man

After the Event was triggered by Hamelin, the released Aetheric energy from Cherufe’s red cage slamming into the ground gave a number of people the ability to ascend into avatar status. Some of these we know of, given that our masters were able to transform for several years prior to M2E’s release. The Governer-General, however, had the same ability, though he kept it hidden. He was hungry to push further and ascend to become a tyrant. He would have achieved this goal, but McCabe sabotaged the ascension ritual, substituting one of the relics with the bones of a Tyrant. When Governor-General Kitchner tried to draw on the relics’ power, these bones gave him too much power, and the ritual spiraled beyond his ability to control. Cherufe, sensing this, broke away from Sonnia Criid and combined with him, melding their two essences together to create the Burning Man. He travelled through space and time, arriving in Earth over San Francisco (there are more details about this event in the adventure “A Fire in the Sky.”) His arrival triggers the great 1906 earthquake, and leads to the creation of the fourth army in The Other Side, his Cult. He wakes the Horomatangi from its sleep. He triggers the Neverborn blood in the Native Americans to wake up, giving many of them shapeshifting abilities. And he weakens the barriers between the worlds, triggering the arrival of the Gibbering Horde in London. This chaos was the final straw for many of the nations of earth, who had already started pulling away from the Guild. While they have control of things in Malifaux, their authority earthside is waning significantly. India, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Abyssinia, and of course the British Empire are now breaking away, with the Guild only able to serve as advisors and facilitators for the coming war Earthside.

I don’t have a great way to end this post, so I hope you enjoyed some of these lore revelations as well. Next time, we’ll probably be talking about Collodi and tabletop crunch again. 

Five Finger Discount

Hello all.  It's been a while.  I was going to post on my experience a couple months back but I am at a loss for how I want to approach the topic in a constructive manner.  But I did manage to collect third party data. At this time I will continue to collect data on the subject and maybe one day we may discuss it.

I will be at Gen Con for certain.  So if you see me you are welcome to come say hello.  Chances are good I will make it to Nova.  And for those of you who are unaware there is a nationwide league (TFL) with sign ups this month and games run from September through November.  Details can be found here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1081844208549627/ .  The quick and dirty summary:
-If your meta has 6 people interested buy in is $30 per person.
-If your meta has up to ten the top player gets to play in the champion tournament in June.  11-20 send 2 players. 21-30 sends 3.
- I am uncertain to the logistics of why the tournament is held 6 months later in June. The tournament will be held in New Jersey again this(next) year.
-Prize support requires your meta to send someone from your meta to pick it up.   I thought the prize support was excellent at $15 last year.  
-The champion tournament will be run at a convention (hosted by Gadzooks I think) and will have non champion events that anyone can attend for an undetermined ticket price.  I will attend regardless of if I am my metas champion or not.

-Everyone declares a faction at the start.
-You will get 6 pre generated 50 SS games to play in any order.  Best record(s) is the champion.
-Tournament sounds like it will be a multi-day event.  Last year it was 5 rounds in 1 day.
If you have any questions on the TFL I will do my best to answer them or you can get ahold of Chris Weinstein on Facebook.

So with that out of the way onto my up coming project.  Parker Barrows.  Adam just closed a poll where he asked what master do you want and in depth write up on.  While he did not intend for write in answers Parker did manage to win the poll.  So I decided I would pick him up in the near future and run him as a side project and see if I can figure out what makes him tick.  I will probably run him at local tournaments until I have 30 games with him.
On the surface I can see why he won the poll.  Why pick this guy if you have the other 7 masters available to you.  Nevermind the in faction models are a hodgepodge hot mess of why are we allies?

So from what I can determine there is resource juggling that will be the first thing I need to get a handle on. I can see there is an order of operation in which upgrades I want to discard and which ones I want to add back.  His attack is mediocre but can punch once for min damage 5.  There probably is a little bit of hidden finesse in his attack but I suspect I will get more mileage out of his other abilities.  It's obvious he will play different from every master I've already played.  When I have played against him in the past there is nothing that jumps out on his card that makes him a threat that needs to be removed at first opportunity.  So the focus shifts to the nasty items in the crew.  In turn that allows Parker to score or deny victory points.  The problem is I have beaten him all 3 times I have faced him by ignoring Parker.  Thus making crew selection exponentially more important.

When I acquire the crew I will have a totem I'm not sold on.  Might be situationally good depending on the opposing faction.  Short range healing might be good if the crew is slow or stationary and able to survive an alpha striking model.  Mad Dog looks good and will probably make it into most lists.  Moderate range solid damage.  He only lacks defensive tech.  Bandidos look like cheapish scheme runners.  But they don't seem to do anything I would need them to do.  So I will maybe put one in to help with schemes (or to bluff schemes) but I doubt 2 or more will see the table unless it's a demo game.  So beyond the crew box I already own the Wokou raiders.  I need to paint some up for Misaki so they will be on the paint table this week.  I like the deceptive nature of these models but I expect to be hosed by the fate deck.  So I will report back on what I think of them after I play a few games with them.  Dead outlaws look ok.  Not sold on if I will buy them right away.

I own Tara and her box but not assembled.  I have the metal Levi, Von Schill and Vic's Boxes.  Misaki obviously but her crew is not outcast native (less the Wokou Raiders).  The Torakage and Oiran are mercs but unlikely worth pulling into outcasts. I also have a handful of mercs to try out.  Now to see about digging up some unwanted metal Ronin... I will update when I acquire the crew.  With any luck wave 5 will help shore up his weaknesses.

The Curtain Rises: Taking a Look at Collodi

Mini-Musings

-Probably the biggest piece of news is, of course, the announcement of what will be available for purchase at Gencon this year.  There's lots of good stuff there, more than I'm going to break down here. I know that the Malifaux Musings authors (particularly Phiasco) are giving the alternate sculpt of the Hungering Darkness an appraising look (now with 100% more face tentacles!) Take a look for yourself, and then prepare your con budget now.

-The other big news was the release of the July errata for Malifaux. As Aaron had previously stated, the plan is to have two Errata updates a year, with the early one being the place for major changes to the game while the mid-year one is for smaller tweaks and adjustments. As such, there are only a handful of changes affecting the Arcanists and Gremlins. All of them could be described as "nerfs" (cuddles, according to the Forums language filter) adjusting some of the parts of the game which aren't working as intended and giving too much of a tactical advantage. Wind Gamin can die now, which needed to happen. Practiced production can't be used on Malifaux Raptors anymore, which also probably needed to happen. I don't know as much about the stuffed piglets problem, but it must have been one for them to have increased their cost. I'm told (by internet comments) that people are still going to use them for Wong, so I guess they must not have been nerfed into the ground completely. Somehow Phillip and the Nanny escaped the nerf-bat, likely with Phillip whistling innocently to himself as they faded away into the fog. 

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Master of Puppets

               Earlier this week, I posted a poll to A Wyrd Place and the Southeastern Malifaux Player’s Group on Facebook, asking for a suggestion for a crew to build over a series of articles in the coming weeks ala the old “Tale of Malifaux Bloggers” series that used to be in vogue for gaming bloggists like me. I threw out a handful of masters I owned already but hadn’t given the time they deserved including Hoffman, Marcus (I got him for free from Through the Breach’s Kickstarter program and like the paint job I did for him), and Ten Thunders Misaki, among others. What I didn’t realize is that you have to select an option to close a poll’s responses to limit them to those you put into the machine, and suddenly the write-in votes took over. Parker Barrows flew to the top of the list, followed by the puppet master Collodi and Jack Daw. Over the course of the week the three masters battled it out for first place, and Parker came out on top. Unfortunately, there’s an issue with me playing Parker: I don’t own him and I don’t have money to buy him right now (more on this subject in a later post.) I could have just theory-crafted him and played him in Vassal, but I want this series to include the modeling and painting process (plus who doesn’t like to have pretty pictures of painted models to look at,) so I’m afraid I have to put Parker on hold for the time being. If you voted for him, I apologize and I assure you that I will get to that crew in the future. Don’t worry, you’ll be getting Book 5 soon and you’ll forget all about my disappointing you. At least I hope so.

               So that left me with Collodi, the second place finisher by 1 vote. I already play Neverborn, so I have a good pool of models to pull from to round out a Collodi crew. I own the metal boxed-set for the puppet master from back in the day, so you guys will get a bit of old-school-meets-new-school flavor with this one. I assembled and painted them once upon a time, but tbh I’ve gotten better as a painter since then and I feel like I should strip and restart them. That’ll depend on how much time I have available in the future, of course, but it’s a project goal. For the time being, however, let’s take a look at where Collodi started, who he is, and how people play him in Malifaux today.

From Workshop to the Stage

               The story of Malifaux is really my favorite part of it, so if you’re her for hardcore crunch and battlefield analysis, you’ll probably want to skip this bit and move on to the next section. If you’re still reading, let’s step into the way-back machine and take a look at the story of this character and his origins.

               Collodi is a construct from when humans first came through the breach from Malifaux. He was built to serve as an entertainer for children, creating puppets and putting on shows for them in the streets. And he was happy with that lot in life. Unfortunately, the Breach closed and humans were trapped earthside, and poor Collodi was left behind with no one to entertain (apparently Terror Tots aren’t that into puppet shows.) He built puppet children to watch his shows, but it just wasn’t the same. Thus, when humans returned through the second breach, Collodi rushed to them eagerly to resume his purpose. The humans didn’t understand his intentions, however, and drove him away with axes and torches, teaching the construct to hate. He returned home and determined to teach humans the loneliness he had experienced by taking away their children and using their blood to build his puppets. He now wanders Malifaux with his painted wagon, putting on shows and spiriting away victims in plain site of the world’s new human denizens.

               He was introduced in “Rising Powers,” the second book released for Malifaux 1^st edition, and continued the strong tradition of literary allusions in Malifaux (Carlo Collodi being the pen name of the author who originally wrote "The Adventures of Pinochio." The puppet master has popped up from time to time in other stories over the years. One short story demonstrated one of his attempts to take over a town by infiltrating his toys into it, and another from M2E discussed his discovery of a Coryphee and adaptation for his own purposes. Probably the most recent use of him in the fluff is making a cameo in the most recent Through the Breach world event. One of the pregenerated characters was a construct built by him, and you could run into Collodi in the days of the first breach and potentially prevent him from becoming a horrible child-murderer.

So, all-in-all, there’s not a ton of fluff for Collodi in the game, and most of it is pretty one-note. It would be interesting to see him interact a bit more with some of the other masters or characters, though one assumes that he gets along pretty well with Zoraida (what with the puppets and being from the days of the first breach and all.)

A Tale of Old Malifaux

An image inscribed on a Grecian urn? A cave painting? What could it be?

               It seems a little silly to talk about “old” Malifaux since Wyrd only passed its 10 year anniversary recently. Or course, then I went to a tournament and put my alt-metal Lillith on the board and was met with a look of “huh?” from my very young and very new to the game opponent, so maybe this is one of those “the 1990s were 20 years ago even though it seems like yesterday to you” things. So, come sit at old-man-Adam’s knee and he’ll tells ya a tale of olden days, when a model’s rules took up two 3x5 index cards (assuming you didn’t need a separate flow-chart for them) and soulstones added to your flip instead of giving a + modifier.

When Collodi was introduced he was a henchman, not a master, and could be hired into any of your Neverborn (or Leveticus) crews. Which, of course, you always did because Collodi was ridiculous in M1E. Every time one of his Marionettes took a walk action he could snap over into base to base with it, ala Hoffman, and then the Marionettes could snap automatically into B2B with him (jumping to the front of the base rather than the nearest edge to cheat for another inch of movement). They were pretty quick to begin with and he could make them Fast, which essentially meant Collodi could cross the entire board in a turn if he wanted to, and was often sprinting into the backfield for Breakthrough or something similar (remember, you picked your schemes from the full list in M1E, so it was always available). The little marionettes didn’t do a ton of damage, but his ability to hand out Fast meant that his little ball of puppets would chop through most things you would throw it at, one wound at a time. If that sounds like a bit too much, that’s because it was, particularly when you threw in that it gave you 4 cheap activations to improve your model count on top of everything else. Things would need to change before he moved to M2E.

Modern Puppetry

               The biggest alteration, obviously, was his promotion to master along with all of the M1E henchmen. So, no more soul-crushing Pandora crews that just splashed in the Collodi package for scheme running/additional misery. Second, his movement shenanigans were sharply curtailed. When he was initially published, you could probably argue that he was one of the models that made the transition from 1^st to 2^nd edition by getting slightly nerfed (though it’s a bit of an apples to oranges comparison), but that was probably necessary and allowed the game designers to introduce some cool, thematic abilities to replace what he lost. A stat line of 5(M), 6, 9, 5, -, 2 isn’t immediately inspiring, but that’s because Collodi’s job isn’t to fly into the middle of the enemy and wreck the crew, it’s to conduct from the mid-field. Most of his abilities operate within a 6” bubble, as do many of the effigies which he would employ, so he can’t hide in the back. If he gets attacked physically he has a built in mask trigger to push away 3” after resolving, so at least you can get away from physical attacks. For stuff that attacks WP, well, we might be in trouble…

               I remember everyone being very excited about being able to hire things with Puppet from out of faction, especially since Coryphee have now been added to that club. Of course, then we read that only Arcanist crews can combine them into a duet, and we got sad again, but c’est la vie. He can apply “Personal Puppet” to a model within 6”, which allows those models to take 1 damage and then a 1 AP action every time Collodi takes damage, and/or sets them up to be sacrificed to let Collodi ignore an attack. Marionettes are the prototypical target for this, as they have an ability to ignore that 1 damage, but theoretically you could put this on an Illuminated or something like that to let you hand out free attacks, which could be handy. And, last but not least, you have Accomplice to allow for some chain activation shenanigans.

               The back of his card is what really defines him. Collodi’s main (only) attack ability is “Pull the Strings,” which does a moderate amount of damage with a built in + modifier and has a number of triggers to make opponents unhappy. The built in trigger puts Slow on the target, which is potentially quite mean in and of itself. With a crow you can perform an Obey on an enemy model which, surprisingly, is arguably the least useful of the triggers, since it still leaves the target with both AP on their turn, but could win you the game in the right situations. Finally, the meanest one of all, A New String basically combines those two triggers, letting you declare what the non-leader model does with the 1^st AP on its turn. So rude, and with a 7 Ca on the ability you’re likely to be able to hit with it when you want to do so, and a Rg of 10 means he can screw with a pretty solid area of the board. His tactical actions help with manipulating your crew (are we detecting a theme, yet?) My Will is an Obey for friendly models which gives them a + to any duels while they’re performing it. Extra Thread gives you a limited summon to create replacement Marionettes or Wicked Dolls out of scrap counters, though at the cost of a moderately good card with a suit. So, from the base card, Collodi is a tactically disruptive model that can operate as either a force multiplier for your crew or an inhibitor of the opponent’s. 

                 We’ll take a look at his upgrades next time, and maybe get an idea of what models I have that can be used with him right now, versus what I’ll be needing to acquire in the future. 

Book 5 Pre-Previews: Ten Thunders

A heavy couple weeks of news and announcements, followed by a quick look at the new models coming for the Ten Thunders.

Mini-Musings

-OMG Gosh it's Book 5! We got a peek at the cover, as well as a description of what's coming inside, namely new upgrades for all the old masters! Hmm, where did I hear that one mentioned before... Ok, so before I get in trouble, let me reiterate that when I wrote that post, I WAS NOT on the playtesting team for Book 5 yet, and I did not, in fact, know anything. There's a reason I haven't mentioned the theory again since. Anyways, we saw a quick preview of a couple of the new upgrades that are coming, one for Lady Justice that gives her more of a hit-and-run style of play, and one for Seamus that takes his already impressive ability to manipulate Terrifying checks and turns it up a notch. More on these when there are more available to discuss.

-A new issue of Wyrd Chronicles came out as well, discussing some of the design process for Book 5 and what's coming. Also, there's a Through the Breach adventure published in there by one of my favorite authors, wherein you take a fellow he's afflicted with Black Blood to go get a cure, only to discover that the cost of this cure may be quite high.

-The cover of said Wyrd Chronicles features this year's Gencon Nightmare Edition box, which has been shown to be an alternate Hamelin crew styled like a Crazy Cat Lady. Not my cup of tea (I don't play Hamelin) but it's a funny idea all the same.

-Additionally, the issue of Wyrd Chronicles mentioned that this year's Miss Model is an alternate Taelor named Miss Deed, who looks like she'd look right at home in any Western themed crew. Additionally, an alternate Sybil was shown as well. You earn this one by spending $60 on Malifaux products during August (like, oh, I don't know, Gencon stuff or instance.) You fill out a form on Wyrd's website, send them a picture of the receipt, and you get the model. Couldn't be simpler!

-Are we done with Chronicles yet? NO! There's also a competition going on with the Gencon sales! Any time you buy something at Gencon or online during the convention, you get to vote for whether Nicodem or Lady Justice wins a duel of fate! What could be the consequences of this? Who knows! 

-The art previews have continued to come, this time for the Cyclops from Neverborn in Monday Previews and two more commanders from The Other Side. I don't want to link them all, you can find them easily enough. 

***

Ten Thunders

Gwyneth Maddox-8ss Henchman-A henchman Lynch has to pay for? Hard Pass! But seriously, she’s interesting. Seems to be an upgraded Beckoner with some interesting card manipulation abilities. Luck thief makes enemy + flips count as – flips against her and allows her to heal when models miss attacks against her, which should provide some interesting defenses. At the beginning of its activation it can stack the top 3 cards of the fate deck or throw them away, so some more card manipulation for the Ten Thunders, particularly when paired with her (0) Hit Me to draw some of those cards into your hand. And The After Party lets you get away with not bringing the Addict upgrade by just building it in to her from the start. Her gun is ok, with a built in trigger to spread more Brilliance which the Lynch crew has probably needed. And finally, her 1 AP Come Play At My Table works a bit like Bert Jebsen’s Cracker Jack Timing as a way to pull models into base to base with her, and can also hand out some more Brilliance with a trigger. Very interesting model.

Katanaka Crime Boss-8ss Enforcer-Finally, the alluded to mafia side of the Ten Thunders is getting some representation in the game. These guys seem like they’re designed to hold points in the game, as the front of their card is designed to resist shifting them from a particular spot and punish enemy models for dropping scheme markers near them. This is paired with a decently damaging melee attack on the back and a nasty one-two punch with the A Lesson You Won’t Soon Forget that boosts the Nagamaki’s mediocre Ml value to 5 and grants a + to the damage flip. It can heal with a 0 action with the familiar Calls Unto the Chi tactical action and can give itself an ability until the end of the turn to draw a card whenever an enemy model activates inside the Crime Boss’s engagement range. Interesting not just for the abilities, but because the Thunders don’t have a ton of “Hold this Point” type models.

Lotus Eater-6ss minion-Another defense oriented model, the LE has the same protection money ability as the Crime Boss and Bully, which makes an opponent discard a card to walk or interact within 3” of them. The Lotuses that the minion eats are scheme markers, and it can chew on one at the beginning of its activation to either heal 2 damage or take a 0 action (even if it has already declared one this turn). One of the model’s 0 actions lets it move and eat another scheme marker, potentially allowing for a chain of movement and making it pretty good at defending against Claim Jump. It has a middling melee attack that uses CA and heals the LE, or it can place a condition on an enemy model forcing it to discard two cards to be able to declare actions on its turn, which can be enhanced with the Aggressive Stance to force weaker WP models near the LE to take a – to all duels involving the LE. Could be useful as a denial piece.

Obsidian Statue-9ss Enforcer-A heavy beater for the faction, this model combines some defensive abilities with a relatively hard hitting melee attack. At the end of its activation, it drops a ht3 50mm marker in base to base with itself to create some mobile cover. It has armor, can’t be pushed, placed, or buried while the statue marker is on the board, and drops scrap markers every time it gets hit which can then be used to heal itself. The model is designed to set things on fire with its Spew Lava attack to give it burning and then land a melee attack with its obsidian fist, gaining a + to the damage flip if they have burning. It’s always tough to tell which beaters will end up being most effective when so many are already in the game. It isn’t very fast and the Df of 3 leaves something to be desired, but it could do some damage in a crew that can overcome these issues.

Charm Warder-5ss Minion-Another defense oriented model, this one punishes enemy summoning crews. Any model summoned near them gains the Entropy condition, which deals damage to equal to the condition when the model activates and can then be reduced at the end of the model’s activation, at the cost of discarding cards (which most summoning crews can’t afford to do.) They also block scheme marker placement near them, and can offer some protection to friendly models near them that have activated, granting them a + to Df and WP duels and by using its Charm of Vanishing (0) action to make attacks against the model have the chance to fail. They can also hand out Disguised, deal a little damage in melee (not the reason you would take a warder, but still handy to be able to switch between Ml or Ca for the attack and Df or WP for defense), and can add on Entropy with an attack.

Tanuki-5ss Minion-This model is an odd one, as tends to be the case with Tri-Chi. Any model that activates within 8 of it and in base to base with a scheme marker gets a point of poison, which can end up being slightly easier to set up than it sounds with its built in defense trigger to place a marker every time they succeed on a defense check and get a little extra movement or with its Gourd Bop attack, which also drops a scheme marker. It can force models to reduce their poison condition by half and take all that damage at once, which is potentially useful (or painful for a McMourning crew.) Alternatively, friendly models can reduce their poison condition by up to 4 and heal a point for each. If done to aTri-Chi for 3 or more wounds, it hands out Reactivate to minions or enforcers or Fast to Henchman or Masters. Finally, when they activate they can chose to immediately end their activation, drop a scheme marker, and then count as two models for the purpose of the strategy. So, they could be good as scheme runners, presumably, though Wk 5 and no mobility tricks other than the defense trigger don’t naturally suggest that. I’ll not pretend to be an expert on the Brewmaster, but this doesn’t immediately jump out to me as being amazing. 

Book 5 Pre-Previews-Rezzers and Outcasts

I've had some personal life stuff going on lately and been grappling with a bit of burn-out, so I apologize for the lack of posts in recent weeks. To make up for it, I thought I'd give you a double-sized pre-preview article, this time taking a look at the Ressers and the Outcasts. But first, an art heavy segment of mini-musings!

Mini-Muses

-There've been a few Art Previews since last I wrote. One is the Bultungin, the Neverborn minion previously discussed. It looks like the image above. The other is the Lampad, whose image I put with the Ressers below. Finally, there's the Guild's Monster Hunter, pictured immediately below. I dig her. 

-Meanwhile, The Other Side has started doing Friday Previews as well. Here comes Charles Edmonton and the Storm Siren. 

-Ok, I lied, there's one more Art Preview. Nathan stuck it in a different place on the forums. It's Kandara, the Arcanist model coming out soon. And, if you follow the link, you can watch a video of Alyssa actually painting the image. Cool.

-Wyrd has another Game Designer job opening. Got what it takes? Send 'em an application.

-Finally, the Malifaux game rules are now available for free in French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish (as well as English, of course.) 

Outcasts

Benny Wolcomb-8SS Henchman. A new friend for Hamelin, Benny seems like he might be another member of the rat catching brigade. If he takes damage, he can discard a card to summon a rat. Also, he has an important role to play in removing enemy scheme markers. His Rat Presents ability allows him to place a friendly scheme marker next to an enemy scheme marker within 3” of a vermin at the end of the turn and then remove the enemy marker. Rude. To help make this happen, several of his abilities have a tome trigger for “Drop It,” where you make them drop an enemy marker after damaging them. His greatest offensive potential in the late game comes from Bleeding Disease, but he has a melee attack from a knife and a 0 action attack that scales damage based on how many vermin are standing within 3” of the target. Finally, he can eat other rats within 3” of him to heal himself a point per rat consumed. An interesting defenseman model to confound enemy scheme efforts, and a pretty decent henchman.

Freikorps Engineer-6ss minion. A fairly standard Freikorps type model on the front of the card with relatively standard attacks on the back, the most interesting thing about the Freikorps Engineer is his ability to alter armor from targets. As a 0 action, they can increase the armor value of friendly models, with a couple of interesting triggers to add Rams to the friendly model’s attacks (only Outcast models for this one) or a Light Distorting Device which gives all non-melee attacks a – flip to hit. Additionally, a trigger on the melee attack lets the librarian reduce the target’s defense.

Prospector-6ss minion. This is an interesting minion. First of all, the Prospector’s “Spend Soulstone to Make Soulstone” refunds you a soulstone at the beginning of the game after your crew deploys, which is nice. Additionally, every time they discard an enemy scheme marker with an interact action, you get to add another stone (though this feels like the ability actually reads “enemy will not use soulstones near the prospector.”) If you don’t want to earn a soulstone for ditching a marker (for some reason) or want to stand back a bit from the one you’re discarding, there’s “Appraise” which discards a scheme marker and then makes you discard a card, draw a card, or nothing based on the result of a card flip. There’s a kind of Rg. 8 Lure spell called “I’ve struck soulstone” that has the bonus of letting you drop a friendly scheme marker. And finally, the tactical action with the groan worthy name “I’m just talking about shafts” turns the lure into an attack, because any enemy model that moves within 6” of the prospector and ends a move or push within base contact of a friendly scheme marker takes some damage. An odd little guy without a ton of offensive power, but the scheme marker manipulation and soulstone refund makes him interesting. And he’s a merc, so any crew can hire him. Could be silly with Collette, maybe.

Talos-8ss enforcer. A new toy for the Void crew, Talos seems to be some kind of construct/furnace that buries people and burns them up for his own benefit. It can heal itself for the number of wounds a model has when he buries them, but takes half those wounds as damage if the creature unburies. He does the burying with “Into the Furnace,” a Rg 2 attack resisted by WP which buries a nonleader model. His melee attack gains an inch of range while something is buried, and he can burn up a buried model for 2 points (take that, stupid Malifaux Raptors). Finally, he has a 0 action to force enemy models within aura 3 of him to make a Horror check versus a TN of 10+the number of enemy models which are buried. Seems like an ok beater (anything with a minimum 3 damage melee attack usually qualifies) though he has a lot of competition for his slot in non-Tara crews. The buffs from having models buried might make him better with his sub-faction than as a generalist.

Marlena Webster-8ss Enforcer. The orphan from the Divergent Paths event is apparently a Teddy and Orphan together in the same model, now. They can charge an enemy that drops a scheme marker near them, hitting with protector claws that do decent damage. It has a Squeel-esque mask trigger to push away from things that hit them, with the added benefit of smacking the attacker for 2 points of damage. There’s a vaguely nasty ranged attack that ignores hard to kill and wound and, with a trigger, can prevent healing for the rest of the turn. It can discard scrap markers to summon wicked dolls, which is interesting but probably not that useful, and most importantly can use a 0 action called “Soul Tether.” You make a Cast to beat a TN10 targeting a friendly leader. The amount by which you exceed the TN becomes the value for the “Tethered” condition and, if that leader is killed, they are immediately healed back to life for the value of the condition and Marlena takes the same amount as damage. The condition then falls off. Ostensibly this is designed to be thematic with Leviticus, but I could see using it on, say, Victoria before launching her up the board as a sort of insurance policy or wound buffer. I think she’ll see play, though again, the mid-high point enforcer space is crowded for Outcasts.

The Midnight Stalker-8SS Enforcer. From a thematic standpoint, I love the idea of another serial killer in Malifaux, especially one that has a massive inferiority complex towards Seamus. His front of card has an interesting balance of abilities that will make choosing when to activate him key, as models get a double negative flip to target him before he’s activated for the turn, but his respect for the art ability makes it so he can only attack models that haven’t activated yet. At the beginning of his turn he is reborn, healing all the damage he’s taken and placing within 8”. He gets fast if he’s on the opponent’s side of the board, which is new and different, and ignores intervening models when moving. His melee attack is a pretty standard ml 5 2/3/5 sword with critical strike, but he can use a 1 ap action to give himself a ram for every model with which he is engaged. And, finally, if he’s dealt damage that turn, he can force anyone trying to charge him to pass a TN14 Wp duel or the action fails. My first impression is that this model is fun and characterful, but possibly not that competitively viable due to the less than inspiring attack (the crit strike ability is nice, but swapping 2 attacks for one attack with more critical damage isn’t going to make a huge difference, imo.)  

Resurrectionists

Asura Roten-8SS Henchman. A henchman with roots in the Through the Breach module A Night in Rottenburg, Asura is an interesting addition to the faction. She has a Sandeep-esque ability to hand out her melee attacks to undead models within 12” of her. She places a Quarantine Marker within 12” of her at the beginning of her activations, which boost the damage of the aforementioned melee attacks or can be used to summon a Mindless Zombie with a 0 action. These markers force enemy models that activate within 3” to pass a TN14 WP duel or take a point of damage. Finally, she can eat corpse markers within 3 of her to heal 2 per corpse. Probably the most interesting ability is the Grasping Hands, which reduce the target’s Df, Wk, and Cg by 1 point per instance of the condition. Seems she’s built to interact with mindless zombies and other less than stellar minions, handing out her melee attacks to either drag the enemy’s models to a halt or grind them down with her attacks. Could be interesting with a crew that has Mwahahaha or lots of smaller minions, like maybe an alternate spammy version of Nicodem maybe.

Kentauroi-8SS Minion. This is an interesting model apparently based on Centaurs (though, considering Ressers are involved, I have a suspicion the man and horse halves didn’t necessarily START attached to each other.) They have an ability to taxi models around ala Gracie or Iron Skeeters, so that’s automatically interesting. The model seems to be built around transporting models and then charging, as its lance attacks do the most damage on the charge and they can use a 0 action to let them charge when engaged, so long as the target is different than the one with which they are currently engaged. After the charge, their loose stitches causes them to take 2 damage and drop a corpse marker in base to base contact. The centaur can use its 0 action to pick up the corpse marker and heal the damage, or you can leave it for summoning or as an attack point for Reva. I think these will find a place in many crews.

Bone Pile-6ss Minion. This model seems best used as a higher point scheme runner. They take one point less damage from enemy attacks, reduce enemy damage flips with a negative flip, and are immune to all conditions that are non-scheme or non-slow. With a 2ap action, they can bury themselves and unbury at the end of the turn from a corpse counter somewhere on the board, which they can then discard to heal 2 damage. At the start of their activation they choose from a trio of buffs: One which increases their movement, one that grants a plus flip to their attacks, and one that makes the bone pile count as two models for the purpose of schemes and strategies. Their attacks are somewhat middling, so you’ll probably want to pick from the first or last option and use these guys to take care of some schemes.

Gravedigger-7ss Enforcer. An interesting utility piece, the Gravedigger’s job is to grab corpse markers and move them around the board. This is reflected by a condition, Corpsebarrow, which goes up by 1 for every corpse marker this thing discards with its varied abilities. The Gravedigger pushes to corpse markers that other models drop within 6” of it and discards them, giving it the condition. Additionally, the Gravedigger can use a 0 to discard a corpse marker within 2” to increase the condition as well. What do these markers do? Well, a model can target the Gravedigger like they’re a corpse marker, reducing the condition by one for each marker that would be discarded for an ability like summoning. Secondly, the Gravedigger can discard markers to fuel the damage on its attacks. There’s a little risk in doing this, as a model that can remove conditions gets rid of your corpse markers, but if the Gravedigger dies it drops corpse markers equal to its Corpsebarrow condition in base to base, so at least you won’t lose corpses that way. Finally, assuming any corpse markers are left on the board, the Gravedigger can make them count as friendly Scheme Markers with a 0. And, if none of that does anything for you, the Gravedigger can push enemy models around for a wheelbarrow ride and potentially slam them into terrain for some damage. I think the utility will have a place in many crews.

Little Gasser-4ss minion. An undead gremlin? Ok. Apparently it’s a gremlin’s corpse inflated with poison gas? ………..ok……… It moves over terrain and pushes an extra inch when something pushes it, and puts the Poison condition on any models within 2” of it at the end of its activation. It can do an AoE pulse forcing non-gremlins to pass a TN 15 WP duel or suffer damage as a 0 and then, with a trigger, push some more. Finally, it has a not impressive melee attack with the infect trigger, or a different trigger that, in the unlikely event the Gasser kills something (maybe you left a weak model on one wound for it to finish off,) makes it count as having been killed by the poison condition rather than by the Gasser. Potentially useful with McMourning describes that trigger and, potentially, this model in general.

Lampad-7ss Enforcer. Based on Nymph companions of the Greek goddess of witchcraft (two greek mythology things in Book 5 ressers? is this a theme?), this critter is based around burning. All of their attacks give burning. They have a ranged attack with blasts, all of which spreads more burning. Any model that ends their activation within 3” of them gets, you guessed it, burning. And they can even use their 0 action to float 6” and give burning to any model they pass through during the move. But why all the burning? Well, because any model which dies from Burning damage within 10” of them lets the Lampad summon a new Lampad in base to base for the cost of a card from your hand. Pretty good, but I’m always a little leery of something like this because it asks a lot of the model playing it and also relies on the opponent not taking steps to stop you (burning can always be reduced at the cost of their AP, remember, to say nothing of good old fashioned condition removal). I think the damage part is good, and the summoning should be considered a bonus. Getting a full-powered Lampad for one card is a pretty good deal, but it’s going to be tricky to pull off. 

Book 5 Pre-Previews: Gremlins

Mini-Muses

-Wyrd has put together a Bundle of Holding deal wherein you can acquire pdfs of all of the Malifaux Miniatures game books for $27.88. Pretty good deal, and part of the proceeds go to the St. Jude's Children Hospital. 

-May 20th to 21st was the date for the Malifaux International Team Competition, a really cool event put together by Mike Marshall for international competition ala the Ryder Cup in golf. This year's event ended up with the USA triumphing via team Trump Card. 

***

Big Brain Brin-7ss Henchman-A Gremlin support henchman, Big Brain Brin seems like some kinda great big smart Gremlin. She can clear conditions off of models, which is always helpful, and can hand out reactivate to another friendly Gremlin with WP 4 or less (which costs her a card from her hand, unless she’s ok with sacrificing said Gremlin at the end of their second activation.) Her attack isn’t exactly amazing, but has a tome trigger to hand out Insignificant. She lends some support to her allies against attacks that target WP, traditionally a weakness of Gremlins, and can cancel triggers from enemy models within 6” of her (albeit, again, at the cost of a card.) Her DF of 4 leaves something to be desired, however, so you’re going to have to be protective of Brin if you’re going to use her. She strikes me as more of a “tech” piece to counter Resurrectionists or Neverborn at first blush, but I could be wrong.

Gatraeux Bokor-6ss Enforcer-Despite having a nearly unpronounceable name, the Bokor is a fairly straightforward model. They seem to have two roles you can choose from in your group: handing out a condition reminiscent of Kirai’s curse that grants a + to Ca attacks from other Gremlins against the target or spending 2 AP to grant Reactivate to Enforcer or Minion Swampfiends. That, plus a 0 action ability to give another model in the crew the Faded trait, which lets them reduce the damage from the first attack that hits them to 0, with some triggers to add additional utility. These could potentially be useful in Wong and Zoraida crews.

Wrastler-5ss Minion-Little cousins of Mancha Roja, presumably, these guys continue the Lucha Libre tradition of Gremlin society. Tap Out provides an interesting defensive ability, allowing you to prevent them from being targeted by enemies for the rest of the turn after an enemy hits them for 3 in a single blow. They have Diving Charge, which is useful and charcterful (just gotta give them a turnbuckle to climb and leap off.) When operating on their own they have a relatively hard hitting melee attack that can use a ram trigger to replace the damage with placing Paralyzed on the target. If there’s another friendly model fighting the target, they can use Tag Team which has a lower damage spread on its base damage flip, but has a built in trigger to do an additional 1/2/3 damage flip as well. That paired with “Give em a shove” to push target models around and their ability to discard scheme, corpse, or scrap markers which they finish a charge in base to base with to add some additional damage make for an interesting cheap beater for Gremlins. Plus, they make me want to build a professional wrestling themed Gremlin Crew (Mah Tucket converted to Hulk Hogan? Trixiebelle as Ms. Elizabeth?) so that’s always a good thing.

Flying Piglet-4ss Peon-Well, it had to happen. We have flying piglets in Malifaux now. They have Diving Pigcharge, which is interesting, and can be summoned by models that can normally summon Stuffed Piglets. They have an incredibly troubling attack named “Drop Bowels” which, if you’re thinking “Maybe it doesn’t mean what we think it means,” does a little bit of damage and poisons the target. So, yeah, it probably does mean the flying pig is pooing on you. Jaw Dropping Amazement lets them hand out slow, which is pretty strong for a 4ss model. And, finally, it can do 2 damage to itself to drop a scheme marker. Putting a handful of these on the board and using them to strip AP off of enemy models gives these the potential to be relatively annoying, especially given the fact that they’re summonable.

Bayou Smuggler-6ss Minion-Probably the main reason to bring these is the ability to, when you use a soulstone to draw cards, discard an extra one to refund the soulstone cost. That’s potentially VERY useful. Longtime readers of Malifaux Musings know my affinity for card manipulation shenanigans, so the fact that they get to draw one when they’re in a duel where the opponent cheats appeals to me. Their smuggled goods lets them reposition enemy scheme markers. Their “The Swap” ability lets it change places with an enemy model at the cost of letting them place a scheme marker next to the enemy model prior to changing places, which could potentially backfire badly if the enemy is doing a “Detonate the Charges” style scheme but does have some interesting utility. There’s a forgettable attack with a paddle with a push trigger and an ability to discard all markers within 3” of them (at the cost of discarding one card per marker, which may be a little high.) I think the Smuggler may have a place in crews just for the Barter Economy, but it has some interesting utility all the same.

Gremlin Crier-7ss Enforcer-I’m interested in the fluff for what’s going on with these guys, as a town crier doesn’t initially scream Gremlin to me. They can take wounds to draw cards for each card a friendly model discards near them. They have the Lucius “Highest Authority” ability, which will help them survive when they use Gremlin Bureaucracy, which makes all enemy models and any conditions on models within 3” of it not count for schemes or strategies until the end of the turn. They can hit people with their bell and get a + to damage flips if you have more cards than the enemy, and have a short range lure attack that does damage if the target ends up in base-to-base contact after the push. And finally they have some interesting survival abilities, in that they can discard cards to heal themselves as a 0 action and, when they die, they summon a Bayou gremlin into base to base first before removing the Crier from the board (essentially the gremlin deciding that they’re tired of doing this job.)  

Book 5 Model Pre-Previews: Neverborn

I'm moving over the next couple of days, so you get your Neverborn preview early. Congratulations!

Mini-Musings

-The Monday preview was a model we're reviewing in this article (not a coincidence) so we'll get to her later.

-In lieu of any other news, let me give a plug to a newish podcast, High Fauxdelity. They have a unique take on the podcast format, selecting a Soulstone value and debating the best and worst models at that soulstone cost. Every host nominates a model, and the only rule of the debate is that the other hosts are not allowed to agree with any nominations other than their own. Other than their bloody April Fools episode, which tragically I started playing while driving and couldn't safely turn off, I enjoy their show very much. Check them out!

-And speaking of podcasts, Arcane Reservoir, the most consistent and longest running UK Malifaux podcast, has launched a brand new homepage. Check it out, too. They've done a great job of branching out into a full multi-media experience. The podcast is very much oriented towards competitive tournament play in the UK meta and are unapologeticly firm in supporting their opinions (I still smart from their assessment of Titania's abilities as a master, fair though they may have been), so it may not appeal to all listeners, but I'm betting the website should have something for everybody. 

***

Hinamatsu-9ss Henchman-Obviously a melee oriented henchman, as it has melee master to give it two additional AP for melee attacks. That means potentially four (4!) attacks per turn. Yowza. Has some armor and an ability that prevents Hinamatsu or enemy models within 6” from taking actions outside of their activation, so will not be Zoraida or Collodi’s friend, despite being a puppet. It gets a + to attack flips and initially does only a weak 1/2/3 damage spread. However, each hit also adds a condition that stacks on additional damage on additional hits until Hinamatsu hits them for at least 4, at which point the condition falls off. To keep from overextending him, you can snatch enemy models from 6” to him, and with its 0 action it gets to cheat fate on any attack with a + flip (like its melee attacks) face down. Df 5, armor 1 and 9 wounds isn’t exactly invincible, but Hinamatsu looks like he could put some hurt on the enemy in the right circumstances.

Cyclops-8ss Enforcer-A new Fae for the Queen! This one gets to pitch a card on its activation and gain either a bonus to its ranges with a mask or a small heal with a ram. It has frozen heart, which is usually handy, and the Santiago Ortega suite of “Hits you harder when it’s taken some damage and has hard to kill," which also has potential to be useful. Has a pretty decent melee attack (albeit with only a 5 ML stat, but what’re you gonna do) that can gain blasts off of a ram trigger (see also the Santiago abilities.) It has a very random 0 action ability where it targets nearby scheme markers (which Titania will likely be creating, remember,) flips the top card of the fate deck, and generates some kind of effect based on the card. Could be interesting with Zoraida or some other model that lets you know what card is there, but a bit too random for my tastes, particularly when its other 0 action is to summon Ice Pillars, which is always helpful. I’ll let you guess which one I’ll be using more often…

Bultungin-5ss Minion-A fitting introduction of the Abyssinian folklore (they’re about to become a big deal in Malifaux/The Other Side, after all,) the Bultungin is a werehyena from various East African cultures (presumably. It’s what came up from my Google search, anyway.) You’re going to need to be careful with these guys, as Df 5 Wp5 Wd6 and no defensive abilities doesn’t inspire confidence. Everything with these guys is built around trying to get off their 2 AP Savage Mauling attack. If the enemy drops a scheme marker within line of sight of them, they gain a condition that lets them move an extra inch per instance of the condition at the end of the turn. If they move into melee range through something other than a walk or charge action they can discard a card to take the Savage Mauling attack. Their 1 AP melee attack has a trigger to then take their 2 AP melee attack. So the 2 AP attack must be pretty great, right? Well, 3/4/5 Ml6 is not exactly overwhelming, though a 5ss minion doing it is alright. I guess it seems like a lot of set-up to pull it off. I could be wrong. 

Adze-7SS Enforcer-Some more African folklore, the Adze is a vampiric sort of creature that can be either a firefly or take a humanoid form. They’re a 40mm incorporeal model that has a souped-up version of the Primordial Magic’s ability to count as a Scheme Marker, as you can discard a card to avoid having to discard it for the Scheme in question. It has a Melee 6 attack with a built in trigger to heal itself for the amount of damage dealt. It can also use the Will-o-the-Wisp’s Wisp call ability to dictate the enemy’s movement to them. Their 0 action can lock a non-leader model out of their 0 actions for a turn, which could be situationally useful. Finally, they have a tactical action that looks an awful lot like an attack action, a 2 AP Ca attack that forces the target to pass a TN12 WP duel or take a 3/4/5 damage flip. Something for the aforementioned Wisps to borrow and use, I suppose. 7SS for this guy might be a little steep, but I’m interested in the scheme marker ability and the synergy with other Wisps.

I am Grootslang.

Grootslang-6SS Minion-Yet more African folklore, this creature is truly unique, essentially being a creature created by the gods that is part Elephant and part Snake (realizing their mistake, the gods split them into the two creatures after their creation.) This model is built around using Terrain to its advantage, gaining a + to all non-damage flips when in contact with a marker that counts as Terrain (Waldgeist trees, Lillith forests, etc.) Additionally, they do more damage when in base-to-base with a Lair marker. What’s a Lair marker you ask? They’re a ht0 50mm marker that you place 3 of anywhere on your half of the table at the beginning of the game. Grootslangs ignore penalties for severe or hazardous terrain when moving, which is handy, and can hop from lair to lair as a 1 AP action (no interacting after they do so, of course. That would be pretty crazy.) They have a harder hitting rg 1 attack with their claws or a slightly weaker rg3 melee attack. When they take the lair to lair action they can use a mask trigger to take a free melee attack. And, finally, they can discard a corpse or scrap marker with which they are in base to base as a 0 action to make a new Lair marker. It’s an interesting model, to be sure. I’ll want to see it in play a bit more to be sure of what it can really do. The mobility seems handy, however, and 6SS is relatively cheap for all of these abilities.

Hey good lookin'.

Serena Bowman-7SS Enforcer-Finally, our second Divergent Paths model, the Trickster, joins the ranks of the Neverborn. The flaying she endured has resulted in her gaining Disguised and a Thick Skin ability that prevents her from taking pulse damage. Perhaps most eyebrow-raisingly, when she dies she doesn’t drop a marker and you resummon her in your deployment zone at the end of the turn. Wow! She has an ok melee attack with a fun trigger when she kills someone to put on their skin and make it harder to attack her with melee actions, but I have a suspicion this won’t see as much use as her other attack, Black Blood Tendril. This one lets her work as a sort of poor-man’s Reva or Rasputina, giving her a range 3 melee attack that she can have pop out of any model with Black Blood within 12” and LoS of her. She can give a Nightmare model Black Blood for the rest of the game, and with a trigger can then give it to a Non-Nightmare within 3” of the original target. Finally, she has a healing spell that needs a ram to cast unless she casts it on herself, which is handy if nothing else because Neverborn don’t have a ton of healing in-faction. I like her. I like her a lot.