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.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Saturday, August 5, 2017
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.
***
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 1st
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 1st
to 2nd 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 1st 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.
Friday, July 14, 2017
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.
Saturday, July 1, 2017
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.
Friday, June 2, 2017
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.)
Thursday, May 25, 2017
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.
Friday, May 19, 2017
Book 5 Model Previews: Guild
Just a couple of mini-musings this week, then we'll do a quick look at the upcoming Guild models.
Mini-Musings
-Wyrd needs volunteers for Gencon. This is always a ton of fun, and I'm very sad I won't be able to help out this year. More room for you, though!
-Just in time to be too late for my blog, here's the image of the Self-Righteous Man after Divergent Paths/in Book 5. Werewolves with top hats: always a crowd pleaser.
***
As usual, all of these models are still being tested and are thus subject to change by the time the book finally comes out.
Jury-8ss Henchman-First mentioned all the way back in the
fluff from Book 1 of 1st Edition Malifaux, The Jury finally joins the Judge and Executioner in the law
sub-faction of the Guild. Has some utility by allowing models within 6” to discard
a card and add a mask to their duels (like if, oh, I don’t know, you wanted to
Riposte for instance.) He/she/it has an interaction with the fees condition
through handing it out on defensive or offensive triggers and can force you to
discard a card for each point of your Fees condition with a trigger on the
ranged “Throw the Book At Them” action. Finally, the Jury can find you
innocent, guilty, or libel as a 0 to put some nasty conditions on enemy models
or give some healing to friendly ones.
Guild Investigator-6ss Minion-I’m a big fan of the idea of
these guys: detectives that are investigating stuff that’s going on in
Malifaux. Its attack is nothing to write home about (though at least the gun
has a claw symbol so it can be used for melee.) However, it has some interesting
potential in terms of denial of enemy scheme marker stuff, by eating one every
turn (or a corpse or scrap marker) to draw a card, locking the enemy out of
using any scheme markers near the investigator for their actions or to complete
schemes, and by pushing models that are near where a scheme marker is placed.
Cool.
Thalarian Queller-6ss minion-For non fluff-heads, the
Thalraian doctrine is one of the many magical methodologies in Malifaux, in this
case one that focuses on suppressing other spellcasters and creating
enchantment/long running effects. This is embodied by this model, who can toss
out markers to create a sort of mobile version of the “Removes suits from Ml,
Sh, Ca, Df, etc.” effect that models like Hannah have. They can enchant
friendly models weapons to make their damage unreducable, which is handy, and
can use a ranged attack to reduce enemy’s attacks and possibly give them slow. An interesting tech piece, but time will tell if it's useful enough to see play in most games.
Monster Hunter-6ss minion-Reflecting presumably some members
of the Latigo posse who also do monster hunting (how many Ortegas are there?),
these guys interact with the Stalked condition (which they can apply with a 0).
In addition to the free moves generated from it, models with the condition have
to discard a card to cheat fate against them, the Monster Hunter can get a free
attack on them after taking a “Stalked” move, and the Monster Hunter can heal
itself and draw some cards after killing a model with the condition. In
addition, they deal extra damage and take less damage from models with higher
soulstone costs than them.
Domador de Cadaveres-7ss Enforcer-The real headline on this
model is, obviously, the Special Dispensation ability that lets the crew hire a 6ss or less undead model for each model with the ability (so, you know,
Rotten Belles. There are other choices but…come on.) They can hand out free
attacks to a friendly living model within 6” of them that is dying, so that’s
fairly thematic. They have a few attack actions, in that they can make the
opponent discard a card, do some damage (and heal any friendly models that are
beneath pulses generated by their ranged attack) or use an Obey-like effect on
non-leader undead models. Handy and flavorful but, goodness, the new Governor
General must have some interesting policies…
Riot Breaker-6ss Minion-So a new Guild construct that has
been a minion in the Through the Breach roleplaying game for a while now (that's where the above art comes from), oddly
enough, these guys seem to be peacekeeping models of some kind. They block
models near them from gaining any extra AP from fast or casting expert, which
could be situationally useful. They’ll probably be used mostly for their Riot
Gun attack, that adds some cheap blast damage and gives models damaged by it
Insignificant for the rest of the turn. Its Tactical Action seems like it could
be useful for breaking up clusters of models, as a Wk duel of 13 requires a 7
or an 8 for most models to pass, but I’m personally not a huge fan of these
type of abilities, as they tend to not do anything significant when I’ve tried
them. Not sure on this model, but we’ll see.
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