Tournament Report - English GT, 1st & 2nd July 2017

This isn’t going to be a long blow-by-blow account of games played, more a general write-up of how things went for me at the English GT. This is partly because my notes are atrocious and partly due to me trying to mentally suppress what happened…

 

Anyway. These were the games. I took Box Opens Pandora for all 5 rounds but changed the crew up on a pretty regular basis depending on what I thought I needed to get the schemes done.

Round 1: Alex Hill, Neverborn Lynch. 3-6 loss

Round 2: Nick Featherstone, Guild Lucius. 8-8 draw

Round 3: Lee Battrick, Guild Lucius. 9-2 win

Round 4: Ross Hill, Voices Pandora. 4-7 loss

Round 5: Ben Leslie, Zipp. 1-6 loss

There was a pretty common thread running through these games. Apart from round 3 (sorry Lee!) my scheme selection was awful. I always seemed to find myself wishing I’d taken something else at some point, or I’d picked a crew with a particular scheme in mind and then not taken the right scheme or misplaced the key model.

 

Prime example would be round 5, Stake a Claim. I had Pandora with Fugue State, Doppleganger and Primordial Magic. For those who don’t know, that means potentially 7 casts of Nullify to make enemy models Insignificant until they kill whoever cast it on them. Good luck Staking a Claim to anything at that point.

Only, I got obsessed with melting Zipp with Pandora. I did it, but by that point in turn 2 the Gremlins had 4 Claim markers down and my Silurids were dead. So there’s 4 strategy points I’m not getting. And I had Frame for Murder on the Primordial Magic thinking it would be target number 1 if it was stopping models interacting. Funnily enough it wasn’t because I hadn’t nullified anything until it was too late (edit: it's been pointed out this was an even worse cock-up as you can't take Frame on a Peon). And when you plan to take Inspection with 2 Hexed Amongst You Waldgeists and then only take 1 Waldgeist, don’t then take Inspection.

 

So yeah. Moral of the story is to think scheme choice through a lot more than I have been. Inspection is a poor choice with Neverborn due to their lack of solidity, but it’s been fine with Guild and Arcanists either due to massed ranks of models or Armour. Leave Your Mark was such a gimme with Arcanists thanks to Practiced Production, but Neverborn like most factions will need to take an actual scheme runner to get it done. And I don’t know Neverborn well enough yet to identify which models straddle that key model / disposable model line well enough to warrant being a Frame target. More homework needed.

Pandora herself is coming together, and I’m starting to work out what she can do and what she can’t. A key part of what she does is her 0 action Incite which she uses WP for, so she can push through Fading Memory if she casts successfully. There’s a trigger on a tome to let her do it again, so if you hit the trigger and cast successfully twice then you have control over when your opponent activates 2 of their models and Pandora has pushed 4” twice. Canny opponents will try to stop that first Incite to slow her right down.

 

The bane of Pandora is attacks with a stat of 7. I’m happy to rush up and engage enemy hitters with Ml6 because if I keep a 13 in hand, I know she can get away thanks to Fading Memory (which by the way isn’t a trigger, so tough luck Joss). If the enemy model has a stat of 7 then they can force through the hit meaning Pandora can’t push away. And that in turn causes her huge problems because she’s now taking damage from a heavy hitter and only has 10 Wounds.

What Pandora loves are enemy models with healthy damage tracks. In the 2 games against Guild Lucius I faced 3 Witchling Thralls in total. None of the 3 made it to turn 3. She tore Zipp apart because Up We Go is a melee attack and he’s WP6, meaning she had a stat advantage and his 10 Wounds didn’t last long when he was repeatedly beating his head against the ground and taking Misery damage in the process.

 

A big problem I had initially was what to do when there weren’t any big beatstick targets for Pandora to deal with. But after playing a few games that’s getting easier – just stand in the middle of a clump of lesser models. When they activate they have to take a Fears Given Form DF14 duel or take 3 damage. If they try to hit Pandora or walk around her, TN13 Horror duel which will result in Misery damage. Should they want to disengage she’s stopping them with a 7 stat. And Inflict, an attack which forces WP duels for all enemy models in a 4” pulse or take 2 separate lots of 1 damage, will shred an opposing hand trying to keep things alive. All that combined is usually more than enough to see off several 4 or 5 Wound models at once, which takes the pressure right off your own crew.

 

 

Funnily enough that’s the other bit I need to work on. I have a few tricks that I’m happy with – Rougarou pinball, catapulting multiple Teddies, laying out a string of Paranormal markers – but it’s the bread and butter of the crew that I can’t seem to stick on. I think I need to start fixing elements for a few games instead of swapping so many models so often. What are the advantages of Sorrows over Insidious Madnesses. At what point do Changelings factor in. Who do I want to support Pandora in the ‘horribly murdering the enemy’ role. And so on.

 

So that’s where I am at the moment. English GT was a great event, and although I got kicked in the head for most of it I’m hoping the lessons learned will stick with me long enough to make it worthwhile.

Tournament Review - English GT, 1st & 2nd July 2017

Venue: Wayland Gaming Centre, Hockley, Essex

Tournament Organiser: Stuart 'Snezzley' Snares

I don't do many 2-day events any more. Between my bipolar struggles and an employment status that I can only describe as 'in flux', there are a great many benefits to being back in my own bed at night. With that said, I wouldn't miss the English GT. As soon as it was announced I was one of the first to pay up and Snezz delivered again.

There were a few technical Gremlins as well as the ones on tables, but they were sorted out quickly. We all had plenty of space, round times were 2 hours and if you couldn't access Bag O Tools then Snezz was quite happy to stand at the front and bellow out the draw.

I did love the atmosphere. Snezz is one of those TOs that's just as likely to be involved in the good-natured teasing as any of the players and it filtered down to most of the field. Certainly on and around the tables I played at, there were no game faces in sight.

Special nod to the painting competition. Lunch on day 1, any entrants set out a single miniature for the players' choice voting. Lunch on day 2, it was full crews for the judges' choice. I did like that idea, means that there's plenty of time to look at everything.

Prizes were generous, considering the low ticket price for the weekend. Nice big trophies for 1st, 2nd and 3rd, players and judges painting, mugs for best in faction and a hotly contested spoon, and what I can only describe as a metric f*ck-ton of store credit that was raffled off. One slight gripe was no best sports, but I appreciate that there aren't many TOs who give that out, and in the Malifaux scene pretty much everybody is awesome anyway.

All in all? Bloody well done Mr Snares. See you next year.

Runners and Riders

Wooden Spoon: Tom Nickerson, Guild

Best Painted (Players Choice): James Henley, Guild with Hoffman's Avatar. And bloody amazing it is too! Check him out on Twitter @henners900.

Best Painted (Judges Choice): Martin Jones, Gremlins. Seriously, the bases on this crew are the best I've ever seen. Martin has stacked them with swamp detritus then poured resin on top so that each model looks like they're standing on a slice of the Bayou. I don't know how he did it but combine it with how well the figures are painted, it looks incredible.
Best 10 Thunders: Troy 'Default' Ashdown

Best Gremlins: Martin Jones

Best Guild: Matt Lewin

Best Outcasts: Tom Thorpe

Best Neverborn: Lukasz 'Lost to Joel But Nicked His Trophy' Rozanski (I kid - enjoy Cap'n!)

3rd Place: Josh Leak, Resurrectionists

2nd Place: James 'Bridesmaid' Doxey, Arcanists (or is it Archanists?)

1st Place: Jamie Varney, Resurrectionists

Big congratulations to everyone!

Wax Lyrical - Oxfordian Mages

So in keeping with my desire to give me as many excuses to write as possible, here’s a new thing. Extolling the virtues of models I feel are worth another look. This isn’t a ‘here’s the card, here’s a walkthrough of everything on it’ style of rundown, more of a commentary on strengths, compensating for weaknesses and good uses.

The first subjects under the spotlight are the Oxfordian Mages for Arcanists. Wyrd have given these guys two different sets of 0-cost upgrades that they can carry in an attempt to boost them up, but to be honest I’m not entirely sure they needed them.

 

 

Anyway.

So what do you get when you hire these guys and girls? Well, for starters, these are one of the few models that you really should hire all 3 models from that boxed set. With the Temporary Shielding upgrade they gained, if you hire all 3 you get a discount, bringing their cost down from 6SS to 5SS. You can have 2 for 12SS or 3 for 15SS – for me personally that’s really a no-brainer.

 

Another compelling reason to hire multiples is how they work. Thanks to their front of card abilities, they gain an extra Tome for each other Academic within aura 3, a keyword that they have themselves, up to 2 extra Tomes. And boy can they make use of those Tomes.

Their main cast action, Elemental Bolt, is a fairly lacklustre Ca6 2/3/4 damage. But it has 4 triggers, each of which require a single Tome and so become built-in with 1 other nearby Mage. They are; ignore Armour, hand out Burning +1, hand out Slow, Push target model 2” in any direction for each Tome in the final total. 

 

And that’s what you take them for. The Mages are range 10 and can Furious Cast, so you can access that toolbox an awful lot of times in a given turn and from a healthy distance away. It means that they become control pieces as well as raw damage dealers. Models that rely on their Armour won’t want to risk it. A model in cover can find themselves pushed out of cover by one Mage with Focus so their friends can Furious Cast a target that thought it was safe. They can sap AP by handing out Slow with reckless abandon, making them an even more irritating proposition in strategies like Stake a Claim and Squatter’s Rights. The Push (which comes after succeeding, not after damaging) can really mess with positioning. And Hard to Kill can be neatly circumvented with a timely Burning +1 finishing the model off at the end of the turn.

That versatility is another good reason to take them – they’re a good pick pretty much regardless of the Master you take, with strong synergies with 3 in particular.

 

Sandeep loves him some Oxfordian Mages, and they love Sandeep. As Academics they can copy his actions, including the 0 actions to Place and Interact. Sandeep can, via an upgrade, take a 1 action that means Academics within aura don’t randomise when casting into combat. And he can drop a Gamin in next to them that gives them positive flips when they attack. That will really hurt your opponent.

That ability to drop Burning, and the fact that they’re fairly self-sufficient, makes them a very strong pick with Kaeris. They don’t need her to be nearby, leaving her free to exploit her speed and manoeuvrability, whilst you can set models up for a going-over from Immolate or Truth in Flame.

 

The M&SU keyword also chains nicely with Ironsides and Ramos – Oxfordian Mages get a positive flip to WP duels if in line of an M&SU Master or Henchman. Situationally that can be really useful, and means they’re a lot less bothered by Terrifying models than other models might be.

Ironsides also benefits due to Warding Runes, as the only Master who can take it. As well as giving Counterspell, this upgrade keys off a set of 0 upgrades the Oxfordian Mages can take; Blood Ward, Doom Ward and Nemesis Ward. Each of these grants the carrying Mage a benefit, but also confers a benefit to the Warding Runes carrier. If Ironsides is within aura 10 of the Mages, and that’s a big aura, the benefits stack up – immunity to conditions and pulse damage, Regeneration +1, and positive flips to all defence duels caused by the enemy Master. For a Master who wants to be in the middle of the enemy, one of those is useful. All of them vastly increases Ironsides’ survivability.

 

Warding Runes can also be taken by any Henchman. I can tell you from experience, if you think Joss or Dr Sokolov is tanky off his base card, try adding all of those benefits to him as well. Ditto for the Great Carlos Vasquez.

Now look at all of the above and tell me you think the Oxfordian Mage is overcosted at 6SS, never mind the 5SS you’ll likely pay.

Don’t get me wrong, there are weaknesses, some of them quite glaring. But they’re not insurmountable problems.

The first one is that 5 Wounds. Most big hitters will just need a moderate damage to one-shot-kill a Mage. With that said, they do have Arcane Shield; as long as they haven’t activated, they reduce incoming damage by 1, and this can reduce to 0.

He’ll kill me but I have to tell this story – the first time I got a win over Joel Henry, in 3 years of trying, Pandora pelted into the middle of my Mage battery and went Inflict-Inflict-Inflict. That forces models within a pulse to take a WP duel or take 1 damage, then an additional 1 damage for failing the duel near Pandora. The Mages hadn’t activated yet and therefore ignored all the damage thanks to Arcane Shield. I found this really quite amusing. Joel did not.

 

Oxfordian Mages also gain the Temporary Shielding ability off the upgrade of the same name – discard a card and the upgrade to reduce incoming damage by 2. This will combo with Arcane Shield to reduce by 3, and as you choose which order to apply the reduction you can apply the Temporary Shielding first and then the Arcane Shield to reduce 3 damage to 0 if you really need to avoid triggers, for example.

Those abilities are nice and they’ll slow down the opposition, but they don’t help weather a storm. If your opponent wants your Mages dead, they’re going to die. But hopefully they’ll survive long enough for the reinforcements to arrive, or to have achieved their role.

 

The other main weakness you’ll encounter is the traditional bane of casting models – if they’re engaged in melee then they’re nowhere near as effective.

 With the Oxfordian Mages, that’s not entirely true. It certainly isn’t true for whichever Mage is carrying the Blood Ward upgrade, as their Cast gains a claw which means it can be used in melee. There have been a few opponents who have gone in to tie the Mages up only for the Blood Mage to Furious Cast at point blank range and either remove the threat or use all those Tomes to Push it clear.

 

All Mages have a 0 action that they can use in melee. Granted, a Ca6 attack with a 1/2/3 damage spread isn’t all that. But it does get interesting with triggers. 1 Tome means you get a Soulstone back after damaging. 2 Tomes knocks the damage track up to 2/4/5. And 3 Tomes gives you Deathtouch – the target must discard two cards or two Soulstones, or be dead. So they’re no pushovers.

I won’t lie, using Oxfordian Mages properly takes some practice. You want them close together but not in such a clump that one model can neutralise all 3. Their casts are projectiles so you need to be wary of cover and randomisation (unless Sandeep because Sandeep). And they’re not particularly quick. But if you can get the knack of it then you have a little powerhouse in your crew for the princely sum of 15SS.

Got a model that you want to Wax Lyrical about? Drop me a line! If you’re happy to write it I’m happy to post it.

Opening the Box of Worms

So the great Pandora experiment has reached half a dozen games played, and at this point I thought I’d jot some thoughts down to reflect on it.

I went into this knowing full well that it would require some serious play style adaptations. For most of this year I’ve been playing Arcanists who are one of the more forgiving factions. They have ways to score schemes coming out of their proverbial. Practiced Production makes most of them so easy I’ve actually started a thread on the Wyrd forums asking the games developers to look at it. The Arcanists have at least 3 tools for pretty much every occasion and as long as you bring the right tool and don’t play like a complete dickhead (there’s my problem right there…), any of those 3 will probably do the job.

 

That’s not been my experience with Neverborn so far. I’ve made some real clangers. Using a buried Bandersnatch to try and score Accusation for example – the model is buried, so it doesn’t engage anyone. They just remove the condition and carry on, whilst I thump my head against the table. And between Fears Given Form and Misery it is far too easy to accidentally kill a model, either yours or the opponent’s, and cost yourself Frame for Murder or Set Up.

 

There have been some amusing moments courtesy of ‘Panzer tech’, weird ideas I like to use to throw people. Rougarou Pinball was an experiment in Arcanists courtesy of Cojo, but actually works pretty well in Neverborn with Barbaros and Tooth. Using Wisps and Poltergeist to drop 3 Paranormal markers a turn (they project a 3” bubble that requires a TN15 WP duel or gain slow – why would that be bad around Pandora…) was funny, and may actually have a place in certain circumstances.

 

But things are starting to mesh. Pandora has won 2 games, drawn 1 (it was 4-4 after I cost myself both schemes – I’m counting this as a moral win) and lost 3, and I understand now what she does and what she needs. Of herself, on her card, she doesn’t do an awful lot. She needs enemy models to mess with. Use their damage tracks against them. Make them take duels with nasty consequences if they fail. Get those infamous auras in the right place. Joel Henry was spot on right when he said that she’s plutonium – being near her is very bad for your health.

 

Pandora excels at blocking your opponent and clearing out their weaker models. What’s new for me is that I need my crew to deal with opposing heavy hitters as well as having point scoring capability, as opposed to sending Lady Justice, Marcus, Ironsides, Sonnia or Rasputina to remove the threats like I’ve always done. It’s a completely different way of building a crew.

My game last night was a crushing defeat at the hands of Joel but the chat after the game and some emails flying around has given me some new ideas, and I’m looking forward to trying them out at the English GT this weekend down in Essex. I expect to be lower to mid table at best, and my tiny brain will probably implode day 2 with overwork, but I’m gonna give it a go!

 

 

Hot Topic - Chucking Principles in a Box

Good morning, Malifaux world.

A lot has happened since this blog went to sleep. Wave 5 has been confirmed and much of it appeared on an open playtest. There have been many, many events. It turned out that Americans really can play Malifaux and us Europeans were being sniffy. I know, right?

 

Anyway. I’m making resolutions here and now to try and get the blog active again, so without further ado, here we go.

This post was inspired by a tweet from Tobias Dracup about how he felt that his game had hit a glass ceiling lately. There was a lot of advice given, and most of it was very useful. A tip that stuck out for me included getting practice games against better players, something I’ve long been a big believer in. It’s why I make the hour’s drive north to Leicester every Monday for Squigs night. Well, correction. It’s why I started making that drive. Now I do because they’re my best mates and Monday evenings are the highlight of my week. But you also have the UK number 1 and 2 in regular attendance, along with 4 other event winners and our newer members, nearly all of whom are hitting podiums lately as well (sorry Scott, your quest for relevance continues… have you tried playing Gremlins?).

 

Some of the advice Tobias received was from me – look back at your defeats and see if there are any common themes. Any particular strategies. Any particular factions. Are you getting your scheme choices wrong. And so on. Identify problems and work to fix them.

Primarily I am one of those players that plays the game for fun. I do it for relief. I do it because I enjoy it. I do it because I thrive on the social interactions. But, and I think everyone who plays competitive anything will admit this, I do like to win too. And lately I have started to realise there are games I’m losing regularly, so I took my own advice.

It’ll come as no shock when I admit to being an aggressive player. I love the alpha strike. Applied brutality is a beautiful thing when it works, and a top-ranked player has to do a double-take because the erratic loon across the table has just pulled off a Master assassination run top of turn 2. There are other aggressive players on the scene now – Baby Squig Chris Donaldson, the shop-keeping walking rage machine Karl McConnell of Warzone’s Own and the Gonads’ (I know it’s Faux-mads but Snezzley renamed them and I can’t stop myself…) Tim Britton , to name but 3.

That means that players are adapting to deal with aggression and what I’m seeing a lot of is chess-style piece / model exchange. My opponents accept that at some point, something big and powerful that they don’t want to lose is going to disappear, and potentially a couple of its friends as well. So they set up to make extra sure that the counterattack takes my hitters down too, leaving the shells of both crews to score the remaining points in the game.

 

This is where I tend to lose. That tight, technical last couple of turns where things like activation order and finesse are paramount. Your top tier players are ultimately happy to end up in this situation because they back themselves to win these exchanges.

One game still sticks in my mind against the nicest guy in Malifaux, Rich Bream. My Sonnia crew tore into his Pandora crew with such gusto that I was 7-0 up by the end of turn 2. I was then completely outplayed, didn’t score another point and lost 9-7.

So my areas of improvement are painfully obvious. I need to teach myself some measure of finesse and learn the finer points of the game so that I’m not completely outclassed once I’m done smashing things off the table. That means playing a faction and Master that isn’t particularly forgiving of mistakes, rewards good technical play and proper activation order, and will let me get to grips with these things.

This is where it gets slightly murky. After thinking about it I realised there is a Master that meets those criteria. It’s Pandora.

 

Yes, I know. THAT Pandora. The one that induces epic keyboard-smashing rage. I can hear the indignant squeak from Castle Marshall even as I type this. That same Pandora that I published an article for here on this very blog telling people thinking about playing her to go and buy a WhoreMachine rulebook. The Master that I once bought, painted and sold 6 months later having never played.

But think about it for a second.

She is all about auras, and getting her areas of effect to overlap with those of her crew to catch enemy models between them. That means she needs to be in the right place, and the right place for her is up front. Her wounds count is a pathetic 10 and if you get it wrong, her only defence is a stat of 7. Cock it up, and I’ve seen plenty of Pandora players do so, you’ll lose her and you’ll lose her early.

The activation order has to be right in order to get that placement for her. Fears Given Form, the Neverborn upgrade that forces difficult Defence duels on activation with pain if you fail, is a double-edged sword for that reason because it affects both friend and foe. Get your bubble wrong and you could potentially have to take all those tests with your own crew, and Neverborn aren’t renowned for their staying power.

 

That lack of staying power is why, in my view, Neverborn aren’t a very forgiving faction. If you screw up then you can lose models to a single activation from your opponent. But get it right, and have those cogs turning properly, and they are very, very strong.

So I’ve decided to risk the nerd rage and play some Pandora. She ticks the boxes I need to be ticked in order to learn, and her way of coming at your opponent sideways appeals to me.

 

I’m aware of the Negative Play Experience potential and will be doing my best to mitigate it. Paralyse builds don’t appeal to me in the slightest for that very reason. I’ll be more than happy to talk things through with my opponent after the game, assuming they didn’t kick her head in. And I’ll make sure before we get going that they know what to look out for.

Ultimately though I think this experiment will be worth it. I need to learn, and Pandora will teach me. And along the way, through my own thundering incompetence or post-game chats, I hope a lot of the myths about her can be deconstructed and she won’t be so scary for people in the future. And if they prove true, at least I’ll have facts and evidence on my side rather than Internet dogma!

Hot Topic - Panzer's Crew of the Year

Afternoon all, 

After batting a few ideas back and forth with the Little Lass (aka Eless, Bunty and a few other names she doesn't like so I'm not using - Bane of Kneecaps hurts when you're 6'4" and have a long way to fall), I had an idea for a topic that I actually quite fancied having a bash at myself. So here we go. 

What's your Crew of the Year? Not bothering with faction boundaries or the need to actually accomplish anything, what 50SS of models have you found yourself enjoying most over the last year? This was inspired by those vapid 'team of the week' articles that Garth Crooks vomits forth for the BBC (his continued employment amazes me - I hear more insightful things shouted over the fence by drunk people at 3 in the morning). What if people who can string a sentence together put a Malifaux spin on it?

So this is my Crew of the Year. A few bits of it might surprise you but this is one benefit of the 'what the Faux...?' approach I tend to take!

Master: Ulix, Gremlins

Cache: 4SS

Husbandry: 3SS

Dirty Cheater: 1SS

Here you go - shock number one. My favourite Master of the year is not only a Gremlin, but one universally derided as crap. 

 

It'll come as no shock to learn I disagree with the Internet on this one. Not going to lie, Ulix has a number of shockingly awful matchups. The entire Neverborn faction for one. Marcus for another. Ressers spawning Belles for another, and in general anything that can abuse the ludicrously low Willpower score of his entire crew. 

But... If you can drop him into a game, you won't be disappointed. His summoning engine is deceptively simple once you work it out. Got a big pig? Have a 9 handy, and you can put a piglet next to it. Need a big pig? Have 3 scheme markers handy plus a 12, and CALL FORTH THE PORK (yes, I did put on the voice and the stupid gestures when casting this). Plus, he can do an impressive version of Prompt or Machine Puppet that grants positive flips to the attack if you want something flattened. 

Ultimately, I just found it so hard for me or my opponent to take the game too seriously when one side is spending the entire time generating bacon and then trying to flatten the other side with it. Ulix was sometimes brilliant, occasionally awful but always entertaining.

Totem: Malifaux Child, Outcasts

Cost: 2SS

OK, the Malifaux Child is here for 3 reasons. 

 

First is the versatility. I take him with Colette for extra Prompting, Sonnia for Flame Walls, Kaeris for Flaming Halo, Wong for cheeky extra Lightning Jumps and lots more. There are always choices unless you're a complete muppet and lose your Master early. 

Second is my model. I can't paint so I add little touches to make my models my own. The Child is a homage to reigning Master and my good friend Graham 'BluTack' Bursnell - it has a dolls house scale packet of BluTack on the base, Mr 53 on the back in tribute to his favourite crew size, and a phone featuring Rob Smith's angry face from when Graham left him at Leicester train station at 6am. 

Final reason is courtesy of the Squigs resident lunatic Brooks Martin. Malifaux Child + Mei Feng = Karate Kid. Fun enough to warrant playing Mei Feng. 

Henchman: Dr Grimwell, Guild

Cost: 9SS

Research Grant: 1SS

Disrupt Magic: 2SS 

I love this guy. Not only do you get to live every mad doctor cliche going without sullying yourself by playing McMourning, you get to put down a 'starter' model that nobody knows. 

 

The main thing I love about him is the (2) action Lobotomise. 4/6/10 damage at Ml7. Did I mention he's Nimble to make it easier to get in position for this? He's Nimble to make it easier to get in position for this. 

The moment of pant-wetting terror on an opponent's face when they realise Grimwell does that much damage and is standing next to one of their key models is worth the Soulstone cost. Every now and then, when he hits that Severe or even a Red Joker and takes out a Peacekeeper in one shot (done it twice now - sorry Craig!), the stories just fuel the terror. Gaining a Soulstone back for every kill is just the icing on the cake. 

To be honest though, the games he's really earned his points have been the ones where he's used his speed and power to chase down and eviscerate enemy scheme runners, or sat near a casting model putting them on negative flips thanks to Disrupt Magic and performed brain surgery on anything that's tried to dislodge him, or used his Doctor's Orders to push a model that the enemy thought was done. 

He looks straightforward and he can be. But he's got hidden depths...

Henchman: Phiona Gage, Guild

Cost: 8SS

Wrath of the Guild: 1SS

Debt to the Guild: 1SS

There had to be some pickaxe love in here somewhere. And here it is. 

 

Phiona and Nellie form, in my view, the strongest Master / Henchman combo in the game. They both make the other that much better. Phiona is here and Nellie isn't simply because a lot of what Phiona can offer translates well to other crews as well. 

She makes a great bodyguard due to being able to place into melee, push her ward out of melee, and then thump something as well, all for 1AP. She can summon blocking terrain. She has a surprisingly long charge range and a long reach when she gets there. And she has a version of Smell Fear too. 

Plus, I just love twatting things in the head with a pickaxe. I'm only human. 

Phiona is also here so I can wax lyrical about Debt to the Guild. At long last, after 3 waves of dross, in wave 4 the Guild got a generic upgrade that's worth taking. It's our Oathkeeper and Imbued Energies. It's not if you take it, it's where you put the 3 copies you're allowed. Draw a card and do more damage for a turn, and the upgrade stays in place for Show of Force purposes. It also pays for itself if the model dies, giving you back the Soulstone you paid. 

Thank you, Wyrd. 

Enforcer: Angelica, Arcanists

Cost: 6SS

Practised Production: 1SS

 

The primary reason I started using Angelica was as a caddy for Practised Production. That upgrade is pure unadulterated filth. Place a scheme marker near one of your models, and ignore every single rule about placing markers whilst you do it. You can drop a marker off a Malifaux Raptor that's in some obscure, unreachable corner of the board and score your schemes with a big, stupid grin and absolutely zero skill. 

I use Angelica over the much more popular Cassandra because a) I can't get Cassie to turn in 8SS of value yet, and b) Angelica feeds the all out aggression I so love by pushing models around, and letting me give a Sabretooth Cerberus or two a head start is going to make somebody's day that bit more difficult.

Minion: Ice Dancer, Arcanists

Cost: 6SS

These girls crack me up every time I use them. They're so damn good at what they do it's unreal. 

 

Walk 12", push another 4", then drop a Scheme Marker. That's Malifaux Raptor speed with a marker at the end of it. 

Or they can barrel up on the charge, hit with a 2/3/6 damage track, and then skip away afterwards and potentially still drop that marker. That was one of my biggest grins all year - an Ice Dancer kills a healthy Vik of Blood, then pushes away and drops the last Convict Labour marker for points. 

I've not even started experimenting with the ice markers they can drop yet but the Ice Dancers are already amongst my favourites. 

Minion: Field Reporter, Guild

Cost: 4SS

Yep, it's another wave 4 Guild pick! What can I say, we got new toys and they're brilliant. 

 

These can do different roles depending on what you need. They can scheme run themselves, they can mess with enemy scheme runners, or they can play a denial and control game. And they're 4SS! I don't know any models for similar cost that can make the opponent bite through their fate deck in frustration with such regularity. Being able to flip their Scheme Markers into mine for a 9 is an amazing (1) action. 

Minion: Bayou Gremlin, Gremlins

Cost: 3SS

Getting 2, potentially 3, full fat AP for 3SS is an absolute bargain. I lost count of the amount of Gremlin games won by having one or two of these little buggers in the right place at the right time.

 

You don't need to invest anything else in them to buff them, or even use cards from your hand to cheat for them as you can just Bayou 2-Card instead. 

Occasionally they even kill something, and then you really get to wind your opponent up. 

Total: 48SS

Cache: 6SS

So that's my favourite models for 2016 shoehorned into a crew. What are yours?

If you want to have a go at this I'm happy to post up some crews, and other bloggers please feel free to do your own!

Shopping List - Collodi, Neverborn

So, it's been a bit quiet here, but it's time to break the silence with the first guest writer. 

This man knows his Collodi and he was a requested Master, so without further ado...

Hello there folks! Not-Panzer here, let me start with a quick introduction… no wait.

There, that pretty much had to be first right? Anyways, I’m Graeme (Tayne on the forums when I bother to post) and one of Panzer’s teammates. I played Collodi pretty heavily earlier in the year to some success and much swearing by our friendly, resident tank-impersonator. Someone on twitter requested a shopping list for our Puppet Master so, for my faults (and they are legion), I volunteered my duties.

Naturally enough, I’m going to break Panzer’s established three sets rule a little. Collodi has two limited upgrades granting him two different playstyles, ergo I’m going to give you two sets of three. I honestly thought I would prefer one heavily and ended up loving the other, but all that tells us is that, when you get down to it, I’m a bit of a muppet at times (I agree with this sentiment - Panzer).

Fated Collodi 

Fated Collodi is primarily a support master, giving his AP to his crew to get the work done they need, passing on focus or defensive and passing one effigy buff out to his crew each turn. Which leads to our first pick.

1. Brutal Effigy

Collodi can hire any puppets, which gives him access to the seven faction effigies. Now they are of varying use depending on the situation, but the Brutal Effigy is the only one I would put as required. On top of decent stats (for a 4SS minion), it’s his zero we’re looking at here. Fear Not The Sword gives the ability to heal 1 damage after doing damage and draw 1 card after killing an opponent. Pretty good right? It gets better.

Collodi will carry Strum the Threads every time he’s played. He just will. This allows any puppet activating within aura 6 to take 2 damage and go Fast (yes, that includes Collodi himself). 2 damage to self for 3 chances to heal through this buff. The card draw is icing on the cake here, you will not regret taking him.

As a side note, you can use his poor shooting attack to hit Collodi and give the Puppet Lord a free 3” push each time. You may have to cheat to make sure the attack misses though.

2. Stitched Together

These fiendish little treasures will have your opponents cursing you up and down every street of whatever town you’re playing in. Gamble Your Life is a shockingly powerful attack, dealing an uncheatable 3/4/7 to the loser of the duel with no + or – applied.

Now this does mean they can end up dealing a hefty damage to themselves. This is mitigated this by a) picking targets you can bully (Ca6 vs Df, pick the targets with the lower Df stat as a priority) b) them having Hard to Kill and c) getting reactivate when they drop to 1 wound remaining. Yeah, they only have one wound left, but another activation is very, very strong.

3. Widow Weaver





It’s a non-puppet! Yet she is thematically involved with Collodi as she can create Wicked Dolls with her upgrade (it’s an expensive upgrade though - I personally don’t take it) and giving friendly Constructs that activate within 6” of her +1 Wk. Remember those Stitched? Their downside is having a slow Wk4, good old Widow mitigates this for use.

But wait, there’s more. She drops Web markers at the rate of one a turn, lowering the Wp of enemies by 1 per marker within 3”. Collodi’s sole attack is against Wp. Nice. It also boosts her own Terrifying (All) to a potentially higher level. Be wary though, she only has a Df4 and will drop quickly if your opponent focuses fire on her.

I’ll give a quick nod here to Luke Cocksedge, a seasoned Collodi player who runs this Fated list regularly and schooled me with it at Bending Fate. Well played that man, your Collodi is terrifying.

Bag of Props Collodi

With this upgrade, Collodi becomes greedy and steals Focus or Defensive off nearby models to use for himself. He comes with plenty of Marionette totems that can become Focus-fodder in the box, no extra purchases needed there (I generally take 2-3). So, what do I put in his three?

1. Brutal Effigy

Yes. He’s that good he makes both lists.









2. Doppleganger (cue Rooney tinnitus...Eeeeeee-Doppleganger-in-a-dodgy-Canadian-accent-eeeeeee)

You can’t be surprised she made the list somewhere, right? This model is amazing. She has Don’t Mind Me for Interact shenanigans, Ill Omens for Initiative shenanigans and the ability to copy actions on top of a high manipulative value for her defence. She is amazing and almost always causes a pain for your opponent. She is also valued by every Neverborn Master if you’re thinking about later expansion. Buy her, you won’t regret it.









3. McTavish

It’s a tough choice here, you definitely want something big and scary and Nekima or a Teddy could easily be hired if you want to stay in faction or Lazarus as an alternate mercenary, but allow me to explain my reasoning.

Collodi is scary. His attack doesn’t randomise and ignores cover, it has a built in slow trigger and other triggers to make your opponent make an immediate 1 action or steal their first AP when they activate. He is mean and deserves far more hate than he has right now, in my opinion. He is, however, just one model.

Now look at McTavish. A 14” gun that ignores cover, doesn’t randomise and has an excellent damage track. Oh, and that the Doppleganger can mimic for you. On top of this, he has a healthy melee attack to boot. With him, Collodi and the Doppleganger you have a huge control area that your opponent should fear to enter. Nice, eh?

Honourable mention – Mannequin

Now I know I said I’d only do two sets of three, but the Mannequin has a certain place for me that I think needs highlighting. This is due to its 1 action, Magician’s Assistant, which allows models within 2” to place scheme markers anywhere with 6” rather than in base contact with themselves.

That’s right, scheme markers are like Frisbees now.

Now you do still need to keep them 4” from other markers as usual, and you cannot interact if you are engaged (usually, oh hello there Doppleganger!) but this makes schemes like Set Up fairly trivial to complete with Collodi. If I’m taking one of these, I normally have at least two Marionnettes in the list as well to use alongside.

Anyways, that’s all for me. I really need to stop procrastinating and paint models ready for the Nationals…

Apologies to Graeme for taking so long to post this. Yes, he did send it to me before Nationals. But I'm also a muppet. 

Hope you enjoyed the article!