Wave 5: Ashwood Coffin and Perditas upgrades

So Wave 5 is finally out! The Upgrade packs sold out the first day. In this post I will sum up the second Lady Justice  upgrade as well as Perdita`s upgrades. I will continue with the rest of Guild Wave 5 this week.

Lets start with:

Ashwood Coffin

What the card does:

• Gives a (1) Ashwood Coffin that is basically a non-master Ca7 Pinebox
• Gives a (1) Punishment  that allows you to damage buried models.
• Costs 2 Soulstone and is Limited

What it allows to do in game:

Lets analyze Ashwood Coffin.

Pros: Allows burying (with a high chance of not getting out) a non-leader enemy. Its an option to play around Frame for Murder as well as getting rid of double threats in the perfect situation (kill one and bury another). It can also be funny just to block 1 Sandeep summon (preferably Banasuva or the + gamin). It also reduced AP cost of getting rid of Hard to Kill models (as you will need a minimum of 2 hits)

Cons: With Swordfighter Lady Justice has such hitting power that sometimes its pretty easy to kill something instead of risking the Coffin and dying (which puts you at a big disadvantage).

Now lets move to Punishment

Pros: It synergizes with Death Marshal`s Pinebox, the Emissary and model with Glimpse the Void (Recruiters and Aionus). The damage track is solid but worse than the sword. It also shuts down Malifaux Raptors and Killjoy/Tara Bomb strategies.

Cons: In most games it won`t see play that often. Death Marshals and Emissary aren`t really top competitive picks (although I think a lot of Guild players undervalue a Death Marshal). Glimpse the Void on Recruiters blocks the built in Crit Strike and Aionus is pretty expensive. But your opponent picks KJ it will probably autowin you the game. "But hey, you can attack something buried with the Coffin itself" you say. I doubt I`d use it on a model buried by myself unless I`m about to die and have no other targets.

Summary:

So the main issue with the upgrade is that it is Limited which makes you choose between this one, Badge of Office and Vendetta. Now before Swordfighter came out, I found Vendetta to be shit but now with all the + from the new (0) it actually becomes viable (and even more with Jury nearby to get some Onslaught attacks) so you have to make a choice and I found Justice with Badge of Office a real pain to take down. On the other hand if you bury the main damage threat it suddenly becomes pretty easy to avoid damage.

Verdict: 
7/10

Fastest Draw in Malifaux

What the card does:

• Gives a +2 initiative bonus. If you lose initiative, you can draw a card.
• Costs 1 Soulstone

What it allows to do in game:

Pros: This upgrade is pretty straightforward. The initiative bonus is nice and you get something when you lose initiative. It works really well as a lot of Perdita models have Companion so that Initiative in some turns can be crucial

Cons: All I see is that it takes up an upgrade slot and a SS. There are no real drawbacks except you might want to lose initiative sometimes to get a card and end up winning it but that`s just me being super picky :D

Summary:

Its a pretty simple upgrade. Its bonuses are good enough to make it almost an autoinclude.

Verdict: 
9/10 (Why doesn`t it give reckless?!)



Shooting Cans

What the card does:

• Gives a (1) Shooting Cans that lets you discard Scheme Markers. Its a Sh7 Action and the TN is 5+ distance to the scheme marker rounded up. It has a trigger on tomes to do it again (but the second scheme marker must be further than the original one) that can be declared once per turn
• Costs 1 Soulstone

What it allows to do in game:

Pros: Shooting a scheme marker 10" away requires an 8. Thats big. Most of the time enemies will have to have 1-2 extra markers at least to score VP. The action doesn`t have the projectile icon so you can even do it while engaged which is also huge as your damage output is far greater in melee due to the extra ram. Whats important is the action doesn`t specify "enemy" so when someones moves your marker and makes you drop one that will block you from scoring you can remove it (as you normally can`t remove friendly scheme markers)

Cons: Its pretty dependent on the scheme pool and what schemes your opponent picks but since in GG17 more schemes require markers, you`ll get to use it pretty often. With Fastest Draw and Trick Shooting being pretty obvious choices with no drawbacks you will have to decide if you want this, Aura Ancestral, Badge or Vengence Bullet.

Summary:

I think Wyrd is hinting they`d like Perdita to be less of a push-push-shoot-shoot-shoot Master and they start upgrading her with non-damage stuff. First the Emissary gave her the masks for Obey. Now she gets a scheme marker denying action (and it looks like Jury also can give the mask for the Obey but I`ll talk about it soon). Initially I wasn`t a fan of this upgrade but the more I think about it the more I realize that the fact you have it changes how your opponent will pick schemes and play the game as they will most likely need to anticipate losing 1-2 markers.

Verdict: 
8/10 (It should also have Latigo Two Cards ;))

All images are property of Wyrd Miniature (www.wyrd-games.net)

Battle Report - Lady Justice versus Hamelin

First batrep. With my opponents (Bartek) approval I am testing Swordfighter, the new lady Justice upgrade (you can read a review here).


Quick Note: I will not be playing Nellie as I played her almost exclusively for the last 5 months or so

Schemes:

Deployment: Standard
Strategy: Headhunter
Schemes: Claim Jump, Dig Their Graves, Accusation, Inspection, Recover Evidence

Guild:

Lady Justice (Cache 4)
- Badge of Office (once per game reduces damage to 1)
- Swordfighter (Place, attack, place (2) action and recalled training-like buff against a specific model)

Francisco Ortega
- Wade In (Hard to Kill and a (0) with healing)
- Hermanos De Armas ( (0) push to base contact)

Guard Sergeant

Guild Austringer

Phiona Gage
- Transparency (lets you place markers when you hit something)

Brutal Effigy

Guild Hound

Guild Hound

Guild Hound

Guild Hound

Why this:

Looking at the scheme pool I automatically remove Accusation from my potential choices.
This leave me with 4 schemes left and I want to prepare for most of them.

I decided on Justice mostly for the Swordfighter thing. I was thinking about McCabe but I dislike him and since I don`t play Nellie I didn`t really want a lot of shooting as its mostly counterproductive in Headhunter. This leaves us with Lucius who I didn`t play for a lot (and had 0 games after the errata), Justice and McMourning but Outcasts have high chances of condition immunity/poison removal so the latter didn`t seem like a great option. No scheme requires me to go beyond the center line so its also quite good with Justice.


Francisco Ortega: is a bad motherf****r and has min damage 3, Flurry. We all know he costs 9 and has 1 upgrade slot because Wade In is an auto-take. He also got Hermanos to push Justice up the field. I also need someone to get those heads rolling if Justice fails and potentially dig some graves in the process. Defense 7 Justice is a lot scarier than Defense 5 Justice because Riposte doesn`t only trigger on potshots.

Guard Sergeant: is there to do Claim Jump with his (0) as he can put 2 scheme markers and push one of them so they both count for the scheme. He can also push a marker towards an enemy to ease scoring Dig their Graves. Apart from that he`s shit with Df4 but with the armor he can at least take some hits. He does speed up the dogs though.

Guild Austringer: is pretty good in Headhunter due to Deliver Orders. Plain and simple

Brutal Effigy: solid pick for Justice. She gets attacked by a lot of shit and she can get 2-3 Wounds back without using Juggernaut. She can also quite easily get 1 or 2 cards back which is the cost of Swordfighter. He`s also a solid 4SS minion with very good defenses.

4 Guild Hounds: They give me some activation control. I can also pick up heads with them and more importantly I can try to score Inspection or pick up Recover Evidence markers as they aren`t peons.

Phiona Gage: I was actually thinking about Queeg but 2 schemes that I have most chances of taking require scheme markers so Transparency seemed like a nice option. I wanted A Debt to the Guild but couldn`t afford it.

What other units I was considering:

Pathfinder: he really helps with Inspection and trap summons can be annoying.

Master Queeg: I really like him in Headhunter as he can pick up a head from 8" and has 3" engagement which is pretty annoying. Promises works wonders with Justice and Francisco.

Scales of Justice: I think its a bit underrated. Its pretty decent for its cost. It has a nice Wp boost aura and if you combine it with 2 card discard from Swordfighter your chances of card draw are significantly increased.

Outcasts:

Fucking Hamelin (5SS)
- Piper (Obey and 6" no charge aura)
- Infectious Melodies (Minions and Peons can get fast and die at the end of their activation)

Ashes and Dust
-Bigger They Are (Increases damage versus non-Master models with upgrades)

Bishop
- Oathkeeper (Discard for fast)

Freikorps Trapper

Obedient Wretch

Stolen

Winged Plague (Abomination model)

Malifaux Rat

He only has 8 activations. Easy-peasy!

Schemes:

Guild Schemes: Dig their Graves, Inspection

Outcasts Schemes: Dig their Graves, Recover Evidence

I immediately removed Recover Evidence when I saw Hamelin. He can have so many models back its not worth the fuss. I went with Dig Their Graves and was hesitating between Inspection and Claim Jump but I took Inspection because it seemed less AP intensive. Bartek chose Dig Their Graves and Recover Evidence (he wanted to try it).

Deployment:

I win deployment flip and let him deploy first.  

Deployment

Turn 1:

This turn was mostly positioning. Francisco used El Mayor and Cover me on Justice. Bishop double walked and put a scheme marker. Trapper shot a dog and hit moderate with crit strike on negative (he focused, I was in cover). Lady Justice went up the field. Hamelin does his rat shenanigans and ends up with a Rat Catcher and a rat. Austringer Delivers Orders to Francisco to place a scheme marker.

End of Turn one

Score: 0:0

Turn 2:

Bishop`s dead, Baby. Bishop`s dead.

I lose initiative. He forgot Lady Justice has Blindfighter so he activated Stolen and turned into 2 rats. Justice uses Justice at the End of a Blade and charges Bishop. After 3 hits and 5 13s and 12s from the both of us he is dead.

Trapper shoots a dog and misses Guild Sergeant picks up the head of the dog killed in round 1. 2 dogs walk out after trapper misses and put 1 scheme marker. Last dog engages AnD near Inspection and so does Brutal Effigy. Rat Catcher hits Effigy twice and brings him to 2 Wds. Ashes uses Industrial Age on the Effigy which I fail (just on Effigy) and then manages to kill him and then hit moderate on a negative flip for the Hound and creates an Abomination and scores Dig Their Graves.  Plague double walks to engage a dog and block my faked Claim Jump. Bartek creates 2 Rat Kings and one turns into a Rat Catcher. One of the Rat Kings slowly moves towards my Hounds.

Middle of turn 2

Winged Abomination Plague blocks my fake marker

Score: 1:1 (Outcasts score Dig Their Graves, Guild scores Headhunter)

Turn 3:

I lose initiative for the third time. Bartek declares Recover Evidence. I put markers near Francisco, Justice, Austringer and 2 dogs. After moving a rat, Austringer Delivers Orders to Francisco to pick up a head. Abomination engages Guild Sergeant. Phiona charges Rat Catcher, kills a rat from rams and places a marker and leaves him at one Wd.

Francisco gets hit by a Trapper twice and prevents one shot. Frank pushes Justice towards Ashes and Hamelin. Rat Catcher removes my Scheme Marker and places his own. Bartek attacks a Hound with the Winged Plague but misses and goes Defensive. Two dogs bite at him for 3 damage. Second Hound can`t hit because Bartek cheats my 13 with a RJ. Guard Sergeant walks away from the Abomination and pushes a marker towards the Rat Catcher. Justice uses Acrobatic Assault but can`t hit the Rat Catcher, she finishes him off with third AP scoring Dig Their Graves. Ashes charges Francisco and kills him scoring Dig Their Graves. Second Rat Catcher picks up a head.

Turn 3

Score: 3:3 (we both score Headhunter and Dig Their Graves)

Turn 4:

Ashes bring Phiona down to 1 Wd. Austringer makes her pick up Rat Catchers Head. Plague tries to kill Dog but fails and goes Defensive.

Phiona walks and hits Ashes for 5 damage. Trapper falls down the building for 5 damage (4 after Armor) and walks towards a Evidence Marker. Both dogs finish the Winged Plague and score Dig Their Graves. Justice kills Ashes and Dust with her attack and places behind Dust Storm and a Rat Catcher (attacking the Rat Catcher for 5 damage) to prevent them from going towards Heads/Core respectively. I pass all Industrial Ages (except 1 on the Sergeant). Hamelin Pipers my Justice after randomizing twice but only manages to hit once. Ashes Reforms and Rat Catcher picks up head and sacrifices himself from Infectious Melodies while reactivating the Rat King. Rat King picks up an Evidence Marker. Reactivated Rat King kills Phiona for Dig Their Graves.

Turn 4 and the Jumping Justice

Turn 4

Turn 4

Score: 6:6 (Outcasts score all 3. Guild scores all 3)

Turn 5:

I lose initiative fifth time in a row. Trapper picks up an Evidence Marker and shoots dog for 2 and pushes towards second marker. Dog walks and picks up head. Companions into another Hound which charges the Rat King and stays within 4" of the edge.

Rat King hits dog twice but BJ the second attack. (Bartek should have activated Hamelin first and go within LOS to allow him to Infectious Melodies) Justice uses Acrobatic Assault, hits Ashes for 8 and places so she`s within Inspection range. She attacks and fails the second attack. Hamelin walks and Obeys the trapper to pick up the second evidence marker. Guard Sergeant kills Ashes and Dust and score 3rd point from Dig Their Graves and walks towards the edge. Dust Storm attacks the Sergeant, hits the trigger to push, kills her on a straight flip and rearranges into Ashes. Hamelin walks and picks up a head. Game ends

Turn 5

Third Ashes and Dust assembles

More end of game

Score: 9:9 (Outcasts score 2 from Recover Evidence and 1 from Headhunter. I score all three)

Summary:

I had some bad luck with Initiative flips which could have swung the game in my favor at least a bit but overall we didn`t have any insane flips. I definitely need to use Scales of Justice with Swordfighter. I would probably had 8-10 more cards in this game. Inspection was a bad choice as it forced me to lose some models (lucky moderate from Ashes on the Hound lost me a VP). Overall Bartek is a pretty new player but he`s improving rapidly and he`s grasp on Hamelin is getting better and better each week.

Swordfighter: its an autotake. I used Acrobatic Assault way more than I thought I would but it was due to Hamelin no-charge aura and Ashes no-charge ability. Its still great but I definitely need more card draw in this crew to make up for the (0).

Crew Summary: so basically mostly everything worked out the way it should. Guard Sergeant is nice for moving scheme markers and accomplicing before you score Dig Their Graves. Austringer is a very good. Hounds were hounds. At least he activated anything important before I was done. Brutal Effigy is ok. Apart from Scheme selection I think the crew was pretty decent.

Hamelin Crew Summary:  The crew wasn`t really anything special in terms of innovation. Ashes is obviously insanely good although if I could charge it I think it wouldn`t be that abusive. Bishop died pretty quickly so from this game we can say he puts makers quite well ;). I recommended Bigger They Are on AnD to Bartek and its pretty awesome. Rat Kings and Rat Catchers were annoying as always. Winged Plague is a nice scheme runner and Df5 with Armor +1 makes it pretty good for its cost.

MVP: Trapper that shoots a dog, wounds Francisco, falls of a HT5 Building and picks up 2 Evidence markers

      

Wave 5 - Swordfighter

So in this post I will cover one thing we are pretty sure about Wave 5. Wyrd has revealed Swordfighter, a Lady Justice upgrade. I`ll cover the rest when they come out and I get my hands on them.


Quick note: Lady Justice is the reason I started playing Malifaux. Her and the Death Marshals were the box I wanted to get so bad but it turned out it was the time where she wasn`t available anywhere, so I had to pick Sonnia (my second favourite master in Guild)

What the card does:

• Gives a (2) Acrobatic Assault action that allows a place, attack and another place. If you deal damage you get a defensive bonus.
• Gives a (0) Justice at the End of a Blade action which makes you discard 2 cards to get a Recalled Training like boost versus a specific enemy Master, Henchman or Enforcer.
• Costs 1 Soulstone

What it allows to do in game:

First off lets start with the (0) Justice at the End of a Blade.

Pros: Significantly increases her damage output. She gets a positive to her damage which becomes a double positive if she didn`t charge. This is big because it will most likely allow cheating and bumps her damage by 1-2 points per attack on average. You also get a positive to attack so its more likely you will save your remaining hand and get that ram for extra critical strike damage. Furthermore it gives you pseudo defensive stance so you`re less likely to need the heal. With this action even things like Strongarm Suit can be dealt in in one activation (You need 2 Severe or 1 Severe, 1 Moderate and 1 Weak). 

Cons: It competes with Juggernaut which sometimes might require a tough choice but I won`t die if I kill you first. It also is pretty likely you will get a Black Joker in the middle of your attacks.

Now lets move to Acrobatic Assault

Pros: Lets you get out of engagement without risking disengaging strikes. Lets you get through impassable terrain and jump on some building to get those pesky snipers. Its worth remembering that when you make a place any part of your base has to be within X" of the starting position where X is the distance of the place which means you can get X" + base size each time you do it. Its also pretty cool because you can move and still get the positive to damage from the Greatsword. The buff of Riposte is also quite valuable and worth it, especially if you have the Francisco buff. Not many people will want to attack her when she has Protected by Francisco and Counterstance on.
Its also buffs Vendetta because it allows you to make the place, then swing with the Onslaught trigger and then place again giving you 2 attacks with positives to damage (or positives to everything with the (0)) and then another place.

Cons: it costs 2 AP which kind of dictates how your activation is going to look like. Combine the single swing with Justice at the End of a Blade and you get chunk someone pretty hard for 7-8 damage with a swing.

Summary:

Justice is not really a competitive master. That`s pretty much a fact. Its Malifaux so skill is pretty important which means you most likely won`t be stomped by a worse player just because you took her but you will struggle in areas that you could avoid by picking the Chief Editor of Malifaux Tattler. But this upgrade is a very good step in the right direction to make her see more playtime. I don`t think I`d ever pick a crew without it. Good Job Wyrd!

Verdict: 
10/10 (Gremlins have better upgrades!!!!!!1111oneone)