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So, I'm thinking about starting Malifaux. I've played a decent amount of Warmahordes and Warhammer, as Cygnar in the first and the Tau in the second. For those who play neither, both are heavily range dependent factions. Both are also the closest to "good guys" in the morally ambiguous world of tabletop wargaming, and while I don't know much about Malifaux's fluff, I've read enough to know that the Guild are a decent, if not nice, bunch of people with some genuinely moral folks working for them and some truly evil people in charge.

For starting out Malifaux, I decided I'd try something different, and pick up a melee monster. I hit on Lady Justice, both because, near as I can make out, she's a hero of justice trying to do the right thing in a rotten world, and also because she's a blind samurai cowboy and that's awesome.

However, I had a talk with some of my friends at the friendly neighborhood game shop tonight who actually play the game. Neither is terribly fond of the Guild (I know one has Hoffmann and Criid, two of the other Masters I was thinking about, but he prefers Neverborn) so neither has actually played as her, however, both are experienced players whose word I trust. The gist of their arguments is that, while potent under the right circumstances, she suffers from several major flaws:

a) She's extremely straightforward, and is thus ridiculously easy to counter for anyone who has even the slightest inkling what they're doing.
b) She's easily beaten by others when getting the short end of the stick in great game of Rock, Paper, Scissors that is Malifaux, even more so than is usual.
c) She's a one-trick pony, without any ways to work around her flaws, via either models or clever play.

Now, I don't know the game at all, and I only bought the cheap (comparatively, anyway) $15 dollar rules manual tonight, so I'd like to ask the board: to what degree are they right?

My friend plays her so I know that those disadvantages are true but still she is a complete beast in CC. We have only played with the starter boxes so maybe different Guild models in her crew might support her better then her Death Marshals.

In the end though I think bigger army size or different models might help her chances.

The Guild are fascists stealing the land of natives!

I should know, I play them.

Seriously, no one's good in Malifaux.

Also, I don't really think any of your a/b/c's are fully true. She's not a "newbie" master that gets auto-beat by more skilled players. That's simply not true. She's good in good hands, just like any master. In my experience, Malifaux's all about clever play, no matter which master you have (and I've played my share of Lady J). And I don't see her getting the short end of the stick moreso than other masters, either.

Sometimes you have your uphill battles, and sometimes you have your downhill battles, but you can win & lose either one.

Really, I don't see your friend's concerns as founded in anything, especially since they haven't played Lady Justice in particular. Sounds like they're kinda guessing based on what they've seen?

Last: Yes, samurai cowboy ninja. That's why you play Lady J. Because that is awesome. And dude: she's just really fun to play.

Hans Chung-Otterson wrote:The Guild are fascists stealing the land of natives!

I should know, I play them.

Seriously, no one's good in Malifaux.

Also, I don't really think any of your a/b/c's are fully true. She's not a "newbie" master that gets auto-beat by more skilled players. That's simply not true. She's good in good hands, just like any master. In my experience, Malifaux's all about clever play, no matter which master you have (and I've played my share of Lady J). And I don't see her getting the short end of the stick moreso than other masters, either.

Sometimes you have your uphill battles, and sometimes you have your downhill battles, but you can win & lose either one.

Really, I don't see your friend's concerns as founded in anything, especially since they haven't played Lady Justice in particular. Sounds like they're kinda guessing based on what they've seen?

Last: Yes, samurai cowboy ninja. That's why you play Lady J. Because that is awesome. And dude: she's just really fun to play.

First, there's nothing wrong with the esteemed members of the Guild.

We simply try to keep the peace, whilst trying to maintain only a slim profit, in order to fund our meager operation.

And Hans is dead on. Malifaux isn't a game of "Oh, I picked this, so I've already basically won." Save that for Warhammer (Warmachine's got that, but there's still the chance of the 'Feat, WIN!' turn). Malifaux's about being clever. Pick your schemes to best suit your playstyle/crew. Those 3 reasons the guys gave you are wrong, unfortunately. I'm not entirely sure, but it seems like your 'experienced' players may only be so in their circle.

Lady J is a monster in CC. So, your opponent wants to stay away? That's fine. Pay out a few soulstones, and get Nino Ortega into your crew. Does your opponent enjoy the use of magic? Pick a couple of Witchling Stalkers. They're quick and nasty. How about the undead Then requisition some Death Marshals (who are pretty go at tanking). Really, the Guild are the ultimate in countering anything the multitudes of stinking vermin of Malifaux can throw at us.

That being said, if you're still unsure, I'd direct you to the Wyrd forums. Ask around in the Guidl section. I'm sure the people there will be happy to give you advice and tactics.

I did, actually. I joined a bunch of boards after posting here, and posted in all of them.

Those three points were me boiling down what I was told, not them actually putting out those points. Again, I don't know enough about the game to clarify too very well, but the description my friends gave me was this:

You always know what Lady Justice is going to do: charge you. So, to counter that, make sure she can't draw line of sight to anyone by putting anyone she could hurt behind at least 3'' of cover. Furthermore, she is best against certain kinds of enemy, namely, those who stockpile counters to make things, and her effectiveness rapidly decreases against others.

Now, both of them favor Neverborn and the trickier Arcanists and Ressurectionists, so I can't say with any certainty whether that colors their thinking, but that's the description I was given.

Finally, with regard to her crew, I was kinda hoping to stick with a boxed set for a while.

SpectralTime wrote:You always know what Lady Justice is going to do: charge you. So, to counter that, make sure she can't draw line of sight to anyone by putting anyone she could hurt behind at least 3'' of cover.

I know for a fact she has an ability that says she does not need LoS to charge any unit as for charging through terrain I'm not sure if you can still move her full distance.

DisgruntldGoat wrote:

SpectralTime wrote:You always know what Lady Justice is going to do: charge you. So, to counter that, make sure she can't draw line of sight to anyone by putting anyone she could hurt behind at least 3'' of cover.

I know for a fact she has an ability that says she does not need LoS to charge any unit as for charging through terrain I'm not sure if you can still move her full distance.

She doesn't need LoS to declare charges, but doesn't ignore terrain, so it's rarely useful. She really wants Lilith's Master of Malifaux ability, but really who doesn't?

Malifaux is a game based around picking the right schemes for your play style. Any master you pick can be trampled by an experienced player when you first start but no crew has that instand win ability you see in some games. When starting malifuax pick a crew you like the look of then work from there thats the best advice i can give. If you need any help post on the wyrd boards as no offence there are more people dedicated in the game than on there forums (not that people here aren't dedicated)

Death Marshals are some of the best 4ss minions in the game, and they perfectly compliment LJ. Death Marshals like range, and any shot they make automatically drops 3 damage thanks to critical strike and possible to get a double crit for min 4. They're hard to wound and even when they die they still get to get off one last action(shooting the guy who killed you is a good option). LJ is a little difficult because she lacks ANY armor and with her speed she easily outruns the Guardian. Two things to keep in mind, take all 8 SS you can, they'll come in handy for damage prevention flips since you'll be making a couple if not a lot of them to keep her in the fight. And with her huge speed make sure you're not just sprinting straight toward your target, take the scenic route, pull up with your death marshals and use their range to draw out some conflict and then pounce with LJ. Once she's in CC its not going to be fun for your opponent because when they attack her in melee she will easily dodge the attack and smack them for trying.

I have been playing Malifaux for about a year now, and, I play the guild. My average list, at thirty points, for most any game where I dont need to move much, I use Lady J for my master. Here is the following list.

Lady Justice
Lucius
Drill Sgt
Guild Austringer x2
Nino Ortega

Lucius is great to use with her. Let her sit back in your deployment zone. Move Lucius up, then, do his reenforcement spell and get her up close and personel with your opponents minions.