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Hi All,

I've been playing Malifaux on and off for a few years now and while I usually enjoy my games I do tend to have a rather hard time being anything other than my opponents cannon fodder.

I quickly sussed the idea of going for my schemes/strategies rather then just trying to kill the other guys Master but I usually get chased down and eventually whittled down to a few.

My usual tactic is stay back, dig up corpse counters with my graverobbers and then resurrect as much as possilbe before going for my strategy. My usual schemes are 'Army of the Dead' and 'Bodyguard' which I think complements my tactics.

But as soon as the opponents engages I'm usually on the back foot looking for a way out and can't seem to fend them off.

I should probably mention that my usual enemies are Ortegas, Ramos or the Gremlins.

The models I have and the groups I tend to put them in (points been played allowing) are:

Seamus
Copycat Killer
3 Rotten Belles
Sybelle
Bette Noir
3 Puck Zombies


McMourning
Sebastian
Flesh Contruct
2 Canine Remains
2 Nurses
3 Crooked Men

Obviously I swap them round now and then but these are the general set ups!

So am I missing something?

Have I got an uber combo in there that I not using to its full potential or just haven't realised?

Is there a model that I really should get?

How can I take the fight to the enemy?

Thanks for any help!

Some stream of consciousness stuff in reaction...

Digging up as a graverobber action is actually illegal now, as (I think) it was too good, when most factions had more living models, though now I think it's less useful.

Army of the Dead is a terrible objective that's very difficult to pull off.

I play McMourning frequently, and rely on recycling my own pieces, and, more often than not, use summoning as a way of getting the first strike, rather than as attrition/reinforcements.

I generally don't use more than 2 of any of the same piece, except canine remains: you generally don't need that much redundancy (and I never take more than one nurse).

You probably should look to mercs for ranged help: convict gunslinger and desperate mercs are my personal favorites.

McM is special (like Kirai) in that he doesn't rely on bodies (which is often the failing of the resser model for seamus and Nicodem)

Never start with a flesh construct: it's too expensive and slow, build one instead

Rogue necromancy is a great use of body parts, if you have spare body parts

Resser minions often rely on focus attacks to get those hits in, be sure to use them.

A zombie chihuahua is great for McM, and a Grave Spirit is good for either.

Night Terrors are great objective grabbers and can tie up enemy ranged elements quickly-- I very often field them.

Here's some more notes on McM from personal experience: http://spiralingcadaver.blogspot.com/2012/04/slaughter-house.html

Let me know if that helps or you have any more Q's... without a little more detail, it'll be hard to suggest more than general tactics.

And SpiralingCadaver saves the day with resser's info lol.

I'm sorry E_C, I don't play ressers or I would have posted before SpiralingCadaver...

Another thing is to look at PullMyFinger the Malifaux Tactica wiki, for some more info. They are always good for some tips.

I do agree with what has been said about using generating your own body parts/corpse counters, as there are too many things in the game that don't generate corpse counters.

Have you tried running some belles with McM? I know they fit well with saemus, but I tend to put them in any resser crew, they rarely fail me. between board control and their toughness for their ss cost, they can really help McM's lack of tough minions.

I second the night terrors, for ressers they are almost without a doubt the best objective grabbers. Zombie chihuahua for McMourning is a no-brainer, but i would never bring the copycat killer to the table. He looks good on paper, but unfortunately the cb with his gun is low and the drawbacks are steep. Grave Spirit is a much better minion for him.

With saemus, don't bother summoning, he has much better uses for those high cards that you would otherwise be spending summoning more girls. As for McM, start him with a body part so that he can be fast first turn to get him up close where he wants to be. Only start summoning once you've carved up enough of their pieces or your own to give you the BP to summon. Once you do that, you'll find that generally you will be in the middle of things, and that either the flesh construct or the rogue necromancy is a really good idea, with one or the other being more situationally useful.

With McM, the set up i like to use is zombie chihuahua, 3x canine remains, 3x rotten belles, and then whatever else i need from there. The advantage with this setup is that it gives you the opportunity to get McM into combat sooner, through him gaining fast from a BP, the belles luring enemies towards him, etc. This gets you more BP, makes him more survivable, and allows him to carve face (his specialty).

As for saemus, his box really is one of the best setups out of the starters. sybelle, 3x girls, saemus and night terrors with leftovers. Lure into range of Saemus' flintlock, cheat severe, watch other player cry. Usually i find it most useful to begin the Saemus blasting against weaker minions, that way you don't have any almost kills, just kills. The exception to this is if you find a steampunk arachnid swarm in your sights, then you shoot that until it's dead so that it can't split apart and have the individual spiders cause you headaches.

Hope i could help.

Thanks guys! A lot good points for me to try. I'll put an order in for a chihuahua and night terrors.

Where do i find the official word on the graverobber diggin up corspe counters thing? Thats really gonna stuff my usual tactics. But given my success record that probably isnt a bad thing!

here's the rules page, which is almost always current.

http://www.malifaux.com/Rules.php

Unfortunately, that change has taken place so long ago that it doesn't appear in any errata... the only evidence is the lack of the rule (see the quickstart manual-- it's abridged, but that's mostly scenario stuff and examples)

Digging up as a graverobber action is actually illegal now, as (I think) it was too good, when most factions had more living models, though now I think it's less useful.

Any more info on this? I used the crap out of this rule in the noob tourney I played at Gencon (against a Henchman..what a Henchman was doing clobbering newbs in a beginner tournament I'll never know, but still) and no one said anything about it being illegal. And said Henchman was decidedly That Guy about the rules (and using them to flatten poor Nicodem).

Lostchaplain wrote:

Digging up as a graverobber action is actually illegal now, as (I think) it was too good, when most factions had more living models, though now I think it's less useful.

Any more info on this? I used the crap out of this rule in the noob tourney I played at Gencon (against a Henchman..what a Henchman was doing clobbering newbs in a beginner tournament I'll never know, but still) and no one said anything about it being illegal. And said Henchman was decidedly That Guy about the rules (and using them to flatten poor Nicodem).

To be honest, not all Henchmen are pro about the rules. I'm a henchmen, but since I spend most of my time giving demos, I'm still very much a beginner on the subject. But I didn't hear anything about the graverobber issue, I'll check the henchmen forums on it.

There are a few ways of getting corpses/body parts (Sebastian and Mortimer come to mind, and I think avatar Ramos can do the same with scrap), but in a fairly early version of the game, there was some action (I think it was a (2) action) that was a general Graverobber ability, which is what I think the OP was responding to?

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
There are a few ways of getting corpses/body parts (Sebastian and Mortimer come to mind, and I think avatar Ramos can do the same with scrap), but in a fairly early version of the game, there was some action (I think it was a (2) action) that was a general Graverobber ability, which is what I think the OP was responding to?

Yeah thats the one. Its an (All) Action which allowed a graverobber to just stand still and dig up a corpse counter where ever it was. As an (All) Action though it never seemed 'over powered' as you had to then wait till your next turn to pass on the counter or to use it for a resurrection!

But like i said in my OP I need to try new tactics so i'm certainly not going to dwell on it!

What graverobber model (I don't have my books on me), so I can't really remember any besides mortimer, and and he has a (1) spell called Exhume where he needs a crow of any level to dig up a corpse counter.

 Alfndrate wrote:
What graverobber model (I don't have my books on me), so I can't really remember any besides mortimer, and and he has a (1) spell called Exhume where he needs a crow of any level to dig up a corpse counter.

It was an action that came with the tag, the way Masters come with Spend (Use?) Soulstone, etc.

Re: Emperors_Champion, the new version will involve you needing to kill your own pieces (usually Canine Remains and Desperate Mercenaries, occasionally pieces that aren't going to do anything useful or pieces which will already be sacrificed due to whatever bonus your Nurse gave them)

It tends to make your whole crew more mobile and flexible, though you'll have fewer bodies around. I think they probably could have kept it in, since Ressers aren't pushing the boundaries of the game, but it shouldn't be too hard to adjust.

Re: the update, there was a lot of clarification on terminology and some new scenarios/schemes/types of territory. The only thing that should effect you is, if Perdita's purge tokens or w/e spell goes of, that should be effecting status stuff, not corpses (always RAI, AFAIK, if you've been playing it otherwise).

Thanks spiral, so I think I need to get the new book really! I was under the impression that it was just a re-order of things seen as the original was kinda all over the place. I guess theres a lot more to it than I thought.

I am right in thinking that it's the Version 1.5 I need and not the new expansion?

Book 1.5 will give you the updated rules and some changes based on errata that has come out since book 1. It has the rules that are in the Rules Manual (15 dollar book), and updates to the model information in the book..

I'd suggest getting Book 1.5

As Alfndrate says, 1.5 and the Rules Manual have the new rules. 1.5 is the most up to date, but I think the main difference is that 1.5 just does a better job clarifying movement and a few other things (I haven't seen it, but that's what I've heard).

I love my little Rules Manual-- in fact, I like it so much, that when I got a second one in a big trade, I decided to hold on to it, just in case. It's a great pocket rulebook for a very reasonable price.

The 1.5 book is basically (again, from what I've heard) a prettier version of the 1st book plus the rules manual.

For the record, each expansion has included a couple more rules for new pieces to the game*, but basically no errata**: errata are on the page I linked to above.



*new rules:
2: henchmen (mini-masters that can also be bought (instead of just lead))
3: avatars (souped up masters that you get by completing tertiary objectives, like mini-schemes)
4: mounts (where the mount has health, in comparison with cav pieces that can't dismount), pieces that wholly belong to multiple factions (nothing you wouldn't expect, but worth spelling out)

**I believe the only one in a book was changing one outcast piece to also be 10 thunders

Thanks guys I appreciate the help!

No problem, and I have seen Book 1.5, it is exactly the same as book 1 in form, function, and design. The cover is the same (but says 1.5 in ghostly looking lettering), as are the innards... just updated with the new information.

I'm in the same boat as SpiralingCadaver, I love my little rules manual. I own all the books (except 1.5 lol, got my hands on an OOP book 1), and by far the manual is my most used book.

So should I just get the little manual rather than 1.5? And use the link from spiral for any clarification!

Yeah, you'll save yourself some cash in the long run.

The reason why I use the rules manual the most is because it fits into my malifaux bag (the other 4 books do too lol), and its easy to replace should someone rip it, lose it, or steal it..

Well I got myself the little rulebook, plus all the downloads. Also got myself a few new minis to try.

The minis I got are;

Zombie Chihuahua
Night Terrors
The Hanged
Grave Spirit
Nicodem
Vulture
Mortimer

So that should give me a few different tactics to try. (Once I get round to painting them! )

BUT

In the mini book under General Actions there is still an option for Scavengers to use a (all) action to dig up a scrap counter!!

So how come they still get that but my poor old graverobbers have to march off to some ruddy graveyard to dig one up or actually manage to kill something thats living to get a corpse counter!!

Just doesn't seem right that!

Yeah... I don't really like it, either, but I think it's largely due to a number of cheap graverobbers making it easier to grab tokens (esp. first turn, a ton of canine remains could effectively double the bodies they're worth, for instance).

The totems are really nice, and all ressers except Kirai can benefit strongly from the Grave Spirit-- just attach it to whatever your toughest piece is. I'd try them first.

The Night Terrors are also great for their cost, like I mentioned.

I don't have any particular experience with the others, so I can't give any great advice elsewhere, though haven't heard anything amazing about them...