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So, Hopefully my gaming group is going to start Malifaux soon, Well, Me and one other guy in the group atleast. We just have to wait untill we both know we have the money to buy a crew box each, Then we will try the game and.. I just cant decide what crew to pick.. I'm considering starting Gremlins or Ten Thunders, but what crew is the best for a new player who cant make up his mind? From Gremlins, I like Ophelia's The Kin, While from Ten Thunders i like Misaki's The Thunder, Mei Feng's Rail Crew, And Yan Lo's Masters of the Path. Oh! And Jakob Lynch's Dark Debts.

This won't be a ton of help, but those are all pretty good starting points, honestly. What styles appeal to you most? Shooting, melee, support, scheming around, defensive...what would you like your master and minions to be best at?

Alternatively, what LOOKS best to you? That's genuinely also a good way to pick in this game.

I dont know.. I'd like to be able to do a bit of everything.. I'm not quite sure what scheming is, Or what people mean when they say certain models are good at running schemes.. As to what looks best.. The ones I listed (Plus Collodi) but i think I like the looks of Ten Thunders the most if you go by entire factions..

Merellin wrote:
I dont know.. I'd like to be able to do a bit of everything.. I'm not quite sure what scheming is, Or what people mean when they say certain models are good at running schemes.. As to what looks best.. The ones I listed (Plus Collodi) but i think I like the looks of Ten Thunders the most if you go by entire factions..

If you like the look of Ten Thunders more, go for them. There is overlay into Gremlins though! If you decide you like gremlins, you can then go for Brewmaster, who is dual faction with Gremlins and Ten Thunders.

If you want to do a bit of everything, then TT are the way to go. They have models that are good for everything.

As for schemes and scheme runners, this game doesnt work like a normal game. You can win even though you get tabled. Every game you play, barring tournament games, is determined at the table. You flip a card for the strategy, determining it, then you flip 2 cards to determine the scheme pool. Then you build your crew to the schemes you want to take, and play the game. Scheme runners are models you take to run schemes. Whether theyre leaping/cheap/quick models, they're in the game to run around dropping markers.

The thing about Ten Thunders is, aside from Shen Long, every master is a dual master.

Mei Feng - Arcanists
Jakob Lynch - Neverborn
Brewmaster - Gremlins
Misaki - Outcasts
Yan Lo - Resurrectionists
Lucas McCabe - Guild

That makes Ten Thunders the ultimate gateway faction. Whichever master you choose, if you find you like them and want to branch into using them in a different way, there's a whole other faction worth of stuff.

For example, Jakob Lynch. You decide you like him, but want different options. From the Neverborn side, there's some stuff that immediately is useful and are mostly thematic with him.

Depleted - tough tarpits that spread Brilliance (something that makes your Illuminated from his starter box deal more damage) when they die.
Beckoners - working girls from his casino that can Lure models around the table, and spread more Brilliance.
Terror Tots - Nephilim scheme runners that are super fast, and very reliably with Lynch.
Doppleganger - shape changer that copies other models skills (friendly or enemy), which makes another good scheme runner.

Other masters can go the same way, branching into their main faction for different options.

Kirai's Vengeful Spirits looks (To me) like it should be dual faction with Ten Thunders aswell, I was suprised when I found out it wasent.

Hmm... Who should I pick.. Ghaa.. Hard to pick.. Could someone tell me a bit of the playstyles of the Jakob Lynch, Mei Feng, Misaki and Yan Lo crew boxes? I think they all look cool cus I cant decide..

Lynch- tagging then attacking pieces, tricks, kind of small/strong crews. Theme dependent.

Mei- highly maneuverable, minion emphasis. She wrecks anything with middling or poor defenses, not great against big things. Not very theme dependent (some constructs are good, fire isn't necessary.

Misaki- assassination, basically no interaction with her crew.

Yan- brings back his own thematic heavyweights, don't know much else about him.

Best description I've read about Lynchs crew is they're like a school of sharks with people to throw chum on targets.

Basically the Illuminated get into position, a target gets Brilliance on it somehow (Beckoner, killing a Depleted, etc), and the Illuminated zero in and murder it.

Lynch - the school of sharks things is a good description, he also brings along a "free" big beater model, so he often has decent model count. He also has a focus in hand management through card drawing.

Mei - A good defensive master, has high mobility which makes her hard to tie down, she can defend her crew against ranged attacks. She can be a decent melee fighter through her upgrades. She does want some constructs to make the best use of her abilities, but in 10 thunders she can be a much more mobile and annoying to kill master with some of the generic upgrades.

Misaki - fast and very good a killing single models. She can do down quick if she gets stuck in a fight, but one on one she is super dangerous.

Yan- Builds up slowly through his Chi mechanic, can move around his own or enemy models.

 -Loki- wrote:
The thing about Ten Thunders is, aside from Shen Long, every master is a dual master.

Mei Feng - Arcanists
Jakob Lynch - Neverborn
Brewmaster - Gremlins
Misaki - Outcasts
Yan Lo - Resurrectionists
Lucas McCabe - Guild

That makes Ten Thunders the ultimate gateway faction. Whichever master you choose, if you find you like them and want to branch into using them in a different way, there's a whole other faction worth of stuff.

For example, Jakob Lynch. You decide you like him, but want different options. From the Neverborn side, there's some stuff that immediately is useful and are mostly thematic with him.

Depleted - tough tarpits that spread Brilliance (something that makes your Illuminated from his starter box deal more damage) when they die.
Beckoners - working girls from his casino that can Lure models around the table, and spread more Brilliance.
Terror Tots - Nephilim scheme runners that are super fast, and very reliably with Lynch.
Doppleganger - shape changer that copies other models skills (friendly or enemy), which makes another good scheme runner.

Other masters can go the same way, branching into their main faction for different options.

You also forgot that Dopples can cheat initiative, which is a MAJOR advantage. When I played guild, that was my go-to Lucius piece. I mean, it didnt make him good, but it made him playable. At least for me.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
Yan- brings back his own thematic heavyweights, don't know much else about him.

The best description I've heard about Yan Lo is that you could run a 50 stone Yan Lo crew without Yan Lo and it would have no major differences. He needs to build up Chi to be solid, but by the time he has built it up, it's most likely too late in the game to make a major difference. Which also means he's not a starter friendly crew, as he's very upgrade dependent/crew synergistic.



As for lynch, the crew revolves around spreading the Brilliance condition around. Preferably to one model, then killing it, then moving on. There are two ways you can do this. One is the rinse-and-repeat Hungering Darkness, where you throw it in, the DF3 meaning it'll kill it's target then die, but when he does, you put brilliance on a model then kill it, so you get it back on full wounds, with upgrades(More for the TT route with Recalled Training.) or the casty route, where Huggy doesn't come back, but Lynch hands out Brilliance like a drug dealer, if you pardon the pun.

Misaki is the definition of hit and run. She puts out a lot, and I mean A LOT of damage. But she can't take much. She charges in, hits something, hits it, then pushes away, or charges in, assassinates it, then runs away. If she gets pinned down, she dies though. Be careful with her.

Hmm... Considering long and hard.. I think I'l go for Misaki or Mei Feng.. Now to research and figure out what one to go for.. Hmm... Thanks for all the help so far ^_^

I like Misaki, and think she's decent for a new player. She's a total glass cannon - don't expect her to take a punch - but she will kill things dead if you get the charge and have a good hand. Her benefit is she doesn't require synergy with her crew.

To accompany her, consider a box of ranged models, either Thunder Archers or Katanaka Snipers. Possibly both. They both have their strengths. Also a pack of Ten Thunder Brothers, which are tougher minions and good for schemes that have you putting down markers on your half of the table (they don't have the speed for schemes that have you seeking the other side of the board).

Those along with The Thunder will give you a nice batch of stuff to play with.

 -Loki- wrote:
I like Misaki, and think she's decent for a new player. She's a total glass cannon - don't expect her to take a punch - but she will kill things dead if you get the charge and have a good hand. Her benefit is she doesn't require synergy with her crew.

To accompany her, consider a box of ranged models, either Thunder Archers or Katanaka Snipers. Possibly both. They both have their strengths. Also a pack of Ten Thunder Brothers, which are tougher minions and good for schemes that have you putting down markers on your half of the table (they don't have the speed for schemes that have you seeking the other side of the board).

Those along with The Thunder will give you a nice batch of stuff to play with.

Going off this I'd suggest the Katanaka Snipers over the Archers. The archers were slightly overcosted and only do ranged combat. There is a 0ss upgrade that fixes them but then you need atleast an enforcer with them. The snipers can actually hold their own in melee and are a beast at range.