Throw some London at it.

Warning this is the exact oppisite of my usual rant this is positive so may shock people coming from me.

Earlier in the year I spoke about my the state of the Malifaux scene in London and my hopes that it would grow.

 "If you've looked at the Malifaux event calendar or live anywhere near London you'll know that for such a major city it has an incredibly poor competitive scene. This is something I aim to change. 

London is lucky enough to have several gaming clubs that play malifaux and plenty more just outside it's borders. I wouldn't be exaggerating to say you could round up a hundred plus players within an hours journey of the centre of London. So that is my second plan for the new year, bring together the London clubs and players. I obviously don't mean a hostile takeover but I plan to set up a platform for the various London clubs to communicate, get to know each other and build the London community.

So with that in mind the first step was to set up Wyrd Capital a facebook group for London Malifaux players - Wyrd Capital"

Willpower in Malifaux (Wave 1 and Wave 2)

Willpower in Malifaux (Wave 1 and Wave 2)

The follow-up to my previous article, Defence in Malifaux (Wave 1 and Wave 2).

Defence in Malifaux (Wave 1 and Wave 2)

Defence in Malifaux (Wave 1 and Wave 2)

In response to my recent article, a couple of people wanted to see my findings in a chart.  Of course, I was going to oblige!

Please note: these figures are taken from the DF numbers printed on the Malifaux model cards from wave 1 and wave 2; abilities and upgrades are not included; there are crossovers due to dual-faction models such as the Guild Pathfinder; models you cannot hire on their own like the Ashen Core and totems that are tied to their masters are included.

The Gorgon's Tear

Seamus gazed into Molly's lifeless eyes and bowed his head over her,whispering "You are a lovely one, aren't you?"

Seamus Crashes A Funeral, Wyrd Chronicles, Volume 2

I still need to the OSL and water effects on the minis above.

I have been dying to play Molly for some time, but I was quite caught up with my Tara experiments. Then I managed to pick up a few of the old metal spirits plus the new plastic Molly box and here we are. Much like Seamus I have fallen in love with Molly. And with only one game with her under my belt at that. Hopefully after reading this you will begin to understand why.

Let us begin with her card...

Broken Thunder (pt2)

This is part two of my Yan Lo review. Please have a read of part one if you haven't already.

So what is the best case Yan Lo

Well I have assumed you’ve taken his three specific upgrades (although Wings of Wind or Misdirection or Recalled Training can all be swapped in with some use). At full power you get Yan Lo with Chi +3, with Ash, Spirit and Bone Ascendant attached. This gives you a casting 8 master with a Df/wp (Tome Trigger) to get his Df/Wp from 5 to 8. He will be impossible to Wound, Incorporeal. He will be able to summon back dead ancestors and able to lunch a Hung Po Assault with Brutal Kharakhara (and make a Melee attack against each model in range with a positive attack and damage flip). You will be able to heal, hand out armour +2 and position assaults with Lightening Dance. You can drop Terracotta Curse to cause enemies damage when they walk/charge.

Wow Bad Luck and Blood, that sounds great. I can’t believe you are moaning. He’s awesome and you suck. Hear the internet scream with rage.

Defence and Willpower in Malifaux

I like averages; generally not minute details, but overarching themes that are easy to remember.  I decided to do some research into the defence (DF) and willpower (WP) of models in Malifaux and the attack actions that are resisted by them.   These statistics are for the wave one and wave two models across all the factions.  There are crossovers, however, due to dual-faction models.  Please be beware I haven't taken abilities or upgrades into account, as this is only a brief glance at defence and willpower.  Hopefully you can use these somehow when building your crews or facing another player.

DF5 and WP5 are by far the norm in Malifaux, which are followed by DF6 and WP6 in second and DF4 and WP4 in third.   The Voodoo Doll, Ashen Core and Pigapult all have the lowest DF in Malifaux of 1, while The Nothing Beast and Void Wretches have the highest (artificial) DF of 9 and 8 respectively.   Lenny has the lowest WP of 1 and the Electric Creation, Zoraida and Pigapult all have the highest WP of 10.

The Guild:

DF5 is most common in The Guild.  There are roughly an equal number of models that are DF4 or DF6.  Perdita has the single-highest DF of 7.  Almost all of the models are either WP5 or WP6.  The Guild are typical of the average DF and WP in Malifaux.

Resurrectionists:

There are a higher number of DF4 Resurrectionist models than in any other faction.  As a result, they have fewer models that are DF5, although there are still a reasonable number of DF6 models.  Bete Noire has the single-highest DF of 7.  The majority of models are WP5.  Resurrectionists generally have lower DF and WP than the average in Malifaux.

The Arcanists:

The majority of models are either DF5 or DF6.  The Arcanists have the highest number of DF6 models in Malifaux. Myranda has the single DF of 7.  WP5 and WP6 are common across The Arcanists, but there are still a significant number of models that are WP4.  There are no models with WP7 or above apart from the Electric Creation which is WP10.  The Arcanists have a higher average DF in Malifaux which makes them stand out.

The Neverborn:

DF5 is most common in The Neverborn, followed by DF4 and DF6.  Lilith, Baby Kade, Vasilisa (and effectively Pandora) all have DF7.  WP5 is most common in The Neverborn, but there are a significant number of models that are WP7.  The Neverborn are typical of the average DF and WP in Malifaux, but they also have some models with very high DF or WP.

Outcasts:

Nearly half of the available models are DF5. WP5 and WP6 are most common in Outcasts.  Like The Neverborn, Outcasts have a significant number of WP7 models.

Gremlins:

Most Gremlin models are either DF5 or DF6, yet there are a lot that are DF4.  Gremlins have the second-highest number of DF6 models in Malifaux.  Skeeter and Sammy Lacroix both have the highest DF of 7.  Gremlin WP is evenly but roughly split between WP4, WP5 and WP6, although Zoraida and the Pigapult each have a monstrously high WP of 10.

Ten Thunders:

DF5 is the most common, followed by DF4 and DF6.  What makes Ten Thunders stand out is the higher than average WP of 6.

Attacks resisted by DF and WP:

Even though the majority of models in Malifaux are DF5, the most common Ml, Sh or Ca stat across all factions that is resisted by DF in an opposed duel is 6.  This clearly means the attacker has a clear advantage over the defender.  Interestingly, Resurrectionists and The Neverborn have the lowest number of attack actions that are resisted by DF, although they by far have the highest number of attack actions in Malifaux that are resisted by WP.  For example, Resurrectionists and The Neverborn have 31 and 28 attack actions respectively that target WP, while The Guild and The Arcanists only have 11 and 8.  Like attack actions that are resisted by DF, those resisted by WP are most-commonly Ml, Sh or Ca 6.

Defence and willpower in Malifaux – some thoughts:

Take these stats with a pinch of salt; it’s not possible to look at them so crudely in Malifaux due to good/bad luck, the ability to cheat fate, buff or debuff models and so on.   Nevertheless, it’s still worth considering when building your crew or facing a particular faction.  Some thoughts: expect more DF4 models in Resurrectionists and more DF6 in The Arcanists; take models or upgrades that can buff your models’ WP if you’re facing Resurrectionists or The Neverborn; is it worth attacking with a Ml4, Sh4 or Ca4 model in an opposed duel? And watch out for those Ml7, Sh7 and Ca7 models!

Broken Thunder

I thought it might be time to do a detailed review of Yan Lo now that I’ve been playing him for a good 6 months. I picked him up because I loved the model and fluff. I’ve run him in a ton of causal games and also at a couple of tournaments. I feel I’ve got enough of a handle on him to give him a review.

Now this is my own view, other opinions will vary! As a start point, I’ll put my cards on the table and say I am not a very good player. I have won a few games, even at tournaments with Yan Lo but I will never crack the top half of a tournament. I usually push my opponents quite hard to win, but it rarely troubles their scores. Having said that, I think I’ve picked up enough and played enough to evaluate Yan Lo. As with nearly every model made by Wyrd, Yan Lo is perfectly usable. With a few very rare exceptions (like Oiran) there aren’t really any completely non-viable models in the game. However, just because a model can be used and even win, it doesn’t make it good. 

Also, I’m not going to settle for “but you could add this model and then he is fine because of the great synergy” If a model has synergy great, but it shouldn’t have to be used to simply make a Master more viable. If it is specifically designed that way, that's different (e.g. Nicodem and Mortimer). I do know that Masters don’t exist in a vacuum but other models are only considered where the Masters skill is making them better, not where they have to make up for the short comings of the Master. I’ll bend that rule slightly for the Viktorias as they are a package as is Dreamer. I think you get where I’m coming from. 

In part 1 I’ll give a run down of the various things he can do. In part 2 I’ll lay out the various roles I think Masters can fulfil. Finally I’ll look at Yan Lo against those roles and see how he fits and his overall effectiveness.