Gamers Lounge

Gamers Lounge – Marathon show

by on Jan.24, 2011, under Malifaux, Podcast, Privater Press, The Hobby, Tournaments, WFB

Gamers Lounge – Marathon show

We should have taken pledges for when we would end the show. Thats right folks, this is a marathon of an episode, clocking in at a respectable length of 4 hours. Lets be fair, its really like getting 2 shows that make your ears bleed for the download of 1. We cover a whole lot of ground, so feel free to skip around:

Content at:
00:00.33 – Lounge Talk
01:33.04 – Topic 1 – WHFB New Players Opinions
02:22.04 – Topic 2 – Ex Illis Review
03:15.12 – Jay’s Gaming Corner – FOW Campaign
03:41.00 – M&SU Bar – Totems
04:04.05 – Outro

Standard Podcast [ 4:10:47 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (105)

  • Carl

    Not to be morbid… but what rough timing on the Ex Illis Review eh? Sucks too – looks like the game was pretty interesting.

    • http://deadtau.blogspot.com/ WAnderson

      It is morbid, but the announcement from Bastion is the big reason we did a longer episode to make sure we got the review in. It probably will not help their situation, but we no longer have anyone to bring on and clear out review with before pushing it out.

      Overall, as we talk about in the review, the game had some real strong positive points. It was one of those games that, at least for me, I really wanted to like. It just left some areas that fell short in real strange ways.

  • Anonymous

    OOooo, good catch on the Eldar Corsairs. I’ve been collecting figures planning on eventually doing a Corsair army based on DE, but will have to see how this potential IA11 list pans out…

    • http://deadtau.blogspot.com/ WAnderson

      I am really looking forward to the book.

  • Da Masta Cheef

    On the Shadow Specter’s Ghost Lance, someone posted a comment on BoLS and I have to agree that the way the squad all fires as one (increasing strength & range) kinda reeks of a Privateer press combined ranged attack. Considering that Jay is a PP pressganger, I thought that he would’ve seen that resemblance as well.

    • http://deadtau.blogspot.com/ WAnderson

      We shoudl give Jay a break, you know he is new back to being a pressganger. :-)

      • Anonymous

        It is sort of similar but not really. The Combined shot of the Shadow Specters increases range which Combined Ranged Attacks does not. Also there is no increased ability to hit like a CRA and you have to use the majority BS instead of picking the best RAT as the initiator of the shot like you can with a CRA. While the +Str is similar, that is the only thing they have in common. They can’t even split the shot up into groups of 2 or 3 models, and all have to fire together, another big difference from CRA. So while I see the similarity,they really aren’t that similar at all.

        • Da Masta Cheef

          Still, it bears more than just a passing resemblance to a CRA, while I can’t think or any other rule in any of GW’s game systems that work in the same manner.

          • Anonymous

            Eh, I guess. Though if I was comparing it to PP abilities, I think it closer to some of the combined fire area of effect abilities that require the whole unit to use, while I can’t remember what it is called I know that the Merc Nyss unit and the winter guard rifleman both have it. There is a lot more to CRA then just that you get +1 Str per member shooting and that is the only similarity to CRA. PP games aren’t the only games I play right now nore is it close to the top of the list of my primary games. So you can hardly expect me to make that connection with say game #5 on my priority list right now, especially for a model that is for a game that is around priority #9 out of the 10-15 games I currently have models for and belongs to an army I don’t really play.

  • Rathnard

    Great episode, as usual!

    Personally, I played maybe two games of 8th ed WHFB last year. It’s not that I don’t like the new system – it has it’s flaws, but I still prefer it to the (IMO) abomination that was late-7th ed “monster-hammer”. I’ve shied away from the game more because of the amount of effort I have to go to just to deploy my goblin army on the table, let aone the minis I’ll have to paint to get it to how I’d want post-8th ed.
    Regarding the Totems in Malifaux, I think you’re underestimating just how useful they can be. Generally, you want a totem either for it’s specific talents (eg. the Jackalope recycling cruise missle, the Primordial magic for arcane reservior, Kirai’s Lost Love), or for the spells it can cast through magical extension. While you did discuss the latter, I don’t think you really gae the latter enough attention.

    Having a totem with Magical extension is like giving your Master another action point. You guys were talking about how good the Student of Conflict with it’s (+1) fast talent can be, but in the majority of cases a totem casting magical extension can pretty much have the same effect.

    The totems low CC can be an issue, but there are a few ways you can negate the problem. (2) Channeling Magical extension minimises your need to cheat a high card and if it’s something you don’t want your opponent to resist, burning a soulstone will help too. Mostly though, I find that casting spells that your opponents can’t resist (eg. Ice pillars, Obeying your own models, Lady Justice’s Combat Prowess) is the best approach.

    Honestly, you give me a Master, and I’ll give you a good reason why you’d want to use a totem with them. :D

    And the Malifaux Child is 2SS, not 1SS. I’ve tried to find a reason to include him in my crew but I just can’t justify it. It’s utter horribleness makes me very, very sad. :(

    • http://deadtau.blogspot.com/ WAnderson

      Wow, I honestly had not thought about channeling. I do not channel or focus often, so it does not immediately come to mind. Funny enough, I almost always have wasted actions on my totems, so channeling would only be a plus.

      Hmmm, I will have to play around with that in my next games.

      • Anonymous

        Good thought Rathnard, Channeling with a totem. While I use Channeling and Aim considerably more then Bill, I had not thought of using them with a totem. While I do agree that channeling may help, Using Nicodem as an example, going from a 7 with a Crow to the totems 2 without one really prevents it from using any of Nicodems spells, even if I wanted too. The other Ressurs have it a bit better, with their totems dropping 4 points two 3 each but both keep their crow so it may be possible. Looking at the Guild on the other hand, all of their totems are with in 3 of their masters CA and all keep the RAM for casting that their masters have, making the channelling ability a better option. All examples use stats published on the v2 cards for book 1 models.

        • Rathnard

          Yeah, looking at the Resser Totems and their Masters spells, Magical Extension definitely tends to be less useful for them in alot of cases. Probably not something to be relied upon (short of any desperate gambits) but it certainly doesn’t hurt to Channel a spell if the totem has nothing better to do. That said, magical extension is not why you’d get one of the Resser totems – they’ve all got some pretty sweet abilities that make up for it instead. ;)

  • Guest

    I am disapointed to hear that you guys have run in to the game over situation in turn one as well. I have noticed a few games now of malifaux that some games are over before they even start. I think the game has far 2 many very long range attacks.

    • Rathnard

      I have to disagree with that. There’s very few models that can deal damage from very far away. Off the top of my head it’s mostly much limited to Austringers, the four or so Snipers and to an extent, Zoraida. Other than that, the range of most guns/spells tends to be limited to 8-12″, which is usually within the charge range of alot of models.

      That said, I’d be interested in hearing exactly how Bill (?) has ended games on turn one. Losing a Corphee duo so early is rough Collette, but I suspect he could have avoided if he’d been more cautious. Another part of me thinks the player might have given up prematurely – I’ve been in worse situations (eg. losing Pandora in turn 2 for little return) and still won games before.

      The only time I’ve effectively won a game on turn 1 was when I multi-exploded Pere Ravage in the middle of a bunched up Collette crew who had rushed up the board. But if my opponent had known that was coming (hell, not even I anticipated the resultant devastation) then he would probably have been able to avoid it or at least reduced the damage.

      I guess my point here, is that there’s usually a reason why a player might lose a game so early, and IMO it almost always boils down to lack of experience.

      • http://deadtau.blogspot.com/ WAnderson

        That would be a good topic to discuss actually, I might make it a short M&SU segment in the future. Simply put, there have been 3 situations where I had a first or second turn “win”. In all cases my opponent conceded.

        Situation #1 – Rasputina vs Vicki’s/ My opponent shifted the Vickis a bit to close on turn 1, and kept them within blast range of each other. I shot one of the models in the crew with a serious damage decembers blast, twice, and killed both vicki’s and another model. He conceded.

        Situation #2 – Same opponent, same crews. Turn 2 I cheated and soul stoned Raspi’s flip vs the gun Vicki to a disturbing target number (something like 30 or 31) then flipped the red-joker on the damage. Took out gun Vicki and Taelor, leaving sword vicki plus a depleted crew. He conceded, we moved to game 3.

        Situation #3 – the one I just spoke about vs Collette. He had moved one of the coryphee’s too far up the board and the twins grabbed her and killed her. basically it was Lure / double take lure / double take lure / whip / Lilu went to town and ate her / coryphee activates with poison and dies.We could have played on but my opponent was at a severe disadvantage on his strat + scheme so conceded and we started game 2.

  • Zephir

    Neverborn have great Totems. Pandora’s Poltergiest adds more WP checks. Zorida’s Voodoo Doll is a must. And at the very least you can take the Primordial Magic who gives you a 7 card fate hand.

    For Ramos the Brass arachnid is really good. It can give Ramos reactivate. The tool kit will be better when it comes out, but for now the Brass Arachnid is solid.

    Most masters use their Totems really well. Guild is the only faction who doesn’t. and even they have pretty good Totems. I rarely take a list with out running a Totem. and Leviticus doesn’t count because he can’t take Totems.

    • Rathnard

      Strictly speaking Levi doesn’t have totems, but if you look at the rules for Hollow Waifs they’re pretty much totems in everything but name. ;)

  • Pat, 11th Company

    wow, you guys finally have a respectable show length :P

    • http://deadtau.blogspot.com/ WAnderson

      I am downloading your episode 54 now. I knew you guys wanted to be just like us…. its ok Pat, we take it as a compliment!