No, Wyrd haven’t shut down or died; though they have lost me as a dedicated player. Those of you who follow this blog know, I initially bought the Kirai crew; mostly because I loved the models (yes pictures soon).
Played a couple of games, got the feel of her and liked it. Later found out, in the starter box; she has less than half of the models she needs. No extra Seishin, no Gaki; even though spells and abilities allow her to generate them. That to me is like cutting my arm off, then trying to grow it back again. Next up Viktoria’s starter, now to be fair I do like this crew; of all the ones I have seen or played. However, the coup de grace of this whole thing; is Pandora specifically the Pacify/Incite (0) Action.
For Warmachine players, think of pGaspy or any caster/lock with Teleport; doing the following in one activation. Walk them forward within 12″ of an enemy model, for free you get to do 1 point of damage; if you beat their ARM. If you do, you get to move another 4″; but you also stop that model from activating until all models have activated. As Pacify was successful, you can use it again. Oh look you’re within 12″ of another enemy model, hit them with the same thing. Now cast Self Loathing, add another POW * + 1 (POW of best melee weapon +1 for failed Wp resist dual) damage roll to that; as they hit themselves with their own weapon. Move another 4″, hit another model; this time with Dementia (Command Check 13+ is needed to activate); plus they take 1 damage for failing the Pacify duel and 1 for Dementia failed Wp resist duel.
Not finished yet, as Pandora is a Casting Expert, she gets to cast a spell for free. So back to the move 4″, hit another model with Pacify; success so lets cast something different just to really make the game fun for my newbie opponent. Hit them with Trapped in Your Own Nightmare, now all your models without Fearless (immunity to Abomination); with 12″ (not 6″) have to make a command check. In the case of Viktoria’s crew, that would be all but Taelor. Oh and just to finish this off, as you won a Wp duel with Pacify; you get to move 4″ again. Yay, now it’s my opponents activation again. Who hopefully by now is crying salty bitter tears of frustration, as there is nothing they can do to counter it.
Remember these crews are straight out of the box, no additional models should be needed to beat this Pandora crew. Yet the advice given to me on the forums, was buy this model or switch to another Crew; or even just space the models out more. Really, on a 3′ x 3′ board; how far should I leave between 6 models if I need 12.1″ to be safe? At best, Malifaux will be a once a year game for me now. My friend Mark mistakenly called it right, in error he called it Malifux; I seem to agree with him right about now.