One of the questions I get asked most by new players is what they should get to go with their shiny new crew box. Seeing as I’ve been round the metaphorical Malifaux block a lot, it’s one I can answer as I’ve played either with or against pretty much everything.
So this series is going to give 3 sets that I think go well with a particular Master. As with all these articles these are just my opinions, but as per usual I’m hoping that they at least give you ideas.
The first one I’m going to do is my favourite Master, one who I think is underplayed and underestimated – the mighty Lady Justice.
1. Brutal Effigy
I’ll square with you. I gave Lady Justice’s official totem the Scales of Justice a couple of games, thought ‘what is the point of this’ and he’s been sitting in the case ever since.
The Brutal Effigy is everything her totem should have been. He hands out a condition called Fear Not the Sword – every time Lady Justice does damage, she heals 1 damage, and every time she kills, she draws a card. Given that doing damage and killing is what she’s about, keeping her alive longer to do more of it and gaining cards to help in the process is a real benefit.
Added to which, he’s only 4SS, is a Minion who can interact, and his 4 Wounds doesn’t look like much but with Df6, Armour 1 and Hard to Kill he still takes some shifting.
This little guy should be the first name on the team sheet after Justice herself.
2. Master Queeg
A slightly left-field choice, but I’ve been getting an awful lot of mileage out of Queeg alongside Justice.
Reason 1 is the Promises upgrade he can take. It gives everyone with an upgrade within 6” positive flips when they attack in melee. Guess why that’s good with Lady Justice?
Reason 2 is the built-in push on Queeg’s melee attack. One of the big reasons I get so much mileage out of Lady Justice is the Henchmen slingshot I use to get her into the thick of the action early, and pull her back out again if there’s a problem.
Stage 1, Francisco Ortega walks up, uses Cover Me from the Hermanos de Armas upgrade to pull Justice 5” up, and clears the way. Stage 2, Judge walks twice and uses Stand for Judgment to pull her another 5”. Queeg can potentially add another couple of pushes to this off his attack, and he can also send her round corners as his is a push in any direction.
Using this set-up, my record is Lady Justice 14” out of her deployment zone and past some blocking terrain, with El Mayor and Fear Not the Sword on her, before activating turn 1. I can tell you straight up, there’s not a lot scarier for the opposing crew than that much pain that close that early!
3. The Lone Marshal
Another lesser seen but still very good choice is the Lone Marshal.
Lady Justice is a fantastic killer. She likes having other killers along. She also likes having the Lone Marshal along. That’s because he can do the killing role himself, either finishing off the wounded or picking off weaker models trying to get away from Justice. Never underestimate how good Trick Shooting is – push 6”, take a focussed Sh6 shot that does 2/3/5, then push 4”. He’s the Tau jumpsuit of the Malifaux world.
Lone Marshal is also Wk6, and with Numb to the World he becomes a scheme runner that is very hard to stop. He can decide not to gain harmful conditions, and can discard a card to stop enemy models making him take actions.
For a long time I’ve ignored this guy, but since Numb to the World became a thing with Ripples of Fate I’ve been giving him another look and he’s been well worth the Soulstones ever since.
So that’s the first Shopping List article. If you have any Masters you want me to give the treatment, drop me a line and I’ll happily waffle on!
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