Review Malifaux 1st Ed Outcast Von Schill Box
Welcome to the fifth Malifaux Faction Focus commodity! Today, we'll be talking about bandits, mercenaries, madmen, and Tyrants. It'south time to focus on the "none of the above" gang, the Outcasts.
The Lore of the Outcasts
It's tough to talk well-nigh the lore behind "the Outcasts" because office of what defines the grouping is its sheer lack of coherence. The Guild all fight beneath i imprint, the Arcanists and Neverborn share uneasy alliances of convenience, and fifty-fifty the Rezzers stick together (if only considering anybody else hates them). But what makes an Outcast an Outcast is their sheer, bloody-minded individualism. Indeed, there's very piffling reason to imagine that one of Jack Daw's spectral Guilty would ever cull to fight for Von Schill'southward disciplined Freikorps.
Nonetheless, the lot of them have some things in common. For a long time, Outcast was just a catchall label for those inhabitants of Malifaux who didn't merits any allegiance in the corking struggle for ability and Soulstone. Many of them were mercenaries, willing to fight for whoever paid them. Others were just so darn weird that they were driven to the fringes. They eked out a living on their own, occasionally working together out of agony (if nothing else), but recent events take forced them to at least endeavor some unity.
I of the most notorious Outcasts is the mercenary leader Leopold von Schill. The Freikorps, von Schill'south mercenary band, sold their swords (and guns, and flamethrowers…) to anyone who could pay. Von Schill got rich, and all way of wealthy people had their problems handled in a discreet and professional style.
This happy arrangement ended shortly later on the Burning Human being went upwards similar a torch. The new Governor-General, Franco Marlow, took a dim view of the existence of a mercenary regular army that rivaled the Social club. He offered to bring von Schill and his men on board, but when the Freikorps commander refused, Marlow outlawed mercenary work with a stroke of his pen. The Freikorps, having lost their livelihood overnight, decamped from Malifaux City. Von Schill had long dreamed of a place where men and women could stand gratuitous from Guild tyranny, and Marlow's prescript was the kick in the ass he needed. He took his men out into the Badlands to the site of the abandoned prospecting town Promise. In that location, he founded Freiholt– the first new city on Malifaux to be totally independent of the Lodge.
Freiholt has attracted all manner of shady characters, and now hardened mercenaries rub elbows with rat cultists, train robbers and the occasional Gremlin pirate. It's a dangerous place, isolated and occasionally under siege, but it'due south a wealthy ane, likewise. Anybody looking to hire troubleshooters outside of the watchful heart of the Order knows where to go. Others accept followed the Freikorps, setting up shop in a place where at that place aren't too many questions and jobs all come with a "no questions asked" rider.
Some Outcasts aren't in it for the money, though. There are all fashion of secrets in Malifaux, traps from the aboriginal past that tin can snare the unwary. Sometimes people hear the Whisper and start skulking around underground stealing corpses. Sometimes the vocalism in their head is a bit more than subtle.
The Tyrants have long groaned under their slabs. The spiritual and metaphysical wards that restrain their essence fade with time. Their bindings loose, they seep into the earth similar radiations or toxic gas. 2 of them have worked gratis the mortar around their cells through centuries of patient try and at present walk, bearded, amongst the living. Plague and Obliteration, those ancient sorcerer-gods, have both chosen their pawns and even now move them across the globe like a great chessboard. The gifts of the Tyrants prepare their chosen ones autonomously, peeling them away from the human herd. These nightmare-touched godlings are Outcasts, as well, and have their own designs on Freiholt. Plague recently attacked the settlement, and only with the help of Obliteration was He turned back. Time will tell what the freed Tyrants will need of the Outcasts, and whether any of the mercenaries and sellswords have the will to deny them.
Why Should I Play Outcasts?
Many miniature wargames have a "mercenary" faction– Dogs of War, Warmahordes's Mercs and Minions, and so on. The Outcasts got their start there, though Second Edition firmed them up into their own thing. With the dawn of Tertiary Edition, the 24-hour interval of the mercenary is over– Outcasts are a faction like any other. They still have vestiges of those early days, though. Remember how I said Arcanists were diverse? That'saught compared to the Outcasts. Literally anything you lot can imagine could show up in the Outcasts. Some crews are fully human; others are utterly monstrous. And some are a mix of both.
That diversity shows up in playstyle, too. Malifaux has long been famous for the sheerweirdness that shows upwardly on the tabletop. Fifty-fifty with its rules simplified and standardized, one thing that sets the organisation apart is how much emergent complication can arise out of a relatively simple ruleset. The Outcast crews exemplify this: many of them play completely differently from any other army in this (or any other) game. They can easily catch enemies by surprise, though they accept a rather steep learning curve. Then over again, Outcasts also take 2 of the nigh forgiving, beginner-friendly crews in the game.
Since nosotros're all out of Malifaux suits, Outcasts' symbol is the rose, due to their affinity for Seal's 1994 hit "Kiss From a Rose."
Play Outcasts if:
- What drew you to Malifaux is the legendary weirdness and complication of its play patterns. A lot of the cruftiest, strangest rules have gone by the wayside since beginning edition, just the ones that remain are concentrated in Outcasts.
- You desire a wide variety of options. Every bit maybe befits the "catchall" faction, Outcasts accept a huge range of models, both mechanically and aesthetically. You lot'll end up sampling a little bit of all of Malifaux'south archetypes: steampunk, weird western, horror, wuxia mashup…
- You like to be the scrappy underdog. Insofar equally the Outcasts have a unifying theme, it's "rah rah fight the power!" Of grade, you lot won't be an underdog mechanically– Outcasts are avery competitive faction with a high ratio of extremely powerful Masters.
Masters
I'll cover vii of the Outcasts hither, with 1 more in a later commodity.
Leopold von Schill
The Big Guy himself, the Man With the Moustache, von Schill came to Malifaux shortly after the reopening of the breach. Like everyone else who flocked to the new world, he had one thought in his mind: fourth dimension to get $$$paid$$$. Von Schill was a soldier Earthside, and afterward he mustered out he turned to mercenary piece of work. Malifaux presented the perfect opportunity for a man of his skillset, just for ane detail: von Schill and Governor-Full general Kitchener hated each other from their first meeting.
A career with the Lodge was a nonstarter, but there were plenty of opportunities for a licensed merc, especially one with the skills to train his ownFreikorps. Within a curt time, von Schill's company became a byword for professional excellence in Malifaux. When someone needed not just thugs or muscles justsoldiers, drilled and trained, they went to the Freikorps, and the Korps and their founder soon became rich indeed. Of class, mercenary piece of work is dangerous, and Malifaux mercenary work more than dangerous still. Von Schill was present at Nythera when Titania awakened, having been hired to crevice open up the vault to get whatsoever treasure was inside (turns out information technology was an ancient undead queen), and he lost an arm and a leg to Rasputina'south frost. He's got some new mechanical parts, though, and he'southward dorsum on the warpath. Right now his biggest priority is getting Freiholt upwardly and running, which would be hard enough evenwithout supernatural plagues and mercenary politics. But such is life in the Freikorps.
On the table, von Schill's crew is the epitome of a solid all-rounder. Freikorps members are all well-armed and armored, and the coiffure has a residuum of melee dial, ranged back up and magical capability. They also brand heavy use of equipment, from grenades to rocket launchers, that von Schill can laissez passer effectually from inside his Steam Body. Freikorps are straightforward only powerful– I wouldn't say they're the "Space Marines of Malifaux," but ifsomeone has to have that title, it's this bunch.
Play von Schill if:
- Y'all similar being a little bit good at everything, with a preference for range over melee
- You're 1 of those historical gamers whose eyes let upwardly when people talk virtually Germans (please no)
- You feel naked if your troops don't have at least some armor
The Viktorias
Earthside, Viktoria Chambers was one of the bestMercenaries alive. This side of the breach, she's2of them.
Viktoria crossed the breach in the early on days, looking to sell her sword and earn her fortune in the brave new earth. Of course, she had rather more than sword to sell than most. Viktoria was a skilled fighter, but what ready her autonomously was the Masamune Nihonto: an expertly forged blade, folded 999 times by a main swordsmith etc. etc. etc. You know, standard weeb stuff. But unlike literally every other time someone has made this claim,this Hanzo steel actually matters. Unbeknownst to Viktoria (and pretty much every other human being, butvery muchknownst to some of the oldest Neverborn), the sword contains the restrained essence of the Tyrant Shez'uul, a (literally) bloodthirsty entity that managed to cross over to Earth thousands of years agone. It'south trapped in the sword, but the Nihonto hasenormousspiritual potency. Neverborn agents lured Viktoria to Malifaux in an try to reclaim the relic and re-imprison Shez'uul.
Thatwas the plan. And information technology almost worked, too. They sent a shapeshifter to kill Viktoria and take it, but the swordswoman'south cut severed the spiritual ties that enslaved the creature and set it costless. Nobody knows what passed between the two of them, but they emerged from that fight equally sisters: twins, in fact, as the other-Viktoria kept her stolen shape. The two take been inseparable always since, their bond in gainsay making them almost unstoppable. They've surrounded themselves with a gang of young man mercs, all of whom respect the women and fright the sword– even if they don't fully empathize why.
The Viks (as they're called) are unique in one obvious way: at that place's two of them! Hiring 1 to pb your crew gives you the second for costless. Of class, they don't go a Totem, but having two Masters is definitely a trade up. The crew's playstyle epitomizes the term "drinking glass cannon." Each Vik is fairly fragile, only they're absolutely whirlwinds of devastation, and the ability to activate them back-to-back lets you put out truly horrific amounts of damage.
Play the Viktorias if:
- Y'all recall the Impale Bill movies are Tarantino's best
- You realllllly like killing things and don't and so much care what happens afterwards
- You like alternating sculpts. There are probably more alt Viktorias than whatsoever other master in the game (and that's non fifty-fifty counting the fact that each set has two models)
Leveticus
Is Leveticus man? Technically, probably yes. Is he evil? By any normal definition, y'all'd have to say so. Is he immortal? That'southward a tough one: yesand no is about the best reply you're gonna become. Is he a consummate creep? Sadly, the reply to that one is a resounding "yes."
The proprietor of Captivating Salvage and Logistics, Leveticusappears to exist a fairly eccentric old homo. Appearances are deceiving; he's one of the most powerful mages in Malifaux, and one of the most tangled in the skein of Fate. Leveticus has bent his life to acquisition death, and has managed it, after a fashion. He has mastered the art of rendering unlucky humans into soulless Hollow Waifs, and when he dies, these Waifs serve as spiritual anchors allowing him to resurrect. And Leveticus dies alot. That's a side effect of channeling the potent entropic magic he specializes in: information technology gives him incredible subversive ability, just that destruction is sort of two-mode.
When he's not dying and returning to life, Leveticus likes to delve into the secrets of Old Malifaux– specifically, the art of amalgamating flesh and steel. TheseAmalgams are oft horrific blends of dead mankind and rusty metal, or constructs like the sentient storm Ashes and Dust. Beyond these monstrosities, Leveticus is served by his scavengers and his faithful sidekick Rusty Alyce, so named for her addiction of talking to her robotic arm. Alyce is a piffling cuckoo, merely she keeps the old man focused… even if sometimes he'due south a little as well focused onher.Yes, it's weird and creepy and mostly played for laughs in the lore, merely I just attempt not to call up nearly it too much.
Leveticus famously had one of the strangest playstyles in Offset and 2d Edition; you mostly tried to go him killed every single turn, whereupon he'd render, hale and hearty, from i of his Waifs. These days the Waifs are more "emergency extra lives" than "core role of a resurrection-based gameplay loop," but Leveticus is withal very difficult to put downward for good. He and his coiffure tin can do a lot of Irreducible harm (the game'south equivalent of Mortal Wounds) and can resummon destroyed models… entropy gets everyone in the finish, but those who serve it sometimes go to go effectually the carousel one more than time.
Play Leveticus if:
- Death is just a door, and time is but a window… you'll exist back
- You lot don't mind hurting yourself to brandsure your opponent dies
- You lot similar the weird, gribbly fleshmetal monsters, only Von Schtook isn't your style
Hamelin
Hamelin wasn't a very prissy man. He was technically a rat catcher, but it would be more than accurate to call him a smashing and a thief and an occasional murderer (when he could get away with it). Then he took shelter from a storm in the sewers under Malifaux City, and was washed into an aboriginal part of the cached Necropolis, and, well, he died.
Something walks the earth wearing Hamelin's pare, merely it's not Hamelin. No, it's the most active and aggressive of the reawakened tyrants:Plague has emerged from his prison, spreading his sentient disease. Hamelin'southward fingers dance across Hamelin'southward pipage, only Plague's tune burrows into the ears of Malifaux'due south wretched and forlorn. They follow the Piper, a oversupply of Stolen, their sore-pocked skin glistening with feverish vitality. In their wake come up the rats: an endless swarm of them, yellowish-eyed and jagged-toothed, piling on one another in their haste to devour and befoul.
Plague has tried to ascend multiple times, and has gotten frighteningly shut; the get-go fourth dimension, Kirai stopped him, while more recently his endeavour to conquer Freiholt was blocked past Obliteration's pawn Tara. Still, Plague remains patient. His influence spreads, and with each new cough victim, his army gets larger…
Hamelin's crew focuses on handing out Blight Tokens, representing the spread of Plague's disease. They don't do annihilation on their ain, but the more of them you have, the more vulnerable y'all are to Plague's power. Along with the Bane comes a tide of Malifaux Rats– individually the weakest models in the game, but you can have alot of them, and you can summon a basically endless supply. And in numbers, even little Rats can do a lot of harm…
Play Hamelin if:
- Y'all worship at the altar of the Great Horned Rat. Or possibly Grandad Nurgle, I'd say both gods have an in here.
- You prefer swarm tactics. It'south not plenty to outnumber your opponent– you have to bury them in bodies
- You similar to elevate out your victories. Make 'em concluding, make 'em suffer.
Tara
Tara had a rough life from childhood. Life's not easy for an orphan, and it's even harder in Malifaux. Her circumstances hardened her, turning her into a killer, and she became a feared gunslinger and Neverborn hunter. She was a hard woman, hollow within, without attrition or mercy. Maybe that's why she fell into the prison ofObliteration— maybe she fell into a trap that had been set to snare those who thought like her.
Obliteration had once been one of the Tyrants, a terrible force of destruction, and later on the Tyrant War It was imprisoned in an extradimensional space. Its prison was Its body; information technology could not destroy Its cage without destroying Itself. Others had found their way into that pocket dimension over fourth dimension, most of them quickly driven mad, but not Tara. She struck a bargain with the entity and Information technology vomited her dorsum out into the world, along with a woman named Karina who had been trapped into the timeless void for what (subjectively) felt like alot longer.
Tara is Obliteration'southward pawn, spreading Its destructive nihilism across the confront of Malifaux. During i pitched boxing, a sniper shot her dead, but thank you to Karina's quick necromantic work she walks again– a cocky-willed, autonomous undead, retaining her connectedness to Obliteration. Since then, Tara has quietly built Obliteration's power, using Its control over time and space to call forth entities of pure nonexistence from Its prison house and sending Its enemies to the void.
Whatever meter of playstyle complication you care to proceed, Tara sits at the farthermost end of it. Obliteration has granted her mastery over time, and she tin can ho-hum down enemies– or speed them up, then siphon off the free energy generated that style to power her minions. She can summon Void Wretches and Hunters, creatures made from fragments of Obliteration'south prison, but they don't show up on the board at once– you accept to create eddies and whorls in fourth dimension from which they can sally. She makes tremendous use of the "coffin" mechanic, whereby a model is temporarily taken off the table as it blinks out of existence.
Play Tara if:
- 5-dimensional chess has go dull and lost its spark for you
- Y'all love the Cloverfield monster'southward weird little tick things. They're cute, aren't they?
- Y'all hate painting– it's ok, one-half your crew doesn't actually sit on the table at any given fourth dimension.
Parker Barrows
In contrast to the gods and monsters we've been reading about, Parker's a refreshingly straightforward guy. His older blood brother took his inheritance? Pah, Parker don't need it. He just needs a couple of six-guns and a train to rob. At the head of the Barrows Gang, the nigh feared group ofBandits this side of the Alienation, Parker takes aim at the Society, the Matrimony, and whatsoever bank teller is unfortunate enough to exist on duty the twenty-four hours he rolls into town. He doesn't particularly love killing people, but he'll do it if he has to, particularly if they're shooting at him. People always take law-breaking, even when he asks for their valuablespolitely.
Parker's gang is accompanied by Doc Mitchell, an alcoholic md and hostage whose task is more often than not to sew together up whatsoever wounds aren't immediately fatal, and Mad Canis familiaris Brackett, whose job is mostly to put out lit cigars in people's eyes and then nail them through the wall with a giant shotgun. Parker's an low-key guy, and he's fabricated friends with Zipp, a Gremlin pirate chief. At that place'south solidarity, out in the badlands. Parker may be a robber, merely he'southward no murderer, and the Gang look out for each other. Of course, following Zipp's plans is more than a little foolish… especially when the picayune green boyfriend talks about wanting to steal the Hanging Tree…
Parker plays exactly how you'd wait a classic Wild West brigand to play. He and his men (and women) are armed to the teeth, and surprisingly mobile– unlike most Malifaux models, they tin make ranged attacks as part of a charge move (as opposed to melee attacks) so they can proceed shooting on the move. Many of their attacks force enemies to drop their own scheme markers, usually something youdon't want to happen, but Parker and co can scoop these markers upwardly to draw cards or use them to trigger other powerful effects, representing them making off with their victims' valuables.
Play Parker Barrows if:
- Y'all're coming from 40k and desire a familiar experience– I'd say, of all the Malifaux masters, Parker'south crew plays the near like a 40k ground forces
- What drew you to Malifaux was the Wild West aesthetic
- You can do a dead-on "Reach for the sky!" from Toy Story. Or at least "There'south a snake in my boot!"
Jack Daw
Speaking of the Hanging Tree…
Jack Daw is the starting time affair a lot of people meet what they first come through the Alienation into Malifaux. When the Alienation reopened, he was there, hanging from the massive Hanging Tree with a bag over his head. He was human, once, or at least he looks that fashion. Maybe he dates back to time of the first Breach. Maybe he's a lot older than that.
Jack doesn't stay on his tree, though. He has been known to wander, seeking out acts of treason and betrayal and punishing the guilty. And the innocent. Punishing anyone, really; the mere presence of betrayal seems to trigger a sense of rage in Jack that tin only exist quenched with alot of mortality. Worse, he'due south followed in his wanderings with a cavalcade ofTormented souls: specters of guilt and punishment, the betrayers and the betrayed, all following Jack and inflicting their suffering on anyone who stands in their mode. They have powerful, ancient magics on their side, magics that draw out their victims' guilt and plow information technology into a weapon, curses that force their enemies to relive the last moments of a condemned murderer or the last moments of his victims. Jack himself never speaks, never explains, and is never predictable; he'll appear ane moment, heighten havoc, and disappear the next, leaving a few cowering survivors.
Jack Daw, equally a spirit followed by vengeful ghosts, is dual faction Outcast/Resurrectionist, though he doesn't really play nicely with others (and it'southward difficult to imagine why you can hire his ghoulish gang into, say, Parker or von Schill's crew). He is uniquely difficult to impale, able to discard cards to turnwhatever successful attack into a mere i damage. He and his crew can inflict terrible Curses on enemies, debuffs that persist forever (or until the enemy willingly suffers a penance to remove them), and if he catches you in his noose, he'll throttle the life out of you.
Play Jack Daw if:
- Y'all actually like to watch your enemy squirm rather than just going for the kill
- You tin can runway a lot of different things at once– the crew has someweird mechanical interactions
- You want a master who's next to incommunicable to kill, only simplypossible enough that people volition try
Equally has become traditional, we will close with a review of an Outcast Nightmare Edition box prepare. In this one, Hamelin trades his pipes for a cup of tea and his rats for, well…
That's all for this calendar week, and we're more than half done! Join us next week as we brainstorm the home stretch with the rootinest, tootinest, shootinest, moonshine-drinkenest pack of yokels this side of Ten Peaks, the Bayou!
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