Malifaux: Rising Powers - Neverborn

Quick thoughts about the new Neverborn models. Just got my book yesterday and finally got a chance to look over the finalized rules for everything. A little background on me as a player – I favor Lilith and the Old Hag as my favorites. I actually dislike playing Pandora, mostly because I find her playstyle pretty boring. She does all the heavy lifting, and the rest of the crew just sits around.

Also, I did manage to play this stuff in the beta test, so I have some experience using them. At least in their non-finalized versions. By and large, that experience should carry over.

So, without further adieu, the new models:

Dreamer/Lord Chompy Bits – I love this master. I love the teleportation aspect to him, and the mass movement you can get with him. Being able to have a model on one side of the board suddenly disappear and reappear on the other side of the board is a nice surprise. Good for scenarios as well as you can move your models around as you need to. Lord Chompy Bits is insane in melee, but he’s fragile, so make sure you don’t try to strike the entire opposing army with him. Just hit the outlying pieces, and then disappear again. The Dreamer’s decently well defended if you’re careful with him.

Daydream – The totem for the Dreamer is pretty much what you’d want. He helps get you out of a bind if your burying/unburying mechanic needs a boost. Overall, not absolutely necessary for the Dreamer, but he’s a decent boost. He does have a 12” ranged attack, though, which is something we don’t generally get a lot of in Neverborn.

Collodi and Marionette – I admit I don’t really like our Henchman that much, but mostly because there’s a lack of support for him at the moment. On the other hand, his fluff is awesome and I can’t want to see what the model looks like. The special forces feels like it’s going to be a swarm if the Marionette and Wicked Doll are any indication.

Alp – Our cheap nightmare model to match our Terror Tots and our Sorrows. He’s a nice control piece, not doing a lot of damage but stacking up some nice slow effects.

Black Blood Shaman – The Nephilim sorcerer type. Makes growing a little easier by getting a bit more blood, and can use spells to boost your other Nephilim. Also, he’s a graverobber and can fuel his own spells with corpses as well as blood. I like him a lot, and look forward to trying him in Lilith lists.

Coppelius – This guy’s just fun on a bun. A solid 10 wound model (though 9 stones) who can cause Willpower checks whenever he steals someone’s eye. Which he does a lot. He has a spell that essentially creates a check or the opponent falls back. He gets an eye if he does that. Whenever he gets an eye, living models within 3” must WP check or fall back. If anyone loses a Moral Duel within 4” of him, they take 3 wounds in addition to falling back. A whole wonderful chain of terror. Oh, and he’s terrifying.

Insidious Madness – Another ranged attack for Neverborn, but again with little damage. More slow-stuff though. He can make people who are falling back have to continue to test against WP in order to rally rather than automatically doing it. Things need to succeed in WP duels when attacking it or they get penalties. It can target WP instead of DF with its weapon. All in all, a great model for Pandora to stack in more WP checks, and not that expensive either.

Lelu – One of the two Nephilim siblings, this guy’s essentially a vampire. He can bite you and heal what damage he deals. He deals 2 damage to a single model around him at the close phase, no resist. He’s got poisoned claws and is a really solid fighter.

Lilitu – The sister of the pair, she’s got Lure and 4” reach. She’s kinda the opposite of her brother. She can heal a single model that starts within 2” of her 2 wounds. She can summon a Lelu out of another Nephilim, similar to Lelu summoning another Lilitu out of another Nephilim (and some blood). They both start dying pretty quickly if there’s not their counterpart on the table.

Nekima, the Dark Sibling – Ah, Malifaux’s Revenge. Clocking in at 13 soulstones, I think we’ve found the most expensive model in the game, and man, she’s good. Not quite as much damage as a Mature, but more reach and more abilities to stack off your other Nephilim. Makes it easier to Grow and Mature, heals nearby Nephilim, carries a greatsword, is Instinctual and a Melee Expert, and has a trigger going off every time she hits with her weapon. Plus, the art is just really cool.

Stitched Together – These guys are a lot of fun. They’re a decent price, and can really help with card advantage if you’re willing to risk a little. Ditch a card and there’s a chance your opponent will have to ditch one while you draw two. Got an okay damage spell too. Probably better to use that than his melee weapon most times given he’s better at casting and has a better range with it.

Wicked Doll – A replacement for Voodoo Dolls if you like. Plus, it doesn’t ditch any Voodoo Dolls or other Wicked Dolls you’ve got out there if you summon it. Overall it’s hard to hit but easy to kill, and has a few fun tricks. It can summon more of itself if it kills anything, and can blow up to do a little damage to something near it. For a free summon, it’s probably worth it.

So that’s all I have for the moment. I’d love to hear if anyone else has any thoughts on these guys.