Last time we covered the September 2024 errata… or half of it, anyways. In addition to a swathe of general balance changes, this errata featured a surprise rework to one (well, two) of the game’s most troubled Keywords: Elite/Mimic.
This is the third in Wyrd’s series of keyword reworks, after Big Hat and Oni (I know I haven’t gotten to the second of those yet… shaddup, it’s coming soon). And they’ve hinted that Tri-Chi is on the docket, too. Now we just need them to target Kin, so I can take my poor LaCroixs out of their case for the first time in more than a year.
Let Me Into Your Legal Briefs
Elite/Mimic has struggled a bit. The crew hasn’t really got a mechanical hook; there’s a bit of Obeying, a bit of card draw, a bit of scheme marker manipulation, but insofar as Elite/Mimic models had a theme, it was “overpriced and weak” (with at least one notable exception).
This was compounded by Lucius himself; Lucius had possibly the worst card of any Master in the game, and while Lucius2 was quite strong, he was strong in a way that didn’t really require him to hire any Keyword models. Which is good, because almost none of them were worth hiring. Sure, Alan Reid showed up sometimes, but mostly you’d just do stupid tricks with Lawyers, who were so good that they showed up in almost every Guild list ever made.
That’s a pretty unstable situation, and exactly the kind of thing Wyrd likes to fix. The crew has been tied together nicely by their new mechanic: Legalese upgrades!
There are five of these, each double-sided. How does that work? Well, the “front” side of all five upgrades is the same: Above the Law does nothing by itself, but allows the model wearing it to flip the upgrade by discarding a friendly Scheme Marker within 3″. Upon doing so, the model triggers an effect, and the upgrade is then discarded at the end of that model’s activation.
Every Legalese upgrade draws you a card when flipped, and they have five unique secondary effects:
- Wheels of Justice gives you a nice little push equal to your Mv towards a friendly model or Scheme Marker – a combination of Creep Along and Walk the Line
- Free Renegotiation just draws you a second card, but makes you discard one.
- Legal Repercussions pulses out Distracted to enemies within 3″
- Planted Evidence requires you to damage an enemy model with an Attack Action, but if you do, you get to discard a card to drop a Scheme Marker in base contact with any friendly Elite or Mimic in LOS (but you can only choose a given model once per activation)
- Take the Stand is, frankly, wild. You pick a model in the Mimic or Elite Keywords (besides Lucius) and turn into them for the duration of the activation. You can pick anyone – a Changeling, Agent 46, anyone. You just can’t duplicate unique models or go above a Minion’s allotment. At the end of the activation, you change back, and Heal 2 for your trouble.
Most of these effects are minor but very helpful. Take the Stand is bananas, of course. But the flexibility is what makes Legalese upgrades great. Take note – you do have to choose one at the time you attach them, you can’t make the choice on the fly when you flip it. And you can only have one of each out at a time, so if there’s an upgrade you plan to keep unflipped for a turn or two for some reason, make sure you won’t need it elsewhere.
Flipping them isn’t free – it typically takes an AP (or some other resource) to make a friendly Scheme Marker. But the upgrades give you some nice card velocity, and several abilities in the crew trigger on flipping them, so you’ll want to spread them around as efficiently as possible.
Without further ado – let’s talk about the models!
Lucius Mattheson
Ah, Lucius. One of the most iconic characters from the setting, he’s sadly been cursed for much of M3E with rules the could charitably described as “poop,” but more accurately described as “shit.” He gets an almost 100% rework; besides his stats, the only things remaining the same are Arcane Reservoir and Entourage.
Serene Countenance has been replaced by Flexible Morality, a straight downgrade in that your opponent can pitch a card to get around it, but at least he has two more health to cushion the blow. He’s also lost Mastermind and Subterfuge, reducing his card draw and scheme-manipulation capacity. Planning Ahead is a great tool, though – 12″ is a long way, and a free Scheme Marker each turn is nothing to sneeze at.
Pour one out for Lucius’s cane… a stat 5 2/3/4 that somehow had three triggers. His new melee is a bit better, in that it has a higher stat and inflicts Slow (but slightly less damage), but with no triggers you’ll rarely be using it. Instead, the attack action you’ll use most often is Subpoena. This attack, like the old Hidden sniper, can draw LOS from Lucius’s servants; it does slightly less damage but compensates with a higher stat and much better Triggers. Draw Out Secrets is a classic, one of the most generically useful Triggers in the game, but the other two are even nicer. Missing Forms simply turns off a model’s ability to Interact, while Summons – which is built in – yoinks the target into contact with the attack’s point of origin. This kind of no-frills displacement is incredibly powerful, and Lucius can set up some nasty kidnaps. Agent 46 is not someone you want to be engaged with.
He’s got Gather Intel, an extremely powerful action wherever it shows up, and its trigger is quite good – if you’ve pre-loaded a Legalese upgrade on the target, it gets Focused and Shielded +2, a perfect setup for launching Agent 46 or similar into enemy lines.
Finally, Issue Command has become a bonus action, but preserved its functionality. This is how Lucius1 hands out Legalese upgrades: he can obey a friendly and give them an upgrade. The triggers here are worth noting, too, since both effectively give you two AP for the price of one. Filed in Duplicate is a poor man’s Ensorcel, although in GG4 you’ll have plenty of opportunities to make good use of it (voting twice, walking and then stealing someone’s intel token, etc.). And Quick Reflexes lets you obey again, which means another Legalese upgrade. This one is worth stoning or cheating for, since it’s the most reliable way to get more than one Legalese upgrade out per turn.
This Lucius seems very playable. Subpoena is a nasty, nasty attack, and he’s just so AP efficient. You’ll often spend four useful AP, which is what you really want from a Master.
Lucius Mattheson, Dishonorable
This Lucius is a bit more selfish. He wears the pants in this crew, with “pants” meaning “legalese upgrades.” He just gets one for free every turn.
He no longer gets his free Scheme Marker with attendant free suits – that’s a Lucius1 thing now (well, minus the free suits). Instead, he gets a free Scheme Marker when he kills someone… which will be pretty often. The Daggerlike Claw is back, having lost Coordinated Attack but no less scary for it. The attack’s synergy has subtly shifted, too; you no longer need to Stagger enemies to get a +twist to damage, but you need to have flipped a Legalese upgrade. That’s not so bad, especially since Lucius will always have one for you to flip.
Down the Wrong Path has changed a bit – it lost the free Elite/Mimic attack, but gained Coordinated attack, which is built in. This is a straight upgrade in 90% of cases; you can always take the attack if you want it, and it’s no longer keyword locked, but if you don’t want or can’t take advantage of the attack, you can either get a free Scheme Marker or heal up the target a bit (presumably you are targeting a friendly if you do this, natch).
Secret Passage is the same, though with no more Stagger synergy it’s lost that trigger. And Peak Efficiency has been cleaned up a bit; it lets the target bonus action out-of-activation (which is very strong, and very rare), and lets them either heal or gain a Legalese upgrade. So some pants get shared after all.
Title Lucius plays much the same as he ever did, but with fewer hoops to jump through. The loss of the free suit means that he’s a smidge less deadly, but it’s much, much easier to turn on his +twist to damage, so he can Daggerlike Claw his way through your opponent’s crew without fear.
The Scribe
The world’s most annoying totem has not gotten less annoying (though he has gotten more expensive, for some reason). The bury/unbury stuff is gone, which makes him a bit easier to kill in one shot, though an extra pip of health, Flexible Morality and +2 Df do make that a bit more challenging. The Scribe still has Betrayal, but he no longer has Following Orders – in fact, almost none of the Elite/Mimic models do, the card draw from Legalese upgrades having basically replaced that. In its place, the Scribe has gained Co-conspirator, the first of several similar abilities we’ll see. These abilities trigger once a friendly model flips a Legalese upgrade and provide some bonus. In this case, it’s the suit of your choice to all duels for one activation.
The Scribe has also picked up Sidekick, to make up for no longer being able to bury/unbury all over the board, and is now significant.
Looking at his back of card, he’s kept his crappy attack, triggers and all, but traded Dispel Magic for Leading the Witness – a modified Walk the Line that you’ll normally use to push friendly models around, especially with a +2″ from Don’t be Late. The Scribe still has I’ve Got Your Back, but now with two very helpful triggers (which, remember, he can build in). When you don’t need to yoink someone out of melee, you can just hand out a Legalese upgrade! I like this a lot – so many abilities in this crew want you to have flipped a Legalese upgrade, and that means you have to get one out there first, which can create order of activation issues. The Scribe solves that. He is a lot more fragile now, though, since a single Severe 5 kills him and he really has no way to avoid taking a Focused shot to the face.
Agent 46
Lucius’s favorite Hitman has never really found a place on the tabletop. That may change now… but we’ll see.
He’s still got Following Orders (I think he’s the only model that kept it) and Ruthless, but he’s traded Stealth for Disguised, effectively becoming a bit more vulnerable to ranged attacks but a bit less vulnerable to melee. He’s also gained Inhuman Physiology, an incredibly rude piece of defensive tech that means enemies can never get any positive flips against him. That is, frankly, insane: you can park him in Concealment, and unless the enemy’s attacks specifically ignore Concealment, they are at an unavoidable -twist to hit him. So maybe he’s still pretty durable into ranged attacks after all. Oh, and he’s Df 6 now.
His melee attack has picked up a solid Tome trigger, giving him one in each suit, and traded Pouncing Strike for Cruelty, which is… a sidegrade, but probably a lot more consistent. His Analyze Weakness is now an impressive stat 7, which makes it very consistent when you need it.
He’s lost the old Inhuman Physiology, which is a blow because that ability was very good, but he’s a lot tougher now and that ability was pretty uninteractive anyways. And his Mimic has gained an amusing little trigger to make enemies Adversary (Agent 46), which is not something you will ever rely on but will be fun when it happens.
Is he playable now? I dunno, to be honest. His damage output is good, especially with a stoneable crit strike, but it’s not stupendous. He is insanely tough to remove now, especially with a Lead-Lined Coat, and that might be enough.
Alan Reid
Alan has always been, in my opinion, an underrated model. He had a lot of text on his card that was never relevant, but mostly he just tarpitted really effectively. I will note too that this card represents the advance of the Malifaux story, as Governor-General Marlow has banned garrotes. We love it when lore and mechanics intersect.
Gone is Following Orders, and Intimidating Authority has been changed to Flexible Morality, as it has throughout the crew. People have always liked Flexible Morality more, because it taxes your opponent’s hand instead of yours, but there is a downside: you have no control over it, so if your opponent REALLY needs to hit you at a straight flip, they can. I don’t think it overall matters much because a -twist to hit is not a particularly strong form of defensive tech however you condition it, but it is important to think about the downsides as well as the upsides.
Reid still has Boring Conversation, Diversion and One More Question, so his tarpit package is intact. He’s lost Startle, which makes sense since the Stagger synergy is now gone from the crew, and his crappy Derringer which you should almost never have used.
His garrote has become Verbal Abuse, with a 2″ engage and targeting Wp instead of Df. He’s lost Execute and Stagger, as well as his weird trigger that made enemies reveal their Schemes. RIP. In return, the attack does more base damage, and he still has a conditional +2 damage based on your opponent revealing Schemes.
Is this guy better? I think people are going to over-fixate on the potential for a Min 4 swing. Canny opponents can delay Scheme revelation until Turn 3 or even 4, which means Reid’s combat potential will only come online in Turns 4 and 5, which is usually too late to matter. Besides, he’s not really a damage dealer; he’s a tarpit, making enemies Slow, making them test to do anything, denying them their bonus actions, etc. His longer engage helps him do that better, but the core tools of that package haven’t changed. I think he’s basically the same as he was before, except he draws one fewer card. So overall a nerf – but the increased engage does matter. I don’t think you’ll see him more or less than you did before, at least once people figure out he’s not actually a reliable 4/5/6.
Cavatica
Ah, Cavatica. I used to play him a lot with the Nexus kids (RIP to three real ones). I might have to dig him out of the case again – this is a hell of a glowup.
Gone is his Shielded synergy, and of course Following Orders. In comes Inhuman Physiology, which is, as noted above, bonkers. And who’s that with him? Why it’s his friend Siphon Power, who is looking lovely this evening. Two incredibly strong rules – though Siphon Power is a bit harder to use in Elite/Mimic than in Cadmus. I will note that the combination of Superiority Complex and Inhuman Physiology presents enemies with an entertaining dilemma; if their models are carrying around Focus, they can either spend it on him to no effect, or keep it and give him Armor +1.
Turning his card around, his Cane has traded Severe Injury for Mutilate, which is somewhat regrettable but probably necessary with Siphon Power. Called Out has changed a bit more substantially – it only benefits friendlies, and lets them ignore Cover and Friendly Fire as well. None of Cavatica’s keywords are especially shooty, but it’s not Keyword-locked, so it helps any OOK guns you want to bring. It doesn’t come with a free bonus attack anymore (well, not free, it cost a card), but there’s a trigger to reproduce the effect, and it’s even broader – it lets you take tactical actions, too! It doesn’t even have a non-Master rider! And remember you can build in the trigger – one life is a much better price for that effect than one card.
Called Out has also lost its unique and interesting aura-shrinking trigger, which is unfortunate because that’s cool design space, but has gained three other triggers (on top of the one we already discussed), one in every suit. Some of them are low-impact, but Siphon Power means you’ll always have the right trigger for the right situation.
Finally, he’s picked up a nice little heal that comes with a Concealing aura. And remember what I said about Inhuman Physiology and Concealment!
I love new Cavatica. I think he’s great – very durable, tons of toolbox utility, and sometimes you’ll just roll up on a Slow target and whack them twice for 3/4/5.
White Eyes
White Eyes is a relatively new addition to this crew, but he saw basically no play, so they’ve fooled around with him a bit. A lot, really. He’s lost his anti-defensive-trigger aura (which was powerful but niche), Stealth, and his weird little damage pulse; he’s gained Inhuman Physiology, Made to Kill and a little push when he overheals (which is mostly for the Returned lists).
The combo of Hard to Wound and Inhuman Physiology means that you are basically always going to be at at least one -twist to damage him, which makes him more durable than he looks. His big nemesis is Min 3 attackers with 3 AP or Flurry, since at Df 4 he’s going to be hit a lot, and he doesn’t have any native damage reduction – though he can give himself Shielded when he gets stuck in, and he has a few sources of self-healing, including the new Tear Off a Bite trigger on his melee.
Terror of the Changepaths has changed from a ping to an aoe test-or-slow, which is probably a downgrade, but sometimes is really gonna get your opponent. And, like Agent 46, he’s lost old-Inhuman Physiology. He’s a lot less dangerous an attacker, so that doesn’t sting as much, especially since the replacement is a mini-leap (and a free attack, remember) with a built-in trigger to pulse out damage. So he has some AOE ping left after all.
I think this White Eyes might get there. He’s very durable, punishes you hard for not killing him in one activation, and surprisingly maneuverable between Undulation and Unnatural Speed. He’ll make a good flank scheme runner.
Doppelganger
The most horrifying model in Malifaux is back, her Physiology more Inhuman than ever. She’s lots Manipulative, but Physiology is way better defensive tech, so that’s ok. And of course she’s lost Following Orders like everyone else.
The new Blend In is very cool: it’s now not just a bonus action (though you can treat it as one), doesn’t cost you a card, and comes with a 6″ teleport. Sometimes you are just going to Blend In 3 times in one activation and teleport across the board. Sure, it has a TN, but it’s very low. You can spare a 4, can’t you?
Her melee attack has gotten a significant upgrade; she’s now sporting a Daggerlike Claw like her boss. The trigger is less impressive, but she can still Mimic herself, effectively letting her attack with her Claw at Stat 7 when she needs to. She’s basically The Lucius We Have At Home.
Again, no damage reduction means Min 3 or Min 4 (i.e. Min 3 with a crit strike) attacks will kill her in short order, but she’s very difficult to get to straight flips against, and like Cavatica she can Conceal herself to make her very hard to shoot.
Guild Lawyers
It ain’t all good news. Pour one out for my homies, the bad boys of the Malifaux bar. Lawyers showed up in basically every single Guild list ever made, and for good reason. That’s usually a sign a model isn’t long for this world.
Let’s rip off the bandaid: Tools for the Job is gone. I suspect Wyrd is done printing new Tools for the Job models, and that would probably be a good thing. Lawyers have also lost Court Authority (not necessary anymore given other changes), Following Orders (like everyone else) and Chatty (RIP). Intimidating Authority became Flexible Morality.
They’ve also lost Obey entirely. That’s just not what they do anymore. AND they even lost a point of health!
As tempting as it would be to tip these guys gently into the wastebasket, it’s not all bad news. Most importantly of all, they’ve gone down a stone in cost. Five stones is much easier to slot into lists than six. They’ve gained Co-conspirator, so they still have a way to build in suits. And the hilariously-named “Objection!” is probably good for a ping here and there. Finally, Balancing the Scales is a very good trigger, guaranteeing that your opponent can’t just pick them up for free as long as you have any Mask in your hand.
Sharp Wit has lost a trigger that you probably didn’t even know it had, but Impassioned Defense is untouched, and they’ve picked up two new actions. Replacing Obey is Probing Question, a WP-targeting attack. The stat and range are bad but the damage is reasonable, and the triggers are solid. They’ve also gained Belabor the Point, which is very good. Ranged marker dropping is always solid, even if you need to have a friend in the target zone, and this should help you flip Legalese upgrades if you need to. It’s also sort of a replacement for Obey, if you were using Obey to interact, which you were doing at least sometimes.
So… are they playable? Out of keyword, no. Don’t even try it. But in keyword, I think so. The first one is, at least. Five stones isn’t much for this package, and they do a lot of things your crew wants.
False Witnesses
False Witnesses got a price cut, too, though I’m less certain these guys make it. They’ve had the standard suite of changes (Manipulative -> Flexible Morality, Following Orders -> nothing), and have lost Innocent Bystander, too. They’re still just going to eat a Focused attack and die, but at four stones, maybe you don’t care so much.
The hilarious J’accuse! now gives Adversary (Enemy), benefiting all your Mimcs as well as your OOK hires. Tell No Lies has changed – rather than an aura of no cheating, it’s now an aura that lets your models cheat last, which is distinctly less powerful (though much easier to set up, especially given the fragility of the Witnesses). They’ve gained a new bonus action, Cry for Attention, which doesn’t do much but will occasionally Distract or even Lure a target.
False Claim is a strong action, but these things are super fragile and don’t do much else. So I don’t really know if you care, especially since this keyword has better 4 stone options available.
Investigators
Investigators have always been cool, but have never before been good. That may have changed now, though. Hard to tell – their entire card has been rewritten.
Starting with the standard suite of changes mentioned above, they lost Remove Evidence in return for Set Up For Success, which is incredibly easy for this crew to trigger; you will be vomiting Scheme Markers everywhere. And they lost Stand Back, It’s Evidence!, which was very flavorful but kind of hard to abuse, in return for On the Case. When a Scheme Marker is dropped within 6″ of them, a friendly model they can see anywhere on the board can push up to 3″ towards it. This is a supremely useful ability, especially since it’s not once per activation. In fact, it’s surprisingly broad: no Keyword limit, no range limit to the friendly target, you don’t even need to see the Marker dropped. I can see this triggering a lot and giving you a lot of out of activation movement.
Garrotes having been outlawed, they’re making do with harsh language, just like Alan Reid. The You’re Coming With Me trigger here is actually pretty nice – these guys can cover a lot of the board. You can charge 5″, hit someone 2″ away, push them 3″, and then place on the far side of their base, which on a 30mm target is about 12″ of displacement for one AP. Not bad, especially if you drew a card in the process. Unnatural Speed also moves them around with alacrity, and even picks up Markers in the process. They have a ranged attack, technically; normally this kind of thing is filler, but it’s an easy way to trigger Set Up For Success if you want to just spend your activation drawing two cards. And Leading the Witness is great as both a Lure and a way to push friendlies into position, especially with two excellent triggers.
These guys seem like a steal at 6 stones, and I’d expect most crews to hire at least one – they’re great in the kinds of pools you’re declaring Lucius into in the first place.
Changelings
Finally, we have Malifaux’s second or third or maybe fourth creepiest Creepy Kid. We have the Dreamer, Malifaux Child, Stolen, Kade… anyways, these guys just got errata’d a couple of years ago, so the changes are basically just to their front of card to bring them in line with the rest of the crew. Instead of Flexible Morality, they’ve got Inhuman Physiology, which is actually super annoying. The combination of Stealth and Disguised has meant that it’s very hard to get two attacks into a Changeling in one activation, so the typical way to remove them is via a single Focused swing. That’s not an option anymore, so they’ll much more often live to teleport away with Sidekick. I am already frustrated just thinking about it. Bumping their Df to 5 is insult to injury – these things are just too annoying to remove for their cost.
And that’s Elite/Mimic! With a rework like this, it’s very hard to predict exactly where the crew will land. We can guess at their playstyle, but without seeing them on the table, I don’t know whether to be scared. That said, a lot of these changes make their models a lot more durable and a lot more maneuverable, so I’d expect them to do very well in the hands of players who can resist the urge to just brawl. They won’t win a punching match, but they’ll outscore you while you’re trying to land a blow. And that just about fits the fantasy, doesn’t it?
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