This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to play in my second 3-round event of the Malifaux 4th Edition Beta. A lot of progress has been made in the Beta since my last tourney in May (at that point, we still had missing keywords), and the rough edges of the new system have been filed more-or-less smooth.
One of the more recent touch-ups was a comprehensive overhaul of the Foundry keyword. As I had not brought my Foundry models to the table since the very beginning of the Beta, I was excited to let them stretch their legs again.
Foundry was my very first crew, and when I picked up the Mei Feng Core Box back in the fall of 2022, I had intended to use them as an Arcanists crew first and foremost. One of the first purchases that I made to supplement the Core Box was the set containing Sparks LeBlanc, the Mechanized Porkchop, and the three Survivors. Thanks to the 4th Edition changes, I had lost access to the Bayou-shared models and the Arcanists Versatiles I was accustomed to using - as Mei Feng had become a Ten Thunders Master, exclusively.
After my first couple of games with Mei Feng in 4th, I found this crimping of my roster mildly discouraging. As I still didn’t have Willie and Neil Henry, I was now short a substantial percentage of the Foundry keyword models. But - after another local player let me rehome the Komainu he could no longer use with Yan Lo, and I picked up the Shadow Emissary box from my local game store - I felt a little better about my ability to list-build going into this event.
Tournament Prep
In addition to whichever Mei Feng Title and Totem I was going to bring, the core of my list for the day was going to be:
Kang
Metal Golem
Shadow Emissary
This basic recipe would be seasoned with a mix of Komainu, Steelworkers, and Metal Gamin to taste.
My rough rule of thumb was to bring Mei Feng, Sentinel of Steel for Informants and Plant Explosives; and Mei Feng, Foreman for Boundary Dispute and Recover Evidence. Boundary Dispute and Recover Evidence in general require less mobility and can be played with a more defensive mindset, while Plant Explosives and Informants both reward high mobility in order to both advance your own gameplan while undermining your opponent.
Round 1 vs. Peter (Parker Barrows, Most Wanted)
Strategy: Informants
Deployment: Corner
Starting Schemes: Breakthrough, Ensnare, Scout the Rooftops
Peter is kinda’ the boogeyman of our local Malifaux scene. Ever since he picked up the game with last summer’s Slow Grow League - and proceeded to win the whole thing quite handily with Harold Tull - he has consistently finished near the top of every event he has played in, with only the rarest exceptions. He also happens to be one of my most consistent opponents, and while my record against him isn’t a winning one - it’s pretty close to breaking even, so I didn’t hate my odds going into this fight.
My crew was:
Mei Feng, Sentinel of Steel
Forgeling
Kang
Shadow Emissary - Abyssal Dragon
Metal Golem
3x Steelworkers
1x Komainu
4 Soulstones
Peter brought:
Parker Barrows, Most Wanted
Doc Mitchell
Ella Mae Chesterfield
Six Armed Six-Shooter
Sue
Hans
2x Banditos
6 Soulstones
With Corner deployment, the first turn of Informants was going to be a mad dash for the middle of the board. I split my crew into three “teams” each one consisting of a Steelworker and one of my big, unique models. Mei Feng, the Forgeling, and the Komainu set up centrally to head in whichever direction made sense to compensate for Peter’s own choices.
As we unpacked our crews, it became clear pretty quickly that we were both Scouting the Rooftops as our opening Scheme. My dragon headed to my left flank to secure the first half of my Scheme, and to menace the top-left Informant next turn. I loaded up a Steelworker with Bolstered and Shielded and sent him after a building on my right flank to score the second half of Scout and then hold the rightmost Informant on the next turn. However, I choose to get the Steelworker about halfway to the building with bonus movement and then turn my attention elsewhere - thinking that with the buffs, he would be too hard a target for Peter to waste actions on - we’ll see how that went in a moment.
On Peter’s side, the Banditos mirrored the Emissary and the Steelworker - one headed left, the other right, and both scheming for Scout. The rest of his unpack was fueled by Sue and Parker’s bonus movement abilities - both of which can grant bonus attacks. It was at this point I realized that I had dramatically underestimated how many 3-damage ranged attacks the Bandits can send down the field. Fueled by the bonus attacks from Sue and Parker - not to mention her own activation - Ella Mae Chesterfield was able to kill the Steelworker that I thought was safe to secure my Scheme for the turn and assist on Strategy next turn.
This was a serious wrench for me. Thankfully - for this turn, at least - I had saved Mei Feng’s activation for late in the Turn; she was able to break to the right flank and drop two scheme markers on the building I needed, letting me double-score Scout the Rooftops.
At the end of the Turn - I was down a model; controlling the left flank Informant with the Metal Golem and my home Informant with Kang; contesting the center Informant (which was turning into quite the scrum); and I had double-scored Scout. Meanwhile - Peter had the right flank with Ella; his home point with the Six Armed Six-Shooter; and single-scored Scout. Even with the unexpected early casualty, I was up 3-2 going into the second Turn.
In Turn 2, I chose “Leave Your Mark” for my second scheme, fully planning to discard it to path into “Reshape the Land” which is a two-point layup for Foundry.
This Turn devolved into a major melee around the center Informant. From his position near the center, Sue triple-tapped “Walk the Line” into Parker, and Peter chose to cash in 3 of his remaining 5 Soulstones to ensure that Parker killed another Steelworker, dramatically reducing my ability to hold positions. I had been popping Gamin off the Golem to try and compete on bodies, but since the little guys couldn’t contest Informants, it was not looking good. This grim forecast was only darkened when Hans used his activation to blast the last Steelworker off the board.
Despite my growing list of casualties, it wasn’t only doom and gloom. Mei Feng’s activation was all gas; when Sentinel of Steel is in position to go off, she goes off. Thanks to the frankly bonkers Ram trigger on “Keep to Schedule”, she and the Forgeling were able to get into the melee in the center. When combined with the Soulstone trigger on “Forged of Steel” that hands out unresisted Stunned, she was able to Stun Parker and Ella on her way in - putting damage on Ella to boot. She capped off her vulgar display of power by laying into Sue for a sizeable chunk of his health.
Peter was forced to bring Doc Mitchell out of hiding to strip the Stunned off Parker in order to make the most of his Master’s activation. This paid off, as without anything holding him back, Parker was able to kill the Forgeling and decisively tilt the fight in the centre in favour of the Bandits. However, the Komainu got into Ella and mauled her badly enough with the help of Onslaught triggers to leave her on her last legs.
Thanks to the Black Joker fizzling Rising Dragon, the Shadow Emissary was forced to spend a lackluster turn walking down from its perch and positioning to swing the left-flank Informant my way along with the Metal Golem.
The Turn ended badly for me. On top of losing four models, I scored zero points as Peter held more Informants and still had the actions leftover to scheme for Leave Your Mark. It was 5-3 for the Bandits going into Turn 3.
Turn 3 would end up being our last turn due to time being called, and we would only get a few activations each. In that time, it would become clear that I would absolutely double-score “Reshape the Land”; Mei Feng had the time to kill Ella Mae pre-activation, prying her off the right-flank Informant - turning that one contested, with only a Bandito remaining on Peter’s side. For his part, Peter would double-score his own scheme (forgive my shoddy record keeping, but I didn’t note Peter’s third scheme). In the brief melee we had time for, Sue was able to survive on “Hard to Kill” keeping the center contested.
In the end, Turn 3 would see both of us double-score our schemes and both score primary. Meaning that the final score was 8-6 for the Bandits.
Lessons Learned
The Bandits can throw a ton of damage down the field and are extremely efficient on actions as long as they have Soulstones. Never take a model’s survival against them for granted - even if you have taken some time to invest in their defense. Steelworkers are fragile, as “Resilient” protecting you from raises doesn’t mean much against a surplus of 3-damage attacks.
I am convinced that losing the Steelworker in Turn 1 was the moment that cost me the game. If I had chosen to move him into position earlier and scored Scout the Rooftops, I could have let him die without worrying - and honestly, he probably wouldn’t have thanks to the cover from the building perch. True, it would have been 2-2 going into the second Turn - but, this would have allowed Mei Feng to go on the offensive with her first activation, and considering how effective she was in later turns - I am sure this would have absolutely made a difference.
Sentinel of Steel is a terror with some remarkable movement abilities thanks to Ride the Rails. She also packs some extremely potent triggers (“Tiger Strike” on her “Keep to Schedule” signature action is easily my favourite). I will be very certain to avoid Stunned at all costs in future games.
Round 2 vs. Duncan (Jack Daw, Ensoulled)
Strategy: Boundary Dispute
Deployment: Wedge
Starting Schemes: Assassinate, Make it Look Like an Accident, Search the Area
I was excited for this Round. Jack Daw is a Master I have always been curious about, but before this game I had no experience playing against him at all. Plus, Duncan is always a great opponent, so I knew I was going to be in for a fun game.
My list for the Round was identical to the previous match. But - as planned - I swapped to Mei Feng, Foreman and the Rock Hopper over Sentinel of Steel and Forgeling.
Duncan brought:
Jack Daw, Ensoulled
Jaakuna Ubume (now Ensoulled’s Totem)
The Ferryman
Kari Zotiko
Montressor
3x Crooked Man
2x Drowned
2 Soulstones
Both Duncan and I positioned our Strategy markers in a rough triangle inside our wedge. Despite the lessons about their fragility from the previous game, I positioned a Steelworker out in front to “kick the ball” right off the bat. I was planning to rely on their mobility from receiving +2 Speed while having a Shielded token and “Onward” to stay on top of scoring me the Strategy. With Mei Feng, Foreman - I thought that my crew would have a bit more staying power compared to the previous game and thus the front man wouldn’t be quite as vulnerable.
For my opening scheme, I chose Assassinate on Kari Zotiko, as she seemed like the most vulnerable Unique model on Duncan’s side of the field.
Jack Daw started the game by charging wildly at my front lines and I was immediately getting flashbacks to the early Steelworker demise from the first match. However, Duncan was far more interested in spreading misery wide, rather than focusing on a single minion. Daw dropped curses on Kang and one of the Steelworkers further in my backline before hammering the third Steelworker and nearly dropping him. While deliberating my options to crack back, I asked Duncan to describe Jack Daw’s defensive profile, and my sails lost some wind - the combination of Terrifying and Incorporeal made it seem like there was no way I would be bringing the big man down.
My morale rallied when I realized that, unlike Sentinel of Steel’s “Ride the Rails”, Foreman’s “Scatter Scrap” Crew Card action can place Scrap markers into base contact with opposing models. From that point, Jack’s solo journey into my back lines saw nearly every unique model in my crew spending at least one signature action to drop a marker right next to him. The combination of plink damage from Hazardous and Mei Feng’s “Heated Iron” ability helped to keep him in check, while the Severe speed bumps of the Scrap slowed him down.
Once again, the center of the map would devolve into a brawl. As I was playing Mei as more of a bubble crew, with the whole team babysitting my Strategy markers on their trip across the table, it was easy for Duncan to funnel my advance towards his punishing auras. For my part, I was glad to see that he had positioned Kari nice and close to the front of his own forces.
From this first one, Mei Feng’s activations this game would make me infinitely happy that you can cheat on negative flips in 4e. Thanks to her “Helmets, People!” attack - I would be able to keep Jack Daw Stunned for nearly the entire game.
Turn 1 would end with neither Duncan nor myself scoring a Scheme and both of us scoring Strategy.
At the start of Turn 2, Duncan chose to discard his own Assassinate. I kept mine, as I was confident I would get Kari this turn. Jack once again proved that Steelworkers are more like Paperworkers if they are caught by a model that costs more than 6 points. Rather than try and continue dogging my high-value targets, the combination of Stunned and Scrap meant that Daw instead chose low-hanging fruit and lifted the Steelworker that had been cursed last round. Although, thanks to a big flip on Duncan’s side - he was able to get a curse onto Mei Feng as well.
I was able to drop Kari below half to trigger the first point of Assassinate with the Metal Golem. While this put Kari on her last legs, she was able to summon an additional Drowned before she made her exit at the hands of a particularly bloodthirsty Steelworker.
With the exception of his other two Drowned, which he was using to run his Strategy markers up the flanks, Duncan had committed most of his crew to the center melee. It turns out that this kind of tightly-packed action is exactly what Mei Feng, Foreman, wants to see. Between the Hazardous terrain of the Scrap markers and the “death by 1000 cuts” from Mei Feng’s “Heated Iron” ability, it was very hard for the Tormented crew to out-attrition the Foundry.
My background is Magic: the Gathering, where giving your opponents a choice - even with two bad options - is generally considered sub-optimal. But I’ll be damned if the Rock Hopper’s “Rust Rash” action - providing Duncan the painful choice between nearly his whole crew getting Stunned, or having to take a walk into some Hazardous scrap markers I had set up for them - didn’t feel like a game-winning ability all on its own. Thanks to the chip damage from Mei Feng’s “Heated Iron”, Kang would be able to drop the Ferryman on a big charge when he flipped the Red Joker.
This would be the one turn where Mei was not able to lay Stunned on Jack, as she would flip the cursed suit of her Tormented upgrade and nullify “Helmets, People!” - which I had saved for last, as I had decided to prioritize moving her into a better position and revving the value engine of “Scatter Scrap” + “Shifting Girders”.
While both of us would score Strategy, Turn 2 would end with a 3-2 lead for me after double-scoring Assassinate.
Turn 3 I chose Runic Binding and both of us chose to largely abandon the melee and pursue points.
Although, Daw would still find the time to kill the Komainu, who I had sent after Jaakune to slow down her own Hazardous Aura.
For my part, that same violent Steelworker would be responsible for killing both a Crooked Man and a Drowned in an attempt to make room for a Runic Binding Scheme marker in a hotly contested point in the center.
In the end, I was able to score 2 for Runic Binding - catching both Jack Daw and Montressor within the triangle; while Duncan would get on the Scheme board with a 1-point Detonate Charges. After we both once again scored Strategy, I would hold a 6-4 lead into the final Turn.
On my end, the final turn would be spent scoring a single-point Ensnare on Jack Daw, while Duncan used his Drowned and Montressor to Take the High Ground. Despite both of us attempting to swing Strategy our way, we remained at parity and the game would end in a 9-7 victory for me.
Lessons Learned
While Mei Feng, Sentinel of Steel is certainly a glow-up from where Mei Feng 1 was in 3rd Edition, I am still not sold on her two titles being internally balanced. “Ride the Rails” is extremely powerful, but Mei Feng, Foreman is a one-woman synergy machine with a one-card combo Crew Card. I am absolutely not complaining, as I really enjoy the playstyle of Foreman - which was my main takeaway from this match. Based on what I have seen other crews be capable of - I think the answer would be to tune Sentinel up, rather than Foreman down. That is, if there actually is a power imbalance here and not just a higher skill ceiling on Sentinel which I have not yet reached.
I was happy with how I played the match, but that’s happy within the context of still learning 4th. I definitely feel like I am getting into the swing of being good at doing my thing and scoring points, it’s figuring out how to deny my opponent their ability to do their thing that I need to work on.
Round 3 vs. Darrell (Nexus, Heart of the Hive)
Strategy: Recover Evidence
Deployment: Flank
Starting Schemes: Runic Binding, Reshape the Land, Public Demonstration
Darrell is one of the people I have played the most Malifaux with, but up to this point it had been exclusively against his trademark Charles Hoffman. Recently, he has been trying something new, soloing Nexus, Heart of the Hive in our Slow Grow league all summer, and now bringing the spider lady to this event.
It has been cool to watch him grow with the new keyword. He struggled early on with Nexus’ unique mechanics and rough early-draft rules for the Cadmus keyword, but he has been refining his gameplay and consistently improving over the course of the season.
Going into the match, I knew that I wanted some marker removal for the Web markers - especially since “Reshape the Land” was in the opening pool - so I actually hired a Metal Gamin. This was also in an effort to maximize my Soulstone pool to ensure that I could spam “Hazard Pay” in response to Parasite tokens.
My crew was:
Mei Feng, Foreman
Rock Hopper
Komainu
Steelworker x2
Metal Gamin
Metal Golem
Kang
Shadow Emissary - Soaring Dragon
6 Soulstones
Darrell brought:
Nexus, Heart of the Hive
Shambling Nest x2
Berserker Husk x3
Cavatica
Dr. Meredith Stanley
Eyes and Ears x4
Nightsilk Creeper
2 Soulstones
I deployed bubbled up at the bottom arm of my flank’s L-shaped deployment zone. Mei Feng herself was positioned in the center to properly distribute “Hazard Pay” as needed.
Darrell spread out, with Dr. Stanley, Cavatia, and the Eyes and Ears at one end of his flank; the Berserkers and the Nightsilk Creeper positioning themselves to threaten my crew; and Nexus taking up position hiding in a building between the two blocks. Meanwhile, with “From the Shadows”, one Shambling Nest took up position in the middle of the board between our crews, while the other was far, far away from the action. The reason for this was that Darrell “cheesed” the opening of Recover Evidence and put his marker in a position for the secluded Nest to scoop up ASAP.
I (of course) windmill-slammed “Reshape the Land” as my opening scheme.
Given the conceit of Recover Evidence, I was happy to see that Darrell had positioned one of his Shambling Nests so close to my crew. The Metal Golem was able to take a leisurely stroll forward, drop a Scrap marker next to the Nest and then channel its “Twist the Rails” attack into it - flipping a 13 to get a double-raise on the attack, along with the “AHHH! My Eye!” trigger for even more damage.
The Shadow Emissary moved up beside the Golem to start dropping additional Scrap markers and finish off the Nest with the Lighting Strike attack from its Soaring Dragon upgrade. Unfortunately, the dragon did not have the luck of the Golem and the Nest survived. Darrell moved up his Nightsilk Creeper and used its “Seize Prey” action to kidnap the Emissary, forcing it into the waiting cluster of Berserker Husks.
The Rock Hopper was able to scoot up, finish off the Shambling Nest, and then use “Rust Rash” to relieve the pressure on the Emissary - forcing the Husks to take Stunned tokens, as Darrell didn’t have a good avenue to move them away without forfeiting his position.
At the end of the Turn, Darrell was able to score for Strategy and a double-point Runic Binding thanks to Cavatica’s aptitude for scheming and Nexus’ surplus of actions; while I scored double-scored Reshape the Land - Darrell was ahead 3-2 going into the second Turn.
For my second scheme, I selected Public Demonstration on the Nightsilk Creeper, which had ended its activation quite far forward after black-bagging the Emissary.
Speaking of the Emissary, I activated it first this Turn - escaping with “Rising Dragon” and scooping up a Strategy marker. I knew I needed this value, because it was on borrowed time and it would be brought down by the Berserker Husks as soon as they started activating. In return, Mei Feng and the Rock Hopper would both claim a Berserker Husk each - as the bubble I had been able to maintain left the Berserkers exposed after killing the Emissary.
Darrell’s second wave - consisting of Dr. Stanley and the Eyes and Ears - started to crash into Mei Feng. The Golem was able to apply pressure and clear out most of the Eyes and Ears, but thanks to the proximity of Dr. Stanley, this helped Darrell net a healthy supply of Soulstones.
During its activation, Nexus proceeded to undo much of my progress - summoning back a handful of Eyes and Ears with “Citizens of Malifaux”. I attempted to tie up Dr. Stanley with the Komainu - connecting with “Pounce on the Chest” - but Cavatica came to her aid, dealing a hefty amount of damage to the robo-dog, while prying it off the good doctor with “Called Out”. This also left a window for Darrell to score Ensnare for two points thanks to the “Draw Out Secrets” trigger. Free of her harasser, Dr. Stanley was able to evolve one of the Eyes and Ears into a replacement Berserker Husk.
Meanwhile, closer to the heart of my crew, I was able to get my Steelworkers and the Gamin in position to score two points for Public Demonstration on the Creeper - as hoped. I was also able to secure the two Strategy markers needed to make sure Darrell couldn’t cash in on the Emissary’s demise. I was able to flip the one-point lead, and we were going into the third Turn 5-4 for me.
Turn 3 was all about the Nightsilk Creeper. I selected it for Assassinate and Darrell chose it for Frame Job. By the end of the Round, it was dead, but thanks to Nexus, it had a Scheme marker close enough to it for Darrell to score two points from the Frame Job, while I would secure my two-point Assassinate. Mei Feng had Stunned Nexus with “Helmets, People!”, so contributing the Scheme marker was all it really managed to do this Turn.
Dr. Stanley would dismantle the Komainu, but thanks to one of my Steelworkers jetting across the battlefield - dodging through what remained of Darrell’s lines – I was able to collect the Strategy marker that had been dropped at deployment and again keep Darrell from scoring on Recover Evidence. I was holding my one-point lead 8-7 going into the final turn.
At this point, we had both maxed out our ability to score Schemes, so it was down to scoring on Recover Evidence. The last major combat action would see the summoned Berserker Husk killing my hired Gamin, meaning that Darrell had three potential markers to collect to my two. We would both scoop up all of them. In an attempt to maintain my lead, I would devote my remaining Steelworkers and Kang (who hadn’t done much since using “Workers Rise Up” to assist my unpack thanks to some truly abysmal flips) to scoring the bonus point on Recover Evidence.
The tempo of the game had deposited Cavatica, Dr. Stanley, and the final hired Berserker Husk onto my table half. In an attempt to disrupt Darrell’s plans for them, I used the “Rust Rash” action from the Rock Hopper to tag the three of them - assuming that whether I Stunned them or forced them out of position, it would be all upside for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t read the back of Cavatica’s card closely enough (or at all). The extra little boost of movement from the Rock Hopper allowed the weird bug-man to leverage “Parasitic Infiltration” (when combined with Dr. Stanley’s “Doctor’s Orders”) to score the bonus point on Recover Evidence for Darrell.
My own blithe approach to the match would take what could have been a hard-fought one-point victory for me and turn it into a 9-9 draw.
Lessons Learned
Read your opponents’ cards. Cavatica was almost custom-built to carry Cadmus in the Foundry match-up and I did not give the man his due. I should have treated him like Jack Daw in the previous match and forced him to fight through a field of Scrap from the beginning.
That said, I did correctly read how important “Hazard Pay” would be to the match and my huge Soulstone pool meant that Parasite tokens were nearly a non-issue for the entire game.
Conclusions and Final Thoughts
Peter and his Bandits would go on to take the day, but only on the back of tiebreakers, as Round 3’s “top table” would end with a spectacular draw (10-10) between him and a Redchapel crew.
I would end the day 1-1-1, which was just fine with me. Although, every time I take Foundry out for a spin in 4th I am left with the undeniable impression that I need to stop procrastinating and order Neil Henry and Willie online. While Steelworkers, Gamin, and Komainu have their utility, they’re not enough to carry the crew to a reliable victory.
Overall, I think Foundry have made it to this point in the Beta in a really good place. While I am tempted to suggest that Mei Feng, Sentinel of Steel could use a little more spice added to her Crew Card, I am also quite prepared to be wrong and admit that I just need some more reps with her to master the application of the reworked Ride the Rails.
As we enter the twilight of the 4th Edition Beta, I am really impressed with how far the game has come in the last 4 or so months. While there’s still some clear tweaking required here and there, the overall impression is of a fast-paced game (once again, 2 of my 3 matches during the day finished with time to spare), with a well-balanced, and relatively streamlined ruleset.
None of the crews I have played against - whether in a pick-up game, the ongoing Slow Grow League, or the two events I have played in - have felt truly oppressive or like negative play experiences. I am very much looking forward to getting my hands on the app and doing a proper browse through the crews I haven’t seen as much to get a sense of what else is out there. Here’s hoping the rumours are true and releases this week.