Initial Impressions....

[Stone.and.Mortar]

Wow I love this game lol. I've got my preorder in for the main box and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. In the mean time Ive cobbled together a large hexboard (its actually circles traced from 40mm bases) and am playing with proxy 30mm models.

My fiance and I have been playing 2-3 games a night for the past few days and I've really enjoyed the learning experience thus far. It took us a while to grasp the rules as I was just having to piece it together from the site, but I think we're mostly rules accurate at this point.

After some bouncing around we've settled on two 5 model lists for the time being. (She wants to learn with a smaller number of puppets so as not to be confused by the multitude of rules). Her list has remained the same for all of our games: Justice, Judge, Death Marshall, Austringer, Executioner. Basically all the Guild models from the core set. Observations thus far: the Judge can be an absolute beast! His pins and needles ability coupled with the buff from Justice can wreck shop, assuming we haven't bodged the rules interactions here. And even after you kill the guy his upgrade is awesome. The Executioner and Death Marshall for some reason die very early, I don't intend to focus fire them down but it always ends up happening. The austringer has the second highest kill count of all her models. Being able to stay in the back and zap anything that another team member has weakened is proving to be straight money. Justice herself has yet to do much besides claim work benches and buff. I'm looking forward to seeing her open up more and use her models more aggressively as I think the guild options can really be blunt instruments and shes been scared to apply them in the right places so far.

My crew has changed a bit but I think I've found something I like: Marcus, Joss, Acolyte, Moleman, Ice Golem. Joss has been an absolute wrecking ball so far, and his card draw on misses coupled with the Acolytes hunting ability has been keeping my hand nice and flush. The molemans maneuverability is really nice, and he actually hits pretty hard when hiding in terrain. Makes getting to work benches easy. Marcus sadly hasn't done much for me yet, but I am looking forward to using his abilities more, they look potent. The acolyte besides being my hand management tool, is an upgrade grabbing machine, Im actually considering running more than 1 when we up our model count cause I really like the versatility. Lastly the Ice Golem, that blaster is great! Its a free action so unless I'm mistaken, move 2 make an attack, then free action to blast something and you dont even need to beat defense, hes got a nice head count going based on that alone. (Joss is also awesome in that regard, his range 2 discard to do rips move is nice).

I'll post in better detail our reports after I'm sure that we're playing the rules right, at this point we've gotten pretty close but there are still some uncertainties. Also I suppose I'm going to have to order the multiplayer upgrade and some pawn boxes to get some of the models for my list, haven't even gotten my first box yet and I'm already getting ready to buy more! Evil Wyrd! Anyhow I look forward to being more active on the forums with regard to Puppet Wars and if I can ever get some actual games of Malifaux in than in that regard as well. I would love any suggestions from you few that have been playing longer on what to add to my list when we hit Shoebox size. I like the Hand Manipulation/Hitting Power combo that my list thus far has so adding to that strategy would be superb.

[Justin]

Sounds like you got all the rules correct which you mentioned.

As for adding to your list: multiple copies of some of what you already have listed (moleman, acolyte, ice golem) is never a bad thing. Short of that, a few rattlers are nice in Marcus.

[karn987]

Glad to hear your enjoying the game! Yup it sounds like you have all the rules down pat and I love that your playing with make-shift stuff till your order arrives Glad to hear you and your wife are so excited about it.

As for what you may want to add... well your staying very mono suite right now which means you are missing out on a lot of potential combinations. Each suite is flawed, they have streagths and weakness's so mixing in some choice models from say Crows or Masks could be a good idea! None of your Puppets are particularly tough, so could consider adding in a Rotten Belle or two for speed bumps and their confusion. Then again you could go more offensive and add some Ram models. It's hard to say what is right because there isn't really 1 right answer, it's more about how you want to build your toybox.

Personally, Im quite parshal to the Belles, the Mature Nephilim, and Guild Hounds.

[Bohemian]

I played in three tournaments at GenCon. I started with Lady J. She had the Glowy Claws from the executioner. She flips four cards for an attack and I get the black joker (bottom of the deck). Next activation she flipped four cards and again got the black joker (top of the deck). Another game the Judge filpped five cards (two aces with flips for number value) and did not get the black joker, although by this time I was expecting it.

Someone mentioned using Marcus, so I switched. I played rather well with Marcus except when I tired to be too aggressive with him. I took the Rattler and used his "Tazed" action to good effect.

There are some interesting combinations out there that one had to find.

[slartibartfast]

Intersting way to start. I am waiting for my stuff to show up but I may try a couple of games the way you are.

[cromusz]

It's great to hear you are enjoying it so much already. I've really thought about adding the mole to my crew. March him up the board with the Death marshal next to him on the safe side of the impassible terrain. Now he is sitting at 12 defense and 5 combat. Not too shabby. Now think about having the austringer in the mix as well. That could be dangerous for the enemy cast if they happen to be near that mole.

[Stone.and.Mortar]

Yeah we've definately been having a blast. Interesting list ideas, I'm going to have to look into the marshall, I like the blanket combat buff and a ranged attack is always nice. I'm kinda on the fence about Marcus, I know he's got potential but I can't seem to get him close enough to utilize his abilities without getting myself chopped to pieces. That will come with time though I know. @slartibartfast definately try some proxy games, it is soo much fun that it would be a shame to miss out just due to the release schedule lol.

[cromusz]

I haven't had a chance to play Marcus yet. I do like his relationship with stuffed animals (moleman, guild hound, Teddy,Zombie Chihuahua,Silurid, December Acolyte, and Razorspine Rattler.

Beast Master: When you select a Stuffed Animal Puppet to animate, you may discard a card to ignore all Suits in that Puppets Animation Requirement.
Actions

Hide Pet (5): Rg: 1, Effect: Target Stuffed Animal may not be targeted by Attacks.

Roar (4+ discard a card): Rg: 3 Effect: All Puppets adjacent to Target Stuffed Animal suffer one Rip. LoS is not required.

[Bohemian]

I like Marcus (favorite master so far). Remember any stuffed animal can be used for the "Roar" action, including your opponents puppet. No LoS? No problem with this action. I was finally able to kill off Seamus in a very hard fought game with that action. :D