Broken Promises Choice Upgrades

So looking over the new upgrades for the Masters from the Broken Promises release that I do own and I just wanted to point out a couple that I really liked.

Jakob Lynch

Burn Out
So I talked about this one in the Gremlin post a few days ago, but I do like this one. It is the more expensive out of his two upgrades, but allows you to summon a The Depleted model in base contact with an enemy model that is killed withing a 6 inch range of Jakob or Hungering Darkness if they had the Brilliance condition by discarding two cards. They do take some damage and gain slow (taking additional damage for any Aces discarded), but with the right crew, upgrades and cards, it would make a pretty interesting scenario (though honestly, I just love the idea of old HD draining his opponents before turning them into crazed madmen).

Cheating Bastard
This limited upgrade allows those within a 6 inch aura of Jakob or old HD to cheat fate second, even if they are loosing the duel. This would mean your opponent is forced to decide if they want to cheat or not, granting Jakob's crew the advantage.

OK, so just to add more clarity to this part, Malifaux is played with a 52 card deck and you draw a hand of six cards which you can use to cheat fate (its sorta like re-rolls with dice, but you know what your putting down). Now in combat both players flip a card and add it to their relevant attack and defense stat, with cheating done after the flips are made. So lets say for this example that the attacker has an attack with a stat number 5 and the defender (who is part of the Lynch crew) has a defense stat of 5. The attacker flips a 7 (5+7= total of 12) and the defender flips a 4 (5+4 = total of 9). The defender has the lowest number and gets to cheat first, but if we reversed that and the attacker flips a 4 (so total 9) and the defender flips a 7 (total 12) then the attacker has the lowest number and gets to cheat first.

As such, the way this upgrade works is in relation to this example is the attacker gets the higher number and in that situation instead of the Lynch crew defender cheating first, the attacker has to decide if they will cheat it higher or let it pass and hope the defender doesn't cheat it. So the opponent could ignore it and the defender cheats it higher and thus the attack is stopped or the attacker cheats it from say, a 7 to a 9 (making it a total of 14), so the defender could either cheat in a 10 or more to bring it up to a 15 and thus stop the attack, or simply leave it and let the attacker waste a card.

He can also reveal a number of cards when he activates and for each Mask revealed this way, there are bonuses given (up to three Masks). This means your opponent might know some of your cards, but you get bonuses for taking that risk. This feels very much in character of the gambling man that is Jakob Lynch.
 
Viktoria of Ashes

Sisterly Bonds
All Sister models get an effect where when the enemy gives them a condition, they get a healing flip. On top of that, Vik also gets a (0) tactical action to give a minion model in 6 inches the Sister characteristic until the end of the turn. Personally, I like the cards and abilities that work with Sisters as I feel it adds more unity to the crew. Speaking of which....

Mah Tucket

Manifest Destiny
Finally, an effect that works with the Bayou Bushwhackers. This allows the use of the ability 'Get Off My Land!' at the start of every turn, not just the first. Plus, you can cross the Centerline with it on the second turn onwards, which means more movement for the crew. Not only that, but it also adds +1 range to Mah's melee actions (which is already quite nasty as I learned when I last used her) and when she discards a card outside of a duel, she can then draw one. Overall, this upgrade improves the effectiveness of the Mah Tucket crew boxset.

Pit Traps
Mah runs around dropping pit traps, forcing enemies who begin activation within 3 inches of one to discard a card or become slow. You do start with three on the board just by taking this upgrade (you just can't place them in enemy deployment zone nor within 3" of a marker or model) and the ability is a 1AP tactical action, with some restriction on where you can place it (though cannot be done while engaged). Effective at draining a persons hand or dishing out slow.

Colette

Audience Participation
So friendly Showgirl minion models that activate within an 8 inch aura of Colette gain the focus +1 condition. Given at least half her crew will most likely be showgirl minions, this could prove very effective in helping them out (and they certainly need it). It also grants her a tactical action targeting an unactivated enemy minion within 3" of a scheme marker, so when they activate you can use up 1 AP for them. While this is a 0 AP cost, it does require a high Tomes to cast, but given Colette's abilities with soul stones and cards, that shouldn't be too much trouble.

Extra:

Ulix

Pig Midwife
OK, so I don't own Ulix, but I have realized that I do enjoy painting the pigs and I am looking for my third Gremlin master, so he is definitely looking to be high on the list.

Anyway, I do like the idea of a Pig breeding crew and this upgrade goes will with his Husbandry upgrade. While that upgrade is expensive, this one is cheaper, thus making it a must have to go with it. It allows Pig models summoned within a 3 inch aura of him to not get the slow condition from being summoned, something that works well for a summoning crew. It also has an ability where if a friendly Pig is killed or sacrificed within an 8 inch aura of Ulix, then a friendly Pig that was within 3 inches of the killed/sacrificed Pig may heal 2 damage. Not only would this be great for a force throwing lots of Piglet models into the fray, but teamed up with a Taxidermist and his ability to also get a Stuffed Piglet from corpse markers, and you have a good set of usable bodies to sacrifice to keep the stronger Pigs healed. Would take some smart tactics to pull off, but it could be done by a skilled enough player (which clearly is not myself given my win/loss ratio with my Gremlins).


There are more with the other Masters I have, but I am still not as familiar with their play styles enough for me to comment on them. I am curious to try them out, but for now I think I'll remain focused on getting more painted first.