Better Know Your Malifaux 007: Lady Justice

As the defenders of humanity in Malifaux, the Guild are beset on all sides by enemies, both within their ranks and without. While the Neverborn and the Gremlins threaten to overwhelm the Guild with sheer numbers, the Ten Thunders and Acanists work to tear down their plans on Malifaux's city streets.  Each faction is set on increasing their own power, but none of these threats are so insidiously corrupting as the Resurrectionists, the dark practitioners of the necromantic arts.  It is this enemy that the enigmatic Lady Justice has dedicated herself to combating, leading her Death Marshals in expunging the Resurrectionist taint wherever it can be found.

 Like the eye of a hurricane, Justice remains calm in the whirl of battle, directing her troops with steadfast discipline and executing her mission with a placid efficiency.  Justice is a force of nature with her Greatsword - Her combat prowess is second to none and with her Critical Strike trigger she can take out even Howard Langston with a single well-placed blow.  If an enemy has the nerve to take a swing at her, Lady Justice will punish the attacker for a miss with a deadly Riposte.  If she needs a little boost, the Vendetta Trigger gives her two more triggers - Onslaught gives her additional attacks and Vengeance gives her a positive on damage, letting her cheat the flip in a greater variety of situations.

The Judge and the rest of the Marshals hold Lady Justice in the highest of esteem, not just as their leader but also as a paragon of their office.  When she kills a model in close combat her Inspiring Swordplay inspires them to fight harder.  With the Last Stand upgrade she gains the ability to ignore terrain and bring her Marshals with her on a charge, allowing her Crew to stay within her inspirational range.  Restore Natural Order lets her keep a level playing field for her team - removing all conditions from everyone within range.

As deadly as she is in close combat, and as effective as she is as a leader, Lady Justice offers no support to her Crew at range.  With no shooting or casting at her disposal she is dependent on terrain and speed to close the gap between her and her opponent.  The healing ability of Juggernaut and the safety offered by Covering Fire help her survive as she crosses the board, but she can also benefit from the added protection of either the Thalarian Stone or the Badge of Office upgrades.

In the event that she is called to face a Resurrectionist on the tabletop, she has a whole bag of tricks available to her that specifically counter their strengths.  Final Repose allows her to ensure that anything she kills stays dead, while the Justice Unleashed upgrade lets her clear any corpses that fall to the weapons of others and gives her a powerful burst attack versus undead.  Flames of the Pit turns the table on the Marshals' terrifying quarry, making Justice's crew immune to Horror and giving them all their own Horror vs. Undead.

Because the Death Marshals protect the citizens of Malifaux from the most horrific of enemies they have earned a place in the hearts of the populace,  Lady Justice in particular is placed high on a pedestal.  What is not as well known is the price they have had to pay to keep the peace.  Each Death Marshal learns elements of the dark arts, knowledge that corrupts the body and the mind.  Unlike her Guild Marshal allies, Lady Justice appears physically untouched by the ravages of this forbidden knowledge.  What is not known is what effect it has had on her psyche.  As the Avatar of Balance Lady Justice walks the thin line between life and death, between sanity and madness.  She holds the centre line for the sake of humanity, and she will hold it as long as she is able.

Better Know Your Malifaux 001: Perdita Ortega

In all of Malifaux, nobody has a quicker gun than Perdita Ortega.  As the head of her household, the young Perdita leads the largest enclave of Neverborn hunters in the Guild's employ, honing them into a lethal weapon to be used in the ongoing conflict with Malifaux's native population.  From the Latigo compound located outside the bounds of the city proper, Perdita and her charges fight nephilim and gremlins alike to shine a light into the darkness surrounding Malifaux. The fallout of the Event had left her comatose, trapped in her own mind while her family struggled to keep the fight going without her.  With her recent recovery, Perdita has a new sense of purpose.  As the Avatar of Revelation she sees truths that other can't, and she decides in her own time what knowledge she needs to impart, and to whom.

Perdita has always been hard to catch but easy to kill and in second edition this remains the case.  Among Masters she is tied with Lilith for the highest Defense in the game and has the second highest Willpower after Zoraida.  Combined, this makes her the hardest Master to flip damage against.  Her defensive trigger Quick Draw keys off of having an enemy model lose a Shooting duel against her, an opportunity she is well equipped to provide.  Should an attack get through however, she has little to mitigate the damage.  Perdita is at the low end of Wounds for a Master and does not have any damage reduction abilities to rely on.  This mean that she can be quite dependent on a good cards to survive.  Thankfully, this is supplemented by her ability to refresh her hand with Hero's Gamble.

Offensively, Perdita is quite capable, being equally effective bringing her Peacebringer to bear in close combat and at range.  Up close, Point Blank gives her a built-in ram allowing her to automatically trigger Critical Strike.  From further away she can set up Finger on the Trigger which allows her to dominate a large piece of the board for a turn, punishing the enemy if they have the nerve to shoot or charge.

Despite these strengths, Perdita's biggest advantage comes from her Family.  She and the other Ortegas all have the newly-templated Companion ability that allows a model who has it to activate immediately after a friendly model (limited to two total activations in a row).  Unlike in the previous edition, the Companion ability is not specific as to who can trigger it, leading to some interesting combinations.  Perdita's Relocate ability allows her to discard a card and push 8" towards a friendly Family model at the start of her activation.  This is an amazing ability that, combined with her Obey action and her totem's Shackled and Influence, gives the Ortegas their incredible ability to be in the right spot at the right time.

No other Master in book one has access to as many upgrades as Ms. Ortega, though not all options are as viable as others.  Her extremely high defense and Willpower make The Thalarian Stone a poor investment while Tormenta De Plomo and Hermanos De Armas are better off being allocated to her brothers.  Perdita is the only Guild Master without a Limited Upgrade, making it an easy decision to take Badge of Office if the Encounter dictates that she needs to survive.  Her own exclusive upgrades can fill in the few remaining gaps in her capabilities with Os Veo giving her two more defensive abilities, Aura Ancestral steeling her and her family's resolve and Trick Shooting adding to her already lengthy list of ways to bring pain to the enemy Crew.  A word of caution though, Perdita is one of the most expensive Masters in the game (in that she has a low cache of two) and taking a full allotment of Soulstones along with all three upgrades will cost 10 of your 50ss in a typical game.

Overall, Perdita rewards an aggressive yet tactical play style that focuses on having her and the Family in mid-range distance from each other as they move about the board accomplishing their tasks.  They need to be close enough to each other to offer support but they do not require the base contact that was the hallmark of so many first edition lists.  Perdita can get in a lot of trouble if she gets bogged down by multiple enemy models, so it's a good idea to make sure she is not left too exposed.

Her crew at this point usually consists of Nino, Francisco, Santiago, Papa Loco and the Enslaved Nephilim.  Beyond that, she can benefit from the inclusion of both Guild Guards and Witchling Stalkers to provide lower cost Minions to fill out the ranks.  In limited situations, the Executioner or Peacekeeper might be called for if the list needs some more survivability, but for the most part the Family likes to rely on each other... to the exclusion of others.