Hey folks, due to popular request from the Facebook group A Wyrd Place, I'm going to give you a breakdown of the Emissaries, a new cycle of high powered game-changer units for Malifaux. They emerge from the game's newest book, Shifting Loyalties, when after a certain event in book's lore, each of the Effigies that Zoraida had created to infiltrate the other factions gets an incredible boost in power, metamorphosing the dangerous and expensive Emissaries.
That handsome fellow is Hayreddin, and he has made his family very mad. But he isn't an Emissary so we won't talk about it!
This is an article that drills deep into the game Malifaux, a game that we've mentioned we love, maybe a bit too much. This piece dives into the game mechanics very fast, so if you're new to miniatures gaming, feel free to look at our articles about why it's so awesome before getting sucked in. If you want know shiny details about these new shiny models, roll up your sleeves, we're going in.
To begin with, each Emissary costs 10 stones to hire, is a Rare 1 Enforcer without the Living, Undead, or Construct characteristics; no markers will drop when they die. They are 50 mm base, height 3 models with a unique ability called Power Sink that allows them to gain the irremovable condition "Destined +1" whenever your crew scores a VP from the Strategy (Reckoning, Turf War, etc.). Destined has twofold use; it allows the Emissary to heal one damage at the end of its activation for each stack of Destined, and the Emissary can remove the Destined condition of 2 or greater using a zero act to grant game breaking benefits to your team. Much like getting that last critical power-up in the final stretch of the third act, busting out a Destined powered activation from an Emissary on turn 4 might turn an unwinnable game into a victory. You can get the first point of Destined on the end of turn 2, then your second point on the end of turn 3, so turn 4 is the earliest you can pop it. If you do, you will lose your pseudo-regeneration healing, so it may be worth it to get the 2 point heal during turn four and use the Destined removal ability during turn 5, where the healing may be less relevant.
There's a lot to cover here, mainly because these Emissaries are meant to be customizable for any master in the game, letting you have one of these in any crew you come with. Each Emissary comes with a zero stone upgrade for each master in their faction, allowing for really fun customization. In addition, there is a generic upgrade in case you're flying Masterless, or want those particular generic abilities instead. If my analysis on most of the factions' masters' upgrades is brief, it's simply because I don't know enough about them to really go into it. If you can see some cool synergies, feel free to tell me about them in the comments!
The Brutal Emissary - The Guild
As you might expect from the Guild, Mr. B. Emissary is a nasty combat model. He has 10 wounds, above average defense stats, fast walk and charge, and Hard to Kill and Armor +1. He has the Tyranny of Order ability that allows him to make (1) acts of friendly buried models, because, surprise surprise, he can throw people into the Box like the Death Marshals.
He's all grown up! And he has a new friend! Aww...
His attack actions are vicious, cruel, and dare I say, Brutal? His (1) Rule of Law is a Sh 6. built in Masks, resisted by Df, range 8 or 2 melee. the Damage track is 2/4/6 with a pair of triggers. Never Bluff a Six-gun is his built in trigger off a mask that allows him to use the attack again against another model within 4 inches that hasn't already been targeted by it. So you can roll up, shoot a dude, then shoot all his nearby friends one after the other. Also he has Critical Strike because... Guild. obviously. Secondly, he has (1) "Back in the Box!" with a 3 inch melee range, Ml 6, Tn 12, resisted by Wp. You can toss a non-leader model into the Box, burying them. At the end of Emissary's next activation, the buried model comes back out in base contact, or in base contact with any scheme marker in line of sight of the Emissary. It'll be pretty fun to grab your enemy and throw him way into your mob of minions on the next turn for a nasty beat-'em-up.
He has two tactical actions. (0) A Cage for All just needs a 4 or higher to go off, and it forces every enemy unit activating in a 4 inch aura to pass a TN 11 Wk duel or be slowed. There is a Tomes trigger, Dues Paid, that allows friendlies activating in that aura to heal 2 damage, too. For ten stones you get a really good dude.
His Destined ability is Tyranny Lights the Way. You can only take it if you have Destined 2 or higher. You remove the Destined condition from this model and then activate exactly two models after the Emissary is done. You can ignore the chain activation rules, but every other rule is still in play. Having three dudes go in a row feels like cheating, doesn't it?
Guild Upgrades: Conflux of Judgement - Lady Justice Brutal E. gets Slowed Reflexes, meaning he can't get reactivate or be buried on the first turn. The Death Marshal Box Conga technique would just be too crazy with the Brutie. However, he also gets Hitch a Ride so you can target friendly leaders with his own Box action, allowing you to carry Lady J AND get access to her (1) actions, which is a little insane. Finally, he gets a (0) act Condemnation that gives himself and friendly Death Marshals within a 4 inch aura positive flips to Df and Wp duels when targeted with Sh or Ca actions.
Conflux of Incineration - Sonnia Granting Visions of Flame like Sonnia has is great, and he also get a (0) A Spark in the Night which is a Ca 6, TN 14, vs Df, range 10 attack that grants Burning +1 and does not require LoS.
Conflux of The Hunt - Perdita Perdita's upgrade grants him Circular, so he can be safe from shooting while being in melee, and A Breath of Power that gives Perdita a mask to Ca while within 8 inches so she can Obey more reliably.
Conflux of Amalgamation - Hoffman For the Robot King himself, Brutal gets turned into a Construct. A 3 inch aura of Advanced Circuitry grants friendlies with the Power Loop condition a positive twist to attack flips.
Conflux of Tyranny - Lucius (Dual Faction Guild/Neverborn) The only upgrade I'm ever actually likely to take out of the Guild box, Tyranny grants Amazing Rhetoric, allowing any friendly minions that activate within a 6 inch aura to heal one damage. Additionally, the ability Typical Politician grants Lucius a (1) Backstab attack, Ml 6, vs Df, 2 inch range, with a weak damage track of 1/2/3. Luckily it gets +2 damage if the target is engage with another friendly, like Baby Kade's knife. On a Crow, it triggers He's Prone, Gut Him which makes the attack do +1 damage if the target did not cheat fate during the duel.
Brutal Conflux - General The general upgrade for each faction is the same except in name, granting The Power Rages which gives friendly minions a positive to all attack duels and a (0) act that allows you to discard a soulstone to draw two cards and discard two cards. Considering the power of the Emissaries other (0) acts it may not be worth getting access to more card filtering. Plus the master specific upgrades are so powerful and synergetic, the generic upgrades might not see any play.
The Carrion Emmisary - Resurrectionists
Carrion is a mid-range caster with a lot of interaction with corpse markers and can produce a lot of scheme markers for a Resser unit. His stat line has 6 all across the board, with 9 wounds. Power Sink and Hard to Kill round out his defensive tricks. He has the lowest wound count (tied with Lucky) and the least defensive abilities of any of the Emissaries, so you'll want to keep him safe somehow. Carrie is also the only Emissary with Flight because well, he's a giant crow. His last ability is The Flesh Crawls, granting other friendly models that activate within a 6 inch aura +1 Wk for the duration of their activation. He's definitely someone that has a place in fights to get victory points, as long as you tie your opponent up with other models.
Fearow is a pretty intense evolution from Spearow.
With only one attack, Carrie seems to be more of a support piece than the others. (1) Rot and Rend is Ca 6 vs Df, range 6 or 1 melee, with a nasty damage track of 3/3 (blast)/4 (double blast). The standard Resser Infect trigger is present, along with a Tomes Final Word that lets the target discard a card to prevent you from placing a scheme marker in base contact with the target. The Masks trigger Word of the Emissary just allows you take the action again after damaging. This second attack can't declare triggers but with a weak damage of 3 that could be a nasty charge if you have some high Masks in your hand.
Tactical actions are more Carrion's style, though. (1) Claims of the Dead turns a corpse marker within 6 inches into a scheme marker. The lore-heavy (0) Shards of Kythera needs a 7 to cast and it allows you to place two 50 mm Shard markers within six inches, touching each other. They are Ht 4, Impassable, Blocking terrain. At the end of the turn you get to summon a Mindless Zombie in base contact with the Shards before removing them. I believe that a lot of the Upgrades for the Carrion Emissary used to revolve around the Shards, but Wyrd appears to have removed that interaction.
His Destined ability is (0) The March of the Dead, and it allows you to remove the condition to summon a non-master, non-totem Resurectionist model with a cost of 6 or less into base contact. Not as hugely game impacting as the others, especially on turn 4 or 5, where you know you've summoned at least 3 or 4 Mindless Zombies before you even get to this last ability. I feel like Carrie's ability to support the summoning masters out of Ressers is good enough to cover for a slightly weaker Destined ability.
Resser Upgrades:
Conflux of Infamy - Seamus Carrie gets another defensive trick is the form of Banquet of Fear, whenever an enemy model fails a Wp duel within 4 inches Carrie can heal 1 damage. He also gets a (0) attack, Fling, which does exactly it sounds like it would do: you grab a Ht 1 or 2 enemy model and push it up to 6 inches in any direction. If it hits anything or anyone, both it and the units it hit take 2 damage.
Conflux of Death - Nicodem This turns Carrie into a walking Romero movie. Grave Peril grants all friendly Mindless Zombies +1 ml for each other friendly undead model within 3 inches, up to a max of +3 Ml. And since we know that Carrie can summon Mindless Zombies getting that full bonus shouldn't be too difficult. He gets a (0) tactical called Strength of the Grave that lets you discard a card to give a friendly Undead within 6 inches positive flips to Ml actions for the rest of the turn.
Conflux of Forbidden Knowledge - McMourning (Dual Faction Resurectionist/Guild) To boost synergy with the Doc's poison theme, the Emissary gets Smell Corruption, granting a positive to attack flips against poisoned models. (0) Toxic Fog is a Ca 6, vs Wp, 10 inch (gun) attack with a track of 1/1 (double blast)/1 (triple blast) that poisons anyone damaged by the attack or its blasts.
Conflux of Spirit - Kirai Carrie becomes a spirit for this one. Eternal Spirit is an ability that lets friendly spirit models in a 4 inch aura treat incoming Ca actions as Ml actions for the purposes of Incorporeal damage reduction, which is pretty huge. the (0) Pull of Aether needs a 6 to fire, allowing another friendly spirit in 6 inches to push up to 4 inches in any direction.
Conflux of Horror - Molly Molly gets a bad rap, she's such a sweet girl, even if she does let Carrie start Tearing at the Seams of the World, granting friendly undead within 10 inches the Horror characteristic. I don't know who Von Schtook is, but Carrie has (0) Von Schtook's Blessing, granting a friendly non-leader Horror fast on a 4 of Tomes or Higher.
Carrion Conflux - General Positive flips to friendly minion's attacks and a draw and discard zero act. Same as the rest of the generals.
The Arcane Emissary - Arcanists
For a dude that looks like a giant robot bull, he weirdly isn't a construct. With 6 for defense, ten wounds,a pitiful walk of 4, but a nonsense charge of 10, the Arcane Emissary is a melee monster that wants to roll up and throw down. Everything this guy does is meant to hurt your opponents. And we all know how much the Arcanists were suffering with a dearth of huge killer melee beatsticks, right? (Rail Golem, Howard Langston, Ice Golem... I hate you Wyatt.) He also has Armor. Flesh and Metal allows him to discard a card at the start of his activation. At the end of the activation, a friendly non-leader within 6 inches may take a (1) act. This means you have to make the call that there will be someone nearby at the end of his turn, and with a 10 inch charge that may not always be that case. So don't get too hasty. When he finishes his charge movement, but before he attacks, he may use Elemental Burst, which discards ALL corpse and scheme markers within a 3 inch pulse of his final position.
Can't milk those.That would make a nice headstone engraving.
I think Arcane has the most absurd attacks, which I would have thought you'd find on Brutal. Sadly for me, Wyatt plays both Guild and Arcanist, so I'll be catching the business end of both Red and Blue Emissaries, I'm sure. Anyway, (1) Relentless Charge is Ml 6, vs Df, range 2, with a damage track of 4/4/5. After damaging you may push the target up to 6 inches in any direction. Before you dirty Arcanist players wet yourselves in excitement, be aware that you can only use this attack once per turn and only as part of a charge. His second attack is (1) Elemental Rage and it has a trigger on every suit. Ca 6, vs Df, range 6 or 2 melee, it has a track of 2/3/5. Tomes lets you apply Blaze, lighting the target on fire for Burning +1, Masks is Windburst, a 3 inch push, Rams is Earthen Shield, healing Arcane for two damage, and Crows is Drown, giving the target Slow. His THIRD attack (wtf) is (0) The Negation, Ca 6 vs Wp, range 6. It just does 2 true damage, which can't be prevented or reduced and ignores Hard to Kill. On a masks it triggers Negation, giving the target the Negated condition that removes all of it's non-Station characteristics. To clarify, the Station characteristics are Peon, Minion, Enforcer, Henchman, and Master. So you can just nullify the Undead, Construct. Tyrant, etc characteristics and ruin a team's synergy, because you are a jerk. I know one of my Illuminated is going to get bopped by Arcane and I'm going to cry.
The Destined ability is (0) Prophecies in Flesh and Metal, and it simply allows you to draw three cards. Not flashy, but re-upping your hand in the middle of turn 4 might be a game winner. As usual, Arcanists have a really big and flashy monster, but it's going to take some finesse to get the most out of him.
Arcanist Upgrades:
Elemental Conflux - Rasputina Raspy gives Arcane a Frozen Heart, and the ability Node, meaning that Raspy never considered Arcane to be engaged for the purposes of firing off spells with (gun) on their range. As a (0) Arcane can use Ice Bridge, targeting a Frozen Heart model (not necessarily friendly) within 8 inches, then pushing Arcane 3 inches towards the target, then pushing the target 3 inches towards Arcane. It's a neat movement trick, considering that you could charge your stupid 10 inches, finish your attacks, and then pull out and drag Raspy forward a bit.
Raging Conflux - Marcus The Wilderness Surges prevents enemy units within 4 inches from declaring Df triggers against friendly Beasts, or Arcane's attacks. No Squeel, no Leap Aside, no Grind to a Halt. Dreamer can't redirect attacks either. (0) Rage Forth lets Arcane push 4 inches towards a friendly beast within LoS, effectively giving him a 16 inch charge threat range assuming perfect positioning.
Illusive Conflux - Colette Arcane gets Power Leech, which lets friendly Showgirls treat Arcane as a scheme marker for the purposes of actions and abilities. If the marker would be discarded in the course of the action, then Arcane takes 2 irreducible damage instead. They wouldn't just throw away such a big shiny toy. For more movement shenanigans Arcane also gets (0) Minor Teleport letting him place into base contact with a friendly scheme marker within 6 inches. Having an unpredictable bull with insane charge lines will make your opponents feel like a china shop.
Ironclad Conflux - Ironsides Ironsides gets more support for her Adrenaline shenanigans from Arcane, standing back to back in the middle of the brawl. Tragic Memories gives Ironsides Adrenaline +1 whenever she activates within 6 inches of Arcane. Additionaly, Arcane is willing to talk trash and be the hype-man for Ironsides with (0) Raging Challenge, forcing all enemy units within 6 inches of Ironsides to take a Tn 15 Wp duel or be pushed into base contact with her.
Flaming Conflux - Kaeris Kaeris' upgrade gives Arcane the Retribution in Flames ability, granting friendly minions within 6 inches the ability to take one damage when they deal damage to an enemy unit to gives that enemy Burning +1. Additionally, the award for Best Named Zero Act in Malifaux goes to (0) Flame-o-taur! which needs a 5 to cast, and grants Kaeris Instinctual, letting her take two zero acts this turn. (Runner up to the BNZAiM award: Jerky Time!)
Mechanical Conflux - Ramos Science-Wizard-Grandpa gives the Robo-Bull the Construct heritage that he deserves, along with a 6 Ca vs Wp (0) Magnetism, allowing him to do 2 armor-ignoring damage to a construct within 16 inches and push 6 inches directly towards the target. It's not as much as other upgrades, but it gives the Emissary the synergy needed with his crew.
Arcane Conflux - General Positive flips to friendly minion's attacks and a draw and discard zero act. Same as the rest of the generals.
The Mysterious Emissary - The Best Faction The Neverborn
Personally, I really don't like this Emissary's looks. The Swamp Thing look isn't as cool as the mask motif that the Mysterious Effigy had, in my dumb opinion. I might chop something onto a 50 mm base. I can't deny the vegetable/earth/land theme that it has going on with the mechanics though. Stat wise we're looking at 6 across the board, 10 wounds, Hard to Kill, and Unimpeded. While most Neverborn beasties have defensive tricks like Regeneration, Mysterious here has something called One with the Land. Once per turn, when Misty would take damage from Hazardous terrain it instead heals 2 damage and becomes immune to damage from Hazardous terrain for the rest of the turn. Combined with his ability to create Hazardous terrain, this seems to be a pretty reliable heal to me.
Deku plants are resistant to Round-Up in Malifaux.
Misty has a weird set of abilities. His damage isn't impressive, his mobility is pretty average for the Emissaries, and he can summon Changelings, 4 stone weaker versions of the Doppelganger. If I had to classify the Mysterious Emissary, I would say he's a control piece. With the ability to create problems for your opponent, and a broader toolbox of abilities than the other Emissaries, he sacrifices being good at any one thing. His attack (1) Nature Reclaims All is a Ca (Mask) 6 vs Df, range 6 or 1 melee, with a damage track of 2/4/4. He has three triggers. On a Tomes he can Purge, removing all scheme, corpse, and scrap markers within a 4 inch pulse of an enemy, on a Rams he can attack again without declaring triggers with Rage of the Emissary, and his built in trigger is Reclamation allowing you to remove all conditions from the target. This isn't limited to enemy models, so in theory you could turn around and slap some sense into a friendly Paralyzed model.
His tactical actions are probably the most iconic, in my mind. (1) The Land's Child requires a 7 of masks or better, and it summons a Changeling into base contact with a friendly scheme marker in 6 inches. That marker is the discarded and Misty takes 2 damage for his trouble. Changelings can take the (1) attack actions of any model within 3 inches of them, and have Manipulative 13. They seem like good little dudes so I'm going to experiment with them in the coming months and see how well they actually do. His terrain trick is (0) The Land's Hunger, requiring a 4 or better of Crows. You can place a 50 mm Hungry Land marker within 6 inches, not touching another model or marker. You can only have two on the board at any given time. The markers are Ht 0, Severe, Hazardous terrain that deal 1/4/5 damage. Any model that ends a move or push within 3 inches of the terrain gets grabbed and pushed into base contact unless they dodge with a Tn 14 Wk duel. If a blast marker is placed over the Hungry Land you have to remove it. Misty can use this to get a couple of extra inches of movement and a heal, since he can ignore the damage flip. Because of this terrain effect, he synergizes very well with Lilith's crew right off, since many of her units have flying and can avoid the grasping pseudopods of the hungry plant.
This is literally exactly what it is.
His destined ability is (0) Prophecies in Lightning, granting Fast to all friendly Minions and Enforcers within a 4 inch pulse of himself. That's just always going to be good. More AP to win games with. One consideration is the placement of your Hungry terrain, since he doesn't get to remove them easily.
Neverborn Upgrades:
Conflux of Sorrow - Pandora My girl Pandy. Remember Pandora? I like Pandora. Her upgrade grants Misty the Perfect Copy ability, which allows it to copy any Ability on another friendly non-leader Neverborn models' card and gain it until the end of the turn. Terrifying? Check. Misery? Check. Armor? Sure! Regeneration? Yeah! The Emissary also gets (0) The Voice in Your Head, Ca 6, vs Wp (big surprise) with a range of 10. It doesn't require LoS and gives the target model the Mood Swing condition. We all know how much fun Mood Swing is, so now we get even more of it!
Conflux of Blood - Lilith Lilith adopts Misty into her Nephilim Family, grants the Emissary Black Blood and a (0) The Burning Blood that lets you discard a card to gain The Burning Blood condition, which increases the damage dealt to enemy units within a 4 inch aura from Black Blood by +1.
Conflux of Fate - Zoraida (Dual Faction Neverborn/ Gremlins) The Swamp Hag gets a really nifty control piece in Misty, and in return Misty gets Your Will Is Our Will, causing Misty's successful attack actions to apply a nasty, filthy condition to the victim. Our Will causes Zoraida's Obey to not require range or line of sight, AND Big Z gets a positive to the Obey flip. It would be pretty easy for Zoraida to walk an opponent's dude right into a hungry plant trap or two, wouldn't it? The (0) act Written in Stone allows Misty to discard a card and look at the top four cards of your Fate Deck, draw one, and then place all the remaining cards on either the top or the bottom of the deck in any order. If you see two good cards and a bad one, maybe you'll waste that bad one on Misty failing a walk duel to get pushed into base contact with a Hungry Land marker and heal, before whacking some schmuck with those nice high cards you left on top.
Conflux of Nightmare - Dreamer Everyone's favorite little kid/walking disaster zone makes Misty very focus on Lord Chompy Bits, so it may not be an amazing upgrade if you prefer a summon-heavy Dreamer like I do. All Consuming Nightmare is an ability that forces all enemy models within a 6 inch pulse of Chompy when he is summoned to pass a Tn 13 Wp duel or be pushed into base contact with Chompy. You know, so he can messily devour them all. His (0) is Beckon the Night which lets Misty pitch a card to place target friendly Nightmare Henchman model within 6 inches into base contact with Misty. Currently Available Nightmare Henchman includ Lord Chompy Bits and the Widow Weaver.
Conflux of Music - Collodi I'll admit that Collodi is one of the only Neverborn masters that I just don't like, and I'm not sure why. If you can see some cool interactions here, please feel free to discuss it in the comments! Regardless, the Mysterious Emissary becomes a Puppet when hanging out with Collodi, because of course that's what Collodi does. He also gets The Song Flows, allowing it to gain an additional stack of Focused or Defensive when it first gains the Focused or Defensive condition. While Misty doesn't get another (0) act, he does get My Kin, which grants Misty Fast whenever a friendly Effigy model is summoned anywhere in play. I think that's cute. Remember how the Emissaries used to be Effigies? It warms my heart, how precious.
Mysterious Conflux - General Positive flips to friendly minion's attacks and a draw and discard zero act. Same as the rest of the generals.
The Hodgepodge Emissary - The Outcasts
This unit is a weird little fellow. I'd classify him as backline support, handing out Trinket upgrades to your units and forcing enemy units into bad positions. He can also drop scheme markers like a mad bastard, which is cool. 6s on defense, 10 wounds, but only 5s for movement, this guy's donkey is obviously slowed down by all the crap he has carry around. He has the required Power Sink and Hard to Kill, but he also has Instinctual. Knowing that all the upgrades give extra (0) abilities, this may be one of the best conditions to have on an Emissary. Also, he's an Outcast that isn't a Mercenary.
This is what I imagine the main character of Fallout: New Vegas looks like if you are over-encumbered.
His only attack action is (1) Call of the Lost, Ca 6 (Crows) vs Df, range 9 or 1 melee. The damage track is nothing special, only 2/3/4, but the triggers and long range are where it really shines. On a Tomes you get Empty Road, pushing the target up to 4 inches towards Hodge. A Masks lets him attack again with Word of the Emissary, and the built in Crows triggers The Lonely Road, forcing the target to discard a card or gain Slow.
His tactical action (1) Something In My Pack requires a 7 to fire, and allows you to hand off a Trinket upgrade and give it a friendly non-leader within 6 inches. The trinkets are Memento, which gives Companion, Pretty Floral Bonnet, which gives Don't Mind Me, the Vitality Potion, which grants Regeneration +1, and finally The Monkey's Paw, which allows the model to discard two cards to gain Reactivate. If it does, it may not summon any other models and is sacrificed at the end of the turn. To keep all you mean Tara players from abusing this, they gave it Horrible Luck, as well. Horrible Luck sacrifices the model if it would be buried.
Remember those cool (0) acts I was talking about? One is (0) A Weary Road which lets Hodge discard a card and then push up to 4 inches, then drop a scheme marker in base contact. The Destined ability is (0) The Piecing Together. You get to target up to three friendly Non-Peon models within a 3 inch pulse, and each of them may push up to 3 inches in any direction and then drop a scheme marker. That's a REAL easy way to score Spring the Trap, let me tell you.
Outcast Upgrades:
Conflux of Avarice - Viktorias As the premier mercenaries in the game, the Viks give Hodgepodge the ability Quick Payment, which lets friendly models within 6 inches draw a card when they kill an enemy unit. If they are NOT mercenaries, they have to discard a card afterwards. As a (0) he gets Proper Motivation, allowing hodge to discard a card to push a friendly model within 6 inches up 3 inches in any direction. If that model is a mercenary, it also gets focused +1 for free. I know Eric will love using this to sling-shot his sword-wielding mercs into combat even faster.
Conflux of Nothingness - Tara (Dual Faction Outcast/ Resurectionists) Tara lets Hodge hand out Fast to any friendlies that become unburied within 6 inches of him with the most metal ability name: Screaming From the Void. His extra (0) is Into the Maw, which is Ca 6, Tn 10 (Tomes) vs Wp, with a 9 inch cast range. If the target non-master fails it becomes buried. You then unbury it in base contact with the Emissary at the start of the next turn.
Conflux of Plague - Hamelin Hamelin is a jerk and gets Strength From Suffering by giving Hodgepodge a positive flip while performing duels against Blighted models. Also he gets (0) The Plague Creeps, Ca 6, vs wp, range 9, which gives the target Blighted +1. Yawn. Boring. Moving on.
Conflux of Conflict - Von Schill Wyatt's favorite German turns Hodge into a gunline support monster with Shoot True, allowing friendlies within 4 inches to not randomize when shooting into engagements. Also he gets some great synergy with Von Schill's best upgrade in the form of (0) Sir, Please Keep It On, which lets Von Schill put his The Shirt Comes Off upgrade back on for more old man nipple flashing action.
Conflux of The Damned - Jack Daw Jack Daw forces the poor little old man on the Donkey to hand out a new Suffocating Injustice upgrade. Hodge gets a Crows trigger (which we will remember is built in to his attack) called The Traveler's Curse: After damaging an enemy model you can attach the Suffocating Injustice to the enemy model. He also gets the (0) act There Is No Justice which allows you to discard a Cursed upgrade (read: The Suffocating Injustice) from an enemy model within 6 inches and reattach it face down. From what I know of Jack Daw's Curses, the Suffocating Injustice seems like one of the strongest. In addition to the normal effects of an Injustice (being Tormented and skipping your turn to turn it face down) it gets Death by Suffocation which does 2 damage whenever the victim cheats fate. Also, the victim takes on extra damage whenever they get hurt from any condition or ability, like Poison or what-have-you.
Aetheral Conflux - Levciticus Levi assumes his mantle of the Horseman outside of the campaign mode with Pariah of Blood, allowing Levi to hire Non-Gremlin Horseman models regardless of faction. I am intensely concerned that there needs to be a non-Gremlin clause in there. Is there a Gremlin Rider? The Rooster Rider? I'm scared, hold me.
Anyway, he doesn't get a (0) from Levi, because he gets a (1) They Gather instead! It lets you summon a Horseman model into base contact with Hodgepodge, then sacrifice him. You can only use that action on the first turn of the game and only if you hired three or more Horsemen at the start of the game. I don't know much about Levi's Horseman tactics, but I guess in a 40+ stone game you might want to hand out an upgrade or something with Hodgepodge, then turn him into a proper Rider. Since the Emissary costs 10 and the Riders cost 12 that does give you a bit of a discount, which is nice.
Hodgepodge Conflux Positive flips to friendly minion's attacks and a draw and discard zero act. Same as the rest of the generals.
The Lucky Emissary - Gremlins
The Lucky Emissary is a mobile melee beatstick with a ton of weird conditional stuff, much as you'd expect from a Gremlin. He doesn't know what he wants to do, but he knows he doesn't want to be part of Zoraida's magical machinations. He's also got the most character of any of the Emissaries because a lot of his moves are just him yelling. It's a tongue-in-cheek engine of chaos, really. 6s across the board, 9 wounds, Hard to Kill, Armor +1, and an ability called "Roll It That Way!" which lets him push 3 inches after a friendly unenegaged model within 3 inches flips (not cheats or plays) a Mask. Just weird.
That's Lucky at the top. The Pig is Bessie. I'm sure the Gremlin's name is not important anymore.
His attack is (1) It Was Your Fate To Be Trampled, Ml 6 (Mask) vs Df, range 3 melee. The damage is significant at a 3/4/6, with two triggers on a Tomes. Caught In The Spokes lets you place the victim in base contact with Lucky and it says "after resolving" so you don't even need to successfully hit. Charge Through lets you push the victim 4 inches away, deal no damage, and then make a charge against another target if Lucky is no longer engaged. His second attack is (1) Dead In Their Tracks, Ca 6 vs Wp, range 10, that gives the target Slow. If they are Slow it Paralyzes them instead.
His Tactical actions are funny. (0) "Onward, Bessy!" requires a 6 to go off and lets him push up to 3 inches in any direction. His Destined ability is probably the funniest of any of them, with (0) "Reach Into The Hat... of Destiny!" which lets you flip a card for each other friendly model in play. A Tomes lets you place a scheme marker in base contact with the model. A Rams gives the model Fast. A Crows heals the model 2 damage. A Masks lets you place the model within 4 inches of its current location. Will it help you win the game? Maybe. Will it be fun to watch the chaos unfold? Yeah, probably.
Gremlin Upgrades:
Conflux of Misfortune - Som'er Som'er Teeth Jones' Lucky Emissary is one of my favorites. He gets The Bayou Is a Harsh Mistress that grants any friendly within 4 inches a positive flip to their Bayou Two Card cheats. He gets another attack that synergizes with the Caught in the Spokes trigger of his main attack, (0) She's Out of Control! Ml 6 vs Df, range 1 melee. the damage is 2/2/3, so its nice if you don't feel like rolling about for no reason with his core (0) act.
Conflux of Inebriation - The Brewmaster (Dual Faction Gremlins/ Ten Thunders) If you guessed that this upgrade has to do with the Poison condition then I'm not impressed because everyone should know what Brewey does by now. Lucky gets MORE free movement from That's the Stuff, pushing 5 inches whenever he takes damage from the poison condition. His (0) act is Blind Drunk, where a target model with Poison +3 or greater must discard two soulstones or cards or gain the Blind Drunk condition, which grants a negative flip to all duels until the end of the turn. This doesn't remove the Poison, so it might be useful on your own Moon Shinobi, or even maybe Brewey himself. Usually you'll probably just toss it on an enemy and sap their resources during the early part of the turn.
Conflux of Blood Ties - Ophelia Ophelia's Lucky outfits the Kin in melee with Survival Gear, allowing friendly Kin that activate within 4 inches to heal 1 damage. He also gets a really nasty (0) Stupefied Ca 6, Tn: 10 vs Wp, range 4, and if it fires the target must discard two cards or get the Stupefied condition, giving them a negative to Df duels against Sh actions for the rest of the game.
Conflux of Bacon - Ulix Ulix watches out for Lucky when he wades into melee by giving him a Pig Whistle, preventing friendly pigs from targeting him with charges. He also gets (0) "Gentle" Nudge, which pushes a friendly pig within 2 inches up to 6 inches in any direction. The pig then takes 2 damage. It seems useful to set up pigs to charge at specific people, or to re-charge the target that he was previously engaged with.
Conflux of Explosive Force - Wong This upgrade is kind of insane for Wong. It allows any blast markers placed within 4 inches of Lucky to deal +1 extra damage with Chain Reaction. Lucky also gets (0) Prepped and Ready, allowing you to draw two cards and then place two cards from your hand back on top of your deck in any order. That's an ability that i would be happy to see in any crew, but I know that Wong needs the setup more than anyone else.
Conflux of Bushwhacking - Mah Tucket I don't know a lot about Mah, but I know she's the Lady J of the Gremlins. Lucky lets her get a double dip on her Chores with the Well Equipped ability, letting you discard a card to add the suit of the discarded card to the initiative flip. This also lets you ensure that you get the suit that you wanted, and maybe some other neat benefit too. You can ring the dinner bell with (0) Supper Time! which lets Lucky draw a card after killing or sacrificing an enemy model. Considering his weak damage is 3, that's totally possible.
Lucky Conflux - General Positive flips to friendly minion's attacks and a draw and discard zero act. Same as the rest of the generals.
The Shadow Emissary - The Ten Thunders
This is the Emissary that I am most likely going to buy myself. He synergizes so well with all the Thunders crews, and especially with Shen Long, who I'm super excited to start using since I bought him at Gencon. His stats are 6s for defense, 10 wounds, a 5 walk and a 7 charge. His only ability besides the Hard to Wound and Power Sink is called Rolling Thunder, allowing you to discard a card at the start of his activation to gain Focused +2 until the end of the turn. While he can roll up and bop people with his melee, my worry is that he is a midrange support model. One of his (0) acts allows him to gain a 10 inch aura that grants powerful modular benefits to every friendly nearby. With no defensive trick or damage mitigation I'm unwilling to let my expensive 10 stone model get murdered by some chump Punk Zombies or something.His core attack is (1) The Angry Winds, Ca 6 (Tomes) vs Df, range 7 or 2 melee. The track is 2/3/6, which isn't incredibly exciting, but know that he can get focused +2 makes him much more likely to stick that moderate or severe damage. With only one trigger, Word of the Emissary on a Mask that lets him attack again without declaring triggers on damage, like most of the other Emissaries.
Back in the wave 2 beta Shen Long's Avatar was supposed to be a dragon on a 70 mm base. I guess it would have looked like this.
His tactical actions are what make Shadow shine, though. (1) The Rite of Strength lets you target within 6 inches and push a friendly, non-leader with an upgrade up to 4 inches in any direction and give them Fast. I can see this working very well with McCabe's crew, and possibly Hungering Darkness out of Lynch with the Addict upgrade. A Fast Casting Expert Huggy D would cause some real damage. Shadow's real game changer is the (0) Aspect of the Dragon. It requires a 6 or higher to cast and allows you to pick one of four 10 inch auras to project for the rest of the turn. Dragon's Breath lets any friendly's damage flip that benefits from Focused get a blast to moderate and severe damage. Dragon's Scales gives friendlies that benefit from Defensive a pseduo-Armor, since it just reduces all damage they take by 1 to a minimum of 1. Dragon's Claws makes enemies suffer a penalty to their Df up to the value of their Burning condition, to a max of -2 Df. Mei Feng take note, Kaeris eat your heart out. Finally, Dragon's Blood makes enemy units that take damage from Poison take +1 damage. His Destined ability, (0) Prophecies in Thunder is really powerful, simply giving all friendly units in play the Focused +1 condition. This will not trigger Reading the Wind, so you'll only get one free Focus. However you can get up to Focus +3 if you have your Thunder Archers Focus after getting the buff.
Something to keep in mind about the dual faction upgrades is that if you are playing your master as the not-Thunders faction, you can bring their upgrade into that faction. The upgrades are not restricted to any specific Emissary. The restriction on the Upgrade is simple "Emissary of Fate" which all the Emissaries count as. Lynch can have a Shadow Emissary in Thunder but he can put his upgrade on the Mysterious Emissary out of Neverborn, too.
Ten Thunders Upgrades:
Conflux of Conflict - Mei Feng (Dual Faction Ten Thunder/ Arcanist ) Mei Feng the Street Fighter gets to fight even MORE streets when Shadow is around! His aura Echoes of Power lets Mei discard a card after dealing damage with a Ml attack to make that same attack again against any valid target after completing the action. He also gets (0) Deconstruction which drops a scrap marker in base contact, and if Mei tries to Railwalk to it she gets +6 to her cast. That will be good news for Wyatt, who has trouble successfully casting that spell.
Conflux of Hunger - Jakob Lynch (Dual Faction Ten Thunder/ Neverborn) Oh, my boy Lynch. Remember Lynch? I like Lynch. As you might expect, the Shadow Emissary gets real good at beating face on dudes with Brilliance because of The Hunger Calls. He gets positives to attack and damage against all units with Brilliance. It works exactly like Addict,so his (0) act, Sweet Whispers, Ca 6, Tn 10, vs Wp, range 12, gets a positive flip against enemy models with Brilliance and also your own models. Since Sweet Whispers lets you push a model up to 4 inches, it acts like a mini-Lure. Use it on your own dudes for fun and profit!
Conflux of Exploration - McCabe (Dual Faction Ten Thunder/ Guild) McCabe lets Shadow join in on his fun by allowing him to carry another McCabe-only upgrade, potentially letting you bring all 4 of his transferable upgrades into play! The Explorer's Call is the ability that does that. His (0) act is "Take This!" which is exactly the same as McCabe's version of the ability.
Conflux of the Dawn - Shen Long The only pure Ten Thunders Master, Shen Long's version of the Shadow Emissary lets you heal anyone for 2 when they discard an upgrade with The Dawn Surges. That's going to be healing Shen Long himself, possibly Sensei Yu, and anyone who burns upgrades like Recalled Training, Broken Promises, or any of the other discard-able upgrades Ten Thunders get access to. Shadow's new (0) act is Visions of Dawn Light. It lets you end ANY condition on a friendly model within 6 inches to draw cards equal to the condition's value, up to 3. That will work on Burning, Poison, Blighted, and even Paralyzed or Brilliance if you want. If it doesn't have stacks it is considered to have a value of 1.
Ancestral Conflux - Yan Lo (Dual Faction Ten Thunder/ Resurectionist) Yan Lo turns his Emissary into an Ancestor, so you have the option to use Rebuild Corpus on him. I guess in playtesting they found that giving the Emissary too much Chi was broken, so they gave him Tethered Soul, only allowing him to get the benefits of Chi up to Ca 7. It does give Yan Lo +1 Ml all the time from A Warrior's Memory, and also Ancestral Call gives Fast to any model that attaches an Upgrade within 6 inches. This seems to tie into Yan Lo being an Upgrade gathering beatstick. I hear that Yan Lo is one of the weakest and least reliable masters, and I don't know that the Emissary's ministrations will be enough to bring him to a strong position.
Conflux of Thunder - Misaki (Dual Faction Ten Thunder/ Outcasts) Lady Misaki's upgrade is very Misaki focused, as the ability The Thunder Calls grants Misaki an extra AP immediately whenever she kills an enemy unit while she is within the 8 inch aura. That seems ... really really scary to me. I haven't seen Misaki played a lot, but I know she can pop people's heads off pretty easily with her Bisento. Perhaps in exchange, Shadow's (0) act isn't super exciting. (0) The Call of the Storm just pushes him 4 inches in any direction, presumably to keep up with Misaki running around as she frags n00bs.
Shadow Conflux - General Positive flips to friendly minion's attacks and a draw and discard zero act. Same as the rest of the generals.
So there you have it. That is all of the Emissaries and all of their Upgrades from Shifting Loyalties. As of this writing there is no release date for the Emissaries, but we can take solace in the fact that the Effigies are out. Maybe if you grind them up to level 36, they'll evolve soon. I'd love to hear your thoughts on these new models, so please comment below. I'll do my best to answer your questions.
If you like the information from Shifting Loyalties, check out my articles on The Campaign System, and The Other Side from Gencon! My Twitter is @Dkjolner, so hit me up. I'll chat Malifaux with you cool kids any time. Like our articles here at Sprites and Dice? Like our Facebook, or follow our Twitter to keep up!
