New Malekus

Yeah. Malekus is decent now, but I think hes mainly just playing in FM. Cause Ashen Veil in CTRL is nice for DEF skew and thats FM for Menoth.

Guardians is a s#!+ hole of a theme, so ignore that.

Creators Might could be good. Free charges jacks is decent. AV for idrians.

Dunno what real good he does for EI. DEF skew on WMs is better in FM. EI doesnt do jacks. EoT is extra worthless to exemplars.

So even more FM (there are several better casters there) or maybe CM. Hes a B at best. But at least you wont feel completely dumb playing him?

Yeah, more multiple choices each turn is exactly what a battlebox newbie learning the game needs.

As far as I am concerned they should nerf, limit and streamline newer, overblown stuff and not make nicely designed basics more complicated so that they can compete with current power-creep models having backs of their cards filled to the brim with tiny font special rules.

It would be nice, though, to have a real starter box.

Maybe a generic caster with an average statline, three or four spells, an upkeep, a nuke, a one turn buff, and maybe an offensive upkeep. Then a generic 3 man unit, a generic solo, and a generic light warjack and heavy warjack. Make all of them have 1-2 abilities and average stat lines, but make each one have a different mechanic so a player learns the symbols on the front of the card. I'd imagine they could cut the quality a bit and sell that for $30.

Something to say "If you want to learn to play the game, this is where you start. But if you want to learn a faction, buy the faction set."

It also isn't like it's hard to learn the game if you do it slowly and layer lessons. When I teach people, it's the front of the card and spells only for the first game, then you build up based on experience. The game is only really hard to learn when you throw 60 unique models at someone that doesn't know the game.

That ship sailed years ago.
A menu option is probably the least complicated part of the game for a new player. Its far worse being stuck with a garbage starter full of crappy models.

You and I have vastly different experiences with GotT then. The only similarity is that we both found is that TFG don't really kill things without offensive buffs. But that's what the rest of the list is for. 

Feora2, double Judy, double TFG was a list that I played a bit to make a point and it worked pretty well, providing some decent scenario play and attrition potential. But then again, that's really just saying "Judicator with anything in front of it will absolutely carry a list."

I quite like HR with Cleansers and Flamebringers, Hand of Fate cranks both units way up and his feat wins games.

Thyra runs it super well, since she has such a deep toolbox. She has a lot of options on what you want to run. I've ran her with double Flamebringers, double Daughters, and a unit of TFG for a super mobile army.

With Malekus, you'll see a lot of people struggle to hit DEF 15 TFG now. Then, when they do hit, there's that 1/3 chance that you Tough and remain standing. Or, you bring some Cleansers in a jack heavy list who have the sole purpose of igniting your opponent's heavies so you can pop Cinders.  GotT is really a theme about denying your opponent scenario, and it promotes a weird anti-defense but not quite offense playstyle that takes a lot of getting used to before it clicks. That also does make it our weakest theme, but I have found it to be far from garbage.

Yeah, the solo choices are definitely a solid meh.

I think that the major problem with the theme force is that we have been given releases in FM that essentially do what GotT was supposed to do. Defense stacking, fast infantry is sort of just our thing now, but FM has solos that can kill multiple models a turn while stacking that defense.

Nicia and Pyrrhus are both fantastic and the Flamebringers are one of the best units in the faction, but they are in our fourth best theme. Cleansers got a huge bump with the Archon release and the theme redesign allowing Hand of Judgement as a default, but HoJ loses a lot of power without Feora free boosting that spray.

One idea that I had, that I later put into EI was just defense pumping Feora1 to the point that she was a front line model, through the mobile Ashen Veil of a Reclaimer and the Exemplar Warder. It also would have allowed Cleansers a RAT 6 spray, which is significantly better than RAT 5.

I do think that the Malekus changes bumps Cleanser stock up. With Hymn of Might, we could actually look to casting 2 Scourges on feat turn and letting Cleansers rip into knocked down heavies. Throw in that merc slot Archon or HoJ and you're throwing POW 14+3d6 sprays, which will do a fair amount of damage to heavies. Then the fire doesn't go out and you can follow up with Verse of Cinders on the next round.

Then again, that could be Malekus in FM with Zealots and 2 Archons, instead.