Malifaux for Beginners - The 'Link' Rule.

Editors Note - This tutorial is for version 1.5 of the Malifaux rules and has been left available for reference only. Some Malifaux 2nd Edition Tutorials can be found here...as well as quite a few of these old ones, lol.

Apparently this one is causing some confusion. It's another one of those rules (like Companion) that people tend to over-think.

The rule is this,

This model and a target model in base contact with it are Linked. After the model this model is Linked to completes a Walk action or ends it's activation, Push this model into base combat with Linked model. Link ends if the two models are not in base contact at the Start Closing Phase.

If they have it it'll be printed on the card in the Actions section though occasionally it may be somewhere else if it's added by a Spell or whatever.

If your really lucky it will have the full rule listed next to it for reference. Often however it won't as on later cards many of the common rules are only named, not described. Occasionally there will be conditions about which models may be effected by Link and these will be described on the appropriate units Stat card.

There's a full list of the common stuff here for reference should you need it.

We'll go straight to the examples with this one.

Example 1.

Knowing that he's going to be linking the two models the player has cunningly deployed them in base contact (1). The Grave Spirit (A) has the Link rule and is going to Link with Madame Sybelle (B). the Grave Spirit Activates first and uses it's (0) Link Action...the models amazingly enough are now Linked. Having nothing else it wishes to do at the moment it Passes it's next two Actions. As soon as it's able to, Madame Sybelle (B) Activates and decides to take a Walk Action. She moves from point 1 in base contact with model A and ends some distance away at point 2.

At the end of each Walk Action the Linked model (A) is Pushed from it's previous location (1) into base contact with model (B) which is point 2

If Madame Sybelle (B) decided to Walk again then the Grave Spirit (A) would be Pushed along again.

It's really that simple.... occasionally the situation might seem to be more complicated but the principle stays the same. If the model your Linked to Walks your pushed into base contact with it at the end of the Walk and if for some reason your not in contact with it at the end of it's Activation (because it moved due to some other method than Walking) then again your Pushed into base contact with it but this time this occurs at the end of your Activation.

Example 2.
I thought I'd do a pointlessly overcomplicated scenario just to demonstrate that the basic principles are identical.

Model A has linked to Model B and has completed his Activation. Model B (which is yet to activate) is then moved by an Ability of Model C's.

The Ability of Model C has moved Model B from location B1 to location B2.

Model B then Activates and Walks a short distance from B3 to B4.

Because Model A is linked to Model B and Model B has just completed a Walk action, Model A is pushed from it's previous location (A1) to it's new location (A2).

The principle is identical regardless of how complicated the individual scenario looks as long as you remember these three basic rules.

1) If the model your Linked to Walks then the model that Linked to it is pushed into base contact with it.
2) If the model your Linked to ends it's Activation the model that Linked to it is pushed into base contact with it.
3) If for some reason you reach the Start Closing Phase and are separated then Link ends.

If you happen to be (or intend to be) some-one who uses Colette and her Showgirls then you'll be using this rule a lot ;-)

If you have any questions about the Link rule or discover some glaring error in this tutorial then feel free to leave a comment in the section below.

Forge World Newsletter #338

For once I have nothing negative to say...

The Mechanicum Cohort are really impressive. I love the style and it's nice to see that they're not just tall Servitors or slightly modified Space Marines and on that subject the Marines are pretty good too. Apparently the Outrider Bike kit I was complaining about the price of is actually £45 not £60...still a pricey but not as outrageous as £60...



Forge World Newsletter #338

Hi there,
            With a little over a week until the now sold out Forge World Open Day, today’s newsletter announces two new Legion squads and the eagerly anticipated Mechanicum Thallax Cohort available to pre-order now – we also aim to have all three of these kits available at the Open Day.

Mechanicum Thallax Cohort
The Thallaxii are heavily augmented cyborg shock-troops used by the Mechanicum Ordo Reductor, and they differ from the Skitarii regiments both in purpose and the unique degree of their augmetics. The Lorica Thallax, from which their name derives, was developed from power armour technology, and requires a robust human specimen to enable it to function to its maximum potential. Once integrated, it encloses its bearer’s major organs, nervous system and cerebrum, but entirely replaces their skeletal structure and limbs with armoured bionics powered by an internal reactor core.

Surgical excision of the subject’s pain sensors, emotions and normal human sensory apparatus, and the agony of the Lorica’s implantation, leaves the Thallax a cold, calculating killing machine, albeit one that retains a degree of independent thought. To some among the Mechanicum, this skirts the edge of abomination, yet the baleful Ordo Reductor continue Thallax conversion with suitable Forge Guard, fallen Skitarii, and subjects obtained from more mysterious sources.

The Ordo Reductor deploy these hulking war-robots both in their own forces and alongside the Legiones Astartes. Such long standing arrangements often result in the Thallaxii adopting the heraldry and iconography of their allies.

Designed by Will Hayes, the Mechanicum Thallax Cohort contains three multi-part resin models. These imposing and sinister models are a unique and exciting new development within our Horus Heresy range, being the very first Mechanicum unit to be designed, and their hunched profile, blank-faced helms and bulky armour are packed with detail.

Legion Reconnaissance Squad
Space Marines experienced in operating independently and behind enemy lines form dedicated Reconnaissance squads within the Legiones Astartes, acting as the eyes and ears of the main force. Equipped with a variety of specialised wargear including long-range sniper weapons, stealth gear and augmented sensor-auspex devices, the Legion Recon Squad function as scouts, gathering intelligence and mapping enemy movements and strengths.

Reconnaissance squads also serve their Legion as pickets, saboteurs, raiders and snipers where needed, striking at high value targets of opportunity. In open battle, they are expert in sudden flanking manoeuvres, and infiltration attacks in support of the main strength of the Legion.

Designed by Mark Bedford and Will Hayes, the Legion MkIV Recon Squad contains five multi-part resin models, each of which has two different weapon options: a sniper rifle or a shotgun. These models are packed with detail, from the long-range communications and targeting equipment carried by each of them to their camo demi-cloaks.

Legion MkIII Breacher Siege Squad
Combat that takes place during boarding actions amid the cold void or into a breached fortification, can prove lethal beyond even the endurance of the Legiones Astartes. For this reason, since the earliest days of the Great Crusade, specialised formations and wargear have been continually developed to better survive these ‘Zones Mortalis’.

The Legion MkIII Breacher Siege Squad is one such unit; clad in augmented power armour based on the Iron pattern and bearing great ablative shields. These squads act as a vanguard in such lethal missions, and are often additionally equipped with powerful breaching charges and lascutters or melta weapons, to destroy strongpoints and forge a path for the force’s main strength to follow.

Designed by Will Hayes, the Legion Breacher Siege Squad contains five multi-part resin models in modified MkIII ‘Iron’ armour, equipped with detailed boarding shields. The squad also includes five Phobos pattern bolters, as well as an optional lascutter, breaching charge and graviton gun.

Rules for all three of these units can be found in The Horus Heresy Book One: Betrayal. They are available to pre-order now for despatch from Friday 5th April, and we hope to have the Thallax Cohort, Recon Squad and Breacher Siege Squad on sale at the Forge World Open Day in limited numbers.

MkIV Outrider Squad Pricing Error
The Legion MkIV Outrider Squad should be £45, rather than £60 as originally advertised; apologies for any inconvenience caused by this error. If you have ordered one of these kits at the incorrect price, a refund has been processed for you covering the difference in price and any relevant shipping cost, and you will have been notified of this by e-mail.

Forge World Events News
Forge World Open Day, Salute and the Horus Heresy Weekender 2013
We are now accepting reservation orders for the Forge World Open Day, Salute, and the Horus Heresy Weekender. This is the best way to ensure we have the exact product you want, packed up and waiting for you at the event. As with all our UK shows, reservation orders are pre-paid to make the collection process quicker and easier, leaving you with more time to enjoy the rest of the event.

Please telephone the Customer Service team on 0115 900 4995 to place a reservation order. We will require your name, a contact telephone number and e-mail address, along with the list of products you wish to reserve and for which event, and you will also need your card details to hand too. We’ll process the payment while you are on the phone, and in the week before the event you’ll receive a confirmation e-mail containing your order number. This is your proof of payment and you must bring this e-mail with you to claim your order. We must receive Open Day reservations by Tuesday 2nd April, Salute reservations by Monday 15th April and Horus Heresy Weekender reservations by Monday 13th May.

Thanks,
Ead Brown
Customer Service Manager
Forge World

Incoming Tau.

For those Warhammer 40K players who have just emerged from a soundproof box, hidden in a cave...on another planet...Tau are coming soon...and here's some pictures...and some words...in a language I don't understand...

There okay...I suppose...if you like that sort of thing.

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Avatar Leveticus...

I have a lot of nearly finished crews and that's something I'm going to try to address over the next few weeks. I tend to like to have not only the models from the starter box but any models that are themed to that crew as well....as a result I have a lot of semi painted crews with unpainted extra models. The first lot I'm trying to finish are the models that I commonly use with Leveticus, namely his Avatar, Jack Daw and the Hanged (The Hanged get used with some of my Resurrectionist crews also, so it's a chance to kill two birds with one stone).

Leveticus's Avatar is now done...

Unfortunately Jack Daw and his pals The Hanged are only at the under-coated stage...

I hope to get these done for the weekend in anticipation of a new project that I've been cajoled into doing which will involve me assembling, under-coating, painting and playing at least one game with a new Malifaux Crew each week....more on that later ;-)

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Razorbacks and 6th Edition...

I've had a few e-mails about me still including Razorbacks in my attempts at writing balanced lists for 6th Edition...

The general gist of them come down to the fact that 6th Editions vehicle rules make them (Razorbacks) much less survivable and that there are better ways to spend your points. I would have to agree (sort of) with one of those statements (the first) but not the second. As regular readers will know, I don't include anything in a 40K list for 'fluff' reasons...they all have a purpose or they don't get into the list, it's simple as that.

Of course simply saying something doesn't make it so and as some-one who has had to listen to people talk bollocks on a subject for an hour or more with their argument boiling down to 'I'll say this over and over again till people either agree with me or start planning fatal accidents for me to make me shut up' I suppose I should justify my viewpoint with actual information*

*A radical idea I know...I doubt it'll catch on...

So What's Changed for the Worse?
As we're all aware vehicles are no longer the invulnerable, scoring, bunkers of safety that they once were and if your vehicle is unfortunate to be in possession an armour value that makes it vulnerable to small arms fire then that's obviously an issue.

One of the main issues for me is that vehicles no longer score. I know that the vehicle itself never did but parking a vehicle with a scoring unit inside on an objective was an entirely viable 5th edition strategy. However even with the more favourable vehicle rules of 5th Edition it was rare in the extreme for a player with Razorbacks or Rhinos to finish with many (if any) intact ones. They were (and still are) a force multiplier for your army. They added fire-power, unit protection or just got in the bloody way and now is no different.

Also, the overall reduction in cover saves (4+ down to 5+) seems like a nerf to vehicles but generally a vehicle in the threat range of an enemy weapon wasn't getting one anyway or was getting one from a psychic power or similar and that was most likely only 5+ anyway. Once you were in melta range it was generally goodbye vehicle regardless.....

What Hasn't Changed at All?
Protecting an infantry unit in an armoured shell (A Combat Squad normally) is as useful as it ever was as getting your scoring unit shot to pieces is never a good idea. I always thought of a vehicle as an extra Wound  and/or an extra gun and that's no different now. When we are talking about five man Troop units we often find that the vehicle beats them hands down for fire-power relative to cost especially in armies that get a points break on their vehicles. Also the ability to rapidly redeploy a unit is exactly as useful as it ever was ;-)

Changes for the Better.
Given the changes in infantry configuration, reduced cover saves (they effect your enemies as well you know) and reduced fire from enemies in transport units it's a lot less likely that your Razorback is going to die to early suicide Melta units. The general trend towards Plasma rather than Melta as an infantry weapon helps in this area as well.

General Tactics.

With a 5+ cover save (from wherever you can), moving forward either before or behind your infantry (as appropriate) is how I mostly use my Razorbacks in 6th edition (and occasionally in 5th).  Unlike other armies such as Imperial Guard and Eldar (and Necrons since the new codex) who stay embarked on their transports for virtually the entire game, Space Marines (of whichever flavour your using) have their ever useful 3+ save to survive with.

This means they can walk forward and fire with the Razorbacks advancing slightly behind them or if their using the Razorback for cover...slightly ahead of them. With even basic troops having options that allow them to kill a vehicle up close and basic Marines being able to just use Krak grenades to destroy your Razorbacks, using them too aggressively is going to equal a dead Razorback for any enemy unit capable of killing it. Your opponent/enemy may take the risk of getting in close and risking being shot to pieces so it's something you have to consider (and lets be honest that's no different from 5th edition either).

Specific Army Considerations.
We should probably do this in some logical order...alphabetically should be fine...
Blood Angels:  Unlike the other Marines, you can easily run Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasmagun Razorbacks because being Fast, you have the option of moving 12" forward and firing with full effect and being able to toast three Marines (or equivalent) a turn with consistency is a nice tool to have access to. Pouring those three shots into a light transport is damn useful as well for stripping away Hull Points (possibly not as useful as an Assault Cannon version would be for that purpose...I'd have to run the maths).
Black Templars: Realistically Templars have one option with Razorbacks and that's the Twin-Linked Lascannon version. I suppose they're useful to leave camped in the corners for some long range Fire-power but it's unlikely to ever be a vehicle that Black Templars would 'Spam'.
Dark Angels: To be honest I can't think of a use for Razorbacks in a Dark Angels list as their Troops don't really seem configured to compliment them. Having not looked at the matter to deeply there's a possibility I'm wrong about that though...not a big possibility...but a possibility nonetheless ;-)
Grey Knights: Sigh....Do I really have to....okay then, if you insist. Grey Knight are one of the few Marine codices that have a use for standard Heavy Bolter Razorbacks as they can up them to Strength 6 with the addition of Psybolt ammunition and can be used aggressively as they're relatively cheap. They can also make good use of Assault Cannon Razorbacks as additional fire support for the Grey Knights themselves who are probably better used walking in front of them than sitting inside them.
Space Marines: Generally I'll buy a pair of Tactical Squads with a Razorback each and Combat Squad them. One half sits on an objective armed with a heavy weapon and the other half gets a specialist weapon and a Sergeant with a Combi-weapon of the same type and goes off and kills whatever their weapon load-out suits. If moving forward the Razorback gets an Assault Cannon, If acting as Fire Support it gets a Twin-Linked Lascannon or if you want it to be able to do either then your best bet is the Lascannon and Twin-Linked Plasmagun type.
Space Wolves: Space Wolves don't get heavy weapons on their Grey Hunter Squads so a Las/Plas Razorback fills that hole in their weapon options nicely. Of course Space Wolves players can easily get cheap heavy weapons by simply taking Long Fangs...

...Or 'Rifleman' (That's a Twin-Linked Autocannon on each arm) Dreadnoughts. In which case you'd have the option to give them Assault Cannon Razorbacks to advance in rather than the Las/Plas version.

Okay then. That's my guide to why I think Razorbacks are just as viable in 6th Edition as they were in 5th. They just need to be used a bit differently that's all. It's also worth mentioning that a shot fired at a Razorback is one less shot fired at a scoring unit and that is often the difference between winning and losing ;-)

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

Hasslefree Miniatures - Newsletter

I still buy stuff from these guys periodically (usually when I need a naked girl for a conversion project, lol) and they're well worth a look at (ALL the models are worth a look at...not just the naked girls...).

TABLE OF CONTENTS • It's Snowing Again! • 'Finn', Modern Adventurer / Gangbanger • Donnie, an Agent running out of time • Weird War I Russian Dwarves • Ebay Auctions Ending Soon! • Kev-Related Bribery! • And Finally IN OTHER NEWS It's Snowing Again! As I write this, in the 4th week of March, I'm looking outside the window here in the East Midlands and it's snowing. Not a little 'Ooh a flurry!' but proper Apocalypse-level snow! And I'm at work and I'm cold! *mutter* Thanks to the world ending, and my toes slowly falling off, we're running a little slower than usual here at HF headquarters. Nothing major, just a day or two thanks to not being able to reach the Post Office safely etc. As soon as Mother Nature realises it's bloody 'Spring' we'll be back to normal ;) Enough about the cold, on with the minis and stuff! This week we have some excellent new Modern Adventurers, proper news of the WWI Russian Dwarves, our first round of Ebay Auctions are coming to a close and we've had some restocks in for missing codes. I'm sure as I write there'll also be some more stuff I've forgotten - so let's see! 'Finn', Modern Adventurer / Gangbanger First up this week is Finn, the hirsute cousin of ZH Kev, nicknamed for his gravity-defying 'do. Similarly lacking in stature and making up for it with moxy and firepower, Finn sports a gilet (a bodywarmer for us old Brits) over a hoodie and some fashionable jeans! :) Donnie, an Agent running out of time The other brand new release this week is Donnie, an agent currently on a time-sensitive mission. Armed with a very large gun and incredibly accurate watch, Donnie sports whatever clothes he managed to pick up off the floor this morning :) Personally I think this is some of Kev's best drapery ever, and considering he's 'very' good at drapery that's saying something. (I would love to save some of these compliments for female miniatures as Kev is also good at many things that would make me sound less effeminate but seriously, that's a lovely shirt!)   Weird War I Russian Dwarves OK so they aren't 'quite' released but we do now have them all in hand. They just need to be sorted, coded etc and the next newsletter 'will' see these guys available to purchase! It's taken longer than we'd hoped due to a few technical glitches but the wait is almost over :) For anyone who hasn't had the newsletter before and doesn't know what I'm talking about you can see pics over HERE. Ebay Auctions Ending Soon! Our first round of Limited Edition items will be ending this evening. We're surprised and delighted at the current interest and we will undoubtedly be unearthing more rare goodness for those of you who follow our FB and Newsletter. Seriously though, Kev n Sal are always pleased when something like this shows that their work is appreciated and considered not just as useable but collectible and valuable. It's about more than the money, it shows appreciation and we're all grateful. I've also been asked a couple of questions about the Limited nature of the items so thought 'd offer a quick explanation, sorry if it goes on a bit. Basically if it says 'Limited' in any way then we mean it. We'll try to explain as best we can in the auction itself and the newsletter that week but as an example any resin figures which get offered that are advertised as 'Limited Run' will basically be the resin version of a 'master casting'. Resin casts work similarly in that a first mould is made directly from the green, this holds the most extreme detail of Kev's work. From this a master casting is made to create production moulds either in metal or resin. Only so many master castings can be run through a single mould before it loses viability to produce any more masters and of course if something goes wrong with a production mould we will need the master mould to produce another one. This means we can only afford to run a very limited number of each item before we'd have to have another mould created costing more money and generating a new level of copy. So if you end up with one of our 'Limited Run' items you will have a 'real' collector's piece. Kev-Related Bribery! Despite him not particularly liking the label, we at HF consider Kev to be an artist. Other than his obvious skill at sculpting this means he has an artist's brain. To try and imagine what getting someone with an artist's brain to make something they dont currently have inspiration for is like, I'd like you to consider any of the following phrases - herding cats, squashing water, nailing jelly to a tree and so on. I'd also like you to imagine the phrase 'forlornly staring at a man merrily holding a half-finished barbarian which didn't exist yesterday while studiously and mockingly ignoring the half-finished modern trooper on his desk 'and' the 'to-do' list written in large red letters on a board behind him'. To this end I have taken a page from Sal's book and resorted to shameless bribery. Currently Kev doesn't quite know what he's being bribed with so keep an eye out for our next newsletter for both news on what I've decided to use and what I've managed to get made for you lot by doing so! :) A quick thanks to Philip Hynes for his help in this matter :D And Finally Next week's newsletter will have our Salute pre-order code so you can start making your lists for pick-up at the show. We have at least one more set of new releases before the show and I'm hoping the above bribery secton will lead to at least a couple of good Salute releases too :) Sal and I are working on a new range of HF-created decals for you guys, they should come into play once the guys are back from Reapercon and there's less panic in the air :) No Facebook thread for this one until we're closer to fruition as we'd like to keep the ideas a little closer to our chest. I can say that Sal has definitely been at work on new tattoo decals though and we're also working on a very cool idea for you zombocalypse enthusiasts out there. Restocks are filtering in from our hard-worked casters so if there's anything currently out of stock expect it to pop back up 'very' soon. In fact the next thing after this newsletter will be opening a brand new box of restocks freshly arrived :) That's it, so 'til next time, Arty.

Malifaux for Beginners - Soulstone Use

Editors Note - This tutorial is for version 1.5 of the Malifaux rules and has been left available for reference only. Some Malifaux 2nd Edition Tutorials can be found here...as well as quite a few of these old ones, lol.

Soulstones are an important part of the Malifaux game mechanic and are worth covering in some detail.

Firstly your game size is going to be described in terms of Soulstone amount. For example you might play a game at 25 Soulstones (SS), 35 Soulstones (SS), 50 or whatever. The difference between this amount and the amount your crew costs is added to your Cache. Your Cache is a number of Soulstones that your Master starts off with and is detailed on the Masters stat card...like so...

Some Masters are unfortunate and don't get any at all :-(

Henchmen used as Masters don't get a Cache either...sorry...

Added to this is any difference between your agreed upon game amount and what you actually spend. So lets say your playing a 35 SS and only spend 32 SS on your crew, you would then get the 3 difference added to your Cache. You also gain 2 Soulstones for each Scheme that you choose not to take (you would normally select two) but doing this obviously limits the amount of Victory Points (VP) available to you and is not often to be recommended unless your desperate. There is a limit to this however. In a standard game (referred to as a Scrap) of 1-55 Soulstones your maximum Cache is 8 and any extra would be lost. There is therefore a limit to how useful it is to take a smaller crew in order to gain a stock of Soulstones.

If your using a Henchmen as your Master then your Soulstones maximum pool size is limited to the number after your Henchmen characteristic on your card. Using Henchmen will be covered in detail in their own tutorial to come later.

In larger games (referred to as Brawls) of 30-80 Soulstones your limit is increased to 10 and other limitations are altered...that's a discussion for another time though.

An Example.

The players have decide to have a nice quick game and have decided on a Soulstone limit of 20 SS. Player 1 has decided to use Seamus as his Master and has selected a Crew. He gets his Master (A) for free as Masters don't cost you Soulstones (The number on their card is as mentioned previously, their SS Cache not their cost) and decides to take Madame Sybelle (B) who costs 6 SS and three Rotten Belles (C,D and E) who cost 4 SS each. This gives us a total spent on our crew of 18 SS leaving us 2 SS (20 available - 18 spent) to add to our Masters (A) Cache of 2. We therefore have a total Soulstone pool of 4.

Should the Seamus player decide not to take any Schemes he could get an extra 2 Soulstones per Scheme not taken and could (if he wished) get a Soulstone pool of 8. In this case he decides to take a pair of schemes and settles for a pool of 4 Soulstones to spend as the game progresses.

So that's how our pile of Soulstones (referred to as our Soulstone 'Pool') is established...now lets look at what we can do with them.

In order to use Soulstones your model must have the Use Soulstone ability. All Masters and Henchmen automatically have the Use Soulstone ability whether it's listed on their card or not just by virtue of being Masters or Henchmen...

Other models may have access to the Use Soulstone ability either through specific Abilities of their own or Spells, etc. These will be clearly listed on the appropriate models card...like this...

So in this case the above model can gain access to the Use Soulstone Ability under a certain set of circumstances.

Of course in Malifaux there's quite often an exception to the rule. We'll cover the one use of Soulstones that doesn't involve a Master or Henchmen first.

Initiative Flips.
In order to decide who goes first in Malifaux, both players flip a card from their deck with the player with the highest card going first and with draws being re-flipped until you get a winner. The loser can spend a Soulstone from his pool in order to flip another card from his deck (That's the deck NOT his control/cheat hand) and replace the one that he flipped initially. Should he now be the loser your opponent then gets a chance to spend a Soulstone himself in order to do the same thing. All players have this option even if all models with the Use Soulstone ability are dead or unavailable in some way.

At risk of labouring the point I'm going to clarify this again because it's a common mistake. Your Initiative flip cannot be cheated, the only way it can be changed is to spend a Soulstone and flip a card from your deck and replace the previous card. No cheating, No adding to the total...okay...onto an example...

Example.

Player A has flipped for Initiative and has ended up with an unimpressive 4 while his opponent (B) has flipped a far more impressive 11. Player A has decided that going first is important to him/her this turn so they're going to spend a Soulstone in order to re-flip for their Initiative total...

Player A has got lucky and flipped a 12. This card replaces their earlier 4 so they are now the winner. Player B could now spend a Soulstone from their pool to attempt to beat the 12 of player A if they wished. However in this case they decide that beating a 12 is unlikely so they let Player A go first...hopefully they won't regret that decision.

Healing Flips.
Models with the Use Soulstone Ability only gain access to the Heal Ability. This is a 1 Action Point (AP) Action. The player flips a single card (that cannot be cheated) and heals wounds based on the value of the card flipped.

Black Joker = 0 Wounds(Wd) healed,
Weak (1-5) = 1 Wound (Wd) healed,
Moderate (6-10) = 2 Wounds (Wd) healed,
Severe (11+) = 3 Wounds (Wd) healed,
Red Joker = All Wounds (Wd) healed.

Example.

Seamus isn't having a good day at all and is down to his last wound. As a master he has the Use Soulstone Ability so his player decides to spend a Soulstone in order to make a Heal (1) action in order to help the situation a bit.

He flips an 11 (Severe) which restores three Wounds (Wd) to Seamus's total. Things are looking a bit better for him now...

Wound Prevention.
This is basically similar to the Healing flip we talked about above. However in this case rather than restore the Wounds (Wd) we've suffered we're going to try and stop them before they occur. As we are reacting to the actions of another this doesn't cost us an Action Point (AP)...it is still only available to models with the Use Soulstone ability though.


Black Joker = 0 Damage (Dg) prevented,
Weak (1-5) = 1 Damage (Dg) prevented,
Moderate (6-10) = 2 Damage (Dg) prevented,
Severe (11+) = 3 Damage (Dg) prevented,
Red Joker = All Damage (Dg) prevented.


Example.
Lets say for example that Seamus still has just the one Wound (Wd) remaining and unfortunately takes two points of Damage (Dg). Rather than remove the model, Seamus's player decides to spend a Soulstone and attempt a Wound Prevention flip...

As the received Damage (Dg) would put him on -1 Wounds (Wd) he's going to need to prevent all that Damage (Dg) to avoid death...

Oh dear...Seamus's player has flipped the dreaded Black Joker and prevents none of the incoming Damage (Dg) and is unfortunately quite dead. This is unfortunate as even a Moderate (6-10) card would have been enough to save him...better luck next game Seamus...

Adding cards in Duels.
This one takes a bit more explaining than the others and almost got it's own separate tutorial, lol.

During a duel, a model with Use Soulstone can use one of his Soulstones to add a card to his Duel total. Note I said add this time...not replace. Replacing cards is done with your control/cheat hand, adding cards is done by spending Soulstones. A couple of examples would probably be in order.

Example1 - Melee Duel
Lady Justice is currently engaged in a Melee Duel with Madame Sybelle and is about to attempt to cleave her in half with her Broadsword.

First we take the Cb of her weapon and add it to her card flip,

We now have a respectable (but not impressive) total of 11. Lets see what Madame Sybelle can do about that...Firstly we take Madame Sybelle's Defense (Df) and add it to a card flip of her own,

With the addition of the Red Joker (Which counts as 14) Sybelles total is 19 so currently Lady Justice is losing and more significantly for her has missed. However she isn't done yet.

Firstly Lady Justice is going to use a card from her Control/Cheat Hand and she chooses a 12...

...which replaces the 4 giving her a total of 19. Though this now equals the total of Madame Sybelle that's not good enough for Miss Justice and she decides to really put the boot in (which in this case is a bloody great sword rather than an actual boot) and spend a Soulstone in order to further increase her total. She spends the Soulstone and then flips a card from the deck which adds to the total.

She now has a total of 26. That's 7 for her Cb, +12 for the card (A) that replaced the 4 and +7 for the card (B) that she adds to the total due to her Soulstone Use.

Looks like the Madame is going to get hit after all...

Example 2 - Casting Duel.
This is fundamentally the same as a Melee Duel with the exception that you do all your adding up at once before your opponent flips to resist. Therefore you need to decide at this point if you wish to spend a Soulstone or not.

This time Lady Justice is going to cast her Restore Natural Order spell which requires a 17 to cast.

She flips a 12 which added to her Casting Value (Ca) of 5 is just enough to cast the Spell. However as this spell is resisted by the enemy models Willpower (Wp) Lady Justice's player decides to spend a Soulstone in order to make this total as difficult for the Undead it's targeting to counter and flips a card from her Deck to add to the total of 17.

She gets a 13 (B) which added to her current total of 17 (Ca + card A) makes a pretty near unbeatable total of 30...Looks like there's going to be some pretty unhappy Undead around...if they survive that is...

Hopefully that's covered Soulstone use for you all. If any-one has any questions, comments (or notices a mistake) feel free to post them in the Comments section below and I'll get on them as soon as possible.