Manxfaux

You could shoot it twice, drop two enemy markers and have a prospector pick them up for 2ss too I suppose?

Scion of the Void can remove conditions too 😎

But are they doing anything else in the game other than paying for themselves? Activate, gain a SS, drop a marker, Appraise. Or are you running them into the fray to Appraise/pick up markers that will appear as a natural consequence of the game? Much more efficient on those later turns but far less so in the early ones, and putting them in a position to get mashed. Without them having an actual effect on the game at hand wouldn't you just take an extra 6SS in your pool?

Ahh, mistook Benny's rat killing thing as a pulse like the summon, so no mass enemy scheme marker generation

I've been hearing rumours that the particularly underwhelming Prospector has a new lease of life in this edition. Gaining Stunned (not really a big deal for it imo) for a SS per turn making it effectively a 1SS hire seems pretty good just for starters. Is it worth hitting those valuable severe cards on its Appraise action to send it into net gain I wonder? Are there more reliable ways of getting enemy scheme markers around it? I was thinking..... Benny can turn scheme markers into rats then rats into enemy scheme markers, so a prospector could add 3SS per turn to the pool, but that 15SS over 5 turns only pays for Benny and the Prospector who are going to be pretty immobile in your deployment zone. I suppose if you brought 2 prospectors you would get a net profit of 9SS, but it's still a big blob of points that just sits there. Thoughts?

That looks pretty great to me! Looking at the Rougarou, I'm not even sure you even need 2 with the amount of damage that thing can put out, especially if they get a few pounces off. Maybe drop one for a Doxy for extra pushy goodness and extra cache/upgrades? Definitely worth a playtest.

Flicking through the book I come to another model I haven't really considered - Toshiro. Hear me out 😁 Toshiro can give all minions in 6" Focus +1 for a scheme marker and any 8, and gives them to their attacks natively in a 6" aura Toshiro + Freikorpsmann spam (Up to 8 but probably something like 6 and Sue to be an extra anchor and help with Toshiro's survival). Solid, flexible minions in their own right, suddenly all those clockwork pistols become that bit scarier if you want to set up a gunline, or their melee becomes downright interesting. Also, I have loads of the models and have never used one. Other spam options: Guilty - slower but you can fit up to 10 in the list, that's up to 15 activations! No ranged attacks other than Levi but get him Tormented and he won't randomise into engagements. Df6 6 wounds and HtK - chew through that Mr Opponent. Being melee only (and not a bad one either with all those pluses, especially if you can hit the trigger), Toshiro might have to be put in harms way so some defensive tech and another anchor might be a good idea (Again Sue springs to mind). Ronin - 6 Armour ignoring, flurrying, HtK models you can't charge? Nice. And they're all anchors too. They have a shockingly low Sh but reasonable damage shooting attack to use up that focus too if needed and maybe drain your opponents hand at least. Abombs - Nowhere near as hardy as Guilty for the same cost now, but being able to grab a bunch of cards then go all Desolation Engine on their ass as the wave hits seems cool. If they can survive in numbers, just the sheer number of Df10 duels from their ability should make your opponents eyes fill with sweet, salty tears. I think you would want to drop at least 1 abomb for 'From Ash' and 'Desolate Soul' on Levi to keep the momentum up though. It's also a toss up as to whether you would stick with Toshiro or bring Rusty with her Summoning upgrade instead, but that's not the point here. Desp Mercs - Does someone have 13 of these? Something tells me they will still suck. Enough said. Bandidos - It will empty your hand but multiple Run and Guns with Focuses (Foci?) is double to both Attack and Damage. Not nearly as easy to keep alive as Freikorpsmenn, might be worth a mixture. Dead Outlaws - Really solid minions. Ml and Sh 6 means the value of those plus flips is higher and attacks should land more often (or at worst force more cheating from your opponent). Really good built in triggers, Df6 with HtW and healing, I'm really liking the idea of this! Could possibly replace 1 with a Guilty as a meat shield. Wokou Raiders - As souped-up Ronin go they're pretty decent, but you could only take 5 max so the activation control needed for you to really kick the snot out of something without too much return is leaking away. I so want these guys to be good though, so may have to try it out. Void wretches - Really not sure about these. If you can empty you hand in a meaningful way then ok, Df8 Incorporeal with all the slow they can hand out is pretty brutal. Ml4 is terrible but as you likely wouldn't cheat it anyway, the Focus and/or plus flips suddenly become quite valuable in getting hits through or forcing you opponent to cheat. Added to that they are Ht1 so Toshiro's Pulse and Aura will hit all in 6" rather than having to carefully position all the previously mentioned minions so that as many as possible are affected (not easy with 40mm Guilty). Maybe using Levi in Melee more so his discard for pluses to damage trigger can help protect them....

So how does it actually win? Is it the sheer amount of pounce attacks killing the enemy models? I guess you only pick schemes not requiring any scheme marker dropping (except 'Dig Their Graves' I suppose)? What happens if the opponent has something like Yasanori?

With lures still being quite powerful I'm looking at a Levi crew that utilises them. There's the 9 Belle spam Levi list I remember seeing but other than for laughs I really don't see how this would actually work in a real game. The problem with taking Belles is the requirement for PoBone so losing out on some of the funky Iron models. As a result I'm looking at a combo of an Oiran with Hannah (who can copy and guarantee the crow on the lure), and then using PoIron models to 'complete' the lure (such as Peacekeepers harpoon) and then finish the job as they tend to be a bit more smashy facey. Performers are another option but their lure is only 12" and Ca6 The whole idea is to put an 18" bubble around Hannah that the opponent has to risk entering or, best case, doesn't realise is there, pulling a key model out of position. I'm just not sure if the Oiran is worth it for the ability to bring (arguably) 'better' construct models rather than going down the Bone route.

It's only a minion they can pass this to. You got me excited about passing this on to Hanimatsu, then I double checked the card. They are good scheme runner hunters though, definitely worth a look, especially in pairs (maybe with support from the Midnight Stalker who can keep up- Levi only!) It's almost a shame they went down to 5SS. A pair shepherding a waif down a flank for Levi to pop out from looks good, but at 12SS...... probably why they weren't seen

Or bring an Engineer. If you can find that 5+ you can probably send in the Hooded Rider a turn earlier and the extra cards are really useful.

I'm not sure he needs fixing does he? As an Outcast player I'm glad he's not a little bit better otherwise all the other factions would find a place for him. He has a master's stat line, a master's AP (kind of 😁), solid abilities that can have a big impact at the right time, great (0)s that, while often situational can win you a game and can't be countered by your opponent, a ranged cast that can heavily dent an opponents hand if they've bunched up, his attack ignores armour and it has some really powerful triggers. The only weak part of his entire card is his damage track, which incidentally jumps to a nice 3/4/6 if you hit them with the slow trigger first, and is hardly terrible at 2/4/6. Sure, it would be great if he was Ca 7 or the Slow trigger was built in. It would be great if his native damage track was better or that all enemies in 24" are immediately sacrificed unless they have the red joker but I think he's pretty well costed as he is. Burying an opponent is way too powerful to be done easily and yet its still pretty easy for him if you take 'I Pay Better' and have a couple of decent cards in hand. That alone can ruin a whole turn for your opponent. I would agree that if he doesn't get the opportunity to use any of his more interesting abilities then he's a 10SS model just as a mobile tank, but even the ability to make half your crew fast in turn 1 when you may not need the cards is super useful. I think he falls into a similar category as Parker in that he needs quite a lot of practice to get to know the real finesse in his powers. It's hard to know what the right thing to do is at one particular moment and you always have to second guess yourself as to what to do and when to do it. My first use with him was pretty poor. I ran him round making stuff slow, tanked a horseman (who eventually gave up and pushed away) and booted around a few markers. He was decent but not really 12SS, but in my next game he was a god and was worth 20SS. Admittedly it was due way more to good flips than my skill but it showed me that his potential, even in my hands, was massive, and I intend to use him often.

I got a proxy Obsidian statue for Levi to play with but have never gotten around to using it yet. The randomising is a problem but the aura also extends from the statue marker too so it's actually a really decent range. More of an issue for me is the buff only lasts until end of turn so forces you to go earlier with it. I am going to try it with a metal gamin to buff its defence (Levi only Combo!!!) as it's cheap and can hide behind his big base. The gamin works better if its buff target doesn't move away and I expect the OS to pretty much set up camp in one area as table denial. I love the Guardian. I recently picked up a Rogue Necro and I think this pairing could be brutal (Levi only!!!) with the Guardian keeping the RN in its upper wound zone so it keeps it to attack and dmg for longer. I've only used the Guardian a few times but I've always been impressed by it and it works with any of the fragile big hitters that don't run off too far ahead. I also think the new Engineers will be fantastic for Levi especially, protecting those big constructs with +1 armour (and potentially putting all ranged and a good few Ml attacks against them on , mitigating those things that ignore armour). Peacekeeper with Armour +3 and negs to attack it? Yes please (and Levi only!!)

You'd still probably have to focus to get over your own for shooting into cover though, at which point their becomes fairly unimportant. Now if you can remove cover with someone like Mad Dog..... but that's a lot of investment pinned to Levi's poor damage spread. EDIT: Just looked at Mad dog and his cover removal only works for Sh attacks, not Levi's Ca. Yin is interesting though, how about paring her with the Nothing Beast, that's a Levi only combo. EDIT: Scrub that, Resser Tara can do this too. Unless one of the Neverborn undeads from the Titania box can take advantage, you're just building something any resser crew can replicate.

I have tried a variant of this without A&D (I can't think why), and it still scared the bejesus out of my opponent. The DE's damage output isn't given nearly enough credit. Unfortunately, I seem to remember my DE managed to Black joker one attack and was blocked by the Red on another, meaning it couldn't heal enough to survive the inevitable loss of initiative for the next turn. Having A&D would have given extra hammer to the crew. Good call. Could the crew fit in a terracotta instead of the abomb?