The Essential Lynch Crew list

[ukrocky]

Afternoon all,

 

So I got back into malifaux in October after a while out and have gone straight back to Lynch.

 

I appeared on Schemes and Stones talking about Lynch but had only just come back, so there were a few bits I was a bit ropey on and a few of my ideas have progressed since then, but the core is the same. I just want to type up my recent experiences, thoughts and core of my crew, and hope that some of you get some use from this. It's only going to be a short post due to a fractured wrist meaning my usual speedy typing is either slow or painful, so apologies for a lack of depth!

 

Since the turn of the year, my record with Lynch at UK tournaments has been:

 

Masters - 3rd - 3 Wins, 1 Draw, 1 Loss

Troubleshooters - 1st - 3/0/0

Love Hurts - 4th - 2/0/1

Scrap at Steelworks - 1st - 3/0/0

Expert Cheater - 1st - 3/0/0

The Normal one - 1st 3/0/0

(2015 saw 1st, 1st, 10th(out of 88), 3rd - 12/1/2)

All have been single faction, bar masters which was open faction, whilst I've stuck with pure TT Lynch. I provide the stats above for 2 reasons:
 

1. To boost my already massive ego.

2. To prove that my ramblings aren't made up *that much*

 

Since the turn of the year, and troubleshooters onwards, I have only used the following models and upgrades...so this is my core lynch list for any budding gamblers:
 

Lynch 

Hungering Darkness

Shadow Emmisary

Yin the Pengalanaalalgnaninilanin

The Lone Swordsman

(May have used Chiaki once...?)

1 TT Bro

1 Illuminated

1 Katakana Sniper

1 Depleted

 

Upgrades:

Rising Sun

Wanna See a Trick

Recalled Trainings

Hidden Agenda

Smoke Grenades

 

 And that's it...happy hunting boys and girls.

Note: This is by no means a fool proof list, and there are plenty of models in my side pool, I just never reach for them!

[OneLittleThunder]

Thanks for sharing! I've been trying to focus on TT Lynch myself lately, though with rather less impressive results so far.  (I think we chatted briefly at The Normal One - thanks for the tips there as well.)

Your core list is pretty close to what I take most of the time, though I tend to diversify more based on strats and schemes (sometimes out-thinking myself, but that's my own fault).

The one thing that surprises me by its absence here is Woke Up With a Hand. The card draw is really nice though not crucial, but I feel like Final Debt is a big part of Lynch's ability to delete one model a turn personally. Are you using him as pure support, or just getting the damage in other ways? 

Wanna See a Trick is one of those upgrades that is invariably just what I need in the games I don't take it, and mostly useless in the games I do.

Haven't used the Depleted much; I like them as models, but they never quite seem to be what I want for a given strat/scheme pool.

[ukrocky]

Aye we did chat briefly at Normal One, found your ideas and crew selection thought provoking too so thanks in response!!

 

I always want to diversify, but even things like the lone swordsmen with the emmisary for fast, and possible reactivate, even if saccing himself is capable of some impressive scheme feats, as is Huggy, and the TT Bro etc. There's not really any strats or schemes that bother me, and I can usually find something!

 

Wanna see a trick comes in and out of favour with me for that exact reason! It's super impressive in some games, or would be if I had it, and then...not...in others, invariably when I have taken it!

 

The depleted is great for anything where model count is big, so guard the stash, extraction, interference (ie, alot atm!). I also find him really useful for just shoving in peoples faces wants huggy goes down, forcing them to deal with it, and then gaining brilliance in response. 

 

As for Lynch, I used to *always* take woke up with a hand, at the start of m2e. I guess now if I'm pushing with Lynch I'm happy to use his pistol or pay for blood, as pay for blood can be guaranteed and the damage/slow/card drop on the pistol can all be important. I think it occasionally forces lynch players into forcing them to activate last with lynch, and he's usually an early turn model for me, either to get huggy out or contain activation control. I'm very conservative with lynch, and usually bring him in to get huggy back. Turns 1 and 2 it's not unusual for me to mulligan and then waste his 3 AP, either walking, passing or dropping scheme markers for no reason. 

 

There's no doubt final debt can be excellent, I just don't feel the need for it and points are tight, but can fully see why it's used in many peoples set ups!

[Patzer]

 

Ten Thunders
50ss Crew

Jakob Lynch -- 5ss
 +The Rising Sun - 2ss
 +Recalled Training - 1ss

Hungering Darkness - 0ss
 +Hidden Agenda - 0ss
 (+Recalled Training -1ss)

Shadow Emissary - 10ss
 +Conflux of Hunger 

Stitched Together /- Ten Thunder Brother 6(-5)ss 

Strongarm Suit /-Lazarus 11ss 
 +Recalled Training - 1ss

The Depleted - 4ss

The Depleted /- Shadow Effigy 4ss

The Illuminated /- Wandering River Monk - 7ss

I have been running Lynch with some set of the above list in a handful of games this year. My experience is that Lynch can mix and match to make most things work. I second playing Lynch uber-conservative. He is best for staying alive, getting cards for discard effects and filter them later, as well as getting the Hugster back later turns. Another thing that has got my attention is by playing Lynch pretty far back, those who gun for him tend to over extend. Thus its pretty easy to snipe them out. 

Really liked your thoughts on the Lone Swordsman.

A couple of questions. What do you use Yin for in general, and why do you only take one Illuminated?  

[katadder]

isnt hidden agenda the upgrade to improve oiran?

if so I have to wonder why you put it on Huggy when you have no Oiran?

[Patzer]

 

25 minutes ago, katadder said:

isnt hidden agenda the upgrade to improve oiran?

if so I have to wonder why you put it on Huggy when you have no Oiran?

Deception! 
The Shadow Emissary can only use The Rite Of Strength (the 4" push+Fast-action) to a model with a non-leader model with an upgrade attached. So its a sneaky way of having an upgrade without having to pay for it. 

[ukrocky]

^^ This

[katadder]

having never faced yours I didnt know what it was  i am sure I will end up on the receiving end of it sometime this year though

[Rurouni Benshin]

Of all the TT Masters, I've honestly found the Emissary to be the least useful with Lynch.  I've played a few games with him, and each time, I had great success with him.  The most recent crew I brought was:

Lynch (Cache: 7)
- The Rising Sun
- Wanna See A Trick
- Woke Up With A Hand
Huggy
- Addict
- Recalled Training
Sensei Yu
- Wandering River Style
Mr. Graves
- Recalled Training
Mr. Tannen
The Illuminated
The Depleted
Beckoner

This particular game was against Ressers Tara, in "Guard the Stash".  I suppose I could substitute Mr. Graves for the Emissary for similar staying power for only 1 more ss, but I didn't really feel the need to bring it.  The passive ability on the Emissary is nice, but in comparison to the other Masters' abilities, it seemed lacking to me. 

[ukrocky]

What?!??

 

The extra push on the 0 is insane for so many reasons, both pushing own models for some mental threat ranges, and for many of the current strats and schemes in GG2016! 

 

Genuinely, the emmisary with Lynch is the shizz!

[Rurouni Benshin]

8 minutes ago, ukrocky said:

What?!??

 

The extra push on the 0 is insane for so many reasons, both pushing own models for some mental threat ranges, and for many of the current strats and schemes in GG2016! 

 

Genuinely, the emmisary with Lynch is the shizz!

I suppose it would have to depend on the schemes and strategy.  Last time I played Guard the Stash with Lynch, I had 2 Depleted, each one camping on the Stash Markers.  This time I went with one Depleted, and with "Show of Force" and "Marked For Death" as my schemes.  He didn't bring any upgrades with his Henchmen or Enforcers, so "Show of Force" was easily done.  The Emissary would've helped with "Marked for Death", being able to Interact with an engaged model and then hitting it with a Focused +2 attack.  But the fact that he has to give up "Dragon's Breath" for his other (0) action doesn't bode well with me.  Personally, I like having the blast option for his attacks, and with Sensei Yu and the Beckoner, pushing other models around is still a viable tactic. 

[ukrocky]

The emmisary is just so unbelievable flexible. It's a crew multiplier extroidanaire, much less card intensive for movement then Yu or Graves, just as durable, more damage output, more reliable damage output (focus +2), provides some insane movement tricks. Eurgh. I love it. If it was food I'd roll around in it. It's just mental. I would never take marked for death, and show of force you just hand out fast to all those with upgrades, and guard the stash the 0 is awesome for to push enemies away, and same for show of force.

 

Beckoners aren't great IMO, and if the blast is needed then it's always an option.

[Rurouni Benshin]

4 minutes ago, ukrocky said:

I would never take marked for death

Do you mean in general, or just with Lynch?  I ask because it worked out pretty well for me.  (I won that game 10-1)

[ukrocky]

In general, too many variables though, I'm just not a fan. 

 

If your opponent took 0 upgrades in a pool with show of force, then, no offence, I'd expect to win 10-1

[Rurouni Benshin]

9 minutes ago, ukrocky said:

In general, too many variables though, I'm just not a fan. 

 

If your opponent took 0 upgrades in a pool with show of force, then, no offence, I'd expect to win 10-1

In his defense, he was playing Tara for probably just the 2nd or 3rd time.  I like Marked for Death because it's one of the few schemes you can score more than 1 point on per turn.  It's taken time for me to become more proficient with Lynch, and with an Interaction heavy scheme pool (Catch and Release and Exhaust Their Forces were the other two), taking a scheme that didn't rely too much on Interactions would've suited me better.  The Beckoner played a big role in this way too, managing to get a couple of his models across the board towards me, allowing me to Interact with one model and kill it with another. 

[ukrocky]

Ah fair enough, in that pool I'd consider it but likely go for Exhaust tbh.

 

The emmisary making Huggy fast so he can interact and still have AP is great, and same with lone swordsmen etc. Giving out fast as well as pushing 8" just makes interact schemes super possible.

[Rurouni Benshin]

24 minutes ago, ukrocky said:

The emmisary making Huggy fast so he can interact and still have AP is great, and same with lone swordsmen etc. Giving out fast as well as pushing 8" just makes interact schemes super possible.

This was what I was thinking with Sensei Yu as well.  With "Wandering River Style", the effects are more or less the same.  The difference maker for me in this decision was the fact that Sensei got an extra 1" with each push, and he gets to copy "Mulligan" every turn. 

[ukrocky]

19 hours ago, Rurouni Benshin said:

This was what I was thinking with Sensei Yu as well.  With "Wandering River Style", the effects are more or less the same.  The difference maker for me in this decision was the fact that Sensei got an extra 1" with each push, and he gets to copy "Mulligan" every turn. 

I've theoried Yu vs Emmisary alot, and the Emmisary just comes out on top for almost every reason.

 

More damage output, more reliable pushes, card draw (rather than mulligan), spare AP after pushes, extra effects outside of pushes (Eg blasts).

[Rurouni Benshin]

Eh, I prefer Sensei's (0) action options, in this case.  If Hunting Party were on the table, I'd probably take the Emissary over Mr. Graves, and consider dropping Addict on Huggy to keep the full cache.  The card drawing on the Emissary isn't reliable, where as Sensei's ability to Mulligan outweighs it considerably.  It saves soulstones during the Card Drawing step, which to me is far more valuable. 

[ukrocky]

Agree to disagree then as I'm firmly that Emmisary with Hunger > Yu with Wandering!

 

[santaclaws01]

Another positive for Yu is being able to give an Illuminated fast so they can set up their own brilliance to charge if you have some good masks. 

I'll also add that I think Wanna See A Trick is more useful the more you can burn through your deck in a turn. It's basically auto include for me against ressers for example because of all the HtW they have.

[Rurouni Benshin]

My typical strategy is making Huggy "Fast", so he can give out Brilliance to his targets, and then having the Illuminated's gang up on them.  "Hard to Wound" is considerably mitigated when I'm doing 4 minimum damage with it.  Makes it pretty easy for Lynch to go last to take advantage of "Woke Up With A Hand", and with all the extra (0) actions I get from the rest of the crew, I go through my deck considerably quickly.

[santaclaws01]

46 minutes ago, Rurouni Benshin said:

My typical strategy is making Huggy "Fast", so he can give out Brilliance to his targets, and then having the Illuminated's gang up on them.  "Hard to Wound" is considerably mitigated when I'm doing 4 minimum damage with it.  Makes it pretty easy for Lynch to go last to take advantage of "Woke Up With A Hand", and with all the extra (0) actions I get from the rest of the crew, I go through my deck considerably quickly.

Oh definitely. HtW isn't a problem at all. I was just saying that when you flip more cards during your actication, you are more likely to get your aces, which makes 52 Pickup free damage with less reliance on luck to get your aces.

[Tokapondora]

I'd say Yu is just that bit more flexible than the Emissary with Lynch. Yu can give anyone fast or even slow if you want to, can wreck havoc in enemy positioning, and his 0 allows for far superiour card advantage. Sure, on that 4" push you have that 1/4 chance of drawing a card, but if you have to cheat it in it's just a 1-for-1. The 0 lets you 3v3 if you want to. And that's not even mentioning the marker manipulation. Yeah, the Emissary has its uses, but I feel they're generally outshined by Yu's versatility in targets and ability to interact with the entire crew.

[Eclipse]

How about going crazy and taking both of them together in a Lynch crew? Although having so much support sounds redundant it surely would allow some wicked plays...