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Parker Tactics


jphealy

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3 hours ago, fauxreigner said:

Huh is that really how that works? The way I read it, whenever Parker has Black Market attached, he has the ability that (paraphrasing) "if an enemy scheme marker was removed during his activation, gain 1SS at the end of his activation". As long as he has the ability at the end of his activation, does it matter that the marker was removed when he didn't have the ability? I wouldn't say so based on current wording, but maybe this has been clarified somewhere that I'm unaware of?

That was how I read it which is why I thought to ask.

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It's an ability though, just like the ones on the front of his card, or the one to gain cover from nearby friendlies from Humam Shield upgrade. If it's not attacjed to himat the time the marker is removed (or he's shot at in the 2nd example) he doesn't gain the benefit of it. The point at which it is attached the marker has already been removed from play prior.

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Yeah, but the ability it gives him resolves at the end of his activation. At the end of the activation, he has the ability, so you resolve it by checking whether the criteria were met: "did he remove an enemy scheme marker during his activation?". If yes, you gain a soulstone. I don't see what wording would prevent him gaining a soulstone due to the upgrade not being attached at the time of removing the marker. Thats my reading of it at least, but would like to hear how others play it.

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2 hours ago, fauxreigner said:

Yeah, but the ability it gives him resolves at the end of his activation. At the end of the activation, he has the ability, so you resolve it by checking whether the criteria were met: "did he remove an enemy scheme marker during his activation?". If yes, you gain a soulstone. I don't see what wording would prevent him gaining a soulstone due to the upgrade not being attached at the time of removing the marker. Thats my reading of it at least, but would like to hear how others play it.

This is how I read it as well - the ability resolves, and checks conditions, at the end of turn, not when the marker is removed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

After playing a couple of games with Parker I'm starting to think he's just what the Outcasts needed: a non-Upgrade heavy schemey master with lots of control options and a great Totem. 

 

I'm currently experimenting with a control crew focused on schemes that can dish out damage in a pinch. 

 

Here's the core:

Parker - with Stick up and Black Market

as much as Highwayman looks enticing, extra soulstones is what makes Parker going

stick up is there for the "alpha strike" (quoted because you won't be killing, but disrupting the enemy) and a 1st turn discard for the free SS

 

Doc Mitchell - because a 5 Wd 3 ss minion with mobility and great heals is just too dirty to ignore

 

Aionus - since I don't need to pick 5 ss worth of ugrades/extra ss like on Tara, Levi and Jack, the 12 ss cost fits nicely in any list. The old man himself is like a mini-master himself who can buff your minions and hand out mass Slow which plays perfectly into Parker's schemey style. Moreover, he can wreck serious face if it comes to battle, removing entire problematic models from play. 

I'm currently debating on whether to take I Pay Better on him for crazy damages/buries, but 13ss I just can't justify  

 

Hodgepodge Emissary with general Conflux - this is the first crew where he's not competing much with other 10ss models for a slot. He's a walking marker machine, and his Destined action (together with Lonely Road) lets him at least move himself 7" and drop 2 markers before spending any AP. The conflux action is there to aid your card draw in case of a really bad hand, but with 6's across the board on key models you only need moderate cards to succeed in your bandity endeavours.  Can also hand out Slow for extra debuffs.

 

As far as trinkets go, Memento on Aionus lets you do nice damaging/disrupting combos; Floral Bonnett on Bandidos is a mean combo with Parker's (0) from Black Market

also thinking of Vitality Potion on Doc because he gets hit a lot

Monkey's Paw on Big Jake to let him Reactivate turn 4 and come back Turn 5 is also a fun combo

 

1-2 Bandidos

they're okay scheme runners, but nothing special aside from their brutal (2) action and synergy with Parker's (0)

0-2 Void Wretches 

just cheap scheme runners because I hate Winged Plague and it's okay to drop a lot of cards for multiple abilities of Parker and Emissary. Also, a third source of Slow is always good.

 

flexible takes:

Big Jake because I love the model and there's the fun combo with Emissary

Hodgepodge Effigy because effigies are OP for their cost

 

so a core build would be Aionus, Doc, Emissary, 2x 5ss models (bandido/jake/wretch), 1x 4ss model (effigy/wretch)

 

this leaves 9-10 SS for an 8th model

 

the options I looked at:

Mad dog with Poncho - a ranged powerhouse and a Bandit too

Rusty Alyce - same as Mad Dog, really, but more defensive

Sue+Return Fire - this upgrade turns him into a monstrosity, but he struggles to keep up with the rest of the crew with his wk4

Librarian - not a fan, but could be cool with mass heals

Specialist - when you know there's Pandora or Zoraida in the mix

Scion of the void - because she can teleport to forward models and is no slouch in melee

Montresor  with Brick by Brick - he's just another source of hand control with the mass duels and discards, and also a fast model with Nimble. 10 Wd with HtW and Terrifying is pretty scary as well, considering you can Nimble, Focus, String'em Up for good damages

Woukou Raider - when you need more minions for Tail'em and a melee tarpit

 

 

thoughts?

 

 

 

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While you leave room for Mad Dog, I find he is almost an auto-include with Parker.  He saves a stone on most turns as he is the target of black market or highwayman.  He also brings a way to remove cover that makes everyone fear him and Parker.  I would also point out that envy does very well with Parker.  You are putting out scheme markers so envy get the +1 shoot and the auto trigger for :blast, plus Mad dog is clearing out the cover.  These 3 plus doc have been making up the core of most of my Parker crews.

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7 minutes ago, keget said:

While you leave room for Mad Dog, I find he is almost an auto-include with Parker.  He saves a stone on most turns as he is the target of black market or highwayman.  He also brings a way to remove cover that makes everyone fear him and Parker.  I would also point out that envy does very well with Parker.  You are putting out scheme markers so envy get the +1 shoot and the auto trigger for :blast, plus Mad dog is clearing out the cover.  These 3 plus doc have been making up the core of most of my Parker crews.

Well said, but that's an entirely different crew with Parker and probably the best shot at an Outcast gunline crew, with Envy, Mad Dog, 2x Dead Outlaws and 2x Bandidos, coupled with Scout the Field on Envy and Coordinated Heist on Parker.

This is probably something that's gonna shoot some people's faces off real hard.

 

Still, the reason I considered a heavy control/debuff list was that too many schemes are marker-based and FfM is suited, so something that's heavy on shooting and damage won't necessarily be universal, whereas the Aionus/Emissary toolbox would thrive in most scheme pools.

 

One other reason is that I don't have any Dead Outlaws and don't know when they'll be out (

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Thats an interesting approach to Parker, gotta say I never really considered the Emissary and Aionus with him.

I have a slightly different take on Parker after 5 games with him, which is that he is primarily a resource cycler, i.e. subset of control master. That is, he can usually be counted on to ensure that the right cards for any job cycle through your hand on a given turn. When building a crew, I tend not to worry about synergies between models, and instead just select either solid individual models that can achieve great things when they have the right cards available, or models that further amplify the whole resource cycling mechanic. 

Here is the build I have converged on (again only after 5 games, so still premature):

  • Parker w/ Highwayman, Oathkeeper, Survivalist, 4ss cache
  • Doc Mitchell
  • Ashes and Dust
  • Sue w/ Return Fire
  • Johana
  • Wokou Raider
  • Hodgepodge Effigy
  • Abomination

The crew kind of works like a big resource engine. Thanks to Parker's ability and the Hodgepodge Effigy, I can stone for cards most turns. Combined with Sue, the Abomination, Highwayman, and Go Through Their Pockets it means that 12-13 cards are cycling through my hand in a good turn. High Rams/Tomes are snagged for Sue, high Crows for A&D, high Masks for extra Parker movement, medium Masks to get 2 zero actions, medium Tomes for Wokou's zero action, medium Rams for condition removal, and low-medium Crows for Return Fire. 

As for Parker's setup, I consider Survivalist pretty essential because I like to play Parker forward enough to generate enemy scheme markers with his gun that are close enough to spend on upgrades. Then I can net a stone and 2 cards through the cycle of discarding an upgrade and attaching a new one by spending the enemy marker. Also now that Eliminate is on doubles people are going after him more aggressively. I choose highwayman because I prefer the card draw to an extra stone. Oathkeeper is dropped on Turn 1 and replaced with Dynamite or Hail of bullets if there is a good play available, otherwise Stick-up. Throughout the rest of the game, if there are no great plays for the situational upgrades then I just cycle Stick-up every turn for an extra walk action, or cycle Highwayman to allow a non-bandit to take an attack. The Wokou is still somewhat of a trial, but I have found repositioning Claim Jump markers late in the turn to be very useful when opponents try to counter it. The Abomination would likely be replaced by a Winged Plague if I want to play for Leave Your Mark. 

It certainly seems like a lot of different builds are viable with Parker, ranging from his thematic bandit crew to some more out-there choices. I'd love to see some more examples of what people are using.

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On 11/25/2016 at 9:30 AM, Skillmatic said:

I'm not finding a Role for my Dead Outlaws, at least not with the Strats set up for this tournament season? The Banditos have been performing excellently with Run and Gun. Any pointers for the Dead Outlaws in Parker and Daw's Crew?

If you can hit curse of the covetous on a model, Parker can then also use Stick up on the same model to effectively shut them down

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So, one issue I have had so far with Parker is survivability. While the doc+survivalist allows him to heal up quite efficiently from small hits, he can go down quite easily from a fast mobile beater (hello Yasunori), which could be problematic going forward with Eliminate now coming up in approx. 1/3 of games. Speaking to some of my regular opponents, they all see Parker as a pretty soft target for Eliminate, and think they would be likely to take it against him. Now Eliminate is an incredibly swingy scheme because losing your Master is always bad, but losing him AND giving up 3 VP for it can spell game over.

This made me think long and hard about what I can do to further boost Parker durability. Human Shield is a nice option that one big hit per turn, but the only models I usually find within 2" of Parker are the Effigy and the Doc, and I don't really want to lose one of those models either. The I dreamt up the idea of the Rat Shield. You take the Obedient Wretch (in the above crew she would replace the Abom), and throw a rat at Parker each turn after he has moved, or throw a rat at an existing rat, as long as it ends up within 2" of Parker. Now Parker will always have a little buddy nearby who he can happily sacrifice to prevent one big hit per turn. It means Parker is stuck cycling the Human Shield every turn rather than using more interesting upgrades, but its a whole lot better than losing him. Plus, the Obedient Wretch can be pretty useful even if becomes obvious your opponent is not trying to Eliminate Parker. She's a 4ss significant Minion so can score a lot of schemes, and rats are great for engaging stuff in Interference, or blocking a Claim Jump marker. 

Thoughts? Rat Shield??

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A few thoughts after a couple more games with Parker:

 

1. If you can Rapid Fire with a damaged Mad Dog, things will die a horrible blasty shotgun death. To that end, Parker can act a a pseudo-Obey master by telling Mad Dog that THE JOB'S NOT DONE YET 3 times. Still , Mad Dog is a conditional pick for me because there's FfM on suits now, so horrible blasty shotgun death for the enemy might be a problem for me VP-wise.

2. Hail of Bullets is worth its weight in gold if you activate Parker early. The fact that it's 2/3/4 hazardous is good enough (had my opponent foolishly unbury Killjoy with Tara into one of those, he facepalmed real hard), but the trigger on Hands in the air is just downright amazing. action 1, Hands in the air the enemy control piece. action 2, do some scheme marker shenanigans (like Dynamite). action 3, either Hands in the air another model or just shoot at something. action 4 (0), five finger discount and tell a Bandido/Mad Dog to drop a scheme marker for Claim Jump. Pure gold!

3. Bandidos are silly good with Run and Gun. It's a Sh5 with in-built Focus and 8" worth of movement, so it's like 4 AP worth of action for 2 AP. Sure, you need them as scheme runners, but they can drop those markers through Parker's Black Market Obey later. Still, they are super squishy, even less survivable than Void Wretches.

4. Want to humiliate your opponent? Go Parker+Aionus+Emissary. Sure, it's 22SS, but Emissary can do Claim Jump by himself AND shoot at something with Ca6 and give them Slow, while chain activating Parker into Aionus (give him the Memento upgrade) just spells devastation. If they make the mistake of clumping up together, blow up some dynamite with Parker, then do Aionus's mass Slow trigger and see how many card they have left. And then Aionus can charge at a model within 10" and show them his 3/4/6 damage track or do something useful instead.

5. If you're playing against Parker, kill the goddamn doctor ASAP. He throws out so much healing it's not even funny.

 

On a tangent note, I think Wyrd has done an amazing job with A Fistful of Scrip box. It's probably the only Outcast box that can be efficiently played as-is in smaller games (well it's 32/33SS with max upgrades and 2-3 stones for the cache, which makes it exactly 35 SS) and fits any scheme pool perfectly. Add Aionus and any other small box (Sue, Johan, Woukou Raiders, Big Jake - they will all fit nicely and work with any future crews you might be getting), and you're at 50SS with a really versatile lineup. Now, there are other concerns such as whether this is power creep or just good design, but I think Parker is pretty balanced (he's excellent at control, but he can't tear stuff apart like Leveticus or Jack Daw). 

Despite him being a rather complicated master due to the amount of text and triggers on his card (you gotta rememeber all the times you get a free soulstone), his box is a perfect choice for an Outcast beginner who wants to try Malifaux.

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Got in a couple more games, tried out Coordinated Heist and Woukou Raider.

 

I don't think Coordinated Heist is really a competitive choice, but it's pretty fun to see your entire crew just launch forward.

There's also alpha strike potential (VERY card intensive) where Doc goes first, gives Mad Dog HtW, then Parker goes, obeys him three times into position, then Mad Dog unloads with rapid fire and blasts and cover blown apart. Then he dies, but that's a different story.

 

On the Raider: those gals (I don't like the male model, so I'm sticking with the two gals) are probably actually worth their SS cost. They synergize with Parker well in that he can propel them through the enemy lines because of all the markers dropping. Df 5 is a bit on the weakish side, but no cheating is pretty huge (the irony is that my opponents never flipped anything lower than a 10 when hitting them), and they do lay down some hurt. I also wouldn't run them anywhere where Parker can't see them, because without the movement shenanigans they just drop and die to a lot of things (in my second game, my Raider got brutalized by Rafkin and Sebastian pretty hard). They also have a very decent shooting attack in case they need it. So, an expensive and extremely mobile glass cannon/tarpit, depending on what you face.

 

Another observation:

NEVER, EVER take Claim Jump against Parker in non-diagonal deployment. One of my opponents today took Claim Jump and I was like "I'm gonna help you out, friend" and proceeded to place about 6 of his scheme markers around the centerline. Sadly, they were all within 4" or closer to each other, so they never counted for Claim Jump. Such an unhappy coincidence, really.

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I played my first game with Parker against Titania. I lost, 10:3, but my opponent is one of the best players in New Zealand so that's to be expected.

Strats and Schemes were Guard the Stash, Claim Jump, and Leave Your Mark

I decided I wanted to go all Bandit, which may have actually caused problems because I didn't get a chance to discard an upgrade until turn 4.

I ran:

Parker, coordinated heist, highwayman, hail of bullets, 6 stones

Mad Dog, lucky poncho, crate of dynamite

Doc Mitchell

2 Bandidos

2 Dead Outlaws

1 Woukou Raider

Coordinated Heist I found quite good, basically giving almost my entire crew a free move at the start of game, although I probably should have held back a bit and done more shooting.

I managed to forget an awful lot of things, including Mad Dog's Hard to Kill, but that's par for the course with a completely new crew. My opponent noted that Parker's ability to commandeer and utilize the opponent's scheme markers could make him reasonably strong against Titania, who also likes scheme markers.

The combination of Curse of the Covetous and Hands in the Air on Titania (with her hand nearly empty) did keep her quiet for a turn, which was nice, although we did forget that she could take three damage to end CotC. Woukou Raider did take a couple of turns to go down, even though the Doc managed to fluff healing her. Mad Dog managed to set off some dynamite and drain some cards, but didn't do much else. He did put Burning +4 on Aeslin, which seemed curiously appropriate.

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I just finished up a long Parker write up for midwestwargaming, which I'll also copy and paste here for you all.

Parker Barrows himself brings incomparable flexibility to the game of Malifaux. His signature ability is undoubtedly the ability to discard upgrades for positive effects (plus a soul stone!), then reattach any of his restricted upgrades. There was a taste of this mechanic from the Ten Thunders’ Shen Long, but Parker’s is less limited and more powerful on the balance of being lightly more costly than Shen Long’s stance-swapping condition shenanigans.

Parker Barrows’s limited upgrades include an obey to have an ally model take an interact and an obey to have an enemy take a shot, and both provide bulletproof and a trigger which occurs when an upgrade is discarded – which happens often with Parker. If you get a mask on the obey action, you’ll get a trigger which allows Parker to use the 0 action on his card immediately – the same trigger that his card’s 0 action has.

His Parker Barrows restricted upgrades include a tactical action to force an enemy to give you one of their precious soulstones (this upgrade can also be discarded for a free walk action at either the beginning or end of his turn), the ability to toss out hazardous terrain / soft cover, an upgrade that turns a scheme marker into a 3 damage box of dynamite, and the ability to just shoot everyone engaged in a melee (sorry, tarpits!).

In addition to his restricted and limited upgrades, Parker gets great usage out of starting the game with Oathkeeper, as discarding it allows him to immediately recover a soulstone to use to add an upgrade later in the turn. On a key turn, you can easily give Parker fast (via Oathkeeper), 4 AP (because fast), 2 0 actions (an obey on one of his fellow bandits and then adding on Stick Up) and an extra walk action (via Stick Up) to retreat him to safety. That’s 7 things on a key turn – be it attacks, moving your units into key positions, or accomplishing a scheme all on your lonesome!

Parker’s ability to discard upgrades for extra damage also means you can really capitalize on a severe damage flip to one-shot an opponent’s key model, making him a bit of a ranged assassin in a pinch, though he does a great job at mowing through your opponent’s minions with his built-in positive twist to attacks. In one game, however, I managed to one-round the notoriously difficult to kill Freikorps leader Von Schill with Parker Barrows without the assistance of a Red Joker. Use of this trigger can leave you upgrade-shy on the next turn, but if you’re killing an important enough model, this is obviously worth it, as you can just load back up on upgrades over the next few turns.

Obviously, Parker has great synergy with bandits, though as a new keyword, there aren’t that many bandits in the game. The complete bandit roster, outside of Parker himself, is Mad Dog Brackett, Bandido, Dead Bandit, Wokou Raider, and Doc Mitchell. Luckily, Parker is going to bring a few bandits along so you can maximize both Parker and his bandits during your game.

Surprisingly, Parker isn’t as resource-dependent as you’d think, in terms of soulstone cache or cards, though he can certainly become so if you push for certain objectives. His ability to draw a card when an enemy dies within 6″ of him (and keep that card, if a bandit killed that enemy!) helps him hold onto his cards, and the positive twists on attacks available to his crew mean that often, aside from equipping upgrades and the odd initiative reflip or defensive stone use, Parker crews aren’t very demanding on soulstone counts. At the end of his activation, the ability to pitch cards to steal your enemy’s scheme markers allows for a great use for poor non-Masks (due to defensive triggers on his Bandidos) and black jokers.

If there is one drawback to Parker, it’s that he has little in the way of defenses, outside of a high wound count and not having much other use for soulstones. His limited upgrades give him bulletproof 1, but it isn’t rocket science to figure out that you need to get in close to a shooting list to shut them down. His values in Def and Wp are both exactly average for a Master, as well, making his defensive abilities rely heavily on other models passing traits out.

For the next segment, I’m going to break the Outcast models which I recommend bringing with Parker into a few groups: The Essentials, The Big Models, Unique Names, and Generic Minions:

The Essentials
Sue – The Man in Black is undoubtedly the MVP of the entire Outcasts faction at 8 soul stones, and it’s no different in a Parker Barrows crew. I’ve never left him at home with Parker Barrows, and never have I wished I had. An 8 Soulstone Enforcer with a positive twist on attacks who is immune to horror duels and can one-shot a totem would be good enough, before you add on his 0-action flexibility and the ability to draw a card at the end of his activation. Sue is the first Outcast I put in every list, with either Oathkeeper or Return Fire as an upgrade on him, depending on the strategy and schemes.

Dead Outlaw – These minions are clutch, and any Parker list should bring at least one. It’s a great target for Parker’s 0-action obeys from his limited Highwayman upgrade, as the Dead Bandit’s cursed collier pistol is full of fantastic triggers on the attack. Likewise, great use can be had by Parker and the Bandido’s triggers causing enemy scheme markers to drop on the attack, as an injured Dead Bandit can gobble those up to heal back up. A tandem of Parker slightly behind a Dead Bandit (which also seems incredibly lore-appropriate for how Parker would use a gun-toting zombie) can have a minion absorb a lot of hits for the fragile Parker.

Big Models
Big Models here means high soulstone cost, henchmen, or big based models. It’s not a great line in the sand, but it’s how I group these models in my mind. For Parker, the inclusion of any of these models is purely situational, based on the terrain, scheme pool, and strategy. Occasionally, you’ll find yourself taking none of these models

Mad Dog Brackett – First we’ll cover the Bandit Henchman, whose synergy with Parker is very clear from the get go, and who comes in Parker’s box. Like most other bandits, he is Bulletproof 1. He totes around a fantastic shotgun, with blasts and pushes available. Also clutch for Mad Dog is his 0-action, which allows him to place a marker which removes cover for models within 3 inches as he uses his shotgun to temporarily remove an area of cover from the board (though if he uses it again, the previous marker goes away, so it’s not perfect if you’re looking for realism in your Steampunk/Demon/Magic/Undead skirmish game). He gets an upgrade that gives him Hard to Kill and fast on the turn that Hard to Kill is triggered and, as a henchman, you can soulstone to protect him. Mad Dog Brackett drops friendly scheme markers upon killing enemy models instead of dropping enemy ones on a tomes trigger. This does make certain strategies even easier for Parker than they were already. A reliable choice in any Parker crew, I’ve found he’s particularly helpful against other Outcasts, Ten Thunders, and Gremlins lists. A great choice for Henchman Hardcore, as well, with a 4 soulstone cache when he’s leading a crew.

Envy – The Crossroads 7’s organist has clear synergy with Parker and the scheme markers that will be dropping all over the place. He patiently waits for his new friends to drop scheme markers near enemies by shooting them, then opens up with his gatling guns and mows those enemies down. Manipulative as well, Envy pairs well with several other models who are often chosen that would prefer to go early in the turn, such as Sue and occasionally Parker himself. In addition, Envy can pass around focus as a 0 action – either giving it to himself or your other primary damage dealers. Envy is great at strategies and schemes where the enemy is going to be rewarded by clumping up, either through his tome-blast triggers on his gatling guns doing damage outright, or the mask trigger on his guns causing your enemies to kill each other for you!

Hodgepodge Emissary – Yes, he doesn’t have a limited upgrade like the other Outcast masters. But what the Emissary’s standard upgrade brings to Parker is outstanding – positive twists on all duels in a bubble is great, and the casting attack on the Emissary will help Parker deal with pesky incorporeal critters his bullets just pass through mostly harmlessly. Trinkets as well can give a heavy hitter reactivate on a last turn, companion activations, or a hard to kill model regenerate to turn them into a tank. The Emissary certainly has a great role in a Parker list. Great to use against Ressers, Neverborn, or other Outcasts, or any other time you suspect models with incorporeal to be around.

Aionus – Aionus seems like a great model to bring with Parker, as a bunch of fast Bandidos, Johans, and Big Jakes can be a lot of fun. But Aionus is a very card-intensive Henchman, and Parker is already a card-intensive Master (usually pitching them to steal scheme markers from your opponent.) Having said that, Aionus also brings a Casting Attack and Slow, and isn’t a particularly POOR option for Parker, though not a great one.

Taelor  – For Outcasts, Taelor has one role: smashing Resurrectionists. That’s no different for a Parker crew, where her ‘Welcome to Malifaux’ action is incredibly welcome, as well as her Relic Hammer. I suppose if you expect a Shenlong or Dreamer matchup, Taelor is also welcome. TL; DR: Bring her if you expect a Summoner or a Tyrant. You’ll be sad if you didn’t.

Ashes and Dust – “A&D” is one of the Outcasts’ MVP models, as ‘the’ super scheme runner in the Game. A&D Dominates a flank on its own, and is all but impossible to kill. That said, I haven’t hired him in a Parker crew yet, and haven’t felt his loss, as I think Bandidos do an excellent job out on the flank in their own right, and I prefer the extra activations. Without the ability to summon in and catch up on Activations, A&D just seems like a ‘good stuff’ option without adding a lot to a Parker Barrows Crew.

Unique Names
Hans – Malifaux’s premiere sniper and ultimate Mercenary is a welcome addition to any Parker Barrows crew. Shooting upgrades off your enemies is always fun, and an incredibly long focused shot is very welcome – particularly if you can get a vantage point in your deployment zone to really break him. His errata upgrade makes him particularly clutch, though I would recommend extreme caution with burning cards to make sure that focus goes off outside of the first turn. A first turn focused shot on an enemy Henchman or Enforcer from Hans which knocks off a key upgrade is a personal favorite play of mine.

Big Jake – Big Jake is an extraordinary hire for any scheme marker heavy scheme pool, as a 5 point enforcer with Don’t Mind Me. He also counts as two models due to his size (hence ‘Big’ Jake) in strategies such as Extraction or Interference. His ability to come back from the dead didn’t often come up under the old Gaining Grounds time limits, but will almost always trigger under the 2017 time rules, allowing for a great charge on turn 5. His attacks aren’t great, but his ability to score points is unmatched in 5 soulstone models across the game.

Johan – A 6 point, self-healing Relic Hammer? Don’t mind if we do! Johan is one of the most soulstone-efficient models in the entire game of Malifaux, and that 3″ range, min damage 3 Relic Hammer is a big reason why. Very rarely is Johan not welcome in any list, let alone a Parker Barrows list.

Doc Mitchell – Parker’s kidnapped Totem, Doc Mitchell either feels like a superstar totem or a waste of soulstones, depending on your opponent. Generally, if I hire Mad Dog Brackett, I’ll hire Doc Mitchell as well, as Doc can keep Mad Dog up and firing, while also being out of sight of Parker Barrows and so able to use his gun attack. He’s also a middling option for Parker’s obey attack, as he won’t get auto-killed if he uses his hidden gun and Parker told him to make an attack. He’s at a great value for soulstones, but I still only find myself running him about 75% of the time, often choosing to forego a totem entirely. Student of Conflict and Malifaux Child don’t do much for Parker, so if you want a totem, Doc Mitchell is your man.

Pride – Early on in my Parker experimentations, I ran Pride a lot. He packs a Ca attack which can force your opponent to discard cards, a melee attack which causes slow, and Manipulative 12, as well as several passive damage abilities. He’s actually quite useful in a Parker Crew where you need to hold territory, as he takes a lot of removing before he actually is taken out.

Lazarus – a Big, armored shooting model who tosses out blasts and can flurry across different models? What a great choice for a model to sit on a claim marker or hold the middle for Parker! Lazarus does all of his Lazarus things in a Parker crew, though there isn’t any added synergy as he’s likely to be the only construct in your crew.

Minions
Bandidos – Parker’s thematic minions have, in my opinion, played well above their soulstone cost in most games. Hyper-mobile, they can move-shoot-move (a favorite tactic of mine harkening back to my days playing Pirates of the Cursed Seas), and then also move with a defensive trigger. They’re very hard to pin down in melee, and can throw out focused shots with a decent pistol on the wing. Their end of game scheme marker shenanigans are also usually worth at least one victory point, with particular synergy around the current always include- Claim Jump, which doesn’t remove your opponents’ extra scheme markers, just your own. I’d say that at least one of these minions should be included in most, if not all, Parker lists.

Void Wretches – A great incorporeal scheme runner, Void Wretches can do great things where there’s a lot of terrain on the flanks, or if you’re expecting to face a shooting list. That they have a chance to bury an opponent is a welcome potential bonus, but they’re excellent scheme runner choices even absent that happening.

Freikorps Trapper – Even in faction, this is one of the very best mercenary minions available. Deploying from the Shadows, this sniper has killed many a key model for me in his day, particularly if you can get him parked on top of a vantage point so that nobody can hide from him. 9/10 games, Parker will appreciate having this Trapper available to go early in the round, and he’s one of the very best targets available for high cards in your hand, particularly high Rams.

Freikorps Librarian – Yes, it’s an enforcer and not a minion. But if you don’t want to hire Doc Mitchell and want a more offensive healer, the Freikorps Librarian does a great job in that role. A flurry-casting attack can shred incorporeal models, and Armor +1 is welcome for a crew which otherwise relies very heavily on bulletproof and mobility as its sole defense.

Wokou Raiders – Wokou Raiders shred enemy models in melee, but are otherwise glass and struggle against models with armor. Given their desire to be close to those models they struggle with, I’ve generally found them overcosted for Parker, despite being Bandits. They are particularly effective at shredding Gremlins, and hiring one as an option against that faction can be quite effective. At their point cost, however, Outcasts have many better options for models that work with Parker Barrows.

Hodgepodge Effigy – A significant, mobile source of soft cover is a great way to avoid having your bandits blasted apart by enemy shooting, and it is also a great way to get extra soulstones to buy upgrades for Parker with as he kills off models late in the game.

The All-Comers List
Without further ado, the Parker Barrows All-Comers List, aka ‘Parker Barrows Sniper Swarm,’ a 50 soulstone list.

Parker Barrows + 4 Pool
– Highwayman (1)
– Stick Up (1)
– Hail of Bullets (1)
Doc Mitchell (3)
Hans (8)
– Advanced Sight (0)
Sue (8)
– Oath Keeper (1)
Johan (6)
Dead Outlaw (6)
Freikorps Trapper (6)
Bandido (5)
Hodgepodge Effigy (4)

The thing I like most about this list is the number of activations and the pair of snipers. 9 models to activate is quite nice, with only Doc Mitchell a peon. The models are a bit fragile, but that’s to be expected with all of the other things they bring to the table. And no matter the opponent, you have a little bit of everything ready to go: Card discard, board control, a relic hammer, Sue’s anti-casting bubble,  Upgrade discard, and great killers. The only thing your models lack is staying power, but Parker’s rarely going to win a stand-up fight. If it comes down to one of the ‘hold an area in the middle’ maps, you can either keep rolling with this list and put Parker, Sue, and the Effigy in the middle, or swap in Big Jake and another Bandido for Johan and the Hodgepodge Effigy. Either option gives you a fighting chance.

 

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@thegreatserpent

a few tidbits:

- Doc Mitchell is not a Bandit

- Doc Mitchell is not a Peon

- Mad Dog's marker only works for Sh actions

 

Otherwise, I keep wondering how individual playstyle/meta makes entirely different things work. I, for one, have never been able to get any value from either Hans (especially without Scout the Field, but that's a 9ss model that wishes it was Mad Dog) or Trappers (their damage track kinda sucks).

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2 hours ago, apes-ma said:

@thegreatserpent One more corrigendum to make - the Lucky Poncho doesn't goive Mad Dog fast when he is at one wound, but it gives him focussed if he discards the upgrade! Otherwise, great write up! I am planning to try Parker with Aionus, some Wokou Raiders and Bandidos tonight - i hope her turns out well!

Just don't let the chinese chicks stray away from Parker, they'll get swarmed and murderized without the mobility Parker gives them by dropping markers. 

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3 hours ago, Seadhna said:

Just don't let the chinese chicks stray away from Parker, they'll get swarmed and murderized without the mobility Parker gives them by dropping markers. 

yeah I was a bit worried about that - It's interference with an odd scheme pool (frame for murder, AND a quick murder, leave your mark and recover evidence). I was planning Parker, Aionus, 2x Wokou Raider, Big Jake, Bandido, Trapper and Doc - the idea being that everyone is quite mobile, and if I keep Aionus safe he can help with recover evidence or leave your mark, or claim jump, or whatever I take. As you point out, though, perhaps the crew isn't as good at splitting up as I would like to think... Perhaps I might be better off swapping a raider for a dead outlaw (they are quite survivable) or another bandido, and then taking an upgrade on Aionus or Big Jake? It is easier to give a bandido or dead outlaw fast with Aionus, and perhaps if my plan is to stay mobile and out of the way and go for marker-based schemes that will be good...

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This year, I've committed myself to playing Parker in at least 90% of my games for the entire year.   I've played ten games with him so far, and ermergerd, Bandidos are the incredible business.  I've gone from taking one or two in a list, to three or four.  Between Run and Gun and Quick Getaway, unless your opponent can one shot them, they're fairly hard to pin down.  They, at least for me, hit above their weight class and accomplish so much in a Parker list that he takes a backseat position akin to Hamelin in most of my games.    I don't play much against Guild or 10T, and I don't really say this often about models, but these guys are just incredible.  

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