Freikorps Specialist: Useful....?

[Davos]

So I'm a fairly new player (about 4 months now) and have almost exclusively played Von Schill crews (picked up Levi recently, am learning him).  Anyways, I love Von Schill and how his Freikorps plays, but I feel the black sheep of the family is the Specialist.  I find him to slow and unwieldy to prove useful, and at Wk 4, Df 4, he just can't keep up with the rest of my crews.  At 8 stones, I'd much rather have Sue (who I feel hits much harder, has greater all around utility - here's looking at you Ring of Fire, Relentless, & Hurt ) or split the cost into a Freikorpsmann and SS for upgrades or in-game usage.  

Of the Malifaux players I've talked to, the majority have at best neutral feelings about Specialist, with a single player speaking favorably on Specialist. A Collodi playing Neverborn-er, he claimed the Specialist was OP (That's a exact quote), due to his ability to blast and ignore cover, coupled with armor.  

So I guess my question to you all is this: Have I just been playing Specialist wrong, and if so, how do I properly utilize him?  How and when do you use him?

 

Thanks all.

 

[Virtus]

The Specialist is generally considered not worth his point cost, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a home somewhere. I like using him with Hamelin because if you give the Specialist Scout the Field, you could Obey walk him into position to shoot at a rat without needing LOS and ignoring cover. So the Specialist can focus shoot and cheat in for blast damage. I think his tactical action is superb with Hamelin, and his armor makes him a good target for the Obedient Wretch to shoot to make rats. Not so useful with other Masters though.

[Freman]

With Masters like Parker, Hamelin or Jack Daw, where they can command or push him into position, saving his precious AP for the important task of flaming people, he's okay. Apparently he's a popular hire with Sonia Criid for handing out burning. Perhaps Bone Leveticus, if you had a Dead Doxy or Rotten Belle, or if you hire a Performer and she has a spare AP to lure him along could work too, but most of the time, if he has to get places under his own steam, he's not worth it.

[Davos]

I hadn't thought of the Bone Levi synergy, I'll have to check that out.

[Adran]

He is also one of the few models that can remove Corpse markers. That might not always be useful, but I strongly expect people complaining about the power of Reva to take another look at him. (Doesn't mean that they will reagually pick him, but if you are worried about corpse markers in your half becoming attack nodes, then his slow speed is much less an issue).

I use him occasionally, typically when I want his denial, or paralyse removal, but when he works he can be really useful. So yes, 9 times out of 10 he is not very good, and I wouldn't pick him, but just occasionally he excels. 

 

[DXXXVIII]

Sue is a better corspe remover but Specialist is a Paralyse remover... Just like johan in more expensive and slower.
The specialist unfortunately really needs some tweaks.

[Seadhna]

Just a (0) upgrade for +1 Wk/+1 Df would make him perfect, it's not like you're slapping anything else on him (unlike Hans whose new upgrade is useless)

[KrazyIvan]

He is out shined by other models in the same price range...and us Outcasts are spoiled for choices  in the 7-10 SS range. That said, if the match is maker heavy and close deployment I can still justify taking him.

[Nukemouse]

I like him for his ability to cause horror duels, ignore cover and to remove slow and paralyzed, two very common and threatening conditions.

[Seadhna]

His gun is legitimately scary. The few times I've used him, he burninated the living hell out of the enemy before inevitably exploding right into my face.

[CapnBloodbeard]

He might have some use against, say, a rat or gremlin crew where you're faced with a lot of activations and blasts are handy.  Especially if it's the sort of strat/scheme list where you're not needing to push up the board too much and his lack of mobility won't be an issue.

 

So, probably has specific uses.  Probably

 

But overall, yeah, he's pretty rubbish. 

[Seadhna]

He makes a fantastic FfM target!

[Nukemouse]

He is amazing alongside Sloth or Nurses to remove the slow and paralyze you get for heal, with jack daw i love taking both of those and him!

[Ludvig]

If you are up against a lot of paralyze-giving models like Pandora, Rasputina or some Ressers I think it might be useful. Problem is you often don't know if you will be.