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Black Sheep - McCabe


Joel

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Hi guys,

this is a sister thread to one I am also running in the guild forums as McCabe is one of the 3 masters I am running this year.  In this thread, as in its sister, I will track list design, hobby progress, mccabe discussion (of a 10T nature here) and go through my games as and when I play them.  

The aim of this thread is for me to keep a log of what I'm doing and share my thoughts with you and give you guys a chance to respond to what I'm upto.

The other masters I'm playing this year are Zipp and Leveticus (and these guys also have appropriate threads I've started).  All the models across these masters have to fit into one Malifaux bag, so I'm starting with a fairly limited pool of models and may have to operate a "one out, one in" policy to make everything fit.

This is a return to McCabe for me, as I played him a lot about a year ago, but plenty has changed in that time for me to keep learning.  Back then, the majority of my games were in guild, but TBH I'm seeing his 10T version as the more flexible at the moment.

 

Hobby:

surprisingly little - I have most things painted and usable at the moment, the brutal emissary being represented by the Sonnia Avatar model (mainly due to the space requirements, I have a shadow emissary but he's rather large and he is also painted/based to match my misaki crew).  The same goes for Izamu  - I've been using the turtle Genbu.  I have an Izamu assembled, but haven't got around to painting him yet.  

 

Model pool:

I'm starting with the following:

Mccabe (and dismounted)

Luna

Kamiatatchi (super weasel is super)

guild hounds

chiaki

pathfinder and traps

shadow emissary

ten thunders brothers

toshiro + punk zombies

lust

strongarm suit

ronin

Freikoprs trappers (no assembled katanaka snipers as yet)

 

models I'm considering but not yet added:

illuminated

wastrels

terracotta warriors (don't own any at this point)

 

Games:

one at this point - I am flipping masters randomly in casual games and McCabe just hasn't flipped out often enough.  I am taking him to an event that is coming up soon and I am hoping to get a casual game in this weekend...

that game was an example to another player looking to get into McCabe to show him how I made him work.

List design:

I'm not posting full things up here just yet, I've not got enough testing done, but there is one that springs out and that is "which mccabe upgrades do you take on him and which on the emissary?"

for me, the emissary is best when carrying the badge of speed initially, and I don't use the extra slot on McCabe to carry another one, but to get recalled training instead.

 

the setup then becomes:

McCabe (promises, recalled training, glowing sabre)

Shadow Emissary (conflux of exploraiton - badge of speed at start of the game)

 

this allows you to efficiently get a lot of movement out of a big hitter.  Let's take Izamu as an example:

 

shadow emissary activates, takes a nimble action, throws badge of speed to izamu (pushing him) and then makes izamu fast - emissary can then walk.

mccabe goes later in the turn, takes back the badge, passes it to izamu once more, pushing him again - then does other things.

izamu is now 8" advanced, nimble and fast with melee expert. He could be holding recalled training. He kills something with extreme prejudice - very extreme if he also gains an extra pos flip on the attack by being in the promises aura.

now this kind of move doesn't have to be done, but the efficient movement of models makes me think that badge of speed shouldn't start on McCabe in a 10T crew using the emissary.

 

I guess that's all for now, I'll update as I get list ideas.

 

Joel

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Out of curiosity, how do you plan to use Recalled Training on McCabe? It's an upgrade I have never considered on him. He doesn't gain much in terms  of damage (difference between weak and severe flip is  just 2 and he already dishes out a lot of damage with proper use of critical strike), attack flip is already on :+fate thanks to Promises, so is Wp flip, so the only flip that can really benefit a lot from RT seems to be Df flip, and that just for one turn. True, with 3 attacks he stands to gain 6 damage if he flips 3 severes instead of 3 weaks, but that is assuming best case with RT and worst case without it. I'm not saying it's not good, but the gain is not as obvious as with many other models - I'd probably consider having Glowing Saber instead, as response to any armored threats around.

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one thing it allows you to do, due to the double pos flips on attacks, is choose the trigger you most want with greater ease.  The pos on df flips can then keep him alive in a tricky situation, and that is mccabe to a tee.

remember, I'm talking about having him with the sabre, promises and recalled and then also getting the badge of speed via the emissary.

if I was not running the emissary, then I wouldn't have room for recalled training on McCabe

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Oh, you've put badge of speed there twice (both on McCabe and emissary) in your example. This confused me a little. If you do take the saber, then the point about triggers makes sense. I'm curious how it will perform, can't wait to read your thoughts after a few games!

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19 minutes ago, Lakshman said:

Oh, you've put badge of speed there twice (both on McCabe and emissary) in your example. This confused me a little. If you do take the saber, then the point about triggers makes sense. I'm curious how it will perform, can't wait to read your thoughts after a few games!

oops - my bad, I've edited it now....

I've tried it once and it worked fine, I just need to have a few more games to make sure.

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  • 4 weeks later...
5 hours ago, EpicWaffle said:

Just to wonder, as I'm planning to start tt McCabe too, is subir of any use? And wastrels? I m new to tt but they seem to me very lackluster...

Wastrels with McCabe's saber get you pretty massivr damage with card cycling as an added bonus. If you meant outside of McCabe's own crews they don't do much. You can cycle an ace for another card twice in a Lynch crew, card draw is potent and it's a pretty cheap way to do it.

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I have a bit of a soft spot for Wastrels, even outside McCabe. They're what you bring when you want a cheap activation that will be a bit more impactful in combat than a Guild Hound. Brothers are nice but they fill a different role imo, and Wastrels have a pretty nice shooting attack. Min damage 1 hurts but the :+fate to attack and the possibility to ditch a low mask for a second focused attack is quite useful for taking potshots at enemies in cover. They're a bit slow so I would usually not bring more than one. A Monk of Low River will usually get that 4 stone spot instead, but there are times when I want a bit more damage.

Oh, also note that their triggers on their (2) are all After Resolving, not Succeeding, so you can throw in any low card if you just want one of the trigger effects.

@Ludvig why is it that I literally never considered that??? I guess I look at their (2) more than anything else.

 

Sidir is useful to hold onto Promises (although you can also bring Queeg for the same thing if you want) and his tactical shooting is really nice. I rate him pretty good but he's a tad too expensive to consider in a lot of cases.

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25 minutes ago, Ludvig said:

@Dogmantra you hadn't considered it because I'm an idiot. You only draw a card f you had an upgrade attached. :(

Which you do: the glowing sabre! :D

26 minutes ago, Ludvig said:

Btw: you don't need to ditch a mask to get the mask trigger, their ability actually allows any card for any suit.

Yeah I totally forgot about that. Between any card for any suit plus after resolving on their (2), they can basically do whatever they feel like.

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1 hour ago, Dogmantra said:

Which you do: the glowing sabre! :D

Yeah I totally forgot about that. Between any card for any suit plus after resolving on their (2), they can basically do whatever they feel like.

Thought you responded to the drawing cards with Lynch topic. I don't think there's any debate on wastrels bring useful to McCabe, more what their use is in other crews.

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One thing I like about Wastrels is they are decent healers for 4 stones. Its a 2 action, but you can get a decent (1) action from it for free. You might need to spend a little setting it up if you want the movement but that should get them into place for the next turns healing if you can plan that far.

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