Advice putting together a Marcus crew?

[Stoobert]

Hey, thanks for reading.  I'm new to the game, anticipate casual play, and am looking for advice putting together a Beast-themed Marcus crew.  Marcus + Myranda + Beasts, that's all.

I'd like to get 50-60ss of models.  Inventory so far: just Claw and Fang box + one Dawn Serpent a friend gave me.

Could some of your more experienced players may have ideas what works best for synergy?  Here is a crew I came up with based on reading some stats.  Thoughts?

The core (19ss)

• Marcus
• Myranda
• Jackelope
• Sabretooth Cerberus (may need a second model for Myranda!)

The minions (23ss)

• Razorspine Rattler - backup
• Waldgeist - blocker
• Dawn Serpent - artillery

The schemers and objectifiers (7ss)

• Canine Remains - grab objectives
• Malifaux Raptor - contest scheme tokens

Total 49ss

Don't have thoughts about Upgrades yet, and am TOTALLY open to suggestions and swapping out.  That's just a wild idea up there.   Thx!

 

 

[Sol_Sorrowsong]

I'm not a Marcus player, but I play against a Marcus player locally quite a bit.  Starting at upgrades: I know he takes several on Marcus to get crazy buffs and he'll often put Imbued Energies (discard for fast or draw 4 cards when killed/sacrificed) on Myranda and another enforcer.

 

Beasts:

 

You are in the right mindset as far as what I've faced off against. 

I haven't faced off against a double cerberus (myranda sac change) yet but it could be trouble.  Usually keeping Myranda back to buff and heal the beasts and then use the original cerberus a bit more aggressively seems to work.

Rattler I think is really good for the cost.  It keeps models close unless they have movement shenanigans and can really put out some damage when it wants.  Only issue is that 9 wounds can go pretty fast when targeted by another beater.

Raptors are annoying and good at it.

Canines I've only seen once and with an upgrade on Myranda to try and get lots of attacks of WP duels.  Its an interesting strategy but tricky to pull off.

Usually he'll bring a ronin or something fairly cheap but durable to tie up things and put more points into soulstones or a big beasty (blessed of december?)

Waldguists are always good as they are beasts and really tough to remove with huge engagement ranges (although need LOS)

You're on the right path for traditional lists.  A Silurid isn't a bad option either and since you're only usually taking 1 of either of those swampfiends, you should try seeing if any locals have a spare 3rd model to sell you.

[Adran]

First, the default Malifaux Caveat. Its not a fixed list game, you are encouraged to build the list to adapt to the strategy and schemes.

But assuming you are building on a budget, there are a few good beast boxes to look to. 

In faction , probably my favourite beast is the Blessed of December. Whilst I might consider 2 cerberus at times (I occasionally field 3 in 1 crew) most of the time you would be better off with having 2 slightly different options than 2 of the same, so I would buy a blessed before I bought a second Cerberus. It also gives Myranda more choice when you switch with her. 

I prefere Silurids as scheme runners over Canine remains, so I would suggest them. 

Waldgiests are a good durable minion, and a solid choice for what is sometimes a fragile crew. 

With the above listed buys I would only consider using Malifaux raptors in games of Interference, and so they would be low in my buying list. (Thanks @Nikodemus for spotting my error)

 

And 1 final point. Upgrades can be really strong. I find Marcus' 2 Limited upgrades are probably 2 of the most powerful upgrades in the game, and can not think of a good reason to not use one of them. The one I use depends on how I want to play him. His other Upgrades can change his play style hugely, and I can easily argue points as to why 4 or 5 of the general upgrades are a good choice for him. 

 

So My Buy list would be (In this order)

Generalist upgrade deck

Blessed of December (Personally I like the twisted alternative sculpt of Luther the Pascal hare, but it will cost you more as you have to buy the Hare and the tortoise box)

Waldgiest 

Silurid (You might want to look at the Zoraida box which comes with 3 of these, and also plays really well with Waldgiest)

Generalist upgrade 2 deck

Canine remains. 

 

 

 

 

[katadder]

may want to consider a rogue necromancy too. these are really hard hitting and generally a bit tougher than your cerberus due to being impossible to wound.

can also use them in combo with your cerberus, use them early to stalk something then allow the cerberus to get the move from stalk where possible.

[Nikodemus]

Second Cerberus would be a powerful buy, but you've got options with 9ish ss beater beasts if you don't want to buy and paint two of the same sculpt. Cerberus eats faces, but so do Blessed of December and Rogue Necromancy for instance. I like options, both as a painter and as a player.

Way I see it, Marcus box+Dawn Serpent lacks cheap activations and dedicated schemers. I too am a fan of Silurids, though you do pay premium for them further necessitating those cheap activations. My go-to non-beast (and pretty much only non-beast, non-merc in Marcus crew) is Arcane Effigy for how much it brings to the crew. If that's a deal breaker, there's loads of 3-5ss beasts to pick from and I couldn't recommend any as above the pack.

If I were to arbitrarily distil it into three buys:

1. Arcane Effigy/ss cheap significant minion. Are you a dog person? Cat person? British smile mole person?

2. Blessed of December - She's a beater, a schemer, and Myranda can shapeshift into her. Versatile model with good $ to ss value. You could also substitute a second Cerberus here but do you really want that? Or maybe Rogue Necromancy but then you lose out on the scheming and Myranda shifting and pay more $, though it really eats faces.

3. Waldgeists/Silurids - two different models for different jobs. Waldgeists are good tanks and make excellent, durable 'Defend Me' nodes for Marcus, so long as you don't mind their low speed. Silurids are schemers extraordinaire with ss price to match. Cerberus, Blessed and fast schemers do overlap with them a bit, something to consider if you're prioritising purchases.

Ok so that was more like 4 buys. I second the idea that you try and buy some models 2nd hand. Single Waldgeist and single Silurid should be cheaper than a box of either and give you more options on the table. Guild/corrupt hounds you kind of want in larger groups, but molemen & canine remains function just fine solo. Raptors are excellent harassment models, but you can do without if on a budget I think. They're another model you might try to buy just one or two of, rather than full box of three.

50 minutes ago, Sol_Sorrowsong said:

I'm not a Marcus player, but I play against a Marcus player locally quite a bit.

 Note that I've used Corrupt Hounds (3ss sort of significant Neverborn), not Canine Remains (4ss significant Ressers).

19 minutes ago, Adran said:

With the above listed buys I would only consider using Malifaux raptors in games of Extraction, and so they would be low in my buying list.

Do you mean intereference? Or how do you use them in Extraction specifically?

8 minutes ago, katadder said:

may want to consider a rogue necromancy too. these are really hard hitting and generally a bit tougher than your cerberus due to being impossible to wound.

can also use them in combo with your cerberus, use them early to stalk something then allow the cerberus to get the move from stalk where possible.

Don't they need the resser only Pack upgrade to do that? Even so Rogue Necro seems like a good option for Marcus. (and that's Marcus, isn't it? Options upon options upon options.)

[Odd]

I play Marcus quite a bit, and I will give you my 2 cents.

 

First read the stickied post on Marcus to make sure you have general knowledge of all your choices, a lot of the early stuff is a bit older now, but there are some good nuggets on strategy and tactics in there.

 

#1 recommendation would be Molemen.  They are not sexy like siluruds but for 1 point more, you can have 2 of them.  They are semi durable, but are surprisingly speedy with a little effort.  I usually leap a model forward (Blessed of December usually, sometimes something else), and leave a scheme marker within 8 inches of a moleman.  Then the moleman can use his burrow to move to touching that marker, and it walks once and sets down a marker.  Next moleman burrows and then walks and leaves a marker, or just moves twice to get past the first.  then you can start leapfrogging around, and if they send something after the moleman, you can burrow out of engagement, and keep skipping around. You can also leapfrog with just two of them.  Also, leaving all those markers all the time will smokescreen schemes sometimes.

Another Beast that can be underrated are the Hoarcat Pride.  The punch way above their weight-class while unhurt, unfortunately they are not the most mobile, but can move through other models, so you can screen them with waldgeists or bigger model and then have those little kitties charge through.

I almost always run Marcus with his own upgrades.  If you are very aggressive (as I am) you will like Trail of the gods, give yourself 8 inch walk, +2 damage or even an additional ML attack, first one free, a tome discarding for each additional.  This helps Marcus get to where he needs to, but also turns him into a min 4 damage model with up to 4 attacks if need me.  I also combine it with the hunger cry and feral instincts usually.  FI lets you turn someone into a beast ( and do 2 different 0's, and Marcus has good ones) and the Hunger cry can help you boost beast wp and make all enemy beasts in LOS take a negative twist on duels!  Combine that with Raptors and Remains turning enemies into beasts, and suddenly any of them in LOS of Marcus will be at a negative twist modifier (more importantly, if they end at a negative twist or worse, no cheating!) thus easy meat for Beast beatdowns.

Everything else people say is nice, but I find it wise to think about imbued energies for both Myranda (4 cards when she sacrifices to become a new beast) and often one for Sabertooth Cerberus to get fast for an alpha strike.

One mean little trick you can consider is make sure you outactivate your opponent (there are lots of nice cheap beasts, so this is not hard against non-gremlins/Hamelin) and use Darzee's Chaunt on your Sabertooth Cerberus (this gives a positive twist on attack and damage, combined with 3 headed, that is 2 positive twists on his attacks and damage, and if you have outactivated the double negative to defense is no big deal), then alpha him.  He can discard imbued to become fast, leaps in, charges, (about a threat range of 20 with one walk) beats the snot out of something (hope or have Tomes, so you can Maul trigger for additional attacks),  then activate the SC again, charge something else or just attack something if range, either choosing to leap deeper for an additional 15 inch range or save that leap so you can leap into cover or away from danger when done attacking. 

 

[Stoobert]

Peoples just wanted to thank you all for your advice.  I opted for some flexibility by buying some singles online, as well as both Upgrade packs.  While I like how Molemen play, I don't really care for the models, but I do love the Raptor and bought one 'just cause'.  Also while the Arcane Effigy isn't a Beast, it is not a person so I let my theme crew stretch to include this fun little rascal. 

With 74ss (without upgrades) of models to choose from this should keep me entertained for a good long while, don't you think?   Thx again.

Marcus + 4 Pool
Jackalope (2)
Myranda (8)
Razorspine Rattler (7)
Sabretooth Cerberus (9)
Cojo (8)
Dawn Serpent (10)
Silurid (7)
Blessed of December (9)
Waldgeist (6)
Arcane Effigy (4)
Malifaux Raptor (3)

[dancater]

DISCIPLINE and PLANNING

I know you've made some purchases and looks like a solid selection so far.  This is an excellent example of how if you're unsure you should proceed with Marcus, his flexibility and options are so wide that he can lead you into an expensive whirlpool of purchasing Beasts; disciplined and planned out purchases mean you can expand your options slowly, economically and in a fashion which is fun AND playable in games.

The spot your currently missing is the 'filler' cheap scheme runner, that is the next purchase I'd consider the cheap model that can scheme run and/or disrupt but whose loss is acceptable.  Raptors are great at this in disruption but need help to scheme, its nice to have a piece which can perform absent any other support.  Arcane Effigy is also good for this but so valuable for other things in certain games you might want to hold it back.

So you've already seen one and stated you don't like much the Moleman - great little beasts and surprisingly fast.  Hoarcat Pride is a little more expensive (SS wise) and perhaps $ wise as well, but buying two boxes and modelling two cats/base gives a nice looking 3 bases of killer kittens at a OK price.  

Outside faction some other options are any of the Hounds although you need multiple together for them to run schemes so it is not quite a solo model.  The Piglets although control and predictability can be an (entertaining) problem as the little buggers charge everywhere.  The Gupps, these are great little scheme runners and well worth a look.