Hamelin in 2018, Marlena Webster

[Phinn]

Hello

I have faced Hamelin only three times so far and all of those games were very enjoybale, but...
The first two games I played back when I was a Malifaux newbie, so I was just groping in the darkness.
The third one I played the past year and it was a part of the league. My opponent invited me to his home, his wife made us all nice lunch, we had some beers...
I am trying to say that my perception of wether or not Hamelin is enjoyable, or at least OK, to play against might be distorted.

Do you think that Hamelin, with his new upgrades and Benny Wolcomb, will be enjoyable more or less to play against in Gaining Grounds 2018?
I do understand that it is more about your opponent than your opponent's Crew, but... In the vacuum, what do you think?

I also wanted to ask few questions about Marlena Webster.

• Does her being a Lost model mean something for Hamelin?
• Does she have any synergy with other thematic models? Does she fill any gaps that a thematic Hamelin Crew might have?
• Does she or other models in a thematic Hamelin Crew have enough synergy with Wicked Dolls to justify buying them? How often do you find yourself summoning them?

I am a Neverborn player and I know next to nothing about The Scum The Outcasts. Thank you in advance

[apes-ma]

I can't specifically comment on Hamelin, but I feel like the Wicked Doll summoning is basically trinket text for Marlena. There isn't really any synergy with poison in outcasts, and since she needs the suit AND a scrap marker I don't think it will come up a lot at all. I'm sure it will be crucial in the odd game, but I won't be buying any wicked dolls for her to summon...

[Cedar]

1. As for now, Marlene being a Lost is only for fluff purposes. Maybe in the future we will see model who has special interactions with this characteristic (like Benny has with Vermin).

2 and 3. She offers another defensive option for Hamelin - combining her with Stolen, Piper and Survivalist makes Eliminate the leadership maximum 2 VP scheme for the opponent. Wicked Dolls are nice against crews that use scrap markers (like Ramos, Collodi and Hoffman), but without Creative Salvage, they are just nice addition that can screw up enemy plans. She has accurate Ml attack with decent damage track and good Ca action against Ressers (who usually have low Wp but are Hard to Wound or Kill). 

About Hamelin in general - We can't talk about Hamelin in GG18 as new Gaining Grounds are not even close to being final version. However, even with reducing summoning power, Hamelin will be one of the top masters in the game, especially since now his free models can deal about 4-6 damage with some lucky flips. Stolen's Ca 4 versus Master's usual WP of 6 or 7 doesn't mean that it won't hit eventually, especially since Hamelin has access to 3 of them at the same time. We will probably see more condition removal across the tables and maybe few players will pick the Plague as Hamelin's third upgrade (along Piper and Plague Pits - two auto-include upgrades for now).

[Nukemouse]

Marlena's ability to summon wicked dolls is of primary use to Leveticus, who can take in scrap marker spawning units. However if you use hamelin's obey a lot its worth noting wicked dolls can give a buff that improves attacks taken outside of activation, which does help hamelin a little. I reckon the main use will be that you can bring hamelin and his big anti charge aura right up towards the middle of the board without worrying about him getting hurt, since marlena's buff will make him very difficult to slay.