Ironsides Vs Molly

[Chimeric]

Anyone got any tips for handling Molly?
I have an opponent who has a horrible Molly setup with Philip & the Nanny sitting in the far corner of the board acting as a card generator (getting an extra 4 cards per turn, keeping 2) this means that Molly is reliably summoning 2/3 models per turn. (last game i had an extra 3 punk zombies, 2 drowned and another belle to deal with by turn 3) The fact that they come in with health based on the number of models they're near seems perfectly setup to take advantage of the buffs that Toni gives nearby MS&U models and with black blood doing damage when she counters Toni isn't lasting more than a turn or two once she gets stuck in. Any tips? (other than the obvious 'take out Molly' which is proving a little difficult when she's screened by an extra 5/6 models)

Thanks

[WWHSD]

Are you playing with Ironside's new upgrades from book 5? If you aren't that would be my first suggestion.

[Frollo the Wordbearer]

Oxfordian mages trio and warding runes on Toni should resolve the black blood problem.

Other than this.. try to change playstyle: less models clumped together near molly or a solo-Toni tarpitting everything for while she can, maybe rushing in molly's face to increase the pressure on her. Then.. do your schemes and try to undo your opponent's.

 

And, of course, Toni's new upgrades are very sweet.

[Mxbedlam]

Veteran Fighter seems like it would help a lot. Toni healing when she attacks makes up for the black blood spam. I think you need to find a way to put some pressure on Phillip and the Nanny early. Perhaps look into trappers or Acolytes to start slowing things and pinging them down. In general balling up around Molly doesn't do much good because you will get splattered to death.  She's one masters I think you have to focus her down asap. Toni can take Molly easily with a few adrenaline and a good combo. I've seen Toni wipe out Sandeep with Arcane Shield and Impossible to Wound in a  single AP with 6 adrenaline.  

[Chimeric]

Cheers folks, I think the main issue I'm having is dealing with punk zombie bombs, suddenly having to deal with 3 of them with hard to wound & kill means that they're difficult to get rid of on the turn they're summoned, and if they survive they can spam flurry on the next turn putting out enough damage to take down Toni in one turn. Guess the new upgrade might help with that, think basically I need to abandon all hopes of Toni buffing anyone or being able to generate adrenaline from 'protective' in order to limit Mollys summoning

 

 

[Clement]

If you pressure Molly, she often has to eat her own hand to use her defensive trigger.  If you can get one (or preferably 2) good hitters up in her face, it will cut into her play a lot.  It should slow down her summoning as she'll spend more cards/stones keeping herself alive, but it will definitely leave no cards for her minions to work with.

Regarding Phillip and I assume Phillips babysitter (whatever other model is feeding him sceme markers), just send a somewhat beefy scheme runner over there or apply ranged pressure (acolytes work great for this).

 

P.S.  - Joss takes her apart rather nicely if you want to run him.  As will anything else that shuts down triggers.

[WWHSD]

As long as Ironsides has Warding Runes and has LoS to and is in range of the Oxfordian with the Blood upgrade she won't take any damage from Black Blood.

Bringing Taelor might be nice as well if you can fit her. 

[WWHSD]

7 minutes ago, Chimeric said:

Cheers folks, I think the main issue I'm having is dealing with punk zombie bombs, suddenly having to deal with 3 of them with hard to wound & kill means that they're difficult to get rid of on the turn they're summoned, and if they survive they can spam flurry on the next turn putting out enough damage to take down Toni in one turn. 

 

Isn't Ironside's Defensive trigger chewing up those punk zombies before they get much out of their flurry?

 

Using a Steamfitter to give her armor should make her last a bit longer.

Arcane Radiance from the Arcane Effigy could help get around the Hard To Kill problem (or at least put some pressure on Molly's hand).

[Chimeric]

not really, hard to kill means that they're getting at least two swings in (min damage 2, and if they're lucky due to the inherent + to the attack flip they're getting 4 damage) plus a black blood damage means 2 of them are going to put out at the very least 12 damage in a turn even if they only get off two flurry attacks each, only takes one of them to manage 4 damage on a hit and she's done for. 

[WWHSD]

12 minutes ago, Chimeric said:

not really, hard to kill means that they're getting at least two swings in (min damage 2, and if they're lucky due to the inherent + to the attack flip they're getting 4 damage) plus a black blood damage means 2 of them are going to put out at the very least 12 damage in a turn even if they only get off two flurry attacks each, only takes one of them to manage 4 damage on a hit and she's done for. 

Are you taking Warding Runes? Is Molly dealing with your Blood Mage before coming after Ironsides?

What are you doing with your Soul Stones?

[Frollo the Wordbearer]

If your problem is htk and htw the answer is simple: Joss' axe.

Even without enemies with those two defensive rules: Joss is the Answer.

Really, i basically never leave home without a Joss in my Ironsides' crews.

[bertmac]

gunsmiths also easily kill stuff with htw and htk 

[BFOmega]

So would the Emissary come to think of it, if you can keep them to two wounds. You probably just ignore the buffs she gives out in this matchup, they aren't worth the damage molly will do.

[Treehouse]

To sum up what has been said, try:

- Ironsides new upgrades: Generate Adrenaline and don't lose it anymore. Plus, this means a guaranteed chance to place Ironsides with Rush 'Em. You can try to get her out of the Punk Zombie ball like that.

- Warding Runes and a Mage with Blood Ward: Makea Ironsides immune to Black Blood (keep restrictions in mind)

- When you want to use Hand Picked Men, think ranged attacks. Willie vs. Punk Zombies is great, since hw also got a trigger to hamd out burning, which will get around htk.

- Take a couple of cheaper modelsto be able to activate Toni/Willie after Molly's summoning. 

For example the Arcane Effigy, which is also great for Toni to fight of those summons because of burning.

 

[hydranixx]

As already mentioned, yes, correctly positioning your mages will neuter both Black Blood and the damage incurred when the summons actually come in. Warding Runes on Joss & Ironsides with well placed Mages seems like an absolute nightmare to deal with (chiming in as a Ressur) since this also happens to prevent Lure and other Actions or Conditions we would normally turn towards to 'calm down' something we can't outright kill. 

December Acolytes also seem like a great additions to help out vs Molly. Their combination of slowing, pulling, or forcing discards all chews through resources Molly doesn't want to spend. Immunity to Horror duels comes up clutch so much against Ressurs too. 

Her Df trigger is good if she has lots of cards but even if she uses it, it costs her 2 cards per use and she'll still take 1 damage. She only has 10 Wounds; if you can consistently hit her with 2-3 damage hits she'll fold very quickly, so chaining attacks into her with Ironsides is a very viable option I think.

The more I play with Molly  the more I come to realise that she can be very similar to the Viktorias if you play hyper aggressively. Her skillset basically wins every game if she's still alive come turn 3 as long as she's able to use all her AP attacking, debuffing and summoning things. If your local Molly player is super aggressive with her you have to be ready to pressure her with everything you have at a moment's notice.