The Road to McCabe

[Lokibri]

Hello everyone and welcome to a new and experimental thread :).

I am absolutely new to the Ten Thunders and i am going to try something out, that i didn`t see before. I want to have a roadtrip with you guys and the fabulous McCabe! I play malifaux since exactly 1 year and got nearly all gremlin models (2 figures are missing) and i got to dip into Arcanists (which are completely different in playstyle) where i mainly play Ironsides and Rasputina with a little bit of Ramos in between. But now, i would like to get into a whole new faction and i would like to share my experience with you guys while on this new road.

I have read some things about McCabe, but they were totally different and i would like to start from zero here :). I also think McCabe is a massively underplayed and underrated Master that i never saw gainig any good results in the UK or US.

I have never ever touched a single ten thunders figure except for Izamu (1 time with Kirai) and Chiaki (also, Kirai). Ten Thunders is the faction nearly no one plays in our local gaming group and it only occurs seldoly on the tournaments, so this is the faction i know the least about. And i think it is quite a lovely opportunity to create a roadmap of start to finish.

The journey will look like this:

- Discussing which models are worth taking and buying as a solid basement and changing/switching it up to advance further in this faction and especially McCabe

- buying, building and painting with WIP pictures and the final set

- extensive games with various factions and each time with a posted battle report and wise words of the day

- an official and recorded game as McCabe vs. a friend of mine who films it (have to ask for permission before ^^)

- attending to a tournament with a huge battle report

- a final word on McCabe

 

So, to start right off i would like to get hints and tips from you guys, what you would recommend to buy as a solid basement for McCabe. Obviously i own the Box, which is still sealed and shrinkwrapped :).

I would appreciate some reasoning behind the choices because "This model is just good with him" is not enough for me :).

Thanks in advance and i hope you will join my trip to unknown treasures and artifacts with McCabe!

#RoadtoMcCabe

 

[qoob]

So first of all his Upgrades. His new loot bag gives him the opportunity to switch a 1ss Upgrade for a 2ss Upgrade. So in fact you get one SS for free. The next I usually take is Promises because a + flip on Df and Ml ist nice and you want to have it on him. If you can manage to have some models inside the bubble, even better. The last slot is usually filled with one of his 1ss upgrades. 

The next model I pretty much always take,, is the emissary. You get another Upgrade on him for free with the conflux (badge of speed preferred). 

The next thing worth considering is the Totem. You have 2 great totems. Luna is good if you're planning on spamming some guild hounds, the kamaitachi is worth taking to push Mccabe, heal him and get additional card draw. 

That is my first input

[Lokibri]

46 minutes ago, qoob said:

So first of all his Upgrades. His new loot bag gives him the opportunity to switch a 1ss Upgrade for a 2ss Upgrade. So in fact you get one SS for free. The next I usually take is Promises because a + flip on Df and Ml ist nice and you want to have it on him. If you can manage to have some models inside the bubble, even better. The last slot is usually filled with one of his 1ss upgrades. 

The next model I pretty much always take,, is the emissary. You get another Upgrade on him for free with the conflux (badge of speed preferred). 

The next thing worth considering is the Totem. You have 2 great totems. Luna is good if you're planning on spamming some guild hounds, the kamaitachi is worth taking to push Mccabe, heal him and get additional card draw. 

That is my first input

Thanks for the input :D. Just a question: Doesn`t promises give + to Ml and WP? DF would be awesome!

And another comment on Totem: Are guild hounds still worth the trouble with guards on 3? I just don`t know and want your inpuit

Thanks mate

[JoeCL]

If you are taking Luna, then take the hounds. Not worth taking Luna without hounds. 

But cheaper guild guard does put that slot in contention.

[ElPuto]

1 hour ago, Lokibri said:

Thanks for the input :D. Just a question: Doesn`t promises give + to Ml and WP? DF would be awesome!

And another comment on Totem: Are guild hounds still worth the trouble with guards on 3? I just don`t know and want your inpuit

Thanks mate

Promises is on Wp, yep.

Luna is good to make your fast scheme-runners independent. As I said on a thread in Guild forum, Hounds are taken for speed and aggressive alpha strike, Guards for resilience and standing your ground. 

 

My 2 cents (I played McCabe in both Factions for a long time): 

- Aionus is a great holder for Equality and to make your spam list even better (a discarded 4 for a Fast Minion).

- Luna is good with Hounds, but you've to play really safe with her.

- Kamaitachi is good if you don't plan to spam Hounds (as others said).

- Emissary is needed for any 2 SS upgrade you think you'll need in game (I usually take Saber or Badge) and for his awesome Fast.

- The box is full of awesome looking models, but Wastrels are pretty meh and Sidir is nothing to write home about (especially now with Dashel down in cost).

- You can bring a couple/trio of Guards and a Sergeant, this will be a solid formation. Or you can use Wardens, to abuse from their Ram coupled with your Saber.

- McCabe is about alpha strike, so any push is welcome (Sensei Yu anyone?), but you need for sure fast and hard-hitting models (I don't like Yasunori with him, but why not).

- Terracotta Warriors are your friends. Just one is enough, but he can give you more copies of the same upgrade; if you want to go really hard on your opponent it can be the right move.

- Ten Thunders Brothers are tanky, medium fast. They don't hit hard, but you've Saber and Promises, so not bad at all.

- Low River Monks are pretty good to help the crew: none wants his beater Paralyzed.

- Yamaziko can be a nice second wave beater and she can carry the Shirt or the Cloak, making her way more difficult to remove, all for a 6 SS cost. Bargain!

- Pathfinder + Queeg can be a nice duo, especially if you plan to spam more Slow. You've the models to do it and it can be a funny list.

- As I said, Queeg is nothing to sneeze at, he has a huge Ml range, he's moderately fast and HTK. In 10T, there are a lot of Minions with good 0 Actions, so he can be a cheap and nice choice.

- Lone Swordsman is fun, watch him dying failing the last attack on his target. Jokes aside, give him Nimble, keep him under you Auras (Shirt, Promises, Elixir) and he can turn into MVP.

- Jorogumo or Dawn Serpent are not usual choices right now with McCabe, but Reactivating a 9 points Minion is huge.

 

Hope this list can help you

[qoob]

6 hours ago, Lokibri said:

Thanks for the input :D. Just a question: Doesn`t promises give + to Ml and WP? DF would be awesome!

Ha! of course, my bad. 

 

6 hours ago, Lokibri said:

And another comment on Totem: Are guild hounds still worth the trouble with guards on 3? I just don`t know and want your inpuit

Well if playing Luna you should take the hounds. They are much faster than the guards. I have to playtest the guards now but I don't think they will get that much table time.

[incidentalStoat]

5 minutes ago, qoob said:

Ha! of course, my bad. 

Well if playing Luna you should take the hounds. They are much faster than the guards. I have to playtest the guards now but I don't think they will get that much table time.

I feel the same way. With McCabe at least I feel like the dogs are much more versatile, and with a 9" charge they are excellent saber carriers. On the other hand the guards seem to work more for more stationary schemes and strats.

 

I am still wondering whether Yasunori is still going to be a big choice for McCabe with the errata, as he is as heavy as TT hitters get.

 

 

[qoob]

2 hours ago, incidentalStoat said:

I am still wondering whether Yasunori is still going to be a big choice for McCabe with the errata, as he is as heavy as TT hitters get.

Same here, have to test it out. For me it's pretty tempting trying the dawn serpent after the errata  - nice Black flash target. 

[Tokapondora]

McCabe is the master for Yasunori thanks to his cheap upgrades and minions, especially now that it's offsetting the extra 1SS. And if complaints are anything to go by, Yass with McCabe already was one of the biggest issue so he should do fine. 

I made a little guide on him a while back. Should help you get going. You're gonna want Guild Hounds, the Shadow Emissary, a beatstick and some general-use 5ish SS minions. Should really do the trick.

[Lokibri]

5 hours ago, Tokapondora said:

McCabe is the master for Yasunori thanks to his cheap upgrades and minions, especially now that it's offsetting the extra 1SS. And if complaints are anything to go by, Yass with McCabe already was one of the biggest issue so he should do fine. 

I made a little guide on him a while back. Should help you get going. You're gonna want Guild Hounds, the Shadow Emissary, a beatstick and some general-use 5ish SS minions. Should really do the trick.

Already read it :). Very nice thanks :).

So, after some reasearch and talking with you guys, here is a list of models, that will or maybe will find they way to me:

- Yasunori - this isa beater i don`t want to give up and especially made tanky with armor and reg

- Shadow Emissary - the obvious choice: pushes, upgrade, insanely good model!

- Queeg - I am a huge friend of Queeg at this point, and like his shenanigans especially using 0s after a walk and giving him the badge to nimble. Sounds fun i think! And he is THE Promises carry !!!

- Dawn Serpent - I LOVE this model! And i think having a blaster is always nice to clear out or use Mindless Zombies to get it off, also discounted and hard to kill!

- Terracottas - Well terracottas...more adaptable and nice option protect yaau as well as drawing a card and a push with Kamaitachi

- Kamaitachi - I never heard of it, now i LOVE it, but it must be protected

- Low River Monks - i looked for something against conditions and those are just what i was looking for to make my crew complete

- Izamu - I love this model Ressers, but maybe that is exactly the reason to NOT take him and try something totally different :). Maybe i will pass for now on this model

That should be enough for a good core :).

 

Maybes are:

- Lone Swordsman - i just have no idea if he is a bait or really awesome

- Guild Hounds - got 4 spare with Marcus, but want to have them on another base

- Yamaziko - Her scheming abilities are great, she or lone swordsman fulfill similar roles i think

- Illuminated - they look pretty good on 7 points

 

I think, that will get some time killed while building and painting them later on :).

Now, i go and play shadow tactics to tune into the new feeling

[Amayasu]

Bunraku. No, stop laughing, hear me out.

Queeg can make them (0), and they can (0) starting their activation with Focus+2. Their melee attack is pretty good even if you don't give them a Sabre. They can pull, and stab on the trigger. They're Cg7 So can be carried by Mounted Guard. Df6 with a good, built-in defensive Trigger, 6 wounds and armour 1. So durable. McCabe can reactivate them, and better yet, when they die they can transfer that to any friendly minion within 6" (remember Reactivate does NOT disappear after the second activation, it drops off at turn end; so even a Bunraku dying after it's second activation gets to reactivate another friendly minion).

 

5SS. They're really, really good.

[Pikciwok]

2 minutes ago, Amayasu said:

Bunraku. No, stop laughing, hear me out.

Queeg can make them (0), and they can (0) starting their activation with Focus+2. Their melee attack is pretty good even if you don't give them a Sabre. They can pull, and stab on the trigger. They're Cg7 So can be carried by Mounted Guard. Df6 with a good, built-in defensive Trigger, 6 wounds and armour 1. So durable. McCabe can reactivate them, and better yet, when they die they can transfer that to any friendly minion within 6" (remember Reactivate does NOT disappear after the second activation, it drops off at turn end; so even a Bunraku dying after it's second activation gets to reactivate another friendly minion).

 

5SS. They're really, really good.

Like the idea, however I would disperse focuses (pun intended) for two different attack actions - get one from queeg, activate, (1) focused pull or stab, (0) focus, (1) focused stab.

 

[Lokibri]

31 minutes ago, Amayasu said:

Bunraku. No, stop laughing, hear me out.

Queeg can make them (0), and they can (0) starting their activation with Focus+2. Their melee attack is pretty good even if you don't give them a Sabre. They can pull, and stab on the trigger. They're Cg7 So can be carried by Mounted Guard. Df6 with a good, built-in defensive Trigger, 6 wounds and armour 1. So durable. McCabe can reactivate them, and better yet, when they die they can transfer that to any friendly minion within 6" (remember Reactivate does NOT disappear after the second activation, it drops off at turn end; so even a Bunraku dying after it's second activation gets to reactivate another friendly minion).

 

5SS. They're really, really good.

Wow, this is a neat combo and boy, i love the fact that you are even considering Bunraku ^^. Never seen those guys at ANY given time :D. I think i will give them a shot

[Lokibri]

Okay, ladies and guys. I got my list fixed now and a Yamaziko will find her way in.

So, the next step we take together is more of an inspirational :).

What should the bases look like?

More 10T style with bamboo? More like ancient ruins? More indiana jones stylish? The question stands :). Lets debate! I would be happy for graphic input, because i am more like a graphics person, but everything is welcome :).

[ElPuto]

12 hours ago, Lokibri said:

Okay, ladies and guys. I got my list fixed now and a Yamaziko will find her way in.

So, the next step we take together is more of an inspirational :).

What should the bases look like?

More 10T style with bamboo? More like ancient ruins? More indiana jones stylish? The question stands :). Lets debate! I would be happy for graphic input, because i am more like a graphics person, but everything is welcome :).

Some of my 10T models are on bamboo, or cobblestone (that I want to paint pearly, with cherry-tree petals and stuff like that), or wooden boards, alike tavern (for Brewie). For McCabe, I'm stuck to some old rock bases, but I wanted to change too, probably moving to something like ancient ruins-Indiana Jones style. 

[LordZombie]

On 1/20/2018 at 4:07 PM, Lokibri said:

Okay, ladies and guys. I got my list fixed now and a Yamaziko will find her way in.

So, the next step we take together is more of an inspirational :).

What should the bases look like?

More 10T style with bamboo? More like ancient ruins? More indiana jones stylish? The question stands :). Lets debate! I would be happy for graphic input, because i am more like a graphics person, but everything is welcome :).

Personally, I am going with wood or concrete (depends on the Mats by Mars mat I get) with warehouse bits on the bases. I have always loved the story of the masters meeting together in the warehouse in book one. One of the reasons I like Lynch so much. 

[Carecalmo]

I love your idea with this thread. Having concrete goals always help me with my hobby stuff, and it's wonderful to follow other players on their journey. Looking forward to seeing your project come along.

As for bases, I think ancient ruins would be pretty cool.
I made my own Relic Hunter bases (blurry picture warning) to match with the rest of my Ten Thunders (abandoned garden stuff), but added treasure chests and other bits to them. I think McCabe deserves to find at least a little treasure.

[ElPuto]

3 hours ago, Carecalmo said:

I love your idea with this thread. Having concrete goals always help me with my hobby stuff, and it's wonderful to follow other players on their journey. Looking forward to seeing your project come along.

As for bases, I think ancient ruins would be pretty cool.
I made my own Relic Hunter bases (blurry picture warning) to match with the rest of my Ten Thunders (abandoned garden stuff), but added treasure chests and other bits to them. I think McCabe deserves to find at least a little treasure.

Where did you get the chests? Nice one, btw!

[Lokibri]

11 hours ago, Carecalmo said:

I love your idea with this thread. Having concrete goals always help me with my hobby stuff, and it's wonderful to follow other players on their journey. Looking forward to seeing your project come along.

As for bases, I think ancient ruins would be pretty cool.
I made my own Relic Hunter bases (blurry picture warning) to match with the rest of my Ten Thunders (abandoned garden stuff), but added treasure chests and other bits to them. I think McCabe deserves to find at least a little treasure.

Those bases look great. My plan is also to give him at least some chests and treasures on his way :).

I founf the mystic bases very nice and i like the idea behind it seaching old, ancient runed rabble to reveal the story behind an ancient place. So, the order is out and will arrive aproximately  tomorrow or thursday to start building :).

Let`s hope for the best

[ElPuto]

2 hours ago, Lokibri said:

Those bases look great. My plan is also to give him at least some chests and treasures on his way :).

I founf the mystic bases very nice and i like the idea behind it seaching old, ancient runed rabble to reveal the story behind an ancient place. So, the order is out and will arrive aproximately  tomorrow or thursday to start building :).

Let`s hope for the best

You got me curious now, so post your bases soon!

[Carecalmo]

12 hours ago, ElPuto said:

Where did you get the chests? Nice one, btw!

I got them at Ristul's Extraordinary Market. They have lots of cool basing bits and scatter terrain.

And thanks, both of you.

 

[Lokibri]

The packages have arrived and the construction may begin shortly (maybe on the weekend, kinda busy atm)

[Lokibri]

And so it begins...

The road to McCabe https://imgur.com/gallery/KXRyG

Some models still waiting for their assembly...

[Ludvig]

Yas and emissary. Looking filthy ao far!

[Lokibri]

1 minute ago, Ludvig said:

Yas and emissary. Looking filthy ao far!

Dont't judge me just yet! I just love the models.

Still in wrap: Yamaziko, dawn serpent, izamu as genbu, low rivers, terracottas, lone swordsman and queeg.

It is a huge change from playing gremlins to those gigantic figures.