25 SS Henchman crew leaders?

[Haunter]

So, my mates and I tried a 25 SS size game with henchmen as leaders. I brought Sebastian as my leader.

My crew was:

Sebastian

Nurse

Canine Remains

Flesh Construct

Necropunk

Necropunk

I currently suck at this game due to lack of experience, but taking that aside... I felt like Sebastian was a bit meh without the poison support of McMourning and the Zombie Chihuahua. I couldn't seem to get any poison off, even with Seb, the CR, and FC having Infect triggers. The poor nurse died after 1 activation, thus achieving essentially nothing. I wasn't relying solely on poison to get things done, and killing wasn't integral to my schemes (Line in the Sand, Protect Territory; Reconnoiter was the Strategy), but it felt like the wheels fell off the bus even before it left the station.

I feel like I understand in theory how to make him go, but I can't seem to execute most of the time.

Have others played him as a leader? How's that worked out?

Who do you consider the best Resser Henchman to lead a 25 SS crew?

...and heck, while I'm asking, who are your favorite Henchmen-leaders from other factions?

Thanks

[Cats Laughing]

I played a game where I took Philip (and the Nanny) at 40ss against an opposing force lead by Perdita. I did get wiped off the table by turn 5, but a combination of schemes and a mistake by my opponent* lead to a victory for Philip.

I liked how Philip interacted with schemes/scheme markers and a combination or Doxies, Belles and Crooligans also worked at running schemes. I only just managed to kill Nino and killed nothing else of my opponent's so I assume a killy scheme/strategy set up would have lead to a poor result.

I think it's best to approach Henchmen games with a "I'm just here to have fun and see what I can do" attitude, though Sebastian might still not be a great option as an almost pure support model. Maybe dropping a Necropunk down for a 4ss model and picking up Transfusion would have helped? Guild Autopsies have infect on their ranged attack, which may have helped spread poison.

*We both took Spring the Trap, but my movement and actions with Philip enticed my opponent to kill him before he sprung his trap, thereby denying himself 3 VP.

[rythos42]

I saw this thread and almost replied to it with my opinion, when I realized that "Haunter" already has my opinion, as we played that 25ss henchman game together.

For what it's worth, I was going to recommend Sybelle. I think she's a pretty decent henchlady, capable of standing on her own. But since Duke is playing her already, that might get awkward.

Cats Laughing (or others) - we were also looking at The Valedictorian, who seems pretty powerful - have any thoughts on that model?

[Cats Laughing]

The Valedictorian looks like a pretty good beatstick type model, at least to my eyes (have not used in any games). You would then have a strong, fast and pretty hard to kill model to perform killing duties and possibly work with certain schemes. looks like a fairly solid and straightforward model.

Biggest weakness is the cost of having a smaller cache or needing to save stones to fill out the cache rather than buy more models. The Valedictorian also doesn't offer any special/strange abilities (like Sybelle's Call Belle action or Comply trigger), but those aren't really necessary all the time.

I would probably use the Valedictorian to kill or tie up opposing models while the remainder of my crew (Necropunks, Crooligans, Belles, etc... depending on schemes/strategies) went around trying to complete schemes/strategies.