huntroll

Anna Lovelace hard-counters Belles. I've never seen a point in Cuddling them or even complaining about them (they are good, but not that good), but now that everyone can take a Merc who has decent stats, good Ca based ranged damage and makes all movement tricks very hard to pull off it's especially pointless. Sure, she is kind of a counter-pick, but you know the opposing Faction in advance and she is a safe bet against Ressers and Neverborn.

This. I've taken it twice a few times, but it was not worth it. However, setting up a poison bomb on turn 1 by double walking Rafkin (or a Flesh Construct/Autopsy), moving the Chihuahua within 2" of him for 2 stacks of Poison then charging him with a Nurse is rarely a waste of AP and can usually net you a dead enemy Enforcer/Henchman and a new Flesh Construct in the first or second turn of the game. You just have to watch out if your opponent has any options to kill your poison battery before you can use Transfusion and Expunge (Performers seem the worst contenders on paper), so I generally position my choice of "bomb carrier" behind terrain on turn one. A fun bonus with Rafkin is that he can usually walk into LoS then charge an enemy model with Poison on turn 2. Of course trying too hard to set up a Transfusion + Expunge combo can lead to a trap (I usually manage to do it once or twice per game), but in most McMourning crews you are going to have Sebastian, the Chihuahua and a Nurse, and Transfusion costs only 1 SS. There will be many situations where you can't rely on Poison Bombing or have better use of your AP (using McMourning's (0) Injection, handing out debuffs with the Nurse etc.), but McMourning is a very versatile toolbox who can function in multiple roles and switch between them without any effort when the flow of the game demands it. Honestly I find that trying to play McMourning as a dedicated melee beater or a poison bomber is the real trap. He can fill both roles (or offer tremendous help in completing certain schemes) if you take his core models and upgrades. Decaying Aura is just filthy on him both in melee and with Expunges, whoever you are facing (ironically the Errata in the past which intended to cuddle it just made the skill stronger on him, as he can benefit from it with Expunge), Moonlightning is good against like 90% of the crews and Plastic Surgery can make it useful against the remaining 10% or Evidence Tampering can be a game winner with certain schemes in the pool.

I don't think I've had a match without including a Nurse for years, but I mainly play McMourning (and occassionally Nicodem), and she is essential for priming the Poison-bomb on top of her general abilities. Belles are great models as well, but I don't find them as crucial for all Strategies and Schemes, so they don't make their way to my lists all the time, and even if they do, I usually take just one of them, it's quite easy to go overboard on support models with our great options. Actually after the Nurse, Necropunks are the second most common 5-pointers I tend to take.

Another beater to McMourning and Rafkin could be handy to draw focus from them (and Sebastian), though I prefer the Valedictorian for that role (until the Emissary is released), she is faster (Stalk is a bit limited imho), way more survivable and while she does not have any ways to hand out poison, she is independent enough to hold a flank, hunt down/tie up some models and be a pain in the ass to kill. But its a badass model, and I can see it working alright with Nicodem who could help out his mobility issues and heal him back with Decay. Also do you mean a specific type of build by melee monster McMourning?

The only reason I'd be tempted to take one is Reminder of a Worse Fate (6" aura, granting +flips in Horror duels) against Neverborn or Ressers, but I don't have any in-game experience with them. I like them thematically (being a law student helps), but they don't really seem to bring too much other than that aura for Ressers. Stacking even more HtW is a bit of an overkill imho, usually the opponent will be in double negatives against HtW models anyhow. He only deals Slow/Paralyze in melee, and I'm not sure I want him to be there, and it also needs a moderate/Severe card, so the Nurses can do Paralyze more reliably. Multiple stacks of Fees can be fun, but I don't really see them devastating. Also they unfortunately need a Crow to hand out Poison and while McM is not that really hungry for them, the rest of your crew might need them more.

http://wargamingtrader.com/reviews/malifaux-seamus-avatar-dread A mix of both, but mainly resin.

Nicodem can play fine without Mindless Zombies and spamming summons, but the card draw that recycling Mindless Zombies provides is a huge part of his playstyle and not utilizing that is like playing Seamus without his Limited Upgrades or McMourning without Moonlightning. Nicodem's box (45) + Seamus' box (45) + Mindless Zombies (35) + Yin (11) would provide some core models if someone really wants to play him though, Nico + Vulture + Mortimer + Yin + Sybelle + 2 Belles are a decent, although not really variable list with him. Izamu, McMourning's box (the Flesh Construct and the Canine Remains are one of the better options to get more bodies for 8/10 value cards) and Necropunks would be my second wave purchases, and with those you'd be able to pretty much set for 90% of your upcoming matches.

I wouldn't recommend buying a box of Punk Zombies to anyone, they are in the Nico box and you'll never need 6 of them. Honestly it's really hard to come up with anything really viable for Ressers for such a price range. Seamus' box is obviously the best start (45), but Molly, Nico and Kirai require too many things to summon, Tara's box is useless for everyone else, Yan Lo mainly has Chiaki going for him so I'd say McMourning's box (45) is the best option after him. Seamus loves Nurses, the Flesh Construct can quite easily gain Reactivite from the discards Seamus & Co. forces, and the lone Canine Remains can be a decent filler. After them I'd buy Yin (11), she is very good with Seamus and can also work well in a McMourning crew as Nurses and/or Injection can speed her up early to get her into position so she can tie up the enemy and draw focus from McM and Sebastian and her melee attack has the Infect trigger which the good Doctor loves. While Seamus does not need them that much (though more filler is always good and they are okay scheme runners), a box of additional Canine Remains (18) is kind of a must have for McMourning for summoning purposes. That leaves us with 21 USD to spend, which could net us either a box of Necropunks, who have a place in every Resser list (but Canine Remains or Belles with Sybelle can also do the scheme running quite well at this stage), or a box of Crooked Men, who are abysmally slow, but their Shafted ability has a good synergy with Belles, their melee attacks can Paralyze and their ranged attacks can spread Poison in a Blast. Alternatively we could buy another Flesh Construct (16), mostly as a summon for McMourning, or exceed the 140 USD limit by a buck and buy two single, human sized models. Rafkin will most likely have an 11 $ price tag once released, and he is very good with McMourning (not that much with other Resser masters though), Bishop could be a good beater option for Sinister Reputation Seamus or serve as a distraction for Sebastian/McMourning, Bete Noire can be handy in most Resser crews, or Johan could provide some condition removal and hitting power (though Chiaki does condition removal better, but she lacks a Relic Hammer and comes in Yan Lo's box). My choice would be most likely Seamus' box (45), McMourning's box (45), Yin (11), Canine Remains (18) and Crooked Men (21), $140 together, but I think Ressers would be most expensive Faction if you want to get viable Crews for two masters at once. For Arcanists I'd start with Ramos' box (50), Colette's box (50), December Acolytes (21) and Johan (11), all in all $132. Next purchases would be a Mechanical Rider (35) and Metal Gamin (21), and you are basically ready for a tournament. For Guild I would not bother with Guild Guards, Lady J's (45) + Perdita (45) + Austringers (21) + Brutal Effigy (11) + Abuela (16) would be a better option in my opinion. I agree with that, and as your choice of models only cost $128 in total, you could add Johan to that list.

Knowing what kind of playstyle do you prefer (in other tabletop games, video games, RPGs etc.) would make finding an "ideal" crew easier. When I bought my first crew, it was Sonnia back in 2009 based only on thematic appeal, but after a few starter crew games I realised that I dislike her squishyness and focus on range, so I switched to Seamus, then McMourning, who were perfect for my usual tanky, mid-close range playstyle in many other games.

Thank the bad internet connection for the double quote Good suggestions though, I'd add Rafkin and Guild autopsies to McMourning once they are released.

But if you need to move the rest of your crew quickly with Fresh meat, you can run up a Necropunk/Canine/The Vulture as well and target it. Though I rarely use Fresh Meat on turn 1, as my typical Nico crew only has 1-3 Undead models at the start of the game (Izamu/Valedictorian, maybe a Belle and/or a Necropunk). I prefer to hire Mortimer with Corpse Bloat, either Izamu or the Valedictorian, maybe one scheme runner and a bunch of support models which I can't/don't want to summon (Nurse, Belles, Chiaki, Carrion Emissary) so ironically my Nico crews are rather low on models. At least at the start of turn 1. Versus Arcanists I tend to choose McMourning, so Armor does not worry me that much Still, the Valedictorian's and the Student's (0) Lecture notes ability can be quite handy against them to cancel all the annoying defensive triggers they typically have.

Necropunks are one of the three 5-pointers which each Resser player should own in my opinion (the others are Nurses and Belles obviously) and one of the most solid, reliable and versatile scheme runners in the game. Leap without any suits is great, hard to wound, hard to kill, decent defensive stats and the ability to heal 2 wounds per turn makes them quite hard to remove in one activation (unlike Crooligans, who can be simply one-shot) and they can do any Interact-based Scheme and Strategy quite reliably. I don't own Crooligans, but I was never tempted to switch them for Necropunks. From the Shadows can be a huge liability, Always on the Move can be good if the terrain is in your favour to get out of LoS (but Leap is way more versatile and can be used for that as well) but being able to place two markers/turn is one of the main selling points of Necropunks for me, The Mist seems decent but requires an 8 to cast and it's not that hard to get cover on a proper board anyhow, Blistering Fog is very situational and has a high casting cost, and Creepy is also one of those abilities which might be useful once in every 10 games or so. The Transmortis Box is not a bad purchase, you get three "toolbox" summons for Nico/Molly and the Valedictorian is a really versatile model (and the main reason to get the box). She is not the most "damaging" heavy hitter we have, but she is quite hard to kill and has great survivability, so she requires less support to do her job than Izamu (slow) or the Rogue Necromancy (relatively squishy and loses a lot of it loses wounds), so if you want a "generalist" heavy hitter, she is a great choice. However, Izamu is also a very scary alternative if you need a heavy hitter, especially with Nicodem. The Carrion Emissary will be another very versatile model who will be great in most situations, regardless of your choice of master, but it is not released yet. Johan or Chiaki (enter Yan Lo box) can be good if you suspect you'll need condition removal and Johan doubles as a slow but quite heavy hitter, while Chiaki can run Schemes quite alright and can be rather annoying by spamming Slow. Canine remains are always good to have, they are good fodders who can deal alright damage, can run schemes decenty and have a nice passive debuff in their melee range. Their corpse marker producing ability is a trap choice with Nicodem though. But I'd recommend you to play a few games with the Masters you already have, and decide to focus for one or two of them for a while, as Seamus and McMourning tend to run quite different models in their lists except for support models and schemers (for example Rafkin is brutal with McMourning, but I'm not certain I'd take him with other masters), and Nicodem loves everything as long as it's Undead (so sooner or later you'll end up owning half the Faction with him anyhow ;)).

Huge wall of text with potentially bad grammar (non-native English speaker) incoming: Other tabletop wargames: I've played Warmachine/Hordes from 2007 to 2010 (first edition), my faction of choice was Trollbloods, mostly for aesthetic reasons, but I also liked the inherent toughness of their models. My favourite 'locks were Grissel Bloodsong, who had a different playstyle than the usual slow moving brick with army-wide mobility and spell-and feat denial on her feat turn and Grim Angus because goggles and longcoats are win and I loved knocking down a target with Lock the Target, shooting him with my gun, then letting a Dire Troll loose to eat it. I wanted to try out Mordheim for quite a while, was mostly interested in Witch Hunters or Undead, but ended up playing a Reiklander mercenary warband because it was the cheapest option. I only played one or two games, which were spent camping on a roof and shooting things with longbows, which was utterly boring. Was interested in W40k and Warhammer for fluff reasons, but the rules seemed horribly bland after WM/H, and all the games of 40k I've seen consisted of shooting each other for 6 turns, so I didn't end up playing them. The Inqusition (mostly for Inquisitors & their badass retinue and not chicks in power armor or Gray Knights), Black Templars, Orks or Chaos Marines (Red Corsairs, Emperor's Children or Death Guard) would have been the likely candidates for me from 40k, and Ogre Kingdoms, Night Goblins or maybe Chaos Warriors (Slaneesh or Nurgle) from WHFB. Also owned a Chaos Dwarf team in Blood Bowl, which I sold without ever using and kitbashed an Orc team (which I've never actually played, but they and "standard" Dwarves were my favourites from the video game). Turn-based Strategy Games: Heroes of Might and Magic III is one of my all-time favourites. I loved both its strategic and tactical parts. From a strategic point of view I preferred to level heroes with the Logistics speciality, who could explore the map more quickly and could outmaneuver the opponent on the minimap. Two of my three favourite factions had an acces to such a hero, those were the Dungeon Overlords (gotta love Minotaur Kings) and the Barbarians of the Stronghold (I just loved their music and aestethics). My third favourite was Necropolis, I loved their town music and the combo of Death Knights, Vampire Lords and hundreds of Skeletons. RTS: I liked Warcraft III (who didn't?), my favourites were Orcs and Undead on the second place. Kinda liked the Blood Elves from the Human faction, but WoW made me hate them. Played Dawn of War quite a lot when I was 16, I liked were Space Marines and Necrons in multiplayer and Orks (because of comic relief) in the single player campaigns. My other RTS games were mostly historical ones, I was into Age of Empires 1-2 when I was young (Phoenicians in 1 for War Elephants, Teutons because of their Knights in 2). I also played the recent Total War games quite a lot. In Shogun 2 Shimazu were my favourites because of early acces to Christianity (thus ships with cannons) and their starting location which made controlling the trade nodes easier. In Rome 2 I liked Carthaginians and Epirus for their phalanxes + Elephants combo (and naval control in case of Carthage) and Romans and Gauls for deadly heavy infantry. Haven't played that much with Total War: Attila yet, but Visigoths and Suebi were my favourites because they start as migrators so I can sack everyone while looking for the perfect place to settle and because they had awesome infantry from the start. Also loving Paradox's recent grand strategies, notably EUIV and CK2, no particual favourites, but played as Hungary in both games for the first time, because of my nationality. RPGs: Played some of Diablo 1-2 when I was like 12, liked the Warrior from D1 at first but I always died, then discovered how the Sorcerer with Mana Shield outtanks and outmelees him. In Diablo 2 minion master Necro was the only thing I played. I love Bioware's older D&D games (BG, NWN 1-2-though the latter is not actually Bioware), usually played a Cleric with a Lawful alignment, either Human or Dwarf. Played through BG 1-2 and expansions as a Lawful Evil Dwarf Fighter/Cleric a few years ago. I preferred BG1 to BG2, because the latter was a pain in the ass with an evil PC, although killing Drizzt do Urden (I dislike elves in general) was more fun in BG2, as it is one of the most challenging encounters in the game (with no rewards). From BW's newer games I liked Dragon Age: Origins (played through as a Dwarf Noble Rogue and roleplayed as a good guy, except for killing the potential Elven party member on the first encounter, but he attacked me first, so not really an evil act), but the second part was horrible and I did not even give the third part a try. Mass Effect 1-2 were also pretty good, played as Renegade Shepard with Soldier class (Assault Rifles ftw). My permanent companions were Wrex and Garrus in 1 and Zaeed and Garrus in 2. Mass Effect 3 was one of my biggest gaming disappointments ever. My recent favourite is Witcher 3, I played Geralt as a tanky melee/alchemy hybrid, with an emphasis on poisons and potions in my build. Most memorable moments from the game were the Ladies of the Wood (they were one of the creepiest things I've ever experienced in any RPGs) and the Reasons of State questline (where you have to help in a plot to assassinate a certain king). Oh and I loved the card-minigame, Gwent from the Witcher, Nilfgaard deck ftw. Wasted a few months from my life for Skyrim (and failed a few exams because of it), I played an Orc in heavy armor with dual-wielded swords. Also played some "traditional" pen and paper RPGs. Two campaigns in Warhammer Fantasy RPG, one as a Halfling cook (just to piss of the DM) and one as a Sigmarite Zealot, who was a tough melee monster, too bad the campaign was about investigation and my only contribution was whacking the village mayor dead with a flail after I mistook him to a Chaos Spawn due to a rather obvious illusion. The campaign ended with the village being torched by Skaven and the DM giving up. And two campaigns in Pathfinder, one as a Lawful Neutral Half-Orc Inquisitor (which is a bit like a mix between Clerics and Rangers with more skill points) and one as a Lawful Evil Human Cavalier (quite a bit influenced after Roose Bolton from GoT). Online games: Played Leauge of Legends for two years, my most played character was Mordekaiser by far. I loved his early game toughness, continously whittling down the enemy laner's HP with dots and damaging spells, then killing them at lvl 6-7 and pushing the tower with their ghost pet I recieved from my ultimate. Also gave Dota 2 a try, but did not play it as much as I've got tired of the MOBA genre. Viper was my favourite hero there though. Tried out Hearthstone, but got bored of it after a few months, played mostly with Warlock and Paladin decks. Used to play WoW for a few years, on retail I mained a Goblin Death Knight, and on a vanilla private server an Orc Shaman, but the latter was for PvE only, as I've found Shamans rather boring in PvP (but at least I got a guaranteed raid spot). If I'd start on a vanilla server again, I'd definitely roll an Orc Warlock or an Undead or Dwarf Shadow Priest. My most recent (and hopefully last, because it is time consuming) MMO experience was Guild Wars 2. I mained a Warrior, Shoutheal for World versus World mass PvP and Shoutbow for arena PvP. Both were tanky builds with almost constant AoE healing, CC cleansing and a long cooldown AoE ress. The WvW build had more CC, the PvP one had more dots and thus more killing power with some occassional burst damage.

Ressers if you want to play a whole faction, otherwise Outcasts would be my other choice (with Hamelin, Jack Daw and maybe Leveticus).

I know about the Hallucinogen trick, but it won't work against models with a melee range bigger than 1" if they are positioned properly. In that case, you have to rely on Lures, Back Alley, or walking closer to make a Back Hand attack and pushing out of melee (if its even possible, depending on positioning). Unless your enemy has a 4" melee range, then your only hope is trying to disengage, good luck on that with Df4.

I'd take something like these: Resurrectionists 45ss Crew Nicodem -- 6ss +Undertaker - 1ss +Maniacal Laugh - 1ss Chiaki The Niece - 6ss +Pull Of The Grave - 1ss Izamu The Armor - 10ss +Decaying Aura - 2ss Mortimer - 9ss +Corpse Bloat - 2ss Nurse - 5ss Rotten Belle - 5ss Chiaki messes with the enemy AP by spamming slow and could remove conditions from your models. Nurse is awesome and you can't summon her, I find it useful to start with at least one Belle, if it was 50 points I would have added another one, Nico is the master where you are kinda free to go overboard with support models in my (a bit limited) experience. Izamu could be switched for the Valedictorian, but Nico's support pretty much solves all of his weaknesses. Decaying Aura can be dropped to make place for Unnerving Aura and/or Love Thy Master. For Seamus: Resurrectionists 45ss Crew Seamus -- 7ss +Mad Haberdasher - 2ss +Sinister Reputation - 1ss +Red Chapel Killer - 1ss Copycat Killer - 3ss Madame Sybelle - 8ss +Bleeding Tongue - 1ss +Not Too Banged Up - 1ss Nurse - 5ss Rotten Belle - 5ss Rotten Belle - 5ss Yin The Penangalan - 8ss +Unnerving Aura - 1ss Not really fond of Seamus to be honest, althought Strumpet's post and the podcasts with him always make me want to play him, but I dislike two of his best upgrades being limited. Sinister Reputation's aura is awesome, but if you take it, your opponents can just engage him and make your life harder. Not 100% sure about Bleeding Tongue and Red Chapel Killer, but both upgrades can be handy in certain situations. Haven't tried Yin before (she is on my list though, but I've had a one year hiatus and almost exclusively played McFilthy before), so I might switch her for the Valedictiorian, she also benefits from Sinister Reputation, has an amazing survivability so she can tarpit well, but she is more mobile, has better hitting power, and requires less dragging from the Belles to get where she wants to be. Bishop might be another good option, although even more expensive alternative, but a potential 4 hits with built-in crit strike against Wp debuffed by Sinister Reputation sounds painful. Or you could even take Datsue Ba with one of her upgrades for summonable LoS blocking and more Wp targeting attacks. But from the 4 big models mentioned above I only have real play experience with the Valedictorian (and she performs quite well), the others are just Theoryfauxing.

McMourning/Kirai and Von Schill (who used to be an undead hunter) from Malifaux 1.5. It's not helping that almost all the competetive Resser lists included Von Schill back then.

Lilith and her nephilim are your traditional "blitzkrieg" crew imho, quite fast and heavy hitting, and they can screw with the opponent quite well with pushing his models around and putting down forests to block LoS/charge ranges. My other suggestion is Seamus and his Belles. The girls are surprisingly fast with Sybelle around, they can pull enemy models toward themselves and gang up on them when they get there, and have some nice debuffs. Seamus and his Copycat Killer do the "kill then fade away" part very well. While in cover Seamus can teleport into the enemy crew, shoot someone with his gun, and with the proper upgrades even cut out some unnecessary body parts from himself, explode it into the face of the enemy, and then heal back the damage he caused to himself. His totem can also teleport to him and then shoot/cut something surprisingly well. And when you are done, you can lure them back with the Belles or with another upgrade use the corpse of an enemy to distract them and teleport back to safety. I

Do you mean master-specific totems, or totems in general? Master-specific totems are not necessarily better than the general ones (like Graveyard Spirit), they just usually have more synergy with their master. Though on paper Geraveyard Spirit looks like a better choice for Nico than the Vulture in most cases. (Copycat and Chihuahua are awesome though)

Yes, looks like in the new edition you actually have to think when playing her and not just rush her into the enemy and laugh as they are trying to hit your insanely high Df. Lol jk, you have Nexus of Power and Barbaros. Seriously speaking, she can kill stuff as well as before, she still has one of the best defensive stats (and can take Nexus if you really want more tankyness) and she and her crew got a lot of shiny new movement and board control tricks. I have only played one game with her (a friend loaned me his crew as I mainly play Ressers), and found her very fun to play. And regarding her "weakness" to Wp duels, as a McMourning player I can safely say that you will learn to deal with it, especially now that crews like Pandora became a bit less painful to play against.

Only played three games with McM in the current edition (he was my main Master in the previous one), but imho not taking Sebastian with McMourning in M2E is like not taking Von Schill with him in 1.5. The little guy just has so much Synergy and can cause so much havoc by just standing there with the Doctor that he is too good to pass. Also, in my first game with McMourning I took 2 or 3 Flesh Constructs, and they just got shot to pieces by Freikorps. If you want some tough, spammable troops you should consider the Drowned or Crooked depending on the enemy you will face, they are cheaper, have some ranged attacks (not too damaging, but it can spread poison), have quite good Df against melee/shooting and even leave Scheme Markers when they die. I think a Flesh Construct-based list would work much better with Seamus, a couple of Belles and the Copycat Killer because they can actually force the opponent to discard his hand (the trigger on Lure, the Copycat's "discard or die" trigger, and Seamus either with Bag o' Tools or Sinister Reputation and Corpse Bloat), enabling you to reactivate the Fleshies.

With McM I've had great success with Rotten Belles and Von Schill, they are almost auto-includes for me. Night Terrors are great objective grabbers for almost anyone (though I'm not sure if Seamus would need them with his augmentation of Belles) and the Dead Rider adds a lot of control with his Drag along ability for heavy hitter lists, but he kinda needs a Grave Spirit linked to him. And of course in case of McM, you can never go wrong with a Chihuahua and a few Canines for bodyparts.

I find it really funny that a lot of people still consider Marcus weak. Imho even in Book 1 times, he was more useful in most scenarios than the other two Arcanist masters.

You missed it, it has been ruled a few months ago: http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?24324-Zoraida-and-2-Special-Forces&p=346592#post346592

Von Schill's (0) Hard-Ass ability gives friendly models +4 Wp on Morale duels in a 10" aura. And he can do a LOT of useful things other than that, and with McM's starting SS of 6 you can easily get 8 SS, which makes him ridiculosly hard to kill due to his Slow to Die. There is a reason why I recommend him in almost every thread about McMourning