Drool_bucket

Hannah w/ her Bury Upgrade Librarian Trapper Friekorpsman Hannah with one AP effective remove a model from the game per turn. She can also copy the Librarians Attack or Heal giving her effectively 3 AP (at the cost of her (0). People underestimate how hard she can hit in Ml and the entire Crew is capable at shooting effectively and tough with armor and some healing....

So I have been exploring Hamelin recently, maybe ten games at this point. I As a disclaimer, I want to admit that I did not care for his style at first and still don't consider him "fun to play" still after these games, though a had a bit of a breakthrough tonight and feel more optimistic about him. I have been using him in Turf War and Reconnoiter where the scheme pool features at least a single marker placement scheme, Breakthrough and Power RItual being my favorite. I have also been using three or four Lost models each game, Baby Kade (up until tonight) and 2-3 Crooligans. Nix (usually with Infectious Melodies) and Hamelin with The Piper, Survivalist and Sewer King. The rest of the crews have been a mix of Rat Catchers, The Wretch, a Stolen and then a few Outcast shooters, mostly the CGS. I have specifically stayed away from Killjoy because I feel like once I start using him with Hamelin I'll rarely leave him behind. I also skip hiring Rats and Rat Kings and start with at least 5 stones, often a full seven, mostly for Lure Malifaux Citizen and Nix damage preventions. Anyways, here are a series of observations and lessons I've learned from my games, hopefully they might help other people starting Hamelin. - It seems you have a choice between spreading mass Blight or getting the Rat/King/Catcher engine going. The fuel is generally your Stolen with help from the Wretch. Rats generated elsewhere are usually just bonus and don't seem to consistently join the engine. At first I was drawn to the Blight because of Bleeding Disease Spam and the ability to do massive amounts of consistent and growing damage. I saw Bleeding Disease as Hamelin's method of killing enemy models. However, in the past few games I have found myself moving heavily away from this, matter of fact this past game I handed out Blight twice to an enemy over game play. Instead I worked hard at summoning Rats to make Kings. Then when a Rat Catcher died I always had a King to make another Catcher. - Hamelin is dead hard. Between Survivalist and concentrating on having at least two Stolen nearby I find my opponents sometimes just toss their hands up in the air. Not to say he is unkillable, I actually have seen him die in the majority of my games. But his death usually comes late and I am reckless with him. - Rat Kings are okay. Any model that can remove a Scheme Marker has his place and their attack is not horrible. They have a few nice tricks like Bore that you have to remember and being able to reactivate them on an "8" from a Catcher is pure gold. This said, I find Catchers to be amazing for what they are. Being able to place nearby Rats into Btb, giving themselves Armor, on a 8 wound model, can not be overlooked. Tie in "Don't Mind Me" and it took a bit for me to figure out where they have the most success, standing next to the enemy. I was pretty protective of them at first but now I toss them into harms way with little hesitation. They are not the easiest thing to remove and when the opponent does, just have a King sac itself and viola, another Armor+1 Catcher! - I come from a Victoria/Leveticus background. Generally means I save my high cards to succeed on offense. (not always the case with the Viks) Over my time with Hamelin I've come to see that my high cards are probably better in defense. In particular wasting my opponent's AP. Offense does not seem to be the crew's strong point, so why try and force it? Using my 12's and 13's for Df on Catchers, Nix and Hamelin really bog things down. - Nix. Oh Nix. At first I thought he was a model to support Hamelin right in the thick of things, removing enemy Severe damage from the game, healing up in the middle of the action, spreading pulse Blight and using Incorporeal to go where he needs to be. Yeah and then he died, over and over. I've moved on to using Nix specifically as a flanker. While he starts just close enough to pulse out Blight to my friendly, non-Blighted hires, he quickly moves away from the action and instead hovers around the edges. While he features no decent movement tricks and his Wk is unimpressive, Incorporeal always has its uses, he hasn't met to many Objective Runners that he can't best and being an anchor for Infectious Melodies has been gold with certain schemes. While I am not 100% sold on his overall value, I can't see leaving him home any time soon. - Shooters. I've been drawing from the excellent stable of ranged attackers that the Outcast Faction features. Currently the Convict Gunslinger is my favorite, but anyone with a gun seems to work. Early game Obey's from Hamelin seem a solid use of his AP, especially when you have a 7 in hand. - Baby Kade. This guy has been my All-Star in most of my games. I've been parking him close to Hamelin, with a Rat nearby, and having Hamelin Pipes (Lure) in something worth killing. In many instances I've gotten two Pounce attacks off with Kade, at Ml 7 and a 3/4/6 damage track because of how many other models Hamelin has floating around. In Turf War this combination has served me very well. Kade gets in the middle and then uses Defensive Stance to maximize that Df7 and Hamelin's crew's advantage in Activations to keep Manipulative up and running. - When I get my control hand I always search for a 8-10 of Masks/Tomes to know if I can summon one or two Stolen and plan accordingly. If I have those cards (and a back up 8 as gravy) I then sacrifice every Stolen I can for two Rats each. Useless Toys I use on Rats, because we'll I find them useless.... Overall, I feel the Summoning track of Hamelin is stronger than the Blighted track. If I had a "core" Hamelin crew it would look like this: Hamelin w/ Sewer King, The Piper, Survivalist Nix w/ Infectious Melodies Convict Gunslinger Baby Kade w/ Oathkeeper Rat Catcher Obedient Wretch Stolen 5 Soulstones to Cache That's roughly 45 (iirc) and the rest to taste with Crooligans, Void Wretches and another Catcher all options. This all said, I still feel like Hamelin is a lot of deck chair shuffling. And what I mean by that is I get lots of Activations, but most of them aren't worth the game time to conduct. Likewise, most of the theme'd Hamelin stuff fails to do anything worthwhile during the game outside of Scheme Marker manipulation. (Catchers placing and Kings removing... powerful, game winning stuff mind you, just not particularly sexy) I have made the statement multiple times that I don't feel Hamelin is weak as a Master, but that his playstyle can really bog down into a boring place.... But the experiement continues. I intend to add more once I start my Killjoy Odyssey.

When the M2e Open Beta first hit the 3" rule was how Dense worked. It was subsequently changed to the current version which has not specific amount, any amount of Dense can be seen into but not seen through.

And Scheme conditions like Distract and Cursed Object. I love that he can close on the enemy even if that's their Schemes

As I've said other places I have no issues with Tara. I do agree that she is very Upgrade dependent, but that can be said about most Masters. I wouldn't think of taking the VIks without Sycronized Slaying, Fury, Mark or Sisters in Spirit.... This said, I absolutely love her playstyle because it is so different from my other Outcast Masters. I liken her to 1.5 Colette in many regards, but instead balanced within the M2e world. As for her crew I have zero complaints about Wretches, those guys are extremely solid 4ss models and if I didn't love my Desp Merc models so much I would use them in other Outcast crews. That only leaves Karina and the NB. Karina is painful, nothing else to say. If i was in charge in the next book that features new models I would move the story forward and have Karina "remember more" and become her Henchwoman and gain back some nice Resser feeling to her that includes summoning Death Marshalls. As for now, she either needs an errata or a strong upgrade. This said, I do love my Malifaux Child with Tara so they could let her lie and I would be fine. Now, the NB. His problem is simple. He forces the player to invest too much energy to get the most out of him. And by energy I mean worrying about his placement, cards in hand and the opponent's threats (to maximize Incorporeal) to be worth 10ss. Just look to many other 10ss models within the line and they are often ridiculously self-sufficent and more of an anchor than a liability. Lazarus, the SAS, Rusty and Taelor for instance. I see the NB more like Hans or Sue, really amazing in some situations, solid in many and in some cases he falls on his face. Well, Hans is only 8ss. But, I think the fix is really easy for the NB. Give him a better upgrade, much like they are doing with the Samurai and Archers. But again, I wouldnt complain if they didn't because the NB still has a place in my Crew lists, they are just very specific as to when. I play five of the Outcast Masters almost exclusively. (VS, Viks, Levi, Hamelin and Tara) This includes competitive play. I do not feel that Tara is the least of them. (I reserve that for Hamelin) She is an important part of my Outcast toolbox when playing Malifaux and I disagree with the assumption that she "needs work" or is "not good enough." Come to Boston and I'll show you!

Ramos is so well rounded and solid that his tactica, beyond a few little tricks, is pretty basic. - make sure you can generate your own scrap first turn. This means hire a 4ss construct and kill it. This makes 2 or more spiders which then keep making scrap as they die. There are also Constructs that multiple this like Joss and the Large Arachnid. - Hire a chunk of heavy hitters. In killy Strats and schemes it's Joss and Howard. In movement/scheme marker ones its the Captain and Mech Rider. You then summon your scheme runners in arachnids. - take upgrades that make your constructs better, either healing them, giving them positive flips - win your games. Ramos isn't tricky, he isn't fancy, he's just darn good. He's a great place to start but at some point challenge yourself with another Master, it'll make you a better player.

You know what's awesome about these minis... I get to see them in person! Stuff looks amazing, I love the overall theme of them, very visually stunning/pleasing Look forward to more of your stuff, get at it!

Welcome to Zuzzy Mats. Very solid product, decent price and oh, yeah, it comes really, really, really late. I, and others, basically have to threaten them and then, viola, you get your product. Check the forums there, you'll see the same tune over and over again. I represent a gaming club that was looking to replace all our mdf boards with his mats but a five month wait, three of which were "overdue" had us look in another direction. Really sad, actually, the product is really nice.

not a horrible idea.... be aware that KJ will probaly have Fast so that means he can make 2 potential charges per turn, where needed because Tara is dropping him. Also, be aware that if he has any Void Wretches, he can re-bury Killjoy and strip any Poison (and heal) him... a very effective way to keep the Killjoy bomb going...

Well, Levi can't be perfect! The Waifs help, as do summoning Abominations from Scrap/enemies. But you are right, I dont' like trying Reconnoiter against people with Levi.

How about the turn you catch a high Tome in hand and have a Flesh Construct near a strong enemy opponent. Heal it and paralysis it making it eligible for Devour....

I use Ashes and Dust and Rusty Alyce as my objective runners.... mostly A&D. I don't like taking the smaller point models in a Levi list because of the in-built weakness of the Waifs/Anchors relationship. Instead of taking two 5 stone 'Punks I'd rather one 10 stone Enforcer.... Its why I will usually only take one Scheme that revolves around movement with Levi and instead concentrate on the Interact (Distract/Cursed) or Kill (MakeThemSuffer/MurderProtege) Schemes when I play Levi. Sue would not be a first, or really a second choice for me in a Levi crew, there are so many better options, IMO. I like Sue with Tara and the Viks and I think Daw, though I haven't tried it yet.

#thatLeveticus The new twitter craze

Hey, hey! Welcome back, my man, your absence has been noted!

Re-read Rusty's Reactivate spell (Burn Out) and you'll see that models targeted by that spell, if subsequentcly buried, are sacrificed instead... but you are right that the Killjoy/DE slingshot from Tara can be tough to stop. The thing about it is that if my opponent reveals his crew with Abominations, Rusty and Killjoy, I know exactly what he is trying to do, and that's not run schemes. And as I posted above, Tara is the best choice for Stake a Claim in the Outcast Faction. Even Levi w/ a few Soulstone Miners isn't as nice, IMO, because Tara can do exactly what the Soulstone miners do with her entire crew!

Yes, well said.

I do not agree that more complicated Masters are more powerful, its just that once someone starts to really understand how those Crews work the opponents generally don't and all the curveballs and rare synergies give an advantage. I don't disagree with Hateful's list... but that said, I really don't think any crew is "simple" anymore like the old Viks were... even VS has so many synergies that as bland as he appears, his moving parts are really important and become really potent. This said, I do agree that some Masters are better to start with and most of them are in Wave 1...

I have recently been able to get Tara on the table and have had lots of success with her. In many cases she plays like Collette did in 1.5. She achieves VPs like no other Master does and she supports her crew, not by handing out Fast, but by moving them around and poentially removing threats from them. I have been using her with Hannah, the MC and a single Wretch. I then mix in lots of other models like Johan, a Librarian and Sue. I take Scramble, the Range Bury and the Unbury upgrades. I use her predominately in Stake a Claim (significantly more common in competitive play) and games where the Scheme pools has things like Entourage/Breakthrough. I find her only real weakness is getting caught in Hth with enemy models and being unable to get away. I've actually had to have a Wretch bite her to bury her to get her away from a Drowned once....

I have heard a rumor that GenCon is going to see a massive release of Master crew boxes that will then be spread out over Q3 an Q4. A much larger total percentage then we saw last year. (which was 4-5?) This aside, I do believe Levi will materialize at GenCon this year because of the reasons stated above, we've seen his artwork for a long time now.

I got one. PM me your address and I'll drop it in the mail.

I have one NiB. $125 shipped in the US. LMK.

Just some random thougths on why I appreciate the SoC more than the MC. The MC, while it certainly can "hang back" which proves to be a solid way to keep it alive, it can't offer a heal if it's hiding in your deployment zone.... the other way to keep it alive is to ride that manipulative as long as possible, and unfortunately you want to activate the SIsters last so often that the MC is mid-turn, at best, going, which strips it of its most powerful ability. In turn, I find activating the SoC mid-turn is a huge benefit because you are either Jumping a Sister up or putting Fast on an important model for immediate benefit. I also find the Heal dodgy at best and the Sisters have strong access to other, more reliable, sources of healing. And the Sisters being so resource dependent I have holding mid-level rams for a low powered heal I may need at some point. The SoC have proven to be a tough little bugger, with only her stats being the weak point, and a defensive stance helps out a lot there. But I find my SoC getting knocked around a bit, but between armor and SIster heals, she is a lot tougher than the card would leave you to believe. Finally, as I have found myself making use of the Dragon Spells more and more often, the SoC, buffed by both Slaying and Fury *and* the Dragon Spell, she hits pretty darn hard. A local Henchmen, PeregrineFalcon here, has dubbed the Sisters "The Helicopters" because of the power of those Dragon spells and how often they are getting used now in the local Meta. But, this all said, I am not saying the MC is a bad choice. THere are few bad choices in M2e currently. I am just tossing my two cents in... My MC is seeing a ton of use in my Tara crew.

I have one that I will sell for $125 shipped in the US?

Cracked most certainly stacks (it has a numeric value in the name) and when I tell people what VS does I start with "he's extremely well-rounded," then mention the toughness in both armor and healing but the largest "offensive" threat I mention is his ability to hand out the cracked condition. It's so nice to get a high Df model down to where your minions are hitting with ease.

Doh! Shows how much I use that Trigger! (wonders if he's been cheating his opponents)