kanhead

Wargamerau forum is best, i'm always up for a game. The henchmen I know are working on other things at the moment.

I like your thoughts on McM Calmdown although i disagree that the Chihuahua is a turn one sac. I've used him to great affect to create early bodyparts from dogs (through wrack with pain), later he offers an alternative wrack with pain cast which can be down right nasty shutting down (0) actions - albeit card intensive. Re Morty, he has his uses to get early speed bouts for Nico crews. I think Rafkin is better (haven't tried him yet) but Morty can have use outside of the immediate concerns of capturing remote objectives or taking key models down.

I'd go with the following for a versatile mix although i'd be inclined to drop Bete for a hanged: Ressurectionists Crew - 50 - Scrap Seamus, The Mad-Hatter -- 2 Pool + Seamus, Avatar of Dread [2ss] Grave Spirit [1ss] Molly Squidpiddge [9ss] Necrotic Machine [2ss] Bête Noire [9ss] Crooked Man [4ss] Night Terror [3ss] Night Terror [3ss] Onryo [5ss] Rotten Belles [4ss] Rotten Belles [4ss] The Drowned [4ss]

Mike I believe it's because they are nightmares (and therefore not living). I generally use McM against Lilith but many of Seamus' willpower tricks are very effective. Bete is also really good to spam paralyse. For Lady J it's the riposte trigger that hurts. Try to get her to burn cards (and activate early) to clear her hand. An early flintlock, chump blockers and undead psychosis to waste her actions and a slit jugular trigger can really help. Try to isolate her crew with your own.

+1 to Sandwich's comments. McM is Wp 5, whenever i play him my biggest fear is being spammed terrifying tests.

There is lots of information on http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/McMourning. Nuses are tricky to use and the general consensus is they aren't that good for 5ss. The best luck i've had with them is basically setting up a suicide dog factory - you start her with 3-4 caine remains, buff them up each turn and charge them in to knock out targets. The only problem is they don't do a lot of damage and you quickly lose your own models. It's a favourable trade of minions at best. There are other niche uses for them but you need to build a crew specifically for that.

Experiment with the list and see how it plays. It really depends on the schemes/strategies that are applicable. You might find starting with punk zombies makes the list slow. When you speak about flanking with groups just make sure you don't get too far from Nico's buff aura, that's what will help you win games.

The big problem with Punk Zombies is they are far too slow to keep up with McM. Lots of dogs not only buy you activations but they also keep up with McM so as they die he sweeps their corpses into his collection. This should not be confused with him acting as a summoning machine, he's not and shouldn't be used as one. But he does require some easy corpse counters on the move and is very dangerous dropping Fleshies/RN into melee late game instead of the extra scalpel sling. Regarding the list, i prefer Seb's support melee but i've not experimented enough with Mort's utiliy for McM. As other's mention, you may struggle without another speedy heavy hitter but the gunslinger and summons can cover you here.

Calmdown, if you're using him for the morale duels then you're only getting a third of his value. Against living crews he is insane, against Nightmare spam you need to rely on his other abilities but he still gives great utility. I know you really like the dead rider so i guess he's directly competing at 8ss. If every opponent uses a Neverborn filth list then you should find another opponent.

I had a lot of trouble using them at first but now i always take one with Seamus. The high stats and spirit coupled with a grave spirit make them nearly unkillable. As everyone above says, they are pure utility. Hangman's knot is a backup lure + dmg, always very handy in objective based missions. Whisper from beyong is great at shutting down models that heal or just taking a chunk out of a something with high wounds. I rarely use Last Words but it's very handy once you have laid a few Wp debuffs out with the Horrifying trigger. The Horrifying trigger is insane when you start combining it with other mini's Wp resist spells (not to mention the many morale duels Seamus can cause). I use them aggresively and try to cause as many Morale duel losses as possible. With terrifying 13 and a Wp debuff few opponents can get an activation in which means you can use them to run a key model away from the action. The opponent is forced to invest a lot of actions to remove them or they risk their crew being debuffed apart. Get them in the opponents face early and force them to deal with it.

I'm preferring their shooting abilities over melee, even without reactivate they can pump out 4 shots a turn. Have two hurt each other turn 1 and advance. Turn 2 use Nurse to buff reactivate & and optional Cb buff, then shoot the hell out of anything, even a Master wouldn't be safe at that Cb and would need to burn SS. Only danger is a ranged opponent picking them off before they activate. I'm not sure it's worth killing them for the healing flip but McM could use the corpse.

I really dislike Perdita of all the Guild masters, just for the fact that my line is shot apart. Sonnia is slow and easily overpowered in melee and Justice (while hitting very hard) can only do so much with her actions. McM and a belle can comfortably deal with her crew while your crew whittles away at Lady J and wastes her actions. If they group together then you go for the objectives. In short, don't play her game.

I get a lot of mileage out of her in McM crews. The extra hitting power and potential for paralyse can really eat up an opponents hand plus the risk of slit jugular. I wouldn't bother in a Seamus crew as the belle/punk combo or a hanged seem far more reliable in support of Seamus. In a nico list she has so many opportunities to arise buffed she's really unstoppable. I run a lot of canines with McM to defer activation, secure objectives quickly and threaten low Def models so Bete always has plenty of chances to pop out. Throwing dogs at high power models to slow them down and create a corpse is awesome. If you're arising from an opponents model you really are doing it wrong. If an opponent has a chance to removing the threat he will, you want the chance to flurry on an unactivated key model. That said with a high def and one with the night she will chew up a lot of actions to permanently take down. I don't see it as a big risk to keep one 10 in my hand for her. She hits quite reliably and therefore doesn't need as many cards from your hand to lay the smack down. I don't see her key ability of paralyse as the main bonus, yes it's great against masters etc but with Cb6 paired and a double positive to dmg she has a good chance of taking down many models in one flurry + fast action even with the lowish 2/3/4 spread.

I started with McM and he's certainly my favourite. I play a very traditional list that generally focusses on cutting up my opponent firstly then completing objectives. As Calmdown said, he's very competitive but you'll find he really struggles against some masters - particularly those that like Wp duels. I use 4 dogs but only ever cut one of them up for body parts. Dogs are cheap, fast and can charge cheap making them a minor threat to lower defense models. Importantly they also buy activations so you can delay McM as long as possible which becomes very important when managing his health. Seb is a bit slow but his damage potential is very solid and he can also pulse if swarmed. I use him more as an anchor and a speed bump. I recommend against punk zombies without a model to help bring the enemy in. While they hit hard they won't kill a model without flurrying so combined with their low walk and wounds you'll struggle to recover their SS in value. For punch i like Bete Noire but you can also try the dead rider. The utility and table control of belles (and crooked men) should also be considered. Lastly whilst you dislike the necropunk models you'll find them very handy in some strategies, the burst of speed and potential to challenge support models makes them very versatile. Don't forget they have hard to kill which makes them fairly resilient. The list i use last night in a reconnoiter vs Lady J with plant evidence was: McM 8SS Chihuahua 3 canines 1 necropunk 2 belles 1 crooked man Seb

I find dogs to be very handy for their speed, especially as a bete delivery system. In terms of walking corpse counters the mercs are far superior due to their potential for ranged support. I've been using a similiar list to loststarr and Jonas but summoning in punks rather than starting them. I prefer the early utility of the belles/crooked men. I haven't use Nico much against Guild but between fog and spamming paralysis he should have a good chance. Stick to your objectives and maybe bring some extra SS to get by the Ortega's high Wp?

You tried a fairly unusual McM list. I have more luck with only one nuke model and a whole lot of smaller stuff. Try more dogs, Bete Noire (or continue with the dead rider) and Seb supported by belles and/or necropunks. You basically want to be getting a lot of activations and swarming objectives. Chihuahua rules!

I second your thoughts sandwich. I've been struggling to fit Molly in given her cost but once seamus goes avatar he changes his play dramatically and the Molly backup is very helpful. Let's keep the CONSTRUCTIVE discussion going.

Thanks mike, I'll take that with me next time! Although the trigger is still enough to make her outrageous even solo.

I agree, Pandora without her minions can't do a lot. Focus on the sorrows and she'll struggle. Other than that, spread out a little. If she gets a high crow she'll SS a blast that triggers auto fallback. It's the one reason she can win games solo and will really mess with you completing your strategy/schemes.

Having just played Kirai a night ago i can say she's a real nuisance for Nico. Spirits mean no corpses and she can pass the paralysis to a seisin wit Shikome ignore it...ouchies Anyway Rafkin looks interesting as a support melee/range attacker plus the ability to bring in more MZs while Nice bolsters. Intersting utility.

Drowned could be a winner. I must admit my problems have always come with pandora towing a ton of sorrows up and not some much nekima/lelitu. Crooked men have helped me in the past by spamming blast templates across the sorrows and Pandora. Also keep in mind that nekima is one hell of a point sink and from my memory of her stats McM can easily catch and kill her. Lelitu is an interesting one, Bete will really help but you could also try a convict gunslinger. I've been playing around with desperate mercs too and they might be effective (although the Wp duel is a problem as is the low Wd count)

I took third on Thursday morning with McM

He seems i lot of fun although i'm not sure how he plays in the late game. I had originally thought he'd go well with McM spamming heals and supporting in combat as a replacement to Seb.

I'm liking the drowned for the 6wd spirit at 4ss as Necro says. They also seem fairly mobile with their various actions and quite hard for an opponent to control. Potential objective grabbers but they are competiting with Crooligans for this and more broadly against the other very effective 4ss minions - belles and crooked men. I'm not sure you'd bother trying to field all of the nightmare justice crew as ressers...maybe in a Nico list...

Don't under estimate army of the dead, i've used it to great effect when i know i'm going to try and kill off a crew with McM. He ends up getting his body parts from his strikes and can therefore hold onto corpse counters. An example where it wored well was an obey heavy Ortega crew in shared treasure hunt - i knew i wouldn't be fast enough to get in and secure the counter and if i did i'd get shot to bits, cue me playing the mission like a slaughter. Other than that i vary between Kill Protege (or grudge if i have to rotate in a tourney), stake a claim and the two gimme schemes bodyguard/hold out.