benjoewoo

If you want to paint a relatively minimal number of models that you know you'll use, paint sandeep, banasuva, and proxy everything else until you find what you like. Since your'e not going to tournaments, and it'd be pretty clear you're trying to make informed decisions, I imagine your opponents will be fine with proxies as long as they have identifying marks, e.g. stickers on bases. Once you've identified what you really like and/or what works for your play style and you're satisfied with in other aspects, then buy/build/paint as applicable. It'll save you time, money, and make you a better player more quickly. I suggest the same for your girlfriend, as she seems to be new based on your post. There are a lot more resources discussing efficient crews for Lilith, and I think a little bit of research can help her a lot more in choosing a starting direction, though I still recommend building Lilith, painting her, and then proxy-ing everything else. Once you guys have decided on the models you like and will play, you'll buy more confidently and hopefully feel greater satisfaction.

As a quick note, because someone mentioned having Banasuva summon--you can only copy actions on Sandeep's card, and unfortunately that does not include actions given by upgrades. I haven't faced off against Howard yet with Sandeep, but I'd probably stop him with a chaffe gamin summon or two. One chaffe gamin requires at least 1 AP from Howard, and that means he can't charge without IE. If he pops IE, he can charge, but hopefully you have a second gamin, banasuva or otherwise, blocking charge lanes. Alternatively, oxfordian mage shoots Howard with double tome on elemental bolt, pushing him from max 10" range to 4" away, meaning Howard cannot nimble charge that particular mage without IE. You can add a 0 place from Sandeep as insurance.

True, and that issue comes up for me, usually because there's a sniper. It's usually a trick I use when opportunity arises as opposed to normal planning. I'd much rather heal with seishin or attack Wp, but sometimes I want them to flash in quickly just to disengage a model right next to me that's Ht 2 or less. They also attack Wp, so each of their activations is a a potential Ml 6 with Sin Rep to heal Seamus. I also tend to back alley near terrain that negates vantage point for that reason, because Seamus should eventually move from where he initially back alleys to. Not always available, but it should be or else the terrain set up is likely imbalanced anyway.

As a note, Kudra plus her specific upgrade is the only model Arcanists have to auto-kill your own gamin model without set up beyond range. This matters because if you summon Banasuva and activate him prior to Kudra and haven't used Sandeep's Student of All ability, Kudra can kill Banasuva, triggering Flaming Demise and (copied) Explosive Demise, then cast one of Sandeep's moves to trigger student of all and Resummon Banasuva for another 3 AP of beatings. This works because the second banasuva is a newly summoned model. I think Kudra offers some interesting options. She does a variety of things, but I'm unsure how consistent she does them and if there are better options. It will depend on your crew list, because Cass is a better scheme runner and counter hybrid, and Joss is a more efficient fighter for opportunity cost, even if he's naked compared to a loaded Kudra. I think her role would be in a set up where you need a fighter on the edge of a brawl to provide reliable counter harass and won't go down quickly. Kudra can dance around and deters half committed fighting, but she won't put out the damage numbers needed to kill hardier models. She'll really support the rest of your crew by causing a distraction, drawing and/or cycling cards, and occasionally pulling neat tricks.

At least in my experience, outside of somewhat artificially forcing myself to hire in the undead theme, Seamus generally hires spirits and a nurse. My regular undead hires are belles plus Sybelle, though I hire Sybelle less now for rules reasons. I generally hire 1-2 belles. With Seamus I tend to hire 2, because Ca 7 lure is pretty consistent when the opponent has -2 Wp from Sin Rep. I would definitely pick up doxies--when I'm able to actually see corpse markers (most of my opponents play models that are constructs or just don't drop markers) I tend to summon a doxy because as mentioned, Seamus will often be solo while his crew does other stuff. While I've already made a model suggestion in picking up doxies, I would echo the caution of buying models before playing them. Seamus has a relatively unorthodox compared to most masters, especially for Ressers, and your model choices will likely reflect how you like to play him. There's a podcast by Ted and someone else who plays a Seamus list with Jaakuna, Yin, Datsue-ba, and a hanged--that list fits that person, but I've found it doesn't fit my play style very well. Even if that list can be shown to be strictly better than what I run, I can't play that list at a higher level than what I achieve with my personal lists. Tl;dr of the above: proxy and play test before you buy. Of your list, I'd recommend Jaakuna more. I regularly hire her because she's a comparable Lure to Belles but has better damage output and qualifies for more schemes. She also presents multiple out of activation, resource less heals for Seamus, which is fairly rare on an individual model basis--most models heal Seamus out of activation during their own activation in using AP, but Manipulative will heal Seamus each time it's failed. I would not get the others until you've solidified your play style. I bought Dead Rider and have used him 2-5 times with Seamus specifically, each time regretting the choice because I chose to run my Skeletor riding Rainbow Dash instead of hiring more efficient options. I would never hire drowned as they offer little a shield bearer couldn't do with better options. Hayrredin is an odd duck for me, because his aura can greatly set up Seamus, and he's a 7 SS shooter with a built in repeat trigger 2.0, but his other actions just don't impress me much--the pools I'd want Seamus in don't really mesh with what Hayrredin offers on his card that I can't duplicate in specific areas more efficiently with other models. The same goes for Emissary, at least for me. I've never felt the Emissary is particularly durable--I figure he's dead the Turn I send him in to fight, usually 1-2 activations after I send him out. I also don't often need the shards to block LoS--for 1 SS less, I can hire Datsue-ba who summons two seishin that will teleport to Seamus Turn 2 and later to achieve the same effect usually--Ht 4 markers are better than Ht 2 models, but Datsue-ba can summon without tempo loss and doesn't need to be near Seamus to summon seishin. This excludes belle spam lists, however, as he's amazing in those with the generic conflux.

Myranda + IE may be a bit of a trap for you. The beast summon is nice, and gives you an extra activation, but you lose your answer to defensive triggers for essentially tool boxing a faster fighter with roughly equivalent damage or better scheme running. Also, you'll lose your answer to Hard to Kill models and Hard to Wound models. Joss is just more consistent and puts a lot less stress on your hand because it's fairly difficult to put him down in 1 activation even with a powerful hand, and even at HtK Joss gets better between Warding Runes and reactivate, whereas Cerberus gets markedly worse and blessed has to end activations early to heal up. I highly recommend Joss, just for the Warding Runes synergy with mages and outside of Armor 2. His damage track isn't amazing, but IE on him is either card draw deterrent or the boost you need to put down a high priority model. I can count the number of times Joss ignoring defensive triggers has occurred on one hand, but I don't lower any fingers for when I count how many times that has ensured a win. Sandeep is his own summon engine less because he's a strong summoner, more because he needs 8s and a 12 in masks or the SS to get masks. The 8 is relatively easy to get, and if you're shuffling well, you should pull at least one 12 between Turns 1 and 2. Best part is Sandeep can summon out of activation.

I'm sure there will be a flurrious casting of posts soon for this. Take everyone's thoughts, my own included, with a skeptic thought for how you play vs. how the advising person's play style, local meta, and overall experience and/or thought process differs. I think Sandeep's strength lies in his ability to answer various situations through a combination of his hired crew and his summoning options. Sounds like fortune cookie advice since that's usually the idea with summoners, but one thing to note is Sandeep's abilities, actions, and upgrades do not lean towards building a summoning engine like other summoners, e.g. most resser masters. Sandeep summons just fine on his own given the relatively low TNs he has, excluding Banasuva, and he's fairly good without the summons given his model's innate actions and ability to distribute master-lite AP to his crew. Banasuva is a pretty good fighter. If you take the Commands limited upgrade, Banasuva is essentially 3 AP summoned in for 1, netting you 2 AP that can beat up people--the no cheat drawback is mitigated if you summon a gamin before hand to provide plus flips to his Ml 6. For a generalist crew, I'd recommend Cass with PP and a raptor and Joss. Cass and the raptor can run 70% of your schemes by themselves, the former being a good scheme runner counter and runner and the second being evasive and great denial potential. Joss, though expensive, gives you non-Banasuva brawling options, and he can avoid some of the nastiest things you face: defensive triggers. I'd probably run mages from there, because they can maximize a lot of sandeep's actions and support Joss/Cass pretty well. Also, I'd hire an initial gamin--I've learned that having the initial gamin helps with presence and Banasuva fodder, because pinging your plus flip gamin through armor makes it much easier to deny that particular gamin.

If you get both waves for the Arsenal decks, you will still need the generalist wave 2 deck. The former contain the content for Books 1-2. The latter contains the upgrade content for all seven factions, plus some errata'd cards, for book 4. As for errata'd cards, none of them were resser cards. But, you'll want the generalist wave 2 deck for the new upgrades. My Little Helper comes with the generalist wave 2 deck and is a fairly popular upgrade for Reva and the emissary. It can also really help Seamus. If you pick up the Arsenal decks, make sure the Decaying Aura upgrade you have matches the errata'd version--the no healing portion of its text is an aura 4, while the no SS prevention effect is now limited to the upgrade bearer's attacks, not an aura 4.

For purchasing priority, I'd recommend the following: Arsenal Decks Waves 1 & 2 for Ressers--Wave 1 is out of production, but it's worth picking up (if you can find it) for stat cards for other models that you can proxy and for the upgrades that came with it. I'm unsure if the generic upgrades come in the Wave 1 Generalist deck, hence its position as #2, but I know you don't get the stat cards with the generalist deck wave 1. The arsenal decks give you stat cards for all the book 1 & 2 models, along with general upgrades from those books. When I need to review model choices in crew building outside of gaming, I tend to shuffle through the stat cards to jog my memory and review. It's faster, and my organization method allows me to think in terms of model slotting. Lastly, a your picture shows a mix of metal and plastic, so the arsenal decks may be better bang for your buck. Generalist Decks Waves 1 & 2--these are not faction specific, and come with general upgrades for all the factions, with some errata'd cards. The wave 1 deck comes with campaign cards, which may or may not be useful to you. If you can't get the wave 1 arsenal deck, the generalist wave 1 deck is a good buy because I think it has the generic upgrades from books 1 & 2--you'll just lose out on the stat cards. Models--again, upgrades and stat cards ahead of time are generally better buys, so models are actually #3. Proxy and figure out what you like from what's been said and your own experimentation. Then buy models if you only care for the model for its play purposes. If you want to hobby with the model, this point shouldn't affect your decision much. As a quick note for #3. Another reason to proxy and test models is to give you time to review how they actually play. Check the forums to see what the online/TO consensus is on how models work and see how your meta reacts. Make sure the models you want to play will in fact play the way you think. There are FAQ clarifications and errata that change how models play, and the available stat cards have not necessarily caught up to actual printings.

Hey, welcome to Seamus-land. We have cookies. How familiar are you with the models you have? Either from playing them or from facing them across the table? Of the models in your list, I recommend hiring the following: Seamus Copycat Killer Madame Sybelle Nurse Rotten Belles x2 Yin the Penangalan Anna Lovelace/Carrion Emissary I recommend keeping the following on hand for summoning: Dead Doxies x2 Rotten Belle x1 Mindless Zombies x 5 I don't know what upgrades you have beyond the Seamus box, so the hiring list leaves you quite a bit of room to play around with those. Everyone in that hire list except the Emissary has multiple Wp duels to keep Seamus alive. Depending how large your games are, you will need them to keep him alive or to capitalize on his Sinister Reputation aura. I would acquire a crooligan if possible--often times I find the difference between crooligan and necropunk is whether I get another upgrade or start the game with 5 SS vs. 4 SS. 5 SS is a pretty sweet spot for Seamus, to give you trick potential, card cycle, initiative, and damage prevention. In GG 2017, most schemes won't require dropping multiple markers per turn, so the performance increase from Necropunk may not always be worth the 1 SS opportunity cost. Familiarity will be a larger deciding factor than in game potential, I think, as growth leagues tend to have relatively fixed hiring pools for a while depending on your rules. I'm sure Fetid Strumpet will come give his two cents as well soon, along with some other experienced Resser players. Take what everyone says with adjustment to what your play style is. I'm more of a manipulation player, so I tend not to run crews that constantly fight--I like to pick fights rather than brawl constantly.

In GG 2017, the scoring mechanics for many of the schemes should generally make for lower differentials, IMO. It's much easier to deny in addition to more difficult to actually score most schemes, as they score once per turn vs. scoring in point clumps (A Line in the Sand scores 2 or 3 VP and can be set up in one activation with few available options to deny vs. Claim Jump which scores 1 VP per Turn and can be denied in full if I have a fast enough model or two). That being said, a 2 VP difference is still low--I think it's a great performance if you weren't familiar with your opponent's crew mechanics and Reva made a big early play. If Reva can assert a Turn 2 advantage of 2 VP, it's much easier to hold it given general scoring mechanics and her ability to keep you on the back foot with her range. If we knew more about your table set up and the other 2 schemes, we could give you more pointed commentary and advice. We know it was Guard the Stash on Flank Deployment with Claim Jump, Dig Their Graves, and Show of Force. We're missing Eliminate the Leadership, a suited, and/or a numbered scheme. Show of Force isn't bad, but it puts a lot of pressure on you to keep your qualifying models alive against Reva. She is amazing at taking out models with unbalanced defensive stats or those that rely on a form of reduction/prevention, e.g. Reva melts Joss through Armor +2. The Captain only has a Df trigger--Reva can target Wp, which is not only lower than Df for the Captain, but can prevent SS prevention via Decaying Aura. It was a little risky taking Show of Force without corpse removal, out of activation movement tricks, and/or a way to block LoS to the corpse markers. Dig their Graves I feel is one of the most difficult schemes, for good reason--peons can score it if there's a qualifying scheme marker and they kill a qualifying model. Combined with Claim Jump it can be one of those no win situations in certain scheme pools--i.e. pools where the only non-interactive scheme is Claim Jump itself. The Arcane Emissary is a relatively simple solution to the corpse markers, but keep in mind the Carrion Emissary summons mindless zombies, which only count as corpse markers for Reva's crew, and Reva's totems only count as corpse markers for her crew as well. Playing around the corpse markers will have more of an impact on future success than bringing model based counters. It can be difficult in Guard the Stash, but considering how often you'll be fighting, bring a fight to Reva and she'll need to worry about herself more than concerted attacks with her crew. Lastly, terrain set ups--make sure you have good variety. Filling 1/2 your board surface area wise with Ht 2 scatter terrain of blocking, non-blocking, etc. variety does less than just using two 4"x4" Ht 3 buildings with no windows. If Reva is taller than all the terrain on your board or wide enough to not care (e.g. a 40mm Ht 7 pillar), then you can never hide from her, and your terrain set up is going to make for a more difficult game. When I see boards that are just four small plateaus at Ht 2 with scatter in between to represent a destroyed town, and the plateaus are basically in the corners of the map, I know Turn 1 Reva is going to sit her butt on higher ground and pretty much never move, because I'll always have LoS--just a question of range, but playing for VP will naturally bring someone within range of her.

Demos are still going! Schedule yours today and join us Thursdays weekly for faux! We also meet up as scheduled on Malifaux Knights' Facebook group. PM for details or search us and join.

Hey all! Emerald Knights Comics & Games, located in Burbank, California, http://www.ekcomicsandgames.com/, will be hosting a Through The Breach campaign for Wyrd's new "A Stitch in Time" event. Come join us for exploring more background and current event lore for the world of Malifaux! There will be no entry fee, just friendly play and competitive spirits! Prizes will be kudos and cookies. Sign up with a PM to myself or let me know in person at EK! We meet Thursdays weekly and as scheduled throughout the week.

USA based. As title indicates, looking for the plastic Kaeris with her throwing a fireball. Would like her foil card as well.

It's by no means meant to be a competitive list. Super vulnerable to Marcus' alpha strike since the RN is a beast. Vulnerable to alpha strikes by other crews if they can reach across the map Turn 1 or they have Hans. It's not as hardy as a Kirai Sebastian Philip set up But, if they don't have snipers, aren't Marcus, and their Turn 1 attack won't devastate you, this crew gets a nice set up. The activation delay isn't as extreme, but the comparable damage across significantly more ticks can be a lot better once set up. Molly is also able to attack different defensive stats as needed as opposed to Kirai, who normally targets Df only outside of the Hanged.

Whoops sorry, messed it up with Reva in my mind. I haven't actually run the list yet, so I was theory-faux'ing and mis-remembered Philips' 0 as Reva's (1). To correct that, the math would work out very differently, subtracting 1 card cycle from Vincent during Philip's activation. Philip could still eat scheme markers, but you would have to get them from the two drowned summons.Alternatively, if Philip puts on Spirit Beacon instead of Take Back the Night, Vincent can use 1 AP to drop a scheme marker after ripping a couple spleens out. Philip activates, eats the scheme marker and throws up his aura. Molly activates, summons 1 drowned, dropping 2 scheme markers, prompting Philip to eat one, and summoning a guild autopsy or two for the cycle. As another more ballsy alternative, you could do this: Molly's Party Bus (I tried) Molly--6 SS Starting Forgotten Path (Spirit Path) Spare Parts Necrotic Machine Madame Sybelle Not too Banged Up My Little Helper Mortimer Corpse Bloat My Little Helper (MLH) Philip & the Nanny Haunting Cries Take Back the Night Rotten Belle Shield Bearer If you drop 1 the nurse, you can start with 6 SS and a shield bearer instead of a crooligan, opening up claim jump relatively well. Turn 1 plays very differently since Vincent isn't going to cycle card for you. Mortimer still rips two spleens out, but can now dig for a bone on a 9 of any suit, putting him at 5 Wds and giving you 3 corpse markers. Shield Bearer activates and hits Mortimer with any crow and Mortimer relents to drop your 4th corpse marker, using the second AP to drop a scheme marker. Sybelle actives, dropping a scheme marker and call belle on Molly or the rotten belle for positioning--keep Molly within 6" of all the corpse markers. Philip activates, eats the scheme markers to set up RN summon. Molly activates, summons a drowned to drop a corpse marker and scheme marker, prompting Philip to eat another scheme marker, then summons a Rogue Necromancy--it's likely Molly used 1 SS for the RN, so the shield bearer should have fast for Turn 2. At this point there should still be a corpse marker on the field. Necrotic Machine can discard it and move to your desired direction before casting his 0 to push your undead models towards him--which is everyone except Mortimer and the shield bearer. You'll need an 8 of any suit for the TN, as discarding the corpse marker adds the second required crow. From here, you'll have the RN and rotten belle left. Not a whole lot, maybe get a lure--if you get the model close enough you might even get a smell fear, though that's somewhat unlikely. More likely you'll lure the model just close enough for the RN to shoot it, although it'd probably be better to walk into engagement and stalk it or another model. If you win initiative Turn 2, you'll almost guarantee a first activation kill between RN and companion into the belle--lure can trigger pounce and RN's smell fear for two out of activation attacks, one with Ml 7 and effectively built in focus. If you don't win initiative Turn 2, hopefully RN is above half wounds after the first activation(s) so you can still pretty much get a kill--even below half wounds isn't terrible, you just lose a lot of the consistency. But, the fun thing is if RN survives, you can activate Molly, who's hopefully in range post Turn 1, to apply negative flips to an enemy model, triggering Smell Fear, summon two hanged, have one hanged whispers the enemy model, and then accomplice into Rogue Necro for potentially 9 damage and half Wds from 1 Hanged's Whispers--that's a lot of damage even if the enemy model has Armor--Joss would take 2 from two ticks from Molly summoning, 2 from whispers, then 3 from RN, putting him at 2, assuming all min damage and not including the poison tick pre-SS prevention--Joss won't have re-activate, and you can finish off with Sybelle. If you summoned two hanged, you now have the triangle of death--the two hanged turn the RN's Terrifying 13 into essentially a manipulative check that ends your opponent's activation rather than causing actions to fail. Against Howard you would do 2 from Molly, 4 from whispers, then 6 from RN, plus a poison to give you ample chances to kill him. You have a number of options regardless of whether you win initiative, assuming your opponent is nearby and going to engage. Belle can double lure, allowing RN and the belle to get a free attack or two between them, Necro can charge into companion for same thing, etc. Alternatively, if your opponent is far back, you can activate the fast shield bearer first, drop a scheme marker, and double walk to catch up to the rest of the crew, setting up Philip to eat two scheme markers on his activation to maximize card cycling for the Turn 2 engagement. Even though I listed Spare Parts, it's not really a horror list because you don't care much about the RN after it does its thing Turn 2. If it lives somehow, great because your opponent has a lot to worry about with the double hanged RN triangle. If it doesn't live, you can either set up another RN for Turn 2 as you fight through the Turn, or get some autopsies as chaffe and/or additional scheme runners. They can't trigger Spirit Beacon, but they can trigger Take Back the Night and aren't bad for a 5 SS summon with full Wds--it costs 8 to summon them so if your hand isn't too strong, it's a good alternative if you need models more than you need to use Molly's other actions. There's also always blowing up corpses with Mortimer, who's unlikely to be a high priority target given his lack of direct damage. Also, spirits have better opportunities for Wp duels via the hanged, meaning RN can more likely trigger out of activation attacks. If Mortimer is still kicking, he can move almost all of your crew via fresh meat or blow up corpses for some serious pulse damage--each WP duel can also trigger smell fears assuming RN is alive. If you don't discard the corpse to Necrotic, you can double down Turn 1 by having Mortimer activate first, ripping a speen, putting him at 3, digging for a corpse for a 9, and then have shield bearer hit him on a crow for a fourth. Molly gets a 2nd RN Turn 2.

There are a lot of tricks you can do. Try running Vincent St. Clair (Reva's box), Philip, and Necrotic (good for spirit/horror) for lots of draw power and models with ranged options. Molly can't accelerate summoning like Kirai or Nico, so if she decides to summon, card draw will be important to mitigate SS stress on summoning. I've been playing around with this list conceptually, and it looks pretty fun, albeit probably not competitive as stated. Molly's Bicycle Molly--6 SS Starting Forgotten Liife (Horror Path) Spare Parts Necrotic Machine Madame Sybelle (no upgrades) Vincent St. Clair Corpse Bloat My Little Helper (MLH) Philip & the Nanny Haunting Cries Take Back the Night Rotten Belle Nurse Crooligan Turn 1, unless your hand is the strongest thing ever, you'll pop MLH on Vincent, have him rip two spleens out to generate two corpse markers, then walk him somewhere, keeping the corpses within his draw aura. He'll be at 3 Wds, but no one can hit him Turn 1 anyway from MLH. From here, your hand strength chooses who goes first. If you have a bad hand, necrotic goes and discards one of the corpses, triggering Vincent to cycle 1 card. Necrotic walks and stuff. If your hand is mediocre, activate Philip, have him use his 0, cheating in a 5 crow (or stone) and convert both corpses to scheme markers, drawing 2 cards and discarding 1 twice sequentially. Cycle 1 card from Vincent. If your hand is strong, activate Molly, summon two drowned that die immediately, then summon your Turn 1 RN, and prompt it to take a walk to pretend it doesn't have slow. Cycle 1 card from Vincent. After the choices above, you'd activate the other two in any order essentially. Typically the RN option is very costly between summoning (3 SS for 2x Drowned with two 10s and 1x RN for 13) Spare Parts (2), Corpse Bloat (2), and MLH (1) with 6 damage to Vincent, so I wouldn't do it unless I figured I wouldn't likely be too pained without the SS later. It also minimizes the cycle from Vincent. You'll probably typically activate Necrotic first, pitching a corpse to cycle 1 from Vincent. Then, Philip activates if nothing can reach him Turn 1 (Hans and other snipers) to convert at least 1 corpse (5 for TN) to a scheme marker, cycling 1 from Vincent, then eating a scheme marker for 2 discard 1, pooping one more scheme marker. Molly finally activates, summoning a drowned that dies for a 10, then summons a guild autopsy for an 8 (w/ or w/o stone), cycling 1 from Vincent, pooping out an extra scheme marker, and 0 prompt on Philip to draw and discard 1. Molly can give an extra set up to Philip by summoning a second drowned to provide an additional corpse marker and scheme marker for later as well. So, with a 5, 8, and 10, you can generally see 8 cards, discarding 5. That nets you 3 cards at the potential cost of 4 SS including MLH's cost. If you go for the second drowned, you'll net 4 cards with a 5, 8, and two 10s and potentially 4 SS with a set up for seeing 5 cards netting 2 Turn 2 with Philip's activation. You'll also have 9 models Turn 2 and two scheme runners between the crooligan and autopsy, who comes in full health. The other models do stuff to support the crew. Sybelle drives the belle, who lures Vincent and Philip, Nurse can paralyze Vincent on any crow to heal him so he doesn't get popped Turn 2, etc. This list doesn't require high cards for the most part and much of the card draw works without TNs, so if you draw high from the engine or initially, you should still cheat decently for defense or have a stronger hand Turn 2--even if you draw absolute garbage, that just means your 10 card hand of garbage isn't in your now 42 card deck when you draw going into Turn 2. Hopefully you get something useful then. The list isn't likely very competitive because of the huge potential SS drain Turn 1, the crew doesn't start with a melee beater or tarpit, it cycles more than it draws (cycling is much weaker if you cycle really strong early), and it is fairly vulnerable to crews that can launch an attack deep into the deployment zone late into Turn 1. But, against crews that have to walk up, the Turn 1 set up gets you an 7/8 card hand that should be decently strong with so much cycling/draw. Have fun!

Most of the Wave 4 masters seem like they were designed to be more or less generalist with a leaning towards something. Sandeep I think just does generalist better than more of them given his summoning and master AP distribution system. Reva is my normal go to against Arcanists because her Litany upgrade prevents any damage reduction and decaying Aura prevents SS usage, two things Arcanist models commonly utilize. Activation control really hurts Reva, and crews that have good jump in ability can prevent her from setting up an initial attack without some form of retribution. Prevent Reva from engaging on her terms, i.e. attacking you first with relative impunity so that you spend AP getting to her, and you'll do relatively well. Her summoning is terrible relative to other Ressers, and you'll do a lot to prevent her from capitalizing on her range mechanic.

A thing to be careful of is using too much anti-corpse tech. Yes, Reva uses them, and therefore corpse markers limit your movement. But, Vincent St. Clair lets Reva draw cards off you discarding Reva's corpse markers, if Reva runs him. Mei Feng's anti-Ca aura can be very strong--just keep in mind Reva will likely run at least one decent melee fighter, and Mei Feng can crumple hard to someone with good melee. Not that she can't stand up to it, being a master and a melee fighter, with or without Kang, but Reva runs elite units as well, and I think it can be a less ideal contest. I think Rasputina and Sandeep are stronger picks. Rasputina has slightly better range and can attack with less risk due to her Ice Pillars--take your shot(s) before throwing up the pillars to make Reva sad. Sandeep can really hamper Reva by doing better damage via plus flip ranged attacks--Reva individually may do better damage, but Sandeep offers consistency via plus flips.

Not a whole lot of updated text. I shortened stuff and removed the original sample crews because I wasn't finding myself actually fielding them all that often. Replaced them with one sample crew that is fairly easy to play with some flexibility to swap small models for larger ones. I have also run the crew and found it at least playable in casual games. In competitive environments I might drop the shield bearers and a belle for Sybelle with both of her specific upgrades and Jaakuna Umube with Unnerving Aura just because the early game is so much more important in timed settings. Removed the portion I posted about Vigor because I didn't realize there was a previous errata to the card. The errata from "model" to "crew" on the upgrade takes away the idea the leader spends the SS.

Yes whoops on getting carried away with adding to the actual skill for Datsue-ba's Weigh Sins attack. I agree and think Dig Their Graves is a trap for taking the Bag--it would seem good, but you're giving up -2Wp and more consistent healing to try and score a scheme with a 2/4/5 track. I think Seamus with Sin Rep is actually someone people want to run from or just let walk away--failing the Terrifying 12 out of activation is incredibly dangerous just to try and prevent the Df 4 master from walking away, especially at -2Wp. I'd consider taking the Bag if I knew I had to drop a lot of scheme markers quickly, didn't care if I successfully killed the targets I was hitting, and Seamus was my only viable choice for consistency. Hidden Trap and Set up come to mind, with Bag probably an auto-take if both are in the pool, and consideration worthy if one was in the pool and there was at least one other scheme marker based scheme. But, I'd almost always take Sin Rep unless both were present.

As a quick note since people are discussing Seishin and Datsue-ba bringing Wp duels. If you run Sinister Reputation on Seamus, the Seishin essentially have Ml 6 as their melees target Wp when Sin Rip is in effect, which Seamus can debuff with the upgrade. Bring in a crooligan, and you have a Ml 7 Seishin who can heal Seamus on succeeding the duel, regardless of damage going through. I often find Datsue-ba likes to summon seishin for activation control, non-paralyzing healing, and the ability to turn the table with a gaki summon off a non-activated model--I rarely go for the onryo unless I flip the mask or was going to cheat it anyway--adversary for follow up or the gaki are just fine. I think one of the reasons she's great with Seamus is she enhances Seamus' ability to hire spirits, which seem to be largely better than the non-spirits when considering multiple model synergies. While most of the spirits are priced for summoning, enforcers, Datsue-ba, and a one off of a any given spirit minion, are all decent hires overall once you go past the 5 SS cost level. Jaakuna's Lure is printed Ca 6, but is Ca 8 if Sin Rep is in effect, and with the recent Belle errata, is a great belle sub in with the benefit of two auras of damage (assuming you run Unnerving Aura), spirit synergy (Lure with plus flips assuming adversary), and an absurd Ml 9 against Wp assuming Sin rep is in effect (out of activation heals on disengaging strikes for ensuring Unnerving Aura pings the enemy model) for 2 SS more compared to a rotten belle's Ca 7/9 Lure, Ca 5/7 Undress, and potential extra mobility via Sybelle. Trade offs, yes, but I find that I'd rather have Jaakuna and a belle if I can afford it rather than another belle. Even if you're not going to kill a model with Datsue-ba's Ca action, your opponent fights a somewhat uphill mental battle in deciding to cheat against it if you use it to poke, put on adversary, or heal Seamus. If Sin Rep is in effect, it's effectively Ca 8 vs. Wp and only needs a 7 for the TN. It'll heal Seamus, but if the opponent is already looking at a negative flip on damage with min. 1, it's a tough call to cheat to beat Datsue-ba's flip just to avoid the heal on Seamus considering Datsue-ba's relative skill strength in the duel and the lack of high damage potential outside of an RJ. Assuming the kill isn't needed, the heal will go off regardless of actual damage as well provided Datsue-ba succeeds in the duel. Sybelle has General AP Wp duels as well, but it brings a chance of randomization, and she is often not as close to the battle as Datsue-ba, driving belles around and/or not being quite as durable to typical attack actions (+3 wds on Datsue-ba, but the latter has incorporeal). Sybelle's 0 Wp duel options are also more limited than Datsue-ba, who can summon Seishin who also cause Wp duels, denial of Sanzu, and moving other models into effective positions (e.g. Jaakuna to keep her manipulative and have her aura(s) affect enemy models). I don't think anyone's mentioned Nurses--you have two from the McMourning box. They're stupid good if Sin Rep is in effect with a Ca 8 action to really hamper any model that might seek to do you harm--KJ bomb doesn't mean much if your nurse can get a paralyze, only allow walk/interact actions, forces negative flips on all duels, or prevents any movement via only allowing melee attacks. KJ is only scary with a 6/7/9 track when he can reach your people. The Bag O'Tools can be useful, don't get me wrong, but in GG 2017 it's generically less useful than Sin Rep and the combos you can pull with it. Seamus is durable because of his uncapped healing from Wp duels, and Sin Rep directly helps that while the Bag can only conditionally help (by killing non-activated enemy models).

Izamu isn't the most resilient model in Malifaux, but for Resser choices, he works well with Kirai because he's a legal swirl target. Armor 2 is generically good--mages can ignore it, but hopefully you've killed 1-2 of them before they all get to furious cast at him. Also, it'll require some hand stress on Sandeep to maximize non-randomization with as many mages as possible if you controlled activations Turn 1. Joss likewise ignores Armor. It's Sandeep's strength to have 4 models that ignore armor and one that does good damage while ignoring some of the most common defensive abilities. You get around it by controlling activations to mitigate their ability to do what they want and getting a more effective first contact. Also keep in mind these models all have Df 5--they're not too difficult to hit, and probability favors the Ml 6 over the Df 5. Additionally Izamu gets a positive twist to damage by default, so you should see at least a chance or two to cheat severe damage. Izamu's tome trigger, useless for the most part in the crew other than Datsue-ba and conditionally Kirai, also allows you to cheat bad weak cards if you flip weak cards anyway and cycle for potentially better cards at no tempo loss. I did make a mistake in the combo--I've only the run the combo once in real life, so I was a big fat cheater in that game. Cheat the appropriate card for the corpse and it works mostly the same, just take out the Philip option to convert and Sebastian summoning two canine remains. This lowers the activation delay until 10.+ I think. However, if you just don't have the crow in hand for the dog, drop a scheme marker. Sebastian can still drop a marker on his turn and throw up the aura or move. By this point, Philip will have 3 scheme markers Turn 1, meaning Sebastian can drop another come Turn 2 as needed for a full two Turn cycle set of activations by Philip. Eventually, something in your crew, and other than the night terror, which you kind of plan to kill Turn 1 anyway, can drop a corpse marker on being killed--Izamu will conditionally drop one depending on how he is killed. Sebastian can summon them on a 6 crow. I agree the combo seems vulnerable to bad hands and/or hands devoid of crows. However, a bad hand lowers the number of activations you can delay actually interacting with your opponent--you don't cripple yourself to maximize the delay. You can optionally just deploy so that datsue-ba, canine remains, and sebastian drop scheme markers for Philip. The loss of the second canine remains activation lowers our delay by 1 activation. The lack of sacrificing the canine remains means you lose 1 card drawn and the 1 SS that you would likely simply cycle for Sebastian's own summoning. These options are available for later, and if you don't have most of the initial crew moving up, it'll be difficult to get a great deal of serious engagement Turn 2 from the opponent. For relatively minimal delaying, Datsue-ba needs an 8 of any suit for a Seishin. Kirai needs a 6, 10, and 13 for seishin, drowned, and hanged respectively without any seishin sacrifices. Swirling Spirits requires a 7 of any suit. The rest is all optional, making it less of a Rube Goldberg machine than my initial presentation may have made it seem. Any average to slightly above average crow card allows more of the combo to work without considering probability (BJ factor excluded), and even if you decide not do maximize activations for Turn 2, sacrificing the Canine Remains only requires a 5 for a stone and card--if you do it once, you get an extra card, SS, and scheme marker for 4 SS, really 3 SS. Kirai can also use the canine remains as a summoning post, allowing Sebastian to summon at his leisure or Philip to convert for a scheme marker. Every crew loses if you have terrible hands. No one can really do much if they can't make any TNs to make their crew work. Joss with Fast doesn't have great chances if he's charging and getting an extra hit on a Canine Remains if he can only cheat with 1-4 value cards and the dog flips 8s to Joss' 6s. If you get terrible hands, you suffer for it, that's why card cycling exists. It'll potentially lower your actviation delay by up to 5, so instead of waiting until activation 10+, you have to start considering interaction after activation 5 or so. Considering the relatively low TNs to get 2 extra activations, it seems worth the crew composition opportunity cost to have generally better activation control. Also most of the card cycling is undeniable, i.e. Philip. If you don't get the cards to summon even Kirai's seishin, wait till Turn 2, because you're about to discard 7+ truly terrible cards and draw 6 hopefully not bad stuff Turn 2--which you can again undeniably cycle for the most part. Seven starting activations with no additional activations is still a respectable number--you have your bad Turn that everyone has when they get a hand that's "quality with a K." At the end of the day, I'm not recommending this combo as a panacea to all things Sandeep. I personally think Sandeep is one of the stronger masters in the field, and you're looking at a bad deal for most Resser masters because he gets around some of the most common defenses Ressers have with fairly little gameplay variation. But, I see this initially rag tag composition as having better chances than traditional summoning battery Kirai for better activation control, hand control, and the relatively easier gameplay since most of the descried Turn 1 involves 0 information from your opponent.

Kirai, sebastian, philip, datsue-ba, night terror, canine remains, fill rest to taste (generally a big beefy beater, preferably spirit, e.g. really i.e. Izamu with Decaying Aura). Kirai takes Unforgiving and the Swirly named upgrade. Datsue-ba gets the Spirit upgrades (Beacon and Whispers). Sebastian takes Those Are Not Ours! Philip takes Take Back the Night and Haunting Cries. If you run Izamu, put on Decaying Aura. That'll leave you 4SS to start. The crew has a deceptively low number of SS--Sebastian should regularly generate 1 SS a turn, mitigating your lower start. Drawing appropriate crows will increase your efficiency. Ultimately you'll just about break even on SS gained to what you'll spend as a summoner, but considering the relatively high activation control and safety of the activation order--provided you deploy out of reach or difficultly reached--it makes up for the relatively weak SS pool. Plus, Kirai's summons are slightly more durable with their access to multiple healing activations between enemy attacks. 1. Datsue-ba activates, summons seishin and throws up aura to give finish the job aura to all spirits within 6, poops out a scheme marker. It's not actually a finish the job aura, but may as well be. 2. Canine remains activates, spends 2 AP digging for a bone--cheat it in if you have the 8-10 crow. 3. Sebastian 0 sacrifices the canine remains to get you a stone and card. summons a new canine remains from the corpse. If you got the corpse from 2, summon a second canine remains if possible or else poop another scheme marker. If your opponent is running ranged attack icon models that are likely to go in on you Turn 1, throw up the anti-ranged attack icon aura. The aura is huge and stacks cover, which will mitigate most of Sandeep's shooting even assuming he summons the plus flip to attack gamin (it's an upgrade, but the gamin itself can't attack, so it's really the plus flip gamin that occasionally interacts and/or moves). 4. Summoned canine remains activates, passes effectively. Maybe move it. 5. 2nd Summoned Canine Remains activates if you have it. This is fairly unlikely unless your hand is unusually strong. Generally Philip at this point activates, eats 2 scheme markers for 2 cards, discarding 1 each, netting you 3 cards drawn so far. Depending on your success in getting the corpse from 2 and/or summoning the second canine remains, you can use philip's 0 to convert the second corpse marker to a scheme marker for a 5. 6. Philip activates and does 5, or you probably activate your night terror and move it up in preparation for Kirai's activation. Alternatively, have your seishin activate and move/pass. 7. Do 6 excluding the Philip option, or do whichever option you didn't choose from 6 (again, excluding Philip option). 8. Kirai activates, snapping the seishin back to her with Enslaved Soul. 0 a seishin, Give a swirlie to your fill to taste spirit and swap with the night terror (this is why I recommend Izamu, who preferably has Decaying Aura). Summon a drowned off the Night Terror (should be as far up as 2" allows from Kirai post Swirly while still within Datsue-ba's 6" aura). Summon a hanged off the night terror. Night Terror dies, dropping a scheme marker. 9. Provided your opponent still has activations that could threaten hanged or Izamu/your other models that haven't activated, activate the seishin Kirai summoned, pass, move, etc.. 10. Activate the drowned and move it or have it shoot if there are still models that could threaten your hanged and other hired models. 11.+ Go to town on your opponent. Hopefully an enemy model has moved up by this point, hopefully within charge range of Izamu and/or Whisper's from your hanged. Since you mentioned Sandeep--Sandeep generally starts with 7-8 activations, summoning at max 3 more. Joss likely has two ugprades, and Oxfordian Mages will cost 15, so Sandeep has at least 29 SS locked up between Sandeep's Gamin/Unaligned Sage upgrades (you mentioned the non-randomizing aura), Joss +2 SS in upgrades, and 15 SS in Oxfordian mages. With 21 SS left, he can only hire so much if he wants to maintain a larger than cache pool for summoning and/or initiative and card cycling. Assuming even 9 models, Sandeep can only get to 12 models unless he's running Kudra and pulls some weird gamin sacrifice into re-summon trick--unlikely given how card and stone intensive this can be. With 10+ activations before Izamu goes, you should be able to have him do his stuff for your mentioned typical Turn 1 fight. YMMV. Ikiryo may pop out at some point(s), increasing your activation count and delaying your non-Ikiryo engagements. With that in mind, try to deploy so that your crew, particularly Kirai, Sebastian, Philip, and Datsue-ba are unlikely to be pressured early. Kirai should be deployed in LoS if you think summoning Ikiryo will be more beneficial than not having Kirai be attacked. Everyone in the starting crew can trigger Malevolence, and with the recent FAQ, Kirai needs LoS to the model she summons Ikiryo to. However, the rest of the crew pretty much does not need LoS anywhere except to each other. They'll move up eventually, but Turn 1 is your set up time and they want workplace safety and security. Come Turn 2, you can almost repeat the above identically by losing your canine remains in place of the night terror--you'll just have to reverse sebastian's sacrifice summon into summon sacrifice most likely and plan for any swirlies you want to do as Canine Remains is not a spirit model. You can have Sebastian poop a scheme marker if you didn't get two extra by the end of Turn 1, so Philip can activate relatively early and eat them for earlier cards. Sebastian will pretty much be getting you a SS and card each turn, summoning when convenient, and throwing up his anti-ranged icon aura. Your decision making Turn 2 will be based on whether you need to fight first and then recover your hand, or if you have time to build your hand and then fight. Hopefully after 9 activations before having Izamu and hanged do their thing, they engaged relatively safely and did some stuff with minimal risk. Turn 2 initiative is pretty important if you engaged Turn 1. If you didn't engage Turn 1, you can basically repeat Turn 1 on Turn 2 and starting activation 9 you'll have 5 or so models that can do stuff. You'll know by Kirai's Turn 1 activation whether you'll be swirling into combat or setting up for a Turn 2 set up into fight activation order. The night terror gives you the option to attack--you can always just swirl a seishin out there for later, assuming you don't need to sacrifice both seishin to get summons and/or you feel Kirai won't experience any pressure she needs to punt to seishin. Don't be afraid to sacrifice your own models after they've done their job--no model is too important to sacrifice getting VP if that VP will get you a win or tie. Everyone can contribute to fighting and should if it'll get you the advantage you need to get more VP. Datsue-ba has summoning potential if she finishes things off, and Philip can move towards the battle if you want to capitalize on Take Back the Night--in this crew, the only person who can't trigger that aura is Sebastian. Sebastian is the least likely fighter in your crew, as he'll do more via summoning and/or getting you cards/SS, but even he has a pulse that can do damage, and if you at some point put poison on people, catalyst can matter. Kirai is also not just a summoner--Turn 1 she is for set up, and possibly Turn 2 depending on what happens, but in later turns she's catapulting your people as reinforcements/saving your people and she has a very nice gun hidden somewhere in that kimono. With her upgrades, you have a built in trigger for min 3 damage that doesn't randomize, and you can heal your own people. I only mentioned summoning drowned and hanged, because Kirai's summoning mechanic allows you to summon both of them, drowned first, off a night terror. Later, or depending on your hand Turn 1, don't be afraid to summon a Shikome or something else Turn 1 or later. Summon what you need, not just the best of what you can afford--drowned and hanged are just generally decent because drowned can tie people up and finish the job is a lot more useful in GG 2017 now that Dig Their Graves is a suited scheme. Between Kirai sacrificing seishin and the card draw engine, you should regularly be able to summon drowned/shikome, given you'll only need 8s and 10s for them. With the new upgrades, there may be some better options, but I haven't really looked into it much, so I just put Haunting Cries on Philip because it's a 0 upgrade. I see that as the swappable upgrade, but losing that 4th starting stone is pretty heavy considering you're playing on probability to have the efficiency to run on your starting pool for a 5 Turn game. I'm new to the combo and that's how I'd play it. It may not be optimized for your situation or optimized overall, but I've found it competes nicely even with the activation control of non-Som'er summoning crews--I haven't tested against Som'er so I don't know if I could compete without going to a Turn 2 set up, but at least against Asami I had near total activation control and engaged on my terms for the most part. As I should always say, check to make sure the stuff I tell you is legal to play. I am pretty sure all I've said is legal, provided you get the right cards and such, but I didn't give too much detail as I figure you'll know a lot of this stuff already and/or will read it.

Summon a drowned to block the charge lane--Taelor has min damage 3 I think, but that's 1 damage to drowned per hit after resilience 2. If your drowned survives, summon stuff behind the drowned out of 3" but within 3" of other models so they don't immediately explode. Taelor still has to take the TN 15 Wp duel for the summons as normal before her charge goes off, so there's opportunity to do damage just by summoning.