Munindk

Let me counter that with a question: Whats the strategy, which schemes are in the pool and whats the enemy faction? Or phrased in another way: whats the plan for each model? You've spent 45SS already, which seems like a lot for a baseline

There are 3 issues with Bete Noire, you need to hold on to a 10 card to ensure that you can bring her back if she's killed, she doesnt cause horror checks (I think, I'm away from my books atm) and the fact that she wants to be in melee. The Valedictorian (and a lot of other beaters too) have the "wants to be in melee" issue too, but to a lesser degree because Bete Noire usually pops up close to the enemy. The thing is, when you've got Seamus and the CCK teleporting around and shooting models, you dont want those models to be locked in combat because Seamus only gets one shot and if the target is in melee, it will randomize. It might not sound like a big deal, but the enemy could potentially hide models from Seamus just by engaging your models. You can get around it by taking Bag o Tools, but then you cant have Sinister reputation. The Valedictorian does cause horror checks, she's mobile, tough, hard hitting and pretty selfsufficient. Yin causes horror checks, she has a (1) CA that targets WP that can stop a model moving and a (0) that targets WP that give the target -WP. She basically causes a lot of checks that heals Seamus and the - to WP is great in a crew that targets WP as much as Seamus and co does. The Rogue Necromancy could work as a beater too, since its got a decent range attack.

I think Red Chapel Killer is too good to pass up, especially with 4 unspent soul stones. It gives Seamus extra options for teleporting around I'd consider swapping a Rotten Belle for a Nurse. The sheer utility of the Nurse is too good to pass up. She can heal you, turn anything in your crew into a scheme runner for a turn, paralyze an enemy model and much more. It also frees up a Belle for your summoning pool. Other than that, remember that you can adjust your crew to the strategy, scheme pool and declared faction of your opponent. For some schemes it might be handy to include a dedicated scheme runner, like a Canine Remains, Necropunk or Crooligan and for others you might need to throw in an additional beater, like Yin or the Valedictorian. I think Seamus, Sybelle, a Rotten Belle and a Dead Doxy is a good base crew though.

For Molly there's several ways of doing it, the default one being Sybelles Call Belle, but Dead Doxys and the Necrotic Machine can get the job done too.

My guess would be that she got very popular because her thematic crew got some key releases recently, Snow Storm and Blessed of December in January and Silent Ones in February. At this point, every store that carries Malifaux should have those releases, even my local store in Denmark has them.

I could see Bishop being usefull for ressers and NB too, Seamus and Pandora likes people who fail WP tests.

You differentiate between Resser and Guild McMourning, would it make sense to do the same for the other dual faction masters? Perhaps for the masters that change radically when depending on their limited opgrades too, like Dreamer where common consensus seems to be that summoner is better, and Molly where spirit Molly looks better than horror Molly?

Skip the Sonnia box if you dont want to play her any time soon. Samael isnt that good and since you might need more than 3 witchling stalkers for a Sonnia crew because of the summoning, its one of the few times where it actually makes sense to buy the minion box even if you decide to pick up the master box later on.

It happens in other factions as well, in Neverborn Pandora and Sorrows have Misery, which is an ability, and that stacks.

I dont get the blue on Old Major, but it works. Overall the crew looks very pale or old, its an unusual look for gremlins but it works

Mortimer is expensive but he can do a lot more than just create corpse markers. He's got chatty, he can apply poison at range and move all your undead models forward. If you take him solely for the corpses to turn into canine remains, he probably wont pull his weight. Mortimer with corpse bloat can move, make a corpse marker and poison something, then Sebastian makes a canine remains which can charge whatever Mortimer posioned. Next turn you could use fresh meat to move up some support the canine remains.

I tend to look at each faction like there's an overall strategy, but each master is running his own schemes.

From a fluff perspective it makes sense that the guild hounds, corrupted hounds and canine remains look like each other. The way I see it the latter two are "decendents" of the guild hounds, which were brought through the breach as guard/attack/hunting dogs. This also explains the breed. It doesnt, however, explain McMournings chihuauua...

What are you running instead?

What exactly is it that disturbs you about Seamus and McMourning (other than the "corpse snake")? I'm asking because they, along with Yan Lo, are probably the least expensive masters to run. Seamus himself is just a well dressed (and armed) man with a slightly creepy smile and the Copycat Killer is practically cute. Madame Sybelle is a little freaky, I'll give you that, but the Belles arent too bad if you dont paint them up too bloody. Seamus does like scary models though and I can see The Hanged and Yin creeping someone out. McMournings current box comes with 2 hot nurses, a frankenstein style monster and two dogs that arent too damaged. The doctor himself isnt that scary, and apart from the overly large head Sebastian is OK. Again, it helps if you dont drench the models in blood splatter. The good doctor wants more dead dogs and more frankenstein monsters. If these concepts are too scary for you, I would honestly recommend that you pick another faction. Ressuretionists and Neverborn are probaly the factions that embody the horror elements of the game the most. Gremlins are pretty cute and funny. You can run a decent list consisting of a couple of short green guys, a dog and alot of piggies

I'd convert a more warrior style Yan Lo as Eclipse proposed. Maybe a Lone Swordsman body with Yan Lo's head hand/arms? Yan Lo has the added advantage of being a Resser, which means you could stay in faction with Seamus.

Its an interesting use of Mortimer in a McMourning crew. So far I've only considered him useful for ranged poisoning and movement help, but activation control is all the rage these days. Where does your last stone go?

I'm not sure there's a truly good 3 master combination for Ressers. There's a lot of combos that make sense, but you'll almost always be needing a beater and models for summoning. Molly loves Seamus' box and she likes Nicodems, but she adds very little to either. Nicodem likes... every other box because he can use the minions for summoning. McMourning doesnt really need any other box, he mainly wants canine remains and flesh constructs for summoning and probably some ranged poisoners like crooked men, rogue necormancy, or Mortimer. Seamus likes McMournings box for the nurses, but he really wants Yin and other terrifying models. I'd recommend that you pick one or two masters that you want to play, and then they pick up 3-4 boxes of enforcers or minions to make them work, picking up other master boxes only if they contain useful henchmen or minions. After those initial purchases, you'll probably need very little to build lists with other masters. Personally I really want to play Seamus and Molly. This lead me to picking up Seamus', Mollys, McMournings and Nicodems starter boxes, plus Yin, Killjoy, the drowned, the hanged. I got Bete Noir and the carrion effigy just because I like the models I only got Nicodems box for the punk zombies and McMourning for the nurses, but McMourning has grown on me, so I got some canine remains, a flesh construct, crooked men and rafkin too. It looks like Mortimer could be good with McMourning too, but I didnt see the combo when I bought the boxes. As for branching out to other masters I could probably make decent Nicodem lists if I wanted and Jack Daw would be easy to pick up, with all the tormented models I've got.

Yeah, its a grey area created by the Emissary. Jack Daw isnt relevant here though as the "Daw's Luck" ability allows him to have 2 additional Cursed upgrades.

I dont have the book i front of me, but if it doesnt say "and attach it to itself ignoring the normal restrictions" I would be hesitant to play it like you're suggesting.

The name of Yan Lo's starter box And yes, Belles are amazing. There have been several threads about them needing a cuddling, though its mostly the CA 8 people complain about.

Using a Nurse to Paralyze (but heal) an enemy model and then have the Flesh Construct devour the model sounds like fun

That article showed up on A Wyrd Place on facebook too where Nathan responded with a very long post (sunday or monday). He basically said that the auther of the article had contacted him saying that she had been harassed by Malifaux players and that Wyrd officials didnt take her seriously and even joined in on the harassment. Apparently she demanded that Wyrd hire her to stamp out all discrimination, but when Nathan asked for any proof of this discrimination so that he could take action, she didnt not respond. Instead she has been spamming her accusations all over the web since. This is my recollection and summation of Nathans post, dont hold him responsible for any misrepresantation on my part. You can dig out his post on the facebook group if you want to read the whole thing. I'm pretty sure the article is what prompted this thread: http://themostexcellentandawesomeforumever-wyrd.com/topic/117520-the-importance-of-community/

Although he (or she) is a good beater for any NB master theres extra synergy with Collodi and Dreamer, since Teddy is both a Nightmare and a Construct.

Since I ordered a Rafkin and a few other boxes, I've been tinkering with Henchmen Hardcore lists again. Mortimer - more survivable then Sebastian and has ranged poison application. Sebastian - decent melee damage and will increase the poison damage. Rafkin - decent melee damage and will increase damage against poisoned enemies. This leaves 6SS for a Nurse/Crooked Man + a 1SS upgrade (Transfusion) or Carrion Effigy/Canine Remain and 2SS worth of upgrades (My Favorite Shovel or 2 x Transfusion?).