Rygnan

The black text is because it’s in bold for subheadings, and that’s the way that works best across multiple formats (I’ve posted this on my blog first). Not working on certain themes is unintentional, and I’m not sure if it’s just an unfortunate formatting issue Kitty over Gwyneth is purely because Kitty gives something unique in keyword, Gwyneth doesn’t really do anything huge that isn’t done elsewhere. As for OOK, I don’t play a huge amount OOK and they don’t really function well without the bubble support from each other. Kabuki Warriors could be ok and help with a lot, but Tanuki aren’t great in Honeypot IMO and most things Samurai do in Honeypot Fuhatsu does just as well if not better

Hi all! Continuing some of the writing I've done before for a few other crews I finished up my thoughts on Lynch cause I've been playing him a lot more lately and he really grabs me. Keyword abilities- Rig the Deck- The main keyword ability on everyone but Hungering Darkness, its a great way to sculpt your deck and guarantee most of what you want to happen will happen. Drawing the value of the ability (between 1-3, mostly 2) means you can see what's coming up for attack and damage flips or just to see if you can hit TNs on duels (for things like Tannen's Boring Conversation it's excellent). Not as useful when you have less cards in hand, but still good to see what's coming and plan accordingly. Brilliance Tokens- They don't do anything when you first look, but boy there's a lot they can pull off. I'll go into a bit more on each specific model but you can do things like stop interact actions (Beckoners) give out pulse slow (Hungering Darkness, who can also use it for positives and to heal) or just to spike damage (Illuminated and Kitty both have melee triggers and Lynch has the Brilliance nuke) The Party Never Ends- One of the things that plays into the Lynch denial bubble, this just gives Brilliance if enemies cheat fate within aura 6 of a model with this rule. With Gwyneth and Beckoners having it you can spread it out pretty well and it enables a lot more in the crew which is really nice. Don't Bite the Hand- Defensive tech for Lynch and Beckoners, any enemy with Brilliance on them is at negatives to hit them. It's a more situational Serene Countenance but with how easy you can give out Brilliance in the crew it's a great way to shut down enemy beaters (I put it on at the start of the game for defensive reasons mostly) Succumbed- Pretty simple, it gives models with it Brilliance tokens up to the value at the start of the game. Beckoners and Kitty start with 2, Illuminated and Depleted with 3. Lets them do that little bit more on the models that can use their own Brilliance up, otherwise it sits around for Huggy to pull off later Keyword models- Jakob Lynch- Lynch isn’t a master that’s going to dominate the game by themselves, but he is still pretty good at what he does. His entire kit is based around Brilliance and spreading it as much as possible, while he personally can’t gain it or Stunned which is really nice. He chooses 2 models at the start of the game to gain Brilliance for some early and irresistible spread, and when enemy models flip aces he gives them Brilliance, regardless of where they are on the board. He has an aura of 1 damage if enemies cheat fate, and his actions are mostly based around punishing models for having Brilliance. His bonus action pulse puts Brilliance on enemies if they fail a Tn14 Wp duel (and if they don’t top deck it they won’t want to cheat because of all the auras around) plus can give Brilliance and heal friendly models as a built in trigger so you’ll probably declare this every turn. His gun is low range but decent damage, gives Brilliance built in but the big one is to place Hungering Darkness in base contact with the target on a tome trigger. I like to do this late in turn 1 on Kitty after she’s moved up so that Hugh can spend his activation Obeying other things, and between Incorporeal and Inner Glow Kitty won’t actually end up down wounds. Lynch’s melee gives 2 Brilliance which is great, plus an option to reveal both players next cards and if the opponents is lower they take 2 damage. It’s potentially a 3rd card into the deck you’ve seen, or just the 2nd from Rig the Deck, and regardless of what it is you’ll know what will happen for your next AP so can plan ahead a little. His last big trick is the Brilliance nuke, which works like a Bleeding Disease or Blood Poisoning doing the full stack of damage but it caps at 5 and discards 2Brilliance if they don’t die. If they do though, you get to summon a Honeypot minion with cost equal to the amount of Brilliance on the target- mostly this will either summon Depleted or bring back dead Beckoners, but a clutch Illuminated summon is massive and can swing games a lot. The model summoned gets an upgrade that makes sure they die quickly unless they get topped up with Brilliance, but it’s a summon so who cares if they die? Hungering Darkness- As far as totems go, this is the gold standard. Decent damage and obeys at good stats that both give out Brilliance as built in triggers, he is also quick and very tanky. Terrifying 11 with Incorporeal is already good, but he can also rip Brilliance off of all models in pulse 6 to heal 1 for each Brilliance removed which is a huge amount for a bonus action with no flip needed. As a henchmen he can stone as well, so he should very rarely die Kitty Dumont- Kitty is in my Lynch core every time because of how amazing she is. On paper it isn't really apparent how good she is but it all adds up to make a deceptively great package. Fast for a great scheme runner, has movement tricks for other models (can play it aggressively to counter schemes and strat points). Draw Essence can work as a pseudo-shockwave but I would usually prefer to just use Unassuming Demeanor because with treating negatives as positives and Sharpened Brilliance she can do great damage (or still have good damage and add card draw). Her biggest boon early-game though is that every model that she moves through (or vice versa) has to take duels or they get Brilliance tokens. With Rig the Deck early on you can sculpt a really good hand while simultaneously building up Brilliance on your own models just by moving through Kitty to get up the board. Gwyneth Maddox- Gwyneth isn’t bad by any means, but I’ve come to find she is the one I drop first when I’m looking to fit other things in lists. Her front of card is great, especially Luck Thief, but mostly just doing what Beckoners do just a bit better, while the back has a few interesting options. Derringer is ok, but her melee is deceptive and she quickly turns into a min 3 model provided enemies have Brilliance on them (which is easy). Come Play At My Table is decent and is her way of shoving models around the table like most of Honeypot can do, plus it gives Brilliance on triggers and models with Brilliance already struggle to resist it. Hit The Jackpot I’ve found to be a great way of topping up your hand cause statistically speaking you’re far more likely to draw than the opponent is off it (and you draw 2 cards to their 1 if they pick right). In general I do like Gwyneth, but she tends to be doubling down on what I already have and not providing something to fill a gap so I don’t have a huge issue with dropping her Mr Graves- board control and melee damage is what Graves does. He can move around models which I like doing for some early game extra movement on the rest of the crew (through Kitty and hitting the trigger its potentially 2 free Brilliance too) and he can force Wp duels for enemies that decide to charge within 6" of him (another 6" aura that punishes the opponent in a Lynch crew, what a surprise). Melee wise he is a stat 6 3/4/5 beater with 2" range which is nothing too fancy, he has Puncture on a ram and Injured on crows for some decent triggers too but the main thing here is Ruthless to get around Terrifying and Manipulative. He has Bodyguard to give nearby models cover, but with Black Blood there's a careful game to be played where you can help out friendly models but not splash onto them. Hard to Kill is nice but if you position badly or get moved by an enemy it means another possible Black Blood splash which isn't great Mr Tannen- Tannen is squishy, but he is so annoying that you can easily justify him for 6ss. Manipulative props up his Df4 a bit, but it’s mostly his aura abilities you take him for. Betrayal to force enemies to discard before they cheat, on top of what is basically Misery:Brilliance and honestly really rude in keyword (plus it works when you put Brilliance on your own stuff too for extra movement). These are both aura 6 and combo ridiculously well with the rest of the keyword auras already (want to cheat? Discard a card, then gain a Brilliance and take a damage. Because you gained a Brilliance you either take a damage or push 2 and I choose which one) but then you also add in Boring Conversation. Rig the Deck makes it almost certain to happen, and it adds another Wp duel to almost any action in the game so you can shred the opponent’s deck and put them in a spot where they really have to cheat to achieve things near your crew. All of this paints quite an obvious target on Tannen though and he will die when someone wants him to, so keep this in mind and don’t swing him out too far where he will get killed. Illuminated- pretty good beater minions, they're not cheap at 7ss but they pull their weight well enough. They have 2 roles in keyword, that being melee beater/tank or Brilliance shockwaves. They start with 3 Brilliance but they like being fed more for healing and extra damage (Lynch pulses do the job) and it's not a great idea to pull Brilliance off them with Huggy if you can avoid it. Df5 isn't good or bad really, but with Terrifying 10 (low, but there) and Regen 1 they take a lot more punishment than they have a right to Beckoners- Always hire 2. The extra Brilliance at game start is amazing, plus they put it out with Distracted and can Lure to pull things around when you need it. They also start with 2 Brilliance on them which is really nice for Huggy to pull off later in the game to heal. All in all Beckoners are great 5SS models that I would always hire both of for the beginning Brilliance, but they can put it out really well too and they add a little bit extra board control with The Party Never Ends and their bonus action (which you'll always do when not Stunned cause it's free) which shuts down Interacts within 6" at the cost of a Brilliance token. Depleted- I'd very rarely hire Depleted (mainly for Reckoning/Public Enemies tarpitting of beaters) but when you can summon them with Lynch they're fantastic. Annoying to kill and great at locking down enemies, they're good at just denying something an activation by forcing it to kill them (which then hurts them and gives them Brilliance) OOK/Versatile models- Fuhatsu/Miss Guided- Lynch doesn't have huge damage potential and kind of needs an extra beater outside of the bubble hires. Fuhatsu gives this, and can put out obscene amounts of good shooting to force things to engage and just plain hurt them before they close, which benefits the bubble because then they're playing Lynch's game Upgrades- Trained Ninja- Should be great on Tannen to keep him alive a little longer, but once they're in his aura range they can hit him with whatever they have anyway. Nice way to make sure things get into the bubbles but it's not an always take. Silent Protector- Put this on Hungering Darkness and he will never die. It's not super worth it on anyone else in keyword but I always bolt it onto Huggy's card and it has tons of value. Masked Agent- Not really a great upgrade in Honeypot, because the models it can work on (Huggy and Graves) don't get enough out of it compared to other upgrades Deployments- Corner and Flank are bad because even with their movement tricks Honeypot is a slow keyword, so it's a tough time. Standard and Wedge are fine though, because the bubble will be halfway up the table by turn 2 so you can play your game from that point on. Strategies- Reckoning- You can do funny things with Depleted here and I really do enjoy the idea of it, but you have better options in Thunders. It's not super reliable cause the keyword can't kill huge amounts of models a turn and you're relying on janky plays or OOK Turf War- Not bad but not fantastic either. The bubble in the centre can mess with backfield markers fairly well, and if they don't then Kitty can get there and do the job herself. Corrupted Idols- So long as you can manipulate where the Idols drop you can do this really well, but if you don't you'll struggle. Pretty matchup dependent (Tara you will lose) because they aren't the fastest but they can lock down a zone and dominate it pretty well. Plant Explosives- Another one they're ok with but not amazing, I would go for Misaki, McCabe or Mei Feng here myself. It's the lack of speed that hurts because while you can get a couple of bombs out the rest will be a lot harder and you can get outmanoeuvred by the opponent Schemes- Detonate Charges- Not bad to do because you can lure enemies into where you need them, and both points are on paper just as easy. Breakthrough- Difficult to pull off the max points because Kitty is the one you're relying on here. I'd skip it Harness the Ley Line- Centreline schemes are great for Lynch and this is no exception. The difficulty is in maintaining the bubble while spreading out enough to get the markers out (Kitty can help here with Lingering Contamination) Search the Ruins- I'd take it because it only needs you to be in the opponent's table half so it's reachable early enough to score both and keep most of the crew together Dig Their Graves- Pretty good option because of the bubble- drag something in and kill it. Hold Up Their Forces- Beckoners are great here (if only Depleted weren't Insignificant) and pulling things in to just engage them and shut them down is well worth the effort if its scoring you VP. Take Prisoner- Drag things in with Beckoners, sit next to them and keep them alive while shutting them down when they want to accomplish things and you'll have an easy time with it Power Ritual- Just don't. The deployment where this is easiest on paper (Corner and Flank) are the worst for Lynch to play into, and he doesn't have the speed to reach where they need to in order to score. Outflank- You don't want to split the crew with Lynch, so you don't want to play Outflank either Assassinate- Lynch isn't exactly tanky, and your healing in keyword is mostly locked to Huggy. Take OOK healers if you can fit it, otherwise just play cagey with Lynch and try not to get him killed. Deliver a Message- It's not a bad option, but it's also not a great one either. I'd take it over others depending on what's in the pool Claim Jump- This one is veeeeery nice for Lynch. Keep the bubble in the centre, anything comes near your chosen model you shove it away with almost any option in the keyword Vendetta- Some decent options here (Huggy is amazing) and a few jank ones as well (Lynch can target things like Coryphee Duet, Riders and 2nd masters) make it something I like to take fairly often GG1 Strategies- Symbols of Authority- Having to reach the backfield makes this a tough one so I don't really recommend it, but you could play a denial game and hope Kitty gets deep enough to claim a couple of Symbols. Recover Evidence- Very good provided you take damage dealers (1-2 Illuminated for sure here, probably also Fuhatsu). Drag things in, kill them and claim the evidence before repeating. Things get in your bubble to disrupt have a Beckoner further back to say no Interacts and shut them out of scoring as long as possible Corrupted Ley Lines- My favourite strat for Lynch just because he has so much to deny it and he isn't terrible at it as a keyword. Being able to drag opponents around with so much in the crew is huge and your threat vectors for ripping lodestone bearers away from where they need to be makes for a tough threat. Kitty is also just a pretty great bearer in general Public Enemies- Not bad, but you also rely on mid-high cost models that aren't the tankiest and don't do huge amounts of damage for the most part. What you're likely up against will win fights far easier than you will, so I wouldn't take Lynch here just because it's an uphill battle Schemes- Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Nothing changed here, so my points from above are still my opinion on them. Hidden Martyrs- Not a bad take because there's some models in here that are really tough to kill (Huggy, Graves to an extent) and some that are really big targets (Tannen). Tannen and Huggy also fit perfectly at 13SS Sabotage- Getting right to the back is pretty hard in-keyword (Kitty can do it but not enough reliably for both points). I wouldn't take it Catch and Release- Not too bad so long as you can keep minions alive but both options can pull it off well enough given keyword tricks, just have to play carefully Let Them Bleed- Honeypot is control, not damage. I guess you can keep them damaged and shut down but it's a lot harder to pull this off when you don't have many decent damage sources. Leave Your Mark- Not a bad choice because you can just hard deny the middle of the board for Interacts in general while you do what you want Research Mission- Lynch doesn't have any in-keyword marker generation, so you don't take Research Mission. It's that simple Spread Them Out/Runic Binding- You don't have the reach to spread out enough for either of these schemes, so I wouldn't take them with Lynch. His game plan doesn't play nice with either scheme because they ask for you to spread out across the table and not bubble

Hi all! I've been playing McCabe religiously for almost a year now, and now that Explorers are out we finally have his whole keyword and I can write about them as a whole. I really love McCabe and what his crew do and they're one of my favourites in the entire game because of it. Keyword abilities- Looted Supplies- Pretty simple, if the model starts their activation within 1" of a corpse or scrap they draw a card. It's on the whole keyword, and you can generate scrap decently enough to set up a bit of card draw if need be but it's just a really nice incidental thing too. Artefact Upgrades- They all have Take This! As a bonus to pass it to another minion or Wastrel within 6” on a 4 and Paid With Trinkets to give Fast at the start of the models activation provided the upgrade was attached this turn. Both of which together can give you great Fast chaining but I think it’s a bit of a trap and Fast just happens to be something nice to give out when you need it to happen Timeworn Blade- My favourite one, just cause it’s easy to use. Giving Precise (the important one) and Blade Storm it’s the most directly offensive of all the Artefacts and ignoring so much defensive tech can win games on its own. Blade Storm is ok but not amazing, and a lot of models in keyword have much better bonus actions already so it competes with a lot (Ride With Me, both of Sidir’s bonuses, Leap) Phantasmal Mask- The defensive one of the lot, this gives Life Leech and Protective Spirits (pulse 3 Shielded +1 as a bonus action needing a 7). The potential for healing from this is great even if its initially low (Protective Spirits also has a ram trigger to heal 2 and choose to end a condition) but it is a great way to passively heal up if you’re in the middle of a scrum. This is what I give McCabe after the Blade because boy it makes him annoying to deal with. Faded Mirror- My least favourite of the lot just because it doesn’t do as much as the rest, it’s very card draw focused in a keyword that can already get good amounts of card draw fairly incidentally. The bonus action it gives is just draw a card if the opponent has more cards in hand which is meh compared to almost any other bonus you already have, and Know the Warrior requires you to have Focus and not spend it while also cheating fate to draw cards. It’s a far worse Showboating and I would really only put this upgrade out if I already had 2 copies of Blade and Mask already out Keyword models- Lucas McCabe, Relic Hunter- McCabe is a really big bag of tricks, but they all lean towards one specific thing. He's quick with Mv7 and Unimpeded, plus he can move through other models and has Ride With Me for extra movement as a bonus action. All of this alone gives him potentially 26" of movement a turn, but with Make Way! this becomes huge amounts of damage and turns him into a shockwave-lite master. Tn13 Mv duels every time he moves through a model will happen a lot, and the 2 damage stacks up really quick if he runs around like he should be. He has a few tactical actions, digging up relics (and he can immediately dump it off on a trigger) is nice but Luna does it for less valuable AP, and he can force Wp duels that do 2 damage and Injured 2 if he discards Artefacts from friendly models. His attacks are where he shines though, because his Netgun blasts around Staggered and Slow (both of which protect him a lot and increase his damage potential) and his Bull Whip is just amazing. Low damage with 2/3/4 but it explodes into a bunch more duels to hurt the opponent a lot. 2" move built into the attack can clip plenty of things, plus the triggers to either move 5" (through more models for more duels) or the built in ram trigger to make enemies in pulse 2 take a Tn13 Df duel or take 2 damage. This means if you set it up well you can do absolutely massive amounts of damage to bunched up enemies and with the Timeworn Blade you can tear through most defensive tech on all of it except the Mv duels which is insanely good. McCabe tends to be a distraction piece for me in most games because of this potential, and he either gets focused (and still does a lot of work going down) or ignored and dominates the game. He's an amazing Ley Lines piece too because of the movement potential Lucas McCabe, Dismounted Hunter- the 2nd version of McCabe, this is assuming the mounted version gets killed (which isn't out of the question playing trample McCabe, and honestly something I expect late-game). He loses a lot (Unimpeded, Ride With Me, Make Way! and Trample), but does pick up +1Wp, Swagger and Extended Reach plus swaps his attacks out for 2 different versions. Collier Revolver is a decent gun but not anything to write home about (especially compared to the Net Gun) but his Glowing Saber is insane, especially when you add it to the Timeworn Blade to ignore almost every main line piece of defensive tech there is. All in all he's really just a last resort for when he does get knocked off the horse, but he's still pulling his weight. Luna- Basically only a way to cheaply get more Artefacts out, but Luna does it really well. Turn 1 and usually 2 she just digs up a scrap and removes it for an Artefact before passing it off to someone else which is a little card intensive but not huge enough to not do, and you can reliably topdeck most of it anyway. As a totem she doesn't do too much but what she does is great Sidir Alchibal- Sidir is the beater henchmen in the crew, and he is pretty damn versatile. Both his shooting and sword are stat 6, he has Analyze Weakness for Armour and Shielded and his triggers are all excellent. Crit Strike on his sword means he can spike damage far easier or he has the option for card draw/cycling, while his gun can either get extra shots or give the target Slow (both will affect the board state a lot). Swagger for free focus is amazing, Parry is a good defensive trigger when it works and Ruthless is pretty self-explanatory in how great it is. Mv4 isn't great, but Swagger is a nice compensation and Ride with Me from McCabe or Rough Riders (or both) do the job really well. His 2 bonus actions will both see play as well between having Juggernaut (keeping him really hard to put down when added to Artefacts and Silent Protector) and Blow It To Hell for ignoring cover on the guns in the crew which you can combo with things like Samurai for great effect. Desper LaRaux- Package everything you want in an ideal scheme runner and make it a henchman. This is Desper, absolutely worth taking every time you're playing anything needing schemes or interacts. Leap, super-Unimpeded and Don't Mind Me makes enough of a package that he's just amazing, but also Loot Their Corpse to generate Soulstones and a Df trigger that's basically better Butterfly Jump (albeit needing the suit). Plus he ignores Armour on his melee attack and can steal stones for if he needs to play aggressively, which he usually doesn't but it's hilarious when it comes up. If you can't tell already, I love Desper. Jessie Halliday- I think Jessie is good but she doesn’t really do much for McCabe in the grand scheme of things like Sidir or Desper offer. Archaeological Dig is a really great action McCabe gets a lot out of, but somewhat dependent on board state and it needs markers to exist first. Her front of card is amazing with her being unaffected by Severe, Hazardous, Shockwaves, Pulses and Blasts plus Hard to Kill, but a Harpoon Gun on one of the slower models in the keyword isn’t really needed (good in combo with Sidir but otherwise a bit meh to me) and the Soulstone Flare isn’t going to fire off as much as one would hope. The ways she interacts with Artefacts are also lacking to me and that's something I like to consider a lot in McCabe crews Rough Riders- Fast shooters with Ride With Me, they can do a lot of work at a lot of different things. Their melee isn't strictly amazing but their gun brings a lot to a keyword somewhat lacking in shooting, and their 2 bonus actions both are helpful (although Ride With Me is what you want most to ferry around the slower stuff like Sidir and Cryptologists). They get nice bonuses off of Severe terrain (while ignoring the Severe trait) and the extra inch or 2 on deployment is ok as well (especially with RWM to pull everything else forward too). They're somewhat fragile so be careful not to overextend them, but with Survivalist they can heal a lot when they need to (and the trigger on RWM to heal is great too) Hucksters- I love Hucksters, but who doesn't? Front of card is ok, and their attacks are nothing to write home about, but their tactical actions are amazing and the reason you take them. False Claim lets you get out obscene amounts of scheme markers mid-late game with some setup, and Secret Passage is huge amounts of movement is a little bit card intensive. Hucksters tend to be pretty card-hungry with TNs but it's lower moderates they need anyway so not a huge issue. Cryptologists- Really awesome design and fluff, but they're incredibly niche takes in Wastrel crews. Their big thing is being able to shut down enemy start of activation effects unless they discard a card first (Regen, Tools for the Job and Rig the Deck are the funniest interactions) or triggering friendly start of activation effects on their bonus action (all the Artefacts ability to give Fast is start of activation so one upgrade can get Fast for 2 turns on the same model). Otherwise they don't have anything especially fantastic but they're an interesting take in general. Ruffians- Looking at them compared to Hucksters for 1 less stone, Ruffians aren't worth taking. Sure they have Ruthless and Swagger which are both great, but they don't really play into the Wastrel game plan that much and Hucksters almost define that game plan, so I'd just eat the cost and take Hucksters almost every time OOK/Versatile models- Samurai- High cost high quality minion is something McCabe likes a lot, and the Samurai are exactly that. Good shooting and good melee on a tanky body that loves all the upgrades McCabe can give it (and all of the faction upgrades too) just makes for a safe choice in Wastrel crews Terracotta Warrior- McCabe loves good quality minions. The opponent won't, and will probably try to kill those minions. Terracotta Warriors can bring those minions back, and can steal a whole bunch of actions from the crew (Hucksters especially). For 4 stones why not? I love fitting one in Jorogumo- I know for a fact it will be mentioned by someone else if I leave these out, so here they are. I personally don’t use them, but they’re insanely good beater henchmen made better by McCabe and the relics (particularly the sword), the only issue with them OOK is Flicker management. But if they take down 2-3 models in the opponent’s crew before they die is it really an issue? Wanyudo- Doubling down on forcing a bunch of duels on the opponent, Wanyudo works like McCabe but giving out Burning. Can't benefit from Artefacts but it doesn't need to when it burns the opponent's crew and especially their deck, and it also benefits from being a great 2nd option in Ley Lines, an already great McCabe strat. Katanaka Crime Boss- These guys are something I've learned to love a lot and McCabe works wonders with them. Artefacts do work and they can get sped up by Ride With Me access, plus they're tough fighters already. Expensive and in a contested price bracket, but well worth it when they suit the pool Upgrades- Trained Ninja- Not hugely useful in keyword because on a lot of things parts of the upgrade are somewhat redundant (From the Shadows when Hucksters are already insanely fast, Unimpeded on Desper) so I tend to give it a miss. Useful and hilarious on Samurai though especially with McCabe to hand out upgrades Masked Agent- On McCabe it’s excellent (I love it on any beater master just for Relentless and With Me), but the keyword kind of lacks in melee beater henchmen so otherwise it’s mostly wanting you to take OOK and Versatile to get a lot of use out of. I usually just stick with it on McCabe Silent Protector- A great way to keep Sidir alive for a bit longer, but otherwise I don’t really take it on anything else in keyword. The other upgrades just do so much more Deployments- Wastrel as a keyword have such obscene amounts of movement they don't really care about deployment type, more about amount of blocking terrain for Hucksters. Tables with less blocking means less movement angles but they still have a lot to give on any table. Strategies- Reckoning- As a more scheme-based crew I don't think Wastrel are super geared towards Reckoning even though they can kill really well in certain situations. I wouldn't take them here unless the pool was scheme-heavy but even then, Thunders can do it better with other keywords. Turf War- Not a terrible take but I wouldn’t be reaching for Wastrel first in either faction for a similar reason to Reckoning. They’re decent enough but you’re not playing into the main game of Turf War with the game plan of most Wastrel crews Corrupted Idols- With a crew that can relocate as easily as Wastrel they’re a decent take here, but be careful of taking wounds on your own stuff cause it’s a risk for late game. Plant Explosives- Super easy. Chuck bombs on Desper and Hucksters, place where you need to and drop bombs. McCabe runs at the enemy carriers and him and Sidir play a kill game Schemes- Detonate Charges- False Claim. That’s it Breakthrough- A great scheme to take between Hucksters and Desper, it’s pretty easily achievable. I always take it when it comes up in the pool Harness the Ley Line- Again, Hucksters. But with Wastrel it’s not difficult to do with literally anyone Search the Ruins- Guess what? Hucksters and Desper. Terrain even potentially lets you Secret Passage right into position to drop the marker Dig Their Graves- Actually pretty great. First point isn’t hard in keyword, but the 2nd can be done purely with hitting triggers on False Claim and you can build it up throughout the game with good placement. Hold Up Their Forces- I’m not a huge fan of this one just because if you deliberately engage more expensive models you’re probably going to lose what you have pretty quick. McCabe has tons of high-value models too both in cost and game use so the opponent probably won’t hesitate if you engage and this is in the pool Take Prisoner- I don’t like this scheme mainly because your models are great things to choose as targets for it. You can pull it off pretty well with all the movement you have though so it’s not a bad choice, just something to be wary of. Power Ritual- Corner or Flank then do it, Wedge or Standard it’s a tossup. Doable with Hucksters and Desper going deep but also not guaranteed early and hard to do other schemes at the same time Outflank- Another easy one, you just have to make sure to survive Assassinate- McCabe takes a fair bit of punishment, but he tends to be a bit of a magnet for hits so it’s a risky take. Depending on who is on the other side of the table though it can be good for you as long as you push hard and force as much damage as possible (max out simple duels plus Life Leech) Deliver a Message- Huckster drops into leaders face, delivers message. 2nd point is a bit more work but it still isn’t impossible Claim Jump- Non-leader is the biggest downside here. It’s got game and I don’t dislike it, but it isn’t super scheme heavy like I like to play McCabe and it needs careful planning of placement and activation order to pull off Vendetta- If you're taking good beater minions, great take (although they're usually still 9-10SS and targets are restricted) but most of the time you don't have high enough damage on the models you want to really guarantee it with in keyword. GG1 Strategies- Symbols of Authority- Really good take for McCabe. You can't put Hucksters directly on the Symbols unless the opponent puts them near blocking terrain, but between the crew you have enough easy movement to threaten almost every symbol placement pretty reliably. Recover Evidence- McCabe can do it pretty well but I'm not guaranteed to take him here because he isn't the only good option in either faction. It all depends on the situation I find myself in at the start of the game as to who I will go with. Corrupted Ley Lines- This is my favourite strat for McCabe. Chuck the lodestone on him or a Rough Rider (or Wanyudo) and you'll pretty easily score at least 2-3 points. The amount of movement you get from Ride With Me and native Mv7 is enough with McCabe. Public Enemies- Because McCabe isn't really a combat heavy keyword I don't think he's a great take here, I'd rather go for someone like Misaki, Yan Lo or Cooper Schemes- Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Nothing changed here, so my points from above are still my opinion on them. Hidden Martyrs- I'm not a fan, but you can choose 2 Hucksters as your Martyrs and it becomes a really tough decision for your opponent. Do they kill the Hucksters and score you this or do they leave it and risk scoring more off the other scheme and strat? Sabotage- I take this often. Backfield scheming is something Hucksters and Desper can do really well and this just plays into that fact. Catch and Release- I really don't like it. It's doable, but I'm not a fan and I wouldn't attempt it with McCabe Let Them Bleed- Not something I would ever take with McCabe. It's difficult to predict and a lot of the keyword don't want to be fighting (plus 3 henchmen all with little defensive tech makes it hard to deny for you) Leave Your Mark- I’m not a huge fan of the scheme, but McCabe can do it easily enough. Having a Huckster in place can get you both points fairly easily, and in denying it will even gain you soulstones Research Mission- Pretty great take between generating scrap, scheme and blown apart markers. 2nd point is harder but still doable, I like it a lot Spread Them Out- Hucksters. They break off to get 2 markers down and whatever else places the 3rd, it's pretty easy to do with this crew. Runic Binding- With the movement and easy marker placement the keyword has, Binding is almost a safe take for the first point. If you start shooting with McCabe instead of trampling it gets even easier because you're slowing them down a lot.

Hi all, been playing McCabe almost exclusively this past year and I've gotten a lot out of it. With Explorers finally on their way I've put my thoughts into writing like I've done for a few other keywords now and what I find works in the crew Keyword abilities- Looted Supplies- Pretty simple, if the model starts their activation within 1" of a corpse or scrap they draw a card. It's on the whole keyword, and you can generate scrap decently enough to set up a bit of card draw if need be but it's just a really nice incidental thing too. Artefact Upgrades- They all have Take This! As a bonus to pass it to another minion or Wastrel within 6” on a 4 and Paid With Trinkets to give Fast at the start of the models activation provided the upgrade was attached this turn. Both of which together can give you great Fast chaining but I think it’s a bit of a trap and Fast just happens to be something nice to give out when you need it to happen Timeworn Blade- My favourite one, just cause it’s easy to use. Giving Precise (the important one) and Blade Storm it’s the most directly offensive of all the Artefacts and ignoring so much defensive tech can win games on its own. Blade Storm is ok but not amazing, and a lot of models in keyword have much better bonus actions already so it competes with a lot (Ride With Me, both of Sidir’s bonuses, Leap) Phantasmal Mask- The defensive one of the lot, this gives Life Leech and Protective Spirits (pulse 3 Shielded +1 as a bonus action needing a 7). The potential for healing from this is great even if its initially low (Protective Spirits also has a ram trigger to heal 2 and choose to end a condition) but it is a great way to passively heal up if you’re in the middle of a scrum. This is what I give McCabe after the Blade because boy it makes him annoying to deal with. Faded Mirror- My least favourite of the lot just because it doesn’t do as much as the rest, it’s very card draw focused in a keyword that can already get good amounts of card draw fairly incidentally. The bonus action it gives is just draw a card if the opponent has more cards in hand which is meh compared to almost any other bonus you already have, and Know the Warrior requires you to have Focus and not spend it while also cheating fate to draw cards. It’s a far worse Showboating and I would really only put this upgrade out if I already had 2 copies of Blade and Mask already out Keyword models- Lucas McCabe, Relic Hunter- McCabe is a really big bag of tricks, but they all lean towards one specific thing. He's quick with Mv7 and Unimpeded, plus he can move through other models and has Ride With Me for extra movement as a bonus action. All of this alone gives him potentially 26" of movement a turn, but with Make Way! this becomes huge amounts of damage and turns him into a shockwave-lite master. Tn13 Mv duels every time he moves through a model will happen a lot, and the 2 damage stacks up really quick if he runs around like he should be. He has a few tactical actions, digging up relics (and he can immediately dump it off on a trigger) is nice but Luna does it for less valuable AP, and he can force Wp duels that do 2 damage and Injured 2 if he discards Artefacts from friendly models. His attacks are where he shines though, because his Netgun blasts around Staggered and Slow (both of which protect him a lot and increase his damage potential) and his Bull Whip is just amazing. Low damage with 2/3/4 but it explodes into a bunch more duels to hurt the opponent a lot. 2" move built into the attack can clip plenty of things, plus the triggers to either move 5" (through more models for more duels) or the built in ram trigger to make enemies in pulse 2 take a Tn13 Df duel or take 2 damage. This means if you set it up well you can do absolutely massive amounts of damage to bunched up enemies and with the Timeworn Blade you can tear through most defensive tech on all of it except the Mv duels which is insanely good. McCabe tends to be a distraction piece for me in most games because of this potential, and he either gets focused (and still does a lot of work going down) or ignored and dominates the game. He's an amazing Ley Lines piece too because of the movement potential Lucas McCabe, Dismounted Hunter- the 2nd version of McCabe, this is assuming the mounted version gets killed (which isn't out of the question playing trample McCabe, and honestly something I expect late-game). He loses a lot (Unimpeded, Ride With Me, Make Way! and Trample), but does pick up +1Wp, Swagger and Extended Reach plus swaps his attacks out for 2 different versions. Collier Revolver is a decent gun but not anything to write home about (especially compared to the Net Gun) but his Glowing Saber is insane, especially when you add it to the Timeworn Blade to ignore almost every main line piece of defensive tech there is. All in all he's really just a last resort for when he does get knocked off the horse, but he's still pulling his weight. Luna- Basically only a way to cheaply get more Artefacts out, but Luna does it really well. Turn 1 and usually 2 she just digs up a scrap and removes it for an Artefact before passing it off to someone else which is a little card intensive but not huge enough to not do, and you can reliably topdeck most of it anyway. As a totem she doesn't do too much but what she does is great Sidir Alchibal- Sidir is the beater henchmen in the crew, and he is pretty damn versatile. Both his shooting and sword are stat 6, he has Analyze Weakness for Armour and Shielded and his triggers are all excellent. Crit Strike on his sword means he can spike damage far easier or he has the option for card draw/cycling, while his gun can either get extra shots or give the target Slow (both will affect the board state a lot). Swagger for free focus is amazing, Parry is a good defensive trigger when it works and Ruthless is pretty self-explanatory in how great it is. Mv4 isn't great, but Swagger is a nice compensation and Ride with Me from McCabe or Rough Riders (or both) do the job really well. His 2 bonus actions will both see play as well between having Juggernaut (keeping him really hard to put down when added to Artefacts and Silent Protector) and Blow It To Hell for ignoring cover on the guns in the crew which you can combo with things like Samurai for great effect. Desper LaRaux- Package everything you want in an ideal scheme runner and make it a henchman. This is Desper, absolutely worth taking every time you're playing anything needing schemes or interacts. Leap, super-Unimpeded and Don't Mind Me makes enough of a package that he's just amazing, but also Loot Their Corpse to generate Soulstones and a Df trigger that's basically better Butterfly Jump (albeit needing the suit). Plus he ignores Armour on his melee attack and can steal stones for if he needs to play aggressively, which he usually doesn't but it's hilarious when it comes up. If you can't tell already, I love Desper. Jessie Halliday- I think Jessie is good but she doesn’t really do much for McCabe in the grand scheme of things like Sidir or Desper offer. Archaeological Dig is a really great action McCabe gets a lot out of, but somewhat dependent on board state and it needs markers to exist first. Her front of card is amazing with her being unaffected by Severe, Hazardous, Shockwaves, Pulses and Blasts plus Hard to Kill, but a Harpoon Gun on one of the slower models in the keyword isn’t really needed (good in combo with Sidir but otherwise a bit meh to me) and the Soulstone Flare isn’t going to fire off as much as one would hope. The ways she interacts with Artefacts are also lacking to me and that's something I like to consider a lot in McCabe crews Rough Riders- Fast shooters with Ride With Me, they can do a lot of work at a lot of different things. Their melee isn't strictly amazing but their gun brings a lot to a keyword somewhat lacking in shooting, and their 2 bonus actions both are helpful (although Ride With Me is what you want most to ferry around the slower stuff like Sidir and Cryptologists). They get nice bonuses off of Severe terrain (while ignoring the Severe trait) and the extra inch or 2 on deployment is ok as well (especially with RWM to pull everything else forward too). They're somewhat fragile so be careful not to overextend them, but with Survivalist they can heal a lot when they need to (and the trigger on RWM to heal is great too) Hucksters- I love Hucksters, but who doesn't? Front of card is ok, and their attacks are nothing to write home about, but their tactical actions are amazing and the reason you take them. False Claim lets you get out obscene amounts of scheme markers mid-late game with some setup, and Secret Passage is huge amounts of movement is a little bit card intensive. Hucksters tend to be pretty card-hungry with TNs but it's lower moderates they need anyway so not a huge issue. Cryptologists- Really awesome design and fluff, but they're incredibly niche takes in Wastrel crews. Their big thing is being able to shut down enemy start of activation effects unless they discard a card first (Regen, Tools for the Job and Rig the Deck are the funniest interactions) or triggering friendly start of activation effects on their bonus action (all the Artefacts ability to give Fast is start of activation so one upgrade can get Fast for 2 turns on the same model). Otherwise they don't have anything especially fantastic but they're an interesting take in general. Ruffians- Looking at them compared to Hucksters for 1 less stone, Ruffians aren't worth taking. Sure they have Ruthless and Swagger which are both great, but they don't really play into the Wastrel game plan that much and Hucksters almost define that game plan, so I'd just eat the cost and take Hucksters almost every time OOK/Versatile models- Hopeful Prospect- Similar to the Terracotta Warrior in that they're just decent cheap minions (although Insignificant here) and they can turn into a far better model. They have to kill a 5+SS model to do it, but with the Timeworn Blade and Fast it becomes a whole lot easier and then you have a 4SS Huckster or Rough Rider Brocken Spectre- Same deal as the Jorogumo in that they're just big beefy beaters, but there's no synergy with the Blade because they already deal Irreducible damage. It does give them Fast though which is really worth it Upgrades- Treasure Map- Its simple and nice, but the models Deadly Pursuit is funniest on (McCabe mainly) don't get a lot out of it otherwise. Hucksters it could work with, but Hidden Agenda is so much better Flush with Cash- With the crew having a couple of ways to generate stones it could be good, but it also has 3 henchmen and thus a ton of models that want to be using stones. I'd usually just rather take the 2 extra stones and hope to win duels or reduce damage myself. Hidden Agenda- This is amazing. Put it on Hucksters and they become both annoying to take on but also really great at pushing for endgame schemes by gaining Fast Deployments- Wastrel as a keyword have such obscene amounts of movement they don't really care about deployment type, more about amount of blocking terrain for Hucksters. Tables with less blocking means less movement angles but they still have a lot to give on any table. Strategies- Reckoning- As a more scheme-based crew I don't think Wastrel are super geared towards Reckoning even though they can kill really well in certain situations. I wouldn't take them here unless the pool was scheme-heavy but even then, Thunders can do it better with other keywords. Turf War- Not a terrible take but I wouldn’t be reaching for Wastrel first in either faction for a similar reason to Reckoning. They’re decent enough but you’re not playing into the main game of Turf War with the game plan of most Wastrel crews Corrupted Idols- With a crew that can relocate as easily as Wastrel they’re a decent take here, but be careful of taking wounds on your own stuff cause it’s a risk for late game. Plant Explosives- Super easy. Chuck bombs on Desper and Hucksters, place where you need to and drop bombs. McCabe runs at the enemy carriers and him and Sidir play a kill game Schemes- Detonate Charges- False Claim. That’s it Breakthrough- A great scheme to take between Hucksters and Desper, it’s pretty easily achievable. I always take it when it comes up in the pool Harness the Ley Line- Again, Hucksters. But with Wastrel it’s not difficult to do with literally anyone Search the Ruins- Guess what? Hucksters and Desper. Terrain even potentially lets you Secret Passage right into position to drop the marker Dig Their Graves- Actually pretty great. First point isn’t hard in keyword, but the 2nd can be done purely with hitting triggers on False Claim and you can build it up throughout the game with good placement. Hold Up Their Forces- I’m not a huge fan of this one just because if you deliberately engage more expensive models you’re probably going to lose what you have pretty quick. McCabe has tons of high-value models too both in cost and game use so the opponent probably won’t hesitate if you engage and this is in the pool Take Prisoner- I don’t like this scheme mainly because your models are great things to choose as targets for it. You can pull it off pretty well with all the movement you have though so it’s not a bad choice, just something to be wary of. Power Ritual- Corner or Flank then do it, Wedge or Standard it’s a tossup. Doable with Hucksters and Desper going deep but also not guaranteed early and hard to do other schemes at the same time Outflank- Another easy one, you just have to make sure to survive Assassinate- McCabe takes a fair bit of punishment, but he tends to be a bit of a magnet for hits so it’s a risky take. Depending on who is on the other side of the table though it can be good for you as long as you push hard and force as much damage as possible (max out simple duels plus Life Leech) Deliver a Message- Huckster drops into leaders face, delivers message. 2nd point is a bit more work but it still isn’t impossible Claim Jump- Non-leader is the biggest downside here. It’s got game and I don’t dislike it, but it isn’t super scheme heavy like I like to play McCabe and it needs careful planning of placement and activation order to pull off Vendetta- If you're taking good beater minions, great take (although they're usually still 9-10SS and targets are restricted) but most of the time you don't have high enough damage on the models you want to really guarantee it with in keyword. GG1 Strategies- Symbols of Authority- Really good take for McCabe. You can't put Hucksters directly on the Symbols unless the opponent puts them near blocking terrain, but between the crew you have enough easy movement to threaten almost every symbol placement pretty reliably. Recover Evidence- McCabe can do it pretty well but I'm not guaranteed to take him here because he isn't the only good option in either faction. It all depends on the situation I find myself in at the start of the game as to who I will go with. Corrupted Ley Lines- This is my favourite strat for McCabe. Chuck the lodestone on him or a Rough Rider (or Wanyudo) and you'll pretty easily score at least 2-3 points. The amount of movement you get from Ride With Me and native Mv7 is enough with McCabe. Public Enemies- Because McCabe isn't really a combat heavy keyword I don't think he's a great take here, I'd rather go for someone like Misaki, Yan Lo or Cooper Schemes- Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Nothing changed here, so my points from above are still my opinion on them. Hidden Martyrs- I'm not a fan, but you can choose 2 Hucksters as your Martyrs and it becomes a really tough decision for your opponent. Do they kill the Hucksters and score you this or do they leave it and risk scoring more off the other scheme and strat? Sabotage- I take this often. Backfield scheming is something Hucksters and Desper can do really well and this just plays into that fact. Catch and Release- I really don't like it. It's doable, but I'm not a fan and I wouldn't attempt it with McCabe Let Them Bleed- Not something I would ever take with McCabe. It's difficult to predict and a lot of the keyword don't want to be fighting (plus 3 henchmen all with little defensive tech makes it hard to deny for you) Leave Your Mark- I’m not a huge fan of the scheme, but McCabe can do it easily enough. Having a Huckster in place can get you both points fairly easily, and in denying it will even gain you soulstones Research Mission- Pretty great take between generating scrap, scheme and blown apart markers. 2nd point is harder but still doable, I like it a lot Spread Them Out- Hucksters. They break off to get 2 markers down and whatever else places the 3rd, it's pretty easy to do with this crew. Runic Binding- With the movement and easy marker placement the keyword has, Binding is almost a safe take for the first point. If you start shooting with McCabe instead of trampling it gets even easier because you're slowing them down a lot.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Misaki is one of my favourite masters to play because of how fun her playstyle is and how mobile they can be, they really can adapt to almost any situation

Updated OP to add in my thoughts on GG1

Added in GG1. Now is the time for Viks to shine! They really work well with the new strats and schemes

Edited OP to add GG1

Edited the OP to add in my thoughts on GG1 and what the best places for Misaki and crew are. Some real fun to be had there!

I really really like the sound of Misaki in the new pools. I've been reading up and working on an update to the OP with GG1 in it probably due next week?

Glad to hear it helped! Misaki already has a strong keyword, and so far it's looking like nothing changes there with GG1 which is great (and outside of Minako she's likely to dodge nerfs too)

Definitely take on the feedback in the future and maybe I did write too much in some places, but there is also a lot in each section on how and why I use certain actions which need a bit of context so maybe I'm not "wasting everyone's time" as you say. It's all subjective, some people will naturally find it less useful than others

Edited the original post, added a bit more of my thoughts on some specific models

Hello to my fellow Thunders players! I'm primarily an Outcast player, and I have a few similar writeups to this on the Outcast forum, but Misaki has always been a character I loved so I've stuck with her in 3E as my in-road to Thunders, and written up my thoughts on the crew as a whole here. If anyone has anything to add feel free to in the comments, I know I'll be amending and updating this once the errata and GG1 come out too Keyword abilities- Charge Through- On a crew that is fairly heavily tilted towards melee combat this is really good to have. The shooters don’t have it obviously, but it just gives positives to damage on melee actions generated from a Charge action. It’s simple but it works, and it can counter things like Hard to Wound pretty well. Assassin- Quite a simple ability that is on a lot of the models in the crew, if they kill models that haven’t activated they gain Fast. It’s swingy but also very good, especially when you consider this crew as one that fights to achieve schemes in advantageous positions (yes that’s most things, but it’s a huge part of Last Blossom) Shadow Markers- Not an action or ability per se, but a lot of things in the crew play off of Shadow Markers. They themselves do absolutely nothing but a lot of models in the crew have tricks with them (mostly placement, but Minako can summon off them and Yamaziko, Crime Bosses and Snipers use them for card draw) so it’s important to make sure you have ways to generate at least a couple outside of Misaki because they really are great value. Extended Reach- A more universal ability than any of the others, but Extended Reach is in multiple places in the crew so bears a mention here instead of individually below. It stops enemy models within aura 2 of the model from taking attacks off of charging which in many ways acts as a bubble of Disguised (Disguise Misaki isn’t dead, just different). It doesn’t work against Run and Gun, but pretty much any other form of an actual charge action is shut down by this which is great. Keyword models- Misaki- The star of the crew, Misaki is a real lynchpin for Last Blossom as a whole because of all the work she does. She has Charge Through and Extended Reach as you could probably expect, Mobile Warrior to charge while engaged, Df6 and Wp7 with 12 wounds and a slightly low for the keyword Mv5. She can however choose to play a shell game with Shadow Markers, as she can choose to bury in the start phase and place 2 Shadow Markers anywhere within 8” (which happens every time she is buried- even by enemy effects) and then in her activation can choose to unbury at any Shadow Marker with the penalty of -1Mv for every 2 friendly models that have already activated that turn. In all this is a really great way to keep your enemy on tilt and to make sure your own plans can go off safely, while also just being a free way of moving Misaki around every turn (as long as you keep some from earlier turns, she can teleport around like crazy). As for her actions they are very good, with 4 actions that all make her work differently. Her bonus action is a tactical and needs a 4 to go off, and lets her shuffle cards from the discard back into the deck for every other friendly that hasn’t activated. It means if you have a really hot hand she can activate early, do a ton of work and then put your high cards back into the deck to use later in the turn. The crow trigger lets her hand out Stunned to enemies within 8” unless they discard cards for each crow you shuffle back in (this works really well with Execute- cheat high cards for Execute and then put those cards back in to try and force Stunned). Her other tactical action needs an 8 and targets any other friendly model within 8”, letting them take the charge action (or if they are Last Blossom, they can charge while engaged). This is a great way to extend the rest of your crew and reposition but also to hurt enemies more in advantageous positions and use your good beaters for more damage (mainly Crime Bosses and Ototo). As for her attacks she has an 8” range Shockwave that needs a 6 to go off, and is Shockwave 1, Mv13 and damage 2 which plays into her hand destruction mechanics. As for triggers she has a ram trigger for a second Shockwave marker, or a tome trigger to make a Shadow Marker in base contact with the Shockwave just before the Shockwave is removed (so the action still fully resolves as normal). Her Bisento is her main attack though, being a stat 7 attack vs Df which is always excellent despite the somewhat average 2/4/5 damage (which can be boosted by Crit Strike) and the action has a 2” range so she can hit models while usually being somewhat safer. Reposition on a mask gives her some movement potential to get around while attacking, while Execute threatens killing the opponent or hurts their soulstones and hand which is a great way of controlling the enemy crew. Shang- As far as totems go Shang is pretty good cause it plays nicely with what the crew does but is still somewhat unique in how it works. Arcane Reservoir is nice for the crew in general (but especially Minako) and for 4 stones Df5 Wp6 and 4 wounds is definitely acceptable. Insignificant is fine and Assassin is sort of there, and Shang also ignores all damage from Burning but the big ones are its support roles to Misaki. It has the same Channeled Healing action as Karina being able to target buried models (only Misaki in this crew unless you play against models that bury you) and Flickering Flames allows Misaki to treat Shang as a Shadow Marker to unbury from at the penalty of dealing 2 irreducible to Shang (half its wounds which is big). Attack-wise there’s nothing special, It’s Claws are decent for a totem with Flay(cheat damage through negatives on a mask) and Blaze(Burning 1 for each Tome) as great triggers while it also has the Heavenly Blaze Shockwave attack needing a 6 and at range 8”. It’s Shockwave 1, Mv12 and damage 2 which is decent as a way to get through an opponent’s hand, and as far as Shockwaves go it’s pretty damn good being only slightly worse than Misaki’s Shockwave Ototo- Almost about as unsubtle as Last Blossom get, Ototo is a big beatstick. With Ruthless, Charge Through and Assassin he is already geared towards combat somewhat but having a 2” range 3/4/5 weapon at stat 6 vs defence, plus possible Crit Strike he hits super hard when he needs to. He has another trigger which is pulse 2, all enemies must pass a TN13 Mv duel or gain Slow which ties into my next point with him- he’s tanky. Despite his Df/Wp4 which is pretty low for 10 stones, he has Armour 1 and Hard to Kill with his 10 wounds meaning he takes a beating before he goes down, plus his only bonus action is Juggernaut for healing which he will usually do. Slowing enemies with his pulse trigger makes him harder to take out, and when he does get below half his wounds he gets positive flips to attack and damage (meaning a whopping double positive to damage if he charges and on top of that possible severe of 7). Mv5 is somewhat slower in the crew, but he has 2” range, Misaki to make him charge outside of activation (and even while engaged) and his other tactical action The Storm is Coming which is a 6” range Shadow Marker drop on a 5 that has some additional effects. If he is within LoS of a friendly Leader the Shadow marker has the same effect as his Thunderous Blow trigger but on Wp instead of Mv (pulse 2, TN13 or gain Slow) which is great to control AP in enemy crews, plus the mask trigger on this action lets Ototo place in base contact with the Shadow Marker. Because of how the place works, his 40mm base and his 2” melee it can be a huge threat extender while still getting out Shadow Markers for the rest of the crew. Minako Rei- Easily one of the best henchmen in the entire game (and bound to be changed in the coming errata), Minako is an excellent piece with special synergy in a Misaki crew. With Charge Through and Assassin as expected, Minako also has her own special piece of kit based around her Karmic Fate upgrades on the front of her card. As a Df/Wp trigger on a Mask she can discard any in play Karmic Fate upgrades and choose to attach it to the attacker after resolving the attack, and afterwards whenever Minako suffers damage a model with the Karmic Fate upgrade suffers an equal amount making it a big risk to hit Minako at all. Her stats are pretty great at Df and Mv6, Wp5 and 8 wounds for 8 stones, plus she also has Laugh Off to shut down enemy movement effects on her. On the back of her card she has some nice actions, with her attack being a 1” range stat 6 vs Df attack that does a respectable 2/3/5 damage, but the built in trigger makes it Irreducible if the target has a Karmic Fate upgrade which is a great way to penalise people trying to attack her. The ram trigger is also very useful in that it gives Adversary (Last Blossom) which will obviously not matter much when she is being taken as a Versatile hire but is very relevant in-keyword. She has a 3” ranged summon which I will discuss a bit further down in more detail (but it’s great and fairly reliable in-keyword plus in a couple other keywords) and her bonus is to simply draw a card if the opponent has more cards in hand which is very nice if it happens. Yamaziko- This is the henchman I would most skip for a variety of reasons. Although she has some good stats, abilities and actions she doesn't entirely work with what the crew does best and dictates a specific kind of list built around her to get her most value. Charge Through and Extended Reach are fairly standard and Honorable is nice, but Nimble will only be used the first couple of turns unless you’re in a position where neither of her other bonus actions will be relevant or because you want to set up either scheming or an attack run, which are jobs that should be done by other models in the crew. Finesse is good if you’re at risk of attack but not amazing, while Great Teacher takes a card to use but it synergises really well with a lot of the keyword and some Versatiles. A gunline with her using Samurai, Snipers and Archers is pretty effective and can put out a ton of damage but it’s leaning hard into her and she isn’t a tough kill by any means. Her Yari has a good range to engage things and it’s an ok attack overall with decent triggers, but it’s not something to rely upon and a melee henchman with only stat 5 isn’t great at any cost. Master Tactician could be useful to eat the opponent’s hand (and then set up Execute runs with Misaki) but it’s very specific in who it can target and reliably go off on (that being a Leader with low Wp). All in all she’s a model who looks good on paper but every time I try and put her on the table I struggle with how I could’ve gotten more value out of something else as Yamaziko whiffs yet again. Katanaka Crime Boss- One of the equal most expensive minions in keyword (which isn’t really saying much, they’re all between 6-8 stones), the Crime Bosses are pretty great models for area control if only a little slow in reaching those areas. They have Extended Reach and Charge Through, plus Protection Money to draw cards after enemies drop schemes near them (including if Wokou force them to) and they can choose not to move from enemy effects or in enemy activations which flat out removes a lot of control options unless you want them to happen. They have a chunky 8 wounds with Df5 and Wp6 so aren’t too fragile, but Mv4 hurts them a bit. They do have a 2” melee range to compensate though which is excellent, and their stat 6 vs Df 3/4/5 damage is very nice. It has Unworthy of Her Attention for card draw and a Pass, but also Heave on a ram to place the target anywhere within 3” of the Crime Boss to play into its area control role. The other attack it has it Pressure which is range 8” stat 5 vs Wp and must target non-Leader enemies within 3” of a scheme or friendly Shadow marker but has an excellent effect in that the target must either discard a random card and take 2 damage or function as an Obey. The mask trigger then pushes the target 2” away from the Crime Boss to play with placement more which is great fun as the Crime Boss can lock down zones so the rest of your crew can do their thing. Its bonus action tactical needs a 4 to go off on a friendly scheme or Shadow marker within 6”, and then places the Crime Boss into base with it (even the slowest model in keyword has speed tricks) before pushing all enemies within pulse 2 away 2”. By removing an enemy scheme marker within 2” you can take an attack against a model pushed on a ram trigger, while on a crow you can remove a corpse marker to instead give every enemy pushed Distracted +1. The ram trigger is better given the choice, but if you have the crow trigger and nothing else you take it. Katanaka Sniper and Thunder Archer- The shooters in Last Blossom, both are cost 7 although the Sniper is probably slightly worse. Both models are Df5 and 7 wounds, but Thunder Archers have higher Wp, Mv and the bonus of Chi tokens to add to their duels so are more survivable, plus Archers have a very relevant Df trigger to get out of combat. They both ignore Friendly Fire and Concealment and both have Assassin, but the advantage of the Sniper is that it can engage in combat far quicker with From the Shadows and Sniper to all but guarantee turn 1 shooting with at least one shot or just to start in a position to scheme right from turn 2. The Sniper also ignores Cover which is great and has one higher severe damage, plus Crit strike, Reposition and Unworthy of Her Attention to gain Pass Tokens. It is, however, less accurate even before factoring in Chi tokens and the triggers on the Archer. The Archer ignores Incorporeal on its attack which is great in that situation, and with its triggers can get Irreducible damage for a ram and a Chi, on a tome can draw a card if they cheat damage and on a crow can give +1 damage and Staggered if the opponent is within 3” of a friendly Shadow Marker which are all very useful. The Sniper actually has a melee attack which stops it getting locked in combat, plus its bonus to freely move out of combat, which is a good bonus over what the Archer can do outside of damage. The Archer has Target Practice to remove markers up to 18” away (with the difficulty increasing with the range) and as a bonus can add blast damage to their shots needing an 8 (with a tome trigger to Concentrate and thus gain Focus or Chi). In general, I would take an Archer in most cases except for when there are either incredibly fast enemies on the table (primarily Neverborn) or if there is an abundance of hard cover on the table in which case the Snipers are better. Torakage- In my opinion these are one of the most efficient scheme runners in the game, a far cry from their 2E mediocrity. Mv7 Agile alone means they will get where they want when they want, but their bonus action Ninja Vanish is another possible 6” place on a 7 and their Shurikens have built in 3” movement as well with Onslaught so they can be throwing out damage while they move. Stealth is a great way to keep them alive too as even though Df and Wp 5 isn’t bad with 6 wounds it isn’t fantastic either. Offensively their ranged attack is low damage but high utility, and their melee attack is respectable with a movement trigger (have I said Torakage can move?) and a trigger that is on both their attacks. No Witnesses is conditional and requires no other enemy to be within 12” and LoS of the Torakage (so use terrain where possible) and if so you get +1 damage and ignore armour which is very useful in Thunders in general. Wokou Raider- A shared keyword model with Parker, Wokou Raiders are a bit odd in how they work but they’re very good nonetheless. They’re a melee model with a little bit of shooting, working as a tarpit and damage dealer that still has the classic Bandit scheme marker removal you’d expect. They borrow Charge Through from Last Blossom, getting positive flips to melee damage flips on Charges which goes well with their damage track (2/4/5) and positives to attack built in with some great triggers. Drop It! is typical as a Bandit, Critical Strike is good for the extra damage should you get rams and Coordinated Attack is better in Last Blossom than Bandit given the melee preference over Bandit’s gun focus, but always good when it’s relevant. Defence 5 is pretty average for something of their cost, willpower 6 being good, but Combat Finesse and the fact opponents can never cheat melee attacks against them is a very big boost to their effectiveness. Bullet Proof is something they share with Gunslingers and Kunoichi giving them a little edge against guns as well, while they have Life of Crime to gain Fast when they activate and not Assassin. This is somewhat easier to trigger if the opponent is using scheme markers (or in Parker), and synergises well with their Ever-Changing Wind which lets them move (not push) 3” when an enemy scheme marker is placed within aura 6, meaning you’ll easily be able to get in 4” to remove that marker when they activate. A New Horizon lets them place scheme markers around as a bonus action for a 4 of tomes, moving the marker 6” of its current location when the action is declared which can counter an opponent very well. OOK/Versatile models- Samurai- One of the higher cost Versatiles, the Samurai often get compared with Fuhatsu because they are both high cost Versatile tanks with gatling guns. However for me the Samurai edges out over Fuhatsu for a few reasons specifically related to the two masters I play in Thunders (Misaki and McCabe) and basically boils down to it being a minion over a henchman. In Misaki's keyword, the Samurai can benefit from Yamaziko's buffs but also gets the big benefit of being able to take From the Shadows and be made to charge turn 1 from Misaki with very little setup (which then gets the benefit of both Rush and Blade Rush so he's better at it). The Samurai is also great at both shooting and melee (with its Daito ignoring armour, something Last Blossom tend to struggle with) while being deceptively tanky for Df4 between Armour 2 and Juggernaut, and having the option to Concentrate as a bonus action and thus gain easy Focus if he doesn't need the healing. On top of all that once he does die he gets to make an attack action targeting the attacking model (notice attack action, he can shoot or melee as long as the Demise is triggered) for one last little bit of extra damage before he goes away (and see just below how you can repeat it!) Terracotta Warrior- As a cheap model it has its own value as an activation, and for 4 stones it's pretty good. Ruthless and Armour 1 for it's cost are both great, and Df5 is solid despite its 4 wounds. Its melee attack is definitely not fantastic, but its tactical actions are because of the sheer versatility they give to the crew. Just Like You! lets you copy any non-bonus tactical action from a higher cost model in the crew at -2 stat (things like Ototo's Shadow Marker drop or Misaki's charge order are great options if you have the cards) and Mold of the Other lets you replace the Warrior with a minion or enforcer that died earlier in the game (another big reason I like Samurai over Fuhatsu is this interaction). This replace also heals it 3 so it isn't then super easy to kill, but is a good way to turn a cheaper model into something that can possibly have far more impact on a game. The Minako Summons- Katashiro- Cheap glass cannon summons, Minako only needs a 10 of tomes to summon one off of a scrap or Shadow marker which "only" gives it a Flicker token and Slow (which you don't majorly care about). Shadow markers are more reliable, but once the Katashiro dies it becomes its own resource to continually summon off if that's what you want to do. It has very low defensive stats and is easy to kill at Df/Wp4 and 5 wounds, but they can put out some decent damage for their relatively low cost to the crew. They have Made to Kill to attack once they're placed (including when summoned), Blade Rush for if they charge through models (not too common but useful, also synergises with Misaki) and the standard 2 Oni abilities in Flicker. This means they can gain a Flicker token every time they perform a duel to gain positive flips to the duel and any damage flips working like a far easier Focus, but if they have 3 at the end of any activation they die meaning you have to manage it (or just not care because they're summons). They can discard one if they kill a model but with the way you'll usually be using them they'll be at a point it will kill them regardless of if they discard a single one or not. Their back of card has a few actions, with 2 bonus actions- one to discard a card to end a condition, and the other to place within 5". You might think at first glance the trick is to remove Slow when they activate, but in reality the far better option is to use the place and get a free attack off it anyway that can then generate another attack with its trigger so you still cap out at 4 attacks a turn (it's 6 without Fast or Slow but that assumes you're using the place and not removing conditions). It has a 6" range action that removes a condition on the target and puts it onto the Katashiro at up to +2 of its value at stat 5 vs Wp and needing a TN of 12 to succeed. It's not a bad way of getting around things like the Fire Golem, Experimental models or just anything with Focus because it forces a hard decision on them that can very easily risk death should they fail. Their Claws action is the way they become bombing blenders though as even though it is only stat 5 and 1/2/4 damage Flicker fixes that with its easy positives, and the excellent mask trigger to gain a Flicker and attack again so you can just keep going. You'll likely end their activation with far more Flicker than 3 which will kill them, but it drains cards and deals damage so is probably worth it. Wanyudo- As a summon, it’s not super reliable. It requires a model to first damage Minako Rei, her to put the upgrade on with her trigger and then the model with the upgrade to die which is possible but very specific and they can just pitch cards to get rid of the upgrade before that (which is still bad, but it stops a swing if they die). If Minako doesn’t kill the model it also takes 3 damage and gains Slow which shuts down its ability a lot more as well. As for the Wanyudo itself it’s a very good model for Misaki’s crew but doesn’t do all that much that’s unique. It’s Mv7 Unimpeded with Trample so can get wherever it wants to go, as well as forcing TN12 Mv duels when it moves through models with Burning 1 and 1 damage as a downside if they fail. It itself doesn’t take damage from Burning and can charge while engaged (nice with Misaki making it charge to force even more duels). Its actions are decent with a great melee attack resisted by Mv that puts out Burning and moves it around more, Breath of Fire for ranged blast damage (strictly inferior to just charging with it’s range) and a bonus action to force enemies to take a Burning damage immediately in pulse 3. All in all it’s a great mobile model that is probably best used to hunt down scheme runners and run schemes itself, but I wouldn’t really hire it in a Misaki crew. Upgrades- Trained Ninja- The regular effects of Unimpeded and Stealth are quite good and synergise with Last Blossom pretty well (so they should- thematically Misaki has a bunch of ninja-esque models). The minion buff however turns it up even further, giving From the Shadows which is great value for 2 stones. On Samurai it’s expensive but excellent, Torakage can get into position to scheme very quickly and Archers can use it to shoot from turn 1 to name a few good interactions with it. Masked Agent- This upgrade is the best option in Thunders and really helps out your combat models. It adds With Me so the model can carry a nearby friend when it takes the Charge action (even out of activation- thanks Misaki!) and Unnerving Presence to shut down Resistance Triggers in a huge bubble, while adding Coordinated Attack as a trigger to all minion attacks. Wokou already have this so it isn’t hugely beneficial (but they gain the same benefit as any non-minion), but the best in terms of most benefits gained is the Crime Boss as despite its slow speed it gets the bonus from every part of the card. Ototo or Misaki herself are other good options but lose Coordinated Attack, which isn’t really that huge anyway when you’re as reliable as they are (and have better triggers in Misaki’s case) Silent Protector- This gives Hard To Kill and Challenge normally which alone are good in the right situation (that being something already tanky) and minions add on Take the Hit. Misaki as a crew don’t have a huge need of this upgrade given their trend towards more mixed scheming than heavy combat, but it could be decent to protect the weaker pieces in the crew. It has jank with Yamaziko giving them positives (so pass off Yamaziko onto this model who then has a positive to defence) but that is more of a gimmick than actually always good. Deployments- Really, all deployments are good for Misaki because the crew has enough tricks to get up the table blindingly fast and do what they want to. It only really affects scheme selection and how they play that way because some things are affected a lot. Strategies- Reckoning- While you can manage a pretty top-heavy crew of beater henchmen here it also gives up a lot of points when doing so. My advice would be to stick with the minions that can dish out damage (Archers, Wokou and Crime Bosses primarily) with a henchman or two to support (usually I would say Minako and Ototo for summons/beating and straight up damage respectively) Plant Explosives- Easy, you can move around far better than most crews to actually get where you need to so once you've done that you're set. Corrupted Idols- With the ability to just pop up almost anywhere on the table pretty easily they can get around to toss Idols, but at the same time the super mobile models don’t have a huge amount of wounds so they risk getting badly hurt in the process. Shang can help mitigate this though and going OOK there are great ways to get healing in crew (Sun Quiang and Low River Monks especially) so it’s not a bad option Turf War- Like Parker and the Viktorias before, Turf War is a decent strategy for Misaki. She has mobility and damage in spades so she can do what she needs to in order to score points. Tossing Shadow Markers at Turf Markers to set up scoring vectors is also really good to do to put pressure on an opponent and make them try and play a shell game with things that might not actually happen- just like how the ninjas should be Schemes- Detonate Charges- Not a bad scheme to take because of the mobility and ease in disengaging of Torakage as well as the marker movement of Wokou Raiders, but the crew lacks major ways of putting out markers without the Interact action so it’s not a super easy thing for them to do. Breakthrough- Misaki herself makes this somewhat easy, but an opponent can still play around it by destroying Shadow Markers, and it’s still dedicating your (somewhat combat focused) Master on dropping schemes in the backfield Harness the Ley Line- Torakage are who you take here, because they will get where they need to be quickly and put down the markers. It’s not unreasonable to expect a turn 2 scoring of Ley Line with this crew because of their mobility Search the Ruins- Another one that’s fairly good to take because of their speed, just use the movement to jam into the opponent’s half and start dropping markers down. Dig Their Graves- Not bad but not great either. Some jank can be done with suicide Katashiro to get scrap out and the mobility of things lets you drop markers where you need but Dig is just far better done by Mei Feng in faction Hold Up Their Forces- Not a great choice given the focus on expensive models. Might be worth it if the opponent has even more expensive models (some Resurrectionist builds in particular) but you’ll be giving up points here more often than scoring. Take Prisoner- Easy to deny with the crew and not bad to score yourself. It plays into exactly what they want to be doing on the more expensive models (being in combat) and is especially good with Wokou Raiders Power Ritual- In Flank and Corner deployment this is easy VP. Use your movement on the fast stuff (Torakage and Misaki in particular) to run up and get markers down early and be safe in stopping your opponent countering (you will get there quicker in almost every case) but don’t take it in Standard or Wedge because it’s too difficult to get into the opponent’s 2 corners to get the VP Outflank- With the amount of tanky models in the crew (particularly henchmen) Outflank is an easily telegraphed but not so easily countered scheme. They don’t do it especially well compared to other options but they do a good enough job at it any Last Blossom player should consider choosing it as a scheme. Assassinate- This one is really worthwhile depending on who the enemy Leader is. If they’re someone you can get into and cut down quickly then go for it, but the more defensive Leaders (especially ones with Protected) are going to be a slog where you can’t just scalpel them out. Misaki is safe enough against it with her tools, but it is something you have to use subtlety and careful placement to get right. Deliver a Message- Again, Torakage. You have the potential to easily get to the enemy Master and interact so the first point is doable, the second one is somewhat harder. Like most crews it’s done with careful planning but you have to have a plan to get the 2VP Claim Jump- This one can work very easily, but the opponent can counter it easily themselves. Ototo is a good pick for it as are Wokou because they can stand long enough to get out of engagements and score the point (or just beat down whatever is engaging them) and Ototo in particular has heals to keep him above half wounds. Vendetta- Not great. Sure you have some excellent mid-cost models (looking at Wokou and Crime Bosses in particular) but they also have a ton of 8-9 cost models which will absolutely be targets for Vendetta. Like in Reckoning I would restrict the amount of henchmen I take here because it gives the opponent a lot of choice. GG1 Strategies Symbols of Authority- Dropping Shadow Markers all around the place you can really pressure the defence while you push up from multiple angles, and Misaki has her own really amazing defensive models too in Crime Bosses or even Yamaziko. Extended Reach is the best bet because it makes them waste their time. Recover Evidence- Misaki can’t be stopped burying which means she alone can scalpel out models with Intel where needed, but also your own crew are fast and good damage so you can fight on your terms to get Intel out. Corrupted Ley Lines- There are models in the keyword with great movement tricks to work as Lodestone carriers, but the no-place clause hurts a lot more. There are great things to be done here I think, but you're not getting the most insane value out of them that you would in other strategies. Public Enemies- Same deal as Reckoning with the crew, except there’s no more hiding behind expensive minions to deny the opponent. Just go for the expensive beaters and tank/hit away Schemes Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Nothing changed here, so my points from above are still my opinion on them. Hidden Martyrs- There are plenty of really juicy targets in Misaki's keyword, and the best part is you can bring back a copy through Terracotta Warriors if you want as well. Torakage are especially excellent choices because at cost 6 they fit nicely as half of your choice (or you just pick 2) Sabotage- Pop Misaki and Torakage up the back and get this pretty easily. Not sure what else to say Catch and Release- Torakage can actually do this pretty damn well. It's not a terrible option should you want to do it cause they have plenty of ways to disengage, just keep in mind that you paint a huge target on them once the first point is out Let Them Bleed- Playing a top-heavy crew isn’t a fantastic idea because of the possibility they can score against you, but the expensive models in-keyword are also great beaters and pretty tanky so they can score it themselves. Leave Your Mark- I don't like this scheme and I've already written about that elsewhere, and that doesn't change at all here. Research Mission- Hey look, you have fast schemers and Shadow Markers so you just need one more to generate it in-keyword. Suiciding Katashiro is an option, but you can just hire certain tech pieces out of keyword if you absolutely have to generate markers and don’t want to rely on corpses/scrap being generated mid game (or just strat markers) Spread Them Out- Easy as. Relocate around the table, drop schemes. Convert Shadows into schemes with Torakage and use Misaki to get into positions to put schemes down, you can get the 2VP without much hassle. Runic Binding- This is actually not bad because of the Torakage action to swap Shadows into scheme markers so you can drop Shadows where you need and then convert them when you want to score. The speed of the crew and also access to Wokou means you can score it easy enough

My essentials are Aionus, Scion and the Nothing Beast every time because of the work they all put in for the crew (with Aionus and NB being ever so slightly closer to "autotake" than the Scion). I also almost never hire Obliteration minions because I can just summon them in where needed, but I haven't been using Void Hunters too much until the model is out and I would consider hiring them in the right pools. Otherwise I put my 2 other favourites in there in the Emissary and Prospector who both work nicely in the crew and I get a lot of value out of. There's a lot of talk about Hannah as an essential to the crew as well, but I'm personally more skeptical on taking her+support because it's a big investment that runs separate to the main style of the crew

Of course I missed things- edits inbound!

Hi all, finished up another of my crew writeups focusing on Tara and her Obliteration keyword. Not as in-depth with specific combos as some others but I feel like it goes into enough about what they do to get a fairly good grasp on the crew and act as a diving board for anyone looking to play Tara! I've also got this hosted on my blog with pictures of my own Tara crew spread throughout here! Keyword abilities/actions- From Nothing- The crew's main ability, this lets them unbury at the start of their activation by removing Fast from any model (although you'll want it on enemies to maximise AP control and because it's simply easier). The only one that lacks this is Talos (and I'll get into why this is very bad later) but overall it's a great way to boost up your placement and get into positions where your opponent have a selection of bad decisions to make. Glimpse the Void- A pretty common Tome trigger on the crew, this forces enemies to take TN14 Wp duels or be buried. This is great because then you can rough them up with (almost) the entire crew and they can't easily escape it, especially if they've already activated. More a little bit of control for your opponent that helps you out rather than something to plan your game around, but if you’ve got it you may as well declare it. Stutter Time- Pretty simple bonus action on the crew, it's 6" range TN10 and resisted by Wp giving enemies Fast and burying friendlies with From Nothing. By itself it may seem pretty bad, but it's the enabler for all the other janky placement tricks they have by turning on From Nothing. Use it on Masters and models that have already activated and watch as they have no way to stop you unburying near their models. Beyond Time- This lets the models that have it target buried models with actions ignoring range and LoS, which considering the amount of bury tricks the crew has is quite helpful. The main use for it is to kill models with annoying defensive abilities that work of auras or give them movement, because neither will trigger if they are buried. Time is Meaningless- All the Void creatures have this, which gives them + flips in opposed duels with enemy models. It's good because they can apply fast themselves, but it won't always happen because models can activate and use their fast or you will want to end it to unbury near them. Age to Destruction- Quite simple, it just deals damage to any model that starts its activation with Fast within aura 4 of models with this ability. It means you're punishing people for trying to deny your anti-Fast tricks and it can be a good way to get through awkward numbers of wounds (or the much-hated Hard to Kill/Regen combo) Bury/Unbury The main gimmick of the crew, this deserves its own section because of how tricky it is. With how many vectors the crew has for unburying after they bury themselves, you can pull around and jump across the table very quickly and trick your opponent into dedicating resources to parts of the table you will abandon soon after, primarily where you can't score/they can't deny. This plays into Glimpse the Void as well as you can put their models into these positions and keep them there with little investment yourself, which can be a real pain for an opponent and make it hard for them to score. Keyword models- Tara- As the master of the crew Tara naturally exemplifies the scheming/control-based nature of the Obliteration keyword. Her front of card is somewhat expected with decent stats (Df5, Wp6 and Mv5) and most of the common abilities of the crew (everything listed above apart from Time is Meaningless) with 2 other additions. Her Df trigger on a Mask is really great because it always happens, and simply makes projectile actions fail if she gets a mask of any number which is a great way to keep her alive against shooting heavy lists that don’t care about her mobility as much. She also has Adrift in Time which allows her to activate twice if she is the crew’s Leader (which she will be, there isn’t much reason to ever hire her as a second master) but gaining Slow at the start of her second activation. A 5AP master is still excellent though and does work, especially looking at the back of her card. Apart from Stutter Time she has her Soulstone Sword as an attack action, and at stat 6 vs Df, 1” range and 2/3/5 damage it’s not terrible especially as a way to guarantee Glimpse the Void which is built in. She has Leeching Strength on her Stutter Time (which is very reliable at stat 7) but otherwise that’s as much as she does offensively as she is a rather passive master. Her 2 tactical actions are where she really shines though, as Timeslip is a very easy placement trick that lets her place anywhere within 6” of her current location for a 6 of any suit, and on a crow she can do a 3” pulse that strips Fast off of enemies, and then for each instance of Fast removed a friendly in the pulse gains Fast and the crew gets a pass token which is excellent. Using this to not only annoy the enemy crew but to set up your pass tokens and get Tara into great scheming positions is well worth the moderate card it costs and should almost always be used because of how reliable it is. Her other action makes her the Outcast summoner (no Hamelin isn’t, his summons are indirect and incidental and no longer his primary gimmick) allowing her to name any number of Obliteration minions (those being Void Wretches and Void Hunters, both good options in different circumstances) and summon them with the Voidling upgrade. This upgrade buries them which isn’t a huge hassle, and the TN is variable based on what models you choose (1 Wretch needs an 8 of tomes, a Hunter needs an 11 of tomes and 2 Wretches needs a 12 of tomes). Tara in general though is a versatile master who herself will perform any number of marker schemes and can do a ton in the turn which is a great thing to have leading your crew. She is somewhat fragile but once Karina factors into it she will survive far longer than she has a right to. Karina- Tara's totem, Karina is actually pretty good. Although she's Insignificant and has very low defensive stats, she has a few great actions that help the crew out. First is Stutter Time with Glimpse the Void as a trigger (although she needs a 6 to get it off) and her Channeled Healing action is both a good heal and a way to unbury models that isn't From Nothing. Her 2nd bonus action isn't going to be as commonly used as Stutter Time, but Time Warp can be used to flip your discard pile and fate deck without shuffling either, so if you knowingly ran out of severes mid-way through the turn and Karina hasn't activated you can get them all back without flipping any extra cards. She also has Necromancy Savant on her front of card, meaning if Tara is killed by an enemy (not Poison or Burning) within 8" of Karina you can discard a card to heal Tara 4 and bury her, which is great and fairly low cost. For her cost of 0 in a Tara crew, she is definitely a worthwhile piece. Aionus- The most expensive model in the crew, Aionus is a fairly important 10 stone piece because he provides a ton of versatility to the rest of the crew. His stats are excellent (Df and Mv6, Wp7) and he has a couple of fairly standard Obliteration abilities (Beyond Time and From Nothing) on top of some great unique abilities. A Stitch In Time lets him pass off Fast or Slow on models he kills to models in LoS (great in Tara where you hand out Fast to your opponents) and he can also choose to give any enemy that buries within aura 8 of him Fast or Slow with Time is a Flat Circle which adds another little bit of control. His last ability is his best though, because Buffering lets you spend your pass tokens to make the opponent pass when they would activate a model with Fast. They need LoS to Aionus but that isn’t a huge issue, and it lets you dictate both activation order and where your own models can unbury (because you safely bank that Fast so something can pop out). His back of card is purely attacks like most Obliteration, and he has Stutter Time, but otherwise is pretty unique. His melee attack is stat 6 vs Wp and 1” range, doing 2/3/4 damage and giving either Fast or Slow and with a trigger to deal +1 damage by ending a condition on the target (so fairly reliably). Eventuality is 8” range stat 6 vs Wp, is enemy only and cannot target the same model more than once an activation but it simply deals damage equal to the turn number so late game it is great damage. It has Glimpse the Void and Leeching Strength (deal 1 damage to buried model, Aionus heals 1) as triggers which are both useful too. His last attack though is going to be used far more on friendly models than enemies (and thus relented) and just unburies the target within 3” in LoS and outside of terrain. The built in trigger though is simply an after resolving gain 2 pass tokens, so using it to both unbury your own models and gain a pass token advantage is huge for their style of play. Scion of the Void- The Scion is deceptive, because you look at its cost and assume it isn't great but really it's fantastic and should always be taken. Cost 6 for 6 wounds is pretty par for the course and the stat line of 5s all round on the front of card is decent, and looking at the abilities of the Scion it only gets better. Fade Away built in on both Df and Wp for consistent 2 damage reduction and bury (unless they ignore your triggers or deal irreducible) is really quite fantastic on such a low wound model and only gets better when you consider healing in the crew, plus it stacks with stones so you can just stone to make it 0 damage. You can take actions while buried using the Scion and even measure range through Obliteration minions that are on the table (making your summons even more annoying) but with the downside of taking a damage each time you take an action buried (this is where Karina comes in handy). In terms of actions she has Stutter Time plus 2 other excellent attacks, with Hungry Emptiness being a 10" range condition removal that deals 2 damage for each condition (great against things like McMourning or Kaeris where they like having conditions). It's stat 5 resisted by Wp so nothing amazing, but it's a good action in its niche and has 2 good triggers- Surge for card draw and Siphon Strength to steal health from buried models and heal the Scion. The other attack is the same as a Void Wretch so pretty bad damage (1/2/3) but at stat 6 it is at least reliable and it has Glimpse the Void as one trigger, but Diffusion as the other which is excellent. It can only be declared if both models are buried, but it adds +2 damage to the action (making it 3/4/5) and the target must discard a card. If you set it up (which isn't too difficult) then you will easily be tearing through models that get buried between this and the rest of the crew being able to hit them Nothing Beast- The biggest of the Void creatures, Nothing Beast is a big beatstick that plays well with the rest of the crew and really makes the most of their tricks. He has all the standards for a Void creature (From Nothing, Time is Meaningless, Beyond Time and Incorporeal) plus Stutter Time, with Terrifying 11 added to make him tankier (which at Df/Wp6 and Incorp it adds up). On the back of his card are some interesting Tactical actions that won't always see use but can come in handy, with one being a bonus action (thus competing with Stutter Time) to give a 3" aura of concealment for a 4 and the other being slightly more complicated. For a 6 he can hit enemies in a 6" pulse that makes them take a TN14 Wp duel or take 2 damage and Fast, but models with Fast it becomes a very rough TN16. This is nice cause your crew use the Fast on them and it's extra damage going out, but you have to be careful with it too. His last action of note is his Obliterate attack which is 2" range, stat 6 and resisted by Wp (these are all good already) and has 3/4/6 damage base. It has Glimpse the Void on it, and on a crow Leeching Strength which lets you deal 1 damage to any buried model to heal NB 1 wound(could be a summoned Void Wretch kept buried to feed him) Talos- I'll be honest, he's not great. Even though he is an Armour 2 Terrifying beatstick with min 3, he doesn't do much that synergises with the crew at all and he lacks all of the unique abilities or actions that make the Obliteration crew tick. He brings his own little burning package for buried enemies but it's more cute than anything, and giving him From Nothing would go a long way to making him useful. Void Wretch- Pretty simple models, these little guys are cheap and not really fantastic by themselves, but they synergise great with the crew and are pretty easy summons. 2 of these for a 12 of Tomes from Tara is a great spend, and they can do a ton to help the crew out (spread Fast, bury your own models, even just scheme run the turn after they're summoned). May not be super tanky or great damage but with Incorporeal they can keep alive for longer than they realistically should and they are really only scheme runners/roadblocks anyway. Void Hunter- Yet to be released, the Void Hunters are an additional minion for Tara (and thus summon) that occupy a sort of middle ground between the Nothing Beast and the Void Wretch in that they’re a hybrid beater/scheme runner. Stat-wise they exist straight in the middle, although they share the Nothing Beast's Mv of 6 which is excellent. Terrifying 10 is more of a card drain than actual defensive tech but Df/Wp5 with Incorporeal is still good (especially on something you can just summon back). Their front of card is otherwise the exact same as a Wretch and the Nothing Beast, but their actions are a bit more unique. Their main melee attack is stat 5 with built in Glimpse the Void, 1" range and resisted by Df, but it gets a + to the duel if you have no cards in hand (with another if the enemy is Fast) and is a respectable 2/3/5 damage. They have a ram trigger for +1 damage if they end a condition on the target which is great too, although their other attack is a bit more clutch in its utility. It's resisted by Wp like most of the other Void attacks, and is 2/3/4 damage plus Distracted 1. The trick to it is it an only target buried models, and unburies the target as a result of the action so can be used to drag things out of position and put them in bad spots if they were likely to unbury soon. The tome trigger on it is very useful too, as it buries the Hunter and then draws a card so is a nice resource gain. OOK/Versatile models- Hodgepodge Emissary- A great model in the crew despite not having much synergy, the Emissary does a lot to support the crew in relevant ways. It has a 6 inch range heal that only needs a 6 to go off and can attach the excellent Trinket upgrades at the same time, a bonus action to put up an aura of soulstone generation when models die, and the better bonus action to push a model 3” and then drop a scheme marker. Combine that with 3 inch auras for passive heals on models’ activations and increasing their Mv by 1 for that activation (not as relevant with Tara as most other crews but situationally good), plus it having Manipulative and Hard to Kill it is well worth the 10SS investment in a lot of pools. Trinket upgrades- · Memento- Gives Companion, it’s useful but not mandatory. Nice to have with the pass token generation as well to save your cards. · Pretty Floral Bonnet- Don’t Mind Me lets any model you choose be able to Interact far easier which helps, but you mainly use it to unbury and immediately drop schemes for things like Harness Ley Line but more importantly Detonate Charges or second point Deliver a Message · Vitality Potion- Regen +1 should go on one of the more important models in the crew. Aionus, Nothing Beast or Tara primarily, but also decent on Karina and the Scion. Prospector- always good. Feeds stones to the crew which is great given the amount of essential henchmen and triggers (plus suits for Tara's summoning) and it's all around a good scheme-based model which plays into Tara's favoured pools. Upgrades- Servant of Dark Powers- As far as upgrades go Servant is excellent, but it isn't that great in the context of Tara. She isn't likely to hire minions in most cases so the terrifying isn't a factor, while the extra movement and healing aren't really that useful to the crew either. Wanted Criminal- Not worth it enough here because the enemy can just choose to not drop markers near the models with it, or the model with it will be burying/unburying and thus not on the table to draw cards. Swagger is good but on the minions Tara will be hiring (if any) it is largely pointless because they won't be attack pieces, and Expert Thief is fairly average an action. Soldier for Hire- Hard to Kill on any of the Living pieces in the crew is great (Basically only Karina) but the rest of the card doesn't really justify spending 2SS on it. Deployments- Because of the mobility and relocation inherent in the crew Tara really doesn’t care much for deployment types. As always it will affect scheme decisions but Tara and crew can get where they need to be quite easily because of From Nothing. Strategies- Reckoning- Not a great pool for Tara. She can do some tricks in it with her crew, and she has a couple of good beaters but it doesn't make up for the fact that the crew has a heavy reliance on henchmen and doesn't have a good spread of damage dealing Turf War- Not terrible because she can pop in and out messing with Turf markers, but she doesn't have the durability or killing power to play it right through. I'd skip her for Viktorias or Von Schill here. Plant Explosives- Pretty good pool for Tara because a lot of her stuff can bypass enemies to get where they need to be (through buries mainly but also Tara’s placement and double activation). Load up the models with places, especially Tara, and go nuts jumping around dropping bombs in awkward positions. Burying and then killing models with bombs is also a great way to just remove them from the game and not have to worry about it while being a real pain to your opponent. Corrupted Idols- Easy strat and probably Tara’s best, Idols naturally benefits crews with heals or summons and Tara has both. Summon Wretches turn 1 to continually cycle through pushing Idols, use your pass token supremacy to dictate where they drop and your easy placement to navigate the table with ease. Schemes- Detonate Charges- Tara doesn’t have anything especially geared towards Detonate but the crew isn’t strictly terrible at it either. It’s something I would look at Tara as a counter to rather than her scoring it herself and spring for another easier scheme. Breakthrough- You've got mobility and you've got scheme marker placement. This is one you can do, but as always I only recommend it in Flank because of greater spread and more potential to flank. Harness the Ley Line- This one is super easy because again, it’s moving and interacting. Being able to drop wherever you want (especially with Aionus or Pretty Floral Bonnet) and start interacting to score VP makes Harness easy VP for the crew- use disposable Wretches and Tara herself to almost solo it. Search the Ruins- The crew can push deep with their tricks and get right where they need to for interacting, so even though it’s more difficult than some other options on here it’s definitely more than doable and in the upper half of scheme selection Dig Their Graves- Nothing Beast, Void Hunters and Void Wretches all don’t drop markers here which makes the second point harder for both parties, but in general this isn’t something I’d be taking with Tara. The crew is far more geared towards interacting and marker placement, and this scheme rewards crews not only with interacts but also quick killing. It’s ok to take but it doesn’t necessarily gel with what Tara is doing Hold Up Their Forces- Drop Wretches into things, score VP. It’s pretty easy to do but you have to be careful with the Fast game and activation order to achieve it at best effect. Take Prisoner- Another one where you can unbury late turn and score easily, well worth considering (especially with Void Hunters being summoned in to be an annoyance) Power Ritual- If this isn’t one of Tara’s best schemes I don’t know what is. Obviously dependent on the deployment (I would still never take it into Standard or Wedge) but it’s significantly easier with Tara’s crew than most Outflank- Easy to score both from and not difficult to deny with Glimpse the Void. Well worth taking for 2VP because you should be able to score it without hassle (i.e. if the opponent kills what you have on one side you can reach it again easily) Assassinate- Tara isn’t necessarily easy to kill, she’s slippery, but if something can catch her out she won’t be hugely safe. It’s not something I’d recommend taking her into (her crew also isn’t fantastic at scoring it) but it’s possible Deliver a Message- Another one based around movement and interacting? Yes, this is a Tara scheme. The crew can easily get into position to score both VP, and her relocation also means that she can counter it by just popping off into the void last turn (doesn’t even matter that she counts as dead if Assassinate isn’t in the pool) Claim Jump- If you play the bury/unbury game well, this can be quite easy. But with the way Tara’s crew unburies off enemies it has to be played to carefully so the model isn’t engaged at the end of the turn Vendetta- There is one really standout option in this crew for Vendetta, and that is the Scion of the Void. Being a pretty survivable henchmen itself, but also able to dish out a ton of damage while buried the Scion can easily get the points for Vendetta and stay alive GG1 Strategies Symbols of Authority- Hard to defend because of the nature of the crew, but you can leverage Glimpse the Void enough in addition to your own models appearing in engagement that you can threat very easily. Recover Evidence- Because of how this strategy shuts down burying, you don’t take Tara into this. It’s just too much of a major downside to even consider her IMO. Corrupted Ley Lines- With the crew's reliance on burying for movement changing they aren't fantastic, but you can still make the most of Lodestone carrying through careful planning of activations and placement. Tara is a good choice here but by no means a standout best. Public Enemies- Not really great for Tara for the same reasons as Reckoning. It’s doable if the scheme pool is ok but I would look elsewhere. She can bury things and then kill them to still gain Bounty tokens without it escaping but it’s not reliable enough to make a whole game plan around. Schemes Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Unchanged, see above for my thoughts on them Hidden Martyrs- With how I hire crews for Tara this doesn't really work as I tend to mostly hire very expensive models to start and summon in minions. The Scion and Prospectors are 2 things I use often that can work but I wouldn't take the scheme on principle, preferring to take interact schemes. Sabotage- Same as Search the Ruins in terms of difficulty. You should be able to at least get the first point easily enough with Tara alone. Catch and Release- This one is very doable for Tara, just means you need to hire a minion. Do it with Void Hunters, unbury them into scoring position late in the turn, then bury again later to get them out of danger and unbury in safer positions. Let Them Bleed- Not something I would take with Tara. It’s not how she plays and it shouldn’t really be something you would even consider choosing with her crew. Leave Your Mark- Like every other crew, I still say don't take this scheme. Research Mission- Not really that great because you can’t leverage the amount of markers you get out with the crew in a way that makes it easily scored. You’re relying on incidental stuff and the opponent to get the most use out of it. Spread Them Out- This is a Tara scheme. In any situation she’s not shut down by the strat she can easily get the markers out where she needs to score the points. Runic Binding- Scheming keyword with tons of reach means point 1 is super easy especially once you look at being able to unbury models in the triangle and block them in. 2nd point is a bit tough but that’s most crews

My standard crew geared towards Plant Explosives is this. Basic idea is Emissary sets up Mad Dog with Parker, Doc goes with them as the main offensive ball while the rest darts around and does schemes. It only has a 3SS cache but I've almost always found I've had enough in this crew with their generation. Parker Mad Dog Doc Prospector Emissary 2 Dead Outlaws 2 Bandidos I did miss that, I totally forgot about it and it's something that's huge. You're right though in that I don't use Pride and the Child, I don't have Pride painted yet and the Child I just don't think I get enough out of to be truly amazing in Bandit even though I own it and its painted.

Hi all back with another one of my crew overviews, this time for my favourite crew the Bandits of the Barrows Gang. I really do love playing Bandit and it's the keyword I've put the most time into by far (50-60 games compared to Viks next at about 10), having some close matches off top table in tournaments to knock me off podiums with solo-Parker. Keyword abilities/triggers- Life of Crime- while not on everything in the crew, it's pretty common and very useful. When a model with this activates it can remove a scheme marker within 4" (any- friend or foe) to gain Fast. Simple, effective and all around just good if you have ways to get markers out easily (and with the bandits, you do) Run and Gun- quite simple, they can use projectiles on Charge actions. When the crew mostly have guns, this is great because it's AP efficient and helps them move around while still being able to shoot opponents (also to get around cover or concealment) Drop It!- the tome trigger of the crew, this forces the target to drop a scheme marker of the opponent's in base contact with themself. The trigger is useful to put Fast on your own models (because of Life of Crime) or just to mess with the placement of markers for your opponent (if you make them put a marker in a useless spot but it's within 4" of somewhere they would want a marker, that's a big win) Gunfighter- A few models in the crew have this which lets them use their guns as melee attacks with a range of 1”. It’s good to stop things from being shut down in engagement and means the models with it can keep shooting, just at what’s closest first A Fistful of Scrip- On Parker, Mad Dog and Sue, this lets them place a scheme marker in base contact with models they kill. It’s useful to set up schemes if models happen to be in the right place at the right time, but more often it will just be used to feed Fast to things. Keyword models- Parker Barrows- The master of the crew, Parker is good at pretty much everything you want him to be good at. His defensive stats are very good for a master (mainly his 14 wounds) and he has a couple of ways to regenerate Soulstones to keep him going (and the other stone users in the crew). His front of card is pretty standard given his role as the Bandit Master, with Gunfighter, A Fistful of Scrip and Run and Gun but he also brings Expert Shot to always ignore Friendly Fire which is really nice to have, and Draw Their Attention to go into his role as a shooter that supports his crew when he does it. It means when he damages an enemy model another friendly in LoS of him can discard a card to take an Interact action, meaning in interact heavy pools it can get a lot of value out of a crew that already is capable of taking a lot of actions (you can’t score Deliver a Message off it but Plant or any scheme marker is fair game). The back of his card has a lot of text- to be expected on a master- but each of his 4 actions have worthwhile uses and will see play at some point. His Six-shooters are a somewhat low stat 5 with positives, but they get +1 for each scheme marker within 3” of the target which him and his crew will force placement of, and 2/4/5 damage is respectable with his possible 17” threat range on 1AP. The triggers are also pretty good with him having Reposition on a mask to move up to 3”, and Highway Robbery as a version of Drop It! that will always trigger provided he has the tome (it’s enemy only, after resolving so he doesn’t need to actually hit). Highway Robbery then helps set up one of his tactical actions Bandit Raid, which has 10” range and needs a 6 to push another friendly model up to 6” towards a scheme marker in its LoS and then if it is a Bandit it may take a shoot action. It can’t target the same model more than once an activation but it’s a great way to not only get threat extension but also extra shots and putting models closer to scheme markers (which then means Fast). It’s amazing on Mad Dog or Gunslingers because they both have great things that work with it (blasts on Mad Dog, Onslaught on the Gunslingers) and want to be in good positions for shooting. His other tactical action is a bonus with no flips needed, simply a 4” pulse that removes all enemy scheme markers and gives you a card or soulstone for each. It’s value just because it gives you resources super quickly and it’s absolutely free- doesn’t cost you cards and doesn’t clash for any other bonus action so when you have the opportunity it will happen. The last thing to note on his card is somewhat less common to use but still good in the right situation and that is Stick Up!, which is slightly lower range but higher stat than his guns, resisted by Wp instead of Df and has a more control focus. It’s enemy only and can’t target the same model more than once, but it deals a flat 4 damage that can be reduced by 2 for each card the enemy discards (obviously they can only discard 2). The catch is if they do discard cards you draw an equal number so it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for the enemy, and the ram trigger is then an irresistible theft of a soulstone provided the target can use them which is both thematic, hilarious and strong. In general I find myself using the Six-shooters more often to throw out markers and deal damage but Stick Up! Is great as well on models with especially low Wp that can spend stones (Fuhatsu for example). Don’t expect Parker himself to blow away the opponent’s crew, he isn’t Perdita or Ophelia in that regard, but do expect him to multiply your force and add a ton of value to the models you do have so you can achieve a lot more. Doc Mitchell- as a totem he is free, and he's 4SS anyway, so he could be forgiven if he wasn't fantastic. But he is for that cost. He's just a cheap healer to follow around the vital pieces, and although his heal is short ranged it's at a good stat with an excellent trigger and as such he will be an important piece in your crew. If he dies? Sure, the totem died and took hits the others could've taken. He doesn't? He'll keep things going far longer than they should. He's also immune to poison which is situationally great Mad Dog Brackett- Mad Dog is hands down my favourite blaster in Outcasts. The amount of damage he can do is insanely good on his own and when you start adding in what Bandits can do to tune him up that becomes incredibly scary. While he is low range for the crew, Run and Gun helps extend that to 13” threat range off a single AP, and he can not only ignore Cover himself but he can extend it to the entire crew through Blown Apart markers which comes in handy often. His own damage track is very good, and with valuable triggers on every suit (his crow to ignore armour is built in, which is often helpful) he will always be doing something of value. He has great synergies with Parker and the Emissary which I will put in their respective sections, and in general I would never play a Bandit crew without Mad Dog Benny Wolcomb- Honestly? Don't. Benny requires you to jump through a lot of hoops to get him going in a way that is useful to a Bandit crew, and although he is a second henchman that isn't actually great in a lot of situations. Play him in Hamelin (and even there he's a maybe take) but he's not worth it in Parker Sue- Being entirely honest Sue is a model I have grappled with on a few occasions because I know that he is good and I see the great value there, but when I put him on the table he is never quite as hot as he seems. His gun is great especially with Critical Strike built in, Walk the Line is great value to set up scoring where it needs to happen (or just to trigger Life of Crime on something else) and both of his bonus actions are very useful. The Man in Black turning off triggers entirely is probably the better of the 2 in most cases (Ring of Fire has the potential to hurt your own models while MiB is just hard enemy control) and his front of card is fairly typical for a more expensive Bandit, although he lacks Life of Crime and instead has Grit (Hurt) to draw cards when activating below half health and Hard to Kill to keep him going longer. In general he’s good, but it’s more difficult to get value out of him compared to a lot of the similarly costed models in keyword or versatile with him not having Life of Crime. Convict Gunslingers- Gunslingers are a very un-subtle model as can be expected from the name. They’re all about shooting as much as possible whenever possible and they’re good at it. Bullet Proof stops them from being damaged as much by enemy guns, and Quick Draw means if they win a duel on a mask against projectile attacks they can hit back at 2/4/5 with a negative. They have fairly standard abilities for Bandit otherwise (Life of Crime, Gunfighter and Run and Gun) and only 2 actions on the back of the card. Their attack is decent at stat 5 with positives resisted by Df, 2/4/5 damage is respectable but the triggers are where it gets strong. Onslaught on a mask, Slow on a crow and Drop It! is a great spread to have on a model that wants to be shooting as much as possible. Chain Gang is useful because it is a move for friendlies that needs no flips and can get things out of engagement (mainly Mad Dog and Bandidos) or just to get 3” further up the table early game. Wokou Raiders- A shared keyword model with Misaki, Wokou Raiders are a bit odd in how they work but they’re very good nonetheless. They’re a melee model with a little bit of shooting, working as a tarpit and damage dealer that still has the classic Bandit scheme marker removal you’d expect. They borrow Charge Through from Last Blossom, getting positive flips to melee damage flips on Charges which goes well with their damage track (2/4/5) and positives to attack built in with some great triggers. Drop It! is typical as a Bandit, Critical Strike is good for the extra damage should you get rams and Coordinated Attack is better in Last Blossom than Bandit given the melee preference over Bandit’s gun focus, but always good when it’s relevant. Defence 5 is pretty average for something of their cost, willpower 6 being good, but Combat Finesse and the fact opponents can never cheat melee attacks against them is a very big boost to their effectiveness. Bullet Proof is something they share with Gunslingers and Oiran giving them a little edge against guns as well, while they have Life of Crime to gain Fast when they activate. This synergises well with their Ever-Changing Wind which lets them move (not push) 3” when an enemy scheme marker is placed within aura 6, meaning you’ll easily be able to get in 4” to remove that marker when they activate. A New Horizon lets them place scheme markers around as a bonus action for a 4 of tomes, moving the marker 6” of its current location when the action is declared which can not only counter an opponent but also benefit Bandits if you’re spreading around Fast. Dead Outlaws- A very similar model to Bandidos below just with slightly different stats and replacing Life of Crime with Torment from Jack Daw’s crew, which they are also in-keyword. Df4 is pretty low but they have 7 wounds and Hard to Wound to compensate, they have Gunfighter so they aren’t stuck with being engaged, and they have 2 abilities on the front of card that work better with Tormented than Bandit. Cursed Bullets means they ignore Friendly Fire when Tormented models are involved, both friendly and enemy, while Torment lets them draw cards at the end of their activation if they damage enemies with upgrades attached. It works in Bandit if opponents happen to have them but is far easier in Tormented given how that crew throws out negative upgrades onto their opponents. Their Collier Revolver is the same as most of the crew and is ok, but their triggers are far more debilitating than the rest of the crew. On a mask they give out Staggered (which plays into Jack Daw more but is still good) and on a crow they give Slow or gain +1 damage if the target is already Slow which is really good. Their other attack is At Gunpoint which at stat 6 resist Wp is a decent attack but the effects are easy to negate. It works like an obey, but the opponent has to be within 3” of one of their scheme markers and can simply discard a random card to stop them from taking the action. The triggers on it give Staggered on a mask or a built-in trigger for +1 damage when resolving the action. Outlaws themselves cannot eat markers for Fast as they lack Life of Crime, but with Covetous Cravings as a tactical action they can hand it out on a 5 provided the target is in 6” and LoS of a scheme marker which is good for spreading fast but even better at being super long ranged and non-linear scheme marker removal. Their bonus action is a 6” aura that lets them push another Tormented model in LoS 3” towards a dropped scheme marker whenever a scheme marker is dropped within range. It’s a good way to keep things moving in Tormented but will only ever happen in Bandit if you’re hiring OOK or more than one Dead Outlaw. Bandidos- The cheapest Bandit model outside of Doc, Bandidos are primarily scheming pieces that can also do a lot while shooting. They’re not fantastic and they lack the positive flips most of the crew have, but they are still valuable enough for their points. Their biggest weakness is getting engaged, because their Knife is very average, and they will usually fold should they be in combat with something that wants to be there. 5s all around for stats is decent enough, Run and Gun is well worth it on them (if you’re planning on walking to a position to place a marker, you may as well charge to shoot if you can), their mask trigger is great to push 3” after succeeding and they have a couple of really good front of card abilities. Quick Getaway is a mask trigger on defence that lets them push 5” after resolving an attack, so every time they resist on Df and get a mask they’re moving, and Trigger Finger is even better albeit once per turn. When an enemy drops a scheme marker within aura 8 of them (so when you use Drop It!) they can take a projectile action against the model that dropped it. This combined with Life of Crime means the crew can put out tons of shooting outside of normal AP limits which is great value to have. The last thing to mention is like Dead Outlaws they have At Gunpoint but it’s at a lower stat and thus not reliable at all for the setup. They aren’t really tanky but they can move around well enough to score points so I rate them, and I get value out of using them in marker schemes. Bayou Smugglers- Like Benny this is another dual-keyword model that doesn't really do much to add to Parker's skillset. It's a predominately anti-scheme based model but that's done by literally everything in-keyword, and as a melee model Wokou Raiders have a better toolkit for the most part. Attuned is really nice and their card cycle is good, but I would consider these more in Bayou crews as a Versatile model, or Outcast Zipp crews. OOK/Versatile models- Hodgepodge Emissary- My favourite Versatile choice for Parker, the Emissary does a lot to support the crew in relevant ways. It has a 6 inch range heal that only needs a 6 to go off and can attach the excellent Trinket upgrades at the same time, a bonus action to put up an aura of soulstone generation when models die, and the better bonus action to push a model 3” and then drop a scheme marker. This action needs no flips, and in Bandit where it triggers Life of Crime is essentially pushing a model 3 and giving it fast for no investment at all. Combine that with 3 inch auras for passive heals on models’ activations and increasing their Mv by 1 for that activation (which is great for charges), plus it having Manipulative and Hard to Kill it is well worth the 10SS investment in Parker crews for a lot of pools. Trinket upgrades- Memento- Gives Companion, it’s excellent on Mad Dog. Use Parker to set up a 3AP killing spree, Bandit Raid him into range and then immediately go and slaughter. Pretty Floral Bonnet- Don’t Mind Me lets any model you choose be able to Interact far easier which helps Bandit crews do what they do best. It’s useful in a lot of cases and where it goes (and when) depends entirely on board state, but it’s worth doing Vitality Potion- Regen +1 should go on one of the more important models in the crew. Whether that’s Parker, Mad Dog (if he doesn’t get Companion), Wokou, Sue or Gunslingers is up to you but any are good choices. Parker I think is the best because it keeps him tarpitting and you’ll be healing him more often anyway. Hodgepodge Effigy- Same sort of role as the Emissary with its support healing and soulstone generation, but for 4SS. It’s more fragile but for 4SS still remarkably tanky, although it doesn’t have good damage (nor should it as a support model) and doesn’t have a lot of the more useful tricks of the Emissary (trinkets, A Weary Road, its auras) Prospector-He just fits nicely with the scheme shenanigans and soulstone generation in Parker’s crew. For 6SS he’s a great addition because he slots in perfectly with the schemes Parker tends to go for (and their denial too) Midnight Stalker- He’s a reliable melee model with Leap, easy access to Fast and can give out Adversary Bandit (absolutely lethal if it goes off). His best use is for countering and promptly murdering scheme runners, but he’s really great value in Outflank or Breakthrough as well because it plays into his entire schtick Ashes and Dust- I’d only take Ashes into Reckoning, but that’s because he is seriously cooked there. The difficulty in killing him while you take damage back is something the opponent has to consider, and then you just smack them down with his easy access to min 4 damage. He’s a perfect Reckoning model and even just a good melee beater in general, but I would only maybe consider him OOK for Turf War, and even then I would probably just take something in-keyword or Versatile (Wokou or the Stalker) Upgrades- Servant of Dark Powers- It’s a good upgrade and really nice on Mad Dog for the threat extension and healing, but where it shines is on Wokou Raiders. They’re already quick and fairly tanky, adding Terrifying and healing to them makes them a real pain to remove and is well worth the cost. Soldier for Hire- Its basically 2SS for Hard to Kill and a situational card draw. This Will Fetch A High Price will rarely if ever happen in Bandit given their other ways to remove scheme markers (and gain soulstones) and Bounty Hunter will give some nice card draw, but Wanted Criminal gives better card draw in Parker. Skip Wanted Criminal- This upgrade has its best synergies in Parker, but even here I don’t think it’s amazing. It enables Trigger Finger to be even better, giving you cards to cheat or get triggers, and Drop It! will mean the card draw triggers often. Expert Thief isn’t fantastic, but Swagger on any minion in the crew is worth having as well. In general, I wouldn’t take it, but it does have its uses in Parker far more than any other crew. Deployments- Standard- The basic one, it's neither good or bad. You'll be able to start charge shooting bottom of turn 1 with some setup which is nice, and you have the spread to split things up and dedicate resources to where they need to go. Wedge- A more annoying Standard. I like to run things up the flanks which is far harder in Wedge and although the middle is further up the table it tends to bottleneck the crew early on which can be a death sentence on certain terrain setups Flank- wide deployment and plenty of movement potential. Bandit likes this as a keyword because they can manoeuvre around and get into annoying positions to score Corner- Like Flank but smaller deployment on the wings, it's not as great IMO but it still works- especially if you go for a deathball Strategies- Reckoning- Doable, but not the best in-faction at it. His amount of guns helps a lot, as he can shoot things off the table before they can reach him and charge backwards to keep the crew safer. Going top-heavy with a lot of the expensive models is well worth doing, I like hiring in Ashes and Dust as a melee beater as well because he is nigh on impossible to actually kill. Plant Explosives- Bandit's best strat IMO, because they have the movement and interact potential to spread all over the table and do whatever they want to. I tend to take more minions here than other strats because of numbers spread, but it can be done with almost any Parker list relatively easily. Make use of Draw Their Attention and have Parker and Mad Dog as damage dealing diversions while the rest of the crew can sneak around. Corrupted Idols- Not fantastic. They can do it but not well and it relies on a lot of things falling into place for them to excel at it. This is easily the worst strategy for Bandit as a keyword, and there are flat out better options in-faction, but they can manage well enough. Turf War- Decent take here, they can move up and deal damage quickly enough to threaten the opponent's markers fairly easily. Not quite Viks level IMO, but the same style of play and they're well suited towards it. Schemes- Detonate Charges- This one I'm not a huge fan of taking, but hot damn Parker is such a ridiculously good counter to it. Hold him till later in the turn, waddle over into the markers and they disappear, giving you cards/soulstones and the opponent nothing. That said, an opponent who knows what Bandits do will never choose it against you because of this. Breakthrough- You've got mobility and you've got scheme marker placement. This is one you can do, but as always I only recommend it in Flank because of greater spread and more potential to flank. Harness the Ley Line- Easy to score, easy to deny. Parker makes this even more apparent and it is for this reason I love Bandit into this scheme because you can play hard denial and still come out on top in terms of actual scoring. Search the Ruins- My favourite for Parker alongside Ley Line, for the same reasons. You can zip around the backfield and chuck markers around while you charge and it's just thematically fun while being a good choice for the crew. Dig Their Graves- I'm not a huge fan, mainly because the second point is silly to score, but the first point isn't all that hard. Take it if you want to, it's not impossible to score 2VP from but it isn't something I personally like taking even when the first point is fairly easy. Hold Up Their Forces- Decent because of Bandidos and Dead Outlaws, but those options aren't hard to take out should they be focused on. I wouldn't take it because both points are telegraphed and not entirely easy to do, but it's an option. Take Prisoner- Bandits don't really want to be right up in combat so this one isn't fantastic, but it's still doable. Wokou Raiders are the choice pick here because they have staying power in melee more than the rest Power Ritual- Another one that can be done pretty easily by Bandits, but it's significantly easier in Flank or Corner and Tara is just as good if not better. Outflank- With the tankier options or even just a couple of cheap minions, this is pretty good for Bandit crews. It's obvious but it's not massively easy to deny at least the first point, and the second one is no harder Assassinate- One of the 14 wound masters with good access to healing and soulstone generation, Parker is a difficult one to get Assassinate. His crew have enough high-powered shooting to get it themselves, and with their reach it's hard to escape the 2nd point, so it's not a bad take. He doesn't do so well here into Leveticus, but who outside of Ten Thunders does? Deliver a Message- First point easy, 2nd point not so much- but Bandit counters the 2nd point hard. That’s worth keeping in mind here because it could mean the difference between a win and a draw. Not as easy to get the second point as in some other Outcast crews, but it’s still a doable scheme Claim Jump- With some of the tankier models in the crew it’s possible, but it’s far more situational and difficult than Outflank is and you’ll be fighting hard for it. The second point is almost as easy as the first with healing access, but that reflects how difficult it is relative to a lot of other Reveal schemes (and Outflank is easier in both cases with Bandits) Vendetta- With the changes to it, Mad Dog does this like an absolute champ (Sue and Gunslingers are good options too). Anything 9 stones or above is going to get blown away for the first point quite, and the second point is a little bit harder but still easily doable with the Bandit tricks. In general I love the Bandit crew, and they're by far my favourite thing to play in 3E. They're solid generalists and can achieve any scheme with some degree of confidence, but they're by no means the best option at any of them really. Once someone knows the ins and outs of the crew though they're definitely a crew you can play with great certainty in getting at least half your points and they play a very good denial game at the same time. GG1 Strategies Symbols of Authority- With the reach on his crew and interacting power you can do Symbols fairly reliably. If anyone does slip past you make sure you place your Symbols in firing lanes where you have opportunities to easily shoot back and make them hurt. Recover Evidence- For something promoting close-ranged crews Parker is actually pretty great in this. With Run and Gun he can shoot and push towards where the markers will go, and then with Draw Their Attention you can interact and claim Intel when you get close. Corrupted Ley Lines- A lot of silly tricks to be had here with Parker shoving your stuff around and making them throw markers, you can have a real ball with it. It's a scheme you wouldn't expect Parker to be amazing at but he does the job well enough. Public Enemies- This one is fairly easy, and with your guns you can press an advantage as long as you manage to avoid engagements wherever possible. Run and Gun is your friend, charge backwards and pick off weak links Schemes Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Same as before, with the exception of Mad Dog into Vendetta. He’s a bit more of a liability but he is effectively how he was in the scheme before GG0 in terms of who he can target. Hidden Martyrs- Any of your minions are good choices, but its not really a great scheme with Parker. His mostly 8+ cost models make choosing it awkward and overall I don't really like it over a lot of the other schemes. Sabotage- Same as how I would play Search the Ruins with this crew, so I don’t really think it needs much more explaining. Catch and Release- Not great because your minions tend to be somewhat fragile. Bandidos using their Df trigger to get out could work but isn't reliable, and Wokou are a great option, but it isn't my first choice at all with Parker Let Them Bleed- It’s not too difficult to take this with a Parker crew, just not a super fantastic option either because he’s still a better schemer. Leave Your Mark- Even though it's a scheme marker based scheme, I would never take it with Parker. He can counter it easily, but it's a scheme I very much dislike and as such I wouldn't take it Research Mission- Not super easy given the lack of special markers in keyword, but Mad Dog is great at it. Being able to get out corpse/scheme/blown apart markers just by killing a model and using his bonus can fairly easily guarantee the point and the best part is the scheme won’t be removed so he can eat it for Fast the next turn. Spread Them Out- Another easy one for Parker, because you can get markers out fairly easily in-keyword. Get models into position and make use of Draw Their Attention to put them out when you need to, and you can even counter it fairly easily through just existing as Bandit and taking their schemes away. Runic Binding- Parker’s crew actually do this pretty well with what they have. Wokou and Smugglers (an actually decent use for them!) to move markers around, Emissary and regular interacts to put them down and you’re set. It’s also hard to score against you because of how Bandit eat schemes to gain their own bonuses. Benny can also be of good use here to put scheme markers where they couldn’t normally go.

I didn't mention the Stalker because I don't think he's that good in Mercenary. He's another high cost, fast melee model and that's not exactly a niche that needs filling in keyword so I don't tend to spring for him when I can get Hans or Barbaros who do things I have more use for. Edited for clarity (and added Claim Jump which I missed)

Hi all! Been putting in a lot of time into different crews both playing and theory, and I've decided to start writing up the crews I'm playing the most at the time. Here is the first one, the Mercenary crew which I feel has been a keyword that gets less talk in 3E although they have some great power plays. Keyword abilities- Battle Tempo- the main keyword ability, simple push of 2 inches every start phase. It lets an already fast crew move even faster, and really helps put pressure on for both scheming and combat early. It also is a good way to guaranteed disengage from unfavourable combats at the start of the turn, forcing the opponent to dedicate more AP to lock you down (or by charging, specific actions) than they likely would want to. Into the Fray- on Vanessa and the Viks, lets them heal 2 the first time they kill a model each turn. This is the first in a few ways I believe the Viks themselves are deceptively hard to kill, as they get free healing for doing what they're best at. Keyword models- Viks- obviously both very quick, very killy models but they run the risk of dying quickly if something puts an effort into it. This is where all the healing I've mentioned elsewhere comes into it, because if they get left on low wounds with an opportunity to heal, they'll come back from it reliably enough. Their movement together is exceptional, being able to chain activate helps take out chunks of an enemy crew, the melee is amazing and they play very well as a duo. The big weakness is they struggle vs armour or anything that reduces damage (although this tends to be where Leveticus comes to play, or even just Taelor). Movement 6 and 3AP means they can be very effective scheme runners and get where they need to be to get you points instead of just fighting (which is really the main point of the whole keyword now- points before fighting) and it also gives them an incredible threat range with their 1” melee. The Viks really badly want to be within 6” of each other (ideally 2”) so they can fire off their places and chain activations, but with all the tricks they have for movement it’s pretty easy to at least get in range of the chain activate if not the first activation place. They can give each other Shielded 1 twice a turn just by spending their bonus action within 2” of the other, or if they are 6” away from the other gain + flips to their shooting which is useful but not as nice as the Shielded. Their gun is fairly average 12” range stat 5 and 2/4/5 damage but has a good mask trigger to push a minion within LoS of the target 3” toward it which plays into the crew having a ton of movement tricks to get around. Their stat 7 3/4/5 swords aren’t what they were in 2E but they’re still really good at it using their mask trigger to bounce attacks between the two and can effectively double their offensive output in their activations which is really impressive. The main way to trigger this easily is through Dragon’s Bite which also gets around Disguised as it isn’t a charge, it just pushes all Viks within 6” of the target 6” towards the target for a 7 and has a ram trigger to make one of them attack the target. Placement on this has to be pretty careful and can be a bit finnicky, but when it works it can be hugely damaging to the opposing crew and will win games if played correctly. Last thing to mention is that it’s highly likely you’ll lose at least one of them in the course of the game because they are somewhat fragile, but that will then trigger their Demise and let you heal the other 3 and give it permanent + flips to Df and Wp for the rest of the game making it a bit tougher. In general the Viks are acceptable losses though if they take out a decent chunk with them and if that enables the rest of your crew to set up VP scoring and deny the opponent much chance of catching up. Vanessa- the first keyword model I've been adding in every list. Another source of healing and Into the Fray, plus she’s a primarily ranged model in a mostly melee crew so she adds another element to their game plan. Tempo helps put her on the centre for the bonuses (at which point she is insanely good) but she isnt exactly tanky so like most things in the crew, be careful. Vanessa occupies a pretty great niche in the crew for everything she brings and even has a decent melee attack, but her shooting and healing is what you take her for so it’s important to try and keep her protected by something else because an isolated Vanessa is a dead Vanessa which hurts the crew a lot. Big Jake- cheap, valuable for 5 stones. He’s a good scheming model with DMM even though he isnt the fastest, and his late game summon can get some clutch plays off (Deliver a Message being the big one but also Take Prisoner). Despite all this though I really find him not fully worth taking in the keyword, and I tend to take the Student of Conflict or a Ronin now that my game plan with Viks is a lot more ironed out. Ronin- hands down one of if not the best scheme runner in Outcasts. They're not cheap at 6ss, but they're damn quick with good stats, and their attacks are both good (especially built in armour which fills a niche in keyword). They’re also not exactly easy to kill for their cost which is a big factor in their versatility and usefulness. The option of killing themselves to supply cards or soulstones is also great, but something that will usually only factor in late game once they've already scored you VP (although it can swing the game in later turns) Desperate Mercenaries- they're cheap and ok at shooting, but with their victim stats they have to have babysitters to work without immediately dying. They have uses, but most of the time I'd rather grab a Student for the same cost, or spring a bit extra for Big Jake or a Ronin Student of Conflict- cheap, fast and significant. Counter scheming in a couple of different ways (one of which gives Fast on a 6 from possible 12" away), pulls things around as a bonus and it can potentially ignore armour not that she wants to be attacking. The main reason you take the Student is for Mv6 and not Insignificant for 4 stones, because she can run schemes for you and it becomes a great chance for easy VP despite her only being Df4 with 4 wounds. The 9 stone niche- This spot is both Taelor and Bishop, and I feel like both are super dependent on the opponent. Outcasts in general have a lot of strong 8-10 cost models but they are all somewhat situational in when they get taken IMO Bishop- Another native 3AP model is fantastic, and everything else on his front of card is well worth 9 stones. Chain Gang is extra movement which is not needed, but welcome nonetheless. Challenge isn’t always amazing, but in a crew like the Viks it can take the heat off of other models or just plain drain an opponent’s hand. It also has 2 amazing triggers for Bishop, is a high stat and combos well with him hitting Cage Fighter to hurt opponents if they do attempt to hit him. His melee attack isn’t fantastic for a 9 stone model, but you pay for the versatility it brings rather than raw power. Adaptive gives him whatever suit he needs for that activation and honestly, I find myself taking Critical Strike less than I would expect because built in Delay is just as good. Staggered+Slow is hugely debilitating to an opponent and between those and Cage Fighter you will almost guarantee that Bishop can lock down enemies when he needs to Taelor- Both the henchman and power hitter of the crew, Taelor has a definite role but it isn’t all the time. She is amazing against crews that have Terrifying, Manipulative or summons (a lot, but consider Ruthless for anti-Dreamer or WTM anti-Kirai here), has a large threat range (9” threat is up there with A&D for reach) and is tough to kill. Shrug Off is good when it comes into play, and she has no other bonus so it isn’t like she’s losing out in doing it. Bring It is a good way to draw in potential weak links to an enemy crew, especially support pieces which tend to be low damage and thus won’t have as much of a negative effect on her before it gets killed in return. Her hammer though is her big appeal, with a great damage track at stat 7 and ignoring Shielded she puts out tons of hurt where needed. The triggers, particularly the ram ones, are amazing, and she is definitely a consistently good 9SS beater model. OOK/Versatile models- I'll start this by saying I don't think that many options here are fantastic because they can't reliably keep up early game, so their impact is lessened, and that must be kept in mind. The ones I do list all have value for what they provide in the crew but aren’t necessarily always takes Prospector- always good. Feeds stones to the crew which is essential and gives a lot of valuable counter scheming where needed. Hans- this is purely to counter the heavy ranged and shockwave matchups, where I've personally found Viks struggle a bit more. He's reliable shooting with decent damage and a good range, that's about all he needs to be Barbaros- someone I've personally grappled with a bit regarding his value in the crew, he’s another one of the 9ers but gives a bit of a different niche to either of the others. His ability to drain down enemies while tanking their attacks is second to none in Outcasts, and he has a definite role in taking the heat off the squishier models in the crew while dishing out damage. The combo of Bring It, Challenge and Cage Fighter puts him between Taelor and Bishop in those regards, lacking the finesse of either of them but making up for it in being simple to use and reliable. My only issue is in him keeping up with no Battle Tempo, and he really does need to be in the thick of it alongside the rest to do work. Upgrades- Servant of Dark Powers- must have for the Viks. Puts them very far up the table and lets them heal 4 on their first kill a turn (half their wounds is great). Mainly take it for Herald though because they hurt against massed guns that they can’t engage quickly Wanted Criminal- Swagger is fantastic on any minion, and Expert Thief is useful in such a stone-hungry crew, but Protection Money is pretty much only a Bandit-relevant ability (because you don't want to buy an upgrade on the off chance someone has taken marker schemes) Soldier for Hire- Decent for giving Hard to Kill to the Viks or Bishop, but otherwise not amazing. The other abilities will be rarely used (This Will Fetch A High Price- which Prospectors already have if you must have it) or not worth the cost and packing on redundant abilities (Bounty Hunter- great on Ronin but not worth 2SS when the other abilities aren’t useful) Deployments- Standard- Consider this deployment 10 inches up the table with a Mercenary crew, because that’s effectively your deployment. Easy to engage, but not as beneficial to the Viks as certain others with their ideal scheme set. In any case it isn’t a huge disadvantage but not a big advantage either. Wedge- Good for a spearhead Viks list going elite-heavy, but not good at all against other heavy melee damage crews where you can’t decide engagement as easy. Corner- Not bad but not fantastic. Against gun-heavy crews it isn’t good because it tends to mean more AP spent to engage, but otherwise they have the same advantages as in Flank. Flank- Their best deployment. Long centre line gives great flanking potential for offence and marker schemes, while they’re further up the table natively than in Corner so can challenge positioning early on. Strategies- Plant Explosives- Not a bad strategy for them, but not fantastic (done better in Outcasts, but not by many). They’re quick and can spread out easily, plus they’ve got the damage to punch out enemy bomb runners before they can drop theirs. Ronin should absolutely have bombs here, probably also the Viks themselves too. Reckoning- With their damage it’s easily doable, but at the same time they’re fragile and can give away unnecessary VP if you aren’t careful. I would leave Taelor at home here most of the time as despite her being a big damage piece, she’s another source of extra Reckoning Points to the opponent. Her big use is if the opponent declares a summoner, where Taelor has huge value and can destroy things almost as soon as they appear. Enforcer-heavy crews with Vanessa, Bishop and Hans/Stalker are great here as well because they’re elite and high damage while still staying low on Reckoning Points so as to give away less to your opponent. All in all, Viks are somewhat middling in terms of Outcasts as a whole here, as they are nowhere near the effectiveness of Leveticus or Von Schill (even Parker can dictate engagement from a long way away with his shooting). Corner is where they really shine here, because of their speed over the others. Corrupted Idols- Not fantastic for Viks, they’re probably one of the worse Outcasts here (I’d go for Tara, Leveticus or Von Schill myself). They’re too fragile to justify taking them here because they need to be taking damage to push the idols is my main issue, while other crews can get the healing (or summoning) they need to keep on top Turf War- This one is where I feel Viks do best. They have the mobility and aggression to put pressure on an opponent early and can relocate easily to get to their own markers (Battle Tempo to put models on your 2 markers before the game starts in Standard or Wedge). Fragile crew means the potential is there to have your markers flipped back, but they should be threatening an opponent’s zone anyway so it’s less of an issue. Schemes- Detonate Charges- With Ronin and Big Jake it’s not a bad scheme to take if you have a plan for it, but it tends to be more effort than it’s worth and other schemes are easier to guarantee VP without having to jump through hoops. Breakthrough- With the speed and ease of disengaging in Mercenary this one is actually pretty good to take depending on deployment. In Standard or Wedge I would definitely consider it more often than most schemes, same with Flank, but it’s too unreliable in Corner with the distance to cover. Harness the Ley Line- Not a bad option, it’s not too hard to score but it’s easily telegraphed Search the Ruins- Got a slight nerf from GG0 but it’s still definitely playable and Viks can do it well. Their inherent speed lets them get to the opponent’s table half early and start threatening to score Dig Their Graves- 1st point is dead easy with Jake, 2nd not so much. Dig is a hard scheme to get both points for, and it’s doable with Viks, but isn’t reliable enough that I would take it often. Hold Up Their Forces- Not bad if you’re taking the cheapest models in keyword. Otherwise (most of the time) it’s not fantastic because of how much easier it is to score against you, which plays into Viks wanting to kill off the cheaper models early Take Prisoner- Really great take for Viks. Even though they like to straight up murder things, being engaged is what they do and they can easily dictate engagement through their movement so they can make sure Take Prisoner is really hard to counter against them. It is also easy for an opponent to get 2VP with how they like to be in combat. Power Ritual- Like any other time I would see this in the pool, only on Corner or Flank. But with that said, Viks do it pretty easy and are more reliable at it than most. Outflank- Pretty good, the elite options can stay around long enough to get VP for it. Better on Flank or Corner than Wedge or Standard, but always doable. I find teams of 2 (usually Ronin/Big Jake and Ronin/one of the 9ers) to be more than enough to guarantee this will be scored for 2 Assassinate- Not a great scheme to play Viks into because they are still squishy, but this combined with their healing means the opponent has to get through a lot more than they would expect to in scoring both points. They themselves can score it really easily too depending on matchup so consider it, but keep in mind there are better choices than Viks at this (Von Schill and Leveticus) Deliver A Message- Another one where you can easily score at least 1 (because of Big Jake semi-reliably 2) but in return you’re giving up easy VP having 2 Masters base. Be careful here is all I’ll say Claim Jump- Not great honestly, I find Viks as a crew want to be moving around the flanks more and needing models unengaged in the centre isn't that easy to do in the crew. The fragility of most models means they won't survive long enough to score both VP, and the first one will be difficult to score as well. Vendetta- With the amount of good damage options at higher cost in Mercenary, this is well worth taking. With the GG0 change to the scheme it becomes even better now that Bishop/Taelor will be able to hunt 9SS models for it, but Ronin are also great choices for it. Overall, the Mercenary crew have places where they are well worth taking, but at the same time they are usually playing to reach small differentials rather than have guaranteed blowouts like in 2E. They’re a fast crew that can easily react to board state, but they suffer against heavy terrain crews or gunlines because it plays into their inherent weaknesses. GG1 Strategies Symbols of Authority- Defence might get a bit tough, but they have the potential to put lots of pressure on the opponent for their own defence that they might be able to slip through without dedicating models to keeping your board half safe. Recover Evidence- A crew that are insanely fast and really good at melee? Recover Evidence is a Viks strat plain and simple. They’re probably even the best suited to it overall in Outcasts I would argue despite being fairly fragile. Corrupted Ley Lines- Speed is your best trick here, cause Viks don't place they just move very quickly. They're not subtle about it but they're just good Public Enemies- So long as you can kill faster than you can get killed this is a pretty great Viks strat. Pick your battles, guarantee kills where you can and try not to die if possible Schemes Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Unchanged, and the crew haven’t had any erratas to affect them. See above for my thoughts. Hidden Martyrs- With a stable of excellent cheap models that are also squishy you can quite easily do this scheme if you leverage the crew right. Even the 9 cost models combo with the Student to make 13SS total so really anything is fair game. Sabotage- Ronin and the Student are pretty great at it. Same as Search the Ruins with them Catch and Release- With all the movement tricks this is pretty good, but you're squishy so will rarely get the second point IMO. Let Them Bleed- You can do this fairly easily so long as you keep in mind the standard Viks weaknesses (shielded and armour). Taelor is good here to get through more problematic models Leave Your Mark- Don't do it. I hate this scheme with a passion Research Mission- Viks don’t have any special markers to play with which makes this difficult, but you can attempt it if you need to. I wouldn’t though Spread Them Out- Easy. Run around drop markers, that’s it and you’re fast enough to do it Runic Binding- Not terrible, but as usual the 2nd point is difficult with placement. As with the other Outcasts I feel like the Emissary is a must and the Student is nice for Subterfuge potential, but Big Jake is the biggest one here

I really, really agree. Against pretty much anything but Wong you can armour up pretty reliably, and against Wong you usually still have Freikorps Armour to negate his blasts. With the rest, Lazarus can do a great job at clearing out Bayou Gremlins, potentially neutering So'mer, VS gives the Freikorps +2 willpower which is great vs Zoraida, and the amount of heals the crew can get is great at minimising the insane damage spikes. Von Schill is my usual Gremlin drop, purely because he can take on a good deal of their best stuff and come out on top Otherwise I'm a fan of Viks/Schill into Ressers, Arcanists and Neverborn and Tara/Schill into Guild. Thunders and Outcasts I find more pool dependent, and in marker heavy pools I almost always bring Parker instead of the others (with Tara as a secondary). Hamelin is good, but he bores me to death so I rarely play him, I don't own Levi, and I can't really make Jack click like I can with the others

Is the swag for entering both days? I'm interested in playing the Friday, but can't do the Saturday cause I'm TOing for Batman Miniatures. I can just pay as normal for the one day and play right? Had a blast last year and I'd love to take part again

I would be really, really, REALLY happy to see mounted bandits in some form, especially because they were mentioned in Parker's story