Seadhna

so, found this on the interwebs: Von Schill: have (0) to give Oathkeeper to any freikorps model, any freikorps model that have oathkeeper and attacks model that VS already has attacked gain + to duel; gains shitty ml7 attack with in-built 6" push trigger, can attack any model after charge in range and not only the target, can shoot any model that've been pushed within 6". Tara: gains + to all flips when no cards in hand, wretches can make their (2) attack as (1), gains ca that deals damage equal to turn number; can take any number of upgrades, at the start of activation gives condition to one enemy that damages them when they become buried Victoria: (upgrade for both of them) can begin the game buried, can become buried when kills a model, frendly sister can unbury her with (0); (only Ashes) heals when receive a condition from an enemy, can give Sister characteristic to a minion as (0); Hamelin: at the start of the turn can sacrifice up to 2 Vermins within LoS to place scheme markers in btb with them; at the start of the game can place two special 50mm markers anywhere on the board that gives blighted in an 3" aura and can be removed with (1) by enemy in btb, can push them around; Leveticus: explodes with 2 unreducable damage in 2" pulse everytime he dies, summon abomination when anybody non-peon have been killed by that ability; can summon waifs in exchange for a lot of cards and scheme markers discarded as (1) or just as (2); Daw: heals when gives Curse and draw card when Curs-ed model is killed; Curse upgrade, gives it when any Guilty dies, summon Guilty in btb with Curs-ed model whenever any other enemy Curs-ed tormented model is killed; Parker: can reduce damage by 2 with discarding of this upgrade, discarding of this upgrade gives + to ml and sh to all minions in 8", can end conditions as (0); gains ignore armour trigger to his shooters (tomes!), can debuff enemy model with (1) and shoot at debuffed model if it walked or charged in it's activation (debuffed model's crew can give ss to Parker to end this condition); Emissary: Parker's conflux, becomes bandit, draws card every time he gives away trinket, can discard trinket from friendly model as (0) to draw a card and place enemy scheme marker

I'd also love to see the Parker Conflux!

yeah, the lack of elephantyness is something that disappoints me as well tbh

I usually go with Scout the Field, Bigger They Are, Writhing Torment, Drowned and Firing squad. so you start 5" upfield, usually either in cover or relying on Oldest Magic. Then you walk 5", then you charge 7" (with no LoS, if need be). Hit once, do 2 damage, attach Firing squad. Hit second time for min 4, rip off Firing Squad for 2 more. In a tournament context you use Jack if you want more control, he's excellent at shutting down enemy beaters who have FfM on them for several turns in a row.

At min damage 8 on a charge with Ca 7 and a 19" threat range he's a perfectbeatstick, rivaled only by Viks, Levi and Killjoy

except the rules clearly state that it is a new model

There's also Big Jake if you want a cheaper Don't Mind me option. Otherwise, Jack Daw and Hamelin are prime candidates.

It's all personal experience, I guess. For me neither Drowned nor Hanged have served any particular role on the table. Hanged are control pieces, but Nurses and Jack himself do it better. Hanged's wound-halving attack isn't doing much against armored targets and suboptimal against any model with less than 9 Wd. Drowned are objective-holders, but Johan does the same for same cost, while Guilty do the same for less. Then again, I'm not pretending to deliver universal wisdom, it's just how they work for me in my meta and with my playstyle.

technically you're right, but hiring Drowned or Hanged is somewhat of a handicap tbh

The traditional use is with Jack Daw: extra pushes help counteract his mobility trouble. However! I'm gonna try him more with Viks+Emissary. Having the ability to either Regenerate or Chain Activate and a 17" threat range with a Focused Flammenwerfer that ignores cover is something that needs to be explored further. He's also a decent backline support if someone just alpha-struck you (he's Ml 6 and 1/3/4 on his knife, so totally no slouch in combat!). Moreover, he's an Enforcer, so he can do positive trades in FfM scenarios (forcing your opponent to either kill him or get BURNINATED). So yeah, I can see situations where he'd better with the Viks than even Sue (who'd've thought I might ever say that? guess a man comes around, after all).

Mostly to his box set, X7, Jaakuna Ubume and some models that are good with him.

Malifaux Child and Librarian are more optimal choices for healing, and on her own Vanessa doesn't provide enough threat to divert your opponent's attention from the Viks duo. Her damage track without any extra AP is simply meh: Sue puts out way more hurt and has other utility as well.

I'm running Ash with Fury/Spirit/Oath Keeper, Blood with Shez'uul/Oath Keeper, Child, Emissary and Void Wretch as a core. Season with cool models such as a second Wretch, an Effigy and a secondary beatstick (e.g. "You wonder why I always dress in black..."). get full SS cache because screw random hits when you don't want them. This way I keep activation control, have free Focuses for my merc models (*cough* Sue *cough*) and have multiple ways to deliver Blood into the enemy's face where she belongs. I've also found that in this setup... wait for it... there might be room for Freikorps Specialist! The push+Focus from the Emissary turns the Flammenwerfer into a 17" threat with a good chance to burninate stuff, something that even Jack Daw couldn't do (but that's off-topic).

At 8 ss I'd rather hire Sue, Yin or cough up the 9 for Monty or Mad Dog tbh, but if you want more Wp-based attacks, then why not? She also fits nicely into an Abomination-spam crew to Obey that Deso Engine into an extra Walk. Her gun is great, her construct-obey is situationally useful, her Wp 7 is amazing, but at Df 5 and no other defensive tech she will suffer. Then again, Ca 7 with trigger to draw a card is something that Levi loves. So, maybe against Ressers? On a side note, you never need Vanessa with the Viks unless playing for fluff (aside from a corner case where she gets Sisters in Fury, some (0) buffs from her older sisters and then surprise-chops someone with her Ml 5 min 4 Ancestral Blade).

Sue and A&D are the most reliable anchors if you don't want to dabble in other factions. If you're ready to dabble, the sturdiest anchor I've used is a Flesh Construct (that thing takes a ridiculous amount of AP to take down); Mech Rider and Joss are expensive, but decent options; I've also had moderate success with Yin. If you don't have the points to spare, just pick stuff with HtK (there are surprisingly many Outcast/undead/construct models in the 6-8 SS bracket). For the ultimate anchor, bring Scion of the Void, she's not dying ever if you play her smart.

Rat Kings are pretty sturdy and hit very decently even on Df 6 models. Can't have too many of them, they are a toolbox for their cost (which is soulstones and cards usually).

this. play Levi, turn their own summons into your own summons, dominate

If you have anything that forces simple Df duels (like, say, Abominations, Deso Engine or A&D and then Ashen Core) on his measly Df 4, you'll find that he's very easy to put down. Other notable things are blasts onto nearby models (see Hannah or Lazarus) and henchmen with good attack stats spending Soulstones to hit (see Rusty Alyce). Without his in-built suits to give out/rip off curses Jack's damage output will plummet (see Hannah or Librarian). A damaged Mad Dog will also shotgun Jackie to final repose very quickly. Otherwise, just use the Focus action and shoot his face The trick to getting rid of Jack himself is downing him before a Nurse gets to heal him up again. Then, it's activation control: he kinda likes expensive models, so a little bit of summoning won't hurt. To help you Levi players out there, Jack's thematic crew all have low Wp, so a Levi with Desolate Soul can have very favourable trades of turning Jaakuna Ubume or Guilty into Abominations.

Aionus is a great toolbox in himself, almost a master (and does more than, say, Von Schill) Monty is an awesome tarpit post-errata specialty henchmen like Scion or Hannah fill their roles superbly Alyce is a good secondary summoner and has her utility outside of a great gun Mad Dog is literally a beast for his points and has great synergy with Sh-heavy crews Nix is weird, but has his uses (I'd argue both Monty and Scion tankier and more AP-efficient) so no, our henchmen are awesome at what they do when you bring them into the right scenario however, when it comes to pure stat-for-point comparisons, most henchmen are inferior to Enforcers in all factions (with some obvious exceptions such as Nekima, McTavish and Trixiebelle)

I usually play a control-heavy crew with the rat engine (stolen, wretch, 2 rats), emissary, aionus and sue. The extra Don't mind me on Aionus is super cool

It fires the gun in close combat on a trigger to surprise its opponents and bypass damae reduction.

I'd go with Hamelin for scheme-heavy and control pools, Levi for straight-up murdering stuff and Jack as a versatile hybrid. Tara is too fragile and matchup-dependent (any dedicated melee will wreck her day), Viks are basically a card flip (you flip high, you win), Parker is inferior to Hamelin in terms of schemes and control (he also dies like a bitch until Marlena hits the board), Schill does nothing in particular (straved for both AP and soulstones/activations), Misaki is probably inferior to Levi/Jack when it comes to murdering stuff. Granted, the Levi/Jack/Hamelin setup would require quite a lot of out-of-faction models (Jack's box in particular has 3 models you'll hardly use), but I'd go with Sue, Johan, A&D, Emissary and Effigy in-faction, then Jaakuna for Jack, Necropunks for Levi - and that's a very good and versatile start.

I'm surprised no-one mentioned Hoffman who is giving off a very Catholic-school-for-boys vibe

Tried this crew yesterday. It is fun, fragile and very, very mean to your opponents.

Think about this: GG2017 is all about markers and scheming and interacting. Jake brings Don't Mind Me for 5ss and doesn't die! Not sure about how he'd work with Misaki or Schill. Although you gotta bring the Emissary with Schill, so you can do the one-two combo of Jake getting Reactivate Turn 4, then coming back Turn 5 (just remember to save the two cards).