Fopp

I didn't consider Daw, but do you think you would get more use out of a Raider than a Crossroad 7? They're the same price and come tormented, letting you twist and turn them. And I agree, having these models come in a group is rather odd, I can't think of many other 8ss models sold in groups outside crew boxes.

8ss is a hefty price, especially in a faction that struggles to offset high-cost models with cheap activation fodder. While theorycrafting is always difficult without seeing schemes, I'm struggling to see why I'm paying 8ss for this when I could have a Johan, Hans or Sue. Maybe the option for tar-pitting is viable, but how many soulstones of their models are you slogging down for 8 of your own? If I were to use him, it would be in a vS crew, rather than Barrows. This model wants a friend in combat and a Parker crew may have difficulties providing it with a good one. But, what in your crew vS is a raider replacing? Nothing jumps to mind, especially because half my points are already sunk in an Alyce and Hannah.

I agree, Killjoy has some innate synergy with Tara, but you have to make a judgement call on whether you want to pay the extra SS for him over a Nothing Beast. I'd usually prefer to have Nothing Beast + an extra scheme runner over a Killjoy. Killjoy and Hans have some expensive tricks as well. It's not impossible to have a turn one Hans ditch scout the field, focus, then take out an enemy lightweight, immediately throwing 750 lbs of Killjoy into their face when they're out of position. Its an expensive trick though, usually costing about half your available ss. Edit: I'm a hack! Killjoy doesn't even work that way! I was thinking of Bete.

I'm absolutely tickled to see someone not fall for Schill as the place to start in Outcasts. I had a somewhat grueling start-up period for Malifaux almost entirely because I wasted time trying to get his box to work when there are simply better options. I perused plenty of "beginner guides", and I feel the community sometimes underestimates a beginners ability to pick up masters like Tara, and dumps them with masters like Schill. From purely anecdotal experience, I second people's recommendations for Jack Daw, as that's the master that truly clicked for me.