Marcus Beast Priorities

[mythicFOX]

I need some help from Team Marcus.

I'm trying to get my Marcus crew together but thanks to a very hectic real life at the moment I'm going to need to really prioritise. At the moment I have:

PAINTED:

Marcus

Jackalope

Myranda

Sabretooth Cerberus

Cojo

Moleman

Moleman

Guild Hound

Guild Hound

ASSEMBLED:

Malifaux Raptor

Canine Remains

Naturally this adds to a case full of mechanical / M&SU Arcanists.

So my question is if can only add two beast models to this pool to play Marcus with, which two should I add and why?

Thanks in advance

[Rathnard]

Silurid

Waldgeist

 

The former is amazing for anything related to scheme markers or just interacting in general. I know some people prefer the Moleman/Canine combo but I prefer the Silurid for their speed and slipperyness.

 

The latter is just tough, and gives you an anchor point to yout crew for your opponent to bust their head against before you launch a counter-attack.

 

Honourable mention goes to the Blessed of December. Fast like a Silurid (despite needing a higher card for leap) but hits pretty hard in melee, especially against unarmoured targets.

[dgraz]

Have to agree. Silurid and Waldgeist.

 

If there's anyway possible, I'd throw in a BoD and 2 Canine Remains.

 

The BoD with Pack Leader on it can be just brutal.......move a couple of models in.....cast Feral and 'reward'.

[Hateful Darkblack]

Blessed of December are currently on sale.

[The Godlyness]

Spawn mother? Cause why not. Gets you gupps good for reconnoiter

[dgraz]

Had a few more minutes now, so just wanted to expand on my advice.

 

Waldgeist is great against anything that doesn't just ignore Armor. It's 4" reach shuts down a massive area of the table for Interacts and such.....no charging, no shooting....two can be evil for Squatter's Rights and such..........combine with Cojo for extra area control........Waldgeists also have decent melee with incredible triggers. Average wounds, defense with the Armor is great, but they also have Perfect Camo for extra protection.

 

I prefer the Silurid with Moleman for Scheme dropping.......Silurid leaps, drops marker, walks on to start heading off for other schemes.....moleman moves to marker to get into position to start working the center-line........obviously this depends on schemes. Silurid is fairly survivable with Perfect Camo and their mobility.......but they can basically give you 3 VP depending on schemes......Deliver Message, Plant Evidence, Power Ritual, anything like that............and, they can generally do it fast enough to come back and give a little support somewhere........they're melee isn't fantastic for their points, but they do have some fair triggers.....and really, if one 7ss model scores you 3Vp, anything else they do is gravy.

[mythicFOX]

Thanks guys, more or less what I expected but good to get your thoughts.

 

If you were to add a model (not on my list above) after the Silurid and Waldgeist what would it be?

[sssk]

Well there's one obvious beast missing...

In terms of the second beast, I'll assume I'm allowed to use "beast" as an adjective, and I'd say a December acolyte adds a lot of board/tempo control, and fills in a lot of Marcus' issues (for instance against armour).

[Rathnard]

Thanks guys, more or less what I expected but good to get your thoughts.

 

If you were to add a model (not on my list above) after the Silurid and Waldgeist what would it be?

 

As I said before, Blessed of December.

 

While I haven't had much experience with it myself, I can't imagine the Rogue Necro being a bad choice either. I remember someone basically saying he was a Resser version of Teddy.

[Tograth]

depending on how away from beast theme you are willing to go, cassandra with practiced productions can be absolutely brutal with Marcus. Especially when you have something fast moving (say a raptor) to get in position to allow her to drop the scheme markers exactly where you want.

[Myyrä]

depending on how away from beast theme you are willing to go, cassandra with practiced productions can be absolutely brutal with Marcus. Especially when you have something fast moving (say a raptor) to get in position to allow her to drop the scheme markers exactly where you want.

If you are just looking for something to carry practised productions, Angelica is cheaper and often better alternative to Cassandra.

[dgraz]

To me, the third beast on the list should be the BoD as I and Rathnard said earler. She's incredible. She's a Silurid on steroids. Great mobility, great stats.....self-healing, H2W........her damage track is a little low, but one trigger for extra damage and one for an extra attack......which doesn't have the 'can't declare triggers' caveat....and it doesn't require the Tome, so isn't competing with the Cerberus.

As I mentioned earlier, her mobility and survivablity make her an excellent choice to carry Pack Leader....which when set up properly can be absolutely brutal.

[brdparker]

I'll "leap" in support of the BoD. I love starting with her and the Cerb, each with Imbued Energies and then leaping in with whichever I have more of in my hand, tomes or rams. (0) Leap + a fast movement walk if necessary/extra attack + charge kills almost anything. Just be careful of damage prevention flips from SS users, as either attack has to damage to get continual attacks trigger. If you have the Spawn Mother, who can give +2 Cg to all friendly models, things get silly real quick. It's fun to play with Spawn Mother, BoD, Cerberus, Jackalope, Gupps, and Silurids... And suddenly everything is leaping everywhere.

 

The major downside is that you need the 5+ mask for the Cerberus (or any mask for the Gupps). Arcane Reservoir and +2/-2 cards from dropping a SS helps with that. Sue can give an extra card and scheme markers when your fragile leapers inevitably fall.

[dgraz]

I'll "leap" in support of the BoD. I love starting with her and the Cerb, each with Imbued Energies 

Have you tried the Pack Leader Upgrade? Once you figure out how to use it, it can be more powerful than worrying about triggering your extra attacks.

[brdparker]

Have you tried the Pack Leader Upgrade? Once you figure out how to use it, it can be more powerful than worrying about triggering your extra attacks.

Absolutely, one of my favorites. If I can set up and Smell Fear into a chain of attacks, that can be brutal as well.

[Tograth]

If you are just looking for something to carry practised productions, Angelica is cheaper and often better alternative to Cassandra.

its combination of her high defense, southern charm, high attack, and extreme mobility that I like.

 

then again, angelica pushing stuff around would probably be almost as fun.

[grave13]

Got my Marcus crew up and painted. It took me about a week and a half to compleate and I must say I had so much fun painting this crew box. The detail on this crew box sculpts are beautiful. So With that I gave this crew the honor it deserved and took my time and put the best paint job I have ever done on any minature. Love love loved painting Cojo. Hands down he is my favorite sculpt out of the box set. Myranda in the end proved to be a little pain to paint due to her posture. Razor spine rattler was just meh after painting Cojo. Just to plain of a color scheme. I think if i purchsse any more of RSR im going to look up actual rattle snake colors and patterns and apply that to the sculpt. Ok so now I got this crew box all painted up and ready to go. I got this extra slots to fill

Out for a 50ss point game and I need some more beasties. I definitly want whatever i get next to be the new M2 plastic line. Because i love the new sculpts on everything. Im thinking maybe Waldgest and Silurids. I can hold off on BoD till she gets a plastic reboot. Maybe Mole men.

[dgraz]

In plastic........Silurids, Waldgeists, Molemen, Canine Remains.........That's all I can think of. With that you'll have over 50ss worth of stuff easy, and you'll have enough options that you can field several different crews....and cover multiple strats/schemes.

[grave13]

OK fellow Marcus fans. I have my painted Claw and Fang crew box posted in the members gallery area. please feel free to check it out.

[entropolous]

In plastic........Silurids, Waldgeists, Molemen, Canine Remains.........That's all I can think of. With that you'll have over 50ss worth of stuff easy, and you'll have enough options that you can field several different crews....and cover multiple strats/schemes.

The dawn serpent is also availabe in plastic.

[dgraz]

The dawn serpent is also availabe in plastic.

Yes. The ones I listed were just to fill any holes in the Marcus crew....the four I listed can be swapped in and out for a variety of missions. The Dawn Serpent is nice to have and use every once in a while but you won't fit it into every list, those four are basically staples for Marcus.

[Zwergenkrieger]

Hi all,

 

I like to expand my beast heavy Zoraida crew and get Marcus as a second master. I know that Marcus is a different faction, but most of the painted stuff I own for Zoraida can also be fielded in a Marcus crew, therefore I wanted to go this route.

 

Well, with my Zoraida crew (which is based around speed and board control) I never felt comfortable when it comes down to the Reckoning strategy. So I like to ask you fellow Marcus players: What beasts would you advice to run in the Reckoning strategy.

 

The last times I played Reckoning all I did was to avoid being slain by the opponent whil I tried to get my VP from the schemes, but this "strategy" doesn´t really satisfy me.

 

ZK

[brdparker]

Marcus with Trail of the Gods can lay the small guys low in a single activation alone, but you wanna look at models with Leap (Blessed, Cerb) that can dish out damage as well. They can get to models that your opponent thinks are safe and nab you another kill. Myranda boosts Df and heals in case they get damaged before delivery. Raptors can hit and embeasten low Df/high wound beatsticks (which is rather common) and then you can give them negative flips from Dominance and attack with a bunch of smaller guys like a Gupp or Moleman and finish with a heavy hitter. Then, there's always the Killjoy tactic

 

One thing to note: if you want to alpha the opponent to kill his/her own models, it doesn't count toward the strat, since it'd be a model killing its friendlies, which is outside of the scope of the objective.

 

If you want to avoid dying, same thing applies... take models with Leap and stay outside of their threat range as much as possible. It actually works pretty well against some crews.

[dgraz]

It's a tough one for sure as most beasts are pretty 'glass cannon'. Going for the Schemes and taking lots of quick models with Leap to race around the enemy is certainly a viable tactic but I understand that it may not be satisfying. 

 

There are a couple of tough beasts out there. Myranda is pretty tough with her high Df and SS use....she can also help other beasts stay alive with her defense buff and a little healing. When she sacs herself it doesn't count for Reckoning, so even if they hurt her you can deny that kill. The Blessed of December is very durable. The Dawn Serpent is also very durable....especially if you Alpha it so it can do it's healing twice a turn. Waldgeists are pretty tanky unless your opponent knows you like them and then brings some things that ignore armor.

 

This could be a good time to think outside the 'beast' box with Marcus and take some other Arcanist models that are tough like Howard.

 

Few things can kill as well as a Cerberus can, but then it needs to be protected after the strike because its fragile.

 

I think using Marcus as support a lot may be a great play here. Spamming Law of Meat around so the enemy can't attack you is pretty big. You just need to identify the targets that are a threat this turn and shut them down. With Trail of the Gods, Marcus can use the movement to get where he needs to to shut something down. I'd take a large SS pool for this as he needs the suit for Law of Meat.....minimum of 6 stones, all 7 if you can. Again, with Trail of the Gods Marcus can get an extra attack and can make his damage 4/4/6 and 4 weak damage is crazy good....so he can go on the offensive when you need him to. He can use Feral or his attack trigger to go after an enemy model that has already activated this turn deep in enemy territory....then when the enemy counter attacks he can shunt the damage off to his original target....this is a great defensive ability but remember that if they kill that guy it isn't a point for you because you didn't make the attack.

[Adran]

I think My last Reckoning list with Marcus was

 

Marcus, Imbued protetcion, Arcane Resevoir and Gods Domain

Taelor (I knew I was facing Ramos and wanted to kill spiders)

Bishop with Imbued Protetction

Slate Ridge Mauler.

 

But if you want to be beast Heavy, Myranda, Cojo and Waldigiests make for a tough core. Cerberus, Blessed and Rattlers make for a very mobile strike force.

Slate ridge and Dawn Serpent both can heal themselves