Expanding Seamus

[jonahmaul]

I think you need some more scheme runners in that list (as you've alluded to).  Either some Necropunks (if you can get them) and/or some Canine Remains.  I bought Titans Forge Vampiric Bats to use as my Night Terrors.  They're more widely available than the current models and also benefit from not sucking like the current models or the new art!

[jonahmaul]

I don't generally find CCK a good option either.  He can't interact or score you points for Turf War/Reconnoiter and at only Sh4 he rarely does any significant damage if he does any at all.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Interesting, I'd almost never play Seamus without the CCK. Very often the enemy has a model with low DF that the CCK can beat up on. While I agree outside of that situation he isn't going to connect very often, but his dmg potential is so high that he cannot be ignored, and while he isn't a brick, he isn't really efficient to kill, especially considering his cost. If there was an upgrade that said you might be able to kill something with the upgrade, but also would drain between 2 and 3 AP of important models from the enemy models per game, for 3 SS, I'd consider that a bargain.

 

But to each their own.

[jonahmaul]

One thing I haven't tried which I think would be interesting is hitting Seamus with something of mine own first turn and discarding the hat so that it attaches to CCK.  Makes him a little more durable.  But I find that on missions that requires interacts or non-peons there's better things to commit those 3SS to and with strats like Reckoning your opponents are going to have high level minions/Enforcers which he is going to struggle to harm.  As you say to each their own though, I always find it interesting how different folks get different mileage from models though (I've only run Crooligans once for example and really don't like them.  Not enough to give a fair assessment but I struggle to see their value over Necropunks).

[Daysleeper]

I usually always take the CCK for the reasons fetid just elaborated but i found another use in my last game.
I had spring the trap unrevealed and was able to place 2 schememarkers withing 4" of the enemy leader. Then i walked a drowned in position and shot him with the CCK - relenting my defence-flip. 2 shots with weak dmg 4 and the drowned died, and gave me a third schememarker (from finish the job) wich i couldn't have placed legally because of the other two being to close. 

[Fetid Strumpet]

As for Crooligans vs necropunks, in my opinion if you are looking for a pure scheme runner necropunks beat out Crooligans everyday of the week. For two reasons.

1: necropunks can take interact actions on the first turn, whereas Crooligans never can.

2: necropunks can be speedy and drop 2 scheme markers a turn, whereas Crooligans usually only manage 1.

The reason to take Crooligans is that they are good scheme runners that don't require additional resources to work, as you need specific cards to get the punk's leap to work, and they have a few other goodies like the wp aura and blistering fog.

For Seamus, in most of the crews I build the belles serve well enough as a scheme runner when I need such, so I rarely invest in specific ones. If I did, in specifically Seamus' case, and depending on what else was in the crew, I'd probably take Crooligans.

The first big reason is that Crooligans don't require additional cards to make them work. I find Seamus very card intensive as you need a 7+ to make back ally work, you'll want 2ish high cards to hit and do severe dmg with his gun, and although I don't use her often, if you have bête noir in the crew you also need a 10+ to keep her alive. Needing another card to make the leap work is just too much I find.

The other reason is they are walking negative wp auras, and my favored build smacks the enemy WP around like an unloved puppy, so anything that can help knock that stat down is worth considering in my builds.

As I said though, as a pure scheme runner I agree with you that punks are superior.

[jonahmaul]

Good arguments for the inclusion of Crooligans though.  Anything that can give negatives to Wp is a bonus.  As I said I've only used them once and I used them poorly so they both died before they did anything but the lack of resources is a compelling argument.  I tend to do their leap off the top of the deck for Necropunks and if it fails then I just walk them as often I don't find their leap absolutely necessary (unless I'm trying to get them out of combat or something when I will cheat).   I also dislike the current models quite a lot (I used proxies when I played with them) which doesn't help!  I think I'm going to be using Necropunks some more in games I play soon as want to try Toshiro summoning Komainu from scrap markers.

 

More OT - you need some scheme runners/objective grabbers so either Necropunks/Crooligans as you prefer if not using the Belles for it.