Zoraida Tactica

[BurkerKiing]

Hi,

 

So I've finally got my Zoraida box set painted and with the two Waldgeist from my Lillith gang I have enough for a 45SS gang. I know, from what I've read, that Zoraida can pretty much work with any models. I also note that there doesn't seem to be a Zoraida Tactica.

 

Has anyone got any advice about how to run a Zoraida gang using Silurid, Bad JuJu, a couple of Waldgeist and a Nurse. Or should I look at a totally different make-up - although this would seem to be a pity given the fact that she can work with Swampfiends.

 

All advice greatly appreciated.

[Vorschlag]

I run two different Zoraida (Neverborn) crews, Swampfiends or dolls.

 

Both function fine but I do enjoy my doll factory, not to say there's anything wrong with the swampfiends but until they release a few of the Gremlin swampfiends your numbers feel a little limited.

 

Zoraida is a control master more anything else (i.e I don't class he as support or summoning) Fickle winds of fate is amazing with either of these crew options especially for either line in the sand or protect territory but I can also see it being helpful with things like plant explosives etc, where Animal form is great to deny assassinate or to take entourage.

 

A trick with silurids is place a scheme marker, leap, place a scheme marker then have Zoraida push the scheme markers up the field with fickle winds of fate.

The same can be done with dolls but costing you more activations.

 

A nasty trick with dolls is to have the stitched together gamble your life on the vodoo doll once it's hemmed, it chooses not to resist and the flip is always standard but cant be cheated, once the vodoo doll is destroyed have the widow weaver create a new wicked doll or save it for a teddy.

Nurses are always a threat with Zoraida but I feel I need fluff justification to take them in friendly or casual games, warpigs and other (1) charge models are another great option but again fluff reasoning.

[ranger156]

does anyone run samauri with her

[MetaphoricDragn]

I picked up Zoraida's box set this weekend in large part to cannibalize it for Lilith.  However, I'd also definitely like advice and tactica for if I want to build a Zoraida crew as well.

[Bodiless]

I did the same thing. Last night I ran a list that was pretty much all Swampfiends... and Lilith. 

[AoS]

I like the swamp version of Zoraida.

-Spawn Mother 9ss

- Bad Juju 8ss

- 3 Waldgeist 18ss

-2 Gupps 8ss

 

and upgrades!!

 

(You can always change the Gupps or the Waldgeist for some Silurids for score)

Also maybe you should get iggy or a nurse instead some waldgeist or gupps

[Hateful Darkblack]

There's a Zoraida tactica on PullMyFinger: M2E Zoraida.

 

The main advice that comes to mind for me:

• Voodoo Doll is an AP-intensive but powerful murderball. It kills enemy models a lot. Damage the Doll, then heal it, then damage it again. Note that damaging conditions like Flaming and Poison have double effect (because they copy both the condition and the damage)
• Obey is great! Move your models into position and killy our enemy models.
• Silurid are one of the best objective-runners in the game. They jump around and accomplish everything. Keep them out of fights unless you know you'll win.
• Bad Juju hits like a truck. He'll die if an enemy focuses on him, but if you take Eternal Fiend, he'll come back again.
• Get some Waldgeists. They're tanky and flexible and can make terrain.
• With Zoraida, use Bewitch more often than you do right now. The extra card draw is amazing.

[GrognardZer0]

Hi, new player here. Do you guys/gals purchase your Voodoo Doll totem or do you just summon him during the game to save on the SS cost?

[Sezar]

Always summon here

[Bodiless]

One thing I was wondering about with Zoraida - if my opponent declared Arcanist I think I would be afraid to put her down because my opponent might drop Marcus. Have people played swampfiend-heavy Z versus him and done ok? 

[EnternalVoid]

I have had Waldgeist against Marcus before but I don't really consider my lists Swampfiend heavy.  I tend to vary my selection based on the strategy and theme and rarely go to heavy in any one thing.  That said I would imagine if your opponent Declares Arcanist it is generally not a good idea to throw down beasts in number.  That said there are Plenty of models that work well with Zoraida so it might not be much of a loss.

[Vorschlag]

I've played swamp fiends vs marcus, my opponent was still learning marcus so it wasn't too bad but I can see where it would be a huge problem without enough blocking terrain on the board.

 

But then if you take Zoraida and your concerned about Marcus you can always run with dolls instead or a couple of models that you think will take attention off the swampfiends, you run the same risk if you hire in warpigs etc, you simply play them differently if your in that position.

[Sezar]

Zoraida + Dolls... Zoraida + Nephilim... Zoraida + Woes...

Honestly, I've never played Big Z with Swampies (I just dislike that theme), so yeah, you don't have to fear that matchup!

[zFiend]

Highly off topic but BurgerKiing would you happen to have a picture of that Teddy in your avatar anywhere? That is pretty damn amazing looking! 

[BurkerKiing]

Hi, I've created my first gallery and uploaded Teddy. I'll upload the rest of my Lilith (and other) gang as and when.

[Dante83]

I have just had my first game with Zoraida and I have to say I had a blast!!! The ol' gal has some mad skills.

One question did crop up however, does damage done via voodoo doll get reduced by armour etc? For example if my voodoo doll suffered 4 damage and Gracie was the hemmed model, would Gracie suffer 2 or 4 damage?

[Patzer]

Gracie would suffer 4 damage, but she would reduce the damage by 2.

 

Zoraida can be really good if one can balance her positioning of being too offensive/defensive with her. Obeys are always nice. Vodoo Doll is a fantastic totem. Bewitch and Repulsive should never be overlooked. Darn fantastic actions. 

[Dante83]

Thanks for the quick response ezyryder.

So just to clarify (as my initial question was worded poorly), armour would still reduce damage done via the voodoo dolls hem ability.

Thanks again

Dan

[Adran]

Yes, nothing in the Hem ability says it ignores armor so it is damage being dealt to a model with Armor, which reduces incoming damage.

 Incorporial and bulletproof/resiliance don't help though.

[Bodiless]

 

There's a Zoraida tactica on PullMyFinger: M2E Zoraida.

 

The main advice that comes to mind for me:

 

• With Zoraida, use Bewitch more often than you do right now. The extra card draw is amazing.

 

 

Dear Tyrants, is it ever. Played my first game with Z last night against Tara. Landed Bewitch on Lazarus, who had already gotten Fast. I obeyed him to attack Tara (2 cards), then later in the turn he took a walk (2 cards) and and rapid fired (6 cards). It was nuts. But my opponent had pinned too much of his plan for the turn on Lazarus doing things to just have him stand around. 

[Vorschlag]

This is something I put together for the Malifaux NZ page.

It probably doesn't live up to pull my finger, and there are problem some mistakes I'm sure you guys can pick it apart....Apologies for the formatting.



Zoraida

The Hag Queen, The thread bearer of fate, Big Z, Grandma Z, The Bayou Hag, Ol'Gran-mah flappy bags.

Zoraida has a somewhat unique play style I had to compare her to another Neverborn Master it would be Lucius.

They both have larger pools to choose models from, they both mind control to influence their crew and they both play with scheme markers.

While Zoraida lacks the support that Lucius both hands out and takes away.
but benefits more from her "map-control" and "hand control" influence.

What Zoraida brings to the faction and the tabletop is control, control and influence even beyond The Governors proxy.

Almost all of Zoraida's abilities can be game changing when applied to the right strategies or schemes.

So what does she really do?


Control:

Obey, one of Zoraida's most flexible abilities, used both offensively and defensively.

Obey allows Zoraida to tap into any (1)ap resource on the field.

It's useful for obeying your own troops to do nasty things to a vodoo doll, or to re-hem a vodoo doll after it's paralyzed one model etc.

Ontop of these it can be used for dropping scheme markers, making your opponents models attack each other or simply to move things where you want them to be.
which is always useful in a faction full of Manipulative and perfect camouflage.


Bewitch, probably one of the most overlooked abilities in Zoraidas arsenal.

Giving your opponent a condition where every time their models declares a walk, charge or an attack you draw two cards really does give you a nice "control" hand.

As this is casting on seven with a range of twelve and has no limitation to casting you could drop this on two or even three of his models.
Or bewitch an enemy model then obey it to do one of the above.


Repulsive, one of Zoraida's finest qualities.
Being able to push every enemy model till it is six inches away from Zoraida is pretty impressive as a defensive manoeuvre or for table top/ board control.

Think about using this in Reconnoitre to move models out of a quarter or on an enemy master in the last turn trying to achieve entourage a body guarded model if you can push him back to his deployment zone.

The same applies to protect territory final turn and don't worry if they pass the first attempt.
It's a one point action, just do it again.
Or if it succeeds cast it, walk, cast it to push enemy models up to 11".


Animal shape gives you Raven form, which following on from Repulsive seems appropriate.

Raven form is ideal for positioning Zoraida where you need to be and then casting Repulsive on that final turn to deny points.

Other than that it's a wonderful defensive ability because it "places" Zoraida anywhere within 15"

This also makes Entourage a shoe in if you keep Zoraida alive and don't have her busy with other things.


Tarot Reading gives Zoraida a few nice tricks but the most important goes to The fickle winds of fate.

This ability makes line in the sand and most other scheme marker based schemes very easy for a crew that will likely have some very effective scheme runners like wicked dolls or silurids.

It does cost Zoraida (2)ap but being able to remove all scheme markers within 4" of Zoraida and place them anywhere within 6" atleast 1" from one another makes scheme running schemes allot easier.

Add to this it's capacity for scheme denial, removing scheme markers from prime positions final turn could really ruin your opponents day but then again so would Plant explosives.


Crystal Ball, this upgrade brings Glimpse to the table.
while this is a wonderful control buff this is a limited upgrade so has to compete with Animal shape.

Glimpse however sometimes makes it worth that sacrifice.
I'm less inclined to take this with Neverborn unless I'm also taking on wings of darkness and playing very much hand control.


So Zoraida is quite effective at both map control and hand control but f she has no real shooting and is lacklustre in combat she should be an easy target for an enemy right?


Defense and survivability.

The first honorable mention has to go to Proper manners, giving everyone negative flips when they attack zoraida unless they focus is horrible for anyone.

If your opponent has taken assassinate they are going to start burning through their hand and soul stones trying to negate those negative flips.
Hopefully all the while your drawing cards.

Add to this the defence trigger Regret (which you will be burning for or playing a crow on) and even if the attack lands your opponent better hope its a weak blow or the enemies activation ends.

To make Regret better though, it doesn't even matter how much damage you take.
If you sponge the damage up by burning a soul stone to reduce damage they still inflicted moderate or severe.


An honorable mention goes to Raven Form and Repulsive here as defensive abilities but as they have been discussed above we won't repeat them.

What about offence? how does Zoraida hurt things?

He main attack Vodoo pins has a low damage spread of 1/2/5 only attacks on MI4 but has the bonus of always causing poison +2 and a possible trigger of Puncture to get positive damage flips.

So not overly impressive, her only other attack (apart from obeying other things to attack) is Hex Bag.

Again Hexbag is not a huge damage dealer>
It hands out either 2 damage, 2 burning, +4 poison or cuts off the capacity to use soul stones and casting on Ca7.

So the obvious use for this ability is a control effect.
To remove the ability to use soulstones from your opponents henchman or even master.
The down side is you need to be within 6" of them but there are situations where that will apply.

Now what were we saying about assassinate and souls stones.
starting see why Zoraida isn't necessarily a bad choice when assassinate is on the cards?

But with or without that scheme Zoraida's main damage and condition outlets comes from her Vodoo Doll.


Summoning:

Remind me of the babe, the ability to summon a vodoo within 6" which immediately can hem to an enemy within 10" gives Zoraida an interesting threat range.

Especially when we think about hemming to a henchman and then using Hex to remove their use of soul stones.

A very nasty combination is to take stitched together to use gamble your life on the doll, the doll chooses to fail.

This would normally generate a double negative but gamble your life never receives positives or negatives and cannot be cheated.
This does 3/4/7 so when you really need something dead or you've already bumped through a number of conditions this combination becomes monstrous especially when combined with obey and mend

Adding conditions to the doll poison and burning are fun as they double the effect on the hemmed model.
The doll suffers one for poison, the enemy suffers one from poison and one from the doll etc.

Also look for other effects you can toss onto the doll such as Paralyses, Appetizing, slow etc.


Which brings us nicely to...Support

Support.

Enthralled: Zoraida allows you to bring more to the table than other Neverborn Masters.

Adding two suicide bombers, Nurses for paralyse, and warpigs etc for (1) charges and a number of out of faction beat sticks.

While we are on the top of crew selection Tarot reading also gives you Bayou Servants.

This adds some nice interesting new options to the never born, looking mainly at McTavish and his gators but wild boar cant be dismissed completely either.


But since we're discussing Swamp fiends Hexed among you needs mention as an upgrade to give you yet another support ability.

Eyes in the woods allows you to give up to three friendly swampfiends from the shadows is nice but I don't know if I would take it on Zoraida, on McTavish or Bad JuJu however...


The last of Zoraida's support bag of tricks is Mend which allows you to continue her sick S&M relationship with her vodoo doll.

Important to note this means you can damage it put conditions on it then heal it back up and do it again.

This is nice for taking out those pesky creatures that have more than six wounds.



The only other abilities to consider are the General upgrades.

Wings of Darkness 

This is probably the only generic Neverborn upgrades I would take on Zoraida.

The more important neverborn upgrade for a standard Zoraida crew is Eternal fiend for Badjuju especially in a swamp fiend crew.

As this upgrade cannot be taken on Bad Juju in a Gremlin Zoraida crew making him a less valuable piece.
 

[BurkerKiing]

Thank you - this is brilliant.

[thegoatgod_pan]

My best Zoraida trick is pretty simple: use animal form to get to the highest terrain you can reach. Summon a voodoo doll the next turn. hem something, hex bag the voodoo doll for a nice horrible condition. Spend your last Ap on whatever , prick the doll if the height is below 6'.

With your next activation pick the voodoo doll and use its action to walk off the edge. The voodoo doll, if the terrain was at least 4-5 ht, but ideally exactly 6', will certainly die. However, the hemmed unfortunate will take the full 6 damage from the voodoo doll, and keep the condition. It is a very unexpected source of damage, generates a scrap marker for your widow weaver (or does for me) and you just summon another doll next turn.

[Ludvig]

Thanks for a very good breakdown of Zoraida!

 

Just need to add that (un?)fortunately Mimics Blessing is "non-master".

[Vorschlag]

Thanks Ludvig don't know how I missed that, corrected the post now.

Another nasty voodoo doll trick is if your not killing it off, leave it in play next turn have the nurse paralyse it while it is hemmed, then zoraida obeys it to hem something else, then obeys the nurse to paraylse it again (so far we've assumed this works even though it already has paralyse) and spend your last ap on something else like seize prey on the widdow weaver.

Paralysing all three of Marcus' beat sticks in  one turn...priceless.