Bette Noire

[charlarino]

So my local shop is ordering me in bette noire to go with my chosen crews of seamus and nicodem, I also own the hanged and was wondering, how do you use bette in your games, I know shes hard to kill with a 10 in hand, but any little hints or tips you can give me would be greatly appreciated

[Bradimus Prime]

I'm quite interested in this myself, I'm thinking to add Bete to my Seamus crew (Sinister Rep) along with a single Hanged.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Personally I'm not a fan or either model when playing Seamus outside of certain specific instances. That said, the most basic way to use bête is to have Seamus jump foward via back ally, and then in combination with the CCK kill something dead. That death will pop out bête who then charges something important and hopefully kills it, paralyzes it, or effectively paralyzes it by forcing it to spend its AP dealing with bête who will with luck become one with the night once she dies.

[Math Mathonwy]

She is somewhat squishy and holding on to that 10+ will take a severe tax on your hand but she can be wonderfully destructive as well.

Much of the time you should bring forth Bete only from the death of your own models. This way the opponent hopefully can't kill her until she gets to do her thing.

Her thing is a pretty good thing, btw. But it is a pretty specific thing. She does damage reliably but not a huge amount of it. And the additional effects that she causes are an important part.

So choose your targets carefully. This is extremely important to getting your SSs worth out of her. She is a surgical tool, not a sledgehammer.

Also, don't underestimate her psychological effect while she is buried. Don't manifest her just to manifest her. Be patient and enjoy knowing that your opponent, if they are on top of their game, need to consider her every time they aim to kill a model of yours.

Sometime this can mean that your Scheme runner (say, a Crooligan or a Necropunk) got ganked by the enemy Scheme runner. Manifesting Bete can let you avenge, succeed in the Scheme and win the game. The fun part here, of course, is that she is there no matter which flank your Scheme runner died. This is huge.

She does divide opinions. I like her but she is somewhat difficult to use well and doesn't always work out. But then again, neither does anyone else.

[jonahmaul]

I really like her but she hasn't made the table a lot recently.  She works really well for things like Deliver a Message or Cursed/Distract in the right situations though and as others have said she's all about consistent but not high damage and her triggers.  I don't usually take her with Nico though as he can be card intensive and holding back that card for her isn't ideal.

[MasterDisaster]

She is somewhat squishy and holding on to that 10+ will take a severe tax on your hand but she can be wonderfully destructive as well.

Much of the time you should bring forth Bete only from the death of your own models. This way the opponent hopefully can't kill her until she gets to do her thing.

Her thing is a pretty good thing, btw. But it is a pretty specific thing. She does damage reliably but not a huge amount of it. And the additional effects that she causes are an important part.

So choose your targets carefully. This is extremely important to getting your SSs worth out of her. She is a surgical tool, not a sledgehammer.

Also, don't underestimate her psychological effect while she is buried. Don't manifest her just to manifest her. Be patient and enjoy knowing that your opponent, if they are on top of their game, need to consider her every time they aim to kill a model of yours.

Sometime this can mean that your Scheme runner (say, a Crooligan or a Necropunk) got ganked by the enemy Scheme runner. Manifesting Bete can let you avenge, succeed in the Scheme and win the game. The fun part here, of course, is that she is there no matter which flank your Scheme runner died. This is huge.

She does divide opinions. I like her but she is somewhat difficult to use well and doesn't always work out. But then again, neither does anyone else.

 

This basically sums up my feelings on her. I feel crippled holding onto a 10+ card specifically for her however she can be really useful. The psychological threat can sometimes make your opponent cautious when killing your models which is a great advantage however her squishy nature makes her a tough one to use effectively sometimes. She either works pretty well or does bugger all. I want to use her a lot but I can't see it happening although I hear she's supposed to be pretty good with Tara. I've yet to try them together to see how well they get on but it's on the to-do list... somehwere. 

[jonahmaul]

It's worth noting that you don't always have to hold onto that card for her Bury.  If you've got some mileage out of her already (i.e. she's scored you some VPs for Deliver/Distract/Cursed or she's dome some damage on value targets or Paralyzed something important etc.) and you need the card for something else then it can be worth just straight flipping it off the top of the deck and in the world of Lundgren 'if she dies she dies' (again?!).  A lot of things I see written about her write as if you absolutely have to keep that 10 in your hand for the whole game but it's not always necessary.  As with all decisions in Malifaux it's about prioritising your models/AP/cards etc.)

[Adran]

I'm thinking her value is going to go up quite a lot in Head Hunter, from gaining grounds. Appearing near the head marker sounds like it ought to be very handy.

[Dirial]

I want to try her with Kirai: Spirit dies, out comes Bete. Bete dies, out comes Ikiryo. Ikiryo dies, out comes Bete. Sadly, I don't play Kirai. 

[Myyrä]

I want to try her with Kirai: Spirit dies, out comes Bete. Bete dies, out comes Ikiryo. Ikiryo dies, out comes Bete. Sadly, I don't play Kirai. 

Does not work. Ikiryo isn't living or undead (and many other spirits aren't either.)

[Dirial]

Does not work. Ikiryo isn't living or undead (and many other spirits aren't either.)

 

Damn it. Well, glad I don't play Kirai then, because I would obviously be bad at it... 

[Sholto]

Don't forget to consider starting her on the table against ranged crews. That Tenebrous Aura is very handy, esp if you can also get cover.

[jonahmaul]

Don't forget to consider starting her on the table against ranged crews. That Tenebrous Aura is very handy, esp if you can also get cover.

Also a good and often forgotten point!  Just because you can start her buried doesn't mean you have to or that it's always best to do so.

[valhallan42nd]

Speaking to Bete and Ikyrio... While Ikriyo's death will not trigger Bete coming out, Ikyrio killing off a model in the backfield can pop Bete out where Bete can be dangerous to those support models your enemy wants to keep hidden.

[Vile the mad]

U can however have ikyro sac herself after one action in order to get killjoy out of her.... Bette needs living or undead.

[valhallan42nd]

U can however have ikyro sac herself after one action in order to get killjoy out of her.... Bette needs living or undead.

Hmmmmm.... you don't say... Hmmmmmm.

[entropolous]

U can however have ikyro sac herself after one action in order to get killjoy out of her.... Bette needs living or undead.

This. Changes. Everything.

[underdog6750]

Take her with Yan lo. Turn 1 have the soul porter poke her twice for 2 chi and proceed up the table, even damaged can your opponent afford to ignore her. Well worth a 10+ of any card in turn 1/2 as killing her is ap not being used on the rest of the crew

[charlarino]

I#m loving this thread

[Vile the mad]

Doesn't soul porters melee require him hit an enemy? Don't have my cards on me, working.

[Jackfraser]

I'm afraid vile is correct. Enemy only

[underdog6750]

Yea just noticed this in my game the other day of well I guess its back to pushing izamu round for the soul porter lol

[turtleclub13]

I find bete works well for those 3 scemes, but works well with molly, who can give her black blood for the game, and then throw on unnerving aura to make a damned if you do, damned if you dont synergy.

[Dirial]

I find bete works well for those 3 scemes, but works well with molly, who can give her black blood for the game, and then throw on unnerving aura to make a damned if you do, damned if you dont synergy.

 

Note that Black Blood will be discarded if she is buried by her spell.

[Valcurdra]

I see bete as a teleporter. Her strength lies in the fact she can appear where needed throughout a battle.

She is best used where the combo of strats/schemes require you to divide your forces, or where you opponents positioning is likely to be unpredictable.