This is your scheme pool

[valhallan42nd]

Your opponent declares Arcanists, and the board is full of terrain providing ht 3 or higher line of sight blocking. It might look like this:
 

What do you take and why?

 

Edited December 12, 2015 by valhallan42nd

[Nicodemic]

Kirai, damage output and malevolence will punish your opponent for hitting you plus the armor ignoring potential spread around in some of the spirit models.

[valhallan42nd]

What kind of crew are you taking along with that?

[Nicodemic]

Kirai w/ Unforgiven, Absorb Spirit, and Swirling Aether

Lost Love

Datsu ba with Spirit Whispers

Izamu

2x Ashigaru

Rotten belle

Freikorps Trapper

for 50 ss with a cache of 3

[CactusEmperor]

Well to start out with, the strategy and nearly all of the schemes revolve around killing, so picking a master that does that well seems important. Add in the high amount of blocking terrain and Seamus seems like he would be a natural pick for this game. However, while I own Seamus I’ve not yet played him. Depending on whom I was playing against and how serious of a match it was, I would probably pick him anyways, as I want to give him a shot and this looks like a good match for him to be fielded.

 If it was some manner of high stakes game though, I would probably use a master I’m more comfortable with. I have experience with Tara, Nicodem, and Yan Lo. Tara isn’t amazing at killing things, so I probably wouldn’t take her (I’m bad with her as well). Nicodem summoning would guarantee my opponent points, so he’s out too. Yan Lo would work reasonably well as he’s difficult to kill and can put a fair amount of damage out, so I would likely take him. I’ll make a list for him, since my opinion of Seamus wouldn’t be very well informed.

Looking to the schemes now, two things jump out at me. The first is that protect territory is an option, so I’m going to take that. I’ve always found it really easy to complete, so I pretty much always take it if available. The second is murder protégé. As the opponent is playing Arcanists and in my experience Arcanists take the Mechanical Rider more often than not, regardless of crew, I have a good idea of what I’ll be up against. This makes the scheme very enticing. I would likely take it, as I like the mechanical rider to be dead anyways, and this just rewards me for doing so.

With these things in mind, I think I would build my Yan Lo Crew thusly:

Yan Lo with 4 Soul Stones

-Reliquary (1ss)

-Brutal Khakkhara (1ss)

-Fortify the Spirit (1ss)

Soul Porter (3ss)

Izamu the Armor (10ss)

Chiaki the Niece (6ss)

                -Pull of the Grave (1ss)

Carrion Effigy (4ss)

Shikome (8ss)

Onryo (5ss)

Nurse (5ss)

Rotten Belle (5ss)

Yan Lo was chosen for the reasons above. Fortify the Spirit was chosen as a countermeasure to any assassinate plans the enemy might have as increasing his defense/willpower up to a potential of 8 with a tome could be all it takes to deny the enemy those points. Reliquary is basically an auto include when I run Yan Lo with Izamu, as it make the enemy kill him twice before he actually goes away which is always nice. Brutal Khakkhara was chosen just to give him the access to wicked on his disengaging strikes and for extra damage against any low defense targets. . Normally I like to have as more soul stones than this, but I don’t really want to summon things and I didn’t include any henchmen, so they’re not going to be used all that often and an extra model could be worth it.

Soul Porter was chosen because he’s great. Easy chi for all!

Izamu was chosen as a primary damage dealer that’s really hard to take down. Between his self-heal, Yan Lo’s heal, and the nurse/Chiaki combo, he’s going to be a nightmare to take down while dishing out the damage himself. He’s also a spirit, which is useful for Yan Lo as his Fury of Yomi action from the Spirit Ascendant upgrade (which is a good first pick) allows him to get an additional out of activation attack or heal. And if he does die, he can be revived by Yan Lo rather easily.

Chiaki was chosen for her synergy with the nurse. Comboing the nurse’s full healing with condition removal can deny the opponent points in this heavy killing game if done well. On her own she can be the source of occasional chi, remove conditions, do a bit of healing, and with her upgrade put out slows. Plus if she dies she too can be revived.

 Carrion Effigy was sort of an “I have left over points” model.  I picked it though for the self-heal it allows for Yan Lo, as he cannot heal himself naturally. Gives a bit more protection against assassinate. The immunity resistance could be useful too, as a lot of Arcanists seem to have immunities.

Shikomi and Onryo were both chosen for their spirit synergy. They can both give out the adversary condition at range, allowing for a plus for attacks with all spirit models. This includes themselves, Izamu, and anyone Yan Lo wishes to take a 0 action on for it. Additionally, Shikome are good damage dealers that can ignore armor naturally. Both can be used for dropping protect territory markers as needed, as incorporeal and flight allow them to zip over blocking terrain for safe placements.

Rotten Belles and Nurses are always really good models to include, so I did so. They’re both amazingly useful.

To an extent, this list is focused more on making sure the enemy doesn’t get any points than making it easy to get points myself. Movement shenanigans, high resistances, and healing abound in this list, making it a pain for the enemy to land many solid hits. Meanwhile the Shikome and Izamu can just chip away at the enemies to earn points for the strategy.

Since the enemy Arcanist will likely use the Mechanical Rider, it might be worth it to switch out the Onryo and the Belle or Shikome, Pull of the Graves, and Brutal Khakkhara to bring in the Valedictorian. Her ability to remove the rider’s defensive triggers could be useful in killing the beast faster and her flying allows her to cross the map easily and keep up with Yan Lo. I opted to not include her though, choosing to go for spirit focus instead.

This post should be taken with a grain of salt though, as I do not have a terrible amount of experience with the game. Super long post complete!

[Fetid Strumpet]

I'll bite. My go to master against arcanists tends to be Molly, but in this instance I'd go Seamus:

Resurrectionists
50ss Crew

Seamus -- 6ss
 +Mad Haberdasher - 2ss
 +Red Chapel Killer - 1ss
 +Sinister Reputation - 1ss

Graveyard Spirit - 3ss

Anna Lovelace - 9ss

Madame Sybelle - 8ss

Nurse - 5ss

Rotten Belle - 5ss

Rotten Belle - 5ss

Yin The Penangalan - 8ss

 

I debate also putting in not too banged up as well. Seamus as the master as the scenario is geared to killing and he is pretty good at it. Additionally with assassinate in the pool a master that is going to be very hard to pin down via LoS blocking terrain, and back alley as well as being very difficult to kill because of how tough Seamus is in addition to his hat.

Anna makes the appearance forcing the opponent to choose her as his murder protege target if they want to go that direction. She has armor and can operate in the back field and still contribute very deadly shots that can be directed at models my belles tie up, or against models that make it to Seamus to try to tie him up. Additionally she can summon mindless zombies which can help with red chapel killer, though with make them suffer in the pool they won't make an appearance except for that reason. In a pinch she can run in and heal Seamus with her blade attacks. She also has a 40mm base, which means the graveyard spirit can most likely effectively hide behind her base and boost her to armor 3. So positioning, def 6, armor +3 and SS use means if they do try to murder protege her they are going to have a rough time doing it.

Madam Sybelle is in the crew because she works well with Seamus. The ability to pull a belle if I need to, range attack that targets wp and has access to a blast, an ability to speed my belles up to scheme runner speed and all around toughness makes her a solid pick. Additionally on this board attend to personally has real annoyance potential as sybelle can drop it on someone then walk around out of Los so she can't easily be the target of someone she puts the condition on.

Yin is in the crew again because she is very tough to kill, and has great wp synergy with both sybelle and Seamus. Additionally with her 40mm base she can easily form a choke point in the terrain.

the nurse is in the crew to be a back up scheme runner as well as a get out of death card. All my models are AP sinks to kill, and paralyzingly them in order to force you to spend all the AP trying to kill them again is very efficient. Additionally I have spoken at length just how good nurses are with Seamus. She is also going to be the easiest model to kill in my crew, besides the graveyard spirit, who will be hiding in the back field screened behind Anna. And that said she isn't going to be that easy to get to and kill with her do and defensive trigger.

[valhallan42nd]

I'll bite. My go to master against arcanists tends to be Molly, but in this instance I'd go Seamus:

Resurrectionists
50ss Crew

Seamus -- 6ss
 +Mad Haberdasher - 2ss
 +Red Chapel Killer - 1ss
 +Sinister Reputation - 1ss

Graveyard Spirit - 3ss

Anna Lovelace - 9ss

Madame Sybelle - 8ss

Nurse - 5ss

Rotten Belle - 5ss

Rotten Belle - 5ss

Yin The Penangalan - 8ss

 

I debate also putting in not too banged up as well. Seamus as the master as the scenario is geared to killing and he is pretty good at it. Additionally with assassinate in the pool a master that is going to be very hard to pin down via LoS blocking terrain, and back alley as well as being very difficult to kill because of how tough Seamus is in addition to his hat.

Anna makes the appearance forcing the opponent to choose her as his murder protege target if they want to go that direction. She has armor and can operate in the back field and still contribute very deadly shots that can be directed at models my belles tie up, or against models that make it to Seamus to try to tie him up. Additionally she can summon mindless zombies which can help with red chapel killer, though with make them suffer in the pool they won't make an appearance except for that reason. In a pinch she can run in and heal Seamus with her blade attacks. She also has a 40mm base, which means the graveyard spirit can most likely effectively hide behind her base and boost her to armor 3. So positioning, def 6, armor +3 and SS use means if they do try to murder protege her they are going to have a rough time doing it.

Madam Sybelle is in the crew because she works well with Seamus. The ability to pull a belle if I need to, range attack that targets wp and has access to a blast, an ability to speed my belles up to scheme runner speed and all around toughness makes her a solid pick. Additionally on this board attend to personally has real annoyance potential as sybelle can drop it on someone then walk around out of Los so she can't easily be the target of someone she puts the condition on.

Yin is in the crew again because she is very tough to kill, and has great wp synergy with both sybelle and Seamus. Additionally with her 40mm base she can easily form a choke point in the terrain.

the nurse is in the crew to be a back up scheme runner as well as a get out of death card. All my models are AP sinks to kill, and paralyzingly them in order to force you to spend all the AP trying to kill them again is very efficient. Additionally I have spoken at length just how good nurses are with Seamus. She is also going to be the easiest model to kill in my crew, besides the graveyard spirit, who will be hiding in the back field screened behind Anna. And that said she isn't going to be that easy to get to and kill with her do and defensive trigger.

Solid reasoning. I like it. I choose a Seamus crew very similar to this, less the Anna, as this was before Shifting Loyalties. I like the mindless zombie synergy as well. I don't use Seamus/Nico that much, so I don't really think about Corpse Counters that much. Thanks for putting that seed in my head.

[Fetid Strumpet]

The terrain almost made me sub the carrion Emissary for Anna, but I didn't want the mindless zombies coming out when I didn't need them with make them suffer in the pool. Additionally Anna helps with that as she is henchman.

Same reason I didn't being the CCK. Love the little guy but he is easy to kill and that's part of why I bring him, but in reckoning with make them suffer in the pool he would need to stay home.

[Freman]

So in reckoning you can get maximum points just by having all your guys dead or buried (which is the same thing pretty much) for at least three of the last four turns of the game?

[valhallan42nd]

So in reckoning you can get maximum points just by having all your guys dead or buried (which is the same thing pretty much) for at least three of the last four turns of the game?

No, they get points if all your stuff is dead or buried.

[MEGAHORSE]

The terrain almost made me sub the carrion Emissary for Anna, but I didn't want the mindless zombies coming out when I didn't need them with make them suffer in the pool. Additionally Anna helps with that as she is henchman.

Same reason I didn't being the CCK. Love the little guy but he is easy to kill and that's part of why I bring him, but in reckoning with make them suffer in the pool he would need to stay home.

Mindless are a may! If that helps at all

[Fetid Strumpet]

Was aware of that. But thank you.

[oryxwild]

I'll take a shot at this. Lots of cover on this board, but also plenty of open lanes. Lots of killy strats and declared opponents arcanists make this a very nice match for McMourning. He ignores arcanist armor, which can be very nice, and has enough damage output to finish off horrible beatsticks like Joss before they reactivate and kill you. He's very mobile, and can take pretty good advantage of the heavy terrain. 

Resurrectionists
50ss Crew

McMourning -- 7ss
 +Moonlighting - 1ss
 +Plastic Surgery - 1ss
 +Decaying Aura - 2ss

Zombie Chihuahua - 2ss

Chiaki The Niece - 6ss
 +Pull Of The Grave - 1ss

Datsue Ba - 8ss
 +Spirit Beacon - 1ss

Shikome - 8ss

Shikome - 8ss

Yin The Penangalan - 8ss
 +Transfusion - 1ss

 

McM himself takes decaying aura, since it's very likely to be a heavy hitter list. He takes full soulstones since assassinate is in the pool. He'll rely on his natual mobility to avoid major threats, and he's hard enough to take down that I think he'll be fine if I'm careful with him. 

 The shikome are good for hunting down hiding minions, and can spread poison of course. They're also fast enough and resilient enough that I might be able to run away and hide with 1 wound remaining. Yin will take up space and tie up something useful, and is also great with the restrictive terrain. She will clutch transfuse if needed. Datsue Ba is another useful armor ignoring attack and source of adversary, moves yin and shikome, and gives a little bit of activation control with seishin and potential summoning. Also incorporeal, so terrain becomes less of a limiting factor. 

Chiaki is my support piece, getting rid of any nasty conditions and slowing the shit out of everything. She is also incorporeal, and should get around handily. The zombie chihuahua is there it give McM poison, give me an activation, and then suicide bomb.