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December Tactics Guide?


tdc

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My FLGS is starting a malifaux push in February and so I decided to hop on board the train to the Breach.

I've chosen Rasputina as my (first) master and it seems that fate is with me considering Snowstorm and Silent Ones coming out over the next month. 

However, there doesn't seem to be any comprehensive guides here on the forums (there seems to be a large Marcus and Kaeris thread though)

I've played a couple of games so far to get the basic mechanics under my belt, though did struggle a fair bit against the two masters (Yan Lo and Kirai).

 

So... any tips, how to play... basic strategies etc :)

Thanks muchly!

 

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Kirai is monstrous so I'm not suprised you had a hard time playing against her - I'd say anything with frozen-hearted is great for Rasputina. I'm sure theres a few threads on raspy and her upgrades if you look through the older arcanist posts.

I'd say reading up on opposing masters is definitely a way of improving your game instead of focusing on your own. Kirai especially as you can see the pre-requisites for summoning and what kind of upgrade builds they have available and then play round them. 

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Pullmyfinger is the most comprehensive advice you'll get in one place. Basically you want some december acolytes with the box because they're OP, and Snow Storm is nice too. After that Angelica can help a lot keeping your ice mirrors in position and a performer can keep Rasputina out of combat if you aren't terribly concerned about staying thematic.

Rasputina is a great starting master. And she keeps even the most experienced players busy arguing whether shattered heart or armour of december is better.

 

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1 minute ago, Sordid Strumpet said:

Rasputina is a great starting master. And she keeps even the most experienced players busy arguing whether shattered heart or armour of december is better.

 

And that, generally, is down to your own play style rather than one upgrade being better than the other. Experiment with both!

As for Kirai, some quick tips are aim for things outside of her malevolence aura (6" around her or her totem) so you don't summon Ikiryo. If that's not an option, focus and do one solid hit with blasts to damage multiple models AND have a plan to take out Ikiryo afterwards (or she will do nasty things back). 

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Never having played against Kirai you should probably take my advice with a grain of salt, but it sems to me that Rasputina wouldn't be too fussed about Ikiryo because once she's out she's out and hitting rasputina will end her activation. 

Plus you can always summon some ice pillars, Malevolence is an aura and therefore needs line of sight to be effective. And if there's something spirits hate its Ca actions of which Rasputina has quite a few. 

You may want a silent one or two for thise juicy (0) action heals too. Luckily all the good stuff is coming out very soon or is out already!

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38 minutes ago, Sordid Strumpet said:

Never having played against Kirai you should probably take my advice with a grain of salt, but it sems to me that Rasputina wouldn't be too fussed about Ikiryo because once she's out she's out and hitting rasputina will end her activation. 

All true, but if Ikiryo pops out of attack number 1, then Raspy cannot shoot out attacks 2 and 3 like planned. And a Raspy that's not shooting is a sad Raspy.

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42 minutes ago, bertmac said:

Use mirrors to shoot around corners no line of sight to raspy = no ikiryo!

You don't need LoS to summon with Abilities, only Actions. The only LoS that matters is between the target and the model with Malevolence, so Ice Pillars can be useful to isolate models.

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43 minutes ago, bertmac said:

Use mirrors to shoot around corners no line of sight to raspy = no ikiryo!

Sadly (for Rasputina), that's incorrect. If you summon by an action then you need line of sight to summon. Ikiryo is summoned via an ability, so that restriction doesn't apply and she would appear.

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It's an aura, if a living/undead model with 6" of Kirai/Lost Love suffers damage from an attack action, then they can discard a card or soulstone to summon Ikiryo. 

So yes, placing pillars between the target and Kirai would block the aura. I can't remember the range on pillars, I know for Kaeris it's just 6" though, and neither can be placed on existing models, so that may not be feasible.

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Another option with Raspy vs Kirai is to focus on Raspy's paralyze.  It is high cast (7) with a decent TN (15 I think) and does no damage so no Ikiryo.  I had a game not too long ago where I paralyzed Molly for 2 or 3 turns and the Valedictorian for another 2 turns.  Silent ones are also not as bothered by Ikiryo since their attack has no projectile symbol so if you can bait the summon onto one of them then they can easily keep attacking their intended target or switch targets as needed.  If you do have to attack with Raspy herself using focus and going for the blasts is the best answer assuming they will bring in Ikiryo before you get another attack.

 

As a side note the ice pillars are a range of 10" with a cast 7 and TN 10 so relatively easy to get off even for the Wendego.

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Raspy is great because she has two tools that pair very well together in most situations. Primarily she's a high damage dealer and given that Kirai and Yan Lo both have access to incorporeal models, you have arguably the best counter in the game against those particular models. Sometimes however you'll get a list where your damage is not best answer such as high toughness lists such as Ramos or Hoffman. In these situations you can switch up your style with her paralyze actions. Her ability to shut down key pieces with laughable ease is extremely powerful and her (0) Shatter can obliterate masters/henchmen with the right suit. 

Raspy is master that is really worth taking the focus action with. Her severe damage can do some of the most wide spread damage in the game because of her moderate damage of 4 with a double blast. Pair this up with an ice gamins (0) and your looking at 5 damage on her blast markers, which can outright kill most 4-5ss models in one shot. If Kirai is going to brick up, make her pay for it. Maybe you will get an Ikiryo in the face, but if you can guarantee big damage on the opponent that that a trade thats worth doing IMO. The other nice ting about blast damage is that it ignores DF/WP triggers so you can apply some big hurt to Kirai without her being able to pass it off. Otherwise she's only Df4, so it should be simple to paralyze her if you get within range. 

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1 hour ago, admiralvorkraft said:

I don't have the cards in front of me, but it should be straight forward to dump a lot of damage into Kirai's crew and to paralyze Ikyro if it drops in. Once Ikyro is paralyzed you can attack freely, correct?

Freeze Over is a :ranged Action so if Ikiryo is summoned into base contact with Rasputina herself she wouldn't be able to Paralyse her.

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