Lucius | Everyone is Dispensible

[Clyde_Davis]

I've always found Lucius to be a master that you play when you just want to play with him, rather than looking to be competitive or have a winning result. However, I played a Lucius list the other day, that has changed my perspective. I went up against Molly - and even with the best crews, Molly can be a nightmare to face! Even though the result was 10-9 in favour of Molly. 

Strat: Headhunter

Both my opponent and I played Exhaust Their Forces and Detonate Charges

My crew was as follows:

• Lucius (Legalese, Surprisingly Loyal)
• Scribe
• Baby Kade
• 2x Changelings
• 2x Guild Guard
• 3x Corrupted Hounds
• Lawyer
• Doppelganger

 

The crew worked incredibly well. With so many minions I out-activated my opponent every turn until the last, allowing me to position my minions correctly. Here are my thoughts on some of the outstanding performances.

Changelings

Without a doubt the MVPs of the game. Not only did one manage to take down the Rogue Necromancy, but they held up against three summoned Punk Zombies. Their Copy Cat ability was a great counter to some of Molly's hard-hitting Horrors. Their blink also made it incredibly difficult for my opponent to pin them down. Their MP 13 also makes them a tricky target. I ran them with the Scribe, which buffed their Df up to a respectable 6 - making them a bit more resilient. 

Guild Guard

The Guild Guard were great in running along the edge of the board, dropping scheme markers and doing a lot of the leg work on the scheme "Exhaust Their Forces". 

Doppelganger

As always, she did her usual interactions whilst engaged and picked up valuable scheme points. 

 

The great thing about this crew was the fact that every model was really dispensable. I had no fear or worry about protecting any models. With so many minions, that were most average in pure stat lines, partnered with the additional AP from Lucius, the crew suddenly seemed to achieve a lot of important points, very early in the game. I had scored 6 VP in Turn 3 already, whilst my opponent only had scored 1VP. Throwing minions into the fray to simply disrupt my opponents activity, whilst Lucius, the Dop and the Guild Guard did the leg work - seemed to work really well.  

[bigbopper]

Glad you are finding him competitive. I recently took him to a tourney and came out with 2 wins and one loss. I also found that he could get his points pretty quick, and that losing minions was a given. I would never think to use guild guard let alone 3. well done on making it work.

[-Loki-]

A Guild player in the league I'm in plays him and I've found him fairly hard to deal with. If you're not prepared for what he does all those extra minion actions can be very overwhelming. My last game I managed a draw with him by overwhelming him back with Horror duels with Pandora. He ended up cheating so many Horror duels at the start of his turns to get attacks off without Paralysing that he had nothing left to cheat his minion commands or their horror duels with those actions. Probably could have eeked out a win if I played better, but I definitely struggle against him.

I'm thinking of trying Voices against him to get long range Paralyses off. Paralyse Lucius and his Condition Removal, and then deal with the rest of the crew.

[bigbopper]

49 minutes ago, -Loki- said:

A Guild player in the league I'm in plays him and I've found him fairly hard to deal with. If you're not prepared for what he does all those extra minion actions can be very overwhelming. My last game I managed a draw with him by overwhelming him back with Horror duels with Pandora. He ended up cheating so many Horror duels at the start of his turns to get attacks off without Paralysing that he had nothing left to cheat his minion commands or their horror duels with those actions. Probably could have eeked out a win if I played better, but I definitely struggle against him.

I'm thinking of trying Voices against him to get long range Paralyses off. Paralyse Lucius and his Condition Removal, and then deal with the rest of the crew.

That's a good tactic.leaving Lucius with Little to no cards in hand pretty much shuts him down. I wont try commanding presence unless I know I can cheat it. issue command needs a 7 of anything and usually you want a specific suit as well, not to mention what lackeys are for and hidden sniper( if you have taken that upgrade). My most lackluster activations with him have been when he has has had no cards in hand. I know you could say that with any master, but with him I think it is worse. Pandora's inflict action could wreak havoc with his crew if he has them clumped as well. Maybe try that as well next time?

[-Loki-]

I haven't been game enough to send Pandora into a clump yet. I know people say she's super tough (and she is with 10 wounds, WP 7, the ability to use WP as DF and a built in Push trigger on defence) but I just always manage to flip terribly on defence with her. Last game (the game against Lucius) The Judge managed to hit her for 8 wounds because I had nothing to cheat defence with and flipped terribly. Luckily she made the second one and pushed out of engagement range of the rest of the crew.

[bigbopper]

2 hours ago, -Loki- said:

I haven't been game enough to send Pandora into a clump yet. I know people say she's super tough (and she is with 10 wounds, WP 7, the ability to use WP as DF and a built in Push trigger on defence) but I just always manage to flip terribly on defence with her. Last game (the game against Lucius) The Judge managed to hit her for 8 wounds because I had nothing to cheat defence with and flipped terribly. Luckily she made the second one and pushed out of engagement range of the rest of the crew.

Neverborn masters are squishy and Pandora is no exception, but I think you should give it a go. Inflict and the fears given form upgrade could really cripple a Lucius crew. With her activation control you may be able to mitigate the retaliation.

[lusciousmccabe]

He's (thankfully) got a bit of a buff in GG 2016 since his ability to get markers down early is more relevant and his tendency to lose models less so.