Beginner McCabe

[RustAndTheCity]

I've been playing some games of Malifaux with my brother in law recently. He's enjoying it and I have a McCabe box I was thinking about painting up for him. I already have the lone swordsman and Mr tannen from some other projects. 

What are some other small additions to a McCabe crew that will make for a fun, versatile, and effective starting crew. 

Thanks!

[Rathnard]

Well as you've probably figured out, McCabe loves him some minions.  Thanks to his ability to hand out upgrades he can also make his crew very versatile - for instance a Ten Thunders archer or Oiran becomes a melee monster with a Glowing Sabre, and they get faster or tougher with the Badge of Speed or Strangemetal shirt. 

 

In no particular order, good initial additions for a starting McCabe crew would be...

Guild Hounds - They pair really well with Luna and are McCabe's go-to minions when he wants to run schemes or just needs some really cheap and mobile models. 

Dawn Serpent/Jorogumo - The latter isn't out yet but they're both basically very expensive minions, with all the killing power that tends to come with that. They're prime targets for a reactivate from the Badge of Speed and thus they're a great choice if you need some non-upgrade dependent muscle and resiliance (which the starting crew does need).

Austringers - They've got some great long-range, LoS-ignoring shooting and their (2) action to let someone push and interact is extremely useful. Personally I think they're a little redundant with McCabe (he's already got the means to push things around), but alot of people love them. So I guess they're an option too. 

Wardens - Tough, well costed minions that thanks to the free Ram vs activated models, synergise REALLY well with Glowing Sabre. 

 

Of those, if I was starting McCabe fresh with no other models available to me, my first would be a Dawn Serpent. You've already got some shooting in the form of Sidir and cheap minions as Wastrels, but aside from the Glowing Sabre, the crew lacks killing power. A Dawn Serpent helps solve that and gives you an optimal target for your Black Flash (Reactivate) action from Badge of Speed. 

[Lakshman]

I'd add Katanaka Snipers to what Rathnard has already pointed out. Snipers always add some killing power, and if you can reactivate them or even just give them a push and Nimble, they can get into position easily (or hide after taking a shot), making them difficult to hide from.

Torakage are really powerful with Glowing Sabre thanks to the built-in to attack and damage on Ml actions when there are no friendly models nearby - but you need to get Misaki box to get them. They are also not very durable, so they are often a one-shot wonder.

The best scheme runners for McCabe are guild hounds, but you can use Ten Thunders Brothers as well - they are slower, but more durable and they stop the enemy from removing your markers.

Oh, and Shadow Effigy is always great - it's fairly quick, can make other models drop scheme markers, it's (0) action makes McCabe more durable and the effigy itself is hard to get rid of for a 4 ss model.

 

[OneLittleThunder]

@Rathnard and @Lakshman have pretty much covered all the suggestions I'd have made - good advice all around.

[Yvarre]

Guild Hounds are top priority in my book (until Wandering River Monk releases); nothing beats having your scheme markers for Convict Labor already locked away in both flanks by the top of turn 2, especially in a center-focused strategy because it forces your opponent to spread out if they want to deny those points.  Then, with McCabe's superior movement and pushes, you can pick off any outliers as needed.  They also help with activation control in that they add to your model count by being so cheap.

Austringers can also help in that scenario, as they'll force the opponent to either give up the points or send more resilient models to tackle the flanks.  These guys can put out some of the most consistent damage in the crew, ignoring LoS and cover.  Though min damage of 1 isn't impressive, they can be absolute murder machines against scheme runners and such and severely impact your opponent's positioning.  Unless there is almost no terrain, I almost always take at least one of these guys.  Their Deliver Orders can also be clutch in grabbing an extra scheme, head, ineteract, etc.

Sidir is good with a real consistent Sh stat, but he just doesn't pack enough punch for me, and I usually find I like one Henchman in most crews.  As Torakage were already recommended for saber shenanigans, I'm going to plug Ototo, who is by far my favorite Henchman beater.  Unless your opponent can weaken him at range and kill him the same turn before he gets to anything, it's a very bad idea to get him down to 6 or less wounds.  He becomes Ml 8 (does anything else have an Ml stat this high?) at 3" with a built in crit strike and + to damage, giving him 3/5/6 damage, 4/6/7 with a ram, and 5/7/8 with a stone and a ram.  With a Recalled Training and a flurry, this will kill almost any other model in the game in one activation.  He also has a self heal, hard to kill, and can stone for damage.  McCabe can give him 4"-13" of free movement a turn, effectively leaving very little of the board he can't reach with at least a charge.  Plus, having Misaki isn't so bad either.