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Using the starter box to create a Guild McMourning list...


OracleToronto

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So I am new to Malifaux but a long time table top gamer. I played a demo game at GenCon this year and I am hooked. I have been reading (devouring) all the rules and fluff and bought the starter set to get my friends involved as well. My goal is to create a balanced, yet fun, list using models for the starter set for us to play with. As we all really liked the mad doctor experimenting on nightmares feel I have decided to build a Dr McMourning crew using guild and "On the Clock" To be fair the summoning undead poison bomb lists for Resurrectionists sounds fun and probably a touch more powerful I really want to utilize as many models from  the starter set, and the McMourning set, as possible. Below is the list that I have come up with for a 50 ss crew. I'd love to get people's feedback if there are small tweaks I can do to make it more effective in general (I know that it depends on the scenario and objectives - but just general feedback for a starter "all comers" list)

 

McMourning (Master)

- On the Clock

- Evidence Tampering

 

Zombie Chihuahua (Totem)

 

Dr Grimwell (Henchman)

 

Sebastian (Henchman)

 

Nurse Heartsbane (Enforcer) 

 

Orderly (Minion)

Orderly (Minion)

 

Nurse (Minion)

Nurse (Minion)

 

with 1 soul stone left over

 

I am not 100% sold on the chihuahua, or on using both nurses ... but i do not know what is a better option (while sticking to the medical Guild theme) I was thinking maybe use the remaining stone and remove a nurse and the chihuahua to get an executioner but I don't know if I need the added combat punch. 

 

 

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With McMourning in Guild, if you want to play up the Poison theme, you could look into getting a Performer. Its a Mercenary, but has an ability which is more or less a better version of McMourning's Expunge, with no cap on the damage it can deal. Its not strictly in the medical theme, but it would function very well with the crew.

McMourning also has some synergy with the Guild Marshals, particularly the Exorcists since he can make people around him Undead.

If you have soulstones left over, Hounds are good and cheap, and it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume the orderlies have some guard dogs on the premises. No particular synergy other than cheap activations, and if taken in larger numbers they can be good scheme runners.

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You have good instincts. If you had other models we would probably advise you to substitute the second nurse with something near to its point cost. But you're new, so time to make this list work. Nurses have one big problem: they're very slow walkers and get left behind, especially since their turn 1 for me is almost always giving out meds instead of walking. With two nurses you can, in a turn, move one and give out Take Your Meds with the other, and never be out of range of a nurse. I like keeping the zombie chihuahua around because it's another very cheap activation and because sometimes McMourning is too busy to expunge and in Guild it isn't a loss if the chihuahua gets the expunge kill instead. Some people like having more soulstones instead of the annoying yapping thing, especially with two henchmen and McMourning all trying to use them.

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Thanks for the feedback guys - I admit I am less focussed on the poison tricks with this guild build (I will eventually go a Res direction with the list which will be more poison and summon heavy) I had looked at replacing one nurse with either a Witchling Stalker (as suggested for condition removal) or a Wastrel (for movement tricks and to deal with annoying Wp attackers).

 

What are people's thoughts on Sebastian in a Guild McMourning list? he seems useful enough but admittedly I don't have as much poison flying around as most McMourning lists do. Removing him would (with the 1 extra ss) give me 8 ss to work with which could open up more options. 

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Nurse Heartsbane and Grimwell are very powerful models on their own so they aren't a bad choice with McMourning. Grimwell will kill almost everything while Heartsbane can throw people for a loop. Heartsbane's downside is she can't use Soulstones so she is squishier than Grimwell.

Upgrade wise you chose the upgrades you'll get the most use of. Badge of Office might be good if his On the Clock isn't a limited.

Orderlies are situational scheme runners who can heal, but its not likely to happen as its a 2 action, so you'll need your target nearby.

On Expanding from the Box

McMourning's Undead Aura Upgrade is great with the Judge and Exorcists, because they get bonuses against Undead, but you don't need those starting out.

The sad thing is that McMourning can't take Flesh Constructs or Canine Remains in Guild so you are already down 2 models from his box set.

Brutal Emissary and Lawyers add another source of poison to McMourning's crew. So I'd go with them as next addition.

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I typically don't bother with poison other than a single Nurse. McMourning wants a fast beater with him - I typically use Ryle but Grimwell works nearly as well. Witchling Stalkers and the Brutal Effigy are both golden with McMourning, as are Hunters.

But that list will work fine while you get a handle on the game, and you can gradually expand your build options as you go forward.

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Picking up The Torch and Blade (Sonnia's box) to complement your current plans will be very useful, on several levels. It gives you another Master who functions just fine with the contents of the Guild starter (they're even all Witch Hunters!). It gives you the excellent Witchling Stalkers, which are generally quite good, but when pair with a Nurse can do some very awesome things, like stripping away the debuffs that the Nurses hand out with their buffs...that full heal is even sweeter when somebody gets rid of the Paralyze for you. And, fluff-wise, Sonnia and McMourning ar enow in cahoots, and he has access to her Arcanist prisoners, so bring Witchlings makes perfect sense, thematically.

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I don't focus on Poison with Guild McM but Sebastian makes it very potent. Chihuahua is insane when used with Seb - that's sort-of-kind-of 6 damage to everything within 2" of the doggy which goes through basically all defensive measures except SS prevention. It's very reliable since it doesn't need any duels or cards and doggy is pretty fast. Often my Sebastian just walks around absent-mindedly projecting his Auras of doom.

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Sebastian is downright ridiculous for his cost. Can't figure out why you would leave him out of a McMourning list even in guild. His own attack auto poisons so he basically does Samael level damage (or more if you cheat in another crow) without needing any form of setup from other models whatsoever. The combo of him and the chihuahua for 9ss is gold!

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The Lawyers can also help to stack poison with their triggers, and give you another passive damage dealing that the McMorning Crew is so good with.

I've also had some success in using the Pale Rider with McMorning, as it's another undead model that syncs up well with some of his poison abilities.

In addition, as some of the previous posters have mentioned, there's some really great synergy with McMorning and Exorcists; that auto-kill trigger on the melee attack is very nice.

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1 minute ago, Vilicate said:

In addition, as some of the previous posters have mentioned, there's some really great synergy with McMorning and Exorcists; that auto-kill trigger on the melee attack is very nice.

I think a Debt to the Guild really helps them out as you can get min damage 2 which is way harder to SS than the normal 1.

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I like Grimwell better than the Judge, he does less damage but his support abilities are built into his card and he is incredibly mobile. If you want to kill things with him, his (2) action is one of the only ones in the game that's worth taking and between McMourning's pushes, and his own Nimble it's easy to get in position to use it. Giving him focus (from Abuela) or positives to damage (Loco) is a great return on investment.

I've never really gotten any mileage out of his upgrade.

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5 hours ago, OracleToronto said:

I was curious about his upgrade - in theory he should be able to cut through an opponents weaker models and could add a few soul stones throughout the game. But I don't have the games under my belt yet to know how many kills any one model is likely to have. 

 

For me, Grimwell's upgrade has always been a "Spend a soulstone, get two soulstones back" kinda deal. You know that Grimwell is going to kill something; you don't know how many somethings he's going to take out . That lobotomy move is deadly, but it marks him as a target early on. Unless you really need the additional stone (which is also my nickname for Ron Wood) , you might want to skip that upgrade and just enjoy Grimwell for what he is: an unimpeded madman with a chainsaw.

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Hey! As someone who primarily plays as guild McMourning I think you starting list is pretty good list. My advice in terms of playing is don't be afraid to throw McMuffin out there right into the thick of things, particularly if you've got schemes that require a lot of mobility. People will see a tooled up Doc and often forget their game plans in the face of that many wounds and attacks. You can throw down with the best of them, I find (between your ridiculous number of wounds, hard to kill and the ability to self heal while still tearing your opponent apart).

 

Dr. McStuffin (I have many nicknames for McMourning) is also really good at switching tactics up, bouncing between direct damage, some buffing and straight up scheme running in the last turn, not to mention his poison shenanigans; though those opportunities may be less prevalent than a Resser Doc).

 

Grimwell is a guided missile of pain to most things - he's got a pretty ludicrous threat range and can dish out damae really well. I find he works best at either taking out weenie scheme runners or really big guns. For the latter, nimbling in and going lobotomy is a bit of a high risk high reward manoeuvre, but if you have he cards I say go for it, as it can often force your opponent to throw away big cards to avoid the Ml 7 attacks. As for the former, he can easily keep up with most scheme runners you'll see and tear through them like wet tissue, forcing your opponent to either burn through his hand to keep them alive or to push more important, expensivve models to deal with him or run schemes.

 

I find Nurse Heartsbane useful, but more situational. Guild does have a sore lack of control, which she does provide, and I will say one of the funnest (though not necessarily the most efficient) things to do is to throw out "Take Your Meds" (with uppers) with a Nurse followed by "Back to Bed Dear", meaning that the target can only take walk actions, and also can't take walk actions.

 

I love Guild McMourning, and I find the main thing to remember he is almost always a tremendous pain in the ass to deal with. Sure, he'snot inincible, but even for a Master he takes a lot of attention to pull down, and he goes down swinging

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