Rail Crew

[KuVenet]

So after a very long break from Malifaux I have come back to the game with and insane vigor. I bought 3 new crews for Arcanists (Used to be a hardcore resurrectionist). I picked up Ramos, Rail Crew, and Marcus. Marcus didnt really work so well for me, the whole beast thing seemed a bit too complicated for what I like to play. Ramos is good and I enjoy playing him. 

However I am really loving the Rail crew with Mei Feng. Running her as an Arcanist seems legit. I picked up a Rail Golem to help the crew out a bit more. I am wondering where should I go next with her as far as expanding her crew goes? I've only gotten about 4 games under my belt and still feeling things out. 

Any advice I would appreciate! 

[Fog]

I like the effigy with her.  I'm still on the fence about the rail golem though.  I've never gotten work out of him.  

To be fair though I haven't experimented a lot with Mei.  She's really good at getting s much done herself that I just kinda throw models into the pile.  I feel like she needs something to actually get downfield to scheme if needed.  Maybe a miner or two for,false claims.  

This has given me some ideas for Ironsides, strangely...

[D-solad0r]

What about mechanic rider? Its a point jump and creates others points. 4 ss Construc like spiders or gamin are needed.

Althought, I think that Kaeris box and Mei box fits between and Kaeris is a good lore choice (Ramos was his teacher).

[KuVenet]

I'm not fully caught up on the Lore, before when i played it was becuase of cool models, now I am diving into the lore pretty hard.  Mechanic rider you say? I was thinking of throwing my spider swarms into the list, but I was unsure if Mei Feng would really benefit from it, outside of the reducing an enemy Df.  I would think the rail golem would have been a solid choice, lore wise as they are on "loan" from the ten thunders to M&SU if I read the story right?

[solkan]

Mei Feng is the person making the rail golems, they're not on loan from anyone.  She's providing them to Ramos as part of her work as an Arcanist (and totally not a Ten Thunders spy or double agent, or plotting to take over by herself or anything... ), and the ones that show up in her crew when she's running as Ten Thunders are pretty much showing up because she's appropriated them.

 

[Fog]

In order to keep her affiliations secret, these extremely rare constructs are not given to other ten thunders masters.

 

Meanwhile, Hoff and Leve can pick them up at the local convenience store on discount.

[KuVenet]

So I have stepped into a war of the blueprints of the constructs lol?

[dancater]

With Mei I prioritize like this,

First you already have the first priority buy which is the Ramos box [Joss, Howard and the Spiders are all exceptional with her], you could buy another Spider swarm (you don't really need it but useful and if you get Mech Rider doubly so).

Construct models first tier so I'd look long and hard at the Large Steam Arachnid, Soulstone Miner, Mech Rider and the Arcane Effigy all being awesome pieces with her.  Also given she can pull Foundry models in Sparks and the Mech Porkchop (this cyber-boar in particular) in Gremlins are legit.  Metal Gamin are OK but Rail Workers are usually better.

Then I think utility models and burning support so Union Miners, Arcane Emissary, Raptors, Kaeris box [for Firestarter and maybe Fire Gamin] and maybe Gunsmiths as they add ranged and benefit from and can give out burning.

Finally movement models so the Ironsides box [the Captain in great], Wind Gamin are niche but could find time, Scorpius and Poison Gamin are constructs with beast so work with Blade & Claw upgrade in RoF and Colette box [because Cassandra is awesome, Performers are always useful and Mannequins are good scheme-y constructs].

More or less depending on look/theme/budget/availability that is the purchase list I'd go with. 

[Boomstick]

Mech Rider and Hank with her are ridiculous fast. I usually take one of them and the effigy with her. Effigy walks up once and does something and (0)s to boost Mei'so damage with extra burning. Then Hank/Mechpony walk twice and end up not quite 7" from the Effigy. Mei railwalks to the Effigy and places on the far side of it, putting her within 6" of Hank/Mechpony, which she can railwalk to and place on the other side of their 50mm base. Gives her about 15" of  movement for 1ap, plus a free kick if there's a target 3" away when she lands.

I find if you hold her until later first turn  there's usually something in range. If not, she has a 10" threat range on her charge with the kick.

[Jordon]

I would highly recommend to get yourself the arcanist general upgrades as there are some really great includes for Mei. She's got decent upgrades herself, but I don't think they're mandatory and by switching upgrades you can really add a lot more flexibility in how you play Mei.

My personal favourites would be imbued protection (bumping her to Df7 which helps her Df trigger and also giving her a once per game shrug 2 damage), recharge soulstone (given how often she wades into enemies killing low SS models by the droves, it really helps when she can get soulstones from those kills), seize the day (gaining positives to initiative can be huge for Mei) and lastly arcane reservoir to gain +1 card to your hand every turn. Imbued energies is also amazing and can speed up your whole crew, almost guaranteeing the alpha strike. 

As for models, I would actually recommend the Arcane Emissary because it's a amazing model on its own, but it offers some huge benefits to Mei herself.

[Merbak]

Entirely theoryfaux, but it seems meant to exist for killy strats and schemes and I look forward to trying it out some time:  Get Sparks, Oxfordian Mages, and two large arachnids.   Run them with Kang from the base box.

1- If the enemy has constructs, they die to the laser fire from the Mages that you keep near Kang to use his Worker's Champion (+ to attack and damage against constructs).

2- If the enemy does not have constructs, the arachnids will use creative salvage to kill them into scrap markers (or die and drop scrap markers) whereupon Sparks can turn the enemy's big models into constructs, and then refer to 1.

[hydranixx]

I've found the 'core' to any list involves 1-2 Rail Workers, Arcane Effigy and one of the 50mm fast constructs. Langston or Mech Rider, naturally, are perfect fits. The Rail Golem can 'potentially' a lot for you, if you stack up locomotion and you have enough tomes, but it's less reliable. I know what I'm going to get from Mech Rider or Langston when I hire them each game, and I can rely on them, so they're my choices. I guess if your scheme pool & opponent is incredibly aggressive, you could take both Langston & the Rail Golem, as they don't require the same suits to operate with. 

Mechanised Porkchops.. I haven't had a chance to try it yet.., but I think it's top tier with Mei Feng. It complements almost everything she wants to do and doesn't break the budget.

From there, a few utility models such as Angelica or The Captain are good choices. They enable your construct train to work smoothly and get things into place in record time. 

A scheme runner is mandatory if you've got a scheme pool full of interact action schemes. Look no further than The Firestarter. He & The Captain both provide reliable burning to start Mei's pain train combos as well. 

Food for thought

[KuVenet]

Thank you all for the good advice and helpful tips!