McMourning

[Ludvig]

Hey filthy - ahem - fellow ressers! 

I'm in the process of painting McMourning and his crew. I figure it's just a matter of time before I end up moonlighting with the good doctor.

I will hypothetically be doing a poison themed crew (since I probably won't be buying enough models to diversify). I'm thinking: crewbox, canines, extra fresh constructs, Rafkin, Emissary. I also picked up the metal rogue necromancy way back...

I'm contemplating the viability of some upgrades for McMourning to really feel the summony joys of playing ressers. I was thinking either maniacal laugh or spare parts. I have also been eyeing corpse bloat.

The laugh seems thematic to me and meshes with those are not ours. It should also provide some easy blasting points and very likely more hound summons after I kill them with my own poison. I'm also considering using them to fuel rancid transplant on McMourning by surrounding people.

Spare parts could basically be a McMourning upgrade because of the story ties. I'm kind of worried the big guy will be arriving to late tojoin the game.

Another thing I had cooking was corpse bloat on the doctor himself since he has ample healing and I might want some damage not dependent on conditions for certain match ups. Is it better on Seb since his base actions may be less appealing? Maybe combo'd with McM summoning mindless zombies for mobilr.bombs?

 

Questions foryouexceleent people:

1. How viable do my upgrade plans look?

2. Will the hounds suffice to be semi-competitive in a little marker heavier pools.

3. Am I missing some obvipus modelthe crew needs?

[Freman]

From the perspective of someone who's interested in McMourning, but hasn't played him, playing in Ressurectionists, Moonlighting is a given. Evidence Tampering gives him Scalpel Slinging, which I think would be essential with him. Plastic Surgery causes models close to him to count as Undead, which combines well with abilities like Road Kill Scholar. The question then becomes which to drop to get a summoning upgrade. Plastic Surgery means that a model close to him, even without a Living/Undead characteristic, will drop a corpse marker if it dies. I think Evidence Tampering is the one I'd drop for Spare Parts.

I'd concentrate more on summoning Guild Autopsies than the Rogue Necromancy. They're a decent four stone model, and you should always have a corpse marker or two near him either from his efforts or the efforts of his crew. Sure, if you find yourself with four corpse markers and can spare the 2AP feel free, but I wouldn't focus on it.

[Kadeton]

In my time with McMourning, I found he really didn't need much beyond Moonlighting and Plastic Surgery. His built-in (0) actions are a-may-zing so I wouldn't recommend upgrades that add more of them, like Maniacal Laugh and Corpse Bloat. Spare Parts is definitely something you should try out, but I've had a fair few games where I never got to summon anything because McMourning was always better off doing other things. He's such a pro-active Master, and each of his AP is really useful - hence I prefer Moonlighting for summoning, since it all happens without you having to stop doing what you normally want to do.

I wouldn't recommend Corpse Bloat on Sebastian, as he's got a huge target on his head and it's already hard enough to keep him alive without deliberately injuring him as well. You could use it for Unforgiving Stench to give him an action that might be situationally worth doing (nice combo potential with the Emissary), but it's an expensive upgrade just for that.

Hounds are fine, and McMourning can make any nearby model into a passable scheme runner anyway. However, when hiring, I would thoroughly recommend Guild Autopsies over Canines - their Poison synergies are awesome for McMourning. (You should also have the Autopsies on hand if you're taking Spare Parts, they're a decent summon if you've got nothing better to do!)

The obvious model you're missing, to my mind, is a Performer. They have immense Poison synergy (more dangerous than Expunge!), they're great for schemes, and their manipulation and debuffing is fantastic.

Good luck with the good Doctor! I'm missing Ressers already. :/

[Ludvig]

Thank you both for your input!

I have the alt performer so all I would need are autopsies which I love the sculpts of so that wouldn't be a problem for me  

[iamthefly]

Decaying aura is great on him as he'll be casting expunge for 9dg quite a bit. A few canine remains can lower master df quite nicely for it and, coz they r undead, add poison when he casts his spell.  Also he'll be healing while the enemy won't. 

[Nukemouse]

As far as his upgrades go, Moonlighting is amazing, Plastic Surgery is NECESSARY as it provides his best source of mobility and works very well with rancid transplant, whilst Evidence Tampering should only be taken if there's an end of game scheme marker scheme in the pool.

It sounds like the basics of his crew already make sense to you but there is one thing you've missed. McMourning desperately wants a condition remover, not only for synergy with his nurses but also because he is very vulnerable to being paralyzed thanks to his 5/5 DF/WP and because anti-healing abilities like the one on the hanged are brutal against him.

[Ludvig]

@Nukemouse

Good thing I am painting Johanna up alongside his crew

Isn't evidence tampering the one that gives him scalper slinging? I haven't included it in my lists so far but I could see the use of giving it too him if you plan on letting nurses boost his ml damage. That would let you push 5 from plastic surgery and then attack to push into something 6" away which is quite decent mobility for only being allowed ml actions. Weak damage 4 on four attacks ignoring armour sounds tasty but that might just be my guild side shining through

[ttsgosadow]

sounds great indeed, but I would always rather abra cadaver for a flesh construct

but that might be my rezzer side shining through

second on the advice to take condition removal. He is so vulnerable to those nasty ones, and being able to heal fully with a nurse has come along a lot for me as well.

what do you guys think of Chiaki for that spot?

[jolly_green314]

Chiaki will work better than Johan, as Johan will also remove any built up poison, and for someone like McMourning, that can hurt. 

[Ludvig]

Thanks for that tip, Johan is annoying that way. If I ever get around to doing Yan Lo and expand on my thunders I will be sure to bring Chiaki for McMourning. I can't really justify her currently since I was supposed to be playing guild with a side of neverborn but his fleshies and dogs were just too cute

[jolly_green314]

Yeah, if you've already got Johan, it's not a priority. Most of the time, if it came down to it, you can afford to lose the poison to get rid of some of the nastier conditions. But, when given the option between the two, chiaki doesn't remove the poison, has more synergy with ressers in general, and costs 1 less SS.

[mo11usq]

Just starting out on my McM journey, and will be documenting my battles on YouTube. First game was a spectacular misadventure, but he is SO much fun.

I'm running the doctor with moonlighting, plastic surgery, and decaying aura. Chiaki is a boss.

[EnternalVoid]

Actually had a game with McMourning yesterday.  The Zombie Chihuahua, Sebastian, and McMourning made a mess of Molly's crew by the start of his first activation turn 2.  The Nurse had given the Chihuahua uppers first turn so near the end of the turn it had double walked and ended within 2" of two Crooligans.  Then Sebastian had came up and got them in range for Induction and for next turn Catalyst.  First activation of turn 2 McMourning managed to have another 2 models down to 1wd with poison on them so they would die when they activated.  So on his first activation turn 2 if he activated any of those 4 models they were going to die from poison.  Really caught him off guard.

[Clement]

On 2/11/2017 at 1:28 PM, Ludvig said:

@Nukemouse

Good thing I am painting Johanna up alongside his crew

Isn't evidence tampering the one that gives him scalper slinging? I haven't included it in my lists so far but I could see the use of giving it too him if you plan on letting nurses boost his ml damage. That would let you push 5 from plastic surgery and then attack to push into something 6" away which is quite decent mobility for only being allowed ml actions. Weak damage 4 on four attacks ignoring armour sounds tasty but that might just be my guild side shining through

Scalpel Slingin' is not itself a Ml action, so Hallucinogens McMourning can't take it

[Ludvig]

1 hour ago, Clement said:

Scalpel Slingin' is not itself a Ml action, so Hallucinogens McMourning can't take it

Thanks for that catch! Looks like I won't be taking that upgrade anytime soon then  

[Clement]

6 hours ago, Ludvig said:

Thanks for that catch! Looks like I won't be taking that upgrade anytime soon then  

It's still good to be fair.  Generally I find if I'm likely running up against a bunch of big beaters I'll leave it out and spend my 0 actions expunging as needed.  If I'm chasing down Scheme runners and other more vulnerable models, the extra push is very valuable.   Almost nothing can escape McMournings clutches with that upgrade on.

[Adran]

17 hours ago, Clement said:

Scalpel Slingin' is not itself a Ml action, so Hallucinogens McMourning can't take it

It does make Scalpel slinging the only attack action in the game that doesn't actually have a stat, or a resist. I can't prove it, and its never been clarified, but I think it was intended to be the attack action just with a different range (not kept for engagement purposes). 

[Ludvig]

1 minute ago, Adran said:

It does make Scalpel slinging the only attack action in the game that doesn't actually have a stat, or a resist. I can't prove it, and its never been clarified, but I think it was intended to be the attack action just with a different range (not kept for engagement purposes). 

I would like for this to be true but it seems to me that you need to declare scalpel slinging to get to declare the attack. It's the same as not being able to flurry while under a nurse's condition?

[Ludvig]

There are a few misworded abilities from wave 1, I believe Lady Justice has a tactical that is an attack or something similar on one of her upgrades. Or maybe it's an action represented as an ability.

[Ludvig]

10 hours ago, Adran said:

It does make Scalpel slinging the only attack action in the game that doesn't actually have a stat, or a resist. I can't prove it, and its never been clarified, but I think it was intended to be the attack action just with a different range (not kept for engagement purposes). 

Hmm, I always thought it was a tactical that allowed an attack but it's actually an attack action. By that logic it should be considered a ml attack. It would make sense for him to have that kind of synergy with his own thematic models.

[solkan]

10 hours ago, Ludvig said:

There are a few misworded abilities from wave 1, I believe Lady Justice has a tactical that is an attack or something similar on one of her upgrades. Or maybe it's an action represented as an ability.

There are a few upgrade cards in various places that have incorrect text.  Like you say, the Justice Unleashed card says "Gains the following Abilities:" and the specifies two Tactical Actions.  

No amount of shouting "rules breaking the rules" is going to make what rulebook defines as a Tactical Action into an Attack Action or an Ability, instead of an editing mistake.  

[Ludvig]

8 hours ago, solkan said:

There are a few upgrade cards in various places that have incorrect text.  Like you say, the Justice Unleashed card says "Gains the following Abilities:" and the specifies two Tactical Actions.  

No amount of shouting "rules breaking the rules" is going to make what rulebook defines as a Tactical Action into an Attack Action or an Ability, instead of an editing mistake.  

I would never use it like that without faq clarifiation since I prefer to err o the side of caution but it seems reasonable to assume that it was intended to work with the nurses and the awkward/gamebreaking wording is just there to save space since the designers didn't feel like repeating the entire text and trigger of the action. Can't remember if the attackgranted by scalpel slinging used to be different during beta and I've lost my old PDFs. Does anyone have his m1 card or an early beta PDF? Would be interesting to see.

[solkan]

1 hour ago, Ludvig said:

I would never use it like that without faq clarifiation since I prefer to err o the side of caution but it seems reasonable to assume that it was intended to work with the nurses and the awkward/gamebreaking wording is just there to save space since the designers didn't feel like repeating the entire text and trigger of the action. Can't remember if the attackgranted by scalpel slinging used to be different during beta and I've lost my old PDFs. Does anyone have his m1 card or an early beta PDF? Would be interesting to see.

You're the one person that brought up the upgrade card that lists two Actions as Abilities.  

No, it's not reasonable to assume that the upgrade cards are trying to change the fundamental game definitions once a person is aware of how many of the 1st wave upgrade cards have errors on them on the lines with the word "gain".

Looking at the book, there are three Outcast upgrades which don't have the correct plural on Ability.

Starting the list until I get tired of it:

• Howling Wolf Tatoo (221) incorrect singular
• Hard & Relentless (216) incorrect singular
• Oath Keeper (215) incorrect singular
• Eternal Fiend (195) incorrect singular
• The Trail of the Gods (166) incorrect singular
• Evidence Tampering (140) wrong Action type
• Plastic Urgery (140) incorrect singular
• Justice Unleashed (112) specifies two Tactical Actions but says "Abilities" (My Justice Unleashed card says "Tactical Actions")

And going through my cards to see if those got corrected, even Hoffman's Arcanist Assets card has the same sort of problem.  "This model gains the following Abilities:" and then specifies an Ability and a Tactical Action.

----

And, all of the text that I've written above gets reduced to an irrelevant rant because I looked at the Wargame Vault card preview and that Upgrade has been stealth errated to say "Tactical Action".

http://www.wargamevault.com/product/189873/Evidence-Tampering?term=Evidence&filters=0_0_0_44301&manufacturers_id=5162&test_epoch=0

Like it should have said in the first place.

[Ludvig]

@solkan Thanks! I had no idea you could look at the card fronts on wargamevault. That clears it up nicely  

[Kadeton]

On 2/12/2017 at 5:28 AM, Ludvig said:

Isn't evidence tampering the one that gives him scalper slinging? I haven't included it in my lists so far but I could see the use of giving it too him if you plan on letting nurses boost his ml damage. That would let you push 5 from plastic surgery and then attack to push into something 6" away which is quite decent mobility for only being allowed ml actions. Weak damage 4 on four attacks ignoring armour sounds tasty but that might just be my guild side shining through

Oh man, you really got me with this. I was freaking out like "How did I MISS THAT?" because I've never had a situation (across perhaps 40 games with McMourning) where using a Nurse to boost his damage was worth the crippling tradeoff of denying all non-Ml actions, and I've always really wanted that interaction to work. Then the frantic re-checking of the cards, the disappointment of rediscovering why it doesn't work, the vague satisfaction that at least I hadn't overlooked a game-changing rule... it's been a real emotional rollercoaster over here.