Last list you played: Outcast edition

[Azahul]

Worth noting too that one of those models receiving Fast from the free scheme markers was the Emissary himself on some turns 😁

[touchdown]

Played standard Ley Lines with Runic Binding, Take Prisoner, Assassinate, Hidden Martyrs, Leave your Mark.

Viks+Parker (Outcasts)
Size: 50 - Pool: 5
Leader:
  Viktoria Chambers
Totem(s):
  Viktoria Chambers 2
Hires:
  Parker Barrows
  Vanessa Chambers
  Big Jake
  Ronin
  Ronin 2
  Hodgepodge Effigy
 

Opponent played a Zipp crew that was mostly in keyword plus the Lucky Emissary and Whiskey Golem

Lost 4-6. I really underestimated Zipp's ability to disrupt on turn 1. While I was winning the fight in the middle he was scoring and preventing me from scoring. I took Hidden Martyrs and Leave Your Mark and scored the first point on both.

This wasn't an optimized list. I realized I hadn't played a game with a hired master yet so I just took the masters I like the most and went from there. I had a list I was pretty happy with but had 9 stones, so I grabbed the effigy. In retrospect there had to have been something better to slot in there (maybe student of conflict; Parker was feeding me schemes the whole game). I could have used a model good at denying Leylines too. 

 

[Zebo]

Wich use do you think Parker has when hired out of kw? 

[touchdown]

6 hours ago, Zebo said:

Wich use do you think Parker has when hired out of kw? 

He saved me early on as I was able to use his discard for an interact to throw the lodestone so I was able to score on turn 2. 3 AP + run and gun is just generically incredibly good, a couple turns I was almost able to turn things around thanks to this. Also with plus flips on attack and stick up, he's a net positive on resources most turn. My overall plan was to use him to fuel ronin flurries or cheat damage for the Viks but it didn't work out because I had to deal with a giant severe and concealing swamp we set up. I think on a different board things work out better for me.

[Azahul]

14 hours ago, Zebo said:

Wich use do you think Parker has when hired out of kw? 

I'm curious at the implication that Parker has a different use in Keyword. He doesn't exactly do much that requires Keyword models, though the free Interacts have a non-scoring purpose I suppose.

[Maniacal_cackle]

36 minutes ago, Azahul said:

I'm curious at the implication that Parker has a different use in Keyword. He doesn't exactly do much that requires Keyword models, though the free Interacts have a non-scoring purpose I suppose.

I guess that is part of the point. He is a solid second master I hear, whereas in keyword there isn't as much pulling you to run him in keyword?

That said he seems bad against Ressers so I don't know much about him beyond that.

[touchdown]

Discarding a card for an out of activation interact gives is basically giving most of his keyword models fast, and I suppose bandit raid exists (I could conceivably see using it on Mad Dog or Sue, but generally you want Parker doing his own thing ime).

[Zebo]

Well, the only kw that takes advantage of enemy scheme markers are the bandits, and since Bandit Raid only allows to shoot friendly bandits, it's like Parker is going to drop a lot of enemy scheme markers without really any use for them out of running himself up to them and turning them into cards/ss, wich I really am not sure how easy/efficient is gonna be. 

 

Simply curious of what he is doing out of kw (although sincerely am also not sure what is his purpose/role in kw neither) 

[Azahul]

My experience with Parker is that it's pretty trivial to pick up enemy scheme markers. To be honest, I find it best not to think of him as a shooting model. He's a melee model, typically with Wanted Criminal stapled to him, and his job is more of tank than damage dealer. He runs in, ties up something nasty you don't want to have to deal with, and consistently generates 2-3 cards and Soulstones for the list to use every turn and the occasional free Interact action for something across the board from him.

[touchdown]

11 hours ago, Zebo said:

Simply curious of what he is doing out of kw (although sincerely am also not sure what is his purpose/role in kw neither) 

I had one enemy scheme marker on the board pretty much the entire game. Manged to drop it in the middle of my opponent's crew so Parker was shooting with a 6 pretty often.

Other than that, his role is action efficiency and resource generation. I had trouble this game because of so much concealment but generally he can charge and shoot from 17" away, either reposition or force a scheme marker drop and get a free interact off of that. If he kills something you get your own scheme marker (I came close to scoring the first vp of claim jump from this, my opponent had to use entire First Mate activation to stop it). Then he's harassing and harrying your opponents weaker models or getting cards/stones from your opponents strong models.

I also agree with @Azahul about him being even better in melee. You have 6df 6wp with 14 wounds and you can easily generate net 1 ss an activation. It takes so much effort to bring him down.

[Thatguy]

On 1/3/2021 at 5:07 AM, Zebo said:

Wich use do you think Parker has when hired out of kw? 

I was really impressed with him. 16 as is a pretty big investment but he has good utility. Being able to run&gun+ Draw Attention for a push, a shoot and an interact is a lot of utility for a single AP. If the schemes had more marker Rasheed stuff he definitely could have been a champ.

On 1/3/2021 at 11:57 AM, touchdown said:

I had to deal with a giant severe and concealing swamp we set up

Yeah, that swamp was my MVP. Lol 

Both a Vik and Parker had to run through it multiple times to stop the back field shenanigans Zipp was on. 

 

 

[Thatguy]

12 hours ago, Azahul said:

My experience with Parker is that it's pretty trivial to pick up enemy scheme markers.

Yeah that pulse covers a lot of the board. And with Run and Gun and other movement stuff is not hard to get in position to remove them. 

[touchdown]

Got in 2 more games with @Thatguy

First one was Wedge Public Enemies with Let Them Bleed, Hidden Martyrs, Runic Binding, Leave Your Mark, and Take Prisoner.

New Leveticus Crew (Outcasts)
Size: 50 - Pool: 8
Leader:
  Leveticus
Totem(s):
  Hollow Waif
  Hollow Waif 2
Hires:
  Rusty Alyce
    Soldier for Hire
  Marlena Webster
    Soldier for Hire
  Ashes and Dust
  Scavenger
  Scavenger 2
References:
  Abomination
  Ashen Core
  Dust Storm

I won 4-3 (3 public enemies, 1 Leave Your Mark to 2 public enemies, 1 Hidden Martyrs) He was playing Kin. I took Leave Your Mark and Take Prisoner on Rami. I had a very good plan for the strategy, an ok plan for Leave Your Mark, and I should not have picked Take Prisoner (lack of knowledge here, I didn't consider Rami's bonus that lets him scoot out of engagement).

My strat plan was to give Ashes and Dust fast + focused and missile him into something, use that to gain a point advantage and make him play catch up. The rest of my crew would dig in on my half by the center point. This basically worked by he managed to Glimpse the Void on Levi and place him next to A&D which threw a wrench into it.

If I took Let Them Bleed instead of Take Prisoner, I would have had an easy 6-3 victory. Hidden Martyr's would also have got me at least 1 point. Scheme selection might be my weakest skill.

 

Second Game was Public Enemies again (ugh) corner with Vendetta, Let Them Bleed, Sabotage, Research Mission, and Catch and Release.

New Parker Barrows Crew (Outcasts)
Size: 50 - Pool: 6
Leader:
  Parker Barrows
Totem(s):
  Doc Mitchell
Hires:
  Mad Dog Brackett
  Dead Outlaw
  Dead Outlaw 2
  Dead Outlaw 3
  Prospector
  Hodgepodge Emissary
References:
  Memento
  Pretty Floral Bonnet
  Vitality Potion

 

I got absolutely trounced 5-0 and we called it after turn 3. There's not much to say, I just had an awful plan and didn't even execute it that well. Was way too aggressive with Mad Dog. Then had to scramble to try to maintain my poor position. Should have taken Sabotage and Research Mission, went off the side and made my opponent come to me to stop me from getting 4 non-interactive scheme points, which I could deny with just the prospector. Also should have used the Dead Outlaws as screeners and when he came after them, counter attacked with Mad Dog. Next time. Although hopefully no more Public Enemies for a while.

[Azahul]

I just finished playing in the February Vassal event. Played Hamelin for all three rounds. The event had a limit of no more than 15 SS on Versatile or OOK models, which was great because my default Hamelin list had exactly 15 stones of Versatiles with two Prospectors and a Malifaux Child. My list was:

 

Bungelosenstrasse (Outcasts)
Size: 50 - Pool: 0
Leader:
  Hamelin (Vintage)
Totem(s):
  Stolen
  Stolen 2
  Stolen 3
Hires:
  Benny Wolcomb
  Nix
  Obedient Wretch
  Malifaux Child
  Rat King
  Rat King 2
  Prospector
  Prospector 2
References:
  Malifaux Rat
  Rat King
  Rat Catcher

 

Won my first and third rounds into Lucius on Recover Evidence (5-4 win) and Zipp on Symbols of Authority (8-4 win) respectively. Got a 5-5 draw into Lynch on Corrupted Leylines on Round 2, like seemingly everyone in the event. All pretty wild and interesting games.

 

Round one had me misplay early, committing Nix into the Pale Rider and Agent 46 to stop them from finishing off a Rat King on Turn 1, meaning they could focus him down before I had the stones and other pieces in place to keep him alive. I'd declared him as my Claim Jump target, so had to work pretty hard for points after that.

 

Round two was a really walled off board that made scoring both difficult to achieve and difficult to interrupt for everyone involved, presumably why there were so many draws this round. Fuhatsu sat in the centre and went down pretty early, but since every model in Lynch's crew had ways to move my models off the markers I ended up having the Wretch as my Lodestone bearer. That worked out well, I secured my first two markers and then had her kill herself to vault the stone to a Rat King in the centre for the third, but without her support the central grind was harder to win through and picking Let Them Bleed forced me to leave Gwyneth and the Hungering Darkness alive instead of finishing them off. Benny ended up having to murder a Rat King near the centre to get the Leave Your Mark scheme marker down too, since he'd been forced to disengage to get there and no one else was close enough, so I ended up killing an easy 12 stones of my own models for points in the space of a turn. Kept me in the game, but ouch...

 

Round three looked really hard on paper. There were train tracks criss-crossing the map that counted as Severe terrain, and a lot of good choke points for Pianos. I was able to lure in my opponent's Skeeter Turn 1 and kill it with a Rat King before it activated Turn 2 since its Gremlins in a Ghillie Suit upgrade that let it transport Mancha made it too big to hide. Nix got kidnapped and killed by Zipp in return, but it took Mancha and the First Mate together to actually put him down. With most of my opponent's crew activated I was able to ferry some rats up the board with Rat Catchers transporting them over the train tracks with Rotting Odour. They then tore down the Pianos, the last one with Fast turned them into a King and put some hurt on Zipp and the First Mate, and Hamelin was able to lure in Mancha. Made a slight mistake and put too much Blight on him in the process, enough that a single Bleeding Disease would kill him, so the Wretch had to hit him with a Tossed Rat then run and hide for the rest of the game to score Vendetta. I was able to hoover up a Symbol each turn by sending a Rat King downfield with Unclean Influence, while my opponent's marker collectors in Merris and Earl got bogged down by the Malifaux Child and Rat Catchers and killee. Hamelin nearly died to Zipp and the First Mate, but just barely outlasted them in the end (getting me Assassinate). Benny was able to jog across the table for the last two rounds and snag the last Symbol for the 8th point.

 

Three really interesting games Pretty happy with the showing for my first event, especially since I'd decided going in to just play the one Hamelin list for familiarity's sake.

[touchdown]

Took this list into Corner Leylines with Sabotage, Catch and Release, Leave Your Mark, Breakthrough, and Assassinate.

Brawler Test 1 (Outcasts)
Size: 50 - Pool: 5
Leader:
  Viktoria Chambers
Totem(s):
  Viktoria Chambers 2
Hires:
  Big Jake
  Hodgepodge Emissary
  Ronin
  Ronin 2
  Prospector
  Student of Conflict
  Catalan Brawler
 

Opponent played Brewmaster. I won 7-5 (4 leylines, 2 lym, 1 breakthrough vs 3 leylines, 1 assassinate, 1 catch and release). Got the always gratifying 3 point turn 5.

First I just have to say it was physically painful to leave Vanessa off a Viks list , but I wanted the Emissary for Weary Road and couldn't justify 2 healers. The crew worked beautifully though.

I'm going to repeat from another thread that the 3 model game of Emissary/Brawler/Student is very good at least specifically for holding the middle. The prospector was another wrinkle that helped that. He spent the first 4 turns just mining, dowsing stick and appraising. A couple severe appraisals gave me the additional markers I needed to score LYM and still get fast out. Turn 5 he walked up and Malifaux Mining Law'd a marker to help with LYM (in the end I had 5 markers out just making sure my opponent couldn't stop me by picking them up).

Big Jake played a subtle but key role too. I think he's an autotake in Leylines for Mercenary, and maybe should be considered OOK. Claiming the first marker, you're just walking and focusing with most models, but his bonus lets you filter your deck too. Then 2nd turn, On the Move -> walk -> throw to any model within 1 walk of a bordering marker while again filtering your deck. The main competition here would be a Prospector who can dowsing stick if you can efficiently get a scheme marker down in the direction you want to go.

The student was all star for me this game, handed out fast the first 3 turns, then turned into a scheme runner and got me my 4th leylines point on turn 5.

[Thatguy]

3 hours ago, touchdown said:

then turned into a scheme runner and got me my 4th leylines point on turn 5.

At 4ss I think she's an auto take, honestly. Even if she's doing nothing but scheme running, 2" push + walk of 6 is pretty good for 4ss. 

[touchdown]

36 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

At 4ss I think she's an auto take, honestly. Even if she's doing nothing but scheme running, 2" push + walk of 6 is pretty good for 4ss. 

I think the main problem is df4 4 wds and absolutely no defensive tech. You have to be really careful with her like I was not moving past her Battle Tempos until turn 4. I could mainly do that because the Emissary and Brawler let me win (or at least draw) the attrition battle in the center, something I could maybe have done with Barbaros but I've yet to put him on the table. Nothing in keyword that can tank.

[Thatguy]

I was going to say lots of cheap minions lack defenses, but I think you're right. Almost everything, even at 4ss either has df5 or some defense tech, like it incorporeal or manipulative.  Even Desperate Merc have disguised.