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Talking through Hamelin


SoulGambit

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On 11/29/2019 at 3:34 PM, SoulGambit said:

Are we sure that Unclean Influence targets models?

It targets models just as much as Schemes, Leader designation, or anything else does.  :P

Seriously, if you try to claim that targeting is necessary for paragraph four to work, you break everybody's schemes, any leader model with a Replace effect, and a whole lot of other things.  And the amount of complaining concerning that word choice wasn't enough to get the author to replace it with language that didn't use the word target.

 

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I played against Arcanists, Sandeep today. I lost decisively.

Some takeaways:

Always take Arik against Sandeep. Poison Gamin Bombs are brutal. Arik is shaping up to be one of those models where, when you need him, you *really* need him. 

The Nothing Beast does not counter Soulstone Miners, much less two of them. A full Tara crew can, but it's not a simple plug and play. If a Nothing Beast *is* going Soulstone Miner farming it needs to Focus, charge to keep up with the crew, attack, and get a severe to deal 6 damage, which is going to be reduced to 3. If the Nothing Beast does this on t1 and t2 it can take out a Soulstone Miner after spending at least two severe cards. If you happen to have a hand full of crows you can do it via attacking normally. It's still probably a valid pick, but if you want it to do work against the Soulstone Miners that is all it is going to do the entire game, and it might not work.

AoE does counter Hamelin, so my intuition was on to something, however aoe needs to be applied correctly against Hamelin. Either you need to apply pressure to key models while incidently killing Malifaux Rats, or you need to kill Malifaux Rats in such a way that you deny Hamelin his Rat King activation.

While losing Malifaux rats is eh, losing Stolen to incidental damage is bad. Stolen needs to be at the edges of your bubble or otherwise out of harm's way.

A single misplay with Benny is a death sentence. Due to poor positioning I was only able to get 3 Malifaux Rats on t1 instead of the 4 needed for a Rat King. Benny really must get the equivalent of a Rat King out on t1 and t2 for his engine to be worth the points and positioning.

I found myself really wishing I had more healing, and missing the Emissary because of that. I almost wonder if the Emissary is a better buy than the Prospector. 

In general, summoners might be a hard matchup for Hamelin because they lessen the value of Hamelin's attrition. Worth looking in to later.

 

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7 minutes ago, Zebo said:

What is a Poison Gamin bomb?

Summon a Poison Gamin within 2" of one or more enemies, use Sandeep's bonus action to cause it to explode for 2 damage + 1 damage and 1 poison due to it's Demise. Effectively 4 damage in an AOE uncontested, 5 if you also get it within 6" of Banasuva and use Sandeep's elemental obey to have it concentrate.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Had 2 games with hamelin recently, vs kaeris and a neverborn Marcus crew.  Lost both but we're good learning experiences. 

General thoughts:

1. Deployment is really important if you are going to summon rats with benny. First game against kaeris was corner and I was forced into a zone with little 'floor space' to drop scheme markers for a loyal rats pulse. Also your zone can be congested with stolen etc if you are not careful, blocking movement and Los to scheme markers. 

2. Some masters, like kearis, have a combination of hazardous markers, aoe damage and flight that make hamelin an uphill struggle to play. Although rats are still useful for their card draw and activation control, a judgement has to be made on how much you want to commit to summoning them on turn 1 and 2. Spending 4 to 5 ap to summon rats only for them to be blow up by and exploding pyre marker feels bad man. 

3. Tangling together can result in some surprising take prisoner vp's, as your opponent watches your insignificant rats turn into a beautiful rat King on the last activation of the turn. 

4. Took some ook tech picks on both occasions, ashes and dust for a shot at breakthrough and mad dog to counter the predicted armoured beasts from Marcus. And because he is generally excellent. Although the ashen core can't move, if you can place him on the edge of the opponents deployment zone remember he can still drop a scheme marker for breakthrough. Same applies for search the ruins, if you position carefully. 

5. I hired a single rat in the second game to jump start the first tangle together. I also sacced a stolen on the first turn with inevitable fate, after using him to give a rat fast and walking up. Takes pressure off benny and the amount of scheme markers you place in turn one for loyal rats. Once the crew gets rolling the incidental rat summoning ramps up to give you all the rats you need. 

6. Have any of you found opponents trying to kill hamelin? From my limited experience once they see how much damage he can do with unclean influence and bleeding disease I found they give him a pretty wide berth. Unclean influencing 3 to 5 focused rats to push towards then charge a single model can really catch people off guard with the amount of cards it drains from their hands, chip damage it does and how much blight it stacks. Then bleeding disease does the rest. 

7. Prospectors are great. This crew can anti scheme already with gnaw, life of crime and loyal rats. Appraise ups that. Malifaux mining law is great with the trigger. Mine soulstone when you don't need triggers to go off. 

8. I found the Marcus crew to be too mobile to catch, any possible solutions to this? 

Still love the crew, but getting you head around 11 to 12 activations is the big learning curve I've found with starting out. 

 

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I have also been experimenting with hiring one or two rats and sacrifcing a stolen! I have nothing conclusive yet, but it tenatively feels like a better strategy when using Benny.

Having at least one unactivated rat at the beginning of every turn (hire for turn 1, have extra summons turn 2+) to get bonus Rat King activations is very strong, and you can cycle them like Kirai cycles Ikiryo.

The challenges you are facing are very much the big ones for me as well: deployment, positioning, and managing 10+ Activations every turn plus Unclean Influence.

I have not personally lost Hamelin in any of my games with him yet. People either ignore his bubble or spend everything on knocking out his suoporting models.

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  • 1 month later...

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I have to respectfully disagree with so much of what you are saying here and how you are advising people to play.

I have been reading this thread with varying degrees of amusement and horror for a while now. I finally decided I should respond because I like Hamelin, I want him to work, I want people to play him and figure him out, I want them to succeed and have a good time and would like Wyrd to make some changes to fix the things that don’t work. Many of the topics here are counter productive to those goals.

 I played Hamelin all through beta. I got in a minimum of 2 games a week through both closed and open stages. Since beta about 1/3rd of my games have been with Hamelin. Through all that experience against competitive players every week, I can assert most of the things you suggesting don’t work. In some cases you are suggesting things that just set anyone interested in Hamlin up for failure... Such as asserting that playing Hamelin is about managing 3 interlocking bubbles...What?!? No! Stop!

Let’s Start with the elephant in the room: The “Benny Engine”

This is not a thing. I know how the cards suggest its supposed to work and I know you really want it to work, but if your opponent is at all competent you will get shut down every time. AP economy in 3E is super important. To get 3 or 4 markers down for Benny to hat so you can get a single rat king costs a minimum of 5 actions (less if you waste stones on hiring rats; more if you need to get into position around terrain) and a 8+ card..... GREAT so now you have 4 markers after you have activated 4 models. Benny activates to turn them into rats… You’re almost there!! Your opponent activates before you can tangle together, uses any number of movement tricks in the game and easily range kills 1 rat. Now all of that work is gone with no pay off. With 1 activation they have wasted the thing you spent almost your entire turn's worth of actions doing. In the mean time they have taken their actions towards their goals. 

That is just one way that the complex Rube Goldberg machine of the “Benny Engine” can be disrupted. It’s not going to happen..stop trying to make it happen. There are so many stronger ways to try to play Hamlin then hanging your whole strategy on Benny; a model for the most part really needs a re-balance to find a reliable place in either of his keywords. He is an 8 point model with no defensive tech, who has to ditch a card when hit to make a rat when hit (should be free or at least on a trigger) He has a decent blade (but if you are engaged with him, he is just dead anyway) and a weakish short range gun. If your opponent knows what they are doing, the moment he sticks his head out to do his thing they remove him from the table with little effort. 

SO, You own Benny, love his model, painted him and really want to get him on the table. I get it. So lets think about how could he possibly work. Since we have been theory crafting for the last 3 pages add some more: Hire models that are going to get scheme markers on the table without wasting actions. Bring in a couple OOK Bandit models with Drop It! (Banditos, Dead Outlaws, Sue) Focus on saving your Books to get the trigger. After a few markers are out, maneuver Benny in and make the rats. Will it work? I don't know.
 I haven't tried it, but its more efficient than wasting actions and the precise positioning nonsense required to place markers with basic actions. 

Note: This is not an engine. This is generating rats while you are accomplishing other things, which is how you should think about playing the Hamelin crew in general. Hamelin is not a summoner like he was in 2E. He is a late game scaling control master. He does make rats, that can turn into kings, but all of that should be happening while you are laying down blight, killing models, and scoring points. It happens naturally almost without you having to try if you are making the right choices along the way.

Now let’s talk about that other completely garbage model in the crew: The Winged Plague. This is a 4 point scheme runner with no defensive tech and weak attacks. It loses a 1v1 fight against almost any other scheme runner in the game. Sure you get to put a blight on a model when it dies, but who cares. Hamlin has so many ways to get more blight on your opponent than you will ever need. Also if this scheme runner is doing its job, it is off away from the rest of your crew attempting to complete goals. There will probably be no one else near to follow up on that 1 blight you just splattered on that other scheme runner’s face. I tried to make this model work so many times, in so many ways. It is a super cool looking model that is a total waste of points. They need something to bring them in line with other 4pt models and make them worth the hire. Some ideas have been: Armor+1, Incorporeal, concealment aura, or even give me back a SS after they die. Any of those would work. 

Compare the Winged Plague to the Midnight stalker for 8 points. This is a model that gets fast on the opponent’s side of the board. With leap you can reliably make this true before turn 2. So you have a model that has essentially 4 AP, is Manipulative, (which with Hamelin MS is ALWAYS activating last) and a revive every turn! It can do all the work of 2 WPs for the same cost, and kill most scheme runners in less than one activation AND survive till the end of the game. With that comparison I don’t understand why you aren’t tearing up your Winged Plague cards right now.

So what is core Hamelin? 3 models: Nix, Ow and MS. There are a few pools where MS is not necessary but for the most part I take these in 90% of my Hamlin games. That’s it. You don’t NEED anything else. Nix is the best tar pit in the game and OW is nuts for a 5 point model. Hiring in a rat king or 2 is usually a good idea. Putting Servant on one of those kings is a nice touch. Having a rat catcher at the start of the game also is good in scheme heavy pools or if you think you want to keep him close to a murder team to make rats on death. One of the strengths in Hamelin is his crew functions fairly well in doing what it is designed to do with very few SS spent on core models. This leaves A LOT of points available for versatile or OOK hires. Hamlin is a decent option when you want a lot of stones to counter-pick your opponent's master declaration. 

So what other models to choose? I don’t like Hamelin’s crew to rely on functioning in a bubble around him. It leaves you too vulnerable and you have so many models on the table you end up blocking your self in half the time.  I tend to build crews that function in small teams like Sue and a Rat King or Barbaros and Pride. Hamlin tends to stay near Nix or drift around where his Source of Contagion and Bleeding Disease can have the most effect. I always keep one Stolen within agony range, another Stolen one action from Agony range and all three of them safe. OW stays with Hamelin and always out of danger as well. Hamelin protects these squishes until they can defend themselves late game. Sometimes they don't need a lot of protection. With Serene Countenance, Stealth and Manipulative(OW) they can hang right out there in the open against most crews with few repercussions. Be extra careful though if you are facing a crew that gets free focus or +flips. 

One strong path to go is to hire models that force WP duels. You are going to want to run Nix into the faces of your opponents most valuable models. You want Taste of Failure covers as many of the opponents pieces as possible and hold them there. The more WP duels you can force the better. With this Nix stays at full health, covering everything with blight and doing a little damage in the process. No matter how hard your opponent beats on Nix he wont go down if your activation order is right. They have to make the hard choice to sink innumerable AP into him or ignore him. Pride is a Great Choice for feeding Nix with WP duels, as is Marlena Webster. I love MW in Hamlin, not only for Entropic Withering, but also because she is a beast on damage with a 2/4/5 track that ignores H2K and H2W. She is also a great guard piece for your squishes with Soul Tether that can save a clutch rat, or stolen... or really anything else. With all that and a self heal,  she does so much work in a Hamlin crew, it is insane.

The other thing a Hamlin player needs to think about is denial. This is a point you made and I agree with it. Hamlin’s early game is about denying the opponents points and disrupting their plans while your power builds (I don’t agree however that you do this at the expense of scoring your own points. You should be able to do both) Hamlin’s Lure is one of the strongest assets in your tool box. You should always be looking for models that are out of position or trying to score points, make them really out of position and then punish them for it. Pride and Barbaros are both great hires to assist in disruption. Barbaros gives you a second lure, and  2 WP duels to feed Nix. Both of these limit enemy choices. Pride makes your opponent sad by doing what he does and his main attack also feeds Nix. The down side to Pride is he forces bubble again and he needs protection from other models….like **Marlena**.

This article comes up all the time when people discuss competitive play. It is written for M:TG but it applies really well to most PvP strategy games. It says that in every game one player will be the killer and one will be the controller.  It talks about how important it is before the game starts to know if you or your opponent is going to be the killer. If you aren't the killer, you have to be the controller. Obviously the killer will be the one with the most damage potential. Hamlin makes this decision really easy. At the start of the game you are always the controller. Then as the game progresses and blight stacks Hamlin has the potential to become the Killer. You have to reassess your state at the start of every turn and switch to the Killer as soon as you see an opening. This can be complicated if your early game doesn't go as well.  It things go your way, Turns 4 and 5 are pretty obvious. If you have been protecting your stolen and your Wretch they should all be focused and ready to lay down the hurt with 8 attacks that together can kill pretty much anything as long as it has 3 blight. Hamlin and Nix should focus on your opponents more core models with their Bleeding Disease threatening 6-10 damage on a hit. This is where the kings start regularly popping out. I might sac a stolen to make that happen here but only if really necessary. I find that they are way more beneficial alive.


The truth of the matter is that Hamlin is an incredibly difficult master to play. He is below the curve on power for the faction. He has two pretty bad models in his keyword and its hard to find a pool where Hamelin would be my first choice. I have A LOT of games under my belt and I still don’t feel completely confident with him when I bring him out of the case. I have been down a long road with him though and I have found a bunch of things that don’t work. I see so many things mentioned in this thread that are on that list. I hope this helps other people skip the frustrating bit of banging their heads against things that seem like they should work but don’t. Stay away from the "Benny Engine", lock your Winged Plagues in a closet until they get buffed, focus on laying down blight, denial and control. Then one shot everything Bleeding Disease and vomit children.

 

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Hamelin's biggest issue is that he has so many counters which as you have to declare faction & then master in M3e unlike I M2e where it was just faction your already up against it from the start. I’m not sure if I like this change in M3e, sure it was something to do with being able to tech in second masters to compensate but in most competitive play second master picks are banned here.

The other issue with him is due to all the potential to cycle models he can be quite slow to play so isn’t always suited to 2hr tournament games. Familiarity from practice  does help with this but it can still be a slow grind with his crew.

That said I have being having some success with him. Into reckoning I bring in some OOK beaters & you can just use him as a lure bot to put out blight fir late game kills & injured early for your big beaters. The only keyword models I would use are OW & Nix to protect your crew. The only downside to this type of crew is that it still works best in a close bubble, which u have already telegraphed when declaring Hamelin at the start.

My other successes are when I play Hamelin very aggressively. I take SoDPs upgrade on him for extra T1 move & incidental heals on kills. Basically you want to get Hamelin & RKs into the middle of the opponents crew ASAP to get max blight out early to as many models as possible. You then can follow up with OW, Nix & Stolen from distance to do big blight damage from T3 onwards. You will need a ton of SS & possibly some distance healing (hello emissary) to keep Hamelin alive for as long as possible (ps I wouldn't take this list into a scheme pool with assassinate or probably not reckoning  as Hamelin will die at some point). Use him to hold up the opponents crew early game spreading blight while the rest of your crew can try & sneak some early points. Remember when Hamelin’s still alive if you can get some kills in he will be summoning rats & either exploding them or getting RKs back. If he gets going the cycling of models can be deadly.

I agree that the benny summoning engine doesn’t function as it’s too easy to disrupt & uses so much AP that your usually 2 turns behind your opponent. But I do sometimes use him in the back field to act as an anti scheme marker tech. Add in a Prospector & he can act as some additional card draw & SS generation if u put   Wanted Criminal upgrade on him using his bonus action to drop an enemy scheme marker off a rat. It’s expensive & you have to play him cautious or he’s an easy 10S kill for your opponent.

Interesting thoughts on MW I might give her a try possibly in my  reckoning list to add extra tankyness & anti healing tech.

A couple of things to note from your last post:-

MW only her gun attack ignores HTW & HTK on 2/3/4 track. Also soul tether only works on non-minions.

I just realised this recently myself but Nix SToF ability works on any enemy failed duel not just WP duels.

Really keen to get Hamelins keyword working so will keep persisting. Let’s spread the disease. 

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14 minutes ago, Zeus said:

I agree that the benny summoning engine doesn’t function as it’s too easy to disrupt & uses so much AP that your usually 2 turns behind your opponent. But I do sometimes use him in the back field to act as an anti scheme marker tech. Add in a Prospector & he can act as some additional card draw & SS generation if u put   Wanted Criminal upgrade on him using his bonus action to drop an enemy scheme marker off a rat. It’s expensive & you have to play him cautious or he’s an easy 10S kill for your opponent.

If you're bringing the Emissary, if you have Benny with Wanted Criminal, it could be interesting to get 2 extra cards and 1 rat every turn. I don't know if worth it the investment of 10ss in Benny, but I think that the Emissary could bring a lot to the crew (Nix or Hamelin with Regeration +1) and that free marker + push is for free :P

So turn 1 you put a marker close to Benny with somebody else that doesn't have much more to do (it happens, and anyway remember that you can easily get +2" movement in the first 2 turns thanks to the Emissary to catch up anyways), use the emissary to push Benny and drop another marker. Activate Benny, bring 2 rats, kill 1 for an enemy scheme marker which gives you 2 cards (1 from the rat an another one from Wanted Criminal) and move into position to repeat the next turn or Concentrate.

I think is a safe 6 cards and 3 rats by turn 3 without much investment. Is it worth 10ss in Benny? Well, 6 cards could be equivalent to 3ss and 3 rats to 6ss, but again the problem is the "high" investment and occupying 20ss to do it. The Emissary still has his 2 actions free each turn and his main value comes from all the passive stuff (the 3 updates, the +1Mv and the healing aura), so it's not really 20ss only for this.

I can be totally wrong here, my Cathelyn crew arrived to my house last December and I didn't even have time to assemble it, but I've played against Hamelin several times already.

On the other hand, how would you "fix" Benny? I think a built-in trigger for "Drop-it" in the sword would help him with both keywords (he's a Bandit too after all) and maybe drop his cost to 7ss (in Bandits he's never going to make the cut in the 8ss value, having Gunslinger, Sue and Wokou Riders). I thinkit was @OhRlyeh that also suggested to change the "Sack o Rats" to a defensive trigger instead of discarding a card.

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@ShinChan  Idk I am not a fan of Emissary in Hamlin. Hamlin really doesn't need the healing in his crew and Emissary again is another bubble to deal with. I see him as basically a 10 point scheme runner. With MS you really don't need any more scheme support. So as you said, you are spending 12ss for a model and an upgrade  to try and get value out of an 8 point model that is bad in most situations. Loyal rats takes a moderate so you are ditching a high-ish card to draw 2 cards along with using actions. Its just really inefficient. 

Built in trigger would work, and you are right,  lower cost needs to happen either way or just take him out of bandit cause there is no reason for him to be there with 0 synergy with the crew and so many better options for the cost. If there is any model in OC that could use a total overhaul its Benny. 

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I'm still very new to Hamelln (only one game so far), but I've thought about the Emissary mainly because it seems the crew would benefit from support and healing.  It feels killy enough, has anti-scheme shenanigans and pretty decent movement.  But healing and condition removal were areas that I found myself wanting to improve. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

So if I wanted to try Hamlin, what's a good list and what's a good strategy to play him into?  Idols scares me, it looks like he's going to hand out enough pass tokens that you'll never win initiative.  Reckoning is obvious no-go.  So should I try Plant Explosives or Turf War?

Based on the discussion, something like Hamlin, 3xStolen, Nix, OW, MS, Pride, Marlena, and a Rat King?

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7 hours ago, RisingPhoenix said:

So if I wanted to try Hamlin, what's a good list and what's a good strategy to play him into?  Idols scares me, it looks like he's going to hand out enough pass tokens that you'll never win initiative.  Reckoning is obvious no-go.  So should I try Plant Explosives or Turf War?

Based on the discussion, something like Hamlin, 3xStolen, Nix, OW, MS, Pride, Marlena, and a Rat King?

Actually, reckoning can be great for Hamelin if you build right! 

Hammy J Reckoning  (Outcasts)
Size: 50 - Pool: 5
Leader:
  Hamelin
    Servant of Dark Powers
Totem(s):
  Stolen
  Stolen 2
  Stolen 3
Hires:
  Nix
  Malifaux Rat
  Malifaux Rat 2
  Malifaux Rat 3
  Malifaux Rat 4
  Malifaux Rat 5
  Malifaux Rat 6
  Ashes and Dust
  Obedient Wretch
  The Midnight Stalker
References:
  Malifaux Rat
  Ashen Core
  Dust Storm
  Abomination

This is a list that has done well for me in reckoning (I got the idea from this forum a while back, though I forget the person who initially posted it). This list is definitely pretty niche.

The crew has decent scheming and is very hard to score reckoning on. There are a lot of insignificant models and anything you can score from is tanky and/or has defensive tech. You can score reckoning pretty well by simply luring models in (getting the trigger for blight), swarming with rats (use Hamelin's bonus action for a ton of focused hits from rats that do decent damage once they surround a target), then pop the target with bleeding disease from Nix, Hamelin, or the wretch. Keep in mind that Hamelin can also pop rats for damage with no duel necessary. This can be super handy against high stat models, good defensive triggers, or turns where you have a bad hand. Scoring more than 2 reckoning points this way can be difficult unless you pop the master, but your opponent should also have problems scoring. Stolen also do surprisingly good damage on blighted targets and their attack doesn't worry about engagement! Wretch is the most vulnerable piece for your opponent to score on, so keep her back. Watch out for aoe attacks. If your opponent takes someone with blasts, pulses, or shockwaves try to make that your first target. You could consider cutting a rat or two for extra stones to defend Hamelin and Nix while also having a few to spare for triggers. SoDP may not be necessary, but I like the turn one move to put you in a better place for lures. The healing is good in this strat as well. 

Midnight stalker and Ashes and Dust are amazing flankers. They both are mobile, reasonably tanky, and threaten decent damage. They can often scheme for you. Hamelin can lure models out of their way to assist in scheming. 

While I enjoy Hamelin in reckoning, Outcasts do have quite a few good reckoning options. I suppose that is his biggest weakness. I don't think there is a strat where I definitely want him over another Outcast master. His crew has good anti-scheming tech though with the rat kings (Though, so does Parker's crew). I could see that being a draw depending on schemes.

I love that this crew feels so thematic for Hamelin as you lure in some poor model and then watch it get mauled to death by rats. Then your opponent has to waste all of their time murdering children and rats for no benefit. 

Edit: The list is from the "Stumbling through plague and landmines" thread.

Edited by Alerteddonkey42
Found the post I referenced!
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  • 3 weeks later...

Funny thing.... with the rewrite to Stitched Together, Obidient Wretch is now the perfect counter to them.  Just run them at a Stitched, they activate with Blight, now they can't use the ability to take the removed card and cheat it into the duel, or cheat at all, technically.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...

Recently, I've been playing Hamelin with this crew. 

Dejad Que Los Niños Se Acerquen (Outcasts)
Size: 50 - Pool: 6
Leader:
  Hamelin
    Servant of Dark Powers
Totem(s):
  Stolen
  Stolen 2
  Stolen 3
Hires:
  Benny Wolcomb
  Nix
  Obedient Wretch
  Malifaux Child
  Hodgepodge Effigy
  Winged Plague
  Winged Plague 2
  Prospector
 

I'm trying to see this crew differently than others. Instead good strong pieces, I use lots of cheaper models that can fuel the crew's mechanics. 

First, two winged plague deployed 7" Of each other can, with the help of two of the Stolen and two 10 to give cheese, drop four scheme markers in their activations, and then two more in Hamelin activation for the next turn. They are really bad 4ss models. They are too slow to be scheme runners like the Crooligan or the Tengu. Their attack are too bad and too weak to assist the crew damage as can do the Gaki or the Test Subject. They can't take some hits and pin then enemy as Abomination or maybe the Ice Gamin. They don't support their crew with any buff or healing, like the Low River Monk or the Mannequin. And they don't have any tool to disrupt the enemy game like the Geisha or Lyssa. As 4ss models, they fails to cover any role in their crews. 

But. 

They are 4ss significant models, so they can feed Benny with markers for a reasonable cost.

They can fly, so they can be surrounded by a swarm of rats and still move and do things. 

And, the more important, they are vermin, so:

They can be target for Moldy Cheese and gain fast, with a high card (usually a 10, unless you somehow have a Rat Catcher and can spend 8 to do it.

They can be targets of Pustulent Tumors, what can be really helpful in some situations to make 2 damage and give blight 2 in a pulse. 

They are affected by Unclean Influence, so even without Fast they easily drop 2 scheme markers each per turn. 

When they die, Benny can discard a card to drop an scheme marker. 

They can be counted for Benny's bonus action, although I've still never used it. 

Nix is my toughest goodest boy, and can be trusted to pin down some enemies, spread quite a lot of Blight, and make lots of damage. 

Benny, of course, is the center of the swarm. He use to be quite near Hamelin, to make the rats he summons to be also in range of Hamelin's Unclean Influence. He can go down quite fast, but till now the enemy had more urgent things to do. I've still not attacked with him, nor did anything out of move and summon. 

The Obedient Wretch is the more oppressive model in the crew, because of her low cost and her bullying way of doing tons of damage with no option to defend other than have very good luck. 

Then I like the Effigy to add some cheap healing to the crew (after playing exclusively Freikorps, Mercenary, Bandits and Amalgam, I didn't expect an Outcast crew with no healing). 

The Prospector to add some resource generation to the crew, and maybe help the Benny engine in the first turn. 

And the Malifaux Child because can help with markers (3ss significant model), can add resources by copying Appraise from the Prospector (his usual function), can heal when needed by copying the Effigy's Plenty of Wares, can add some nice damage by copying Hamelin's Pustulent Tumors, and is a child in the Piper's crew. 

Hamelin usually is moving around the rats and luring key models. If the opponent is rushing to me, the rats are used as blocking markers and to exploit and damage. If the enemy is waiting for me to come at him, he makes the rats tangle into fast focus+7 Rat Kings. 

I've been impressed by the Stolen, by the way. They are 3. Although they are not hard to kill, they have Stealth and Serene Countenace, so played carefully they become really a pain to deal with. They are quite supportive with their Moldy Cheese. They can be also used as rats missiles to summon two rats in some good place (usually to make them explode) and give you a card. Their Vomiting Disease can be really hard with positive and 1/3/4, added to their stat 5. And even if they're killed, they drop two rats and put blight on the aggressor. 

 

I've been enjoying this crew, but lately I feel I play all the games almost the same, so it's time to give a try to other crews. 

 

P. 😧 I'm quite sure that a ranged crew, a mobile-flying/leaping crew or a crew with their own lures etc could break my game and make Hamelin sad, but until now, without having won every game, I feel that lost games have been more because of my mistakes than because of Hamelin's weaknesses. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Screenshot_20200502-140656.thumb.jpg.7fe63162b9e01cedb863547bf50a2753.jpg

Okay, I see what you're doing and I applaud your ingenuity... but I'm questioning the layout.

So, we have 2 Winged Plague putting 4 scheme markers down with normal interact Actions within a :ToS-Pulse:4" of Benny.  Scheme markers cannot be put within 4" of another friendly scheme marker:

Screenshot_20200502-141303.jpg.c12067d8b3819329a97dec791832bb49.jpg

Now, I literally failed geometry so I have no idea... can you place those markers within 4" of Benny's radius yet 4" away from each other?  It's like a square and an overlapping circle weird Venn diagram thing.

I mean, if you can do it, I'm buying Winged Plauge next week then because that's the piece of the puzzle we're missing to make the engine work.  You could even use Rat Catchers to make it easier because they have a better stat for Moldy Cheese so you only need 8's!

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Mmm if Math doesn't fail, two markers 4" From Benny could be 8"+Benny's base from each other. 

 

My deployment use to be 2 WP 7" From each other, and the Effigy deployed between them, like 3" Behind. 

Each WP drops a marker "in the outside", walks and drops a marker "In the inside". The Effigy drops its marker just between the two markers "from the outside".

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16 minutes ago, Jesy Blue said:

 

Now, I literally failed geometry so I have no idea... can you place those markers within 4" of Benny's radius yet 4" away from each other?  

Short answer, yes you can. In the square formed by points 4"apart the diagonal is less than 6", which if you put Benny on it would work at 3".

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