Talking through Hamelin

[SoulGambit]

Edit: Didn't mean to submit this yet but apparently the forum doesn't have a delete post button. I am doing this more piecemeal than I intended.

So, I've decided to main Hamelin for my Outcast side of things, against my and the internet's better judgement. Hamelin and Tara are my favorite Outcast Masters, probably because I like making things needlessly hard on myself. 

I have some games in with Hamelin, but not many and not in a tournement setting. I wanted to talk through my thoughts so far on a few different topics and Hamelin's approach to certain things and issues that Hamelin faces.

Hamelin and Time Limits

This is an issue. I've been clocking in at around 45 minutes a turn, which needs to get all the way down to about 20 minutes a turn in order to get a full game in a tournement. At the slowest, Hamelin really needs 30 minutes a turn so he can get through Turn 4 in a tournement settimg. I'm not sure there is anything to do other than getting one's reps in and building familiarity.

Hamelin has a couple of specific issues in this regard:

- Model volume. Hamelin can easily have 10+ models in the crew, which means you have to average about a minute per model or less. The act of making two attacks against a model will probably take up the most of that minute, between flipping cards, deciding whether to cheat, and applying the effects. What this realistically means is, for models that aren't attacking, you need to get their activation done and over with inside about 10 seconds, with some exceptions for precise Scheme Marker placement. In order to do this, you basically have to play Speed Malifaux like Speed Chess. Go eith your instinct, act confidently, and have your gameplan ahead of time. Your opponent's turns are when you think. You also need to work with simple objectives for your models. Your Malifaux Rats are rockets.

- Unclean Influence exasperates the above issue. On each of Hamelin's activation, every single Vermin in the crew, practically speaking, gets to move 3" and take an action.

- Lack of model loss. In a normal game, the first two to two and a half turns will be slower, while later turns tend to be very fast.. Once models start dying and clashes happen, the later turns get faster. There are fewer activations, and people tend to know what models are doing more. Even if the opponent is doing well, it is entirely possible for Hamelin to have more models at the end of every turn than when he started it. It never stops.

- Hamelin scores later than other Masters. If the game is called due to time, it is often called when Hamelin is just hitting his stride.

- Familiarity with the opponent's models. I'm about to tell you how, in turn 1 and turn 2 you really need to know your opponent's cards. Having to reference their card is going to kill your playtime. Do it anyways, because playing slowly well is still better than playing quickly poorly.

There is no sugar coating this part and no shortcut. Get reps in, make decisions faster, play faster. Set timers for your casual games, even if you play past them. Don't be a jerk to your opponent while you are doing this. If you need to, get a chess clock or use your phone timer to track how long you are taking without putting it on your opponent. 10 to 15 minutes per turn on your end is the goal in that case.

 

[SoulGambit]

On AP Saturation

Hamelin's game is all about having a high volume of AP at their disposal with which to disrupt the opponent and accomplish their schemes. Not only are Hamelin's models cheaper than most other keywords, but Hamelin's Unclean Influence bonus action means that all of the Vermin in your Crew will be operating at 3 AP every turn. The Moldy Cheese action on Stolen and Rat Catchers can further grant Vermin Fast. Its rarely worthwhile to put Fast on Malifaux Rats for their own sake, but putting it on a Rat you intend to Swarm Together into a Rat King gives that Rat King fast without pitching a high card. The 8 or 10+ required to put Fast on a Winged Plague or Rat King directly is steep, but if it gives you a VP or sets up your tempo for later turns, it is worth it.

This is also why Hamelin's crew moves as a bubble-a large bubble! (6" radius around Hamelin)-but a bubble. This is also part of why Hamelin isn't usually trying to score much on turn 2. 

 

Turn by Turn, Denying Value

This is key to playing Hamelin. My sense is that Hamelin games are actually decided in turn 2, but you don't see the payoff until turn 3 or 4. You have to drag the other crew to your level, and make them has as bad of a turn 1-2 as you do.

Turn 1.

Your oppoment is going to have 5ish Pass Tokens, and they will have a choice. They can either let you outactivate them by a lot, or they can guarentee a initiative on turn 2. The enemy will broadly fall into one of tow categories: Buff and Alpha Strike; or Pure Positioning. A Pure Positioning Crew is probably going to claim an early Strategy Advantage and set themselves up to score and kill your models in t2. An Alpha Strike crew does the same, but spends resoueces buffing one model up before launching them in to your deployment zone. In both cases, you deny value through Unclean Influence combined with a high volume of models.

If your opponent holds on to their pass tokens, then you will have the advantage of seeing where most of the opponent's crew is committing before moving your important pieces. If the opponent doesn't hold on to their pass tokens, then you still get to see where they placed their models before you reposition your Vermin with Unclean Influence. Expect the early t2 aggression. Place Malifaux Rats and Stolen in places where they take at least 1 AP from the opponent to get around. Take advantage of the 8" Charge Distance from Unclean Influence, or the extra AP by making sure the enemy is within move + charge range, but not the enemy's charge range. Based on what Schemes are available, predict what models are going to try and score what schemes in t2 and move your models to disrupt them. Rat Kings can single handedly stop most Marker based Schemes, and also eat most Scheme Runners.

In the case of an Alpha Strike, save Benny and Hamelin. Everything else is expendable. Eat the model they committed to it: Hamelin should be able to do so in one activation. Smart Alpha Strike crews will use their pass tokens and commit the beater as late into the turn as possible. That is okay, Hamelin, a few Rats, and 1-2 Rat Kings can probably kill most things in a single activation. If it is an Alphastrike with a recursive model (i.e. Ikiryo) then your gameplan is to minimize the value from their attack by gaining what you lose. If Hamelin can produce 2-4 Malifaux Rats off of the his Infestation Trigger and Voracious Rats. If the Alpha Strike just killed a Rat King/Catcher, that is pretty close to a complete recovery, especially after factoring in Moldy Cheese.

Turn 2

Your opponent will try to score and try to wreck havok on your models. If you set things up well on turn 1, holding key models out of threat ranges and using Stolen/Malifaux Rats to eat the opponent's AP by being in the way.  You deny value by eating Scheme Markers and letting the opponent kill low value models. Let Malifaux Rats and Stolen die. Let Rat Kings be damaged, only to summon a  Rat Catcher. Eat Scheme Markers as they are placed.

Your goal is to hold on to Benny and Hamelin and to keep the opponent from getting a 2vp or greater lead. Things at this point are more directly Strategy and Scheme dependent. Eat your oppnent's markers, surround their models with Vermin, spread Blight everywhere. Try and force the fight towards the center of the board or another area where your models can break off and complete schemes in turns 3 and 4.

Turns 3 and 4

Table them.

I'm only slightly joking. Your goal is either to cripple the opponent souch that they can no longer score VP, and to score your Strategies and Schemes. If you reached here and aren't crippled, you should have such a huge board advantage that you can steamroll whatever they have left.

Turn 5

Set your pieces up to score end of game vp while stopping the opponent from doing the same. It's straightforward. Notably, Hamelin is in a much better place to score vp on turn 5 than most masters due to the sheer number of AP he can get, even here. Remember that Rat Kongs are a Replace and not a Summon, and can score on tje turn they Tangle Together.

[ebolazaire]

Hamelin is the one Outcast crew that I just cannot play...

Do you mind giving a quick overview of your standard lists and what your turn 1 and 2 looks like?

Or a short tactica of the crew?

[Starrius]

So this is my basic hamelin crew.

 

Turn 1 is about summoning rats generally by the end of turn 1 I have between 4 to 7 rats in play.  I use rats for 2 aims, ganinging up and as a mine.

Rats in groups of 4 can when needed turn into rat kings and this is part of my game play once 2 or 3 rats have activated I give one of the rats that's been fast ready for when I turn them into a rat king.

 

The ratcatchers are my movement tool for rats to cause road blocks.

 

Rats in groups of 4 are melee 6 damage 1/2/2 which isnt alot but it's a good way to push blight onto models and then when I get to hamelin's actions for 1 ap and a 6+ of masks I can blow up 2 rats for 4 damage. I've had games where in 1 activation hamelin has blown up 6 rats for a whopping 12 aoe damage to non rats. This really adds up also because rats are a god source to add extra blight tokens  2 ap of this (stoning for masks if needed) and then bleeding disease I've done upwards of 20 damage to a master in 1 activation.

 

The key I've found to hamelin isnt speed its having a plan, you need to think what am I doing with my rats in the turn and react to changes needed and then my the Tim you get to you main activations due to the pressure these pesky rats have put on your opponent they have used.their bigger models because they cant waste time using their pass maskers.

 

 

[SoulGambit]

How are you summoning 4-7 rats a turn? I've been running on summoning 3-4 in t1.

[Starrius]

4 rats with benny and I try to get a rat or 2 off of enemies if I can with lure them in which so far has happened in a lot of games. I've been willing to push a stolen into a petition to see if my oppone t will be willing to kill a stolen when when if dies summons 1 rat next to it and 1 next to the enemy that killed it

[GrumpyGrandpa]

How stacked up are you early game, and do you struggle with spreading out turn 1, 2 or 3?

[SoulGambit]

Oh okay, lure + smack with Obedient Wretch / Ratcatcher. That makes sense. My opponents haven't given me as much opportunity to do that but it is entirely valid.

Hamelin has three bubbles to manage. One is Vermin within 6" from himself. Another bubble is key support models within 3" of Nix / 3" of The Nothing Beast / 6" of Pride, depending on what defensive tech you are using. The third bubble is scheme markers within 3" of Benny if you are using him. Splitting off when you have an opportunity is extremely easy thanks to unclean influence. The challenge is more having the discipline and wisdom to not overextend your significant vermin too early.

[Jesy Blue]

8 hours ago, ebolazaire said:

Hamelin is the one Outcast crew that I just cannot play...

Yeah, Hamelin is its own weird beast.  He doesn't play like other Outcast, he doesn't play like other summoners, he doesn't play anything like other masters.

I've always described him like Voldo in the game Soul Calibur:  completly unique and mildly disturbing, and once you learn him it's hard to play anyone else.

[Starrius]

I've hamelin he suits my style of thinking a lot.

[TheJoyInGaming]

56 minutes ago, Jesy Blue said:

Yeah, Hamelin is its own weird beast.  He doesn't play like other Outcast, he doesn't play like other summoners, he doesn't play anything like other masters.

I've always described him like Voldo in the game Soul Calibur:  completly unique and mildly disturbing, and once you learn him it's hard to play anyone else.

Max for agreement. I cannot not play Hamelin. 
 

I have been testing Turn 1 of my Wanted Stolen list and it has been FUN. My favorite Hamelin list so far. It is a little different then before though.

[SoulGambit]

Some Toolkits in Hamelin's Box

The Benny Summoning Engine

Benny Wolcomb, Winged Plague x2, Prospector, Rat Catcher

Total Price: 28ss

This is what you bring to produce Malifaux Rats (You may not want to run Winged Plague in to Reckoning). You can summon 3-5 Malifaux Rats on turns 1 and 2, with 4 Malifaux Rats being pretty realistic. You have a Winged Plague move up and drop a scheme marker. Then you have another Winged Plague move up and drop a scheme marker 6-7" from the first one, where Benny can move between them. The Prospector goes, pushes 3" forward, moves 5", and drops a Scheme Marker as close to the other two as possible. If you have the needed crow, the Prospector uses Malifaux Mining Law to create a fourth Scheme Marker. Benny moves up, turns those Scheme Markers in to Malifaux Rats. If you don't have the crow, have Prospector net you a Soulstone instead. The Ratcatcher moves up and repositions all of those Malifaux Rats into a place where they can be actually useful. When Hamelin goes, he uses Unclean Influence to have the Winged Plague move 3" and drop another two Scheme Markers, preparing Benny for next turn. Unclean Influence should also focus on putting your new Malifaux Rats into the most obnoxious position possible so that the enemy has to kill them to get off charges and interact actions.

Turn 2 it is much the same. Have Winged Plague and Prospector can drop scheme markers, with the latter trying to get a bonus scheme marker with Malifaux Mining Law. Benny flips them in to Malifaux Rats. Now there is the added dynamic of trying to position Benny into a place where he can use Swarm Them on a key model. I can usually get off a ~4 damage Swarm Them, even if the opponent is payng attention to it. There is also the dynamic of, if the enemy is about to score you will want to use Benny and the Prospector to deny enemy scheme markers more than you will want to spawn Malifaux Rats.

In Turn 3+ Benny's flexobility comes in to play. Use him to deny Schemes, first and foremost. The next priority is using him as a scare tactic. Swarm Them will quickly become respected, which means your Malifaux Rats become more valuable just by existing. Until Benny activates, the enemy has to zone themselves by considering how many rats you can get close to a model they move up. Third priority is following through on that threat. Fourth priority is summoning Malifaux Rats. You are also probably going to be giving Benny Fast with those schemes more in later turna. Winged Plague are either putting themselves in between your support models and threats like bonus Stolen, looking for opportunities to score with their swanky Hamelin supported 13" Interact range, or continuing to place Scheme Markers for Benny. The Rat Catcher continues to reposition rats into optimal locations, while also mixing it up in Melee.

And, you know, you jave 14-20ss worth of additional models. 

That forms the core of a lot of my lists, usually along with Obedient Wretch (who is just great for her ss cost). You can upgrade the Winged Plague in to Rat Kings in to Reckoning or more killy scheme pools for an additional 6ss.

[Starrius]

Why not just take a guilty you can declare enemy only triggers on them to summon rats it's cheaper:)

[Starrius]

If I drop the rat king and put in a guilty I can then use the wretch to potentially summon off 2 rats from it with times

 

And if I have another time benny can shoot the guilty that would drop a scheme marker then after the interact from other models.benny could summon 5 rats plus 2 rats from the wretch that's potentially 7 rats without even interactive with my opponent

[Adran]

15 minutes ago, Starrius said:

Why not just take a guilty you can declare enemy only triggers on them to summon rats it's cheaper:)

This only works if the model is tormented. How are you turning the plague stuff tormented?

[Starrius]

Opps misread the card you can see I dont use jack daw lol

[SoulGambit]

So we have our core and we have another 22ss to spend. A 3ss Cache is about right for Hamelin and a Prospector, so you have about 19ss to spend. You can drop the starting Rat Catcher for +6ss if you need to, but you will wind up having some issues with Malifaux Rats being too slow and clogging up your other models.

When picking your modela, keep in mind that Hamelin, Winged Plague, Rat Kings, and Rat Catchers can complete any Scheme in the book and unless you are losing very badly you will have all pf Rat Kings you need. What you are looking for in your other models are tech pieces to slow the oppnent's turn 1, 2 and 3 down or value pieces that are soulstone efficient.

Obedient Wretch, 5ss

Speaking of value, this lady is the bar when it comes to soulstone efficiency. Tummy Aches means that, at least against Blighted models that can't cheat against her, she is deceptively resilient. Further, because the opponent can't guarentee value from actions targeting her, and more valuable models exist, she is often not going to be who your opponent focuses on until after they really fear Bleeding Disease. However, because that is the bulk of her defensive tech, she is going to be a prime target for blasts, shockwavesnd pulses.

Most importantly, she is an extremely reliable Bleeding Disease on a stick, since even with a Stat 5 the opponent can't cheat. Even if the opponent does kill her, she gives you two Malifaux Rats, and has possibly summoned one or two more from the tomes trigger on her gun.

Speaking of, you will only rarely use her gun or analyze weakness. She can't shoot in to melee and it is almost always more worthwhile to set up Bleeding Disease.

She is great, feel free to swap a Winged Plague for her if you need the stones. Dropping a Scheme turn 1, another or shooting turn 2, Bleeding Disease turn 3+ is a perfectly valid use for her.

Nix, 8ss

The goodest of boys. The Plague is a very evil man blessed with the most adorable and loyal pupper in Malifaux. Nix is a tarpit model. Reach for him when Loose Bowels can reasonably deny the opponent VP in the strategy or scheme, or when the opponent is running assassins that tend to focus in to Severe Damage. A model with a Severe of 6 suddenly takes an extra AP to kill a Rat Catcher. A model with a Severe of 8 suddenly takes two AP to kill Benny. Hamelin lives and dies by milling the opponent's AP, so every AP counts. It also devalues some enemy models with Blast attacks. What Cruel Disapproval does not do is make your models in to tanks.

I would generally not replace a Winged Plague with Nix, but that is because I like playing Nix aggressively. Particularly on turn 2, I really need nix in position with Loose Bowels up.

Two Malifaux Rats, 4ss

This is a tech buy against enemy crews that bring a lot of demise and antihealing abilities. In those situations, Hamelin becomes far more fragile and the Stolen lose value. This is your consolation prize. Have the Stolen move up, use Moldy Cheese, and then use Inevitable Fate to make 6 Malifaux Rats. Have a Ratcatcher move up and drag your starting rats along. Have Hamelin use Unclean Influence with a tomes to move all rats up to 8" forward and seperating in to two groups. Have two of those rats hold back and Concentrate instead of move. Your initial two Malifaux Rats that you hired Tangle Together into a Rat King that is ~15" up the board, has Focus +2, and has two AP, all for 4ss.

This is a terrible use for the Stolen, but if you are staring down the right kind of crew, it may be the best use for the Stolen.

Extra Rat Catcher, 6ss

A bonus Rat Catcher is a tech piece against Elite Crews and in Strategy/Scheme situations where you really need Don't Mind Me. Deliver a Message, Detonate Charges, and Dig Their Graves are all examples. I usually find a second gratuitous, and just summon them if I need more. They hit hard, apply slow, summon, but they are so fragile. If I am buying in to two Rat Catchers to start, I am also seriously considering putting Soldier for Hire on them.

Extra Winged Plague, 4ss

For when I am taking or want to telegraph that I am taking a very AP intensive scheme, like Harness Leyline. It is also good for Outflank and, debatably, Turf War. 

 Rat King, 7ss

Rat Kings are a solid model that get 3 or 4ap in a Hamelin crew thanks to Unclean Influence. Arguably, cheap access to these models and Unclean Influence is one of the primary advantages of Hamelin. They are a beater, a scheme runner, and anti scheme marker piece. The only question for Hamelin is whether they are going to buy Rat Kings or just summon them. If you do not do the Benny Rat Generator, immediately buy two Rat Kings.

Two Rat Kings should replace Winged Plague in Reckoning and other situations where the Winged Plague are likely to be sniped early  turn 1 and turn 2. They are otherwise purchased when I need early turn 2 aggression, since they can be in the opponent's face turn 2, or even turn 1. They are also picks in to crews that have a strong alpha strike turn 1, since Hamelin with two Rat Kings can threaten nearly anythong that can reach your lines that early on nothing but Hamelin's activation.

 

[Jesy Blue]

2 hours ago, SoulGambit said:

Obedient Wretch, 5ss

 

Speaking of value, this lady is the bar when it comes to soulstone efficiency. Tummy Aches means that, at least against Blighted models that can't cheat against her, she is deceptively resilient. Further, because the opponent can't guarentee value from actions targeting her, and more valuable models exist, she is often not going to be who your opponent focuses on until after they really fear Bleeding Disease. However, because that is the bulk of her defensive tech, she is going to be a prime target for blasts, shockwavesnd pulses.

Most importantly, she is an extremely reliable Bleeding Disease on a stick, since even with a Stat 5 the opponent can't cheat. Even if the opponent does kill her, she gives you two Malifaux Rats, and has possibly summoned one or two more from the tomes trigger on her gun.

Speaking of, you will only rarely use her gun or analyze weakness. She can't shoot in to melee and it is almost always more worthwhile to set up Bleeding Disease.

She is great, feel free to swap a Winged Plague for her if you need the stones. Dropping a Scheme turn 1, another or shooting turn 2, Bleeding Disease turn 3+ is a perfectly valid use for her.

You forget she also has stealth.

[SoulGambit]

Pride, 7ss

This is a value pick most of the time. You take him for his bonus action, which sets up an aura where your models in that aura always cheat after the opponent decides what to cheat, if anything. Pride is going to do a lot for your key model's survivability and reliability. Meanwhile, he is going to apply pressure on the opponent's hand. He is fragile, but protecting your models with positioning and intervening vermin is nothing new to Hamelin. Pride is alsp one of the few things opponents will go for before they go for Benny, and forcing hard choices like that is good.

Because you mostly need Pride for his bonus action, having him replace a Winged Plague is valid. He can drop markers for Benny while keeping his bubble in the right spot.

Johan Creedy, 7ss

Take him against condition heavy crews and crews that rely on a proliferation of Corpse and Scrap Markers. He removes those things, and is a solid beater besides.

Hans, 8ss

Your goal is to survive turn two. Hans can take one of the opponent's beaters and keep the opponent from getting full value out of them between Slow and Daze. In a pinch, he is a ruthless gun that can convert Rams in to damage. He synergizes well with Hamelin because he can shoot over rats and in to melee. Find out who is going to wreck your crew on turn 2 and have Hans turn them off.

Seriously, I can not stress enough how much he can add to a crew. If you aren't sure what to add and the keyword models don't feel right, try Hans. If the opponent is running an elite crew, definately try Hans.

The Nothing Beast, 9+1ss

The Nothing Beast has a few things going for it in a Hamelin Crew. Incorporeal helps hom move around your own models. 2" Melee Range means he can strike over the opponent's models. His ability to unbury next to Malifaux Rats you used Moldy Cheese on gives The Nothing Beast supurb mobility. However, the real reason you want The Nothing Beast is his bonus action that creates an aura granting friendly models Concealment within 3". If your opponent is running a primarily ranged crew, The Nothing Beast can really slant things in your favor.

[The Nothing Beast can place Scheme Marker on turn 1 then bury itself without losing much in the way of mobility.] (Edit: This doesn't work. You need another obliteration model to bury him.) Turn 2 it can either deploy forward off of a Fast rat and attack, or it can stay in the back and run counter. You can also play headgames by running Fast Rats up the board. Suddenly the opponent really needs to  spend AP killing them.

If you have the Nothing Beast *and* are facing a crew that likes to put conditions on itself, Scion of the Void becomes an option.

 

The Midnight Stalker, 8ss

A value pick, but not one that will particularly help your goal of "Survive until Turn 3." He is a fighty, survivable schemer. Take him if you need to splinter someone off from your home bubble. Applying Adversary (Plague) is also a valid. Usually, a Rat King or two Winged Plagues will perform better imo, but I can understand this choice.

Hodgepodge Emissary, 10ss

I usually can't find room for the Emissary. It grants a bonus Scheme Marker each turn for Benny without needing a card, it grants bonus movement, and it grants a notable amount of Healing. Hamelin does like his healing. Companion on Hamelin can be huge. Regeneration +1 and Don't Mind Me are decently nice upgrades. It does nice things, but I don't feel like it really solves issues that Hamelin actually has.

~10ss Beater

Outcasts have no shortage of powerful beaters in this range, specialized for different things. All are valid options if counterpicking the opponent.

Mad Dog Brackett, 9+1ss: Look at his gun. If you want that gun, take him. You can reliably give him Fast. He counterpicks swarms and Masters centered around Destructable terrain.

Taelor, 9+1ss: Counterpicks Summons. Ruthless.

Arik Shottemer, 10+1ss: He actually does a lot and is worth it just for his stats. Distracted helps you survive. He counters armor and Gravity Well counters Places and Summoning.

Talos, 8+1ss: Anti Buried.

Ashes and Dust, 9+1ss: Mv 7 Incorporral Beater with one hell of a Demise ability and summoning Abominations. Anti-Scrap.

Marlene Webster, 8+1ss: Solid model in general. Good for Interact heavy pools. Keeps your key models from dying to being sniped by alphastrikes.

[explorator]

Following with great interest. Thanks!

[SoulGambit]

So, Hamelin picks their outside the core crew more based on what the opponent is fielding than what the Strategy and Scheme pool is. This also speaks to one of Hamelin's big weaknesses: He is extremely telegraphed. Your oppnent is going to know exactly what you are bringing and is probably going to try fielding some of your counters.

Lets take a moment to talk through those, because there are a lot of them. Note that I am only referencing things that are specifically strong against Hamelin, not generally oppressive.

Guild

Versatile -

Brutal Emissary will probably be in most lists you face. It shuts down Unclean Influence in a 6" Radius around itself  and is a good beater with some good Blast potential.

Greed can deal an uncomfortable amount of damage with their Unchecked Averace. Hamelin also likes his Henchmen, making Use it On Yourself potentially very strong. Hamelin winds up dropping a lot of corpse markers to fuel her bonus action.

The Pale Rider, like most Riders, can really punish your bubble if allowed to reach the later Revels In... triggers.

Augmented -

Hamelin is actually pretty good against high Armor, so there is that. Unfortunately, Protected can do a lot to keep a model alive from Hamelin, since Bleeding Disease can be shunted to models unaffected by it.

Melissa K.O.R.E. can convert power tokens into a dead bunch of Malifaux Rats as a bonus action. Normally Shockwaves arent a big issue, but this is "enough" shockwaves from a single bonus action.

Riotbreaker(s) also shut down Unclean Influence.

Guardians have Take the Hit, which can really mess up Hamelin assassination runs.

Elite / Mimic -

Lucius will have all of the Pass Tokens and thus cards he needs.

Alan Reid can shut down Malifaux Rats in a 6" Aura as a bonus action. TN 10 Wp duels are scary when you have a WP of 2.

Obey in general can get your key kodels out of the bubble, leaving your guys stranded.

Family -

This is a Shooty keyword, which is strong against Hamelin.

Perdita can effectivrly shut down charges in a 12" (!) Aura around herself. Because you will so massively outnumber her, she will have all the cards she needs to fuel A Por El.

Francisco is going to kill many things before going down, between his Df Trigger retaliating against your models and Finesse giving the - Twists.

Papa Loco has a lot of Pulse damage. A lot of pulse damage.

Frontier -

Its a shooty keyword with Blasts. Concealing Terrain can make Bleeding Disease hard to land. Nothing particularly disgusting.

Guardsmen - 

Shooty. Summoner. Riflemen can inconvenience charges.

Journalist - 

You Can't Escape the Truth and Humiliation can result in a lot of damage and card discard, respectively. Innocent Bystandard is a pretty good defense against swarms of weaker models, especially with Serene Countenance.

In general, Nellie will be playing to her schemes and not your crew.

Marshal

Lady Justice herself is scary, can kill a lot of models, and pass out a lot of focus.

Witchling -

Sonia has a lot of Blasts and her Hazardous Terrain aura can make engaging her tricky.

Thalarian Queller can prevent Malifaux Rats from being summoned within 5".

 

[Ogid]

15 hours ago, SoulGambit said:

The Nothing Beast can place Scheme Marker on turn 1 then bury itself without losing much in the way of mobility. Turn 2 it can either deploy forward off of a Fast rat and attack, or it can stay in the back and run counter. You can also play headgames by running Fast Rats up the board. Suddenly the opponent really needs to  spend AP killing them.

Obliteration model cannot bury themselves with Stutter Time, it's an attack and models cannot attack themselves. The fast rats is a nice trick, but to use his bury shenanigans you'll need to hire a second Obliteration model to bury The Nothing Beast.

[SoulGambit]

Oh, good call. I learned something, thank you.

[SoulGambit]

Hamelin vs Guild

The important thing to remember is that, except for probably the Family, you project more force than the opponent. They have to come to you, they have to stem your tide. If they don't, you will win. Because of how that force is projected, the opponent is going to get increased value from some models. Because your crew grows from a few select models, the most efficient way to stem your tide is to first remove those models, and then mop up your trash. Hamelin's best way to defend key models is with saturation so the enemy can't get good charge lanes, meaning the enemy either needs to rely on ramged attacks or severely outmaneuvering you.

The answer to a lot of Hamelin's problems is to just kill them.

Hans should be played in to most Guild, just to counter the Emissary's aura.

Augmented -

They are going to bring a lot of pulses and blasts to punish the bubble. Riotbreakers are going to reduce your turn 3 and turn 4 effectiveness by removing Unclean Influence using the Emissary and/or Riot Breakers. Hamelin counters Armor +2 reasonably well with ping damage and Bleeding Disease / Swarm Them. Nix, Pride, and The Nothing Beast can mitigate shooting and Blasts. Hans is a gopd play in to this list, as Augmented tends towards more elite crews, and the push can keep their Crowd Control aura at bay. Try to not allow the Blasts to move in to your key models, Malifaux Rats dying is fine.

Elite / Mimic -

Kill them.

Seriously, the crew is pretty fragile and you should be able to overrun them. Seriously consider Pride and The Nothing Beast to mitigate Obey shenanigans. 

Family - 

This is the Guild keyword that would scare me, as Hamelin. Perdita is going to draw a full hand from her bonus action, and a lot of those cards are going to go in to giving the Family extra actions. They shoot far, shoot well, and will be shooting your key models off the field.

Use terrain, force them to get close, and run them over. I suspect Perdita matchups will be largely determined by how close you are before the main confrontation begins. Don't be afraid to lure models in and play Rat Kings extremely aggressively. If your key models survive turn 2 and their Pistoleros or whatever haven't scored early Schemes, you should win this fight. Use Hans to force the Emissary out of position.

Frontier -

Nothing special you won't find better in another keyword. Just be Hamelin. Bring Hans for the Emissary.

Guard -

Arik and/or Taelor can counter the summoning. Use Hans to move enemy auras around. Be careful about Charging near Riflemen. Guard Patrols are going to complicate Bleeding Disease kills.

Journelist - 

Use Focused Rat (Kings) to punch through Serene Countenance. Be careful of card discard from activating too many models in a humiliation aura. Otherwise, Nellie is easy pickings for Hamelin. She can't usually project enough force to stop him. Her big goal is going to be claiming those schemes early. Don't let that happen: Rat Kings are good for this.

Marshal - 

The good Lady is a whirlwind of death with Leap. Her crew will have a lot of Focused, but isn't particularly a problem. If you can deny Lady Justice value by not eltting her get in to melee or by surviving her onslaught you are in a good spot. If you kill her, you probably win. Take Pride and Nix.

Witchling -

Watch your spacing, bring Nix for anti Blasts and Hans to move their auras around. The Nothing Beast may also be a good choice here. Pick off the Emissary and Thalarian Callers as soon as possible. Remember that Malifaux Rats can take the Assist action to reduce Burning on key models. Arik can be anti summoning, but I get the sense she won't be doing much summoning off of your models.

 

[SoulGambit]

Ten Thunders

They are going to bring Charm Warders, probably two of them. They may bring two Charm Warders and Sun Quiang (who will use Bedside Manner and Healing go keep them alive) and/or Terracotta Warriors (who will copy their tactical action and will replace themselves with killed Charm Warders) if they really want to double down. These guys turn off Demise abilities within 5", and automatically kill Malifaux Rats summoned within 5". Plus they are pretty powerful models, with a bonus action pulse that has a huge range and deals 0, 2, or 4 damage with no test.

Ten Thunders Brothers are another model to watch out for. They prevent the removal of their scheme markers, taking the edge off of Hamelin's anti Scheme game, and their Keeping the Peace aura that prevents charge actions is rough on Malifaux Rats. They will also always have other models for their Df trigger to redirect attacks.

Beyond that, Ten Tbunders has some but not amazing blasts and pulses. The other thing to watch ojt for is how good Ten Thunders is at alpha striking and sniping out your key models through a combination of large threat range and lure.

You shouldn't have to worry too much about it, but be aware. Rats stop models from advancing, yours towards them with lure and theirs towards you, where possible. Where it isn't, you can have rats placed in such a way that the enemy model has no where to land within melee range. You can also just pitch cards to survive the onslaught and have Hamelin eat them. That last bit is important, even if Shenlong jumps in to your crew turn 1, Hamelin is going to get pretty close to just murdering him on his activation.

The entire Faction has access to powerful Severe Damage 6 guns, who can even gain a Blast, thanks to models like Samurai and Fuhatsu. Misako Rei can summon a Wanyudo off of you pretty easily, and that thing is going to be able to go through your bubble lkke a wrecking ball. Rats are not surviving.

That said, as soon as you see 10T declared and they see Hamelin, expect two Charm Warders. 

 

What do you do?

Debatably, declaring Hamelin at all vs 10T is a mistake because of that. However, I am refusing that as an option when evaluating being a Hamelin Player specifically.

You have two options: play around them or play through them. Like Hamelin's shift from being about denial to being the biggest baddest thing in town, what you do will probably change through the course of the game. Playing around two 5" bubbles is not easy. They will be put in your face as early as t2. They will use their Chi Tokens for +2 to key decensive duels and abundance of Pass Tokens to gain positive twists on their defensive flips. They may have Trained Ninja for Stealth or Silent Protector for Hard to Kill. The former us going to be harder to deal with.

This is probably a time to turn your Stolen in to Rat Kings. Bring Hans, Nix and Pride. Use Hans to manipulate where their aura is and give them Stunned. Use Hamelin to draw them away from their support and in to your beaters with Lure. Cry when they have Trained Ninja to stop all of that and have Hans seperate their support models (i.e. Sun Quiang) away instead. You'll need to charge in and have Rat Kings do work. You will need to hold your Malifaux Rats back so they don't get destroyed by the Charm Warder's bonus action until after they activate.

Nix and Pride mitigate the alpha strike on to Hamelin and Benny and makes Shooting less effective if they go that rout.

Make no mistake, you are in for a slog.