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Scalpels and stitches (How to work McMourning)


Regelridderen

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I tried putting McMurder on the table once by the end of M2E, and found the crew to be as hilarious to play as the concept – and much more manoeuvrable than I'd expected.

Since then I've been much more focused on Neverborn and Ninjas, and haven't put a single undead on the table for M3E.

So what are your experiences in playing with McMurder these days?

The Flesh Construct looks to be amazingly versatile - gaining fast and regenerating the damage.

The Centauroi seem to be outclassed by the Dead Rider.

What's hot and what's just meat on the slab? And how do you make the most of it?

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I don't play McM, but I have theorized him a few times. Take anything I say here with a grain of salt.

A big question is how much poison to put on yourself Turn 1. Catalyst heals you for 1, and at the end of every turn you heal for 1 (+ 1 if you're above poison 4) Every Experimental model starts with 2 Poison, lasting until end of Turn 2 (note Catalyst doesn't lower your Poison condition). Adding 1 more Poison to everything in a bubble with the Chihuahua gives you enough poison to last until the end of Turn 3. I think a good benchmark to keep in mind is Poison +5. This heals you for 2 at the end of Turn 2 once combat really gets going, and leaves you with 3 Poison for a burst heal using Blood Poisoning.

Try to force your opponent to spread out his damage as much as possible. Engage enemies in ways that makes it difficult for your opponent to focus on taking down one model at a time. The more spread out the damage you take, the more healing value you get out of Poison during the course of the game.

Blood Poisoning can be used for damage OR healing. This can really save you in a pinch. Also - last edition you REALLY wanted to Transfusion-Bomb enemies since you get a free Flesh Construct out of it. This isn't the case anymore, so focus less on trying to get MASSIVE Blood Poisonings and just use it when it's needed (ususally 3+ damage)

Experimental aren't scared of anything - the amount of Ruthless in the crew makes Terrifying targets a lot easier to deal with.

Be VERY careful with enemy Min 3 models, especially ones with Fast or Flurry. Your defensive stats are mostly low and 3 damage does work against Kentauroi and Constructs (9 wds) or even McM (12 Wds).

Experimental unfortunately doesn't generate cards but the crew loves to discard or use them. There will often be a strain on your hand.

 

Model Rundown:

McMourning is the MAN when it comes to fighting enemies with defensive abilities. His damage track isn't amazing but against armor +1 it's effectively 3/4/6 or against armor +2 it's effectively 4/5/7. The stat 7 makes him accurate, and with 3 attacks your opponent either accepts the Injured (making McM's stat effectively 9, then 11) or discards up to 3 cards to avoid it. Rancid transplant helps get Conditions off your crew and onto the enemy, or lets McM teleport with a high card/stone. Twisted Genius is a great bonus if you can manage to get the positioning for it. Doctor's Orders can help get him into or out of combat. Run him into combat as early as you can and have him start taking damage - as with Catalyst and Organ Donor he can consistently heal around 5-7 Health per activation. Watch out for Mark of Vengeance.

Zombie Chihuahua is a nice Blood Poisoning on a stick. Walk up, Blood Poison, walk away. Or double walk closer and Blood Poison. Expect it to die sooner rather than later.

Rogue Necro is unnecessary with all the melee you already have in the crew.

Both Kentauroi are auto-takes. Sure, the Dead Rider outclasses them but I'd be worried if he didn't for nearly 50% more stones. They are fast, help move McM and other Ht <=2 models with Ride With Me (which also lets them disengage), have a 2" range, have Min 3 on the charge (which they can do as much as they want around models with <2" engagement ranges) and infect, can shed conditions with Shrug off, and are great durability-wise with 9 Wds and H2W. The only thing they're missing is Unimpeded.

Rafkin is not exciting - 5/5/5 stats, no defensive abilities, and a 2/3/4 damage track with no built in triggers. In theory he helps spread poison in an AoE on Turn 1 and later moves it around to where it needs to be with Transfusion, but in practice you're paying 8 stones, and moving 3 Poison around doesn't help the crew enough to save his awful stats. Embalming Fluids is a massive tease, since Rafkin has no good use for Focus with his flat damage track and shockwave action.

Sebastian is the same cost as Rafkin, but is a Henchman, has H2W and Ruthless, has a better melee action, the same Shockwave, and Blood Poisoning instead of Transfusion. He can also summon Canine Remains on a 6Crow twice per turn, which is less good than it seems since Canines are crappy 3ss models to begin with, but still good.

Flesh Constructs are good. Ruthless, H2W, always Fast, and lots of health and healing is great. Projectile Vomit is an amazing action with Focus, their melee attack is okay. Note that Vomit hits against Mv, which doesn't benefit from Injured but does let you avoid some Df triggers.

Nurses are AMAZING models which have so much anti-synergy with Experimental that they just come out "good." Bedside Manner is INSANE for keeping friendly models alive when charged by big scary enemies, especially for Assassinate - but most of your crew is up in the opponent's face especially McM. Bottle of Painkillers is a great heal and condition removal - but short ranged and Experimental already comes with both in droves. Tools for the Job lets you activate at the right time to grab a good card, and gives her free triggers. Quick Cure is sorta just "take Assist once per activation for free." Seduction is occasionally very strong against enemies that get to stack high amounts of Focus.

Guild Autopsies are lackluster. They can take a hit or two, creep along is a great bonus action on cheap models, and their attack action is slightly above-average for such a cheap model. Their gun is worthless though. On paper, they seem great at fighting for their cost, but the problem is they struggle to do anything else. Mv 4 severely limits their mobility, 6 health is perfect to get cleaned by Min 3 in a single activation, and you can only have so many melee fighters without Unimpeded or Flight before you start getting in your own way. Loot Their Corpses could be a nice little bonus sometimes IF they can manage to move over to the marker, but McM and Sebby already have uses for those markers anyway.

Little Gassers are bad. The only reason one would take them is to spread 3 Poison to the whole crew on first turn. They're Wk 5 with Flight and no movement actions, and 5 Wds with no defensive tech goes down too quickly. They're just not reliable enough to take a scheme like Breakthrough or Spread Them Out expecting them to pull it off for you.

Canine Remains are super cheap, but don't do anything, not even spread poison. In theory they could drop some markers and score you some VP, but they die too easily. Summoning with Sebby and running it into an enemy without Min 3 damage to eat 2 AP from them is the best case scenario.

 

The Summoning Tactic?

My obsession with summoning/value initially had me thinking getting a free Flesh Construct on turn 1 with Twisted Genius is the best way to go. I'm no longer convinced, as to pull this off you need to take a Grave Digger and one other corpse marker generator. The Flesh Construct is only 1 stone more than the Digger in the first place, so it's *kinda like* taking a Flesh Construct and then summoning a Grave Digger. Does that excite me as much? No, Grave Diggers are awful unless you're abusing them with the GST upgrade.

 

 

 

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In my few games with the doc I have found I started leaving Rafkin behind. His abilities say he wants to be close to the enemy but his defence says differently. Without him a I can get enough poison up anyway. Al-ways take killer instinct on the doctor, the ruthless is situationally good but the soul stone off a corpse is great. Sebastian is the real master of the crew! 
I don’t  bother looking for the summoning, if it goes off cool but otherwise I’m bringing two fleshies anyway

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  • 1 month later...

I feel your disregard of Rafkin is simplified. his shockwave is superior to sebastian's, as he has two excellent triggers, with the potential to make 4 shockwaves in a turn. if you want a counter to bubbles, rafkin is decent to consider! I never use him in melee if I can help it, although he isn't helpless. 

I have had good experiences with using the poison bomb in this edition (hit first, rancid transplant, blood poisoning + companion on the totem for another blood poison with the chihuahua). that's 12 dmg in one activation window.. this requires a lot of poison, but rafkin does pump out a ton. 

 

 

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On 11/26/2020 at 2:04 AM, Whut said:

I don't play McM, but I have theorized him a few times. Take anything I say here with a grain of salt.

(...)

Some additional thoughts on DocM's collection of selfmade toys:

Rogue Necromancy: 
I really like the beast. She can easily go totally independent of the rest of the crew, adds more conditions to the opponent's worries (Distracted) and is able to dish out serious damage reliably (Stat 6:+flip) while being surprisingly fast (Ambush+Pouncing Strike). It's a beast the opponent has to deal with. And it should bring a few of those Corpse Markers on the table you could want to have. 

In general, I prefer Sebastian over Rafkin, mainly for the summoning alone (Canine Remains). The undead dogos might seem like nothing to ever care about but they are quite fast with their Mov6 and still are an annoyance for the enemy as their Annoying Action could result in the opponent to get Distracted. And they can be more sturdy than expected versus low damage models with H2W and 3 wounds.
The other advantages of Sebastian are: Henchman and Blood Poisoning (either converting Poison in up to 5 damage for an enemy model or up to 5 health for you).

Nurses are just awesome. 
I can't count how often they saved my models' butts: Bedside Manners to bring someone out of the fight versus heavy hitters (min dam3 is a problem for all Undeads with their often bad defenses); healing (and if needed condition removal) as a bonus action with useful triggers on every single suit  and with TN10 on Stat6. Plus, Seduction to get rid of the terrible Focus on the opponent's models - and chances are there for you to get the Kinda-Obey going off every now and then. No, we're not done, yet. Tools for the Job adds on top of that. There's nothing not to like. Best thing: they aren't undead but still come with Pervers Metabolism, so you don't have to worry about your poison bubble. 
The Nurses are your squishy ones (the opponent cares about) but this should be not too big a problem as he usually is busy enough with other things. A lot of players still tend to invest to get rid of them. 

The Guild Autopsies _can_ be usefull if you want to bring a highly elite crew, as their Loot Their Corpses can recover some Soulstones. Besides that I don't ever bring them if I am not really wanting to show the models (which are great). And you probably won't be able to loot more than once or twice per game.

 

If you want to give the summoning a try I'd aim for Canines with Sebastian as soon as the opportunity comes up, then move the Canine Remain where the party is going, maybe bringing another Corpse Marker with him and chances are there that you could summon a Flesh Construct.
Another way would be adding Asura Roten to the crew for walking Corpse Markers (aka Mindless Zombies) and then summoning of those (best case after the opponent spent precious activations on killing them). 

I'd not really recommend going the Summoning road with DocM, though. It can be a surprise for the opponent and actually having 2 Flesh Constructs on the table with the threat to bring some more can cause serious worries at the other side of the table but a mediocre+ player will focus on scoring while you are busy putting out those Corpses and stitching 'em together...

Grave Digger is no bad pick for the DocM crew, either as he actually costs only 3 - for 1 action + a 6 of Crows you can convert the Corpse Marker into a Canine Remains. The Grave Digger's healing comes in quite handy as your opponent probably will try to concentrate damage as much as possible. And it is demoralizing for the opponent to see a Kentauroi, a Flesh Construct or DocM being back at full health shortly after 2 beaters tried to do their worst... 

The crew lacks card draw and has some discard stuff. Ouch. But besides that, it's a nice beater crew which doesn't have to bubble too much. Quite straight forward, nothing too fancy. 
I'd recommend to give it a try in M3E.

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I think the trick with McMourning is that it is relatively straight forward, but requires a lot of precision.

Juggling poison (and taking into account your opponent's ability to remove it) is really important, but doing too much of it is a waste of resources. There's some really efficient movement in the crew, but they're all relatively squishy (and you want them to survive til the end of turn poison tick), so doing tricks to avoid 1-2 points of damage here and there really adds up. 

Blood poisoning is insane, and the ability to burst for 5 will really have an impact, even if it is just your opponent having to play around it. You can't really afford to leave something on 4 wounds against McMourning for example.

That said, I never look at a pool and wish I had McMourning, but I think I do have some matchups where I wish I had him to call upon.

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The juggling of poison didn't really bother me much when I bring him in Keyword. If there are no occasions when to use poison for myself past turn 2 it will easily be applied to the opponent. From turn 2 on the big, tough guys of the opponent should already have at least Poison4+ and from that point on, it already is a problem for the opponent. 

Stacking too much poison only makes sense, when the opponent didn't bring any condition removal (or max 1 ability ) but else, it's just about getting some more poison here and there. I consider the crew rather forgiving with the Poison-Regeneration, H2W and high wound count. Their main weakness imho is the low availabilty of movement tricks and the low MOV... Some Strategies and a lot of Schemes can be hard to achieve with all the fighting going on (and needs to be done as that's the talent of the crew), so McM tends to be a not very popular pick for GG1.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, I'm not sure I've heard of that much OOK stuff being taken with McMourning. His keyword is all pretty solid, and it is really useful to not take damage from the incidental poison (and to be able to get incidental healing).

All the usual tech picks, but I don't think he is like Reva or Seamus where he has near-auto-include OOKs?

I don't know the keyword beyond theory though.

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Yeah - it's more flavor or just wanting to change things up with McMourning and OOK. Flesh Constructs are so good, Nurses are good (I wasn't on board for a while, but now I see their usefulness), Sebastian can be good. Kentauroi die fast, but offer a lot of uses. 

Other than some versatile it's hard to find a need to go OOK. Except for the obvious Student of Steel if facing a lot of armor. 

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On 11/25/2020 at 5:17 AM, Regelridderen said:

The Centauroi seem to be outclassed by the Dead Rider.

I’d be careful of this kind of thinking. Dead rider is amazing but is also 37% more expensive. If he wasn’t better they’ve done a terrible job costing things.

I liked him into Recover evidence with some puppies. Puppies either make your opponent choose them for evidence tokens and you play keep away or they put them on Kentauri and you use the dog actions to beat them up. Transfer poison from the dog onto the Kentauri and heal it. A lot of AP, but low value AP predominantly, and three evidence tokens in my deployment zone. Threat dependent as you don’t want the self damaged Horse to get killed before the heals.

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One thing that helps me thinking about Kentauroi vs. Dead Rider is that 2 Kentauroi is the same stones as a Rider and an Autopsy.

Cheaper costs on a model mean you can upgrade another model!

Also I haven't tried fielding McMourning yet, but Dead Rider being vulnerable to poison is a big deal. If it takes even 2 incidental poison damage, that could mean an early death.

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