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McMourning 2 Unpacks (Practice recommended)


Meddlesome

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I'm digging back into McMourning 2's complexity again and find myself distracted trying to remember all of this. So I figured, why not share with the community and see what other kinds of unpacks people have come up with.

I didn't really get excited about this until I saw one of @Diceman87's recent games with McMourning2 hiring in a Mindless Zombie to activate Horrendous Corpse and upgrading the Nurse to get the summon engine up and running. Thanks for the inspiration! So here's the list, steps, and closing thoughts from a couple of the solo Vassal tests I've ran:

List

Stones remaining: 2

  • McMourning w/ Whisper
  • Zombie Chihuahua 
  • Corpse Curator
  • Rogue Necromancy
  • Kentauroi w/ GST
  • Nurse w/ Killer Instinct
  • Archie
  • Mindless Zombie

Deployment

A little hard to describe but this is going to be a superhug (see picture). This sounds complicated, but if this strategy clicks with you, I promise it won't be intimidating. The main requirements are:

  1. Everybody within 2" aura of both Curator and the Mindless Zombie (except Archie)
  2. The Corpse curator has to be on the front outside edge to give it the ability to CREATE a sludge marker (can't be in base with anything except the model creating it). 
  3. Mindless Zombie in the center of everything, in base with Rogue Necro
  4. Kentauroi on the front edge, with room to ride with me
  5. LoS from the Mindless Zombie to Archie (McMourning will be in this spot later, so LoS will transfer to him which will be important)

Activation #1 - Corpse Curator

  1. (Bonus action) Cursed Sludge with crow trigger. 
    • Gives everybody Poison +1 and create a sludge marker
  2. Walk
    • Drag the sludge to clip everybody (Poison +1 all the way around)
  3. Either focus or walk again for another Poison +1 to everyone or additional on curator, dealer's choice

Activation #2 - Mindless Zombie (Starting with Poison 1)

  1. Bite the Rogue Necro (Poison +1 from sludge)
    • You're just hoping to flip crows here for infect
  2. Bite the Rogue Necro again (Poison +1 from sludge)
    • You're now at Poison 3 to activate Horrendous Corpse

Activation #3 - Zombie Chihuahua 

  1. (Bonus action) Blood Poison the Zombie to kill it (Poison +1 from sludge)
    • Horrendous Corpse Triggers from McMourning
    • Drop 1 corpse under the Kentauroi, and one corpse under the Rogue Necro
    • Everybody gets another round of Poison +1
  2. Bite the Rogue Necro or Kentauroi again 2x (Poison +1 from sludge for each attack)
  3. End of activation everybody gets Poison +1 from Horrific Odor

Activation #4 - McMourning

Depending on what Intuition gives you, execute the following in any order. Best case scenario is:

  1. Charge into the position the Mindless Zombie was and hit the Corpse Curator (Poison +2 from sludge for move + attack)
    • Curator gets Poison +2
    • Drop a corpse in LoS of the Nurse
  2. Desperate Plot targeting Rogue Necro (Poison +1 on McMourning from the Sludge)
    • Sone for a Mask and declare Swift Action
    • Keep the Rogue Necro in the Sludge, do not block LoS to Archie (Poison +2 from the action, Poison +1 for moving while in the Sludge)
      • Eat the corpse marker for the Legs upgrade and duplicate the corpse nearby for RRR
  3. (Swift action) Desperate Plot targeting Kentauroi (Poison +1 on McMourning from the Sludge)
    • Keep Kentauroi in the Sludge, do not block LoS to Archie (Poison +2 from the action, Poison +1 for moving while in the Sludge)
      • Eat the corpse marker for the Legs upgrade and draw a card from RRR
  4. Twisted Genius, removing 2 corpse markers and ping the Curator for 2 irreducible (Poison +1 on McMourning from the Sludge)
    • McMourning gets Distracted +1, and summon the Flesh Construct with slow into base with him while touching the sludge (Poison +1 on the Flesh Construct)
  5. (Bonus Action) Plastic Surgery Hurl Corpse from Archie onto the Kentauroi (Poison +1 from the Sludge)

Activation #5 - Nurse

You want tomes first, masks second for Tools for the Job

  1. Assist distracted off of McMourning (Poison +1 from sludge)
    • The nurse gains Fast from Quick Cure
  2. (Bonus Action) Bottle of Painkillers on the summoned Flesh Construct (Poison +1 from sludge)
    • Remove Slow and perform heal flip
    • Give the Flesh Construct Focus
  3. Focus (Poison +1 from sludge) Drop a scheme in LoS of McMourning (Poison +1 from sludge)
  4. Full walk out of sludge staying within 2" of the remaining corpse (Poison +1 from sludge) Interact to remove the scheme to draw a card from RRR (Poison +1 from sludge)
    • End of activation, eat the corpse for a stone from the the Loot their Corpse upgrade on the nurse End of activation Ping the Corpse Curator for 2 for a stone
    • Draw a card from RRR My corpse math was wrong

Activation #6 - Rogue Necromancy

  1. (Bonus Action) Ambush (Poison +1 from sludge, Poison +2 from Fading)
    • Walk 7" up the board, ending within 8" and LoS of the Kentauroi
    • Focus

Activation #7 - Kentauroi

  1. Hurl Corpse with the Corpse Curator, placing it in base with the Rogue Necro
    • Corpse Curator uses Drag Behind to take the Sludge with it and places it underneath itself and Rogue Necro (Poison +1 on both models)
    • Rogue Necro relents and accepts a damage flip
    • Rogue Necro ditches the corpse upgrade to drop a corpse in base and reduce the damage flip by 2
  2. (Bonus action) Ride with me with McMourning towards the Rogue Necro
  3. Focus

Activation #8 - Archie

  1. (Bonus action) Leap near the Kentauroi
  2. Interact to drop a scheme
  3. Walk/charge to a safe location staying in LoS of McMourning and opening up Kentauroi charge lane

Activation #9 - Flesh Construct

  1. (Bonus action) Reckless
    • Take 1 damage and gain Fast
    • If you have a spare card to ditch and are within 3", use the Nurse's Bedside Manner to place the Flesh Construct on the front end of her base for extra movement
  2. Walk two or three times to get into position to potentially eat the scheme marker for an upgrade
    • Focus with any extra actions 

End turn 1

You should have basically everybody except for the Zombie Chihuahua and the Nurse well up the board, grouped up, with a sludge marker and a corpse marker at the ready. I'd recommend going first with McMourning to capitalize on your setup. You've got:

  • Curator nearby to give arms to the Rogue Necro
  • A sludge that can upgrade the curator, and RRR another sludge onto the table
  • charge/amputate the curator for another corpse, and use the curator a second time to build another flesh construct
  • Plastic Surgery w/mend hurl corpse from Archie onto Corpse Curator

 

Closing Thoughts
Oh boy this turned into a full breakdown for every model the entire turn, and that. is. a. LOT. Much like I saw something like this in practice, I wonder if this will inspire thoughts from others.

I'm actually a huge fan of how I'm using every single Action on McMourning's card. Nothing feels neglected, and watching this build-a-monster workshop start to happen makes me a little warm and fuzzy inside. 

Big bases are going to take a lot of practice and finesse here, but everything will work if you're not completely funneled hard core into your deployment zone. This probably isn't the best unpack for lots of severe terrain in your face, but that might work to your advantage later when you get sludge upgrades on people, making them hazardous (Poison +1 Damage +1). I was surprised by how explosive this durdle ended up being. Everything stayed put for the most part, then all of a sudden the entire crew is out near the centerline at the end of the turn, upgraded and nearly everyone with 10+ poison. I think Corpse Curator ended up around 14 or 15 most of the time? I haven't done the serious bookkeeping and there's so much going on I doubt it'll be accurate.

I haven't played a game with Archie yet, but in theory, he adds a significant unlock to this crew with hurl corpse and his beater/schemer natural tendencies. The only other Hurl Corpse option in Ressers is for the same total cost on the Grave Golem. I think I prefer Archie overall simply because of Leap, and numbskull to ensure he doesn't catch any errant poison. On that thought, we've got a lot of beaters in this crew, so maybe best with Corner/Flank Turf War? Unsure where it works best, I'd be interested to see what people think.

McMourning2 Unpack.png

Edited by Meddlesome
Corrected some Nurse actions that weren't possible
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  • Meddlesome changed the title to McMourning 2 Unpacks (Practice recommended)

I think I did my corpse math incorrectly. Everything above is still valid, but you're going to have to bring your curator down to 2 wounds to get your stone from the Nurse's upgrade with Loot Their Corpse. This means you'll want to ensure you take actions in such a way that get the curator to at least 10 poison so it can heal 4, and back to max at the end of the turn. 

I think it's all still there TBH, I just need a little more time to think through it. Also, the way Hazardous Terrain is written in the rules, I think we can squeeze out another free poison off of the create:

Hazardous Terrain: After a model moves through or resolves one of its Actions while in Hazardous Terrain, it suffers the effects of the Hazardous Terrain after the current Action or Ability is resolved

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It really does depend on who you're playing against, but most of the time I don't think many people will be able to reach out and touch you in your deployment zone. Lures will be a problem, but I don't know how big. Perhaps only try in corner deployment?

 

There is a lot of durdle for sure, but the end result is very explosive positioning wise. I wonder how this would unpack if your opponent is near the area you want to be. 

I think this goes without saying, but don't do this vs Daw2 😂

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That's a rough one, but with everything still grouped up, I think you could still do it and keep the same activation order.

Assuming the worst (Black Joker the curator's bonus)

(New) Activation #1 - Corpse Curator

  1. Drop a Scheme
  2. Pick up a Scheme
    • Draw a card from RRR. We're now focused on trying to enable the remaining setup and fish for a leap card for Archie/throw away cards for Ambush

Activation #2 - Mindless Zombie

  1. Bite the Kentauroi 2x
    • You're looking for crows to give it as much poison as you can, since it doesn't generate its own

(New) Activation #3 - Zombie Chihuahua

  1. Bite the Mindless Zombie for Poison +1
    • Don't worry about cheating in crows
  2. Bite the Mindless Zombie again for Poison +2
  3. Do not Blood poison anything
  4. End activation and pulse out another poison from Horrific Odor to get the Mindless Zombie up to Poison +3 (Horrendous Corpse eligible)

(New) Activation #4 - McMourning

  1. Don't forget to Intuition 😅
  2. Charge the mindless zombie
    • Make sure your charge leaves you in LoS of Archie and leaves you space for a 40mm base to summon a Flesh Construct in base with McMourning later
    • Kill the Zombie for a Poison +1 pulse out to everyone and drop 2 corpses. Put one corpse under the Rogue Necro and the other by McMourning
  3. Desperate Plot, stoning for a Mask (if needed) 
    • Target Rogue Necro (+2 Poison from the action) and eat the corpse for legs
    • Duplicate the corpse with RRR to put it near McMourning
    • Swift Action on the Kentauroi (+2 Poison from the action) and send it into the Corpse Curator for the legs upgrade.
      • Curator is on 4 wounds
  4. Twisted Genius
    • Ping the Curator for another 2 irreducible (now on 2 wounds) and pull up the other 2 corpses to build a Flesh Construct with slow into base with McMourning
    • McMourning gets Distracted +1
    • Draw a card from RRR
  5. (Bonus action) Plastic Surgery targeting Kentauroi
    • Take Archie's Hurl Corpse and print it on Kentauroi
    • Kentauroi gets Poison +2 from the action

(New) Activation #5 - Nurse

 

Tools for the job doesn't matter a lot for this pivot in my opinion. We're now focused on getting the Curator back to as healthy as possible instead of powering up our construct

  1. Assist distracted off of McMourning
    • The nurse gains Fast from Quick Cure
  2. (Bonus Action) Bottle of Painkillers on the Corpse Curator
    • End zero conditions on the Curator
    • If you've got a severe in hand at this point, I'd recommend using it here
    • Give the Corpse Curator Poison +2 from the built in crow trigger 
  3. Drop a Scheme
  4. Pick up a scheme
    • Draw a card for RRR
  5. Do not ping the curator for 2 damage and a stone at this point. You want him full health and ready to be upgraded at the top of Turn 2 instead of making him an easy target to pick off.

The rest of the activations remain unchanged.

---

Definitely a pivot, and not nearly as much poison going around, but you're still getting the center board presence at the end of the turn which I think is the key element of this unpack. Everything should be healing back to max, possibly with the exception of the curator depending on how much work the Nurse did. All in all, no need to abandon the setup if the sludge doesn't happen!

 

Updated formatting cc: @malyzubor in case the forums don't notify you. 

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I just couldn't let things rest until I did some actual accounting to understand how much poison should be on who. So here's my poison accounting report for both scenarios. Funnily enough, when I went to practice this in Vassal, I black jokered the curator's sludge 😂

Normal unpack

Total poison handed out: 73-77
Total poison on surviving members of the crew: 66-70

 

  • Corpse Curator (9)
    • 1 from Cursed Sludge (Corpse Curator)
    • 1 from resolving an action (Cursed sludge bonus action) in hazardous terrain
    • 2 from Corpse Curator using Drag Behind on the sludge marker 2x
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
    • 2 from McMourning's charge (Rusty Tools)
    • 1 from Corpse Curator using Drag Behind on the sludge marker when Kentauroi uses Hurl Corpse
  • Mindless Zombie (7)
    • 1 from Cursed Sludge (Corpse Curator)
    • 2 from Corpse Curator using Drag Behind on the sludge marker 2x
    • 2 from resolving 2 actions in the Toxic Sludge
    • 2 from Bloated Stench due to attacking the Kentauroi
  • Zombie Chihuahua (7)
    • 1 from Cursed Sludge (Corpse Curator)
    • 2 from Corpse Curator using Drag Behind on the sludge marker 2x
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 3 from resolving 3 actions in the Toxic Sludge
  • McMourning (12)
    • 1 from Cursed Sludge (Corpse Curator)
    • 2 from Corpse Curator using Drag Behind on the sludge marker 2x
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
    • 2 from charging while in the Toxic Sludge (1 for moving, 1 for the attack)
    • 2 from resolving 2 Desperate Plots while in the Toxic Sludge
    • 1 from resolving Twisted Genius while in the Toxic Sludge
    • 1 from resolving Plastic Surgery while in the Toxic Sludge
    • 1 from Ride With Me, being placed into the Toxic Sludge
  • Nurse (9)
    • 1 from Cursed Sludge (Corpse Curator)
    • 2 from Corpse Curator using Drag Behind on the sludge marker 2x
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
    • 1 from Assisting distracted off of McMourning while in the Toxic Sludge
    • 1 from resolving Bottle of Painkillers while in the Toxic Sludge
    • 1 from interacting to drop a Scheme marker while in the Toxic Sludge
    • 1 from interacting to remove the scheme marker while in the Toxic Sludge
  • Rogue Necromancy (14-16)
    • 1 from Cursed Sludge (Corpse Curator)
    • 2 from Corpse Curator using Drag Behind on the sludge marker 2x
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
      • 2-4 from Zombie Chihuahua's Gnashing Bite
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
    • 2 from Desperate Plot
      • 1 from moving while in Toxic Sludge from this action
    • 2 from Fading (Toxicity) 
      • 1 from moving out of the Toxic Sludge marker
    • 1 from Corpse Curator using Drag Behind on the sludge marker when Kentauroi uses Hurl Corpse
  • Kentauroi (14-16)
    • 1 from Cursed Sludge (Corpse Curator)
    • 2 from Corpse Curator using Drag Behind on the sludge marker 2x
    • 2-4 from Mindless Zombie's Gnashing Bite
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
    • 2 from Desperate Plot
      • 1 from moving while in Toxic Sludge from this action
    • 2 from Plastic Surgery
    • 1 from Ride With Me into the Toxic Sludge
    • 1 from taking the Concentrate action while in the Toxic Sludge
  • Archie (0 - Numbskull)
  • Flesh Construct (1)
    • 1 from being summoned in on top of the Toxic Sludge

Black Joker the Sludge unpack

Total poison handed out: 27-31
Total poison on surviving members of the crew: 24-28

  • Corpse Curator (4)
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
    • 2 from Smashed trigger on Bottle of Painkillers (Nurse)
  • Mindless Zombie (3-4)
    • 2 from Bloated Stench from attacking the Kentauroi
    • 1-2 from the Zombie Chihuahua's Gnashing Bite attack
  • Zombie Chihuahua (1)
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
  • McMourning  (2)
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
  • Nurse  (2)
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
  • Rogue Necromancy (7-8)
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
    • 1-2 from the Zombie Chihuahua's Gnashing Bite attack
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 2 from Fading (Toxicity)
    • 2 from Desperate Plot
  • Kentauroi (8-10)
    • 1 from Horrendous Corpse (Mindless Zombie dying)
    • 1 from Horrible Stench (Zombie Chihuahua)
    • 2-4 from the Mindless Zombie Gnashing Bite attack
    • 2 from Desperate Plot
    • 2 from Plastic Surgery
  • Archie  (0 - Numbskull)
  • Flesh Construct (0)
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Thanks for reply. Just the quick note, that it does not have to BJ for curator's bonus action. Not having a 5+ crow in your opening hand is quite common case and as it is your first activation, you do not have many opportunities to draw more cards. But it is nice to see you can work with it, too.

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On 4/30/2022 at 1:04 PM, Maniacal_cackle said:

One thing I'd worry about is that it so much durdle.

I wonder how it'll hold up against aggression?

I think McM2 works best in Corner deployments. That gives you the time and distance to durdle like this. Wedge or even Flank could make this a risky setup, especially staying bunched up at the end of the turn if you're facing any blasty crews. Or one fast in tour face model could throw a wrench in it all. But still a good practice to have an idea of what you want. 

I did just have a game were I couldn't get that darn 5C all game for the Curator.... 

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44 minutes ago, Math Mathonwy said:

I'm not sure how big a fan I am of keeping track of that many points of Poison, tbh. It seems super tedious even in Vassal, let alone on a real table. I already found Brilliance and Blight a bit much but this is on a wholly other level...

I use a dry-erase marker, and it gets pretty quick and efficient to track.

But yeah, some of these crews can get a bit tedious xD

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3 hours ago, Math Mathonwy said:

I'm not sure how big a fan I am of keeping track of that many points of Poison, tbh. It seems super tedious even in Vassal, let alone on a real table. I already found Brilliance and Blight a bit much but this is on a wholly other level...

Yeah, the bookkeeping here really is a lot. Hopefully this will be the only time in the game it's this intense, but that's also why I ran the scenarios above to give total poison counts.

I applaud anyone who keeps perfect track, but the hope is that if you know about how much a key model should have, you'd be set up relatively good enough.

 

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  • 4 months later...

Alright, so I've ran this unpack a few times now: once on Vassal, once in a weekly casual game, and once in a tournament. I've found that when no black jokers hit and you have the 5 of crows in hand for the curator Turn 1 activation 1, things go real smooth and the durdle doesn't take a bunch of time. It definitely requires practice though. The first attempt was very slow, second was a bit better, and third went very quick. 

Notable takeaways:
1. Corner Deployment is the only deployment I'd run this in. @Maniacal_cackle's concern about not holding up well to aggression is well founded. Since things are tuned so tightly, any variance screws things up. Lure/stun/staggereed/slow/anything really will require you to start pivoting

2. In person, I ask my opponent if it's okay for me to deploy on top of a 50mm marker. This is a quality of life/time saver request that keeps me from needing to slide the sludge marker underneath all my models and screw up the positioning of my whole crew. Things go a lot smoother this way and has the added bonus of making sure your deployment isn't screwed up. 

3. Guard the stash is a no go. 30 stones on beaters is too expensive (Kentauroi is 8 + 2 for GST, Archie 9+1 for OOK, and RN is straight up 10). This is a killy list so it does nicely in cursed objects. It does okay in carve a path, but summons can't interact with the strategy, so your flesh constructs should be used for scheming/throwing big bases in enemy faces.

4. I realize I've spent so much time building this machine that I haven't actually got any real meaningful reps in with McMourning2 😅 After the unpack I feel accomplished and happy, then turn 2 hits and I kind of blank on what the heck to do with the curator and McMourning himself at that point. 

---

I think what I'd like to set myself up for next would be to get Hurl Corpse onto the curator and spend McMourning's activation loading the curator up with a bunch of poison and an end of turn 5 damage snipe. Or if you didn't need to heal anyone with Blood Poisoning, you could try for 1-2 punch of getting the curator in base with an enemy, then blood poisoning it with the Zombie Chihuahua to pump in the 5 damage for 5 poison. Then stack more damage at end of turn when poison ticks...wow, this could take out a master with enough poison and initiative on the next turn..18 poison on curator will do 10 damage this way 😲
---
I'm really starting to like taking Archie OOK in Experimental, just in general. When you have these 3 beaters, you have a lot of playability into a lot of schemes. Leap opens up a lot of options that a Kentauroi just can't get to with Ride With Me, so they pair really well together. 

 

In conclusion:
I've pretty much confirmed this is a niche playstyle for very specific situations. It was a fun puzzle to unlock and it feels really good when you get through each activation with clear certainty and don't waste time in the think tank. This doesn't require more than one or two practices to do it well. It helps if you have a plan for turn 2 onwards 😆

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  • 2 weeks later...

This seems really cool and exactly my type of playstile (the right amount of durdle for my taste) but I have spotted something I'm not entirely sure if it would work or why not:

so I'm wondering if killing the mindless zombie could spawn 3 corpse markers:

the two are obvious: one for killing, one for horrendous corpse

would RRR drop another corpse marker, bc the mindless zombie can be treated as a corpse marker being removed for RRR and hence it could drop another corpse marker. Am I missing some wording that makes this impossible? bc I can't spot it and I think this setup could profit from another corpse marker...

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