Waldo's Weekly - Bloody Leeches

[Hobby Wyrd]

Hey Wyrdos!

This week, Waldo decided he’d try and set up his own blood drive. We aren’t exactly sure why, but we think it has to do with Waldo thinking he’ll get unlimited juice and cookies if he donates more blood. While we try and educate our imp about the vascular system, let’s take a look at a pair of upcoming characters who’d love to get a taste of yours!

The Leech King is a truly ancient being of old Malifaux. He is fertility and desolation, life and death, dire portents and unshakable pacts. Despite this he is a pauper, treading through watery muck and long-forgotten soil to answer the calls of Malifaux’s eldest.

Leech King

If a model this cycle would personify ‘hit em while they’re down’ it would be the Leech King. He has two different Actions, Blood Magic and Clew of Leeches, that get better the more wounded an enemy model is. Using Blood Magic on a model with maximum Health isn’t very effective, but once an enemy model has half its maximum Health or less, it becomes very very scary. Clew of Leeches is similar. A Summon with a 16 C TN is a pricey Action. Once a model is under half wounds, Clew of Leeches’s TN drops to an unsuited 15, which is much easier to pull off. The combination of these two Actions makes the Leech King a great model for cleaning up damaged models.

In Returned

In Returned, the most exciting part of the Leech King’s card is I’ll Have What They’re Having. I’ll Have What They’re Having is an easy way for a Neverborn Returned player to set off their Faith in the Flesh Abilities. The Leech King has a few ways to activate I’ll Have What They’re Having between Regeneration +1 and a Drink Blood Trigger on Blood Magic.

Outside of Health sharing the Leech King brings utility with Bloodletting for Black Blood heavy Returned Crews. Even if the Crew is not built around Black Blood, 1 damage is a small price for ranged Condition removal.

In Swamfiend

In Swampfiend, the Leech King is a great surprise pick. Targeting the Leech King with Zoraida, Swamp Hag’s Witch’s Brew makes Blood Magic and Clew of Leeches incredibly strong. He also makes for an interesting melee threat as his Sharp Claws has the Infested with Leeches Trigger making it some of the only anti-Heal tech in Neverborn or Bayou.

If the Leech King cannot find a low health target to finish off, he’s an ideal way to pump a Voodoo Doll full of Conditions as a Blood Magic’s minimum 1 damage with built-in Poison is a guaranteed 3 damage to the model with the Wanga Mojo Curse.

 

Like everything in Malifaux, leeches can grow to enormous sizes. Giant Leeches are examples of those parasites glutted on blood. Normally carnivorous to the extreme, these monsters might not be individually nasty… but where there’s one, there’s bound to be more.

Giant Leeches

If the Leech King is a model lying in wait for the perfect moment to strike, Giant Leeches are models that are too annoying to ignore. Latch On and Penetrating Stench are two of the more obnoxious Abilities in the game. Having both means that a Giant Leech is a good early Activation option to gum up and drain resources from an important enemy model.

In Returned

In Returned, Giant Leeches exist to be killed. The question comes down to who does the killing. Placing a Giant Leech in the center of an enemy clump allows Latch On and Penetrating Stench to weaken the Crew until the Giant Leech is killed. Kastore, Awakened may kill a Giant Leech with his Ritualistic Sacrifice Trigger to Drop a Scheme Marker anywhere on the board. If no one kills a Giant Leech the Where There’s One… Action means that there’ll likely be double the Leeches to deal with.

Outside of Summoning, Giant Leeches in Returned are good at running Schemes or tracking down enemy Scheme running models thanks to Mv 6 and Sense Weakness. When a Giant Leech is off Scheming Stealth allows them to stay safe.

In Swamfiend

In Swampfiend Giant Leeches get special notice for being one of the few Penetrating Stench models that wants to be near enemy models. Enemies who Activate engaging two Giant Leeches have to discard two cards or gain Stunned, which can be debilitating. Latch On also gets stronger the more Giant Leeches are near a target as the -1 Df will stack.

Giant Leeches are a fun target for Zoraida, Swamp Hag’s Witch’s Brew Action, since it increases all of the Giant Leech’s Stats making Body Slam do 3 flat damage to enemy models.

That’s all for this week, Wyrdos! Keep an eye out for Ashes of Malifaux, which should be hitting your local game store very soon!