Waldo's Weekly - Every Other Day, I've Got a Gator on My Lawn

[Kyle]

Hey Wyrdos, and Happy New Year!

This week, Waldo decided to write a list of his New Year’s resolutions. It took him almost two hours and an entire pot of coffee, but he managed to do it. When we looked at what he’d put down, all it said was “Cause More Problems.”

While we try to find out what exactly Waldo’s up to, let’s take a look at a versatile (and chilly!) beast whose death is the resolution of many Gremlin hunters: Bashe, the great white gator.

Bashe as a Bayou Versatile Model

While some large Versatile models from Ashes of Malifaux leaned into versatility like Zheng or The Syzygy Sisters, Bashe is a straightforward killer. To get the most out of Bashe, it is important to set up situations where they can get up to and kill important models. Bashe is especially efficient at removing models with Terrifying, Manipulative, or near Markers.

Terrifying or Manipulative models are great targets for Bashe as Bashe has Ruthless, which allows them to ignore those two Abilities. Ruthless is always a great Ability to have in a Crew, but it is especially helpful in Bayou, as the Inferiority Complex Upgrade also has Ruthless. This means that hiring Bashe allows a player the choice between skipping Inferiority Complex and have Bashe focus on any Terrifying targets, or hire Bashe in addition to one to two Inferiority Complex Upgrades to turn the tables on Crews that depend on Terrifying as their primary defensive tech.

Bashe is also very good at removing models that either generate Markers or like to stand near them. Eternal Hunger allows Bashe to Push toward and remove Markers. This means that when Bashe targets a model near a Marker, Bashe gets movement, removes an important Marker from the table, and gets a powerful Trigger. This is in addition to the damage they can put out with Massive Jaws.

Outside of killing enemies, Bashe is a surprisingly good tarpit model. Laugh Off prevents them from being moved by enemy effects and Rancid Smell can protect friendly models and make Bashe the target of enemy Attacks. This means that Bashe can defend a key location and protect important models while they score.

Bashe as a December Model

In addition to being a Versatile Bayou model, Bashe can be hired into December Crews thanks to the December Keyword. In December, Bashe continues its role as a big damage threat. The exciting part of Bashe in December is how they expand possible list-building options. With Bashe as a hire, a December player can decide if they want to build toward ice creatures with the Ice Golem and Snow Storm, or if they’d rather go more beast-focused with Bashe and Ceddra/Sightless Snow. Both options provide a lot of benefits and being able to switch between the two builds allows for more flexibility and makes it harder for an opponent to counter tech.

Bashe is also notable in December for how the gator interacts with Slow and Ice Pillars. Bashe is the first high-Cost model with Frostbite. This is important as previously it was fairly easy to remove models with Frostbite before they could get the most out of that Ability. In a Crew focused on generating Ice Pillars, Bashe can use them to fuel his Eternal Hunger, allowing Bashe to speed around the table or easily leave engagement. This combination is especially useful in Rasputina, Abominable as Bashe can treat Ice Pillars as Corpse Markers to build in the @@R for Tear Off a Bite.

 You can grab a copy of Bashe from your local game store or the Wyrd webstore right now. If you’ve already snagged yourself this grouchy gator, show us how you’ve painted him!