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Tactica: Marcus


Kealios

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So, oh yea, the Roar takes a 11+ :malitomes to cast. Yea, there are 4 cards in the deck that can pull that off. Its not going to happen very often :( I was all excited to try it last night, but somehow hadnt studied its cost very well prior to moving up and attempting it...

Anyone wanna buy a nicely painted Order of the Chimera starter Crew? I'm done with these 4 models :*(

[edit] Im not really selling them...yet...heh...damn Marcus...

Edited by Kealios
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So aside from the previous qq...:) (j/k)

I've been playing a lot with Marcus; I'll grant you this - he's a very convaluted melee 'caster. There's certainly times when I play him that I long for a Lilith, Lady Just-t**s, or Viktoria. That said...

Marcus, to me, feels like a "Jack Caster" in Warmachine: you get to take a lot of big gribblies that hit pretty hard, move really fast, and (in theory) can be healed up as needed. My experience with Marcus is that while I could hypothetically get a hand full of high Rams and heal my beasties back to life, I'm typically using my AP to punch stuff in the face. I've tried Myranda a couple of times for this explicit purpose, but I just keep falling short of pulling it off.

Anyhow... on to what actually works for me:

1.) Terrain - Marcus ::hearts:: him some soft cover. His ability to move through terrain is really clutch to his delivery. Make sure your board has the appropriate amount of terrain coverage.

2.) Get into to melee.. fast! - Marcus can take a fair bit of punishment, especially with "Defend Me!", the additional DF from Wild Heart, and Regeneration 1. I find blitzing in, keeping my Defend monkey close in tow, works really well. Theoretically, I'd keep a heavy hitter nearby as well (e.g. - Joss, Sabertusk, etc.), but its difficult in practice.

3.) Know what to kill and when - Kill your opponent's clutch pieces, then chew through his puds. Have a determined kill order and expend resources accordingly. I typically accept that my Sabertusk is going to blitz in, kill something big dead, and then probably die/take enough wounds to be ineffectual during the rest of the turn. If I can kill a clutch model though (e.g. - a 'Master, a heavy hitter), it's worth the trade.

4.) Play the Schemes - Marcus has a really tough time with "Kill 'em all" style missions. Play the VP game.

My other big take homes...

- Molemen are great with Marcus.

- You don't just have to take beasts (I'm really partial to Joss and/or Arachnid swarms)

- Waldgeists will offer a lot if you play with forests (this is where Marcus falls short with the 'geist compared to Lilith).

I'd love to hear other peoples' experience/tricks and I'd love if someone could tell me how to Myranda to work; I've just had zero luck with her as either a transform-beater or a healing/companion monkey.

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Heh...you dismiss my qq and then ask the same questions that I did in my rantings :P

Problem with Marcus: he cannot get into melee fast. Sure, he can Wk his Cg, but you better have gotten a :malitimes in your casting flip because otherwise you'll be losing your 2 most important comabt aspects, Bear and Eagle. Also, he just doesnt do much damage. 3/4/6 is decent, as is CB 6, but with 2 attacks max a turn, he will need a beast to combo with him to get that.

By the way, using him in melee has been my best success too. Ive already posted his best combos above in the qq.

You mention keeping your Defend monkey nearby. Who do you like? Ive tried the Moleman multiple times, but he always gets ditched in the swirl of the melee. Besides, one youre engaged, the odds of being charged, as opposed to just swung at, decreases. This renders Defend Me harder to pull off.

I suppose the Sabertooth should indeed be used to attack a larger model, as suddenly its Cb 5 will be higher than something.

Maybe soon there will be Beasts that can act as Tanks, allowing Marcus to anchor his line, but for now, his biggest beasts are quick moving and reasonably vulnerable. Its true you dont need to take all beasts with him, which makes sense since Marcus cant even buff up beasts at all except for Wp. I wonder if he wouldnt do better with the Ice Golem or Steamborg Executioner. Actually, the Executioner's Cover spell might be nice, as is his awesome CB and minimum damage, even if there is no way for him to be healed...you know, I might drop the Rattler for the Steamborg and use him to anchor the line....allowing both the Cerberus and Marcus to combo with him. Interesting...

Myranda? I cant get her to work either. Her spells have too hard a casting cost to be efficient...

(btw for all my "qq" Marcus is the only Malifaux starter set I own, its nicely painted, and I have about 50% of my games played with him. I am not just a "play twice and whine" kind of guy...)

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Heh...you dismiss my qq and then ask the same questions that I did in my rantings :P

Problem with Marcus: he cannot get into melee fast. Sure, he can Wk his Cg, but you better have gotten a :malitimes in your casting flip because otherwise you'll be losing your 2 most important comabt aspects, Bear and Eagle. Also, he just doesnt do much damage. 3/4/6 is decent, as is CB 6, but with 2 attacks max a turn, he will need a beast to combo with him to get that.

Honestly man, it was a friendly jab. I understand your frustration (hmmm... situational tool-box caster with a multitude of situational and difficult to cast abilities vs. Lilith's "I'm always DF8 if not 10 and I kill you twelve times from across the board. Oh, and terrain, what's that?").

I keep hearing people say Bear/Eagle is the way to go with Wild Heart... I'm a big fan of Hare/Fox on delivery. I know your feelings on Hare; but hear me out - it lets Marcus move 8 and then use (apologies for not having my book in hand) defensive stance or whatever its called to get +2 fate on flips against melee/ranged. Moving 8 makes having a Moleman Defend monkey much easier and it gives him some flexibility in not having to hug terrain. This makes bringing a Rattler/Sabertusk/Joss along for the ride easier. Yes, they risk taking some damage on approach, but their boku threat range should get them delivered in one piece.

Yes, its a risk losing initative can really, really hurt. Luckily, you're apt to get charged when in this position and have a high likely hood of surviving via Defend Me. That said, I would never walk out 8" in front of Lilith and expect to be living next turn.

I'm seeing Marcus as being very limited in his Strategies (Treasure Hunt and Assassins looking to be his best) but being very good at those - he has excellent mobility for Treasure Hunt and he can alpha strike well enough to probably pull off an Assassination. He's a difficult Master to play, but hey, I likes 'em. :)

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has anyone ever run a december acolyte with Marcus? with the howl debuff to enemies, it seems that the acolyte would have a more than reasonable chance at hitting an opponent (namely Lillith) with Icy fate, making it much harder for her to be effective. would that work?

anyway, the acolyte may add versatility and ranged attack to marcus...

what about this list

25ss

Marcus

Jackalope

December acolyte

Myranda

Sabertusk

Moleman

4 ss cache

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  • 4 weeks later...

My 10 year old son is drawn to the beast minis that work with Marcus and he really wants to get into this game and play a little. That said, from what I see on this list it seems that Marcus requires a bit of finesse to play him well since his strength seems to be in having a range of options to follow. So, is it possible to have some success with Marcus as a new player?

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  • 9 months later...

As a full-time Marcus player, I can say that this thread helped me out a lot. There are a lot of things that make Marcus a scary master, but they are well hidden within his core tactics. One request, if possible, could we put a good summary of all the tactics on the front post? This way people don't have to dig through here to find all this great info. :)

I will say this, Marcus is absolutely the go to master when it comes to Treasure Hunt. Unless you're playing Lillith, both Marcus and the Cerberus (companioned of course) can make it within inches of the treasure on the very first activation. In fact, I can make Marcus pick it up on the next activation. The reason I make Marcus do it, is because I like to reserve the Cerberus for combat. I think Marcus makes a better guard for the treasure. Plus, if you pick up Bodygaurd in your schemes, all the better so long as you stay back in your deployment zone.

My 10 year old son is drawn to the beast minis that work with Marcus and he really wants to get into this game and play a little. That said, from what I see on this list it seems that Marcus requires a bit of finesse to play him well since his strength seems to be in having a range of options to follow. So, is it possible to have some success with Marcus as a new player?

Marcus was my first Master. I think it is possible for someone to play him just starting out. However, keep in mind any opponent that can play their Master well, might be a little disheartening to new players. There are many a times when I played him and got his head back on a silver platter. As always, there are certain Masters that will kill him and certain Masters he'll tear through. It will take time, but Marcus is one of the more easier Masters to learn and learn quickly. Once you understand him, he'll guarantee you some VP at some point or another.

All that said, I do believe he is playable and a fun Master to play as well.

EDIT: WOW, I totally didn't read the times on these posts. My bad. Sorry for talking about old news.

Edited by Blank
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  • 2 months later...

Thanks for the guide guys and interesting reading. It certainly has got me thinking about the crew over the last few days.

I'm a big fan of Hare/Fox on delivery. I know your feelings on Hare; but hear me out - it lets Marcus move 8 and then use (apologies for not having my book in hand) defensive stance or whatever its called to get +2 fate on flips against melee/ranged. Moving 8 makes having a Moleman Defend monkey much easier and it gives him some flexibility in not having to hug terrain

Just one thing for consistency's sake. Defensive Stance has been changed. So no more Wk 8". At best Marcus can Wk 6" as Defensive Stance has to be his first action he'll take.

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not sure if anyone has tried this yet but I was thinking of rolling with Marcus and a lawyer then Wp bombing people with howl. With a potential 6 point Wp swing the lawyer can then force a moral duel causing someone to fall back then smash them with smell fear or any of shikome's abilities. wont work on all construct or undead crews but then you work the other Wp spells he has as well for some flip bonuses and penalties.

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Well I had my first game with Marcus last Tuesday. The crew was as follows;

Marcus (8SS in Cache)

Jackalope

3 Silurid

Sabretooth

Razorspine - 35

I was playing against a Kirai crew, so lots of hard to kill spirits including 2 Hanged. I ended up with Treasure hunt, and decided to take the two arcanist-specific schemes to try them out.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, it was a white-wash. Marcus beat up most of the spirits with some help from his beasts, and the Silurid ran around the back to eat Kirai and claim the schemes. With his magical melee stick this was probably not a bad matchup for Marcus, but I got a pretty good feel for how he works.

Until this week I'd been playing Zoraida pretty consistently, so going from her manpiulative, slippery playstyle to using a melee-centric (in this game) Master was a drastic change for me. Having to throw your Master into combat really does force you into a much riskier playstyle.

Marcus really is a toolbox Master. He's able to fulfil quite a few roles depending on the situation, but he doesn't have the AP to do it all at once. For most of this game, he was using Eagle/Bear/Fox to lay waste to spirits (with a magic weapon available, why wouldn't he?). But his ability to move vast distances helped me claim the treasure token in turn 1 ( (0)charge, 8" wk, (1)interact to pick up token), and stare down was great for blunting the damage output of my opponents minions.

For me, the stars of the game were the Silurid. I already knew their speed was phenomenal and they are invaluble for any strategy/scheme that requires you to interact with something (especially the arcanist ones!). They really do seem to be made for a Marcus though, since howl can effectively remove (IMO) their biggest weakness and allow them to actually pose a threat to terrifying models.

Anyway, I'm definitely keen to try out Marcus and his beasts some more. I think Howl has alot of potential

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From the available range, I'd get the following, in order of priority;

Jackalope - Marcus' 1SS Totem...there're no reason not to take it!

Silurid - Indespensible for Marcus IMO. They're incredibly fast, great for hit and run attacks, don't need specific suits for any of their abilities and extremely good at fulfilling strategies/schemes.

Waldgeist - A tough minion who can bodyguard Marcus and beat enemy models over the head with forests.

Once they are available, I think the Lawyer, Shikome and Night Terrors will all be worth consideration. I'm not so convinced as to the value of the Raptors ATM - even with their beast trigger, Cb3 is terrible and you'll usually want those :tomes for other things.

I'm still pondering about what non-beast minions Marcus would do well with, but it would probably be ranged minions, those that can take advantage of lowered Wp and possibly something that can ignore armour. Unless you don't plan to ever use howl, melee non-beasts might actually be more of a hinderance to Marcus.

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Okay, so bearing in mind that I've only played one game with Marcus (but plenty with Waldgeists/Silurids)...

Ok thanks for the information :)

So this is what my crew have to look like:

Marcus

Jackelope

Silurid

Waldgeist

Lawyer/Shikome/Night Terror

If you take Silurid, you should almost always take 2-3 of them due to their 'unstable evolution' talent and (IMO) the fact that they're so damn great ;). I'd always take the Jackalope and unless there was ALOT of forest terrain around I'd usually only consider one Waldgeist at most.

While I haven't yet used them, I'd say that the Night Terrors work best when you take at least three (due to their flock talent), but probably not more than 4 since you'll usually need to spend some SS on minions that can actually kill things too.

And what about Myranda, the cerebus and the rattler??

Ah. I assumed you wanted to know what you should add to your existing Marcus starter set, hence why I didn't mention any of those.

The Cerebrus and Rattler are both decent minions. The former has some great offensive melee power and the latter has a very long charge range AND can slip out of combat with ease.

I really don't know about Myranda. I haven't tried her, but I'm struggling to justify why I'd take her over a similarly priced beast. At best she can heal and can cast a better roar. She can also shapeshift into other beasts but I'm not sure it's enough for me to take her.

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  • 4 weeks later...

So, I know that Marcus CAN hire beasts from any faction, but I'm confused by why people ONLY hire beasts with him. I mean, he doesn't support non-beasts, but it isn't like he buffs beasts overly hard, either.

I've been wondering about combining a Lawyer with a Mannequin. After seeing how hard it is to kill a Mirror'd, Southern Charm'd Cassandra, the idea of a Coryphee with Hard to Wound 2 is pretty disgusting.

A gunsmith/Convict Gunslinger is, in my mind, vital as well. There are some models you just don't want to engage in melee, and I can't remember the last time that I saw a Marcus list with shooting. If for no other reason, it allows you to safely take out the Alp Swarm the Neverborn can bring.

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I have often found myself Shape Shifting Myranda into a Slurid for 1 turn just to leap her across a mountain or something, then use the Slurid's (+1)Instinctual to use (0)Revert in the same turn as (0)Leap.

If this leap puts you in Melee, GREAT! You have 1 General AP left and (+1)Melee Expert!

For 2 points less, you can hire a Silurid, leap, and hit your opponent 2-4 times. Also, you don't have to burn your precious cards for shape shifting this way. (PS: with this combo, you have no AP left for Clawshape, so Myranda has Cb4 and pathetic damage output... The Jackalope hits harder.)

I know that's what you do when you already have Myranda in your crew, but still...

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I recently had a chat with a friend of mine who plays Rasputina and was thinking of expanding doing another crew, maybe Marcus.

I came up with the idea of using night terrors, maybe 4-5 in a 30ss. I think they would work really well, maybe with some sabres or hoar cats and marcus (or maybe Miranda as she can just transform into a tiger anyway)

Being a 'born player I probably don't have a clue what i'm talking about, just thought I would present it as a point to be mooted by people who do...!!!

Regards, McDoogle

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I recently had a chat with a friend of mine who plays Rasputina and was thinking of expanding doing another crew, maybe Marcus.

Regards, McDoogle

Yeah, that's a pretty good combo actually.

Rasputina players can easily expand their crew simply by buying a Marcus box set, since the snow-like scheme works just as easily for Marcus as it does for Rasputina.

Another good idea is a blister of molemen. It comes with 3 and provides a good solid expansion on both Marcus and Rasputina crews.

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  • 1 year later...

Just started playing Malifaux and have been fiddling with ideas for Marcus. How does this sound at 40 points:

Marcus

Myranda

3x Silurid

2x Shikome

The game plan is something like this:

Turn 1

Shikome 1 Activates, gives Marcus Fast for (0) then moves twice for (1+Nimble) and activates Stalk Prey for (1)

Enemy activates someone

Shikome 2 Activates, gives Myranda Fast for (0) then moves twice for (1+Nimble) and activates Stalk Prey for (1)

Enemy Activates Someone

Myranda Activates, uses Beast Master to activate Marcus (0), then uses Walk, followed by Shapechange to Shikome (1) and Walk (Fast)

Marcus Activates, uses Pack Master to activate Silurid (0), then uses Wild Heart (Hare) (0) he then Walks twice and Howls for +Wp on Myranda and Shikome

Silurid Activates, activating all other sillurids, All Silurids use Leap and Chameleon, plus 2 walks

Enemy activates remaining dudes, as all your modles are either in cover (chameleon) gettign half damage (spirits) or able to use soulstones (Marcus) you should be able to weather the storm.

Turn 2

Same activation order, adding in charges. Myranda will change to Sabertooth Cerberus if cards are available and it seems advantageous for the +2 attacks. Myranda and Marcus will eb gettign +flips against the Shikome target. Silurids might jump a second target as 3x shikome + marcus should be enough to bring the hurt on any one model.

Extra Synergy

Once in close it become possible for Marcus to use Howl, then Feral, then Alpha with a (0) action spare provided you keep the Fast bonus from the harpies.

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