New player for Leveticus

[Kevan]

So a friend of mine from a LGS recently lent me the core book. And while I was initially turned off (by the whole zombie hooker thing...) the universe (and even Saemus) grew on me.

I really enjoyed the story as a whole and was initially drawn to three Masters to call my own. Nicodem, Ramos, and Leveticus. Though I really liked the gentlemanly mass zombie creator idea I shyed away from Nicodem probably because his lack of plot time in the book. And after deciding Leveticus was my man, I checked out his rules. Funny thing, the only other Master he can work with was my 2nd choice... Sooo I splurged and got them both.

I purchased fairly generic choices, Ramos in his box, and Leveticus with the models he summons/creates. Here is my lot!

Ramos

Steamborg Executioner

Steampunk Arachnid Swarm

Steampunk Arachnid x 3

(jeez i want a Electrical Creation and Joss...)

Leveticus

Hollow Waif x 2

Rusty Alyce

Steampunk Abomination x 4

Desolation Engine

I feel like I got a little overzealous... but I'm rather excited at all the possibilities I have right off the bat as Leveticus can use every model I've purchased.

Sorry for the rant! My question is what would you guys play with these models!?!?

[Ropetus]

I think you should definitely play your first games with Ramos. Leveticus is the strangest and most complicated Master in the game (Pandora and Som'er Teeth are close second) and requires the player to know his rules throughout to succeed with him. Starting with him might be overly confusing if you don't have a grasp of the basic rules first. Ramos works really nicely with just his starter.

After you have an understanding about the basic rules of the game, you should bring out Leveticus. Leveticus is more of an in-your-face style Master than Ramos who is a backfield support model and summoner. Leve has a few buffs but is mainly about wrecking havoc with his destructive spells. He is much more fragile than Ramos but harder to get rid of permanently thanks to his ability to return via Hollow Waifs if killed.

Alyce and Abominations are a taken with Leveticus. The former has extreme synergy with him, granting him some card draw and a bodyguard. Abominations are your basic grunts to throw at your opponents and turn into a Desolation Engine. The Engine should not be brought to the game at the start since its not really durable and takes Dg every turn it acts. Instead, it should be kept in reserve to get summoned when the action starts. Some people like starting the game without Abominations, instead playing with what they can summon during the game.

The Arachnids have really nice synergy with Leve as well. They can ignore terrain and are more durable than Abominations. Also, the Swarm is really nasty with Leve: Cast Blessings of Desolation on it to grant + :crows to its Cb and watch it Paralyze everything it touches. The Steamborg might not be worth it for Leve since you can use Desolation Engine instead.

For future purchases you might want some more Arachnids if you enjoy playing with them. Joss and Electrical Creation are great, as are Ice Gamin (work nicely with Ramos' Controlled Detonation for Dg 4 explosions) but those might not fit the theme. For Leve, almost all models in the Resurrectionist range can be use: Belles are especially useful as they bring some movement control to the game. Crooked Men are also nice, bringing some ranged attacks and board control. Necropunks are super fast and take Canines if you want some cheap expendable troops. Punk Zombies work in every crew but I think Leve needs more board control and support stuff as he is extremely hard hitting himself.

Neverborn have a few Constructs to use as well, many people like using Teddy.

-Ropetus

[Kevan]

Thanks a lot for the input Ropetus! Actually the main reason I was finally set on Leveticus was because his abilities were so off the wall different from every other Master. With Leveticus, Alyce, and Abominations/DE the low model count makes me feel comfortable that I'll be able to concentrate on all the abilities at hand (seeing as its really only 4 types of models.) I'm also anticipating a learning curve which will be 1/2 the fun =)

[AntiZombie]

I have to agree, use ramos in your first games to get the basics down. Also read up on the errata for Levi and go through the boards here and read up on him. His tules are not strait forward and can cause some confusion. Errata can be found on weird sketch's signature

[Natty]

Before you play Levi make SURE you read all the threads about SPAs and the desolation engine. The one opponent I've played against that used Levi didn't really get it (it was his first time playing Levi), and he ran up his two SPAs and summoned other ones in the back. They need to be all together and not getting killed to do their crazy little reactivating, 2 crows trigger always going off, super desolation engine bomb.

SPA = BAD

Desolation Engine = GOOD

Don't get your SPAs killed before they turn into the engine.

[Aberration]

I personally like to add a canine remains to my list, solely for it having the graverobber trait so leve can waif his own corpse on second turn (should you kill yourself first turn and not have another graverobber on the board). Or if you don't feel like doing that...hell just kill the dog for a waif. 2SS well spent in my book, either way.

[Kevan]

Yeah I actually read the whole 12 page thread and a few others on Leveticus before making my purchase. The errata only made the wording on his Desolation buff trigger effect enemy models correct? I did not see anything that really effected him besides SPA Push fix. Was there something I skimmed over?

@Aberration, I was actually quite interested in the canine remains at first as I like their models and boom granted to Leveticus. The only reason I stayed away from them in my original purchase is for keeping the crew (slightly) more simple with SS to spare (even though he is said not to need them... having them sounds like good overkill times.)

[Aberration]

Extra Soulstones can't ever hurt and the dog is more of a luxury, not really a necessity.

[shekbo]

Leveticus is definitely a very different master than Ramos. The whole "I can kill anything I want then die, every turn" concept is powerful if you can use it right, but tough to master. For crew construction, if you're shooting for a desolation engine, start with SPAs every time. I've found that the Peacekeeper works really well for Levi if you use Lessons of Death to help him out. I've never played Ramos so I can't help you too much there. Our group's Ramos player is notoriously the worst strategist among us.