Getting to grips with the Resurectionists

[Volkmair]

I've just starting playing Malifaux and have had a couple of games with the following 25 soulstone McMourning crew.

McMourning

Sebastian

Nurse

2 Zombie Punks

2 Canine Remains

However all it seemed to do was trundle slowly across the table then keel over before I could really get anything into combat.

I've had a look on the forums and seen several of the tricks that you can pull of like McMourning chopping up the dogs to make the Flesh Construct but I'm looking at more general advice on how to get a Resurrectionist force to actually engage the enemy.

I'm going to play some games and proxy some of the other Resurrectionist stuff before I throw my toys out of the cot and give up on the faction so any advice on how to improve the list I've been playing would also be much appreciated.

[shekbo]

Well, first of all I have a few pieces of advise about your list. You're starting with 2 canine remains, which is good, but you're also starting with 2 punk zombies. They're a ten point investment, and they are really really REALLY bad at getting themselves into combat, which you've got experience at.

To replace them, I'd try one of two things.

Either a hanged and another canine remains or two crooked men and another canine. For one thing, the extra canine will let you pull off your aforementioned body part getting trick, and the two alternatives listed both have ranged attacks and a good resistance to damage. the Crookeds are good at defending against range, and the hanged has lots of health and spirit, which divides all damage by two if you didn't already know that (a surprising number of people don't).

With either of those lists, the thing you'll be wanting to do is get your boys mcmourning and the wee doggies into melee combat. If you're battling living opponents, that'll be easy, especially with the crooked men. One multi-blast cave in spell will cause a small amount of damage to all your opponent's units, which is all you need to trigger bloodhound on the dogs (charges against wounded living enemies cost 1 action). If you're not, the dogs still have a large amount of actions, and it's easy to distract your opponent's ranged attacks (which I'm sure you're raging about right now. Been there.) with either a "dog bomb" (have your nurse furious cast all her buffing spells on a dog to make a one turn powerhouse) or the ranged units you've got, hanged or crooked. Once mcmourning and his dogs get into melee range, you should have the advantage, and if you use excess body parts to summon either a flesh construct or one of those new book two monstrosities close to your opponents, they should be overwhelmed or at least distracted enough that the ranged units and nurse you've still got in reserve can perform any actions related to your objective.

[gregdorf]

My advice would be to scrap the nurse and go with a rotten belle, you can use the belle to lure in targets so that you can have targets to chop into body parts. I would also avoid the silly chop up dog trick and take his totem. The reason I think the chop up dog trick is silly is because one it actually slows down McM a lot and you want him in CC. The second reason is you want body parts so McM can become faster and use stuff like his transplant spell. With his totem you can fetch the stick and that will get him body parts early in the game without slowing McM down. Once McM is in melee you will find that you will have more then enough body parts to make what stuff, either picking up the corpse counter or through a piece for me.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

If you like the dog chopshop trick use the scalpel slinging (0) action to move up to the dog that you positioned in front of McMourning last turn this will actually get him across the board faster.

[ProdigalPunk]

I agree with lose the nurse. I have little luck with her, and in small games such a niche utility piece is not really worth the points you pay. A Belle would be a nice substitute.

It depends on what scenario is as well. Some masters do better at things then other. You do not always have to go to them either, sometimes you can let them come to you. Anything but a high damage output model should not be able to take McM down in one turn, so once he charges into combat once McM gets up again he should be able to slice him up and reheal all his wounds, plus gain some counters to boot.

With the ability to gain fast and scalpel sling you should be able to move, sling 6 inches, move up and take two more strikes, the last being dissection to make sure you finish them off. Plus with the belle you can isolate the models you want to take out.

[Volkmair]

Cheers for the help, I'll give those suggested models a go and proxy up something like

Dr. Douglas McMourning

Zombie Chihuahua 1

Sebastian, Morgue Assistant 6

Rotten Belle 4

Canine Remains 2

Canine Remains 2

Canine Remains 2

Crooked Man 4

Crooked Man 4

[Tweakalvos]

Yeah the belles for nurses. Nurses are really useless. For what you need them for.

[Sandwich]

I won't lie, I didn't read anything but the OP.

Your best bet would be to lose the nurse as she is practically useless with your line up, and get a Rotten Belle.

Place the Punks 4" to 5" in front of the Belle and use her to taunt enemies directly into the punk zombie swarm.

With McMourning, you can also use Wrack and Dissect on a Canine Remain and then summon a Flesh Construct for added fun.