Mcmourning Tactica (Work in Progress)

[VonWyll]

About this Tactica

This Tactica is not to inform you about the only way to use McMourning and does not guarantee success with using him. I am merely recounting here what has worked for me in my games with the Morgue Master in order to (hopefully) provide some assistance for new players attempting to utilize him on the tabletop. If I have missed anything, or people would like to add their own strategies to the Tactica please feel free.If you need more information about something, just ask.

Author's Note: This Tactica is getting very very long, so if you have a question about a particular ability or model it might be best to treat this as a form of encyclopaedia, just use CTRL+F to bring up the find bar and type in what you want. I will be adding relevant and helpful responses left in this thread to the tactica in quote boxes. This is to make it so you don't feel you have to scroll through all the pages of responses as well.

Thanks.

:crowsVonWyll

This Tactica was inspired by Sandwich’s Seamus Tactica, which I found immensely useful and is located here: http://wyrd-games.net/forum/showthread.php?t=15341

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:mcmourningDR DOUGLAS MCMOURNING - 6 Soul Stone Cache

The good doctor is the best melee damage dealer amongst the Ressurectionist masters, capable of bringing down anything he gets the jump on. He does not have the diversity of summoning options Nicodem offers or the practicality of Seamus so he requires some finesse to use. He has one Melee attack, with a slightly above the average CB and his damage arc is only slightly lower then devoted, melee Masters like Lady Justice and Lilith.

McMourning starts with 6 soulstones, right out of the box and that’s an extremely large amount. Admittedly, you can trade soulstones for Body Part Tokens but I prefer not too in almost every circumstance. If you must make the trade I would recommend only taking 1 body part token because while 6 soulstones may seem like a lot, you’re going to realize that anything less then 5 is going to be pushing it.

The Bad Stuff

Defense- Defense 4 is really…well, let’s be honest, it’s pretty shit. Most Resurrectionist masters have low defense but for a guy who really wants to be in close combat it’s particularly bad. Even with Hard to Wound: 1 McMourning is to be considered a glass cannon. If you let him get jumped by someone like Lady J or Lilith, they will spend soulstones and he will go down…quickly. The good news is, if he doesn’t die, he will likely heal himself right back up but he has to survive to accomplish that. You have to be aware that Defense 4 means he’s going to be hit…a lot, so you need to be prepared for how much damage you’re likely to take.

Author’s Note: Do not feel bad spending soulstones on McMourning’s Defense, particularly when facing other melee masters and high damage monsters like the Mature Nephlim. McMourning is good enough to finish off, or at the very least critically injure almost anything and heal himself at the same time. This is why you activate McMourning later in the round, I cannot stress that point enough. If however, you won the initiative and he was already engaged with a melee monster, it might be worth activating him and killing it, assuming that nothing too dangerous could be brought to bear on him after he was done…

Willpower - Willpower 5 is also not great on a master and the fact that McMourning is not immune to Morale duals doesn’t help him any. You’ll have to remember that if you’re going to throw him up against something with Terrifying, he might need to cheat or use a soulstone.

Author’s Note: It can be game breaking if McMourning falls back. It gives your opponent a full turn plus the remainder of their current turn to attack him and allows him no chance regain his wounds. Furthermore, because he is so dangerous, a turn without McMourning hassling them will probably alleviate a lot of pressure and give your opponent board control, do not let him fail a morale dual.

The Good Stuff

Now that the bad stuff is out of the way, let’s have a look at some of the good stuff. For ease of convenience, I’ve followed the abilities, as they are written in order down the McMourning stat card.

Abilities

Body Parts: Pretty self explanatory. This is not really a benefit, more a mechanic.

Hard to Wound: 1 – It’s not amazing, but it’ll do

Organ Donor - Whenever he deals damage with his scalpel he recovers an equal amount of life. This is a very good ability, particularly when you consider the Precise ability listed below. Organ Donor has a very strong implication however and I can’t stress this enough: Unless you have something that absolutely must die straight away it is better to activate McMourning later in the round. That way, any damage he has suffered he can just heal back up. This may result in newer opponents wasting a few actions until they figure that out and it may have a psychological effect on your opponent (if they start to see him as unkillable, they may overlook his other shortcomings)

Precise: - Ignoring Armour and Hard to Wound is where it’s at, it means that not a whole lot gets in the way of your healing.

Triggers

Scalpel Magic (Mask) – You need a Mask on the Flip or from your hand to get this one off but boy oh boy is it useful. If you can trigger Scalpel Magic, it means you can cast McMourning’s spells without denying him potential attacks and that’s a very good thing.

A Piece for Me – It needs a :crows but he comes with one. Every Scalpel attack gives you a Body Part.

Actions

Passion for his Work (+1) - Trade in a body part and McMourning gets an additional action. This is an incredibly good deal. Since you get a body part every time you successfully stab something you can always trade it in for another attack which, if successful, replaces the body part you spent! Having an extra action is never a bad deal; don’t be afraid of using this.

Scalpel Slinging (0) - This is the money maker. Scalpel Slinging, coupled with Fast, allows for the a potential of four attacks. That aside, the hidden blessing here is that if you deal damage with a Scalpel Sling, you get to push McMourning into base to base with whomever he dealt damage too and this has a number of benefits. Obviously, you can use the ‘slinging’ to lasso your way into combat and follow up with a flurry of different stabs and spells but Scalpel Slinging is also extremely good at getting McMourning out of trouble.

When a model is pushed, models around it do not get a disengage strike. This means, if you start in base to base with something, try to kill it and fail, you don’t necessarily have to stick around. Choose something nearby and lasso your way out of the fight, you’ll even gain some health while you’re at it. This trick can also be used to move McMourning around a combat in which lots of models are bunched together because Scalpel Slinging is a melee attack. Do not be afraid to sling yourself to one of your own models if need be, then use the Body Part you get from doing so to make yourself fast and beat a hasty retreat if the situation calls for it.

Master Surgeon (0) - McMourning can use a (0) Action to get a Healing Flip on a model nearby; however you can choose to deal damage to the targeted model instead. This is particularly good for finishing off high defense models like Lilith if they only have a few wounds left there is no cast value for this spell and there is no resist for this either. It can also be used for Shenanigans, and synergies particularly well with beat up Crooked Men or Punk Zombies that have already acted. If you kill them with it, you activate their Slow to Die and you can use their (1) Action in McMourning’s turn for added effect. Do not look past this ability.

Author’s Note: You will almost never need to use this ability to heal McMourning. He tends to get a lot of life just from stabbing people with his scalpels but I guess it is nice to have and it is conceivable that you might use it to heal Sebastian if your using him, or McMourning if he’s getting shot a lot and you can’t make combat (Ideally, McMourning should not be in that position though).

Spells

Monstrous Creation (0) - At Present, here is what this spell can be used to Summon:

Rogue Necromancy: 8 Body Parts

Guild Autopsy: 3 Body Parts

Flesh Construct: 5 Body Parts

Canine Remains: 2 Body parts

This spell is incredibly useful, but you really don’t ever want to use it to summon a Canine Remains. You need a 10 and a :crows on the flip (soulstones not withstanding) and you don’t want to waste the effort you spend on casting this spell by putting a 2 Soulstone Model on the table. Guild Autopsies are situational. You can use them as Morale bombs but this is only effective against lots of models or low willpower crews. All in All the Flesh Constructs are very good summoned models and the Rogue Necromancy is a Beast (did you see what I did there?)

Author’s Note: McMourning is a very effective summoner for a couple of reasons. The first is, he is not solely dependent on Corpse Counters (although they do help) in order to churn out his monsters. His dependence on Body Part counters is actually more significant then it first appears because there are a lot of models out there capable of destroying or neutralising Corpse Counters. It is, however, VERY important that you do not use McMourning as a summoning master as this will greatly hinder your chances at victory. He is not a construct factory; he wants to be in close combat. Think of his summoning as defensive and offensive ability. If Mcmourning kills a model and summons a Flesh Construct to shield himself or use as support, it’s as brutal as it comes.

Dissection (1): This is what McMourning is known for. 1/5/10 on the damage and you Ignore Armour and Hard to Wound thanks to Precise. As an added bonus, if you kill someone with it, this bad boy nets you 3 Body Part counters which is going to get you damn close to summoning another Flesh Construct. The downside is that if your Dissection inflicts severe damage, your activation ends. So you might not want it to do that if it’s not going to kill the target. Dissection combos really nicely with Rancid Transplant.

Rancid Transplant (1) This is awesome, particularly if you can trigger Scalpel Magic when you get it off. Easy to Wound: 2 for the rest of the game is nothing to be sneezed at and if you’ve got a Mask in your hand and you’re not casting this you’re doing it wrong. Rancid Transplant gives you two positive spins on every attack made against that target for the rest of the game.

Author’s Note: Think about that for a moment. Because you ignore Hard to Wound it means that even the worst possible hit results in a Straight Flip, so you can still cheat for damage! If you hit someone wit Rancid Transplant, trigger Scalpel Magic then cast Dissection, they are in for a world of hurt. You might need a few soulstones to make sure it comes off but this combination tends to kill just about anybody, particularly since this can be done in only two actions,

Wracked with Pain (1) Wracked with Pain is mostly used in shenanigans to get Flesh Constructs out early but some Masters (like Kirai and Marcus) really don’t like having their (0) actions taken away form them, so it can be pretty good in the right matchup.

What others say:

Wracked with pain is actually pretty good. The number of models with a lot of zero actions and instinctual increased with book 2 and is definitely more than only Marcus and Kirai.

Also the ranged attack works well as a markerlight for canine remains 1AP charges.

This is a good point.Rising Powers adds quite a few instinctual characters to the mix and which increases the value of this ability a lot. Having a ranged attack that synergies with the Canine Remains' Bloodhound action is nice, though I would argue that role is better fulfilled by other models (a Crooked Man or Convict Gunslinger for example). As I mentioned earlier, activating McMourning too early in the round can have devastating consequences, see Organ Donar and Defense, mentioned above.

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Your Crew

It has to be said that the McMourning box set is pretty terrible but this is mostly because of the two Nurses as Sebastian and the Flesh Construct are handy to have. We'll start by looking at the models he comes with and then focus on looking at what you may or may not want to consider to bolster your crew.

The McMourning Box Set:

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:crows SEBASTIAN, MORGUE ASSISTANT - 6 Soulstones

McMourning's adorably chubby assistant is actually pretty good. He comes with a Bone Saw and sports an impressive damage arc that equals that of the feared Lady Justice and Lilith. In all likelihood, your opponent will try to deal with Sebastian quickly. He brings a lot to the table and a lot of people will underestimate him. Look after him and he will get it done.

Abilities

Body Parts: Again, Pretty self explanatory. Not really a benefit, more a mechanic. It is worth mentioning that you should never trade one of your soulstones to have Sebastian start with a Body Part, it's just not worth it.

Hard to Wound: 1: Useful. Nine wounds and Hard to Wound: 1 gives Sebastian some additional durability. This tends to be a good thing.

Actions

Melee Expert (+1): Gives you an extra action point to spend exclusively on a melee attack, very solid, particularly given his damage arc.

For You Master (0): Allows Sebastian to give any corpse counters he's carrying to McMourning, and yes, this can be used even if he is nowhere near McMourning when he uses it. Good throw Sebastian, good throw.

What others say:

- Sebastian's For You, Master says the Master must be within 6"..? You said he can be anywhere.

I did indeed say that. The rules on Sebastian are actually quite deceptive. The Rulebook does say he needs to be within 6" but that ruling has been removed entirely from the stat card. Also, the rulebook says Sebastian must companion the dogs at the start of his Activation but this has also been removed on his stat card. It is my understanding that the Stat Cards take priority.

Here Boy! (0): This allows Sebastian to companion Canine Remains and, if you have him, you almost definably want some, you can also use this ability on a Canine Remains you've summoned, to make it act immediately. In general, this is a good thing to do, because Canine Remains tend to die if they aren't doing anything.

Author’s Note: Here Boy! is what makes Sebastian the centerpiece of the McMourning crew. If you're going to use Canine's you want him to companion them because they aren't very useful unless they're acting together. If you lose Sebastian, you can't companion the dogs. Make sure you look after him.

Surgeon (1): Discard a Body Part, make a Healing Flip for something withing 2" and yes, you can use this to heal Sebastian because it can be used on living, or dead models. In general, this is a fairly good utility.

Triggers

A Piece for Me – It needs a :crows but unlike his master, Sebastian needs one on the flip. Hitting with a piece for me gives you body parts, but I wouldn't be cheating for them unless you need too.

Spells

Bloody Harvest (1) – Inflicts 4 damage to all units within a pulse of 3". This can hurt your opponent a lot particularly if Sebastian in position and can cast it twice (remember, after that he can still make a Melee attack because of Melee Expert!) In general, you won't use this a lot but you must never, EVER, forget that he has it because it does happen, and it really, really hurts.

Gather Parts (All) – You need a nine on the flip and a :crows to get this one off but it does give him two body parts. Again, you won't use this one that often, but some Strategies have you playing the waiting game and it's a better alternative to passing.

Man's Best Friend (1) – Two body part counters nets you a Canine Remains and this is easier to cast the Monstrous Creation. In general, if you want Canine Remains, you should be using this ability to summon them and definably not McMourning's.

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:crows FLESH CONSTRUCT - 7 Soulstone Cost

Flesh Constructs are usually the product of McMourning's Monstrous Creation spell but you can take one in your crew if you really want too. As a general rule, Flesh Contruct's are better left as a summon because they are pricey. You can do a lot with 7 Soulstones and although they're effective, they aren't too hard to summon so you can get them for free.

Abilities

Hard to Wound: 2 – This is really, REALLY good. It means that Flesh Construct's very rarely take anything other then weak damage from attacks. Given that they have a whopping 10 wounds, that's actually pretty significant.

Ceaseless Advance – This is actually pretty good. You move your Walk towards the nearest enemy model each closing phase and if one is already in range, you get to make an attack instead. This really helps to counter that the Construct (like all summoned monsters) would usually only get to make 1 melee attack in the turn it was summoned.

Dumb - Well, you knew this ability wasn't going to be good. The Construct, for all it's good qualities, is actually quite slow, so you have to discard a control card each turn if you want more then one action during activation (remember, you still get the free move or attack in the closing phase, even though it's slow). I haven't found this to be a problem as it is very rare that my Control hand doesn't have at least 1 low card in it. To top it off, you can discard a joker (the black one of course) to make your Flesh Construct Fast instead of Slow.

Immune to Influence - Always good, it basically means the opponent has less options of dealing with him except by dealing him wounds. Flesh Construct's can deal with that.

Undead Construct - When he dies, he drops 2 Corpse Counters. That equates to 4 Body Parts which is almost enough to summon another one.

Triggers

Rend Flesh - A :crows on the flip or cheating for a :crows makes your damage arc 4/5/8, what's not to like?

Spells

Devour (1) - This is a good ability, useful for helping you knock off annoying, small creatures like Terror Tots and those dreaded Steampunk Arachnid Swarms. You might not use it often but never forget you have it. Requires a Tome on the Flip

Fling (1) - Your probably not going to use this that often but it is useful for positioning your Construct. Essentially this spell lets you move someone your engaged with 4" and your Flesh Construct 2" which can help you move around a closely packed fight without needing to disengage. It can also be used defensively by pulling someone away from a vulnerable Sebastian or McMourning for example.

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:drewNURSE - 5 Soulstone Cost

Nurses are by no means unplayable, it's just that they have no synergies with anything in this box and they are pretty useless on their own. The other thing is that if you do decided to make use of the Nurse, you will definably not need two.

Abilities

Harmless - While usually pretty good, Harmless presents the Nurse with a bit of a dilemma. Since the ruling in the Errata, Harmless has changed and is now deactivated by doing anything other then walking or passing and this means that Nurses can no longer activate their protective 0 actions while under the effects of it.

Actions

Attendant (0) Models in base to base contact get Armour 1 against Ranged attacks. The difficultly with this ability (and Bedside Manner, listed below) is that the Nurse doesn't have companion, so it is difficult to make use of this ability regularly. If you want the Nurse to use this ability, you basically have to move her into position, activate attendant and wait until your next activation to move somebody alongside her. Remember though, activating attendant neutralizes your Harmless ability, so the opponent has a free round to shoot her while your setting this up.

Bedside Manner (0) Models in base to base contact get +2 Defense when targeted by melee attacks. This is a lot more usable then Attendant and will actually be quite helpful if you decide that Nurses are for you. The Nurse has a few close combat tricks and so it's not terrible for her to be in thick of it if she has support.

Furious Casting (2) Discard a card, immediately make three casting actions. Useful if you have the right models but not in the Starter Box Crew.

Triggers

Lethal Mixture: It needs a :crows but it makes your damage arc 1/3/6. The standard damage of a Nurse is 1/1/1. It means she might be able to kill something and your opponent might not expect that.

Sedate: It needs a :crows but it makes the target Slow until the closing phase. If you're attacking someone who has already activated don't bother with this one and go with Lethal Mixture instead but sometimes it can be handy to deny melee monsters that extra attack.If you Sedate something in combat with McMourning or Sebastian, your opponent might not feel confident enough in killing them and target the nurse instead, particularly if your giving them +2 Defense. This might buy you the time to finish them off at the start of next turn.

Spells

Surgery (All): It needs a :crows but it heals all the wounds the target has suffered. This can be a lifesaver but it also gives the model Slow until the end of their next activation, and this happens even if you fail to cast the spell. It is an All action which means you have to already be in a position to use it but if you're that desperate for healing, the penalties might be worth it.

Life Support (1) Life Support is essentially a delayed Headshot. At the end of the models next Activation,they must discard either two cards or soulstones or the person you targeted dies. This is more a drain of resources then anything else because unlike Headshot, your opponent gets to activate the model before it dies and prior to that activation, they draw a new control hand.

What others say:

You could use Life Support on a model that has yet to activate, that way they won't get to draw cards prior to their activation.

This is actually a much better way of using Life Support. If you activate the Nurse early in the turn and target models that haven't activated, you could more effectively drain your opponents resources.

Massive Dose (1) This is the easiest spell for the Nurse to cast but it tends to be either highly situational or requiring models that aren't included in the starter box set. You need to be within 2" of a model for this spell to work and you get 1 of 3 effects, per cast.

Painkillers: Situational, but still good. If you are absolutely certain that McMourning or the Flesh Construct will be killed this isn't terrible. It allows you one more activation before before you bite the dust and gives you a chance to take someone with you.

Speed: Target gains Reactivate and you sacrifice it at the start closing phase. This is good but generally what you want to do is combine it with Stimulant.

Stimulant: This one can be a killer. The model gets +2 walk and charge, +4 CB and a positive spin on all damage flips but you sacrifice it at the start of the closing phase. This can be a lot of fun, particularly when combined with Speed as mentioned above.

What others say:

As McMourning and Sebastian can both effectively factory out dogs, a Nurse is actually a really good idea.

You can basically make them into cruise missiles that deal some nasty, nasty damage.

Her Stimulant, coupled with Furious casting, allows her to power-up three dogs in one activation.

You can then take all three dogs and swarm whatever you so choose.

Sandwich is right. Canine Remains are one of, if not the best target for the Nurse's abilities, mainly because you don't expect them to hang around too long after they have swarmed their first target. Instead of using furious casting to power up three dogs, I recommend you do it to just two. Use the third cast to cast reactivate on one of your powered up dogs and then you only end up sacrificing two. Also, once your Canine's have activated, if your opponent knows they will be sacrificed they won't bother hitting them. The reactivated dog means he might waste an extra attack action on trying to kill a model you've already written off to stop it reactivating.

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Models worth a mention

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:crows ZOMBIE CHIHUAHUA - 1 Soulstone Cost

This little guy is a must have, so much so, that it's almost not worth considering any other totem when playing a McMourning crew. What this guy does is accelerate McMourning's ability to get Flesh Constructs on the table and that's a good thing.

Abilities

Companion (McMourning): The Chihuahua can activate at the same time as McMourning, this is neither here nor there.

Triggers

Rabies: You need a :crows but it results in the defender having -2 Willpower for the rest of the game. You should never need this Trigger, chihuahua's are lousy fighters, even undead ones.

Actions

"Get the Stick" (1) As long as the Chihuahua is within 3" of McMourning, this action gives Mcmourning a Body Part counter. This is the first thing you do with your Chihuahua and you do it twice.

What others say:

So I have a question in relation to the part about the Zombie Chiuahua. It's Get the Stick, the way I read it, makes it seem that it has to be within 3" of a body parts counter, not McMourning, and it zaps that counter to him. The wording in the write up at the start of this thread makes it sound like he makes body part counters out of thin air. You can compare the wording to the Vulture and it's almost word for word only the Vulture picks up Corpse counters instead of Body Parts. So am I right in that the dog does not create body parts (outside the sacrifice) but zaps them to McMourning when it comes across them within 3"?

I can understand your confusion about this topic because it does indeed seem to say that but I will refer you here for clarification: http://wyrd-games.net/forum/showthread.php?p=108305

The ruling is given quite clearly, the Chihuahua does actually zap them out of thin air. As long as McMourning is within 3" of the Chihuahua he gets a Body Part, no counter required.

I just picked up my Zombie Chihuahua from my LGS the other day and cracked it open last night. It has a new V2 card in it and they totally re-did "Get the stick!". It now reads as:

(1) "Get the stick!": Discard 1 Corpse Counter within 3" of this model. This models connected Master gains 1 Corpse Counter.

Talk about a total overhaul. Everything else on the card remains unchanged. Are they going to release some sort of unified updated document on stuff like this? Heck, I don't even know what figures have V2 versions and which don't!

If this is indeed the case, I might have to retract my statement as the Chihuahua being the best totem for McMourning, I will be adding the other totems for consideration. Damned version 2 cards, we really need this stuff in the errata.

Backup Materials (1) You can sacrifice the Chihuahua to net McMourning a further two Body Parts and this is great because the Chihuahua isn't really that useful. Once Mcmourning is two far away to make use of "Get the Stick" you can sacrifice and net him another 2 Body Parts to churn out Flesh Constructs with.

Fetch (1) A model near the Chihuahua can discard Corpse or Body Part counters and McMourning gains an equal number of Body Part counters to the amount discarded. You shouldn't be using this too often as both Sebastian and the Canine Remains can transfer Body Parts/Corpse Counters to McMourning as a 0 action but I guess it's nice to have if your not interested in sacrificing your Chihuahua.

Magical Extension (1) All Totem's get this one and the Chihuahua doesn't have a great Casting stat. If you absolutely must cast spells with the Chihuahua, the most viable one is Wracked with Pain because it's the cheapest to cast and you can do it from a range. This can be used as a beacon for your Canine Remains, allowing them to use their Bloodhound ability. Remember, your Chihuahua can use soulstones if you really want. It is possible to get the Chihuahua to perform a pretty formidable Dissection with a high cheat and soulstone use but I wouldn't recommend using him this way.

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:crows Grave Spirit - 1 Soulstone Cost

For the same cost as a Zombie Chihuahua, the Grave Spirit offers something very different to a McMourning crew but not something that is entirely unwelcome.

Abilities

Companion (Master): Whomever you take as a master, the Grave Spirit may act in simultaneously with them. You will probably never use this and if you do, it will be very rare.

Strength From Below: Whomever you link the Grave Spirit to receives Armour 2. Given that almost everyone in your crew is going to have Hard to Wound, this can be an effective way of making sure that someone lasts the distance. Also, while the Grave Spirit is granting this bonus to someone, it cannot be targeted by spells or ranged attacks, so if your in a gunfight they can't pick off your buffer.

Actions

Link (0) Link is nifty. Not only does it convey the the bonuses from Strength From Below but whenever the model you are linked to moves, the Grave Spirit is pushed into base to base contact with it. This means you can effectively spare 2 Actions to use Magical Affinity with, because the Grave Spirit won't usually need to waste actions getting into position.

Author’s Note: This is why I am of the opinion that the Grave Spirit works a lot better with Seamus then with a McMourning crew. In a Seamus Crew, the Grave Spirit can Link to a model and become an untargetable model conveying Terrifying 14 around whatever it's protecting. McMourning's (1) spells tend not be of a particularly great range, which means you will be casting Wracked With Pain a lot, still, it's really not a bad investment for 1 stone.

Spells

Magical Extension (1) All Totem's get this one but your probably only going to be casting Wracked with Pain.

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:crows CANINE REMAINS - 1 Soulstone Cost

Canine Remains are Mcmourning's bread and butter. Why? Because there is a lot you can do with them and they are only 2 Stones. If you're using Sebastian you're going to need a few anyway as he can summon them but you shouldn't feel bad fielding 3-4 (and sometimes more) of these guys in your list.

Author’s Note: A handy trick to do with McMourning and a Canine Remains is to start in base to base contact with one when you deploy. Activate your Chihuahua and us "Get the Stick" to give Mcmourning 2 Body parts, then, Activate McMourning via the Companion Rules. Have him cast Wrack with Pain on the Canine for another Body Part, then dissect that dog away, but make sure you don't get Severe Damage so cheat a low card if you get it on the flip. After that, you have one dead Canine and a massive 6 Body Parts, Churn out a Flesh Construct and use that final Body Part to activate Passion for His Work and walk up behind your newly made monster.

Abilities

Hard to Wound 1: Generally useless. Your Canine's have three wounds but sometimes this might make a dog live into the next turn (if the attackers weak damage is 2 or lower) which makes it good to have nonetheless

Hunting Dogs: Enemy units within 3" of two dogs or more receive -2 Df. This is actually really useful, not only for making dogs more reliable but for assisting Sebastian and his Bone Saw. Used for Swarm Tactics.

Packed Mentality: Dogs are not Insignificant if there is another dog nearby. This is helpful and you can use this sometimes to be rather sneaky.

Man's Best Friend: When you companion a canine, ALL canine's within 6" also receive companion, allowing you to act with all nearby Canine Remains simultaneously if you so choose. This means you can gank a model and bring them down with multiple Canines and bring them down in a single activation.

Actions

For you, Master (0) - This is damn nifty when you need it. Considering that Corpse Counters are worth 2 Body Parts a piece, it's not a bad deal to grab them with your dogs if you can pick those counters up en route. You can hand them off later. Remember, a lot of teams have ways to destroy corpse counters, so getting them off the ground is a good deal.

Bloodhound (1) - Instantly charge a unit who has received 1 or more wounds. Use this, use it a lot. This is what makes Canine Remains so brutal. You do however, have to wound the target first. For this I recommend Wrack with Pain (mentioned above) or a Crooked Man's area effect burst.

Triggers

Rabies: You need a :crows but it results in the defender having -2 Willpower for the rest of the game. Nifty.

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:crows CROOKED MAN - 4 Soulstone Cost

Crooked Men are useful, why? Because they bring with them a ranged attack. I shouldn't need to tell you that this synergies well with Canine Remains because all it takes a single burst from cave in and you can use Bloodhound...Everywhere! This reduces the need for McMourning to cast Wrack with Pain (for the purposes of triggering Bloodhound) and the Crooked man has some nifty tricks in a scrap. Taking a single Crooked Man in your crew is not a bad deal. Here's a quick rundown.

Abilities

Crooked: +2 Defense when targeted by ranged attacks is nothing shabby. Guns are the bane of undead at the best of times.

Evasive 2: Crooked Men take -2 Damage when targeted by Blast attacks, not nearly as practical as Bulletproof or Armour, but hey, good to have.

Slow to Die: Excellent. If you're killed in melee you can cast Shafted and force them to end their activation near the marker which will most likely deal them damage or Paralyze them so they can't use their next activation. If there is no one within six, casting Cave In is still worthwhile but if killed in melee ALWAYS cast shafted.

Actions

Cave In (1) - I already mentioned that this is a nice way of dealing group damage and allowing your Canine's the Ability to Bloodhound charge, however, it is also worth noting that blasts scare people, even if the damage isn't that great, and the more threats you have on the table, the more time your opponent will spend looking away from McMourning, which is a good deal for you.

Shafted (1) - Aside from it's obvious combination with Slow to Die, Shafted tokens can be placed to support models that have already acted. As I keep mentioning, it is generally a bad idea to activate McMourning early in the round, however, there will be times when you need to do just that. If for example, McMourning has already acted and you know he's going to be engaged by something, start placing shafted counters at his feat to deter the coming engagement. There is a good chance whatever is wailing on him will be Paralysed which will take pressure away from the next initiative flip. If McMourning lives, well, you get to laugh evilly, don't you?

Triggers

Bury: If you flip a :crows when damaging them with a melee attack, they become paralyzed. This is a great ability for a 4 soulstone model.

Author's Note: This trigger is totally full of win and it can really change games when it comes up. Because of this trigger and a combat of 5, a Crooked Man can quite happily buy you the time you need by paralyzing high cost, low defense models when you have the card.

---------------------------------

:crows Rotten Belle - 4 Soulstone Cost

Rotten Belles are the tried and tested foot soldiers of the Red Chapel Gang. Whilst they have a lot more Synergies with their intended master, Seamus, they are still an excellent buy for a McMourning crew at a measly cost of 4 stones. I would recommend bringing at least 1 Rotten Belle to each game you play.

Abilities

Hard to Wound 1: Veryuseful. Particularly considering that Rotten Belles come with a whopping 8 wounds. They are very durable, which is something McMourning crew's don't often bring much of.

Companion (Sybelle): If you bring Madame Sybelle, you can Companion your Belles to her, though generally, McMourning crews won't.

Seductive: +4:masks to cast when casting Lure. Absolute madness.

Shambling: Don't let her walk speed fool you, Belle's can walk through severe terrain without penalty. This means they are actually fairly mobile and you can provide them with cover to further add to their durability if the need arises.

Slow to Die: Another goody. Excellent for casting Distract or Undress on your opponents models as she's on the way out.

Triggers

Rot: If you flip them the :crows you can use this on your Teeth and Nails strike. An extra positive flip to damage is never bad.

Spells

Distract (1) If the target fails to resist this spell, it and a model within 3" receive slow. If you flipped them the :crows an additional model within 3" receives slow. Good Grave Spirit this spell is powerful. This can really ruin your opponents day as the majority of the time, they can't bring much to bear on you in a single action.

Lure (1) Lure is the Rotten Belles signature spell. With 18" range, +8 to the flip and both the :masks and :crows baked in, thanks to your Seductive ability, Lure is incredibly reliable. This is very useful for pulling models into melee range that would rather hang back and shoot, or alternativly, for setting up charges on other Melee models. You can also use Lure on your own models to pull them into position, remember, it counts as a push, so disengage strikes cannot be taken. All things considered, a very useful ability.

Undress (1) Probably the least useful ability of the three to you, but still very, very good. Giving the target -2 defense is pretty nice if you then go on to swarm it with Canine Remains for a total of -4. It makes targets like Lilith much more manageable.

---------------------------------

CONVICT GUNSLINGER - 6 Soulstone Cost

Whilst not a Ressurectionist, Convict Gunslinger is one of the more common mercenaries that makes his way into Ressurectionist crews. The Convict Gunslinger adds a very decent ranged attack to your reportoire of tricks, something that tends to be incredibly sparse in Ressurectionist crews.

Author's Note: Many people say that the downside to a Convict Gunslinger is that he may be picked off by enemy ranged attacks because he is the only model that can shoot back but I consider this to be one of his perks and let me explain why. McMourning typically brings with him a lot of low health, fast moving models (see Canine Remains above) and Convict Gunslinger is no slouch in the durability department. If your opponent is shooting at Convict Gunslinger, this gives models like your Canine Remains, Sebastian, and McMourning the opportunity to advance unhindered, a mistake your opponent will soon come to regret.

Abilities

Bulletproof 1: Always nice to have on a model that is primarily going to be out of close combat.

Gunfighter: Good to have as well, particularly considering his weapon is Paired and has a CB of 6:rams

Lifer: The Convict Gunslinger ignores Morale Duels based on Terrifying. It's not every Morale Dual (like your undead) but it is the most common one.

Ruthless: You can shoot at pitiful and Harmless targets without taking a Willpower Duel. Not too shabby.

Actions

Rapid Fire (2) It's Flurry but for Ranged Weapons. Much easier to use and you'll be using it a fair bit.

Triggers

Faster'n You: After an attacker within 12" misses with a ranged attack, you get to deal damage to them as if you had just hit them with a shot of your own. This is another reason why it's actually not terrible if your opponent tries to pick him out. You need a :rams on the flip but this is one handy ability.

Trigger Happy: If you get a :masks on the flip (and remember you have paired weapons, so you can pick which of the cards you use) after dealing damage, you get to make another Paired Pistols attack for free. This bonus attack can also trigger Trigger Happy. This is brutal, particularly in conjunction with Rapid Fire.

Spells

Suppressing Fire (1): The target model and all models within 3" must discard a card when they activate or they get paralyzed. It casts on a 10 and is resisted by willpower, there is nothing wrong with this ability at all. You might prefer to rapid fire though, so consider carefully.

Edited December 5, 2010 by VonWyll
Edited to make it look prettier

[Velsharoon]

Good tactica makes me want to get him now

[Sandwich]

Keep working on it, I enjoyed the read. :]

Very nice work.

[VonWyll]

Thanks guys, more coming soon.

[meatwagon]

Yes, thank you very much. This is incredibly usefull. Can not wait to read more.

[gru6y]

Very nice writeup.

I would say, though, that Wracked with pain is actually pretty good. The number of models with a lot of zero actions and instinctual increased with book 2 and is definitely more than only Marcus and Kirai.

Also the ranged attack works well as a markerlight for canine remains 1AP charges.

[VonWyll]

Updated a bit more, put in Gru6y's comment, commented of it and added the Flesh Construct.

[meatwagon]

Just cuious, I know you have not gotten to the Nurses yet, but I was wondering if people had any suggestions on what to take instead of them?

[VonWyll]

After I have done the nurses, i will be going straight into what works with Mcmourning instead of them, my three favourites are Crooked Men, Canine Remains and Rotten Belles. I will explain why later on

[huntroll]

Great tactica so far, as I McM player I have to agree with everything you wrote here. I hope you'll include the Convict Gunslinger too, he is awesome in a crew with Belles. And with McM you always want some Belles

[meatwagon]

After I have done the nurses, i will be going straight into what works with Mcmourning instead of them, my three favourites are Crooked Men, Canine Remains and Rotten Belles. I will explain why later on

Sounds good. Thank you.

[Sandwich]

Just cuious, I know you have not gotten to the Nurses yet, but I was wondering if people had any suggestions on what to take instead of them?

As McMourning and Sebastian can both effectively factory out dogs, a Nurse is actually a really good idea.

You can basically make them into cruise missiles that deal some nasty, nasty damage.

Her Stimulant, coupled with Furious casting, allows her to power-up three dogs in one activation.

You can then take all three dogs and swarm whatever you so choose.

If you do wish to replace the nurse, however, the two most viable options are either

A.) Punk Zombies; equal SS costs, but add even more damage to an McM crew, they are relatively fragile but can quickly drop most things you'd dislike.

B.) Rotten Belles, the Belles cost one less Soul Stone than Nurses, deal far less damage than Punk Zombies, but do add a much needed element of Battle Field Control to your crew., they are very, very durable but do next to no damage and have no worthwhile combat triggers.

[VonWyll]

Nurse write up is done, i will be looking at what models Mcmourning seems to function well with next.

[Wodschow]

Nice!

I really like the setup of everything and how you include the 'what others say' sections (although while at the layout'ish of things I must also say that I hate the font and size, luckily I can just zoom in and it ain't bad, so actually nevermind that).

As usually I'm better for destructive criticism than actual helpful criticism, but here goes:

- Sebastian's For You, Master says the Master must be within 6"..? You said he can be anywhere.

- Nurses:

You seem to have a wrong understanding of how long Slow lasts, both in the Sedate and Surgery you talk about the closing phase, in fact Slow always affects the models current or next activation whichever comes first (ref: Book1 pg. 46), so it will carry on to the next turn, even if the model already have activated on the current turn.

Also.. You could use Life Support on a model that has yet to activate, that way they won't get to draw cards prior to their activation.

(Oh.. and you included the entry on Harmless twice )

Don't think I have more to add than that (not much at all!), looking forward to further additions.

[VonWyll]

Fixed the error with the rules on Slow and added in Wodschow's comments

[Raintar]

The best crew I've seen with McMourning is the Dead Rider Grave Spirit combo which is very nasty, and then using Nurses with Desperate Mercenaries works amazingly as well. Please don't waste your soulstones making Flesh Constructs playing him, it is so noob.

[Wodschow]

Huh.. Do you have V2 cards? That would explain the oddities on Sebastian.

Also can't you delete the quote under Sebastians For You Master again? xD It's not like I'm saying anything useful. Ie. it won't enlighten people reading through this as a tactica (which I believe is what it is).

It's merely me being wrong/not knowing about the V2 cards.

[VonWyll]

The best crew I've seen with McMourning is the Dead Rider Grave Spirit combo which is very nasty, and then using Nurses with Desperate Mercenaries works amazingly as well. Please don't waste your soulstones making Flesh Constructs playing him, it is so noob.

As i said, Flesh Constructs are better used as Summoned Monsters but you can take one if you really want. Generally there are much better options then spending 7 soulstones on a Flesh Construct.

[huntroll]

The best crew I've seen with McMourning is the Dead Rider Grave Spirit combo which is very nasty, and then using Nurses with Desperate Mercenaries works amazingly as well.

The Rider + Spirit combo seems nasty with any of our masters (though I haven't tried it yet), so its not McM specific. Also, if you take the Spirit, you couldn't take the Chihuahua, so it's harder to make a Rogue Necromancy in turn 1 (though its still possible but you have to sacrifice two dogs for it).

The Merc + Nurse combo also sounds good, but to be honest I haven't used the Nurses outside of battlebox games... The Belles are far superior imo.

Please don't waste your soulstones making Flesh Constructs playing him, it is so noob.

True, you can make one from a Dog in one activation.

[basher]

this is really usefull but my stat card for sebastian says he must be within 6" of McM when useing for you master and here boy states at the start of this modles activation

[VonWyll]

Huh.. Do you have V2 cards? That would explain the oddities on Sebastian.

Also can't you delete the quote under Sebastians For You Master again? xD It's not like I'm saying anything useful. Ie. it won't enlighten people reading through this as a tactica (which I believe is what it is).

It's merely me being wrong/not knowing about the V2 cards.

Well, I only bought Sebastian recently so yes, i guess I must have the V2 cards. If you really want I can delete the quote, but I figure it might be useful for the people with V1 cards.

[Sandwich]

Sandwich is right. Canine Remains are one of, if not the best target for the Nurse's abilities, mainly because you don't expect them to hang around too long after they have swarmed their first target. Instead of using furious casting to power up three dogs, I recommend you do it to just two. Use the third cast to cast reactivate on one of your powered up dogs and then you only end up sacrificing two. Also, once your Canine's have activated, if your opponent knows they will be sacrificed they won't bother hitting them. The reactivated dog means he might waste an extra attack action on trying to kill a model you've already written off to stop it reactivating.

I was thinking of hitting dogs that had yet to activate with a stimulant.

[JMGraham]

I've really been impressed with what McMourning can do. I've been running the following 30 ss crew:

McMourning

Sebastian

Chihuahua

4 Canine Remains

Necropunk

Killjoy

I start with McMourning in base to base with a canine and the chihuahua. During the first activation, I have:

1. The chihuahua give McMourning 2 body parts

2. McMourning attacks a canine remain (cheating for minimum damage if needed), gaining another body part.

3. McMourning dissects the canine, gaining 3 body parts when it dies. Canine is replaced with a corpse counter (in base to base with McMourning).

4. McMourning snags the corpse (2 body parts) and uses his 8 body parts to summon a Rogue Necromancy.

Next turn you can repeat the process again for a Flesh Construct and plenty of extra body parts to get fast for subsequent turns.

While you need a 10 of crows or higher to summon, chances are better than not that you'll have one in any given draw. If not, even a 7 or higher of crows is worth spending a soulstone. So many brutal melee pieces on the board (Killjoy, Rogue Necromancy, a Flesh Construct or two, McMourning, Sebastian) can be really hard for your opponent to contend with. Add in a Belle or two for board control, and you have a potent force. Not to mention the fact that cheap dogs often let you win the activation game, stalling until your opponent has already moved key pieces. McMourning's ability to turn cheap dogs into melee monsters is incredible - he can create a big SS advantage very early in the game.

Color me impressed!

Jim

[VonWyll]

I will finish the Canine Remains entry a bit later, sorry for updating delays, very busy atm.

[Matamane]

I was wrong, nvm

9 Body Part Counters, or 11 Body Part Counters if you can Scalpel Magic, depends on your hand.

Not a big deal, only a few less Body Parts

Edited October 10, 2010 by Matamane