Cassandra, Nimble and Sword Dance

[swordsman82]

I have a question on whether this will work or not.

Cassandra has nimble giving her a free walk action. She also has (0) sword dance allowing her a free strike action during her walk action.

So can Cassandra walk up to an enemy model, take a free strike. Spend another AP to get her normal strike. Then use her last AP to walk away, and use her free strike before she disengages. Giving her 3 attacks and removing herself from the combat possibly. And if you link her to a Mannequin, the construct can push and be placed between Cassandra and the target enemy.

Would this work? Cause if it does, damn that's awesome!

[gunpowder saint]

I must Insist! that you go through the rules threads and find the Sword Dance Ruling, because there was an Enormous debate among players over if that skill allows a "Free" Strike or not.

[Headcase2]

Yes, this would work (I'll save you from digging through 15 pages of forum spam). You could of course also try and get a mask on your strike and use her One Fluid Motiontrigger to push out of combat without wasting an action that could also be used to strike again.

[MrNybbles]

As far as Sword Dance goes, Walk, Charge, and Jump are all movement actions and Sword Dance will give you one free strike with all three. Pgs 2 & 3 of the Malifaux Errata (Version 1, January 2010) cover what is movement.

As for Linking the Mannequin I covered some of the gotchas in the Showgirl Tactica. Please read the Cassandra the Celebrity section near the end to find out why you sometimes can't Link a Mannequin to Cassandra. (Basically while Celebrity is in effect it prevents Link from being able to target Cassandra).

[Chanst]

Yeah, Sword Dance gives you the free Strike on all movement actions. So if you wanted to, you can Walk for all 3 actions and still take 3 Strikes. That way if you do well enough to kill your target on the second attack, you can move on to another for the 3rd pretty easily.

I haven't been in a good place to get maximum use out of this yet in the games I have played (been against Kirai and crew for most of my games) so I have been using her as a Breathe Fire machine, using Southern Charm to keep her alive for the counter attacks. Looking forward to playing a non-spirit crew and having fun with this soon.

[swordsman82]

I read the Show girls tactica, it was very insightful. Sword dance seems to be such a powerful ability in this game.

I am still not entirely sure what to do against hard to kill enemies though. Seamus and his undead belles will be hard fight as i see it. Since the showgirls can lay down some damage, but nothing staggering. They fall like leaves when they get hit though.

Besides the Coryphee any other models i should think about joining the crew? I was thinking about the Mechanical Rider, cause it is very powerful. Just not sure it will blend well with how Collette's crew works.

[druchii]

I read the Show girls tactica, it was very insightful. Sword dance seems to be such a powerful ability in this game.

I am still not entirely sure what to do against hard to kill enemies though. Seamus and his undead belles will be hard fight as i see it. Since the showgirls can lay down some damage, but nothing staggering. They fall like leaves when they get hit though.

Besides the Coryphee any other models i should think about joining the crew? I was thinking about the Mechanical Rider, cause it is very powerful. Just not sure it will blend well with how Collette's crew works.

I don't think you'll have much room for anything else. If you include Cassandra, Coryphee (two, for the duet) and two showgirls you're looking at 35ss on the nose. I've seen a variant of the list that dumps one showgirl for extra SS as well.

So unless you play to exclude both showgirls (why?!) or a Cory, or a Cassandra, I don't think you'll have room for the Mech. Rider.

That being said, the Rider, with her chain spear and mounted combat, fit perfectly with the theme of the crew. Being able to move your opponent's models around, as well as dance around the table is mighty nice.

d

[MrNybbles]

I am still not entirely sure what to do against hard to kill enemies though. Seamus and his undead belles will be hard fight as i see it. Since the showgirls can lay down some damage, but nothing staggering. They fall like leaves when they get hit though.

Seamus is also Terrifying which is also a problem for living models. In most of the games I have played my opponents usually have one or two models which are difficult to kill.

For most you might want to try to isolate and gang up on them one at a time. Mannequins can be Linked and carried over fairly close, then walk into melee range of an enemy to tie it up so it can't support your current target.

Bette Noir can be just attacked like normal to make her bury herself as her Slow to Die action. You can try Colette's Disappearing Act and try to get the Mannequin Replacement trigger off, but I don't recommend it.

For Seamus I would recommend 3 Flying in Mechanical Doves (and 2 Coryphees) and have Colette nearby, though you probably wan't to keep her far enough away she won't get hit by Terrifying. Mechanical Doves and Coryphees not effected by Terrifying. When a Dove gets killed (and he will start killing them) try and summon a new Dove within 3" of him. The Dove can activate (although Slowed from just being summoned) and can cast Magician's Duel. Seamus will likely take 2 turns to kill, but while locked in melee he can't use his Flintlock pistol.

Besides the Coryphee any other models i should think about joining the crew? I was thinking about the Mechanical Rider, cause it is very powerful. Just not sure it will blend well with how Collette's crew works.

The Mechanical Rider may work well as a second Objective-grabbing model like Cassandra since it is Nimble on turns 1 and 2. The Rider may also end up getting killed early on, though Mounted Combat is a push and therefore won't get hit when disengaging from the enemy.

Johan costs Colette 5ss to recruit, he gets a +2Cb boots when within 3" of another M&SU member (which Colette is), and he does Magical damage and ignores Armor. He is good for dealing with Spirits, Jack Daw, and anything armored.

Rising Powers also has the Gunsmith. He also has his uses.