Von Schill with...

[SgtoSunshine]

So I succumbed to the look of the Freikorps and picked up Von Schill's box at my FLGS. While I've read that its solid at 25SS and only needs a few things for a good 35SS list I did have a few questions. Many people seem to advocate adding on the Viktorias. However, just adding them straight onto the box leaves you with a cache of 0 right? Is this what people mean when tacking them straight on? Also I'm interested in Hamelin the rat catcher, mostly because his model is neat and he does a neat thing, for a Von Schill lead crew at 35SS, but something I noticed is that the crew would still lack the magical weapons to help deal with ghosts and such. Could someone who's had experience fielding either of these list variants give me some feedback on how they played and the pros/cons of each? I know Taelor is supposed to be a solid pick as well for expanding, but again people seem to push the Viktorias more.

Thanks, I'm just starting so I hope these questions aren't too repetitive.

[Scurry]

the advantage of taking the viks is you can have a cache of 8 which means more slow to die healing flips for von schill so he is harder to kill (although you have 3 models with use soulstones so you go through them fast)

taelor is a great model, hard to kill and a perfct damage dealer for the crew, her and a desperate merc would take you to 35stones

hamelin is a good model however you would still be missing a solid damage dealer (other than von schill) so it would take longer to kill anything.

[SgtoSunshine]

Right, so I take it that people change up the crew and don't take all the starter stuff along with them? Perhaps dropping the the normal Korpsmen or something along those lines to free up the Soul Stones?

[osoi]

Thats right you just change up what you will bring along, you wont always drop the generic Korpsman as they are aa good cheap minion and sometimes that will be more prefferable than fewer more expenisve models. Adding the Viks as masters just gives more options.

[Omenbringer]

Hamelin the Rat Catcher works pretty well to flesh out a vanilla Von Schill crew. Taelor and Johan are great second additions to add some solid omph (and magical weapons) without a lot of cost.

[SgtoSunshine]

Alright then, I'll probably further my collection by getting Hamelin in then and slowly expand. Oh, and by the way I noticed there are a lot of movement spells that can put a rain on the Freikorps parade. Any tips on how to avoid these shenanigans? Or is it simply keeping yourself position properly that it matters less? (i.e. blobbing up together)

edit: Oh, schemes and plans! Which ones would you guys recommend for a vanilla Von Schill list?

edit: Geeze, I just had my first game today and played the manequin master, and all I can say is that I can see where Hamelin would've been really useful @_@

Edited July 14, 2011 by SgtoSunshine

[Talos]

I have started playing Von Shill and have been having some great success with him. 3 games and 3 wins against levi,Sonnia Criid and Lilith.

My list is:

Von Schill

Friekorps Specialist

Convict Gunslinger

Misaki

Taelor

Jack Daw

Desperate Merc

It gives me a nice mix of range and close combat with some nice abilities from Jack Daw. The specialist really has been my man of the match in all three games he always kills alot or causes problems. Having him within 6" of von schill is great as it gives him slow to die. Which I have used to either blow up his tanks or to just run him forward to get more enemies in his death blast.

You say you have been having some problems with movement spells. Can I ask which ones, I am guessing you mean lure. Last game I had to face 4 of the neverborn twins which was alot of luring. But most of my models have WP7 and the Friekorps have stubbon which should help. I have also been thinking of adding Hamelin to my crew as an obey would help me get certain models in to position quicker.

For schemes it really depends on which crews I am facing and what my strat is. In the last game I took Kill protege and stake a claim. I was able to complete both which helped win me the game. Kill Protégé is pretty standard as the crew can do alot of damage and most of the time you want to kill the enemies highest ss model anyway. Stake a claim is good with Von Schill being able to jump around, great for last turn claims.

[SgtoSunshine]

I'm mostly thinking of things like Lure and Obey. You're right about the stubborn though. I find that the +2 really helps me out in passing all WP duels. I'm beginning to really like Kill Protege now that you mention it. In the few games I played it I usually declared so I could get the extra point. Then used frame for murder undeclared on the trapper if it's a choppy master.

[Serigala]

Sorry if I am explaining something which you already understand, but from a couple of your questions it seems like you might not be clear on the benefits of adding the Viks.

VonSchills boxset totals at 26SS.

If you add the Viks to the Von Schill boxset, it actually becomes a Viks crew, as Von Schill is a henchman and can't lead another Master. You can still keep the rest of the Freikorps, have the Viks full cache of 8SS (as opposed to Von Schills measly Henchman 4 cache) and field a crew up to about 44SS.

The Librarian is great with the Viks as both benefit from her healing flips. You can get 3 healing flips every turn on each Vik if you need it. And Von Schill benefits from the larger cache that the Viks bring.

In a Brawl (2 Masters), adding any other Master to the Viks means you lose 5 SS from your total SS available. But not taking a second Master (having a Henchman instead) gains you an extra 10 SS, making Von Schill effectively free. So VonSchill and Viks in a Brawl only equates to about 35 SS.

Thats one of the main reasons why the Viks work so well with Von Schill.

[Dark Alleycat]

I have found that adding Taelor and the Convict Gunslinger,and dropping one of the two Freikorpsmen works beautifully at 35 points. This gives you a solid gun/melee unit and a rock solid melee arsestomper. You could also accomplisht he same thing by making vikkies your master,take von schill as a 9 point henchman,add in the librarian at 7,the Trapper at 6,the Specialist at 5 and that would leave you with 8ss,and a really strong crew. Either way would work well.

[Irish Rebel]

I played today with the Viks, a Ronin, VonSchill, the Specialist and the Librarian in a 30ss game with a 4ss cache, and I got rocked most of the time haha. My Viks were always the foucs of my opponent, and they were killed by the 3rd - 4th turn. Von Schill usually survived, as I alwasy kept my Librarian close and casted a healing flip for him, but that only did so much. I also forgot he could use soul stones, which hurt a little bit. The ronin definitely pulled her own weight, but I think overall I would prefer a straight vanillia Frei Korps box and add a Ronin.

[Omenbringer]

Also remember that the Librarian can cast the Healing spell three times per activation on three different targets for the cost of discarding one card from the control hand (Furious Casting is such an awesome ability).