Ukrocky's Marcus diary, QnA and full model list

[rancor709]

You are.seriously forcing me to get marcus. Because I have half your model list already from playing ressers. Love it mate keep it up.

[Necromorph]

I have this strange urge to play Marcus after I played against him in a recent tournament, even though I beat him. There's just something undeniably cool about him. This thread isn't making it any easier to maintain control over how many crews I have, haha....I'm slowly slipping towards Team Marcus.

Also, a question. How many of those models.are standard use in your Marcus lists, and how many are there for brawls with their respective masters...like the coryphee?

Edited November 16, 2011 by Necromorph

[Adran]

Corephyee are great all on their own, they don't need to be with Colette. You've got to be a little more careful as they won't have doves to protect them, but I run them with Marcus in scraps and am very pleased with the results. Anything that fast with that many actions is going to be useful in just about any mission

[Firebox]

It's SILURID.

S I L U R I D.

[ukrocky]

It's SILURID.

S I L U R I D.

Oh calm down! Slurrid sounds cuter

[Undisclosed]

After the Bayou Broadcast, i find it difficult to pronounce Silurid correctly, Slurrid is just in my mind now.

[Stonedog-7]

Damn... reading this has made me realise that by playing ressers, neverborn, outcasts and now Ramos that i have more than enough to run an effective Marcus list... oh well, another master it is... just have to decide on the box or just Marcus & Jackalope

[ukrocky]

Apologies for the lack of games, I typed 6 last night and deleted the page. Win. I'll get them done as soon as I have a quiet hour

@StoneDog - Just get the Marcus and Jackalope, the only remotley useful thing in the box is the kitty cat.

@Necromorph - Nothing bar totems is really there for master specific, obviously ice gamin/arachnids are probably there for their masters but I'm sure there'll be times I take them with Marcus (I tend to take one gamin with Marcus vs Collette players for their trigger).

As for the Coryphee, well, I bought it when I first started Marcus knowing it's good on it's own without Collette, but never ever used it...

If someone said, you can only have a few models for Marcus what are your musts;

Marcus

Jackalope

Kaeris

Student

Slurrid Blister (Usually only 2 Slurrids)

Mole Blister (Max 2 Moles)

Waldey Blister (Never taken 2 Gesits)

Maybe Night terrors, but Slurrids do the same job.

1 Desparate Merc

Soulstone Miner

Gunsmith/Gunslinger (The former is better IMO)

And I could probably get by on that happily.

[Stonedog-7]

Hmmm, considering i already have:

Rogue Necro

3 Night Terrors

Shikome

3 Silurid

Arachnids Galore

Soulstone Miner

Freikorps

Gunslinger

Desperate Merc

Think i might convince myself to get the Kaeris box yet (been toying with that or just the Gunsmiths seperately)... Marcus, Jackalope and Molemen might be in the near future (possibly Waldegeists too, not sure on them yet)

And this has been a great thread to read through on the varied lists marcus can run with

[ukrocky]

Sounds like you have a great start already Stonedog! Marcus really doesn't need beasts (Contrary to popular belief!). The molemen I'm toying with taking out completely for night terrors as the night terrors superior movement shennanigans, and hard to kill and spirit make it better than a mole IMO for a defend me target, but the mole is so hard to kill sometimes whilst having decent damage! Waldegeists are ace if you play with woods... As for picking up Kaeris, well, I think fire gamin are poop so I'd rather pick up Kaeris, a gunsmith or two and a student of conflict before the box anyday!

[Stonedog-7]

Well, i think the box might be better for me if i'm going to run Kaeris as a leader and apparently the gamin are also useful with Ramos... but then i'm not that fond of the fire gamin minis so i may just do that and relegate Kaeris to purely henchman duty for the other 2 masters

May have to get marcus and test without Molemen at first, Spirit & Hard to Kill is indeed a nice combination... but hadn't thought of them as Defend Me targets, that could get downright nasty with the option of another night terror pulling it back out of combat on the off chance of survival

[Necromorph]

Well, I did it, I bought Marcus.

So, I already have a few beasts from other crews, and I really like the Rattler, though idk how well it will do most of the time. I also bought Kaeris' box, because I've been looking for an excuse to do that for a while and when I read she worked with Marcus that pretty much sealed the deal...so In sum...this is what I'm looking at as far as models I own for him.

Guild hounds x2

Silurids x3 (on loan from a friend with 6 haha)

Night Terrors x2

Shikome x2

Rattler

Kaeris (and her box contents obviously)

Student of Conflict

Canine Remains (are they still beasts? can't remember)

Jack Daw

Von Schill and his box

Misaki

Desperate Mercs x3

Various other mercs (taelor, hans, etc)

I think that's about it as far as what I own that would be compatible with Marcus. Aside from Waldgeists, which I plan to get anyways for lilith when her alt comes out, what more should I get. Molemen seem useful, but the cats I'm not so sure about. I've seen them used a bit and they never seem to do much except kill one model and die...not really my style. I'd assume that following would work pretty well for my purposes

SS Miner

Mech Rider

Coryphee

Molemen

Geists

Rogue Necro (i'll need it for my ressers so wth not?)

As I said, I like the Cats, but I don't know how much I'd like them, but what other models would you say would work with what I have?

Edit: Really looking forward to the mauler...idk why, since it's very slow and simple, but I just think it's the fact that it's a giant 6 armed bear...that and with a student of conflict it seems a bit more dirty haha.

Edited November 20, 2011 by Necromorph

[rancor709]

slateridge mauler +student of Conflict=profit. Delicious and absolutely dirty combo but such is the way of malifaux. Plus its a 6 armed bear! How can you not get a 6 armed bear model.

[ukrocky]

Well done Necromorph!

You more or less have all the models you need actually, I can't see anything glaringly obvious missing...I can't wait for the mauler either!

I would tend toward a cerberus over a necromancy (as IMO they're only worth it ressed or with Molly) but if you have ressers you might as well buy it

But yeah, you seem to have all the bases covered!

[rancor709]

General strategy question with marcus. Do you find any strategies particularly hard for marcus and crew to accomplish. General schemes to start match ups do you take. Are your scheme choices dicated by the strategy or the opponent. Thanks in advance

[ukrocky]

General strategy question with marcus. Do you find any strategies particularly hard for marcus and crew to accomplish. General schemes to start match ups do you take. Are your scheme choices dicated by the strategy or the opponent. Thanks in advance

Cheers for the question (And apologies that I STILL haven't done any BR!).

I'll go through the strats;

Line in the Sand - As much as I hate this one, it is in theory easy for Marcus to activate and deactivate them, the issue is stopping the opponents doing their thing late in the game if they converge on it as typical Marcus crews that are fast don't stick around. I just don't like this strategy for anyone, but it is in theory good.

Claim Jump - Good killing power means you should be able to win this one but Marcus might struggle vs other melee masters, ressers and hoffman.

Contain Power - Easy IMO. Kaeris to soften up then Marcus is great at putting at least 3 wounds on.

Deliver a Message - Easiest strat ever.

Destroy the Evidence - Pretty good, Marcus + slurrid + student can get the evidence first activation in shared, and with a fast, moveable crew Marcus and a couple slurrids can go for one at a time, with a miner going for the deployment zone one. Good times.

Distract - Pretty easy IMO.

Escape and Survive - Play as slaughter, but if need be can totally avoid picking off the odd thing (what I do vs Pandora/hoffman/deathstar styles), it's alright.

Plant Evidence - Easy.

Slaughter - I've found with Kaeris and student, Marcus is ace at killing, and does well. It's pretty good.

Supply Wagon - I'd play as slaughter but with a moleman, or Kaeris using/protecting the wagon.

Treasure Hunt - I hate this one. Marcus is ace when the opponents have it, and alright when Marcus is doing it. Kaeris and flame pillars is good.

Turf War - Play as slaughter but take a few night terrors.

What I'm trying to sum up is that Marcus is pretty good for any strategy, I don't think there's any that are unwinable, however there are a couple that are nigh on easy as.

As for schemes, well, when I play a game I like to challenge myself otherwise I'd take Sabotage every game. It's the easiest 2VP ever. As I've said with the strats, there aren't any that are really impossible.

From all the general one's theres the usual tricky ones (Frame for murder, grudge, steal relic), and if I'm at a tournament I tend to run these as early as possible, then move onto the medium schemes (Hold out, Bodyguard, Assassinate, Marcus' one, Power Ritual, Breakthrough) choosing them based on the strat and my crew selection for the strat, then finally with about 2 rounds left in the tournament I'll take the 'easy' ones (Kill Protegee, Stake a Claim, Sabotage)

Hope that helps! Sorry I can't be more specific on the strats, but they're all pretty OK for Marcus!

[Zwergenkrieger]

Very good read here!

One question: I read that you are impressed by the power of Kaeris, but nowhere do you explicitely explain why. What makes Kaeris such a good model?

And as a second question, I quote Rathnard, who didn´t get an answer so far.But the question is really interesting:

Ooh, good thread! I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

I have a question - How do you rate Kaeris vs Von Schill?

I haven't tried Kaeris before (don't have the model...yet) but I've taken to using Von Schill with Marcus as his ranged/beatstick model on occasion. I talked about him on the aethervox - he's very mobile and difficult to kill, tough with some good damage output and has a variety of tools for dealing with certain model types. He's also a little cheaper if taking a student with Kaeris is as important as you say it is.

From what I can tell, Kaeris can draw/cycle cards, might have some better damage potential and lets Marcus take Gunsmiths or other non-freikorps mercs. I've always thought that Von Schill and Kaeris are broadly equivalent choices, but I'm curious to know what you think.

[ukrocky]

With regards to the first question on Kaeris;

She has to have a student, now take a typical game. Turn 1, she and the student move up to behind some cover that the enemy can't see through but so she's about 12" on the board.

Turn 2, she gains fast, flies over for 1, shoots for 1, immolates for casting expert, jumps back behind cover for fast. This makes her exceedingly difficult to catch, whilst pumping out a reliable(ish) 7 damage a turn (soulstone on the cast flip almost every time), which is, well, brutal.

Add onto this the various ways of people trying to kill a model doing this (hiding);

- Hit her with blasts. Doesn't work and heals her.

- Jump onto her in combat. If you hit her, she has armour, and use soulstones, you take a wound and a burning counter meaning when she activates she can recieve fast and just cast immolate 4 times on you.

- Shoot her. Well, you can't if you can't see her.

Even if you put wounds on to her, she has healing mechanisms

She's so hard to catch, I know alot of people have taken Assassinate against her in our games assuming she's easy to kill, but my word she hardly ever dies. I've had Kirai throw 3 shikome at her before she went down to the 4th.

I take her as a '14ss' model, meaning +2ss, her and a student, and when compared with a coryphee she does comparable amounts of damage, and is much harder to kill IMO.

She also has surge to cycle cards, card drawing for wounds and is great at managing hands when combined with a surge master (marcus/tina/Ramos).

All in all, she's very rarely underperformed and people have learnt to aim for the student before her because she becomes a fair bit less useful, but if they're near the student, they're near her anyway.

Moving onto the second question, apologies for not answering first time Rathnard, but my honest answer is, I don't know. I have Von Schill in my Marcus case, but Kaeris is my go to girl. I'll try get some games in with VS as I simply haven't had any, despite playing against him, I'd be more scared to see a Kaeris+student across the board than a VS model. Essentially I think whilst he is a toolbox, Marcus has access to the majority of the tools already and the things VS does, Kaeris can match or better him.

As said, no experience with VS so I'll have to get back to you all!

[Necromorph]

I can't wait to try out Kaeris!

On the subject of Von schill, I haven't used him with Marcus but I have a lot of experience with him, so on speculation I can say that he probably wouldn't be bad with marcus. Granted, he's more expensive than Kaeris but here's some pros:

Solid ranged support with plenty of dg and triggers.

Mobile as hell, which is great because it helps him keep up with Marcus and support him in close.

Lots of buffs (not all of them are Korps specific) and Augmetic Jump is great for a hit and run style of crew (shikome and rattlers and such).

Slow to die on a Ss user is amazing, he'll stick around for a while.

As for a comparison between him and Kaeris, I can't say. His cost is an issue, but he brings a lot to the table. Kaeris can probably pump out more hurt in general, but Von Schill is.much more valuable in terms of.overall support. I'll have to try them both out and see.

[rancor709]

Thanks for the response Ukrocky. I'll be picking up marcus later this weekend if all goes right. He'll complement or at least can use a lot of what I have already in my box. And he seems like a blast to play and very different from my standard Seamus/Nico Resser crews.

[rancor709]

I'm taking the plundge and buying marcus. Book 3 fluff sealed it plus I am a fan of the old 80's cartoon Bravestar which marcus reminds me of. Plus he complements my minis I already own.

For initial purchasing I would be fine doing

Marcus blister

Sulrrids blister

Mole blister

Were's waldy

Soulstone miner

Jackalope

Trying to keep my initial marcus purchase under 80bucks us.

I already have

Shikomex1

Convict gunslinger

Rogue necromancy

2xnight terrors

Vonschill

Jack daw

[Rathnard]

Thanks for the response regarding Kaeris vs Von Schill guys.

I finally took her in a game yesterday, but i didn't take the student and I found her to be pretty useless actually. Hitting things in cover was a real problem and playing vs Leveticus, I really didn't want to give him a chance to nuke her. I did manage a turn where i killed 3 steampunks in a single activation but other than that, she wound up being pretty underwhelming.

In any case, Im not willing to give up on her yet. If nothing else, I still want to try the gunsmith and I can't do that with Von Schill in my crew. I'll proxy a student and see how she goes i suppose. :smugpuppet1

[brdparker]

I finally took her in a game yesterday, but i didn't take the student and I found her to be pretty useless actually. Hitting things in cover was a real problem and playing vs Leveticus, I really didn't want to give him a chance to nuke her. I did manage a turn where i killed 3 steampunks in a single activation but other than that, she wound up being pretty underwhelming.

In any case, Im not willing to give up on her yet. If nothing else, I still want to try the gunsmith and I can't do that with Von Schill in my crew. I'll proxy a student and see how she goes i suppose. :smugpuppet1

Were you able to raptor/Myranda her? That's the primary use I could see of her in a Marcus crew?

[Rathnard]

I did manage to raptor both Kaeris and the gunsmith, which was pretty cool and surprisingly easy, but i didn't take Myranda and in the end it made little difference.