Choice of mid range melee minion?

[Adran]

I'm playing a friendly tournement in a couple of weeks (they do exist in the UK, and aren't all soap operas) and am thinking of mainly going Rasputina.

I've settled on most of my core list, but am left with 8 points and I feel I need a melee support model.

The Choices I can see are

Large Steampunk arachnid

Soulstone miner

Convict Gunslinger

Ronin.

I can easily move the model to around the middle of the table without it activating, so mobility is not a vital part of the skills, I need something to save 'Tina when she gets locked into combat.

I'm lookign for ideas, so feel free to suggest other models as well as your opinion on these 4

I'd like some of those 8 stones to join my cache, but if there is an 8 pt model that is awesome, I'm not goign to rule it out.

the only rules are is the model has to already be released as its no proxys.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Does it have to be a currently released model, or are you allowed to proxy something from book three? If you are and feel like doing so I recommend The Slate Ridge Mauler, other than that I think yor above choices seem solid.

[Wormstrum]

Its too bad you don't have 1 more point or Joss would be perfect for this role.

That being said Johan is another good melee beat stick. 6ss for a magic weapon that can flurry for 3/4/6 (+1 if you hit a tome) is pretty solid, especially with his other abilities.

Out of what you listed though I'm most partial to the convict gunslinger. He's not really a melee model, but his damage potential is so crazy he's a good choice for any crew.

Another option would be Taelor. She doesn't have as much damage potential as Johan, but with hammerstrike and knockback she can easily push people off of 'Tina. Also, she has menace which could be used to prevent people from charging 'Tina in the first place.

[Adran]

I've got no MS and U, so its 7 points for Johan. He is a possible, but not sure at that cost and with no boost to his Cb he beats the other choices.

Taelor will cost me 9, so I don't have the stones.

Its no proxy models so I can't use the Slate Ridge Mauler or the Blessed of December.

I'm counting the Gunfighter on the Convict as enough to give the melee protection. It may or may not, thats what I don't know, and looking for other ideas.

[Dracomax]

I think the large steampunk arachnid would be a decent choice, moreso if you are going up against people with armor.

Second Taelor and Johan.

Gunsmith and Mechanical rider should be out soon, and they look like they might be decent, but I think stone for stone, your best bet right now is probably the large arachnid for 5.

If you want beefier protection, you are going to be using most of those stones.

If you are looking for something that can do moderate amounts of damage (but not really put the hurt on) A freikorpsman might be worth looking at--they have decent defense, some of the best armor in the game, and an immunity to pulses, auras and blasts.

Edited October 14, 2011 by Dracomax

[Nephalumps]

Due to the "no proxies" restriction, I'd say your best bet is probably the Soulstone Miner. It can tunnel about, staying safe until you need it, and if you really need to grind down something that's come for Rasputina, it can pop up and lay into it (with Overdrive, if necessary.)

Johan, even without M&SU, is still pretty beefy. He's got a great melee range, good damage, and Flurry for damage output. Even better: the hammer is magical (great against all those spirits floating around nowadays,) and it ignores Armor (something a lot of the big beasties trying to eat Rasputina are likely to have.) You could have him hang next to Rasputina so that he can club anything that tries to get her, and he can still contribute with his gun.

Others attest to the Convict Gunslinger, but I haven't had any luck with him. Every game I take him, he gets 1, maybe 2, shots off, then is unceremoniously dispatched. Rasputina's crew doesn't necessarily need the extra ranged support, and I don't see him providing "melee" support, beyond simply being able to always attack with his guns. However, if you can get off a juicy Suppressing Fire, you could jam your opponent up, which would give you more time to icy blast them into smithereens.

Overall, I think the Miner is the strongest melee choice; doubly so because it comes in under your 8 SS budget, giving you two more for your cache.

[Wormstrum]

Even without the +2cb I've seen Johan go absolutely ballistic on people. Cb5 isn't terrible, especially given that most melee specialists typically have only 5-6df save for a few models like lilith and the coryphee duet.

But yeah, without a M&SU member he does cost an extra stone. Because of that I'd say its a toss up between Johan or the miner depending on how much you want to have 1 more ss in your cache.

[Nephalumps]

One other thing to consider: the Soulstone Miner can be either a boon to your SS, or an additional burden. Most of its nastier abilities cost you a SS; conversely, burrowing for SS takes him out of the game that turn (and probably the next as well.)

So, its a model that could just as easily eat into that extra cache you get by only spending 6 SS of your 8 SS budget.

On one hand, that could suck, but on the other hand, it would be nice to have that flexibility. I don't remember Rasputina being particularly SS hoggish, so maybe she can afford to toss a few it's way during the game for shenanigans?

EDIT: Also:

Even without the +2cb I've seen Johan go absolutely ballistic on people. Cb5 isn't terrible, especially given that most melee specialists typically have only 5-6df save for a few models like lilith and the coryphee duet.

This is a good point. Its also worth noting that a lot of the "big" combat models have Df 4, so Cb 5 actually puts Johan on a good curve for clubbing big models to death.

Edited October 14, 2011 by Nephalumps

[Adran]

I tried the Miner, and wasn't hugely impressed with it in melee. I appeared next to Johan, spent a soulstone for the melee master, holding a high crow in hand for when I hoped to kill him, and I didn't do much more than scratch him. He turned and smashed me into little pieces in 1 hit.

I guess I should have burrowed as my last action point, (presumably then keeping the melee master for the subsequent activation) but all the self damage that the miner does doesn't seem to add up to its damage output.

Melee expert seems a much better bet, although I can't argue with the ability to travel the board.

[AcesOfBooks]

I had this dilemma as well. (although have 7ss) I was looking at myranda due to her versatility

[Nephalumps]

I tried the Miner, and wasn't hugely impressed with it in melee. I appeared next to Johan, spent a soulstone for the melee master, holding a high crow in hand for when I hoped to kill him, and I didn't do much more than scratch him. He turned and smashed me into little pieces in 1 hit.

I guess I should have burrowed as my last action point, (presumably then keeping the melee master for the subsequent activation) but all the self damage that the miner does doesn't seem to add up to its damage output.

Melee expert seems a much better bet, although I can't argue with the ability to travel the board.

That's definitely one of the downsides of the Soulstone Miner: it can get a lot of attacks, but its not going to be dumping out a lot of damage, especially if your target ends up being dodgy with Df flips.

For Marcus, I'm hoping to combine Feral/Stare Down with the volume of attacks to have it completely drill something to death, but the sequencing with that is pretty tricky (since there's a gap between Marcus debuffing and Miner going.)

I think you hit the best point for the Miner: its a quick model, and its Tunneling ability allows it to traverse the table pretty safely. I think its a good combination of fast, and potentially a lot of attacks, but I'm also having trouble reconciling its self-damaging traits; especially when coupled with it gaining Insignificant at half Wds.

I had this dilemma as well. (although have 7ss) I was looking at myranda due to her versatility

The tricky thing about Myranda is that, in my experience, she's only really "versatile" if you're running Beasts that she can heal/Companion.

Otherwise, you're best off transforming into a Shikome/Mauler/Whatever as soon as you get the high :tomes in your hand, and using subsequent turns getting her stuck in.

Getting a Shikome in any Arcanist crew for -1 SS cost is pretty cool in and of itself, and if you get a hot set of hands you can pull off some very interesting Shapechange sequences.

However, its also reliant on getting a 9:tomes+ (either in hand, or on a lucky flip,) first or second turn, to allow for Shapechanging prior to combat. The odds of that happening aren't terrible, but it is a dependency that needs to be considered.

Others have advocated Raptor/Shapechange/Animal Instincts shenanigans, but in my experience this sequence is really card intensive so it's not really worth it for a Minion. For Master casting shenanigans, possibly, but I don't own any other Arcanist Masters. Yet.