brdparker Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 I love unorthodox lists, and Hamelin the Ratcatcher leads itself to some weird combos that would otherwise never come up due to Growing Influence: Crews containing this model may hire one Ht 1 model from any Faction. If the model activates outside of 10" of this model, it is sacrificed at the end of its activation. Are most of them worth it? Probably not, especially since Hamelin itself costs +1 unless you're playing Outcast, as does the Ht. 1 out-of-faction character you choose. But Hamelin himself is a very strong unit with good threat range and great spells, so that helps to offset the penalty. How does this come into play with McM? Unfortunately, the poor guy's got very few things that can be used to mitigate the effect of terrifying. He has no models that can give him bonuses to Wp. The belles' Lure can be used to get him out of a model's terrifying range, but then he still has to deal with it again if he wants to attack that same model later on. The Necrotic Machine has a nice way around it by giving a model the undead characteristic... except that ability targets a non-master only. Then you get into crews with a lot of Terrifying (I'm looking at you, Dreamer), and you won't be able to do much with your master. Unless... But wait! Hamelin-sling into the Watcher? Costs 3 (4 hiring out of faction), but what does it give you? - A Rg 16, Cb 6:rams with an auto-trigger to nullify Terrifying for the turn, Light Target. Cb's pretty good, and it's got a long enough Rg that once in place, it should be able to take 2 pot shots/turn. Sure they can cheat, the defense but then that's cards out of their hand, which is still a benefit. - The spread of the weapon is 0/0/1, so unless you do severe, you're not going to risk damaging McM when firing into melee. You would still miss your target on the ranged flip, but there is less penalty for doing so. Not to mention the fact that McM doesn't block LOS due to Fly High. - Ideally, you want to activate McMourning later in the round anyway, so it's not out of the way to activate the Watcher before Douglas activates to prevent him from making a terrifying flip when he does activate. - If there are two terrifying models, ping them both. Otherwise, use the (1) action Forward Observer to see what your next card is (and put it on the bottom if you wish). - Slow to Die can be useful in case of, but usually this bugger will stay out of attacking range (right there with Hamelin). So then what does Hamelin himself give you? - The times I've played McM and have been direly in trouble it's when I've had to activate him early so he can cut and keep himself alive. With Hamelin's (1) Obey, you can strike or charge with the doc, healing some and delaying his activation a little more, which can be crucial for his timing. - The Belles can give Slow to a model (or more than one), McMourning can make it so you can't make (0) actions, and Hamelin? Well, talk about a crew that can lock you down, he can make it so that you can ONLY take walk actions in a turn. - Against high Wp units, release the Hounds (Canine Remains)! Their trigger can lower the Wp of a model by 2 for the game, which is a good interval, and can help Hamelin get his spells to hit home. Again, is it worth it? Depends on the game I'm sure. It's a beefy 14 pt. buy-in, but it seems pretty effective at helping McMourning make his precise cuts that he needs to get in. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntroll Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 Von Schill's (0) Hard-Ass ability gives friendly models +4 Wp on Morale duels in a 10" aura. And he can do a LOT of useful things other than that, and with McM's starting SS of 6 you can easily get 8 SS, which makes him ridiculosly hard to kill due to his Slow to Die. There is a reason why I recommend him in almost every thread about McMourning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brdparker Posted January 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) Von Schill's (0) Hard-Ass ability gives friendly models +4 Wp on Morale duels in a 10" aura. And he can do a LOT of useful things other than that, and with McM's starting SS of 6 you can easily get 8 SS, which makes him ridiculosly hard to kill due to his Slow to Die. There is a reason why I recommend him in almost every thread about McMourning And again, you don't mind activating later in the round, after VS. Nice... I really do need to pick up that model. Kind of a shame though. I really am trying to find a solid reason to use Growing Influence, and it's really difficult. Well, perhaps in a later book. Though I have often wondered about Henchmen not leading a crews and using SS's. So your'e saying that's legal? I need to go back to the book, but I thought only the leader had Use Soulstone. Edited January 7, 2012 by brdparker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratty Posted January 7, 2012 Report Share Posted January 7, 2012 TBH almost all your crew is immune to Terrifying. if your opponents crew is not entirely filled with Terrifying models just drop a Rogue Necro on their head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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