Crooked men, worth it?

[Huang Da Wei]

I have played a few games with these little guys and it seems to me they are only really good when played with Belles. Without them how can I get my targets pulled onto the markers.

[rancor709]

A belle tends to help them out. Alternatives is to use something like dead rider. Shafted is something they can do. They are a nifty melee piece with a paralyze trigger and an ini consistent ranged attack. One is potentially useful for some area denial and as a bodyguard blocker against ranged attacks with nicodem. But really shafted is to try and block aomething moving within 2" of where you place ut.

[LordZombie]

They are also good at blocking the path for a charge and as noted before, good for placing around an objective. No one is going to just walk over one, but you can at least try and force them over the counter.

[Mach_5]

I will usually try to fit one in the crew.

They are very well protected from ranged attacks with +2Df and Evasive 2.

Cave In is amazing at cc:11 Rg: 10 Dg: 2/2:blast:blast/4:blast:blast:blast. Even getting a single moderate or severe hit against one of your opponents models the blast damage really adds up.

The paralyze melee trigger is great; and given the opportunity to hit that against a key enemy model the high crow is well worth it.

Shafted is nice, but with the high casting requirement (needs a 9 or higher) I don't use it often. Like rancor709 said, you ideally place it somewhere you don't want your opponent to go (ie on/near an objective). If you have the belle or the dead rider and nothing better to do with any of them (or you have a surplus of 9+ cards in your hand) then placing the marker to lure/drag an enemy onto the marker can be amusing.

[rancor709]

Remember you can target your own models to help control the duels on cave in to maximize. Blasts.

[Mach_5]

Definitely! I just find so much of my stuff is Hard to Wound it often costs me two high cards and a low card; one to cheat the attack up and a low to cheat the defense down just to get a straight flip, and potentially a second high card to cheat the damage. Still, on the bright side you don't give your opponent the chance to resist at all this way so it's definitely a good one to keep in mind.

:Powerful_Puppet:

[morpsele]

Don't forget that we have some model that does not have the H2W caractéristique. You have the Chihuahua and the night terror. I like to start some of my stuff on the Night Terror due to there Spirit Nature you would only get 1 or 2 wds on them for the blast so it's not a bad trade off.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Don't forget, if there is a model you want to target with something that uses def as the defending stat it can be worthwhile to go into def stance on that model first, because you are getting the ability to flip two additional cards on the def flip, but you don't have to chose the highest, you could use it to fish for the lowest card in order to be able to overcome the negative from hard to wound.

[Mach_5]

Don't forget that we have some model that does not have the H2W caractéristique. You have the Chihuahua and the night terror. I like to start some of my stuff on the Night Terror due to there Spirit Nature you would only get 1 or 2 wds on them for the blast so it's not a bad trade off.

Except that Cave In is a spell so the spirit suffers the full damage! I personally play Nicodem most often so haven't yet put the Chihuahua on the table as anything other than a canine remains as yet.

Don't forget, if there is a model you want to target with something that uses def as the defending stat it can be worthwhile to go into def stance on that model first, because you are getting the ability to flip two additional cards on the def flip, but you don't have to chose the highest, you could use it to fish for the lowest card in order to be able to overcome the negative from hard to wound.

Brilliant!

[morpsele]

Sorry i had forgotten the part that it was a spell.

[Huang Da Wei]

Seems like I was focussing too much on dragging people onto the marker.

Forgot that I managed to kill Kirai and 3 seishin with the cave in...doh!!!

[Mach_5]

Yeah... Crooked Men are almost too good against Kirai.

[Valcurdra]

Crooked men are a great unit IMO but there spells are over rated mainly because of there low ca stat. Shafted is ok for guarding space but costs a 9 to cast and trying to drag people into the marker requires too many resources which in most cases will be better spent else ware.

Cave in is a pretty good spell but its unlikely you will get too many moderate or severe blasts with it.

Crooked men are pretty good in other ways. They have high defense vs ranged and blast, high wp, really nice melee damage and paralysis on a crow.

Add this all up and you have a pretty useful and versatile unit for only 4ss.

Just don't get seduced into trying to cheeze your opponents with shafted. Its unlikely you will get much of a result out of it.

[morpsele]

I was wondering If the shafted marker could be cheated. I don't think it can but i am just wondering and that would me way to strong.

[Oscilioth]

It can't be Cheated, if it's not a Simple or Opposed Duel, or a Damage Flip then a model can only cheat a flip if it is explicitly stated it is allowed to, as in the Case or Mortimer's Exhume, as per page 24 of the Rules Manual.

[morpsele]

Thank you very Much. I still love them.

[Oscilioth]

Oh, me too. They're definitely worth a 4SS Cost, with the limited ranged support in the Resurrectionists the Crooked Men offer up some invaluable range. Shafted works well in Strategies and Schemes where area denial is beneficial, and at any point you find an important choke point forming.

Not to mention they are decent hand to hand fighters with some good triggers.

Not to be scoffed at.

[SpiralngCadavr]

Just don't get seduced into trying to cheeze your opponents with shafted. Its unlikely you will get much of a result out of it.

Only used them in 3 (4?) games, but a black joker came up when Bad Juju returned to play and advanced in range of my crew

[Dreygan]

Hrm.... you rezzers should hide your threads better... I think shooting Leveticus in the back with shafted if he doesnt die earlier in the turn sounds like a splended idea!

[Twisted Metal]

Yeah... Crooked Men are almost too good against Kirai.

Except when Kirai Sacs a single Seishin to make everything around it immune to blasts.

[CRC]

But then you killed a valuable enemy unit without spending a single AP, just by activating a 4 point model.

A 4 point model that still gets to do stuff.e

[Valcurdra]

Lol if my opponent sacrafices a seishin at the start of a crooked mans activation then that is a huge win for me and he will be running out pretty quickly.

[RevYolution]

Has anyone used more than 2 of them in a game? I really have never seen the need for all three that come in the blister.

[Calmdown]

To answer the OP, in a word; no.

They're not really good for anything. They suffer from 'too low stats, too low movement, too luck-dependant' syndrome and they're not even hard to wound.

Yes they can be spectacular when someone flips a joker on a Shafted or similar, but relying on luck doesn't win you games. Solid models do, these aren't one unfortunately.

[Tigerstyle]

I've run one or two most times with Nicodem as a sort of bodyguard and to give a bit of ranged attack with Cave In.

Bolster Undead makes them go from average to pretty solid in melee (Cb 7 with that nasty paralyzed trigger, Df 6). At range, they'll be Df 8.