Help me create a Collodi Tactica

[011121]

I've been kicking around ideas for a Collodi Tactica, something much more in depth than what you find at Pullmyfinger, more in line with the Pandora Tactica by Karn. But I'm a lazy lazy man, so I'll be posting snippets here and inviting all of you to make your own contributions or challenge my assertions.

Once it seems like we've plumbed the depths I'll stick it all together into a doc and host it on googledocs.

Ready, Set, Strategerize.

---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:10 PM ----------

The Master Manipulator - Tactic

A puppeteer who uses marionettes is referred to as a manipulator, and that's Collodi through and through. This tactic is the quintessential alpha strike by collodi using his marionettes to do the damage.

Range- Almost unlimited but the further away the attack comes from the fewer total attacks as you use marionettes for movement instead of range. If the target is within 5" you can make ~19 marionette attacks. At 16" away you can get ~10 attacks. At 32" away you're looking at ~2 attacks. The exact number of attacks depends on the ability to discard cards for flurry and the amount of melee expert given by Breathe Life.

Damage Potential- Average damage per attack by defense of the target assuming no defensive abilities that cause negative flips or armor:

1: 1.32

2: 1.16

3: 1.02

4: 0.88

5: 0.73

6: 0.62

7: 0.50

8: 0.41

9: 0.32

10: 0.25

So an attack from 16" away at a target with a def of 6 will do an average of 6 points of damage (10 atacks x .62 damage/attack). Damage done is reduced in the case if multiple targets as flurry can only target a single target.

Set Up- Ideally you want Collodi and all the marionettes you plan to attack with to start within 4" and none further than 6" away. Collodi goes first, uses (2) Puppet Show to give all the marionettes fast, then casts (1) Breathe Life with casting expert to give 2-4 of the marionettes melee expert. Collodi ends his turn with Holding the Strings activating the marionettes to go together immediately (which is why you want them all within 6" of Collodi initially even the ones that are just being used to move, otherwise instead of an alpha strike you have to trade activations with the opponent).

Attack Procedure- Move towards the target using as many marionettes as necessary. Once Collodi is close to the target additional marionettes can (0) Retract to Collodi with full ap. A marionette can flurry (at the cost of one card) which when added to fast and melee expert gives a total of 5 attacks.

Post Attack- If the target is killed before all marionettes are committed the remaining marionettes can either go after additional close by targets or be used to pull Collodi back away from the site of the hideous dismembering.

Risks- Depending on the range the target was from Collodi before the attack, most of the marionettes and Collodi are likely to be clustered together. Enemy pulses and blasts may cause carnage among the closely packed dolls. Because the alpha strike condenses so many activations into one it is likely to come early in he turn, leaving lots of opportunities for the enemy to counterattack the dolls with little risk. Additionally this attack is quite card intensive as you are discarding 1-4 cards for flurries plus any cheating.

---------- Post added at 07:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:54 PM ----------

Gettin Boogey with It- Tactic

Those oogey boogey Stitched Togethers allow Collodi to make a WP based assault upon the enemy.

Range- Collodi can reach the stitched from anywhere on the table but the Stitched need to be close to the enemy already. Because of the relatively short range this tactic is ideal for situations in which you know the enemy is heading towards a specific part of the table (as when you have supply wagon or treasure hunt strategy).

Damage Potential-

Gamble Your Life, damage done by target wp

1: 3.86

2: 3.63

3: 3.36

4: 3.09

5: 2.84

6: 2.56

7: 2.28

8: 1.98

9: 1.68

10: 1.42

Gamble Your Life, damage taken by target wp

1: 0.45

2: 0.59

3: 0.77

4: 0.97

5: 1.16

6: 1.42

7: 1.68

8: 1.97

9: 2.28

10: 2.55

Deepest Fear, damage done by target wp

1: 1.86

2: 1.67

3: 1.48

4: 1.31

5: 1.12

6: 0.93

7: 0.77

8: 0.64

9: 0.51

10: 0.40

Set Up- The stitched should ideally be within 6" of the enemy but can be up to 14" away (two 4" walks plus one (1) Gamble your Life with fast). If Collodi is not within 4" of the stitched, begin by activating a marionette who pulls Collodi towards the stitched. The opponent gets a turn. Repeat until Collodi is within 4" of the stitched's current location AND within 4" of where the stitched plans to be for it's attack (this should always be doable as the stitched has a walk of 4"). Collodi goes after the opponent's turn and uses (2) Puppet Show to give the stitched fast and casting expert to cast (1) Breathe Life to give the stitched Casting Expert. Finally Collodi uses (0) Doll Friend to activate a Stitched.

Attack Procedure- The Stitched Together move forward if necessary (remaining within 4" of Collodi to get his +2 WP bonus). Spend any general AP not used for walking to get in range to use (1) Gamble Your Life. Casting Expert can be used for a cast of (1) Deepest Fear. Against heavily armored enemies, or enemies with very high Wp/low Df deepest Fear may be better than Gamble your Life. It may be advantageous to use (0) Gamble ahead of time to drain cards from the enemy hand or (0) Creepy Fog to protect the Stitched and Collodi/Marionettes from ranged retaliation. Repeat with any additional Stitched Togethers in range of Collodi. Be careful not to block line of sight for other stitched with creepy fog.

Post Attack- Unused marionettes can be used to pull Collodi back to a safer position, but if you do and the opponent kills the stitched you will miss out on the wp bonus for the Does Not Die reactivation. It may be better to use the creepy fog to limit reprisals.

Risks- since the attack is potentially spread across several activations the enemy has opportunities to see it coming and move to negate it. Gamble Your Life has the potential to back fire but with a WP 8 it's not a big risk against most opponents. The bigger risk is that the attack relies on knowing where the enemy will go so that you can have your stitched nearby.

---------- Post added at 08:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:44 PM ----------

Pull my.. String- Movement Shenanigans

Collodi possesses a pretty unique movement method hat makes him one of the fastest if not the very fastest master in Malifaux. By himself Collodi is a slug with a walk of 2 and charge of 5, but walking is for saps. Collodi really moves by being pulled by his marionettes.

Process-

1) activate a marionette who immediately is pushed toward Collodi until within 8".

2) usually the marionette will now (0) Retract into base contact with Collodi, touching his base on whatever side is towards the direction he is to be moved.

3) Marionette walks up to 5" from Collodi.

4) Marionette uses the (1) Pull Strings action to move up to 5" more (up to the maximum of 8" away from Collodi and pulls Collodi into base contact with it. Yes you can put Collodi on whatever side of the marionette you want!

5) repeat steps 1-4 with additional marionettes

Using this technique Collodi can move more than 32" in one turn with 4 marionettes. The "more than" is due to using the base to base shenanigans (steps 2 and 4) to get a couple more inches.

Important note- Collodi's Filled with Stones spell reduces a doll's movement by -1/-1 but if used on a marionette it does not slow down Collodi as a 4" walk pls a 4" Pull Strings still gets the marionette to the maximum 8" away from Collodi that they can get to anyway.

Edited August 30, 2012 by 011121

[birdbath]

Looks very good mate, I will be reading this in full tonight...

[nurglez]

Pull my.. String- Movement Shenanigans

Collodi possesses a pretty unique movement method hat makes him one of the fastest if not the very fastest master in Malifaux. By himself Collodi is a slug with a walk of 2 and charge of 5, but walking is for saps. Collodi really moves by being pulled by his marionettes.

Process-

1) activate a marionette who immediately is pushed toward Collodi until within 8".

2) usually the marionette will now (0) Retract into base contact with Collodi, touching his base on whatever side is towards the direction he is to be moved.

3) Marionette walks up to 5" from Collodi.

4) Marionette uses the (1) Pull Strings action to move up to 5" more (up to the maximum of 8" away from Collodi and pulls Collodi into base contact with it. Yes you can put Collodi on whatever side of the marionette you want!

5) repeat steps 1-4 with additional marionettes

Using this technique Collodi can move more than 32" in one turn with 4 marionettes. The "more than" is due to using the base to base shenanigans (steps 2 and 4) to get a couple more inches.

.

I've played 3 games so far with Collodi, and the base to any part of the base thing seems off. Do you have a rule quote to support that? So I can bring it to my friends. I have the faq but haven't gotten around to reading it.

I've had a draw, a loss and a win. I really like the horde of models, its very different to my usual style of play

[011121]

Okay there are two different parts:

(0) Retract says "Push this model into base contact with a friendly Collodi" According to the FAQ pushes do not have to be straight towards the target unless they say "towards." So as long as there exists some path for you to push to whatever side of Collodi you want you are allowed to.

see this pic in the errata: http://malifaux.com/Errata.php#PushSec

the other is (1) Pull Strings which says "...Move a friendly Collodi into base contact with this model after the move..." Now it would be clearer here if they'd said "push" instead of "move" but it seems like the same principle applies. It never says you have to move him directly towards the marionette only that you move it into base contact.

[011121]

Let's Talk Totems- Model Choice

What's that you say, Collodi can never know the sweet bliss of a totem? Not so. In any game where he's acting as henchman to another Master he can attach a totem and get the benefits thereof. When henching for neverborn masters, Collodi can attach the Primordial Magic, Malifaux Child, or Student of Conflict. When working for Leveticus Collodi has the rather bizarre choice of the Necrotic Machine or the Grave Spirit. *shrug*

So let's talk totems.

The Malifaux Child is easily the most thematic, which is pretty cool, but it does very little for Collodi otherwise. The only (1) spell of Collodi's that will routinely be of use is Breathe Life. The Malifaux Child will need 12+ of masks to cast it. Not great. The Child lacks any ability to keep up with Collodi. It has no combat ability to speak of.

Primordial Magic...uh actually I don't know as for some reason it isn't in the PDF o the first book models (or not in mine anyway). Generally speaking I believe it has a much better ability to cast Breathe Life but still has no ability to keep up with Collodi which limits usefulness. It could stay with Stitched or Effigies to provide support to these slower troops.

Student of Conflict...same case as the Primordial Magic. Anyone know where to get its stats? As I understand it SoC can provide fast to Collodi as an All action. That's nice but again without an ability to keep up it's not terribly useful.

Necrotic Machine...is interesting. It's cheap, has a nasty poison trigger. Essentially, if it gets the trigger, it's total damage is 8/8/10 over the course of 3 turns. It's casting is nothing special, but it a pretty nasty combat minion for 2ss.

Grave Spirit...is actually also kind of interesting. It's main benefit of granting armor to an undead doesn't work for Collodi. On the other hand it can keep up due to link and so may be a better extra buffer through Magical Extension for the little dollies...except it's casting sucks. In a pinch it could use a soulstone to cast a badly needed buff. It is only 1ss.

Overall totem options aren't must takes but can in cases offer a little flexibility for a small investment or an unexpected form of attack (as with the necrotic machine's horrific poison). 19/20 games you probably won't take one but keep it in mind.

[DarcXON]

I think you should read the Errata about "Push into Based Contact" shenanigans. Or Push to Within!

Really give it a read, it will rock your world.

Short Explanation -- it's a place effect now

---------- Post added at 08:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:15 AM ----------

RM p37 - Errata Pushes Errata

Pushes into Base to Base

When an Ability tells you to Push a model into Base to Base, simply Place the model so it's touching the base of the target model.

Push to Within

When an Ability tells you to Push a model to within x" of another model. Place the model at any point where a portion of its base is within x" of the target model.

If it says Push to completely within x", you must Place the model so no part of the base is more than x" away from the target model.

[Undisclosed]

Primordial Magic/Student of Conflict would be in Books 1 and 1.5. I suppose they never got a v2 card.

[DarcXON]

Primordial Magic does not need suits for Dismantle, and gives you and extra card.

[011121]

I did notice that in the push errata but didn't trust that I was reading it right. That is pretty sweet that it's basically a place effect now.

[EnternalVoid]

Let's Talk Totems- Model Choice

What's that you say, Collodi can never know the sweet bliss of a totem? Not so. In any game where he's acting as henchman to another Master he can attach a totem and get the benefits thereof. When henching for neverborn masters, Collodi can attach the Primordial Magic, Malifaux Child, or Student of Conflict. When working for Leveticus Collodi has the rather bizarre choice of the Necrotic Machine or the Grave Spirit. *shrug*

So let's talk totems.

Something to add to this as you missed a little of the jist in my opinion.

If you have the option of a totem then like you said, you are playing as a henchman for a master. If you are taking the totem you are often taking it for another purpose then pure support of Collodi as most totems are not giving him a great deal of support due to his spell and playstyle. Most take it for what it can do for the Master or the rest of the minions.

Malifaux Child: ... Don't take it unless you are playing around. Seriously not worth it. If you are playing as a Neverborn faction it even counts as a Mercenary. Not worth it.

Primordial Magic: Now we are getting somewhere at least. It has a Mask and Tome in its Casting for one but perhaps more importantly it has Arcane Reservoir. An extra card is always nice. With both a tome and mask it can cast Dismantle if it wants and with a casting of 5 it can needs only a 9 to get off. A 10 for Breath of Life but with its built it will at least affect two models. You can have it move with Stitched for example giving them Casting Expert if you want.

That said you can also take a Arcane Effigy and get alot of the benifits of this and still have other uses. Taking it is alot more based on if you are getting another source of Arcane Reservoir.

Student of Conflict: This one is actually in my opinion one of the harder choices. First off you can't take the kid with Levi so it means you are going Neverborn, which means he costs 4ss. Heavy price. Also his casting is not that good.

But his ability to hand out fast is not limited to just his boss, he can give Fast to any model. For example he can give Zoriada Fast allowing her to make a Vodoo Doll, cast a spell, and then fly if she wants. Or move so she can see her prey, make the Vodoo Doll, and then cast a spell. Or even just go Raven and fly three times and cross most of a board in a single go. She can even Obey the Student to charge towards your own models in the back to try and keep it moving forward if it goes and uses its (All) action.

You can give key models that are not dolls fast and they don't have to be all around Collodi. Want to help that Widow Weaver out or that terror tot going for an objective? Fast helps. Also he has a spell that removes Insiginifant from models till their next activation. Helpful for some scenerios or times where you need options. He could tag that Wicked Doll in your deployment with a treasure chest with this spell after it has activated so it counts for full Vp while Collodi is off elsewhere insuring they can't reach it or completing something else.

Necrotic Machine: Can't comment here as I have not played against one and do not have the card. I have heard about them but I will not comment with out more hard evidence.

Grave Spirit: If you are taking the Grave Spirit you are playing Levi with Collodi. That means you are taking him so you can give a undead model in Levi's Force Armor +2. If Levi took something else like a Dead Rider or something then this might be worth it.

As I said, it is often not what the Totem can do for Collodi as much as what it can bring to a force as a whole.

[011121]

I see your point but since the idea is a collodi tactica I'm focused on what they'd bring to him and his forces in particular.

[EnternalVoid]

But if you have the option of those totems then he is being taken with a master, as which point it is another aspect he can bring to the crew by merely being a henchmen in another Master's crew. While you might want to focus on Collodi if you even bring up the option of totems you have to accept that he will be in a force where he is a henchmen to a master and it becomes more what he can bring to the master's force. If that is the case I would avoid discussing totems in general and leave it to a section to which focuses on what Collodi as a henchman for a master gives you.

[Korrosion]

At the end of the alpha strike if the target is still alive or if there are different targets relatively close that need to be engaged, such as austringers, nino, or the shooty gremlin for examples, a Wicked Doll can (0) to place within 2" of Collodi. That give a threat range of 2"+ 1.18"(30mm) + 1" = a smidge over 4 inches for 2 attacks with paired claws. Or 2"+ 1.18" + 7"(charge) + 1" = a bit over 11 inches from Collodi's base for one charge attack. If you can bring in 2 wicked dolls you could potentially snag a bunch of models with Wicked Intentions.

[011121]

Yeah I plan to add an additional tactic about wicked doll support. They make excellent follow up support after a strike.

[Addonexus]

Excellent Tactica so far... I am relatively new to Malifaux only played about a dozen games so far and with Rasputina But I am looking into Collodi but couldn't find any in-depth stuff so this tactica is looking very promising