Initial 25SS Rasputina list for tournament. any thoughts?

[tremere47]

A big group of us at our LGS have picked up Malifaux and we are having our first tournament in a week at the 25SS level.

I am going with Rasputina and here is what I am looking at:

Rasputina

-Essence of Power

2 Ice Gamin

Ice Golem

Silent One

I was thinking about switching our the Golem for a Blessed of December. Once of the things I really love about Malifaux is the themes you can have in a crew so with the exception of the Totem I am sticking to the December models.

I also have the following that I can switch out with:

December Acolyte

Blessed of December

Snow Storm (I absolutely LOVE this guy, but too expensive at 25ss)

4 more Ice Gamin

thoughts of advice are appreciated and most welcome

thanks

[geistwald]

I'd probably try something like:

Rasputina (6SS)

- Essence of Power

Snow Storm

Silent One

Ice Gamin

If you limit yourself to the December theme, Snow Storm can't be too expensive

[Shadowopal]

If you're looking for tourney worthy, drop the golem. If you can get an arcane effigy before then, I highly recommend it.

[Gorbad]

I'd swap the Golem for a Blessed. Raspy is slow, and you really need something fast for a lot of strategies and the Blessed is the fast December model.

Raspy

Essence of Power

2 Ice Gamins

Blessed of December

Silent One

That could work, but leaves you with a cashed of only 5 and Raspy really likes her soul stones.

[brib4169]

Sorry, I didn't intend to ramble this much...

Any idea what crews you will be up against? Most tournaments don't require fixed crews, just faction or master. You should get a pool of models to choose from. Take them all (or as many as you can afford) and tailor your crew to the opponent and strategy. Don't forget to bring extra 50mm bases, Raspy likes her ice pillars.

Blessed and Snow storm are your only options for mobility. If you need a long distance objective grabber, Blessed is your best bet, but keep her covered, she is a big target and she crumples easy under concentrated fire. You were correct in your assesment that Snow Storm is a little to pricey for this size game, although against a shooty crew like perdita or ophelia, he might be worth it since he is hard to shoot (iirc you need at least a 9 to even hit him).

I would only take the golem if you are against a big melee crew (lilith, Viks, etc...). wait for them to get in close and go defensive stance and use his statue ability, then laugh while they swing impotently. But generally you will get more utility out of Blessed and she is 2 stones cheaper.

Silent ones are almost auto-includes in a Raspy list, I usually run with 2 instead of the 3 gamin. use the turn to statue ability on and enemy, drop their defense to 1 and then have raspy cast her Zero. Good way to knock those big point models or masters down a peg.

The december acolyte is another story, I really want to like him, but I have yet to get any real use out of him. His from the shadows can help with objective grabbing, but you will probably never use him to reel anyone in for Raspy to shoot. His points are better spent on another model

Gamin are your filler, they can take a hit if they go defensive, and make good fodder to get around targeting restrictions (like pandora). shoot the Gamin with Raspys blast spell, cheat down their defense, cheat up the damage, hit the enemy(s) with the blasts and if the gamin gets killed in the process tack on an additional 2 damage from their pop.

if you only get a single 25ss crew for the entire game, I would have to agree with Gorbad's list. You can always give up taking a scheme for an extra 2 stones if you think you need them. If you get a pool to chose from, I would consider swapping out the blessed for an extra 2 gamin if you don't need the movement.

Edited December 3, 2012 by brib4169
more info

[Adran]

Do you have to pick just one crew for the whole event?

Do you know what Stratergies you will be playing?

The biggest problem with your initial list is that you probably won't get any of your models past the middle of the table. Which is pretty bad at reconnoter, Distract, Plant evidence and Destroy the evidence.

In a fixed list for December related models I would strongly suggest the Blessed, as it can actually move. I would consider the acolyte, but its often not that much use, and doesn't have Frozen heart.

If you have something like Destroy the Evidence, look to fit in Snowstorm. There is no other way to get to your enemies deployment zone with most of the crew.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Swap the Ice Golem for a Rail Golem. Not certain about the rest of the line up without knowing what the tournament format is.

[brib4169]

Do you have to pick just one crew for the whole event?

Do you know what Stratergies you will be playing?

The biggest problem with your initial list is that you probably won't get any of your models past the middle of the table. Which is pretty bad at reconnoter, Distract, Plant evidence and Destroy the evidence.

but you can always spend a soul stone to reflip your strategy

[Adran]

Not if they are shared stratergies

[brib4169]

good to know, we usually use fixed strategy in our tournaments so it has never come up.

[tremere47]

It is a fixed list tournament. Almost all of us have only been playing the game for a month or 2 so we are trying to keep it simple. As for strategies, not sure about that one. I am going to try to get a couple practice games this week using the list with Snowstorm listed above and switching the Golem for a Blessed.

thanks for the advice

[Fetid Strumpet]

Use the Rail Golem, it is amazing.

[MrSpiffypants]

If you can get your hands on a Metal Gamin they are amazing.

Raspy gets engaged and you're toast. The Gamin can cast Small but Fierce which forces a single target (wp resist) to direct attacks only towards it. Oh and the attacks will receive a negative flip ! If the target has a WP greater then your cast, you can instead cast Hard Case. Whenever someone suffers damage you can inflict up to 2 of those wounds on the Metal Gamin. If that's not enough, these metal monkeys start off with armor 2... so you're armor 4 with a cast of Decembers Touch. If it turns out you need to cast Decembers Curse on your own model, these guys get a positive flip on the resist duel so you can greater control over getting a positive flip for damage.

There's actually more reasons to take them, but at this point I'm really just reading the card.

Think of it this way: for one more soulstone then an Ice Gamin, you're getting more armor then an Ice Golem, self healing, faster. You're losing a range attack, shatter, and the Bite of Winter aura.

[Adran]

I would advice you to try what you have first, before buying new models.

Whilst I think the rail golem is a great arcanist model, he might not combine well with Rasputina, especially at lower point levels.

See if you can get a game with Snowstorm and with the Blessed, as see how well you find those models.

I've yet to try the metal gamin, but I don't personally rate the Ice Gamin so I wouldn't be surprised if the metal gamin were better.

You might play Rasputina very differently to me, and find the Ice Gamin amazing.

Just remember you only win games by getting VPs.

[dgraz]

I like Gorbad's list for a fixed list Raspy. The Ice Gamin are your blockers for Raspy and the Silent One. Save some low Tomes for the Ice Gamin Df Trigger to stop enemies cold (see what I did there). At all costs, keep Raspy out of melee if you can. Don't forget her ability to freeze terrain to stop enemy movement. Cast Ice Pillars for the first two turns to block approach lanes / create bottle-necks / funnel the enemy into December's Curse.

Don't be afraid to sacrifice an Ice Gamin by casting December's Curse into melee, at full health they can take two Severe hits....you can cheat their defense flip down if needed....and those Blasts will hurt the enemy a lot...then the Ice Gamin blows up for more damage.

Run Raspy, Silent One, EoP, and Gamin up the middle in a little group. The Blessed can go anywhere you want to do objectives or pick off lone enemies. Don't be too aggressive with her, she dies easily to a concentrated attack....keep out of sight, use 'Leap'....only engage with her if it's an easy kill and you can avoid retaliation...until you can afford to lose her. Don't forget to place corpse counters whenever someone dies....all she has to do is touch them to pick them up then use them to heal herself........of course, she can also heal herself when she bites someone which is nice.

Totally agree with Adran's last sentence..focus on getting VPs......but remember that Raspy is good at killing to keep the enemy from getting theirs.

Good luck.

[SuperDudeMan64]

I've also got a Raspy crew and example that dgraz posted is pretty much the same way I use her. I'm a big fan of this list.

Raspy

Essence of Power

2 Ice Gamins

Blessed of December

Silent One

For larger games I like to take the Slate Ridge Mauler and run him as a body guard for Raspy. I've even got him painted up like a polar bear *smug*