The Rail Crew and Golem(Advice Please)

[verdinx9]

So i was playing Mei and her rail crew with the rail golem minus kang. My opponent was playing colette and the show girls with coryfees. I'am still new to malifaux and need some advice. Collettes bury and replace ability really screwed me over. I got two of my crew members buried in one Activation. (Rail golem and rail crew member.) If you know The rail crew they have little to no range and those range spells hurt when you lose initiative flip. Advice?

[StormLordXIII]

Hi Verdinx,

Sounds like a tough game - Colette can be really tricky! As a new player to Malifaux and Mei, I haven't had much experience playing, but here's what I've learned from the games I have played with Mei.

Bury and replacing is really problematic. If I'm correct, however, people cannot cast spells at targets that they cannot see. Vent Steam is a very useful power because it hides line of sight and counts as a (0) action. Made sure that you also use Mei's Trigger to damage models affected by the steam. Additionally. because of the Shapes in the Steam rule, Mei can see through the steam, but enemies cannot. Mei's trigger system effectively allows all of her zero actions Vent Steam and Iron Skin to be in play at the same time, so be sure to use her triggers to employ the second zero action that you would not normally be able to cast.

Also, Collette's crew excels because of its mobility and spell casting ability, but individually, her show girls are susceptible to a lot of punishment. Use your rail workers to get Mei in position via Rail Walker, and once she corners a regular show girl, that performer's as good as dead...

Furthermore, I believe models have an opportunity to resist the Disappearing Act spell with a DF duel. You'll need to cheat fate a lot to do this consistently since Collette's CA value is 7. Make sure you bring the totem with the Arcane Reservoir Ability to get that extra card in your hand - it's one more opportunity for a 13 or a Red Joker. Mei's Price of Progress ability also gives you a chance to get higher cards in your hand to resist those tricky spells if you can kill an enemy model.

On that note, if you want mobility, Mei's your girl. Don't underestimate that jackhammer kick. If you Rail walk three times and you have the right trigger, Mei can potentially have a threat range of 25"! 3 times 5" rail walks plus a charge of 7" and 3" melee range! You can definitely corner people this way. Colette is not a melee master. Planning an assassination run may be helpful. In a game I played, Mei killed AZoraida (who is not a melee master) in two rounds of combat, even with a hefty pool of soulstones in my opponent's bank.

I hope this has been helpful! Good luck with your future games!

Edited December 14, 2012 by StormLordXIII

[nix]

I have found that Colette is a strong contender when facing most 10T crews. Her mobility combined with SS use combined with her Df trigger (Blinding flash) really counter a lot of 10T's strengths.

That said, Colette relies on her showgirls and her SS to work well. Don't forget that she has to burn 2SS on the spell in order to turn your model into a manequin. Also remember that she must burn 1SS just to cast the spell, and only gets that SS back if she gets the :masks trigger.

So, that said, combating Colette is all about removing her Showgirls and SS. In addition to the excellent suggests above (follow those too, they are solid suggestions), go after her showgirls. Remove them from the table then go after her Coryphee. As those get removed Colette's capabilities are greatly reduced. In addition, any time you can make her burn stones is good, as you want to drain her SS pool and limit her capability.

[Kadeton]

There's almost nothing that most models can do to stop Colette from burying them, since she will usually spend a soulstone on the cast to try to get Mannequin Replacement. Vent Steam is definitely the best way of protecting your Rail Golem against it.

The Showgirls actually have almost no proper ranged attacks either, to be honest - their real trick is mobility. Fortunately, that's also one of Mei's great strengths, and you shouldn't have too much trouble keeping up with Colette's crew.

Your best bet is basically to keep the pressure on - aside from Cassandra, Colette and the Coryphee Duet, the Showgirls are individually fragile and can be killed fairly easily. Colette's main defense is her ability to avoid attacks by swapping out with another Showgirl and making the attacker Slow - since Mei is immune to Slow, there's no reason not to go straight for Colette's throat whenever it's possible to get to her. If she swaps out, you just get a different target to beat to death.

For crew selection, you'd probably be better off leaving the Rail Golem off the list - Colette loves big enemy models she can bury. Numerous smaller minions are much harder for her to deal with. Opinion varies on the Rail Workers, but I quite like them, and Metal Gamin provide decent resilience. Kang is rarely a bad option in a list with plenty of Rail Workers.

Basically, the path to beating Colette is to be aware of her tricks and plan so as to thwart them. Play more games against her and you'll soon get a feel for what she can do.

[verdinx9]

Thanks for all the feedback i have pre ordered ten thunders archers to help with my range and i have oiran and ten thunders brothers as well i can put instead of my golem. I also have to learn positioning tactics with mei and her rail workers thats my biggest fallback. Thank you For the Advice i will take all i can get collettes A hard matchup.