Criid list

[BlueHume]

So I'm still some what new to Malifaux, starting with Kaeris, and I'm speading out to the Guild namely Criid and I was wondering if what I have could be improved upon. The place where I tend to play typically runs 25 or 30ss. I purposefully left it a little shy of using all the ss because from my (admittedly few) games with Criid she seems to love ss more the Kearis does, however if that's a mistake I can change that tactic.

At 25ss

Criid

Drill Sgt.

Guild Guard x2

Guild Rifleman x3

+6ss (2 left over + 4 cache)

For 30ss however I'm not sure if I was to replace the Drill sgt. with a Guild Captain (meaning that I'll start the game with 7ss) or add him (meaning I'll get 4ss). Lastly I'm thinking about picking up a guardian and throwing him in, in place of the Drill sgt. (7ss)

So thoughts? Comments? Cryptic ramblings of Doom? Regardless thanks in advance for you're help.

Edited February 28, 2013 by BlueHume
Math error; called the Guardian a Protector

[micahwc]

Her witchling stalkers are really good melee models for the same cost of your guild guard. Death marshals are also really good models for the same cost. For objective grabbing many people will recommend a watcher or two. Another good ranged minion which will fit into the list you have would be austringers.

Your list is good at shooting but not so much at stabbing. I would really think about adding some witchlings to the list. I would probably switch out the guild guard for 2 witchlings.

Also, before anyone else mentions it, there is a good tactica written for her on the pullmyfinger website. It will give you a good idea of what minions work well with her.

[BlueHume]

What about for the base:

At 25ss

Criid

Watcher

Witchlings x2

Guild Rifleman x3

+5ss (1 left over + 4 cache)

I did look at the wiki and as for minions it didn't have some of the new models (like the riflemen), but parts of it (how to play her) I found to be quite useful)

[micahwc]

I think that's a pretty good balanced list. You have some good ranged and melee ability, as well as a fast objective grabber. 5 soul stones is a little low, but for a 25 point game I think it would work alright.

[BlueHume]

I think that's a pretty good balanced list. You have some good ranged and melee ability, as well as a fast objective grabber. 5 soul stones is a little low, but for a 25 point game I think it would work alright.

Any thoughts then on 30ss, because with that as a base I'll lack the ability to take the Captain or Guardian.

[NeuroFire]

I almost never bring a totem with Sonnia because (1) I usually want her avatar and (2) I really love the Brutal Effigy, which is a model I recommend to almost anyone. (Her spells are also costly, so even high-Ca totems would have some issues with them.)

That aside, a great many minions will work well with Sonnia, and she's a very versatile Master. I say this a lot, but one of my favorites is probably the Ronin, because they are almost as versatile as she is. They're strong models in general; Melee Experts that can Push around the field with Run Through or their Next Target trigger, etc. What makes them of particular value to Sonnia, I think, is being Hard to Kill (meaning if one is really in trouble she can Violation it into a Witchling) and being able to commit Seppuku, because there are definitely games where Sonnia might need a couple extra soulstones. Hard to Kill also makes them good for bouncing a blast or two off, if that's your thing.

If you want a couple Witchlings but want to conserve some soulstones, a couple Desperate Mercs might be good, too. Casting Inferno near them takes them down to one wound by turn two, making them prime Violation fodder. If you can pull it off, doing 'For My Family' before using them to summon a Witchling is fun, but putting them into combat also makes them rather vulnerable. And if you need a bit of healing, they have their Last Noble Deed as well.

If you get an Austringer, consider a couple Raptors. They can make great blast-bouncing smart missiles in a Sonnia crew if they manage to stay alive long enough. (Being Easy to Wound makes it easy to get the damage you want on them, but it also makes it easy for your opponent to take them out.) They can also serve as Violation fodder.

I haven't run him yet, but I just got Sue, and I think he'll be Avatar Sonnia's best friend. Plus, dude is a good model in general, and he's Johnny Cash so what's not to love?

I haven't been too impressed with the Fire Gamin, but it doesn't hurt to mention that Sonnia can hire them. They can be fun little exploding models. (but then again, so are Witchlings.)

Watchers have already been mentioned, but they're worth their weight. A few card tricks plus objective-grabbing, good stuff. It can really be nice to look at a card and know whether you can successfully cast one of Sonnia's spells with it. Little fragile, but they can fly out of anything.

I hear good things about the Handler and Samael, and they look good on paper, but I can't speak from experience yet.

That's pretty much what I have to say about Sonnia and what I like best with her, specifically. There are a lot of good models in the Guild, so I won't go through each and every one of them.

[BlueHume]

Throwing in the Ronin, I would think, could only really be done in the 30ss+ range.

At 30ss

Criid

Ronin x2

Guild Guard x2

Guild Rifleman x3

+7ss (3 left over + 4 cache)

I put the guards back in because with the addition of the Ronin my melee is boasted (as micahc pointed out I lack pointy things in my list), and guards have a nice melee/range balance. Or should I take them out again and do this

At 35ss

Criid

Ronin x2

Watcher

Guardian

Guild Rifleman x3

+5ss (1 left over + 4 cache)

Edited February 28, 2013 by BlueHume

[96p]

If you take a totem... try teh student of conflict. The 4. spell is usually the one that kills all those models you only managed to wound. If you need blast targets take guild hounds, they're allmost as cheap as raptors but you can companion activate them with sonnia to let them run forward and blast away without you enemy taking them out first.

I actually don't allways use the avatar as with the student and some dogs Sonnia is just so incredibly powerful on much more range then her avatar. In fact I've won far more games with standard Sonnia then with her avatar as my enemies tend to take her out as soon as she manifests.

[BlueHume]

The Drill Sgt. seems to provide a lovely boast to my riflemen, so I'm looking at him as a 3ss upgrade rather then his own model, or a casting point for Cridd.

[Aramasu]

At 25 SS a balanced crew is Sonnia, three Witchling Stalkers, Nino Ortega, and a Desperate Mercenary. This will give you a full cache and a fourth Stalker by casting Inferno on turn one (make sure nobody is standing next to Sonnia except the Mercenary at the end of the turn!) and then casting Violation of Magic on him to form a fourth Stalker on the cheap. Part of the reason why I prefer Stalkers over any model with Sonnia isn't just their sheer strength for their points, but because they are extremely useful for a strategy she enjoys just as much as Rasputina - bouncing blast markers off her own models.

At 2/3/5 Flame Burst will deal a maximum of 3 damage on Severe (and 1 on anything below that) to your own Stalkers, allowing you to aim for Moderate damage to put 1 on them and splash the 2 damage from the marker onto enemy models. If you fire into clumped melee with a Stalker, you're either going to get the chance to manipulate the totals on your own model to ensure you spread some havoc or you're going to go up against one of their models, which certainly isn't a bad thing either. I'd recommend giving this list a try if you really like your SS, because this gives her a max cache and a strong core of models. Just don't forget to look for enemy targets to make into more Witchlings!

[Adran]

Firstly remember you don't need to decide a list until you know what your mission is.

The Missions vary so much that it is hard to build a good "standard" list.

Criid really likes her soulstone. her need for Tomes is great, as is her want for high casting totals to get the blast damage off. If you don't have good Tomes in your hand then you can use a soulstone to add it to your Ca for the turn. So it isn't unusual to want to spend 3-4 soulstone during one activation. Sometimes this is the right thing and having the stones to burn is great.

Riflemen are a support minion a lot of the time. The use you get out of them seems to be heavily based on your opponents stratergy and the board set up. I wouldn't have them as a default minion in every game. (to be honest there is very little i would, and models that want to stand in one place to do their best stuff are not always good).

Certainly on boards with a low level of terrain agaisnt a slow melee force that has to come towards you, they are worth their weight in gold, but against a fast moving enemy that doesn't need to get near your deployment zone on a board with only short lines of sight, they might as well stay home.

(Its ironic that Supply wagon is a stratergy that they are bad at, coinsidering the story in the book). IN less ideal situations you might find 2 are better than 3 if you really want to use them, and as a way of freeing up 4 ss.

Witchling stalkers and Guild guard are both more versitile. They can split up if needed and are potent in melee as well being reasonable at range.

Both the Guardian and the Captain have good uses. If you are lookign to buy them I would suggest proxying them for a couple of games to see how the work with your style before hand.