scuttlebut Posted May 8, 2013 Report Share Posted May 8, 2013 We've been running a competition on Malifools to design a competitive list to compete in all of the Gaining Grounds for £100 or less. Ahead of the winner being announced on the episode we're recording tonight (episode 44 - get it here) I thought I'd post all of the lists we received along with the comments from the creators (comments are inside the spoilers as some of them are long and detailed). Enjoy and feel free to post your own lists Damian Smith The Thunder Box Set Ten Thunders Archer Rail Crew Box Set Rail Golem Pathfinder and Clockwork Traps Yin, the Penangalan Fate Deck - Gold Open Spoiler So to start with Ten Thunders as a faction I felt you need Misaki’s Box which gives you Ototo and the Torakage which can be used with either Mei Fang or Misaki. Next would be Archers which are a must for any Ten Thunders crew. Now since we’re going to also use Mei Fang you need some Constructs so you will want her large friend the Rail Golem and to give something different I’ve added the Pathfinder and Clockwork Traps. Now I can’t use the Pathfinder at this point but since expanding on the current total I would add a McCabe box it’s a good idea. With that being said there are 4 Clockwork Traps in that box and at 2SS each either crew can use them for multiple things. They are a Railwalk point for Mei Fang and also the Torakage can disappear and reappear next to them. Looking at extra figures to use I thought the Yin will do better than some Metal Gamin from a starter POV since she can be used with both masters again and also is a great control piece to keep people away from an area and being the new shiny I couldn’t help but include her At that point I had just under £5 left so I added the most essential thing that we need which is a Fate Deck… Now they don’t have an orange one so my OCD goes towards either the Retro or Puppet Deck but they didn’t fit into it so I’m going for the Outcast one hoping it won’t reject me because of the previous tie to Misaki. So this is going to give 2 masters, 16 Ten Thunders models, an alternative big hitter, a figure for frowing the faction, 5 constructs and 3 count as constucts for Railwalking and a fate deck to start playing! Strategy Ten Thunders Crew – 35ss I’m only going to look at the Schemes that anyone can use and not the Ten Thunders ones Contain Power Mei Feng -- 7 Pool Emberling [2ss] Clockwork Trap [2ss] Clockwork Trap [2ss] Rail Golem [9ss] Torakage [6ss] Torakage [6ss] Ten Thunders Archer [6ss] This is going to be a hard one at any point but between Misaki and Mei Fang I’d go with Mei Fang just because of the damage she can do in one hit and then get out with a railwalk. The traps would be to lure the opposing crew somewhere else so 2 on one side of the board and one on the other people are going to go towards the side with one. This would also have the rail golem and an archer moving behind it so it can thread the needle and keep cover from anything that could target him. The Torakage will disappear and reappear where needed to tie up models or attacking the enemy. Mei Fang can walk up and jump in and out as needed to do any attacks as well as getting any schemes that have been chosen. For Schemes I’d look at Breakthrough since I am moving into the opponents side of the board and otherwise I’d look at Frame for Murder on the rail golem as he is the biggest threat on the table… I’d also look at it being hidden as well Treasure Hunt Mei Feng -- 7 Pool Emberling [2ss] Clockwork Trap [2ss] Clockwork Trap [2ss] Rail Golem [9ss] Torakage [6ss] Torakage [6ss] Ten Thunders Archer [6ss] This one should be easy for Mei Fang. Traps are in place. Torakage disappear and reappear to get the counter and move back to the deployment zone. Treasure counter would be given to the archer and from there the Torakage would be there to protect it as Mei Fang and the Rail Golem would be causing trouble to distract and tie up the opponents crew. Scheme wise I’d look at Assassinate depending on what master I’m facing so you are stoping that master getting into your crew with the treasure I would play that as announced and the other would be something along the lines of stake a claim which I could get late game Land Grab Mei Feng -- 8 Pool Emberling [2ss] Clockwork Trap [2ss] Clockwork Trap [2ss] Clockwork Trap [2ss] Ten Thunders Archer [6ss] Torakage [6ss] Torakage [6ss] Torakage [6ss] This is going to be a hard one… my idea for this is to use the Torakage and the traps together to get to where I need to for the points… Traps should be placed within 3 quarters and from there I’ll have an Archer and Mei Fang roaming to take out or get other quarters. Schemes would be along the lines of Grudge and Kill Protégée since I want to be lowing my opponents crew numbers so I can take more quarters. Beatdown Misaki, Mistress of the Ten Thunders -- 8 Pool Shang [3ss] Ototo [8ss] Ten Thunders Archer [6ss] Torakage [6ss] Yin, the Penangalan [8ss] This one I would find as hard since I haven’t used Misaki and only have the theory to go for here. I would try to keep the crew together with Yin at the front of it as a terrifying bubble to scare people away and otherwise Ototo and Misaki would be following up to take out those that didn’t get scared. The Archer would be at the back of the pack and the Torakage would be running interference by putting Yin in the middle of the opponents crew to cause trouble while the hitters get there. Schemes would have to tie into the Beatdown from my opinion where Extermination and Eye for an Eye could be fun Line in the Sand Mei Feng -- 7 Pool Emberling [2ss] Kang [8ss] Ototo [8ss] Rail Golem [9ss] Torakage [6ss] So for this one I’m looking at the beater crew with only 1 construct which will restrict Mei Fang but the Torakage is going to be our floater to get where he needs to and then move one of the other beaters to the dynamite that they need to activate. Then the opponent will have to deal with an angry Mei Fang, Rail Golem, Ototo and Kang when they go to flip a counter This one could go either way but with that would be fun to do with the all or nothing defence. Schemes would be done to help the crew survive and with that you would announce Frame for Murder and Grudge. Master of the Hill Misaki, Mistress of the Ten Thunders -- 6 Pool Shang [3ss] Clockwork Trap [2ss] Kang [8ss] Ten Thunders Archer [6ss] Torakage [6ss] Yin, the Penangalan [8ss] With the keep away needed for this Strategy I’m going to go with Misaki who can shadow towards it and then with traps near the centre the Torakage can appear there and then drop Yin on the marker. Yin will keep things away until Misaki and Kang get there for backup to attack anything that moves I’d find this one hard since even tho Misaki can take things out I don’t know if she could stand there and take the abuse from someone marching onto her. For Schemes Hold Out and Steal Relic… Hold Out because in theory my opponent isn’t going to go near my deployment zone and Steal Relic because I haven’t used it yet and I’m sure I’d be running low on schemes if this is all I have left. - - - - - Scott Porter Showgirls box set Coryphee Mechanical Doves Rail Crew Box Set Mech Rider Blister Johan Blister 2 x Desperate Merc Open Spoiler Possible lists Contain Power Mei Feng Emberling 2 x Coryphee Mech Rider 2 x rail workers 6 cache Coryphée, mech rider very fast mobile jump points for rail walker, coryphée can be used to soften up opposing master for a few wounds and if you want to invest the stones you can pretty much guarantee paralysing even a master with a DF lower than 7 before moving back out of threat range. Mech rider to provide some resilient and mobile response to anything moving up the board, rail workers for jump points plus quite handy in combat Mei Feng perfectly capable of hitting things in the head pretty hard. If you are facing a small crew then possible drop emberling for 2 extra stones (as the coryphée can use them) if facing spirit / magical drop rail workers add in johan Treasure Hunt Colette Cassandra 2 x Coryphee Performer / Mannequin Johan 4 cache Companion from Mannequin Cassandra for turn 1 sabotage (you will need the VP in this strat) then on treasure, coryphée move up, Duet then guard Cassandra from being engaged (Cassandra celebrity makes her safe (ish) for a couple of turns) Performer and mannequins move to jump points, Colette to basically make stones. Colette can be used later to disappear anything carrying treasure if needed or to produce doves to put treasure carriers in melee Johan – just cos he’s 5 stones in a Colette list with a 3” melee, why not? Also would take bodyguard for this as VPs are notoriously difficult to get Land Grab Colette Cassandra Mech Rider 2 x Performer and Mannequin 2 x Desperate Merc 5 cache This is the strategy that is going to cause the most trouble. Mech rider will hopefully be quick enough to take out some of your opponents low cost minions, a bit of trickery by Colette will allow you to put performers and mannequins in position to jump to, to use disappearing act on enemy models. Cassie gives you an extra showgirl jump points and can also cast disappearing act (and breath fire with blasts will help). The mercs are OK till turn 3, by which time you may have enough stones to pay for them if you still need them and if your opponent has some Ronin then why not save some stones and drop another one in on your side when they least expect it. Slaughter Mei Feng Emberling Kang Mech Rider 2 x Coryphee 8 cache Low model count (less to kill), mech rider mobile to single things out, coryphée for hit and run attacks and both are jump points for rail walker. Emberling simply for some vent steam and arcane res and kang is a pretty hard hitter and heals each turn. Line in the Sand Colette Cassandra 2 x Coryphee Performer / Mannequin Johan 4 cache Pretty much the same deal as treasure hunt. Cass and coryphée are able to reach marker on turn 1, Colette can disappear models and can also disappear Johan and put him on a marker. Summon doves to put in melee with things going for markers Master of the Hill Colette 3 x mechanical doves Cassandra 2 x Performer / Mannequins 2 x desperate mercs 7 cache Ok so that’s 11 models off the bat, doves are nice and mobile, mercs can be kept if needed by generating some stones to pay for them, Mannequins are bloody difficult to kill, Cassandra and Colette are going to be your offensive pieces (hence the high cache) and Colette can summon more doves in when they die Schemes to take Bodyguard – pretty simple with Colette Alternate route – simple to do using coryphée and rider Sabotage – Obviously Power Ritual - rider, coryphée, cassie and Colette make this easy Breakthrough - can be quite a good choice if you can keep the coryphée alive as they can split to make 2 models Perfect Performance – could be a good choice if you have the right opponent Then whatever you fancy depending on terrain / opponent etc but that’s 6 quite doable ones leaving only 2 more such as stake a claim (easy peasy) Obviously the arcanist schemes make them a sound selection as they are both pretty easy to accomplish. - - - - - Alan Roderick Showgirls box set M&SU Assets box set Coryphee Mechanical Doves Oiran Mechanical Rider Open Spoiler Contain Power As the leader both Collette and Kaeris have some great abilities to help them achieve this strategy. Against enemies with a a low Ca, Collette can take advantage with Magicians Duel. Kaeris would seek to use Immolate. Collette is especially tough to take down so would be my 'go-to' for this simply to deny my opponent any strategy points. I'd then look to take advantage of this by taking down the opposing master and hitting both my schemes. Treasure Hunt The mobility and additional movement AP afforded to the showgirl crew makes it very proficient at this strategy. I'd look to get the Coryphee on to the Treasure and use Cassandra to Dance Together, taking advantage of her +1 Nimble to get away. Land Grab I tend to see this strategy as a Slaughter mission, after all, insignificant models don't count, nor do dead ones! Therefore, I'd seek to use the mobility of Collette and Cassandra to isolate enemy models and make them special. By reducing the enemy model count and using lure from the Oiran, I'd look to win this for a turn or two in order to gain the advantage, again looking to hit both schemes for the win. Beatdown Time to bring out the big guns! Collette, Kaeris, Cassandra, Duet and a dove or the Mech rider and two doves. Collette would hide at the back as a soulstone factory, sending out doves for the extra plus flip on soulstones. Then it's down to the others to stay alive and pick off a model or two a turn. With the ability to use soulstones across the crew and the mobility tricks it brings they should be able to isolate enemy models and take them down. Careful use of the duet and keeping a dove nearby would be essential but shouldn't be too hard to do. Collette producing extra soulstones will make this crew very hard to kill. A Line in the Sand As noted above, the showgirls are very mobile. This should make it relatively easy to flip the markers. The trick will be to keep them that way. For this reason, I'd include at least one Oiran and hope to lure models away from the markers. I'd also consider slipping in a gunsmith for some area denial. Master of the Hill Possibly the most difficult strategy for this crew to achieve. Since the models in the selection are generally quite expensive, I'd tend to treat this as a slaughter as well. Taking Kill Protegee or Exterminate would be a likely course of action and I'd seek to reduce the enemy numbers before using my movement tricks to get in there at the last second. Given how squishy Performers and Oiran are my list would be similar to the Beatdown list. - - - - - Dave Munro Lady Justice box Sonnia Criid box Lucas McCabe box Exorcist Guardian Brutal Effigy Watcher Austringer Open Spoiler This gives you enormous flexibility. Three diverse Masters is a nice start. Three solid higher cost models is good too, though I'm really only a fan of Samael of the three. They all have their uses. Then you have a nearly full suite of the Guild's awesome 4ss models - 3 Witchlings, 3 Death marshalls and 3 Wastrels. These can be swapped in and out of lists depending on scenarios and schemes, and opponent. The Exorcist is in place for taking on the inevitible Kirai lists. Being able to give Justice a Magic sword is not to be sniffed at. I think he's rock solid. Brtual effigy has always been worth his cost for me - having a model that can heal is obviously nice in a Beatdown. The Guardian is also pretty good for that scenario. I like having all my models gaining armour. The Watcher is a nice cheaper option with multiple uses - ideal in the scenarios where speed is required or for grabbing that Stake A claim or Breakthrough. The Austringer is just even more good support. So there you go. A load of models that give a huge number of possible builds to take on almost any situation. Nothing that won't work with anything else in the crew - I think that Guild have the strongest crossover in the game. The possible weakness is that nearly everything I'd want to use is pretty cheap (The big models in each box are overcosted/underpowered). Might leave you struggling against Elite crews like the Neverborn Nephillim Quads. - - - - - Chris Holloway Viks box Von Schill Box Student of Conflict Ronin blister Friekorps Strongarm Vanessa Jack Daw Friekorpsman blister Open Spoiler Anyway, in the end I went with all Mercenaries with the Viks starter and Von Schill starter. There's a good amount of flexibility in the choices: you've got plenty of heavy hitting melee combat, some ranged power (bit lacking on that), some speed, and numbers. I've added in the second Freikorpsman blister for use in GG strats which require bodies on the tables like Land Grab and Master of the Hill (you'd need Von Schill of course to take more than two Special Forces). Jack Daw is there for area denial type strats like Line in the Sand. Overall, it's a pretty straight forward (with the exception of Jack Daw) selection of models for someone starting out which will be easy to pick up but still be competitive. There's plenty of aggressive melee combat for that style of play, it'll be a good selection for Beatdown. And if all other tactics fail, just play every strategy like it was Beatdown, that's how I normally roll - - - - - Emil Fröjd Showgirls Box Coryphee Mechanical Doves Miners & Steamfitters Union Box Set Arachnid Swarm - Steampunk Constructs Gunsmith - Female Injun Joss - Steampunk Warrior Hans - Mercenary Sniper Johan - Renegade Steamfitter Mobile Toolkit Open Spoiler I think that Colette and Ramos complements each other very well. I think that Colette is one of the best crews for Treasure hunt with all of its fast moving troops, Contain power is great for Colette since she is the hardest master in the game to kill and she has some potential for killing as well. Land Grab is great for Ramos who can have a large crew so there is a great chance of succeeding in that strategy, Colette is a great master for Beatdown since her crew is so survivable and easily can avoid combat but still damage the oponent. Line in the sand both Ramos and Colettes crews should have an easy task in winning this one. Ramos has a great chance with Master of the hill since he can field and summon a lot of minions to be on the hill but also to keep others away from it. - - - - - Will Lambert Seamus Box Molly Box Avatar Seamus Grave Spirit Drowned Blister Sue (Baby) Hamelin Izamu Open Spoiler This list is competitive because you can build a crew for each of the gaining ground strategies fairly easily. You’ve got Izamu, Molly, Avatar Seamus and the Drowned for Strategies such as Beatdown. For Strategies like ‘land grab’ you bring in Belles and Hamelin....and a possible use for Crooligans to help mist jump into the right table quarters as required and keep the model count up. Molly, Grave spirit (using Molly’s Imbue vigour spell), Sybelle and Belles will be the key pieces to any game that requires speed. Sue included to give a ranged shooting option and to be a pain against Pandora or any close range casting masters such as Mei feng (Mei really doesn’t like Sue’s 6” –ve flip to enemy casting aura). Rogue Necromancy might even see play in Master of the hill and Contain power (alongside Izamu), as it should be able to keep out of sight, till the right moment and with a little help from Molly (imbue vigour and terrible secrets) jump in and take out key enemy models. - - - - - Joe Hadfield Jakob Lynch Box Misaki Box Ten Thunders Archers Beckoners Yamaziko Guild Pathfinder & Traps Jack Daw Mr Graves (sir) Open Spoiler Jakob Lynch's box set: This gives me an extremely versatile master, who can move quickly when he wants to and buff the crew when he needs to. The Illuminated, while not great, have synergies with some later purposes. Also they're not bad in a beat down scenario. And then there's Huggy... Misaki's box set: Gives you three Torakage which (depending on strategy) can be vital for movement shenanigans. Next is Ototo the mêlée beatstick of the box and for 8ss there are few better. If you have a strategy that needs anything killed the obvious pick for master Misaki and with Shang's lucky charm ability she becomes very card efficient. Other boxes/blisters; Ten thunders archers: There are few minions I've experience using/facing that can take out masters as reliably as the archers and even if they don't kill them they have the potential to drain resources. Beckoners: The obvious choice when it comes to a Lynch crew, a great way of dishing out brilliance. Also surprisingly fast. Yamaziko: So to fill out the list of models I brought the Old Bint herself. The main reason for bringing her is the abilities the has to buff the crew's willpower. The prevalence of living models in the 10T leaves them very susceptible to morale duels, Yamaziko can help to mitigate this. Clockwork traps: While not necessary in a 10T crew a couple of 2ss traps can really help with activation control, out activating can give you a better idea of what they're looking to do in a turn. So this lot comes to £85, the one thing the list may be lacking is a survivable beatstick. So I went with the filth and picked Jack Daw. Also while I don't rate him much Mr. Graves is a great model aesthetically plus pretty useful for Master of the Hill. So a quick breakdown of the sort of crews I'd take in a gaining grounds scenario. Contain power- Misaki is the best fit for this as 4ap, 'you're mine' and decapitation make her great against the majority of masters. Treasure hunt- For this I'd go with Jakob, using a torakage's mistaken identity you can swap in a 7wd spirit bad ass into a great treasure grabbing position then pass it of to Lynch while Huggy goes a clobberin'. Land grab- This is a difficult one for Ten Thunders as their significant model count is usually quite low, to remedy this I take resilient models and torakage to shadowstride into a quarter to tip it in my favour or contest it. For master I'd go for Jakob as he gives you another significant model for no cost, also he gives you access to the beckoners which if you start dealing brilliance out are extremely tough to take down. Beatdown- Misaki is a great choice for this, with her 4ap in combat she has the potential to deal a lot of damage to a group or kill a master Throw in Ototo, archers and Jack Daw to have a force to be reckoned with. Line in the sand- Jackob and beckoners, with their free push when engaged with enemy models, are extremely effective in this strategy. Throw in Huggy to tie up some dynamite markers and you have a very good crew on your hands. Master of the Hill- Either of the two chosen masters can be great for this strategy as both have great deals of board control and killing power. Personally I'd pick Lynch as if brilliance is being given out it gives Graves more potential for board controller and makes the beckoners more survivable. - - - - - Mark Johnson Mercenaries Box Set Friekorps Box Set Student of Conflict Misaki - Warmaiden Convict Gunslinger Ronin (3 pack) Ten Thunder Triad Friekorps Strongarm Open Spoiler My first purchase in to the world of Malifaux consisted of The Mercenaries box set, SoC, Misaki and Ronin. It served me well for a good few months until I started adding all the outcast mercaneries, the Levi stuff and the Friekorp!! Outcasts and the Viktorias especially interested me as like all, i wanted an all female crew to start as something different! So the Viktorias are pretty versatile in any movement based and hitty based conflict. Adding Von Schill gives some range and a VP contester/achiever. The Ronin are probably my favourite models in the game. They are manouvarable, can dish out damage and the positive flip on damage has helped me out so many times (only need to win the combat dual by 1 and you can cheat damage flips). The Ten Thunders Triad give some defensive options and some hitting power (melee expert) plus if you take the original Misaki (a model I love using), they work fairly well with her. Taelor and Johan both have magical 3" weapons which enables you to hit form outside someones melee range and ignore armour. Everyone loves the convict gunslinger and the Student is a nice option for certain occasions. Add to that the rest of the Friekorp you got a lot of choice to deal with almost any schemes and strategies. I considered the Viktoria avatar but to be honest, i've never really used it preferring to keep the 2ss in my pool. The manifest options dont tend to work with my play style of the Viktorias as i dont tend to get both Viktorias in to the danger zone (great for Bodyguard). - - - - - Matthew Lotz Witch Hunters Box Set Relic Hunters Box Set Brutal Effigy Lady Justice - Death Hunter Guild Austringer Guild Hounds (2 pack) Pale Rider Watcher Open Spoiler A Line in the Sand Take McCabe, Luna, 2 Hounds, 1 or 2 Wastrels, Sidir, and maybe a Witchling. The crew is fast enough to flip counters on turn 1 (though you can't score for them until turn 2), and contest any others you choose to. McCabe and Sidir can take a beating, and both they and the Witchling can dish out damage. Your whole crew will probably be dead by the end of the game, but as long as you managed to hold three counters, it shouldn't matter. Schemes: Kill Protege, Raid, Hold Out, Steal Relic Beatdown Take Lady J, Pale Rider, Brutal, Austringer, 2 or 3 Witchlings, and maybe Sidir Simple strategy: kill things. This is easily Guild's easiest strategy. Pale, Brutal, Sidir, and the Austringer should be able to dish out enough hurt to swing at least a couple of turns in your favor, and making the others come out to draws should be easy. Even Misaki crews struggle to score strategy points against this crew. Schemes: Kill Prot, Assassinate, Grudge, Raid Contain Power Take Lady J, pretty much anything else. The Beatdown crew works perfectly well for Contain Power, too. Schemes: Steal Relic, Kill Prot, Stake a Claim, Breakthrough, Hold Out (with a simple objective, more effort can be devoted to schemes more easily) Land Grab Take McCabe, Watcher, Hounds, Luna, Pale Rider, Wastrels, Witchlings Use mobility to move to whichever zones you need more models in. High model count also grants activation control Schemes: Breakthrough, Stake a Claim, Kill Prot, Grudge Master of the Hill Take Sonnia or Lady J, Sidir, Hopkins, Witchlings, Brutal, maybe Wastrels You know where your opponent has to be, so put either Justice or Sonnia in range to punish them. the crew selection doesn't change with either master. Either stand at the edge of the circle and shoot at the middle, or stand at the middle and shoot at the edge. The former is more likely as the crew is not very fast. Schemes: Stake a Claim, Kill Prot, Hold Out, Raid Treasure Hunt Take McCabe, Luna, Hounds, Watcher, Sidir, Witchlings Grab the counter if you can; failing that, use your speed to make sure the carrier stays engaged until you can kill him. Schemes: Kill Prot, Hold Out, Stake a Claim, Raid I don't actually own a Watcher, but the rest of this is pretty much what I play for Guild most of the time. - - - - - Chris King Ramos box Kaeris box Avatar Ramos Electrical Creation Mobile Toolkit Metal Gamin Large SPA Student of Conflict Open Spoiler Ramos Box Set: Ramos - main master, for summoning, electrical fire, electrical creation shenanigans, Arachnids-pain for the oppenent, summoned explode, Executioner - fast, grabs objectives, hit and run kill style Avatar Ramos: kills things alot, fast moving, be a big pain Electrical Creation: must have with ramos Kaeris Box Set: Kaeris-burn baby burn, fast, damage output , Fire Gamin-sync with kaeris, main significant model for objectives , Gunsmiths-powerful range attack, defending models that hang back (i.e. ramos) Mobile Toolkit: helps ramos manifest very quickly, helps ramos surge/cast, Metal Gamin Blister: defence of higher cost models, can be summoned by avatar ramos Large Steampunk Arachnid: purely to be summoned by avatar ramos as can help dish out melee damage Student of Conflict: taken as totem by kaeris, gives fast to model within 3" - - - - - Dave Chandler Mei box Kaeris box Willie 3x alt steampunk arachnid swarm Metal gamin Open Spoiler So here's the strat explanations (in every case the metal gamin is protecting Mei): Beatdown - Mei Emberling Metal gamin Kang Kaeris spider swarm 8ss Everything there is pretty survivable and hitty. The emberling will try and stay out of the way, cast vent steam to avoid ranged attacks, and use seismic punch to get slower models (Kang) to where they need to be. If need be, the spider swarm can sit at the back and scatter/recombine to provide activations (I like out-activating the opponent). Mei and metal gamin can take an awful lot of punishment, and can move a long way (companion them so metal gamin jogs forward, then Mei railwalks on it and then charges for punchy fun). Kang hits things with a shovel. Spider swarm's melee expert + paralyze trigger causes much hilarity if it's not being used for activations. Kaeris provides fire support (hilarious pun), but doesn't get stuck in too far unless she has to. Flame walls provide a bit of area control. You'll notice that this basic crew is repeated a few times here. As I said, I like to out activate, and I find a good way to do that is to remove the opponent's models. Schemes for this would be something like kill prot/assassinate/grudge/frame for muder on kang Line in the sand (aka beatdown across half the board) - Mei Emberling Metal gamin Kang Spider swarm Willie Individual steampunk arachnid 7ss So the aim of line in the sand is to take and hold 3 dynamite markers. Turn one you set up a seismic punch train to get Kang (in particular), spider swarm, and willie a fair way forward (they can walk the rest). Willie does his thing, and probably dies horribly after giving a nice bit of area control, usually on the central dynamite marker, though sometimes on the 2 that I'm ignoring. Kang sits on a marker, uses his melee expert to bash enemies away and flips his dynamite marker. Mei and the metal gamin do the same as beatdown, hunting/tying up as many enemies as possible, and using her obscene melee range to stop enemies flipping dynamite). Spider swarm provides activations and/or melee master (paralyze) to fight over a marker. The spare spider is useful for getting in the way, and being a potential rail walk target. Again, everything is fairly resilient and killy. Schemes for this might be similar to beatdown, with hold out, and stake a claim/sabotage as additional possibilities, depending on terrain set up (if Mei can get stake a claim/sabotage while still in melee range of a dynamite marker, that's handy). Treasure hunt (aka beatdown in the centre of the board) - Exactly the same crew as line in the sand. Basically the same plan, but over 1 point instead of 3. If in doubt, Mei rail walks in, casts seismic punch on a high number + soulstone, knocks everything away, and picks up treasure. She then sits on defensive stance, with armour 2, and a metal gamin protecting her, and laughs for the rest of the game. Willie provides general irritation/crowd control. Kang hits things. Spiders cause annoyance and hit things. Emberling causes annoyance. Schemes are something along the lines of hold out, stake a claim, sabotage, maybe some killy ones depending on the opponent's crew. Land grab (worryingly, not necessarily like beatdown... but I'll play it like beatdown anyway) Mei Emberling Metal gamin Kaeris Gunsmith Gunsmith Willie Kaeris and the gunsmiths kill things at a distance, Willie provides area control, Emberling seismic punches models into place. Mei clears up anything which wants to get close. Schemes are probably bodyguard Mei, perhaps hold out too. Basic plan is that anything which crosses the half way line gets killed, then play for schemes. Contain power (aka beatdown, being a bit more conservative with Mei) - Mei Emberling Metal gamin Gunsmith Willie Kaeris Gunsmith Mei doesn't die (armour 2, defensive stance, metal gamin...giggles). Gunsmiths and Kaeris hunt the enemy master. If the enemy master is pandora/Perdita/Lilith (probably some others which I can't think of right now), Willie is used for explody amusement. King of the hill (Beatdown within a central area) Mei Emberling Metal gamin Spider swarm Willie Gunsmith Fire gamin Spiders provide lots of models for the centre. Willie and gunsmith provide crowd control. Mei sits in the middle and punches things. Probably take kill schemes, hold out, sabotage, and/or claim jump for this one. So there you go, That's a massive email to say why Mei is the master to go with at £100 or less. Hope you enjoyed my beatdown oriented playstyle. - - - - - Brooks Martin Lucas Box Sonnia Box Hoffman Mobile Toolkit Peacekeeper Guardian Brutal Effigy Watcher Austringer Open Spoiler relic hunters box set i chose this box set because its the only way i can get wastrels! also partly coz they super fast with lucas. containes. lucas maccabe. very mobile master that can be built up for the game by buying relics at crew creation stage. can tank verywell (0) heal, reactivate black sheep. dish out slow and paralised. dose not do much damadge tho. luna. meh. sidir. good ranged and melee fighter. best when fighting 40mm+ modals. also helps keeping your master alive. wastrels. yes please witch hunters box set this box sets ticks all the box's for getting magical attacks in your crew. also it has witchling stalkers that need to be made better. containes: sonnia criid master. anti magic anti arcanist master. almost immune to magic spells herself while at the same time dishing out lots of her own spells. can be used as a meleefighter also if forced to whitch she may after a few turns of powering up spells with stones. samual hopkins. ranged monster, will hurt what it shoots at (if it activates first). will die in combat witchling stalkers. yes please. hoffman. added the extra master for being very all round, able to do most things and doing them well. will do most of the gaining grounds strats well. he can reactivate his construst crew or machine puppet them or himself + open circet for crowded areas. mobile toolkit. taken for hoffman so he can get +1 to cast his spells for a construct being close and also +1 damage on his open circet spell. the toolkit itsself is not insignifficant so can go get objectives and also can heal allys. very handy too peacekeeper. hoffmans taxi, gets the master around the talbe fast and kills stuff well. has paied cb6 melee weapons with built in crit strike, a chain spear that pulls moddels to him and slows them. hoffman also makes all the bad abilitys on this model ignored. has armour 2 than hoffman gaines when close (wich he will be)! guardian. casts protect on hoffman and trys to keep up with him in my experiance with using this moddel. has armour 2 again and has a (0) action heal . can keep a freindly modal alive aslong as its close to it. watcher. very fast (for guild) significnat modal that can look at your next cards. not a fighter tho. its a lover brutal effigy. takes up totem slot but has melee expert,object,magic attacks in combat and (0) heal. prob best guild model there is. astringer. fantastic range (up to 18) also dose not need line of sight and very high combat so will more than likely hit its target. (0) action to make another of your models activate after him. this selection of models and box sets is aimed at getting a selection of masters to choose from to keep your play style differnt enough to keep entertained while at the same time having a competertive pool to chose from. - - - - - Matt Abbott Redchapel Gang box Body Thieves Box Necropunks Night Terrors The Drowned Alt Bête Noir 2 x Canine Remains blisters Open Spoiler Contain Power McMourning - best master in ressers for killing Bête Noir - killing machine, one of the best minions for killing Sebastian - assists McM 2x Drowned - walks up to master and shatters in their face, bringing up bête 2x Night Terrors - distraction pieces, try to drag stuff away from McM for and control the board 2x Canine Remains - for body parts 2ss Total Cache: 8ss Treasure Hunt / Land Grab / Line in the Sand Seamus - good board manipulation master, nice gun if needed 3x Necropunks - quick and hard to kill 2x Night Terrors - another quick pieces, being spirit stops um getting killed too quickly, good at treasure grabbing. 3x Drowned - speedy if needed,can hold an area Rotten Belle - useful to drag pieces off/on to objectives 4ss Total Cache: 6ss Beatdown Seamus - cant use McM as will need to kill own models, picked by default Bête Noir - do I need to explain? 3x Drowned - if they die they can take out opposition models, balance the books 2x Necropunks - hard to take down, will bring bête out to play when they get taken down 2x Night Terrors - get the weaker minions, when they go down they bring bête out 2ss Total Cache: 4ss Master of the Hill McMourning - can rush to the hill, bring models up to help hold it Sebastian - I'm using McM 4x Canine Remains - body parts 2x Night Terrors - claim hill early, distract other models from it Nurse - can help make McM tougher if needed, make enemies slow to wack em or be dragged off 2x Rotten Belles - push other models around 2ss Total Cache: 8ss - - - - - Ole Larsen Collette Box Mechanical Doves Coryphee Kaeris Box Johan - Renegade Steamfitter Oirans 2 Desperate Mercs Open Spoiler Standard Collette list being Collette, 7 SS, 1 Dove, Cassandra, the Coryphees and Performer and Mannequin Contain Power It's all about not getting your master killed and Collette is really good at not dying. With Tomes in hand and Soulstones she takes a lot to bring down. Generally I'd go with not losing Collette, and then picking winning on scheme points. The standard crew got lots and lots of mobility so mobility based schemes are great, alternatively if there is a good exterminate target (like 3 dogs or similar) the crew can be really good at killing that kind of models. If the opportunity present itself, some masters can be really good targets for Magicians duel and against these it can be worth pumping out lots of Doves. If the master is a less ideal target for that it might be better to save the soul stones and just use them to keep Collette alive. For a more aggressive approach that's actively trying to kill the enemy master go with Collette, 5 SS, 2 Coryphee, Performer & Mannequin, Gunsmith, Johan and a Desperate Merc. The Coryphee can run inteference and while it's damage range is not the highest it can have lots of attacks and with it's use soulstone ability it is perfectly capable of hitting enemy masters, the Performer and Mannequin is the safety net for Collette and the Gunsmith is the ranged threat in the crew. Flipping four cards he can be a danger to just about everybody. Johan is going to hang around and be a bodyguard for Collette or you can deliver him straight into combat via dissapearing act and then (hopefully) getting 3 CB 7 relic hammer attacks on something/enemy master. The Desperate merc is there to put some early hurt on something and then be a disposable roadblock. Collette will likely spend most of her time making Soulstones and the occasional dove, then if you can manage sweep in to kill the enemy master with a magicians duel but keeping her alive and killing the enemy master with anyone is higher priority. Treasure Hunt Another Strat where denial is the first priority. With the crews mobility it should be possibly to almost always deny your opponent the ability to score from this. If nothing else, reactivating Collette and summoning a dove can really help with that. Still, they do actually have decent odds of taking the treasure themselves. Between Disapearing Act and Seduction they can move enemy models around fairly well and with both the Coryphee and Cassandra having very long movement range if you can pick it up you stand a good chance of being able to run away with it. It's also one Strat where I'd actively try and go for Mannequin Replacement around the treasure. Deprive your opponent of a melee range and get one yourself. Even just putting Collette and the Mannequin you brought with you on the treasure can be good enough as it takes a lot to really remove her and if they do you often won't care if it's near the end. Alternatively bring the Coryphee, Cassandra and two Oiran (and 5 SS). The Oirans are much better at casting Lure than the Performer is at Seduction and it's all about either moving enemy models away from the Treasure so you can pick it up, or pushing them once they have it so they drop it and then have one of your fast models swoop in, pick it up and run away with it. Or, if you are facing a ItP crew and Lure won't work, replace the Oirans with a Gunsmith and two Desperate mercs to put a lot of firepower on the treasure zone. Killing one or two enemy models, possibly a Disapearing Act and you should hopefully be able to pick it up and run away. Land Grab This is probably the hardest Strategy as you don't have that many significant models. With the Standard crew it's all about using speed to pick on isolated models sent into quarters to claim them and hopefully being able to at the very least contest enough to not give away points but over time pick away enough enemy models to gain points. Also, do remember that the Coryphee can be split into two if you need the extra model for a point. Alternatively, Cassandra, Performer & Mannequin, 2 Oirans and a Gunsmith (7SSpool). Lure/Seduce people out of the quarters they want to be in, this should be easier if they are trying to be near the center/dividing lines to easier cover several quarters if need be. If you can make a nice clump then hit them with Breath Fire from Cassandra and either Explosive Bullets from the Gunsmith or preferably Leadstorm. If Lure won't work consider replacing the Oirans with another Performer and two mercs, you can always spend the Soulstones to make them stay and be significant if you need the additional models. Beatdown I get to score points by picking on individual models and running away? Cool. The Collette crew should be really quite good at this. As long as you don't die you only have to kill one enemy model so pick the most likely candidate and speed in, strike and disappear. Special mention goes to the Mechanical Doves, they are fragile and might be seen as easy points, but if you can have them around for a turn so they are no longer slow they can fly 10" and then detonate. Giving you a 12" damage pulse that doesn't count towards your opponents kill score (because you sacrificed them). Now it does require you to watch out for being jumped in return, but you got all the tools to do this really well. The alternative crew would drop Cassandra and bring Coryphee, Performer & Mannequin, Gunsmith and Johan (7SS). Or 5SS and a Dove depending on the likely range threat of the enemy crew. Cassandra is the weakest point, being the only showgirl with no inbuilt defense after turn 2. And bringing Johan and the Gunsmith gives you some hard to kill models that can also bring a higher level of direct damage than the Showgirls on their own. As a bonus it also means that your opponent can't use Kill Protegee in this game, as it would have to be one of the Coryphee models and they are both sacrificed in turn one to form the Duet. (Same applies to the crew I picked for Contain Power, but it might be more relevant here) Line in the Sand Oh look, it's another speed based mission. Don't mind if I do. Granted, the Standard crew only have 4 models who can interact with the counters, but it's 2 very fast models and two you can move around if you need to. Add in fast doves to put enemy models into melee range and you should have a good basis for doing the mission. Alternatively, do Cassandra, Coryphee, 2 Doves and Johan. Cassy and Coryphee speeds around and do markers, the doves gets in the way or if you are feeling like you got soulstones to buy they can Disapearing act enemy models or magician duels weakened enemies to remove them/generate soulstones. Johan gets burried and then you can pop him up next to a dynamte marker ready to remove annoying enemy models, interact with one if no one wants to bother him or place him exactly between two markers to take advantage of his 3" melee range. Master of the Hill The basic crew contains a number of ways to move around or remove enemy models from the hill. Seduction and Dissapearring act can work wonders for strats like this. And if you can get Mannequin Replacement off so much the better, it's another model for you. It might even be worth starting Collette with just 5 SS and running two Doves for this one. And again remember that the Duet can become two models. If it's worth a point go for it. Alternative list does Cassandra, 2 Performer & Mannequins, 2 Desperate Mercs and 3 Doves and 7SS. Gives you 11 models to start with, plenty of soulstones so you can afford to pay for the Mercs to stay and try some Mannequin Replacements (and you could if you wanted to blow all your soulstones in one go cast Disapearing act 7 times in a single turn to really clear out the hill). It is a rather fragile crew though, so be careful with it. Depending on the enemy, dropping two doves and bringing either a Gunsmith or Johan could work. But the idea would be to very quickly get lots of models on the Hill and score a couple of early points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adran Posted May 8, 2013 Report Share Posted May 8, 2013 Thank you for this. I failed misrably to get an entry in time, but its good to see what people went for. I might even finish off what I had and submit it here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korrosion Posted May 9, 2013 Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 Everything there except neverborn. Care to comment on that? I would have thought, collodi box, dreamer box, day dream blister, zoriada blister + ? would have been a good start. Work just didn't let me have enough time to elaborate and enter the contest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierowmaniac Posted May 9, 2013 Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 Oooooh cant wait to listen now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavalierartist Posted May 18, 2013 Report Share Posted May 18, 2013 What? Nobody took the Rasputina box set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorbad Posted May 18, 2013 Report Share Posted May 18, 2013 She was actually my second choice for box set. Granted mostly because its cheap, the only box I wanted was the showgirls one. But she is my second favourite arcanist master, I just need to get a fluffy Mechanical Rider to go with her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedknobs Posted May 19, 2013 Report Share Posted May 19, 2013 £100? Neverborn? Of the top of my head: Collodi Box Pandora Box Zoraida Blister Voodoo Doll Widow Weaver Teddy Coppelius Stitched Together Brutal Effigy Insidious Madness Tactics: Kill everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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