Auto Include Models

[Hagisman]

Anyone finding that there are models that they just have to take with their crews, no matter what? Just because they are that good. Thought I would ask.

[Inquisitor Wall]

Belles. I couldn't see playing Seamus without them.

[hypoking]

Francois, Raphael, Lenny. Foundation of any solid gremlin list.

[Math Mathonwy]

Francois, Raphael, Lenny. Foundation of any solid gremlin list.

I agree about Francois, but the other two, though really nice, can be omitted IMO.

[Falconrider]

Metal Gamin for me, if i can get them i always take at least one.

[Zalabar]

Ramos and the Malifaux Child are spending so much time together that CPS has been called.

[Alviaran]

Illuminated and Beckoners with Lynch.

Beckoners are in M2E far more interesting as general control pieces. Combine with their interactions with Brilliance and yay.

But then...the Illuminated come along. And man, they are BRAWLERS. These guys are pretty damn tanky to start with but you stick Brilliance on their target and they will shred it.

Couple all that with Huggy (especially carrying his +s against Brilliance upgrade) and things get fun. I just can't not play him without at least one of each of these little joys.

Neverborn in general though love the Tots. Fast and significant models for objective running. Wheeeeeeee!

[Gorbad]

Sorrows if I'm playing Neverborn. Angelica if I'm playing Colette and I'll try and get her into other arcanist lists as well.

[zFiend]

Howard with Ramos for me. Belles with Seamus. Soul Porter for Yan Lo.

[rancor709]

I've found I have never ever regretted putting 1 nurse in any crew that is capable of taking one. Same goes with 1 belle. For guild I am finding it hard to leave a death marshal at home but part of that is a playstyle bit.

[Fetid Strumpet]

For Seamus I've really discovered having 1 Nurse is very hard to pass up. She can screw around with your enemies, draw fire from more important models, possibly get ignored and be left to run off and drop markers, Heal Seamus via her 8" range on her spell, and what really surprises people, she can turn Sinster Reputation Seamus into a Melee monster.

When something runs up to Seamus thinking they are going to lock him up in combat, the nurse walks over, drops a ram and casts Take Your Meds on Seamus, giving him +2 dmg, then she uses Accomplice, if she is close enough, and Seamus uses his back hand attack with the new dmg line of 3/3/5 up to six times (using Stones to trigger Palm Side 3 times).

The look on an opponent's face when that happens out of left field is priceless.

For Pandora, lately it's been Lilitu and Candy.

[EnternalVoid]

... I suddenly have images of Seamus grabbing someone by the collar and Literally Slapping someone to a bleedy death.

If I am running Guild I would say the model that is always there is a Witchling Stalker, as it is a strong 5ss model on its own and on top of that has Condition removal at a long range.

For Neverborn I would say a Terror Tot, at least one. I like trying to have 8-9 activations in my games so having a cheap but useful 4ss model *or two* is nice as they can do objective running if given an opening or sprint and tie up that all so important murder machine to prevent a charge.

[zFiend]

When something runs up to Seamus thinking they are going to lock him up in combat, the nurse walks over, drops a ram and casts Take Your Meds on Seamus, giving him +2 dmg, then she uses Accomplice, if she is close enough, and Seamus uses his back hand attack with the new dmg line of 3/3/5 up to six times (using Stones to trigger Palm Side 3 times).

Oh wow. Just another reason to get some nurses. That is awesome info, thanks for sharing Fetid.

[Fetid Strumpet]

I sort of Wish I'd caught that during the Open Beta. I only went... ! .... when I had Teddy charge Seamus and pin him between a wall and him so that I couldn't Bored now away.

It gets more silly with Bag O Tools Seamus, as his min dmg goes to 4, but at least with that attack he cant trigger multiple attacks, and models are less likely to want to settle things at kissing distance if he has the bag.

Be aware if you use the nurse trick you can't use any of your 0 actions, as once you are buffed up all you can take are melee attacks, so also be careful using it on any model that can trigger movement as part of a defensive flip.

[Uktena]

Super difficult to leave Barbaros out of a Nephilim list.

[sssk]

I'm finding it very difficult to leave Myranda out of any Marcus crews. She gives him a lot of benefit in healing, beast melee obey, positive defense flips, and new Cerberuses.

[Claymore65]

I find it hard to not include Viktoria of Blood in my Viktorias List...

But really, I'd say:

Leveticus: Rusty Alyce / Ashes and Dust.

Von Schill: Freikorps Librarian and Steam Trunk. I did one battle without the Steam Trunk, and found about 6 times my models would have lived if I had brought it...

Viktorias: Freikorps Librarian, her heals are fantastic for her cost, and I don't own Vanessa yet so...

Like others, my Guild Playing buddy almost always includes a Witchling stalker for condition removal or simply wrecking face when required (except with Sonnia, where he fields a lot of them of course).

[Dracomax]

The closest I've come is that I find it very difficult to not take a witchling on SOnnia.

As far as auto-take upgrades go, I never don't take Defense field with Ramos. It's just too good not to.

[SoulG]

Nurses and sort of Necropunks.

[Darguth]

I'd say that Slop Haulers are probably up there for me. They are must-haves for Somer and Ulix in my mind, at least 1 if not 2. For other Gremlin crews I'd try to fit in 1 if I can find the points because AOE healing is just that good.

And when you ignore their healing and look at their base stats/abilities they are still very solid 5ss models. Decent statline, Reckless, Bayou Two Card, and decent attacks for 5ss? Yes, please!

[Dumb Luck]

For Gremlins, I think the main auto includes are Francois (good value heavy hitter) and Bayou Gremlins (cheap, scheme blokes).

[heckler]

most of the auto includes i chose are for a specific crew in a faction, meaning synergy reasons. i like this dynamic as it stresses things that work well together instead of choices that are just flat out better due to stats and/or ease of play.

really the only thing that has strayed from this dynamic for me is the witchling stalkers and terror tots. stalkers just have solid combat abilities for a 5ss model and dont mind dying too much. tots help tie up annoying shooters and engaging and blocking melee powerhouses.

[Mastershake]

Whenever I'm running Lucius its Austringers, but that's a gimme. Illuminated also make a lot of appearances regardless of access to Brilliance, but anyone who's surprised by that hasn't read their card too well.

Terror Tots are nice if I need to pad my crew, but they're rarely more than a minor annoyance combat-wise, so I usually pass if I feel my crew is in a good place model count-wise.

The models that have legitimately surprised me at how often I find myself reaching for them are:

-Beckoner: Really most games she's a friendly mobility enhancer. Lure + Not That Kind of Girl is hard to pass up when you have so many models that don't want to burn AP doing unproductive things like walking. My only issue is how anemic they are defensively, but if my opponent can focus enough to kill them it's usually going tragically wrong. Sometimes it's also nice to have a CA attack with decent range for Incorporeal things as well.

-Mr. Graves: He's suprisingly difficult to take off the table with some respectable hitting power and Show Ya Tha Door does the same thing Lure + Not That Kind of Girl does where it simultaneously moves two models. He's not quite as good at moving around friendlies as the Beckoner, but his fence post is a lot more severe.

-Guild Pathfinders: While I can respect Guild has Austringers and Witchling Stalkers and other assorted good minions in this category, I still can't quite figure why it seems nobody picked this guy up during the beta. Putting together Lucius list routinely felt lacking in presence and the army was either waiting for things to shoot or tripping over itself or both. The Pathfinder adds a lot of board presence and some decent denial from the traps and if you get off a really well timed focused shot from the Musket (preferably triggering Precise Shot) he can easily justify his investment. anybody playing Guild should give this guy a tryout. If you don't find yourself struggling to justify not putting him in future lists you're probably doing something wrong.

[MasterDisaster]

For me its

Guild : Witchling Stalkers and almost every time an Austringer. These guys work so well with almost any Guild crew it should be criminal.

Outcasts : Hans, Lazarus, Sue, Bishop & Taelor. Any off the above will ALWAYS find their way into one of my crews. Mainly due to damage output but also due to the support or tankiness of the models.

Ten Thunders : Thunder Archers, although these guys are fairly squishy they can seriously ruin an opponents day. I played Misaki vs. Ramos recently and all I had left was Misaki and 2 Archers. They contributed to the Demise of Ramos, Joss, 2 Arachnid Swarms and the Brass Arachnid over the course of the game. My opponet underestimated the power of not randomizing when firing into combat.

Lynch - I find having a couple of Terror Tots in the crew offers some great objective runners and I plan on getting some Depleted so when I don't need the Tots I can swap them out for these guys instead.

[Dracomax]

Ten Thunders : Thunder Archers, although these guys are fairly squishy they can seriously ruin an opponents day. I played Misaki vs. Ramos recently and all I had left was Misaki and 2 Archers. They contributed to the Demise of Ramos, Joss, 2 Arachnid Swarms and the Brass Arachnid over the course of the game. My opponet underestimated the power of not randomizing when firing into combat.

Your opponent obviously never plays shooty Ramos...Ramos doesn't randomize for his lightning bolt either, and with the spiders reducing Df, that can be quite devestating.

Steam Arachnids would be a must take for Ramos, but he summons them, so I rarely hire more than one of them with him.