Freikorps- Malifaux Von Schill Tactica

For the next Malifaux tactica I'm sticking with Outcasts and talking about the crew I've been playing lately with the Freikorps. Von Schill's keyword is incredibly versatile and can adapt to almost any situation they're dealt with, which is really great from a gameplay perspective and makes for fun games. 

 Keyword abilities-

Armour- Fairly simple, but almost the entire keyword (thanks Metallurgist!) have Armour 1 or 2. This is important because it keeps them alive longer, but is something that can be easily teched to if you declare Von Schill. 

Equipment Upgrades- A fairly big and important part of how Freikorps work is based around their Equipment. Both versions of Von Schill and the Steam Trunk all hand them out, and all of them are useful in a lot of situations

Grenade Belt- The least useful one I feel like, but Burnt to a Crisp is always a nice trigger to have to counter scheming and Distracted can be nice as well

Land Mines- Useful for janky reasons, Hazardous terrain is nice but the best part is being able to set up Research Mission and Death Beds for very little resources

Reinforced Assault Shield- My favourite upgrade in general, Shielded 2 is fantastic. Being able to put it on models that are already tanky it becomes ridiculously good

Rocket Boots- Leap and Charge Through are both great, not much else to say. It works for scheming and fighting

Rocket Launcher- Not particularly high damage unless you have the trigger (which is also pretty reliable to get in a few ways) but it does spread out tons of small damage across a lot of things which is really useful. 

Keyword models-

Von Schill- I always intended to finish this, and Schill was the only thing I never wrote. With it being almost 18 months since I've played Malifaux now I'm resigning myself to not getting it done, and publishing the rest of the article as it was

Steam Trunk- The keyword's Totem, the Trunk purely exists to support other models and will almost never directly impact a game. It hands out Equipment for a 6 which isn't bad for a Totem and can help other models cycle Equipment as well, and it has a few different bonus actions to help out friendly models. Emergency Syrette is the most useful IMO because it's a heal, but also removing Poison is great to have for a 5, while the other option to remove Burning is free but a lot more situational. With a 2" range on all its actions and a 3" range on Armory for Equipment cycling you want it to be close to your crew which tends to be right on the front line, but anything that can ignore Armour can and will kill it quite easily so look out for that (especially because Explosive +2 as a Demise can hurt your own models)

Arik Schottemer- the single most important hire in the crew IMO, Arik does a lot to shut down opponents in a few ways. Whether just by taking hits and protecting your crew that way or through Gravity Well shutting down Place effects Arik is useful, and otherwise he's just a pretty simple beater for 10SS with a little bit of versatility. His Shockwaves are ok, and being able to boost them makes Lazarus a bit more enticing as a 2nd take under Schill2 as well, but the main show is his melee which you can boost to fairly reliably spike for 7 damage with Puncture or just ignore Armour with likely negatives. Either way he punches very effectively, but you need to remember to use Charge Up any time you don't need to use Leap to get somewhere which is honestly most times for Arik. Kinetic Amplifier is really great when it's relevant although costing cards is a bit of a downside, and the Metallurgist brings a slight nonbo here as most of these kinds of damage will get reduced to 0 and thus no possible Focus. Diving Charge is amazing for mobility too because nothing can get in his way of the target even without Leap (and Rocket Boots for Charge Through is actually a good use here, especially with Puncture)

Hannah Lovelace- going into writing this I knew I'd be saying some controversial things about Hannah, and while I think she's an important piece in the crew and quite good she isn't the first thing I take and is often the one I remove. While she gives a great bonus in Arcane Reservoir and the things she does are consistent she is very expensive at 10SS and taking 20SS in 2 models is something to weigh up whenever you play Schill. The min 4 combo with Arik is ok but it's still jumping through hoops and Freikorps don't exactly struggle for damage anyway, plus she can also just be doing bonus actions from Equipment which will have their own benefits. Both her attacks are good and have good triggers (which you can guarantee) as does Adaptive Tactics with being able to clear conditions if needed. In general she brings a good toolkit, but it's a toolkit that I'm deciding game by game whether I'll actually need it or not because I've often skipped her and not felt like I was missing out on anything. 

Lazarus- A model that I really love but just never end up taking, mainly because he doesn't do a huge amount that synergises with the rest of the crew that can't be done elsewhere. He's decently tanky for 9SS but not hugely so, and Unyielding combined with Bodyguard let him be a defensive pin for the crew but he is very slow and won't keep up with the rest of the crew as easily. Both his attacks are ok, but the Grenade Launcher is a Shockwave in a crew that using Shockwaves cuts into their efficiency in other ways isn't fantastic, although it will drain the hand of opponents ideally to stop them taking big chunks of damage (or just doing the damage itself). Juggernaut for healing is great but at the cost of a card, and Assimilate is good depending on what Constructs you're using (mainly Arik). His ability through Assimilate and Elimination Protocols to get effectively 3AP for not much work is also nice and you can hurt the opponent a lot, but at 9SS and not being Arik or Hannah he's the 3rd expensive model I look at in a list, and I tend to grab cheaper models instead to bump up activations at that point. 

Metallurgist- The newest piece for Freikorps and almost pure support, but I really love it for what it does passively in a lot of matchups. No Armour is unique for Freikorps, but it does have native Arcane Shield 2 for some protection and Evasive to completely remove Blasts, Pulses and Shockwaves as a threat. Power Tokens in Freikorps won't do much often, but Enchanted Steel makes your already tanky models an absolute slog to take out unless you ignore Armour (which at least some things likely will as tech picks against Freikorps) and is mostly a huge benefit with Hazardous Terrain- your own Land Mines can't even affect your stuff as long as the Metallurgist is nearby. Her attack is nice but low damage, and Vent Steam helps keep her safe and hurts the opponent a lot but as far as actions go its her bonus actions that are the reason for using her and her actual actions are mostly just going to be done as needed for damage or protection. Command Construct in Freikorps is good but not fantastic (Hannah and Arik are what you'll do it on the most) and built in Temper Steel is very nice although the action itself still needs a 9 of Tomes to be successful. Like Clockwork is slightly less limited in use as it doesn't need to target a Construct (although it still needs one in play) and moves the target 3" towards any Construct or Scrap marker (even enemy), with Power token gain for Augmented on a Tome (in Freikorps only useful on the Metallurgist herself) and on a Mask for Freikorps the ability to attach Equipment at the cost of a card which is just another way to pick things up and it always welcome. 

Drachen Trooper- what is really the biggest finesse piece of the keyword and often not very useful in comparison to other models, the Drachen shines based on what your opponent is using. Clearing Distracted, Slow and Staggered is their main reason to be taken with a huge range and only needing a 4 (and with the Metallurgist doing no damage to Freikorps for the full benefit) and removing markers is also very useful to have in the right matchup (but only Corpse, Scrap and Destructible so still not a lot of the things you want marker removal for). The Flamethrower is pretty good at dealing damage to a lot of models and 6 vs Mv is good, but at 8SS compared to other options in keyword its very tough competition and means you won't really see the Drachen Trooper very often. 

Freikorps Librarian- honestly my favourite minion in keyword (and there's a lot of competition) because they can pivot so easily into almost any role and have really great synergy with a bunch of the Equipment. Arcane Shield on top of Assault Shields and Rocket Launchers with Siphon Power are both great options, Consolidate Power with your Minions is a nice option to have (but not so great that you won't want to flex into bonus actions from Equipment) and their actions are all great. Ancient Words is a good ranged option and the triggers are both very useful (although the Rocket Launcher makes for a better blaster) and Healing Words is the real reason to take them in the crew. They have tons of ways to reduce damage in keyword but with ranged healing it becomes so much more punishing for the opponent and you can make sure you're staying around for a very long time

Freikorps Scout- The sniper of the keyword, Scouts have some good rules on their own and some really great interactions with Equipment (mainly the Rocket Launcher). From the Shadows is great for early shots and with a 14" gun they can easily achieve this, while ignoring Concealment and Friendly Fire on the front of card (meaning it makes Rocket Launchers ignore it) is also very good in the right situations. Stat wise there's not much to say other than they're very average with nothing excelling, although Pursue helps with duels against models that have already activated so offensively they are fairly reliable (stat 7 Rocket Launcher for example). Their own attacks aren't especially better than Freikorpsmenn for the extra cost, but their bonus action to get out of engagement is nice and they do have good triggers on both actions as well.

Freikorps Engineer- Engineers are a weird support/close range model that will be useful in a scrum, but really exists to make sure other things are harder to kill. Their stats are standard for Freikorps and they have Armour 1 like almost everyone else, but Tools for the Job makes their triggers a lot more reliable and gives you some good card cycling, and although Sabotage won't always be useful it will be handy when it is and could potentially allow some sneaky scoring setups for later in a turn. Their melee is actually not too bad, with stat 5 2/3/5 being on the low end but having 2 great triggers. Severe Injury is always useful but being able to set up attacks later in the turn from your big hitters (or Scouts shooting rockets for reliable blasts) and Armour Piercing is pretty self explanatory (plus synergy with Sabotage. Their big thing though is their bonus action Strengthen Armour, which gives the target Shielded 2 (great for keeping Assault Shields active) and if they're a Construct they heal 1. At the cost of a card you won't see it super often outside of Freikorps where it becomes a cycle, but also being able to hand out Focus or put Concealment on the target is very nice and you can keep things in a fight for a very long time this way (especially because most of the value models are Constructs). I personally prefer the Librarian for 1 extra stone, but ultimately both have good tools and can be used well so it really depends what you need in any given situation like most of Freikorps

Freikorpsmenn are the cheapest keyword minion, but they do a ton of work for 5SS. Armour and Survivalist together make for a far more survivable model than they deserve to be for 5SS, although 5s in all their stats is squarely average so they will fairly often need to rely on extra defences over their native stats (Assault Shield here is fantastic). They can choose to take a damage to keep any Equipment they'd otherwise discard which is great for Rocket Launchers and Boots to get more efficiency out of them, and Ruthless is always amazing to get around a bunch of defensive tech. Their actions aren't amazing, although Crit Strike on both attacks is nice for sure, and Reference the Field Guide also enables the damage boosts via Crit Strike if you have the right cards. In general Freikorpsmenn are great budget minions and I find they always do work

Upgrades-

Servant of Dark Powers- On either version of Von Schill I find this autotake because he wants to be killing models anyway, and you can use it to make sure you're healing while you do so (and Schill 1 gets the extra +1 this way) while Herald is also excellent

Wanted Criminal- It's really just janky in Freikorps, although on Freikorpsmenn for scheming it's not a bad take. Outflank for example you can threaten from turn 2

Soldier for Hire- Hard to Kill on anything in the keyword is excellent, but the rest of it is more just meh

Deployments- With Freikorps having lots of ways to move in weird ways and out of activations the deployments don't really matter to them outside of how they affect Schemes and Strategies. 

Strategies-

Reckoning- The best strat for Freikorps IMO, because they're sturdy and can also dish out damage. It's really simple

Turf War- Being able to both survive to avoid flipping your markers and jump into the opponent's half to challenge their markers this is a good option 

Corrupted Idols- Spend wounds to chuck Idols, then use your Librarians to heal them back up. Freikorpsmenn especially are great here because of Survivalist, and you can use Leap and cheating initiative to make sure you can reach the Idols as well

Plant Explosives- I like this strat, but it isn't as great as Reckoning or Turf War for Freikorps

Schemes- 

Detonate Charges- I wouldn't take this purely because it isn't reliable enough and you can't get scheme markers in without interacting

Breakthrough- Not something I'd recommend, I tend to prefer mid-board schemes or things that need you to get into the opponent

Harness the Ley Line- With how you want to scrum and semi-bubble this one can be great, but it can also potentially be difficult. 

Search the Ruins- I don't hate this scheme but I also don't love it with Freikorps. Depending on the table setup I'll take it

Dig Their Graves- I don't really rate it honestly, but it can be achievable in a lot of ways

Hold Up Their Forces- Freikorpsmenn are great here because they're both cheap and tanky, especially with Assault Shields and healing. 

Take Prisoner- Depends entirely on the opponent, but even then I don't really like it

Power Ritual- Corner or Flank only, as usual

Outflank- Not bad, and I do like doing this with Freikorpsmenn or Scouts but you also need to make sure you aren't just handing over 2 of your models for no gain

Assassinate- This one is difficult for either version of Schill for different reasons, but Schill 1 with the right setup is almost unkillable for a lot of reasons. Play Schill to deny it, but also depending on how easily you can kill the enemy Master I'd take it as well

Deliver a Message- 1st point is very doable but then I'm not a huge fan of the 2nd point because it can be countered in a lot of ways

Claim Jump- Not bad, but not fantastic either

Vendetta- Being able to punch up with cheap models makes this a pretty great option, especially because you can then do as much as you can to keep said model alive the rest of the game after they kill their target

GG1

Strategies- 

Symbols of Authority- Sending things far enough up the table to grab Symbols is fairly easy, and protecting yours with a scrum of Freikorps is also easy enough to do

Recover Evidence- Not a terrible scheme, slap Intel on your most tanky models and watch as your opponent struggles to collect more than a couple of points

Corrupted Ley Lines- Although they have a lot of movement, it's mostly placing so it isn't hugely reliable like other crews are. 

Public Enemies- Same as Reckoning, you have tankiness and damage to make sure you can both deny and score this which is great

Schemes- 

Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Nothing changed here, so my points from above are still my opinion on them. 

Hidden Martyrs- With almost anything in the keyword being tough as nails for their cost you can fairly reliably get points from this, although it does become more obvious when you come to let opponents kill your models and they can just choose to stop attacking you (which in turn lets you dictate the terms of the game)

Sabotage- I really don't like this one with Schill simply cause it means you have to push really deep into the opponent's half and you're better suited to other schemes

Catch and Release- Freikorpsmenn (for cheap) or Librarians (for tankier) with Shield and Rocket Boots are a pretty funny, if not entirely guaranteed, option for this and I'd do it just for the fun of it but like a lot of things there are probably better options. 

Let Them Bleed- You have a lot of damage reduction, a lot of healing and good damage. All of these added up make your crew great for this scheme

Leave Your Mark- Not a bad option because you can scrum in the middle and block out the opponent from scoring, but also not guaranteed so dependent on what the opponent is playing and table setup

Research Mission- Drop Landmines for it and you can do it pretty self-sufficiently wherever you need to

Spread Them Out- It's very doable but I'd also not want to risk getting things out of ranges from other models so you can keep overlapping abilities and making sure you can pass things around where you want to. It makes a bit of a pivot in terms of Schill's lifestyle so you have to consider what other schemes you have. 

Runic Binding- Leaps make it less difficult, and in a scrum situation I'd consider this an alright (if not perfect) take

GG2

Strategies-

Symbols of Authority, Corrupted Ley Lines- Same as in GG1, my thoughts are the same.

Turf War- Same as it used to be, same opinion as before

Break the Line- All I'd suggest is push hard onto 2 markers and shove them up as quickly as possible, because you can also quite easily double Interact on them in single activations with Rocket Boots

Schemes-

Breakthrough, Vendetta, Assassinate, Hidden Martyrs, Research Mission, Let Them Bleed, Catch and Release, Spread Them Out- These are all very much the same as before and I wouldn't change how I play them now.

Detonate Charges, Claim Jump- They’re the same as GG0, same as my thoughts there.

Death Beds- With Land Mines you can pull it off pretty well, I actually like this scheme with Freikorps because you can score it and you're also tanky enough to try and deny it hard. 

Update- The Future and the Past

 Hi all, I've been away from the blog for quite a while (10 months since my last post, and 9 since I've even actually written anything) and as a way to track my hobby more I'm planning on writing some things again.

When it comes to Malifaux and Batman, long the mainstays of the blog in terms of content, I just don't have the motivation to write for them and I've been playing both games far less recently. In fact most of the games I've had on here I haven't played as much lately as I've moved over to playing Horus Heresy with the new edition which I love, but its taken a lot of my hobby and especially gaming time so I'll likely write a lot more about it in the near future. 

In terms of actual tactica and the kind of posts I've done in the past they'll likely not be seen much any more, as they are quite a large undertaking for full keyword/faction tactica and need frequent updating to be actually useful. At this point it's probably a bit obvious that I won't be updating my Malifaux posts for further Gaining Grounds unless the inspiration really strikes me, but I will be finishing and posting the last tactica for Malifaux I had in progress, as the Freikorps is almost finished and should be done in the coming days. 

I am planning to be putting up some hobby progress posts in terms of what I've been working on in batches, with a big focus being on my Dark Angels for Horus Heresy and the Eldar I've painted for 40k (although still haven't used yet). There's a bit of Malifaux and Batman as well, but GW has been the main focus recently. 

I'd like to thank anyone who's still reading this (you're definitely appreciated!) and hopefully the next stage of the blog isn't just for my own hobby tracking

Plagued- Malifaux Hamelin Tactica

Next up for Malifaux I'm writing about another one of the Outcasts I've had a bit of a different experience with in Hamelin. I've never been a fan of the whole Rat Engine style of play in any edition, but I love the Blight Bomb builds he can do and so my personal preferences for him are based entirely around what facilitates this style (and the only times I've played him have been when this build is possible)

 Keyword abilities-

Blight Tokens- The crew revolves around Blight, but being tokens they don’t natively do anything on their own. The crew has so many ways to both apply and use them that if you don’t see Blight on enemy models start to snowball you’re almost certainly not playing the crew correctly.

Nihilism- Hamelin and Nix both have this, and at the cost of a card discard you can choose to not gain any condition. When it will likely be beneficial for you not to have it (eg against Tara on Hamelin or an already activated Nix) you can just deny it entirely, although without much card draw you’ll have to be a bit careful about when you do it

Bleeding Disease- The big use for Blight offensively, it deals damage to the target equal to how many Blight Tokens they have. Because of how Blight stacks up so quickly by mid-game you will have a ton of ways to throw out tons of damage onto the opponent and you will often be one-shotting lower wound models which is really effective in terms of thinning them out. 12" range is also excellent because it keeps you safer as well. 

Taint- a common Crow trigger, it gives Blight equal to how many Crows are in the duel total. Good to have and you'll do it fairly often but there really isn't much else to say about it

Source of the Contagion/Diseased- Passive Auras to spread Blight, Diseased is a 3" on most of the crew and Source of the Contagion is a 6" Aura on Hamelin himself. They both stack, and both of them give an enemy Blight when they activate within range so you can stack it up really quickly. 

Covered in Rats- The defensive ability of Benny Wolcomb and Rat Catchers, it just gives them Shielded +1 for each Malifaux Rat they end their activation within 1" of. It's simple but it works well enough

Demise (Agony)- Both Hamelins have this, and it lets them kill a Stolen in 6" to heal 5 when he dies. Nice way to keep him alive if needed, but usually it'll be more of a deterrent than anything. 

Keyword models-

Hamelin- The more front-line version of the Plague, this Hamelin is built to be very much stuck in instead of trying to block out opponents and keep them at arms length. His stats are very defensible, and Nihilism is great to have in this regard as well, while Coughing Fit helps not only Hamelin but any trigger an enemy does within 6" which shuts down a lot provided you can build up Blight (which you should be able to pretty well). Voracious Rats is a nice incidental summon, but otherwise there isn't much to the front of his card that hasn't already been touched upon. 
Bleeding Disease is as expected, but Siphon Life on it is quite great to have because it increases damage even more which can help get through high wound counts (and healing on your Master is always welcome). Lure at stat 7 and with Taint built in is very good and is useful for forcing opponents into your range to mess with them as best as possible, while Skittering Vermin can be useful as well to move things like Rat Kings or Winged Plague into positions where they can score for you. The Black Staff is surprisingly good melee at 6 vs Df (and with a trigger for built in Injured which will stack up really quickly) although 2/3/4 damage and a Blight isn't super high. Free Rats on a Tome is nice, and Skittering Vermin as mentioned before helps too, but in general I would only really be attacking in melee with Hamelin if he really has to because he definitely has better actions otherwise. 
Pustulent Tumours for exploding Rats is quite hilarious and actually a really good action being a pseudo-shockwave with no resist, and with Quick Reflexes you can turn an abundance of Rats into huge amounts of damage for the opponent for very little card resources from you which will always be surprising to see and still very effective. Unclean Influence as his bonus action is also very useful, as making all Vermin move 3" and take free actions is great to have and it can be used really aggressively to either form Rat Kings or move things into position for bombing via Pustulent Tumours. For a 4, and with a trigger to give all Rats in range free Focused there's really no reason to not use it unless you have no Vermin within 6" of him, in which case you're probably already struggling

Hamelin, The Piper- My preferred version of Hamelin, I really love the playstyle of The Piper and he does so much. What I'll get out of the way first is that I really dislike the idea of taking him as just an enabler for a bunch of out of keyword models, and I see his Obey as a way to mess with your opponent in huge ways and spread Blight across enemy models while also having the versatility of spreading AP where you need it among your own crew to push for scoring. Decent enough stats although easier to kill than non-Title Hamelin with 1 less wound and Df, although forcing discards to make Charges within 6" (which is also the Blight Zone) is really nice to drain resources and can help to keep him alive. The ability to spread Blight from killed models when they die is especially nice, because Bleeding Disease becomes a very quick way to rip through enemies later in the game, plus Spray of Filth built in with this Hamelin increases it even more. He also has counters to card draw crews which is especially nice control, as if they have Blight and draw cards within 6" you can discard said Blight to instead draw a card yourself and deny them one, which is a huge resource swing and can make a real difference in a lot of ways. 
In terms of actions, 2 of his 3 attacks have Tainted Chorus on a Crow to straight up give the target 2 Blight Tokens which is always very useful, and Music in the Air on a Tome to immediately push the target (which has to be an enemy) 2" in any direction. Not really useful on Bleeding Disease I feel, but on Obey is quite good to get enemies into better positions for you (meaning worse for them). Obey is pretty self explanatory and amazing on its own, but with the Mask built in and stat 7 its even better and the triggers are both good as mentioned above. Bleeding Disease is Bleeding Disease, your best damage action after very little investment. The Piper's Influence is one of the only ways in Outcasts to give Stunned, and giving your own models built in suits against the target is even better because of all the huge amounts of ways it can pay off (built-in Onslaught with Rat Kings, Taint on tons of stuff). Infestation for a free Rat is nice but you really want Tainted Chorus for the most results I feel like. Eyes in the Walls is Marker removal which is always welcome (it works on anything non-Strategy, so a great way to deal with non-Destructible Markers) and the pulse for Blight on enemies (Wp13 so likely burning decent cards) plus a free Rat is nice to have for an 8. Alone each benefit would probably be slightly high, but when you get all 3 every time it's really great and 6" pulses can mean you can hit crews a lot for those 8s if you do it multiple times a turn (Titania, Kaeris, Reva and Rasputina for example)

Stolen- As far as totems go they are very average, but they do a decent amount to support the crew. Giving Vermin Fast is expensive needing 10s (or 6s on Rats) but when you do get it its definitely worth it, plus being able to kill them for cards and rats is an ok choice if you're running low. Vomiting Disease is also an ok attack for a 1SS totem but nothing to write home about. 

Nix- As far as survivable henchmen go, Nix is the gold standard. Between Incorporeal, only being able to do Moderate or Weak damage to him (or any friendly within 3") and Soulstones he is very hard to actually damage, and then any duel failed by enemies within 3" also heals him which turns it up to 11. Nihilism is great to have as well when it matters, but its his survivability combined with the back of his card that makes him an autotake in any Hamelin crew. Loose Bowels is ok in scheming pools, and very low investment to straight up lock the opponent from doing things they want in many ways, but Drink Spirit is the more useful bonus action IMO because it can throw out huge amounts of Blight and also heals Nix a good amount of the time to make sure he's topped up. Bleeding Disease is fairly self explanatory, and Spectral Bite is ok damage but built in Taint is the main reason you'll be using it, because Nix wants to be in the middle of a scrum tanking and dealing damage as much as possible to actively screw with the opponent's plans.

Benny Wolcomb- A model I've very much spoken negatively about in the past with Bandit, but in Hamelin there's a lot more useful synergy and even though Benny is still weird, he has his uses. Using him to convert a bunch of scheme markers turn 1 into Rats, which then turn into Rat Kings, is his best use but he often becomes a bit less useful after the fact and tries to pivot into a schemer/runner killer where he's ok but not fantastic (unless there are scheme markers nearby and he becomes Fast). I like Benny, and he's important for getting Rat Kings onto the table, but he won't be putting in huge amounts of work all game directly. 

Disease Containment Unit- The new Enforcer, shared with Guard, this model is definitely more suited towards Guard in terms of kit but it still has some very nice Blight synergies with it. Armour 1 with the ability to not be affected by Hazardous Terrain, Injured or Poison is all really nice, as is +1 to duels against models that have already activated (making those blasts more reliable) but the explosion when it dies is a huge thing to look out for in Plague because it will delete any Rats you have and do huge chunks of damage to things in your crew. Rapid Response for working against markers is excellent, being able to get things out of bad situations (against Pyres? Time to get everyone back to safety) and the possible heals or Rat summons (because this is a Plague tactica after all, Hounds are a footnote at best) are great to have in the toolkit. Its Hidden Axe is ok but not fantastic, Diseased Limb reduces your Blight to make it do fairly mediocre damage for a 7SS model, but the Flamethrower is what does work in Hamelin crews. Resisting Mv is always good but even greater with Pursue, and although it isn't super high damage it gives out high Burning or optionally Blight tokens via the trigger which means you'll be tuning up the rest of your crew in some big ways. I really like the DCU for this reason alone, and the Flamethrower paints a huge target on it that the opponent can't ignore early game for the sheer threat of being covered in Blight far quicker. 

Obedient Wretch- What is basically a better Stolen, the Wretch is actually one of the better pieces in the crew I think because it is ridiculously survivable for its cost between Manipulative, Stealth and Tummy Aches (which I'll come back to soon) and having Bleeding Disease. It can kill itself like Stolen although here it is an absolute last resort, and Tossed Rat is best mainly for the triggers which are both great. Analyze Weakness and Bleeding Disease are both the main reasons you want the Wretch because it allows you to tech against Armour (with Skittering Vermin as well, so you can ignore Armour and put your Rat King into charge range). The big reason these are so great is through Tummy Aches, because not being able to cheat if they had Blight (which they pretty reliably will) means you can cheat to win with total impunity and make sure your attacks land (or you survive)

Rat King- My favourite minions in the keyword, these things are nuts. They don't look especially fantastic in any way, but they have so many ways to go above and beyond expectations so I love putting them on the table. I don't hire them, instead summoning with Benny, but having 2 by the end of turn 1 is something I'll always shoot for because trading up from hiring a Rat or 2 is just value. They can remove scheme markers from range, giving them great counter-scheming threat, force duels on things to give out Slow which is great and with pluses to damage flips they can reliably spike damage to hit the 4 or 5 damage on their melee. On that point, Onslaught is amazing as can be expected and the built in Blight explosion is great for spreading things around into the enemy crew (and with Piper Hamelin you can spread even more which gets insane). In general they're great mid-tier beaters that can punch up when needed, and even if they die they either get you a Rat Catcher (if you kill it yourself) or draw a card which is still good to have. 

Rat Catcher- A pretty good close-up scheming piece, but honestly I find myself not really taking them because of the wealth of other options in keyword and I prefer sticking with Rat Kings instead of summoning in Catchers. They can do a lot of work in pools with Detonate Charges or Death Beds and even things like Symbols and Break the Line where Don't Mind Me is very useful, I just personally don't click with them a whole lot. They are another vector to hand out Fast on your Vermin though which is really nice to have (and on a better stat than Stolen), and help a huge amount in getting Rats on the table which leads to even more Rat King possibilities. Rat Snack is useful, with some sneaky card draw in it (2 cards from a Rat) and they have a lot of good tricks on their melee as well although they aren't super amazing combat models (free Rat, Slow or quite easy min 4 are all great to have). 

Winged Plague- They're very squishy, but for 4SS scheme runners they do the job. Turn 1 will often be used to feed Benny and make up Rat Kings, but after that I find they're great ways to score points through Interacts while most of the crew wants to be gumming things up and spiking damage with Blight. The end of turn pushes on them are also really great to have too, because it speeds up already fast models early in the game. 

Malifaux Rat- They're basically glorified markers, but being able to build into Rat Kings is a serious threat and they can also put out Blight if they get into annoying positions (and they can just block off areas by existing so even with no engagement they can be annoying in terms of board control) 

OOK/Versatile models-

Emissary- As far as support pieces go this is close to the gold standard. Healing and bonus scheming are what you want it for, but it is expensive and doesn't play much into synergies with the rest of the crew. I like it a lot but it's also one of the first things I'll go to drop

Big Jake- This is what you take for aggressive scheming options that can bring itself back if/when he does die. Not essential (I certainly get enough success out of Winged Plague most of the time) but also very useful if your opponent can clear out models quicker. 

Hans- The option here is for having ranged shooting options early in the game to force engagements with the opponent and punish them for staying away from your bubble. 

Upgrades-

Servant of Dark Powers- If you're hiring Rat Kings this is great, but it also does good work on Nix if you spare the stones for it (although 2 stones to reduce damage is also good to have for Nix)

Wanted Criminal- Although the new version of the upgrade as of 2021 is a lot better, I don't think there's really a great use for it in Hamelin crews except maybe Benny. Even there though it isn't fantastic

Soldier for Hire- Hard to Kill is always good, but for 2SS on the models you want it on you may as well just bank the stones for more versatility

Deployments-

Corner- while the crew isn’t necessarily fast it isn’t slow either, although Corner means you won’t really be getting into the game in a big way until turn 3 and it makes it a lot harder to start the snowball of Blight

Wedge- this only really exists as a way to spearhead Nix into the enemy crew and shoot out Blight as much as possible, but with such an awkward deployment zone and trending towards higher model count Wedge is a big pain for Plague crews

Flank- unlike Corner, you have close enough deployment zones that you can effectively get into the enemy crew earlier and get Blight onto things when you need to early/mid game

Standard- fairly average, not much else to say

Strategies-

Reckoning- I don't think you could give away points easier if you tried. Nothing in the crew other than Nix and Hamelin are particularly tough to kill and they also don't have huge amounts of damage until later in the game

Turf War- My main take for Hamelin in the GG0/Rulebook pool, Turf War is somewhere you can do a decent amount of scoring provided you get your placement right. Early game you will easily take both markers in your half, then you can push up and make sure the centre one stays in your control while you annoy the opponent as much as you can and dish out damage to make sure you can hold 3 points on the table which in turn denies your opponent. 

Corrupted Idols- This would be my 2nd pick for Hamelin, but it needs a bit of management to pull off. You can get totally screwed by initiative flips here even if you try and make sure you can get 2-3 markers covered and the fact you want to bubble is somewhat detrimental to the strategy. You can however all but lock out the opponent putting them back over your half with Blight so the denial game and playing for 2-3VP isn't a bad take

Plant Explosives- Not bad, but not great either. Kings and Winged Plague can get into awkward spots to place bombs down but you really need to push into the opponent's half to benefit and Hamelin doesn't really like doing that in general

Schemes- 

Detonate Charges- With how Hamelin likes to play a scrum style of game and the many ways you can get scheme markers onto the table Detonate is one I like to take with him, because he can lock down an enemy model with some degree of reliability

Breakthrough- Not bad with Winged Plague or even Rat Kings, but its risky so you have to be a bit careful with how you play it

Harness the Ley Line- Not a bad option, but not fantastic either. That's about all I can say really it depends on what other schemes there are and if you can accomplish both easily

Search the Ruins- Not terrible but you don't want to be pushing too deep into the opponent's half because it has diminishing returns very quickly, so it depends on board state

Dig Their Graves- With no non-scheme marker placement in the crew outside of dying (and your most expendable models don't drop corpses) the 2nd point isn't very reliable, but the first is ok enough given you can pull things into the bubble and make sure it dies where you want to with some reliability

Hold Up Their Forces- This is fairly easy to achieve and not a bad take for Hamelin in general, I like it a lot

Take Prisoner- Any model you choose for this is either too important to the crew (Obedient Wretch), fragile (Winged Plague) or rewarding to the opponent to kill (Rat Kings/Catchers) that you don't want to be putting them into a position where they will also be denying your scoring as well. It's good for a fakeout if you can get other schemes but I would recommend not choosing it. 

Power Ritual- Corner or Flank only, and even then you shouldn't be splitting up with Hamelin to do it

Outflank- You don't want to do this. Keep as one otherwise the crew is easily picked apart

Assassinate- Hamelin is tanky enough and you can get big spikes from Blight in the late game (especially when other things die with Piper and you can shove all their Blight onto the enemy leader for Bleeding Disease damage) so Assassinate isn't a bad option if you can lock down the enemy leader in your bubble

Deliver a Message- First point is easy, 2nd is almost impossible. Playing for 1 isn't bad though with Hamelin 

Claim Jump- You can almost guarantee this with careful play, using ablative models to crowd out the zones and keep the centre blocked off

Vendetta- If you can get Nix on anything 8+ cost you can do some good work here because you hit it a couple times early to get point 1, Nix should survive and you throw Bleeding Disease at the target until it dies (and it should pretty reliably)

GG1

Strategies- 

None of them are especially fantastic for Hamelin, mainly because they incentivise non-place speed which he doesn't have much of, although he can play hardcore denial and grind the opponent out on attrition while he scores 1-2 points from the strat

Schemes- 

Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Nothing changed here, so my points from above are still my opinion on them. 

Hidden Martyrs- some excellent choices in Hamelin's keyword, chief among them the Obedient Wretch, I really like this scheme for Plague

Sabotage- depends entirely on the deployment. Flank and Wedge it's a lot easier, Standard it's OK and Corner I would never pick it

Catch and Release- of the options you have for keyword minions, all of them are going to be high enough priority while not being super survivable that you'll likely not score both points, but you can body block Hamelin and Nix well enough (Benny is more difficult) to deny the opponent

Let Them Bleed- you don't have high enough damage outputs outside of spike damage and this scheme is very difficult to pull off

Leave Your Mark- I don't mind this option because you can block off the area pretty safely and pull things away from it as well, and Hamelin likes to operate around the centre of the table anyway

Research Mission- no special markers in keyword, I wouldn't bother with it

Spread Them Out- it's possible with Winged Plague shooting off to the flanks, but you have to make sure they're safe or you just give away the VP

Runic Binding- not a bad option, but not especially an amazing one either

GG2

Strategies-

Symbols of Authority, Corrupted Ley Lines- Same as in GG1, my thoughts are the same. Mainly playing a denial game here while getting 1-2 VP yourself

Turf War- Same as it used to be, same opinion as before

Break the Line- Between the amounts of movement and free actions both versions of Hamelin can give this isn't a bad option, especially because you can get quite a lot out of most keyword models this way. Winged Plague have the most effective double-tap being Vermin and can benefit from a ton of extra ways to do things in the keyword

Schemes-

Breakthrough, Vendetta, Assassinate, Hidden Martyrs, Research Mission, Let Them Bleed, Catch and Release, Spread Them Out- These are all very much the same as before and I wouldn't change how I play them now.

Detonate Charges, Claim Jump- They’re the same as GG0, same as my thoughts there.

Death Beds-  With no marker placement in the crew (and your victim models not dropping corpses either so you can't just kill Rats to make it easy) this isn't a great scheme to take

The Pariah- Malifaux Leveticus Tactica

 As a planned big push to cover all the crews I've got for Malifaux and actually play (and a bit of theory for me to work things out better in those crews) I'm starting to finish off Outcasts in terms of tacticas. I've decided to start with Leveticus, because his crew is somewhat straightforward but also because his new title and the ability to take the 4 Horsemen is something I am really excited for so I want to play around with that a lot more. 

Keyword abilities-

Entropy- A 3" aura where enemies activating take 1 damage, when it's on the whole crew you really don't want them to engage with you (but they will). This plays into what Leveticus and a lot of his keyword want to be doing, and is the best use for summoned Abominations that can then act as roadblocks that punish the opponent. 

Unmade- The offensive defence ability shared by almost all of the keyword, this is a Tome trigger on Df and Wp (built in on Leveticus and the Desolation Engine's Df) to deal 1 Irreducible damage to the attacker. Vengeance on Kirai's crew is amazing for this reason, and although Unmade costs resources and isn't passive it is much the same in how it punishes the opponent for attacking you even though they will want to. 

Withering Away- Another 3" aura, this one anti-healing which has a lot more applications than you would think. It stops a few Demise abilities, shuts down any Chronicle from happening and just not allowing healing is good in itself. In damage-based crews it just makes what you're doing that much more reliable and that alone is great. 

Desolate Warping- On all of your melee beaters there is the Tome trigger to summon a Slow Abomination in base contact when you kill models in melee which is really interesting because you can use it to feed your Desolation Engines, hunt weak models to potentially build up to a new one, or just use Abominations as roadblocks and pests to annoy the opponent. They do all have Necrotic Decay to boost their damage which is often more useful, but if something is on low enough wounds you can all but guarantee the kill this is always worthwhile

Necrotic Decay- The other trigger for the beaters, this one lets them deal damage to themselves to boost the damage they deal and is the main reason wounds on your crew are a big resource. With Servant of Dark Powers, and the built in healing on Death Touch, you can pretty safely use it to bring you closer and to guarantee kills on your enemy which is a big boon. If you can leverage it with healing it is very likely that the wound cost won't be a huge downside and work in your favour. 

Keyword models-

Leveticus- In general Leveticus is really simple and no-frills in how he works, especially in terms of his keyword. Unmade (built in on Df) and Entropy are as to be expected, but he can also heal models within 3" of enemy models that take damage from either of these abilities provided they are within 6" of Leveticus as well (basically making Entropy a much better version of Life Leech, and adds pseudo-reduction to Unmade). His stats are all very average, and with 10 wounds his Channel ability to suffer 2 Irreducible damage to gain Focused +1 it means he really wants healing and to avoid getting hit, although he can come back by using Waifs via his Demise ability which is really good to have. Although it isn't the really reliable respawns it used to be, and a lot of things can ignore Demise and thus turn it off, it still makes Leveticus a very hard model to actually put down and keep dead. 
In terms of attacks Leveticus isn't exactly high damage base, but he can do consistent damage and spike high enough at the cost of his own wounds. Stat 6 on his shooting (at 12" range as well vs Wp, both very nice things) and melee are both great, and 2/3/4 Irreducible is also good but it's his triggers that make both actions. At range he can stop the opponent from using Soulstones or Resistance Triggers on a Mask meaning he is far more likely to land damage, while on a Crow he gets Soulstones back when he kills them and both just make you more efficient and reliable at the job. His melee has Desolate Warping for some incidental summons, but Necrotic Decay is what makes him really great because having possibly 4/5/6 Irreducible damage (with somewhat reliable Focus) will tear through models very easily.
In terms of his tactical actions, his bonus action lets you look at the top 3 cards of the deck and discard any (at the cost of a wound for each discard) then also put them back in any order you choose. This means you can be super consistent with the damage you want to deal and you know when you can best use Necrotic Decay or Desolate Warping to get the most benefit. Essence Transfer is also very interesting, because for a 4 you can pull 4 wounds off of one model (or if it has less than 4 its current wounds) and put them onto another model within range. At range 12 you can pretty reliably make sure most models are in range, and it keeps your value models topped up. 

Leveticus, Pariah of Blood- The new Title version of Leveticus, the big thing is that he is now a Horseman and as such is Mv7 and Ht3 with Unimpeded. He can't spend his own wounds in any way unlike the original version, and he loses his Demise ability and Unmade but he does have Hard to Wound, Df6 and an extra 2 wounds anyway which will help a lot, and Entropy is a bit of a deterrent against melee models as well even without having the option to heal things at the same time. Leveticus doesn't generate Fate Tokens like other Horsemen, but he gains them when friendly models either die or spend their own Fate Tokens so he gets a lot out of taking Horsemen with him (and if you're taking this version of Levi, you are). He has to spend 2 to get a single suit unlike the Riders, but he does also have the option of spending Soulstones so it's easier for him to get suits anyway. The big thing to note on his front of card is that he doesn't get access to anything that isn't Amalgam, Horseman or Versatile meaning his crew building is a bit more restricted but you have more than enough great models to use anyway so this is really only stopping those who would piece together the strongest OOK crew and is far from making him actually bad.   Unlike the other Riders he lacks Ride With Me, but as a master he's quicker anyway, and he has some other very interesting actions to play around with that will help a lot in game. Dispel Magic for condition removal is always good and is really just important to have in a crew, plus the 2 triggers on it for healing 2 or a Pass Token are both excellent. His melee attack is fairly simple 2/4/5 vs Wp and 1" range, but with a trigger on every suit and being able to declare as many of them as you choose is what really makes it, with each one stacking up as well with multiple of the same suit. Tomes are enemy only, but card draw is great to have, Clear the Way shoves things around a great amount on Masks letting you set up your own models or put enemies into places where you want them to be (and the opponent doesn't), Rejuvenate healing Leveticus on Rams is great but especially relevant into things like Assassinate where the opponent wants him dead, and Crows for Severe Injury sets up a lot of other things in the crew in a few different ways (reduced stats is the main one, but Waifs being able to pop things as well). Soul Harvest can hurt a lot of enemy models for low damage, but it does have no resistances so it's great to ping down crews with large amounts of reduction because it bypasses most defences and can stack up quickly. The triggers are both good as well with the ability to kill one of your own Amalgam Minions (which will mainly be Waifs and Abominations) for cards is great especially if you are summoning them, while the Mask trigger gives you a ton of extra movement that is great for getting things into position for them to do more work later on. His bonus action is very interesting because it works in a lot of ways, but the main point of it is to pull a single Fate Token off of one Rider and put it on another (or Leveticus himself, but that's lower value IMO). Leveticus also gains one in the process because the cost is for a Horseman to discard a token, and a 5 is really easy to move it around and make sure you can hit some of the better triggers early on in the game (you can get to 5 suit triggers on 2 models on turn 2 with the right cards). The Crow trigger to summon an Abomination or Hollow Waif is really good to have because it's such an easy summon, and Masks to take it again gets a bit extra efficiency and put it out where you want Fate Tokens to get the most benefit (pushing Pale and Hooded to their late-game triggers earlier is the best use IMO)

Hollow Waif- Levi's totems, depending on which version you're using they have entirely different applications. With the original Leveticus they are his respawn points, and you need to keep them safe to make sure he gets to return if he's killed but also make sure they will be in points where Levi can actually get back into the action fairly easily if/when he dies. With the Pariah of Blood however, Waifs become entirely expendable and there are a few different uses for them. The first is for Levi to kill them for cards via Soul Harvest, but what you will use more often is a sort of Injured subtheme where they become similar to Stolen in Hamelin or the Zombie Chihuahua and doing big spike damage on enemies with stacked up conditions. 

Rusty Alyce- The keyword's main ranged piece, Alyce is really quite good at it although she is very slow now. Df5 and Wp6 are decent as is 9 wounds at cost 9, especially factoring in Unmade and Armour +1, and Entropy is as can be expected. Rapid Fire is what keeps her as a shooting piece giving her an extra shot at the cost of a card which is great to have, especially with her gun. At stat 6 vs Df and 12" range she is somewhat consistent, although with no positives built in suffers vs Concealment and various defensive abilities (much like Mad Dog though, who is also very high damage at range). 3/4/5 and ignoring Hard to Wound makes for easier ability to hit higher damage, and Execute cuts through opponent's resources with the threat of outright killing them (or does just outright kill). Her melee is nothing special, but if she does get engaged it isn't terrible and Injured is quite good especially built in. Her bonus actions are both useful, with Aetheric Healing being a nice heal that you can use to either just keep her alive or to fuel Leveticus moving wounds around the table and keep other models going as well, while Create Trap is fairly easy to create zones that deter opponent's from engaging your own models unless you want them to. On a model that doesn't want to engage like Alyce it's very good to have. 

Ashes and Dust- A model that has long been a bit of a boogeyman in terms of what it does, Ashes currently is still an excellent 9SS Enforcer but not without weaknesses. 6s  for Df and Wp and 7 Mv are all as good as you could possibly ask for, especially because Ashes ignores terrain and models for movement and Hazardous Terrain doesn't affect it so you will easily be able to get where you want to. Entropy and Unmade are both standard, and Nihilism can eat cards but it helps to keep him unaffected by conditions when they would hurt you (Slow and damage conditions in particular). 8 wounds is ok, but then you look at his Demise and what the Ashen Core and Dust Storm do (which I've written below) and you have a model that isn't quite as efficient as Demise:Eternal but is still hard to put down unless you focus it and/or ignore Demise abilities. With this said, given what Leveticus does you are likely to see things that can get around Demise (mostly vs Ten Thunders and Resurrectionists) and you will want to either hide from them or focus them down and kill them as quickly as possible before they can counter you. Ashes' melee is good but not amazing, although Desolate Warping and Necrotic Decay help you do exactly what you want to be doing in the crew and with Necrotic Decay you would never get any higher than 2/4/5 damage anyway for balance reasons. Like the Wind is a good way to move Ashes out of engagements, and even possibly reach things you couldn't have before for a little bit of threat extension. Speaking of threat extension, if there are Scrap markers on the table (Mei Feng in particular) Whirlwind of Scrap not only gives you a free 12" move on a 7 which is insanely good, if you also move through other Scrap you will trigger Savage Winds and can deal 1 damage to any model you move through if you remove a Scrap (which is almost always pure benefit for you). Draw Essence is potentially ok, but I prefer Ashes to be hunting isolated scheme runners and working around the edges of the enemy crew where he it is easier to reform if he does die. 

Ashen Core and Dust Storm- The summons created when Ashes and Dust dies, they create a fun little mini-game in the attempt to combine again. The Core can't move, so you have to make sure the Dust Storm can reach it and be able to reform again (although the Storm is very quick) and really the Storm will spend any AP it has to get to the Core because you want Ashes and Dust not the 2 separate. Neither of them are particularly easy to kill, although if something ignores the armour on the Core it's game over because with Df1 and no other defensive tech it will die so you will have to keep it safe. 

Marlena Webster- An enforcer that acts as more of a defensive lynchpin of the crew, Marlena is a model that wants to be in the middle of the action and can do a decent amount while she's there. She does lack both Entropy and Unmade which is very important to keep in mind, but she does have Withering Away to link her to the rest of the keyword, plus Armour +1 and Df6 defensively on top of her 8 wounds which is great. Her Df trigger on a Mask will keep her safe while also doing some damage to the opponent (and it's also After Resolving, so she can always do it as long as she gets a Mask) and she has a bit of anti-scheming with Steadfast Protector to do a not-Charge against any models that Interact within 6" so she can stop them from doing more to score points against you. Her big boon is Soul Tether, a 6" aura that lets her pull a single damage off any non-Minion within range and put it on herself. She can do it on any damage, even Irreducible, and although you're really just moving it you're helping the rest of the crew by keeping them further from death. Her attacks are fairly average for the keyword, and her bonus action heal helps keep her standing while she uses her own wounds to defend the rest of the crew while also giving a bit of card draw built-in. It isn't massive, but you will definitely be using her heal most of the game. 

Soul Battery- I talked about this model a bit with the title for Jakob Lynch as is linked, and I touched on how I think about it with regards to Leveticus there. It's 4SS significant which is great, and it gives some extra bonuses to the crew with regards to using Soulstones and Cheating Fate (always nice to have) but the main thing is being able to give your own Riders extra Fate Tokens which is massive. The efficiency it brings the crew means I am strongly considering it all the time with the 4 Horsemen (leaving you with 2 Soulstones to use in game, which is low but you don't need too many anyway). 

Desolation Engine- As far as 10SS beater minions go these are probably the most fragile in the entire game with Df3, but otherwise they have pretty good stats on their front of card, and they have some ok defences in Terrifying 12 and Hard to Wound. Unmade built in and Entropy are fairly standard, while Flurry just shows how they are supposed to be melee models above all else, and their melee is pretty good as well. With Necrotic Decay built in to boost their damage to 3/5/6 or even 4/6/7, but also Consuming Touch for a nice heal to keep them going, and they also have Desolate Warping as a trigger which with their bonus action is actually the highest potential healing they can get (especially when you have Servant of Dark Powers as well). Draw Essence will mostly eat cards from your opponent but it's an option if the Engine gets swarmed, although I don't really think that's a good option as opposed to just hitting them most of the time. Desolation Engines in general aren't really great considering the other amazing beater options in keyword, but they are definitely a lot of fun to use

Scavenger- Not the greatest in terms of raw stats, but Scavengers are pretty good utility models even after their 2021 nerf. They have 2 decent attacks, and Armor in combination with Unmade is pretty good but there is really 2 applications that make them great- Tools for the Job and Weird Device. Tools lets you pick cards off the top of the discard pile and then discard a card to gain that suit until the end phase (so if you pitch a Tome you get built in Unmade) but in general it has a lot of uses- giving you your choice of triggers for the whole activation even with weak cards, and for putting high cards back in your hand after you've used them. Weird Device needs a 7 normally (5 if on Amalgam minions) and gives Focused +1 to any model within 6". It's simple, but the triggers are what makes it even better as they can do a huge amount (heal 2 or push 4" on the target, draw a card or remove a marker) and all will have uses in most games if not all of them. In current games I would only find myself taking 1 Scavenger I think, unless its in a double Deso Engine list where I would take 2 Scavengers to support both Engines. 

Necropunk- As the scheme runners of the Amalgam keyword, and they are excellent at it. 5SS and with a pretty poor statline, they do however have 6 wounds, Hard to Wound and Armour to make up for the weaker defensive stats. Their melee is ok but not really what they want to be doing, and what they want to be doing is using Leap and making Interacts to score you points. It's a simple job, but they do it well enough you will usually want at least one in the crew. 

Abomination- These minions are pretty much roadblocks, but they're not bad at it. 4SS significant with all the stats you could expect (that is to say, not good) but they do have some decent abilities on them to help their job. Withering Away and Entropy means when you get near models they aren't going to have a good time of it, while Unmade and Hard to Wound means they're annoying to actually take out when they get there. Their melee attack is not good, but for a 4SS model you can't really expect much and they have 2 good built in triggers which is nice, and being able to give out Injured at range and also heal on their bonus action is very good as well. They can combine with 2 other Abominations within 2" for an AP to become a Desolation Engine which is a really good way to get one in the crew especially if they are all summoned, and this is the main goal I think because that is a very good outcome. With a few ways to summon them in keyword they're important, but not mandatory as you will likely not hire them

The 4 Horsemen- Pariah of Blood also has the Horseman keyword as I mentioned above, and so they really should just be a separate section on their own. I think it really comes down to which Riders do you take when you only take 1 or 2 (if you're taking 3, just take all 4 IMO) and I would probably rate them in the following order

1- Pale Rider- Out of all the Riders this one is probably the most tuned into reliable damage and will dominate a big section of the board which is great to have. It has 4" extra range up on the Mechanical Rider and the Ram trigger on the Rifle is excellent especially when you can combine it with Hollow Waifs to capitalise on the Injured in big ways. The bonus action, although not as immediately great as the Mechanical Rider's, is great just because it's quite a lot of ping healing and even though Pariah of Blood doesn't spend his own wounds there are still other things in the keyword that can and healing is good in general anyway, without even considering the triggers. Shielded +2 is great, especially when also removing Injured if that matters, but Devastation is a good way of dealing damage and especially Hatred Unleashed with all 4 Horsemen because that can wipe out most models if you can manage to get more than one Rider into combat with them and land hits. 

2- Mechanical Rider- The most versatile Rider, but also the one that can turn games the quickest with it's 5 Tome trigger. Although it's gotten a nerf in not being able to reactivate Riders (which is more applicable the less Riders you have, and of very little value with all 4) it is still excellent on the right models and can be game winning all on its own. It does good damage and is quick on its own as well, with the Mech Rider being your main scheme runner if you take all 4 Horsemen but also just another excellent one otherwise. Revel in Creation is just free markers and you can use Scheme and Corpse especially with the other Riders. Insight and Innovation can both help in huge ways with the other Riders, giving them the suits they need to do the things they want to do on their triggers and at lower cost (you can do Innovation every turn after the first and play Mech as more of a support piece for the other Riders this way)

3/4- Dead and Hooded Rider- The 2 min 3 beaters, you would think I would be promoting these first but they lose a lot of range being melee-only models and they don't have as much game-affecting ability with their bonus actions until right at the end, where the Mechanical and Pale Rider are still amazing as well. Blasts on the Hooded's melee and positives to damage are both excellent especially together (and in combination with the Pale Rider) while Reap on the Dead Rider to pull things where you want them and also get extra movement on the Dead Rider are both great, while their bonus actions both have interesting applications but neither work immediately. A 6" pulse of Injured to all enemies is huge and combos with Waifs well, while Revel in Secrets needs a little bit of setup but can give you a certain degree more control over your opponent as you can better guess their plans. Both 3 suit triggers are ok but I would rather save the tokens for later in the game, as a single free attack from the Dead Rider is ok and moving your other models around with the Hooded is nice but they aren't as worthwhile as the huge amounts of versatility the later actions bring. Malifaux's Revolt on 4 Masks with the Hooded is a huge bubble of Hazardous terrain which is really nice to have for board control, and Moonlit Charge to kick off an activation for 5 Masks is just excellent and will hurt the enemy crew a lot with the positives to the damage flip on every attack. With the Dead Rider, the 4 Crow trigger to summon Mindless Zombies isn't as great as it would be in Resurrectionists because you can't guarantee the 5 Zombies like Ressers can, although it can still be good to create roadblocks for the opponent outside of Abominations, but Soulfire will be massive if you're playing against the right opponent (it single-handedly destroys Hamelin) or if you have enough weaker enemies on the table to finish off. The 1-2 punch between Moonlit Charge and Soulfire is potentially ruining to any crew, and bubbles will have to play very carefully to avoid this while also managing the other Riders. 

OOK/Versatile models-

Prospector- ol' faithful for me, it schemes and it gives more Soulstones. Both are always good to have and it helps Leveticus with damage reduction and not dying unless you say so.

Mad Dog Brackett- There are a lot of people that call for taking Mad Dog OOK almost always, but Amalgam is already such a damage-heavy keyword that I wouldn't reach for him unless I knew I would really need to destroy terrain.

Effigy/Emissary- Both bring healing, and with Leveticus wanting to spend his own wounds to gain attack buffs (also Ashes and Deso) having reliable heals on a model that also helps the scheming game is really great to have



Upgrades-

Wanted Criminal- Not a bad take, but mostly a bit of a meme in Amalgam. Disguised on Desolation Engines is hilarious but otherwise I think you're better off without it

Servant of Dark Powers- 2 Desolation Engines both with Servant is probably the funniest thing you can run in Amalgam, but it also isn't really great. Leveticus loves having Servant on him for the heals and Herald too

Soldier for Hire- Hard to Kill is always good to have but I don't think it's super mandatory in Amalgam crews

Deployments-

Amalgam in general have a few ways to get up the table, be it Leap, Ride With Me or Herald from Servant of Dark Powers (and Ashes and Dust being quick) so most deployments you should be ok. Corner and Flank give you really wide board edges and Necropunks and Ashes really want to play with those so you can do some work there, although it gives a bit less board control in terms of reaching things to melee

Strategies-

Reckoning- As a high-damage crew Amalgam are really great at this. Just so long as you can keep them alive for long enough to out score the opponent you'll be fine

Turf War- Same thing as Reckoning, but you also have the mobility to hit the deep markers and put a lot of pressure on the opponent

Corrupted Idols/Plant Explosives- Tilting a little bit from what you have above, but with Ashes and Dust and Necropunks you have plenty of mobility in the keyword (even more with the Riders) and can easily get where you need to go

Schemes-

Detonate Charges- Good combo with some other schemes, and dogpiling enemy models is never a bad idea for Leveticus but it needs really precise placement and can only be done through normal Interact actions so is tough to pull off

Breakthrough- With only a single Necropunk slipping through this is done, and with more it's even easier

Harness the Ley Line- Its pretty good, and you can do it easily but you also have to consider what your other scheme is because it can force you to dedicate AP into the middle of the table where your other scheme might not need you to be

Search the Ruins- This is really easy because of how the crew can spread out so I would pick this fairly often

Dig Their Graves- It's ok, but with no ways to get easy scheme markers into engagement without the Emissary I think it's something you will have to play very carefully to get maximum value out of. The 2nd point is also a lot harder to get because of attrition

Hold Up Their Forces- Leveticus has access to a lot of expensive models, and it is very likely the opponent will have easy VP from this scheme. With that in mind I ideally wouldn't take Leveticus here, but the models he does have can fairly reliably kill to deny it even if I wouldn't take it to score from (unless I was also taking Deliver a Message)

Take Prisoner- If there is a weak enough enemy model you can afford to keep alive all game this is pretty achievable, but it will likely restrict your movement in a few ways so that's important to keep in mind as well

Power Ritual- As usual, I would never take it in Wedge or Standard deployment but it does have good game into Wedge and Flank

Outflank- If you put Ashes and Necropunks (or even 2 Riders) this is about the most reliable you can do it. Ashes here is almost guaranteed to come back as well making the game even harder for the opponent so at least one flank is safe

Assassinate- A very big double-edged sword, I would personally lean towards not taking Leveticus here although he can do alright. It is a very easy thing for the opponent to choose against you and get at least one point, but you also have a lot of damage to dish out

Deliver a Message- It's not difficult to achieve, but a lot of the time Amalgam crews want to just kill an enemy Master more than leave them alive. It's a big tradeoff but if you're playing for a 6VP game forgetting End points this is a great take. 

Claim Jump- Not bad, but not great either. If you can put Rusty Alyce here and keep her unengaged this is a dream scenario, but still not that likely to happen because they will want to keep her engaged even when you’re trying hard not to make it happen

Vendetta- With a lot of high-cost priority targets and no great lower-cost damage dealers this is a bit more of a struggle. If there are some 10SS models that are more fragile on the table I would go for it and blast them away with Alyce, but otherwise it isn’t really that great

GG1

Strategies- 

Symbols of Authority- Send a couple Necropunks at the Symbols, or Ashes, and you can very easily get your points from it

Recover Evidence- Send the killers in to force drop markers and the schemers to pick them up. Pretty simple

Corrupted Ley Lines- A little bit harder because some of your best movement (Necropunks) lose the ability to Leap with this, but Leveticus still has a ton of options for scoring it. With the choice of 6 different Mv7 models in keyword almost all of which have possible extra movement on a bonus action (Pariah Levi, Ashes and the Riders) this is super easy to do and none of them are particularly easy to kill. 

Public Enemies- Slightly harder than Reckoning is, but not massively so and you'll play it exactly the same. 

Schemes-

Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump- Nothing changed here, so my points from above are still my opinion on them. 

Hidden Martyrs- There aren't really great combinations of things to choose from because the only really valid combinations are 2 Minions that aren't really hard to focus on, and the majority of the keyword is 9SS+ 

Sabotage- Not a bad choice because you can just fling the crew at it and you should be able to get there by turn 3/4

Catch and Release- This one isn't the easiest, but it isn't always a bad choice either. Being friendly Minion only you're almost definitely using a Necropunk for it because it can get in and out fairly reliably and is somewhat more difficult to kill

Let Them Bleed- Not a bad choice, because you want to be killing things and this supports that. You do have to be careful of burning through your own wounds though because it is a really easy choice of scheme against Leveticus as well

Leave Your Mark- Not really difficult, but also not difficult to counter. I don't rate it very highly because I prefer my scheme runners to be working on the flanks, but you could go for it

Research Mission- I wouldn't recommend it because you can't really get non-scheme markers out in a great number with reliability (although you can, you have to hire and plan very specifically for it)

Spread Them Out- With the speed in the crew this is pretty trivial honestly

Runic Binding- While not easy necessarily, it is still achievable depending on the opponent. I wouldn't take it because you don't really have any ways to make it easier to score if the opponent doesn't let you do it

GG2

Strategies-

Symbols of Authority, Corrupted Ley Lines- Same as in GG1, my thoughts are the same.

Turf War- Same as it used to be, same opinion as before

Break the Line- Not too difficult because you can move things to them quickly and there are a lot of ways to double move a marker in a single activation between Riders and Necropunks

Schemes-

Breakthrough, Vendetta, Assassinate, Hidden Martyrs, Research Mission, Let Them Bleed, Catch and Release, Spread Them Out- These are all very much the same as before and I wouldn't change how I play them now.

Detonate Charges, Claim Jump- They’re the same as GG0, same as my thoughts there.

Death Beds-  You can do it, but at the same time you're relying on either your previous kills, Rusty Alyce or the opponent so it isn't something I would really take

On the Table- Guild Ball Alchemists, Brotherhood of Steel

 With this hobby update comes another big change of tune, because it's again me jumping into a new game system. I've long looked at Guild Ball and after it's "death" last year I somewhat wrote it off, but recently found a ton of stuff at good deals and picked them all up to get into the game. 

The faction that always caught my eye were the Alchemists Guild, and especially both versions of Katalyst. I managed to find the complete team roster for them (Kami and Soma are on the way) so I have all the options, but there are some I love the look of far more than others and will likely play a lot more (Crucible, Katalyst and Smoke). From here, the other Guild I picked up were the Ratcatchers, complete with Vet Graves and Bonesaw. I'll be getting these done fairly soon so they can also hit the table and I can call Guild Ball complete!

I also got a delivery for the last 2 sets I needed for the Brotherhood of Steel to finish off the faction for Fallout:Wasteland Warfare. Pretty simple, but I picked up all the named characters from Fallout 4 and got them painted so I can call the faction finished (and next up for Fallout is the Enclave and some robots)