Bushido- Shadow Wind Clan Updates Part 1- House North Star

 It's now been 5 years since my last piece on the Shadow Wind Clan and there's been quite a few updates since then. With Theme Cards for all 3 of the main Houses and a bunch of new profiles, I figured now is as good a time as any to add to what I previously wrote to update my thoughts on the faction. I'm starting with what's my favourite of all the Houses to play in North Star, I really love the playstyle and they're what I enjoy most out of ninjas 

Models

Fuma- My new absolute favourite North Star ninja and someone that always makes it into my lists, for the new cost of 20 rice Fuma is awesome. He brings a great package between Indomitable, Kata, Split Attack and Ranged Defence on top of the usual ninja traits, so he can avoid taking damage a bit and works especially well with reliable Smoke access, which North Star have in spades. With access to either Parry, Sidestep Defence and Combo Attack or Reach, Chain Weapon 2 and Sidestep and Stun Attack his weapon profiles are both good, but I tend to find myself leaning towards the Parry and Combo myself as you can put dice into attack and force your opponent to do something about it, or simply use it as a means to get around the many Durable models that exist nowadays. It also means Axiam gets access to Fuma's pretty great range of special attacks, and that alone is a reason to consider him. As for his Ki Feats he has pass generation for 1 ki which is quite nice (and don't forget Axiam can use this too) and Nerve Strike as a once per turn ability is quite nice to have, as removing activations is always very good, although it is at the expense of damage and you can replicate this effect with the North Star theme bonus. His unique effects are fairly simple, with one being enemies can't use Bodyguard if Fuma gets Assassin, and the other being a Blind Bomb attack that is quite good in North Star as it's a pulse that gives out Blind Markers. In combination with another model using Noshinto Bomb you can do a pretty brutal one/two punch of Stun and Blind so your opponents are immediately down 2 dice on their rolls, and with 3" range on them you can stay in Camo while doing it. Bonus points for adding Prone on top from access to Kusari and you have a pretty oppressive combo that lets you punch up to almost anything. 

Jinichi- This is in a bit of a weird spot as Bikou is almost always a better ranged piece, and would probably work much better with Bleeding Moon models overall with the access to Bleed, but Jinichi can be quite good in the right situation. Insight as a Ki Feat is better used by Axiam as you then have one source of quite high Tactician, and having a ranged attack that does Poison, Bleed and Immobilised is definitely good albeit not as outright murderous as Bikou. He is also one of the only ninjas to not have Sidestep Defence which puts him in a weird place, as Push Defence isn't as good in its applications with ninjas. In general despite Jinichi being quite cool as a model, he just doesn't bring enough to the table to justify over some of the other options North Star have to offer IMO

Ronin

Shiho Kizo- Although Kizo is a Ronin and very much a Shiho model at that, he is also a North Star ninja and works quite well in a Karapan focused list. Order and Command both give you some activation control utilising your Karapan, and being able to take Ronin Birds gives you access to Eagles as dirt cheap throwaway activations. Flanking with an Eagle just to auto surprise and turn something around has gotten me quite a lot of value, while Kizo himself is a cheap activation that can be quite annoying himself. While not in my main North Star lists I've played a lot of, Kizo makes it into my backup 2nd North Star list with 2 Karapan and an Eagle as a very different sub-theme of North Star. Axiam also really loves the combo of Corvine Intel and Karapan raising Tactician, you can roll a silly amount of dice for Tactical Tests with it

Events

Long Term Planning- For 1 Rice you can place all your North Star models within 2" of their current location on turn 5. Ninja games tend to want to score earlier and make as much of an impact on the start of the game, so a card that only applies on the last or 2nd last turn of the game isn't really that great IMO despite place effects being really strong.

Nothing Wasted- If a friendly non-Insignificant model dies to an enemy melee or ranged attack you can allocate their Ki amongst your North Star models which can be good, but I am really not a fan of taking cards that rely on your models being killed and in an already elite faction it makes things a lot harder. 

Opposition Preparation- A Consequences Cycle card, this card isn't strictly North Star exclusive but does only work with North Star models. For 1 Rice you can give out a number of tokens equal to the number of opposing enemies with Sixth Sense (punishing an opponent that deliberately takes Sixth Sense to get around Camouflage) and while enemies have these tokens they lose Ranged Defence, Prowess, Kata, Dodge, Parry, Impenetrable Defence, Lightning Reflexes and Reach while facing North Star models so you get a ton of ways to benefit yourself and seriously nerf your opponent. The downside is they lose these tokens the moment you target them with a Ranged Attack or fight in a melee exchange so it's hard to figure out how reliable this card will be at any given time. It's probably worth taking in a tournament list just in case, but it's also likely not something that will give you a ton of value every game.

Theme

House North Star- There's a few benefits of the House theme, which allows all North Star models and all Ronin for the faction which gives them a pretty open roster compared to the other 2 House themes. Ronin is a feature of the theme as you can also buy them Equipment as if they were friendly Ninja models which is really nice, but all the other benefits of the theme are for North Star exclusively so it is likely you'll stack up on a few ninjas before you take any Ronin. Choosing 2 start-of-activation abilities on odd numbered turns is really great and especially helps a turn 1 unpack as you get more value out of your models. The other benefit is that if a North Star ninja benefits from Assassin in melee the target loses another activation counter, so you can really cripple things if you play it right and punish your opponent for their placement. I love this theme and play it most of the time I play Bushido

Equipment

Ninjato- An interesting card for the North Star Theme, it gives you an ok melee weapon (basically the only thing you want on it is Pierce compared to most North Star ninjas) but it has the benefit of being able to be swapped for any other Equipment of X cost that you didn't start the game with, with X+2 being the card cost. This will make it cost 3 effectively, as every other Equipment you could take is 1 cost apart from Signaling Flare (and 5 cost for this Equipment just to get a 3 cost Equipment is not worth it at all). I think there are much better takes for Equipment in North Star, and to be honest I also don't even really take Equipment to begin with.

Noshinto Bomb- A favourite of mine simply as a free take from Axiam, the Noshinto Bomb is basically a pulse Stun weapon that North Star ninjas can keep using. It's a great way to spread debuffs out even after the Dark Pilgrim nerfs, and when you can stack a few other negatives (namely Surprised, Exhausted or even Blind via Fuma) you can really make sure combats end up in your favour late in the turn. 

Heretic Naval Raiders- Update

 With Carcass Front and the new plastics we have some rules updates for Heretic Naval Raiders, expanding them into their own fully fledged faction with some new unique options. I'll go through them all in this post, including the sub-factions, and what I'm most excited about and why

Battlekit

Hull Drill- Ignore Armour on a Death Commando is super gnarly, although you lose out on the extra attacks from Tartarus Claws you get a really good melee weapon. CRITICAL and HELD together very much offset RISKY and add together with the native defenses of the Death Commando

Boarding Axe- An Axe with Armour Piercing and Risky is quite good for a little bit extra cost, and add on the cost of what is basically a Mountaineer's Kit for the extra Dice to Climb. My Legionaries already were modeled with them, so I'm definitely running these going forward

Wrecker's Torch- Effectively an Armour Piercing Polearm with Fire for 15 Ducats and only on ELITE, it's quite a good weapon and I already love Polearms. Definitely something I'm considering for my own lists on a Captain

Shark Tooth Talisman- Limit 2 for NEGATE FEAR, and a once per game +1 in melee provided they are near models with Blood on them. Pretty solid for 10 Ducats, but Naval Raiders do stack up really quick in terms of gear so it probably is something to leave out before others

Abyssal Armour- A Death Commando upgrade to Reinforced Armour, for 5 Ducats extra they can Fade in water and treat any water as open terrain. Super thematic and cool, and I'll probably be using it on my own Death Commando

Drowned Choir

The first of the 2 variant warbands for Naval Raiders, this one is focused around a core of Choristers with Wretched as shock troops being flung into melee. 

A Song Within the Deep- You get to take up to 3 Choristers and have to take at least 1, with that one being 20 Ducats more to gain LEADER and TOUGH, getting bumped to a 40mm base and getting Dread Harmony instead of their usual Unholy Hymns. This makes every roll for enemies within 8" of the Leviathal Chorus a Risky roll which on top of the -1 dice from your other Choristers can be crippling for an opponent. Adding extra ways to make things negative dice (Polearms in particular) can make things even more oppressive and will work to make the faction really interesting mechanically

A Wretched Chorus- Wretched are 30 Ducats but with no melee penalty, which increases to +1 as long as they're near a Chorister. Taking a ton of cheap Wretched with nothing but 2 melee weapons and flinging them forward I feel is where the fun of this faction will come from, as you have the ultimate disposable troops and can fill out a ton of numbers really easily to swarm the table. They still get the +1 to Dash from being Naval Raiders too, so can potentially missile up the board really quickly. I'd take a single Trooper with Musical Instrument as well to really amp up the speed for everyone else. 

Mounting Madness- Your Unholy Hymns increase range by 4" if Choristers are near each other, giving you a huge amount of board presence with your debuffs and making things a lot harder for your opponents. The 8" range is quite significant too as it's fairly easy to have Choristers close enough to trigger on the average TC board. 

To No Purpose Save Their Own- No Captain, Commando, Hag or Anointed. You're playing Choristers, Troopers and Wretched and that's it, although that's a feature not a downside

Leviathan Shoal

The other variant is far more blunt than the Drowned Choir, being built around a bunch of beefy Anointed with melee weapons to hit as hard as possible and kill things quickly. 

Only the Strong Survive- Captain gets STRONG and you can take up to 4 Anointed, but you don't get Choristers, Wretched or Hags so it really leans towards taking a bunch of big guys with Reinforced Armour and big weapons. 

Feeding Frenzy- Every model gets extra dice in melee as long as they're within 1" of models that have blood on them, stacking to a total of +3. This makes grenades really good value as they'll put blood out pretty easily, and provided things are somewhat close to each other you can ping a couple of models and charge in the middle to get +2 or even 3 quite easily. 

Charge and Rend- You must have more melee weapons than ranged weapons, and can't take HEAVY ranged weapons (this part is massive because it stops you taking Heavy Flamethrowers and AMRs). You get 4 Sacrificial Blades and can give them to Anointed, which is quite nice but I'm leaning towards you wanting Sacrificial Blades as a sidearm rather than the main weapon, as you want HEAVY melee weapons more to make the most out of STRONG

Mercenaries of Trench Crusade- A Discussion

 Next up instead of a sub-faction overview I'm going in a little bit more depth on the Mercenaries of Trench Crusade. These are more tilted towards the Faithful as they have more, but there are quite a few very interesting options in general. 

Combat Biologist- A personal favourite of mine from both a model and rules point of view, the Biologist is just cool overall. With 6" movement, -1 Armour, and only +1 in melee it is a fairly standard profile albeit cheap for 3 Glory. Coming stock with Gas Grenades and a Gas Mask is quite good too as it helps with getting Blood out on your opponents (and defends you against Gas from an opponent) while NEGATE FEAR is something I will always find useful as the matchups where it really matters it is absolutely invaluable. The Biologist brings a unique Glorious Deed for your Warband which is quite interesting and can help make its cost back quicker, although killing 3 enemies within 1" of a single model on a 32mm base is a bit of a hefty task unless your Biologist has a super lucky game. It also gets a Blessing Marker if it personally kills DEMONIC or BLACK GRAIL models in melee, which the profile is really made to do anyway so it is quite nice to have a way to make the model snowball in terms of successes. The other thing to note with the Combat Biologist is its unique weapon, the Vivisector. This behaves mostly like a Polearm with 2 special rules, namely Pain Amplifier giving you a really boosted chance of critting provided the target has Blood on them (so if you Gas Grenade you can potentially already go to critting on 10s instead of 12s) and if you do crit against a non-ARTIFICIAL model on a 40mm or smaller base (which is almost everything on a 40mm or smaller base) you can move them d3" directly away from the Biologist, forcing more attacks on the target from anyone that it leaves engagement with. Biologists really promote a dogpile style of play, and charging the Biologist into things that are already engaged is a really valid play because the enemy is likely already damaged and thus more likely to force out of combat and get hit even more times. 

Communicant Anti-Tank Hunter- A fairly simple yet really good Mercenary, the Anti-Tank Hunter is a big guy with a big gun. The AMR is always incredible, when you put REGENERATE and TOUGH on top you have a merc that will always do good work on the table. Plus they just look really cool, so what's not to love

Goetic Warlock- As the name suggests, the Goetic Warlock is a Fallen Mercenary and has 2 unique Goetic Spells it can use. For its battlekit it has a fairly standard combo of Reinforced Armour and the Flaying Iron Claws, which are effectively 2 Swords that don't suffer from an off-hand penalty so you can make the most of its +1 dice in melee on both attacks. Enemies within 1" of a Goetic Warlock also get exponentially worse as they stay nearby, as they can't take a Retreat Action and gain a Blood when they activate, but also can't remove the Blood themselves while near the Warlock. Add FEAR on top of that and you have quite an annoying model to face already for 4 Glory, but that's without even looking at the Goetic Powers it has which ramp up the uses of the Warlock quite a lot. It does have the downside that it can only use Blood on enemies or friendly Wretched, so no taking it in Heretic Legions to get Blood from anyone in the Warband and super reliably heal while casting spells, but in Court you were using Wretched to fuel it anyway so this isn't a huge downside and enemies should be taking Blood fairly easily in Heretics with things like the Artillery Witch bombing and easy grenade access. The Necrotic Gaze is a 0 cost power that simply doubles the amount of Blood on the target from 24" away, with it being a Ranged Attack so at +1 dice although suffering from Cover and Long Range. If the target has no Blood then they gain one, so you will always net at least 1 Blood out of the action and there's no risk to doing it, meaning you will always use this action every activation on the Warlock provided there is a valid target. The other action, which is a little more complicated and has a cost of 2 Blood attached is Goetic Portal which is effectively a 6" teleport that can carry 1 enemy model with it. I personally love using this to kidnap enemy support pieces and drag them into your Warband where you can make the most of the Goetic Warlock's penalties, but it's also just great threat extension and a way to keep it safer on the advance, especially when combined with its regular move and dashes. 

Mamluk Faris- A fairly standard profile for a not quite ELITE model with +1s for both melee and ranged, but it does have some unique rules that are pretty neat and change up how its used. It adds a FIRETEAM option to the Warband you might not normally get (or just an extra one for activation economy) but only for an ELITE, and both ignores HEAVY if it takes a Greatsword and gains ASSAULT and Shield Combo on its Jezzail. The Jezzail is also worth noting as it is on the base profile with Alchemical Ammunition, so it is really shooting at +2 dice base with ASSAULT, with a choice of either a Greatsword, a Polearm and Shield or a Sword/Axe and Pistol. The Sword and Pistol is definitely the weakest option of the 3 as you have a good heavy hitter in the Greatsword or a defensive powerhouse with the Polearm and Shield while the Pistol and Sword is just kind of ok. You do get a 2nd attack ignoring the off-hand rule but with no other bonuses like the other profiles it isn't going to be anywhere near as good for the 4 Glory. You can swap between them after any game, but you usually would swap between the Greatsword or Polearm/Shield IMO with my personal favourite going towards Polearm/Shield as I really just love that combo in general. The last thing to note is the Automaton Destrier rule which functions similarly to Infiltrators as it lets the Mamluk forward deploy, and is turned off in a scenario which denies Infiltrators, but lets you deploy from any board edge as opposed to anywhere on the board. Great for a little bit of extra board presence

Mendelist Ammo Monk- An old favourite of mine that got knocked down a few pegs in the latest changes to Mercenaries, the Ammo Monk is still quite good as a 2 Glory support piece for New Antioch or Trench Pilgrim warbands that have good shooting threats. Gone are the days of the BLAST AMR Communicant or BLAST on AUTOMATIC weapons, but being able to give bonus Injury Dice is still really good and having an Ammo Monk sitting behind a Sniper Priest at the back of the table is very useful to have in the toolbox. 

Observer- Going up to 5 Glory is steep, but still more than worth it for what you get from the Observer. 2 attacks in melee with the Polearm at +2 dice means it's fairly reliable (albeit with the downside of not ignoring FEAR), plus with 8" movement it can immediately do a lot of work despite lacking a ranged weapon. It does have a Medi-kit which is nice, but less likely you use that over its other actions which are all going to be very good. Temporal Fugue for a -1 dice to attack it always, and that can't be ignored, is simply amazing, and going to -2 when it gets charged makes actually charging the Observer a really annoying prospect when you can't land hits on it. The big things that make the Observer unique though, and the reason it costs as much as it does, are Eye of God and Voice of God. Eye lets you reroll any failed rolls with the downside of going Down if you roll any 1s on the 2nd roll (something which isn't super likely to happen, and the odds of rerolling into a pass is worth the downside) while Voice of God lets you force your opponent into activating a model of your choice next, basically giving you an opportunity to get a double tap on a specific model or deny synergies in a really unique way. The power this gives over action economy can't be underestimated, and the Observer is really just a great package for what it does

Scripture Guardian- At 7 Glory this thing is super steep, although it does put in work. With Golem it is really hard to put down, and although it only attacks once it does get bonuses simply if the target has Blood (and even more so if you spend it for extra dice) plus on crits it has an absolutely ridiculous damage potential. You're investing a lot into a Scripture Guardian, and likely buying other Mercenaries before this one, but it is a nice flavour pick and can do great work on the table even just taking fire from other things in your warband.

Sin Eater- A big, TOUGH bruiser of a model for 6 Glory, the Sin Eater has quite a lot of rules text based around their unique action. They do also have quite a decent melee profile, although no ranged capabilities, and -2 Armour with FEAR. Their unique weapon, the Tenderiser Maul, has the option to either attack every enemy within 1" of it so you can do some nasty plays against players that bunch up (particularly if you're playing Heretic Legion and get an Artillery Witch bombing the clump as well) or alternatively use the Crushing Blow to get an extra Injury Modifier for if you really need to kill a single target that's bogging you down. The main reason you bring this though is for Devour the Guilty, something which is a very unique way to get either your own models up the table or take an opponent's piece off- eat it. On a friendly model it's easier, with the action not being Risky and with an extra Dice, but for opponents it's a Risky roll without any bonuses so is somewhat difficult to get off successfully, especially if you already have Blood (and I would always recommend spending Blood to make this action fail if you're against it). Once devoured a model gains a Blood every turn and is effectively off the table (they can attack, but at -3 Dice and no weapon almost nothing will reliably hit), the Sin Eater gains REGENERATE 1 so becomes even tankier, and the Sin Eater can drop them at any time they can do an Action. You can use it to get your own models up the table more reliably, have a model sit inside the Sin Eater to fuel Goetic Magic, or just lock out an important piece for the opponent and all of those options are worth doing. Sin Eater is expensive for 6 Glory but it is quite good for the cost.

Sister of Saint Cosmas- Basically the Antioch Combat Medic but for Trench Pilgrims, everything I have to say about that model in New Antioch is equally as valid here. For 2 Glory the Sister is a steal, as she can very reliably use her Medi-kit with +2 DICE, and getting extra injury dice on top of ignoring armour against Down enemies is fantastic as a finisher, particularly with her NEGATE FEAR. She's always going to be more of a utility piece and a somewhat squishy one at that, but for the low cost always something to consider as she brings a lot to the table. 

Witchburner- This one is in a bit of an odd spot I feel, as the Witchburner has one of if not the coolest sculpts out of all the Mercenaries, but for 6 Glory it is a bit steep for what it does. While being able to potentially put 6 Blood on a single Fallen model in a turn between the Gavel of Justice and Divine Judgement (or 4 on Faithful, still excellent), it does only have 1 attack in melee with +2 Dice,  and not being able to Dash makes for something that will be quite slow to get into the fray despite ignoring difficult terrain. It is ELITE though which means you can level it up straight off the bat, and it's harder to outright kill than most Mercenaries immediately after hiring on top of TOUGH and -2 Armour. I'd say it's not strictly the best Mercenary to take in a Warband, but really cool as a centrepiece in something like a Papal States Warband and that alone makes it worth using. 

Trench Dog- While not quite a Mercenary, it functions somewhat similarly. Costs Glory to add to your warband, although as a piece of Battlekit and not simply a hire, you can also upgrade them into various different forms. They're fast and fragile, and although not super great at anything in particular they can be useful to just run to objectives and claim things early as between 8" movement and +1 to Dashes they're reliably quick. You can buy them FIRETEAM for an extra Glory, which can be useful, but fully upgrading a Dog is 3 glory so a bit of a steep investment. I really love them as a flavour option though

    Mercy Dog (New Antioch only)- I've spoken about these a bit for Red Brigade, and being able to move Down models around plus having a Medi-Kit is really great all around. 2 Glory is on the pricy end, but you're getting a fair bit of utility out of it 

    Guard Dog (every warband other than Grail or Court)- This one I think is the least useful of the Dog variants, as forcing INFILTRATOR models to deploy slightly further away from it isn't especially useful and half the time doesn't work at all. It's a really neat idea, I just think one that's implemented in such a way that it isn't especially worth taking particularly when you have to earn Glory and it's at the expense of other Dogs.

    Martyrdom Dog (Trench Pilgrims only)- This one is purely a flavour pick unfortunately, as it has a couple of downsides. It pays a Glory for a Martyrdom Device, which while nice it is basically just another Ecclesiastic Prisoner in almost every way apart from costing you 2 Glory, and it still dies outright on less then a 4+ in post-game. The investment is a bit steep I feel like for something that is very likely to die after the first time you use it. 

    Hellhound (Fallen Warbands only)- Extra dice on attacks, and either GAS or FIRE depending on the warband (FIRE as default, GAS for Grail and Knights of Avarice) while also being NEGATE FIRE gives you quite a decent fast threat for any warband. Knights of Avarice I think care the least about it, as you want to load up on your more elite models (and Wretched spam for bodies) but any Fallen warband can do far worse than taking a Hellhound. 

Konflikt 47- Automated Platoon

 Now that the new plastic Automatons are out for Konflikt 47, I've expanded my British into a playable Automated Platoon. I've always loved the robots, but the metals are awful to assemble so I wanted to wait for the plastics before I added more. The new kits are quite good and easy to put together (simply by nature of being plastic over metal). The new platoon is quite interesting mechanically and you can easily do an all-robot list just with the new platoon on its own, but I want to also discuss a couple of other options that I would consider adding to the Automated Platoon

Automated Platoon Rules

Increased range on the Data Transmission rule means you have way more board presence, as you don't have to keep things as close, and 12" range is quite big so you can have your whole army moving and shooting on 4s with tons of shots. 

Being able to use Snap to Action! on all your MkII units as well as the Director is massive, and the activation control this gives you is really great. You have to take 1 MkII unit, but I would definitely take 2 as the 2 give you such a better bonus. 

I should also note the British Commonwealth rules that are relevant for the Automated Platoon. Superior Codebreaking when you really need to go first can be game-changing, and although you can't Snap to Action! on it activating a unit first is still very big. Computational Systems is a rule all Automated units have, and no -1 to hit for moving and shooting is excellent despite First off the Line giving you a -1 penalty base. You can play around both of these things and have a force that can't be pinned, can always move and shoot and keep positioning wherever you need to go. Automated Recovery stops you from being Stunned on your Rift vehicles, which is all Automated vehicles and the other units I'll mention later on, and just taking less pins is great as a rule. The rules all combine to make an army that is hard to lock down, and outside of outright killing Automated units you can't really stop their advance. 

Automated Units

MkIIC Automated Director- The command option for the Automatons, the Director is effectively a better MkII with a couple of special rules. They carry the M21 Light Tesla that you can upgrade a MkII with, and can take up to 2 more MkII in the unit that can also upgrade to another M21 for 2 or 3 Tesla Cannons in a unit which can do a lot of work in the right situation. Their Snap to Action! is slightly restricted to only being on units with Computational Systems, although that is every Automated unit and a good chunk of the armour options for Commonwealth so not really a downside when you're theming towards that, and at the cost of exhausting a Rift Dice they can Snap to Action! any 2 units on the table which is huge for activation control and doing what you want early in a turn. While Surging they can also Snap to Action! on 3 units, and they can't Snap at all when Exhausted so managing the Rift Dice on a Director is going to be quite important when playing an Automated Platoon. They do come with 2 Rift Dice though, so somewhat easier to mitigate in that regard. 

MkI Automated Infantry Squads- Your basic Automated option, the MkI troops come with 6+ as their damage value so while not necessarily easy to kill they will take hits from higher pen weapons. They come base with MMGs which are not that great in Konflikt (outside of Fireflies and Totenkorps they won't hurt things that reliably, although they have a ton of shots) and should really always be upgraded in some way. They can take Combat Blades on the MMGs for relatively cheap which gives them +1 pen in combat and Tough Fighters, which is best used in combination with their Rift Enhancement to exhaust the Rift Dice for doubling their movement and attacks in combat, making them fairly scary threats for the turn once you've used the dice. Close combat isn't necessarily a place they really want to be, but it does make for a very interesting potential attack if you find yourself up against lighter infantry or can finish off a unit with a lucky charge. The HMGs on the other hand are a really great weapon to get through 6 and 7+ armour units as they can put out a ton of dice with +1 pen, and things that you can hit quite a lot will be taking damage fairly reliably. Squads without a high armour value will just get shredded by either variant of MkI, but generally speaking the HMGs are far better in a game where simply having a pen value matters a lot. 

MkII Heavy Automated Infantry Squad- Bigger than MkIs in every way with 40mm bases, 7+ armour and Light Autocannons base, the MkIIs are real beefcake units and a key piece of the Automated Platoon. Hard to Kill makes them even tougher than 7+ would be normally, and is fairly standard for 7+ Rift units, although they are slower than most being Automated and 4" movement without a Surging dice. Their weapons are all decent, with the Light Autocannon being able to take Combat Blades for +1 pen and Tough Fighter, the Heavy Autocannon being just a better version of the Light and the M21 Tesla Cannon for some more Rift shenanigans. I don't think the Tesla is great on the base unit though, as it doesn't give an extra Rift Dice and you really want to have their dice active for Data Transmission, which negates First off the Line on the other bots so they don't have penalties to hit on their shots. The ability to exhaust their Rift Dice is interesting, although I personally don't think it's really great as it will turn off Data Transmission so the timing of it is very important unless you overlap bubbles of MkIIs. 

Automated Mobile Platform 'Hunter'- The 1st of the Automated Mobile Platforms, the Hunter is quicker than the regular Automated Infantry and does have Hard to Kill, but is still only a single model. The Hunter is the anti-tank variant with a Light Anti-tank Gun (albeit with First Off the Line, so you need MkIIs around to avoid a -1 to hit and get to 3s on a Fire order) and you can spend your Rift Dice to bump it up to a Medium Anti-tank gun on a Fire order specifically. The Rift Enhancement means you can't move and get the benefit of a bigger gun, but it is great to have the versatility of being able to punch up into slightly bigger vehicles. 

Automated Mobile Platform 'Bombardier'- The mortar equivalent of the Platforms, the Bombardier carries a Light Howitzer with Corrosive D3. This is quite good as although it won't be super great against really heavy vehicles it does mean it can do a ton of damage to all kinds of infantry and light vehicles, and can punch up on a gamble into bigger things. Like the Bombardier though it is only on a Fire order, so no movement when you do it. 

Automated Mobile Platform 'Lancer'- 3 HMGs on a single, easy to hide and impossible to pin model. While it is easy to kill with only a single wound it does have Hard to Kill for an extra save, and for 99 points for what it does it is more than worth the cost. You can take up to 3 in an Automated Platoon, and depending on what you're facing these things will be fantastic. They're incredible into Totenkorps or Fireflies, less useful but still good into Ursus, other robots and Stahltruppen and all but useless into the heavier mechs. 

Automated Carriers- A fairly light vehicle at 7+ armour, but can't be pinned and is quite quick with 2 Light Autocannons so is pretty decent. With Recce while Surging they're hard to lock down, and Fast gives you lots of movement options without a shooting penalty as an Automated unit, but you have to be careful not to overextend and move them away from MkII units. 

'B for Bertie' Automated Infantry Hero- All the new waves for K47 have given their respective unit types a named Hero, and the Automated Infantry are no exception. While 120 points for a model with only 4" move and 6+ to damage may seem quite steep, I think Bertie actually has the potential to be one of the best pieces in a British army when used well. He is effectively just a hero version of a MkI Automaton with a HMG, so with the +1 Pen that is so important in K47, but also brings 3 points of Luck and a different Rift Ability. 3 Luck is huge, and means he can either let you reroll dice on important rolls, or simply stay alive when he would be killed up to 3 times in a game. With Hard to Kill for extra saves as well this makes Bertie a real pain to take down, and with Infiltrator and the ability to automatically pass any Outflank rolls you will always have him exactly where he needs to be at any given time. His Rift Ability is also quite interesting, as it lets you make an Advance order after another unit shoots at one of your units in line of sight to Bertie, so effectively letting him shoot twice a turn which is quite a good upgrade in output. It also acts as a kind of deterrent to shooting other units as if they're getting shot, Bertie can put more pins onto you in retaliation (assuming they aren't veteran vehicles or Fearless) or just take more models off after your own activation. Fireflies are a good counter here, as you can Regroup in Hell! to get out of line of sight of Bertie so he can't shoot back but this is also risky. 

Additional Takes

Merlin Heavy Walker- A personal favourite of mine, the Merlin has Automated Systems so synergises with the Director and can be splashed in quite easily as an Armoured Walker Platoon. Thematically it works too as it has an AI core in it, so you aren't losing out on all-robot by taking a Merlin. The fists are decent melee weapons and I've had it punch into other mechs quite successfully, the HMG on the arm is great for firing into infantry of all kinds with the +1 pen and full shots being an arm weapon, and the Heavy Anti-Tank Gun with Improved HE is just a great gun all around, especially moving and shooting with 4s to hit. Being able to exhaust a Rift Dice to ignore a Vehicle Damage result is also really good, and it has to be remembered this is on top of the flat ignoring of Crew Stunned results as well. 

Veteran Vehicles- The Humber and Churchill Meteor are potentially worth taking with an Automated Platoon, as you can Snap to Action! from the Director and get a bit more value out of it. The Churchill is a very expensive investment though, and with the Automated units also being on the expensive end you probably won't have a lot of activations if you take a Churchill. 

Heretic Naval Raiders- Trench Crusade Faction Overview

 Next up for my Trench Crusade overviews is my favourite Fallen faction, the Heretic Naval Raiders. I really love the idea of the piratical heretics scourging the Mediterranean, and I've created my own little warband based on a submarine crew of heretics raiding the coastlines of Italy and Greece.

Unique Rules

Close Assault Weapons- Submachine Guns costing Ducats instead of Glory is really great, as in such a close-quarters focused warband being able to take more Submachine Guns for more shots and ASSAULT is really good. It also means you can start campaigns off with SMGs immediately, which starts you off so much easier. 

Fast as Lightning- +1 Dice to Dash actions is just action efficiency, and will make your mobility quite a lot more reliable. It doesn't guarantee Dash successes though, and I couldn't even guess the amount of times I've still failed Dashes even with +1

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie and Light Troops- No War Wolf, only 1 Artillery Witch and 2 Anointed. Restricting all of the big troop options means you have less to work with, but in a campaign you're likely starting with all 3 ELITE models and a range of regular troops. It also means that later in a campaign you won't have much access to models that aren't simply Heretic Troopers or Wretched, so Naval warbands will end up going pretty wide later down the line in a campaign.

Unseen Advance- The ability to buy 3 non-ELITE models INFILTRATOR is fantastic, as you can put your close assault units with melee weapons, SMGs or Flamethrowers close to your opponent right from the start of the game (assuming the scenario allows it, which isn't always) and makes for a great 2-stage team added with your Death Commando. Either for early game pressure or objective taking you'll get value out of more infiltrating units, but be careful not to overextend.

Heretic Legions Units

Heretic Priest- As your LEADER model you have to take one, and there are few slightly different ways you can build a Priest. No matter what loadout you give it though, it's a great generalist profile with +2 dice to both melee and ranged making it fairly reliable at everything (and meaning you want to give it both kinds of weapon to make the most of it) while TOUGH keeps it in the fight a bit longer. The other thing to note is Puppet Master as you can use this to manipulate positioning and being able to move any model within 12" D6" is quite good. Early game you want to use it to move your own models up the board and get things into better positions, while later game you can use it to move things into combat with your own models or out of cover where you can really punish them. My personal favourite loadout, at least at the start of a campaign, is giving them a Silenced Pistol or grenades so they have an ASSAULT weapon and 2 Sword/Axes with Standard Armour. This is a fairly budget build so you can fit in more of the other elites (Priest, Chorister and Commando to start is something I'm a big fan of) and it's quite easy to kit them out later on with better gear as you should be making decent amounts of money for a campaign. 

Chorister- When you have a close-range warband having a close-range debuff piece is really great, and -1 to all success rolls from enemies makes it so much harder for them to actually achieve things in game. Also having a +2 melee piece means you can have a really consistent Sacrificial Blade with a 2nd action for another weapon. Polearm is another great option as you can use it to set up near an objective and just make it really obnoxious for an opponent to get near you or to even attempt objective actions, as in order to attack you from a charge they'll be -2 dice base. Choristers are really great models all around and I think they're something every Naval Raider warband, especially with the new plastic model looking so nice

Death Commando- As an ELITE with INFILTRATOR the Death Commando is a piece that you can use to put some really early pressure on an opponent, and they can do a lot of damage if they succeed with their rolls. You can pair them with other models with INFILTRATOR in Naval Raiders and make use of the +1 Dash to play really aggressively early on and try and take away activations from your opponent. Tartarus Claws make this way easier as it gives multiple attacks and another movement with even more attacks if you kill something, so with a good grenade throw you can get a heap of damage out in a single activation. They're harder to shoot with a native -1 dice to shoot them (which you can stack with the Chorister) so as long as you're keeping them moving between cover they'll be really annoying to take out. I always start with a Tartarus Claws Commando to get experience on it early, but also to have things that are going to give value early on and flesh out the numbers later. 

Anointed- The heavy-hitters of your non-ELITE, and often the things you want to promote, but they are quite expensive and tend to want even more expensive gear. I haven't tried out a starting roster with any Anointed yet but they are one of my first purchases, as they can put in a ton of work and tend to be one of the tankier units in the roster with their built-in Reinforced Armour. As the only models in the warband with STRONG they are also a natural place to put HEAVY weapons onto, and things like Greatsword/axe or Hellblades are great on them. None of the HEAVY weapons in the warband are especially fantastic, as you usually want ASSAULT on at least a grenade option so you have the option of charging in mid-game. A turn of shooting with a non-ASSAULT weapon is a turn you're losing out on combat so is something to consider, although Heavy Flamethrower is a really good option early game to put the hurt out as an alternative to grenades.

Heretic Trooper- Your basic troop, and something that will be decent enough any time you take it. Regular Troopers I tend to just keep with rifle and bayonet just to have something that can sit back on an objective and plink shots off, or move up and take positions aggressively while the rest of the warband do the killing work. Legionaries on the other hand are great with the INFILTRATOR upgrade, as with an SMG and 2 melee weapons you can infiltrate them in, dash out to shoot twice and then charge with 2 attacks. I personally put the +1 into melee so your 2nd attack is still at flat dice normally, and although they add up in terms of cost they also get work done in terms of creating a threatening presence that your opponent has to deal with while the rest of your warband makes it up the table. 

Wretched- The lightest infantry option in the faction, but also quite garbage. I do want to take the time to try out a few Wretched with double melee at some point as light, disposable shock troops but they aren't really that much cheaper than Heretic Troopers for a significant drop in quality. You probably don't want to take them outside of meme lists, but it is a tempting meme that I want to test out. 

Artillery Witch- While you can only take 1, a Witch is a great take as it gives you some long ranged blasting in a faction that tends to want to play closer up. There's not much else to say about the Witch that isn't standard for all Artillery Witches, as you need to keep it fairly safe and Witches can be pretty squishy. As a non-ELITE it is also far more likely to just die if it gets taken out as well, which you don't want to happen. Try and keep it in cover where possible, and out of melee. 

Mercenaries

Sin Eater- Physically imposing and fairly hard-hitting, the Sin Eater works with Naval Raiders but it will get stuck behind a bit as it isn't necessarily as fast as the rest of the warband. Being able to hit multiple models is really helpful and plays into the Naval Raiders theme of SMGs and multiple melee weapons to keep attacking. I don't think it's worth taking over a Goetic Warlock or the glory items for the warband though, and its definitely something I would take far later in a campaign and only really consider for one-offs rather than actually take. 

Goetic Warlock- For a close-assault, fast-moving warband I really like the Goetic Warlock as it has its own ways to teleport around and jump to better positions or steal specific enemy pieces for assassination. I've played it a fair bit in one-offs and it works quite well, and as the cheapest Mercenary for Fallen factions it is also something easier to get to as opposed to the other options. 

Scripture Guardian- Still quite expensive, and Naval Raiders have great ways to spend Glory otherwise. If you somehow manage to buy everything else and run out of Glory later in a campaign then sure buy it, but I wouldn't go out of the way to get it before other things.

Glory Items

Blasphemous Staff- This is going to go on your Heretic Priest if you take it, nothing else will get enough value out of it. Death Commando can't spare the hand as you want Tartarus Claws on it, and the Chorister doesn't have actions to get enough out of the Staff. +1 to Puppet Masters is good, but potentially at the expense of a 2nd melee weapon so it's something to consider and not always take

Anti-Materiel Rifle- The single best hard-hitting gun you can get. This rifle will tear through armour and reliably kill non-TOUGH models or trigger TOUGH on those that have it, you want it on something that can hit more reliably like the Heretic Priest. In the case you take the AMR on a Priest I'd pair it with Grenades of some kind just so you still have an ASSAULT weapon, but you will get great value out of this every time. Heavy is a downside here though, and in a list where you likely want to be charging you do have less charge range which hurts. 

Hellblade- A very good melee weapon, but also likely going on Anointed as the ability to one-hand it on an Anointed while pairing it with another hand is fantastic. The LIMIT:2 doesn't even really matter here either as Anointed are also restricted to 2 so you can give them both Hellblades and not have to worry.

Automatic Rifle- An option for slightly longer range compared to an SMG, but generally speaking I think not as good given the Glory cost vs simply paying for an SMG. 

Red Brigade- Trench Crusade Faction Overview

As the first in what will become a series of my thoughts about specific sub-factions for Trench Crusade, I'm starting with my favourite faction in Red Brigade. This faction really does hold a spot in my heart as it is quite unique for New Antioch and is also something I really love thematically. 

Unique Rules

Displeasure of the Church- Clerics and Sniper Priests both occupy the same slot, with you being able to take 1 of each or 2 Sniper Priests. 1 of each is all you really want I think, as the Cleric gives you a decent bit of support and a 2nd Priest will just take up cost and Fireteam slots more that you will want just as much on your other models. 

Fury of Saint Ernest- Molotovs for 5 Ducats still aren't great, and no Troop Flag doesn't matter when you have the Red Banner anyway. This rule does give you the best thing in Red Brigade though- the Gunslinger Lieutenant. Lieutenant with double Automatic Pistols can put out a ton of shots, and use the guns in melee as well to make a really terrifying leader. I love gunslingers in any game, and this build of Lieutenant is my favourite thing to play in Trench Crusade from a fun point of view. 

Glory Hounds- This is basically what lets you buy Dogs for Ducats as a normal part of the warband, although they must be half your total models or less. It also gives you double Glory points for Glorious Deeds that you score with Dogs once per game, which will let you earn Glory for things like gear and Mercenaries far quicker assuming you can claim them with the Dog. 

No Retreat- No Red Brigade model can voluntarily leave combat. You have a few ways to get around this, but this is a really big factor in how you should play Red Brigade. You'll get in combat eventually and should give everyone a melee weapon so they can brawl, knowing you can't leave unless your opponent is dead. 

Remember the Fallen- Skipping Reinforcement and Exploration to instead reclaim all the gear of models that die in the previous game is quite good, assuming you suffer mass casualties and lose a ton of gear that you can't regain as easily. This will usually be used to get Glory Items back, as without it you can just Reinforce and get not only the value of the Battlekit that's lost, but buy the wielders back too. 

Wear and Tear- Starting with Blood Markers is a big downside, and you will need to play into this knowing that you can have some really rough matchups. Hiding the important pieces is one thing, but taking Medi-kits is equally as important to mitigate the downside a little. This rule also means you have an especially rough time into Court as you basically give them a free Goetic spell if they go first, and if that spell is a Burning Inferno from a Sorcerer? It's going to really hurt

Unique Equipment

Red Banner- The first thing I spend Glory on when I have access to it. This is a Troop Flag and a Polearm in one, but with a better bonus than the Troop Flag as it gives +2 Dice rather than just +1. This is all to say, it's excellent and the official sculpt on a Shock Trooper looks really great. 

Blood Cloak- 5 Ducats for Skirmisher, this acts as a great way to avoid being engaged when you don't want to be. It won't always work, but it will help at least some of the time.

Unique Units

Crimson Communicant- A few things together make Big Red something I will always take without fail in Red Brigade lists as the 2nd model after the Lieutenant. The melee stats on this thing are already great, without factoring in that they get an extra dice for every Blood marker they have and can't have Blood spent on their melee attacks. That alone makes the Communicant a great brawler and it can hit really hard in melee, although it can become easier to kill as your opponent absolutely will spend the Blood on damage rolls. The other big plus for it though is the Atonement Bell, which can knock enemies out of combat and even trigger extra attacks on your own models. It means you have ways to get out of combat, but also that you can get 2 attacks with a Greatsword on this guy for relatively little effort. I like to Fireteam him with the Lieutenant to guarantee things get out of combat with the Lieutenant, and I can keep shooting dual auto pistols as much as possible. 

Trench Dogs of the Red Brigade- Another mainstay of Red Brigade lists, the Trench Dogs come in a few varieties and are pretty valuable in all their forms. The ability to give Grenades to the dogs for 5 Ducats and use it on any model within 1" is fantastic, as it gives you Ducat economy and makes the dogs great support pieces for Fireteams (which they can also pay to form extra Fireteams giving you a total 4). 2 dogs can also be upgraded into Mercy Dogs which carry a Medi-kit that gives +1 dice to anyone using it within 1", so again fantastic economy although these 2 together make dogs into a pretty easy target as they can't take armour at all. The ability to move around prone friendly models is also quite nice, although with the restriction that it can't be done if any of them are engaged so will often not be useful. Attack Dogs having +1 dice to attacks is nice, although not as great utility as Mercy Dogs, and the 1 Guard Dog you can take is good for potentially screening Infiltrators, although again not as great as the other options. As dogs they get +1 dice to Dash natively, making them much faster with their 8" movement as compared to the usual 6", and can attack in melee despite not having melee weapons. 

New Antioch Units

Lieutenant- You're playing Red Brigade, you have to take a Lieutenant and are you really playing this sub-faction without playing a gunslinger? Double Automatic Pistols is my go-to build every time, with the armour being the only thing I change out depending on how much I have to spend. Sure you could build them differently, but at that point you're deliberately not using some of the warband rules. 

Sniper Priests- Your long range option. This is what you take if you want to be able to pick things off early game, which you really do want, and gives you board control in a faction where you likely will have a majority of close-range combat models. Starting a campaign with a Sniper Priest is good because it gives you early access to advancements too, and they're pretty reliably levelling up early if they can get a Glorious Deed or 2. 

Trench Cleric- The Cleric I think is highly dependent on whether you want anti-FEAR tech in a campaign, because that's the most use you'll get out of it. As an ELITE it's the least important of the 4 you have access to, and as such will probably not make it into a starting campaign roster but will likely be added in later down the line. Anti-FEAR is quite great though especially for a melee-focused warband, so it should always at the very least be considered every time you can add to a roster. 

Yeomen- Your basic troop variant. Couple of Yeomen with Bolt Actions and Bayonets are fine enough, and I like using a Yeoman as the body for a Musical Instrument to help everyone else get up the table. The Westfalia Yeomen sculpts are all great too, so later in a campaign I try and fit them in. Usually they're later takes as I want to fit Shocks, Dogs, a Medic and an Engineer first if possible and build out later

Shock Troopers- My favourite troop in the New Antioch roster, the Shock Troopers are great close assault troops which play really well into the Red Brigade playstyle. +1 dice in melee and more reliably charging makes for a perfect Fireteam partner for Trench Dogs, as you can move quicker to keep up with the extra movement on dogs and access their grenades before charging in. I like sword and board builds to give them a bit more staying power, but double melee is quite tempting as well as you can get a lot of damage out between a grenade throw and then 2 melee attacks. All around Shocks are a really solid unit to take in any Antioch list let alone in Red Brigade, and I will always take 2-3 at least.

Combat Engineers- Satchel Charge access mostly, but they're also pretty good budget skirmishers with built-in Engineer Armour helping a lot against other grenades and Artillery Witches. My preferred build is Satchel Charge, SMG for a mid-field threat that takes some heat away from the Shock Troopers or Lieutenant/Communicant Fireteam, or goes untouched and has the potential to wreak havoc

Mechanised Heavy Infantry- A great way to get some heavy armour into your warband, but they are primarily ranged units and don't get any bonuses in combat. I still think building them for skirmishing with Heavy Shotguns is the best use for them, as the only STRONG models in the warband they can move and shoot reliably with a gun that hits really hard. 

Combat Medic- As a 0-1 choice I think the Medic is something you always take for Red Brigade, because it gives you access to a reliable Medi-Kit on a solid platform. The armour goes a long way, and although it won't always matter Misericordia can do work on taking out downed opponents. 

Mercenaries

Communicant Anti-Tank Hunter- Red Brigade tend to lack a bit of long-range punch, and that's what the Anti-Tank Communicant is for. AMR access is fantastic, and on a fairly tanky platform it does a lot of work every time it hits the table. Definitely worth the Glory investment, and although I don't think personally it makes it into one-off lists over the other Mercenary options it is something I consider. 

Mendelist Ammo Monk- Although the gunslinger blast combo is gone, the Ammo Monk can still be quite reliable with traditional Red Brigade builds in a campaign. Having access to +1 to injure on a gunslinger Lieutenant is fantastic, and BLAST and SHRAPNEL is still great on a Sniper Priest early game while you move the Lieutenant into position. It's not the always take it used to be, but it does still have very good applications. 

Combat Biologist- A favourite Mercenary of mine for Red Brigade, because it has such a nice package for supporting the warband that it works really well for relatively little Glory. The Vivisector being able to push enemies out of engagement gives you a 2nd source outside of the Communicant, and free Gas Grenades is just nice to have to put some more Blood out there early. Plus the model is just awesome and I love getting it onto the table

Scripture Guardian- Although it is quite decent it is very expensive, and Red Brigade have a lot of other good options for their Glory for cheaper. I'd go for any of the 3 above before I'd go for a Scripture Guardian, and honestly probably also an Observer and Mamluk

Witchburner- Even after the changes, it isn't really that great for the cost. Really cool model, but unfortunately doesn't really help Red Brigade at all in ways you can't get elsewhere

Observer- Another fantastic take, because the Observer is generically quite good and comes with a Medi-Kit to help take Blood off. Not much to say, for 3 Glory it is more than good enough

Mamluk Faris- An extra Fireteam option if you really need 5 Fireteams, it can also be a really tough lynchpin with Polearm and Shield 

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. 

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