The Pariah- Malifaux Leveticus Tactica

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

Keyword abilities-

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

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

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

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

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

Keyword models-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OOK/Versatile models-

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

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

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



Upgrades-

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

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

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

Deployments-

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

Strategies-

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

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

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

Schemes-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GG1

Strategies- 

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

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

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

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

Schemes-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GG2

Strategies-

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

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

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

Schemes-

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

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

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

On the Table- Guild Ball Alchemists, Brotherhood of Steel

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

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

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

List Discussion- Scarecrow (Arkham Knight)

 Back to Batman for another List Discussion, this time I'm looking at Soldiers of Fortune for my favourite leader, Scarecrow. As opposed to the more combat-heavy playstyle of most of the SoF boss options Scarecrow plays a control game, and boy does he do it well. I'll be talking about 3 lists today, one a pure Scarecrow and henchmen list plus 2 bringing other characters to double down on the control theme- Bird and Zsasz. 

Scarecrow (Arkham Knight)
-Secret Laboratory

Cuchillo
-Backpack

Militia Soldier 1

Militia Soldier 2

Militia Lieutenant
-Gas Mask

Militia Medic

Stealth Op
-Venom Dose

Malicia
-Gas Mask
-Venom Dose

Infiltrate Op
-Gas Mask
-Fear Gas Dispenser

Die Hard

I'm Feeling Weird

Stick to the Plan

Black Ops

Cyber Attack

Domination

Free For All

Global Offensive

Ground War

Invasion

A City In Fear

This list is my main go-to when it comes to playing Scarecrow, and it's really straightforward. The henchmen all work to score you cards as soon and as often as possible, with a lot of your cards being played in enemy activations to keep your deck flowing a lot and ideally bringing high VP turns early in the game. Scarecrow meanwhile does Scarecrow things, bombing out his Fear Gas through Infiltrate Op and Malicia because they have the most tanking potential in the crew (although they are also high priority targets, they have the stats to justify having the gas on them). It also has a great amount of shooting potential and melee threat for when you need it, although with the deck you won't be fighting as much as some other SoF builds. 

Bird (Boss)

Scarecrow (Arkham Knight)
-Secret Laboratory

Militia Soldier 1

Militia Soldier 2

Militia Lieutenant

Militia Medic

Stealth Op
-Gas Mask

Support Op

Infiltrate Op
-Gas Mask
-Fear Gas Dispenser

Die Hard

I'm Feeling Weird

Stick to the Plan

Black Ops

Cyber Attack

Domination

Free For All

Global Offensive

Ground War

Invasion

Reinforce

A City In Fear

The addition of Bird brings more Elite options to the crew, but mainly access to a lot of Smoke. This is absolutely crippling, because Smoke in itself is really strong and when you add it to the fear bombing from Scarecrow you have an enemy crew that will either have to play super aggressive or very cagey, both of which you can adapt to and benefit from. Against most opponents you'll be able to put them on the back foot and playing on your terms, which is always something you want because it means you can play according to your own plans. 

Scarecrow (Arkham Knight)
-Secret Laboratory

Victor Zsasz

Cuchillo
-Backpack

Militia Soldier 1

Militia Soldier 2

Militia Lieutenant
-Gas Mask
-Venom Dose

Militia Medic

Stealth Op
-Venom Dose
-Gas Mask

Infiltrate Op
-Gas Mask
-Fear Gas Dispenser

Die Hard

I'm Feeling Weird

Stick to the Plan

Black Ops

Cyber Attack

Domination

Free For All

Global Offensive

Ground War

Invasion

A City In Fear

Zsasz however adds a bit of trickery to the crew with Shadowed Nightmare, is a great henchman hunter and even plays into Scarecrow wanting things to be Scared. All around Zsasz hurts crews that want to stay away from you and although you lose out a little bit in terms of number of Veterans you will still have a lot and can dictate where the opponent will have to be for most of the game, threatening them with Zsasz. Being forced to bunch up to avoid being picked off means they're more prone to Fear Master attacks and also play into the SoF deck more. 

On the Table- Kill Team Marines and Genestealer Cult

 Hi again all, over the last few weeks I've been finishing up some models I've owned for a while (and some newer) that I've had for Kill Team and with the new edition I'm keen to start playing again. 

First off was the team I bought last edition to play with, Astartes that I painted up as the Minotaurs chapter. Super easy Contrast paints over metallic basecoat for the armour, it was a look that I am happy with nonetheless and I will likely be replicating it in the future as a staple technique with large amounts of gold and bronze. Many of the Veterans I will be counting as a Deathwatch warband with the Chaplain leading, and the Chapter Master and Dreadnought I just had to finish the set of characters and if I can eventually use them later, I will. 

After these I painted up a few Genestealer Cult models so I can play both Kill Team and Necromunda, having options for both. I'm most happy that I can use them in both games as is, and I think the shenanigans I can pull with these will be a good counterbalance to the Marines as well. 

Model Review- Parker Barrows, Dead Man Walking and Pearl Musgrove

 Anyone who knows me knows that this title is the thing I was most excited for from the moment it first got teased in the Malifaux Burns trailer. Parker Barrows has always been my favourite Master and keyword by far, and the blurb alone from Pearl Musgrove makes me very excited to try her out. I'll be playing around with a few other titles as they will be released before Parker (Misaki especially) but as soon as I can get the sculpts for the Barrows siblings I will be painting them and getting them on the table. 

Parker's front of card stays fairly similar to what it used to be, although he has gone down to Wp5 and 12 wounds (with Hard to Kill now though). Gunfighter and Run and Gun are still there, but he no longer ignores Friendly Fire (on his rifles at least) and loses all of the easy ways for him to get out sneaky Scheme markers while he shoots up the enemy and instead is a lot more based in counter-scheming by the way of damage. Abandon All Hope is a huge aura, and it being just a straight up swap of an enemy Scheme into a friendly is very rude because it takes the opponent's resource and gives you one instead. It also synergises great with Perdition, because it has the same range and becomes basically a guaranteed 2" Shockwave effect for 1 damage, and any damage pinging is really nice to have especially in such a big bubble. It also triggers off of all Scheme markers, so even if the opponent is placing their own to score or use their own abilities they'll be hurting for it and then you can remove them anyway with a lot of the crew's passive abilities. Drop It! (which I'll come back to later) becomes a very good means of extra damage in a lot of places while you can continue to kite the enemy from a distance. Parker's guns are a little bit different to what they used to be, although they are still very good. Still stat 5+, but with no bonuses for nearby Scheme markers although it is 14" range now for an amazing threat range. The damage is a bit more varied as 2/4/5 is now 2/3/6, and it ignores Hard to Kill which is great when it matters. As for triggers, the once per turn Crow for a double positive to damage flips (and likely meaning you'll be able to hit that 6 damage severe) is excellent, and the Ram trigger for Shielded +2 is also great to have but not something I would necessarily seek out to do. Broken Man's Lasso is really interesting because it is good range at 10", can be used on a Charge, and 6 vs Mv is a great stat, and the triggers are both excellent (Drop It! and Execute are both fantastic) but overall it is a movement controlling action on a Master that likes to be doing damage and so puts him in a bit of a different role than he normally would. It ignores Friendly Fire, and you can use it to pull friendly models out of engagement (similar to Bandit Raid, but with less immediate benefit replaced with freedom of movement) with it also choosing to give out Staggered (so if you keep dragging one thing around it becomes easier). Overall I think it's mostly going to happen where you can pull things into places you can get better shots or bunch things together to hurt them more with blasts and Scheme marker pings. Parker's bonus action is interesting, and stat 7 vs Wp at 10" range is really good, but it doesn't do a huge amount by itself unless you stack other things on top of it. Drop It! being After Resolving means it is really reliable marker dropping (and thus damage pings) but only on one model and not a massive benefit given that you're still failing a duel to do it. The triggers are both very economical too, with Masks for a free projectile action (which is either of his 2 attacks, although I think the Rifle is probably better in this case) or Crows to take the action again for more benefit as well. Both are great, and it really depends on what you're looking for in terms of board state that turn as to which one you'll want to use. His 1 tactical action moves a marker (not quite as good as removing it, but still great), and only needs a 5 to get off with a built in suit for the trigger. Moving it 4" is nice, and giving Injured +1 to enemies without it is very good especially if you can do it on Hazardous markers (which will mostly be from enemies, but it works with Rusty Alyce and especially Prospectors moving around Scheme markers). The trigger is also very useful to have, because it removes any marker moved through as well so you can quite easily clear the board between him and Mad Dog. It also removes markers that aren't Destructible so it's a little bit better than Mad Dog as well (and you can even do it on a Blown Apart marker for extra benefit). You can use this action a few times a turn to shove around markers where they benefit you and clear anything your opponent might have, and it only needing 5s is pretty worthwhile and low cost. 

Pearl Musgrove sits in the 7SS Bandit bracket where she has a lot of competition, but I think in general she has a decent place in the crew, especially with Dead Man Walking Parker. Her stats are all entirely average with even her actions all being stat 5 so she isn't amazing, but also still good enough to consider, and Gunfighter and Run and Gun are to be expected for a Bandit. Being Frontier she also has Home on the Range, but in Bandit crews you can only get 1 anyway so it's really just her being slightly further up. Hard to Kill is nice defensively, and Reformed works really nicely in a crew that already want to be removing markers pretty often (eat a Scheme to get Fast and then also heal 1? Yes please. Mad Dog blowing up Destructible markers and then healing things? Yep, also great). It does need careful control of placement, but not careful enough that you won't be getting it fairly reliably by just using her in tandem with other things in the crew. Kick Up Dust as the bonus action is to be expected for Frontier, and it can be useful to cover yourself from awkward angles of shooting but the trigger is where you will find the most synergies with Bandit and it will work in a lot of ways. It is just a really simple Scheme marker drop instead of Dust Cloud, but for only a 5 and a 3" range it's great for scoring potential but also with DMW Parker to chuck out chip damage at enemies that are placed closer together which is really nice. Draw Them In is really interesting in what it does, but I'm not certain it has amazing applications in Bandit crews like it does in Frontier. Bandit lacks the big tanky beaters that Frontier has in Reichart and especially the Sandworm, and so pulling a group of models into one of yours is likely to mean that model gets ganged up on and killed even with it coming with a heal of 2 on its trigger. Staggered gives a little bit of synergy with DMW Parker's Lasso but in general I think I would really need to consider when it becomes worth it to drag things towards one of your own models and it's usually if it can get the opponent away from somewhere they would be scoring (Ley Lines and Claim Jump mainly) or into positions where they can be blasted in higher numbers (Turf War this helps, but in general between Pearl, Mad Dog and Perdition you have lots of grouped damage). Pearl's Sawed-Off Shotgun is fairly standard in what it does, although like DMW Parker she doesn't have Drop It! which is important to point out. The damage is fairly average, although it having blasts is very nice to throw out damage, and with a positive flip and built-in Tome it works very well with what Bandits want to do. 6" range is very short, but 11" threat range with Run and Gun is still nice and the Mask trigger for Stagger works nicely with the blasts but doesn't have any other huge synergy with the crew outside of Parker's Lasso which is ok but mostly just a nice little debuff to have. Brushfire as the Tome trigger is a bit tricky to set up, but not impossible, and it adds extra blasts off of a Scheme or Dust Cloud marker within 3" of the target which is always nice. You can combo it with someone else's Drop It, and even Parker's Stare Down, to get damage from the first shot, pulse damage from the marker drop and then more damage and blasts from Pearl shooting herself. The main use I see for Pearl is to absolutely punish bubble crews with the new Parker, because you can throw out so much more damage across a few models which is really nice as an option. 

Model Review- Misaki, Fractured and Jin Baccara

 Another one of my all time favourites with a very interesting title I like a lot, Misaki is also now corrupted by the Burning Man which is reflected in her gameplay. Moving from a Master that used to do a lot of work on her own with the ability to make her crew act as a supplement to her kit, she is now very much a support Master, but with her crew having some pretty great pieces she is definitely going to be worthwhile in the right pools. 

Misaki herself has now become an Obey Master in this form, with all that entails. Her front of card is very different to what she was before, as she is now very much non-combat, and most of her stats have gone done slightly (Df5/Wp6 compared to Df6/Wp7 of the old version, and 11 instead of 12 wounds). She does have a lot more synergy with Shadow markers in this version though, the least of which is that Shang counts as one when in her crew. She gains Shielded +1 every time a Shadow marker is placed within 8", and when Last Blossom or enemy models take actions generated from effects that aren't Charge (Obey, Onslaught, Knock Aside all count- Obeying a model to Charge still works as well) or gains Fast (Assassin) she gets to place a Shadow into base contact with them and thus also gain Shielded. This placement is only once per activation but that doesn't matter that much because it really is just free resources for doing things you would anyway with her. Wilting Tsubaki is good in itself, ignoring Concealment and then also gaining suits if models are near Shadow markers (which is great with every trigger she has) but when combined with the attack actions she has it is a really amazing part of her kit because you can make it work quite easily. Disguised also keeps her alive for longer which is nice to have, but that's about all to say about it and her front of card in general. Misaki only has one tactical action, and it's also her bonus action. It's pretty simple ignoring LoS and range, but requiring an enemy model that isn't a Master to be within 3" of a Shadow marker and for a 5 she can push the target up to 5 and make it drop a Scheme. The Mask trigger moves Misaki 3" but it is best in how it puts enemies out of position and also drops you a Scheme marker you can score off of which works great with a bunch of Schemes. Obey is the same as always (which is to say very good) and the suit built in on stat 7 is amazing, as well as it triggering her placement of Shadow markers once in her activation for a little bit extra free resources. The simple ability to make your own models take more actions (excellent for Ototo/Crime Boss charges, or moving/interacting with Torakage to let you scheme better) or against the enemy to turn their beaters against them or shove things out of position so they can't score. In general it's really great and I think it's the thing she will be doing the most. The 2 triggers though are where it really gets amazing. It's pretty obvious which one is going to be on friendly models and which is on enemies, because you want your own stuff with Focused and enemies with Injured, but you can pretty reliably make sure to get which one you want to have as well with some fairly straightforward play. Ink-Tipped Dart is fairly low damage, but stat 6 and the ability to very likely choose a suit is good enough for what is quite obviously a more support-based Master. It's Shadow marker generation (which means Shielded +1 on Misaki fairly often) and the triggers are both good too. Moment of Weakness can be a bit of fairly low-risk card cycling if you use it on your own models or more punishing on your opponent, and Shadow Pin (which you basically have built-in with Shadow markers) makes your damage better and gives a nice debuff in Staggered. Twisting Paths only works on Last Blossom or non-Master enemies (continuing the trend of this Misaki having a lot more synergy with keyword models) and they need to have Concealment as well to be able to be targeted by this action. 6 vs Wp is decent, and only needing a 5 to reach the TN is easy to do, while 8" range is pretty good to be able to mess with the board state in very relevant ways. It places the target into base contact with a Shadow marker within 8" of them so it puts things a long potential distance away from where they were earlier either to manipulate your own models placement to get where they may not have been able to otherwise, and for enemies to deny their plans or put them in places where they will be easy to kill for you. The trigger on a Tome (again, fairly easy with Wilting Tsubaki) for Last Blossom only, it instead Buries the target and you can Unbury later on in base contact with any Shadow marker on the table so you have even more range to get anywhere you want. 

Jin Baccara gets shared with English Ivan, and naturally that means Shadow Markers. He is overall fairly simple with a completely average stat line, Assassin as part of Last Blossom (but he is low min damage so don't expect it to happen in most games) and Ungentlemanly Affairs from DUA (which will be far more common, although again not as universally useful with his attacks). The other 2 abilities he has though are far more interesting and directly useful most games, with Skulker giving your crew pass tokens if he is Buried or in Concealment during the start phase (and with both keywords throwing out Shadows...) and Undercover letting him start the game buried. He can choose an enemy Minion if he is Buried when he activates (meaning this is a great potential counter to Tara and Lady J shenanigans too) and then Unbury in base contact with it before sending it back to its deployment zone and Jin himself gains Slow, which is generally a great application of the model mid-game (and you can still use some of his actions while Buried to get max value out of him). Of his 2 bonus actions both are good in the right cases, with Ambush being the usual one for free movement and Dispose of Evidence being great counter-scheming that you gain a card from at the same time. Hidden Blade at stat 5 isn't fantastic, but built in Critical Strike for 2/3/5 ignoring Armour is not bad for a cost 7 model and against Armour is one of the better ways to get damage through in Last Blossom. Ink-Tipped Dart he shares with Misaki, and here it is still competing with other very good actions but is still a great way to easily generate Shadow markers for you to use. Stat 5 is fairly average and won't be doing huge amounts, especially with 1/3/5 damage, but it's mainly the Shadow generation you want for the synergies that brings. His last action, Enemy Intel, is the main reason I like Jin because it is pretty great. He can take it while Buried, meaning the first couple of turns he can still have a meaningful effect on the game while still off the board. Stat 5 vs the enemy Leader's Willpower means there are some games that you are only really trying just cause you're Buried (when the Leader is Wp7 mostly), but in most cases you have a decent enough chance of getting it through it's worth trying anyway. The effect on it, forcing the opponent to choose either a discard or you manipulating the top 3 cards of their deck (and discarding them if you don't like the look of them- severes and the Red Joker) is really annoying to do and can mess up plans in a lot of ways. In general I think Jin will be seeing quite a lot of table time in the coming months in both his keywords, because he does so much to support their game plan

Model Review- Jakob Lynch, Dark Bet and Soul Battery

 Probably the most unique in terms of the title reviews I will be covering, the new version of Lynch doesn't necessarily change up the playstyle of the keyword as a whole but it does change up Hungering Darkness in a very major way. 

Lynch himself is a bit weird because he becomes a directly offensive model and can act as a pretty good beater now, but keeping Brilliance flowing is more important than ever for this title. Lynch has pretty low stats on his front of card, being very slow and having an abysmal Willpower, but otherwise he is fairly standard in terms of Honeypot although a little different to before. Instead of not being able to have Brilliance ever, he now starts with 5 tokens (which is quite a lot really) and the less obvious downside of being able to gain Stunned now, which with some great triggers is important to note. He no longer brings a few of his old tricks, namely any of his front of card abilities to punish cheating and give out Brilliance (meaning the early game spread is a lot less passive) and enemies are no longer at negatives to attack him if they have Brilliance meaning he is somewhat easier to take out. He keeps Rig the Deck +2 though as could be expected, and gains Luck Thief and Delirium which both are really useful to both keep him alive and hurt the opponent (with Delirium also playing very heavily into the Brilliance focus of this Lynch). Lynch only has 1 attack action that is fairly self-explanatory, being 2/3/5 damage and stat 6 with a built in Crow, and a 1" melee range. Nothing super amazing, but the triggers will always be useful and make it a complete package, with built in Sharpened Brilliance for easily changing your damage to 3/4/6 which is pretty great and The Light Inside to spread Brilliance more for you to use. With regards to tactical actions he has 3, one of which is his bonus action and one which is once per turn so he will usually be doing a variety of actions each turn simply because the applications of them are more limited. His bonus Feed the Darkness needs a 5 to go off, but is a 6" aura (it's Honeypot, of course it is) that forces all models ending their activations within range to make a TN12 Wp duel or gain a Brilliance. With friendly models able to choose to fail this (and outside the mirror match, you always will) it should really just be something you always do especially if you can hit the Ram trigger for Inner Glow to give out another Brilliance and heal 1 to all friendly models in range. It's also important to note that Lynch is also in range of it himself with it being an aura, so he can easily gain 2 Brilliance a turn off this as well as pumping it out on a lot of other models. Looming Eclipse is only once per turn, but being able to shed Brilliance off Lynch to pass it out to other friendly models and heal them 2 in the process is really great because it keeps the crew ticking when they need to. This all works together to make sure Lynch really wants a lot of Brilliance generation to keep running at max efficiency in this version which is quite doable, but requires an effort and keyword models to make sure it happens. Pulse 6 is a pretty good range (and within 6" of Lynch is the fun zone usually anyway) and a 6 isn't too difficult to get off, especially if you can Rig the Deck to make it happen. Dragged into the Dark is his last action to note, and boy is it fun. The only options in terms of who you can target are either Hungering Darkness or any model with 3 or more Brilliance on them, and all it does is place them in base contact with Lynch. 6" range, no resist on it and it just needs a 5. In terms of countering positioning and pulling things where they don't want to be, this is amazing. Sure it requires a lot of setup, but being able to pull things out of position and then close to you (where you are now a min 3 beater just by tearing off their Brilliance) is a very bad situation for the opponent to be in. Especially when stacked onto Lures and Obeys that also hand out Brilliance when you do them, this is definitely a very viable option. 

I feel that given the special nature of it, the changes to Hungering Darkness deserve their own section and discussion. Becoming a Master and the leader of the crew is a big change, but something that makes Huggy incredibly strong and a good option to consider when looking at the Honeypot keyword. Huggy was already really good, and becoming 3AP just makes him stronger, while the "downside" of lower wounds and thus weaker to Assassinate isn't actually an issue for a few reasons. Like I've mentioned before, Huggy has tons of healing potential already, and with Terrifying and Incorporeal he isn't the easiest to land damage on. He also gains a Demise ability to place into base contact with Lynch and then heal based on how many Brilliance Tokens Lynch has (which Lynch then takes in Irreducible damage) so he becomes really tough to kill as long as Lynch has Brilliance. It is once per turn, so there is a lot of counterplay just like Demise:Eternal, but very strong nonetheless. I think in general Huggy is mostly going to be Obeying things around the table be it enemy or friendly, especially because his trigger to hand out Brilliance is very important in terms of resource generation. 

The Soul Battery is a shared model with Leveticus, and all in all it is decent but I think it is best in specific cases and not a great generalist. It mostly exists as a support piece for the rest of the crew, and my favourite things about it are the ease at which it gives out Brilliance tokens (very important in this version of Lynch) and passive healing. 1 damage to give out 2 Brilliance is a fair trade IMO because it gives a far greater benefit in a lot of ways, especially doing it to enemies where it can become so much more (extra damage from Sharpened Brilliance, positive flips for Huggy, healing for Huggy and Slow for them without even mentioning the synergy with Delirium). It's also a 4SS significant model so you can potentially pivot to using it for schemes if you absolutely need to, but I wouldn't hope to rely on it unless you absolutely have to. Giving extra bonuses for using Soulstones is great, as is Entropy for more detrimental auras and Hard to Kill to keep it alive a bit more. Final Sacrifice can be useful if you really need it, but the really nice bonus action is the possibility to cheat from your fate deck instead of your hand (kinda a nonbo with Rig the Deck unless you only see weak cards, cause you'll know what's coming anyway). In general I think it is a really great addition to the 4 Horseman Leveticus list, but in Lynch it comes some of the time with Dark Bet when you want to make sure you have Brilliance spread around the table.