Sonnia and Turf War

Usually when I flip Turf War my mind springs to Lady Justice or Hoffman, but what I wanted to talk about today is one of my favourite Sonnia crews. Things will be lit on fire, enemy models will become your models, and fun will be had (at least for you, maybe not so much for your opponent). So without further ado:

Only You Can Create Forest Fires!

Sonnia Criid -7 cache

-Reincarnation (1)

-Cherufe's Imprint (1)

The Judge (9)

-Unrelenting Leader (2)

Ryle (10)

Witchling Handler (8)

Hunter (7)

Watcher (4)

Watcher (4)

Total: 46 SS

This is a lower model count crew than the usual 8 models at 50 SS, but as the game goes on that really becomes less of an issue. What I love about this crew is it's ability to hand out Burning like sparklers on the Fourth of July, it's damage output, it's surprising mobility, and how tanky it can be. 

Thanks to the Witchling Handler's (0) action Burn Them, Burn Them All! Ryle & The Judge become living flame throwers. On  a 6 of any suit Burn Them, Burn Them All! makes the Attack Actions of friendly models within a 4 inch aura (including herself) apply the Burning +1 condition to the target after damaging, so long as the target of the action is within 10 inches and LOS. So as long as the Witchling Handler is within 4 inches your models' ranged and melee attacks now provide Burning, which opens up all kinds of options for Sonnia herself. Combine this with Ryle's Raking Fire trigger & basically the entire back of The Judge's card and suddenly you can light whole swathes of the opposing crew on fire. Ryle's Raking Fire trigger allows him to target another model that hasn't already been targeted by his Modified Steam Gatling attack, so as long as you keep flipping/cheating/stoning Rams on the attack he can pretty much target the entire opposing crew. His (0) action Field Repairs gives him a surprising amount of self healing, which when combined with his ability to use Soulstones & Grind to a Halt defensive trigger makes him a very difficult model to get rid off. Ryle also has the highest Melee damage in the crew (3/5/7 at Ml 6 with the option to trigger Critical Strike), so make sure to apply him liberally to the face of any enemy model you want dead.

The Judge combos brilliantly with the Witchling Handler's Burning Aura for one big reason: the entire back of his card is Attack Actions. The Long Arm Blade & Long Arm Pistol are fairly straightforward, and by using the Bullets & Blades/ Blades & Bullets triggers you can pump out an impressive number of attacks. What will catch your opponent off-guard are Bound by Law and Stand for Judgement.  The Witchling Handler's Burning aura specifically states Attack Actions of friendly models, and a lot of players will forget that Bound by Law & Stand for Judgement are in fact Attack Actions. You'll surprise a lot of people when your Stand for Judgement (0) action not only pushes their model 5 inches towards you, but gives them Burning +1 as well. Bound by Law becomes particularly entertaining in this regard because it will deal them 2 damage automatically (unless the target is Undead in which case it takes a 2/4/8 flip instead) regardless of modifiers, gives them the Arrest condition (so they have to discard a card to Walk or Charge), AND gives them Burning +1. That's a hell of a lot of utility for 1 AP, but make sure that you keep your target within 10 inches so he can hand out Burning. If you target a model at Bound by Law's max range of 12 inches they won't gain the condition, so think before you use it. 

The Witchling Handler acts as a lynchpin for the crew in the first few turns as you'll need her Burning Aura to pass out the condition, but with her Defense and Willpower of 6 & 8 wounds you shouldn't lose her too quickly. And since her Burning Aura includes her as well, you can use her Collier Pistol to help light the enemy on fire. Be careful to play defensively with her so she stays alive, once she goes down it becomes a lot harder to hand out Burning. With her high Walk of 6 you'll easily be able to keep Ryle, The Judge, and Sonnia within range of her Aura, and also allow her to help run Schemes later on in the game if necessary. The 2 Watchers are your main scheme runners thanks to their high Walk and Flight, but can also help the rest of your crew deal with enemy models in cover. Their Always Watching ability prevents enemy models within a 3 inch aura from benefitting from cover (you also don't flip a card for the Watcher when firing into an engagement, so don't be afraid to get close), and the Sky-Eye Attack Action hands out the Exposed condition. Attacks targeting models with the Exposed condition ignore cover completely, and the Watcher can hand this condition out from 14 inches away. If the target's within 10 inches and the Watcher's in the Handler's Burning Aura it can also pass out the Burning condition with Sky-Eye, so that's a nice sneaky way to light things on fire as well. You can also use their (2) Action View From Up High to give Sonnia some options on drawing Line of Sight, but chances are you won't use this as your Watchers' AP are better spent running schemes. 

The Hunter can be used to run schemes or help pull enemy models out of the Turf War zone with his Chain Harpoon, and help run down enemy scheme runners. Thanks to their Chain Harpoon and Pounce on Chest attacks Hunters make great scheme hunters, and their Prowl ability lends them a great deal of mobility. And as with The Judge, because the entire back of the Hunter's card is filled with Attack Actions he can also be a Burning machine if you get him close to the Witchling Handler. There are few sneakier ways to pass out Burning than by using Pounce on Chest when you're in range of the Handler's Aura. You could also swap the Hunter out for an Austringer and 1ss upgrade on another model if you like (I'd suggest either Vengeance Bullet on Ryle or Counterspell Aura on Sonnia). 

Now we move onto the star of the show, Sonnia herself. The entire reason this crew is built to pass out Burning the way it does is to benefit Sonnia's Visions of Flame ability and her Reincarnation upgrade. As long as Sonnia's targeting a model with the Burning condition she doesn't need Line of Sight to the target and ignores cover, so she can target pretty much whoever she jolly well pleases if you activate her later in the turn after you've lit the enemy crew on fire. She gets Plus flips to Cast Actions when targeting enemy models with Wp 6 or higher, and her (0) action Confiscated Lore can help her pump her cast or Willpower up to 9 (or her Defense to 6). All of this helps make her Flameburst attack action devastate anything she aims it at. What's particularly nifty is you can combine the Handler's Aura with her Consuming Flame trigger to make all of her Blasts hand out Burning +2, or Burning +3 if you crack the Soulstone for a Tome. Aside from make Sonnia more lethal, the big reason you want to pass out as much Burning as possible is because of the Reincarnation upgrade. When an enemy model with the Burning condition dies within 10 inches of Sonnia she can drop either 2 cards or a Soulstone to summon a Witchling Stalker into base contact with the target before it's removed, and its through this that the enemy crew really becomes your own (especially if you're playing against a Master that likes to summon a lot of models). Once you start turning the enemy models into Witchling Stalkers you start to gain activation control, and since they hand out Burning as well it becomes a repeating cycle. The Cherufe's Imprint upgrade increases your board control through the use of the Flame Wall action to block either Lines of Sight, Charge Lanes, or help hold key choke points. The Dampening ability also increases Sonnia's odds of survival against Melee Masters/Henchmen, which is one of her big weaknesses as her base defense isn't very high. 

When playing a crew like this you'll want to have the Watchers and Hunter out running schemes while Sonnia, Ryle, The Judge, & the Handler hold the Turf War area. In order to get the most use out of Sonnia's blasts you'll want to stay on your edge of the Turf War zone for a turn or two while you light things on fire and start turning enemy models into Witchling Stalkers. You  can use The Judge to move models around with Stand for Judgement, and you can use his Combat Effectiveness to help create even more attacks. This crew can comfortably accomplish schemes like Make Them Suffer, Breakthrough, Protect Territory, Bodyguard, Entourage (Ryle's great at this scheme), Plant Evidence, Take Prisoner, Murder Protege, A Line In the Sand, and Frame for Murder. Be vary wary of things like Killjoy/Bete Noir bombs and the Vik slingshot because once your models get tied down or killed it becomes very difficult to get things done, so if you're going to have to deal with something big and nasty make sure it's on your terms. Use intervening terrain to slow down enemy charges, and intercept big nasty things with The Judge and Ryle so Sonnia can focus on carpet bombing the enemy crew back to the other side of the Breach & the Witchling Handler can focus on staying alive and keeping that Aura up and running. The Handler should activate fairly early on in the turn so you can start throwing Burning around, and you'll want to save Sonnia's activation for later on so she can benefit from the rest of your crew's endeavors to light things on fire. Keep The Judge and Ryle in the Turf War area to score your strategy points (you can move Sonnia or the Handler in as needed) and make sure if your Watchers are running schemes to keep them as far away from the center of the board as possible. Use your Hunter defensively to pull enemy models out of position & hunt down enemy schemers to keep your Watchers safe. And remember; when in doubt, light it on fire. 

A Beginner's Guide to Hoffman

I've seen a lot of posts online of people asking for advice on Hoffman; what to buy for him, what he works well with, etc etc. Hoffman is my favourite and personal best Master, so I thought I'd spend a little time talking about what models he works well with, what Strategies and Schemes he does well with, and a few tips and tricks I've picked up. Hopefully this helps some people out, let's get into it!

Building out of the Crew Box

Hoffman has a solid starting box, but he also has a TON of options when it comes to what models to add to it. Hoffman has a very diverse hiring pool between the Guild models and Arcanist M&SU constructs he can hire through his Arcanist Assets upgrade, so deciding what to get next can be difficult. I personally recommend getting a second Watcher & a Peacekeeper before you go too far down the rabbit hole; having a pair of Watchers to run marker based schemes is awesome, and the Peacekeeper is a solid choice of beatsticky tank. These models also run well with other Guild crews, which is a bonus. Play a couple of games with just these models to get an idea for how Hoffman works before you start looking into other models, as it will make deciding what you want to buy next a lot easier. When you start feeling comfortable with the models you have & start looking to add more, my next recommendation is to pick up the Ramos crew box. Howard Langston, Joss, & Steam Arachnid Swarms are all amazing with Hoffman (for reasons we'll break down later), and the plastic sculpts are gorgeous. If you don't want to grab a crew box whose Master and Totem you can't use, then find yourself 2 or 3 Soulstone Miners and a Ryle. The Rail Golem is also a good choice, and a lot of players recommend picking up Metal Gamin as well. You can also look at Guild Wardens, as they're very solid for their price. I'd suggest a buying order that goes roughly like this:

Hoffman Box -> 2nd Watcher & a Peacekeeper -> min 2 Soulstone Miners -> Ramos Box -> Metal Gamin & Rail Golem -> Ryle -> Wardens/Mobile Toolkit

This is just a skeleton idea, you can swap model order around as you like and add whatever you like to it. I've probably missed a few models, but getting all of this together and getting comfortable with it on the table top should keep you busy for a while.

A Tool for Every Job

I tend to mentally divide Hoffman's hiring pool into 3 seperate categories: Scheme Runners, Tanks/Beatsticks, & Support Pieces. We're going to go into each of these categories seperately and break down what models go into each and why they're there. There are several models that are going to fall into different categories, but that's okay.

Scheme Runners

With Hoffman your main Scheme Runners are going to be Watchers and Soulstone Miners. Soulstone Miners are among the best Scheme Runners in the game due to their ability to start the game buried and unbury anywhere on the board that's not within 6 inches of an enemy model or the enemy deployment zone. A pair of Soulstone Miners can almost guarantee you Outflank on Corner/Flank Deployment, and can help accomplish any marker based scheme as well (such as Breakthrough, Protect Territory, Plant Evidence, etc). The only drawback to Soulstone Miners is they won't benefit much from Hoffman's buffing abilities (such as his Modification Upgrades and crew healing) just because they'll tend to run further away from the main body of your crew so they can get markers down in more remote locations. Watchers are solid scheme runners for any Guild master, but given Hoffman's Modification Upgrades become even more effective. If you run 2 Watchers (which if you're playing Hoffman chances are you should be) you'll want to give one Watcher the Hydraulics upgrade & the other Programmed Directive. By making one Nimble and giving the other cheaper Interact Actions a pair of Watchers can pump out up to 4 scheme markers a turn (hello A Line In The Sand) for as long as they're on the board and unengaged. Hunters are going to get a mention here as well because their Prowl ability and Wk 5 can make them decent scheme runners in a pinch. The nice thing about Hoffman's scheme runners is that they're decently survivable due to their Armour +1 and mobility, but make sure you keep your Miners and Watchers away from enemy models so they can do their thing unmolested. 

Tanks/Beatsticks 

If there's one thing Hoffman does and does well is he makes models that are already strong even more powerful. Models that tank damage well tend to deal damage just as well, and Hoffman has a couple ways of upping both of those tendencies. The primary models in this category are the Peacekeeper, Howard Langston, Ryle, the Rail Golem, Steam Arachnid Swarms, & Joss. All of these models will work well with the Patchwork Plating upgrade (an Armour +3 Peacekeeper is ridiculous), and the Peacekeeper & Ryle benefit highly from the Targeting Systems upgrade (an extra Ram for Critical Strike is always nice, and being able to auto-trigger Ryle's Raking Fire is just magical). Hydraulics is another solid modification so long as you haven't given it to one of your scheme runners already. Steam Arachnid Swarms get included in this category because once you've Power Looped in a model like Howard Langston or the Guardian to make them Ml 7 their Overwhelm trigger can become surprisingly powerful, especially when you factor in their Strength in Numbers ability. This makes them sneaky and unexpected beatsticks, and they're nice for removing enemy scheme markers with their Decouring Swarm (0) action. Due to their high cost you often won't be running more than 1 or 2 of these models in your crew, so make sure you give some consideration as to what the schemes and strategies are before you hire one. If you're playing something like Turf War or Reckoning you'll want to be using Hoffman's heals and Machine Puppets to keep them alive and crammed down your opponents' throats. Use your Machine Puppets to get them in position without using any of their AP (shoot for the double Ram trigger if possible to make them Fast before they activate), this way they can focus on using their AP to either clear models out of your way or score you VP. By playing agressively with your Tanks/Beatsticks you can pull your opponent's attention off of your scheme runners, but be careful about which crews you're aggressive against. Anything that can ignore your Armour or prevent your heals will be very problematic and should be handled carefully (ex: the Viks or Von Schill in combat).

Support Pieces

Your support pieces include the Mechanical Attendant, Metal Gamin, the Guardian, the Mobile Toolkit, Wardens, and Hunters. These pieces can be used as backup scheme runners, or help buff your tanks/beatsticks. Hunters are great for pulling enemy models out of position & can do a decent amount of damage on their own, which makes them ideal for either clearing out enemy Minions/scheme runners or softening up bigger targets for your tank/beatstick to finish off later. The Mechanical Attendant offers condition removal for Hoffman, and his Null Field ability is great against Nephilim crews (Black Blood) or crews that rely on Blasts (like Sonnia or Rasputina). The Mobile Toolkit is useful for  buffing your models by passing out Armour +1, or making them more dangerous by giving them Plus flips to Ml actions or a Plus flip to damage. A lot of players like bringing along at least 1 Metal Gamin because when Power Looped in Hoffman can get up to Ca 10, which makes most of his Tactical Actions almost automatically go off, and their Protection of Metal can be nice as well. Wardens work well as back up scheme runners due to their survivability, and are great at softening up enemy models. The Guardian is a popular choice because of his high Df & Ml stats, which when Power Looped in help buff your other models significantly (for example: a Df 6, Ml 7 Rail Golem will make your opponent cry, especially when you make it Nimble through Hydraulics). Depending on which models you choose you're best off running your Support Pieces at mid-range; some of them can do well in melee and will survive contact with the enemy (Wardens/Hunters/the Guardian), and the others you'll want to keep away from enemy models so you can use their benificial abilities to buff your crew and help run schemes (Metal Gamin/Mechanical Attendant/Mobile Toolkit).

Upgrades

The 2 upgrades you should never leave home without are Field Mechanic and Arcanist Assets. Arcanist Assets lets you hire Arcanist M&SU constructs out of faction and gives you the brilliant Frantic Repairs (0) action. Even if you don't plan on bringing any Arcanist constructs I recommend bringing this upgrade because it's cheap and really bumps up your healing abilities, and it works well with your Modification Upgrades. Field Mechanic is a must take in my opinion just because the Modification Upgrades are so incredibly useful, and really lets you tailor your crew to the Schemes and Strategy even further. Remote Mines is useful against Resurrectionists or crews with Lures, but the Detonate action's short range can make it hard to use and competes for the use of Scrap markers, which you need for healing and some of your Modification Upgrades. On Site Assimilation is a situational choice in my book: making Hoffman Fast is awesome, but it requires you to make one of your other models Slow, and the O.S.A. attack action can be difficult to use effectively if you don't plan it out properly. 

Picking the Right Tool for the Job

Hoffman is a good master for Turf War, Stake a Claim, Squatter's Rights, and Reckoning; but the crews he will run with for each are very different. A general skeleton for a Hoffman crew is Hoffman with Field Mechanic & Arcanist Assets, 1 or 2 beatsticks/tanks, 1 or 2 scheme runners, and add support pieces to taste. For Turf War and Reckoning your crew should focus more on tanks/beatsticks with a pair of scheme runners for marker based schemes. When running a crew based mostly around tanks/beatsticks for Turf War/Reckoning you'll be looking for schemes like Murder Protege, Make them Suffer, Take a Prisoner, Assassinate, & Frame for Murder. If you include a pair of scheme runners you'll want to take schemes like Breakthrough, Protect Territory, Plant Evidence/Explosives, Power Ritual, & A Line in the Sand. If you flip Stake a Claim or Squatter's Rights you'll generally want to focus more on scheme runners and support pieces, with a smaller number of tanks/beatsticks. In Squatter's Rights/Stake a Claim you'll want to focus more on marker based schemes over killing schemes, because usually these Strategies focus more on interacts than killing other models. Every game is different, so every crew should be built according to the strategy & scheme pool. There are times when you'll want to bring more tanks/beatsticks to Squatter's Rights/Stake a Claim, and vice versa. 

Where to Put Hoffman

There are two basic ways to run Hoffman: in the Hoff-ball or in Marker Domination. The Hoff-ball focuses on having Hoffman stay closer to the tanks/beatsticks, passing out heals/Power Loops/Machine Puppets as necessary. The Hoff-ball generally works well in Turf War/Reckoning & killing heavy scheme pools, and generally consists of 1 or 2 tanks/beatsticks that are Power Looped together (like a Peacekeeper & Howard Langston for example) to make an unkillable ball of death that ties up and murders your opponent's crew while the scheme runners do their thing. The Hoff-ball is very powerful because it shares around stats to make models better & takes a ton of work to dismantle and kill, but it is not infallible. The Hoff-ball's main weakness is the fact that it has to run very close together, which makes it succeptible to Blasts and loses a lot of it's potency once it starts to lose models, especially if Hoffman goes down. It can also be weak versus crews with Lures or abilities that move your models around, as it relies on proximity to function to it's maximum potential. Marker Domination works best for Stake a Claim/Squatters Rights & marker heavy schem pools because in this case Hoffman will run with the scheme runners. By having Hoffman hitch a ride off of a Watcher you can use his AP to move your scheme runners into position and drop markers outside their activations, so they can continue to do so with their own AP. Running Hoffman this way makes him incredibly mobile, and makes Entourage on Hoffman surprisingly easy to score. You''ll still want to bring a tank/beatstick or two with you when running Hoffman with your scheme runners to help defend against enemy scheme runners, otherwise you won't be able to deny your opponent VP from their schemes. Marker Domination takes a lot of thought to pull off, be very careful to keep away from the enemy crew because once your scheme runners start to go down it'll become very hard to drop all the markers you need to max out your VP. Be prepared to sacrifice models to keep other models alive if it'll help you score your VP, and make sure you always have a model for Hoffman to hitch a ride off of. 

Ther really isn't a lot that can't be done with a properly set up Hoffman crew, but be careful about how you manage your resources. You'll be using your soulstones for damage prevention on Hoffman, extra cards, and suits on Hoffman or your Henchman. Make sure you go into each game with a plan as to how you're going to accomplish your schemes and the strategy, and what models are going to do what. Like with most crews once you start losing models it becomes harder to get things done, so make sure you prioritize your heals accordingly. Hoffman acts as the keystone in all of his crews, so do what you can to keep him alive throughout the game unless him dieing will help you score your VP. I talked mostly about running Hoffman with Constructs, as that's what I mostly tend to run with him, but most Guild models can work well with him as well. Take some time to figure out what works best for you according to your personal tastes; see if you prefer to go all Construct or mix in some living models, and get some practice with both the Hoff-ball and Marker Domination. With a little practice and some thought you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish. Hopefully this helps a few people out and isn't too boring of a read, thanks for checking it out!

Our Henchman

As a faction, we have awesome Henchman. They can do a variety of things and can boost our crews tremendously in a number of different ways. As with most things in the Guild they can be rather expensive, so if you're ready to commit 9-12 SS into a single model make sure you choose one carefully. Some Henchmen are better at certain things than others, which we're going to break down below.

The Judge

The Judge is our Swiss Army Knife, there's not much he can't do. He does pretty decent damage both at range and in melee, can tank hits well, and offers a variety of board control options. His (0) action Stand for Judgement allows him to push any model up to 5 inches directly towards him and the (1) action Bound By Law can prevent enemy models from Walking or Charging unless they discard a card first. Out of all the Guild Henchman the Judge has the most options when it comes to influencing the position and movement of enemy models, which is something we don't have a lot of in our faction. The Judge can also be handy against marker-dependent summoning crews like Ramos & Nicodem because of his Final Repose ability. With both Hard to Wound & Hard to Kill and 10 wounds he's very survivable, and becomes even more so if you give him the Lead Lined Coat upgrade. The Judge's Unrelenting Leader is one of the best personal upgrades of all the Henchman, as it makes him Stubborn and gives him the (1) action Combat Effectiveness. A Stubborn Judge is a great asset against crews like Pandora, Dreamer, or Seamus that have a lot of Wp based attacks. Combat Effectiveness allows him to make a friendly non-leader model take a (1) Ap Melee action outside of their activation, which is brilliant for finishing off models you've just barely missed killing or have Hard to Kill. Getting extra attacks with any model that's engaged in melee is excellent, and the Tome trigger allows you to take Combat Effectiveness again. If you spend both Ap on it and hit the triggers you can make another model potentially 4 times, or make 4 models attack once each. It's important to note that these Ml actions can declare triggers, and as long as The Judge isn't your crew leader he can use this action on himself (which can potentially allow him to attack 8 times in 1 activation, but is rediculously difficult to make happen). The Judge will do well in every Strategy, but really shines in Reckoning, Turf War, and Reconnoitre.

Sam Hopkins

Sam Hopkins is the very definition of a glass cannon. He can put out a ton of damage, but is relatively fragile. Even though he's Unimpeded Sam is very slow (he's only Walk 4) & has no defensive abilities like Armour or Hard to Wound, so if you're not careful his 8 wounds will disappear quickly. Stick to cover as much as possible and let his gun do all the work for him. Sam does an insane amount of damage at range & in melee, especially if he's attacking a model with Burning. His (1) action Flaming Bullets can put enemy models within an 8 inch pulse at negative flips to defense duels til the end of the turn if they fail a TN 15 Wp duel, which is his only action that influences enemy models in a way that doesn't damage them. Sam's biggest strength is ranged damage, if all of his Rapid Fire shots connect he'll do between 9-12 damage on negative flips (depending on whether or not his target has Burning). He'll do similar amounts of damage in melee, but if he doesn't kill his target he'll die pretty quickly. Sam runs best with Sonnia, but can be tricky to use with other Masters. His personal upgrade Witch Hunt can hand out Burning very well, but can be tricky to pull off. Running him with Lead Lined Coat can increase his survivability, but my personal favourite upgrade for him is Vengeance Bullet. This makes him a serious threat against most Masters and Henchmen, and keeps him relatively cheap. Sam is too slow to be of a lot of use in Squatter's Rights/Stake a Claim, and is too fragile to be in the center for Turf War. He does best in Reckoning and Reconnoitre, and will do well as long as you keep him safe in cover.

Francisco Ortega

Francisco is probably the most popular Guild Henchman. He's a great all-rounder, and his El Mayor ability can help keep key models in your crew alive. Francisco does decent damage at range, but is happiest when locked in Melee. He has a high Ml of 7 with a 2 inch range, and has a good damage spread with built in Critical Strike. His (0) action Finesse allows him to discard a card to make enemy models targeting him with Ml attacks suffer a negative flip to attack, and Flurry lets him really pile the hurt onto a single model. The (1) action Enfrentate a Mi allows Francisco to place himself into base contact with an enemy model within 7 inches and push all other friendly models engaged with the target up to 5 inches away from it. This doesn't require line of sight, and is useful for keeping the rest of your crew safe from Melee Monsters like Nekima and Killjoy. Francisco with Finesse up and Defensive Stance will tank just about anything, and he can usually Flurry to take it out next turn. His personal uprade Wade In is pretty much an auto-take, as it makes him Hard to Kill and gives him a self heal for a (0) action. Diestro can be useful with Perdita because it she doesn't have to flip a card for Francisco when Randomizing into Melee and puts whatever model he's engaged with at a negative flip on defense duels against Sh actions. This combination of Francisco tanking and Perdita shooting will take out just about any model in the game. Another useful upgrade for him is Hermanos De Armas, as it can add extra mobility to your crew throughout the game. Francisco works well with every Master, and can do well in every Strategy. He excels at Reckoning and Turf War, but is useful in Reconnoitre, Squatter's rights, and Stake a Claim as well.

Sebastian

Sebastian gets an honourary mention because he can only be taken with Guild McMourning, and is harder to use in the Guild than he is as a Resser. Sebastian works well in a crew that includes models that hand out Poison like Guild Lawyers, and is mostly useful defensively because of his (1) action Under Cover. Under Cover makes projectile attacks targeting a friendly model within an 8 inch aura suffer a negative flip, which is very useful against range based crews like the Freikorps and Rasputina. Most of his abilities revolve around Poison, but for his cost he's decently survivable thanks to 9 wounds and Hard to Wound. If you can build up Poison on an enemy model his Induction & Catalyst abilities and Bloody Harvest action can be very useful, but not many models in the Guild can hand it out. As a Guild Henchman Sebastian is most useful as a defensive model and works well in Reconnoitre, but can struggle with other Strategies and is rather limited as he can only be brought with a Guild McMourning crew.

Ryle

Ryle is my personal favourite Henchmen. He works well with every Master, does good damage at range and in Melee, and can be surprisingly mobile. With 10 wounds, Armour +1, and the defensive trigger Grinding Halt Ryle can be very difficult to kill, which makes him an excellent tank. He can use his (0) action Field Repairs to heal a friendly Construct within 3 inches at the cost of a card from your hand, and he can use it to self-heal should he need to. Ryle has a low Walk of 4 and Charge of 6, but this is offset by his other (0) action, Socially Repressed. Socially Repressed allows Ryle to push up to 4 inches away from a target model within 12 inches (which can be either friendly or enemy), so it basically gives him a free walk that isn't slowed by terrain. His Modified Steam Gatling gun is perfect for targeting enemy models in both Soft & Hard Cover because it has a built in plus flip to attack & a built in trigger for a plus flip to damage; and the double Ram trigger Raking Fire creates good board control while punishing crews that bunch up. Raking Fire allows Ryle to shoot multiple targets so long as they haven't already been targeted by his Modified Steam Gatling, and can be triggered more than once (a good way to do this is with Targeting Systems from Hoffman). His Melee damage is insane, potentially reaching a 6/8/10 damage spread thanks to Critical Strike (1 from cards, 1 from Soul Stones, and 1 more from Hoffman's Targeting Systems). Ryle is well suited to taking out high value targets like Killjoy, The Sow, or Hungering Darkness because of his high damage profile and his Breach Psychosis ability, which makes him immune to Horror Duels. Ryle runs best with Hoffman, but is a solid inclusion in any Guild Crew. His personal upgrade Pieces of Myself is difficult to use, but Ryle works well with Vengeance Bullet and most of the General Guild Upgrades. Ryle excels in Turf War and Reckoning, but his mobility makes him useful in Squatter's Rights, Stake a Claim, and Reconnoitre as well.

Captain Dashel

Dashel is primarily a support Henchmen. He's decently survivable with 9 wounds, Armour +1, & Hard to Kill; and does modest damage. His Collier Army does decent damage at range, and his Baton can do decent damage in Melee & hand out Slow, but is short-ranged. Dashel's real use comes from his "Ready! Aim!" and "Fire!" abilities; which respectively allow friendly non-Austringer Guardsmen models to Focus as a (0) action, and grant a plus flip to the attack flip of projectile actions targeting an enemy model within 12 inches and Line of Sight. Dashel is most commonly used alongside 2-3 Guild Riflemen to create a ranged ball of death, but his afformentioned abilities can benefit Guild Hounds, Guild Guard, Guild Pathfinders, Guild Sergeants, and Wardens as well. This can be used to create a "death by a thousand cuts" approach to damage that most opponents won't see coming, allowing a number of your cheaper Minions to take down multiple enemy models or a high cost enemy Enforcer/Henchman. He can also use his (1) action On Yer Feet can give a friendly Minion Reactivate, but you have to sacrifice said Minion at the end of the turn. Dashel runs best in a Lucius crew, but is very useful in a Guild McCabe crew that has Luna and Guild Hounds because he can Reactivate the Hounds. Dashel is very useful for Reconnoitre, Squatter's Rights, and Stake a Claim; but struggles in Reckoning. 

Sidir Alchibal

Sidir is my second favourite Henchmen, and one of our best tanks. His Ruthless ability makes him useful against Wp based crews, and Laugh Off means he'll only ever be where you want him to be. Sidir does decent damage in melee and at range, but is best used at range. He has a high Sh of 7, and the Stutter Fire trigger allows him to target multiple enemy models. He can also use the (1) action Empty the Magazine to deal damage and grant Slow to a target enemy model & other models within a 2 inch aura if they fail a TN 12 Walk duel. Sidir is extremely survivable thanks to his 10 wounds, Riposte defensive trigger, and (0) action Always There, which grants him a reliable self-heal. This is only increased in a McCabe crew, where the Elixer of Life can allow him to heal up to 4 wounds without using any AP. His biggest asset comes in his Promises and By Your Side upgrades, the first of which give friendly models within a 6 inch aura that have at least one upgrade attatched plus flips to Wp and Ml duels. Sidir with Promises can be a bulwark against Pandora and Dreamer crews, and also synergises very well with Hoffman's Modification Upgrades. By Your Side allows Sidir to once per turn be placed into base contact with a friendly model within 5 inches when they're targeted by an enemy model's action, and become the target of said action instead. Most commonly this is used to prevent your opponent from damaging your Master or other key model, but is most effectively used to deny your opponent Deliver a Message. By Your Side specifies that it can be used when a friendly model is targeted by an enemy model's action, which is exactly what Deliver a Message is. Sidir can be used with any Master, but is most effective with McCabe and Hoffman. He excels at Turf War and can be useful in Reconnoitre; but lacks the damage output for Reckoning and is too slow for Squatter's Rights & Stake a Claim. 

I rarely leave home without Ryle or Sidir, every once in a while I'll use Francisco or The Judge, but I very rarely use Sebastian or Sam Hopkins. Lucius is the only Master I don't own so at the moment so I don't really get to use Dashel, but I can easily see him making his way into several of my crews once I do. Which Henchmen you bring depends on what Strategy you're playing and what Schemes you have to choose from, but as long as you choose wisely you'll rarely be disappointed in their performance. 

Hoffman and Stake a Claim

When it comes to Stake a Claim, there are few Masters in the Guild that can do it as well as Hoffman. Stake a Claim is one of the hardest strategies in the game, and it's one of the only strategies where only one player can score on it a turn. In order to win Stake a Claim you have to have some movement shenanigans and tricks, which Hoffman brings in spades.

The core of a strong Stake a Claim crew for Hoffman should look something like this:

Hoffman

-Field Mechanic (2)

-Arcanist Assets (1)

2 Watchers (8)

2-3 Soulstone Miners (12-18)

If you have Hoffman and don't have any Watchers or Soulstone Miners, make sure you get at least two of each as soon as you can. Watchers and Miners are great scheme runners, and are instrumental in winning Stake a Claim. Your goal in Stake a Claim is to put down as many Claim Markers as possible to ensure you get the Victory Points for the Strategy instead of your opponent. Soulstone Miners are great for this because you can unbury them on the opponent's side of the table (as long as it's 6 inches away from an enemy model or the enemy deployment zone), so if you unbury them at the end of Turn 1, you can start using them to drop Claim Markers on Turn 2. After they drop their first Claim Marker you want to get your Miners moving in Turn 3 so they can either start dropping Scheme Markers or getting in position to drop more Claim Markers in Turn 4.

What you want to do with Hoffman in the first turn is use the Update Hardware action off his Field Mechanic upgrade to give one Watcher Hydraulics, and the other Programmed Directive. To maximize AP efficiency make sure you either crack a Soulstone or cheat in a Tome so you can hit the trigger to take the action again, so you can upgrade both Watchers for one Ap instead of two. You'll also want to make sure you use Hoffman's (0) action Shakedown to put a scrap marker in base contact with the Watcher that's going to get the Hydraulics. The Watcher with Programmed Directive takes Interact Actions for one less AP than usual (so a (2) interact action becomes a (1) interact action), and Hydraulics makes the other Watcher Nimble. At Wk 6 with Flight, these two become Scheming and Claiming machines. If you can try to alternate dropping Claim Markers between your Miners and Watchers, you can drop Claim Markers every turn. If your Watchers are Claiming your Miners should be moving, and then vice versa.

After you give the Watchers their Modifications, you want to use the rest of Hoffman's AP on Machine Puppet and healing, in that order. I've had a lot of success having Hoffman using his Magnetic ability to hitch a ride from the Watcher with Programmed Directive. This way you can use his Machine Puppet to make it Walk and Claim outside of its activation. You'll want to shoot for the Mask trigger on Machine Puppet to push the Watcher 2 inches before it takes the (1) action you choose, so you can use Hoffman's 3 AP to drop 2 Claim Markers (1 Machine Puppet to Claim, 1 more with the Mask trigger to push 2 inches & walk 6 inches, and then finally 1 more to claim again) before the Watcher itself even activates. Try not to spread out the Watchers too far, if one goes down you'll need the other one to come over and save Hoffman. He really relies on his constructs to get around and prevent damage, and any AP spent walking is AP taken away from Machine Puppeting.

You can add whatever other models you want into the crew to help achieve the specific schemes of your game, but adding something big and distracting like a Peacekeeper can help take your opponent's attention away from the Watchers and Miners. You'll need something to protect your Schemers/Claimers and draw ranged fire away from them. Using a crew of nothing but Hoffman, Watchers, & Miners can be effective at accomplishing a Scheme Marker heavy game, but can be very difficult to use and limits your options when selecting Schemes. Adding in models like a Peacekeeper, Ryle, Austringers, etc can help open up your options Scheme and game play wise.

My Favourite Two Minions

The Guild has some excellent Minions. Death Marshalls and Hunters are great for controlling bits of the board, Watchers make awesome scheme runners, and the Guardian is brilliant in its own right. But out of all the Minions we have to choose from, there's two that stand out to me as must-owns for any Guild player: the Guild Austringer and the Guild Lawyer. Both of these Minions offer good board control, utility, and scheming abilities.

Every Guild player should endeavor to own at least one Austringer, if not two. There aren't many times when you won't see at least one Austringer hunkered down at the back of a Guild crew. What makes them so useful is that their two most useful actions, Raptor & Delliver Orders, don't require Line of Sight and have an enormous range. The Raptor is the Austringer's primary shooting attack, and it's one of the better ones in the game because it doesn't require LOS to the target and it completely ignores cover. Given that the range jumps up to 18 inches when you focus, and that the Raptor can trigger either Critical Strike or Distract (which causes the attack to deal no damage but forces your opponent to discard two cards from their hand), this really is a beauty. But the thing I love most about Austringers is the out-of-activation scheming they can make other models do. Deliver Orders allows you to push a friendly model within 18 inches (which you don't need Line of Sight to either) 2 inches in any direction and take a (1) interact action. This is useful for getting down Scheme Markers quickly, getting models out of combats you don't want them in, and can make Marker-based strategies like Squatter's Rights and Headhunter much easier. There really isn't much an Austringer can't do, just make sure you deploy them in terrain and out of your opponent's Line of Sight, and they'll work an absolute treat. Seriously, if you play Guild get yourself at least one of these.

There's been a lot of discussion on the Wyrd forums and in other places about how to use Austringers, so I'm going to switch over and talk about the Guild Lawyer now. These fine fellows are my favourite Wave 2 Minion, and work surprisingly well in a number of different crews. They have an average walk of 5, but an above average Defense and Willpower of 6. Toss in Finish the Job and Highest Authority and the Lawyer can actually be a pretty nifty little Schemer. But the Lawyer's real strengths come in crew support. Reminder of a Worse Fate gives friendly models within a 6 inch aura a Plus Flip to Horror Duels, which can be a godsend against certain crews. This makes it a lot easier to deal with Resurrectionist or Neverborn crews, which tend to have one or two Terrifying models (like the Hanged or Coppelius for example). Just about every faction has ways of making you take Horror Duels, so even though this ability was obviously intended to synergize with Lucius, it can help any crew. 

All that being said, let's talk about the back of the Lawyer's card. Their first attack action, OBJECTION!!!, is a melee based Casting action, resisted by Willpower, that will always do 2 damage regardless of what you flip (barring Jokers of course). This attack doesn't do a lot of damage, but if you flip or cheat Moderate damage your target gains Slow, or if you flip or cheat Severe damage the target gains Paralyzed. There's also a trigger to hand out Poison +2, which makes McMourning very happy. You probably won't be using this action too often, but for its weak damage it can do some lovely things to an unsuspecting opponent. The Lawyer's other attack action is the ranged Special Damages, which is also a Casting action resisted by Willpower, and can target non-Leader models. It's got a nice range of 12 inches, but it deals no damage. Instead the target gains a stackable condition called Fees +1, which they retain for the rest of the game. Whenever a model with the Fees condition completes an attack action that dealt damage, the model suffers +1 damage. Basically, the enemy model takes damage every time they do damage to you. This can serve as a deterrent to most of the big killy models in the opposing crew if you can get the Fees total up to 4 or 5 on a single target. And since it lasts for the rest of the game (unless they have a way to remove Conditions) your opponent will really have to think twice about killing your models, lest they lose their own. Prime targets for Special Damages should be models like Howard Langston, Killjoy, Vik of Blood, Lord Chompy Bits, Nekima, or any of the other big scary model killers.

The last thing on the Lawyer's card is the (0) action Impassioned Defense. This is cast on a 6 of any suit because the required Tome is built in, and has a trigger on a double Tome to take the action again. It has a 10 inch range and gives the target Hard to Wound +1 until the end of the turn. And once again, it's a stackable condition. You can make a couple of models Hard to Wound, or if you really want to give your opponent a headache you can cast it on the same target. If you can hit the trigger two Lawyers working together can cover 4 models with Hard to Wound +1, 2 models Hard to Wound +2, or one model Hard to Wound +4. Target models like Death Marshalls or the Peacekeeper that already have Hard to Wound and it only gets more fun. And since it doesn't say "Target non-Leader model" you can use it to make Masters like Lady Justice, Perdita, and McMourning more survivable. Of course enemy models that ignore Hard to Wound aren't going to care how many times you use this action, but if they can't ignore it a Peacekeeper with Hard to Wound +5 can be brilliant for tilling cards out of your opponents' decks and tanking entire crews. 

Guild McMourning and Squatter's Rights

Rather than going and building a general template crew, breaking down what its strengths are and what Schemes it can accomplish; in this post I'm going to tell you how you can use Guild McMourning and 9 SS worth of models/upgrades to lock down Squatter's Rights, and how you can add some other models to make it an outright domination. Check this out:

Guild McMourning

-On the Clock (1)

4 Clockwork Traps (2ss/Trap x 4 traps = 8ss)

Total: 9 SS

That's it. That's all you need. I'm not the first Guild player to figure out that Clockwork Traps are great for Squatter's Rights, but here's why they're even more awesome when running with McMourning.

Because Clockwork Traps deploy From The Shadows, you can use them to lock down 4 out of the 5 Squat Markers. Make sure when you deploy them that you deploy them in base contact with a Squat Marker, and definitely make sure to keep them on your side of the centerline. This way the entire Squat Marker is covered by the Trap's 2 inch melee range. If you put them on the opponent's side of the table or on top of the Marker they'll either get engaged or removed too quickly. Starting on Turn 2 forwards, McMourning can use the (1) action "On Order of the Governor's Secretary...I Love SayingThat" off of his On the Clock Upgrade to make a friendly model within 10 inches (in this case the Clockwork Trap) take an immediate (1) Interact Action (there's no point in trying this on Turn 1 because models that deploy From The Shadows can't take Interact Actions on the first turn). And since the Traps aren't Insignificant, as long as they're unengaged you can use this to immediately start claiming Squat Markers. If you're clever with your placement of McMourning at the end of the first turn and make sure he's within 10 inches of 2 or more Traps you can activate him early in the turn to secure your point from the Strategy; while simultaneously hampering your opponent's ability to get theirs. You can also use this combo to pass out things like Cursed Objects or Distract if they're in the scheme pool.

Since your opponent has to kill at least 1 Clockwork Trap to start getting points for the strategy, this can delay them getting points for a while as long as you can keep the Traps alive. Try bringing a pair of Guild Lawyers and using their (0) action "Impassioned Defense" to give your Traps Hard to Wound +1 early in the turn. If you can hit the Tome trigger on both Lawyers you can potentially make all 4 Traps Hard To Wound, which should give your opponent a mild headache. You could also bring Nino Ortega and a pair of Pistolero de Latigos and make use of his Spotter ability, which prevents enemy models in Nino's line of sight from taking Interact Actions if the enemy model is within 8 inches of a friendly Family model. Pistoleros work great with Spotter because they're dirt cheap Family models (you can get 2 of them for roughly the same cost as Francisco with Wade In), and because their "Look Out!" ability can give friendly models within a 3 inch aura Plus Flips to defense as long as the Pistolero hasn't activated. 2 Pistoleros increase the coverage you can get with Nino's Spotter ability, and can also increase the number of models (aka Clockwork Traps) you can give Plus Flips to defense. Because having a Clockwork Trap that has Hard to Wound +1 and Plus Flips to Defense duels covering and claiming a Squat Marker is a beautiful and filthy thing.

So there you have it, Thanks for Reading!

A Quick Trick with Perdita

I know I said in a previous post I wouldn't be doing many Perdita entries, but in that same post I mentioned a nasty little combo that deserves a quick write up. So without further introductory eloquence: 

You'll Never Take Me Alive Bastardo!!

Perdita Ortega - 7 Cache

-Trick Shooting (2)

-Vengeance Bullet (1)

Francisco Ortega (8)

-Wade In (1)

Papa Loco (7)

Death Marshall (6)

Death Marshall (6)

Guild Austringer (6)

Watcher (4)

Watcher (4)

Total: 45 SS

The way this trick works is pretty straight forward. You deploy Papa Loco & Francisco within 2 inches of Perdita so they can buff her up with Hold This (plus flips to damage) and El Mayor (+2 to Df & Wp), and as soon as they've done that you use the Death Marshalls to slap them in a coffin and Bury them. Once Francisco and Papa Loco are buried Perdita will retain those buffs until they become unburied and activate (the buffs go away once Francisco and Papa activate, or are killed/sacrificed). As long as they remain buried they don't activate, so you can keep Perdita at Df/Wp 9 with built in Plus Flips to damage for several turns in a row! Just make sure at the start of the Death Marshalls' activation you make the Death Marshall win the Wp duel to keep them in the box, you don't want Francisco and Papa unburying prematurely. Now that the Death Marshalls have buried Papa & Francisco they can run around with the Watchers acting as scheme runners. You won't really need them to do much killing, as Perdita and the Austringer will take care of that.

One of Perdita's strongest tricks comes from her (1) tactical action Finger on the Trigger, which allows her to take a (1) AP Sh action at any model within a 12 inch aura and line of sight that declares either a charge or a projectile attack action. This is HUGE. If you place Perdita right she can use this ability to lock down a massive section of the board; between the Plus Flips to damage she has from Papa Loco (which aren't going away because he's been buried) and the (0) actions on her Trick Shooting upgrade that let her ignore Cover or Armour/Incorporeal this can shut down a lot of crews. Once you put up Finger on the Trigger a clever opponent will either stick to cover if they have models with Armour (since Perdita can't ignore Armour and cover at the same time), or they will try to hide them where you can't see them. After all, if Perdita can't draw Line of Sight to a model, she can't shoot it.

This is where the Watchers come in! In addition to being great scheme runners, Watchers have a fantastic (2) action called View From Up High. This allows your Leader to draw Line of Sight (but not Range) from the Watcher. As long as your Watcher can see an enemy model and Perdita has range to it, she can shoot it. Hiding behind buildings and larger-based models is no longer a reliable defense, and since the Watcher only has to be able to draw Line of Sight to the model the Watcher itself doesn't have to be anywhere near the target. A Watcher on the other side of the table can help Perdita shoot things, and since there are 2 of them in this crew there shouldn't be a single safe place on the board. Add in the Austringer which doesn't need Line of Sight to shoot somebody and you'll be giving your opponent fits, even on the most terrain heavy Malifaux table.

You can if you want swap one Watcher and 2 soulstones from your starting cache to bring a second Austringer, but I don't really recommend it. Since Perdita's going to be right up in the action you're going to need as many soulstones as possible to keep her alive. Once she starts taking hits she'll drop pretty quick, she only has 10 wounds and no Armour to keep her safe, so you'll be using stones a lot for damamge prevention. 

Schemes this trick is good at include Assassinate, Make Them Suffer, Murder Protege, Breakthrough (the Marshalls and Watchers can do this no problem), Protect Territory (you'll get this automatically once the Marshalls die and Papa Loco/Francisco unbury because of Finish the Job). This crew works pretty well in Reckoning, but it is a bit of a one trick pony. Once your opponent has played against it once they'll skip trying to kill Perdita and just go after the other models in the crew, so make sure you keep them as safe as possible.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post, give it a try and let me know how it works for you! Thanks for reading, may your flips be positive and your Jokers only Red.