While the Rainbow Challenge is finished for 2014, there were
still half a dozen Masters I had played but not written about. It felt a little
unfair to ignore those Masters when all the others got a full article devoted
to my experience with them, so I thought I’d at least play a bit of catch up and
write about them here! Obviously I’m not going to go into the same detail as I
did with the others, but I thought you’d at least like to know what I thought
of the final 6 Masters I played in 2014!
NOTE: Because this wound up being a 3000 word post I decided to divide it into two articles. The first will be devoted to Molly, Leveticus and Von Schill while the second will address Jack Daw, Outcast Misaki and Hamelin. Part two should be available in the next day or two!
Molly
First things first – I quite like the choice of crew types
Molly has between her two limited upgrades – Forgotten Life and Forgotten Path.
It makes me feel as though she’s got a lot of replayability as to the type of
crew she can take. The reality might not be so great – they’re practically the
same aside from one keyword (Spirits of Horrors), so how drastically her
playstyle changes will probably depend on how different the spirit/horror
models are from each other.
The game I played with Molly wound up being a three-way
against a Ramos and Collodi crew. With Turf-war style mission I went for Molly
with Yin, the Necrotic Machine, Bete Noire, a Rotten Belle and a Necropunk.
That last minion was purely taken to achieve Deliver a Message, and it didn’t
disappoint - Reactivating him with Imbue Vigor gave me an easy 2VP on turn 1. With
my crew moving quickly up to a commanding position on the Turf War marker it
didn’t take long for it to become a 2v1 match, with Molly attempting to hold
off both crews over the course of the game. I eventually lost Molly herself but
with the models she summoned and the VPs gathered, I still tied for the win at
5VP.
With both crews making use of hordes of cheap minions this
seemed like the ideal situation for Molly’s unusual summoning style, and that
certainly proved to be the case. The Punk Zombies summoned from The Ones Left Behind utterly devastated
Collodi’s puppet swarm and while the Steam Arachnids were immune to the spells
pulse damage, it was nevertheless effective in keeping Ramos at bay too.
The Necrotic Machine
didn’t do a lot in this game, although for a 2SS totem I wasn’t expecting much
anyway! Even with Insignificant, as a minion it was able to help me hold my
Turf War marker for a few turns, plus it got in the way of a flanking Joss (who
was otherwise out to get Molly). Near the start of the game its (0) Brethren action
was great of course. It required a crow to work (or a corpse, not that there’d
be one around on turn 1), but the 4” push really helped get my crew up the
field and into a commanding position to dominate the Turf War Marker.
One thing that became clear throughout the game was aside
from the Necrotic Machine, Molly really didn’t have a use for her corpse counters. This almost seems a
pity, since she can generate them very easily (Summoning a model away from the
enemy will essentially create a corpse counter for her). For that reason I feel
like it’s worth including some option for using all those corpses. Molly
already has a lot of great (0) actions so Maniacal Laugh probably out, but
Corpse Bloat and Spare Parts both have potential, especially since Molly’s
likely to have plenty of corpses clumped together or around enemy models. Other
corpse-utilising models might work too, although Molly’s likely to hog all the
good crows in your hand.
While I’d acknowledge that this game went pretty well for
Molly, I’m still undecided as to whether I really like Molly’s playstyle. She’s
a summoner of course – something I’ve already said I’m not keen on. Her crew
support and debuff attacks are great though, so I sort of feel like the jury is
still out on Molly.
Leveticus
My game with Leveticus was against local Paul with his new
McCabe crew, and it was an unmitigated bloodbath. Levi himself just destroyed
one target after another while the Ashes and Dust bulldozed up a flank, killing
everything in it’s path before planting the required scheme markers for
Breakthrough. After the game, I was left with no doubt that Leveticus is a
powerhouse and he’s certainly able to lay the smackdown on just about anything
that gets in his reach. However that said, I’m still not sure I like him, and I
think my reservations about him all come down to the Hollow Waifs.
The Hollow Waifs
have a big influence on how Levi plays. Most obviously their existence is
essential to keeping Levi alive, thanks to Eternal Shackles. But if you
position them right it also gives him some excellent mobility, letting him
unbury himself where his skills are needed the most. Levi can only summon one
per turn so long as he sacrifices himself, so while he can always replace the
Waif he unburies to at the end of a turn, he can’t replace the ones his
opponent kills. From a balance perspective this makes Leveticus very killable,
which is a refreshing change compared with how he tended to be in v1.5.
Although just like Voldemort, it requires his enemies to go on a bit of a
“quest” to kill the Waifs before tackling Levi proper.
The requirement for a 6SS model to bodyguard the Waifs
definitely has a large influence on crew design. In one sense it’s not a big
issue, since in most games you’ll want a few half-decent models to back Levi up
anyway. However it does mean that you can’t hide a waif on a flank somewhere,
and that your opponent can prevent Levi unburing next to one by killing or
pushing the 6SS model out of range. It’s a weakness that can be mitigated,
sure, but it’s a weakness nevertheless, and quite an obvious one at that.
I must admit that it’s something that makes me a little
uncomfortable using Levi. With enough practice I’m sure I could mitigate the
risks that those Waifs present, but I feel like a good enough opponent will
have little trouble picking those Waifs off unless I play conservatively with
them (which in turn limits Levi’s effectiveness). So overall then, Levi is
good. But I don’t think his playstyle is one I enjoy.
Von Schill
Of all the Outcasts, Von Schill was the one I was least
interested in. My Kirai game against local Chris, aka Kadeton (who was using
Von Schill) did not improve my opinion of him either – he seemed like a Jack of
all Trades, with rules that lacked a sense of purpose or clear strategy for him
to adopt.
I ended up playing two games with Von Schill. In the first
my fears seemed to be confirmed. Von Schill and his crew sort of flailed about
uselessly, able to neutralise my opponents offensive abilities but otherwise
ill-equipped to do much more than that. In my second game I veered away slightly
from Von Schill’s in-theme crew and added some hard hitting elements like
Bishop and Johan. Against Hoffman, the flexibility of Bishop in particular
complemented Von Schill’s crew perfectly, especially with his push effect able
to line up targets for Von Schill to finish off. Perhaps all the
anti-construct, armour ignoring tricks made facing Hoffman somewhat easier than
it should have been, but it still felt as though the additional hitting power
gave Von Schill what he needed to work well. The Man himself even managed to
look useful, Finish the Cur worked supremely well with a high-damage model
around and Augmented jump kept him mobile, able to both chase down key targets and keeep himself out of danger.
The crew I used vs Hoffman - Gooo Bishop!
In the end, it seems to me that while Von Schill remains a
Jack of Trades, he is first and foremost a crew Support Master, who works best
while close to the bulk of his crew. Push effects like Bishops also help a lot,
since it gives him a better chance to use his more damaging attack, the
clockwork seeker, against enemy models.
As for the crews paint job, I’m kind of okay with it. I’m
really happy with Von Schill (whom I converted with a top hat and massive-ass
gun), Lazarus and more recently, Hannah, but the rest feel a little plain. The paint
job itself is alright, although I think they’d benefit with a little more
battle damage like I’ve done with my two “robot” Freikorps.
My recently finished (and somewhat evil) Hannah. :)
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