How does Leveticus take his coffee?
Hello again from the
desolate wasteland of winter in central
Illinois.
Feeling inspired by
finally launching this blog site, 2015 resolutions, Adepticon 2015, and a whole
bunch of Wyrd Black Friday purchases, here's my contributions to ToMB 2. Month 1 will be at the equivalent of $60 USD for initial purchase and future months will be at set at $22.50 USD so I don't have to worry about currency conversion each month.
Disclaimer: I'm going to have to adjust a little because I had to assemble and paint a bunch of models to table-top standard in order to attend a tournament last weekend and be ready for Adepticon. I'll still be capturing the progress and writing articles to follow along with ToMB month to month. I'll also be adding more models as we go and increasing the quality of painting on the existing ones. Hope you in enjoy the ride.
My Initial Purchase:
$37.50 - Salvage and Logistics Crew Box
$22.50 - Desolation Engine
= $60.00 USD, $0 carryover for next month
(Note: Retail price can vary between $60 - $90 USD depending on where you purchase from. You can also still get the older metal Desolation Engine for almost a third of the price if you prefer that sculpt or want to save the cash. I went with the new one since I like the model and know that it will be available for those referencing this in the future.)
(Note: Retail price can vary between $60 - $90 USD depending on where you purchase from. You can also still get the older metal Desolation Engine for almost a third of the price if you prefer that sculpt or want to save the cash. I went with the new one since I like the model and know that it will be available for those referencing this in the future.)
(Where does he get all of those wonderful toys)
For those readying this still looking to get into Malifaux here is the additional 'getting started' purchases that I recommend at this point based on this crew:
Malifaux 2E Rules Manual
Arcane Fate Deck Fate Deck
(any fate deck will work but I like this one as its easy to read and looks cool)
(any fate deck will work but I like this one as its easy to read and looks cool)
Wave1 Arsenal deck to get the common faction upgrades
Other nice to have is the strategy and
scheme deck but you can wait on that if you want.
What's in the box?!? Is that a head?
Here's what I determined for a starting crew build based on what I had access to which is all very in theme and synergizes with Leveticus as a crew box should:
Outcasts 45ss - Scrap
Leveticus (6ss Pool)
+Desolate
Soul 2ss
+From Ash 2ss
+Oath Keeper 1ss
Hollow Waif X 2 0ss
Abomination 4ss
Abomination 4ss
Desolation Engine 13ss
+Oath Keeper 1ss
Rusty Alyce 10ss
+Desolate Soul 2ss
+From the Aether
2ss
This crew could easily be played at lower or higher SS games by
adding or removing upgrades/abominations. Additionally it is could be very valid to run in theme with
Alyce leading the crew with something like...
Outcasts 20ss - Shoot Out
Rusty Alyce (7ss
Pool)
+Desolate Soul 2ss
+From the Aether 2ss
Abomination 4ss
Abomination 4ss
Abomination 4ss
With that build you could get
plenty of activations and pretty much guarantee the summoning of another
abomination or two with then forming a Desolation Engine. Pretty scary for only a 20ss game... and yes, I'm evil like that.
How does it play?
Main consideration
with Levi is that he has to operate with what are commonly referred to as
anchor models. These are models with a
base cost of 6ss or greater that are required to be within 6" of a Hollow
Waif for Levi to rebirth from it. That
was the main consideration for including the desolation engine along with Alyce
when hiring the crew rather than trying to summon him from other abominations
later.
I will admit there
are most likely better models to act as anchors but for round 1 and still in
theme with the Outcast faction, I feel a Desolation Engine is a critical first
purchase. (He also happens to be a great
model with tons of hobby potential!). With hard to wound, built-in trigger to
heal for the amount they damage in melee, and (0) action to sacrifice a
friendly model to heal, he's good for staying around while causing havoc. His biggest weakness you have to be aware of
is his def 3 which means he can go down easy if another heavy hitter or lots of
shooters can target him so go with the best defense is full on offense here.
Alyce is the other
anchor and core component which you can get lots of use out of in the long run
of playing Levi or other Outcast masters.
All around I think she's one of the better henchmen with decent wounds,
bulletproof +1, high willpower, a good melee, great shooting, and abilities to
summon abominations through upgrades. The last unique
ability she has is to grant reactivate to a construct which reduces its wounds
to 1. To me that can be just enough to
get another activation for a abomination to complete a scheme or a desolation
engine to finish off an opponents' crew and heal while doing it!
The rest of the crew
is obviously filled out with abominations as needed and you can pretty much
assume you will have opportunities to summon some during the course of a
game. I've assembled all of mine in the
standard posses which are all creepy and awesome but the potential is near
limitless for reposing, adding extra bits, doing cuts and swaps between the new
plastic abominations. I have the
original 4 metal ones, but also 4 additional metal ones which I think at some
point I'll convert with another set of plastic abominations. Why? Cause what kind of soulless mad
scientist wouldn't want an army of unique abominations! :)
Obviously one of the
biggest draws to playing Leveticus are his Pariah upgrades and ability to
hire either any non-gremlin construct (Iron) OR any undead model in the game
(Bone). The variety of crew options with
him are almost endless with access to bar none some of the best models in the
game. For now though we'll pass on those
as we start with his in faction/theme models and the synergies there.
What's to worry?
I'm trying to come
into Leveticus with eyes wide open and acknowledge straight off the bat that
his obvious strengthens of being able to spend wounds, kill stuff, and comeback from death also leads to his
biggest weakness. The waifs are anything
but resilient and survivable. Def6 is
okay but most of the better models in the game won't care about it and their
Unmade Def trigger has such a small impact that it won't deter a good
opponent. They'll die to one one or two
duels that didn't go your way. Also if
you aren't careful with your movement and model placement within 6" and
Line of Sight to your anchors Levi won't be able to rebirth. Savvy opponents will even try to block LoS
with other models or obey/lure/push/place your anchors or waifs about. With Levi, it really is going to be like a
game of Chess with your opponent.
Where do we go from here?
I'm planning the next few articles in the series will be hobby updates and maybe a tactics discussion based on our regular weekly games. I wonder how good Levi and crew can do against a Pigapult and shooty Gremlims... You can always follow the fun on Twitter @JSKrush.
* All characters, artwork, and other trademarks/copyrighted materials are property of their rightful owners. Keep up the great work you creative devils.
