Making McMourning Menacing Part 2

Right now I want to discuss what is the best way to midigate his weaknesses, paticularly against ranged damage, and being hit more than twice from two different people. HOWEVER, before we do that we gotta have a frank and honest discussion about what he can take and what he should take. There is a difference between the two and that's what we are going to talk about now.

Now then! If you want variety you've come to the right place. The Ressers have all sorts of stuff. They have excellent control units, some of the best objective grabbers in the game, one of the best tar pits in the game, big expensive units, weenie hordes galore and average to above average damage output. Oh and everything is oh so reasonably priced. It's nice isn't it.

I am not going to go through every resser unit. If I don't list it, it is because I've either never played with the model or I don't care for it.

When building a McMourning crew there are a few different things to keep in mind:

1) How to deal with ranged damage
2) How to protect McMourning
3) How to grab and keep objectives
4) Winning.

The ressers have some big bad ultra shiney options like Bette Noir, Rogue Necormancy, Undead Rider, Killjoy, and a few others. However, there is a lot to be said about being able to out activate your oppoenent. Having more figures than the guy sitting across from you means that you can potentially put off moving your more valuable pieces like Sebastian or your Master in favor of shuffling a dog around or being annoying with Necropunks, being annoying with Night Terrors, or you know maybe something productive. It also will let you move your figures unimpeeded towards the end of the turn and since McMourning potentially doesn't have to worry about counter attacks since he can kill just about anything in one activation you can pick a target, remove it, then carry on with the murder sauce.

On that note I recommend against some of the bigger more expensive figgures. Yes the undead rider is nice. You know what else is nice? Two punk zombies. Punk Zombies have 7cb, paired weapons, they are hard to wound, slow to die, and 5 points. They have flurry and beleive me if you can get that flurry off on a master then you stand a good chance of killing them. Best of all you get TWO of these guys for the price of one undead rider! Why these things aren't in every Resser list I'll never know. They are seriously one of the best deals in the game. Learn to love them. Heck now it's gotten to the point that my opponents fear them so much that they leave my master unattended. Well now that's a fatal mistake if I've ever seen one.

Next let's look at Sebastian. He has a TON of wounds, is hard to wound, gathers body parts, can give them away, can make dogs with a 7 of crows or better, and he can give out healing flips so long as he has a body part counter which is a pretty good trade. The downside is that he's slow and getting him into combat can be kind of a chore, he gets shot to death more often than the other members of my crew and most times I wish I had another punk zombie. BUT! He's cute, he comes in the boxed set, and he's thematic so I take him more often than not.

Now it is NECROPUNK time! YAY! Necropunks are kinda amazing and they've saved my bacon in more than one game to the point where they have become a staple in my McMourning, Leviticus, and Seamus crews. 6 points for two (you need two). They are hard to kill and slow to die and if they happen to get a rot trigger off it is hilarious. It doesn't happen very often so I wouldn't plan on that. Best of all their overpower ability slows an enemy model. If you can get these things into possition right after they activate it is impossible for them to killed in one action unless fast or melee expert is involved. This means you can potentially tie up a valuable figure for 2 turns unless your oppoent devotes even more resources to deal with the necropunks. Best of all they have a moderatly easy to cast leap and and arachnid. In a lot of ways it is almost a shame to waste them on objectives.

Nurses! The box set comes with two nurses. This is 50% more nurses than you will ever need. I am going to say this right out of the gate, nurses are hard to use. They are really hard to use in fact. They look cool and they have some beautiful sculpts attached to them but they are really very difficult to use. Why? Their most powerful ability is furious casting and massive dose together. The problem is that furious casting takes two movement so the nurse needs to be in possition already at the start of her activation in order to use it. In order to use it most effectivly she needs to next to two figgures. This also means she needs to be reasonably close to the front lines. HOWEVER, you cast stimulant on a punk zombie and he will have 11 cb, +2wk, +2 attack flips and +1 damage flip. 11cb! I mean seriously? There have been times where my base cb has beaten other figures totals. You cheat with an 8 and you are at 19 which is more than some caster masters can hope to achieve without soulstoning. Beleive me sacking a 5 point model to kill a master or henchman is almost always worth it in my book. Nurses also have the attendant and beds side manner abilities and these would be more useful if nurses could link. But they can't and as a result they more often than not just sort of wander around the battle field doing what they can. Unless it is a 35 point game the nurses stay at home. Sorry ladies.

Speaking of Ladies, Rotten Belles. They are awesome. They let you pull your guys out of LOS and they let you pull figures into trouble. They can slow people. All their spells have at least a 12" range on them and they can do things to people that is best not to think about. You can do some silly tricks with them but that will come in a lil bit. They are only 4 points and the figures are cool but not paticularly favorable.

Night Terrors: Night Terrors are things I never personally used. Their only real claim to fame is that they can give all ranged models -4 to range and they have spirit so they are annoying to kill. I say use either these guys or Necropunks but not both. They fulfill the same essential roll, except that Necropunks leave counters whereas NightTerrors do not. That is important to keep in mind when you are plannning on what crew you are going to face.

Lastly there is Rafkin who is essentially an easier to kill Sebastian. Not a fan.

That's about it really. I own crooked men and drowned and I use them occationally but they don't do very much for me. I don't usually start the game with dogs. I am a much bigger fan of necropunks and if I want dogs I usually have Sebastian make some over the course of the game. Mcmourning is usually to busy. I don't really see the point in buying a rouge necromancy. I do see the point of making one though. It isn't that hard to get 8 bp counters but there is a lot to be said for the flesh construct and change.

Next we can get to stupid mcmourning tricks.