ToMB Month 1 - A lot to keep track of!

Introduction

So to officially kick-off my ToMB, this month's post is going to be focused on how you as a new player can dip your toes into playing my master of choice for this little series of blogs, Molly.

The title of this post reflects the complexity of choosing Molly for ToMB due to the fact that her new plastic boxset is not released yet. However, I will surmise what is included in the box. I will calculate her costs for both the old metals and the new plastic set (assuming the price is similar to other sets available). That's why below I list two 'configurations' for her.

Choices

So let's get right into what I'm choosing, then I'll discuss why I chose these models and what stats I find important. If you're new to Malifaux (or M2E) in general, I hope to shed some light on my thought process and things that I see working. Now please keep in mind, this is Post 1 of Month 1 so there is quite a bit of 'Theory-faux' going on here.

One other general and important thing to keep in mind, is that Molly is a summoner (well can be), so while she can summon much more than I am playing with. I am really trying to play her with only the models that are within budget for each month. So even though I can summon a guild autopsy with the "Spare Parts" Wave 2 upgrade (Cost 2ss), they are not in budget for this month and I'll try and stay away from them.

Models (based on M2E box being unreleased yet):

• Molly Horrors Boxset (Metals) - $36
• 1 Molly
• 3 Crooligans
• 1 Rogue Necromancy
• Yin the Panangalen - $8.99 (Could not find on Wyrd site so linked Warstore price)
• Canine Remains - $14
• 2 Canine Remain models

So total for this month is: $58.99 leaving $1.01 for next month. This is also 8 models for me to use.

Models (based on assumed M2E boxset, estimated cost):

• Molly plastic M2E boxset - ~$40
• 1 Molly
• 2 Crooligans
• 1 Rogue Necromancy
• 1 Philip and the Nanny
• 1 Necrotic Machine
• Yin the Panangalen - $8.99

So total for this month (plastics) is: $48.99 leaving $11.01 for next month. This is 7 models.

Reasoning

Ok now as to why I chose these models. As you can see in both lists I've included Yin the Panangalen, and I think he is going to serve an important role in Molly's crew. Sure he is a horror, so hiring him makes sense. However, that's not the key reason for including him.

The main reason to include him stems from a core concept in winning duels in the game of Malifaux. Forcing a (-) negative flip on the duel. If you look at Yin's action (0) Gnawing Fear you see it forces, upon success, the recipient of the condition to suffer a (-) on all Ca and Wp duels. Molly and the rest of her crew use a lot of casting (Ca) and (Wp) duels both from their attack actions and their forcing of Terrifying. Therefore, timed correctly this can be devastating to a model which has the condition applied to it. I will report on the success of this and see if it pans out.

Besides Yin, I'm really excited about figuring out how to do summoning right in M2E. It is a mechanic which I expect to be resource intensive. Now as I mentioned before, I am limited in what I'm able to summon since I only really have 1 rogue necromancy. So until the new boxset is out I will have to use spare 50mm bases or some acrylic tokens. With that said I'm going to stick to summoning what I am allowed to for this month. In Molly's case her upgrades allow for her to extend her summoning capabilities (enhanced versions of "The Ones Left Behind") or summon via "Spare Parts" to get a rogue necromancy. Plus the fact I can summon the Crooligans with Molly, I really love her versatility, Their -1WP to enemy models is nice, especially when summoning and forcing the obligatory TN15 Wp duel when summoned. I really am excited to see how this plays out, especially coupled with Yin.

So, yeah the Rogue Necromancy (RN) is going to be my beatstick. I really see a healthy, but obvious, synergy with the crooligans and the RN via their "(0) Blistering Fog" because they help increase his damage output. I'll be starting to play with her "Forgotten Life" (Cost 1ss) in order to hand out Black Blood to my Horrors (i.e. Crooligans, etc.). This means I'll have to be cautious with strats/schemes like Reckoning and Make them Suffer.

With all that said I see Molly being a heavy soulstone user mostly for giving me any suits I am lacking for summoning.

So before my first painting status update here are some models I'm considering for the rest of #ToMB with her, this isn't all she can summon, but its what I've gravitated towards, we will see:

Dead Doxies

Canine Remains

University of Transmoirtis (4x models, Valedictorian, Students of Sinew, Student of Steel, Student of Viscera)

Rotten Belles

Carrion Effigy

Crooked Man

Mindless Zombies

Guild Autopsies

Drowned

Painting Status

I cheated (just a little). Seeing as though I already had Molly painted, and the new boxset isn't available, I am using her painted model. Everyone else I have I am just starting. 

Molly

3 Crooligans

Rogue Necromancy

Yin

2 Canines

Pssst, the reason for the Canine's is:

1. Their -1Df (you know the stat used to oppose the RN attacks)
2. They're also great objective runners for their cost
3. Can help dig-up corpse counters