Let's get started, shall we? For the coming months, I've decided to buy, paint, and learn 2 new masters on limited budget. Now I will admit that I already own and have painted both the original metal Viktorias and Leveticus Boxes, plus several other pieces for them, but I will be showing all WIP that come about from this project. I've already got all of the Viktorias plastics assembled and primed and will show them getting painted as I get to them over the next month. Now enough with introductions, let's get started shall we.
Viktorias
Ahh, the Viktorias, or as they are more commonly know, the Viks. These girls, along with their all female crew tend to be strong willed women that can easily hold their own in battle. The Viktorias themselves are also sisters, which comes out in a lot of the synergy on their cards.
For my month 0 purchases for this crew, I'm going to be starting with the 'Hired Swords' box set pictured here. this costs $45 and comes with the following models.- Viktoria of Ashes
- Viktoria of Blood
- Taelor
- Ronin X 3
- Student of Conflict
Viktoria of Ashes - This is master of the box set. She has a pretty decent stat line, but not enough to look like she will be able to withstand heavy focus fire. To compensate for this, she has a nifty ability that allows her to heal whenever another Sister in play gets healed (no range requirement, no LoS requirement). This is a huge plus and appears to be a staple across most models with the sister characteristic. She also has several (0) actions that allow her to buff herself and nearby Sisters, or only buff herself if shes off on her own. Her other 2 things to note is that of the 2 Viktorias, she carries a gun and a permanent ability that gives any other Sister model in LoS Melee Expert, which allows them to make an extra melee attack for free.
Viktoria of Blood - If Viktoria of Ashes looks like the defensive side of the coin, that is because this girl is the offensive side. She has traded her sisters gun for an extra sword (getting a built in + flip to all attacks). She also has a host of tactical actions that closely resemble those of her sister, but provide slightly different bonuses. Between the buffs that these girls can dish out to each other, they can start dealing pretty consistent damage. This model is also a prime target for the Mark of Shez'uul upgrade, which allows her melee attacks to ignore Armor, Hard to Wound, and Hard to Kill.
Taelor - Ah, Lady Hammerstrike. This girl really has an intresting skill set. First off, shes Hard to Kill, Hard to Wound, and Relentless. This means that she not afraid of anything and will not be easy to put down. She also carries the vicious Relic Hammer, which comes with a decent ML stat and great base damage of 3/4/6. On top of this, shes going to get double +flips to any attacks against Constructs or Tyrants she faces, not mention the tiggers that come with the attack. This includes things like ignoring Armor and Hard to Kill, and preventing damage prevention using soulstones (which I think will be huge). On a final note, Taelor's 'Welcome to Malifaux!' ability should be able to keep a good number of summoners in check.
Ronin - Viktoria's bread and butter, these girls are the basic soldier of the Viktorias box set and they certainly don't disappoint. Hard to Kill means they will be sticking arround. They can't be charged, which I imaging is going to upset more than a few plans, and they can use defensive stance without discarding a card. These girls aren't just about the defense though, they've also got a decent sword that ignores Armor, gives them free movement, and can be used with Flurry for 3 attacks a turn. Finally, these girls also know how to Seppuku, potentially robbing your enemy of points for a kill while giving you the choice of 2 free soulstones or drawing 2 cards.
Student of Conflict - Just because this little girl is the runt of the Box, doesn't mean she doesn't have some neat toys to play with. She is the Viktorias' little sister (at least that what I'm calling her), and while she doesn't get to heal when other sisters do, she does still benefit from the buffs they hand out. She's also sporting 2 tactical actions that are amazingly useful. 1st on the list is Assist, which gives a model the Fast Condition. 2nd is Sisters in Spirit, which allows you to place a sister within 6" into base-to-base contact with this little girl.
So that is what we're dealing with in the main box set, but we still have $15 dollars left to spend in this month and I think we can find 1 more good purchase to make that will finish out this month perfectly. I'm talking about Vanessa. This girl was a huge surprise when she came out last edition because she truly is the Viktorias little sister and finishes out the triangle of power these 3 create by focusing on magic attacks.
Vanessa - Following suit of her older sisters, she heals when they heal and vice versa. That being said, Vanessa has some unique tricks that she brings to the table. This is things like being able to stack the top 3 cards of your deck at the beginning of her activation, forcing nearby constructs to take actions controlled by you, and a staff that does decent damage and has a great starting CA stat of 7 that gets boosted to 9 if she is on the center line. Her final notable action is a (2) action that allows her to make a healing flip (which gets shared with all other sisters remember) and draw a card.
With Vanessa coming in at a cost of $11, we'll be left with $4 to carry over to next month for a total of $29 to spend. I haven't really decided what to spend the money on, but there are some great options out there which means we're just going to need to get some experience before making a decision.
Leveticus
Ok, time for my favorite 1 man apocalypse. This guy was devastating in 1.5 edition and I can't wait to fully wrap my head around how he has changed. I agree he needed to be toned down from last edition, but if he's even half the man he once was, he will still be ruining enemy crews.
- Leveticus
- Rusty Alyce
- Hollow Waif
- Abominations X 3
Leveticus - While he's not the same point and click death machine from the previous edition, an initial reading of this guy still makes me think he can still put down a significant model each turn if he puts his mind to it. Also I think it is going to be a lot easier to kill him off for good in this edition, but that's fine, it just means players need to play smarter and hide their Hollow Waifs well. The major thing to note about Leveticus is that when he dies, he is instead buried, removes all conditions and heals up to full health. He will then have the opportunity to respawn if there is a Hollow Waif still in play at the end of each turn. Finally, I'd like to point out the on defensive trigger that all of Leveticus' models have, Unmade, which will damage enemy models who don't hit when they attack these guys.
Rusty Alyce - Leveticus' right hand girl makes a surprisingly strong bodyguard. Shes able to prevent enemymodels from ending charges within 3". Shes also pretty strong in a gunfight with her Clockwork Seeker, Rapid Fire, and being Bulletproof. Finally on her list of tricks is Burn Out, which gives a friendly non-leader Construct the reactivate condition.
Hollow Waif - Leveticus is quite the lecherous old man, and that has never been truer than with his pretty little girls. Leveticus however depends on these totems a lot more than most masters do. He can hire 2 of them at the start of the game, even though they are rare 3, and there is no reason not to because 1) they are free, and 2) because when Leveticus is buried (probably because he died) he will respawn at one of these girls if they are close enough to a friendly model that costs 6ss or more, sacrificing her in the process. Now these girls aren't unlimited, but Leveticus can make more of them by sacrificing himself.
Abomination -These little guys are Leveticus' foot soldiers. Individually they really won't stand up to much, but if you can get them into groups or even in melee, they will stand a better chance. First off, they have a built int trigger to heal damage when they damage enemy models. They can also spawn more of themselves if they kill with the right trigger. Most importantly however, if you can get enough of them together in one place, you can sacrifice 4 of them for a Desolation Engine, which is where they get truly terrifying.
So that is it for this ToMB post. Please keep an eye out for upcoming posts where I'll be talking about what I've actually learned in playing these two crews, additional purchases I make each month, and group shots of what I have allready painted, as well as WIP pictures of models as I work on them. If you've got any questions about the why I'm doing these crews in particular, any suggestions for what you think I should consider, or why I've decided to get the additional models I am, then please leave a comment below or send me an email. I'd love to hear people's thoughts and suggestions, because one person surely can't learn all there is to about this game.
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