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Bayou Overview

Introduction
Welcome to the Bayou Breakdown. I've tried to figure out how I want to make this concept work and I 
realized that my strength comes in writing. As Malifaux blogs seem to be in short order lately,
this is where I landed. So what will the Breakdown be? Well I will be working on articles 
about what I love about the game, the factions and just some fun anecdotes about the game and
war gaming in general.. I will also be adding battle reports to back up some of what I’m saying
and looking at how we decide who goes into what scheme pool. 


Rogue’s Gallery
For now, lets dig into the Bayou and what its about.
While the Who’s Who in the Bayou hasn’t changed too much some of their roles have been
 rearranged slightly and specifically built up around their respective keywords. Bayou has the
 keywords:
Big Hat- Som’er
Infamous - Zipp
Tricksy - Mah Tucket
Kin - Ophelia
Swampfiend - Zoraida 
Sooey - Ulix
WhizzBang - Wong
Tri-Chi - Brewmaster


Big Hat all get stronger with Bayou Gremlins hanging around, and yes Som’er still summons
 bayous but he brings some more friends along as well in the form of Good Ol’ Boys, Criers,
 Banjonistas, and Spit Hogs. Som’er is a versatile summoner  and still carries a nasty shotgun. 
He adds a new Enforcer pair to his retinue with Georgy and Olaf. Most of the Big Hat models
 have a Demise ability that turns them into a Bayou Gremlin or draws you a card. If you want to
 flood the board and don’t care who sticks around, Big Hat is the way to go.

Infamous is all about showing off. Which is why their keyword ability is showboating, letting you
 draw a card at the end of your activation if you cheat. He adds some flair to his crews by hiring
 Mancha Roja and his Wrastlers, who are great at picking up non scheme markers and punching
 people with them. Zipp’s crew loves to pick up enemy scheme markers to draw cards as well with
 the Free Loot bonus action. If you want some mobility and denial that has a certain style, go Infamous. 

Tricksy crews are varied and flexible. Mah’s crew have the ability to scamper away when an enemy 
cheats near them and are known for dropping pit traps. Mah herself is very similar to her 2nd edition
 version with a big spoon, horrible hollering and diving charge. She’s mobile and punchy. Her Keyword
 includes everything from Roosters and Survivors to the supervillain Big Brain Brin.  If you like a crew
 that can adapt to any situation and provide some roadblocks for your opponent, Mah’s Tricksy keyword
 is for you.

Kin aren’t scared of anyone taller than them, which shows in their Bigger They Are ability where 
they get to add 1 to any duel against models larger size than them. They also tend to have Flinch, 
which gives them shielded if they are targeted by someone with a better stat than their defense.
 The crew is heavily range focused, and Ophelia kept her weapons arsenal including a cannon that 
shoots trash and flaming bottles of whiskey. She also brings some new kin to the fight with the
 LaCroix raider minions. If you are looking for raw fire power, the Kin bring it in spades.

Swampfiends include the non gremlin and non pig denizens of the swamp the Swamp mother and
 her brood, Gators, McTavish and Zoraida herself. They aren’t the best washed of the bayou (and
 that’s saying something) so they have the Stench keyword that gives enemies the Stunned condition
 if they activate while engaged. Zoraida’s swampfiend friends dip over to the Neverborn side for hiring
 purposes to bring in even more terrifying monsters. If you want to control what your opponent’s
 models do and get some extra AP out of the models you bring to the table, it might be time for some 
Voodoo. 


Sooey models are all about bringing home the bacon, that’s right it's Ulix and his pigs. Ulix takes 
advantage of 3rd edition’s replace mechanic to grow pigs from baby piglets to full grown War Pigs with
 a couple stops in between in the form of wild boars or the brand new Squealers. Rounded out with 
support pieces like Hog Whisperers and Slop haulers, Sooey turns any Bayou pig up to 11. If animal 
husbandry is your thing and growing pigs into terrifying juggernauts is your thing, try out Sooey. 

Whizz Bang is Wong’s menagerie of assistants who all get fast and glowy tokens if a friendly action
 does damage to them. He has a brand new part of the act named Alphonse and includes weirdos like 
Swine cursed and the Taxidermist to his crew. Wong makes use of the new Shockwave Mechanic,
 forcing duels and handing out Glowy tokens to friend and foe alike. Whizz Bang plays toward the old “
damage ourselves to do more” that Bayou was known for in 2nd edition. If you like manipulating 
scheme markers and blasting friend and foe alike, try out Whizz Bang. 

Tri- Chi use Brewmaster’s potent moonshine to their advantage, making enemies drunk so that they
 are harder to hit through the Beer Goggles ability. They also take no damage from poison due to a very
 high tolerance and the crew is rife with healing.  Brewmaster and his crew are all about getting liquored
 up, hitting hard, and controlling the board. If you want a crew that balances conditions, healing and
 control through big engagement ranges buy a round for the Tri-Chi.



Where does that leave us?

So the Bayou has a few new models and a lot of new keywords that make choosing who fits in your 
crews a bit easier to decide. Here is where the great thing about 3rd Edition comes into play, you can 
find which keyword fits your playstyle and have fun with it. Each Bayou master has their strengths and 
weaknesses but on the whole the gap between effectiveness is fairly small and unlike 2nd edition
 certain models don’t stand out so far above others that you are taking the same usual suspects into
 every game. If you want to, you can even assemble the Bayou’s Best and bring 4 masters into a
 game. 

Bayou still has plenty of it’s whacky flair in Must Declare Triggers, Self damaging abilities and plenty of 
on death (Demise) abilities. However, this time around they don’t sacrifice effectiveness for absurdity.
  In the next article I will take a look at our cache of versatile models and how they can complement
 your keyword crews in 3rd edition games.  

* all pictures are copyright Wyrd Games

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