Back for the Loot!

 Introduction

Hello friends! I recognize that it has been a while since I dusted off this blog and created any content of my own. The past year and a half has been a wild ride for a lot of people and I have been remiss to write about one of my favorite subjects for a while now. With the addition of a brand new book for Malifaux and the advent of new titles, I felt it was time to stretch my typing fingers and get to back to work. 

So everyone gets a new look and some new rules down in the Bayou! I know the boys in green don't get too much coverage on average so I thought I'd start us off with talking about the big boss himself. I want to cut through the card run through as quickly as I can though because he's already been covered in a great video reveal. What I'd like to discuss though is how Som'er and the other titles are going to change Bayou play. So if you are a Bayou player, stick around its gonna be fun. If you aren't a Bayou player, stick around anyway and maybe you'll not be surprised when the raiding party gets started! 

To Loot or Not to Loot....

Some titles play very similar to their counterparts, others are drastically different but most tend to approach their keyword from a new direction. Som'er is no exception. What he has given up in pure summoning power, he makes up for by manipulating scheme markers around the board and trading Bayou Gremlin actions for positive flips on important shots.  Boss Som'er liked to stay back where it was safe and send his boys into trouble, Lootin' Som'er likes to be a bit closer to the action. His big sack of stuff can pack a wallop. But when do you choose between the two versions? 

The obvious answer seems to be that you bring Lootin' Som'er when you see a lot of scheme markers in the pools and you'd be correct. Gaining Grounds 2 is chock full of schemes that use scheme markers. Six of the Thirteen schemes require markers to score points. So when you see Spread Them Out, Detonate Charges, or Death Beds it might be time to reach for Lootin' Som'er. His crew is a bit faster too thanks to Gremlin Raid, so Break the Line is going to be a decent strategy for him. 

While Lootin' Som'er can summon Bayou Gremlins when any Big Hat model removes a marker, he can't make the literal wall of gremlins to take the fall for him. When you need to buy time and control the middle of the board for schemes like Claim Jump, Bait and Switch, Vendetta, or Assassinate then Boss Som'er is probably a better choice.  Boss Som'er likes to grind your opponent through attrition so Turf War is the strategy he loves. 

Boss Som'er took a big hit with Gaining Grounds 2 and all of the changes and eratta. In fact, GG2 doesn't seem to be his bag. Its a good thing Lootin' Som'er brought his. 

Lootin' Som'er excels at getting his crew up the board, tossing out stunned and slow and staggered, and adding soulstones to your crew. This means you can pack your crew full of more models and don't always need the 7 or 8 soul stones that Boss Som'er has. This version of Som'er also does something that very little of Bayou has, 0 action scheme marker dropping. His Spot the Goods ability allows him to drop scheme markers every time your opponent cheats over an 8, which let's face it they probably will be and considering this version wants lots of scheme markers around to boost his damage, get him soulstones and summon Bayou gremlins that seems like a steal 

I will probably be playing this version of Som'er more than Boss Som'er through Gaining Grounds 2 as he just does more in the scheme pool for my taste. 

Tips and Tricks

Som'er got a new friend in the form of a haberdasher called White Rabbit Co. They can hand out hats. Gremlins love hats! Hats make those wearing them count as scheme markers for friendly models.  This means skeeters can be incredibly fast scheme markers. It means that you can do schemes like outflank by putting a hat on two models and running them to the board's edges. It means that you can put it on Georgy and Olaf and a friendly Smuggler can Drag them Along (more on him later). and they can ditch the hat in a pinch to reduce up to 2 damage. Plus the White Rabbit, while not the tankiest of models has the Needle and Thread attack with a potential built in Execute. 1 attack that can remove 2 cards or a card and a soul stone is a pretty sweet deal.  He helps solve a current Boss Som'er problem of figuring out how to score in Gaining Grounds 2 as well. 

The model that gets the most from the Loot version of Som'er is the Bayou Smuggler. They finally have a reason to use their bonus action, turning the stone Som'er created with his bonus into 2 cards if necessary and all the scheme markers around means that the Smuggler can snatch them up for card draw. Drag along is great for mutliple reasons, including moving pit traps or underbrush out of the way and also bringing scheme markers into position for other big hat models to utilize at a later point for bayou summons. I suspect Lootin' Som'er will almost always have a Bayou Smuggler in his back pocket. 

Gluttony gets a shout out as well. His objective power continues to climb as more and more markers are revealed in the new titles. Gluttony can fling enemy models at scheme markers you've made and have them start taking damage. Exchanging Georgy and Olaf for Mancha Roja means you get a tough melee monster who can swing for the fences with your scheme markers or anything your opponent wants to bring to the fight. 

Another weird consideration is to bring Wong (no title) along for the ride. with all the marker shenanigans going on a little Launch Into Space could be a game winning ability. 

A cute trick that has given me moderate success. If you put a Ghillie Suit on the Spit Hog, it doesn't really benefit from the Demise or Disguised because it always has them, but it does get a 6 inch gun that on its turn is stat 8 and out of activation is  stat 7 in Lenny's aura. Its only a 2/3/3 but Spit Hog has the Draw Their Attention ability, meaning if he hits and at those stats he will, you can ditch a card to have a model in LOS interact. That's LoS folks. He can be across the board and have a friendly model kick a Break the Line marker 

Loading up Som'er with Twelve Cups is fun for getting him focused and summoning a bayou gremlin or two or Ghillie Suit if you want to keep him safe. Inferiority Complex is always a consideration of Terrifying is a possibility. 

This version of Som'er still relies on a lot of auras but they are a bit bigger at 10 inches in range. Chances are you will want your team divided into small 3 man groups that can benefit from Lenny and Som'er doing their thing but I don't think you have to get as caught up in Lenny's aura as much as you used to. 

That's all my thoughts at the moment about where Som'er and his new title sit. I'm sure things will change as we get more games in and see how things play out. Feel free to leave a comment on how you feel on the new title and let me know which title you want me to talk about next!