Post by osiris on Feb 3, 2020 15:05:12 GMT -5
This posse is definitely a niche posse. It is primarily designed around putting units with the unique weapon "phonic blaster" on the table. It is also mostly a 'swarm' style posse, as you can only have one face, or two with Mina Edison. And no, I'm not spelling it Edeson like they do in the game. Deal with it. There is still some variety of customization available to the posse, so the lists wont all be exactly the same though. Let's dig in:
The posse bonus allows you to buy phonic blasters for K9 Gun Dogs, in addition to their other weapons, and more interestingly, phonic blaster menials gain Controlled Scatter (like on the boss' card), which is assumed to apply to Displace effects on their opponent's models from their weapons.
The Boss: He's obviously great with constructs nearby. He gives them all grit rerolls, and even if they die, he can spend a fortune chip to reanimate them. He also does come with override automata, but as stated in other analyses, this ability is of very limite use, as it costs two action points, and has very low range, and still allows an enemy mind check to cancel. Again, like compel, it CAN also be used on friendly models, but for two AP per use, it's much less useful. He is mostly average, which slightly increased resiliency. Shield aura helps. His torrent weapons are excellent, and his slightly above average aim stat is enchanced to great by prodigious. Low frequency may have on less pierce, but having stun built in is fantastic for dealing with Tough models, and it has engulf for ignoring cover and filling buildings. it can also crit into disorder, but that's much less useful, as disorder only happens on a failed grit, and mettle still works against it, and against squads (where it spreads to everyone) the high frequency has displace built in, with controlled scatter, so you can almost guarantee knocking people out of coherency and giving them disorder anyway. Use low if you want engulf and stun. Use high if you want to displace people (or just try to flat kill them due to the higher pierce and possible brutal)
Overall he's a good boss that can operate from the front lines, in order to contribute his firepower. Try to keep him out of melee though, he's not so good at that. (a good melee escort is a solution to this problem, and allows for Take One For The Team when you need it)
SLOT 1: Mina Edison OR a unit of Phonic Blaster Menials.
This is an OR slot, and there's PLENTY of slots where you can get phonic blasters. So you are merely deciding if you want Mina or not in your posse. Which, in my opinion, you do. She's a perfect escort for the boss. She can take hits for him without spending his fortune and is absolutely a blender of death in melee. She may not be as tough as her dad, but a a construct, he gives her a grit reroll and can even reanimate her once (before her taint check) and she's harder to hit to begin with, due to both moving target and dance of death. She also has the Sure Foot and Quick and the Dead combo, allowing her to reroll her already high quick, thus almost guaranteeing her ability to quick out of one attack per turn. The Razor Pointes attack is so amazing, I'm not even sure I'd bother trying to set up the frenzied attack. I'm pretty sure I'd rather my opponent have to make potentially 6 grit saves with a -2, that they must reroll successes on. Though with both Death Dealer and Brutal, the frenzied attack does land three hits at -4 even with its RoA of 1.
We'll look at phonic blaster menials below, you should be taking Mina in this slot anyway...
SLOT 2: Any Enlightened Face Unit AND/OR an Enlightened Hands unit.
Here's your only chance to take a face other than Mina. Choose wisely.
Jedediah Smith - Right off the bat we have an excellent choice for this posse. He's inexpensive with no bad stats. He comes with Carpathogen like the boss, for reanimating constructs. He has a very good melee weapon, coming with disrupt for wrecking machines or constructs. He can meat shield AFTER failing a grit check. And he comes with Sic'em for extra K9 units in the posse, and for making the K9's you ahve slightly better (not to mention teamwork) and his pistol is ok and he overrides automata as well too. All for 100 points and he comes with a fortune chip. Not a bad choice for this posse at all.
John Younger - Creation XI - A construct, for use with carpathogen and repair. he's a medium range shooter with an excellent attack from those juiced pistols. He has creation (and is thus Durable Grit-6) with mettle so he's not fragile. and he can fight quite well in melee as well, with lots of options using his pair of close work weapons and his backup pistol rule (although this makes his fight stat quite low) or just his hammerhands.. Creation make all of these options much deadlier. Sadly Failsafe Detonator and Dying breath are incompatible (as suicide weapons remove from play, not destroy) but these are still options he has available to use, independently of each other. Dont forget Failsafe makes his mind stat the same as the boss, not his printed 4.
Harmony Ratchet - Normally I'm a big fan of including very low cost sawbones models in posses. However, since this posse only has room for one face besides Mina, I'd say you need to bring someone with a bit more versatility on the battlefield. True, Sawbones DOES work on constructs (just not machines) but she lacks any sort of ranged attack, he fight stat is low for her melee attack, and Rapport will be of little use since nobody else in the posse can use the effect from Civilians.
Donovan - Another Construct face, he's pretty cheap, with a melee weapon that can inflict stun easily and sometimes disorder. He does lack creation though so even though his is Grit-6 with a shield aura, he's not Durable. Again, this unit is probably a poor choice for this posse because you need to use your face slot to bring someone who can do quite a bit more. You'll have disposable minons to fill the role of cheap melee from other slots.
Unger - Creation VI - He's a relatively inexpensive fire-support model. Again as a construct face, he's going to get some extra benefits from the boss. and He is Durable (from creation) Grit-6 with Tough. and yes he can make ram attacks, but his Juiced Gatling is a very powerful attack. he's not a great choice but not a bad choice either, depending on who (or what) else you bring to the posse.
Bloody Bill Anderssen - He's a good choice for a model that is tactically flexible. He's also a construct, and is Durable Grit-5 with mettle and quick and the dead. and he has a pretty good melee attack considering his high fight, death dealer and quick strike. His juiced pistols aren't bad either, and he has the option to throw ketchum grenades indirectly. He comes with his own fortune chip as well. Overall, just a good unit for filling multiple roles on the battlefield. He doesn't bring alot of synergies to the rest of the posse, but for only 105 points, you can't have it all.
Ross Mackeye - Probably a poor choice for this posse. He's not a bad model, with above average stats and attacks, but nearly all of his special rules are wasted in this posse. Rapport wont help anyone, For the ladies wont work (Mina isn't human), Rebel Yell doesn't have any other confederates around. Sic'em is good, but other faces have this as well. He's not even a construct. This would be a waste of this posse's one face slot.
Wendell Lee - The better choice of the two cheap sawbones. His melee is unimpressive, but he does come with thermite grenades for an indirect attack (even if he's not so good with them) He brings Enervate and Compel to the posse. If you want to spread your grit rerolls for your swarm out, and try to enervate the fortune off opponents and use compel. he's a valid choice.
Mantis - a peculiar unit. She's not really a sniper. She's more of another tactically flexible jack of all trades type unit. She IS a construct (but not creation). She has a variety of above average attacks, but the main reason to take her would be to use Gun-down shooting things that get into melee with your boss or your swarm. She is inexpensive in her role, but doesn't really excel at any one thing.
Virgil Earp - He's also a construct with Gun-down, and although more expensive, a MUCH better choice than mantis. He's Durable Grit-6 with the usual Mettle and Quick and the Dead. Tinman is a waste in this posse, but Dead or alive could be nice, considering the huge amount of stun your posse will be throwing around. His Hyper-V rifle also brings a long range heavy punch with -4, and he brings his own fortune chip.
Creation X - She's basically a mini-Mina, a bit tougher (but much easier to hit), and trading in death dealer for frenzy As you only have one face slot, and already have Mina, she doesn't really bring anything you need, but if you wanna double down on melee protection for the boss, she could do it.
Creation XIII - Another melee creation, this one does have unstoppable for making ram attacks, and he blows up when he is wounded (but again, not if he suicide attacks) His suicide attack is unique, with torrent engulf brutal and a pierce of -4, it's quite good, but it should be as you're removing your own 100 point model to use it. It is otherwise just a typical normal melee unit, that is otherwise unremarkable.
Vladimir Ursul - An interesting unit, he comes with a decent rifle, and an indirect blast attack with tangle, which can be extremely dangerous. He also has counter intelligence and trapper for some strategic options. He's a typical long range shooter if you ignore the chain trap. with Deadeyed, a decent aim stat, and elite to add some options for using your adventure cards. He also has a chip of fortune. He's an overall decent unit, but again, in this posse, as you only have one slot, you probably want someone who will more directly affect your other units.
Ushi Yi - Not just a melee unit, although she's quite useful in that role. Her Katana hits pretty hard and her speed combined with shrouded helps her get where she needs to be. Teamwork is always nice, as it helps to get enough hits in to kill a unit. Sadly she's not particularly resilient, so if something DOES get through shrouded and Quick and the Dead, she's probably not passing any grit checks. Also, in this posse, her gene link ability is wasted, since no other models in the posse will have it.
Tenshi Yi - Essentially the same as Ushi, however, in my opinion, Death-Dealer, is FAR more useful than bounding strike. But they do both have their uses in a game. Again, in this posse, she's not a good choice, Gene-link is wasted.
Dieter Kaufmann - the Kaufmann brothers dont seem to be too much different from the Yi sisters. Dieter's weapons and attacks are not as good, but they have slightly higher grit, come with tainted, and the brothers bring their own fortune chip.
Schultz Kaufmann - This is the better of the two brothers. The plasma Six-shooter is a much better weapon, and they are otherwise identical. The same problem though as with the Yi sisters, as in this posse, you can only take one of them, so Gene-link is wasted.
Apex Hellion - Well, this is a construct. It has great mobility due to flight, but just basically average attacks. Teamwork helps make him useful, but he's quite fragile. Low grit, as well as a low Quick stat (making quick and the dead less likely) He is relatively cheap at least. There is a design flaw in this unit though, as the bonus it gains when near their hellion hands unit adds +1 fight, but it says it also gains teamwork... but teamwork is already printed on the card. Also since the flying construct hands unit is still unreleased your Tournament Organizer may not allow them, which would make this face relatively useless.
Misty Mimms - She's just a solid unit. Appearing on the board with undercover, and with rabble rouser to bring some Angry mobs. She has quite good weapons, both in the melee (considering frenzy) and shooting departments. She's otherwise quite typical for her cost, with Mettle, Quick and the Dead, and average stats. It's also a slight advantage to have tainted.
Ben Hamilton - Now here's a solid contender for the one face slot in this posse. Mettle, Quick and the Dead, and Shrouded helps keep him alive. He has a variety of decent weapons (the crossbow is very good). He also brings a variety of special rules. Sic'em lets him bring more K9's (and enhance them), Rapport helps with his attacks quite well. He's got override automata, sure, but Jury-rig is nicer. Most importantly though, he has Repair... meaning he works like a sawbones, giving grit rerolls to all your constructs. This is an excellent choice for this posse.
Frank "H-Bot 44" McLaury - He's cheap, he IS a construct. For his cost he's not even that fragile, Durable Grit-5, with they typical Mettle, and Quick and the Dead, along with Tainted. Strangely he has a one use per game weapon (which seems to be unique) He doesn't bring much, but he's cheap and doesn't have terrible attacks.
Francis Tumblety - A widely powerful unit, this is another good choice for the posse. He comes with Dark council, which will give you a hexalith. Enervate, which can help kill off units with a low mind but lots of fortune. He has rabble rouser for Angry mobs. and he's a Sawbones (which works on constructs). He ALSO has Carpathogen, which makes him a very useful unit in this posse. He has good attacks, despite his low Aim stat. He will help serve this posse very well.
Opie - Creation VIII - This unit is always a good choice. It's getting a bit more expensive, and doesn't have fortune, but it is rather hard to kill with Durable Grit-7 and Tough WITH Hardy. Plus carpathogen still works to resurrect him. He has a variety of melee attacks for different targets, and Creation makes them quite powerful. He will even frenzy from time to time, getting more free attacks. While he is melee only, he's also quite fast to move around. He's quite capable in combat, but again, doesn't bring any support abilities for the rest of your posse, it just depends on how you want to use your face slot.
Erin Meltzer - A Soul hunter, but more importantly, she brings Treasure Hunter, which is a fantastic ability that can honestly make the difference in winning or losing games. He's also a portal master, if you want to use portals, she brings Sic'em and Shrewd strategist. The Plasm Ejectors are a bit strange. Tangle is great, but you have to focus them and then hope for a crit to get the attuned effect. Still, she has a variety of skills that can be useful, should you want to use those tactics in your posse.
Ernesto Volk - Another soul hunter. a bit cheaper, no fortune, but with a better melee attack. Sadly his special abilities just aren't anywhere near as useful, especially in this posse.
Hans Spelmann - Another Soul Hunter. also without fortune, but with spirit aim. combined with his high mind stat, it makes his shooting attack quite reliable and powerful. He's also grit-6 and has elite. Leeched attribute is a niche ability but may still occasionally prove useful. Still, for this posse, most of the soul hunters do not seem like a good use of the only face slot.
Jocasta Tobin - Another soul hunter, this time with a fortune chip, smoke grenades (with controlled scatter), spectral summoning. Perhaps in a spirit heavy posse, but not this one.
Katherine Holst - The fifth Soul Hunter choice, Sure foot is always nice to combo with Quick and the Dead, she comes with a bunch of abilities. sadly for the ladies wont work with Mina as she's not human. Xenoshield for a little bit of ranged defense, gambler to get rid of 1AP draws, BUT she could work in this posse, unlike the other soul hunters, due to her having the Repair rule (which works on constructs), personally I would still suggest to pick a different unit, but for her cost, she IS a viable choice for this posse. She also has jury-rig automata, if you brought some of those as well.
WHEW that was A LOT of choices... fortunately for this posse, there's really only a few good choices that support the rest of your posse, we'll look at some of those faces in greater detail in other posses, but (and again, depending on your own playstyle, as remember ANY unit you like CAN work, which is part of the beauty of Wild West Exodus, there's no useless units.) The most useful faces in this posse are probably going to be those with either repair or sawbones, as well as some other abilities or weapons that you like, as they will help keep your constructs alive. Carpathogen is also fantastic for use with this posse. Personally, I'd probably suggest Francis Tumblety, Jeddediah Smith, or Wendell Lee, but again, there are plenty of other faces that can be just as effective, depending on your strategy and playstyle.
Wow, this slot can ALSO choose any Enlightened Hands unit, so we'll look at those here as well:
Abomination Seekers - A very fast fairly cheap model with skirmisher. They DO carry a very good pistol for such a cheap unit, but their aim isn't very good. At first glace these guys seem almost designed to be used as bombs. Failsafe implants on cheap fast faces are much easier to use (and not as costly) than on the faces. Just remember, they're shooting weapons so you have to stay out of engagement range (which is difficult for these because they have a reach of 1") Massed fire also does not seem to work, as the range is SELF, and anyone contributing RoA must be in range of the initial target (which is impossible in this case). So they EITHER fire all their pistols with massed fire, OR trigger one model to blow up with its failsafe. So while you can use these as speedy little suicide bombers, honestly, for their cost, they're pretty good massed shooters, with the speed to get into position, and higher penetration than most hands of their cost. Honestly, these even make pretty good tacklers too, as they are fast and with massed melee and a 1" range with -1 and a parry, the only thing hampering them is a low fight attribute.
Abomination Widowers - These appear to simply be inferior to the seekers. They do have 8 more inches of range on their shooting attack, which could make them specifically more useful as shooters (but at long range they're only aim-3) they come with trailfinder and agile instead of skirmisher, so they can get in position, although they are considerably slower than the seekers. Plus they are medium based instead of small. Which will help let them see over small terrain pieces for shooting, but increases their footprint on the table. They also lose nearly all melee ability, as they dont have neither the parry, reach, nor penetration of the seekers melee weapon, also they do not have close work like the seekers pistols.
Constructed Menials - Extremely cheap, and they can be taken in a HUGE swarm. The same failsafe / massed fire combo though means you can only blow up one at a time, so as suicide bombers, you'd probably want minimum size 5 man units. as cheap buckets of dice from blades and pistols you'll want them in giant units (as up to 20 dice, even at aim-3 should still make quite a few hits) If you want to field a swarm, here's a great way to bulk up that swarm. Their fragility can be mitigated with sawbones/repair/forward echelon, and watch your opponent moan when small groups of them come back to life even after finally being destroyed due to carpathogen. Oh, and dont forget, they're also tainted, so the last one can even spawn you a hex beast!
Constructed Henchmen - similar to the widowers above, these appear to trade away some abilities in order to gain a little bit of extra range. These dont trade away as much from their menials counterparts as the widowers do from the seekers though. As their stats, base sizes, and rules are the same. They are trading away the melee blades again, giving up the reach, parry, and penetration. and they give up close work and revolver fan, but gain 8"of range. A big block of these can potentially drop up to 20 dice of shooting at decent range, which again, even with their low aim, can land several good hits for a very cheap price in this swarm based unit.
K9 Attack dogs - if you want to bring some machine/automata, these are the hands for you. They're fast, and with a little more survivability thanks to durable and moving target, these are good melee tacklers. In decent size groups they can bring alot of dice on a melee attack. Still Seekers are probably a better choice for this posse, however, if you chose to bring an automata support in your face slot (especially one with Sic'em) these can be a good addition to the horde of minions.
Hellions - UNRELEASED - So these aren't legal yet, but they appear to be a fantastic tactical tool once they become available. A bit more on the expensive side when brought in a big group. but they have alot of advantages. first and foremost, they dont have massed fire/melee so they can all take actions independently. Looking at their weapons, sure, they can fight in melee, but these appear to be the ultimate suicide bomber unit. They can use flight to drop in on an enemy (remember though, drop at least 1" away so you dont engage in melee, but still within range of the blast template) and trigger some auto RoA 2 shred blast -1 hits! even a minimum size unit of only 3, costing 90 points, will dish out 6 automatic hits, that are not dodgeable with quick and the dead. This can be an excellent tactic to finish off an opponent who survived a previous attack, but no longer has mettle/tough to rely on. for now though, you can't bring these.
ALL OF THAT as only for Slot 2?! sheesh, ok lets move on:
SLOT 3: A unit of Phonic Blaster Menials AND/OR a unit of K9 Gun Dogs armed with Phonic Blasters
This is the true flavor of this posse.
Phonic Blaster Menials - again, relatively cheap, so you can take them in large groups. Also, these are Support, not hands, sometimes an important distinction. They also do NOT have massed fire, which can be a little tricky, since they ARE tasked and must all target the same enemy unit (though not necessarily the same model within that unit). They have no melee reach, so individual models can get close and trigger their implants as well. But honestly, their weapon is what you are paying for. The low frequency comes with engulf which is nice and can displace enemies (remember they get controlled scatter). The high frequency loses engulf, but has better piercing and has the potential to stun. Even considering their low aim attribute, these are still a threat on the field.
K9 Gun Dogs with Phonic Blaster Upgrade - These will cost quite a bit more than the menials at 40 points each. They come with 1 point better Aim, 1 point better grit, but also with durable. They are faster, and with sure-foot, and in general they are better at melee as they have 2 attacks each and -1 pierce. They DO have Massed fire/melee back on them, and of course, they dont have failsafe implants. The menials will be easier to include in posses due to obvious synergies, but Thomas Edison does have repair, so it works on both constructs AND machines.
SLOT 4: Enlightened Hands unit AND/OR non-vehicle Enlightened Support
The hands are discussed above, and are great choices for this type of posse. The non-vehicle supports are as follows:
Abomination Monocav - WOW, this is a fantastic unit. You can take a single one at only 60 points, and it is Grit-6 with mettle. It is quite fast, and it has an AMAZING shooting attack. TWO shots at 18" range with Shred and a Pierce of -4.... The Aim-4 stat hurts, but you can focus it up to 6, which hit 70% of the time. incredible for the cost. Now you can also take them in units of 2 or 3, to increase the number of shots... Dont forget they're also constructs, so they can reroll grit if close enough to someone who supports them, and even if they die, they can be brought back once with carpathogen. These are incredible choices for this posse to bring some powerful ranged shooting to the table.
Constructed Uhlans - The enlightened version of the iron horse cavalry, these have some intriguing uses in certain configurations. of course, cheap fast gatling guns are never a bad thing to have, and putting them on a construct unit in this posse has obvious added bonus benefits. BUT this can be configured for multiple roles. Want to dish out hazard tokens, or hit everyone in a building? Flamethrowers are an option here, Want to use your speed to stay hidden out of LoS and lob indirect blast templates around? grenade launchers (as machine they can ignore heavy), an perhaps one of the most lethal, especially if facing other machines or constructs, electrocoils, with automatic disrupt and stun! These are mobile fire-support. A bit of the fragile side, sure, but they can bring lots of tactical attack options to this posse.
Brutes - These probably aren't the best choice for this posse, but that doesn't mean you can't use them effectively. They have slightly better combat stats, and a hazard engulf flamethrower, as well as a decent stunning melee attack (and technically access to the armoury) but they are quite slow which hinders their use considerably. A small unit though (even down to only 1) is Durable(from creation) Grit-6 with tainted, and can serve as a decent enough bodyguard unit for the boss (as he is a construct for both rerolls and carpathogen) in this role, they are excellent, as they're only 50 points.
Creation V - a unique choice. This is definitely a solid melee bodyguard for the boss. He's got Durable(again from creation) Grit-7 AND tough and tainted. He's a construct (for rerolls and resurrection), he's got incredible melee power, and eventhough low aim, also a very good shooting attack as well. This is probably a very good choice to include in this posse.
Nazombu Snake - a somewhat fast melee construct, it's on an XL base if that's what you're looking for, otherwise, Mina is probably much more effective in the same role. It does have Creation(for durable-like) Grit-6 with Mettle though,a nd is a construct with tainted, so it is harder to kill in this posse. Just depends on what you like.
Creation VII - While I am not a fan of split personality, because you cannot plan on having a certain number of action points ever. it CAN be used as a sort of Gambler-like ability, ditching low AP cards and trying for a better random draw. This thing is quite hard to kill, with Creation giving Durable-like Grit-7 and hardy allowing rerolls even if you aren't near anyone with Repair or Sawbones, Tough, plus Indomitable, although with his low mind will make it unlikely to remove stun token to re-use tough in a single turn, it COULD work that way. He does have a variety of decent attacks to choose from as well.
Phonic Blaster Menials - can also be taken in this slot, see above for them.
K9 Gun Dogs - These can be taken in this slot with any weapon, can CAN choose to take phonic blasters, but in this slot they dont have to and can take any of their weapons
Spirit Apparition - As I've stated before, I'm not a fan of these. They're just too fragile, and split personality and ghost armour makes them too random. If you spent the face slot taking someone like Jocasta Tobin with spectral summoning, you can summon them in the face of your enemy and use their powerful attacks before they get eliminated. but it's just not worth it in this posse.
Drum - An automata, but not a construct, so he can't be protected by sawbones or carpathogen. He's also not cheap, and doesn't bring much in the way of utility or synergies, but he's a tanky combat character. He is very difficult to kill, which can be nice for holding objectives. While he has some added benefit for staying still, His primary ranged attack has good RoA and pierce, however, with an aim of only 4, it wont hit very reliably without focus. His fight stat is much better, and with two not-bad attacks to choose from, either getting intrinsic stun, or a slightly improved pierce of -2. As both have brutal, the RoA of 1 isn't as much of a concern. and with forceful strike, they can both deliver quite a punch. so he's actually probably better as a melee unit.
SLOT 5: Same as Slot 3
SLOT 6: Up to Two Enlightened Hand OR Enlightened Support units.
As this is an OR slot, you'll have to pick. Two more hands units ( bringing the hands total possible units up to 4, creating a massive swarm) or Two more supports. The supports in this slot CAN include any supports in the Enlightened list, even vehicles. This is probably the better option, as you can still take the swarm-like units if you want. Lets look at the Vehicles available should you so wish one:
Domesdei Wagon - Tough, Durable Grit-8 and machine (which can give it rerolls from repair) along with a 50/50 indomitable makes this thing hard to crack. It also has carrying capacity and firing platform, allowing you to put some of your shooters on board and give them some protection. plus a 5 shot -2 brutal gun with 15" range is rather nasty itself, although it is only Aim 4.
Ironhide - a liiiiittle bit faster, but not as resilient with one less grit and no indomitable. This is cheaper though, comes with slightly more carrying capacity, and a much more accurate version of the gun (it's linked for rerolls) This is probably the better transport choice for this posse if you want one, but you can go either way, if you want more offense or more defense.
Haupt Heavy Borer - Tough and Durable Grit-8 again, with capacity and a deadly ram attack. units inside are totally protected from attack due to enclosed transport, but can't shoot out. It comes with a napalm gun, but you can swap it for something in the armoury. This is a very cool transport, and can deliver its payload nearly anywhere on the baord using unexpected arrival. However, it's quite big, so placing it at least 1" away from ANY unit, the edge of the play area, or impassable terrain, can get tricky, if it scatters into such a location, it is automatically destroyed.
HOW DO I PLAY THIS POSSE:
Well again, as every unit in WWX can be used to complete any task successfully, this is again up to playstyle. If you want to play with a highly mobile force, you can do it, with fast non vehicle supports, and transports for your slower units. If you want to play with more elite single model units, it can even be done, selecting uniques in the support slots and skipping the option to take hands in several slots. This posse however, probably shines the best when it is filled with a variety of constructs, swarms of small ones, medium sized units of support units, and then Edison with his daughter as a melee bodyguard, and another face with repair/sawbones and carpathogen at the center of a 2nd swarm (probably with a creation bodyguard of his own). I'd recommend Francis tumblety, Creation V as tumblety's bodyguard, mina as edison's bodyguard, hordes of constructed hands (or abomination seekers), and at least some Monocavs for fire support.
The posse bonus allows you to buy phonic blasters for K9 Gun Dogs, in addition to their other weapons, and more interestingly, phonic blaster menials gain Controlled Scatter (like on the boss' card), which is assumed to apply to Displace effects on their opponent's models from their weapons.
The Boss: He's obviously great with constructs nearby. He gives them all grit rerolls, and even if they die, he can spend a fortune chip to reanimate them. He also does come with override automata, but as stated in other analyses, this ability is of very limite use, as it costs two action points, and has very low range, and still allows an enemy mind check to cancel. Again, like compel, it CAN also be used on friendly models, but for two AP per use, it's much less useful. He is mostly average, which slightly increased resiliency. Shield aura helps. His torrent weapons are excellent, and his slightly above average aim stat is enchanced to great by prodigious. Low frequency may have on less pierce, but having stun built in is fantastic for dealing with Tough models, and it has engulf for ignoring cover and filling buildings. it can also crit into disorder, but that's much less useful, as disorder only happens on a failed grit, and mettle still works against it, and against squads (where it spreads to everyone) the high frequency has displace built in, with controlled scatter, so you can almost guarantee knocking people out of coherency and giving them disorder anyway. Use low if you want engulf and stun. Use high if you want to displace people (or just try to flat kill them due to the higher pierce and possible brutal)
Overall he's a good boss that can operate from the front lines, in order to contribute his firepower. Try to keep him out of melee though, he's not so good at that. (a good melee escort is a solution to this problem, and allows for Take One For The Team when you need it)
SLOT 1: Mina Edison OR a unit of Phonic Blaster Menials.
This is an OR slot, and there's PLENTY of slots where you can get phonic blasters. So you are merely deciding if you want Mina or not in your posse. Which, in my opinion, you do. She's a perfect escort for the boss. She can take hits for him without spending his fortune and is absolutely a blender of death in melee. She may not be as tough as her dad, but a a construct, he gives her a grit reroll and can even reanimate her once (before her taint check) and she's harder to hit to begin with, due to both moving target and dance of death. She also has the Sure Foot and Quick and the Dead combo, allowing her to reroll her already high quick, thus almost guaranteeing her ability to quick out of one attack per turn. The Razor Pointes attack is so amazing, I'm not even sure I'd bother trying to set up the frenzied attack. I'm pretty sure I'd rather my opponent have to make potentially 6 grit saves with a -2, that they must reroll successes on. Though with both Death Dealer and Brutal, the frenzied attack does land three hits at -4 even with its RoA of 1.
We'll look at phonic blaster menials below, you should be taking Mina in this slot anyway...
SLOT 2: Any Enlightened Face Unit AND/OR an Enlightened Hands unit.
Here's your only chance to take a face other than Mina. Choose wisely.
Jedediah Smith - Right off the bat we have an excellent choice for this posse. He's inexpensive with no bad stats. He comes with Carpathogen like the boss, for reanimating constructs. He has a very good melee weapon, coming with disrupt for wrecking machines or constructs. He can meat shield AFTER failing a grit check. And he comes with Sic'em for extra K9 units in the posse, and for making the K9's you ahve slightly better (not to mention teamwork) and his pistol is ok and he overrides automata as well too. All for 100 points and he comes with a fortune chip. Not a bad choice for this posse at all.
John Younger - Creation XI - A construct, for use with carpathogen and repair. he's a medium range shooter with an excellent attack from those juiced pistols. He has creation (and is thus Durable Grit-6) with mettle so he's not fragile. and he can fight quite well in melee as well, with lots of options using his pair of close work weapons and his backup pistol rule (although this makes his fight stat quite low) or just his hammerhands.. Creation make all of these options much deadlier. Sadly Failsafe Detonator and Dying breath are incompatible (as suicide weapons remove from play, not destroy) but these are still options he has available to use, independently of each other. Dont forget Failsafe makes his mind stat the same as the boss, not his printed 4.
Harmony Ratchet - Normally I'm a big fan of including very low cost sawbones models in posses. However, since this posse only has room for one face besides Mina, I'd say you need to bring someone with a bit more versatility on the battlefield. True, Sawbones DOES work on constructs (just not machines) but she lacks any sort of ranged attack, he fight stat is low for her melee attack, and Rapport will be of little use since nobody else in the posse can use the effect from Civilians.
Donovan - Another Construct face, he's pretty cheap, with a melee weapon that can inflict stun easily and sometimes disorder. He does lack creation though so even though his is Grit-6 with a shield aura, he's not Durable. Again, this unit is probably a poor choice for this posse because you need to use your face slot to bring someone who can do quite a bit more. You'll have disposable minons to fill the role of cheap melee from other slots.
Unger - Creation VI - He's a relatively inexpensive fire-support model. Again as a construct face, he's going to get some extra benefits from the boss. and He is Durable (from creation) Grit-6 with Tough. and yes he can make ram attacks, but his Juiced Gatling is a very powerful attack. he's not a great choice but not a bad choice either, depending on who (or what) else you bring to the posse.
Bloody Bill Anderssen - He's a good choice for a model that is tactically flexible. He's also a construct, and is Durable Grit-5 with mettle and quick and the dead. and he has a pretty good melee attack considering his high fight, death dealer and quick strike. His juiced pistols aren't bad either, and he has the option to throw ketchum grenades indirectly. He comes with his own fortune chip as well. Overall, just a good unit for filling multiple roles on the battlefield. He doesn't bring alot of synergies to the rest of the posse, but for only 105 points, you can't have it all.
Ross Mackeye - Probably a poor choice for this posse. He's not a bad model, with above average stats and attacks, but nearly all of his special rules are wasted in this posse. Rapport wont help anyone, For the ladies wont work (Mina isn't human), Rebel Yell doesn't have any other confederates around. Sic'em is good, but other faces have this as well. He's not even a construct. This would be a waste of this posse's one face slot.
Wendell Lee - The better choice of the two cheap sawbones. His melee is unimpressive, but he does come with thermite grenades for an indirect attack (even if he's not so good with them) He brings Enervate and Compel to the posse. If you want to spread your grit rerolls for your swarm out, and try to enervate the fortune off opponents and use compel. he's a valid choice.
Mantis - a peculiar unit. She's not really a sniper. She's more of another tactically flexible jack of all trades type unit. She IS a construct (but not creation). She has a variety of above average attacks, but the main reason to take her would be to use Gun-down shooting things that get into melee with your boss or your swarm. She is inexpensive in her role, but doesn't really excel at any one thing.
Virgil Earp - He's also a construct with Gun-down, and although more expensive, a MUCH better choice than mantis. He's Durable Grit-6 with the usual Mettle and Quick and the Dead. Tinman is a waste in this posse, but Dead or alive could be nice, considering the huge amount of stun your posse will be throwing around. His Hyper-V rifle also brings a long range heavy punch with -4, and he brings his own fortune chip.
Creation X - She's basically a mini-Mina, a bit tougher (but much easier to hit), and trading in death dealer for frenzy As you only have one face slot, and already have Mina, she doesn't really bring anything you need, but if you wanna double down on melee protection for the boss, she could do it.
Creation XIII - Another melee creation, this one does have unstoppable for making ram attacks, and he blows up when he is wounded (but again, not if he suicide attacks) His suicide attack is unique, with torrent engulf brutal and a pierce of -4, it's quite good, but it should be as you're removing your own 100 point model to use it. It is otherwise just a typical normal melee unit, that is otherwise unremarkable.
Vladimir Ursul - An interesting unit, he comes with a decent rifle, and an indirect blast attack with tangle, which can be extremely dangerous. He also has counter intelligence and trapper for some strategic options. He's a typical long range shooter if you ignore the chain trap. with Deadeyed, a decent aim stat, and elite to add some options for using your adventure cards. He also has a chip of fortune. He's an overall decent unit, but again, in this posse, as you only have one slot, you probably want someone who will more directly affect your other units.
Ushi Yi - Not just a melee unit, although she's quite useful in that role. Her Katana hits pretty hard and her speed combined with shrouded helps her get where she needs to be. Teamwork is always nice, as it helps to get enough hits in to kill a unit. Sadly she's not particularly resilient, so if something DOES get through shrouded and Quick and the Dead, she's probably not passing any grit checks. Also, in this posse, her gene link ability is wasted, since no other models in the posse will have it.
Tenshi Yi - Essentially the same as Ushi, however, in my opinion, Death-Dealer, is FAR more useful than bounding strike. But they do both have their uses in a game. Again, in this posse, she's not a good choice, Gene-link is wasted.
Dieter Kaufmann - the Kaufmann brothers dont seem to be too much different from the Yi sisters. Dieter's weapons and attacks are not as good, but they have slightly higher grit, come with tainted, and the brothers bring their own fortune chip.
Schultz Kaufmann - This is the better of the two brothers. The plasma Six-shooter is a much better weapon, and they are otherwise identical. The same problem though as with the Yi sisters, as in this posse, you can only take one of them, so Gene-link is wasted.
Apex Hellion - Well, this is a construct. It has great mobility due to flight, but just basically average attacks. Teamwork helps make him useful, but he's quite fragile. Low grit, as well as a low Quick stat (making quick and the dead less likely) He is relatively cheap at least. There is a design flaw in this unit though, as the bonus it gains when near their hellion hands unit adds +1 fight, but it says it also gains teamwork... but teamwork is already printed on the card. Also since the flying construct hands unit is still unreleased your Tournament Organizer may not allow them, which would make this face relatively useless.
Misty Mimms - She's just a solid unit. Appearing on the board with undercover, and with rabble rouser to bring some Angry mobs. She has quite good weapons, both in the melee (considering frenzy) and shooting departments. She's otherwise quite typical for her cost, with Mettle, Quick and the Dead, and average stats. It's also a slight advantage to have tainted.
Ben Hamilton - Now here's a solid contender for the one face slot in this posse. Mettle, Quick and the Dead, and Shrouded helps keep him alive. He has a variety of decent weapons (the crossbow is very good). He also brings a variety of special rules. Sic'em lets him bring more K9's (and enhance them), Rapport helps with his attacks quite well. He's got override automata, sure, but Jury-rig is nicer. Most importantly though, he has Repair... meaning he works like a sawbones, giving grit rerolls to all your constructs. This is an excellent choice for this posse.
Frank "H-Bot 44" McLaury - He's cheap, he IS a construct. For his cost he's not even that fragile, Durable Grit-5, with they typical Mettle, and Quick and the Dead, along with Tainted. Strangely he has a one use per game weapon (which seems to be unique) He doesn't bring much, but he's cheap and doesn't have terrible attacks.
Francis Tumblety - A widely powerful unit, this is another good choice for the posse. He comes with Dark council, which will give you a hexalith. Enervate, which can help kill off units with a low mind but lots of fortune. He has rabble rouser for Angry mobs. and he's a Sawbones (which works on constructs). He ALSO has Carpathogen, which makes him a very useful unit in this posse. He has good attacks, despite his low Aim stat. He will help serve this posse very well.
Opie - Creation VIII - This unit is always a good choice. It's getting a bit more expensive, and doesn't have fortune, but it is rather hard to kill with Durable Grit-7 and Tough WITH Hardy. Plus carpathogen still works to resurrect him. He has a variety of melee attacks for different targets, and Creation makes them quite powerful. He will even frenzy from time to time, getting more free attacks. While he is melee only, he's also quite fast to move around. He's quite capable in combat, but again, doesn't bring any support abilities for the rest of your posse, it just depends on how you want to use your face slot.
Erin Meltzer - A Soul hunter, but more importantly, she brings Treasure Hunter, which is a fantastic ability that can honestly make the difference in winning or losing games. He's also a portal master, if you want to use portals, she brings Sic'em and Shrewd strategist. The Plasm Ejectors are a bit strange. Tangle is great, but you have to focus them and then hope for a crit to get the attuned effect. Still, she has a variety of skills that can be useful, should you want to use those tactics in your posse.
Ernesto Volk - Another soul hunter. a bit cheaper, no fortune, but with a better melee attack. Sadly his special abilities just aren't anywhere near as useful, especially in this posse.
Hans Spelmann - Another Soul Hunter. also without fortune, but with spirit aim. combined with his high mind stat, it makes his shooting attack quite reliable and powerful. He's also grit-6 and has elite. Leeched attribute is a niche ability but may still occasionally prove useful. Still, for this posse, most of the soul hunters do not seem like a good use of the only face slot.
Jocasta Tobin - Another soul hunter, this time with a fortune chip, smoke grenades (with controlled scatter), spectral summoning. Perhaps in a spirit heavy posse, but not this one.
Katherine Holst - The fifth Soul Hunter choice, Sure foot is always nice to combo with Quick and the Dead, she comes with a bunch of abilities. sadly for the ladies wont work with Mina as she's not human. Xenoshield for a little bit of ranged defense, gambler to get rid of 1AP draws, BUT she could work in this posse, unlike the other soul hunters, due to her having the Repair rule (which works on constructs), personally I would still suggest to pick a different unit, but for her cost, she IS a viable choice for this posse. She also has jury-rig automata, if you brought some of those as well.
WHEW that was A LOT of choices... fortunately for this posse, there's really only a few good choices that support the rest of your posse, we'll look at some of those faces in greater detail in other posses, but (and again, depending on your own playstyle, as remember ANY unit you like CAN work, which is part of the beauty of Wild West Exodus, there's no useless units.) The most useful faces in this posse are probably going to be those with either repair or sawbones, as well as some other abilities or weapons that you like, as they will help keep your constructs alive. Carpathogen is also fantastic for use with this posse. Personally, I'd probably suggest Francis Tumblety, Jeddediah Smith, or Wendell Lee, but again, there are plenty of other faces that can be just as effective, depending on your strategy and playstyle.
Wow, this slot can ALSO choose any Enlightened Hands unit, so we'll look at those here as well:
Abomination Seekers - A very fast fairly cheap model with skirmisher. They DO carry a very good pistol for such a cheap unit, but their aim isn't very good. At first glace these guys seem almost designed to be used as bombs. Failsafe implants on cheap fast faces are much easier to use (and not as costly) than on the faces. Just remember, they're shooting weapons so you have to stay out of engagement range (which is difficult for these because they have a reach of 1") Massed fire also does not seem to work, as the range is SELF, and anyone contributing RoA must be in range of the initial target (which is impossible in this case). So they EITHER fire all their pistols with massed fire, OR trigger one model to blow up with its failsafe. So while you can use these as speedy little suicide bombers, honestly, for their cost, they're pretty good massed shooters, with the speed to get into position, and higher penetration than most hands of their cost. Honestly, these even make pretty good tacklers too, as they are fast and with massed melee and a 1" range with -1 and a parry, the only thing hampering them is a low fight attribute.
Abomination Widowers - These appear to simply be inferior to the seekers. They do have 8 more inches of range on their shooting attack, which could make them specifically more useful as shooters (but at long range they're only aim-3) they come with trailfinder and agile instead of skirmisher, so they can get in position, although they are considerably slower than the seekers. Plus they are medium based instead of small. Which will help let them see over small terrain pieces for shooting, but increases their footprint on the table. They also lose nearly all melee ability, as they dont have neither the parry, reach, nor penetration of the seekers melee weapon, also they do not have close work like the seekers pistols.
Constructed Menials - Extremely cheap, and they can be taken in a HUGE swarm. The same failsafe / massed fire combo though means you can only blow up one at a time, so as suicide bombers, you'd probably want minimum size 5 man units. as cheap buckets of dice from blades and pistols you'll want them in giant units (as up to 20 dice, even at aim-3 should still make quite a few hits) If you want to field a swarm, here's a great way to bulk up that swarm. Their fragility can be mitigated with sawbones/repair/forward echelon, and watch your opponent moan when small groups of them come back to life even after finally being destroyed due to carpathogen. Oh, and dont forget, they're also tainted, so the last one can even spawn you a hex beast!
Constructed Henchmen - similar to the widowers above, these appear to trade away some abilities in order to gain a little bit of extra range. These dont trade away as much from their menials counterparts as the widowers do from the seekers though. As their stats, base sizes, and rules are the same. They are trading away the melee blades again, giving up the reach, parry, and penetration. and they give up close work and revolver fan, but gain 8"of range. A big block of these can potentially drop up to 20 dice of shooting at decent range, which again, even with their low aim, can land several good hits for a very cheap price in this swarm based unit.
K9 Attack dogs - if you want to bring some machine/automata, these are the hands for you. They're fast, and with a little more survivability thanks to durable and moving target, these are good melee tacklers. In decent size groups they can bring alot of dice on a melee attack. Still Seekers are probably a better choice for this posse, however, if you chose to bring an automata support in your face slot (especially one with Sic'em) these can be a good addition to the horde of minions.
Hellions - UNRELEASED - So these aren't legal yet, but they appear to be a fantastic tactical tool once they become available. A bit more on the expensive side when brought in a big group. but they have alot of advantages. first and foremost, they dont have massed fire/melee so they can all take actions independently. Looking at their weapons, sure, they can fight in melee, but these appear to be the ultimate suicide bomber unit. They can use flight to drop in on an enemy (remember though, drop at least 1" away so you dont engage in melee, but still within range of the blast template) and trigger some auto RoA 2 shred blast -1 hits! even a minimum size unit of only 3, costing 90 points, will dish out 6 automatic hits, that are not dodgeable with quick and the dead. This can be an excellent tactic to finish off an opponent who survived a previous attack, but no longer has mettle/tough to rely on. for now though, you can't bring these.
ALL OF THAT as only for Slot 2?! sheesh, ok lets move on:
SLOT 3: A unit of Phonic Blaster Menials AND/OR a unit of K9 Gun Dogs armed with Phonic Blasters
This is the true flavor of this posse.
Phonic Blaster Menials - again, relatively cheap, so you can take them in large groups. Also, these are Support, not hands, sometimes an important distinction. They also do NOT have massed fire, which can be a little tricky, since they ARE tasked and must all target the same enemy unit (though not necessarily the same model within that unit). They have no melee reach, so individual models can get close and trigger their implants as well. But honestly, their weapon is what you are paying for. The low frequency comes with engulf which is nice and can displace enemies (remember they get controlled scatter). The high frequency loses engulf, but has better piercing and has the potential to stun. Even considering their low aim attribute, these are still a threat on the field.
K9 Gun Dogs with Phonic Blaster Upgrade - These will cost quite a bit more than the menials at 40 points each. They come with 1 point better Aim, 1 point better grit, but also with durable. They are faster, and with sure-foot, and in general they are better at melee as they have 2 attacks each and -1 pierce. They DO have Massed fire/melee back on them, and of course, they dont have failsafe implants. The menials will be easier to include in posses due to obvious synergies, but Thomas Edison does have repair, so it works on both constructs AND machines.
SLOT 4: Enlightened Hands unit AND/OR non-vehicle Enlightened Support
The hands are discussed above, and are great choices for this type of posse. The non-vehicle supports are as follows:
Abomination Monocav - WOW, this is a fantastic unit. You can take a single one at only 60 points, and it is Grit-6 with mettle. It is quite fast, and it has an AMAZING shooting attack. TWO shots at 18" range with Shred and a Pierce of -4.... The Aim-4 stat hurts, but you can focus it up to 6, which hit 70% of the time. incredible for the cost. Now you can also take them in units of 2 or 3, to increase the number of shots... Dont forget they're also constructs, so they can reroll grit if close enough to someone who supports them, and even if they die, they can be brought back once with carpathogen. These are incredible choices for this posse to bring some powerful ranged shooting to the table.
Constructed Uhlans - The enlightened version of the iron horse cavalry, these have some intriguing uses in certain configurations. of course, cheap fast gatling guns are never a bad thing to have, and putting them on a construct unit in this posse has obvious added bonus benefits. BUT this can be configured for multiple roles. Want to dish out hazard tokens, or hit everyone in a building? Flamethrowers are an option here, Want to use your speed to stay hidden out of LoS and lob indirect blast templates around? grenade launchers (as machine they can ignore heavy), an perhaps one of the most lethal, especially if facing other machines or constructs, electrocoils, with automatic disrupt and stun! These are mobile fire-support. A bit of the fragile side, sure, but they can bring lots of tactical attack options to this posse.
Brutes - These probably aren't the best choice for this posse, but that doesn't mean you can't use them effectively. They have slightly better combat stats, and a hazard engulf flamethrower, as well as a decent stunning melee attack (and technically access to the armoury) but they are quite slow which hinders their use considerably. A small unit though (even down to only 1) is Durable(from creation) Grit-6 with tainted, and can serve as a decent enough bodyguard unit for the boss (as he is a construct for both rerolls and carpathogen) in this role, they are excellent, as they're only 50 points.
Creation V - a unique choice. This is definitely a solid melee bodyguard for the boss. He's got Durable(again from creation) Grit-7 AND tough and tainted. He's a construct (for rerolls and resurrection), he's got incredible melee power, and eventhough low aim, also a very good shooting attack as well. This is probably a very good choice to include in this posse.
Nazombu Snake - a somewhat fast melee construct, it's on an XL base if that's what you're looking for, otherwise, Mina is probably much more effective in the same role. It does have Creation(for durable-like) Grit-6 with Mettle though,a nd is a construct with tainted, so it is harder to kill in this posse. Just depends on what you like.
Creation VII - While I am not a fan of split personality, because you cannot plan on having a certain number of action points ever. it CAN be used as a sort of Gambler-like ability, ditching low AP cards and trying for a better random draw. This thing is quite hard to kill, with Creation giving Durable-like Grit-7 and hardy allowing rerolls even if you aren't near anyone with Repair or Sawbones, Tough, plus Indomitable, although with his low mind will make it unlikely to remove stun token to re-use tough in a single turn, it COULD work that way. He does have a variety of decent attacks to choose from as well.
Phonic Blaster Menials - can also be taken in this slot, see above for them.
K9 Gun Dogs - These can be taken in this slot with any weapon, can CAN choose to take phonic blasters, but in this slot they dont have to and can take any of their weapons
Spirit Apparition - As I've stated before, I'm not a fan of these. They're just too fragile, and split personality and ghost armour makes them too random. If you spent the face slot taking someone like Jocasta Tobin with spectral summoning, you can summon them in the face of your enemy and use their powerful attacks before they get eliminated. but it's just not worth it in this posse.
Drum - An automata, but not a construct, so he can't be protected by sawbones or carpathogen. He's also not cheap, and doesn't bring much in the way of utility or synergies, but he's a tanky combat character. He is very difficult to kill, which can be nice for holding objectives. While he has some added benefit for staying still, His primary ranged attack has good RoA and pierce, however, with an aim of only 4, it wont hit very reliably without focus. His fight stat is much better, and with two not-bad attacks to choose from, either getting intrinsic stun, or a slightly improved pierce of -2. As both have brutal, the RoA of 1 isn't as much of a concern. and with forceful strike, they can both deliver quite a punch. so he's actually probably better as a melee unit.
SLOT 5: Same as Slot 3
SLOT 6: Up to Two Enlightened Hand OR Enlightened Support units.
As this is an OR slot, you'll have to pick. Two more hands units ( bringing the hands total possible units up to 4, creating a massive swarm) or Two more supports. The supports in this slot CAN include any supports in the Enlightened list, even vehicles. This is probably the better option, as you can still take the swarm-like units if you want. Lets look at the Vehicles available should you so wish one:
Domesdei Wagon - Tough, Durable Grit-8 and machine (which can give it rerolls from repair) along with a 50/50 indomitable makes this thing hard to crack. It also has carrying capacity and firing platform, allowing you to put some of your shooters on board and give them some protection. plus a 5 shot -2 brutal gun with 15" range is rather nasty itself, although it is only Aim 4.
Ironhide - a liiiiittle bit faster, but not as resilient with one less grit and no indomitable. This is cheaper though, comes with slightly more carrying capacity, and a much more accurate version of the gun (it's linked for rerolls) This is probably the better transport choice for this posse if you want one, but you can go either way, if you want more offense or more defense.
Haupt Heavy Borer - Tough and Durable Grit-8 again, with capacity and a deadly ram attack. units inside are totally protected from attack due to enclosed transport, but can't shoot out. It comes with a napalm gun, but you can swap it for something in the armoury. This is a very cool transport, and can deliver its payload nearly anywhere on the baord using unexpected arrival. However, it's quite big, so placing it at least 1" away from ANY unit, the edge of the play area, or impassable terrain, can get tricky, if it scatters into such a location, it is automatically destroyed.
HOW DO I PLAY THIS POSSE:
Well again, as every unit in WWX can be used to complete any task successfully, this is again up to playstyle. If you want to play with a highly mobile force, you can do it, with fast non vehicle supports, and transports for your slower units. If you want to play with more elite single model units, it can even be done, selecting uniques in the support slots and skipping the option to take hands in several slots. This posse however, probably shines the best when it is filled with a variety of constructs, swarms of small ones, medium sized units of support units, and then Edison with his daughter as a melee bodyguard, and another face with repair/sawbones and carpathogen at the center of a 2nd swarm (probably with a creation bodyguard of his own). I'd recommend Francis tumblety, Creation V as tumblety's bodyguard, mina as edison's bodyguard, hordes of constructed hands (or abomination seekers), and at least some Monocavs for fire support.