Post by osiris on Aug 7, 2020 3:21:45 GMT -5
V1.091
This is an extremely flexible posse, with ALOT of different builds and playstyle possibilities. it can be expanded to make an extremely large posse for high point-cost games all in its own single posse. For this reason I dont recommend this posse to beginners, because of the complexities of unit combinations. The posse bonus is also interesting, allowing all the units to gain "Confederate". thematically, I believe this is because she's literally bringing zombie confederates back to life, but for game terms this means that rebel yell will also allow for the otherwise lower limit unit choices to be brought up to a higher limit during the game, if positioned correctly.
Lets have a look at the boss first before we dig in to the plethora of different units available to this posse:
Annabelle is definitely not a front line fighter of a boss, but she does have abilities that require her to be near the front-line troops. She has Rebel Yell, which will allow basically any units in this posse (as long as you get the posse bonus) to have +1 limit as long as they are within 8" of her, and after she has used the ability during the turn. She ALSO has carpathogen, so the first time any construct units are destroyed, as long as they died within 6" of her, she can bring some of them back. She also has a powerful indirect attack, for shooting over the frontline troops that should always be between her and the enemy, however, her small base will make getting Line of Sight difficult, so again, this will take careful unit positioning. She DOES however, come with Tactical Brilliance for using AP when she has no combat options available to her during a turn. (and in fact, will probably be spending 3 AP a turn, just on Rebel Yell and Tactical Brilliance)
SLOT 1: Ross Mackeye AND/OR any Enlightened unit with the Creation rule:
Ross Mackeye: He seems basically designed to be used as a sacrifical bodyguard alongside Annabelle. He's cheap, and has some average melee and shooting ability (nothing that stands out as good, but nothing bad either) As long as he's within 3" of Annabelle he gets his For the Ladies bonuses (and remember that's also the range for Take one for the Team...) He ALSO comes with Rebel yell, this may seem redundant at first, but it's important to remember that he can activate MUCH earlier in the turn and use the ability, allowing you to wait until Annabelle has used up some fortune before you need to activate her to replenish. it ALSO means that the overlapping Rebel Yell will also give Annabelle herself the +1 limit, which she cannot provide to herself. He's not a great unit, but the amount of tactical flexibility he brings to when you can choose to use your activations on your boss is worth it, plus he's less than 100 points. One more possible use of him is to create a separate Rebel Yell bubble, away from the boss, but honestly, I think he's more useful as a 'bodyguard' unit for her. He also brings the possibility of some K9 units and/or a unit of civilians, as if this posse needed even MORE units to choose from...
Here's the list of those units with the Creation rule., they are spread out over both faces and support: John Younger, Unger, Creation X, Creation XIII, Opie, Brutes, Creation V, Nazombu Snakes, and Creation VII. Let's take a look at each one:
John Younger - He's a multirole combat creation with a good melee attack and a great shooting attack. He comes with his own fortune, and Dying Breath is nice (especially since it happens before carpathogen brings him back!) He's not very quick though. iHe's Grit-6 with durable-like effect from creation, and even though he has mettle, he's limit 3 on his card so it won't hurt as bad when disordered (Plus he comes with his own fortune chip to walk it off, and in this posse limit shouldn't be an issue) this is an excellent choice for this posse.
Unger - Creation VI - Another decent multirole combat unit, he has a great gun, and with creation his melee attack can also be devastating. with two hits at pierce -4. Again, considering he will probably have grit rerolls and carpathogen resurrection as long as he's near some support. He should be very hard to eliminate, with Durable Grit-6 and Tough. Another excellent choice for this posse. His Limit of 2 wont likely be an issue because of Rebel Yell, and the fact that he has Tough instead of Mettle.
Creation X - The first of the melee only combat constructs in this list. Her industrial buzzsaw is actually pretty terrible, as it only hits on 7+'s and she's tasked to possibly prevent focusing (if she's too far away from the boss), however, this doesn't matter, because her meat cleavers are VERY good, swinging 3 times and with creation getting up to -4 pierce, WITH frenzy. Again durable grit-6, this time with mettle though, and she's already limit 2 to begin with, so disordered can really hurt especially if she's not in a Rebel Yell aura.
Creation XIII - A mediocre combat construct. This creation brings the only suicide weapon in the game that is easy to use being torrent engulf instead of just blast. but he's not cheap enough to be used as a one shot explosion, and remember, carpathogen can't bring back units that used suicide weapons. I'd pass on this unit.
Opie - Creation VIII - always a favorite, he's fast, and extremely difficult to kill. He's durable Grit-7 with tough, AND he has his own grit rerolls. He doesn't really need to stay near anyone other than for carpathogen purposes. He has a low mind stat, but he's legendary so he's immune to compel... Basically if you want a big standalone unit to flank with, this is a pretty solid choice. Sadly he is too large to use Annabelles portals, but he has enough speed that he shouldn't need them.
Brutes - Always an outstanding choice for enlightened posses, these are the shooters of the construct world, although they aren't helpless in melee either, with a brutal stun attack. Their strength lies in their armory access. they come with flamethrowers for short ranged killing, which is pretty good. They can take indirect fire weapons for sneaky lobbing blast templates over walls. They can of course take gatlings for large amounts of longer range shooting dice. and of course, they can bring electrocoils, which are extremely effective against enemies with Machine or Construct. Remember though, they're tasked, so don't mix and match weapons in a unit. just point them all at one thing and fire away. Small groups of 2 or 3 are probably best, as they will likely all come back with carpathogen, wont cost outrageous points, and can still bring some hurting on the firepower.
Overall, these units can bring alot of pain for 60-65 points per model, and can be fairly difficult to bring down. Small groups of 2 are the same cost as some cheap faces, but bring much more firepower, and even 3 still is well under 200 points. In small groups like this, they're also likely to be completely resurrected from carpathogen. and with Rebel Yell bringing them up to limit 3, these can really be a great unit for this posse. Sadly because they are Support units, they can only be taken in this posse in slots 1 and 5, for this posse, I'd strongly recommend using both of those slots to take a unit of 3 of these guys though.
Creation V - A support unit, so he will be competing for the two slots that Brutes are in. He is a multirole combat construct. Very hard to kill (especially inside sawbones/carpathogen bubbles) and both melee AND long ranged pierce -4 attacks (although his aim stat is low). a shame he doesn't have fortune, or more limit, but still great power for the price. If you dont take two units of Brutes, this guy is worth considering.
Nazombu Snake - A support unit, so it is also competing for the slots 1 and 5 choices. This probably isn't a good unit for this posse. While they are fast, and somewhat hard to kill, they're not nearly has powerful as opie. BUT these are excellent for use with compel, as they're only mind-1 so you can make them attack again and again, even out of turn. Just beware, since they dont have failsafes, your opponent can compel them easily too... I'd honestly skip these in this posse.
Creation VII - A support unit, so once again, competing for slots 1 and 5. He (they?) are another multirole combat construct, this is another unit that can standalone, because it has hardy on its own. It also has indomitable, but remember that will only work on a 7+ because of his low mind (and again no failsafe). He has a variety of useful melee and shooting attacks, and can even make ram attacks. Split personality is kind of annoying though as you can never plan how many action points he will have, but at least you can use it to get rid of 1 action point draws. Honestly, in this posse, there are much better units to choose from.
SLOT 2: ANY Enlightened Face -OR- Enlightened Hands unit.
The other slots in this posse provide LOTS of opportunities to take hands elsewhere, so I'd absolutely use this slot to bring a face. Technically this is the only slot that can bring a non-construct hands... but all the hands choices are constructs except for K9 attack dogs, which you can get from faces with sic'em anyway if you want them that bad. Take a face in this slot, there are plenty of very good choices.
Here's all the Enlightened Face choices:
Jedediah Smith - While he himself is not a construct (but he is tainted), he's an excellent face to support this list. He comes with Carpathogen (and an extra fortune chip) to extend your resurrection abilities. Keep him near one of your cheap squads of menials or henchmen (or even the attack dogs that he can bring with sic'em) near him as it will make him nearly invincible (passing off failed grit checks to the cheap henchmen with Meat Shield) He comes with disrupt on his melee weapon (and can get it with a crit on his pistol) for added firepower against machines or constructs.
John Younger - He's a Creation, so see above.
Donovan - A relatively inexpensive face, but not of great use. he has some melee capability but little else of value. He has a little bit of added resilience, but unless you really want a cheap face with some melee, look elsewhere.
Unger - Creation VI - Again, a Creation, already discussed above.
Bloody Bill Anderssen - Yet another good, inexpensive combat construct. Death-dealer and quick strike makes his fellblades have enough hit potential to be dangerous, and he's carrying both juiced pistols and ketchum grenades for a good indirect stun blast attack. he's even fairly mobile with rapid, and he comes with his own chip of fortune.
He's already a confederate, so the posse bonuse doesn't do anything for him, but he's still able to be affected by Rebel Yell. He's a pretty good choice and quite thematic for ths posse.
Ross Mackeye - Already discussed above.
Wendell Lee - Here is an excellent supporting Face for this posse. While he himself isn't a construct, so can't be carpathogened, he IS a Sawbones, bringing grit rerolls to the party! He also brings full compel as well! he also has enervate, if you can get it to work. While he doesn't have a great melee, his indirect thermite grenades can be quite powerful (and effective for use from behind some expendable constructs).
This is another great choice to keep with the boss and her fighters (probably a unit or two of brutes. Giving everyone grit rerolls, while the boss can resurrect and hand out bonus limit.
Mantis - She's quite cheap, with a variety of above average attacks, her main advantage is having Gundown, which is very useful if you have alot of melee based units (which can be easy to do with creations...) but her shooting attacks for use with it are not as good as her melee.
Virgil Earp - a very powerful combat construct. He wont die easy with Durable Grit-6, especially if he's near a sawbones, and even if he does, he's a construct and can come back. Plus he has the usual Mettle and Quick and the Dead. Even if Timan will be useless in this posse. his Hyper-V Rifle has a massive -4 pierce punch. He also has gundown and his own fortune chip.
Creation X - Another Creation, already discussed above
Creation XIII - Another Creation, already discussed above
Ushi Yi - A human female. She can also use Meat Shields alongside a group of cheap friendlies (like menials or henchmen) to help keep her alive. She's not got a great Girt though, so she's going to need those meat shields. She's a bit harder to hit due to shrouded, and parry in melee. She also does have teamwork which is nice. She has a variety of decent attacks, with a powerful melee strike, and multiple medium range shooting attacks. Leeched Ability may help her get higher grit, but Gene link will only work if another model in her force also has that ability. Bounding strike is situationally useful at best.
This unit just doesn't really fit with the theme of the posse, and it has almost no synergies, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Tenshi Yi - This is basically a better version of Ushi. She's got identical stats and weapons and abilities with the only exception is she trades Bounding Strike for Death-dealer, which will likely be far more useful in combat. Plus she's 5 points less!
Still though, probably not a great pick for this posse.
Dieter Kaufmann - Like the Yi sisters, this is another face with Gene-link, in fact they're very similar. The Kaufmann brothers lose Shrouded, Meat shields, and any melee-enhancing special rules. They also lose a point of fight and a point of quick, and their melee attack loses 1" of range and is 1 point of pierce weaker. In return for all this, they gain one point of grit (to make them Grit-6 in this posse), and they come with a fortune chip, and they are tainted. Dieter costs 5 points less than his brother, but has a mediocre pistol because of it. These guys give up alot from the Yi sisters and in general, are quite a bit worse.
Schultz Kaufmann - This Kaufmann at least comes with a good shooting attack, as the plasma six-shooter is one of the better guns, he could be worth including WITH one of the Yi sisters (tenshi) as a shooter version who can also use gene-link, and has his own fortune.
Still, doesn't really fit with the theme of the posse, and it has almost no synergies, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Apex Hellion - Teachnically Unreleased, so invalid for tournament play, its a cheap combat construct. This time with flight for superior mobility. Unfortnately, mobility is this unit's only real strength. The weapons are mostly average on this unit, but it does bring a few useful special rules. it has trailfinder to help get good positioning early. Death Dealer helps add some hits to its melee attacks. Sadly, it's extremely fragile, and a quick of only 4 means it wont even be able to reliably use quick and the dead. at least it has mettle. It has a special rule that gives it +1 fight and the Teamwork rule if it is within 3" of another UNRELEASED unit.... (His card is not supposed to already have teamwork, it has been Errata'd.) Just better to avoid this unit for now.
Misty Mimms - All jokes about a Tainted Soiled Dove aside, this is another Human Female unit (but not a construct). Undercover forces you to start in reserve, but allows you to pop her in to the battle nearly anywhere. It also provides a little bit of protection from shooting, at least as long as your opponents are human. She's also a rabble rouser, which can help with bringing angry mobs (See the Lynch Mob posse analysis in lawmen for more about these guys) She has two very good attacks, the plasma six shooter is always nasty, and even though the shiv shanker is only slightly above average, frenzy when combined with refined means she's got a good chance of dealing out extra attacks. (36% each strike) while she is a good killer, she doesn't really offer much synergy to the posse.
Ben Hamilton - You can take this face in addition to your other Slot 5 choice. He's either the Boss' brother, or husband likely due to the name.(I didn't read the fluff to find out). He's a human, male, and he isn't even tainted, but he's still a decent choice for this posse. Why? he has Repair. which works on constructs. His crossbow is also a very good shooting attack, even if you dont use the beacon ability. He's got shrouded to help keep him alive and average face-level resilience with Grit-5, Mettle, and Quick and the dead. He also has override automata, and more importantly, Jury rig-automata, which he can use on his own K9's that he brings with Sic'em if you want. on top of all this, he has Rapport, and plenty of weapons that will actually benefit from it. And he has his own fortune chip. He's a great addition to this posse that can do alot, and really enhance the survivability of your constructs.
If you dont take a different Sawbones, or even if you do, he's a good choice for making this posse that much harder to bring down.
Frank H-Bot 44 Mclaury - another cheap combat construct with tainted. Frenzy is not really that useful on his as he only has a RoA1 melee attack, and split personality makes it hard to predict how many action points he will actually have, although it can be used to get rid of 1 Action Point draws. He also has a one time use only hazardous engulf flamethrower. For his points costs, he's not terrible, if you need a really cheap points filler, he's ok, otherwise, I'd say look elsewhere.
Francis Tumblety - This unit is always great to include. He comes with Dark Council, for a free hexalith, sure he has enervate and rabble rouser, which could potentially be useful, but much more importantly, he has both Sawbones AND Carpathogen. Keeping him near your other constructs makes them reroll grit AND come back when destroyed (as long as he has a fortune to spend, remember he can spend his own or the boss') He has only average defenses though, so keep him behind some constructs and out of direct enemy fire. His own attacks aren't bad either, but he should mostly avoid combat and use his special abilities as much as possible. Remember, you can use Dark Council to compel your OWN tainted units into taking more actions...
Mina Edeson (sic) - Another combat construct, this one not quite as cheap. She wont be able to use her Frenzied attack (or automatic bodyguard ability) because she only does those when she's within 4" of Thomas Edeson (sic) who is a different boss. while she is an efficient little melee murder machine, she's not really the best choice for this posse.
Opie - Creation VIII - another Creation, discussed above.
Erin Meltzer - Now we get into the soul hunters. Meltzer has a decent template shooting attack, as it comes with tangle and is pierce -4 when she crits a focused shoot action (on 9+ with refined). This is one unit that does ALOT strategically for any posse. She has Treasure Hunter, which is phenomenal by itself. Shrewd Strategist, which is one of the better card manipulation abilities. and she's a portal master, for opening (and closing) portals for your posse. She also has sic'em and of course soul hunter. She's not a construct, nor tainted, and has average resilience, but she also brings her own fortune chip. Other than Treasure Hunter, the boss already does alot of what this unit can bring, BUT treasure hunter IS always worth considering.
Ernesto Volk - The more combat-oriented version of Meltzer. he has NONE of the strategic abilities that she brings, and his tangle torrent, while still a good weapon, is only pierce -3 when he focus crits. He just isn't a themeatic fit, nor does he have many synergies, probably not a good choice.
Hans Spelmann - A combat human male. He has a good shooting attack, ok, a very good shooting attack. But honestly, that's it. and you are already probably going to have firepower for days considering you can have brutes, so unless you are specifically wanting a shooty soul hunter, there's not much of a reason to include him in this posse.
Jocasta Tobin - The spectral summoner of the soul hunters, her shooting attack isn't any where near as good as Hans, but at least she brings smoke grenades with controlled scatter, if that's something you think you'd use. If, for some reason, you feel spectral summoning is your thing, she has it.
Again, not a great unit, thematically, nor for synergies in this posse.
Katherine Holst - Another soul hunter, this one could be useful to the posse because she has Repair (to give your nearby constructs rerolls), she's a bit harder to kill with Quick and the Dead and Surefoot combo, plus a Xenoshield. She Also has For the Ladies (but can't trigger it on herself, obviously) She can also bring back destroyed Automata units, if you have brought any. And has gambler to help get rid of 1 action point draws. Her shooting attack is ok, being pierce -3 when focused and can potentially drag opponents. One reason to pick Holst or Meltzer in this posse, even though they're not constructs nor tainted, is exactly that. If your opponent is expecting LOTS of constructs, and brings lots of disrupt weapons, bringing some humans can help make you less vulnerable. Again, it all breaks down to playstyle, and who your opponent is.
You can also take a Hands unit in this slot, so here they are:
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 hands 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) 1.091 faq says MAssed fire doesn't work on weapons with a range of self. 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 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 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. These units bring 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 (or have them potentially spawn a hex beast upon death). They're also great in groups around anyone with Meat Shields.
Constructed Henchmen - Compared to the menials, 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 slots (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 good 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.
SLOT 3: Any Enlightened face -OR- up to two Enlightened Construct Hands units.
This is a playstyle choice. If you are going more swarm, you're going to want the two hands units here. otherwise, Take the Face unit of your choice from above. Honestly, I'd take the two hands in this slot, because in the very next slot, you can take two faces. But if you dont want hands or a swarm, you can always just bring another face (there's plenty of good units to pick from)
SLOT 4: Either up to two Enlightened Face or Enlightened Construct Hands units.
Basically the same choice as slot 3, but this time you can take two faces instead of just one if you choose the face side. I'd pick two good faces in this slot, probably a couple decent combat constructs, or one and a supporting unit like francis tumblety or wendell lee
SLOT 5: Ben Hamilton AND/or any Enlightened withthe Creation Rule.
Ben is a good choice as mentioned above due to his repair ability. And here's where you get your other Creation (see above)
SLOT 6: ANY Outlaw Confederate Unit, AND/OR Any Outlaw Mercenary Support unit.
Here's a Wildcard of a slot that lets you add units from the outlaws unit choices. Realistically most people are probably going to pick Confederate Terminators here, but there's several choices as follows:
Bloody Bill Anderssen, Ross Mackeye, Wendell Lee, Ben Hamilton - all of these can be taken here, but are already discussed above.
Frank James (On foot/Mounted):
Cole Younger (On foot/Mounted):
Jim Younger (On foot/Mounted):
Robert Younger (On foot/Mounted):
Buford Nash:
Tobias Franklyn:
Jefford Williams:
Belle Wilson:
Jake Mattia: (On foot/Mounted):
Yann "The Wraith" Packer:
Jeremiah Slayn:
Thomas Russell:
Bud Scorcher Hutch:
Rebel Scouts:
Dixie Snipers:
Rebel Support Team:
Ironhide:
Confederate Terminators:
Blackhoof Scouts:
K9 Gun Dogs:
Haupt Heavy Borer:
And then there's the huge list of Mercenary Support as well:
Domesdei Wagon
Nazombu Snake again
Vaquero Heavy Buggy
Flame Truck
Bandit Outriders
Bandit Blackjack
Bandit Dustcutter
Bandit Interceptors
Sandrail Buggy
Raider Trailblazer
And Raider Sharpshooters
WORK IN PROGRESS: MORE TO COME
This is an extremely flexible posse, with ALOT of different builds and playstyle possibilities. it can be expanded to make an extremely large posse for high point-cost games all in its own single posse. For this reason I dont recommend this posse to beginners, because of the complexities of unit combinations. The posse bonus is also interesting, allowing all the units to gain "Confederate". thematically, I believe this is because she's literally bringing zombie confederates back to life, but for game terms this means that rebel yell will also allow for the otherwise lower limit unit choices to be brought up to a higher limit during the game, if positioned correctly.
Lets have a look at the boss first before we dig in to the plethora of different units available to this posse:
Annabelle is definitely not a front line fighter of a boss, but she does have abilities that require her to be near the front-line troops. She has Rebel Yell, which will allow basically any units in this posse (as long as you get the posse bonus) to have +1 limit as long as they are within 8" of her, and after she has used the ability during the turn. She ALSO has carpathogen, so the first time any construct units are destroyed, as long as they died within 6" of her, she can bring some of them back. She also has a powerful indirect attack, for shooting over the frontline troops that should always be between her and the enemy, however, her small base will make getting Line of Sight difficult, so again, this will take careful unit positioning. She DOES however, come with Tactical Brilliance for using AP when she has no combat options available to her during a turn. (and in fact, will probably be spending 3 AP a turn, just on Rebel Yell and Tactical Brilliance)
SLOT 1: Ross Mackeye AND/OR any Enlightened unit with the Creation rule:
Ross Mackeye: He seems basically designed to be used as a sacrifical bodyguard alongside Annabelle. He's cheap, and has some average melee and shooting ability (nothing that stands out as good, but nothing bad either) As long as he's within 3" of Annabelle he gets his For the Ladies bonuses (and remember that's also the range for Take one for the Team...) He ALSO comes with Rebel yell, this may seem redundant at first, but it's important to remember that he can activate MUCH earlier in the turn and use the ability, allowing you to wait until Annabelle has used up some fortune before you need to activate her to replenish. it ALSO means that the overlapping Rebel Yell will also give Annabelle herself the +1 limit, which she cannot provide to herself. He's not a great unit, but the amount of tactical flexibility he brings to when you can choose to use your activations on your boss is worth it, plus he's less than 100 points. One more possible use of him is to create a separate Rebel Yell bubble, away from the boss, but honestly, I think he's more useful as a 'bodyguard' unit for her. He also brings the possibility of some K9 units and/or a unit of civilians, as if this posse needed even MORE units to choose from...
Here's the list of those units with the Creation rule., they are spread out over both faces and support: John Younger, Unger, Creation X, Creation XIII, Opie, Brutes, Creation V, Nazombu Snakes, and Creation VII. Let's take a look at each one:
John Younger - He's a multirole combat creation with a good melee attack and a great shooting attack. He comes with his own fortune, and Dying Breath is nice (especially since it happens before carpathogen brings him back!) He's not very quick though. iHe's Grit-6 with durable-like effect from creation, and even though he has mettle, he's limit 3 on his card so it won't hurt as bad when disordered (Plus he comes with his own fortune chip to walk it off, and in this posse limit shouldn't be an issue) this is an excellent choice for this posse.
Unger - Creation VI - Another decent multirole combat unit, he has a great gun, and with creation his melee attack can also be devastating. with two hits at pierce -4. Again, considering he will probably have grit rerolls and carpathogen resurrection as long as he's near some support. He should be very hard to eliminate, with Durable Grit-6 and Tough. Another excellent choice for this posse. His Limit of 2 wont likely be an issue because of Rebel Yell, and the fact that he has Tough instead of Mettle.
Creation X - The first of the melee only combat constructs in this list. Her industrial buzzsaw is actually pretty terrible, as it only hits on 7+'s and she's tasked to possibly prevent focusing (if she's too far away from the boss), however, this doesn't matter, because her meat cleavers are VERY good, swinging 3 times and with creation getting up to -4 pierce, WITH frenzy. Again durable grit-6, this time with mettle though, and she's already limit 2 to begin with, so disordered can really hurt especially if she's not in a Rebel Yell aura.
Creation XIII - A mediocre combat construct. This creation brings the only suicide weapon in the game that is easy to use being torrent engulf instead of just blast. but he's not cheap enough to be used as a one shot explosion, and remember, carpathogen can't bring back units that used suicide weapons. I'd pass on this unit.
Opie - Creation VIII - always a favorite, he's fast, and extremely difficult to kill. He's durable Grit-7 with tough, AND he has his own grit rerolls. He doesn't really need to stay near anyone other than for carpathogen purposes. He has a low mind stat, but he's legendary so he's immune to compel... Basically if you want a big standalone unit to flank with, this is a pretty solid choice. Sadly he is too large to use Annabelles portals, but he has enough speed that he shouldn't need them.
Brutes - Always an outstanding choice for enlightened posses, these are the shooters of the construct world, although they aren't helpless in melee either, with a brutal stun attack. Their strength lies in their armory access. they come with flamethrowers for short ranged killing, which is pretty good. They can take indirect fire weapons for sneaky lobbing blast templates over walls. They can of course take gatlings for large amounts of longer range shooting dice. and of course, they can bring electrocoils, which are extremely effective against enemies with Machine or Construct. Remember though, they're tasked, so don't mix and match weapons in a unit. just point them all at one thing and fire away. Small groups of 2 or 3 are probably best, as they will likely all come back with carpathogen, wont cost outrageous points, and can still bring some hurting on the firepower.
Overall, these units can bring alot of pain for 60-65 points per model, and can be fairly difficult to bring down. Small groups of 2 are the same cost as some cheap faces, but bring much more firepower, and even 3 still is well under 200 points. In small groups like this, they're also likely to be completely resurrected from carpathogen. and with Rebel Yell bringing them up to limit 3, these can really be a great unit for this posse. Sadly because they are Support units, they can only be taken in this posse in slots 1 and 5, for this posse, I'd strongly recommend using both of those slots to take a unit of 3 of these guys though.
Creation V - A support unit, so he will be competing for the two slots that Brutes are in. He is a multirole combat construct. Very hard to kill (especially inside sawbones/carpathogen bubbles) and both melee AND long ranged pierce -4 attacks (although his aim stat is low). a shame he doesn't have fortune, or more limit, but still great power for the price. If you dont take two units of Brutes, this guy is worth considering.
Nazombu Snake - A support unit, so it is also competing for the slots 1 and 5 choices. This probably isn't a good unit for this posse. While they are fast, and somewhat hard to kill, they're not nearly has powerful as opie. BUT these are excellent for use with compel, as they're only mind-1 so you can make them attack again and again, even out of turn. Just beware, since they dont have failsafes, your opponent can compel them easily too... I'd honestly skip these in this posse.
Creation VII - A support unit, so once again, competing for slots 1 and 5. He (they?) are another multirole combat construct, this is another unit that can standalone, because it has hardy on its own. It also has indomitable, but remember that will only work on a 7+ because of his low mind (and again no failsafe). He has a variety of useful melee and shooting attacks, and can even make ram attacks. Split personality is kind of annoying though as you can never plan how many action points he will have, but at least you can use it to get rid of 1 action point draws. Honestly, in this posse, there are much better units to choose from.
SLOT 2: ANY Enlightened Face -OR- Enlightened Hands unit.
The other slots in this posse provide LOTS of opportunities to take hands elsewhere, so I'd absolutely use this slot to bring a face. Technically this is the only slot that can bring a non-construct hands... but all the hands choices are constructs except for K9 attack dogs, which you can get from faces with sic'em anyway if you want them that bad. Take a face in this slot, there are plenty of very good choices.
Here's all the Enlightened Face choices:
Jedediah Smith - While he himself is not a construct (but he is tainted), he's an excellent face to support this list. He comes with Carpathogen (and an extra fortune chip) to extend your resurrection abilities. Keep him near one of your cheap squads of menials or henchmen (or even the attack dogs that he can bring with sic'em) near him as it will make him nearly invincible (passing off failed grit checks to the cheap henchmen with Meat Shield) He comes with disrupt on his melee weapon (and can get it with a crit on his pistol) for added firepower against machines or constructs.
John Younger - He's a Creation, so see above.
Donovan - A relatively inexpensive face, but not of great use. he has some melee capability but little else of value. He has a little bit of added resilience, but unless you really want a cheap face with some melee, look elsewhere.
Unger - Creation VI - Again, a Creation, already discussed above.
Bloody Bill Anderssen - Yet another good, inexpensive combat construct. Death-dealer and quick strike makes his fellblades have enough hit potential to be dangerous, and he's carrying both juiced pistols and ketchum grenades for a good indirect stun blast attack. he's even fairly mobile with rapid, and he comes with his own chip of fortune.
He's already a confederate, so the posse bonuse doesn't do anything for him, but he's still able to be affected by Rebel Yell. He's a pretty good choice and quite thematic for ths posse.
Ross Mackeye - Already discussed above.
Wendell Lee - Here is an excellent supporting Face for this posse. While he himself isn't a construct, so can't be carpathogened, he IS a Sawbones, bringing grit rerolls to the party! He also brings full compel as well! he also has enervate, if you can get it to work. While he doesn't have a great melee, his indirect thermite grenades can be quite powerful (and effective for use from behind some expendable constructs).
This is another great choice to keep with the boss and her fighters (probably a unit or two of brutes. Giving everyone grit rerolls, while the boss can resurrect and hand out bonus limit.
Mantis - She's quite cheap, with a variety of above average attacks, her main advantage is having Gundown, which is very useful if you have alot of melee based units (which can be easy to do with creations...) but her shooting attacks for use with it are not as good as her melee.
Virgil Earp - a very powerful combat construct. He wont die easy with Durable Grit-6, especially if he's near a sawbones, and even if he does, he's a construct and can come back. Plus he has the usual Mettle and Quick and the Dead. Even if Timan will be useless in this posse. his Hyper-V Rifle has a massive -4 pierce punch. He also has gundown and his own fortune chip.
Creation X - Another Creation, already discussed above
Creation XIII - Another Creation, already discussed above
Ushi Yi - A human female. She can also use Meat Shields alongside a group of cheap friendlies (like menials or henchmen) to help keep her alive. She's not got a great Girt though, so she's going to need those meat shields. She's a bit harder to hit due to shrouded, and parry in melee. She also does have teamwork which is nice. She has a variety of decent attacks, with a powerful melee strike, and multiple medium range shooting attacks. Leeched Ability may help her get higher grit, but Gene link will only work if another model in her force also has that ability. Bounding strike is situationally useful at best.
This unit just doesn't really fit with the theme of the posse, and it has almost no synergies, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Tenshi Yi - This is basically a better version of Ushi. She's got identical stats and weapons and abilities with the only exception is she trades Bounding Strike for Death-dealer, which will likely be far more useful in combat. Plus she's 5 points less!
Still though, probably not a great pick for this posse.
Dieter Kaufmann - Like the Yi sisters, this is another face with Gene-link, in fact they're very similar. The Kaufmann brothers lose Shrouded, Meat shields, and any melee-enhancing special rules. They also lose a point of fight and a point of quick, and their melee attack loses 1" of range and is 1 point of pierce weaker. In return for all this, they gain one point of grit (to make them Grit-6 in this posse), and they come with a fortune chip, and they are tainted. Dieter costs 5 points less than his brother, but has a mediocre pistol because of it. These guys give up alot from the Yi sisters and in general, are quite a bit worse.
Schultz Kaufmann - This Kaufmann at least comes with a good shooting attack, as the plasma six-shooter is one of the better guns, he could be worth including WITH one of the Yi sisters (tenshi) as a shooter version who can also use gene-link, and has his own fortune.
Still, doesn't really fit with the theme of the posse, and it has almost no synergies, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Apex Hellion - Teachnically Unreleased, so invalid for tournament play, its a cheap combat construct. This time with flight for superior mobility. Unfortnately, mobility is this unit's only real strength. The weapons are mostly average on this unit, but it does bring a few useful special rules. it has trailfinder to help get good positioning early. Death Dealer helps add some hits to its melee attacks. Sadly, it's extremely fragile, and a quick of only 4 means it wont even be able to reliably use quick and the dead. at least it has mettle. It has a special rule that gives it +1 fight and the Teamwork rule if it is within 3" of another UNRELEASED unit.... (His card is not supposed to already have teamwork, it has been Errata'd.) Just better to avoid this unit for now.
Misty Mimms - All jokes about a Tainted Soiled Dove aside, this is another Human Female unit (but not a construct). Undercover forces you to start in reserve, but allows you to pop her in to the battle nearly anywhere. It also provides a little bit of protection from shooting, at least as long as your opponents are human. She's also a rabble rouser, which can help with bringing angry mobs (See the Lynch Mob posse analysis in lawmen for more about these guys) She has two very good attacks, the plasma six shooter is always nasty, and even though the shiv shanker is only slightly above average, frenzy when combined with refined means she's got a good chance of dealing out extra attacks. (36% each strike) while she is a good killer, she doesn't really offer much synergy to the posse.
Ben Hamilton - You can take this face in addition to your other Slot 5 choice. He's either the Boss' brother, or husband likely due to the name.(I didn't read the fluff to find out). He's a human, male, and he isn't even tainted, but he's still a decent choice for this posse. Why? he has Repair. which works on constructs. His crossbow is also a very good shooting attack, even if you dont use the beacon ability. He's got shrouded to help keep him alive and average face-level resilience with Grit-5, Mettle, and Quick and the dead. He also has override automata, and more importantly, Jury rig-automata, which he can use on his own K9's that he brings with Sic'em if you want. on top of all this, he has Rapport, and plenty of weapons that will actually benefit from it. And he has his own fortune chip. He's a great addition to this posse that can do alot, and really enhance the survivability of your constructs.
If you dont take a different Sawbones, or even if you do, he's a good choice for making this posse that much harder to bring down.
Frank H-Bot 44 Mclaury - another cheap combat construct with tainted. Frenzy is not really that useful on his as he only has a RoA1 melee attack, and split personality makes it hard to predict how many action points he will actually have, although it can be used to get rid of 1 Action Point draws. He also has a one time use only hazardous engulf flamethrower. For his points costs, he's not terrible, if you need a really cheap points filler, he's ok, otherwise, I'd say look elsewhere.
Francis Tumblety - This unit is always great to include. He comes with Dark Council, for a free hexalith, sure he has enervate and rabble rouser, which could potentially be useful, but much more importantly, he has both Sawbones AND Carpathogen. Keeping him near your other constructs makes them reroll grit AND come back when destroyed (as long as he has a fortune to spend, remember he can spend his own or the boss') He has only average defenses though, so keep him behind some constructs and out of direct enemy fire. His own attacks aren't bad either, but he should mostly avoid combat and use his special abilities as much as possible. Remember, you can use Dark Council to compel your OWN tainted units into taking more actions...
Mina Edeson (sic) - Another combat construct, this one not quite as cheap. She wont be able to use her Frenzied attack (or automatic bodyguard ability) because she only does those when she's within 4" of Thomas Edeson (sic) who is a different boss. while she is an efficient little melee murder machine, she's not really the best choice for this posse.
Opie - Creation VIII - another Creation, discussed above.
Erin Meltzer - Now we get into the soul hunters. Meltzer has a decent template shooting attack, as it comes with tangle and is pierce -4 when she crits a focused shoot action (on 9+ with refined). This is one unit that does ALOT strategically for any posse. She has Treasure Hunter, which is phenomenal by itself. Shrewd Strategist, which is one of the better card manipulation abilities. and she's a portal master, for opening (and closing) portals for your posse. She also has sic'em and of course soul hunter. She's not a construct, nor tainted, and has average resilience, but she also brings her own fortune chip. Other than Treasure Hunter, the boss already does alot of what this unit can bring, BUT treasure hunter IS always worth considering.
Ernesto Volk - The more combat-oriented version of Meltzer. he has NONE of the strategic abilities that she brings, and his tangle torrent, while still a good weapon, is only pierce -3 when he focus crits. He just isn't a themeatic fit, nor does he have many synergies, probably not a good choice.
Hans Spelmann - A combat human male. He has a good shooting attack, ok, a very good shooting attack. But honestly, that's it. and you are already probably going to have firepower for days considering you can have brutes, so unless you are specifically wanting a shooty soul hunter, there's not much of a reason to include him in this posse.
Jocasta Tobin - The spectral summoner of the soul hunters, her shooting attack isn't any where near as good as Hans, but at least she brings smoke grenades with controlled scatter, if that's something you think you'd use. If, for some reason, you feel spectral summoning is your thing, she has it.
Again, not a great unit, thematically, nor for synergies in this posse.
Katherine Holst - Another soul hunter, this one could be useful to the posse because she has Repair (to give your nearby constructs rerolls), she's a bit harder to kill with Quick and the Dead and Surefoot combo, plus a Xenoshield. She Also has For the Ladies (but can't trigger it on herself, obviously) She can also bring back destroyed Automata units, if you have brought any. And has gambler to help get rid of 1 action point draws. Her shooting attack is ok, being pierce -3 when focused and can potentially drag opponents. One reason to pick Holst or Meltzer in this posse, even though they're not constructs nor tainted, is exactly that. If your opponent is expecting LOTS of constructs, and brings lots of disrupt weapons, bringing some humans can help make you less vulnerable. Again, it all breaks down to playstyle, and who your opponent is.
You can also take a Hands unit in this slot, so here they are:
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 hands 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) 1.091 faq says MAssed fire doesn't work on weapons with a range of self. 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 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 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. These units bring 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 (or have them potentially spawn a hex beast upon death). They're also great in groups around anyone with Meat Shields.
Constructed Henchmen - Compared to the menials, 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 slots (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 good 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.
SLOT 3: Any Enlightened face -OR- up to two Enlightened Construct Hands units.
This is a playstyle choice. If you are going more swarm, you're going to want the two hands units here. otherwise, Take the Face unit of your choice from above. Honestly, I'd take the two hands in this slot, because in the very next slot, you can take two faces. But if you dont want hands or a swarm, you can always just bring another face (there's plenty of good units to pick from)
SLOT 4: Either up to two Enlightened Face or Enlightened Construct Hands units.
Basically the same choice as slot 3, but this time you can take two faces instead of just one if you choose the face side. I'd pick two good faces in this slot, probably a couple decent combat constructs, or one and a supporting unit like francis tumblety or wendell lee
SLOT 5: Ben Hamilton AND/or any Enlightened withthe Creation Rule.
Ben is a good choice as mentioned above due to his repair ability. And here's where you get your other Creation (see above)
SLOT 6: ANY Outlaw Confederate Unit, AND/OR Any Outlaw Mercenary Support unit.
Here's a Wildcard of a slot that lets you add units from the outlaws unit choices. Realistically most people are probably going to pick Confederate Terminators here, but there's several choices as follows:
Bloody Bill Anderssen, Ross Mackeye, Wendell Lee, Ben Hamilton - all of these can be taken here, but are already discussed above.
Frank James (On foot/Mounted):
Cole Younger (On foot/Mounted):
Jim Younger (On foot/Mounted):
Robert Younger (On foot/Mounted):
Buford Nash:
Tobias Franklyn:
Jefford Williams:
Belle Wilson:
Jake Mattia: (On foot/Mounted):
Yann "The Wraith" Packer:
Jeremiah Slayn:
Thomas Russell:
Bud Scorcher Hutch:
Rebel Scouts:
Dixie Snipers:
Rebel Support Team:
Ironhide:
Confederate Terminators:
Blackhoof Scouts:
K9 Gun Dogs:
Haupt Heavy Borer:
And then there's the huge list of Mercenary Support as well:
Domesdei Wagon
Nazombu Snake again
Vaquero Heavy Buggy
Flame Truck
Bandit Outriders
Bandit Blackjack
Bandit Dustcutter
Bandit Interceptors
Sandrail Buggy
Raider Trailblazer
And Raider Sharpshooters
WORK IN PROGRESS: MORE TO COME