The Young LaCroix - Why I Keep Em In The Case

Okay so this is something new, these are models that I think are entirely disposable and why Ophelia can do her thing better without them. Feel free to disagree with anything written here.


Let us start by looking at exactly what it is the Young do. They have an action to Reload one of Ophelia's named upgrades. They can use one attack action printed on Ophelia's upgrades but at a -2 Sh. They are Insignificant so they cannot contribute to strategies or schemes. They have the Small Target ability that lets any Sh Attack Actions suffer a negative flip when targeting them. Overall, they seem to be designed to Reload Ophelia's upgrades and use them to offset their own pistol, which is underwhelming. Sure, they have the Dumb Luck trigger but if you hit moderate or severe they will go pop because they only have 3 wounds.

The Malifaux Child

Now onto the challenge, which totem should you use with Ophelia? Well there are two other choices if you feel you must take a totem, one of them is the Malifaux Child. How does the Child stack up to the Young, Well he is Insignificant so he won't be accomplishing any schemes but he does have some things going for him. He cannot be charged and you have to take a TN 15 Wp  duel or else you can't even target him. He is Ht 1 so Lenny can toss him into a better position without using AP to move. He has no ranged attack (bad); his melee is actually good since he has a positive flip to the attack. He can heal on a 7 of Rams or he can take Ca Actions. Now Ophelia has no Ca actions so that Action isn't all that great. Honestly for healing Gremlins have a lot better options than using a totem that has to have a certain suit. That Pair of Daggers attack is good, but it’s not something that makes it stand out from the next contestant in the Ophelia Totem Games.

The Student of Conflict

The other choice here is the Student of Conflict. I have taken to using the Student more and more with Ophelia, so much so, that her card has migrated to my Gremlin Arsenal deck.  What does the Student offer that the Young don't? Mainly the ability to give any model Fast. Now the Student is Ht 1 as well so Lenny can toss her into a position to give out Fast to another model. Now this can seem a bit counterintuitive, why give up 3 models to give 1 model an extra AP? The reason is that not all AP are created equal. Would I trade 3 Young’s AP (which is 6 total AP) for 1 AP of Ophelia, or Rami? Yes and I often do. First off, by giving Ophelia Fast you can then take 4 shots at range with positives to attack. Think that isn’t strong? She can hit a single target for min damage 12 with her Thinkin Luck trigger. That is often enough damage to kill any model in the game and 99% of all masters. Combine that with smart placement and she can shoot with Her Eyes Closed and she gets a double positive to attack, that is awesome! Another use is to give Rami Fast, the reason being that he can then Focus and shoot the entire board, twice. Now his Sh is at 5 so it’s not always a guarantee of a hit, but if he does remember that Focus gives positives to not only attack but also damage! Pere can walk 20” and get into combat with another model to (hopefully) remove it or just dump damage from his death pulse. The use of Fast is limited only by your crew selection.

Wave 2 – Something I wasn’t going to mention until it is finalized.

Now there are some interesting possibilities coming in Wave 2. One of them is Sammy LaCroix. Sammy’s Good Student ability lets him take a Masters named upgrade, and this is where the fun starts. Sammy with either the Threatnin Gun or the Jug Rocket can make some interesting combos. One idea is to use the (0) on the Threatnin Gun and make Ophelia take a shot, this results in Ophelia shooting 5 times in one turn. I can tell you that not much will stand up to that type of assault. The other use is the Jug Rocket (0) action to target another friendly Kin and place them within 8” of Sammy. This allows for even more movement shenanigans in a Kin based list. You can take Kin out of combat, without disengaging strikes, or you can move Ophelia about without using her AP. Let’s be honest Ophelia is a ranged combat master so anytime she doesn’t have to use her AP to move, it means that she can use them for eliminating models.

Well that’s it for this post feel free to call me a hack or disagree, the comments sections is what this was made for!

As always may the Black Joker never show it’s face and the Red always flip on damage!