The Pockets Levi Diary 2012

[magicpockets]

Okay, so before Masters I was starting to explore Leviticus and finding him a bit of a hit/miss master to play as (thread here)

Taking the lead from Calmdown's diary I've decided to restart my thread for Levi as much of the old thread got derailed into rules discussions with some of the new ideas I had (mainly around Bette and Soulstone Miner).

Faction Pros/Cons
===========
As with most of the Outcast crews, Levi is narrowed to his "own" crew rather than a full faction of models - although he has a huge range of models which "should" make him extremely versatile - even better, he doesn't need to pay the +1ss for out of faction hires.

On the downside, he has the Outcast curse of 0ss (which means you'll almost always have less soulstones of minions than your opponents), has an outdated death mechanic (it was cool in Book one, but is a handicap now after the release of book 2 - eg with LCB), and he's limited by not being able to hold useful cards until later in the game (i.e. if you get the Red Joker in your hand you may want to hold it until that crucial moment later in the game - but not with Levi)

Model Selection
==========
Levi's models can be split into three areas, namely Constructs, Undead and Soulless - I'll also add a separate "Leaders" section for Levi, Henchmen and Totems. This is a HUGE selection so I'm going to slowly fill out this section as I play with/against certain models.

Leaders
----------
Leviticus
Collodi
Molly

Hollow Waifs
Grave Spirit
Necrotic Machine


Constructs
-------------


Undead
---------


Soulless
----------


Ideas, Synergies and Breaking Malifaux
========================

TBC...

[omnivision6]

I was waiting for you to do this. Seriously. Levi is the only non rezzer master Im interested in and reading all the tactics I can about him have been my main focus. Good luck and I will watch with baited breath.

[Tiny]

I hope you have more luck than I did. I could definitely feel the potential of him also. But after 20 games or so just couldnt get him to work. Collodi ruined me. Dreamer wasnt too bad, the movement means you have to spread yourself fairly thing. Interested to see how you do with him.

[Adanedhel]

Good luck magicpockets

If it is of any consolation, in Belgium Levi has gotten pretty feared by now, especcially after I managed to Assasinate miss Du Bois, en changed plans midway first turn another game to get my second waif out of Von Badass, leaving the dead dog to Molly. This admittedly would not have worked had I not had Imbue Vigor ready on Levi :p, but nothing better to get rid on something that wanted to destroy the neutral evidence .

I really hope you find an answer to Dreamer, cause as off now, I had brought Hamelin just in case someone brought Dreamer.

Things which were important for my games were the following:

Hookers; luring things of objective last turn is pure filth, and made my differential 4 points better just by 1 Lure/2 points.

Molly- is a wonderfull piece of equipment for Levi, cause really, Imbue Vigor breaks him hard (did that slow master just move 12" and cast 2 spells turning my model in deployment zone into a SPA turn 2? Yes he did) :p
(or also funny, moving 6 via Necromantic sacrifice, hit Viktoria in close combar, kill vik, turn ronin into SPA with remaining 2 spells), really, Pandora is tame compared to Imbued Leveticus, Imbued he can get at least 1 model down regardless where he is, and 2 if positioned correctly :p

Desolation looks good, but really is a trap, how I wish Desolation to be a (1) spell, I would barely cast other spells anymore :p, but as is Deaths Lessons is too important.

One more piece of advice, though it really is only an ultimate resort, nothing stops you preventing damage, not even when Unstable Necromancy sets in, so if you're left at one wound, and without waifs, just prevent, close to no-one sees that coming, but it is there anyway , a hand without cards and Levi who only will do melee or Unnatural Wasting is still better then losing Levi all together, if you need more wounds to complete your plans, prevent on damage you take

[magicpockets]

Cheers guys (esp Adanedhel for some things I hadn't considered yet), I'm looking forward to the journey

[CunningStunt]

Will be interested in following this, Levi is my 2nd favourite master but so far he's been very hot and miss. Completely love Ashes at the moment but i really need to experiment a bit more with different lists.

[magicpockets]

Will be interested in following this, Levi is my 2nd favourite master but so far he's been very hot and miss. Completely love Ashes at the moment but i really need to experiment a bit more with different lists.

I need to play Ashes and see how it goes, seems like a lot of ss to tie up even at 35ss. This is going to cost me a fortune....

[CunningStunt]

I need to play Ashes and see how it goes, seems like a lot of ss to tie up even at 35ss. This is going to cost me a fortune....

Yeah I wouldn't normally take him below 35ss except for a laugh. He may be expensive but as long as you can bring him back after he dies he's well worth the cash.
I wont be taking him against mcmourning tomorrow though as MM can kill the ashen core in one hit.

[Kael Hate]

Ashes and Dust is awesome. Of all the models with a cost greater than 10, I find it the most active and horrific. Lacks Terror but you want the opponent in close and not running away. Alyce works ok with Burnout, but because the A&D hangs around you have to be careful not to lose it unprepared.

Bette and the Soulstone Miner work well abusing the Bury Mechanic. Bette seems better on the cheaper game so far becuase you don't need Alyce. The Miner is faster because of Alyce but you might luck out and lose it because it has no healing and only 6 wds. Laz with asimilate can work in conjunction with the Miner, but we need a model.

These 3 avenues are the ones I'm using atm because Nico is better at the Undead warmachine.

Who else can benefit from the Blessings of Desolation?
Is Avatar Levi worth the effort?
Is it worth the effort to keep Levi Alive since he is so slow/redactive?

[magicpockets]

I'd never use Burnout on the SS Miner. Give it defensive stance, (+2) Melee Master and a from blessings of desolation to get soulstones or SPAs from everything you kill and send it on it's merry way.