Beefing up a Showgirls crew with "non-standard" minions

[Jonasty]

To preface this, I'm still somewhat new to the Malifaux game. So I've got the Showgirls box set and I'm looking for alternative suggestions to beef it out a little. When I say alternative, what I mean is that I'm aware of the "standard" choices of some amount of mechanical doves and the coryphee. I'm curious if there are other choices that would work that people find. It will be a while till I decide to build a wholly new crew so I want to inject a little variety into the one I have now by maybe including single minis from other areas of the Arcanist lists.

One model I've been eyeballing with this idea in mind is the mechanical rider. I'm not sure about it and I haven't seen the actual card with the full rules but the mini and flavor/fluff of it appeals to me. Anyone have any experience with this mini or any others that might not normally be fielded in a showgirls gang?

Thanks for any help you might have.

[Odin1981]

Kaeris, johan, maybe taelor are the common ones that generally get used if you want a heavy hitter model.

In theory the rider could actually keep up with the crew but I don't own it so I can't really comment on it much.

[yes but no]

The ridiculous synergy the showgirls posses is really a blessing and a curse. It leads to tremendous flexibility in gameplay options, not so much in model selection. Also do you have your eye on any other masters for your second master? The reason I ask is because like you my first master was Colette and later I branched into Sonnia Criid, between the two masters my desperate mercenaries (and I suppose fire gamin) are my cross over models. So perhaps we can steer you toward models that work towards a second army.

Finally and I hate to be that guy, if you haven't picked up a blister of doves yet I highly recommend you to do so. They are 2 point (or 1 SS if you summon them) wonders that lend greatly to the army.

[13th Warrior]

The Gunsmith can be a very good addition to the crew with some strategies, although as with any non-Showgirl model, they suffer from lack of speed (this can be got round with careful use of Disappearing Act, though).

Von Schill is also meant to be quite useful (don't know, never tried him) but then again people seem to look to him as a panacea for all ills!

Kaeris can be useful, depends how you use her. I haven't used her much, but getting the Burning Tokens isn't particularly easy without Fire Gamins, and then suddenly you're tying up half your crew with non-Showgirl models. Kaeris also seems to be very Soulstone intense, which puts a bit more pressure on the rest of the crew.

Johann is great value (5ss in a Colette crew), but again is slow. This is less of a disadvantage in some strategies, and again, like the Gunsmith, careful use of Disappearing Act can help.

I've got the Mechanical Rider, but as I haven't finished painting her I haven't used her yet; I'll definitely be giving her an outing or two in the not too distant future though, just because of the fluff in book 2 that has Colette drooling over one!

So in my experience, stick to the basic Colette / Showgirl crew (I'm assuming 35ss here), but have options of a Gunsmith (maybe 2), Kaeris, Fire Gamins, Von Schill, Johann, possibly the Mechanical Rider if the Strategy / Scheme will benefit from it.

The upcoming Union Miners may work too, certainly worth checking out, as for Colette to hire them, they're only 3ss each.

If it helps, I've been playing a "standard" Showgirl crew since the models came out (varied occasionally by some of the above models), and I still haven't got bored with all the movement shenanigans.

Cheers

Rob

[Ozz]

This thread is basically another thread curious about the same thing for you to scan through and see what people think, but ill warn you it is very pro standard list from the parts of it ive read, hope it helps.

http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread...-Colette-Lists

[Darios]

Sue is also a quite interesting addition, he provides a firebase und buff WP... and he is really good at shooting things up which the girls alone have problems with killing.

[Sybarite]

Union miners are not 3ss when hired by Colette. Theyre still four ss.

[ukrocky]

Kaeris and a Student of Conflict.

Cos it's freaking awesome.

[13th Warrior]

Union miners are not 3ss when hired by Colette. Theyre still four ss.

Oops! Misread Colette's rules

[Jonasty]

Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. It definitely has given me some ideas that I'm playing around with. I actually ordered my blister of Doves today, knew that I would need them regardless of what else I went with in the Showgirls line-up. Still can't quite decide yet so I'll probably play a few games and see how it all plays out. Maybe that will give me a better idea of what I'm missing with my personal game play style.