Mechanical+Attendant


 * Mechanical Attendant, Guild Totem (C. Hoffman)**

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=__Overview__= A cute little scavenger that follows Hoffman around and recklessly grabs as many Scrap tokens as possible while enabling cute little tricks.

=__Mobility__= With an average Walk of 4" and Charge of 6", it's not particularly fast. In Hoffman's crew with models like the Pale Rider it has a tendency to fall behind.

=__Offense__= The Mauser 9 is this model's only listed weapon with a slightly below average range of 8" and a 1/2/3 damage spread. With a low Cb 4 of Rams, it may not seem particularly impressive at a first glance. When this weapon hits for Severe damage, however, the defender automatically takes an additional 1/2/3 Dg that can't be cheated. When Hoffman controls the Attendant with //Machine Puppet//, these stats become much more impressive. The Cb automatically goes up to 6 and grants the weapon **Critical** **Strike**, improving the damage and increasing the odds of Severe damage. Because the additional damage flip is a trait of the weapon and not a trigger, the Mechanical Attendant is allowed to take advantage of both damage bonuses.

For 2 AP and a control card, it can make a ranged strike against a target and two other models within 2" of the target with //Automatic Fire//. While it may seem impressive, remember that because Hoffman cannot use //Machine Puppet// to boost the power of the Mauser 9 for these three shots, they're likely to miss against all but low Df models and will deal mediocre damage more often than not.

=__Resilience__= As with almost every other totem, the Mechanical Attendant's resilience isn't spectacular. It does have an excellent (for a totem) 5 Wds and //Armor 1//, but it isn't //Immune to// //Influence// like Hoffmans' other Constructs, making it's average Df and Wp look even worse. However, it has one excellent bonus to its resiliency - it's a Ht 1 model. With Hoffman's penchant for taking large base and height models like the Peacekeeper, the Attendant is very capable of hiding behind them.

=__Magical Extension__= Hoffman only has two spells for the Mechanical Attendant to cast: //Combat Mechanic// and //Open Circuit//. With a Ca of 5 of Rams, the Attendant has Hoffman's base casting ability and thus won't find it too hard to use either spell.

//Combat Mechanic// is an easy spell to cast, requiring only a 5 of Tomes or higher and a Scrap Counter or a friendly Construct to blow. With //Clockwork Tools//, the Mechanical Attendant should be picking up Scrap Counters at the cost of 1 Wd every time a friendly Construct is sacrificed, making him the ideal caster for this spell while Hoffman conserves his valuable AP for using //Machine Puppet// and other abilities. With this spell, a friendly model within 6" makes a healing flip. As Hoffman's crew is already notoriously resilient, the addition of steady healing can be invaluable when the pressure is on.

//Open Circuit// is can be easier to cast, as it requires an 8 of any suit, and makes a 3" pulse of 2 Dg to non-Constructs with +1 Dg for each Construct in base model with the caster. While normally this model wouldn't be able to create the pulse due to Hoffman's //Dampening// preventing the generation of blasts, auras, or pulses within 3" of him (where the Mechanical Attendant almost always wants to be), with the //Maintain Machines// ability on the Attendant, Hoffman is allowed to ignore //Dampening.// Still, because the best resilience from this model comes from hiding behind other models, it's unlikely for this spell to hit more than one enemy at a time unless they're right on top of it.

As an interesting interaction, when Hoffman absorbs the abilities of a friendly Construct with //Assimilate//, the Mechanical Attendant is capable of casting any (1) spell that Hoffman has absorbed with //Magical Extension//. Most notable amongst these spells is //Protect//, as even if this model loses the spell the next turn, the effects of the spell continue. This is part of what gives Hoffman's crew such incredible damage soaking - the Guardian casts //Protect// on the Peacekeeper, Hoffman casts it on the Guardian after absorbing it, and the Mechanical Attendant casts it on Hoffman. With this, you can shuffle and divvy up wounds between these four models (10, 9, 10, and 5 Wds respectively).

=__Tips and Tricks__=

Always remember that this minion has //Companion// with Hoffman, making it easier to maneuver it into position, and //Maintain Machines//, enabling better crew synergy as Hoffman can ignore some of his own abilities. An example is enabling the Guardian's //Stalwart//, as Hoffman would normally block it off with //Dampening.// While //Machine Puppet// is usually used on the higher-end models, it can work in a pinch with the Mauser 9's potential to deal serious damage.

Even more importantly, the Mechanical Attendant is a 3 Soulstone Significant totem. Never forget to count him for strategies and schemes if he' s capable of fulfilling them - the little guy gets around more than you'd think!

=__Playing Against [Totem]__= While Hoffman's bigger models are a priority, keep in mind that this minion is capable of handing out healing flips and if you can catch him not hiding behind said bigger models, it's not a bad idea to pick him off quickly before turning your attention back to things like the Peacekeeper.

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 * __Ownership__ **