Zoraida

include page="inc_1.5rules" **Zoraida the Hag, Neverborn Master**

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=__Overview__= The Voodoo Queen, Zoraida's play style is all about manipulation. She manipulates the deck, she manipulates everyone's models, and she makes sure that if anybody's going to cheat, it will be her! It's an unusual playstyle since, aside from the odd poison counter, her offensive power comes entirely from making other models **"Obey"** to attack each other. This, along with some of her other abilities, actually makes her one of the most flexible Masters in the game.

When facing a given Master you can usually be pretty sure of how that Master will play. A Lilith crew will always focus on melee, and a Pandora crew will always focus on damage through WP duels. Knowing what to expect allows players to adapt their crew and tactics accordingly, but the only thing you can be sure of with Zoraida is that she can keep her distance while she manipulates both your crew and hers. At best an opponent could take high WP or immune to influence models, but even then she's still quite happy to just **"Obey"** her own minions instead.

=__Mobility__= Despite her walk of 3" and lack of charge, Zoraida is arguably one of the fastest and hardest to catch Master in the game. She is also able to remove herself from Melee quite easily with **"(1) Repulsive"** which shoves all models away from her - giving her a 6" breathing radius. It is possible for her to use this with her **(+1) Casting Expert**, before becoming a **(0) Raven** (increasing her Walk to 10") and then using her 2 general AP to move up to 20" away ("catch me if you can, "). This lets her avoid disengaging strikes and move to wherever she desires - almost anywhere on the board!

This mobility can extend to her crew as well. Obey will let one of your minions make an additional Wk or Cg, and Repulsive can be used to push your minions forward, including pushing them into line of sight and range for a charge in their next activation.

One oft-forgotten ability is **"Invisible Servants**". The 4" push it gives at the end of the game isn't always going to be useful, but it's good enough to keep in mind when positioning Zoraida in the final turns of the game.

=__Offense__= Zoraida doesn't kill you outright. Instead, her offensive abilities comes from manipulating the models around her, to neutralize enemies, improve her friendly models and most importantly, cause other models to attack each other via Obey. She is, at her core, a manipulator. She takes her time (and ideally, she keeps her distance).

Melee
Zoraida usually avoids being in Melee, but should she find herself in a scuffle she is quite the viper. Her **"Voodoo Pins"** may not seem potent with a Cb of 4 and damage score of 1/2/5, but that Severe Damage of 5 can kill most minions and really hurt many a Master (and, should she attack with a Crow flip/cheat, she receives are positive 1 flip for damage from her **"Maim"** trigger).

More notable is the effect that these "Stingers" are **Poison 2** which makes even a Weak stab will actually deal 3 damage to the target (1 immediately, and 2 more when the target activates).

Bewitch
Bewitch is an excellent spell that can seriously disrupt your target model's capabilities for a turn. If they can't cheat, their chances of winning any duel becomes much lower. It reduces their offensive abilities (especially if they want to use a high cost spell), and it makes them very vulnerable to whatever you're trying to attack that model with. Therefore, the best targets for Bewitch are those enemy models you intend to attack with your own crew, or models you want neutralized for a turn before they do something bad. Casting it on your opponent's Master is often a particularly good idea, since at worst you'll force him to cheat a high card to avoid it or burn a Soulstone. In short, never underestimate this spell.

Hex
For all its potential, Hex tends to be a very situational spell. Against some minions, Hexing away a talent or spell can effectively eliminate them as a threat (eg. Bete Noire, Candy). You can also use it to remove negative abilities from your own minions (eg. Gremlin and Whoops, Hans and Sniper rifle, Jack Daw and Betrayed/Betrayer, Lilitu/Lelu and Same Malignant Force). However the high casting cost and the fact that it's a (2) action means that you need a very good reason to use it. If the Hex is going to kill or otherwise neutralize an enemy minion, then by all means, do it. But generally, Zoraida tends to have more important things to do.

If Zoraida absolutely needs to kill something in melee (it won't happen often, but it will sometimes), the combination of Bewitch and Crystal Ball with her Voodoo Pins and the Maim trigger can tip the odds in her favor to give her a respectable punch in combat.

Obey
Obey is what Zoraida should be casting the most often. You can either **"Obey"** opponent minions to beat on each other or pull them out of position. Alternatively, **"Obey"** your own minions for an extra charge or (1) action. When picking an Obey target, keep an eye out for models that have a high damage output (Nephilim), have a spell/ability that can only be used once per turn (Copycat Killer) or have an ability that will damage themselves (Punk Zombies, Papa Loco). On the latter point, just remember that you can't use a spell or ability that will deliberately kill the model by obeying it, unless that death is not guaranteed (eg. you might fail to cast the spell, or flip a black joker for damage). So self-detonating spiders are out, but jumping off buildings or casting Papa Loco's "take ya with me' is fine. ;)

When casting obey on an enemy model, you need to be aware of it's limits. The key thing to remember is that while Zoraida is Obeying an enemy model, that model is considered a friendly model for Zoraida and an enemy model for the opposing crew. That means your opponent's crew will be able to make disengaging strikes if it tries to move/charge out of melee, and it cannot shoot while in melee range of other enemy models. So it's often best to target the more isolated models in your opponent's crew, specifically those ones that are free to charge or shoot other enemy models. If, however, you don't plan to shoot or charge with the obeyed model, just target whichever one will do the most damage!

Voodoo Doll
This is the Hag's "money maker." When summoned (2 AP), it connects to a target within Zoraida's LoS. This victim can now be affected by ALL of Zoraida's spells, even if she loses LoS to the target and/or even if it moves to the opposite side of the board. Furthermore, all her Spells get +1 additional Card flip when determining if her spells affect the target (making them even more likely to affect the victim). Typically, this encourages Zoraida to use her **"Obey"** on the target each turn, to have it attack her enemies on her behalf and to keep its distance from her (so that it can't return the favors she's been making it perform).

Not only does the Doll allow her to make a non-master enemy Zoraida's puppet, while the Doll remains 1" from the Hag (easily done as they activate together being companions), the victim of the doll gains 2 Poison counters each turn. While non-cumulative (it won't rise to Poison 3 or 4), this still guarantees the victim will lose 2 Wounds on its activation which can add up.

=__Resilience__= Zoraida is a tough gal. With 10 Wds she can take a beating, and with 10 WP (highest in the game) trying to tell her what to do is often a futile effort. She is a bit more evasive than most minions, but she will still get hit more than she will dodge, but she is not without her tricks to improve her survivability.

=**Proper Manners**= This has been issued errata: http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?33856-Resolved-Issues

Repulsive
Offensively, Repulsive is best used to prevent your opponent from achieving their objectives. The push from Repulsive will force the model to drop any treasure counter they're dropping, and benefits of pushing them away from an objective are clear enough.

Melee
Nobody really expects Zoraida to perform well in melee. She's very good at avoiding it too - between Raven and Repulsive, most melee fighters will find it very hard to pin her down. But in some cases getting her into melee can be a good idea. She's not likely to do a lot of damage but with Proper Manners, Df 5, Defensive Stance, the Regret trigger and some Soulstones, she's pretty capable of holding up an enemy model who wouldd otherwise be causing all sorts of trouble with the rest of your crew (mostly ranged minions/masters).

Zoraida's mobility makes her a tricky Master for opponents to target, but even if they can their chances of actually hitting her aren't great. The negative fate flip from Proper Manners greatly reduces their chance of making a successful attack and prevents them from cheating as well. However Focused/Channeled attacks will get around this, as will any other ability or effect that gives them positive fate to their flip (eg. paired). If you can cast Bewitch on the attacker, that will still prevent them cheating, which is a huge help. It's also worth remembering that Zoraida's Df of 5 is well above average for a caster and her Wp of 10 is utterly obscene. So even if a spell/attack does connect, you have a decent chance of resisting it.

=__Tricks and Tips__= If Zoraida needs to move herself (due to incoming threats), she has some options on how to make some distance while messing up her opponent's plans. The following is a useful combo: The result is that all enemies will now be around least 16" away (almost half a board away), and one non-master enemy will have moved even further and may have even attacked one of its allies.
 * 1) Cast **"Repulse"** (1 AP from **"(+1) Casting Expert"**) to push all her enemies 6" away
 * 2) Cast **"Obey"** on one enemy (1 AP), that is now 6" away, to make it Charge AWAY from Zoraida (ideally towards one of Zoraida's enemies and have them attack it)
 * 3) Cast **"Raven"** (0-AP) and fly/walk 10" away (1-AP).

The Voodoo Doll
The Voodoo Doll is a powerful tool, even if it cannot affect masters. A good trick to maximizing its use when summoning it is the following procedure: Once you have summoned a Voodoo Doll, its almost always best for you to activate the Doll every-time its Master does (they are companions). Usually activating the "Doll" first is better so it can cast its **"Obey"** (usually on a friendly model) before its Master uses its long-range **"Obey"** (maybe on the same foe?)
 * Summon the Doll (2 AP) and target a powerful non-master enemy with low Wp (choose a brute-type).
 * As the doll is besides Zoraida (within 1"), have the Hag cast "Obey" on the target of the Voodoo Doll (it will forever be in range of this now, and **"Obey"** will affect it much easier than before).
 * Have the "puppet" attack its own master or an equally powerful enemy model - ideally making it charge AWAY from Zoraida.
 * The Voodoo Victim will gain **2 Poison Counters** at the end of the turn (meaning they will take 2 wounds when the activate on the following turn).

Obey Cubed
When activating Zoraida and her Voodoo Doll simultaneously, it is possible to get 3 Obeys cast in one turn. To do so, activate the models in the following order:
 * Activate the Doll first, casting Obey on a model within 10''.
 * Activate Zoraida, use her **Casting Expert** action to cast Obey.
 * Use her remaining two actions to create another Voodoo Doll.
 * On your next activation, you can cast Obey again using the Voodoo Doll's one Slow action.

Bayou Two-card
Bayou Two-card is an incredible ability that helps make Zoraida a very card-efficient Master, since you can effectively use a given card twice in a row. This is mainly useful for casting several spells in a row (especially the high costing Crystal Ball), although at a pinch it can be used defensively or even in combat (eg. flip a Red Joker for Bewitch, then use it for your melee strike).

Crystal Ball
If not casting Raven, Crystal Ball should almost always be used each turn. It's not always necessary to cast it, but unless you need to move somewhere there's no reason not to give it a try (your Fate deck may prove lucky!). When successfully cast, the trick to using it well is to figure out what you'll be do next, and which cards you or your opponent will be flipping for those subsequent duels. For instance, if you plan to Obey a friendly model, you could place the lowest card second from the top, making that low card the resist flip for your target. You could also get around low cards in your deck by making sure you flip it on a positive fate flip (most often with Conduit from a Voodoo Doll).

Loco Explosions
The ability for Zoraida to hire models under **Wp 4** allows for some interesting tricks. One of which is hiring Papa Loco and Nurse together. The Nurse can use Massive Dose on Loco, making him unable to be killed, Loco can then be obeyed to move forward before his activation. On his activation, explode as many times as he can, before shrugging off the Pain Killers at the end of the round. Optionally, you can then shoot Loco in the back if you like to activate his final death explosion. The same trick can be used with Pere Ravage without the benefit of the Shrug Off ability.

=__Soulstones__= When it comes down to it, Zoraida doesn't need her Soulstones anywhere near as much as most other Masters. She's very difficult to hurt so she rarely needs Soulstones to boost resist flips or make a damage prevention flip. She might like a Soulstone or two to boost her damage in melee but Zoraida rarely needs to make melee attacks against models herself.

For the most part, that leaves Zoraida free to burn Soulstones to boost her own spell casting totals. This isn't likely to be something you need to do regularly. With Bayou Two-card and her high Ca you'll probably have a high card for the flip anyway, and when obeying friendly models there's no need to make the spell harder to resist since friendly models can automatically tie their resist total. However if you really need to cast a certain spell, such as Bewitch on a Master or a particularly critical Obey, then you should definitely not hesitate to burn a Soulstone for it.

Other than that, the only need Zoraida has for her Soulstones is re-flipping initiative (which can be invaluable sometimes) and for minion-specific abilities like Bad Juju's Eternal or the Ronin's Always for Hire. It also makes Zoraida a great Master for taking a Henchman. With Zoraida not needing many of her own Soulstones, her Henchman like Von Schill or Ophelia can hog most of them for their own nefarious purposes.

=__Strategies and Schemes for Zoraida__=

Strategies
Zoraida herself is naturally good at strategies and schemes that require a high level of mobility and interacting with multiple objectives. In these, Zoraida's mobility will let her get to these objectives extremely quick (she can still (1) interact after using Raven), while Repulsive and Obey can give both extra movement to her own minions and keep enemy minions away from those objectives. These "Mobility" strategies include;
 * Line in the Sand
 * Deliver a Message
 * Destroy Evidence
 * Escape and Survive
 * Plant Evidence
 * Reconnoiter
 * Turf War

As a master who tends to prefer evasiveness to frontal assaults, Zoraida herself is less capable of achieving schemes requiring directly attacking the enemy (Slaughter, Contain Power) or converging on a single point on the board (Treasure Hunt, Supply Wagon, Claim Jump). However one of the great things about Zoraida is that she can easily adapt her crew for whatever strategy or scheme you're faced with using. So if a strategy/scheme requires you to kill your opponents models, you take a crew designed for killing (Nephilim and other high-damage minions, etc.) and support the killing with Zoraida's spells. Likewise, when playing a "Converging" strategy, consider selecting a crew that can handle that kind of frontal assault (i.e. has some level of resilience).

Schemes
The same principle for Zoraida and Strategies applies for Schemes as well. In fact, Zoraida's fast, evasive nature makes her very good at Schemes like Bodyguard (just keep away from your opponent), Stake a Claim, Breakthough and Hold Out (use Raven/Invisible Servants to get where she needs to on the last turn). The Neverborn-specific schemes (Reclaim Malifaux and Kidnap) are both excellent. Kidnap is one of the only Schemes available where you can get the full 2 VP without having to announce it, but you need to make sure that there are enough terrain pieces fully within each 12" square to be able to achieve Reclaim Malifaux.

Disrupting Enemy Strategies/Schemes
While achieving your own Strategies and Schemes is all well and good, half the game is ensuring your opponent does not acheive their own objectives. Make sure you're aware of where your opponent needs to be, and what models models he may need to kill in your own crew. As above, Obey and Repulsive in particular are great spells for keeping enemy models away from objectives.

If they don't announce one or both of their Schemes, it helps to 'cover your bases' and disrupt any potential schemes that you can easily disrupt anyway, for instance Holdout, Breakthrough, and possibly even just keeping your most expensive minion alive (Kill Protege or Grudge).

=__Zoraida in Brawls__= With Zoraida's tendency to complement whatever crew she accompanies, she would be an excellent choice for a second Master in Brawls. The best way to use her would be to spend the entire Soulstone allotment on a crew that will work best with your first Master, (Pandora, Lilith, the Viktorias, Dreamer or So'mer) and then add Zoraida as the second master. That way you are able to use a single, synergistic crew rather than two diluted crews with limited interactivity between them.

Lilith
When paired with Lilith, Zoraida is probably going to get by unmolested while your opponent concentrates on the ultra-fast, ultra-destructive Nephilim. Raven will allow her to keep up with the rest of the crew and she'll still be able to Obey any friendly minion for either a Grow effect or a charge/melee strike.

Pandora
With Pandora, Zoraida will be able to add damage to her Wp-based spells from a fairly safe distance. Perhaps more importantly, you'll be able to take advantage of Pandora's The Box Opens ability to Obey models who would ordinarily be immune to Wp-based attacks. In terms of your own crew this means you'll be able to Obey Teddy, Bad Juju and the Hooded Rider. Of those, Teddy probably gets the most benefit from this, since the Hooded Rider would probably prefer to hit and run with Mounted Combat and Teddy's potential damage output is higher than Bad Juju's. Of more relevance is being able to Obey your opponent's Immune to Influence models, which is definitely not a bad thing.

Dreamer
Dreamer is basically a cruise missile that dispenses a payload of glass cannon nightmares into your opponent's face. Naturally, Zoraida's Bewitch can cripple enemy models that Dreamer plans to target (or that he's in danger of getting killed by) and aside from the usual shenanigans from obeying enemy models, she can also Obey Daydreams to walk forward and thus increase the reach of Dreamer's nightmare bomb. Zoraida is likely to be quite safe from enemy attacks - Dreamer is generally a massive enough threat that your opponent will probably be focusing on him instead.

Viktorias
The Viktorias tend to take a crew of expensive specialists, so Zoraida will be able to support whichever model needs the most help at the time. Bewitch, in particular, could go a long way in keeping the otherwise fragile Viktorias alive and maximizing their damage when they do strike.

So'mer Teeth Jones
The problem when brawling beside So'mer Teeth is that the wording of the rules require him to be added to Zoraida's crew in a brawl, meaning that any Gremlins you hire with him will be out of faction and thus cost +1SS. When you consider that So'mer's main playstyle involves supporting his hordes of Gremlins and pigs, it makes it hard to justify his inclusion with Zoraida. Depending on what nastiness you can cause by obeying warpigs and bewitching enemy models to enable the Gremlins to actually hit them, the benefits could make that +1SS premium worthwhile. Taking mostly elite Gremlins like warpigs and the Lacroix kin would lessen the impact of the out of faction cost and if any Master can make out of faction minions worthwhile, it's definitely Zoraida. So overall, So'mer Teeth Jones is probably not the most optimum choice for a brawl alongside Zoraida, but with some intelligent crew selection and by taking advantage of Zoraida's Obey and Bewitch spells, it's a workable option.

=__Building a Crew__= Zoraida is a blank slate - whatever play style or crew you want your crew to use, Zoraida will be able to help. Want a slippery crew that's hard to pin down? Take Silurids. Want to focus on dealing damage from range? Jack Daw and/or a Convict Gunslinger will help. Resilience? Waldgeist and Bad Juju. Pure Melee? Nephilim. It doesn't matter what crazy crew or tactics you want to employ, Zoraida will be able to complement it perfectly.

Your choice of minions will have a lot to do with what sort of Strategies/Schemes you or your opponent have, the terrain you'll be playing on, and what crew you think you'll be facing. If you're playing exactly according to the standard encounter rules in the rulebook then you shouldn't know about your opponents crew beyond their faction. But realistically this isn't often the case, due to either house rules or the fact that you know what's in your opponent's Malifaux collection anyway.

In any case, given Zoraida's role as a support caster, your first choices for her crew will often be minions that can deal damage for her and more specifically, are great targets for her Obey spell. It doesn't matter whether they're ranged or melee, Zoraida does just as well with either. This doesn't mean other 'support' models that don't purely deal damage (eg. Hamelin) have no place in Zoraida's crew. There are plenty of Schemes and Strategies that don't require actually killing your opponents crew at all, and in such cases just disrupting your opponent's crew could be all you need.

What all this means is that there are no 'optimum choices' for a Zoraida crew and there are very few models available to her that are a poor choice. So take the crew you want, for whatever reason, and Zoraida will likely help you get the best out of that crew.

One thing to keep in mind is that Zoraida cannot Obey models in your crew that are Immune to Influence. However, this shouldn't automatically exclude the likes of Teddy, Bad Juju or the Hooded Rider from having a spot in your crew. All of these minions still have capabilities that you can't get elsewhere (eg. Bad Juju's effective immortality), and they're still an excellent choice when you're facing the likes of Seamus, Hamelin or another Zoraida, all of whom tend to use a lot of Morale duels or Wp duels on your crew.

Also note that as per a previous ruling, taking a non-doll Special forces model in Zoraida's crew will not prevent her from summoning Wicked Dolls.

= __Starting Zoraida__ = == Zoraida's starter box comes with Bad Juju and three Silurid. It gives you a 25SS crew that is well-equipped for playing an evasive, hit-and-run style of game that complements Zoraida's own playstyle perfectly.

Your first purchase after the starter box absolutely __must__ be the Voodoo Doll! Zoraida can summon a Voodoo Doll for free during the game and the benefits it grants her can't be overstated. That said, the Voodoo Doll is really the only mandatory purchase for a Zoraida crew. With her starter box and the Voodoo Doll, you can play her at her fullest potential without feeling as though you're playing at a handicap.

As was said earlier, Zoraida can make the most of just about any minion she takes, so your next purchase after the Voodoo Doll is pretty much open to whatever minion you feel like. A good idea, however, is to go for a suitable target for Zoraida's Obey. Silurid aren't great Obey targets and Bad Juju is Immune to Influence. Youe opponent won't always be kind enough to make obeying his models easy so a friendly Obey-able model with a good attack or spell would do well in a Zoraida Crew. Some of these include: Mature Nephilim, thanks to its massive punch in melee and a playstyle that's not hard to figure out, and the Convict Gunslinger, being one of the best shooting minions available for his cost.

Some in-theme options for Zoraida would be Stitched Together, Francois LaCroix or Rami LaCroix, all of which fit her Swamp/Puppet/Gremlin themes.

=__Playing Against Zoraida__= There's no denying it, playing against Zoraida can be a pain in the rectum. She's very difficult to kill and is the only model in the game that can mess up your crew from the other side of the board (thanks to the Voodoo Doll). Watching her destroy your models before you even get a chance to engage her crew can be somewhat demoralizing, but as nasty as she is, there are definitely approaches you can take to minimize her effect and win against her.

Block Line of Sight
Above all else try to put your crew outside of her Line of Sight. If there is not enough terrain to do so, use your own models to block line of sight to a model you do not want Zoraida to Obey at least turn one. Lastly, if you do not have a choice, place that model away from your crew.

High Wp, Immune to Influence
The first, most obvious option is to take models that are either Immune to Influence or have a high Wp, either naturally or in conjunction with another ability like Stubborn. Unlike Pandora, Zoraida has no easy way of affecting models that are Immune to Wp duels. High Wp models are an annoyance for her to target with her spells and a lot of the time she'll want to burn a Soulstone to make the spell impossible to resist. There's not a lot you can do about her burning Soulstones, but if she keeps burning stones she'll run out eventually, making her less likely to successfully cast spells on your models, and more vulnerable to your own attempts to kill her.

Know the Limits of Obey
Obey is a powerful spell and, one way or another, it's very likely that Zoraida will be regularly using it on your models. However there are certain limits to Obey that you need to be aware of and, by extension, can take advantage of. The key thing to remember is that while Zoraida is Obeying your model, that model is considered a friendly model for Zoraida and an enemy model to your crew. That means you can make disengaging strikes if it tries to move/charge out of melee, and it cannot shoot while in melee range of your models. Thus, a simple tactic is to group your models into twos or threes during the game. That way if Zoraida tries to obey one of them, she's unlikely to be able to succesfully charge or shoot another model. She'll still be able to make melee strikes but that's still better than a charge. The exceptions are models with abilities that can cause damage to nearby friendly models such as pulse attacks. In that case, you want to keep them positioned where they're unlikely to hurt your crew.

Avoid Certain models
Zoraida's favorite minions to target are those with spells and abilities that hurt or compromise itself as well as other models. Punk Zombies, Pere Ravage and Papa Loco are the obvious ones - all have a spell that will damage both itself and other models. Others have a "once per turn" abilty, like Suppresive Fire from the Convict Gunslinger, or even a once-per game action like the Friekorps Specialist's Detonate Tanks. When facing Zoraida, you need to ensure that you either don't take these models, or if you do, that they're either going to be outside line of sight to Zoraida, or in a position that is going to cause the least possible amount of damage to your crew.

Zoraida is almost unkillable
Zoraida is a very difficult Master to pin down and kill, and in most cases, trying to catch and kill her is a waste of time. If you don't have the right tools (see below), you're far better off just trying to minimize the damage done by Zoraida and focusing on achieving your Strategies and Schemes.

The exception is if you can take a model with a positive twist to their attack flips (to get around Proper Manners), able to catch her and, preferably, is immune to her Obey. The Shikome can be a frightening prospect for Zoraida, since it gets the positive twist to attack flips and obeying it will not let her damage any other model with it except its prey (i.e. Zoraida). The Arcanist Gunsmith in particular is almost custom-built to kill her, with the ability to get for a ridiculous number of positive twist flips, a High Wp through Fiery Heart and Duty, which makes him immune to Obey. Another option for killing Zoraida is to use the same tactic other crews use for killing hard-to-hit models: blast and pulse effects. Basically, if you aren't directly targetting Zoraida then you don't need to worry about Proper Manners.

Finally, Proper Manners is negated by focused/channeled attacks. Given Zoraida's mobility there won't always be opportunities to spend those 2 AP for such an attack (snipers like Nino being the exception), but if you can pull it off then you can probably take a good chunk of damage out on her, and if she's foolish enough to stay in harms' way for more attacks, you should be able to actually kill her.

Keep Zoraida on the run
Maybe you won't kill her, but if you can keep chasing her around with your own speedy (and dangerous) models then she'll be forced to regularly cast Repulsive/Raven and keep away from you. There's not a lot Zoraida can do to your crew if she's casting Raven every turn and if she finishes her activation next to a decent melee minion, she's risking death by focused strike. So maybe you won't kill her, but you'll at least be neutralizing her as a threat for the duration of the game.

Zoraida often likes to go to very high elevation. Your best bet for chasing her is a unit with Flight, Float, or a Ranged attack. No matter how tempting it may seem, don't send melee minions to climb up to fight her: she will Obey or Repulse them off the edge to their doom.

Kill Zoraida's crew
Zoraida herself does very little damage, and much of her offensive output comes from the many ways she can assist her crew. So it stands to reason that by killing her crew, you severely limit her effectiveness. Sure, she can still Obey your own models, but so long as you keep in mind the objectives, a single Obey each turn isn't likely to turn the game around for her.

Avoid Master-interaction Strategies/Schemes
This almost goes without saying, but with such a mobile Master, Strategies and Schemes like Deliver a Message, Contain Power and Steal Relic are very difficult when playing against Zoraida. Unless you're after a challenge, you're usually better off going for Strategies or Schemes that don't require killing or interacting with Zoraida.

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