M2E+Abomination

== Experimentation with machinery and dead bodies has existed in Malifaux since before the first Breach to Earth opened. A creation of steam and sinew that is at once living and dead, Abominations can be created by almost any bits of metal and machinery and flesh that a skilled necromancer may have lying around.
 * Abomination, Outcast Minion**

=__Overview__=

Individually, Abominations are little more than an annoyance, but their ability to transform those they kill into Abominations like themselves - as well as the ability of multiple Abominations to combine into a hulking Desolation Engine - makes them a threat that cannot be ignored.

Leveticus and his thematic crew - Rusty Alyce, Ashes and Dust, the Desolation Engine, and even Abominations themselves - can all summon Abominations through various means (usually their Desolate Warping triggers).

=__Mobility__=

With a Walk of 4 and a Charge of 5, Abominations are not particularly mobile creature.

One of the nice things about Abominations, though, is that they are most often summoned up the field, very close to enemies. This makes mobility less immediately important for them.

=__Offense__=

The Warping Touch attack of Abominations is a fairly typical attack for a model of its cheap cost, with a good Ml of 5 and a low damage track of 1/2/4. It possesses two very good triggers, the innate Consuming Touch trigger, which allows the Abomination to perform a healing flip after damaging its target, and the Desolate Warping trigger, which summons a new Abomination after killing an enemy model.

Abominations also possess the Caustic Aura ability, which forces all enemy models within a 2" pulse of the Abomination to perform a TN 10 Df duel when it ends its activation or suffer two damage. Though the TN for Caustic Aura is low, the Caustic Auras of multiple Abominations will quickly add up, forcing your opponent to either cheat cards to pass the duel or suffer the damage.

The Anomaly ability also functions at a 2" range, though it is a continually active aura. While within this aura, enemy models cannot take free actions and lose all suits printed in their **Ca**. This is a very effective debuff for many models, as the combination of stripping suits and shutting down free actions is enough to both most models in the game on some level or another.

=__Resilience__=

Abominations have a respectable **Df** and **Wp** of 5 each, but only four wounds. This makes them a bit on the fragile side of things.

Their Unmade trigger deals one damage to a model that attacks them and misses, but only if the Abomination flips or cheats a tome on their defense. This damage can't be prevented by soulstones...but it's only a single point, making it nice when it comes up, but not terribly effective as a deterrent.

=__Tactics and Tips__= Abominations aren't particularly great in melee, or as objective-runners, but they make fantastic obstacles. They debuff enemies within 2", causing checks for damage, removing suits, and denying (0) abilities. If they just sit there near enemies and help draw additional cards, Abominations are still often a good resource simply for their ability to get card advantage and slow down enemies.

Abominations have two very useful Tactical Actions.

The first, **Vile Reclamation**, deals 2 damage to another friendly Construct within 6" to draw a card. This can only be done once per turn, but it's a good way to draw cards during your turn, particularly if you have a good target for the action. Lazarus is a good option, as he can then heal with his Self-Repair action, but nearly any Construct with Armor makes an effective target. Ashes and Dust is a great target since it doesn't mind dying and coming back again. Other Abominations are also good targets, particularly if the opponent is out of activations and you are about to combine your Abominations together to form a Desolation Engine (see below).

The second Tactical Action possessed by Abominations is **Concentrated Deformation**, which allows four Abominations to combine into a single Desolation Engine. If you're running a crew that summons lots of Abominations - such as crews containing Leveticus, Rusty Alyce, or Ashes and Dust - this becomes a very effective way to gain a huge death machine for little to no cost to yourself. Abominations and the Desolation Engine can also summon more Abominations with their Desolate Warping trigger, giving you the potential for a Desolation Engine with just a single hired Abomination...but it becomes far more likely as the number of models with the Desolate Warping trigger in your crew increases.

Depending on how much effort you put into producing more Abominations, you may never get a Desolation Engine. That's okay: just the threat of a Desolation Engine can force your opponent onto the defensive. And if you can get one, it's a devastating opponent.

Oh, and when the Desolation Engine finally gets killed, it summons two Abominations with its death pangs! That means that you only need two other Abominations nearby to re-summon a fully healthy Desolation Engine via Concentrated Deformation. Awesome.

=__Playing Against Abominations__=

It's usually best to kill Abominations at range, as they're exclusively melee models with a number of abilities - Caustic Aura and Anomaly - that punish you for letting them get close to your models. Whenever you see three or four Abominations together in a little group, do what you can to take one or more down as quickly as possible; you do not want to let them combine into a Desolation Engine if at all possible.

Try to avoid letting Abominations get close to your weakened models...the Desolate Warping trigger can quickly add up into a swarm of Abominations made from your own dead models, all of which possess the Desolate Warping trigger as well...

If you're facing a Leveticus crew, it's entirely possible that he'll be summoning Abominations like they're going out of style, particularly if he has the From Ash upgrade on himself or the From the Aether upgrade on Rusty Alyce.

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