M2E+Union+Miner


 * Union Miner, Arcanist Minion[[image:Union Miners.jpg width="221" height="477" align="right"]]**

=__Overview__=

Union Miners are odd models with some melee capabilities, Burning support, and the ability to toss out multiple Scheme Markers in a single activation. They work well with other M&SU models, alongside whom they gain damage bonuses.

=__Mobility__=

With their Walk of 4 and Charge of 6, Union Miners are not very fast models.

=__Offense__=

The offensive ability of the Union Miner is a bit hard to gauge. On the one hand, their Improvised Weapon attack has an average **Ml** of 5 and a decent 2" range, but a very broad damage spread of 1/3/5, which makes their damage very "swingy."

However, models targeted by their Improved Weapon cannot declare **Df** triggers, making them very good at getting around the defenses of a number of Masters (such as the Dreamer and Kirai).

Further increasing their damage is their **Critical Strike** trigger, which increases their damage by +1 per Ram in the final duel total, and their **Stand Together** ability, which gives them a [+] on any damage flips made against models within 3" of another friendly M&SU models.

The **Modified Welder** of the Union Miners allows them to hand out **Burning +2** at a good range, but they lack any way of really taking advantage of this Condition, making this more of a synergy attack for when they are working alongside models such as Kaeris or Gunsmiths.

The Union Miner also possesses the **Companion** ability, allowing them to activate immediately after one of your other nearby models, which can be useful when attempting to finish off a particularly sturdy model before it activates.

=__Resilience__=

Union Miners are pretty average in this department, with average Defense, Willpower, and wounds. Their **Smoldering Heart** defensive trigger can make force models that fail to attack them to gain Burning +1, which is certainly useful in the sense that free damage is always good, but this will rarely be much of a disincentive to attack them.

=__Tactics and Tips__=

The False Claim action allows the Union Miner to lay down two Scheme Markers within 3" as a single action, provided that the Miner is able to take Interact Actions. If both of these markers are still in play at the end of the turn, you have to discard one of them, but until then, the Scheme Markers are in play and can be used to fuel actions such as the Seduction ability of Performers, Colette's **Now You See Me...** defensive trigger and **Hooked Cane** and **Disappearing Act** actions, the **Orchestral Crescendo** action of the Coryphee Duet, the **Temporary Limb** action of the Large Arachnid, the **Dropped Down a Hole** trigger of the Soulstone Miner, the **Hooked Cane** of Angelica, the **Mark Territory** of Cojo, the **Tunneling** of Molemen, or the **Set Charge** of Willie.

The Modified Welder attack can be used to give a model Burning +2, thus "tagging" it so that Kaeris can gain bonuses when blasting the model with her Immolate attack or can use **Accelerant** on it, or to allow friendly Gunsmiths to more easily use their **The Hard Way** for bonuses when shooting at the now-Burning enemy. Alternatively, the Miners can give **Burning** to their own crew so that Kaeris can use her **Truth in Flame** free action to pull it off her crew and draw cards instead. Fielding one Union Miner to turn him out to be a card drawing engine could pay his soul stone spend over 5 turns for the fact that 2 card draw/discard = 1 soul stone spent. Also note that gunsmiths could enjoy becoming **Fast** if the union miner attacks them thus provides the chance to get the defensive trigger.

=__Playing Against Union Miners__=

The Miners aren't too much of a threat by themselves, but they can make other models much more dangerous by giving them scheme markers to fuel their otherwise resource-heavy actions. Their damage can be very swingy, but when Focused - or when near other M&SU models to activate their **Stand Together** ability - they become more consistently able to hit their impressive severe damage value.

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 * __Ownership__ **