M2E+Alp


 * Alp, Neverborn Peon**

Alps are minor fiends that feed on the dreams of mortals. It is said that those who perish from having an Alp devour the last of their dreams are doomed to become an Alp themselves.



=__Overview__=

Alps are low cost models that work mostly as an annoyance for your opponent and occasionally capitalize on giving your opponent **Slow**.

They are Insignificant Peon models that can't help with Strategies or Schemes, so they're mostly there to pad out your Activations and get in your opponent's way. They are almost exclusively used with The Dreamer, since both he and Coppelius can summon them. Apart from being summoned it is occasionally good to hire one or two in a Nightmare heavy crew, but otherwise they are usually not worth spending 3SS on.

=__Mobility__=

Alps have no mobility tricks of their own, an average **Wk** of 5 and no **Cg**. This means you'll want to use other models to get them where you want them; either push them around or summon them in position.

=__Offense__=

Alps' main goal is to drop **Slow** on enemy models, which not only denies your opponent AP but does some damage in the process due to **Feed on Dreams.** This is a 3" aura that does does one damage to enemy models that gain **Slow**. This damage stacks, so a model will take more damage if there are more Alps near it. And each point of damage is a separate source so they'll gets around **Armor**, **Incorporeal**, and **Hard to Kill** (sort of) but not **Arcane Shield**. Also keep an eye out for enemies with **Black Blood**, because each point of damage will trigger its effects.

Alp hand out **Slow** in one of two ways – their **Ml** attack **Kiss Goodnight** and their **Smother** aura, neither of which is super dependable.

Their big, sloppy **Kiss Goodnight** has an surprisingly reasonably **Ml** 5, but a truly awful damage spread of 1/1/3. If they do Moderate or Severe damage the target gains **Slow** and that's what counts. So it can be worth it to cheat in Moderate damage if it's going to trigger lots of **Feed on Dreams** damage.


 * Smother** is a passive aura that makes activating enemy models pass a TN 12 **Wp** duel or gain **Slow**. The average model has a 5 **Wp** so they're looking 7 or better (about a 55% chance), which is nice but nothing to bank on. If you're wanting to make this stick more aggressively you're going to have to combine it with **Wp** penalties and cheat denial from other models (see below).

As an extra bit of candy, if an enemy model is slain by **Feed on Dreams** it'll summon another Alp. Seldom actually happens, but cool if it does. Note that the enemy with still drop a Corpse/Scrap Marker, so if you have a way to use those (Widow Weaver) you can double dip off of one kill.

=__Resilience__=

With low **Df** and **Wp** and only 4 **Wd**, Alps aren't particularly resistant. If targeted they'll most likely die, and there's not a lot you can do to stop it.


 * Blood Gift** can help other Nightmares have a little more survivability. The target heals and then the Alp takes damage, so if you really need the healing you can kill the Alp to do it. You can also recuperate the damage off the Dreamer's **Pleasant Dreams** aura, so it can be especially useful if your crew is grouped in a cluster fight (Reckoning or Turf War). Though you can heal other Alps, it takes a severe flip to make the healing sum zero, so it's best to use this on other models.

If The Dreamer is summoning a lot off Dreams of Pain then an Alp can be useful as a sort of slow healing battery. It's not great for your activation priority, since you'll need to activate Alps before more useful models, but it can be used as a stalling tactic and to continuously top up your Nightmares by one or two wounds.

=__Tactics and Tips__=

You're rarely going to hire Alps. Instead you're more likely to summon them with either the Dreamer or Coppelius, which means you'll normally be running them with a Nightmare-heavy crew. So it really helps to know how Alps can interact with other Nightmares. Otherwise they're not going to do much and you'll feel like you've wasted your time painting them.


 * Smother** is a lot like **Terrifying** in that it's more than likely only going to make your opponent cheat in mid cards, which can have its own benefit. If you want it to hit more often, however, you can use the same tricks the Neverborn have to make your opponent lose Horror Duels. This is done in two ways: debuffing their **Wp** and preventing them from being able to cheat. Widow Weaver, Daydreams, and Insidious Madness can all hand out stacking -1 **Wp**, so with a little effort you can make your opponent chose between cheating high or losing AP and taking damage. You can also take away that choice by preventing them from cheating with auras from Mr. Tannen or Insidious Madness. Combining these factors can be incredibly frustrating for your opponent.

There are other ways to hand out **Slow** to cause damage, too. The most obvious is Coppelius' **Sleep, My Friends** Action, which is basically a pulse version of **Smother**. It'll chew through your opponent's cards, but will really work best when combined with the debuff combos previously discussed. Other Neverborn options are Collodi, Bad Juju, Baby Kade, Waldgeist, Poltergeist, and Cherub. Below are more details on running Coppelius and Alps with Zoraida, but it's unlikely you'll run them with Lilith or Collodi.

There are also a few mercenaries that use **Slow** – Bishop, Convict Gunslinger, Hans, Strongarm Suit – but they're all pretty expensive so only take them if they've already got synergy with the rest of your Crew.

Zoraida can work with just about any combination of models, so running with Coppelius, some Alps, and the above debuff support could work. The only direct synergies, however, would be Zoraida's **Obey** (it synergizes with everything) and the ability to more easily place **Slow** on a target through her Voodoo Doll.

=__Playing Against Alps__=

Just kill them. They'll normally only take one hit before they die. If you can hit them with area effects or non-AP damage even better. If you have an attack which summons or has other beneficial effects on a kill then Alps are a great target for it.

More than anything, Alps are an annoyance. They only really become a problem if they clump together and start abusing their **Feed on Dreams** ability. If that happens, just thin down their numbers and get on with the rest of your game.


 * __Ownership__ **

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