Giant+Mosquito

// "To this day, the mosquito buzzes in people's ears as if to say 'Zeee! Is everyone still angry with me?'" - Why Mosquitoes Buzz in Peoples Ears // toc
 * Giant Mosquito, Outcast Totem (Som'er Teeth Jones)**

=__Overview__= A fast, high-defense totem that can deliver some of Som'er Teeth's most powerful spells at a distance. Som'er can hire up to 4 Giant Mosquitoes, or the Mosquitoes can reproduce by killing your own friendly models. Many of Som'er Teeth's best strategies involve sending out Giant Mosquitoes to cast powerful spells for him at a distance.

=__Mobility__= With a walk of 10" and Flight, Giant Mosquitoes are extremely mobile. They can reach most spots on the board within a turn.

Also, Giant Mosquitoes can be used to give greater mobility to any Pigs you are using, through what is commonly called the "Pig Boomerang." Send a Giant Mosquitoe forward and have it use **Magical Extension** to cast Som'er's spell **Sooey!** All Pigs within 18" will move their **Cg** toward the Mosquito. Even if the spell fails, they'll still move their **Cg** toward the Mosquito - just cheat the attack down or be sure the Mosquito is far enough away so that the Mosquito doesn't get squished! Later, after the Pigs have had their chance to attack, Som'er Teeth or another Mosquito can pull the Pigs back by casting **Sooey!** again and bringing them close to home.

=__Offense__=

The Mosquito's melee attack, Proboscis, is quite lackluster, with a **Cb** of 4 crows and a damage spread no better than a Bash attack. The attack has an automatic trigger to heal the Mosquito a number of Wd equal to the Wd inflicted, but against anyone but very low-Df targets, this is unlikely to come into play.

However, the Mosquitos have a lot of offensive potential by using magic. Use **Magical Extension** to cast Som'er's **Pull My Finger** spell, which does a nasty **Dg** 2 to all non-Gremlin models within 3 inches, with no resist possible! Each Mosquito can only cast this once, but with multiple Mosquitoes, or working in concert with Som'er, this spell can be cast multiple times to kill a lot of enemy models all at once. Just be careful that your Mosquitoes don't damage each other with this spell.

Lastly, the Mosquito can be used to deliver **A Gremlin's Luck,** which forces an opponent to discard Cards equal to the **Wd** inflicted on the caster, with no resistance! This can leave many crews with an empty hand, providing a major advantage to a Gremlin gunline. This spell works best when the Giant Mosquito is healed up, though.

The Giant Mosquito also has its own spell, **Parasitic Infection.** This is almost impossible to cast, requiring either the 13 of crows or a Red Joker to pull off, and resisted with Df. If the spell is successful, it kills a Ht 1 or Ht2 living or Undead model and summons a Giant Mosquito. If you have a 13 of crows in your hand and your opponent is out of cards, it may be worth a try, but it's never a sure thing and very unlikely to be cast successfully.

=__Resilience__=

With a Wp of 6 and a Df of 7, the Mosquito is hard to hurt, but it will happen eventually if an opponent focuses on the Mosquito.

Giant Mosquitoes have a maximum Wd score of 6, but come into play **Hungry** with 3 Wd already lost. Recovering these **Wd**s improves the Giant Mosquito's survival chances, and makes **A Gremlin's Luck** far more brutal. There are a few ways to deal with this:
 * **Kill a Malifaux Rat:** Som'er Teeth can hire a Malifaux Rat, since they are **Vermin**, and then have a model kill the Rat, which heals all nearby Mosquitos by **2 Wd**. This costs 2 Soulstones to do, but makes all your Mosquitoes more dangerous. Be sure you use this when the Malifaux Rat is within 3" of all your Giant Mosquitoes. Note that if you sacrifice the rat to make another Giant Mosquito with the **Larva** ability, the new Giant Mosquito won't get a Healing Flip, but the rest will.
 * **Get Your Mosquitoes Drunk:** Som'er Teeth can use **Take a Swig** to give one Giant Mosquito a healing flip. If Som'er has the free AP, this can help.
 * **Drink Blood:** If you can find a weak target, you can have the Mosquitoes damage a model (friendly or hostile) and heal same number of Wd it inflicts.
 * **Just Let Them Be Wounded**: Even at 3 Wd, the Mosquitoes have a high resist score, and if you don't have a way to heal them, they'll still be quite useful.

=__Magical Extension__= Most of Som'er's spells are quite available to the Giant Mosquito. While the Giant Mosquito doesn't have a very high Ca score, Som'er Teeth's spells are almost all quite easy to cast, require no Suits, and don't have any Resist.

Note, however, that Giant Mosquito needs a 14 or higher to cast Git Your Bro, which is impossible without spending a Soulstone. It's usually better to let Som'er handle that part of things.

The Giant Mosquitoes can also be used with Avatar Some'r and Peaches to extend the Avatar spells since Som'er can keep his Totem when Manifesting. The Giant Mosquito can still cost **Sooey!** Casting Swamp Gas requires a 13 of any suit and is resisted by Df, so it's likely to require a Soulstone to get it to work successfully. **Reckless Frenzy** also requires a 13 of any suit, but may be worth it since it will free up AP for Som'er and give damage-free **Reckless** actions to all your Gremlins.

=__Tips and Tricks__=

The Giant Mosquito can make more of its own with the **(all) Larva** action. Rather than hiring multiple Giant Mosquitos, it's often better to hire a Bayou Gremlin, have Som'er Teeth cast **Git Y'er Bro** to Summon another, and then use **Larva** on that Gremlin. This lets you draw two cards if Som'er is close enough that **Survival of the Fittest** applies, so it's a very efficient strategy. If you're willing to create and/or hire and then kill off 3 Bayou Gremlins on the first turn, you can begin with a full set of 4 Mosquitos, and draw a whopping 6 extra cards to boot!

Previously, it was possible to get "infinite activations" and stall the opponent by having a Summoned Giant Mosquito use **(all) Larva** on the Mosquito that summoned it, chaining these Summonings to burn through activations and guarantee the chance to act last. However, June 1, 2012 included errata that stated that Larva could only be used on non-Mosquito minions.

=__Playing Against Giant Mosquito__= These little insects are very hard to hit, so often your best form of attack is something that doesn't require an Attack flip against the Mosquito, such as a weapon with blast. You should also be able to kill the Giant Mosquito with concentrated effort if it becomes needed.

Most likely, if the Giant Mosquito is up in your peoples' faces, they are likely to be pulling some attacks from pigs as well. Watch out!

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