M2E+Lucas+McCabe


 * Lucas McCabe, Guild/Ten Thunders Master**

Return to Guild or __Return to Ten Thunders__

=__Overview__= toc Lucas McCabe (more commonly known just as McCabe) is a Master with many tools. He can spend time cutting the enemy into pieces, rallying his crew or slowing down the opponent. He's infiltrated the Guild in service to his true masters, the Ten Thunders. On the board, he has the unique ability to throw his upgrades on other models - a more supporting version of Jack Daw. Combined with his high Wk, McCabe is mobile Master capable of quite a few different playstyles.

The McCabe Crew Box (Relic Hunters) is available only in plastic. It contains McCabe (Mounted and Dismounted), Luna, Sidir Alchibal, and three Wastrels.

=__Mobility__= Mounted McCabe is the fastest master in the game through pure statistics. His high Wk 7 and Cg 9 comes from his trusty horse - meaning he can get 21” across the board in a single turn using just Walk Actions.

His (0) “Take This” will push any model it targets 4 inches, helping them get in position.

McCabe has Dismount, which allows him to summon Dismounted McCabe when Mounted McCabe is killed or sacrificed. Dismounted McCabe counts as McCabe in all ways, but is reduced to Wk 5, Cg 6 since his horse died. Note, since Dismounted McCabe is summoned, you get a whole new activation with him, giving McCabe a virtual 5 AP in the turn Dismount occurs.

=__Offense__= This is his main damage dealing attack. It has a slightly better than avarage Ml stat, so will be hitting most things just on the flip. With a decent natural damage and built in Critical Strike trigger, the Sabre can put out a decent level of damage whenever McCabe wants it to. The other trigger hands out Slow - good for when AP reduction is the better move.
 * The Sabre (Both Mounted and Dismounted)**

With a decent RNG of 10, the Netgun hands out Slow to the target while forcing models within 2” to take a TN 12 Df duel or also gain Slow. It has a trigger which can give the target Paralyse if they already had Slow when the Netgun action was declared. Several shots of the Netgun can hamper grouped up models in your opponent's crew or at least burn cards from his / her control hand, giving you a card advantage.
 * Netgun (Mounted Only)**

When McCabe dismounts, he trades his Netgun for a Bullwhip, Indiana Jones style. The Bullwhip is a Ml version of the Netgun but lacks the multi-model pulse, gaining a damage track and auto-Slow instead. It has a great RNG of 3, allowing you to hit most models in the game without fear of large retaliation. The triggers are: “Hogtie” which stops the opponent from moving - if they’re not able to hit you because of your 3 inch melee range, this becomes even better. “Snap” hands out Paralyse, and “Come ‘Ere” is good for bringing the opponent closer to dice them up with your Sabre.
 * Bullwhip (Dismounted Only)**

This (0) action is key in most play styles of McCabe. It won’t do any damage but it has indirect effects. It moves upgrades off of McCabe and can put them on any friendly model, also giving them a 4 inch push. This is because his upgrades have different effects depending on whether they’re attached to McCabe or not. To tie in with this, McCabe has “Loan” on his card meaning when he activates he can take all his upgrades back of models within 10" or when a model is killed or sacrificed (note: doesn't have to be the actual model killed or sacrificed that carries the upgrade(s)).
 * “Take This” (Both forms, Indirect Offence)**

=__Resilience__=

McCabe can easily become very resistant. His natural Df 5 isn’t better than average but when he engages in melee he can go up to Df 7 due to “In The Thick of It”, making him very survivable. The fact that he has 7 Wds is due to his two forms. You can use the fact he will dismount as another defence for the opponent could easily “waste” damage that on most models would just continue across.
 * Mounted**

Again McCabe has “In The Thick of it” meaning melee is one of the safest places for him, especially in this form where he has no ranged attack. He has 6 Wds dismounted and should be treated like a master who is near death. An ability on his card is “Loot” gives gains him one Soulstone when he kills an enemy model, for each upgrade on that model. This can easily be used in defence.
 * Dismounted**

=__Upgrades__=

The proper timing and order of operations is key to getting the most out of McCabe's transferable upgrades. See the badge of speed for an example. Each of the transferable upgrades has one effect when on McCabe and another effect once transferred to another model.

On McCabe: Gives McCabe a healing action with a 6" range. Keeping him on his horse could be very important to your plans. Off McCabe: Gives Regeneration +2 and Unimpeded in a 3" Aura.
 * Elixir Of Life (McCabe, or transferred)**

On McCabe: Gives McCabe Armor +1. Armour is not going to be bad. He’s often found in melee and reducing the damage he takes is easily useful, Off McCabe: Gives Armor +1 in a 4" aura. Activating it requires a (0) action and it only lasts till the end of the turn. This is easily better off McCabe assuming you can have lots of people in the aura. Of course giving it to someone without a (0) action is fantastic, especially if they already have Armor (like Izuma).
 * Strangemetal Shirt (McCabe, or transferred)**

On McCabe: McCabe can use Black Flash (1 AP and needs a 6 of Rams) to give a minion Reactivate. This can form the basis of running McCabe with minions. There are a lot of dangerous minions about, so having them activate twice is never bad. Off McCabe: Gives Nimble. If McCabe has an auto include, this is it. This upgrade with the right minion makes achieving so many strats and schemes easy and hard to prevent. Here is a great example of proper timing and order of operations to get the most out of McCabe's upgrades. Assume it is the start of turn 2 (or later) and Minion A has Badge of Speed (BoS) attached. Minion A activates with Nimble. Next McCabe activates and takes BoS back. McCabe uses Black Flash to give Minion B Reactivate. McCabe then attaches BoS to Minion B giving them Nimble and and pushes Minion B 4" inches. Minion B activates with Nimble. Minion B activates again with Nimble. For the cost of McCabe's (0) action and 1 AP you have gained 3 walk actions (1 for Minion A, 2 for Minion B), 2 AP (Model B) and a 4" push (Model B). Next round you can reverse the process by activating Minion B first, then McCabe, then Minion A twice. Here are some minions that benefit greatly with Nimble and Reactivate (as if any minion wouldn't) and what they can do over the course of two Activations.
 * Badge Of Speed (McCabe, or transferred)**
 * Jorogumo - In the right position they get 6 attacks. Nimble can help get in position if needed.
 * Dawn Serpent - Nimble with 6" Flight is fantastic. You can be within 6" and LoS of McCabe move up to 6" ignoring terrain, etc. Shoot something within 8" four times on 7's with possible blasts and ignite. Then Nimble/Fly back within 6" of McCabe to get ready to repeat next round.
 * Wandering River Monk - You can Leap, place a scheme marker, walk (Nimble) and place a scheme marker. Reactivate and repeat, to place 4 scheme markers with one model in one turn. Nasty surprise on turn 5. With the 4" push from McCabe transfering BoS this model could move 38" (4" (push) +7" (Leap) +15" (3x5" Walk with Nible), Reactivate +7" (Leap) +5 (Walk from Nimble)) and still Deliver a Message. Two of those moves are 7" and ignore intervening models and terrain.

On McCabe: Add three triggers to McCabe's Saber attack so he has one for each suit. As McCabe is often in combat, extra triggers are great. None of them are bad and you can easily use Soulstones to control which you get. Off McCabe: Gives a 6Ml attack that ignores most defensive abilities (Amor, HtW, HtK, etc.). Glowing Sabre is a very good melee attack. There are minions out there who will easily benefit from a melee attack. It’s especially good on models who don’t have a normally melee attack. Using the same process of activating the model with the upgrade transferring it to another model with Reactivate you could have 6 attacks at 6Ml using this upgrade. With the guild hounds (1) AP charge if the target is within 2" of a scheme marker that could be 9 attacks from 2 guild hounds. If the target is not within 2" of a scheme marker another model could walk up a drop one there unless the target has a 4" reach.
 * Glowing Sabre (McCabe, or transferred)**

This one does not benefit from being transferred. It adds damage to McCabe’s Netgun, which if you are playing McCabe based around giving out slow and paralyse is easily useful. It also adds critical strike to his bullwhip, but this is less useful; if you wanted more damage you would use the Sabre.
 * Barbs (McCabe Only)**

A very good upgrade which can easily form the basis of certain builds of crew. Giving + flips to models focused on melee is great. The 6” aura is actually quite large, letting you cover a good chunk of the board with Mounted McCabe's 50mm base.
 * Promises (Black Sheep)**

As Malifaux games often revolves around scheme markers, this upgrade can always useful. But it doesn’t have to be on a Master and with McCabe’s strong emphasis on his own upgrades, it’s probably better taken on another model.
 * Servant of 5 Dragons (Ten Thunders)**

This upgrade is always good, especially with melee models who will use the +flips on defence as well as they are more often in dangerous areas. It can be useful for McCabe who does have decent melee, but Promises provides a more regular + flip, as well as benefiting others.
 * Recalled Training (Ten Thunders)**

Keeping McCabe alive is normally not too challenging, but there can be times when his life is in the balance and he is critical to the crew. This is where this upgrade would sit. If you can find then room for it, it’s a get out of jail free card.
 * Broken Promises (Ten Thunders, Master or Henchman)**

Echo of souls is not useful for McCabe as he already has “In the thick of it” and better (0) action options.
 * Dragon Stone (Ten Thunders, Leader)**

As mention earlier, McCabe is generally survivable, meaning this upgrade isn’t too useful. Though a great upgrade and a good one to put on if you do find McCabe dying, it doesn’t always compare to his specific ones.
 * Misdirection (Ten Thunders, Leader)**

=__Tactics and Tips__=

McCabe is about getting a balance of buffing, de-buffing and direct attacks. He will always be buffing your crew by giving out upgrades, but you have to make choices about who you’re giving these too. You also have other buffing mechanics such as giving minions re-activate, or + flips to melee. What’s good is a lot of his buffing is done without the use of his general ap (exception of giving re-activate) meaning you can work on another style at the same time. This is where you need to choose to either directly attack or to de-buff. This is based on your one choice, but you do need to pick a style and mostly stick to it, mainly due to what the rest of your crew needs to do. Activation order of McCabe is very important, mainly due to how you’re moving upgrades about. McCabe is often one of the first models to activate so he can give out upgrades and push people about. His Soulstone spending can be all over the place. It’s always good to spend in defence, but you could find yourself spending one for suits, such as the ram to give out reactivate or the tome to get a second cast of Take This.

=__Leading a Crew__=

Strategies and Schemes
McCabe has a lot of different play styles and can work in a lot of different crews. This means that he can work with a lot of different strategies and schemes. He is naturally skilled in speed and speeding up his own crew, so you might choose schemes based on that. Otherwise you can design the crew based off the scheme pool.

Building a Crew
McCabe can build a crew as Ten Thunders or Guild, but the style of building doesn't have to change much between factions. McCabe has 3 distinct playstyles: Buffing melee-based beatsticks, boosting minions, or debuffing the opponent.

This is based around selecting a couple of very good melee-based models (such as Ototo, Judge, Izamu, or the Strongarm Suit) and giving them upgrades off of McCabe, while also giving the + flips from Promises. Running this gives a kind of wrecking ball which is good at preventing the opponent scoring. Because of the amount of soulstones spent, the remainder should go for independent minions, such as Torakage or Death Marshals, who can run schemes while the opponent is distracted.
 * Buffing Beatsticks**

A horde of minions is ripe fodder for McCabe's upgrades. Whether you give models without a melee attack the Glowing Sabre, handing Nimble with the Bade of Speed to slow models, or boosting the survivability key forces with Elixir of Life or Strangemetal Shirt, 100% of 10T and Guild models can benefit. Pick your models for the schemes / strategy and keep McCabe in range to put his upgrades exactly where they are needed, when they are needed.
 * Boosting Minions**

This is where the themed elements of McCabe crews fits. The best use is giving out slow with McCabe’s crew then using McCabe’s netgun to paralyse those models. This is a tricky crew to manage, as you are often trading ap. This means the rest of your crew must be able to complete objectives efficiently. This is where McCabe’s upgrades will help again.
 * Debuffing**

=__Playing Against McCabe__=

You need to be aware of how your opponent is playing McCabe. Condition removal can be a real problem for his de-buffing abilities. Against a bubble of upgraded beatsticks, throwing a tar pit at them is great, but be aware McCabe can return the upgrades and put them on someone else, leaving your tar pit all of a sudden in a bad place. Focusing down a target before moving to the next will probably win you the long game against McCabe, but killing McCabe is always going to be the best choice. As long as McCabe lives, he's going to be making his crew model-for-model stronger than yours. Ranged attacks can put him down good - in melee, he's just going to have a better Df stat.

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 * __Ownership__ **