M2E+Rusty+Alyce


 * Rusty Alyce, Outcast Henchman**

=__Overview__= toc Rusty Alyce is a very solid henchman with a ranged focus, though she is still capable of holding her own in melee combat as well. As a member of Leveticus's thematic crew, her upgrades give her the ability to summon Abominations in various ways.

=__Mobility__=

While she doesn't have any innate movement tricks, Alyce has a very high Walk stat, which makes her a mobile model.

=__Offense__=

Alyce has two very good attacks. The first, her Clockwork Seeker, has a **Sh** of 6 and a very high damage spread of 3/4/5, making it a great weapon that will put out a lot of damage, even on weak damage flips. It also ignores Hard to Wound, making it very effective weapon against most Resurrectionist models. Alyce's Rapid Fire ability allows her to discard a card and fire three shots at a single model, making her quite capable of putting all but the hardiest of opponents into the ground in a single activation.

Her Clockwork Arm melee attack is also quite effective, for while it has a lower (but still respectable) value for its weak and moderate damage, its severe damage is a eye-popping 8 points! To help her consistently hit this high damage, Alyce has the Faces of Death trigger, which allows her to discard up to three cards in her hand to gain a +flip to her damage for each discarded card.

She also has the Desolate Warping trigger common to so many models in Leveticus's thematic crew, allowing her to summon a full-life Abomination into play after she kills an enemy model with her melee attack. Free models are usually pretty good, so if you're pretty sure that you're able to kill an opponent's model with a melee attack, it's usually worth cheating in or using a soulstone for a crow to hit the trigger.

=__Resilience__=

Alyce is fairly durable, with an average Defense and an abnormally high Willpower. She comes with resistance to both melee and ranged attacks, the former in the form of Snares, which prevents enemy models from ending a charge within three inches of her. This is great for forcing an enemy model to waste its AP by walking into melee with Alyce. Because most models have a lower Walk speed than a Charge speed, this also buys Alyce additional time that she can use to shoot those approaching her with her impressive Clockwork Seeker.

Her resistance to ranged attacks comes in the form of Bulletproof +1, which lets her ignore one point of damage each time she suffers damage from a **Sh** attack. This gives her some pretty good staying power in a gunfight, particularly if she also happens to be in cover.

Rusty Alyce also has the Unmade defensive trigger, which deals 1 damage to models that attempt to attack her and fail to connect. This damage cannot be prevented with Soulstones, but generally the amount of damage done by Unmade isn't very high, making it more of a bonus source of a few points of damage than a real deterrent.

=__Support__=

Alyce has a single support ability, Burn Out. This very useful action grants the Reactivate condition to a friendly non-Leader Construct, but at the cost of dropping it down to a single remaining wound. Furthermore, if the Construct becomes buried before the end of the turn, you're forced to sacrifice it.

While this cost seems steep, it can often be worth pushing a model to the near breaking point in order to get a second activation out of it, particularly if the Construct in question has the ability to heal itself (such as Lazarus). If you're able to out-activate your opponent, giving Burn Out to a Construct after the opponent has run out of activations can help to minimize the risk of this ability.

=__Upgrades__=


 * From the Aether:** The first of Rusty Alyce's unique upgrades gives her two free actions, Fragments and Aetheric Creation. The first drops a Scrap Marker in base contact with Alyce, while the second summons an Abomination from a nearby Scrap Marker. While useful for summoning Abominations in a vacuum (create a Scrap Marker one turn, turn it into an Abomination in the next), From the Aether really shines in a crew with a fair number of Constructs (thus allowing Alyce plenty of Scrap Markers to turn into Abominations) or in a crew with Leveticus with his From Ash upgrade (which allows Alyce to drop Scrap Markers that he can turn into Abominations).


 * Desolate Soul:** The second of Rusty Alyce's unique upgrades is one she shares with Leveticus. Quite simply, the upgrade gives Alyce's Clockwork Seeker attack the Desolate Warping trigger, allowing her to transform those she kills with the gun into Abominations. While summoning Abominations is always useful, the ability to do so from 12" away, possibly into the middle of an opponent's crew, is quite fun and useful. With the high minimum damage on her Clockwork Seeker, it's usually not too difficult to pick off smaller models and turn them into loyal Abominations with this upgrade.


 * Oathkeeper:** Fast on demand is good for just about anyone, and Alyce is no exception.


 * Tally Sheet:** This is a very good upgrade for Alyce, as she's capable of tossing around enough damage that it's usually not too difficult to kill some things in the process. Why not get cards for doing what she was going to be doing anyways?

=__Tactics and Tips__=

Alyce pairs very well with Leveticus, especially if the two of them are focusing up summoning Abominations via her From the Aether upgrade and his From Ash upgrade. Between that and their Desolate Warping triggers, it's possible to just flood the board with Abominations created from Scrap Markers and the opponent's dead models.

By using her Burn Out ability, Alyce can pull multiple activations out of tough Construct models such as Lazarus or a Desolation Engine. This drops the construct in question down to a single wound, but Lazarus can heal himself and the Desolation Engine just breaks apart into two Abominations when it dies. Because four Abominations can combine together to re-summon the Desolation Engine, this makes the risk of bringing the Desolation Engine so close to death worth the reward of a reactivating Desolation Engine tearing apart your opponent's crew.

=__Leading a Crew__=

Strategies and Schemes
Alyce is quick enough that she's quite capable of moving around and dropping scheme markers or claiming markers for Squatter's Rights, and her Snares ability makes it difficult for the opponent to get into melee to slow her down. Even if they do, the high severe damage on her Clockwork Arm makes it quite likely that Alyce will be able to break free rather quickly.

With the good range and high damage on her Clockwork Seeker, Alyce is also fairly good at helping out in games with Reckoning, as she's quite capable of tossing out a lot of damage against tough models (particularly if she chooses to Rapid Fire against a single model).

Building a Crew
Alyce is enough of a generalist that she can lead just about any crew she wishes without too much difficulty. Her Burn Out ability gives her some good synergy with Construct models, but even in a crew without any Constructs, her speed and high damage potential will compliment just about any Outcast crew.

It's often a good idea to bring some Abominations with you if Rusty is leading a crew, even if you don't hire any, as you never know when you'll get lucky with her Desolate Warping trigger and summon a few into the game.

=__Playing Against Rusty Alyce__=

Alyce is a tough henchman to face, as she's effective both at range and in melee, and capable of throwing out some very high damage in both situations. If she's running with large constructs, keep an eye out for her Burn Out ability, as that large construct that you thought was finished could end up getting Reactivated in order to wreck some more destruction.

Melee combat is usually the best way to deal with her, and models with the Leap ability or some way of pushing into combat with her are very effective, as her Snares will otherwise prevent you from charging her. If you're able to remove her suits - such as with Hannah or a Freikorps Librarian - it makes it much more difficult for Alyce to hit her rather scary triggers.

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 * __Ownership__ **