M2E+Lady+Justice


 * Lady Justice, Guild Master**

=__Overview__=

Lady Justice is a melee blender: simple and deadly. With her ability to heal, excellent stats and strong damage she is a Master to be feared even by monstrous creatures. Her number of wounds gives her plenty of staying power. As a defender of order she has many weapons against the unatural, especially the walking dead, but no weapon is as feared as her Greatsword. As a true heroine she inspires her followers who bear witness to her deeds. She fears nothing, faces her enemies head on and will make them beg for mercy. She is the "heroine Malifaux deserves".

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=__Mobility__=

With a Walk of 5 and Charge of 7, Lady J is what you'd expect for a melee master. Above average but nothing extraordinary. Thus, she threatens an area of 14" around her (Wk 5 + Cg 7 + 2" Melee Range) and many opponents prefer to keep out. Once stuck in combat Lady Justice doesn't move around that much. She has no tricks to get her out of combat or push opponents around, so if she wants to move again she will first have to kill everything around her.

Her **Blindfighter** ability allows her to charge regardless of line of sight. She still needs range, so no punching through walls, but your enemies can't hide behind woods. Also, her 2" melee range allows charging around corners as long as you move in a straight line. If your target stands within 2" of a corner, charge away! Amazingly, she can even charge through **Incorporeal** models. Spirits, beware!

The **Last Stand** upgrade gives her **Unimpeded**. This enhances her mobility greatly on some boards. Charging without line of sight and ignoring Severe Terrain is a great combination if there are many woods around. This upgrade also has the **With Me!** ability. It is a mobility trick for Guild Marshals instead of Lady Justice herself as they can push towards her **Charge** targets. That way she can commit to the fight and take her support with her.

=__Offense__=

This is the feature Lady Justice is famous for. Note that whenever she kills something, no Markers are placed in response to the model dying. This means no Corpse, no Scrap, and no **Finish the Job** either. She has two attacks:

In addition, not charging gives you a +flip to damage meaning that -flips are neutered (allowing cheating!) or regular flips have more chance to do that nice severe damage.
 * Greatsword** - With a modest range of 2" and excellent damage, this is what causes Lady J to be so feared. The fact that it has a Ram automatically means she's doing +1 damage with //Critical Strike// (so you might as well read that damage as 4/5/7) plus another 1 for each other ram you can 'ram' into the cost - e.g. cheating in 1 with a Soulstone and flipping a ram would add another +2 for 6/7/9 !

Thanks to the **Inspiring Swordplay** ability she hands out +flips to nearby Minions whenever she kills somebody with her sword. That is a great passive support ability, so don't forget it.

The **Vendetta** upgrade adds additional triggers. See below.


 * Justice Unleashed** - This attack comes with the upgrade of the same name. It's a rather big Pulse that forces Undead and Spirits to take a moderate Wp Duel or take 3 damage. While this is mostly useful against Resurrectionists, other factions have Undead and especially Spirits, as well. Note that Justice Unleashed is a Ca (and thus ignores **Incorporeal**) and ignores **Armor** and **Hard to Kill**.

=__Resilience__=

Lady Justice is not known for overwhelming resilience but she can certainly stand her own. She has many Wds and a great Wp but her Df is nothing to write home about. Her best defense is that in most situations she doesn't have to face a full assault because something probably died near her recently.

//Riposte// - Her Df trigger. It goes off on a Mask (because she already has the Ram) and deals scary damage to the opponent and thus is a good deterrent. Sadly, it only works if Lady Justice wins the duel and with her mediocre Df that is easier said than done. But lowly Minions with abysmal Ml are advised not to take pot shots at her; this triggers //hurts//!


 * Covering Fire** - A (0) Tactical Action that gives Lady J soft cover (i.e. opponents suffer -flips to Ranged Attack flips against her) against enemies within 12". Decent if out in the open. Useful against all but the most long range of foes. It needs a 5 of Crows and you cannot use Juggernaut on the same turn. Probably best used in the first turns.


 * Restore Natural Order** - An 8" pulse with a high TN that removes **all** Conditions on models within range. This is good for eliminating mass **Burning** or **Poison** that is a standard tactic of Kaeris, McMourning, or Criid crews. Note that, as a Pulse, this will not remove conditions on Justice herself. Also, it cannot remove Conditions from Cursed Object or Distract since it is an action.


 * Juggernaut** - Lady J's (0) Action which gives a Healing Flip at the cost of a card. Basically an almost free, after the fact, Healing Flip. Don't forget that Healing Flips can be cheated!

=__Soulstones__=

With a good Cache of 4 it's not too expensive to play Lady Justice with a full set of Soulstones. She doesn't really need that many but she is a frontline Master after all. If you take more than her starting Cache she can be a bit more offensive with them. Usually, 5-6 Soulstones are enough. Remember that Henchmen can use Soulstones, so if you like to play those you should err on the high side.

__**Damage prevention**__ The main use of Soulstones for her. Lowering damage and than healing up via **Juggernaut** can make her difficult to bring down. If Assassinate is in the Scheme pool bring some additional Soulstones for safety. Lady Justice is usually somewhere up front and said Scheme makes her the focus of attention.

__**Suits**__ Using Soulstones for suits is seldom needed but often useful. Masks are a prime example if you want the //Onslaught// trigger, and a possible deterrent through //Riposte//. Using a Soulstone for the last one is a risky move due to her low Df but can force the opponent to cheat high. Don't forget that you can Soulstone a Ram for //Critical Strike,// her damage skyrockets if you do.

Cover is no issue for Lady Justice but if you have a bad hand this may be worth it.
 * __Positive flips__**

__**Defense flips**__ Because of her middling Df and lot of Wds, Soulstoning her Df flips is not a bad idea: regardless of Lady Justice getting hit, the Soulstone won't go to waste, as a negative modifier to the Damage Flip makes her a lot more resilient.

=__Upgrades__=

It's entirely possible to play Lady Justice without upgrades as her best abilities are on her base card. However, her Upgrades offer some interesting abilities, especially against her nemeses, the Resurrectionists.

__**Guild Marshal Upgrades**__


 * Implacable** - Disengaging from Lady Justice is not easy due to her high Ml attack. This Upgrade disallows it all together which makes her even better at locking models down. High defense objective runners (like Terror Tots) don't like this Upgrade one bit. It also adds Bullet Proof which makes her more resilient against shooting. This can be much appreciated if you play against Guild or Gremlins but won't matter much against most Neverborn or Resurrectionists. Basically a cheaper Lead Lined Coat.


 * Justice Unleashed** - Specifically geared towards Undead/Spirit crews but the **Last Rights** action can also screw Scrap Marker reliant crews as well. Note that **Last Rights** is a (0) action and thus mutually exclusive with **Juggernaut** or **Covering Fire**. While it's only 1SS, it still needs to be considered against what you're facing. If you're going in blind, then **Last Stand** or **Implacable** would be generally better, but you will be very glad if you have this against Nicodem. It's against Wp, so call targets wisely.


 * Last Stand** - This was mentioned in the mobility section above. It's very cheap and adds to her and her crew's movement. Ignoring severe terrain is nice. The charge trigger to push allies in a pulse is also pretty cool. For me, this Upgrade is as close to an auto-take as any of her Upgrades get.

//Onslaught// allows you to make an additional Greatsword attack, but needs a Mask. Also, the additional attack can not declare triggers. This is great against **Hard to Kill** models and generally good against models with **Hard to Wound** but low Df since two times weak damage makes one severe.
 * Vendetta** - Adds two triggers to her Greatsword Attack:

//Vengeance// is on a Ram, so auto-triggered and adds a positive to the damage flip. Note that, since you cannot declare //Critical Strike// if you declare //Vengeance//, your moderate damage will be identical to the weak damage you get with //Critical Strike//. Declare this trigger only if you need that Severe or have the Red Joker in hand.


 * Flames of the Pit** - This upgrade can be used by any Guild Marshal (so, apart from the Lady: Exorcist, Judge, Lone Marshal). It's two Soulstones and adds **Terrifying (Undead)**. Also, Death Marshals (not Guild Marshals) are immune to Horror duels. This upgrade can be great against the right opponent (Seamus, for example) but it also has a good chance to do nothing. There are many Resurrectionist lists without any Horror duels and even some without many Undead. It's a gamble and not a cheap one.

__**General Guild Upgrades**__


 * Badge of Office ** - Could potentially neuter a massive attack, but needs to be balanced against the cost. Against something like Pandora or Sonnia who chip away it is less useful when compared to a large damage monster like Lilith or Seamus. It's Limited so you cannot take **Vendetta** (the upgrade, not the Scheme) if you take this.

**Dampening Field** - As long as she doesn't need to heal, the (0) is great to have, and the discard ability can throw a big wrench in your opponent's plans. Some models are reliant on heals, like Viktorias or Executioners. Lady Justice is a good model to carry this upgrade.

**Expert Sleuth** - This is a cheap upgrade with some situational effects. If your opponent plays Breakthrough or Line in the Sand, Lady Justice gets an ability to free her up from unwanted melees. Also, the initiative bonus can mean the difference between dispatching everything around her and being dog-piled.

**Vengeance Bullet** - Her only Sh action isn't an attack and deals no damage. Move along, nothing to see here.

**Plant Evidence** - Highly Scheme specific, but since she often has an upgrade slot to spare it can be a good choice if you need Scheme Markers but don't want to stop killing for even a second.

**Thalarian Stone** - The bonus is very expensive and unreliable, and the Heal is somewhat redundant because of **Juggernaut**. The only reason to take this is surprise //Riposte// which can be hilarious, but it's expensive as hell.


 * Lead Lined Coat** - She cannot take this! It would be great, but don't cheat.

=__Tactics and Tips__=

Movement Tips
For a melee master, Lady Justice doesn't have a very fast Wk. To counteract this, there are several things that can be done. Many players use the Judge's (0) **Stand for Judgement** to pull her closer to the combat, allowing her to get closer to the action on the first turn. Another possibility is using Death Marshals to **Pine Box** her and move her closer; while not faster than Lady Justice, Death Marshals are **Unimpeded** and being buried protects her from being targeted by enemies. As mentioned earlier, the **Last Stand** upgrade can give Lady Justice **Unimpeded**, which combined with **Blindfighter** can give her an extra edge to target models that might think they are safe!

If you take one of the Ortegas, (0) **Hermanos de Armas** can drag along the Lady as well. Francisco and Papa are the most likely Ortegas to be found in Lady Justice's crews.

Flank or Center?
A typical approach to Lady Justice is to make a bee line for the strongest model and crush it with her Greatsword before it can make your life difficult. Since very few models can stand up to the Lady's assault, this is very viable. It will also end with Lady Justice right in the middle of the enemy crew. Your opponent will find this development very unpleasant since in Lady Justice's next activation, more stuff will die and he cannot simply walk away. Accordingly, he will focus a significant amount of **AP** on bringing her down. If this distracts him from winning the game (e.g. because he can't Interact for Line in the Sand or prefers to kill her instead of handing her a Cursed Object) it's all the better. Just don't expect that Lady Justice will survive this very long. If she takes down a slew of models and then drops she has fulfilled her purpose.

The alternative, of course, is to run her on a flank. With **Unimpeded**, **Wk 5** and **3 AP** she is fast enough to run around the action and come in as second wave. In the mean time she can pick of objective grabbers who in general cannot take her attacks for long. You will have to hold off the main enemy force without your Master but when she commits, your opponent will probably be already wounded.

=__Leading a Crew__=

Lady Justice likes to lead from the front and can lead most crew compositions successfully. She doesn't need a lot of support and mainly punches people. Thus it's mostly up to the player what crew they like and then to put the Lady in charge.

As Lady Justice does amazing damage, she can easily take the role of the beater, so you want need one of those for her. She likes some ranged support and a supportive Henchman, because she doesn't do a lot of support herself.

Strategies and Schemes
Lady Justice can do most Strategies and Schemes. She excels at Reckoning and kill-related Schemes like Murder Protege or Make them Suffer. Assassinate is a mixed bag for her, as she has few problems dispatching enemy Masters, but she tends to overextend if she does. She has to do the work herself often and opens up to counter-assassination.

Beware of Deliver a Message, Distract and Cursed Object. Lady Justice has to get into the fray to do her thing and is thus vulnerable to these Schemes.

Building a Crew
Lady Justice doesn't have many obvious synergies, as her style is really straight forward. That is both a blessing and a curse: A blessing, because you can pretty much take the crew you like, put Justice in charge and let her do her thing. A curse, because she is rather predictable and your crews will seldom have that amazing feeling of a real team that most other Guild crews have.

A few synergies are there, however, and they are powerful.

Lady Justice kills things. It's what she is known for, and with good reason. Making her even better at it, is a really scary prospect for your opponent. That is what makes it fun.
 * 1. Supporting her Offense**

The Judge - His **(0) Stand for Judgement** can pull models into her melee range. If she doesn't charge, she gains a positive flip on damage. Enough said. Hunter - His harpoon gun does a similar thing as the Judge. Plus, it damages people. Peacekeeper - See Hunter above. Sidir Alchibal - He is a good shooter and a good bodyguard, but for the sake of Offense his power is the **Promises** upgrade. It hands out positive flips on **Ml** and **Wp** duels for people with upgrades, which are the Lady's highest stats. It's awesome. Papa Loco - Papa is not an easy model to use as he is as dangerous to your own people as to the enemy. However, he can give a positive flip to all damage flips. This includes Lady Justice's //Riposte// and is awesome on her Greatsword. As the bonus stays as long as Papa doesn't activate or die, it's recommended to put him in a **Pine Box** until he is needed.

Lady Justice is not easy to bring down. If you take a good bodyguard, she becomes even more of a nuisance. As long as she is alive, things will die, or at least locked down.
 * 2. Supporting her Resilience**

Brutal Effigy - His **Fear Not The Sword** ability is stellar for Lady Justice: Healing her Wds back is great because she has so many of them, and drawing cards is not bad either. It's a supportive ability that's triggered by punching people. Lady Justice loves things like that! Also, he is a good little objective runner because he doesn't go down fast for such a cheap model and even gets a Scheme marker when he dies. Guardian - All by himself the Guardian is a resilient model who can lock down a considerable part of the table. He also gives two positive flips for Df duels. That is good for your hand and is especially helpful against pot shots and similar death-by-a-thousand-cuts tactics which are dangerous for Lady Justice. With a trigger, he can heal her, too. Sidir Alchibal - Sidir can make people **Slow** which reduces the number of attacks. He can also take an upgrade which allows him to take a hit for the Lady. Francisco Ortega - Francisco may well be one of the best bodyguards in the game. He has an ability that raises a model's Df and Wp by 2, and it doesn't even cost him an action. Imagine Lady Justice with Df 7: Suddenly //Riposte// becomes a real threat. That Francisco is a very versatile model by himself doesn't hurt either. Wastrels - They can heal her. Not much to add. Governor's Proxy - See Wastrel above. Pistolero de Latigo - These guys give positive flips to **Df** as long as they haven't activated yet. They are like cheaper Guardians. Guild Lawyer - They can give her **Hard to Wound +2** which means she will most likely take weak damage.

The best buff Lady Justice provides, she provides by killing people. If Minions witness her heroic deeds, they gain positive flips for Ml and Sh attacks. That is a good buff especially for ranged troops because they don't have to worry about Cover anymore. Since she will deal this buff out regardless, it would be a shame not to use it.
 * 3. Getting Inspired**

Guardian - The big guy is a Minion despite his cost. He doesn't deal much damage but he will be near the Lady anyway and with **Inspired** it will be very difficult to disengage from him. Pistolero de Latigo - They have a positive modifier already so **Inspired** will only push their accuracy further. Witchling Stalkers - Most Masters use these for their condition removal or the free **Burning**. With Lady Justice they become pretty mean damage dealers due to their high Ml. Hunter - He has a lot of attacks with good damage. Enough said. Warden - His damage profile is quite good for a rather cheap model. Riflemen - They have very good range and a surprising damage profile. The are also very accurate. The main problem is to keep them near Lady Justice so they get **Inspired** in the first place, but if it happens, things will die.

Now for the Minions you probably miss on this list: Death Marshals.

Death Marshals are Lady Justice's signature Minion. They are reasonably good objective grabbers due to **Unimpeded**. They have good damage profiles as well, especially if they are **Inspired**. But their main draw is the **Pine Box**. Read about it on their page and be amazed! Lady Justice will never regret bringing a Marshal or two.

As we have seen some models fit in more than one category: Those will probably the best choices for your crew. Starting with a Death Marshal (because they are good), we add a Henchman: The Judge, Francisco Ortega or Sidir Alchibal fit best, but the others can work, too. If Francisco didn't make the list, a Guardian might be a good choice. For a Totem, the Scales offers decent support while the Governor's Proxy offers a more direct benefit. They both work well but Lady Justice doesn't really need a Totem. Add one if you like them.

The rest of the crew should really depend on Scheme and Strategy but a Hunter or Witchling Stalker will always be a good choice.

Starting Lady Justice[[image:Box_LadyJ.png align="right"]]
The Guild's Judgement, Lady Justice's crew box, includes herself and her Totem, the Scales, the Judge, and three Death Marshals. This amounts to a 30 Soulstone crew, or 33 with a full Cache of Soulstones, and around 40 with a lot of Upgrades. Inside the box, Lady Justice finds everything she needs: A good supportive Henchman, some all around good Minions and a workable Totem.

If you want to expand from there, you should look for some cheap Minions who can help her with objectives. Guild Guard, Guild Hounds, Wastrels or Watchers are the prime examples, but Wastrels only come with McCabe's box at the moment. I would go with two Guild Hounds who cost the same as a Death Marshal but are faster and have a reasonable attack, especially if they are **Inspired**.

The next step would be some shooting. Guild is very good at it but Death Marshals are not your best option. Riflemen are really good shooters for a cheap cost, but they need some support themselves, or at least another Guardsman nearby (or you could just play two). The Ortega Family has some great, self relying shooters who fit the bill. Your best bet might be Austringers: Austringers are awesome. They are Minions and thus profit from the full list of synergies. They pick off stragglers, put some wounds on the Lady's target before she charges and can even shoot into melee if they aren't too far back. An Austringer in a crew never hurts.

Sooner or later, every Guild player will want some Witchling Stalkers, as they are very versatile yet cheap Minions with Condition removal. The latter ability can be worth the Stalker's weight in gold even in a Justice crew, as **Restore Natural Order** is very expensive and doesn't clear the Lady herself.

=__Playing Against Lady Justice__=

Watch out for her threat range. Unless it is guaranteed that you can kill her in melee before her activation, stay at range with valuable models.

It's possible to feed her cheap models so that she cannot come after valuable stuff. Summoners are especially good at this, but remember she doesn't leave Markers to summon off. If you have cheap Minions she cannot dispose of with a single blow (like Rotten Belles or Depleted) use those to tar pit her. Don't do this if Reckoning is your Strategy, obviously.

Dogpile her. Her **Df** is mediocre and she has no damage mitigation besides Soulstones which means you just have to burn through her Wds. Easier said than done because she has so many of them but that way high cards cannot protect her.

If you want to play a Condition game (say, Hamelin or Kaeris) focus her early and attack valuable models so she burns her high cards before she can use **Restore Natural Order**.

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