M2E+Arcane+Emissary


 * Arcane Emissary, Arcanist Enforcer**

//'It is brilliant, it is powerful, and finally it is free.'//

=__Overview__= toc The Arcane Emissary is mainly an offensive melee-focused model, with some support for its crew. As with all Emissaries, it will vary somewhat depending on which upgrade it has, and which Master is leading it.

=__Mobility__= A fairly low Wk is counterbalanced by a ridiculous Cg of 10", so while the Emissary won't be scheme-running it won't have much trouble engaging whoever it wants to either!

=__Offense__= This is where the Emissary shines. Its **Relentless Charge** offers a punishing 4/4/5 damage with a high Ml, and automatically pushes the targeted model up to 6" away. As its name implies, it can only be taken while charging, and only once per turn. It's perfect as the second attack on a charge, pushing the target (if it survives!) off strategic points such as the Turf War marker, into Harardous terrain, or just out in the open for your Gunsmiths to unload into. The Emissary's second attack - **Elemental Rage** - is a bit more versatile, but less of a straight-up damage dealer. A good Ca combined with both the melee and gun icons make this a fairly solid attack, though the damage spread is decidedly mediocre for a 10ss model. It does come with a trigger on every suit, though, many of which synergize well with the Arcanist masters. Tomes give out **Burning +1,** which is perfect alongside the likes of Kaeris and Mei Feng. A ram heals 2 wounds on the Emissary, which is nice - a self-heal (especially while dealing damage in the same action) is never a bad thing to have.

On a mask the target is pushed up to 3" in any direction. I'm a huge fan of pushes, since Malifaux really is a game of resource management, and forcing your opponent to waste resources (ap) repositioning a model is brilliant. Be careful not to push the enemy too far out of your engagement range, though, if you've still got a second charge attack to perform. Finally, crows hand out Slow - another way to curtain your opponent's plans or retaliatory strikes.

The Emissary does also have an offensive (0) action, **The Negation**, which has varying use depending on the crew you're facing. It deals 2 damage that can't be reduced, and as such makes a great way to finish off that pesky model who's hanging on in there with one or two wounds left. It also removes all non-station characteristics from the target, which can either be pointless or incredible. Facing off against Seamus and a belle-heavy list? Not that impressive. Fighting Ulix and his pigs? Game-changer.

=__Resilience__= A solid Df and Wp of 6, and **Armor +1**, ensures that the Emissary will take a few hits before going down. Like all the Emissaries, it also gets more resilient as you score VP from the Strategy, gaining a quasi-regeneration **Destined** condition for each victory point.

=__Upgrades__= As with all the Emissaries, the Arcane has one generic 0ss upgrade and one 0ss upgrade for each Master that can only be taken if the crew is led by that Master. It can take the generic Arcanist upgrades too, of course. I'll go through them all individually:


 * **Arcane Conflux** is the same as all the other Emissaries generic upgrades, giving friendly minions a positive twist and giving the Emissary a (0) action to discard a soulstone to draw then discard two cards. The Arcane Emissary does have some pretty good (0) options in comparison to this as it stands, though, so this might not see much use.
 * Ramos's upgrade, **Mechanical Conflux**, is pretty much what you'd expect from the M&SU leader - the **Construct** characteristic and **(0) Magnetism**. Generally I tend to find that my crew has ample models with **Magnetism** in when I play Ramos, but another one can't hurt! Furthermore, since the Emissary becomes a construct, it's got more synergy with Ramos's upgrades, letting it be targeted by **Combat Mechanic**, for example.
 * Oddly, Marcus's upgrade doesn't give the Emissary the **Beast** characteristic. However, it does make it even more of a frontline presence with a respectable aura that denies enemy models using Df triggers against other Beasts or the Emissary itself. His (0) action give him a bit more mobility, letting it keep up with the faster Beast models in the crew and get in the thick of things sooner. Another little trick if you're engaged is to use the (0) **Rage Forth** to push backwards, then use your two normal ap to charge in and take advantage of the Emissary's **Relentless Charge** action.
 * The **Elemental Conflux** upgrade may only be taken if Rasputina is leading the crew. It not only gives the Emissary the **Frozen Heart** ability, but also means he never counts as engaged for the purposes of **Ice Mirror**! I see this as being particularly good in strategies such as Reckoning, where you can charge the Emissary in to deal damage, and then use it as a mobile fire-point for Rasputina regardless of whether it's still engaged. It also gains a (0) action, of course, this time pushing the Emissary and another model with Frozen Heart towards each other. Movement generally isn't a big thing in Rasputina's thematic models, so it's nice to have a model that offers a bit more maneuverability, even if it is in a set direction.
 * Colette's upgrade, **Illusive Conflux**, is very interesting. It also adds some more maneuverability to the Emissary with the (0) **Minor Teleport**, which lets the Emissary jump to a scheme marker within 6". Since you're playing Colette, you shouldn't be at a shortage of scheme markers, and so this opens up a lot of maneuverability for the Emissary - particularly since it's a place, not a push. In addition, the Emissary counts as a scheme marker for Showgirl purposes, which is never a bad thing. Don't worry, effects that discard the scheme marker (such as Colette's //Now You See Me//) don't kill the Emissary - instead it just takes 2 unpreventable damage. You shouldn't be using it as a scheme marker every turn, but if that'll make the difference between scoring VP or not? Take the 2 damage. Another general trick is to cast **Minor Teleport** first to get out of enemy melee engagement so as to then charge back in, and use the Arcane Emissary's **Relentless Charge** attack action.
 * Ironsides' **Ironclad Conflux** upgrade is one of my favourites for the sheer thematic focus it has. Not only does Ironsides gain **Adrenaline +1** just for activating near the Emissary, but it gains a (0) that forces all enemies within pulse 6" of Ironsides to pass a high Wp duel or be pushed into base contact with her. Position Ironsides well in the previous turn, then next turn activate Ironsides after the Emissary does this, and she'll be set for Adrenaline!
 * Kaeris's **Flaming Conflux** is another one that buffs up nearby models rather than the Emissary directly, namely minions, by giving their attacks the option to deal **Burning +1** when near the Emissary. It also has the brilliantly-named **Flame-O-Taur!** ability (yes, the exclamation mark is printed on the card!), which gives Kaeris **Instinctual** for the turn. It's got a pretty low TN too, and (given how many (0) actions Kaeris can have) makes a very tempting alternative to **The Negotiation** or **Prophesies In Flesh and Metal** each turn.
 * The **Conflux Of Mysticism** was added in book five for Professor Desai, giving the Emissary the Gamin characteristic and subsequently making it an ideal summoning target for Banasuva, given how easily it can heal itself. It also gains a new (0) action, **Teaching Assistant**, which allows it to lend out its Ca actions in a **Beacon** style to other models. Pretty nifty, given the variety of triggers on **Elemental Burst** and the flat 2 damage from **The Negation**. This does compete with the generic upgrade, given how many minions Sandeep tends to have.
 * Last but by no means least, Mei Feng's **Conflux Of Combat** focuses around just making Mei better. If you play Mei Feng and find yourself thinking, 'I wish Mei could take more attacks in one activation', this upgrade is pretty much Christmas come early. When within aura 6" of the Arcane Emissary, Mei can discard a card after taking an Ml attack to take the same action again. There's nothing about denying triggers, either, so Mei can go nuts with her combo chains. It also gives the Emissary a neat (0) that not only pushes the Emissary, but places a scrap marker. If Mei targets the scrap marker it placed with **Railwalker**, she gains a whopping +6ca, meaning that she'll be able to **Railwalk** on anything except the Black Joker! Just make sure you check the errata, as this has been amended in Wyrd's official errata so the scrap marker is discarded once Mei Railwalks to it.

Being an Enforcer, it can take **Imbued Energies** or **Imbued Protection**. You'll be giving up the (0) soulstone upgrade, though, as it can only take one upgrade. While Df 7 or a third action is nice, the master-specific upgrades tend to offer that much more synergy than either of the generic ones. And are a lot cheaper, too, being 0ss upgrades!

=__Tactics and Tips__= One of the Emissary's main tricks is its **Flesh and Metal** ability. For the low cost of discarding any card from your hand (and of course you brought Arcane Reservoir, so that's no net loss, right? :D ), you can have a friendly other target non-leader model within 6" at the end of the Emissary's activation take a (1) action. Trade any card from your hand for an action? That's a pretty good trade-off, unless you're living the dream and have managed to draw a hand comprising of nothing but 12's, 13's and the Red Joker.

Despite what I said earlier about the Emissary not being a good scheme-runner, it's surprisingly good as an anti-scheme model. Since it can destroy all corpse and scheme markers within pulse 3" once it finishes the move part of a charge, it's ideal to dash in and ruin your opponent's well-laid plans. Think they're going for Spring the Trap or Plant Explosives? Charge in there and wipe all those markers out! Since it also destroys corpse markers, this makes it a pretty solid choice against most Resurrectionist crews too. Just be aware that it is 'all' scheme markers, so that will include any of your own scheme markers caught in the pulse.

Its final (0) action, **Prophesies In Flesh and Metal**, lets it lower the **Destined** condition to draw three cards. The earliest you'll be able to use this is Turn 4, but it's a pretty good option for just before that big push. Having more cards means being able to control the flow of the game more, which is only a good thing. It might be worth giving it a miss if you're going for Bodyguard on the Emissary, however, as the quasi-regen may be better in that instance than the cards.

=__Playing Against Arcane Emissary__= As is so often the case with Arcanists, anything that ignores **Armor** will help. If you can keep your opponent from scoring Strategy VP, you'll slow down its healing too, so it's probably advisable to focus on denying them the Strategy since points gained from Schemes don't increase the **Destined** condition. Try to keep some blocking or severe terrain in between you and it to slow it down and stop it rampaging into your crew with that incredible charge distance.

Page predominately written by Forgotmytea. Unless otherwise stated, all names and images on this site are property of Wyrd Miniatures, LLC. ([|Link])
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