M2E+Vasilisa

** CONSTRUCT, PUPPET **
 * Vasilisa, Neverborn Henchman**

=__Overview__=

Vasilisa is a very quick henchmen with a minor focus on improving and interacting with Puppets. Not much is known about her at the moment, other than that she is is closely associated with Collodi. toc

=__Mobility__=

Vasilisa is very, very fast. Her Walk speed of 6 - the same as her Charge speed - would make her very quick on its own, but she also has **The Long Journey**, an ability which allows her to push up to 4" in any direction whenever a Scheme Marker is placed by another model within 3" of her. This works regardless of whether or not the Scheme Marker was placed by a friendly model or an enemy model.

Much like Collodi, Vasilisa also possesses the Run Away Home defensive trigger, which allows her to push up to 3" after an attack against her is resolved, regardless of whether or not it succeeded or failed. When combined with her high Defense, this can make Vasilisa a very slippery model.

=__Offense__=

Vasilisa's Attack Actions are support- and debuff-focused, but can deal some damage if necessary.


 * Needle and Thread** has a high Ml value of 7 so she's pretty accurate with her stitching. The damage spread isn't anything to write home about at only 1/2/4, but the three triggers can really tie up her target. Depending on the suit, Vasilisa can prevent her target Tactical Actions, Attack Actions, or Walk Actions. The effect lasts for the rest of the game, or until the model takes an amount of damage stipulated in each trigger at the start of its activation.


 * Obey** is great for giving your models a couple more actions, or for making an enemy lend your crew a hand. She has a strong Ca, but needs a Mask to actually pull it off. If you're targeting an enemy with it be sure to expect strong resistance. There is something unsettling about an opponent using your models to her advantage and people tend to cheat high to stop this.

=__Resilience__=

Although she only has six Wounds, Vasilisa can be difficult to take out due to her Defense of 7 and a defensive trigger that gives her a 3" push, regardless of whether the attack against her was successful or not..


 * Run Away Home** is a very good reason for enemies to refrain from attacking Vasilisa, especially with a Charge. A high Mask or a Soulstone is all it will take for an enemy to waste their activation trying to land a hit on her. Even a low Mask will most often save her from a second attack as the trigger happens on resolution, not success, so whether the attack hits does not matter. If you want to put her in a precarious situation, try to have an easy way for her to activate this trigger.

=__Upgrades__=


 * A Friend to Talk to:** Whenever Vasilisa declares a Walk action, she may target a friendly Puppet within 2" and push them into base contact with her at the end of her move. This is a great way to help slow puppets move up the field, especially Stitched Together with their somewhat slow Wk4. Stitched have great damage potential and having the ability to use both actions to attack instead of moving is excellent. As long as your target Puppet is within 2" you effectively give them free movement early in the game. As Vasilisa starts using her AP for other actions this upgrade begins losing its usefulness.


 * Strum the Threads:** Another Puppet support upgrade, Strum lets nearby Puppets suffer two damage to gain **Fast**. It's essentially an expensive **Reckless**. It's an Aura so any Puppets within it, including Vasilisa, can use it, though given her low Wound count this can be dangerous for her. Additionally, this ability can be used with Stitched Together to not only give them **Fast**, but potentially **Reactivate** as well if it reduces them to 1 wound. Be careful with this, though, as it leaves your Stitched quite vulnerable with **Hard to Kill** exhausted. To add even more awesomeness to this combo, run it with The Dreamer. Vasilisa can help control **Reactivate** and The Dreamer will heal the Stitched when it activates to restore **Hard to Kill**.

=__Tactics and Tips__=

Vasilisa basically makes Puppets shine. She can give them free actions with her **Twist**, give them more actions with **Obey**, and help move them around and generate more AP with her upgrades.

=__Leading a Crew__=

With her focus on Puppets, Vasilisa will obviously do alright for herself in any crew that includes some hearty puppets like Stitched Together. She's very mobile, so anytime she needs to get herself or another puppet across the board quickly, taking the A Friend to Talk to upgrade will be invaluable.

Strategies and Schemes
Vasilisa is great at strategies such as Breakthrough or Entourage that require her to quickly get behind an opponent's crew and into their half of the table. With A Friend to Talk to, she can even bring alone a Puppet bodyguard that she can Twist for free actions.

Building a Crew
Puppets. Other minions can work just fine with Vasilisa, but her Twist action is just too good to not bring at least one or two Puppets for her to cheer on. Beyond that, Vasilisa doesn't have too many crew requirements.

=__Playing Against Vasilisa__=

Despite her great mobility and her high Defense, Vasilisa is pretty fragile with only six wounds. If you hit her hard enough, she'll break, but if you don't pull it off, expect her to easily dance out of range of your models with her Run Away Home trigger. Ranged attacks are more effective than melee attacks for this reason, as a 3" push is unlikely to pull her entirely out of range of your guns, though it's likely that it will get her into cover before you can take your second shot.


 * __Ownership__ **

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