Marionette

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 * Marionette, Neverborn Minion [[image:p-16628.jpg width="266" height="573" align="right"]]**

=__Overview__= When the puppet-master Collodi comes into a town, he always puts on a puppet show to delight the children. After each show, though, a few children disappear, and often Collodi is later seen with a wooden Marionette that looks suspiciously like one of those missing children...

Marionettes are pretty much direct extensions of Collodi. They usually cannot travel far away from him, they act as his primary form of movement and of combat. Marionettes move fast along the board, dragging Collodi with them, and they can overwhelm and brutalize enemies with a blender-like frenzy of low-damage attacks.

=__Mobility__= Marionettes are much faster than they seem. They move at a decent Wk of 5", but they can drag Collodi along with them once per activation, and can take a (0) Action to push into base contact with Collodi. As a result, four Marionettes can drag Collodi (and therefore each other as well) a maddening 32" across the screen. Often, the biggest problem is getting overextended and moving too fast, which is a nice problem to have.

Marionettes are therefore also incredible objective-grabbers. They're not **Insignicant** (and could ignore it anyway when near Collodi since they are Dolls), and move around the board rapidly, and often have extra AP left over that they wouldn't be using for anything else anyway.

=__Offense__= Marionettes have a decent attack with their **Wooden Claws**. It hits sometimes and does a little damage.

What makes Marionettes dangerous is the number of attacks they can make. They have **Flurry**, which can give three attacks for 2 AP. Collodi can give all of the Marionettes **Fast**, which gives another AP, and can also give some of them **Melee Expert** (+1). If a Marionette is set up for combat at the start of the turn and fully buffed, it can make FIVE melee attacks in a single round. This is enough to worry even the toughest minions. Even if only a few land, the damage adds up and gets significant. The combination of many low-damage attacks is also very effective against enemies that are Spirits or have a lot of Armor.

=__Resilience__= Marionettes are not very resistant. They have a high Df of 6, which means most attacks will miss, but if an attack hits, they will be very likely to die quickly.

They are Constructs, which means that they are non-living and immune to many attacks.

One trick that will help with resistance is to start with a Defensive Stance. If a Marionette is Fast from Collodi's buffs, the Defensive Stance won't actually slow down movement much at all (since it will be pulling everyone forward anyway), and the boost to defenses can make them impossible to replace.

Another thing that makes Marionettes die quickly is the fact that Collodi can redirect damage to them to protect himself. They're adorable little wooden martyrs to the cause. However, if Collodi uses his **Filled with Stones** on one of his little friends, then even this martyr can hang around longer than you might expect.

More likely, though, the most common form of resilience is ease of replacement. Collodi can pick up the Scrap Counter generated when a Marionette dies, and summon another Marionette as a (2) action. Collodi can also heal Marionettes if he has the spare AP. While this is not enough to recover from a concentrated attack, usually if under attack like this Collodi should be moving away quickly anyway.

=__Tips and Tricks__=
 * The rules for Marionettes have changed in errata. They can only Pull the Strings once per round. Typically, a Marionette will take a (0) action to move into base contact with Collodi, then make a normal Wk action, then use Pull the Strings to move to the very edge of its 8" limit and then drag Collodi into base contact. This change is reflected on the card, but it's different from what's in the book.
 * You can activate Collodi and all Marionettes at once, which makes for a surprisingly deadly alpha-strike. However, during early rounds, it may be more advantageous to activate one at a time so that you can react to your opponent's actions.
 * Remember that Marionettes are not Insignificant and make great objective grabbers.
 * Marionettes can get left behind -- they can't leave the 8" radius from Collodi, but Collodi can (and will) be pulled out of range. In thiis case, the Marionette will push to 8" at the start of its activation anyway. Catching up only requires a (0) action to push into base contact with Collodi again.
 * When possible, gather up all your Marionettes so that they are within 4" of Collodi at the start of the round, so that he can make them all Fast. This will happen in the first round almost always, but in later rounds you may need to pay attention and plan in advance for this to work.
 * Never underestimate the power of making many attacks in a turn. If you're attacking five times, you're very likely to hit at least once or twice. And if you've got four Marionettes attacking, that's 20 attacks in a round.

=__Master-Specific Tips__= Marionettes are only found in play with Collodi. Since Collodi is a Henchman, it's possible that Marionettes will also be found with another Master. The most common Master to work with Marionettes is Zoraida, since she can produce Wicked Dolls that have synergy with Collodi, and can boost other minions well.

Marionettes can theoretically be found with any Master that can hire Collodi: Lilith (who has no synergy), Pandora (who has very little synergy), Zoraida (who has lots of synergy), The Dreamer (who has no synergy), and oddly enough Leveticus (who benefits from having another Scavenger in play but otherwise has little synergy). It's pretty rare to see the Marionettes with anyone but Collodi and sometimes Zoraida, though.

=__Minion-Specific Tips__= If playing in an all-Collodi crew, it's important to plan beforehand who will act first, the Marionettes or other Dolls. Because Collodi can make Dolls fast in a 4" radius, all the Dolls usually crowd around him at the start. Decide beforehand if you want to move the Marionettes first or other dolls. Otherwise, your crowded mass of minions will probably end up getting in each others' way.

=__Playing Against Marionettes__= Often, it's a better idea to pick off individual Marionettes to slow Collodi down, rather than attack Collodi directly. Marionettes have a high Df but die quickly, especially if you can hit them with blasts, pulses, or auras. Every Marionette you kill slows Collodi down by 8" until he get get 2 AP to summon a new one, so killing Marionettes isn't just fun; it's practical too.

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