M2E+Razorspine+Rattler

.**Razorspine Rattler, Arcanist Minion**

=__Overview__=

Fast, poisonous, and nearly silent, the Razorspine Rattler is a threat to anyone who travels in the bogs surrounding Malifaux. toc It is very hard to stop it moving around the board, and it is also very hard to escape from it. So hard, that normally most models won't bother.

=__Mobility__=

The Rattler has a decent Walk speed of 5 and a good Charge speed of 7. These alone would make fairly average in the mobility department, but the model also benefits from a number of special rules which contribute greatly to its mobility. First, the Rattler has Unimpeded, allowing it to ignore the penalties of severe terrain when it moves.

It also has a tactical action called Slither which functions like a less powerful, more flexible variant of Charge. For 2 AP, Slither allows the Rattler to move up to 9" and then make a single Ml attack. While the Rattler only gets one attack at the end of this movement, there are a number of other benefits. The 9" movement that comes with Slither is longer than the Rattler's Charge value and does not have to be in a straight line. Best of all, the Slither action can be taken while the Rattler is engaged, and any enemies the Rattler is engaged with cannot take disengaging strikes to prevent it from leaving, since it is just a movement rather than a Walk action.

Finally the Rattler has the innate Reposition trigger, allowing it to push 3" after succeeding in its melee attack. This is great for getting out of combat, or for pushing into combat with new enemies.

=__Offense__=

The Rattler has the Fangs attack, which has a good damage spread of 2/3/6 and also hands out Poison+2. With the innate Reposition trigger, the Rattler can take a 3" push each time it succeeds on its attack, making it a very mobile minion.

With the Wicked and Constriction abilities, the Rattler is very difficult to escape from, as it gains +2 flips on any disengaging strikes, and those strikes also deal damage to its target.

=__Resilience__=

The Rattler has a high Defense and average Willpower, and plenty of wounds for a model of its cost. It is also Terrifying (Living) 11, which can make it difficult for living models to effectively target it.

=__Tactics and Tips__=

The mix of Terrifying and Wicked lead to interesting choices for your opponent. Do they target it, and possibly become paralyzed, or do they try and escape, and possibly get hurt? The combination works best when used with certain Marcus builds which utilize Howl and Law of Meat to further restrict the opponent's choices.

With its speed and ability to keep engaged models locked in place, the Razorspine Rattler is very good at locking down objective runners and brutally murdering them. This works best against living models, but even cheap Constructs or Undead will find it difficult to kill or escape from an angry Rattler before it does them in. Even if a model does escape from the Rattler, the poison it deals with its bite will often kill the model long after the Rattler has turned its attention elsewhere.

=__Playing Against Razorspine Rattler__=

Don't try and escape from it, it's not worth the risk. If you are engaged with it, your best bet is to kill it. Make sure you keep hold of a high enough card to get past its Horror if you are a Living model.

The Rattler is a big threat against objective runners, most of whom will be unable to outrun or escape from it, even if they veer into severe terrain.

If possible, try to kill the Rattler with ranged weapons before it can get into melee and start biting your vulnerable models.

Unless otherwise stated, all names and images on this site are property of Wyrd Miniatures, LLC. ([|Link])
 * __Ownership__ **