M2E+Witchling+Handler


 * Witchling Handler, Guild Enforcer**

=__Overview__= A support orientated model with a huge sword and steampunk goggles. The Witchling Handler can be a great addition to crews that are either spamming Witchling Stalkers or a Sonnia crew focussing on spreading **Burning**. Her ability to improve the mobility of Witchling Stalkers really improves an already competitive model and in a fire focused crew, being able to give **Burning** to a model that doesn’t usually have it affords you a greater flexibility in model choice while maintaining the overall synergy.

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=__Mobility__= The Witchling Handler is pretty mobile. Her Wk and Cg are identical which works fine for her because, as a primarily support oriented model, she should be using her above average walk far more often than her mediocre Cg. In addition to her inherent speed, the Witchling Handler also brings a few neat movement tricks to the board. The **Goad Witchling** ability gives friendly Witchling Stalkers within 4" a boost to their Wk and Cg. This is pretty handy when moving the Handler together with the Stalkers as their limited Wk would really hold the Handler up. When successfully using her Df against an Attack Action the Handler has a nice little stat trigger called //On My Orders// which allows you to push a friendly Minion closer. While this isn’t a game changing ability it is worth remembering as it can sometimes really help in setting up a charge in the next activation.
 * Follow the Flock** is one of the Handler’s two (0) Tactical Actions; this one allows you to move a friendly Minion towards another friendly model within LoS. All three of these tricks really synergise fantastically well with the Witchling Stalkers and can go a long way towards overcoming their low Wk.

=__Offense__= As a model that is best when boosting and supporting friendly models like Witchling Stalkers, it’s sometimes easy to overlook the Witchling Handler’s own offensive capabilities. While she doesn’t set the world alight, she can certainly hold her own in most engagements.

__Melee__
Just one Ml Attack Action for the Witchling Handler; **Runed Greatsword**. This attack puts out a decent amount of damage reliably with good accuracy and range. As a greatsword, the damage flip gets boosted when she hasn’t charged, so anyone charging into Ml with her should really hope to finish her as quickly as possible. There are two Triggers that go with the **Runed Greatsword**; with a Crow you can force the target to discard one card, and with a Tome you can summon a wounded Witchling Stalker from the corpse of any non-Peons you kill in melee.

__Ranged__
The Witchling Handler comes with the Guild favourite **Collier Pistol**, and with a decent Sh she’s able to hit her target more often than not. The Trigger here is standard Guild, with each Ram in the duel total increasing the damage output via //Critical Strike//.

__Support__
Her support is what makes the Witchling Handler a must take in most crews, especially a Sonnia Resurrection list. The (0) Tactical Action **Burn Them, Burn Them All!** makes the Attack Actions of friendly models in her vicinity inflict **Burning +1** which is great for increasing the amount of burning you can lay down. Where the movement buffs are well suited to improving Witchling Stalkers, this tactical action is well suited to adding flexibility to your model choice while maintaining your general synergy. It's a good action in other crews, as well, just to increase damage output.

=__Resilience__= The Witchling Handler is fairly resilient with a decent Df and Wp and 8 wounds, however she won’t be able to stand up to concerted assault from anything really damaging. With a focus on support, though, she’ll usually have a bit of an entourage so you have a decent chance of blocking line of sight or charge lanes to her. The //Reflect Magic// trigger is great at making casters think twice before targeting the Handler as she’s able to deal significant damage to the attacker when she succeeds at defending against a Ca Attack Action.

=__Upgrades__=

__Witch Hunter Upgrades__

 * Disrupt Magic:** Being able to add a negative flip to enemy Ca actions can be extremely useful, however the relatively short range of this ability means you have to think carefully about how likely it is to come into play. If you’re not going to be getting up in the face of any enemy casters then perhaps the two Soulstones are better spent elsewhere. If you want some Witchling Stalkers in a non-Witch Hunter crew, it's an excellent choice.

__General Guild Upgrades__

 * Plant Evidence:** Essentially, this upgrade trades a Soulstone for a Scheme marker, either on death or at the end of the game. The utility of this upgrade depends greatly on which Schemes and Strategies you’re looking to use. If you’re planning on being aggressive with the Handler and pushing her into the opposing half of the table, then this could be a worthwhile upgrade, however if she’s sitting back giving **Burning** to a Rifleman gunline being able to drop a marker isn’t going to make much difference.


 * Lead Lined Coat:** At the cost of 2 Soulstones you can make the handler a bit more resilient with **Armor +1**. Whether this upgrade is worth it or not is mainly down to how you’re planning on using her – you probably won’t use many of her activations charging into the middle of a melee so careful positioning and tactical awareness can make the **Lead Lined Coat** a bit redundant.

=__Tactics and Tips__=

As mentioned above, the Handler really shines when supporting other models. The most common ways she does this is either by making the Witchling Stalkers a lot quicker with boosts to their Wk and Cg, which when combined with the push on friendly minions from **Follow the Flock** can increase a Stalker’s movement massively. Another tactic is to use her to spread **Burning** from the **Burn Them, Burn Them All!** action. When you’re running a Sonnia crew that is relying on **Burning** for either targeting or **Violation of Magic** being able to diversify your sources of **Burning** can be invaluable.

=__Playing Against the Witchling Handler__=

Because the threat she personally brings to the table isn’t that huge, it’s important to determine why your opponent has brought her in the list. If you can work out what role she’s playing you can then decide how important it is to deal with her. If she’s bunched together with some Guild Riflemen a few inches away from the Turf Marker in Turf War, it’s pretty obvious that the fire she’s going to be spreading could be game changing and you’re going to need to deal with her. If you make a concerted effort to kill her she’s probably going to go down, so eliminating her in order to reduce the utility of the models she’s buffing is always an option. Of course, if she’s being used in a way that’s not going to be massively influential on the game you might want to consider ignoring her; after all, there’s nothing more annoying than your opponent successfully making your pretty 8 Soulstone model completely redundant!

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