Hamelin

include page="inc_1.5rules"**Hamelin, Outcast Minion **  Hamelin was not always the lord of the plague and the overlord of monstrous rats and enchanter of children. Prior his enlistment into the servitude of the Plague Tyrant, Hamelin was a man who hid from the guild in the sewers of Malifaux. There he found magic, learned the ways of the scavenging pests, and found a new life giving rise to his legend as a Rat Catcher.

While not a Master, this version of Hamelin is still quite notable. He offers some decent control to his hiring crew and can make things very difficult for factions who seek to use Corpse or Scrap counters as his rodents quickly consume all that is discarded in the death of a model. His flute also plays an enchanting tune and can force his foes to walk off the field (and leave the encounter), attack their own forces, or be forced to walk around in a daze. There are also signs of in this version of Hamelin as to his potential to become the "Master of Plagues" he is destined to be.
 * __Overview __**

Note, due to the "hiring limits" of Hamelin the Plagued, this (non-plagued) Hamelin cannot be hired by his "Plagued" version (they are the same person at different stages of life afterall).

An added bonus from hiring Hamelin is also that he enables you to hire one Ht1 model from any faction, at an additional cost of +1ss. Though a model hired in this fashion must always activate within 10" of Hamelin, or be sacrificed when it ends the activation.

Hamelin can move. A Walk of 4", a Charge of 6". No special effects, neither terrible nor great. He can move when he needs and won't take too much time to get where he would like to be.
 * __Mobility __**

Hamelin's attacks aren't overly impressive, but they are attacks. Both have a CB of 5, so he'll hit what he aims for more than most, and the damage dealt isn't terrible either. Should his Dog (Nix, his ranged attack) manage to bite its intended foe, Hamelin can opt to call his dog off to cause no damage to the victim and instead turn them insignificant. This doesn't have the same impact as what Hamelin's later version (the Plagued) would gain, but it still helps in preventing the opponent taking strategic locations.
 * __Offense __**

Hamelin's biggest attack is quite a nasty one however. "**(1) Black Death**" deals 1 Wound to all Living models (friends and foe) within a 18" pulse of Hamelin. With Hamelin's skill as a "**(+1) Casting Expert**" it is possible for the piper to play this spell x3 times in one go. Were he to use this while in the middle of the board, only models hiding in the corners of the field would be safe from the wave of death. Fortunately the casting cost of the spell is very high (18) meaning it requires Cards with a value of 12+ to use. With only 9 cards in a deck able to fuel this, its not going to come up often. However, were he to get lucky and do so - this spell can effectively become a nuke against crew of living models.

An average Df at 4, but with 10 Wds, Hamelin can take some punishment and go on. He is also a **Bully** so no Ht 1 model will ever target him.
 * __Resilience __**



Hamelin has a larger number of tricks than first appear.
 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17pt;">Tips and Tricks __**


 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Getting the most from Growing Influence: __**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Growing Influence **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> enables you to hire any Ht1 minion you want to your crew. Since he’s a mercenary, that most masters an access to models that they would otherwise not even think of. A non-exhaustive list of the highlights for these options are:


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Grave Spirit: **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Marcus with Rogue Necromancy would love to pay 2SS for GS to keep it alive a little longer. That would be the primary use for it, but be wary of it activating outside of 10” of Hamelin.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Primordial Magic: **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Arcane Reservoir in any crew is good, and this has a 2-suit Ca, so it can be beneficial for any master that has a totem that could be replaced.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Essense of Power: **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Would cost 3SS in a faction other than arcanists, and with a 3 tome Ca, it is limited in terms of usefulness outside of that. Some notable uses for it would be to connect it to slower models with heavy blast spells (such as Nicodem or Crooked Man) to give them the +twist to the Dg flips. Also, a Sonnia Criid with an attached and linked Essense of Power is a terrifying prospect, especially because it can cast Flame Wall and Flame Burst!


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Any of the Effigies: **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> People think that the neverborn are the only ones with access to the effigies, but that is not necessarily the case! Might be useful to have the Brutal Effigy’s healing in any crew.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Ophelia LaCroix: **<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> She loses a fair bit of her Gremlin buffs, but if you’re lacking a ranged support model, she’s still pretty beefy.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">As more books come out, there are always more options for this. In general, these would only be worth considering if you were planning to take Hamelin anyway. Always be mindful of the 10” limitation, and note that these options are generally better in crews that don’t mind being slow anyway (here’s looking at you, Nico).

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Use Irresistible Dance to completely shut down a model for a turn (it prevents them from taking actions other than walk or pass). Essentially, it’s a dumbed-down paralyze that he can cast three times per turn.
 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Neutralizing the biggest threat: __**

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Nicodem really seems to love Hamelin’s tricks, and can really make use of Hamelin’s most potent spell, (1) Piper’s Lure. It brings a model losing the Wp duel 4” toward the closest edge. If the model hits the edge, it is killed, and you draw 2 cards. The setup is as follows:
 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Zombie-Luring Pipe Trick: __**

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Nicodem <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">3x models that you are going to kill first turn (such as Canine Remains) <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hamelin

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Hamelin’s first turn is spent using Piper’s Lure on the 3 CR’s, luring each one to the edge (2 AP plus casting expert), making them drop a corpse counters and drawing you 2 cards each. You should have 6 extra cards in your hand.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Nicodem (0) Arise!’s to summon 3 zombies that can be lured to the table edge in future turns if you wish.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Rinse, repeat as often as you want. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The downside to this is you are using a 10ss model for just drawing cards, in addition to 3 Mindless Zombies/Canine Remains. However, I have seen this be a very effective way to make the opponent think twice about coming after you (excellent against Contain Power!). Apart from Hamelin being there to lure the opponent to his death, you have a monstrous hand to cheat with when you need to, and Nicodem almost certainly has the crows he needs to summon the right tool for the task.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This can be done in moderation as well (Piper’s Lure once for 2 cards and than walk into position and attack an opponent, for example), but the flexibility is there.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The best part about Piper’s Lure in the sheer amount of board control it gives you. You will have control of the edges of the board.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(What it says on the can - any Synergies with other Masters worth mentioning) <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">NOTE: There's no need to discuss every Master that can take him, just the ones worth mentioning
 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17pt;">Master-Specific Tips __**

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(As with Master-Specific Tips, going into any specific Synergies with other Minions.)
 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17pt;">Minion-Specific Tips __**

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Fortunately, he’s not the most resilient model, so once he’s engaged in melee, he will die rather quickly. Make sure you send a non Ht. 1 model with good Wp (or better yet, immune to influence!), and stay away from edges and hazardous terrain. Hamelin has an extremely large sphere of influence (Piper’s Lure has a Rg of 18”), so stay out of his LOS whenever possible.
 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 17pt;">Playing Against Hamelin, the Ratcatcher __**

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Unless otherwise stated, all names and images on this site are property of Wyrd Miniatures, LLC. ( [|Link] )
 * __<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 15pt;">Ownership __**