M2E+Jakob+Lynch

Return to Ten Thunders or __Return to Neverborn__ toc
 * Jakob Lynch, Ten Thunders/Neverborn Master**

=__Overview__= Jacob Lynch is a support master whose abilities focus on manipulating your control hand, and distributing an addictive drug called Brilliance. His totem, the Hungering Darkness, is much more powerful than most totems, and Lynch has two limited upgrades that enhance the Hungering Darkness instead of Lynch. In addition to being a good support master who enhances the Hungering Darkenss while he's in play, he can cause a lot of damage with some of his other upgrade options.

Lynch's crew will usually focus on giving enemy models the **Under the Influence** condition, which causes them to have the Brilliance attribute, which is basically Neverborn Opium. This is why he's dual faction with Ten Thunders; his crew is themed around the opium trade in China as well as on gambling. The Brilliance Characteristic doesn't do anything by itself, but most of Lynch's crew are more effective against models with Brilliance. If your opponent brings models that get bonuses against Brilliance, like The Illuminated or Beckoners, they'll get bonuses against your own crew members that have Brilliance like The Illuminated and Depleted.

Lynch's **Infiltration (Darkened)** ability allows him to bring Darkened models with him regardless of whether he's supporting the Ten Thunders or the Neverborn. As of Spring 2017 these were Mr. Graves, The Illuminated, Beckoner, Stitched Together, and The Depleted.

=__Mobility__=

Lynch is slow and lacks any sort of enhanced mobility tricks, save for the //"Squeal!"// Trigger on his Expert Cheater upgrade, which allows him to push 4" away from an attacker after he's damaged by an enemy **Ml** action. He likes to be outside of the thick of things, so his lack of speed will not be to the crew's detriment - unless he needs to get somewhere fast for VPs. He is not well suited to strategies or schemes that involve getting your master across the board.

=__Offense__=

Lynch neither likes to stay too far back nor be in the thick of it. Both attacks on his base card and his charge all max out at 8", so this about the distance he likes to maintain from the action. Some of the abilities on his upgrades (The Rising Sun and Woke up With a Hand) deviate from this by a couple of inches, but 8" is about right to let him swoop in to either pump out Brilliance, or kill enemy models.

It is important to keep Lynch safe from retaliation, so having other models block charge lanes or otherwise prevent enemies from getting to Lynch is useful. He's capable of dealing large amounts of damage to one or two targets, but it can take a bit of work and effort to set up these attacks. They depend on accumulating cards in your control hand, and for the big attack to do two additional damage, activating Lynch last in the turn.

His base card has the following attack actions:

Lynch's gun packs a surprising punch both at range and in melee. Though the projectile range is a few inches less than most guns, the melee range is good and lets Lynch punish models who try to lock him down in melee. Its Triggers allow Lynch to increase the damage by +2, force the enemy to discard a card, give them **Slow,** or give them Brilliance until the end of the turn. Since Lynch can discard a card to use its suit for a Trigger, and has a lot of card manipulation abilities, he is usually able to get the trigger he wants. This is a great use of the Aces he picks up with his **Ace in the Hole** ability.
 * Hold Out Pistol**

This simple **Ca** attack forces the loser of the duel to take 2 damage. Having a high **Ca** value and lacking a projectile icon, **Play for Blood** is another means of giving an enemy model some Brilliance via the //Hypocrite// Trigger. You will have to cheat or spend a soul stone to do this, as the trigger suit is not baked into the attack. Typically, this is used when you've taken the Rising Sun upgrade, and need to set up an enemy model with Brilliance, so you can bring Huggy back into play.
 * Play for Blood**

=__Resilience__=

Lynch isn't much of a fighter, and isn't terribly resilient. He has a low number of wounds (for a Master), an average defense, and pretty good willpower. His defensive triggers will almost always require that he take damage. If you don't take measures to stop him from being hit by even moderately powerful enemy models, he will die.

This defensive Trigger deals 2 damage to anyone that cheats an attack against Lynch after the attack has resolved. It's a nice ability to have, as it can be used regardless of whether or not the attack actually hit. If the opponent cheats, and then you cheat higher, the attack will miss, and the attacking model will take two damage. This doesn't make Lynch any harder to hurt, but it can soften up attackers so that you can wipe them off the board on your next activation, which is Lynch's idea of a defensive strategy. It requires a Tome, which is built in, and Triggers on both **Df** and **Wp**. This is a terrible trigger against enemy models that cause damage when they are damaged. Notably, when Nephilim attack him.
 * Hold 'em**

While not a defensive ability per se, this ability does mean that Lynch can never receive Brilliance. This will rarely come into play, but it might help if your opponent is also playing Ten Thunders or Neverborn, and takes Brilliance models like The Illuminated, which do find their way into work for masters other than Lynch.
 * None for Me**

=__Upgrades __=

Most of Lynch's upgrades are solid, and he has a few different play styles. Taking one of his two Limited upgrades, which enhance Hungering Darkness, is practically mandatory.

His limited upgrades grants two different paths for Hungering Darkness, but both demand that Lynch stay alive. They're strong upgrades, and while you could play without his limited upgrades, it would be an eccentric decision.

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) Limited Upgrade. The first of Lynch's two Limited upgrades allows him to unbury the Hungering Darkness back into play whenever an enemy model with Brilliance is killed within 6" of him. If Lynch is killed the upgrade goes away with him, making the cycle of rebirth dependent upon keeping Lynch alive. This is the upgrade that most people take with Lynch, because you only need to bring back Hungering Darkness on an opponent once to revel in how powerful this is.
 * The Rising Sun**

This upgrade allows you to play aggressively with Hungering Darkness, because Lynch can bring him back so long as you can keep putting Brilliance on reasonably easy to kill enemy models. Hungering Darkness can be used as either an offensive beater, freeing up the rest of your crew to do other things, or because it's reasonably quick, and has incorporeal and an Obey type effect, be used as a scheme runner.

It is also a very good upgrade to take if Bodyguard is in the pool since Hungering Darkness will come back with a full amount of Wounds. In Reckoning this it's great for denial, as your opponent cannot kill Hungering Darkness while Lynch is alive, he buries and is not killed till the end of the game.

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) Limited Upgrade. The second of Lynch's two Limited upgrades makes Hungering Darkness Terrifying (All) instead of Terrifying (Living), and grants him an extra AP for **Ca** actions. It's a good upgrade if you want to super-charge the Hungering Darkness, making it a truly dangerous model. Unfortunately, if Lynch is killed the upgrade goes away with him, making the Hungering Darkness' enhanced abilities dependent on Lynch surviving. It's also somewhat less effective than The Rising Sun, as a few extra uses of **Heed My Voice** over the course of a game, and a mild defensive boost, don't stack up well against bringing a seven wound incorporeal model back to life after your opponent had to expend a great deal of effort into destroying it.
 * Endless Hunger**

Hungering Darkness can be very survivable thanks to its ability to self-heal and being **Incorporeal**, but his defense is only 3, and there are a lot of things which ignore **Incorporeal**. So if you invest in **Endless Hunger** you will want to play Hungering Darkness conservatively, influencing the game from behind the front line with his **Heed My Voice** action. Another tactic, which will keep him safe from the bigger threats, is to go after enemy scheme runners. Thanks to **Incorporeal** and walk 6" most models will have a hard time outrunning the Hungering Darkness, and he can hit them with **Tendrils** from 15" away.

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) This rather fun upgrade allows any friendly models within Line of Sight of Lynch to cheat with the card face down. It's a good upgrade to take if you want to play mind games with your opponent, as nothing says you have to cheat a higher card than the one you flipped. If you're already losing an important duel, it can be quite amusing to just cheat a face-down ace you snagged from **Ace in the Hole** and psych the opponent into wasting a high-card to win the duel. If you're cheating to win it's still great as your opponent won't know how high they'll have to cheat to beat you and may overestimate, or think that you're bluffing. If you cycle a lot of cards, and engage in a lot of duels over the course of a game, it has more effect on your opponent than it seems from your side of the table.
 * Expert Cheater**

This upgrade also grants Lynch the //"Squeal!"// trigger, giving him the ability to push out of melee range after he's been hit with an **Ml** attack. //"Squeal!"// is a very nice get out of jail kind of ability. It makes opponents have to think twice before they charge or **Flurry** against Lynch, since he can just cheat a low Mask to push away 4" and avoid any subsequent melee hits. However, as Lynch has to take damage for this to work, the better option is to try to prevent your opponent from hitting him in the first place.

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) This upgrade allows Lynch to draw two cards when he activates, but only if he's the last friendly model to activate during the turn. There are some serious sacrifices and trade offs involved in this. It stops you from using Mulligan near the beginning of your turn, stops you from using Lynch to put Brilliance on enemy models, forces you to conform to a predictable order of activation, and can be shut down by models that mess with order of activation like Pandora. This is the least of the benefits of this card, and should be considered a distraction that's nice to pull off once in a while.
 * Woke Up With a Hand**

This upgrade also grants Lynch the **Final Debt** action, a powerful attack with **Ca** 7 that does an amount of damage equal to the cards in his hand to a model with the Brilliance Characteristic. There's no projectile icon on this action, so it can be fired within and into melee without concern about friendly fire. It works very well with the **Ace in the Hole** ability too, especially if Lynch activates late or last in the turn. Note that, as of 7/1/2014, you can only use **Final Debt** once per Turn.

What's worth noting with **Final Debt** is that, while the upgrade rewards you for activating last with Lynch, you don't //have// to do so. In fact, if there's an enemy with Brilliance near Lynch at the start of the turn, it might be worth it activating Lynch right away and hitting them for six damage right off the bat. If the enemy doesn't have Brilliance, Lynch can use **Play for Blood** to give them Brilliance (along with 2 damage) and then hit them **Final Debt**.

Lynch can potentially have six additional cards in his hand if he goes last and all of the aces have come up during the turn; more if you take Stitched Together, Widow Weaver, The Thorn, or any of the other several models that let you draw extra cards. Even if you burn some of your hand during the turn, you should still have a fair amount of cards, which will make **Final Debt** a monstrous attack.

Some consider this upgrade close to an auto-include for Lynch. For only 2ss you will gain a fantastic attack action and the ability to draw two free cards a turn. Since the card drawing mechanic only triggers if Lynch goes last, your opponent may well play you accordingly, letting you get the drop on them by activating Lynch mid-turn, giving a target Brilliance, and blast it with **Final Debt**. Once your opponent has learned this the hard way, Lynch will dictate parts of the board by just standing there.

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) This upgrade grants Lynch the **52 Pickup** ability, which allows him to discard any number of aces at the end of his activation to damage a nearby model with Brilliance. This combos with Lynch's **Ace in the Hole** ability, and is noteworthy in that damage is more or less guaranteed; there's no attack or defense flip, just toss some aces and do some damage. It also doesn't require any AP, so it's always bonus damage in every sense.
 * Wanna See a Trick**

This ability together with **Final Debt** attack makes Lynch's damage potential go through the roof. The combo is perfect when you want to play Lynch aggressively, making him the crew's main damage dealer. If you do, make sure that you either bring some Soulstones for prevention or another defensive upgrade. It is also viable to have both upgrades and play the usual laid back game before swooping in for the kill.


 * 52 Pickup** is great for finishing off a model with Brilliance, and as such plays particularly well with The Rising Sun upgrade for bringing back Hungering Darkness.

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) Addict is a fairly simple upgrade for either Lynch or the Hungering Darkness. It grants all Darkened Minions - ie, most of Lynch's box-set crew - a plus on all attack actions and damage flips made against models with the Brilliance Characteristic. Most of Lynch's crew is already enhanced when attacking Brilliant models, so these bonuses could be considered overkill, but it's a cheap upgrade and can go a long way towards making sure that your Illuminated are absolute wrecking machines against Brilliant enemies.
 * Addict**

(Neverborn) This can only be attached if Neverborn is Lynch's declared faction. It will prevent one additional incoming damage whenever you spend a Soulstone for damage prevention with Lynch. Since he has no other way to reduce incoming damage this upgrade is useful if you're planning to play aggressively with a good Soulstone cache, or if you're worried about him getting Assassinated.
 * Aether Connection**

(Neverborn) This is slightly better for Lynch than for most Neverborn Masters, because you can keep bringing Hungering Darkness back if you took Rising Sun. Any time a model in the radius around Huggy spends a soulstone, it heals two damage. Lynch typically doesn't take that many hits, but Huggy does, and if you take additional henchmen it can easily pay for itself.
 * Nexus of Power (on Hungering Darkness)**

(Ten Thunder) This general upgrade can only be attached to Lynch if he is declared as the master of a Ten Thunders crew. It lets him direct an incoming successful attack to another model within 2" of him, unless the model's controller discards two cards. The new target can be a friendly or enemy model. It Triggers only on **Df** and needs a Mask to go off. Very useful if you want to play an aggressive hand-depletion style with Lynch.
 * Misdirection**

(Ten Thunder) A staple upgrade of the faction, but might not be the best answer for Lynch. Beaters in Lynch's crew will certainly benefit a lot from it if you awnt them to have an extra special super turn at some stage in the game. The same might go for Lynch if you want to position him in a danger zone for a turn with some security and wreck face. So, it is definitively worth a look on Lynch; maybe as a poor man's **Misdirection**, but in the final analysis, you might want to spend those soulstones somewhere else.
 * Recalled Training**

=__Tactics and Tips__=

How to Give out Brilliance
Lynch and most of his thematic crew have some way of getting Brilliance on enemy models, both from range and melee. Having the condition on an enemy can result in an additional attack and damage flip, some abilities trigger off of it, or it will just grant the crew increased damage. Worth to note, Brilliance is a characteristic which primarily comes from the condition **Under the Influence**. You will generally not get Brilliance on more than one or two enemy models at a time. Partly because it cuts into other options like just charging a weaker model, or interacts to fulfill victory conditions, and also because it usually lasts until the end of the turn, and models with Brilliance tend to die quickly.

Lynch, can get it out on 2 attack actions:
 * **Hold Out Pistol** //Coated Bullet// Trigger
 * **Play for Blood** Loser of the duel will gain Brilliance and suffer 2 damage, however Lynch is immune to Brilliance. It is **Ca** 8, so it is easy to always win the duel.

Lynch can use his (0) action **Pay Up** to draw a card for each enemy models with Brilliance, and he get keeps all Masks drawn while all other cards are discarded.
 * He can unbury Hungering Darkness when an enemy model with Brilliance is killed within 6" if he possesses **The** **Rising Sun** upgrade.
 * He can use the **52 Pickup** ability (from the upgrade **Wanna See a Trick**) on a model with the Brilliance within 6". The model will suffer 2 damage for each ace that Lynch discarded.
 * The **Woke Up With a Hand** upgrade has an attack action called **Final Debt** which targets a model with the Brilliance characteristic. If the target loses the duel it will suffer an amount of damage equal to your hand size.

Hungering Darkness, can give out Brilliance with its attack action:
 * **Tendrils**, //A Sliver Remains// trigger

Hungering Darkness will gain a +flip against enemy models with Brilliance when using the **Heed My Voice** action. The action also has a trigger called **You Are** **Mine**, if targeting a model with Brilliance//,// that model will have it for the remainder of the game. This is the only way to hand out the **Under The Influence** condition that doesn't go away at the end of the turn.

Hungering Darkness has a (0) action called **Consume Brilliance** which will heal it 1 wound for each model with the Brilliance characteristic, even friendly models, within a pulse of 6". Then, all models effected in range must take a TN 13 Horror Duel. Illuminated are durable models, and have regeneration +1, so they can be used as 'batteries' to charge Huggy's healing.

Both Lynch and Hungering Darkness can take the **Addict** upgrade which will grant friendly Darkened models + flips to attack and damage against models with Brilliance.

Beckoners
 * **Despicable Promises** attack action has a Trigger, suit built in, which will give the target Brilliance after succeeding on the duel.

Beckoners also have a tactical action called **A Pleasant Distraction** which will hinder all enemy models with Brilliance to take interact actions as long as they are in line of sight of the Beckoner.

Models with the Brilliance characteristic suffer -flips to all attack actions against Beckoners due to their **Don't Bite the Hand** ability. Their **The Party Never Ends** ability grants them an 3" aura which hinders enemy from removing Brilliance at the end of the turn.
 * The Sweetest Fare** is an aura of 3" which will heal the Beckoner 1/2/3 damage after a model with Brilliance is killed.

Even though the Beckoners' abilities give the impression that they like to stay close to enemies, this could not be farther from the truth. Beckoners are fragile and likes to influence the board from safe distances, but if you get the opportunity to use some of their action; it is always nice that they are there. Beckoners suffer for being 7ss minions that have a low Ca Lure, a modest means of interacting with Brilliance, and being fragile. They are in direct contention for your soulstones with Illuminated, Stitched Together, and Depleted.

Illuminated
 * **The Scintillating Cloud** shooting attack has a Trigger on an additional Mask which let you put down a 30mm marker in base contact with the target after damaging. The Brilliance-Cloud marker remains until the end of the turn and all enemy models in base contact with it gains Brilliance.

The Illuminated deal +2 damage against models with the Brilliance characteristic, which ramps up their already respectable damage to 4/6/7. The damage goes into overkill territory if they're in LoS of a model holding the Addict Upgrade.

Depleted have two ways of dealing Brilliance
 * Their attack action **Smoldering Grasp**, //**Just a Touch**// trigger. Required suit is not built in, Triggers on a Crow.
 * The Consumed ability will trigger when they are killed or sacrificed, which effects all models within a pulse of 2", all models in range will suffer 2 damage and gain Brilliance.

The Depleted has a (0) called **Drawn to the Light** which lets them push up to 5" towards a model with Brilliance within 12".

Card Manipulation
Any time an Ace would be placed in the discard pile during another friendly model's activation, Lynch can instead add that card to his hand, because he's that kind of honest. While this may not seem all that valuable at first, it gives Lynch cards that he can discard to use the triggers on his Hold Out Pistol or to fuel his Mulligan ability, as well as expendable cards that his crew can discard to use **Rapid Fire** or **Flurry**, or just to take **Defensive Stances**.
 * Ace in the Hole**

This ability also fuels the **52 Pickup** ability that Lynch gains from his Wanna See A Trick upgrade, which allows Lynch to discard Aces to damage a nearby Brilliant model at the end of his activation.

Note that **Ace in the Hole** does not let you pick up Aces that are discarded during enemy activations, or during Lynch's own activation.

While not an offensive ability per se, the impact that **Mulligan** has upon the game cannot be ignored. As a free action, Lynch can discard up to three cards to draw the same number of cards. While this would be fantastic on its own, the fact that Lynch will naturally pick up an Ace or two from his **Ace in the Hole** ability means that he'll usually have "free" worthless cards that he can throw away for better cards. That being said, don't be afraid to activate Lynch early in a turn if your hard is weak, as **Mulligan** can go a long ways towards fixing a bad hand.
 * Mulligan**

To put things in perspective, anyone can spend a Soulstone when they're drawing cards to draw two cards and then discard two cards. Lynch can discard up to three cards to draw up to three cards...every turn, for free.

The somewhat less useful younger brother of **Mulligan**, **Pay Up** lets you flip a card for each enemy model with Brilliance, and then draw any Masks that you flipped into your hand. It's a good way to refill a hand that's low on cards, but requires you to have enemy models on the table that have been infected with Brilliance. Given how quickly Illuminated and the Hungering Darkness can chew through Brilliant models, you probably won't be flipping very many cards using **Pay Up**.
 * Pay Up**

That being said, if you're out of cards or don't want to throw away high cards on **Mulligan**, why not take the chance? Lynch probably wasn't doing anything else with that free action.

Soulstones
Lynch is not dependent on Soulstones. He can filter his deck in a lot of potent ways, is not in dire need of any suit he cannot get in another way, and is usually best to stay out of the front lines of battle. Sure, it is always nice to have a stone to use for prevention if things get hairy or if you like to play Lynch aggressively, but in a general sense he does not gain a lot of benefit from them. With that said, Hungering Darkness with Endless Hunger and other henchmen that you bring will benefit a lot more from having some stones at hand.

=__Leading a Crew__=

Strategies and Schemes
Lynch can do most strategies rather well, with Stake a Claim being the one he might not be naturally good at. However, with the right crew composition there is not a strategy that he cannot excel at. A crew built around Lynch's boxed set with Depleted and Stitched together added in is a real murder machine. This will work against you if your opponent holds Frame for Murder.

If you want to play with a Brilliance heavy crew, the Beckoners can shut down enemy model inflicted with Brilliance thanks to **Pleasant Distraction**. You will want a fairly high model count and speed in this strategy, and gaining a free model with incorporeal and **Wk** 6" will help a lot.
 * Squatter's Rights**

Parking a couple of Illuminated, Huggy, or other big models in the center will be a force to be reckoned with. Some of the crew can be designated to hold the center while objective runners will go for other schemes.
 * Turf War**

Lynch can dish out a lot of pain to key targets, as long as they have Brilliance. Illuminated can do the same, and are resilient enough to take several hits; making it hard for your opponent to score points. It might not be the best thing to play Huggy aggressively without The Rising Sun in this strategy.
 * Reckoning**

Again, it is neat to have a free model. Both Ten Thunders and Neverborn have several pushes and movement tricks available, so pushing your own and enemy models around in order to secure and deny VPs should be quite easy to do.
 * Reconnoiter**

Lynch is rather slow, and does not posses any pushes himself. As usual in this strategy models with **Nimble** or other movement abilities will be key hirings. Another useful tactic is to use your crews' offensive strengths and making sure that any enemy crossing the centreline will not come any further.
 * Stake a Claim**

A General Note on Picking Schemes
A Lynch crew can enhance speed and defense, in addition to dishing out a lot of hurt. Lynch provides a lot of flexibility to the crew with his card manipulation. So pick your schemes accordingly to what Lynch himself can do well, as well as, what he can do in terms of enhancing the abilities of the crew. In addition, Lynch does not need his crew to be effective. For instance, he and The Hungering Darkness can play the Brilliance game while the rest of the crew focus on something else.

The only schemes that you should avoid is those which demands Lynch to be at certain places, certainly in places like the opponents deployment zone. With his low walk, he will have a hard time travel that far, and it is better to spend his action points doing other things that he is better at.

Building a Crew
Lynch's crew box comes with Jakob Lynch, Hungering Darkness and three Illuminated. From here, Mr. Graves, Mr. Tannen, Depleted, Stitched Together, and Beckoners could be good choices for moving your crew forward if you want to keep with the thematic Brilliance-Darkened theme. Especially if you are start playing the game and have yet to decided whether you will want to expand your collection with Ten Thunders or Neverborn. Nevertheless, Lynch works very well with any model that likes to discard cards in order to use actions and abilities, such as **Rapid Fire**, healing actions, or **Flurry**. Additionally, since Lynch can manipulate his hand in such potent ways to gain high cards, nearly any hard hitter will benefit from being a part of Lynch's crew.

Whether you play Neverborn or Ten Thunder, Lynch's role will remain the same. He does what he does: buffing his crew, manipulating your hand, put out Brilliance and damage, as well as staying behind his crew.

Darkened
Like most Ten Thunder masters Lynch has the Infiltration ability, with Darkened being his lot. Lynch can hire up to four models with the Darkened characteristic regardless of faction. At the moment, this will mainly benefit him while declaring to be part of a Ten Thunders build.

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) Lynches free totem-henchmen is without a doubt the strongest totem in the game. "Huggy" can hit like a truck, take some beating thanks to incorporeal and a situational heal, and has an enemy only **Obey-**like spell. Lynch has two limited upgrades which give Huggy either an additional action which may only be spent on **Ca** actions, which is neat since his melee attack is a Casting action, or bring Huggy back to the game after an enemy model within Brilliance is killed.
 * The Hungering Darkness**

Huggy can mainly play two roles; either as a support and influence model, or as a hyper aggressive hitter. The former usually benefit from Endless Hunger, while the more aggressive play style benefit from The Rising Sun. Because being able to constantly bring Huggy back, you can afford losing him several times during the game. If you go with Endless Hunger, he needs more support and is best used if he hangs behind an Illuminated or another model. It is important to note that neither of these play styles need the respective upgrade, or that you can only play the one or the other. A mix of the two might be the best way to go most of the time.

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) Offers a lot of debuffing to the opponent's crew, adding yet another layer of support to Lynch. Tannen is really fragile and will need the support from other models in order to be safe. Keeping him around models with bigger bases, where he still can radiate his auras is probably the way to go. Tannen has a (1) action that will grant him **Chatty**, thus shutting down all interact action within 6" of him. Tannen's other aura is always active, also has a range of 6", and will make the opposing player discard a card before being able to cheat fate. Tannen's main attack action is his **Bored to Tears** which attack Wp, does a little damage, and debuffs the target. On an additional Mask, one built in, the target may not use use Soulstones, which can be pivotal if you want to kill a master or henchman early game. On a single Mask, after succeeding, you get to push a friendly Mr. Graves, within LoS, up to 5" towards the target. Sadly, he is in direct competition with the incredibly useful and powerful Stitched Together at 6ss, so unless you're also taking Mr. Graves, the Stitched is better.
 * Mr. Tannen**

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) Offers resilience and can act as a beatstick. Can shut down areas with his **Keeping the Peace** (0) action, which lets enemy models take a TN 13 **Wp** duel before they can do a charge action within 6" of Graves. He's got a neat attack action called **Show Ya the Door** which will push a friendly or enemy model up to 6" in any direction, then pushing Graves into base contact with the model. The attack also has a Trigger which will let Graves do a **Fence Post** attack action against the target. The **Fence Post** is Graves main attack action which hit fairly hard and accurate. On a mask, which is built in, Mr Tannen regain his **Manipulative** if he already have activated during the turn. Providing some additional synergy between the two.
 * Mr. Graves**

(Ten Thunder / Neverborn) A 7ss toolbox who can do a little bit of everything depending on the situation. They have decent walks and an impressive charges of 8" together with a Ml range of 2", making their threat range reach a very impressive 10". Each has armor, seven wounds, **Regeneration +1** and **Terrifying** 10 against living, a (0) which lets it do a heal flip, all of this makes them naturally resilient. If your opponent leaves an Illuminated on 1-2 wounds, be sure to activate it early and you can replenish a total of 4 damage. Their damage track is alright, and goes insane against targets with Brilliance. They can cheat negative damage flips thanks to //Flay//, which requires an additional mask. They also have a decent shooting attack that can make several targets suffer from Brilliance. They are really good when going in pairs or with someone who can apply Brilliance to enemies, like Hungering Darkness, a Beckoner, or Lynch.
 * The Illuminated**

(Neverborn) Coming in at only 4ss they are very similar to the Arcanist model Metal Gamin, by offering cheap activations and resilience. They are very much a tarpit unit, possessing both **Hard To Wound**, **Hard To Kill**, in addition to 8 wounds. Their only attack gets a bonus if the enemy tries to get away. When they finally do bite the dust they will blow up, which will do some damage and spread Brilliance. Also note that The Depleted have the Brilliance characteristic, so if your Hungering Darkness needs some healing, he can Trigger it off of these guys. Even if they go down, it will take you opponent at least 2-4 hit in order to do so. If your opponent is attacking these lowly creatures instead of the rest of the crew you should be rather pleased. The Depleted are insignificant, but they are also minions. So they will still count for strategies and schemes. Another important role they can fill is to keep Lynch safe by denying your opponent charge lanes and in some degree line of sight.
 * The Depleted**

(Neverborn) They have a **Lure**, with a built-in movement trigger, as well as a shorter range spell to give a target some damage and Brilliance. Keep in mind that both of these spells are heavily reliant on dual-suits, so if you're opponent has anything that removes suits from your casting total, it'll be difficult to get any of them off. Their attack action is solid, can give out Brilliance, and is a **Ca** with range of 10. So they do not have to randomize while shooting into engagement. Another neat trick they can do is to (walk once if it is turn one) **Lure** a friendly model, and trigger their //Not That Kind of Girl// which will let them push up to 4" in any direction. Thus they will only lose 1" of movement while getting another model to get a free walk towards them.
 * Beckoners**

(Neverborn) Another model that can fill a lot of roles in your crew. Besides their ok wound stat of 7, their stats are quite low. They have **Hard to Kill** and an ability called **Eternal Nightmare** which will let them Reactivate if they are reduced to one wound. Making your opponent more or less have to kill them in a turn if they want to go after them. It's (0) action **Creepy Fog** is cast on a 7, and will give out a 4" aura which will provide with soft cover. Making the Stitched movable cover for your crew, which is really neat against shooty crews. Stitched are mainly midrange attackers, but they have a melee attack as backup if enemies are close. Their **A Game of Chance** targets an enemy model and the winner of the duel gets to draw two cards and then discard one. This synergizes well with **Ace in the Hole**, since you get your discarded card back. On a crow you can trigger either after winning or loosing the duel. If you loose you get to draw a card, if you succeed your opponent gets to discard a card. The Stitched main attack action is **Gamble Your Life**, it's **Ca** 6 and targets **Df**, which means you will often come out succeeding since the average defense stat is 5. The looser of the duel will suffer 4/5/7 damage after a single, not cheatable, damage flip. This means you have to be a bit careful when using the action, but you only need to tie your opponents duel total to succeed.
 * Stitched Together**

Neverborn
As soon as Lynch gets to pick up the ace of Masks thanks to the **Ace in the Hole** ability these guys will never stop running and make great scheme runners. Their **Sprint** action lets them walk, flip a card, and if a Mask is flipped or cheated in they get to walk one more time. If you got the ace of Masks, you get to pick it up after you have cheated it in, which means that you can guarantee that each Tot will move 20" in a turn. This makes the Tots a very potent runners for Lynch.
 * Terror Tot**

A very useful Swiss Army Knife kind of model. It can interact while engaged, cheat initiative flips, be a useful tarpit, and copy spells and actions from non-leader models. For instance, it can copy a Terror Tots sprint and gets to do the action right away. With a walk of 6", it can move up to a silly 36" with the ace of Masks. Another neat trick is to copy Mr. Graves **Show Ya The Door** action to push friendly or enemy models around. The Doppleganger can also copy Huggy's **Heed My Voice** action, and use it 2-3 times in an activation. This opens up to a lot of shenanigans! You can get enemy models out of position, make them attack each other, or let them target a model with Terrifying, fail the Horror Duel, and make them **Paralyzed**. Huggy with the **Endless Hunger** upgrade will gain Terrifying all, and Neverborn have access to a lot of horror duel.
 * Doppleganger**

The pair is useful in any Neverborn crew in need of a couple of hard hitters. They can push models into each other and get free attack actions against their victims. Not the most resilient pair but if you position them correctly nothing will survive their onslaught.
 * Baby Kade & Teddy**

This support model can let your Tots grow into Young Nephilim, but it can also present a fun playstyle for your Illuminated. Since the latter can heal a lot the Shaman can give them **Black** **Blood**, which the Illuminated will suffer some damage from, and use his **Black Blood Pustule** spell to damage surrounding enemy models. The Shaman can also heal models with **Black Blood, s**o Mr. Graves can also benefit from having a Shaman around.
 * Black Blood Shaman**

Ten Thunders
Provides with some solid range support for Lynch. Even though he lacks great stats he can take a good beating thanks to **Armor** +1 and **Hard to Wound**, in addition to a great (0) healing ability which demands that you discard a card. Does not posses any melee attack, but has ways of pushing enemy models away from him.
 * Fuhatsu**

The Super Weasel can provide Lynch with a different play style than Huggy, and it's **Katanaka Flame** attack goes well in hand with Lynch's **Ace in the Hole**. Lynch does not swap upgrades around, but if the Kamaitachi comes along, you can attach Recalled Training in order to trigger its two auras. If you want to try something different, and invest more in Lynch, give Huggy a rest and give the Weasel a go!
 * Kamaitachi**

Resilient as they come, even though they lack a high wound count. **Armor**, **Hard to Kill**, and their **Df** trigger //Metal on Metal//, will make it hard for attackers to chew through them. They got a nice (0) action which will buff their **Ml** attack, which demands that a card is discarded which Lynch will get back thanks to Ace in the Hole. Their **Ml** attack hits hard and is fairly accurate. With a Trigger, they can pin down enemy objective runners, thus hinder them from taking walk actions and pushes.
 * Rail Worker**


 * Thunder Archers**
 * Thread the Needle** means they can fire into melee (and over Huggy) to support Illuminated, Graves, Huggy, etc. without randomizing. They have **Rapid Fire** which lets them discard a card and take a (2) action to make 3 Sh attacks against a single target, which has excellent synergy with **Ace in the Hole**. They are expensive, squishy, and not very mobile, but careful use of Beckoners, bodyguard models like Sidir, and their ability to shoot through terrain with **Hail of Hachinosu** can mitigate this.

Offers attacks from range and melee, he can also babysit Lynch thanks to his **By Your Side** upgrade, which lets him become the target of incoming attacks. He's also got a decent (0) heal which requires a discard. His **Empty the Magazine** action gains benefits when attacking models with **Slow**, which Lynch can hand out with his gun. **Empty the Magazine** can shoot into melee thanks to not being a projectile attack, which is great for Lynch whose crews often like to mix it up.
 * Sidir Alchibal**

Additionally, Sidir makes a great babysitter for Thunder Archers due to his natural tankiness and his **Laugh Off** keeping him from being pulled out of position when you give him **Blot the Sky**.

A solid 4ss minion which can gun for your objectives. Their **Bravado** ability, lets them discard a card before an action to gain any suit during that action, which will benefit from **Ace in the Hole**. Between **Cast-Offs** (a heal to stack with Huggy or the Illuminated) and their two attack actions which have nice Triggers, this can really increase their output.
 * Wastrel **

Mercenaries
His mobility is garbage but Beckoners and Graves can really help with that if you need to reposition in early turns. The main synergy comes from his **Reference the Field Guide** (0) action which lets him discard a card to add the suit to all his remaining actions, which naturally has great synergy with **Ace in the Hole**. This lets you fish for the Ace of choice to turn Hans into a specialized tool of destruction--Disarming minions, Slowing targets, or ignoring Incorporeal or Armor depending on which suit you grab. The Disarm and Slowing triggers require discards after damaging in order to make them go off, but since **Ace in the Hole** goes off after each action, you can use the same Ace which you discarded to get the suit to satisfy the trigger's discard condition, giving you two or three card's worth of discard back if you, say, have an Ace of Rams in hand and want to Disarm two minions.
 * Hans**

Like Thunder Archers, he can shoot into melee, which many Lynch crews will like.

Hannah Jakob wants cards, the more cards in his hand, the better. Hannah could simply give his hand size +1 as long as she lives another turn. This is obvious synergy.

If you have brought a Doppelgänger to copy Huggy's actions, you would also know that Hannah could act pretty much in the same way. Hannah could also work with a Beckoner to cast **Lure** multiple times a turn.

=__Playing Against Jakob Lynch__=

Lynch is not as resilient as most masters, so his crew will try to keep him out of harm's way. He is the model around which the rest of his crew rotates, as he has the most reliable method of handing out Brilliance, and his upgrade cards enhance the Hungering Darkness. If you can take Lynch out, his crew will become noticeably less powerful, though his minions are still fairly potent. You want to be especially wary if your opponent seems to be passing up opportunities to cheat, since he's probably setting you up for a Final Debt, and maybe also a 52 pickup. Anything you can do to deplete your opponent's control hand and/or mess with his order of activations is going to be really useful.

Lynch without Woke Up With a Hand is not as scary as one with. He can also //Squeal!// with the Expert Cheater upgrade, making **Flurry** and charges quite useless. So, keep a close eye at which upgrades Lynch has and plan your attack accordingly. He's got little protection against projectile attacks, so if you can somehow push, place, or walk him out of cover, a series of projectile or untyped attack actions will take him down quicker than most masters.

Models with ways of removing conditions are always nice against Lynch, but is not pivotal since Brilliance will go away at the end of the turn (most of the time).

Lynch's crew will often gain plus flips and increased damage against models with the Brilliance characteristic, that includes themselves. If you have a master with Obey, or a similar effect, you can have Illuminated attack other Illuminated for the +2 damage bonus.

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