M2E+Francisco+Ortega


 * Francisco Ortega, Guild Henchman**

=__Overview__= Elder brother of Perdita, Francisco is a great melee and support model. Reasonably fast, his melee is devastating, his shooting a great fall back and his resilience is not too bad, either. Furthermore, he is one of the best bodyguards in the faction, if not the game. An all around good Henchman, he has something to offer every Guild Master and special synergy with his Family.

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=__Mobility__= Francisco is reasonably fast for a melee model, with a Wk of 5 and a total charge range of 9". He has no abilities to increase his movement.

However, he has an action called **"Enfréntate a Mi!"** that teleports him into base contact with an enemy in line of sight and 7". All of Francisco's companions in the same melee get pushed up to 5" away. It's an excellent way to free other models from melee but it can also get Francisco through severe terrain or up a building.

=__Offense__=

__Melee__
The **Dueling Sword** (or "Machete", due to the thing Francisco's plastic model calls a "Dueling Sword") is a strong attack. Its very high Ml makes it hard to Disengage from Francisco, and the attack is very accurate in general. The damage profile is good but not spectacular. However, the attack has a built in Ram and the //Critical Strike// trigger which makes him one of the more damaging Henchmen and can push him to extreme levels if he flips an additional Ram or uses a Soulstone (or both). Two attacks from his sword will put down even resilient Minions.

If an enemy starts in melee, Francisco can drop a card for **Flurry**. He will put out an additional attack which makes him very dangerous even for Masters.

__Ranged__
While Francisco is at home in melee his Family upbringing still shows in his fallback attack, his **Modified Peacebringer**. His Sh is above average and he has the typical Peacebringer range of 12". The damage profile is average but he has the //Crit. Strike// trigger once again, although he has to flip or Soulstone the Ram. Not a bad attack on the way across the battlefield, or if he stays behind and protects a more dedicated ranged combatant.

=__Resilience__= Francisco doesn't seem very resilient at first glance. His Wds are not so great, his Df is mediocre and his Wp is just barely above average. No abilities help protect him, either. Most heavy hitters can bring him down in two strikes.

The first step in improving this would always be his personal upgrade Wade In. It grants him **Hard to Kill**, getting him from "dead in 2-3 strikes" to "dead in 3-4 strikes". It also grants him a heal, although a difficult one as it requires a moderate Ram and competes with **Finesse** (s. below). Nevertheless, a heal on a **Hard to Kill** model is always a good option.

So long as Francisco can activate first, **Finesse** allows him to hold his own in melee longer than he otherwise should; unless they start burning through their Soulstones and/or use **Focus** even melee-oriented Masters will struggle to hit him, as attacks with a negative modifier cannot be cheated. This is the second ability that Francisco has to drop a card for. If you throw Francisco into melee he can be hard on your control hand.

As a Henchman, don't forget that Francisco can use Soulstones to prevent damage, vastly increasing his survivability against moderate damage dealers. With his fairly average Defense stat you'll find yourself using this option quite often.

__El Mayor__
As a dedicated elder brother, Francisco feels responsible for his weaker companions and tries his best to protect them. The **El Mayor** ability represents that and thus makes Francisco an excellent bodyguard. It's so good that some players try to include Francisco in every list they built. At the beginning of his activation, Francisco nominates a friendly model in 2". That model gains 2 to both Df and Wp until Francisco dies or activates again. Francisco doesn't have to stay near the model unless he wants to grant the bonus to the same model in the next turn again. Note that he doesn't need an action to grant the bonus and can thus grant it even if he is **Paralyzed**.

A flat +2 to the most used defensive stats makes for some excellent protection and raises flimsy models to resilient and resilient models to downright impossible to tackle.

=__Upgrades__= Francisco has a broad range of upgrades to choose from, but because how good his personal upgrade is he often has just one upgrade slot. He is the cheapest Guild Henchman, though, so buying a second upgrade is not such a strain as with other Henchmen.

__Family Upgrades__
__**Diestro**__ Being the strongest eligible Family member in the arts of melee makes Francisco a natural choice for this upgrade. It's awfully expensive and makes Francisco an even bigger target. The trade-off is great, though: Francisco becomes a fire beacon for all ranged models in his crew who increase their effectiveness by a multitude. The more ranged models you bring, the more effective this upgrade gets.


 * __Hermanos de Armas__**
 * Cover Me!** is a decent action that Francisco can put to good use if he wants to improve the mobility of his peers. However, Francisco has two good (0) actions he will probably prefer in later turns. So don't take this if you aren't comfortable buying an upgrade you will only use once of twice.

An interesting upgrade if you want another dimension for Francisco: Pulse damage. Francisco has enough roles to fill, however. Not recommended.
 * __Tormenta de Plomo__**

__**Wade In**__ A great upgrade to make Francisco more survivable, especially when he's being Bodyguarded (or even as a bluff to make your opponent think that he's being Bodyguarded). Mostly taken for the **Hard to Kill** ability, as the (0) healing action it grants competes with **Finesse**, and requires a moderately high Ram to pull off. This upgrade is cheap and brings Francisco to the same cost as most other Henchmen. It should always be considered.

__General Guild Upgrades__
A decent choice if you want to take Bodyguard on Francisco. He is reasonably resilient but with this upgrade he gets very hard to tackle, especially in melee. It's always great to see you **Armor** reduce damage and letting Francisco stand at 2 Wds.
 * __Lead Lined Coat__**

A cheap upgrade that may be worth it in certain Schemes. Plant Explosives is a good candidate as Francisco often dies amidst a lot of enemy models.
 * __Plant Evidence__**

His ranged attack is rather accurate but lacks somewhat in damage. With a Vengeance Bullet he becomes a respectable threat to any Master or Henchman. A situational upgrade, but worth a consideration especially if you don't play Francisco in a Family crew.
 * __Vengeance Bullet__**

=__Tactics and Tips__= Use **"Enfréntate a Mi!"** to engage models who engage your shooty companions if you have the Diestro upgrade. Not only do you free your companions, they can fire into the melee with great results.

Use **El Mayor** on models with sub-par defenses instead of those with good ones. If you make a model unkillable, your opponent will just ignore it, but if you make two models hard to kill, he will face a difficult choice. Or he will go after Francisco...

Don't forget that you can use **Companion** and **"Enfréntate a Mi!"** to free melee models that just charged. If he activates Finesse, Francisco will probably be harder to kill and your melee models are free to charge again on the next turn.

=__Leading a Crew__= Francisco is very versatile and thus can lead a lot of different crews in smaller games. He is on the less resilient side of Guild Henchmen, though, and will possibly have to stay farther back as he usually does.

Strategies and Schemes
Francisco can be invaluable in any Scheme where the opponent comes after your models. **El Mayor** will make the opponent grind his teeth if he wants to score Assassinate. He is very good at Make Them Suffer, as well, due to his high melee damage.

Building a Crew
All of the Guild Masters can make use of Francisco:

Hoffmann probably needs him the least due to his excellent Df trigger. He can be an excellent independent flanker for Hoffmann, though.

Lady Justice and Francisco make a splendid tag team, as they are both fast melee beaters. Francisco adds some ranged combat and can turn the Lady into a terrifying force. Lady Justice with Df 7 is no joke!

Lucas McCabe is an all-round supporter and enemy debuffer. Francisco meshes reasonably well with that, depending on Lucas's crew choice. But believe me when I say: Francisco and the Promises upgrade are an awesome combination.

Lucius is reasonably well protected and likes to sacrifice models for strategic gain instead of protecting them. While this doesn't sound like a good fit with Francisco, Lucius often plays a lot of shooters and Francisco does a lot for them.

McMourning is on the flimsy side of defensive stats. Francisco struggles against **Armor**. They are like best buddies.

Perdita and Francisco are like brother and sister... which isn't surprising, because they are. In general, Perdita doesn't even need Francisco's abilities that much herself; she is rather independent. If your opponent guns for her, **El Mayor** makes her a headache to remove, though. Her typical crew gains much more from his abilities: Perdita often brings ranged models and Francisco compliments that nicely. Perdita and Francisco with Diestro, though... that is a scary prospect to face for every opponent.

Sonnia Criid lacks in the Df department, especially if she uses her **Confiscated Lore** to buff her offense. She also suffers if she gets bogged down in melee. It should be obvious that Francisco is a very good Henchman for her.

=__Playing Against Francisco__= Francisco's versatility quickly makes him a lynchpin model in any crew he joins. Due to **El Mayor** he is often less resilient than the model he protects. His ability to get shooters out of melee and strike things down with his sword makes him an excellent tar pit for a shooty crew. By this reasoning, he should be focused early to make other models more vulnerable.

If it's your activation and Francisco is yet to go this turn, striking him down before he can activate **Finesse** might be the best course of action, particularly if he's engaging one or more of your models with the Diestro upgrade. Just don't forget that as a Soulstone user he can prevent incoming damage.

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 * __Ownership__ **