Avatar+Seamus

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 * Seamus, Resurrectionist Avatar of Dread**

=Overview= Rippling with muscles that literally rip his fine threads to shreds, the Avatar of Dread is truely a horror to behold. He feeds on fear, healing himself while leaving his foes paralyzed in horror, as he wades into battle to brutally demolish everything in range. His mental defenses are somewhat lacking, and become even more vulnerable when succumbing to his inner darkness, but the he is physically capable of taking incredible amounts of damage and quickly coming back for more.

=Manifesting= Seamus has two requirements to become "Mr Hyde": 1) Successfully cast Face of Death on two seperate activations 2) Uses Slit Jugular on an enemy model in the same turn he charged that enemy using No Escape.

The first requirement is a breeze. Flip/ Cheat a 7+ card for a (1) action on your first and second turns. Seamus doesn't need to scare anything with it. He just needs to successfully cast it. And being fast he'll have the spare 1-AP to spend to get this over and done with. This will slow your approach down a little and decrease the inheriant flexibility of Seamus' AP but if you have brought along your avatar its a good way to maximise your options.

The second can be a bit tricky but still doable. Set up No-Escape with your (0) action, then have a **Rotten Belle** Lure the victim towards themselves. Seamus will charge, and if you can flip (or cheat or Soulstone) a Crow, you can get the trigger off. Generally you will need a mid to high crow in hand and be prepared to add in a soulstone too if needed. It can be difficult to get out against crews with high Wp or Immune to Influence so you will need to plan accordingly

Manifesting Seamus early is useful as he can rapidly maximize his Succumb to Darkness action to make him a horror for any to behold. That being said, scaring off the enemies may not be the best thing - especially if you are trying to hunt specific ones down. Seamus is also quite effective when in his non-avatar state, so there's no significant rush for him to change. Be selective of when you want him to go into "hulk mode" avatar Seamus brings a whole new bag of tricks to the table but sometimes the abilities you already have are better suited to the situation.

=Mobility= Seamus hasn't gotten much faster with his size. Though neither has he gotten any slower either (which his mass might suggest). He still retains his (+1) Fast and gains +1" to Charge, but otherwise is mostly himself. He has also lost his No Escape action and his Belle's of the Ball leadership, making his escort of undead prostitutes 'normal' and stealing away their +2 Movement. Thsi is something very important to consider before manifesting as while you are not greatly impact on the mobility of Seamus a great deal of your crew's mobility will be affected ... but thats why you brought along Molly right?

=Offense= Seamus was always a damage dealing machine, and the hulk is no different. He not longer has his flint lock, and has even lost his Live for Pain spell, making him significantly less effective at range. He does have one ranged attack which is to throw a corpse at his enemies, though this is less accurate then the gun, deals less damage, and does require Seamus to have a corpse counter to discard (to throw). It does however cause a blast effect with Severe Damage, but its the trigger that a move to be considered. If "thrown" with a Crow, any model damaged by the "body" is forced to take a Morale Duel. Any who fail this are forced to fall back, missing their next activation, and healing Seamus with his "Feed on Fear" ability (see Resilience for more details). Generally you probably won't be using this ability but its nice to have in the mix.
 * Ranged**

Seamus does have one other ranged attack. The Gaze of the Gorgon is a (1) Spell, requiring an 8+ Crow to cast, and if effective it will cause a target to become Paralyzed in fear. Very effective for shutting down activations and/or locking targets in place for Seamus to catch up to them (and take them apart).

Typically Seamus will want to get up close to put his torso-sized fists to good measure. These are more accurate then a Bag of Tools, and have higher minor and moderate damage scores. More impressive is that they ignore Armor, meaning powerful robots will have no defense against his bludgenings. They also have an incredible range of 3", meaning Seamus's charge threat range is now 10"
 * Melee**

Also Seamus has a pair of Triggers with his fists, each with a different suit requirement meaning its almost a 50% chance one of them will trigger whenever he takes a swing at something. Battered Skull forces the damaged defender to take a Morale Duel (which, again, lets Seamus use his "Feed on Fear" Ability), while Brutal Embrace will cause the subject to become either Paralyzed OR Slow (if they are hit with this, they'll be wobbly on their next activation regardless).

Another nasty effect is that Seamus is Wicked in his Avatar state, which will make things very tricky for opponents (do they attempt to attack in Melee only to fail their Terrifying Morale test, or try to run and get to gun-range to blast the big gun with a hail of bullets at risk of having their action canceled and getting slapped brutally for attempting to leave?). This makes things very scary when Seamus forces people to fall-back from him as he will be allowed to make a strike at each running victim.

Seamus does also have a (0) spell called Gargantuan Growth. Cast with a 8+ Ram, this makes both his attacks more accurate, have a higher chance of dealing Severe Damage, and have a longer range. Typically most will want to power up Succumb to Darkness first (see below), but once its at its maximum, there's no reason to not use this on the off-chance it works (given its his only other (0) action possible).

As the Avatar of Dread, Seamus is all about causing intense terror in his opponent. He already starts with a high Terrifying score of 13, which can potentially increase up to 17 over two turns with his (0) Succumb to Darkness Action. Also, being an Anathema, his Terrifying will affect ALL models (including those typically immune to Morale Duels - such as Constructs, Spirits and even the Undead) making him a very dangerous foe for anyone to face. Should he maximize his Terrifying score, any target with a Wp of 5 or less will be VERY lucky to be able to overcome their fear in trying to fight him.
 * Terrifying**

Seamus can also employ his Gorgon's Miasma to make all enemy models within 10" to suffer a -2 WP penalty until the End Closing phase. This is also cumulative, meaning its possible for Seamus to use this action twice (to reduce all enemy model's WP by -4) before using another action - Bellowing of the Big Bastard - which will cause all models within 4" of Seamus to perform a WP vs 13 Morale Duel (with the -4 Wp, its almost a 17 Morale duel). This will rapidly cause any enemy models surrounding Seamus to rapidly scatter and gain him plenty of recovering wounds from their fear he has invoked.

Furthermore, being lead by such a force, Seamus's crew also gain Terrifying (those who already were terrifying get a bonus). This can lead to your opponent feeling very frustrated when forced to attempt a Morale check anytime they want to Charge or engage your forces in Melee.

=Resilience= Seamus does retain a few things as the Avatar of Dread. He has his 12 Wd's, and is still Hard to Kill. He no longer heals 2 Wd's everytime a living or undead model dies within 6" of him, though he does have Regenerate meaning he will always heal 2 Wounds on each activation.

The bigger boost however is his Feed on Fear ability (mentioned a few times already) which lets the big guy a wound everytime someone fails a Morale Duel within 10" of him. A Gorgon's Misma empowered Bellowing Beast can grant the Avatar of Dread a significant amount of Wound recovery while scattering his enemy's crew in fear. Seamus also has plenty of methods to cause fear to feed on, and can even heal when his own crew causes an enemy to fail a Morale check (and given Seamus makes his entire crew Terrifying, this can happen a bit).

On the chance Seamus is feeling a bit poorly, he does have a (1) Spell - Spontanious Regeneration. It only requires a 6+ Ram to cast and gives him a Healing flip. It can help him recover if feeling a bit too vulnerable and get him back into the slaughter with confidence.

There is also another reason why Seamus wants to get into Melee as soon as possible. While engaged in battle with an enemy, he gains +2 Armor. This makes him a devastating opponent to attempt to duel at close-quarters. Go offensive. Its a great defense.

=Soulstones= (How badly the Avatar needs it's Soulstones and the best way for them to use it

=Tricks and Tips= Unless facing enemies that have Wp focused attacks (i.e.: Pandora's crew), maximize Succumb to Darkness. Gaining Terrifying -> 17 will make it near impossible for anyone to fight you in Melee.

Stay in Melee. You will gain +2 Armor making it very tricky to hurt you in Melee.

=Avatar and their Crew= Seamus continues to work wonders with his association of Rotten Belles. Once in Avatar state, the girls can call "willing participants" over to join in their "fun" to save Seamus the trouble of walking over to them (and wasting his AP to do so).

=Playing Against the Avatar of Dread= You want to keep your distance on this big guy. In Melee he's dangerous. At range however he's vulnerable, and it doesn't take any guts to fire a bullet from a distance. Open fire with everything you've got and take him down before he can get too close. It may be wise to keep your forces spread out so that whomever he does go after, the rest of your crew can back away from and keep out of Melee range.

Firing into Melee can be risky. Fortunately failing the Wp test does not count as a failed Morale Test (so no - Seamus does not heal from someone hesitating to shoot their own allies) but you will want people willing to take this shot so bring along high Wp forces. This will also help a bit in resisting the Wp Morale Duels Seamus WILL be making you take. Should you pass, chances are decent will hit Seamus (being height 3). And every shot will count to taking him down.

Consider using explosives. That way, even if you hit your ally, the blast should hit Seamus as well. Every bit of damage will count.

Try to utilize Terrain to slow the giant down. You need to keep your distance on him to keep shooting.

Take out his Crew. Seamus is too focused on scaring people to call up more undead hookers, so take the 'sexy zombies' down and reduce your problems. Chances are the girls are going to try to encourage you to walk over to them and their boss anyway, and you really REALLY don't want to be near him.

Use your own Willpower attacks on him. The Avatar of Dread is just a big bully. He starts with -2 Wp less than his previous self, and to power up his fear-factor he needs to reduce his own Wp by -2. Its possible for Seamus to drop himself down to 1 Wp and that will make him VERY vulnerable to Wp focused attacks. Beware of Pandora...

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