Editing Malifaux/Tactics(M3e) (section)

==Ten Thunders==
===Why Play Ten Thunders===
====Pros====
* You force others to often times play by your rules. Thunders has a variety of tech choices that can be easily swapped into lists.
* Very strong variety of versatile modes. Minako Rei, Fuhatsu, Samurai, Thunder Brothers, the list goes on. Most Versatile of any faction at 14.
* Good upgrades that can be applied to most any situation.
* Access to some of the best schemers in the game.
====Cons====
* Your plastic models were some of the original kits made, and as such have a lot of bits.
* Very high learning curve for most masters. Lynch, Youko, and Asami particularly.

===General Advice===
'''Upgrades''' Ten Thunders is the faction where the upgrades got a little silly. 

''Silent Protector'' gives access to Challenge, which is a VERY nice ability indeed, along with allowing you to work in 'Take the Hit' if it's on a minion. The gem here is Hard to Kill for 2 stones. Not bad.

''Trained Ninja'' is, to put it bluntly, the single funniest upgrade in the game. Stealth and Unimpeded are good on pretty much any model, but it also gives From the Shadows on Minions. This means that you can put your Samurai up in a good position to start the game in. It's a godsend on squishier Masters like Jakob or Youkou.

''Masked Agent'' is the 'tech' upgrade, more than the other two. While Silent Protector will find its way into most lists just by virtue of Hard to Kill being amazing, Masked Agent gives the interesting 'WITH ME' bonus that allows you to move models with your Charge (could be interesting on McCabe or Jorogumo, or hell, the Dawn Serpent or Emissary) and a bubble of denying Resistance Triggers. This also gives Coordinated Attack on minions. This plus a Charm Warder can put all your Fuck You tactics right in one bubble of fun.

===Masters===
''Lucas McCabe - Wastrel'' - Malifaux's Indiana Jones from England with a more tragic backstory than being nuked inside of a fridge. 

'''General Info'''
McCabe's card is loaded, like one would expect with a Master. He's about average for what you'd expect. 5 WP makes him vulnerable to WP spam, but his defense is above average at 6.

Lucas is the fastest 'traditional' master in the game, in that his MV is 7 and he just ignores models and severe terrain. His 'Make Way' ability forces your opponent to take a 13 Move duel whenever you move through them or suffer 2 damage. This includes Charges, Pushes, Walks, anything that makes him move and run over people means he will be trampling them with hooves. It combos with his attacks as well. A nice little bonus is Looted Supplies, his Keyword ability, which allows you to draw a card if he starts his activation within an inch of a scrap or corpse.

McCabe's other dirty trick comes in the fact of when he dies, he's got a pretty nice demise trigger. When he hits the end of his 12 wound track, he dismounts, replacing with his dismounted form. He picks up Swagger, a nice little bonus, and Extended Reach, but he drops down to 5 wounds. This makes him a 17 health Master, and if you drop 2 stones on him for 'Silent Protector' he ends up having 3 'stop' triggers. One for hitting 1, one for replacing, one for hitting one again. He's really hard to pin down, but his dismounted form is more of a bonus than an actual defense strategy. Keep him mounted.

'''Offense'''
While on horse, McCabe has two solid attacks. His netgun is probably the star of the show early game, a 10 inch range with a 15 inch threat if you burn Ride with me to move him, it targets the opponents move on a 6. The profile isn't really impressive 2/2B/3B. The icing is slow AND staggered with a ram trigger to drag the model three inches forwards. The gun does tons of work. His second attack is the Bull Whip which is his prime way of actually dealing damage. The base stat is 6 with a ram baked in. Profile, again, not too good for a master. 2/3/4, but with a 2 inch reach, he's good at keeping folks at arm's reach.

The meat of the attack is the 2 inch push, which he can use to trample over the side of someone's base to force the Trample, then the baked in trigger which is a 2 inch defense 13 duel or take two more. In one attack he can force 3 duels on your opponent's single model, or more if you're hitting a wide amount of people. 

Bull Whip is absurdly effective. It's the best way for him to handle damage. Even if you black joker on damage, it can still put out the incredible trigger and push. Don't discount the Mask trigger either. A 5 inch push can get him quite quickly out of harm's way if needed.

Dismounted he trades the netgun and bullwhip for the Glowing Saber, a pretty standard 2/3/4 profile, but ignores Hard to Wound/Hard to Kill/Incorp and has Crit and Siphon as its triggers, and a Collier. Interestingly the Collier is probably the best option here. Making your opponent come to you with his 'Extended Reach' ability means they're liable to get one, maybe two attacks at best if they have to charge into him.

'''Upgrade Attachments'''
His Tactical Actions are where McCabe shines hard. His key action, and the big unique element is 'Scrounge for Relics'. It's shared between him and his totem, Luna, but he's way more efficient. It targets and removes a scrap or corpse marker and equips an upgrade to himself, or on its baked in trigger, on a minion or wastrel within 6.

The upgrades are all the same in two respects. They have 'Take This!' which allows you to pass the relic to an ally, and 'Paid with Trinkets' which grants FAST to a model if it started its activation with a artifact that was attached this turn. 

The best of these is probably the Mask. The Phantasmal Mask grants Life Leech, which is aces on both McCabe and his henchman, LaRaux and a pulse that can push out shielded one as a bonus on a 7 and also provide a nice self-healing trigger. 

Timeworn Blade is also called the 'Lightsaber' which provides precise. It's just like McMourning, ignoring most defensive tech. The unique bonus is Bladestorm which is yet another pulse that does a 12 DF duel or take two, with a brutal trigger that adds injured to enemies who fail on a crow. This is the secret weapon against Von Schtook. It's efficient as hell against the old bastard.

The Mirror is situationally amazing. Know the Warrior basically gives you a free card back if you cheat fate. Don't forget about cheating down, by the way, as long as you're Focused when you finish cheating, you get a card back. The bonus is Equality of Fate, giving you a card back which is always great if you're down a card.

These artifacts are KEY to McCabe's plans early on, but don't get too attached to them. McCabe will probably throw one, maybe two out during the course of the game, and leave the rest to his totem.

'''Tactical Actions'''
Mounted, McCabe has Ride with Me, which is always great. It allows you to speed up or even rescue some of the softer or slower models in keyword/faction (not that there are many in Ten Thunders) and he's got 'Careful, it's Cursed!' which is a great way to pop an artifact that you can't get unstuck to do even more damage.

Dismounted, he loses Careful and Ride with Me for Chain Gang, which is a boon to be sure, but it's just not the same as Ride with Me.

'''Gameplay''' 

To condense it, McCabe is a fast, versatile Master who can adequately accomplish most strategies. He doesn't play well in Reckoning most of the time, given that his keyword right now is better at scheming, but he can always take some of the popular Versatile Ten Thunder models to really amp up his kill potential. 

McCabe as a Leader plays best into Corner, where his minions can toss relics between each other to gain fast and really get some ground on turn one, and Flank, but he can do well under most any deployment.

His keyword really enjoys scheming, and taking him as the Leader ensures that you get cheap access to Hucksters and one of his henchmen, LaRaux. Between those two models, you have easy access to most of the mobility and scheme marker intensive schemes, and McCabe's own speed and endurance via the Mask and potentially Silent Protector, make him good into countering Assassinate.

He isn't a 'hang back and wait' sort of Master. You'll likely activate him early enough to bank Netgun shots onto models that need to be somewhere, and hopefully get blasts early, followed by trampling things under his hooves. Bull Whip is his main source of damage through his triggers and Make Way interactions, and even ties aren't safe for your opponent. On a single target, his damage potential can roughly be broken down into 10 duels that could inflict up to 20 damage. This only accelerates as your opponent bunches up. Don't be discouraged if your opponent flips high to avoid the damage off his incidental triggers or his Make Way, they're burning 13s when they likely just need 7s or 6s.

Play smart early on and rely on your conditions to hit some of those slower models, then, change gears and mix it up with the bull whip and horse when you get a chance during the mid-game.

And whatever you do, do not let him get stunned.

====Totems====
''Luna'' - Lucas McCabe's faithful hunting hound is probably one of the better totems in the game. (Not counting Viktoria Chambers on this) Aside from being the best puppo, she generates Scrap and can hand out artifacts for McCabe, since, shit, he's got better things to do. She primarily functions as a ferry to pass upgrades along. Her big gimmick is 'Carry the Goods'. Basically, if an ally uses the 'Take This!' upgrade that's listed on an artifact, she can double the range in exchange for being placed adjacent to the target that gets the relic. This also means when she digs up and scrounges for a relic on her activation, she can pass it, since it's an aura, an impressive distance and place herself anywhere she needs to be.

"Luna! Give!" is rarely used, but if Luna flips Black on her own Take This you can have an ally claim a relic from her as an action, or for a bonus if Lucas is trying to get it. Finally, she's ignored for Friendly Fire and enemy models within an inch need to chuck a card to disengage. Pretty good stuff if you want to use her that way.

Her bite is actually pretty impressive too for being a totem. Stat 5 with 2/3/4 and You're Comin' with Me as a trigger can help to disengage models that need some help, or drag them away from Sidir for him to murder them with a machinegun. Y'know. Go wild. She is VERY liable to get shot off the board though early. At 4 wounds, if she is carrying goods, make sure she ends up behind whoever she's delivering too to help avoid her going all 'Old Yeller.'

===Henchmen===
''Sidir Alchibal'' - Wastrel - Sidir is the oft-neglected Wastrel Henchman. It's kind of fitting the old 'keyword' for McCabe and Sidir was 'Black Sheep' since Sidir really feels like one in his own keyword. An abysmal MV 4 makes him hard to get up the board, but Fast from Artifact tossing, detailed in the McCabe section, can help allay this. To make up for it, he has Swagger, Ruthless, Parry on Ram, and Juggernaut. His melee attack is nothing special, though, because it's Wastrel, if using him with McCabe it can ignore all defensive tech, and if you've got a high ram in hand, consider Stoning for the Crit Strike to make it min 4.

The best part about Sidir is Blow it to Hell, which can flush your opponent out of cover, or just destroy their tiny objects they're hiding behind. It's obviously the best ability on his card.

Alright, fine. It's the machinegun. Sidir has taken a page from the Orks. His gun just unloads Dakka. Combined with Swagger, the 2/3B/6B profile is just unfair. His triggers are Quick Reflexes (awesome) and Delay (even MORE awesome). The problem is that he's just...so...slow. Without Artifact tossing or McCabe dragging him around, he can be hard to get into position.

''Desper LaRaux'' - Wastrel - Desper is just unfair. McCabe's entire gimmick is being fast and scheming in this edition, at least without the Explorer's Society stuff out. LaRaux is just...he's just so efficient for his cost of 8. He's got a built in trigger on his leap, which means he just needs a 7 of any suit to go for a jump, he ignores models and terrain for movement, has a better butterfly jump on a successful Mask defense, average attacks, and Don't Mind Me, which means that he WILL be scoring points. I can't think of a list that LaRaux doesn't fit in. Unless you're like, in Reckoning, or your opponent has Distracting or something to prevent him from taking bonus actions, LaRaux can't be pinned down.

His attacks are shoddy, sure, but he has an inbuilt crit-strike on his blade which ignores armor, a way to steal stones and drop scrap, that can also put out stunned, and a grappling hook which lets him move FURTHER up the board with 'You're coming with me.' The ideal 'Why' tactic is definitely using this on McCabe and relenting to have the bossman take a little damage in exchange for LaRaux to go like...15 up the board in one AP. I don't think you can run McCabe without LaRaux, unless you're playing McCabe into Reckoning. And if you're playing McCabe into Reckoning...you're a braver man than I.

===Enforcers===
TBD
===Minions===
''Hucksters'' - Wastrel - These guys right here? Best models in the game. Sculptwise, they're awesome and full of flavor. Rules wise? They're the best schemers in Malifaux. Don't even look at their attack action, because, at best, you're going to use it in an emergency. Instead, gaze with wonder upon their Manipulative, their Looted Supplies, and their 'Fetch a High Price.' Mmm, delicious. Now, add to taste their tactical actions.

False Claim, dropping Scrap for Mei Feng or McCabe to interact and utilize, oh, so tasty. Detonate charges with ONE AP. Mm, delicious. Harness Ley Line in TWO AP with no annoying RANGE requirements. Mm, so wonderful. Breakthrough in two actions. Ah, so wonderful.

SECRET. PASSAGE. ON A MINION. Yeah it needs an 8, so what? It's Ride the Rails with BLOCKING TERRAIN. Rasputina can suck it. That pillar is MINE now. This is just absurd. Hucksters are the best model in Malifaux. Hands down. They do everything you need to do to win the game and in Keyword they are one of the best options for scoring points. And as we all know, as long as you win on points, your opponent can table you and you'll still win.

''Ruffians'' - Wastrel - Much maligned by most McCabe players and by almost all Ten Thunder players, Ruffians currently have no place in most lists. Unless Explorer's Society has some bomb minion upgrades, they will have their cool, 'Ultraviolent' theme and that's about it. They're not BAD, per say, but there are so many better options in Ten Thunders. Thunder Brothers are just a better Ruffian, even though they lack a ranged attack. If you are going to use Ruffians, which, you may want one as a point filler, or against Pandora as a MAYBE tech piece, the best thing they can do is Walk and Shoot. Burn the focus every time and hope for a Tome if you can get it, or go for a Ram if you wanna splash damage. Chain Gang is the best thing these guys bring to the table and it's still not that good. If you are using them in a McCabe list, they are actually a more point efficient way to set up for False Claim then using the AP on a more valuable model, but it's, again, not strictly required to do so. The Miss sculpt is pretty nice, though.