I got my second game with the Viktorias last night, at G3 against Graham. He brought his Cult of December crew.
It was a good game, and this is not a batrep, just some thoughts on the crew I played and the models in it.
We agreed on 35ss, and since my opponent had a few Constructs I decided to drop the totem and Misaki and try out Von Schill. This would prove to be a Good Move:
Gun Vik
Sword Vik
Von Schill (9)
Taelor (8)
Convict Gunslinger (5)
Ronin (5)
That left me with a starting cache of 8.
Graham took:
Rasputina
Snowstorm
3 x Ice Gamin
Essence of Power
Silent One
He had a starting cache of 8 as well.
We got some steampunk terrain and decided it was an Arcanist pumping station, because it was. I got the Deliver A Message Strategy, and declared Exterminate and Steal Relic as Schemes. Not only have I never tried either of those Schemes before, but since I would be getting up close (2″) to Rasputina to deliver the message, I might as well try and nick her watch as well with Steal Relic. I reckoned the Viks would be a dab hand at Exterminate, which required me to kill all the Constructs in Graham’s crew (the three Ice Gamin).
Graham got the Contain Power Strategy, and declared Frame For Murder and Reflections of December. Contain Power meant he had to kill both Viktorias. Frame For Murder meant if I killed one member of his crew (secretly chosen by him) he got 2VP and Reflections gave him VP if he killed my models using a particular spell.
Rasputina deployed behind some terrain in the table corner, and Graham declared his intention to force me to come to him, as I would need to do in order to get my Strategy and Schemes. This was a sound and sensible idea, and my plan was therefore to approach in a pincer fashion, behind cover, and then use the Viks’ and Von Schill’s movement abilities to jump across and overwhelm one flank, then roll up the other one while keeping Raspy alive long enough to hand over the message and take her pocketwatch.
It was odd, then, when Rasputina decided to come out and play in the middle of the table with all her minions, so I threw caution to the wind and lobbed Von Schill right into the middle of them! Really, I just wanted to see what would happen
What happened next turned the game. Snowstorm (an 11ss monster) charged Von Schill and, even with the Red Joker cheated into the damage flip, failed to kill him. With Rasputina’s beatstick now exposed from behind his line of protective Ice Gamin, I was now free to countercharge with Taelor, and she killed Snowstorm, also with the Red Joker! The resulting explosion caused serious harm to Raspy’s remaining minions, but Von Schill was safe due to his armour.
After that, Raspy tried to kill Von Schill and Taelor with her go-to spell December’s Curse, but Von Schill stuck it out, with the aid of Soulstones and Slow To Die. Taelor took a hurting from blast damage, but refused to die.
After that, my whole crew closed in on Raspy, and on Turn 4 she was surrounded with no other minions left alive. I delivered the message and stole the relic (with the +4Wp aura from Von Schill being the deciding factor here) and the game ended 8VP to 2VP.
Although it looked totally one-sided at the end, four of my six models were on one Wound, another had just three left and only the Convict Gunslinger remained untouched. With slightly different luck, I could have been left with only a couple of models on the table vs Rasputina, which is not a good place to be.
What sets the Viks apart from crews like the Showgirls is that they are a crew of solos. They generally do not buff or enhance one another, nor have any real synergy with one another, and are content to run around bashing, stabbing and shooting, relying on their own abilities to protect them and kill their enemies. Von Shill is almost the ultimate Henchman solo, so he feels right at home among these loners, misfits and cold-blooded killers
I think for my next game I would like to try Killjoy, although I need to think of some cheap and suitable model to sacrifice to bring him out. Looks like I will be proxying a Desperate Mercenary for that game.

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