I’ve gotten a couple of games in with my second month of Zoraida.  The full crew list now consists of:

• Zoraida
• Voodoo Doll
• Bad Juju
• 3 Silurids
• 3 Waldgeists (new for month two)
• Nurse (new for month two)
• Performer (new for month two)

Last month, I found that I didn’t have enough Swampfiends for Eternal Fiend to let Bad Juju pop out when needed.  The Waldgeists have definitely helped with that, plus give a great 9.6″ engagement bubble (40mm base plus 4″ on either side) to give trouble to the opponent for some schemes and strategies.

The Nurse and Performer were brought in for Voodoo Doll Poison tricks.  The basic tactic looks like this

1. Zoraida summons a Voodoo Doll, who Hems a tempting target.  The Doll should get dropped in engagement with the Nurse, if possible.  From this point, any damage or conditions given to the Voodoo Doll go on the target as well
2. Zoraida still has one AP left.  If the Hem doesn’t go off, Zoraida can Obey the Doll to try again.  If not, she can potentially Obey the Nurse to hit the Doll instead.  Or maybe Obey to move the Doll into a better position.  There’s another great movement option available – Zoraida can Interact with the Doll to move the Hemmed model.  If nothing else, her Voodoo Pins can hit the Doll with Poison +2.
3. The opponent gets to activate something.  Hopefully they can’t remove the Hem condition.
4. The Nurse activates.  She hits the Doll twice with her Syringe.  The Doll relents, and probably takes 0 damage and Poison +8 (+12 if Zoraida Obeyed the Nurse)
5. The Performer chain activates off the Nurse’s Accomplice.  She Siren Calls on the Hem target (requires 12″ range and LOS), with the real goal being the built in Sip of Wine, which does damage equal to the Poison condition, with no upper limit.  If that doesn’t finish off the target, you can do the same to the Doll for another 6 damage.

When this goes off, it’s awesome.  Only two of the actions (Hem and Siren Call) can be opposed, and neither needs suits.  The Chain Activation makes it fast.  Once an opponent knows it’s coming, though, it’s harder to pull off.

What I haven’t been so successful at is coping with failures, especially if I lose one of the models.  Shenlong or other condition maipulators make it hard to use as well.  The Performer has great scheme marker tricks, which I need to get better at using.  With Don’t Mind Me, she can Interact when engaged.  She can also blow up both friendly and enemy markers at range.

The Nurse has a lot of other manipulation options, but they’re tricky enough that I have a hard time coming up with uses for them on the fly.  I should work out another couple of options.

I’m really not sure what I want to do about month three.  I have $20 to play with, since I borrowed $2.50 from month two.  I’m considering either Killjoy or doing something with Gremlins.

Killjoy’s MSRP is $18, so neatly fits into the budget.  It also would give an extra bit of face beating, either to supplement or replace Bad Juju.

I’m already working on some Gremlins, which would be convienent. I haven’t figured out if there’s a useful chunk of models that fits into the budget, however.  Maybe I could ‘sell’ Ophelia and the Young, then split the rest of the Kin into months three and four.