Today we take a tactical look at the new Monstrous Menagerie set for the Doctors.
As a big fan of these magic obsessed sociopaths I’ve been really excited about this set because we have a new character. The Master of Zoology now joins the Doctors and she changes the faction a lot. No longer are our Leaders all squishy and weak, hiding at the back with their magic. Now we have a Leader who get’s in the thick of it.
What’s in the box:
First of all in our new set we have four characters, one a new sculpt of one we’ve had before in the Doctor of the Beasts. We have a Rhino to smash things, a Crocodile to give the Doctors some much needed water ability and last and certainly not least, our new character, the Master of Zoology. This all comes to 70 Ducats so you’ll need to add some accessories for a 75 Ducat list, however for bigger games there is a lot of possible additions to this set which will give you a great gang to take to the streets with.
Master of Zoology
We’ll start with our Leader and new character, the Master of Zoology, I’m really happy we’ve finally got a Leader that we can throw into the fight without instantly regretting it:
So she doesn’t have the most impressive statline ever, only her Protection at 6 being really impressive. Don’t let that fool you at all, her power rests in her abilities and weapon.
First off, she is a Mage (2), like most of the Doctors. She has the Disciplines Divinity and Runes of Sovereignty, which just demonstrates that her magic abilities are simply in support to everything else. Which is great, because with 4 will points, she can function without a Madman! A massive difference to our other Leaders.
She has 4 Command Points, which allows her to use her Command Ability which gives all friendly characters within 6″ Universal Shielding (3). Meaning all characters within 6″ have at least Protection 3, regardless of what attacks them.
Her weapon is hardly to be sniffed at either, it has stun, perfect for getting people to stop moving for the animals under her control to feast on. With +1 damage and a 1″ range it is a decent close combat weapon. Though +1 evasion means it is easy to dodge for the more agile characters out there.
With Expert Protection (2) she can always re-roll 2 of her protection rolls. And she has Hunter, so bigger monsters beware.
Overall the Master of Zoology is a character to get into combat. Using her Command ability to protect her gang and her magic to give support.
Doctor of the Beasts
We’ve studied the Doctor of the Beasts before in this article though since then he has had some upgrades as Lewis explained here. Therefore I won’t go into too much detail on this article.
Crocodile
The Crocodile gives the Doctors a strong water based character, something sorely lacking in the faction. With Fast Swimmer (3) it can give Rashaar a run for their money in the water. It’s Enhanced Jaws have penetration -3, cutting through even the toughest armour and hides.
Simply stick it in water and let it chase and devour and character foolish enough to go for a swim. Or of course, make characters go for a swim and get the Crocodile to eat them, either way works.
Rhino
The Rhino is a big, string damage tank. With 20 Life, First Strike (3) and a Protection of 6. Simply point the Rhino at an enemy character you want smashed and charge the Rhino in. Get an Attack of Opportunity and you have 7 attacks, that’ll make a mess of any character.
Example Lists:
So let’s have a look at some lists using this new boxset. First of all a 75 Ducat gang:
75 Ducats:
Leader: Master of Zoology
Hero: Doctor of the Beasts
Henchmen: Rhino, Crocodile.
Equipment: Lantern and Bottled Courage
Simple one this one, it’s just this box set with some equipment to make it up to 75 ducats. Use Divinity on the Master of Zoology and she can heal characters, since you only have 4 characters, of which two can’t hold objectives. I’d suggest that the Master, the Doctor and the Rhino stay close together while the Crocodile goes for a swim. You have one re-roll with the Bottled Courage, which works on the Rhino and Crocodile too. And the Lantern should help stop enemies hiding in cover.
100 Ducats:
Leader: Master of Zoology
Heroes: Doctor of the Beasts, Warden.
Henchmen: Nurse, Rhino, Crocodile
Equipment: Lantern, Bottled Courage, Flashbang Grenade.
We’ve added a Warden, a Nurse and a Flashbang Grenade to the list. This time give the Master of Zoology Runes of Sovereignty for movement tricks since the Nurse can provide healing. The Flashbang Grenade should help the Nurse get out of trouble if she needs it and the Warden provides even more punch. Both the Nurse and Warden can claim objectives meaning this gang is a lot more capable of controlling the board, especially with two mages with Runes of Sovereignty.
Conclusion
The new set gives the Doctors some much needed melee power in it’s Leaders as well as a way of granting Universal Shielding. A strong melee tank like character in the Rhino and a much needed water character in the Crocodile.
Overall it is an excellent set for expanding any Doctors collections or for starting one since it is a completely legal gang out of the box. Combined with the Beast Tamers set this completes the Animal and Veterinary sub section of the Doctors…. For now.
Scott will be be taking a look at the other new release this week, the Foreign Delegates for the Patricians. Until the next time, stay away from those Doctors in the creepy masks, I don’t think they really plan to heal you.