Welcome to my new series of articles, Building On a Budget. The goal of this series is to help players wanting to start a new faction to quickly build different tournament viable lists for less than $101 while still giving you the option to play the master you desire. The pricing is based off the Wyrd store site pre-tax, so no special online discounts. Additionally, I do include some of the general upgrades in the crews which you’ll need to buy the generalist upgrade packs for the cards and those costs aren’t included in the pricing.

In these articles I’ll be breaking down my purchases into bundles with 3 tiers of recommendation. My tier 1 bundles are, in my opinion, the best place to start a new faction. The tier 2 bundles are fine places to start, but usually are limited in options. The tier 3 bundles are not the best place to start a crew, but if you really want to play a given master, it gives you a place to start. Technically there is a 4th tier, but this is limited to the masters that you can’t make a decent crew while staying within my price point.

As an additional notes, I purposely avoid spending money on models that can be found in another master’s box, as I believe it to be wasteful spending if you are planning on eventually buying that other master’s box. I also tried to build the crews in such a way to give you at least one summoning option with the budget crew. So with that all cleared up, let’s get underway with the Ressurectionists.

Tier 1

Masters: Reva, Seamus

Bundle 1: Reva ($101)

Reva is a great start to the Resser faction as her box set is easy to learn and still powerful. Best of all,you can build a solid list within our budget and won’t need many more models to fully flesh out her options.

The Mercy of Death – $50

Carrion Emissary – $40

Yin – $11

(1) Reva — 4ss

+Beyond Death – 1ss

+Decaying Aura – 2ss

(2) Vincent St. Clair – 8ss

+Deal With Death – 1ss

(3) Carrion Emissary – 10ss

+My Little Helper – 1ss

(4) Yin – 8ss

+My Little Helper – 1ss

(5) Shieldbearer – 6ss

(6) Shieldbearer – 6ss

(7) Shieldbearer – 6ss

Reva’s goal is to litter the table with corpse markers and use them to attack her enemies. Her ability Strength of The Fallen allows her to attack enemies across the table so long as they are near a corpse marker that she can see. Then, add the fact that her attack can hit Df or Wp, has a high damage track, and can’t be prevented by soulstones due to Decaying Aura, and you’re looking at one of the best ranged attacks in the game. Reva, as most Resser masters, does have the ability to summon models, her totems the Corpse Candles. The candles main purpose is to provide mobile corpses for Reva to attack through and even when they are killed, they drop a corpse marker. Once her primary targets are dead, she can then turn their corpses into scheme markers to score VP.

Vincent is admittedly your weak link in the list because while his ranged attack is good, that is about all he has going for him. Budget constraints are the only real reason he is in the list, but he can deal quite a bit of damage if you manage to surround an enemy with Corpse Candles and start shooting because Vincent doesn’t randomize into the Candles and he gains a damage bonus with them around. He also does have a (0) which can help to deal with high armor targets.

Outside of Reva, the real work horses are the Carrion Emissary and Yin. The Emissary helps produce Shard Markers which break line of sight and create mindless zombies for Reva. Yin debuffs enemy targets by putting them on (-) for Wp duels, including Reva’s attack. Finally, you do have your Shield Bearers which help generate more corpse models and are quite tough models for their cost. They also can be quick if you’re spending SS near them because they’ll gain the fast condition which lets them either deal some damage or do some scheming.



Bundle 2: Seamus primary and McMourning lite ($101)

I placed this bundle as a tier 1 option for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, Seamus has limited summoning options already and doesn’t rely on summoning which allows us to realistically build his crew within our budget. Secondly, this crew includes many of the “core” models you will want in other crews when you start expanding your Ressurectionists. Now while you do have McMourning’s box, you can only build a hodgepodge McMourning crew with this bundle and if you really want to focus on him, I would go with the Solo McMourning bundle below.

Shadows of Red Chapel (Seamus Box) – $45

Body of Evidence (McMourning Box) – $45

Bete Noir – $11

(1)Seamus — 6ss

+Bag O’ Tools – 1ss

+Red Chapel Killer – 1ss

+Decaying Aura – 2ss

(2)Copycat Killer – 3ss

(3)Bete Noir – 8ss

+Unnerving Aura – 1ss

(4)Flesh Construct – 6ss

(5)Madame Sybelle – 8ss

+Bleeding Tongue – 1ss

+Not Too Banged Up – 1ss

(6)Nurse – 5ss

(7)Rotten Belle – 5ss

(8)Rotten Belle – 5ss

In this list Seamus will be teleporting around to take out key enemies, which will allow Bete Noir to unbury (when a model dies) for further disruption in the enemy crew. In the meantime, Sybelle and the Belles can break the enemy apart and isolate targets to gang up on. The nurse is there to provide support by paralyzing enemies or buffing the damage of the belles (ideal for the 2nd belle to lure a target into the buffed belle’s pounce range).

Tier 2

Masters: Nicodem

Bundle 1: Solo Nicodem ($93)

Nicodem is the only master to make it into tier 2 because his budget list allows him to stick to “core” models that can be used with many of the other masters. Additionally, the bundle was able to include several summon options to give him some flexiable on the field. The only reason this didn’t make tier 1 is because this bundle still lacks some very useful models that Nicodem likes to have as summoning options.

Open Grave (Nicodem Box) – $45

Necropunks – $21

The Hanged – $16

Bete Noir – $11

(1)Nicodem — 7ss

+Undertaker – 1ss

+Love Thy Master – 1ss

(2)Vulture – 3ss

(3)Bete Noir – 8ss

+Unnerving Aura – 1ss

(4)Mortimer – 9ss

+My Favorite Shovel – 2ss

+Corpse Bloat – 2ss

(5)Necropunk – 5ss

(6)Punk Zombie – 7ss

(7)Punk Zombie – 7ss

The game plan with this crew is to get the summoning engine online with Mortimer producing multiple corpse markers for the first couple of rounds and Nicodem summoning what will best serve you at that time. The bundle gives you a few summoning options with The Hanged and Punk Zombies for damage and Necropunks for scheme running. The punk zombies will provide the “front line” of your crew and when Bete pops out she can help deal with key targets or tie up more elite models.

Tier 3

Masters: McMourning, Molly, Tara, Yan Lo

Bundle 1: Solo McMourning ($90)

I wanted to build a McMourning list as flexible as possible with my budget, but that still left him missing some important pieces in his toolkit, hence tier 3.

Body of Evidence (McMourning Box) – $45

Dead Doxies – $18

Flesh Construct – $16

Rafkin – $11

Alternatively you can change the Dead Doxies out with Canine Remains to focus more heavily on McMourning’s summoning (and their -1 Df debuff on enemies).

(1)McMourning — 5ss

+Moonlighting – 1ss

+Plastic Surgery – 1ss

+Evidence Tampering – 2ss

(2)Zombie Chihuahua – 2ss

(3)Canine Remains – 4ss

(4)Dead Doxy – 6ss

(5)Dead Doxy – 6ss

(6)Flesh Construct – 6ss

(7)Nurse – 5ss

(8)Rafkin – 7ss

+Transfusion – 1ss

(9)Sebastian – 7ss

+Transfusion – 1ss

The name of the game is to get poison stacked on enemies so you can kill them with expunge to make Flesh Constructs or kill them with poison while within Sebastian’s aura. Both Rafkin and Sabastian have the transfusion upgrade to steal the poison off Flesh Constructs and put it on enemies for expunging. The Doxies are there to help position your models for scoring, re-position enemies to deny scoring, or position enemies to die to Sebastian’s aura. Any scheme running that needs to be done in the backfield can be achieved by the canine remains or by McMourning himself since he is quite fast with his extra pushes.

Bundle 2: Solo Molly ($98)

Molly is stuck in tier 3 because her box set is a support henchman and scheme runners which leaves us with a limited budget to fill out the rest of the crew roles while still providing some summoning options. I didn’t have the budget to buy punk zombies (and refuse to buy them independent of Nicodem’s box as its a waste of money), so I went the spirit route.

Take Back The Night (Molly Box) – $45

The Drowned – $21

The Hanged – $16

Shikome – $16

(1)Molly Squidpiddge — 7ss

+Forgotten Path – 1ss

+Tear Of The Gorgon – 3ss

(2)Crooligan – 4ss

(3)Crooligan – 4ss

(4)Philip And The Nanny – 8ss

(5)Shikome – 8ss

(6)The Drowned – 6ss

(7)The Drowned – 6ss

(8)The Drowned – 6ss

Once again Molly needs to get her summoning engine online to really shine and to do that she needs cards. So Philip And The Nanny help generate card advantage by discarding scheme markers put down by your other models (probably Crooligans) for the first couple rounds. Molly also needs a strong frontline to protect her, since she has to operate closer to the enemy crew to summon. The three Drowned provide that frontline which she can stay behind. Additionally, The Drowned allow her to do the trick where she summons a Drowned with 0 health, it dies instantly, and it then drops a scheme marker due to finish the job. This bundle allows Molly some summoning options such as Crooligans for scheme running, The Drowned for holding points, and The Hanged and Shikome for damage.

Bundle 3: Solo Tara ($98)

I put Tara in tier 3 because she isn’t a master I would recommend to new players because her card is a bit all over the place and playing her correctly takes some time. Additionally, Tara is primarily an Outcast master and her void creatures can’t be used with other Ressurectionist masters, so this bundle won’t add as many models to Resser model pool.

Herald of Obliteration (Tara Box) – $45

The Drowned – $21

Guild Autopsies – $21

Bete Noir – $11

(1)Tara — 5ss

+Obliteration Symbiote – 2ss

+Knowledge Of Eternity – 2ss

+Spare Parts – 2ss

(2)Karina – 5ss

+The Faces Of Oblivion – 0ss

(3)Bete Noir – 8ss

(4)The Drowned – 6ss

(5)The Drowned – 6ss

(6)The Nothing Beast – 10ss

+Void Shield – 0ss

(7)Void Wretch – 4ss

(8)Void Wretch – 4ss

This Tara crew is focusing a bit more the the “Beast Bomb” tactic which is launching your buried models into the enemies face at the end of turn 1/2 and then ideally winning initiative with your plus flips to continue the damage or to have Tara bury them again so she can release them later in the turn when she reactivates. So to do this you just need to either start with Bete buried or bury the Nothing Beast with Tara at the start of the beast bomb turn (note you can’t bury the Nothing Beast with Bete buried). She then reactivates herself and moves up the board. Then upon her reactivation at the end of the turn, she positions herself and uses Faces in The Void to unbury the buried model which charges in and hopefully kills a key model. In the meantime, the Void Wretches are your scheme runners and the Drowned are you point holders. Karina and Tara can summon (after the beast bomb of course) Guild Autopsies and Drowned when you get the cards. Tara can also slow tougher enemy models as well with the Pull The Void attack.

Bundle 4: Solo Yan Lo ($96)

Yan Lo was put into tier 3 because he is a tougher master to grasp and this list lacks some of the models normally seen with him (namely Izamu). I was a bit tore building this bundle, but ultimately decided on going with the Toshiro and Punk Zombie combination. This meant I would need the Open Grave box and would lose the opportunity to bring in Izamu to the list.

Masters Of The Path (Yan Lo Box) – $40

Open Grave (Nicodem Box) – $45

Toshiro – $11

(1)Yan Lo — 5ss

+Fortify The Spirit – 1ss

+Reliquary – 1ss

(2)Soul Porter – 3ss

(3)Chiaki The Niece – 6ss

+Pull Of The Grave – 1ss

(4)Mortimer – 9ss

+Corpse Bloat – 2ss

+My Favorite Shovel – 2ss

(5)Punk Zombie – 7ss

(6)Punk Zombie – 7ss

(7)Toshiro The Daimyo – 9ss

+Command The Graves – 1ss

Unfortunately this crew lacks the models needed to rapidly generate chi for Yan Lo, so you will need to play carefully with him until he can get some of his defensive upgrades (which cost him chi and a zero action to gain). What you do have though is a solid front line with Toshiro and the Punk Zombies he is buffing (giving them additional plus flips to attack). Yan Lo will want to be lightning dancing models into their range to be hacked apart. Additionally, Mortimer will be provided corpses for Toshiro to summon Ashigaru while Yan Lo can keep Mortimer healed up when he gets low from Corpse Bloat. Chiaki is there primarily to remove negative conditions, run schemes, and tag any scary enemies with slow.

Tier 4

Masters: Kirai

Kirai is the only master to make tier 4 because her box gives you several special models that can only be summoned and a couple of other minions you won’t see in most lists. This is further compounded by the fact that none of the other masters include spirit models in their crew box that Kirai can summon, so your forced to buy individual boxes. Oh, and did I mention you need to buy Gaki (a model you would likely never hire) as well because she can summon them on an trigger on her base card? If you want to play her, you’ll need to drop around $150 at least, if not more, so I would hold off on picking her up unless you really want to play her and can spend the money needed to make her playable.

So think you have some better lists then the ones I presented? Then post them here and give me the breakdown on why they are better. If I like them then I’ll add them to the list and change the current option.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the article. Also if you really enjoy my work, check out the S&S podcast here and my new Patreon site here.