Happy Monday fellow Wyrdos,

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m definitely feeling the extra weight of knowing it’s a full five day work week after only four days last week. Kind of makes me wish I could win the lottery, or get lucky in a gold rush. Which actually works pretty well, as today’s Monday Model–here to help you battle against your own case of the Mondays–is the Outcast Prospector.

All Outcasts can hire a Prospector for 6ss, which is good because they have absolutely no keywords. What they do have is a bulging toolbox of actions and abilities, mostly tuned to scheming, anti-scheming, and digging up Soulstones for your crew.

Their stats are 5’s across the board except for health 6, a well-rounded 6ss minion. Manipulative is their only defensive tech to add to those raw numbers, but they don’t want to be too near the front lines anyway, so that’s not a huge worry. Dowsing Stick gives it some extra movement which is going to be pretty key in using its most potent actions, pushing up to 3″ towards any scheme marker in its Line of Sight at the start of its activation. This will also help the Prospector get out of engagement so it can continue to do its important work.

Their other two Abilities are both Soulstone-based. Mine Soulstone is the same as found on the Arcanist Soulstone Miner, but better, because the Prospector is not limited to taking Interact actions only as bonus actions, and it doesn’t need to take its on-card bonus action terribly often in comparison, so the Outcasts will usually be able to get more stones out of a Prospector than the Arcanists can their construct version. And the Prospector has a limit of three to the Soulstone Miner’s two, so you could get three soulstones back a turn if you wanted, just for bringing them and having them activate. Though, that may be a little overkill, given the rest of their card. Their final Ability is This Will Fetch a High Price, which gains you a Soulstone when you remove an enemy Scheme Marker with the Interact action. Those scheme markers the Prospector gets a free 3″ every turn to push towards–it’s almost like there’s a theme here!

On the back of its card we find the Mining Tools attack which has become pretty standard across anything holding a pick-axe. It disallows the target declaring Resistance Triggers against the Prospector’s attacks, with a reasonable 1″ melee range, 5 stat against Df for a pretty standard 2/3/4 damage. This version has no triggers, so gaining Stunned to Mine Soulstone doesn’t hinder its performance in any way. They also have a ranged 8″ attack, “I’ve Struck Soulstone!” which attacks Wp and pushes the target its Mv towards the Prospector after the Prospector drops a Scheme Marker in base contact with itself. This attack cannot be declared while engaged, but again, their Dowsing Stick ability keeps Prospectors pretty hard to lock down. In addition to moving an enemy out of position with this attack, since the Scheme Marker isn’t placed by an Interact action, it doesn’t need to be outside for 4″ of any previously placed schemes, so the Prospector can potentially get two scheme markers down right next to each other while also drawing and enemy closer. Easy way of getting Detonate Charges, anyone?

Under Tactical actions, Appraise removes a Scheme, Scrap, or Corpse marker for a 4 at a 6″ range. Already good, it then has you flip a card you can’t cheat, but for a Black Joker or a weak card you get to draw and discard, a moderate has you draw, and a severe or Red Joker has to draw a card after dropping a Scheme Marker –either friendly OR enemy–anywhere in that 6″ range! It’s not reliable as far as which option you get, but even just a bit of card cycling is good, and you’re removing the markers the opposing crew relies upon. Nephilim and December models can’t grow or heal off Corpses if they’re not there, and Mei Feng’s crew can’t railwalk without scrap. If you are lucky enough to get the severe when you need it, dropping Schemes at range is amazing!

Finally, the Prospector’s bonus action: Malifaux Mining Law. A 6″ aura that needs a 6 to activate and makes enemy models treat a 1″ aura around friendly Schemes as hazardous for the turn. Fun, but not generally worth giving up a Soulstone for, though even if you do Mine Soulstone, the Prospector can take this as one of its regular actions for the turn–though if they do, they won’t be able to declare the trigger, which is the only trigger on this model’s card. On a crow, drop a scheme marker into base contact with the Prospector. When you have a 6 of Crows in hand and need to get down multiple Scheme Markers in a given area outside of 3″ of where the Propsector starts is generally when you’re going to forego mining for Soulstones to make full use of this action. Again, great for Detonate charges if the prospector is closer to 8″ from the target than 3″: Dowsing Stick push, walk, Interact, bonus action with the trigger. Or if you need to get Harness the Ley Line down in one turn, you can get all thee markers on the centerline if the Prospector starts within about 4″ of it with an interact, “I’ve Struck Soulstone!” or a very lucky Appraise, and finish up with Mining Law’s trigger.

Looking at Outcasts on a wide lens with a Prospector in mind, these guys and gals seem like premiere scheme runners/deniers and I recommend getting a box as soon as possible if you don’t have them already. They don’t have innate synergies with many keywords, but they do enough with soulstones and scheme markers that it matters very little. They will win you games.

That said, while I’m not an Outcast expert, there’s a few keywords of theirs I enjoy playing and I see a few tricks here and there with them.

The Viks of course appreciate more Soulstones throughout the game, but more scheme markers, especially at range, mean the Student of Conflict will have an easier time making other models in the crew Fast, and pulling enemies in closer means they’re more likely in charge range.

Von Schill crews can run pretty Elite and top-heavy with some excellent triggers, so more Soulstones there is also appreciated. I’ve also found the synergies of Von Schill’s crew usually get me focused on killing a little too much to actually get schemes done in the game comfortably, so having a scheme runner with no option to add to the damage synergies is a good thing. Maybe that’s just me.

Hamelin may be one of the few crews that appreciates the Mining Law bonus action early on, especially if you’re going for a bunch of Rat summoning with Benny. The prospector getting two Scheme Markers down without needing the 4″ distance between them is super useful, and more Soulstones means Nix and Hamelin are even harder to put a dent in.

I’m sure there are other neat tricks I’m missing in the other keywords, please feel free to comment on any you find!

As for upgrades: I generally think you’ll want them on other models, but for a quick breakdown:

Soldier for Hire: Hard to Kill is nice, but generally wanted on something more frontline. The prospectors already have This Will Fetch a High Price, and they’re not generally going to kill enough for Bounty Hunter to be worth it.

Servant of Dark Powers: Herald is neat, but puts the Prospector more up front and makes them a target. They aren’t going to kill enough to make user of Unnatural Vigor’s healing. Terrifying 11 isn’t bad, especially layered with Manipulative, but not generally worth the cost on the Prospector, in my mind.

Wanted Criminal: This one may be worth it in some situations. Protection Money means you get a benefit when the enemy drops a Scheme Marker in the same range as Appraise, so you get to double dip a bit if you can force them to scheme near the Prospector in the first place. Swagger is interesting, as the Prospector can use the free Focus for “I’ve Struck Soulstone!” or defensively pretty well. Expert thief gives them yet another way to gain Soulstones, but they need to be engaging an enemy model that can use them, which are also the models that will pretty easily crush a Prospector.

There you have it: Prospectors are a toolbox of scheming, anti-scheming, and Soulstone generation fun for the whole Outcast faction! What do you think of them? I’ll be back next Monday to throw the Ressers a bone for waiting so patiently in their crypts. Have a great week everyone!