Welcome to the quick reference series of articles. The goal behind this set of articles is to provide players with concise information about each faction and its masters. This way, when you play against a master you’re unfamiliar with you can check the quick reference notes on that master so you won’t be completely blindsided by what it does in the game. I’ll also provide a link at the bottom of the page to an easily printable document that you can use at the gaming table. As a final note, this isn’t intended as a guide on how to beat a master, but more of a means to understand how they operate (which will help you to defeat them).

So with that out of the way, lets get underway with the Ressers.

What is the faction known for?

Summoning undead and spirit models Great attrition faction due to tough models and summoning

What weaknesses are often found in crews?

Slower crews overall Heavier than normal reliance on soulstones and crows Since most of crew is spirits or undead, it’s safer to try to counter them in your crew list

What common models should you watch out for?

Rotten Belle; A model that is quite tough for its cost with a 18” Ca 7 lure Nurse; Utility model that can apply several conditions that range from paralyzing a model and healing it to full, to speeding up a model, but preventing it from doing attack actions The Hanged; attack against WP that deals half your total wounds in damage, is terrifying, and turns off immunity to terrifying duels when near it Punk Zombies; common summon with a pair of strong attacks Carrion Emissary; summons shard walls that block LOS and movement and create a Mindless Zombie (walking corpse marker) when they are removed Bete Noir; She can not only start the game buried and appear when a model is killed, but she can rebury instead of dying . She also has several nasty triggers on her attack including paralyzing living models. My Little Helper (upgrade); when used it prevents opponents from targeting the model unless they are within 3” and they may take two (0) actions which can be the same.

KIRAI

What does Kirai do?

If a living or undead model near her suffers damage, she can summon her enforcer Ikiryo next to the attacker (regardless of distance so long as Kiria has LOS to Ikiryo) Summons spirit minions “off of” her friendly models, which damages both Can flip-flop position of nearby spirit with that of a further away one Can heal nearby spirits and gains ability to (0) teleport next to friendly spirits (upgrade). Summoned models don’t gain slow and her Ca attack gains a built in trigger to increase its damage by +1 with a min of 3 (upgrade) Ca attack can either summon a Gaki if it kills the target or apply the Adversary condition which gives spirits (+) to attack the target Can create an aura which gives her spirits (+) to damage flips (upgrade) Can take damage when Nearby Seishin are killed to prevent them from dying. Additionally when a non-Seishin models die near her she can “replace” them with a Seishin (upgrade)

Difficulty to kill Kirai: Hard

Manipulative ability Can redirect attack results against her to nearby spirits with a trigger

Other things to watch for are….

Ikiryo; she can only be summoned in when enemies attack friendly models in the Malevolence aura. When she does appear, she often uses her strong Ml attack once then sacrifices herself so she can appear/attack again. Lost Love; is another model with the Malevolence aura which can summon Ikiryo Datsu Ba; her henchman who can summon <Seishen, Gaki, Onryo>, ignores armor on attacks, prevents models from walking, and places scheme markers next to spirits killed near her. Seishin; summon only peons that can sacrifice themselves to either heal other models or make friendly models immune to pulse and blast damage.

MCMOURNING

What does McMourning do?

Attacks stacks poison on enemies Models near him that die to poison are turned into Canine Remains (upgrade) Expunge Ca attack deals damage to target equal to its poison condition (max 9) then removes it. Additionally (with upgrade), models kill this way are turned into a Flesh Construct. When he suffers damage from poison he can push 5” (upgrade) When another model with poison activates near him, they immediately “tick” for poison damage Attacks ignore Armor and Hard to Wound Tactical (0) can push friendly its Wk and have it drop a scheme marker Scheme markers near him at end of the game become friendly to him. He also can take his Ml attack as a (0) with a 6” range (upgrade).

Difficulty to kill McMourning: Moderate

Heals himself when dealing Ml damage Hard to Wound ability with high wound total

Other things to watch for are….

Sebastian; has an aura that causes poison to “tick” for 3 damage instead of just 1 and he also makes models “tick” for poison when activating near him. Rafkin; can (1) charge poisoned models and poisoned models near him take additional damage from attack actions Zombie Chihuahua; gives out poison in a pulse when it ends its activation (unavoidable) and can do Expunge attack as well.

MOLLY

What does Molly do?

Summons Belle minions which come in with Wd based on the number of enemies near its summon location, then those same enemies pass a duel or take damage. Additionally, her limited upgrades allows her to also summon either Horror or Spirit minions which gain black blood. She has Black Blood which deals damage to nearby models when the model with it takes damage Has once per turn attack that gives target (-) on all duels for the turn Ca attack that can slow and paralyze the target Instinctual ability lets her take two different (0) actions (upgrade) Tactical (0) can reactivate a minion Tactical (0) to obey a Belle/Spirit/Horror based on limited upgrade

Difficulty to kill Molly: Moderate

Discards two cards to reduce any attack to 1 damage on a trigger Impossible to Wound ability Terrifying (All) ability (upgrade)

Other things to watch for are….

Drowned; she can summon these models near nothing else so they instantly die and drop a scheme marker with finish the job. Madam Sybelle; can (0) place Molly next to her since Molly is a Belle Killjoy; can “pop” him out very easily by summon a model that instantly dies

NICODEM

What does Nicodem do?

Summons undead minions off of corpse markers Friendly undead near him are immune to slow Friendly undead near him gain (+) to Ml and Df Additionally with an upgrade, he gains an action that also gives (+) to Ca actions and damage flips for undead models. Ca attack that slows enemy targets or gives friendly undead targets fast Ca attack that deals low damage to enemies or heals friendly undead targets Draws cards when undead near him are killed or sacrificed (upgrade) Friendly models heal from poison instead of take damage (upgrade)

Difficulty to kill Nicodem: Hard

Impossible to Wound ability Tactical (0) to heal damage by discarding corpse markers (also draws cards) Df trigger lets him sacrifice a nearby undead model to reduce damage to 0 (upgrade)

Other things to watch for are….

Vulture; can move corpse markers into better positions for summoning.

REVA

What does Reva do?

Close Ca attack that can target either Df or Wp and deals high damage. Additionally with an upgrade this damage can’t be reduced. Ca attacks can draw LoS and measure range from corpse markers within 18” and LoS of her (engaging her stops this unless she takes specific upgrade). Gains trigger on main attack to deal no damage and instead take a charge against another target (upgrade) (0) tactical that lets her teleport to corpse markers Tactical that lets her replace a corpse marker with a scheme marker Can summon totem when she activates (0) tactical that lets her push friendly model and let it take a (0) if it’s a reverent/spirit (upgrade)

Difficulty to kill Reva: Moderate

Gains regeneration ability (upgrade) Heals damage when models near her die Range and speed make her hard to pin down

Other things to watch for are….

Decaying Aura; makes Reva’s attacks unpreventable by soulstones even at 18” range Yin; her (0) attack puts target a (-) on Wp duels which Reva can exploit Corpse Bloat (upgrade); model can “explode” corpse markers for high pulse damage

SEAMUS

What does Seamus do?

Can do long range teleport if no enemies have LoS to him (or if he has a specific upgrade he can discard a corpse marker to do it regardless of LOS) Once per turn Sh attack with very high damage Ml attack with many good trigger such as making target insignificant, insta-killing target, and dropping schemes next to target (upgrade) Summons Belle minions off of corpse markers with a (0) action Debuffs the Wp of Enemies near him and gains a ranged Ca attack (upgrade)

Difficulty to kill Seamus: Hard

Terrifying ability and heals when models fail Wp duels near him Hard to Kill and Impossible to Wound abilities Ca attack heals him equal to the damage dealt by it (upgrade) Gains a hat which he can remove (discard upgrade) to reduce damage to 0 from once source and has potential to pick up the hat (reattach upgrade) by picking it back up (interacting with marker it makes)

Other things to watch for are….

Copycat Killer; his totem can (0) place next to Seamus over long distance, has a high damage Sh attack, and has insta-kill trigger on his Ml attack

TARA

What does Tara do?

Reactivates herself if she is the first and last model to activate in her crew Ca attack gives fast or slow to target and can bury the target (upgrade) Unburies friendly/enemy models next to her and lets them chain activate after her; she controls the enemies activation when unburying them in this way (upgrade) Prevents damage to void models by discarding cards (upgrade) Copies actions from buried models (upgrade) Discards cards to pulse out fast to all nearby models, but must affect one enemy Can put up chatty aura which denies nearby enemy models from interacting Can teleport to anywhere in her deployment zone (upgrade)

Difficulty to kill Tara: Easy

Trigger against Sh attacks to reduce damage to 0 Very high Df and Wp vs Ca attacks

Other things to watch for are….

“Beast Bomb” Tactic; This looks: Friendly beater is buried (or starts buried if Killjoy), Tara move up board and reactivates herself, upon Tara 2nd activation she unburies the beater to chain activate it, and beater charges into enemy crew early in game Nothing Beast (Errata); Very tough model that is often the “beast bomb” target Scion of The Void; Can bury when targeted by attacks, other models can use her action while buried, and unburies when a friendly takes her (0) action Death Marshals; Tara can hire them to help her bury models (usually friendly ones which Tara unburies) Void Wretch; cheap scheme runners that are durable (for cost), can heal buried models, and deal decent damage (for cost) Karina; Tara’s enforcer totem that can summon undead models

YAN LO

What does Yan Lo do?

Can place next to an enemy model, then place that enemy next to a nearby model in Yan’s crew Stacks chi condition which adds +1 to his Ca actions per Chi (max +3) Gains special Ascendant upgrades by using a (0) and lowering his chi Gains (2) tactical which allows 3 nearby spirits to take (1) actions (Ascendant) Can summon back ancestor models that were killed in the game (upgrade) Can heal friendly models with a (0) action Gives armor to a number of friendly models near him equal to chi removed Gains Ml attack with min damage 3 (upgrade) and can do a (2) action to teleport and make Ml attacks with (+) to attack and damage to all models in range (Ascendant)

Difficulty to kill Yan Lo: Hard

Df/Wp trigger that increases duel by his chi to a max of +3 (upgrade) Impossible to wound ability (Ascendant) Incorporeal ability (Ascendant)

Other things to watch for are….

Goryo; summons seishin for activation control and gives Yan Lo cheap models to kill to build up his Chi quickly Carrion Emissary; it becomes an ancestor which can be re-summoned when killed and gains fast when a friendly model attaches an upgrade

So hopefully this will gives you the knowledge you need to know in order to avoid falling into some of the traps these masters can set for you. The link for the printable pdf is here.

As with most my articles, I’ll occasionally update the article from time to time with additional information as I see fit and you’ll know based on the article date in the title. Also, if you feel something is missing from the list, state your case and I’ll consider adding it.

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.