Nellie Cochran- Journalist Tactica
The key to both Nellies is you have 3 of the best models in the game imo. The field reporter, the undercover reporter, and the Nightcrawler Network.
Tattler is your best option for plant and boundaries. She can get all the homies up board quickly, and can make allies and enemies interact. She can do significant damage with expose and a ram, but you will often need to weigh that against journalistic integrity. Remember she can target herself with it so healing 12 in an activation is doable for her.
And please notice slow news day gives an friendly fast, not an ally. Tattlers scandal bar charges easier than VoD, but crews with ruthless or a lot of plus flips can make her dead very fast.
Tattlers crew card only matters insofar as it is how you charge the scandal bar. The rest almost never comes up.
The printing press is a great push bot and decent secondary beater.
Voice of Disorder (VoD) is the choice for recover and informants. She can play a tight bubble, which can make her stone for a heal pulse even better. She uses her sow chaos to slow a bunch of things. Push them around, and generate additional attacks from Alison, FR, and the emissary mainly. She will occasionally use spew nonsense if you have a ram to land it, but I don't like it as a master action. And rarely will I want the stone "Could this be, betrayal" trigger because I have a better use for my stones. I've used lunacy once, but it does what it says.
Her crew card is the money maker in this crew. Moving strat markers is a huge ability. But even without that you need entrapment to get enough entranced out and it makes moving your crew more efficient.
I spent a turn dodging ensnare with that attack to the point that my opponent rage quit.VoDs meter charges more slowly, especially early, so I think she can be vulnerable to alpha strikes. The other ability on the crew card is often good, leaving a model quite debuffed.
Auguste Hart is a potentially high damage totem, able to do 3 with his attack as a rapid. His defensive ability can be limiting but I'll use it to keep him standing if possible. He's often one of my first actions to use entrapment to move other pieces up board from a relatively safe distance.
The henchmen:
Phiona gage : a bit overcosted. Can be worth it for her pseudo lure or if you expect enemy plus flip defenses
Allison Dade: rapid expose plus stat 6 blackmail is really nice. Blackmail is almost always consistent card draw, which is rare this edition. Forcing enemy interacts can win a game. Doing it with a high cheat can help land things like ensnare when it's not expected. 6/6 goes a long way here .
Uniques:
Nightcrawler- arcing interacts and dam 3 attacks. Pop in with arcs? So good.
Undercover reporter- bys is good. Don't mind me is great, eating scheme markers for free movement is great. And he's got an ok attack on top of it?
Emissary/effigy - VoD can use either, tattler only likes emissary. Can bring the damage you leave behind by not having phi. Better value than phi at 2 points less.
Minions:
Field reporter- really nice models. Same move trick as undercover, three good front of card abilities, and blackmail, with a trigger to interact while engaged? I'm often but not always running 3 of these.
Newsies- just got nerfed in tattler by the FAQ, which seems a feckless thing. You are bringing them as a cheap 2 actions with a 2dam attack and a good demise, so losing that demise in tattler, where their interacts were more valuable, really hurts. I'm not sure they still have a place in my build, but this is the spot I cou
ld be most wrong in this tactica.