In the halls of the Governor's manor

 So I guess that firstly I should explain the basic premise of the Tale of Many Bloggers. There are 12 of us all collecting new crews, over the course of 5 months. Each money we have an allocated amount of money: the first month is £40, then each of the next 4 months we get £15 for a total of £100. Extra stuff like bases or basing materials don't come out of the budget as we didn't want to punish people who wanted their crew to look a bit different. The point was for people to collect a new crew, not bulk out an existing master with loads of extra models. Throughout the course of it there will be a league running, and at the end there's a small tournament to establish who is the King of the Breach. We will be playing games at our local club in Aberdeen for the league as well as against each other in the comfort of our various homes.
 So, the stage is set and all that remained was to choose a crew...
There were many options. I've always been an Arcanist player, but currently I've only got Marcus and his beasts, so most of the faction was available to me. My other faction of choice is Ten Thunders, but I have all minus Yan Lo and Jakob Lynch, so it wasn't really a choice.
 Right of the bat I wasn't too keen on Resurrectionists, but I was tempted by Kirai after seeing a particularly nice crew at the Scottish doubles tournament in March. Tara really doesn't appeal in either form, so another one down. Nor did Hamelin, so the list was gradually shrinking, albeit only slightly. Rasputina was really tempting, as was Colette, Kaeris and Ironsides. All of the Guild were appealing, as were the other Outcasts and Lilith at a pinch. So that was most of the Neverborn out too.
 I decided to listen to some Schemes and Stones podcasts to help me to decide, which narrowed things down to Rasputina, Colette, Ironsides, Hoffman, guild McMourning and Lucius. I'd played Colette (with no success) and Rasputina before, so that kind of ruled them out. Hoffman was just edging it with his constructs and unique play-style, although the idea of McMourning with the starter box stuff as Batman villains, until I played a game with Lucas McCabe and his minion swarm and that sealed it for me, I wanted a horde, with lots of cheap, effective minions whose Master would get lots out of, making them more effective and be more than the sum of their parts. Lucius it was.
 So, what to buy for this grand venture?
The Bound by Law box (£28)
Of Metal and Flesh (£28) (£56 so far)
Peacekeeper (£20) (£76 so far)
Guild Riflemen (£11) (£87 so far)

The last purchase is a bit dicey; Wardens, Guild Sergeants, Pathfinder, Hounds, and the Doppelganger are all tempting.
I know that the Peacekeeper isn't necessarily a great choice, it's an Enforcer rather than a Minion so it doesn't gain a lot of Lucius's benefits like the +flips or the ability to take extra actions, but for the sheer power of the thing, plus the fact that Lucius can teleport to it with 'That's What Lackeys Are For' for a truly horrid surprise makes it incredibly useful. Oh, and it's an awesome model to boot....
 So, I purchased Bound by Law and a Peacekeeper first (I know that is £8 out of next month's budget), and ordered the Secret Weapon Sewer bases, as I imagine Lucius leading his hand-picking group of lackeys on clandestine missions into some dark and unsavoury places. I am contemplating making a board to match their bases, or at least a more city-themed one, for my Guild-based escapades.