Making my Move...

I am so confused (or just falling back into old thinking patterns.. not sure, probably both).

So I MC'd my 2nd game with my group to delve deeper into Hatchet City. Colonel Kobe decided that he needed his other car to be a tank otherwise how would he close enough to Blind Blue to him with his sword.

Anyway, things went fine until we get the Brainer in the same room with Blind Blue who is the mega-mutant with a diesel engine of domination who has been mind-fucking "spies" in order to live vicariously with the Skinner. Well, the Brainer got separated, then unconscious, and then well Blue got some alone time with her. But here is the thing, the move is In-Brain puppet strings but that’s not on the lists of MC moves so how can I be fair? Just take 3 and say that it sucks to be you fail machine? Should this be a custom move? Should I just roll the Brain move and see how many hold I have?

Which begs the question how often should I make a move? At this point I make moves when they stall out and when they fail... should it be more?

This sounds like a custom move to me. And you shouldn't have to roll for those--either make the player who sets off the move roll, or have a set amount of hold for the custom move. One of the things I have been finding refreshing about MCing AW is that I never have to touch dice or manage anyone's stats.

About the frequency of moves: you also get to make moves when they hand you the opportunity. But, yeah, it's not nearly as much control as I was used to from running pretty much any other game. I found MCing the game exhausting for the first couple of sessions; I had no idea what was going to happen at any point, and I felt like it took all my concentration just to prevent the world from falling apart. Then I gave up on that and have never looked back.

I'm kind of throwing some tangential musings at you here; I hope some of this is helpful.

In the preperation for Hatchet City, I'm fairly sure Vincent advises you to have a custom move prepared for when Blind Blue gets to use its mind control power on you. Blind Blue's move is *not* In Brain Puppet Strings. Though you can use that for inspiration if you want, it's going to be fundmentally different because it's not Blind Blue that rolls dice, it's the PC victim.

I can't remember how the one I wrote went, but a short and simple version might be something like:

When Blind Blue gets some time alone with a PC, it'll implant a suggestion. Have the PC roll +weird. On a 10+, they resist Blind Blue's mind control and gain some insight into the web of psychic manipulation that the mutant is spreading. (Barf forth some tasty details as appropriate.) On a 7-9, Blind Blue's suggestion sinks deep into them, they can mark experience if they carry it out, and they're acting under fire if they don't. On a miss, they come to some time later having already carried out Blind Blue's will.

Anyway, that's just a quick idea, I'm sure you'll come up with a better one! Don't worry if it's confusing at first, but do read the book and the Hatchet City play notes, most of the answers to your questions will be in there somewhere.

I would go for something like this:

When you try to resist Blind Blue's mind control roll +weird

On a 10+, whether you carry out Blind Blue's suggestion is up to you. If you do, mark 1 experience.
On a 7-9, whether you carry out Blind Blue's suggestion is up to you. If you don't you are acting under fire until Blind Blue tries to control another victim or he's dead.
On a miss, whether you carry out Blind Blue's suggestion is up to you. If you don't take 3 harm AP.

Thanks alot guys!

All suggestions are much appreciated. I think what I will need to do is really spend some more time on the fronts to create some Custom Moves