Goldstep

Is there a good reason to have more than one construct in B2B with the Hoff? It seems like a bit of a liability in that (for example) you are just as likely to hit a Guardian with DF as Hoff and you are just as likely to HURT the Guardian as Hoff but if you hurt the Guardian, you ALSO hurt Hoff. I know you want to have High armor stuff close (but not nessessarily B2B) and that it helps casting to have constructs close (even if not B2B) but I'm focusing where this is more a liability than a boon.

I figure that the Poison Gift is for when you get Sirens call to work right. And of course if you have something fast, it works better on it. "Oh no, the Insideous Madness and about 9 inches away. Oh well. Paralyse it and give it 4 poison counters. That will help." The Convict Gunslinger would work as well, but there's no control card discarding to get out of it. And it never works at more than 7 inches from the performer.

Honestly, if you already use the Hanged, why not? You aren't worried about losing a Morale Duel with all the undead and he's fun and different. Meanwhile, you shut down opponent's hands and mess with soulstone use to boot. In some ways I feel like the question isn't why wouldn't we use him. It's why wouldn't you use him?

How about the really simple "If your opponent is shooting the showgirls he isn't shooting Colette and if he is shooting Colette she can blindingflash and run away to a showgirl." I mean, it's not flashy but they work. And if you need flashy and can get a performer within 6 inches of the ememy's master or henchman you can force them to burn SS just to keep you from getting them. Expensive gift isn't that hard to cast and as long as they have to use resources to fight it, you are winning that little battle.

Reasons why it might be a little early to cry foul: Have you fought Cassandra? In a crew with Collette, she's a WP 7. I can get a 5 even with a or two. And then without a "move" or "strike" action (but a little SS action) I can breathe fire and oops. Killed 4 or 5 Alps. And then I waltz over and kill LCB. Have you fought Ryle? Talent that ignores Smother. Cost 0 that pushes him out of combat. And then he shoots dead 3 Alps. Thanks! I needed a way to remove "insignificant". Have you fought Papa? Sure you have have have him up front but and center where only a crazy per-- oh. He'll fail the Wp check INSTANTLY -- needs 10's without ... so he'll take a few wounds. And he'll then make one false move ... booom. No Alps in a 6" radius circle. And none of that is taking into account the "Ikiryo kills dreamer completing a scheme on turn 1 shenanagans" or the "we both get Reconnoiter instead of slaughter" verses an army of Gaki (who don't mind single Alps). If you don't like Gaki, try showgirls, gremlins, or guardsmen. Absorbing, breathing fire one, or simply striking with boomsticks is enough to make Alps a rough sell on certain missions while. I'm not saying he's not a tough master to face. Just that it's a little early to cry foul in a book as filled with as much beautiful sickness as Rising Power.

Mostly metagaming out, but still. For 5ss less, Cassandra is able to solve any problem Corys can with similar ease. Both have good defensive abilities against ranged and killer melee. Both have movement shenanigans bigger than any single broom can manage. But there is that 5ss less. Very large in my mind.

Exaggeration? I think it's 1 spell cast 4 times with a tome each time...

Sam is fragile. I love using him, but... yeah. Fragile. But like everything in this game, a little focus fire is worth the effort. But most of the time it seems like you don't even have to focus fire him sso much as get one good hit in. As an example -- Young Neph at 10 inches can do a charge and melee expert attack and (thanks to the charge) can pretty easily kill Sam in one activation.

I thought the hidden subtlety was that if she can just get high enough cards, she can create 4 mannequins for 3 SS. !!! Yeah, it will be errata'd for our own safety.

And Corys are expensive. Perhaps in small small games... 20ss Cassandra, 1 Showgirl & Mannequin, and Johan. Ta da 20!

Does it help to ask who opponents for you commonly are? I fight very few undead so some of the Marshal's rules don't come into play for me. Victorias still have to worry worry about stalkers and so does Rasputina and Pandora. Suddenly, Stalkers look really good. But I know that right now McMourning, Seamus, Nicoderm and Levi are are 4 separate painting tables for new players in my area... Suddenly those Marshalls are going to look a little cooler -- no corpse counters for the graverobbers to eat.

At this time, with just a cursory glance through, Johon is the only steamfitter that rule refers to. Hoffman won't work with Colette even if Colette with work with Hoffman and all the other M&SU members are Arcanists already. Beyond that, you could look at the MS&U assets. I'd say that the Soulstone Miner asset and the Gunsmith look killer and Kaeris might be an option, in that she's another baddas chick for the chickadee squad. But no special reason to take Kaeris and you might be able to do better stuff for your Showgirls by taking another Dancer/Mannequin over the miner -- and they are the same cost.

Well, not that colette isn't better at it, but against a CA6 with soulstone use or CA4 without, Magiscians Duel is still really solid. The birds can actually reliably pound Ophelia and are nice for dealing with excess Gaki. And after that you can still sac it for the free soulstone with for something important like a killing blow from a Blinding or a Siren's call. All theory, but the rules seem to support it pretty well.

OK... I don't know why that didn't click for me. I thought it meant you can't summon Ronin. It makes sense now that you say it, but somehow, in my mind it was "Soulstone to cast spell, spell to summon model" Luckily, I have only the book and thus haven't cheated someone with Colette yet. Still for planning purchases, I think we all agree that 3 doves are needed? Even if we disagree on how many in crew construction.

Depending on your style you may want to try Johan. Between Colette's rules and his own, he is cheap -- discount on his normal price. Defensively he's harder to hit and harder to badly wound than the showgirls are (except the armour on the mannequins) while offensively between Flurry, Brutal and ignoring armour he's got more than enough punch to down a peacekeeper or a teddy. If he's near Colette at the time he hits well too. The synergy doesn't go the other way, but if you are looking for something else to add besides Coryphees and more of the same showgirls...