codingCaptor

The main boon which Brewmaster has in Gremlins vs. 10T, is Trixibelle. Once brewmaster gets into the middle of the enemy crew, keeping his Drinking Contest up is key to keeping him alive. Being able to cheat initiative (insuring you can activate Brew first and turn on Drinking Contest) is a huge boon. And that's ignoring the rest of Trixie's kit, which is already pretty good outside of brewmaster and even has additional poison synergies. A lot of gremlins players experience difficulties playing Brewmaster, as he's not really focused on killing models. Murdering enemy models and having low defenses is a running theme in the majority of our faction, so I suspect you just haven't seen him played particularly well. Even being played perfectly, however, I feel that there are more than a few crews that Brewmaster just isn't going to win against, which makes him significantly less of an attractive option than generalist masters like Somer or Wong. For some people, who only focus on tourmanet play, that'd make him not worth playing. (Same with Ophelia or Mah.) But I think there are good matchups for Gremlins Brewmaster that make him AMAZINGLY fun.

This idea intrigued me, so I built a quick (probably bad) list. Wong (a gremlins luck + explosive solutions) Sammy (ooo glowy) Sparks Lazarus <Magical from Wong> Swine cursed x2 Mechanized Porkchop The trick requires 2 6's in hand, one of them a tome (although sparks is a henchman so you can stone for it if necessary) Mechanized porkchop walks and places a scrap marker. Sparks consumes that, makes Wong a construct, and gives Lazarus fast. Lazarus can then shoot 3 times with Wong's Lightning Jump ability, a Cast 7 ability with +1 damage. You have the 2 swine cursed for scheme running and/or bruiser work, while Sammy is there to jynx anything really dangerous. Is it good? almost certainly not. But it sounds like a REALLY fun time. And if Lazarus doesn't kill everything, Wong gets a second shot!

Pig Mah Tucket is fun, but lacks the tools to deal with most of pigs weaknesses. Bigger pigs that can deal damage (The sow, porkchop, boars, etc.) All lack survivability and Mah doesn't have any real way to bring that. Slop haulers will find themselves unable to keep up with the pigs charging, thus forcing you to rely solely on eat your fill and crow triggers for healing. And without somer or Old Major, reliably getting crows is significantly harder. On the other end of the spectrum, your smaller pigs (piglets and stuffed) aren't really going to be accomplishing much in the damage department, even if they are ML 5. Regular piglets aren't really good at their support role on their own, wanting old major's Corn Husks or Somer's Suits or Ulix's summoning (or all 3 if you can swing it.) And stuffed just... well, their melee attack has never been their threat (although ML 5 to prevent units from just walking away is nice.) Basically, it forces mah to run an Alpha strike list (Which is what the above list is) Throwing in as many big powerful pigs as she can and charging them into enemy lines hoping to kill anything that could kill them back. Which I've found to just not be that likely. You'll have spent too many cards getting the slingshot off, your opponent will likely still have a full hand, and there are a plehtora of enemy models in most factions that can survive a full charge attack from the sow, only to turn around and murder it in response. Fun? Yes! Capable of winning you games? Almost certainly! Will it win you MOST Games? Absolutely not. (Somer pigs is ALSO a hilariously fun list, and I'd recommend you try it.)

Use him for pig movement. Activate a piglet or Old Major, double walk it forward with Ulix tagging along. Activate Ulix, Sooey (hope you don't flip black joker and die immediatly) and whalla, all your pigs have moved up the board significantly and are ready to get into the action! Bring hunting bow with him, and you're probably going to be in range of a shot in the rear with whomever pulled Ulix Up-board. Or you could bring clobberin' stick and have him draw some cards. Synergizes with Sammy because it triggers her own card cycle.

Somer Encouragement allows Somer to benefit from the Family tree allows Somer to use his AP for murder while letting Sammy summon up to 2 bayou's per turn Pig feed similarly allows Somer to use his AP for murder while she does pig shenangins. Not really relevant since I'm the only human being who runs Pig Somer seriously. Ophelia Threatenin' Gun on Sammy allows her to give Ophelia an extra AP, and Ophelia's built in offsets the minus flip if you need to shoot something. Jug Rocket on Sammy allows her to place Ophelia anywhere within 8 inches, and then Ophelia can use her 0 to pull Sammy into base contact with her. Extra positioning ain't bad for a pew-pew turret like Ophelia. Hooch Ignitor allows the Pig-a-pult to launch Ophelia across the board (Ophelia is the only height 1 master), and then have sammy remove paralysis from Ophelia so that she can activate that turn. Requires you to already have Sammy wherever you want Ophelia to be. On the plus side, Ophelia can use her 0 on the PIgapult to pull it around with her. Which has given me an idea for a HILARIOUS and BAD list. Ulix Hunting bow gives sammy a Shoot 7 attack that can be surprisingly damaging. Also, she can recieve rams from Lenny, allowing her to shot in the rear pigs much easier than Ulix can. She's also a hencheman, so she can still use stones for it like Ulix could. Clobbering stick can be useful for card draw if you're trying to summon with Ulix, but Ulix usually gets the cards he needs and Old Cranky is generally more useful. Combining Sammy and Old Cranky and Clobbering Stick is 100% overkill, but also 95% hilarious. Husbandry means you're only going to get 2 piglets out per turn, but it allows for pigs to flow from Sammy while Ulix gives big pigs free attacks. Useful in a combat oriented Ulix list that still wants some summons. Wong Ooh Glowy on her so that wong can take his other Limited upgrade is a tried and true tactic. The plusflips for Wong are really nice. Zoraida Animal shape is nice for when you want to have a super cool teleporting scheme runner, but also want Zoraida to hang out and do stuff like Obey and Bewitch and things. Crystal ball is a fun upgrade too. Zipp Zipp also has limited upgrades and I suspect that'd be HILARIOUS. I don't have his cards in front of me though and I can't remember what they do well enough to provide insight. I THINK it'd work well though? Brewmaster He has upgrades? Mah Tucket You could give Sammy Armor+1, or Bounty. Neither are good choices.

Are Survivors (You feel) appropriately costed, and just hedged out by a lack of purpose compared to other models? Or are they too expensive and should be 4SS for a 4HP model?

If you want to get technical, Mah's upgrade for the Emmissary provides suits to the initiative flip. Honestly, Somer(and by extension his skeeters), Lenny, Earl, and Old Major are the only ones really to do it. But at the same time, avoiding bad suits is only really a thing on a handful of models (Piglets, war pigs, bayou gremlins, and Gracie are the only ones with a potentially detrimental trigger that comes to mind) Gremlins are pretty much the only faction with that much "Have a free suit" as an available action. It's the only one that can give it to other models that I'm aware of. It's very VERY strong, probably the strongest feature in our faction. It probably shouldn't be spread around too much.

Incredibly nice and useful as always. It's always useful to see the finished product from various angles (And see what problems you've had putting them together) when assembling my own. Honestly, with the exceptions of the tongues, I didn't have any problems with these guys. They were really nice and easy to put together... For gremlins models.

Surprisingly lower than you'd think! 54 card deck, with 21 cards that will cause weak damage. ~37% of a weak card per flip, or a 63% chance of moderate+. Chances of flipping 2 63% chances in a row is ~39%. So around a 60% chance of hitting for weak damage with a single negative. Goes up to around a 75% chance on a double negative. (Note that this is assuming a full deck with replacement, and ignores the Red joker's unique rules. These numbers can and will vary wildly over the course of a turn as you flip. These numbers will never actually be right, but should always be in the general ballpark.) @Omenbringer There's a reason I called it my "Favorite dumb list of dumbness." it's not supposed to be good, it's supposed to be HILARIOUS. Really bummed that it doesn't work now though. If I wanted a good list, I wouldn't hire a pigapult.

I made this list before that erratta and didn't think about that at all. That's unfortunate!!! Hrm, I guess I'll have to head back to the drawing board to make something dumber.

Favorite dumb list of dumbness: Zoraida Pigapult Stuffed PIglet x6 Papa Loco Scion of the Black Blood Sparks Bayou Gremlin Papa activates first, gives the pigapult to damage. Sparks activates next, giving the pigapult Fast and giving something packed explosives if there's an enemy nearby. Pigapult activates reckless (for one damage) Bacon loads (heal, gain concussed) Ditches 2 card to remove a condition (From scion of black blood) You now have a shoot 6 3/5/7 damage model with to damage and 4 AP. With the potential to be hitting a sparks target for an extra . Delete whatever you want from the board. Meanwhile, Zoraida and the Bayou Gremlin wander around the board earning VP.

For resers, except maybe Mcmorning, my answer is always going to be Ulix. He brings a lot of large tanky units to the battlefield, capable of standing on top of corpse markers and blocking your line of sight to them with their 40+mm bases. To avoid Willpower problems, Ulix will need to take the Liquid Bravery upgrade and forgo using his healing 0 action. This means additional slop haulers will be necessary for summoning purposes. And you may think that summoning is a bad idea with Ulix, since additional piglets on the field just gives Reva more opportunities to ruin your day. But due to piglets innate tankyness (6df, 3-5wp depending on closeness to Ulix) they're often going to live much better against Reva and her crew than most other models. With their ability to interact as a 0 (bring old major with corn husks) they can also score most schemes very easily. They're ESPECIALLY strong if accusation, Tail em, or Mark for death are in the pool, although killing things you've marked can sometimes be a difficult task, especially vs. Ressers. Piglets can also dish out slow if they can connect with a tome. Considering how many attacks a single piglet can get out in a round (and how many piglets you can have out) Most of the enemy crew should be slow and unable to really accomplish their objectives, either schemewise or murderwise. There's nothing quite like a Tailed Accused Slow Reva surrounded by a couple piglets that just refuse to go down. I'll typically send a piglet to kill the first corpse candle, have old major stand on its corpse, and then ulix will sit next to the Major summoning piglets for as long as is reasonable, leaving the piglets to accomplish most of the point scoring. If some enemy is foolish enough to try and rush into the Ulix ball, then they will be murdered by the Sow. Rezzers are tanky, but a Sow with multiple plus flips to attack and damage will chew through pretty much anything it can hit. It's worth mentioning that Gracie is a TERRIBLE choice for this list, for one she doesn't get the WP buff from Ulix, and for two Reva can ignore her armor (or Vincent can make everything ignore her armor) Gracie is just free bacon against a Reva list. However, the problem with Ulix is it all comes down to your positioning. Putting Ulix (and his summoning pigs, and the piglets he summons) in the wrong spots can lead them to charge the wrong things, ending up far away from a place where they can be useful. Or accidentally create a corpse marker next to everything important that Reva will use to obliterate. Reva vs. Ulix really does come down to who is the better player. Which I suppose is as it should be. (I played an Ulix vs. Reva game at a big 40+person tournament recently, and my opponent only managed to kill 2 of my models, both of which were summoned piglets. I won that game too. One of the most fun games I've ever had.)

Personally, my "introduction to gremlins" purchase list is Ophelia's Box, Somer's Box, and a pack of Slop Haulers. It gives you the flexibility to run either Somer or Ophelia in a variety of differing playstyles and you'll be able to play at a fairly competitive level. The total price point will come in at just under $100, which is pretty good for the variety of different crews you'll be able to put on the table (at least, compared to other wargames) From there, almost any gremlins model you can purchase will be perfectly fieldable in either one of those crews. Somer has a plethora of pig related abilities, and Ophelia plays quite well with most of the elite models in our faction. Heck, if you want to get into other masters, most of the models in those boxes play really well with Mah Tucket, Wong, or Zipp. So you'll be looking good no matter where you decide to go in the faction. I would, however, recommend staying away from Zoraida, Brewmaster, and Ulix for the time being, as those masters require a variety of models that don't necessarily synergize as well with the rest of the gremlins faction. They're good, don't get me wrong, it's just that the cost of entry to field an effective crew with them is higher from the raw $$$ standpoint.

First, there are only 8 cards (including red joker) that can get that trigger off and hit the TN. That's 15% of the deck. In a hand of 6 cards from a fresh deck, you have an approximate 60% chance of drawing at least one of those cards. Assuming you relent (Which you probably should) you'll be flipping 3 cards. The chance of flipping a non-weak card out of a full deck is 63% So the chances of flipping 3 non-weak cards is around 25%, making the chances of flipping weak damage around 75%. So you need a 60% chance followed by a 75% Chance, giving us a 45% chance of being able to successfully summon a piglet on any given turn. Now, this is assuming a full deck with replacement, and I didn't account for the black joker, so these are not 100% correct numbers, and the percentages will vary wildly throughout the turn as your deck approaches depleatedness. But that's a rough ballpark for trying to summon with Lenny. It is very unreliable.

What it seems you're both looking for is a variety of competitive builds. One way to accomplish that is by focusing heavily on Master synergy, such that every master has their own pool of models that they pull from and there's often no real good reason to branch out into another masters pool. This means that instead of one gremlin build to rule them all, there's 8 gremlins builds, one per master. This isn't necessarily a BAD design philosophy, but it does have flaws depending on how heavily its applied across a faction. What Wyrd seems to have decided to use instead of that is Strategy/Scheme synergy, wherein certain models inside a faction (including certain master abilities) are better suited for accomplishing certain goals over another master/model. A Whole slew of bayou gremlins is good in interference, but probably not a great choice in something like Collect the Bounty. What's more, they've tied it very loosely into a synergistic system in order to allow players to accomplish these goals in a variety of ways depending on their own playstyle. Of course, this also has its downsides. The easy one to point out is that now versatility is valued more over most stats, and models like Burt Jebsen can just take over every list in every masters crew because they're just that good/versatile that you want them in every list as opposed to tailoring a crew for a specific scenario. For example, Frame for Murder is very often in scheme pools now, and gremlins have a hard time not giving their opponent 2 points because our faction only really has access to one CC, and that's "Death." This is great for models like Bayou Gators, that are essentially 5 point paralysis dispensers (I mean, they could use a buff to become GOOD at it, but shhhh not the point.) as that gives us the ability to lock down potential frame targets and deny the opponent points while not having our faces punched in. Good for every game? Hell no, gators are a huge investment compared to just murdering a thing. But situationally useful models (Where those situations are known during the hiring phase) is a good way of accomplishing the variety that y'all are looking for. I'm sure there are other tools in Wyrd's belt for ensuring competitive variety. Synergy among keywords isn't the end all answer, although I suspect it WILL play an integral part in that solution.