Blackraw

Thanks for discussion guys! Glad to hear that opinions are different. I will leave mine too as it differs from others. Poison gamins I LOVE poison gamins for summon. They had good statline 5/5/5/5 Df/Wp/Wd/Wk armor +1 and they have poison demise! Stealing it Banasuva does 1+1+1+1 on explosion, with the later 1+1 being from conditions, thus denying FFM and getting over H2K. Four separate sources makes prevention much less efficient and deny armor. He has 2" which is good to tie things up. And when it gets to 3" with upgrade that is even better. However in many cases I would want specific other gamin, but I still enjoy poison ones. Not sure if good hiring option. Maybe for Marcus? SS Miner As was said above, after @MythicFOX comments on SS Miner, I bought them next day and was also happy with the model in game. The Captain He is awesome, but expensive. It is alright with Hank, but with the Captain I doubt he would be able to live long enough to justify his price. As for game design, I think he should have been a little cheaper and at the same time a little less awesome. That would probably make him see more often play. Or maybe his upgrade could give him armor +1 or enhance SS prevent by +1 for him only. Dunno. I just think that in the current condition, I cannot find a spot for him. He can do lots of things. But he can not do them at the same time, so the benefit is still limited by the number of activations you have with him But I promise to give him a try so that I check it all by myself Gunsmiths I was never frustrated with them when playing with Kaeris (their refers to all duels, not attack actions only). But will I ever consider them instead of Acolytes for range attack for other crews? - No. I belive they have their niche with Kaeris and they could have their niche somewhere else if not for Acolyte being same price more benefit. Bears Well, now I thought that I should give them a try. There is probably a reason they exist for, so maybe I will find it My never-seen-before list I never ever heard anything about Willie, he looks ok. But the only reason to take him I see is "Why not?". He is not that well at cuicide shenenigans as Papa Loco or Pere. Actually same as for Bears, but I gonna try them out. Also haven't seen Moleman and Electric creation (outside of Ramos - scrap marker usage).

Sure, all of that is definately rare things comparing to H2W, H2K, Armor. And as for I2W - frankly speaking Joss does not care about it that much, unless he wants to RJ someone, since the damage line is narrow (3 vs. 4) I would say that I2W is unlikely to stop him from attacking a target he wants

F**K Thanks for claryfing, I was expecting some trap there)

Hello guys. We seem to discuss the good models so much, so I suggest we speak about of outsiders of our factions. I suggest to share your thoughts on the following: 1) What are the models you almost never see get any play for valid reasons? 2) What are the worst models due to bad game desing? 3) What are the worst models due to being overpriced?

Good to hear that you have enjoyed it! Joss-regen thing made me think of the following: (I do not have rulebook by me to clarify). Joss reactivates near nephilims, get to 2Wd due regeneration. Joss beats nephilim (either one (2) AP attack or 2 (1) AP attacks with SS on prevent so that he does not die. Gets back to 1 Wd. Then repeat. Will that work? (Not as a tactica, but from standpoint of mechanics) Also minor question to more experienced Sandeep/Arcanists players. Is Recharge SS a good one to pick with Sandeep (hard to deny he's so SS hungry)?

No doubts it was. Do not get me wrong - I do not present is as a tactic, neither I do incite to do so. But when I saw my opponent choosing to stay in a bubble, that was just an occasion for attrition. Since he has to deal with 3" of extended range Poison gamin and 2" of Banasuva right at his face. He did paralyze Banasuva getting him off game for the first turn, but he had to kill him, so that I do not activate it early next turn. So he had to deal with renewable summons which passively damaged him whilst exploding, thus he spent both Wd and AP.

As always - great breakdown! I did not notice your post which appeared whilst I was finishing mine

I will share some experience with Joss and some thoughts about Captain since I am still trying to find a crew where I want him. Joss - he is tanky. Armor +2, H2K with reactivate on 1wd. With Kaeris heal/regeneration from warding runes he may be really survivable (and get regenerate each time he reach 1Wd). Attackwise he is can opener. Yes 3 min damage is good. But since he can do only two attacks (min 6 dmg), does not have offensive triggers or , it is not that great for 10SS model, especially given that the max damage is 4. So he does 3/4/4. E.g. fire gamin does 3/3/4 (effecitively - if calculate burning) but for 4ss. Other min 3 dmg models has better moderate/sever. What is good about him that he ignores most of the defensive abilities (armor, h2w, h2k, def triggers), having to deal only with incorporeal, I2W, prevent and arcane shield. Thus he can get some hard guys wrecked. So if you attack models that does not have any of those, that he ignores, he is not that dmg guy. Also he lacks some mobility to deliver his attacks. Not great charge, not 3" reach. However he can hold some points pretty well. Mostly when I take him I also get warding runes to counter various negative stuff (like lures) and some two-suits triggers which make him even more survivable and better ground-holder. For henchman hardcore I played with 2 Ox mages, warding runes and Johan. With all M&SU the synergy was great (Warding runes from mages to Joss, flips to Johan from anyone, Joss-pushes from mages, WP to mages, heal from Johan). Does Kaeris need him? Almost any master may find him useful at certain occaisons. Kaeris may also do not mind Ox mage/mages for extra burning-DD, thus giving him access to runes. His survivability may be enhanced by her heal. As for trigger ignores, with burning damage helping to deal with it, his can/opener feature may not be that crucial for her. Captain - pretty awesome utility with pushes. Relic hammer is so nice thing with his 3" , on Constructs and nice damage spread. With Captain you top it up with +2 burning which is also incredible. However, as for his survivability, I guess he need to spend the stones to prevent to live, making him even more costy. He costs 10ss, with Warding runes and Patron's blessing he is 13SS, add some SS prevent (luckily Kaeris does not need SS for suits that much, so can allow herself to spend some on her own and her hencman's survivability. He can be really helpful to get your model into position and/or get opponent out of scoring zone (or away from your marker). He can launch forward and burn up a Rail Golem in a single AP which is nice, but making the whole thing hell costy. I do not think he is top choice for Henchman Hardcore as he dies faster than Joss. For Kaeris he can be an extra source of burning opponent/friendly models (With Kaeris that push also grants +2 burning = +2 heal. Which is good.). Not to say that pushes are also great. So yes, he will be useful. But I do not know if he is 10-13SS useful. For 13SS you can get Angelica for two pushes a turn and potential PP-caddie (6SS/7SS with PP) and Johan (7SS) for Relic Hammer (and other utility also) or Firestarter (7SS) for burning.

Well, I guess getting printscreen from App and cutting it in photo editor may be an option?

One spider = 5 + Two spiders = 8 + Three spiders = 11 + You have a built in.

I had a game against bubbled'up McMorning. With standard deployment I ran for first turn summon, popping up poison gamin + Banasuva (which copied poison demise) at the bubble. Of course my summons died (leaving 3*1 damage +1 burning +2 poison (which was affected by opponents own catalyst). On the second turn I re-summon that combo again and retreated. By the time my opponent dealt with both summon packs, he got solid damage of demises. At the same time I used my time to position Ox Trio set in a perfect gunline on different flanks of Extraction marker, ready to finish wounded opponents who go for marker. So that was basically a successful attrition, where I traded few SS + cards and master's AP for opponent spending most of his AP to eventually get his own hired models wounded. Sounds like a bargain

Whilst Ramos list you quoted is solid pick to arm a 35ss crew, I would say Sandeep with that set of models will feel quite limited in playstyle. You suggested $66 spent over Sandeep box. I would suggest you add $11 more and get: Troubleshooters $45 Wind gamin $21 Johan $11 The rationale is: Tony box > Mages, since you get extra master for the future and great (though pricey) henchman. I would not buy 2 boxes of gamin on start. There are more urgent things you may need. Wind is good for scheme run and nasty pushes. Johan is just must-have model as I believe. Too good for his 7SS, especially for Arcanists. Captain can top up your crew on start (pushes for mages, M&SU henchman for WP duels to mages, M&SU fighter nearby for Attack to Johan, better target for warding runes than Kudra). You get many mobility with this (pushes from mages/gamins/captain + synergy (mages-captain-johan and academic synergies) + 2 relic hummers +3 furious casting. Of course you do not get awesome respond to any opponent/schemes, but without buying half of arcanist models, this looks a) fun and b ) educative. Later on you would want much more models from different themes (M&SU, Frozen Heart, Showgirls and even Beasts). But at least wind/captain/oxmages/johan may find their ways to other crews, whilst I doubt that Kudra/poison will.

@mythicFOX I am in a very similar situation. Run 3 tourney with Sandeep (placed 2/1/1) and can not find a reason not to take him (so my question about other masters was mere curiosity). He is still new to many players, he is flexible in playstyle, he's hiring pull lets you pick what you want. I am getting Rasputina now (still painting) to have an alternative where I really want it (rather than need). Will try her out on some friendly-play though The masters you describe as being more well-suited to some scheme/strat pools I think also have a minor disadvantage here - a) they may be expectable for that pools and b ) they may be more predictable as all goes around their feature, which to may mind lead to the idea that you can go against a good counter. @spooky_squirrelWith Ramos summon engine, hard to deny its sheer numbers efficiency, but with my meta/experience I see the following thing: a) With my experience, tourney games tend to end at Turn 3 in average due to time limits. Which means that with hand and scrap markers max out at 9 2-wound spiders (which you may heal with Johan though). However that is already resource intense - you need stone + scrap + card. You are limited by scrap markers. Sandeep needs more AP, but can deliver more game-changing models (full health, upgrades, where you need them). To my mind this allows for better "Alpha" VP-wise, allowing activation control early on and more VP on turns 2-3. Also in Howard+Joss list Ramos would most likely start with less activations than Sandeep. Again, not trying to deny Ramos summon efficiency. Just feel like with short games (turn-wise) Sandeep summon is more efficient to score VPs.

Hands down Colette box is more independent than Raspy's one. Some of the models will intertwine indeed. With "box only" restriction I would favour Colette. As for the playstyle - that is pretty much up to individual preferences.

I see the rationale. The Ramos examples make sense. I found Sandeep summoning suicide gamins (poping it at enemy bubble) to be exposed to "mark for death". With the accusation, it is a little bit easier (since you can interact in engage/teleport with Sandeep cast) or kill the gamin too. I would say that all-roundness has its pros and cons. Whilst to some degree it is a trap, it also allows to practice one master better. As for me I am gonna stay with Sandeep on tourney until I face some obstacle leading me to idea that I need another guy for this. But I was curious to know what other Sandeep players use different masters for. Gonna get more experiments for fun games though. Also hope that Wyrd will make some interesting new Emissary upgrade for Sandeep with next Arsenal deck.