Jump to content

Looking at Sonnia, where to next?


Sixgunsexpistol

Recommended Posts

The best thing for her ever is the Witchling Handler, but sadly it's not out in plastic.

 

You'll want some Scheme runners with her, because Witchlings are sloooooow. The typical Guild options apply: Hounds, Watchers, Wastrels. Sonnia also is the only Guild summoner, so a second box of Witchlings is good.

 

Many people like the Papa and Marshal combo, so, like Mister Z said, those two boxes are an excellent investment.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why is the handler so good again?

 

Because she makes Witchlings faster. Did I mention they are slooooooooooooooooooooooow?

 

Also, she turns thing on fire. Everything that turn things on fire is a godsend in Sonnia's crews. She's also fast, reliable, reasonably tanky and can carry the Witch Hunter upgrade. Not to mention she can summon Witchlings.

 

Did I mention that she turns things on fire?

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've pretty much stopped playing Sonnia. Never got on with her, I always struggle to summon anything and maintain a hand and SS, she just seems to eat them like skittles. Then there's Samael who just snaps to a stiff breeze. The only part of her crew I ever use is the Stalkers which are pure gold. She just got smashed every time I used her. Hoffman, McCabe and Perdita are my usual go-to Guild Masters. Then there's Lady J for when I just want to punch stuff hard. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find her really frustrating, much like Hamelin I REALLY want to get on with her but just don't like the play style that much. I want to burn stuff, I want to summon but it just doesn't seem to work. Perhaps forcing myself to play her for a few games like I did with Lilith might make her less frustrating. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can probably count on one hand how many games I have applied burning with Sonnia.

Applying Burning isn't really Sonnia's thing.  Mauling things that are already on fire more so!  I'm not even sure how it's possible to play her without the Burning goodness (or what the point would be, that's her thing after all!).

Playing with the full crew box for ToMB tonight.  Guessing I should probably get out a Witchling Handler proxy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I semi-agree with the 'Stalkers are slow...get scheme runners' thing. I do occasionally like to add a Watcher.....it's probably the best scheme runner Guild has and it can serve a dual purpose by surprising people when Sonnia can draw LoS from it.

 

I always field at least one Handler so I don't find the Stalkers too slow....but the big reason for me that I don't entirely agree is Reincarnation. When Sonnia kills an enemy and summons a Stalker on the enemy side of the table they don't have that far to go so their speed becomes less of an issue.

 

Learn how to use Sam Hopkins. I keep him within charge range of Sonnia. If anything is stupid enough to go after Sonnia before they deal with Sam they've basically sealed their fate.......no other model in the game can do as much damage in melee as Sam can...he can get up to 7 weak damage against a target with burning. I once killed a full health Rail Golem with one charge from Sam...on two weak damage hits. It takes resources (good cards and SS) to get that high, but most things don't need that full 7 damage.....two hits at 5 damage is usually enough. Also, he can scare enemies that want to hug cover with his upgrade....too close and take a lot of burning....too far and no cover. Some people hate him and can't get mileage out of him, but he has never disappointed me when used properly.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also find that Watchers (as mentioned earlier) provide good mobility/scheme running and then also let Sonnia use their LoS. Every time i use Samuel i never get the full effect of him, I probably am not using him well or positioned properly.

 

Francisco helps a ton if you keep him close to Sonnia.

 

Try to keep Sonnia out of ML, most people will try to get her engaged as soon as possible to prevent her firebombs from going off. (especially against Gremlins)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think people look at Sam and say 'he can do a lot of damage at range'........and then when he doesn't do all that damage they don't feel like they got the most out of him. I normally don't get such obvious use out of him until late game.....but in the early game he is area denial. Everybody wants to engage Sonnia right away....the quicker you teach them that Sam is going to annihilate whatever they send in, the quicker they'll reconsider that idea in later games. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I've pretty much stopped playing Sonnia. Never got on with her, I always struggle to summon anything and maintain a hand and SS, she just seems to eat them like skittles. Then there's Samael who just snaps to a stiff breeze. The only part of her crew I ever use is the Stalkers which are pure gold. She just got smashed every time I used her. Hoffman, McCabe and Perdita are my usual go-to Guild Masters. Then there's Lady J for when I just want to punch stuff hard. 

 

Looking at this from the other side of the table is just bizarre. From the times I have played against Sonnia as Neverborn it is hard to see how someone could lose with Sonnia as long as they stayed awake for the entire game. Otherwise the game tends to look like "Ok, I'm going to activate Sonnia now. I'd like you to pick up those three models over there and put them away please." 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that the Papa Loco positive twists sort of overpower Sonnia - she gets the most out of them and she is utterly ridiculous with them. Rasputina or Wong have nothing on her. I mean, sure, it's a hefty tax to pay (6 for the DM, 7 for Papa - though you can get some mileage out of them both so it's not like they are wasted points) but the devastation is quite silly.

Depends on the board of course, but if there are fire lines (as there should be) it's a bit too much, I think.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I would hardly say they are wasted points. In my most recent game against Sonnia Papa stayed in the box until Sonnia had blasted away half of my crew... which was turn 2. After that he hopped out and the Death Marshal boxed the only model that had survived to potentially threaten Sonnia. We called the game at that point. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that Papa Loco's Hold This and Francisco El Mayor maybe should have included non-master. Those things just make the game horrible. 

 

I wouldn't go that far, but meh. I don't think it's bad enough for errata, and the Wave 1 beta has sailed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm curious though, how have people had this go wrong for them from the Guild side of the table? From where I have been sitting there doesn't seem to be much more to running a Sonnia crew than having Papa give her Hold This and then having Sonnia kill anything that strays within 14". If a model does somehow make it across the table you pine box it, have Francisco swap her out of combat, or murder it with Sam. Where is the weak link that is keeping Sonnia from completely running riot?

 

Edit: Sort of ninja'd by Dgraz. Assuming the guild player stays safely inside the box and brings the obvious papa-francisco-dm combo with Sonnia, where does the game go from there that isn't just Sonnia blitzing the opponent off the table? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm curious though, how have people had this go wrong for them from the Guild side of the table? From where I have been sitting there doesn't seem to be much more to running a Sonnia crew than having Papa give her Hold This and then having Sonnia kill anything that strays within 14". If a model does somehow make it across the table you pine box it, have Francisco swap her out of combat, or murder it with Sam. Where is the weak link that is keeping Sonnia from completely running riot?

 

Ever played against someone with good positioning game? Seriously, I ran exactly that list against a Kirai player recently, and he just boned me. Totally fucked my activation order, engaged everything. Brutal.

 

Well maybe that just speaks about the issue that they are. :P

 

Or it speaks about people totally focusing and hating on something once they got it stuck in their mind that it's something to hate.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well maybe that just speaks about the issue that they are. :P

Completely disagree. It's just stupid internet perception. It works for a few people in their meta and all of a sudden everyone is doing it.

Come by my LGS any time with that combo and I'll happily point out the error in that thinking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ever played against someone with good positioning game? Seriously, I ran exactly that list against a Kirai player recently, and he just boned me. Totally fucked my activation order, engaged everything. Brutal.

 

Isn't Kirai a bit of a special case though, since she essentially gets a free instant engage against Sonnia the first time someone near her in her crew takes damage? 

 

Edit: In the interests of this not totally getting derailed from "Where to go with Sonnia", I should say I am starting a rifleman heavy Lucius crew in Neverborn, so I am very interested in both sides of the question of dealing with a powerful firebase that does not want to be engaged or targeted in melee. Since that seems to be the obvious, potentially only, counter to Sonnia I am interested both in how people accomplish that tactic and how they defend against it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information