Friekorps - Hannah, Strongarm Suit, Specialist

[BayouShark]

Hi all!

 

Been a very long time since I was on here.

 

So I played in a tournament this weekend with friekorps and learned a few things (overexposing trappers is bad mkay), but I came up with a serious conundrum.

 

In a pure friekorps list, I'm looking at taking 2 of the 3 listed models (haven't picked up Laz yet), and I just can't see in what situations I should be using which combinations.

- the strongarm suit is solid, always but can't carry I Pay Better, which is a big reason to include Hannah as IPB works with well with the friekorps

- Hannah carries IPB and is a solid melee model and combos well with the SAS for charge up, or Reference the Field Guide for getting sweet blasts. Where she lacks is the ranged department. The crew is weak in melee outside of the SAS, Hannah and VS and has solid all round shooting. Unless I take Void Record, I've found Hannah detracts from a shooting approach and forces a more melee game where I've got 2, maybe 3 pieces that are ok being there and stopping my decent shooting from working as well.

- the specialist is SLOW. But Scramble exists. Again combos well with IPB for lovely blasts. Always take against Ressers and Arcanists.

 

The more I play with the crew the more I come to the conclusion that, if VS is carrying IPB, I'm finding it harder to justify Hannah unless the strategy is Turf War and I need her to stand on that objective.

 

Am I just playing her wrong?

[Freman]

It's true that Freikorps are rather competitive in the 10 stone range. I tend to take Strongarm or Lazarus, as they offer a bit more oomph than Hannah. She's probably better in crews with a lot of useful Ca actions, or against opponents with a lot of useful Ca actions. I've not used the Specialist yet, not having had a situation where he was useful. He may be better with Masters like Jack Daw or Hamelin who can push or obey him around to compensate for his slow movement.

I Pay Better is definitely good, if you have cards to throw away on it.

[FacelessOne]

Hannah works well in a daw crew. She can torment herself by copying the guilties cast. Lots of tormented models have casts for her to copy. When tormented her suit ignoring aura extends to five inches (Which is a huge table area off her 50mm base.) with creeping terror, and writhing torment gives her some extra mobility. Similarly her sister also works well for similar reasons in a daw crew.

I personally use hannah as the big threat for my opponent to spend resources trying to kill, while the rest of my crew disrupts the enemies schemes. As the rest of daw's crew and Jack himself tend to put quite a strain on the opponents hand, if you can get manage to get Hannah into a group of enemies and attack a low df one it can even be potentially worth while to stone for the suit, drop some blasts and force a bunch of horrer duels on the damaged models.  

[boots468]

Yeah, I mentally see Hannah as a 8ss model who has one very good 2ss upgrade compulsorily built in (the extra card draw) and the option to take another very good upgrade (I Pay Better), with an upgrade slot still free :- ) . As long as I don't expect too much from her other than the upgrades, I'm happy with her. She can't compete directly with the Outcasts' other 10ss beaters in a fight, but normally does more for the crew as a whole.

Her 2ss bury upgrade I have taken, and had some fun with (once kept Kaeris from activating because she was buried first 4 turns in a row), but I feel the cost (and needing a non-built in suit) is a little too high. Good for Neutralise the Leader though!

Specialist is very slow, you're right, but is quite often worth it nonetheless. Not always though, and personally I'd have him in the queue for a 0ss upgrade ahead of Hans, but never mind. He's still useable, but you do kind of need need pushes or I Pay Better to get your money's worth out of him.

[TheTrans]

Laz is where it's at, love that guy!

[asrian]

I Pay Better is good, and I typically put it on Hannah, preferring Engage At Will, Shirt Comes Off, and Survivalist on Von Schill. That said, the problem I run up against is I Pay Better is a focus for a card, which means you end up with less cards in hand (which is why I take it on Hannah as she gives me a free card). In a normal game, unless you just have really bad hands, you typically won't ditch cards for it, or at least not more than one a turn as the rest are useful for other things, or for other card ditching abilities like furious casting or Steam Trunk abilities, etc. I tend to use that one focus on either Hannah, Strong Arm, Sue, or another big hitter in my crew to make sure their attack really counts.

Strong Arm Suit I use if I really want some up close hitting power, and depending on if there is a lot of terrain or not. Give him something like Scout the Field and he can charge without needing LoS. Give him the new general upgrade The Bigger They Are and attacks against non-Leader models with upgrades deal +1 Damage making him a predator for other Enforcers and Henchmen (which would be good in a pool containing Show of Force to help neutralize the opponent's potential scoring models). Give him Oath Keeper and he's suddenly a fast wrecking ball for a turn. He is expensive, but like all expensive models have a plan for him before the game starts so you don't end up wasting AP, especially if he's taken out mid-game, just make sure he accomplishes whatever goals you have set for him.

[jphealy]

I really love Hannah in general ( I mean look at my Avatar) but I actually really love her with my Viks.  She can copy sisters in Fury saving Ashes an AP and not only dialing their damage up but making her into a melee beast as well.  Plus I've found her suit stripping aura to be quite a life saver in the approach and to help keep a fragile vik alive if an enemy gets in onto them.   Plus 1 more card is always good in my Viks crew. 

[SuperFly TNT]

Only problem with Hannah & Sisters in Fury is that you end up having to put the upgrade on Blood since you can't Make A New Entry on non-Friekorps Masters. It takes up one of her slots that could be used for Oathkeeper or Tally Sheet typically and once she starts charging around you can't always keeps Hannah in range.

However the Censure with +2 damage is fun!

[jphealy]

Ummm don't have my cards handy but I thought the friekorp only mattered if you wanted to copy a 0

[Kirby]

 

Ummm don't have my cards handy but I thought the friekorp only mattered if you wanted to copy a 0

Only non-masters unless Freikorps as well.

[daniello_s]

 

Specialist is very slow, you're right, but is quite often worth it nonetheless. Not always though, and personally I'd have him in the queue for a 0ss upgrade ahead of Hans, but never mind.

Yeah, he would benefit greatly from +1Wk or some sort of push action...

[Kirby]

 

Yeah, he would benefit greatly from +1Wk or some sort of push action...

That'd be nice.  (0) 3" push, even if it needed a card to do.  Call it flame booster or something, I dunno.  I'd probably actually use the guy then.  Can still be nice in Flank or Close deployment where the action isn't too far away, but spending two and a half turns to get into the mix in Standard or Corner is not happening.  Could be useful with Jack Daw, though, due to multiple pushes.

[daniello_s]

Well, I can see him with my Jack, but extra push would be always nice for such a slow model like our inferno-guy.

[jphealy]

Strongarm and specialist are great with Parker since Parker has a push for him. Plus I've found you can use his charging while engaged as a bit of mobility. Charge something insignificant up near the front then leapfrog turn by turn to the support squishy models in the back. 

[jphealy]

Another  reason he's great with Parker is that he is immune to friendly fire from crate of dynamiting scheme markers