Zipp - rather good fun

[frostwolf428]

8 hours ago, Tris said:

I don't quite get how so many people get good use out of old cranky, personally I find he get's easily left behind if not cared for, especially in a Zipp crew.

His auras are very good, but require careful placement and in my opinion a crew with ranged attacks to work, I don't think of him as the end all be all totem many in this forum seem to see him

I'm only just starting with Gremlins so I don't know them as well as Arcanists or have had as much practice with them. I think old cranky looks AWESOME on paper, but when I try to use him he kind of falls flat, being able to get a card is always handy but for 4ss I feel i should be getting a little more out of him then that. 
I'd love to hear some more advise about using him.

Some questions to help with the advise: 1) what crews do you like him best in? 2) do you even try to keep people in his auras? or is just a nice bonus when it happens? 3) do people think he would work Zipp crew? (see what Tris said in quote) 4) is he just a little over rated?

Thanks for all of your advice and opinions every little bit helps

P.S @Joel you ran Killjoy with Zipp?! Neat! how did that turn out? it's certainly not a model I would have thought to use in a Zipp crew

[Joel]

1 hour ago, frostwolf428 said:

P.S @Joel you ran Killjoy with Zipp?! Neat! how did that turn out? it's certainly not a model I would have thought to use in a Zipp crew

Yep, it can make opponents less interested in killing things, and as you can explode pigs easily, he's reliable when it comes to table position 

[Four_N_Six]

2 hours ago, frostwolf428 said:

I'm only just starting with Gremlins so I don't know them as well as Arcanists or have had as much practice with them. I think old cranky looks AWESOME on paper, but when I try to use him he kind of falls flat, being able to get a card is always handy but for 4ss I feel i should be getting a little more out of him then that. 
I'd love to hear some more advise about using him.

Some questions to help with the advise: 1) what crews do you like him best in? 2) do you even try to keep people in his auras? or is just a nice bonus when it happens? 3) do people think he would work Zipp crew? (see what Tris said in quote) 4) is he just a little over rated?

Thanks for all of your advice and opinions every little bit helps

P.S @Joel you ran Killjoy with Zipp?! Neat! how did that turn out? it's certainly not a model I would have thought to use in a Zipp crew

 

I run Old Cranky with Wong definitely, because I also run Sammy with Wong, so I'm getting 2 cards every time Cranky activates.  Wong also utilizes the kill effect for a soul stone extremely well.

He runs with Mah Tucket for the same reason, she kills stuff so she gets stones back.  I try to keep him near my master, to keep them protected with his aura.  It's much harder to do with Mah Tucket because of how mobile she is, but there are ways around it.  He doesn't necessarily need his AP for much else other than walking.  I've also considered using an Iron Skeeter to keep him around, and just have the Skeeter with the Piano upgrade so that it doesn't need to be in the thick of it to be effective itself.

My killy Brewmaster list is going to also use Old Cranky instead of Wesley.  I have a combo I'm going to try with Mancha Roja and Old Cranky near Brewmaster, so I'm stuck leaving Wesley out, which I almost never do.  Besides, Cranky's gun isn't too bad if you can connect with it.  Having stuff with Swill can make sure he's hitting.  Wesley might be better in that regard just because he can use Brewmaster's Ca actions, but the idea of the build is to debuff the enemy and then murder them hard, so I need Cranky's protection and gun.

I think he'd do well in a Zipp crew, having that skeeter to move him around.  The only reason I go against that is because I get so much use from Earl, and I'm never hurting for the extra stones to leave Earl out.  Making sure Zipp has his masks built in is far too valuable.  Even if I'm only considering the mask on Zipp's attack actions, you have to look at it as a trade-off.  If you didn't have Earl to give the masks, then you'd have to assume you'll be burning soul stones to get the mask at least some of the time.  So that's saving me actual soul stones, plus the masks it gives him to his Df trigger as well.

[frostwolf428]

@Four_N_Six do you worry at all about blasts with that? since your are keeping 2+ models within 3" of each other. Also I see a mistake i was making I was trying to give is aura to as many people as possible, but it sounds like you pick someone (mostly your master) and he just follows them were ever they go.

 

[Four_N_Six]

46 minutes ago, frostwolf428 said:

@Four_N_Six do you worry at all about blasts with that? since your are keeping 2+ models within 3" of each other. Also I see a mistake i was making I was trying to give is aura to as many people as possible, but it sounds like you pick someone (mostly your master) and he just follows them were ever they go.

 

I haven't had any blast issues, but I think that's a thing with my meta.  Those types of masters don't show up quite that often.  A friend of mine plays Raspy and that's hurt pretty hard before, but it's few and far between.

Merris can be an easy counter to that if it's a concern, and then have her scheme run when she can.  Her ability to stack the deck is pretty valuable anyways.

The issue you had is the same one I had to overcome with Brewmaster.  Don't try to get everyone in it, just pick one or two key models that can be there and do it that way.   on your master's Df is worth the stones for the game, I think.  In addition to cycling cards and getting soul stones back.  Some games he only protects one model, and that usually works out fine as well.  As long as you're making him worth it over the course of the game with the cards and other abilities he can give you.  Depending on the master I try to have at least 2 models in it.

When I run him with Mah, it's mostly to get soul stones back, so I can get her 1 AP Charge off.  The one game I tried to have him protecting Mah and Mancha Roja, he was exposed and got taken out.  Sometimes it's alright to leave him in range of 1 person.

[Dogmantra]

1 hour ago, Four_N_Six said:

When I run him with Mah, it's mostly to get soul stones back, so I can get her 1 AP Charge off.  The one game I tried to have him protecting Mah and Mancha Roja, he was exposed and got taken out.  Sometimes it's alright to leave him in range of 1 person.

I like him a lot with Mah - I tend to also bring Lenny for the extra to make her 1AP charges a lot easier, and between her pushes and Lenny's, they can keep Old Cranky up near the action without being too exposed (hide him behind Lenny)

[Four_N_Six]

19 hours ago, Dogmantra said:

I like him a lot with Mah - I tend to also bring Lenny for the extra to make her 1AP charges a lot easier, and between her pushes and Lenny's, they can keep Old Cranky up near the action without being too exposed (hide him behind Lenny)

Yeah, I was wanting to try the Lenny trick with Mah.  Got about a week left to get it off now.

[Scalpelexis]

I played a game with Zipp using the local Henchman's models, and at a 35as game I had some success with a Wild Boar. Now, I'm a new player, so take that with a grain of salt, but the boar was awesome against all his various summoned creatures (he played Leveticus). Between Earl and Zipp, you have tons of ways to deliver the Wild Boar, making sure to give him a good charge lane. Neck, you can use from the Shadows to put him behind a building, and then Up We Go from Zipp to "place" him on the other side, and chances are he'll end up healing most of the damage anyways. Additionally, his positive twist on Attacks out of his Activation means that he's really good at denying movement, while Zipp and his Sky Pirates are dominating the field with their superior speed. In Scheme heavy games, you can really abuse all the pushes to make sure the Wild Boar gets to use his 0 push 4'' next to a Scheme and eat it ability, cause it's rather good, and it even works well with the First Mate.

[Joel]

Sounds like he has strong synergy, and it would be nice to see the wild boars on the table as you rarely do.

ill take a look - thanks for the post ?

[EpicWaffle]

3 hours ago, Scalpelexis said:

I played a game with Zipp using the local Henchman's models, and at a 35as game I had some success with a Wild Boar. Now, I'm a new player, so take that with a grain of salt, but the boar was awesome against all his various summoned creatures (he played Leveticus). Between Earl and Zipp, you have tons of ways to deliver the Wild Boar, making sure to give him a good charge lane. Neck, you can use from the Shadows to put him behind a building, and then Up We Go from Zipp to "place" him on the other side, and chances are he'll end up healing most of the damage anyways. Additionally, his positive twist on Attacks out of his Activation means that he's really good at denying movement, while Zipp and his Sky Pirates are dominating the field with their superior speed. In Scheme heavy games, you can really abuse all the pushes to make sure the Wild Boar gets to use his 0 push 4'' next to a Scheme and eat it ability, cause it's rather good, and it even works well with the First Mate.

That's actually a really good idea, I'll test it as soon as I can, thanks for sharing

[Joel]

So, after taking a break from Zipp for 6-7 weeks, I brought him to a 44 player 3-round event yesterday, his first under 2017 gaining grounds schemes

I managed 3 wins and took 2nd overall (1 VPdiff behind my clubmate)

game 1 I tried accusation and mark for death against a 10T McCabe crew in intereference.  I managed all 3 mark for death points and got the strategy points too, but got nothing for accusation as I was killing models too quickly and that was forcing his activation order.

highlights of this game were Gracie markimg mccabe for death on his horse, killing it, then marking mccabe on foot and killing him again. Also seeing yamaziko struggle with stuffed piglets as she was too honourable to kill them off.

 

game 2 I tried Tail 'em and frame for murder against Sandeep in Collect the Bounty.  I managed to get all my points for frame (taxidermist) and got 2 of the 3 from tail 'em as we didn't finish all 5 turns and we blocked each other on strategy points each turn.  Earl turns out to be very handy for tail 'em as zipp can get him into position with ease.

highlights were my opponent making Carlos incorporeal and armour 2 - then watching zipp drop him twice where the damage couldn't be reduced - and place him right into a gracie/taxidermist tag team.

 

game 3 I went for undercover entourage (zipp - althought I almost put it on first mate instead) and leave your mark against the Viks in Headhunter.  I got all my points for entourage (although zipp was on his last legs after the viks went after him with RJ damage) and 2 for leave your mark when the game ended (again we didn't get 5 turns in).  I didn't manage to pick up any heads though.

 

highlights here include zipp having the RJ in hand twice and using it each time to drop a piano (with the ram for pos flip damage once and a focus the next) on a trapper, squashing them both.  Narrowly escaping death from the viks return RJ damage and then stoning to stay alive in the last activation.

 

My crews for the first 2 games were identical

 

zipp (gab, diatribe, hovering)

earl burns

gracie (saddle)

taxidermist (dirty cheater)

2 ronin

4 stuffed piglets

 

in the last game I went with:

 

zipp (gab, diatribe, hovering)

earl burns

first mate (captain can't see, poorly-handled explosives)

taxidemist (dirty cheater)

burt jebsen (dirty cheater)

ronin

4 stuffed piglets

 

More importantly though, I had a smile back on my face - and I don't see myself taking a break from zipp anytime soon now.  Next up for me is swine-cursed.  I wonder when they release..???

 

Joel

[Math Mathonwy]

59 minutes ago, Joel said:

Next up for me is swine-cursed.  I wonder when they release..???

According to Wayland (yeah, I know, but I kinda trust them in this case), in 35 days: http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/the-gremlins/38751-swine-cursed

Thank you for the report! Much apprecaite again. And a fine showing, for sure!

[Joel]

thanks for the link and timing   I'll hold off on making proxies then if they are that close.  I can be patient.

[Joel]

A list I'm going to try soon is a pig-based Zipp list (or Zipp-lix if you prefer) - based of a bit of fluff I wrote in my head about an on-board argument between the taxidermist and sparks about whose pigs were better, so Zipp decides a field test will sort it out!!

Are you #teamsparks or #teamtaxi??

Zipp (upgrades)

Earl

Sparks

2 mechanized porkchops

Taxidermist

Gracie

2 stuffed piglets

should be a laugh

[Obeisance]

I'm using a Mech Skeeter to ferry Burt. Requires a 5+ of Tomes for him to get Fast.

Also, anyone playing with Poorly Handled Explosives? Seems like an interesting way to get Scheme markers down.

[Obeisance]

Generally I run:

Zipp - Diatribe, Gift of the Gab +/- Dirty Cheater. 5-7 cache.

Earl

Frank - Stilts

Burt - Dirty Cheater

Merris

Mech Skeeter - Trying random upgrades. in like 5 games with Airship, he didn't use it once. Everything is always engaged or he is.

3-5 Stuffed Piglets

0-1 Lightning Bug

0-2 Bayou Gremlins

I'm winning more than I'm losing. I haven't tried Taxidermist or Gracie yet.

[Joel]

I use it mostly for that purpose - dropping things off stuffed piglets who have moved to the right places.

If I use an iron skeeter its for such ferrying - but I often find I'm then stuck for things for the skeeter to do.  I am usually taking them based on the terrain I'm playing on.

I tried airship on things other than zipp but moved it back - makes him more of a threat and can give him the ability to move while killing things - golden for zipp.

 

 

[Somnicide]

#teamtaxi

[EpicWaffle]

7 hours ago, Joel said:

A list I'm going to try soon is a pig-based Zipp list (or Zipp-lix if you prefer) - based of a bit of fluff I wrote in my head about an on-board argument between the taxidermist and sparks about whose pigs were better, so Zipp decides a field test will sort it out!!

Are you #teamsparks or #teamtaxi??

Zipp (upgrades)

Earl

Sparks

2 mechanized porkchops

Taxidermist

Gracie

2 stuffed piglets

should be a laugh

I have tried  the Mechanical and I must say it sure is a nice model ,not to be underestimated, although I must say #team taxi.

 

And since we're on topic, I've been messing with this list for a bunch of "schemes foucussed games" and it worked out pretty well for me (still undefeated) :

Zipp (diatribe, gab and the 3^ upgrade situational to the scenario) 7ss

Earl

1 mate (where the captain, treasure map/poorly handled explosives)

Fingers (this guy rocks some serious asses in gg2017)

Burt (dirty cheater)

Taxidermist/Mechanical

3x stuffed piglets

 

 

 

 

[wizuriel]

generally been liking

Zipp

-Liquid Bravery

-Gab

Earl (been having mixed luck with him, some games he has been essential just being a body and giving Zupp masks, other games he has been useless beyond being a body)

Fingers

-Dirty Cheater

-Hide in the mud depending on terrain

Trixie

Iron Skeeter (generally gets trixie / fingers in position than does schemes, hunters scheme runners or just flanks the enemy)

-Hovering airship 

Burt

-Dirty Cheater

Slop Hauler

Rooster Rider (or Swine Cursed if I use less upgrades)

[Joel]

I'm yet to try fingers - maybe I just haven't found the scheme pool for him...

[Je ne c'est LaCroix]

Did anyone try Aionus with Zipp? Seems like the old man might be sitting on a treasure clock?

With Stolen Time he can keep up with the mobility of the crew.

Already some Slow flying about so he can add in some more or capitalise with +1 dmg and ignore Armor.

Can hand out fast to most of the crew with 4s, 7s and 8s.

Seems GG2017 is quite scheme markery so will definitely get amongst it.

He can (0) move Exhaust or Smoke markers 6" which must be fun (although at the cost of a potentially Fasting Skeeter taxi tome) or maybe scrap markers into range for the crew and maybe even stick a (0) enemy scheme marker next to the First Mate to plunder for Loot.

He's a shade expensive (maybe have to drop a couple of Ronins) but might be fun in a schemey pool. Also my meta is about to go balls Sandeep so taking half damage from Ca seems like a plan. I've not tried him yet (in fact he's been in the case a while and yet to come out) but seems on paper a timely opportunity?

[Je ne c'est LaCroix]

@Joel - You've been going heavy on the Stuffed Piggies, I'm never too sure how to use them.

Is it just a case of get them to the action as soon as possible and try to cause some random mischief, maybe pop a couple in position to PHE some scheme markers, or is there a more defined plan for them?

[Dogmantra]

I think you try to keep them around to keep you activation control.

[DefyingReality]

I've had an odd amount of success using them to tie up key pieces in my opponent's crew. Charge them up into their faces and force them to either kill the piggies and have it blow up in their face (and not use AP on the rest of my crew!) or waste AP on trying to walk out of engagement, which for some reason has gone really well in terms of forcing lots of wasted AP.