Gremlin mercs

[Dogmantra]

There's a few mercenaries in gremlins, and mostly I'm wondering who has used them out of faction and to what end. I recently started 10 thunders and I'd like to do a fast reactivating Gracie with recalled training and the elixir of life.

Any other good uses? Other than the obviously broken Nellie with four Hog Whisperers.

[Blacks85]

The most broken thing I've tried is the "well-balanced" Burt Jebsen with recalled training fasted and pushed with Shen-Long.

Have fun to deal with him

4 AP with + to everything....

 

 

[wizuriel]

3 hours ago, Dogmantra said:

Other than the obviously broken Nellie with four Hog Whisperers.

I'm not familiar with hog whisperers so what is the issue there? 

[Dogmantra]

5 hours ago, wizuriel said:

I'm not familiar with hog whisperers so what is the issue there? 

Ok so imagine one hog whisperer. Now picture two. That's the limit for most non-gremlins. DOUBLE IT. That's the amount of hog whisperer Nellie gets. OP. (it's just a joke tbh because the fact they're mercs seems kind of odd*)

*I know why they're mercs, it's to make sure that if e.g. Marcus hires pigs out of faction he has a way of keeping them under control, but I still find it funny.

 

5 hours ago, Blacks85 said:

The most broken thing I've tried is the "well-balanced" Burt Jebsen with recalled training fasted and pushed with Shen-Long.

Have fun to deal with him

4 AP with + to everything....

Yeah this is definitely something I would like to do too. I guess if you're bringing Shenlong you could also benefit from focus as a (0)!

[Flinroz]

I won a translucent Pandora crew at a tournament a while back.

 

Gonna be playing it for the first time this weekend, and Burt's Crackerjack Timing seems like a great way to force a bunch of horror duels for Misery 

[EnternalVoid]

I have not done it yet but I am thinking of taking a Gracie with Marcus just to have a model activate 3 times in a turn thanks to Alpha and Reactivate.

I have seen McTavish used as a merc a couple times.  I have seen him with Jack Daw before to use that Aura that presents people from Focusing so they cannot get around his Oldest Magic as easy.  Also seen him with Guild before so that Papa could give him the positive damage to make his gun scarier.  I imagine with Nellie also able to give him Fast and drop scheme markers for him McTavish might not be a bad shooter for her.

I have hired a Hog Whisperer out of faction before when I needed a model with 3 AP and a 5" walk for a story scenario.  Caught my opponent by surprise.

[Nikodemus]

After a few more in-faction boxes I might consider mercs. Here's what I've been theorising while planning out my purchases.

Burt in Ten Thunders sounds mean. Crackerjack timing alone could be worth it even if our buffs can make him quite bonkers overall. 8ss + upgrade doesn't seem unreasonable, though it starts competing with very viable in-faction stuff.

Gracie is on my to-get list as I love the model. At 11ss before upgrade I reckon she might be a bit too expensive to ever be optimal pick. Still, Recalled Training + fast shenanigans for a potentially 5-6AP round on plus flips is nothing to sneeze at. Or slap a +WP upgrade on her for hilarity in certain match-ups. That one's definitely a joke build.

I don't know how to feel about McTavish. Again I like the model but at 11ss without Gremlin synergies I'm not sure if he's worth it. TT has guns aplenty, but he does ignore cover and engagements. Might be something to look at once I get Misaki painted up.

[Dogmantra]

5 hours ago, Nikodemus said:

I don't know how to feel about McTavish. Again I like the model but at 11ss without Gremlin synergies I'm not sure if he's worth it. TT has guns aplenty, but he does ignore cover and engagements. Might be something to look at once I get Misaki painted up.

See I don't know if he's worth it in TT (although of course recalled training mctavish would be amazing... I think as a general rule recalled training on mercs is good), but I feel like he's probably the gremlin faction model who cares the least about not being taken in faction - his main weaknesses imo are lack of reckless and lack of gremlin/pig characteristic so he can't benefit from things like slop hauler healing. Out of faction neither of those are really an issue (I mean of course only 2 AP is still worse than 3, but it's not necessarily comparitively worse than other model options).

[Nikodemus]

Yeah everyone likes plus flips. McTavish does go against my preference for giving Recalled Training to models that can get 3AP's worth of actions before being fast'ed, which Burt, Gracie and TT beaters can do. I'm ignoring his (0) that can result in a ml attack, as that seems a bit niche and I'm not really hiring him for his ml attack. Wonky triggers aside I can get better for cheaper in-faction.

But that's a damn fine gun and I love my character models with rustic charm. And hey, he could make a good blot-the-sky/archer platform seeing as I don't own Sidir or Fuhatsu. And I'm sure Misaki+Lone Swordsman tag team appreciates not getting shot while engaged. Suboptimal? Probably. Cool beans? Heck yeah.

Maybe I'll treat myself a gator for Christmas. We'll see.

[EnternalVoid]

1 hour ago, Nikodemus said:

Yeah everyone likes plus flips. McTavish does go against my preference for giving Recalled Training to models that can get 3AP's worth of actions before being fast'ed, which Burt, Gracie and TT beaters can do. I'm ignoring his (0) that can result in a ml attack, as that seems a bit niche and I'm not really hiring him for his ml attack. Wonky triggers aside I can get better for cheaper in-faction.

But that's a damn fine gun and I love my character models with rustic charm. And hey, he could make a good blot-the-sky/archer platform seeing as I don't own Sidir or Fuhatsu. And I'm sure Misaki+Lone Swordsman tag team appreciates not getting shot while engaged. Suboptimal? Probably. Cool beans? Heck yeah.

Maybe I'll treat myself a gator for Christmas. We'll see.

Here let me help you a bit with McTavish, that (0) Gator Snack... it says (1) Attack Action, not Ml Attack Action.  Meaning it can trigger a gunshot or a gator attack.  When I use him I am often getting three gun attacks with him early in the game as I can drop schemes or such to get Gator Snack off and drop a ram for it.  So he could very well be a model with 3 AP worth of actions before being Fast just like the others, just his requires another model to likely drop an AP for a scheme marker *but you could easily with Wandering River Style push McTavish and the scheme marker into position*.

[Sordid Strumpet]

On 26/10/2016 at 6:45 AM, Dogmantra said:

Ok so imagine one hog whisperer. Now picture two. That's the limit for most non-gremlins. DOUBLE IT. That's the amount of hog whisperer Nellie gets. OP. (it's just a joke tbh because the fact they're mercs seems kind of odd*)

*I know why they're mercs, it's to make sure that if e.g. Marcus hires pigs out of faction he has a way of keeping them under control, but I still find it funny.

 

Yeah this is definitely something I would like to do too. I guess if you're bringing Shenlong you could also benefit from focus as a (0)!

Meh, he can do that in Gremlins too In fact, in Gremlins he can get min. damage 4 (5 if you have a high ram in hand), 4 AP and to attack flips ignoring armour, hard to kill and incorporeal.

You just need the mechanized porkchop and Sparks and a 6 of tomes in hand (plus another 6 of anything), then charge from within 3" of the porkchop.

The beauty is that this combination isn't even terribly gimmicky as Burt is plenty hitty without any of those buffs, sparks can make the porkchop or a rooster fast instead if Burt isn't around and the porkchops walking rage machine combines wonderfully with the rooster's 1AP charge as well - it can move, place a scheme marker and then charge something with +flips.

[Dogmantra]

8 hours ago, Sordid Strumpet said:

Meh, he can do that in Gremlins too In fact, in Gremlins he can get min. damage 4 (5 if you have a high ram in hand), 4 AP and to attack flips ignoring armour, hard to kill and incorporeal.

You just need the mechanized porkchop and Sparks and a 6 of tomes in hand (plus another 6 of anything), then charge from within 3" of the porkchop.

The beauty is that this combination isn't even terribly gimmicky as Burt is plenty hitty without any of those buffs, sparks can make the porkchop or a rooster fast instead if Burt isn't around and the porkchops walking rage machine combines wonderfully with the rooster's 1AP charge as well - it can move, place a scheme marker and then charge something with +flips.

All true, although Recalled Training gives s to damage flips too, and just bringing Sensei Yu + Burt with Recalled Training is a much smaller investment

[Sordid Strumpet]

Burt sure is a fantastic mercenary

[Math Mathonwy]

14 hours ago, Nikodemus said:

I'm not really hiring him for his ml attack. Wonky triggers aside I can get better for cheaper in-faction.

3" Ml reach is pretty nice, his damage track isn't actually bad and his Aura can be very annoying. Sure, getting him into melee isn't my number one priority usually but you shouldn't discount that. Also, in melee he often gets snacks for his gator easier.

[Nikodemus]

Certainly. I didn't want to imply that his ml is bad. But TT has 3'' melee beatsticks, with as good or better damage track. With access to a third action without having to flip or cheat a specific suit. All without a merc tax.

Without a spiffy gun or an instakill trigger either admittedly...

[Nikodemus]

Thought I'd give some first impressions. Recently played four games as Ten Thunders. Used Gracie in three of them. First time fielding her.

That old lady really earned her keep! She died twice but drained a lot of resources each time. Armour+2, hard to kill, her own healing and Shenlong's healing make for a durable piece. She lasted a couple of rounds eating a lot of AP from Collodi/Lazarus combo, latter had an armour ignoring upgrade.

In terms of upgrades I tried Recalled Training (discard for +flip until end of turn, it was as good as expected). I also tried Equality (card draw/scheme/heal when opponent scores), it's not discarded and I figured heal would be useful in a Show of Force scenario. I think that one has potential, but armour ignoring opponents can turn her into bacon before it pays off. I also had Death Contract on her (face down, doesn't count against limit, basically an instakill trigger against the model that kills the upgrade bearer). DC was a fun gotcha after my opponent had poured a lot of resources into killing her, but I don't think she has any special synergy with that one. More often I'd expect opponents to just ignore Gracie if possible, wasting the upgrade.

So, worth her stones in TT? Just on first impressions I have to agree with past me and say that for 11ss I have more optimal alternatives in faction. Unique to Gracie is her combo of Armour+2, Hard to Kill and Eat Your Fill. I don't think anything in faction has all three, though she does pay for that by having only 8 wounds. But while her damage track is good, charge 6 and engagement of 1 are really low when looking at TT beaters, though reactivate helps that somewhat. Probably best used in take & hold scenarios where her low threat range matters less and stacked defensive abilities pay off. That said I'm willing to pay extra for class and plan to use her more in the future. Onwards and upwards! Oink oink!

Now that I have Gracie I'm eyeing Burt as a logical next buy. And he's a lot more in-line price wise with TT natives. Interested to see if those two work as a pair out of faction.