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EpicWaffle

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Hello everybody! My gremlin collection is missing the Swamp witch, so I was thinking, is there anyone running a successful Grem-raida? I know she can do some nasty tricks with models that have 1ap charges, but aside from that I have some hard imo figuring out crew ideas with her (which is a pity cause I love the box models and  Will o' Wisps!), and how she would work with gremlins :) 

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Gremlins Zoraida is weird.   She doesn't really have any synergies with units, at least not in the traditional sense.  She can hire Swampfiends out of faction with an upgrade, and give them from the shadows, but outside of that she doesn't really grant or recieve benefits from putting swampfiends on the board.

Zoraida takes the role of a support master, giving out free attacks to big units via Obey and using her voodoo doll to shut down dangerous opponents.

Really, her ability to shut things down with the voodoo doll is the main things he provides over other Support Masters in gremlins.   You want to give things free attacks?  Somer and Ulix can both do it with pigs, and Ulix does it better (There's nothing quite like a ML 6 pig swinging for min damage 4 up to 7 times in a turn.  God bless Gracie.)  But no one has the control over enemy models that Zoraida does.

Which isn't to say you want to ignore her obey.   It's just not the reason to take her.    Rooster Riders are her best obey target, as they're the cheapest effective 1AP charge unit you have access to.   War Pigs are the other one you may consider if you want something big and tanky down the board, and if they kill something outside of their activation they can use eat their fill with no downside (As well as their tome trigger, for that matter.)

With voodoo doll, you have a couple options.   The first mate can slow and paralyze, Mancha can paralyze (on a trigger)  piglets and war pigs can slow.  Sammy also has Jynx which can provide a variety of conditions stopping movement, or making your opponent take lots of horror duels (Which probably won't paralyze things, but will certainly remove their hand allowing you to breathe a little safer)  And sammy even fits with Zoraida thematically.    Of course, you can always hire outside of faction, with Nurses being the traditional go-to for a free paralyze.

If you want to do damage through the voodoo doll, however, take Merris.   Burning 3 on the doll will not only give the hemmed enemy Burning 3, but when the doll takes 3 damage the opponent model will take 3 damage as well, meaning that if merris sets the voodoo doll on fire twice, you're looking at 12 damage down the board.    Which is really good (Although it took 2master AP, 2 of merris' AP, and hitting with a WP attack that most people view as a death sentence.)   I've been informed that Merris can only target enemy units, which renders this strategy moot.  Gremlins don't really have any other strong burning appliers, although you can take iggy from outcasts and set things on fire with him.

As for Zoraida's other swampfiend options... Bad juju can't take it's good upgrade in gremlins, and is best benched.    Cilurids deployed from the shadows make excellent scheme runners, and a single from the shadows waldgeist can easily deny your opponent a point on turn 2 as they have to deal with it before they can get to the center of the board for strategy purposes.   Is it worth the stones?   Maybe not.  But it's a tactic I've seen used with gremlins Zoraida.

And that ends all my useful advice.

 

HOWEVER, If you want to get REALLY REALLY stupid (this is a bad idea, don't do this)   You can use her to bring in support pieces from other factions to buff up one unit really strong.   Papa Loco gives out + to damage flips, and can then be obeyed up the board for bonus explosion purposes.   Or, if you hire a vodoo doll, he can hem papa loco and you can just walk him up the board with interact actions (Saves you some cards) Scion of Black Blood can also be brought in for condition removal used during another models activation.    And what unit does this buff?    The Pigapult.   Since it can remove the condition that stuffed piglets give it, it becomes a SH6 3/5/7 with + to damage flips (that it can cheat now)      Worth it?  Absolutely not.   Hilariously silly and/or rage inducing?  Oh yes.    I nuked lady justice off the board turn 1 a few months ago with this list and my opponent forfeigt right there out of anger.   Then we rematched and I did the same thing to perdita.   He probably would have won those games if we kept playing, since Zoraida was pretty much my only scheme runner.  But it was fun.

Edited by codingCaptor
Removing bad information
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1 hour ago, codingCaptor said:

If you want to do damage through the voodoo doll, however, take Merris.   Burning 3 on the doll will not only give the hemmed enemy Burning 3, but when the doll takes 3 damage the opponent model will take 3 damage as well, meaning that if merris sets the voodoo doll on fire twice, you're looking at 12 damage down the board.    Which is really good (Although it took 2master AP, 2 of merris' AP, and hitting with a WP attack that most people view as a death sentence.)

 

Doesn't work :(  Well, not in the way you describe.  Merris'  attack action specifically requires her to target enemy models, and the voodoo doll isn't one.   She can't light him on fire.

Iggy is WP 4 and will light your doll on fire all day though.  He ends up costing the same as Merris after the merc tax Zoraida is paying for bringing him, though he can't stack burning as high as easily as your hypothetical Merris.

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1 minute ago, codingCaptor said:

Well then.   TIL.

Thanks for the info!   Probably saved one me from an incredibly disappointed look from my local Henchman.

Believe me, Iggy is still plenty lethal even if he "only" stacks burning up to 4 or 5 over his typical turn (2 per attack, 3 if you get a tome on the flip/cheat).  I've had the IggyDoll combo remove Sybelle from the board in a single turn once she got up to 6 burning (opponent put two garbage tomes into his casts to get the doll to burning 6).

 

One thing I would add is that if you're giving a serious look at Grem-raida, BRING TWO WILL O' WISPS.  They are amazing for getting the doll on the board, and general shenanigans with Zoraida, and you want 2 because your opponent will murder 1 of them immediately.  (Also, they're dirt cheap to field)

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Thanks both for the advices :) She seem to be quite interesting but at the same time kinda wierd :| i guess she can work out pretty well in the right hands, and offers control in quite a unique way (maybe Brewie can do something similar?) , but seem to do so with a lot of set up! I'll try to think off some strategies and see if it's worth investing in her :) 

 

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28 minutes ago, daniello_s said:

Have anyone one tried 'Poison bomb' with Doll, Trixie and Performer? Doll Hem's opponent. Trixie uses her '0' AP action to stack as much Poison on Doll and Hemmed opponent as possible and then Performer uses Siren's Call on Doll and then enemy model.

OTOH you could just have e.g. Pere Ravage blow up on or Lazarus shoot onto the Doll and blast onto an enemy model.

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9 hours ago, Flinroz said:

Here is a write-up I did after taking 2nd at LVO using exclusively gremlin Zoraida.

https://flinroz.wordpress.com/2017/02/09/my-experiences-with-zoraida/

Awesome! I'll give it a read ASAP! Thanks :) 

edit: @Flinroz, I took a look at your post and it's been really useful :) gave me a bunch of good ideas :) 

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Zoraida is my favourite Gremlin Master. She is awesome. It's true!

I'm currently playing her in a slow grow league which is fun (my list for the first round, due to the limitation imposed by the format, was Zoraida with Crystal Ball, Sammy, an 8SS Merc Silurid and three Roosters).

Her synergies are less obvious than with other Masters and she takes a bit more to make her sing but I do think she is hugely underrated and vastly better than, e.g., Brewmaster.

The thing I love about her is that whenever there is a problem on the board, you can activate her and solve the problem. Her toolbox is just insanely deep. Oftentimes simply Obeying an enemy model to Walk can deny the opponent VP.

She is also amazing in amplifying your models. You can have models all over the place but then apply big pressure from her boost into a specific small area when needed.

Gracie with Saddle hauling around Lenny is pretty potent with Z. Obey allows the Saddle to work (unlike Pushes) and Nurses can heal Lenny nicely. Finally, she can Obey Lenny back into position when the opponent messes with him due to his low Wp. Synergy!

Waldgeists can be fun - Gremlins don't have anything with nearly their staying power so taking three and deplying them From the Shadows can be a horrid surprise to the opponent if they know what to generally expect from the faction.

Sammy's Jynx of Twisted Mind on a Voodoo Doll can be super annoying as the Doll can fail the test pretty easily. Preferably have the Hemmed model activate first and only then Paralyze it with the Doll's failure.

And don't forget Bewitch! It can be an amazing weapon when properly wielded. I once Bewitched a Pandora and drew eight cards from it. In one game I Bewitched a pair of Punk Zombies who decided to pass their turns rather than Flurry (or do something else) effectively Paralyzing them.

But she does have weaknesses. Seamus just about autowins against her, basically, as he can kill her absolutely trivially. All Snipers are very bad news for her in general. Though doe note that she can heal herself by Obeying a Nurse (you get Paralyzed which merely ends you Activation - not a big deal if you do it on your last AP). She is also impervious to Charges unless the model gets positives twists somehow and her Wp is naturally ridiculous. So she is squishy in weird ways.

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19 hours ago, EpicWaffle said:

Awesome! I'll give it a read ASAP! Thanks :) 

edit: @Flinroz, I took a look at your post and it's been really useful :) gave me a bunch of good ideas :) 

Glad you liked it. Zoraida has become my go to master if I am trying to win.

 

1 hour ago, Math Mathonwy said:

The thing I love about her is that whenever there is a problem on the board, you can activate her and solve the problem. 

This, so much this. It gives you so much flexibility if you activate her late in the turn. You can make all kinds of risk moves, and awesome plays when you know that the model you are using potentially is going to get more AP later from Zoraida. 

Double walking, but knowing that you'll still get to drop a scheme marker. Charging the guy with hard to kill, knowing you'll get another attack for that last wound. So many options! In my head I rarely consider what Zoriada will be doing what she activates, because I consider where I would like to have more AP on the board haha

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On 02/03/2017 at 1:26 AM, codingCaptor said:

Gremlins Zoraida is weird.   She doesn't really have any synergies with units, at least not in the traditional sense.  She can hire Swampfiends out of faction with an upgrade, and give them from the shadows, but outside of that she doesn't really grant or recieve benefits from putting swampfiends on the board.

Adding swamp fiends to Gremlins is a benefit/synergy in itself. Gremlins don't normally have the staying power offered by waldgeists for example, and Silurids are a bit more durable than angry chickens as scheme runners and thanks to their leap, they're at least as good as equally costed gremlin runners. Nurses also offer a significant benefit to Gremlins. Firstly because of the control they offer for their own crew (making piglets take drugs turns them into excellent dirt cheap scheme runners) as well as the ability to paralyze the biggest enemy beater if needs be. Moon shinobi can also be turned up to 11 with her (give them +2 melee damage, armour 2 and plus flips to everything and watch them beat the snot out things).

On 02/03/2017 at 1:26 AM, codingCaptor said:

Zoraida takes the role of a support master, giving out free attacks to big units via Obey and using her voodoo doll to shut down dangerous opponents.

She also gets card draw and turns Sammy into a magnificent scheme runner/denier.

 

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The spawn mother becomes really good with wisps. Pumping out a gupp a turn can be really annoying to your opponent. Especially if you can turn them into Silurids off their trigger. The other thing is using the spawn mother to give +2 Charge to all models in 6" upping Rooster Riders threat range to 17".

They are also great against shooty crews (specifically Austringers and Thunder Archers) with their Perfect Camouflage and Silent abilities.

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You guys are really making it hard for me to resist purchasing the swamp hag box xD

Just to give me a general idea of what I should need what models are a must with her? Considering I have all gremlins models aside gators. I guess Tavish is good for his natural synergy, roosters as you guys stated are pretty easy one to spot; I think that the First mate can do some cool stuff with her, considering it's both a support and a scheme runner.  Any other "core"? Also I love so much the spawn mother models so I think I'll get it just because of how cool it looks *.*

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38 minutes ago, EpicWaffle said:

You guys are really making it hard for me to resist purchasing the swamp hag box xD

Just to give me a general idea of what I should need what models are a must with her? Considering I have all gremlins models aside gators. I guess Tavish is good for his natural synergy, roosters as you guys stated are pretty easy one to spot; I think that the First mate can do some cool stuff with her, considering it's both a support and a scheme runner.  Any other "core"? Also I love so much the spawn mother models so I think I'll get it just because of how cool it looks *.*

I would say Wisps are a must for Zoraida. Though do remember that their 'copy a friendly models (2) action' only works with Neverborn models (of which Zoraida and Spawn mother both are).

After that, though not quite a must but I would recommend getting a nurse. The ability to shut down opponents models whilst buffing your own is so strong.

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1 hour ago, EpicWaffle said:

@feagaur So Nurse over iggy in your opinion? 

I'm not feagaur but I think so. Even though Iggy is nice I think that he is a bit expensive with the Merc tax. He is the best at stacking Burning but I really don't have problems messing up Hemmed targets without him.

I think that the absolute core for Zoraida is pretty small but she can build a huge variety of different lists. My favourite funny list is double Nurse+Moon Shinobi with Piglets and Lenny+Trixie. Not the most competitive but really fun. Three Waldgeists really changes the character of a list. Gracie + Lenny I already mentioned. Spawn Mother is interesting (remember to take McTavish in this case). First Mate, Fingers, Sammy - all have their place. And so on and so forth - the list goes on.

Oh, and remember Wisp's Call and Animal Form - a funny combo.

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@EpicWaffle I my opinion yes. The Nurse brings so much more. She can be offensive or buff your crew. Iggy is mostly about offense and so wants to get closer to the opposing crew so he can use his burning tricks. The nurse is quite happy to sit at the back and hand out whatever is required. +2walk first turn, then +2 damage to her own troops. Or casting the paralyze heal on the voodoo doll once people have already done some damage to it.

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50 SS Gremlins Crew
Zoraida + 5 Pool
 - Crystal Ball (2)
 - Hex Bag (1)
 - Tarot Reading (2)
McTavish (10)
Spawn Mother (9)
 - Do Over (1)
Moon Shinobi (6)
Moon Shinobi (6)
Nurse (6)
Will O' The Wisp (3)
Will O' The Wisp (3)
 
 So something like his could be a good idea to start off? I generally prefer to have a couple of models to start off when I'm trying new masters 

 

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