Shifting Loyalties: Joss

[Masquer]

I'd like to run Arcanist Constructs for Shifting Loyalties next month, and I'd like an outside perspective for some starting arsenals I'm considering.

Joss (10)
-Arcane Reservoir  (2)
M. Rider/Langston (12)
Arcane Effigy (4)
Large Arachnid  (6)
1 Scrip 

Joss (10)
-Arcane Reservoir (2)
M. Rider/Langston (12)
Johan (7)
with
Mobile Toolkit (3)
1 Scrip
or 
Arcane Effigy (4)

I'm aware that Mechanical Rider is preferred over Langston in campaign due to her summoning. 
 

[spooky_squirrel]

I have a couple of thoughts:

The first is you're going to have an extremely low model count, so I would lean towards the Mechanical Rider. If you break open your Shifting Loyalties copy and take a look at the faction-specific stuff, like bounties and bounty rewards, you'll want to consider how you will accomplish those bounties. It's also extremely handy to be able to summon in a construct that can shore up a weakness in the list.

The second is while you have the book open, look at the barter rewards and system. If you skew hard to armor, your opponents will be able to counter your low model count and reliance on armor with some savvy equipment and skill purchases, as well as their week n + 1 hires, where week n is this week. These hires could be things that ignore armor or get buffs against constructs. So Johan is going to be someone you'll want to think about for healing purposes, especially if you're summoning in Metal Gamin or Steam Arachnids off of the Mech Rider. It's also a good idea to have some condition clearing. My first opponent this week managed to keep his stuff alive a turn longer by paralyzing Kang with the Widow Weaver before Kang activated, thus denying me going to town with his Whomping Shovel (modeled with the sledge hammer) for that turn.

That all being said, Joss, Johan, and Mech Rider come in at 29 stones without any upgrades. You have 6 more stones for another activation and a single upgrade. With Johan already bringing condition clearing and a little healing and Mech Rider not benefiting or helping the M&SU synergy, you might want to consider bringing in something that will work off of M&SU interplay.
It might not be a bad idea to consider a Union Miner (one man Claim Jump if nothing else). He doesn't rely on armor, can go into combat and ignore triggers (like Joss) and benefits from being around other M&SU models (like Johan), and has companion as well as being able to hand out burning as a ranged attack. With Companion, the Miner can rush in to finish off anything that Joss or Johan leave at near dead--with baked in positives because of the M&SU synergies. Similarly, he can charge in to clear out chaff units that are keeping you from sending either the Arc Axe or Relic Hammer after something more deserving of its attention. This will leave you with only one stone for upgrades--which I personally would use on Recharge Soulstone over some of the other choices, given the lethality of Joss and Johan. It gives you soulstones to burn on things like cards, initiative, and keeping Joss alive long enough for Johan to heal him above Hard to Kill. If I go pure construct, I love bringing Open Current because putting my opponent on negatives on Df helps me get the hits I need.

If you want to stay in theme on constructs, 4 stones into a Steam Arachnid leaves you 2 stones for Arcane Reservoir and gives you something that can reduce your opponent's Df stat, allowing Johan and Joss to get more work done. Especially if you want to use Joss' (2) attack for any reason (cough 5/8/10 cough).

However, barring some intensive work at Ramos' facility, Johan is still not a construct--so for purely thematic play, your first list preserves the theme handily. Just be mindful of the fact that some things will run roughshod over it.
For instance, don't let Kang with a pair of Katanaka Snipers get LOS to your Mech Rider in turn 1. No cover in the world will save you from their shooting: they have a baked in positive, she's a construct so they'll have positives on attack and damage from being near Kang, and they can spend their first AP focusing, giving them a triple positive on the shot and double positive on the damage. If you don't flip/cheat a tome, one shot from each can leave you with a 12 stone scrap marker two activations into the first turn, from 28" away. Joss is at least tough enough to soak those shots without relying on a defensive trigger.

[Masquer]

I'd have to get lucky farming Lucky Misses to get Construct on Johan.

I like Open Current, enough to take it over Johan. I'm only taking Arcane Reservoir up front to save on scrip later.

I'll make sure to keep the Mechanical Rider out of scope.

 

[spooky_squirrel]

If you take Open Current and drop Johan in exchange, definitely bring the Effigy. Every condition counts. I'm using a December Acolyte to hand out Slow as fast as possible, and other players in my local meta are looking to hand out things like Paralyze. If the only thing your Effigy does during a turn is remove slow or paralyze from Joss and walk towards a scoring position, it has done far more work than a 4 stone model should at this point level.

That leaves you look at a core of Joss (OC), Effigy, and Mech Rider, for a cost of 27 stones. That's a much happier place to be activation-wise. It's a lot easier to keep the Mech Rider out of sight until after the biggest (and earliest) threats have activated if you have several other activations to burn through. With 8 stones remaining, that's a couple 4 stone constructs (or one 4-stone and the Toolkit).

 

Otherwise, I can see having the upgrade in early so that you're not lamenting over it later when you're already having to drop 15 scrip into hiring Ramos without any upgrades. As for farming Lucky Misses, you can cheat the injury if you still have your barter hand left. If your campaign is using the Hideout optional rule, the lab gives you some shenanigans as well.

[Masquer]

Arcane Effigy is defintely on the roster, went out and purchased one yesterday.

In that Open Current set-up, a Rail Worker could be hired with the Mobile Toolkit. How do you feel about Rail Workers?

Taking Arcane Reservoir early saves 2 scrip, but my ideal for Joss is Open Current and Bleeding Edge Tech. I suppose I can grab it later, it is an eight week campaign.

Open Current would certainly make it easier for Johan to start flipping for injuries. Of course, Ramos turns everyone into Constructs with his Manifest Event.

[spooky_squirrel]

I love Rail Workers so much I'm using a pair of them in my campaign arsenal. In normal games I've had Rail Workers kill things like Teddy (in Mei Feng list, with Kang nearby making them immune to horror and granting them additional positives on attack and damage). They are one of the models where you don't honestly need to worry a whole lot about what your min damage is because you have a (0) to put yourself on positives on attack and damage for the rest of the turn. Anything that happens during that turn to give you additional actions/activation carry that bonus. They get a lot of work done for a 5 stone minion. They also tend to take 2 high quality AP or 3 midling AP to remove from the table. If you have something like Bleeding Edge Tech, if your opponent doesn't take them all the way down in an activation, it's going to take them 2 more AP to stop them after their next activation. If your opponent does ignore armor (and/or damage reduction), then it's not quite as much effort to remove them, but it's still not a single shot unless it's a moderate damage flip from Joss. If my opponent is running Joss, however, that's when I'll focus on the fact I can paralyze, push, and slow things within my crew's abilities.

[Masquer]

Thanks for all your help, I'm excited to bring the workshopped arsenal to the table. 

[bertmac]

One thing I would say is you can take the generic bounty award which lets you summon the effigy as a 0 from a 2ss upgrade rather than hiring it in your initial crew.