Schemes & Stones (podcast) - Wave 5 Gremlin Upgrades

[Khyodee]

Let us know what you think of today's show.

http://schemesandstones.podbean.com/e/episode-74-wave-5-gremlin-upgrades/

[James Dyson]

Man, after listening to the bit on Ulix I’m feeling like digging him out again.  Thanks for the great episode!

[Lokibri]

I never dug him under! :).

He is pretty versatile now with his upgrades and especially with a pig with Corn Husks, he has everything a good master needs to really shine :).

I am glad you like the episode and my german accent isn`t too bad ^^.

 

See you in the Bayou!

[I'm a Teapot!]

Nice Episode! My Addon to the Zipp Part:

played the Dread Piraten Upgrade in my Last tournament and I love it! 

Indeed show off works nicely with the summoned bayou, but ontop of the pretty reliably placeable 3 dmg pulse it is also one of the best Killjoy delivery Systems in the Game. 

You can pick the most important target in the enemy crew and attack it with Zipp to place it perfectly, burry, incite a weak Enemy, explode the Bayou, unburry Killjoy perfectly in Range for the (1)ap charge and then cheat Initiative with Trixie and or use Moodswing to get the First 2 activations in Turn 2 for Killjoy and Zipp. 

That Is a dead Master turn 1 or beginnend of Turn 2 in most cases. 

In my game I scored quick murder against nekima Turn 1. 

If you're crazy like I am, you can take Gracie and the Student of conflict and start zipps 4 ap activation around 18" forward on the board  and really hurt someone.

Have you ever seen Hamelin die in a tournament? Yes? Ok, have you ever seen Hamelin die turn 1? This list can do that since Zipp can place Hamelin away from his stolen and then he has to survive all of zipps attacks, a 3dmg pulse and 1(2) Killjoy Charge(s). Not many masters can survive this. 😇

Greetings from Southwest Germany! 

 

[Lokibri]

That is indeed a very nice addition to a strategy you can use with Killjoy. But to be honest, i haven`t even considered Killjoy in my gremlin crews, because i always stick to francois on stilts with single-target-elimination or to to Pere with AoE dmg, because i think out activating your opponent is more important for a succesful alpha-strike in any manner. Killjoy is kida costly.

Anyway, maybe i will consider this now :D.

Thank you :).

 

See you in the Bayou

[I'm a Teapot!]

In other lists I find him to be to expensive aswell, but that Zipp lists is very cheap in some aspects. First off no upgrades are needed on zipp (other than the dread pirate Zipp) and you don't ever need Soulstones since Zipp is burried after his activation and his cache is enough for cards or suits in the first 2 turns. Enough bayous deal with out activation and Trixie cheating initiative is also a huge swing in turn 1 outactivation. I've had no problem outactivating with all the bayous, Gracie's reactivate and Trixie. If a faction has the Soulstones to hire Killjoy efficiently it's us and Zipp is perfect for this. Also, do over is worth a lot for Killjoy since he activates at the end of the turn and still wants cards to hit. 

Ive had bad experiences with francois killing himself and being to slow without a skeeter. But I'm kind of inexperienced with him. 

Mancha Roja in a Brewie Crew killing any swilled model via paralyze and finisher is my new love ❤️

[wizuriel]

The dread pirate upgrade is growing on me a bit because it can let you be super aggressive with Zipp (provided you can get the bayou Gremlin's safe), but I feel it makes your lists pretty constrained (you need at least 2-3 bayou Gremlins) and the time Zipp is buried I tend to miss his pseudo chatty and no soul stone 

[I'm a Teapot!]

The no soulstone Aura can still be there if he himself attacks henchmen or the master. 

[lame0]

The killjoy thing is kind of cool. I just have a hard time paying so much for him  (though Sammy with dread pirate Zipp could be interesting as well with that since she could get in position and stop the enemy from using triggers so killjoy can just go nuts).

Also one thing you guys didn't point out was that hem is a condition so you could use the 18 inch aetheric punishment with Sammy vs the hem target from afar without having to go deep with her & without having to work hard to get the condition on the enemy.

Also if your opponent did use up their hand before Sammy/Zoraida got a chance to use aetheric punishment you could always use it on the voodoo doll after she does one of her conditions on it so you can control the damage output for 6 damage + a condition without having to cheat a single card. Although I agree that Mama Z might be better in Neverborn it is pretty close....honestly I hope they errata will o' the wisp to be cross faction or at least make the tarot card upgrade 1ss because having to pay 2ss tax to take the 3ss model that was a direct buff to Zoraida kind of sucks.

[Bazlord_Prime]

Just halfway through the episode now, and enjoying it very much - thanks @Khyodee & @Lokibri!!

For Som'er Teeth Jones' new "Insectophile" upgrade tho, it sounded kind of like you thought that generating a new Skeeter via Som'er's Ml Attack would mean you'd have to sacrifice any existing totem in play, so you wouldn't be able to build up a stack of Skeeters (and who wouldn't want to do that, quite frankly!). 

But the in version that I have of "Insectophile", it says "If there is a friendly non-Skeeter totem in play, sacrifice it", so breeding a seething cloud of blood-sucking misery ought to be a valid plan!

(Sorry tho if I misunderstood what you guys were saying).

[Bazlord_Prime]

15 hours ago, Drunken Kung Fu Kid said:

Mancha Roja in a Brewie Crew killing any swilled model via paralyze and finisher is my new love ❤️

Hallelujah, brother! That right there is the hilariousness (on paper, anyway) 

I've yet to field it, but I'll be gunning for Masters & Henchmen when I do, since it pretty much completely bypasses Soulstone use. 

[Lokibri]

5 hours ago, Bazlord_Prime said:

Just halfway through the episode now, and enjoying it very much - thanks @Khyodee & @Lokibri!!

For Som'er Teeth Jones' new "Insectophile" upgrade tho, it sounded kind of like you thought that generating a new Skeeter via Som'er's Ml Attack would mean you'd have to sacrifice any existing totem in play, so you wouldn't be able to build up a stack of Skeeters (and who wouldn't want to do that, quite frankly!). 

But the in version that I have of "Insectophile", it says "If there is a friendly non-Skeeter totem in play, sacrifice it", so breeding a seething cloud of blood-sucking misery ought to be a valid plan!

(Sorry tho if I misunderstood what you guys were saying).

Thaks mate :). I am happy, that you like it :).

Maybe it was a bit confusing, but we were aware of that fact. But to be honest, i don`t think you want somer in that melee combat and i don`t think you can make an army of Skeeter like that :). But jeah, Skeeters are cool, this upgrade, in my opinion, is not.

 

I just played a game yesterday with Gremraida and it was absolute fun again with Sammy and the Voodoo doll to Jynx the hell out of it and deny models to walk and put all kind of conditions on them :). I love that little Gremlin

[I'm a Teapot!]

8 hours ago, Bazlord_Prime said:

Hallelujah, brother! That right there is the hilariousness (on paper, anyway) 

I've yet to field it, but I'll be gunning for Masters & Henchmen when I do, since it pretty much completely bypasses Soulstone use. 

The thing with mancha is, he needs nimble for his rebound. One way to solve this is  brewies obey. A better solution is gracie. And also  the picture of a hight 2 gracie and a hight 4 Gremlin riding her into a rebound spot 😄. Threat range 18" + his 13" charge is fun! 

[WWHSD]

On 10/12/2017 at 11:14 PM, Lokibri said:

I am glad you like the episode and my german accent isn`t too bad ^^.

"Ooh a girl" being said in a German accent was the highlight of the episode for me.

[Lokibri]

8 hours ago, WWHSD said:

"Ooh a girl" being said in a German accent was the highlight of the episode for me.

I really have to listen to that part again 😂😁.

Glad you are having fun listening to it.

 

Edit: okay, listened to it. It really sounds kinda funny :-)

[Bazlord_Prime]

Ooooh! Also, you guys had me going when you mentioned Sammy having "Reckless", and therefore being able to use Wong's new (3) AP Upgrade.  I always think Sammy has Reckless as well - it just feels like she should, right? And she could damn well use it. Shame she doesn't.

So I'd have to agree with you both - even if Sammy were to carry "Behold My Effervescence!", she couldn't use the "Lightning Jump" off it anyway, either as part of the (3) AP action (unless you've got a way of making her Fast... Aionus?? Worth it??), and certainly not as a (1) Action for any reason.

[GrumpyGrandpa]

2 hours ago, Bazlord_Prime said:

Ooooh! Also, you guys had me going when you mentioned Sammy having "Reckless", and therefore being able to use Wong's new (3) AP Upgrade.  I always think Sammy has Reckless as well - it just feels like she should, right? And she could damn well use it. Shame she doesn't.

So I'd have to agree with you both - even if Sammy were to carry "Behold My Effervescence!", she couldn't use the "Lightning Jump" off it anyway, either as part of the (3) AP action (unless you've got a way of making her Fast... Aionus?? Worth it??), and certainly not as a (1) Action for any reason.

I think they mean with an Iron Skeeter which gives her fast. You'd then dump her in the middle of a group and pray. 

[Lokibri]

2 hours ago, GrumpyGrandpa said:

I think they mean with an Iron Skeeter which gives her fast. You'd then dump her in the middle of a group and pray. 

Exactly. This would be an idea to give her fast with an iron skeeter, drop her in the middle of the frey (so, to be honest sacrificing her) and use the 3 AP action :D.

But, we don`t think it could work this way

[Bazlord_Prime]

11 hours ago, Lokibri said:

Exactly. This would be an idea to give her fast with an iron skeeter, drop her in the middle of the frey (so, to be honest sacrificing her) and use the 3 AP action :D.

But, we don`t think it could work this way

Don't see why not. Wyrd knew when making "Behold My Effervescence!" that both Sammy's Ability to take a Master's Upgrade, and the capacity to give models Fast existed, so I'm sure they anticipated this situation. As @Math Mathonwy pointed out in a the Upgrade preview thread, Sammy is the only model in the game that can hold a Master's Upgrades, so I'm sure that potential interactions with that Ability are pretty high on Wyrd's checklist when designing new Gremlin Master Upgrades.

And it's not like a model with the Lightning Jump Action isn't present on the board when she's deployed. She can only hold that Upgrade if Wong is the declared Master, so you do have his card to refer to.

Finally, I'm not aware of any general rule that says a model cannot take an Action printed on another card, if it has some way of allowing it to do so. I know this is a major corner-case, but again, I reckon Wyrd would've put something specific on "Behold My Effervescence!" to prevent Sammy using "HERE WE GO!", of they'd intended that to be the case. 

Then again, as you guys pointed out, it's not exactly an über-awesome strategy, so maybe they're not worried about it happening too often, or to great effect.

So - have I swayed anyone? ;-)

[Adran]

11 hours ago, Bazlord_Prime said:

 

Finally, I'm not aware of any general rule that says a model cannot take an Action printed on another card, if it has some way of allowing it to do so. I know this is a major corner-case, but again, I reckon Wyrd would've put something specific on "Behold My Effervescence!" to prevent Sammy using "HERE WE GO!", of they'd intended that to be the case. 

Then again, as you guys pointed out, it's not exactly an über-awesome strategy, so maybe they're not worried about it happening too often, or to great effect.

The general rule is you can only take actions on your card unless something gives you permission to copy an action from another model. 

The most common example is MAlifaux Child can railwalk from Mei feng , but the trigger that lets you take a jackhammer kick is no use because the child doesn't have the jackhammer kick action to take. 

I've yet to get my copy of Broken promises so don't know the exact text of the upgrade. but based on what I know, its highly unlikely that it would be written to allow Sammy to use an action on Wongs card so you probably can't get to take a lightenign jump attack against everyone because Sammy does not have the lightening jump action to take

[Bazlord_Prime]

On 17/10/2017 at 9:20 PM, Adran said:

The general rule is you can only take actions on your card unless something gives you permission to copy an action from another model. 

That's not quite right. You can also gain extra Actions granted by Upgrades, and there's the suite of general Actions, such as Charge. And "Behold My Effervescence!" is an Upgrade, although I acknowledge that the lack of a Lightning Jump "sub-Action" if you will, spelled out in the Upgrades main Action describing what Lightning Jump actually does, is an issue. 

On 17/10/2017 at 9:20 PM, Adran said:

The most common example is MAlifaux Child can railwalk from Mei feng , but the trigger that lets you take a jackhammer kick is no use because the child doesn't have the jackhammer kick action to take. 

This is an interesting one. I've got the Malifaux Child errata card, and the "Just Like You" Action doesn't say anything about no Triggers, whereas other similar Abilities (like Hannah's "Make A New Entry"), do specify that no Triggers may be taken.

Has it been spelled out somewhere that the scenario you presented above is actually the case? Could you please point me to it? I couldn't find anything in the Errata specifically saying that the Malifaux Child can't take follow-on Actions via the Triggers of the Action he copies. And since his card has already had an errata, but nothing was changed in regards to this issue, I think that means it's either permissable, or just so obviously not permissable that Wyrd reckons nobody would be gamey enough to do it! 

And it's not like he's copying Actions that aren't already on the table - Mei Feng has to be alive & well for the Child to use her Attacks, and Wong has to be on the table for Sammy to take that Upgrade.

Just to be clear, I have no dog in this fight - I'm not involved in the outcome either way. I just find the question interesting, and plausible, because there have been some bats#*t CRAZY interactions that I've suffered from in the past because of my lack of imagination in finding the covert gaps in the rules, so I'm probably just trying to feel out the boundaries here. Thanks!

[Adran]

The default 

Actions are listed on each model’s stat card. The Action’s AP cost is in parenthesis,
then the name of the Action, then the Action’s effects. An Action’s AP and name
are capitalized and in bold so that they are easy to recognize. (Manual page 35)

Most Upgrades are phrased with the words "this model gains the following action/ability". Look at things like "The peaceful waters" for an upgrade that doesn't give the carrier the action, but instead another model (monks of the low river in this case) gain the action. 

The rule book gives us 5 Tactical actions that all models may perform even if they aren't on the models card (although insignifigant does forbid you from taking interact actions, so not eveyone can do all 5). (page 39 for details)

The Malifaux child can declare triggers. but the trigger does not give you the action. So if you rail walk and declared the trigger, you then have to go " I want to take a Jackhammer kick action, but I can't because I don't have that action." So if he copied an action with a trigger that allowed him to take a charge action (such as the Mature Nephlims Charge through trigger, although I have no Idea how you could get the Nephlim to be your leader) then thats fine. The Malifaux child can take the charge action because the rule book gives him permission to declare that action even though its not on his card. 

 

The best I can offer in rules to back my  arguement (other than the rules don't allow me to take any action that isn't on my card without some rules allowing me to gain it from else where) is from the old FAQ before they errata'd Brewmaster. (so it isn't there anymore becuase the Drinking contest changed)

127) If Sensei Yu uses the Drinking Contest Ability, will models in range need to take two Wp tests? What if
they aren’t in range to take the On The House Action?
Yes, any models in range of both Auras would need to pass two Wp tests in order to perform an Action other
than On The House. If the model is not in range of the Brewmaster’s Aura allowing it to take the On The
House Action, failing the Wp test has no effect.

 

[Lokibri]

Hello dear Bayou inhabitants.

After ypou could listen to the podcast i did some work and tried to write everything down (in bit different way) with the essentials on the interview for your reading pleasure or if you just want to read my opinion on a specific upgrade. It was evolved from my notes i took beofre the interview, so sadly Khyodees additions are not included (Sorry for that). It is ordered alphabetically.

Have fun!

The Brewmaster

A Barkeeper Never sleeps

Huge increase in damage for the brewmaster, because it can now deal 3 damage and ideal for a frame for murder denial plan

makes brewie somehow a pretty dangerous model you want to avoid even more with 3 min damage from a condition, it can be pretty good against mindless zombies for example

before this upgrade the poison damage was pretty much ignored, because models in the Brinking contest, would normally heal up in they missed 1 WP duel.

helps to get the focus on brewie, who was often times just ignored and models trapped in the sandpit were abandoned to their destiny, but this time brewie can clear the snadpit pretty efficently to get into a new spot

Note however that it is a 6inch Aura, that inreases his threat range.

The 0 however is like a panic or rescue button to get you precious Wesley back at the cost of discarding this upgrade. It can be very useful, especially if the opponent managed to kill your wesley in the first place and is now beating on your brewie, but normally if that is the case you are pretty happy about that if they try it in melee, because brewie is doing what he is supposed to do. So, in this case it can be pretty powerful in some situations, especially if you need some more WP Debuff, instead of damage.

 

A friendly ear

finally an upgrade that allows brewie to cast Obey without a ask in hand or burning a soulstones

Anyway you have to fulfill the requirement, that the model must be poisoned. On your own models it is pretty easy to do that and on enemy models you should be able to poison them also for example with drinking contest, one for the road, a Sammy or maybe this is a place where the whiskey golem can shine or moonshine in this case :D.

The new tactical action is somekind of strange, first of all being a "Sh"-action and with a TN of 12 against Wk. Normally models have a walk of 5 so, this action gives your opponent about a 50% chance of success and it can be good if there are many models within a 3 pulse, but i didn`t find myself pretty of in that position, because i normmaly use my AP for Obey or Hangover and i oftentimes i find myself even not using Binge if i gave it to Brewie, because i nearly always want to move in position, obey or give crucial enemy models a hangover. I could see use of it together with the poison buff, because that can lead to a total of 5 dmg around Brewie but again you opponent can distrubute cards as he wants to deny your plans. Anyway, obey with built in mask is the reason you take this upgrade for 1 Stone.

 

Mah Tucket

Manifest Destiny

This upgrade is a huge game changer for Mah. First of all it is now possible to use the get off my land ability on every single turn and it is possible to cross the centerline now. That alone is huge and every model that has this ability can use it also. However you have to discard a card in order to do this and this is where this upgrade for 1 Stone really shines. You can just cycle your bad cards and just push a very small amount to just cycle the card. Also her 0 Actions enable this upgrade to trigger and to be honest you always want to use one of those 0. Before this upgrade it was kinda like a bit of a liability and you were thinking about giving your opponent the information that you only got 3 or 4 cards left, but now you can show him your low card by discarding and still get another unknown piece of information. Anyway bare in mind that you give out information when you discard your lowest card, because your opponent got a pretty good idea what is left in your hand, but its also a chance to trick your opponent. The last piece of this upgrade is not just hilarious fluffwise, but it can also be incredibly strong. Giving Mah another inch of Ml she can now have an awesome range of 4 inches if you decide to go for the sore spots. It requires an AP, but you get that AP virtually via the push you can do on every single turn now without using another model for that purpose. 4 inch is only possible with a Waldgeist i think and even outclasses models like Izamu in Range. If you want to pin down as many models as possible, here is your spoon, go and do it! You can also surprise your opponent with that if you can win initiative or cheat it with trixiebelle push into position with get off my land and then use her Aim for the Sore spots, all that while cycling cards, you can pin down shooters or important models and nearly no one can challenge this range. If you put on your makeup you are not even chargable which nearly always leads to a walk and a single attack form enemy models. So, get this upgrade, pick your spoon and start hitting people from far away or just enjoy that mah now doesn`t have a pretty annoying range of just 1 inch :D.

 

Pit Traps

They sound fun, but i honestly don`t find them very useful at all especially considering your other upgrade slots you want to fill, like stilts or dirty cheater. On the card it looks pretty nice, but we are talking about a 30mm base and an Aura of 3 inches. you can only deploy 3 of them, because with mah you normally have no chance at all to dig new traps. If you really want to push it, you can place 2 more traps in the first round. Sometimes people fall for it, no pun intended, but as soon as they recognise how it works a scheme runner or two are used to get rid of them. It can be useful for extraction or turf war, but normally the models are so spread, that it`s difficult to get more out of that traps except 1 AP for removing them.

 

Ophelia Lacroix

Useless Junk

This upgrade allows another movement trick for Ophelia and her crew, that are not only centered around her and bring the option to heal. Ophelia as a very shooter heavy crew can get into trouble pretty easily when engaged by multiple melees and with this upgrade you can move around of go forward, use one of her upgrades, discard that upgrade after 1 use and pull another model with you like an enforcer to protect ophelia or another shooter or even a francois who can then charge in with his sword. It also allows you to push your models out of combat and when within 6 inches also heal a decent amount. If francois has done his job, he normally just dies trying to put out as much damage as possible and now you got the option to save him, maybe for another charge. Also placing a schemes marker can be very usefull for dig their graves for example. It is virtually another 1 if not 2 AP you can generate with this upgrade. I find it more then useful and it is a 1 Stone upgrade, which makes it absolutely georgous. It is also stackable, so if you dont need the trash right now, you can setup some to use it later. The one thing that concernes me a bit is, that it requires one of your upgrade slots, but you can switch them around if not needed anyway, so it is a great addition to Ophelias crew.

 

Metal-Lined Coat

At first sight this upgrade looks a bit underwhelming, because it has so little text on the card. But then you realize that it not only gives you instinctual, which is the important part, but also prevents 2 instead of 1 damage. So, if you attach this upgrade to her use two 0-Actions and later on discard it for a prevention of 2 damage it has done an enormous amount of work. It works great and i have had many situations, where i really, really wanted to use "ooh a girl" and the 0 of the jug rocket or the Hooch igniter. It is a great upgrade and the toolbox Ophelia carries around now, is just gigantic. Ophelia can`t get worse at the moment (except for a nerf) but gets better and better, because with each upgrade she is expanding her opportunities. If you are looking for a diverse master that can deal out damage, have nice movement tricks and is solid in many strategies, Ophelia is a solid choice, expecially if you are starting with gremlins.

 

Somer Teeth Jones

Insectophile

I like Somer very much, but i don`t like this upgrade at all. It just adds 1 trigger to an attack i don`t even use at all on Somer, that is not even built in and could also be used to summon a piglet. It also has the restriction that you cannot have another totem on the field or it is sacrificed. This is, to be honest, one of the worst upgrades the gremlins received in this wave. I love the skeeters, i love Somer but this upgrade is just useless and requires another upgrade slot and can`t compete with potential upgrades you could use.

 

Higher Proof

I find it pretty difficult to rate this upgrade, because increasing the Shoot-stat is kinda nice, but you always want to declare a trigger when shooting with bayou gremlins and that +1 isn`t worth it, especially if you have the tools to influence the triggers you can announce. Lenny or "Do it like dis" are made for those Bayou Gremlins and after you already used drunk and reckless, your Bayou gremlin is half dead anyway and you want to hit that dumb luck trigger to do as much damage as possible, because you can family tree new gremlins in. It is possible that there are corner cases where you would use it, especially to evade those negative triggers the gremlins have, but i think that is a trap. Yes, cou avoid those triggers, but on the other hand you are dealing not enough damage with them. Bayou Gremlins are more of a resource than a real "model" you would care about. And having Sh4 or 5 isn`t that much of a difference. If it was +2Sh i would definitely consider it, but in this case i don`t think it is worth it. Also, Somer already has an ability to deny trigger announcements.

 

Ulix

Throw yer voice

With this cast you can throw your pigs towards the enemy and even get off an attack which is a nice bonus. It allows you to build a wall of Pork at your opponents side and with a Sow or Gracie having a pretty nice block off to supporting models like a slop hauler or Ulix himself. Having Ca6 is okay and the "may" opportunity is great, as you can choose which pigs in Range are going to charge or not. Worst case is that you get a walk and an attack out of it, which is pretty neat. It also comboes very well with "slop em up" to gain possibly even more attacks out of it. I like it but it is directly compared to the Bow, which i find a bit more useful at this point, because you don`t want to ball up that heavily, which does not only line you up against blasts, but also hinder your own movement. A possibly solution for that could be flying pigs from the taxidermist.

 

Pig Midwife

This upgrade is astonishing! Personally i love this upgrade and it is another reason to get rid of ulix as soon as possible! The keyword to lay your eye on is "living pig models", because just imagine stuffed piggies blowing up and at the sam time healing your pigs or summoned stuffeds, that dont have slow. So, this allows to summon piglets and a war pig, that can not only charge for 1 Ap, which was pretty powerful, but also move before charging. Midwifery is pretty straight forward and pretty good.

The other ability this 1 Stone upgrades has written on it, is The circle of life. That ability allows you to heal another pig when a pig is killed or sacrificed, that is wihin 3 in an Aura of 8. That allows you so much healing and is essentially giving back the Wds another Pig took to summon those piglets for example. It also allows you to put certain models over their "threshold" like gracie up to 3 wounds again and enable hard to kill or giving the Sow a head back, by killing your own piglet. For example i had the bow with Ulix and shot a small piglet to heal the Sow up over her three-headed threshold and then gave her a shot in the rear which ended in a pinballing Sow. This additional heal gives out very much resilience and that is great to keep the big pigs alive. A bargain for 1 Stone!

 

Wong

Behold my Effervescence!

This is an upgrade i don`t think is worth even 1 Stone. It offers a very hard to pull off 3AP action, that does not randomize and only hits enemy models, but the triggers also effect your own models. It is like a "win-more" card, that is very hard to pull off. If you can pull it if anyway, it is hilarious. But be careful...you will probably flip you remaining deck when you have 4+ targets, because of his triggers. I have to admit, there was more than once pretty confusing situations when resolving this attack ^^. If you want to see more fireworks, pick this upgrade against ressurectionists and move Wong into position with the help of other models. But all in all i dont think this action is worth the pick. Wongs ability to conjure massive destruction alone is reason enough to force my opponents to split and this attack allows to cover those split enemies but normally isn`t worth the 3 AP. As ia said it feels like a win more ability. The second ability is pretty card intensive and requires many cards or a model that can hand out suits like Lenny. Every models has to perform that action and it can be nice to AoE heal or drop scheme markers, but the chance to get the right thing off is 50:50 and i don`t like my opponent to get advantages or influencing my play when i use an ability. I don`t think this upgrade is worth it, even though you can have funny moments with it.

Sparkly Lights

A limited upgrade, that gies your magical minions more maneuverability and scheming potential. If you find yourself playing swine-cursed pretty often, this is the way to go! Giving McTavish, Gracie or Burt the ability to be immune to disengaging strikes feels almost like cheating while they ignore every protective ability your opponent has. Also, interacting while being engaged is a huge advantage and we are given a real alternative to fingers which only lacks chatty, but can hit quite well and heal and being reckless which costs less than fingers. Nevertheless it is limited, so it would hurt to pick it up on Wong himself. I would highly recommend this on Sammy and equip Wong with Oooh glowy or even better gremlins luck. Because of Wong being a schemey Master anyway, this upgrades adds to his strength fulfilliing schemes in a very consistend manner.

 

Zipp

The dread pirate Zipp

This upgrade is especially good now, after the stuffed piglets have been nerfed. It allows you to summon a bayou gremlin and enables Zipp to jump to every bayou gremlin on the table. Personally i like this upgrade very much because it allows you to do crazy things with zipp and stand in the middle of the enemy crew and just bury out of it, appearing on the other side of the table on the next turn. It also allows Zipp to disappear completely from the battlefield and denies schemes like eliminate the leadership. But it also protects your opponent from constant yammering when Zipp is buried. So, in this case you should really be careful about when you use it and if you want to use it at all. It can also act as a "heal" for bayou gremlins when you summon a new gremliin and sacrificed a severely wounded one. It is just a small portin, but it can be worth. One great thing is to activate Zipp eot, do his things, summon a bayou gremlin, activate him with drunk and reckless and blow up with show off in the middle of the opponents models after using the 0 on one model that i threw back in a bad position with Zipp. The 0 action every Bayou gremlin gets works nicely with Zipps ability to throw people around and i love disrupting my opponent plans like this. Also, it gives ALL your Bayou gremlins the 0 ability while Zipp is buried and that can be very useful, especially against manipulative targets or just against models that are weak to get more time to unbury zipp and deny even more movement. After that model activated i fly over with zipp and throw other models behind them so, they have a longer walk back to the scene or drop smoke to block them off.

 

Supply Drop

It is a nice little gimmick upgrade, but it is outclassed by many other upgrades Zipp can use and the fact that you can`t cheat the flip makes it unreliable and thus useless in my opinion. The effects that can occur are so versatile and different, that you won`t find yourself in a position or situation where every single suit would be good. I think there are much better upgrades for Zipp that don`t depend on luck.

Zoraida

Powerful Control

Generating 2 AP (or virtually 3) if you are lucky enough with a mask or stone for it, this upgrade provides a very powerful option for the Obey ability. Considering your models are seen as friendly as long as you control the other one, you can charge out of engagements and into your opponent lines to wreck havoc among them. Especially with the second ability which adds another nice trigger on “Bewitch” you can combo with it and not only bewitch your enemy, but also use obey to charge in, draw 2 cards and deal massive damage. This upgrade is pure gold for Zoraida and worth the 2 Stones, especially if you look at her solid casting stats of 7 on both casts.

Poisened fate

This upgrade has a lng range attack, that can dish out 4 dmg pretty regularly, when your opponent doesn`t play an Alphastrike-List to throw every single card in to kill something. Anyway you still got the 6' Aura, that even punishes him for using those cards to cheat fate and kill nearby important models or Zoraida herself with dealing 2 damage to them every time they cheat fate. I think it is a very solid upgrade and if your going for a control list with Zoraida, this is the way to go! In my opinion both upgrades will find their place.

Emissary

- not useful at all, i don`t use it that often and too costly

- 0 has to be activated before it is useful (so not even as good as chatty)

- trample is a corner case and easily countered by the opponent (expecially if they obey it)

 

All in all

- except for Somer every master got at least 1 upgrade that allows them a more versatile playstyle or the playstyle was reinforced to be reckoned with

• I think gremlin masters are in a good place now especially after those wave 5 upgrades gave some underwhelming masters the potential to really shine and those that were already good became more versatile.

 

 

Written from the interview about the Wave 5 gremlin upgrades with Khyodee (Kyle Bode) and Lokibri (Nicolai Weigel) for Schemes and Stones.

[Clement]

14 hours ago, Lokibri said:

Considering your models are seen as friendly as long as you control the other one, you can charge out of engagements and into your opponent lines to wreck havoc among them.

That's not actually true.   Some Obey type attacks treat the obeyer as a friendly model, but I don't think any of the obey style attacks treat *all* the enemy crew as friends.

So yes, Zoraida + Sow = fun

[wobbly_goggy]

Loved the podcast but disagree entirely with what has been written here and in other posts about Insectophile...so much so that I'm going to write a little post about it