How to start Ironsides

[Niu_7]

Salut! Last time I've created a topic about arcanists and now I wanna to start Ironsides.

So I know that I will grab Ironsides crew and Amina Naidu. But what else I should get for the comfortable 50SS game for the newcomer?

[Adran]

My personal advice is to then buy the Ramos box. 

Howard and Joss are both good models with Ironsides, and the spiders make for pretty good scheme runners or things to boost your numbers whilst being fairly hard to shift. 

Johan, Gunsmiths, Union Miners, Steam fitters can all be pretty useful with her to use the hand picked men, Arcane effigy is good for its ss cost.

 

 

 

 

[Mxbedlam]

1 hour ago, Adran said:

My personal advice is to then buy the Ramos box. 

Howard and Joss are both good models with Ironsides, and the spiders make for pretty good scheme runners or things to boost your numbers whilst being fairly hard to shift. 

Johan, Gunsmiths, Union Miners, Steam fitters can all be pretty useful with her to use the hand picked men, Arcane effigy is good for its ss cost.

 

 

 

 

This. almost all the Arcanist good models fit into Ironsides just as well. Myrandabus, Amina, Mages, etc. Even non M&SU models can do work like Wind Gamin. 

[Niu_7]

So, from what I understand, I will get Ironsides Crew, Amina, Johan for condition removal or Effigy, and some Gunslingers (or Acolytes because they seem to be good). And next, I will get Ramos and will expand my Arcanists crew.

[Thottbot]

8 minutes ago, Niu_7 said:

So, from what I understand, I will get Ironsides Crew, Amina, Johan for condition removal or Effigy, and some Gunslingers (or Acolytes because they seem to be good). And next, I will get Ramos and will expand my Arcanists crew.

johan is more expensive but besides a model that can do condition removal he can also heal all M&SU models, which all your ironsides models so happens to be. and he's pretty good in melee if opponent forces his way in.

since you're new i'd recommend amina johan and Gunsmiths (instead of december acolytes) because gunsmiths are great with ironsides buff aura, while acolytes are not M&SU so they dont benefit from it.

Ramos box isnt required but if you ever want to go away from shooty crew and go more in to the face with good melee models, the two in Ramos box is the best contenders. also that all the models in ramos box are all M&SU doesnt hurt you either

[dancater]

Ironsides box (generally taking the OxMage triplet and leaving the Captain and Mouse in the box) and Aminu are your starting point:

Ramos box is superb value provides M&SU synergy with excellent durable henchman Joss, superb beater in Howard and solid scheme runners and cheap surprisingly durable Steam Arachnids.  In addition you get Ramos thrown in for an option to master switch in the future.

Johan is simply excellent with Toni, condition removal, healing and can hit a ton especially with Hand Picked Men as he's M&SU.  With merc tax he's expensive but damn good value.

Those would be my first buys.

Then I'd look at:

Arcane Effigy because its cheap, durable and fast enough to scheme with condition removal.  Excellent model.

Union Steamfitter you'll get three but only really need one, they are M&SU and have some useful powers, Burning has Gunsmith synergy and they provide extra durability, what's not to like.

Solid mid-range minion:

Dec Acolyte is superb value, super flexible but is not hugely durable and is a priority target.  No M&SU synergy but as FH is immune to horror.

Gunsmiths are generally underwhelming in Arcanists but are actually solid with Toni and her M&SU synergy.

Shastar Vidya Guards are a little more expensive then Gunsmiths or Dec Acolytes but are M&SU and they work well with Toni, they are primarily melee so they also are useful to clear out nasty enemies up close to your OxMages. 

Union Miners are also worth mentioning, cheaper then the others above, they had a errata buff making them a little better, solid scheme runners, a little tricksy.  Not the best beater but the give you Burning synergy if you want it.  I think if you want cheap scheme runners then go with Steam Arachnids (which can also be bought outside of Ramos box).

Other considerations:

These models all have interesting and valuable uses as you experiment and learn the game, fine tuning.  Angelica (Showgirl for Practiced Production upgrade), Mech Rider (Horseman which schemes and summons is still great post nerfs), Willie (mad bomber and great cheap threat), Silent One (Arcanist healer with some other tricks), Malifaux Raptors (cheap activation, super fast and irritating to kill, post nerf they can't scheme but they can really aggravate an opponent forcing them to burn AP to eliminate them).

Finally another box with some synergy is the Kaeris box; Firestarter is a fast M&SU henchman who hands out Burning in spades and Fire Gamin are.. not great but OK all-rounders a little armor, a little ranged, reasonable speed and Burning - not M&SU and generally a little not enough to be worth taking over other options but they can be OK. 

[Niu_7]

On 24.11.2017 at 1:35 AM, dancater said:

Ironsides box (generally taking the OxMage triplet and leaving the Captain and Mouse in the box) and Aminu are your starting point:

Ramos box is superb value provides M&SU synergy with excellent durable henchman Joss, superb beater in Howard and solid scheme runners and cheap surprisingly durable Steam Arachnids.  In addition you get Ramos thrown in for an option to master switch in the future.

Johan is simply excellent with Toni, condition removal, healing and can hit a ton especially with Hand Picked Men as he's M&SU.  With merc tax he's expensive but damn good value.

Those would be my first buys.

Then I'd look at:

Arcane Effigy because its cheap, durable and fast enough to scheme with condition removal.  Excellent model.

Union Steamfitter you'll get three but only really need one, they are M&SU and have some useful powers, Burning has Gunsmith synergy and they provide extra durability, what's not to like.

Solid mid-range minion:

Dec Acolyte is superb value, super flexible but is not hugely durable and is a priority target.  No M&SU synergy but as FH is immune to horror.

Gunsmiths are generally underwhelming in Arcanists but are actually solid with Toni and her M&SU synergy.

Shastar Vidya Guards are a little more expensive then Gunsmiths or Dec Acolytes but are M&SU and they work well with Toni, they are primarily melee so they also are useful to clear out nasty enemies up close to your OxMages. 

Union Miners are also worth mentioning, cheaper then the others above, they had a errata buff making them a little better, solid scheme runners, a little tricksy.  Not the best beater but the give you Burning synergy if you want it.  I think if you want cheap scheme runners then go with Steam Arachnids (which can also be bought outside of Ramos box).

Other considerations:

These models all have interesting and valuable uses as you experiment and learn the game, fine tuning.  Angelica (Showgirl for Practiced Production upgrade), Mech Rider (Horseman which schemes and summons is still great post nerfs), Willie (mad bomber and great cheap threat), Silent One (Arcanist healer with some other tricks), Malifaux Raptors (cheap activation, super fast and irritating to kill, post nerf they can't scheme but they can really aggravate an opponent forcing them to burn AP to eliminate them).

Finally another box with some synergy is the Kaeris box; Firestarter is a fast M&SU henchman who hands out Burning in spades and Fire Gamin are.. not great but OK all-rounders a little armor, a little ranged, reasonable speed and Burning - not M&SU and generally a little not enough to be worth taking over other options but they can be OK. 

What decks should I get? Generalist Upgrade Deck 1 & 2 will be enough? Or I should also get Arsenal Box - Arcanists (Wave 2)?

[retnab]

7 minutes ago, Niu_7 said:

What decks should I get? Generalist Upgrade Deck 1 & 2 will be enough? Or I should also get Arsenal Box - Arcanists (Wave 2)?

The two Generalist Upgrade Decks and the Broken Promises master upgrade deck.  The Arsenal boxes are just 2nd edition cards for players who bought their models in 1st edition.

[dancater]

7 hours ago, retnab said:

The two Generalist Upgrade Decks and the Broken Promises master upgrade deck.  The Arsenal boxes are just 2nd edition cards for players who bought their models in 1st edition.

You may, may be able to find someone with the Generalist 1&2 and/or Broken Promises upgrade cards available for Arcanists because they get them for whatever faction they play.  Ask around your gaming meta, someone might be willing to sell you just the Arcanist cards or be willing to purchase the decks with you and split the contents, that is if costs are tight, if not the 2 Generalist Decks & Broken Promises Deck are not to expensive in the scheme of things.

[Gungnir]

For new players, how does the app work as a stand-in for the decks?  I'm still painting my starter kit, but do have the Ironsides and Ramos crews in the mail.  Between the rules, starter kit supplements, app, and box cards, will I be able to field a team?

[Adran]

On 25/11/2017 at 11:26 PM, Gungnir said:

For new players, how does the app work as a stand-in for the decks?  I'm still painting my starter kit, but do have the Ironsides and Ramos crews in the mail.  Between the rules, starter kit supplements, app, and box cards, will I be able to field a team?

When you buy the models you get the cards for the models. So with the free electronic rules manual, and purchasing figures with the cards you are fine to play. If you want to know what models you don't own do, then the App probably makes a reasonable replacement to owning the books,  (Although I am always going to prefer looking at them in a book when I just want to find out what they do, others like looking at electronic files). 

[H4ml3t]

I love having all the cards on the App so I don't have to search through 5 books/PDFs when I'm theory-crafting.

[azgadil]

How did the OP find this advice? 

I am a new player (started in Jan). I tried a few things and here I what I found. 

Amina didn’t gain value for me as a model until over ten played games(without her). Her triggers and when to use them were a sore spot that after the second game I shelved her for a bit. PS - Amina doesn’t make every list  but she is solid and has frequent presence.

I purchased all prior upgrades and errata on WarGameVault and between the app - I installed one app on multiple devices. I did not need to purchase the books nor the arsenal or upgrade packs (Broken Promises an exception because it was easily available). 

[WWHSD]

Since this is an older thread I figured I’d toss in some updated info.

- The Captain became effectively two points cheaper so is a much stronger option now.

- Johan got a point more expensive. He’s still probably worth considering but isn’t quite the auto-include like he was before.

- The Medical Automaton has been released and is a great model. It can pull Ironsides out of the way of those beaters that are capable of killing her between activations and has a decent healing option if she’s taking a real pounding.