Year of the Pig

[DonCheadle]

Checking the new GG document, the Ram Strat and Scheme strike me as ideal for one of our masters. I'm talking about none other than the cantankerous Greek swine priest himself, Ulix! 

Gremlin brothers and sisters, do you believe in the power of the Pig? Will the herdmaster come out more often for you? What do you think? 

[Ludvig]

It would be helpful if you mentioned what the ram trat and scheme is.

There are some pretty solid counters to pigs i general, they tend to have short engagement ranges.

[Dogmantra]

Yeah I agree a lot actually. I also think he'll be quite good for Ours! because he can use his summons to fight, letting him send in lots of SS worth of models to fight without risking losing SS for the strategy.

[Ludvig]

3 minutes ago, Dogmantra said:

Yeah I agree a lot actually.

With whom?!

[Dogmantra]

both of ya but I edited my post because I realised how vague it was haha

[Ludvig]

Haha, the edited reply made a lot more sense.

[green-n-dumb]

Hello!
Starting to build Ulix and im interested how much pigs he need?
Piglets, warpigs, sow?
Whet he requires to become competetive master?

[Dogmantra]

1 hour ago, green-n-dumb said:

Hello!
Starting to build Ulix and im interested how much pigs he need?
Piglets, warpigs, sow?
Whet he requires to become competetive master?

Bare minimum imo (other than his box):

• 2 boxes of piglets. 3 piglets is just not enough for summoning and imo  summoning is what he does best. 6 will nearly always be enough provided you don't hire any when you're summoning (and you probably shouldn't because you can summon them anyway). I've never gone beyond 6 but it could happen.
• 1 War Pig. Again I would suggest not hiring one because you can summon them, and in my experience you get one out and then have your crew focus on other things.
• 1 other 50mm based pig, i.e. Gracie, The Sow, or the Mechanical Porkchop. It's best to spread out the damage from your summon among multiple pigs, so two models you can summon piglets off is better than just 1 (Old Major). Most people don't rate the Mech Porkchop, I kinda like it. Very simply: Gracie = tank with strong damage, The Sow = glass cannon, Mech Porkchop = support.
• Slop Haulers. Just one is fine, but they come in a box of two and there are times you will want both. They're just a really nice all round model. Don't neglect their offense!
• Some sort of scheme runner(s). I like either Merris or a few Bayou Gremlins. You could do others, but being able to drop three markers fairly easily on turn 1 is pretty important for getting a war pig out.

Straddling the line between bare minimum and next steps:

• The Pigapult. The ability to churn out three models a turn and then place them wherever you want on the board is silly good. It's especially powerful for Interference (which I believe is still in the 2018 rotation?). It's not required or even useful in several strats, but it plus either Ulix or Som'er is pretty much a mandatory pick when any Reconnoiter or Interference appears for any Gremlin player trying their hardest to win.

Next steps:

• A second War Pig. You'll summon one often enough that you'll want the model.
• The other 50mm pigs. In my opinion they're all useful enough to justify in different situations. Some people will tell you to skip the Mech Porkchop. You can if you want, I won't judge you. Also, knowing when not to bring Old Major can be handy. He's amazing, but he can also be quite a liability, but you probably still want two pigs to summon from.
• Sammy LaCroix. Ulix is in a weird position of having too many and not enough things to do. For the times when he's got too many things to do, bring Sammy with the Hunting Bow and use Shot In The Rear with her instead of your master. Even if you never draw the 6 you need, a Sh7 attack with Bayou Two card is pretty nice too.
• A Hog Whisperer. I don't personally own one, but I know @Math Mathonwy is a big fan, and I can see the appeal of a reactivating War Pig or The Sow. Also gets you one more piglet just in case you're running out when summoning.
• Old Cranky. Probably the most optional model because he's mutually exclusive with Penelope and she is very useful, but I like him to boost the terrible Wp of Pigs (especially combined with Liquid Bravery - Wp6 piglets is great fun when your opponent is expecting an easy ride), and to generally buff you up. He also gives you some card cycling which is great for Ulix who is very card hungry. Also great to combine with Sammy for extra cycling.

Burt Jebsen:

• Burt Jebsen.

(okay for reals, Burt is just always amazing, no particular synergies with Ulix other than a trigger to push pigs around, but what it can be easy to get caught up in is making this massive swarm of pigs, and you end up with way too much support and not enough actual doers, so when your workpigs die you're just left with support. Bringing someone self reliant like Burt is super helpful because it lets you act a bit more independently.)

 

 

It seems like a ton of stuff, and I guess it is quite a lot, but you can totally build up over time. If you're already a Gremlin player you'll probably have a few of these models already, and the other stuff you can pick up individually when you feel like you've reached your limit with what you have. The good thing about Ulix is he's quite self contained, so once you've built up a good core, your crews will be remixing the models you have, and you won't have that many stones left to incorporate new stuff in, so the spending slows down.

[Flinroz]

1 hour ago, Dogmantra said:

Straddling the line between bare minimum and next steps:

• The Pigapult. The ability to churn out three models a turn and then place them wherever you want on the board is silly good. It's especially powerful for Interference (which I believe is still in the 2018 rotation?). It's not required or even useful in several strats, but it plus either Ulix or Som'er is pretty much a mandatory pick when any Reconnoiter or Interference appears for any Gremlin player trying their hardest to win.

The GG2018 interference equivalent is Ours, in which summoned models don't count, and it doesn't check for engagement.

[Dogmantra]

8 minutes ago, Flinroz said:

The GG2018 interference equivalent is Ours, in which summoned models don't count, and it doesn't check for engagement.

Interference is still in the rotation tho, for tournaments and suchlike. And Ours! will be good for Ulix too I think because of the reasons mentioned above, but probably sans pigapult.

[SAYNE]

I sure hope so! I was very sad there wasn't a "main" pig introduced in Book 5, since flying pigs are only "meh" with Ulix himself. I do actually think a War pig as a hire has a place if you have the 0 upgrade for them. It gives them a good boost on the turn you really need it, which is very helpful with Hog Whisperer's Reactivate. Give it reactivate, you have it walk to a nice place far away, but close enough to sneaky back line charge. Wait until the end of the turn, Reactivate, throw One pig against the world, walk and 1 ap charge with + flips. Not exactly recalled training or Oathkeeper, but it's a nice upgrade for some serious pain + possible pinballing. Idk, it's worked out fairly well for me, but i'm not a "competitive" player. I just kinda live on the forums.

Also, the Supply Wagon strat is kinda nice for Ulix since I think he can use summoned models to move the Wagons, and Ulix has quite a few large bases in his crew, more than most at least (which move it farther).

[Ludvig]

I have been mauled badly by a warpig with that upgrade starting its charge near Old Major and then triggering stampede so it got 4 attacks with effectively double focus for a single ap. After that it might be in a position to use the last ap for another charge (against me it was still engaged). It is super effective!

[the tick]

@DogmantraYou mentioned that Old Major can be a liability. Can you elaborate on when you wouldn't bring Old Major? Clearly you'd bring another 50mm pig(s) of some sort, I'm just genuinely curious on your thoughts on when you'd leave Old Major behind.

[Dogmantra]

Old Major is really, really good, and does a lot just by standing there. But he's expensive and has garbage defenses. You might consider leaving him at home if A Quick Murder is in the pool because he will probably be your most expensive model and Df 4 is asking to give away points (as if he didn't already have a huge target painted on him). He's also really slow because of low Wk and his best action (Nudge Em On) is a (1), so if you want to play a more mobile crew or one a bit closer to the front line then he can slow you down a ton, kind of the pig equivalent of Lenny. It can be a good idea to still take him even if this is the case because the to attack and damage is silly good, but if you're also going pig-light (which I think is a great way to play Ulix in some situations), then it might be worth replacing him with the Mech Porkchop for a similar less powerful aura but that applies to more stuff.

Honestly, not bringing Old Major is a maybe 1 in 5, possibly 1 in 10 sort of scenario but I think it's worth considering if you can leave him behind sometimes.

[DonCheadle]

I don't know, to me Corn Husks is easily Ulix' biggest selling point (and also the reason why I bring Piglets into lists as well). 

Not bringing Old Major limits Husks to a large amount. Pools where Old Major is a liability are therefore in my opinion pools where Ulix is a bad choice. 

[PositronMike]

@Dogmantra Not sure what you mean by Old Major being slow, he is Wk5 from memory and can become Wk6 very easily from Penelope which I really wouldn't call slow. Yes he will use Nudge Em On a lot so may only get one walk but he can easily get a number of pushes in a Ulix crew.

I love Old Major and have never played Ulix without him. I actually treat them as a combined model and awful lot of the time; Old Major plays taxi and Ulix prods him to take bites out of the enemy. I can not imagine when I would drop him and what I would replace him with.

[Dogmantra]

To me, a Wk5 model that is ideally spending a (1) each turn to not walk is pretty slow in a crew of pigs that move 8" for 1 AP. YMMV. And leaving Old Major at home is definitely a rare thing as I discussed. Just threw it out there as I have had success with it

[Somnicide]

I am also cooking up some bacon this year, so what upgrades are most often used on Ulix? I would guess Husbandry and Pig Midwife - what goes in the third slot? Also, I don't have Sammy yet, and probably won't get her for a while, but do have a hog whisperer and taxidermist.

[Dogmantra]

Dirty Cheater if you can spare one is very useful on summony Ulix to counteract the damage he takes from making War Pigs. Liquid Bravery is also extremely useful against NB/resurrectionists. 

[daniello_s]

Do you think Ulix and his pigs will be a good choice for GG18 this year? I'm not sure myself although Porkchop for 6SS was unexpected change which made Ulix happy like a bunny... piglet i mean

[DonCheadle]

It's mostly Ply for Information that aligns perfectly with what Ulix does well. 

Wagons, if applicable, is also good. 

[green-n-dumb]

Is it worth to takes Sparks+Mech Porkchop for +1 armor to Ulix and fast to porkchop and 3-4 extra ss cache for pure warpig summoning?

I love summoning gameply, my main master is Somer and i cant stop while i dont have 9 bayous
I made a picture how do i see it
What is your ideas for maximum summon?