How/when to use Coppelius?

[H4ml3t]

I like the looks of Coppelius and I like him thematically but at 8ss I haven't found a spot for him in any of my lists yet. How and when do you use him?

Seems like he could be good with Pandora but I don't know if he'd be 8 stones worth of good.

[Le gob]

I like his look as well, but find him terrible.
&So...we used him as the informant marker in GG2017.

[goth]

He can paralyze via horrow duels, so can be an okay tarpit once he ramps up his defense with eyes after charging in.  Maybe in symbols (haven’t played many gg18 games) he can be a good runner or scheme runner hunter and then have sorrows jump to him - I like him in Titania + Widow Weaver lists.  It’s not often that he dies on me - always runs up one side of the board, but now that min 3 damage is so prevalent... I used to see him summoned with dreamer.

[-Loki-]

He's basically a beefy scheme runner/anti scheme runner. His speed makes him good at running up a flank and he's good enough to deal with enemy scheme runners. Once he's eaten  one or two he's beefy enough to double back and help out once he's done what you wanted him to do.

[le_sphinx]

I think Mr. Octopus is underestimated. I used him quite offten in gg17, but didn't try him in gg18 yet. Imo @-Loki- described him well. He is reliable fast scheme runner and anti-scheme runner. After he successfully hit someone 2 or 3 times (which is possible thanks to his tigger) his defense can be 6 or even 7. This helps him to tarpit models or hold objectives/territory. It is better to use him against 2-3 small enemy models.

His "remove eye" trigger works well with his "nightstalker" aura. So there is a chance to paralize someone and inflict 2 damage.

Another thing is his summoning ability! Summon two Alps per turn can be really helpful sometimes. These bandits can be really annoying and help Coppelius to hold more enemy models. "Sleep, my friends" can work here with some Alps around.

Also Coppelius can heal, which is one more advantage.

Personally I think 8 ss is respectful price for him and for all his abilities. For example, Silurid is 7 ss and it is just a good scheme runner. One ss more and you can take Coppelius with good triggers, healing and summoning options!

[Tendrepie]

I find he is really a hit or miss... I played it quite a bit with Dreamer and the only thing he does consistently is move very quick.

His damage track is kind of bad when you face armor or incorporeal (hard to wound/impossible to wound you can at least force 3 damage with the crow trigger)

The internet wisdom will tell you to gather eyes to keep is def. up... well against condition removal, it doesn't work too well (if you see Chiaki, stay away... getting his stack of eyes removed, incorporeal and getting slowed will make good old Copellius very sad)

That being said, summoning Alps and pulsing terror/slow (wp) duel can be very annoying for your opponent so i'd be kind of curious to try him out with Pandora...

[INXVI]

I think I might throw him into my next game, hopefully the pool screams Box Pandora.

If he is cautious of her FGF range, and manages to grab a few eyes, the potential to heal Pandora 2/3/5, potentially half her total wounds for a 0 and an eye seems great. He won't exactly be a priority target with Pandora causing mass destruction, and if things get a bit risky, he can dart off for some mid game scheme running. Combined with extra horror duel damage from his ability and the potential to gunk up the bubble with Alps, definitely seems fun and effective if it goes off.

Might throw in the Widow Weaver for good measure 😂

It isn't fool proof, but it adds to the death ball nicely.

[H4ml3t]

The Alps seem like a liability in Ply or Public Executions and don't help score the Strat in Ours so his potential to summon seems only occasionally useful.

I think he may suffer from being too much of a generalist. He's no Beater and while he has a 7" Wk I find Silurids with their Leap ability way better for Scheme Running for a stone less. The handful of times I've had him on the table I've never felt he earned his points. It's also possible that he just doesn't suit my play style. I may give him another couple of chances with Pandora and see what happens.

[Fixxer]

Ive had really good luck with him in certain Dreamer crews that have the scheme pool to suit his play style.  Typically put a thousand faces on him and keep a stone set aside for when its time to switch out so I can attach "On Dreaming Wings" gaining +1 Wk and flight. If we have Symbols of Authority as a strategy and Covert Breakthrough that'd be when I'd consider this particular build.  

On turn 1 (after he's activated already) or 2 (before he activates) use Dreamer to give him fast. Then I like to position a daydream close enough to push him (out of a combat, if necessary) and accomplice into him to activate. He'll drop a thousand faces for on dreaming wings, (this is mainly to not telegraph my plan even though most will expect this... bluffing can be fun too)

At this point he can move up to 24" with flight, he'll be in your opponents back field all alone ready to start dropping markers and pull support models out of the main scrum in the middle. Being terrifying  and having 10 Wds, he is going to pull something back that's capable of killing him, which pulls effective models form the main fight. A bonus in symbols of authority is that he's an enforcer so if they took punish the weak, it'll make the decision harder for them.

Typically this Dreamer crew is summoning too, which means Insidious Madnesses will be threatening the opposite side Copellius is, just to spread out my opponents crew and force more decisions than they have models, hopefully. 

In a bluffing circumstance, you just keep him in the middle fight and drop thousand faces for RET EYE or something else. I know he's a 1/3/4 but he has some nice triggers and an attack value of 6. He can hit stuff and with dreamer able to give him extra attacks and lower Wp of threats, he  can be really tough to take down. 

He's certainly not the easiest model to use, but I think he is a lot like the master he comes with; At first glance and without practice, its difficult to see the power. But "in game" when theoryfaux is less applicable, I see him doing really well. 

[Pikciwok]

Recently I had a good game vs. the best Neverborn player in my city (I'm average at best). We played Corner Deployment, Symbols of Authority. I chose my trusty Summoning Pandora vs. his Grown up Dreamer. I'm short of cheap models and scheme runners (My Insidious Madnesses are constantly killed by those models with min. 3 dmg Ca actions) and someone have to pick the Symbols, so I decided to test run a Coppelius with On the Dreaming Wings. I lost the game 5 to 6 pts, but Coppelius was surprisingly good. He killed an Alp and a Tot before the latter could remove any of my Symbols, Removed the last enemy's Symbol, and if I were a better player I would use him to summon an Alp thus denying opponent's Punish the Weak.

I'm going to test Coppelius more, especially in this Strategy. Even my opponent was positively surprised by his performance, and usually he's allergic to subpar models.