Grave Stirrings(New Player)

[Arlos896]

Greetings everyone! I have been eyeing this game for a while and finally committed to buying and playing some games. I currently have Yan Lo crew, the McMourning crew and the carrion emissary(such an amazing model that sold me on the faction) in my fledgling collection. I was looking at also maybe grabbing Nicoderm but am a little intimidated at the prospect of the summoning aspect he brings to the table. I did briefly see someone mention he can be run in some alternative manners and was curious about that. If someone could chime in about that as well as maybe other general advice about this great game I would really appreciate it. Till then, may the bodies be fresh and the graves shallow. 

[thewrathchilde]

I would say slow down and play some more games with what you have. Yan Lo and McMourning's boxes don't have as much synergy (IMO) as some other choices. Pick one or the other and stick to it for 5-10 games (at least). Maybe pick up a couple of the staple enforcers to go with them to give you some better options and then jus play, play, play until you get them down. 

DON'T start on Nicodem which will force you to buy most of the rest of the faction until you understand the Masters you have. If you want another Master option pick up Seamus's box- the Belles work well with any Resser master and pick up Izamu and Yin. Those will give you enough to play Yan Lo and Seamus for a while until you have them down. 

 

Welcome to the fold. Good luck. 

[Freman]

Remember you can play Nicodem as a support master, simply raising and re-raising his punk zombies. It might not be his strongest incarnation, but it's still effective.

[Clement]

Far be it from me to curb the enthusiasm of the fledgling resser player, buy what looks fun

Having said that, the stuff you own (and are thinking of getting) do have a common limitation or two, you could address those limitations with models that will end up playing well with Nicodem when the time finally comes (so much stuff does).

The big things you may want to add to Yan Lo are either more ancestors or scheme runners of some kind.  A good ancestor to start with would likely be either Toshiro (who bulks up the Ashigaru really well and puts them back when they die), or Izamu (Giant undead beatstick).  If you want to work on scheme runners, a good choice would be either Canine Remains or Necropunks.   Canine remains have the added bonus of playing especially well with McMourning (he can summon them) and can do some light combat support.  Necropunks are a bit more durable and maneuverable, but cost a bit more and don't really do anything but scheme (they do it well though).

If you want to bulk out McMourning, I might instead suggest getting Rafkin, the canine remains, Guild Autopsies, or maybe even the Rogue Necromancy.  The canine remains work as before (scheme runners who can be a bit supportive in a fight), while Autopsies are disposable rank and file troopers.  Rafkin and the Rogue Necromancy are both additional beaters who can help take some of the heat off the good doctor so he doesn't have to do all the killing himself.

With the possible exception of Rafkin, all of these recommendations would work great with Nicodem when the time comes.  (Rafkin isn't bad with Nico, they just don't do anything for each other.  Mortimer and him get along great though)

[Arlos896]

Thank you for the advice! I also have been eyeing Reva and Kirai though I have not seen too much on either of them as of lately on the forums lately, any reason for that?

[Clement]

17 hours ago, Arlos896 said:

Thank you for the advice! I also have been eyeing Reva and Kirai though I have not seen too much on either of them as of lately on the forums lately, any reason for that?

Kirai has been a badass forever.  She doesnt get talked about much because she's sort of an island as far as supporting models goes (she wants spirits, which ends up being a relatively self contained set).  One bright point to mixing her in with your existing stuff is that she and Yan Lo both like Goryo a lot, so there's some crossover there.  (Heads up, Goryo are famously tricky to assemble though).

Reva will play well with whatever, mostly because she tends to ignore her crew and go on a murder spree.  She will *love* your Carrion Emissary since she can make use of the constant mindless zombies it turns up as it does it's thing.  In theory, Reva also enjoys having Yin the Penangalan around since Yin's debuff is basically certain death to whatever she puts it on.  Since Yin is an ancestor you might already have her or are thinking about it.  In my experience Yin tends to be more of a "win more" piece with Reva who's not really needed, but plenty of others swear by her. 

A lot of the forum buzz has been around Nicodem lately mostly because he's become an unstoppable juggernaut in the UK scene.  Wave 5 (the most recent set of models and upgrades) didn't really do a lot to buff masters directly, but the models that came with it (Asura, Kentauri, Bone piles) are all fantastic toys for Nicodem.

[Arlos896]

Another great bit of information thank you! If I may continue to impose on the collective wisdom here, does anyone play well with Archie? I love the model and the idea of an insanely powerful melee monster.

[Fetid Strumpet]

He can work ok'ish with any resser master. The only one I probably would never take him with is Yan Lo, and only because Yan Lo has other very expensive models that have better synergy with him and there often isn't any room left over. If you want to do a beast bomb with Tara I'd argue he's better than killjoy. He has some ok synergy with Reva. He's undead, so Kirai can cover him with her malevolence aura, though again she often has other expensive spirits and there often isn't room for him. McMorning doesn't have any real synergy with him, but he's still ok'ish with him if you want an expensive beater. Seamus can work with him if you are building an all terror all the time list. Nicodem has amazing synergy with him, but there often isn't any room for him if you are going the engine build route. He probably has the best synergy with Horror path Molly since she can give him an extra ap, set up models with her terrible secret and then activate into him, give him black blood if he operates near her, and her summoning and lack of need for corpses means there are often going to be heaps lying around for him to take advantage of. I'd say he's a strong consideration with Molly and mostly a meh for anyone else. Definitely useable but often there are other synergies or roles that need filling with the others that don't often leave just enough room for him to slide into.

[Arlos896]

Also I saw something about an encounter box with some new resser models in it? Any idea when that is going to hit the store? 

[Adran]

Last I heard the undying box got delayed, and we haven't heard a new release date. We also don't actually know the rules for the models it contains. The box contains 4 resser models and 4 TT models.