Pigapult

[scottb]

Looking for some experienced insight into getting the most out of the pigapult with either So'mer or Ophelia lead crews. Presume we have strategies that would particularly favour throwing stuff up the board. What do you find works well? What would a 35SS crew featuring a pigapult look like?

And I'm looking for some clarification too - if the stuffed piglet is sacrificed then it must pass a WP 12 Duel or explode, is that right? If it passes then it can be placed within 24", right? It is doesn't pass, then the pigapult takes 1 Dg from the exploding pig?

[Guy in Suit]

Pigapult is always a centerpiece of my Ophelia crews.

I usually run something like:

Ophie

Pigapult

Pere

two of Rami/Rafael/McTavish

7 kin/bayou's

Pigapult stays central near Ophelia and a swarm of Bayou's, taking advantage of her aura's. 'Pult tosses bayous at objectives, Pere at clumped up enemies, and Ophie herself if I am feeling greedy.

Meanwhile the various Kin rush up the flanks to harry the enemy and slow them/hopefully stop them from getting their hitty bits into my center.

[Scirian]

Outcasts Crew - 35 - Scrap

Som'er Teeth Jones -- 3 Pool

2 Giant Mosquitos [4ss]

Ophelia Lacroix [8ss]

Bayou Gremlin [2ss]

Bayou Gremlin [2ss]

Bayou Gremlin [2ss]

Gremlin Taxidermist [6ss]

Pigapult [4ss]

Slop Hauler [4ss]

This is close to something I would run regularly as a Som'er player.

Pigapult was one of my favorite models and features prominently in all my gremlin lists.

It is an impressive instrument of devastation and fun.

Some quick and dirty tactics I've found in my limited play experience:

Generally what you are looking for is a cluster in your deployment zone.

With a 24" range the Pigapult basically never needs to move.

(However! It is considered a gremlin and therefore falls under the dominion of Ophelia's Ooh a Girl! action giving him an eight inch move. So turn 1 you can move it up that extra eight inches and hit anywhere on the board)

Placing terrain is important.

What you're looking for is essentially a box (for cover and since you don't need LOS and can summon over a wall?...i never said it was fair) in the middle of your deployment zone.

Place the Pigapult in the center of deployment to get maximum range.

A slop hauler next to it.

Som'er immediately next to the Hauler.

A cluster of Gremlins in front of everyone.

Mosquitoes wherever you like.

Then let the summoning machine work it's magic.

As a gremlin crew you can always attempt to out-activate your opponent...but that's just plain mean.

So first things first, Som'er will turn the limited number of severes in his hand into bayou gremlins.

This should net you at least two more gremlins at half wounds.

If you have less than two severes, kill a gremlin with another your first activation, and net yourself two more cards (due to survival of the fittest). Then activate Som'er

Once you have two more gremlins at half wounds you can use his third action to heal one or (!) try to shank one of them by using your pig sticker with its trigger to summon a piglet.

Regardless you want to kill a gremlin.

The reason being the next step is the Taxidermist.

Once you have a pig (through Som'er) you can 1 action it into a stuffed piglet.

If not you have to cast on a moderate crow or higher whatever corpse counters are lying around into stuffed piglets (not as reliable)

However, once you have one you have the Pigapult's only requirement for doom machine and three blast tokens on a severe!

Give everyone reckless (except maybe the bayou gremlins to get the most out of your crew's AP)

Save Slop Hauler till last and heal anything that took damage over that turn with his All action.

As far as moving upfield? Most of your gremlins are fast enough to do that on their own.

Even the stuffed piglets are faster than you think with 0 action gassy (gains float).

I find saccing a pig to get more damage a more useful way of using pigs in the early turns because most opponents are running up mid-field to achieve objectives and start games in clusters behind cover.

Later game objective grabs are saved for significant models like summoned bayou gremlins.

However, moving stuffed piglets upfield is far from useless and is often the most fun.

I'll try to answer about the stuffed piglet, though I'm a little unclear as to the question:

When saccing the stuffed piglet, it always takes a WP 12 duel that can be cheated to determine if it takes the bacon bomb action

If it takes the bacon bomb action it is already sacced.

If the Pigapult sacs a stuffed piglet, the WP 12 duel happens.

If the pig loses the duel, then it takes the bomb action and anyone within range takes damage (though gremlins take 1)

If the pig Takes a Ride or is launched 24" upfield, then it passes the df duel or is killed.

I'm unsure if when the model is killed it still takes the bacon bomb action.

That would be epic.

Some nastiness?

Throwing created or hired stuffed piglets upfield to a maximum of five, creating a sixth, taking your 1 dg (though summoning it away from everyone should limit the reaction) as all of the piglets explode in your opponent's face!

However this is rare.

The more common tactic is to throw any number of created pigs, or just walking them up (no df duel! there was much rejoicing) their 21 (15 move +6 summoning), unimpeded inches (gassy) upfield into an opponent's melee and let them duke it out.

Similar tactic as Hamelin's Stolen. You walk 'em up. Your opponent swings? nasty after taste because you just broke their big hitter.

They try to run? disengaging strike from 1-3 models. They start killing them? Oh noes! They all explode.

If Pigapult is nasty, then it's the Stuffed Piglets who made it that way.

You want more?

Throwing Ophelia, a ht 1 model into cover or onto something so she's within range of a critter will ruin their day with her reckless, burn soul stones, and calculated luck trigger.

This got me within range of Lord Chompy Bits who ran right past her to kill my precious Pigapult because he was "worried" about it.

Object 5 protected against all but Flay and Onslaught.

He brought the thing tumbling.

But I netted three corpse counters for Piglets and Ophelia had yet to activate.

She shot three times in his face and dropped him to four wounds.

Then the pigs had their day.

Nothing better than watching a Neverborn player flip a black joker on damage prevention as a pig explodes in their master's face.

Gremlins for the win!

In summation?

It's a very versatile tool.

Placing disposable models anywhere within 24 is nasty.

It lets you choose the place and time of your engagement.

Is it reliable?

Not always.

Uncheatable flips always hurt.

But with enough models and patience you can swarm your objectives in a single turn, which almost no other crew can accomplish.

Try it out.

Experiment.

This is the list I like best, but try out others.

My only suggestion?

Bring Som'er as your master, his summoning is ridiculous!

You have an easier time of pigs in Som'er's crew.

Ophelia can come too anyway.

And the Slop Hauler? Auto-include.

Four healing flips on generally unsurvivable models and at four stones?

Take him.

Take two.

Take four and be green immortal gods!

[Omenbringer]

Essentially the two above posts sum it up nicely (the Pigapult specifically) however I wouldn't recommend making it a center piece of the crew.

Of the two Gremlin Leaders, Ophelia generally gets more use of it since it turns her into a precision instrument of assassination. It is great for base blocking, positioning and the occasional 2 Control Cards from it's death though its shooting definitely isn't the greatest (even after Som'er has drained a control hand via A Gremlin's Luck). Also the sacing of Stuffed Piglets isn't really sustainable for more than a few turns, even with corpse counters and summoning from the Taxidermist.

______________________________________________

There are some things I disagree with though:

or just walking them up (no df duel! there was much rejoicing) their 21 (15 move +6 summoning)

Threat Range is only 16" in this case since summoned models are Slow the first turn. If you run them with Skeeters though you can do the same or better adding an activation and a utility piece to extend Som'er's potential for 2 SS less.

But with enough models and patience you can swarm your objectives in a single turn, which almost no other crew can accomplish.

The pigapult isn't really the reason this can be done, as even without it the gremlins/ pigs can do this (and without fear of a bad Df flip).

Bring Som'er as your master, his summoning is ridiculous!

His summoning is only decent when backed up by SS usage or after having stacked the the deck via Survival of the Fittest, otherwise it isn't a reliable method of utilizing the hog boss.

You have an easier time of pigs in Som'er's crew.

If you want pigs then you pretty much have to bring Som'er as the only way Ophelia can get them is if the Taxidermist is hired and then they are summoned in.

And the Slop Hauler? Auto-include.

Four healing flips on generally unsurvivable models and at four stones?

Take him.

Take two.

Take four and be green immortal gods!

The Slop Hauler is highly over rated unless taken in pairs as they really limit the crews mobility or you dedicate Ophelia to pushing them around. Though hiring a pair can prolong the usefulness of the Bayou Gremlins by allowing multiple uses of Reckless it does very little to actually keep them around when attacked (the Squeel! trigger is much better at keeping them alive). They do shine a bit more on the more durable Kin models though.

Though a list with all of these models:

Outcasts Crew - 35 - Scrap

Som'er Teeth Jones

--

Ophelia Lacroix

[8ss]

• Pigapult
  [4ss]
  
  
• Slop Hauler
  [4ss]
  
  
• Slop Hauler
  [4ss]
  
  

can be great fun it doesn't leave much for hiring the rest of the crew and that 15 SS (assuming a 35 SS game) goes very quickly after adding only:

• Bayou Gremlin
  [2ss]
  
  
• Bayou Gremlin
  [2ss]
  
  
• Gremlin Taxidermist
  [6ss]
  
  

Leaving only 5 SS for hiring or the cache (and Ophelia tends to really like having a pretty substantial cache for assassinations).

The Pigapult is a fun piece however it really shouldn't be a center piece of the crew especially if it distracts from either the staple models (Bayou Gremlins, Piglets and Skeeters) or other support pieces (and there is definitely a point of to much). Hope that helps clarify a bit.

[scottb]

Thanks to both Scirian and Omenbringer, some really helpful advice. Playing a game tonight so will see how it goes.

[Omenbringer]

No worries, I help were I can.

[scottb]

Just to check rules...

Played a game last night. The situation was Ophelia next to Pigapult and in melee with Mei Feng (Pigapult also in melee range of Mei Feng). Can the pigapult launch Ophelia from this situation? Will it require her to beat a disengaging strike from Mei Feng?

We played it that it wouldn't as it is not a move on Ophelia's part but a place by the Pigapult, and the Pigapult's action is not a strike but an action.

In the end it didn't matter as Ophelia shot Mei Feng down from full wounds with two strikes.

But just curious.

[Omenbringer]

You played it correctly for exactly the reasons you cited.

[Bahoola]

What's your take on M2 Pigapult? Higher SS cost (7ss vs. 4ss), you get paralyzed vs. (all) activation when shooting models way, a new free range attack. don't know if it's worth it?

[mephiston]

I used it a fair bit with Som'er in the beta. I like it.

[Bahoola]

Care to elaborate?

Here is my take on it. Pork Barrage is now cb6 instead of 4 witch is super nice! You might just hit some thing now and make that ss3 piglet worth it's sacrifice. It also got a new free attack on cb 4, that's alsow super nice since it means that you no longer has to sac a 3ss model to use it's weapon.

But is that improvmet worth 4 extra soul stons? yeah, it probably is since all games have a higher SS limit now.

But the thing is that I never used the Pigapult as a damage dealer unless I was sure of that something would die. I used it to positio my models and that ability seems worthless now when they receive paralyzed condition instead of just taking a df13 check an act late in the same turn, and piglets can no longer catapult them self with an (all) activation. and that, in my point of view, makes the Pigapult a ****ty support model and not worth the required 8ss to feald it :'(.

(Wrote this on my cellphone, hop it's understandeboll o_O)

Edited July 19, 2013 by Bahoola
Got the facts straight

[Balefirestorm]

I've only used the Pigapult in one game and I have to admit that i did not use it to its full potential, but it is a really great model.

means that you no longer has to sac a 3ss model to use it's weapon.

Piglets are now 4ss

With Reckless and the sacrifice of one Piglet you get three attacks at Sh 6, Rg 24 and Dg 2/4/6. That also ignores LoS and Cover. That's one mighty gun right there. And then you can also use it to throw up to three models up the board?

Sure they do receive paralyze, but in a normal scenario you most probably out-activate your opponent. So save the models you want to lob till last and fling them after your opponent has activated his models, but but before you activated yours. They suffer paralyze when they activate this turn, but are free to roam start of next turn. I would say that's quite ok. And if you want models to fling up there, just get Lenny and have him summon Piglets that you later can either throw up the field or sac to gain the Bacon barrage.

And if you want them (Piglets that is) to activate this turn, use a Hog whisperer to give them Reactivate. When they get Paralyzed they cancel eachother out and you have a really ****ed off Piglet in the enemy lines turn 1.

Edited July 19, 2013 by Balefirestorm

[Boon]

@ scottb: I read somewhere in the forum a very mean trick with the Pigapult. You need Wong and three models you want in the face of your opponent.

You bury the three models with Wong and then fling him in the middle of the opponent's crew or close to the models you want to kill. If he dies the models get unburied. If you have out-activated your opponent he can just sit and watch.

I know, it is expensive and I personally don't think it is much fun. But if you want to ruin somebody's day it might be worth it