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I think that Gremlin Masters generally can use any models. Ophelia in general tends to use fewer Pigs and Ulix naturally absolutely loves Pigs but other than those, you can mix and match pretty freely and remain very competitive. As for the "must-haves", I'd say that these cover a lot of bases: Slop Haulers. The best Healers in the game but super versatile and can do damage in both Melee and at range (their debuff can be super effective) as well as Scheme. Require very little in the way of resources to run since there are no TNs to their actions, Triggers are more of the "nice to get" variety than must-haves and they have Bayou Two-card. Lightning Bugs. The other 5 SS multi-purpose Minion. Ignore Armor and good Triggers make them good damage support. They can also heal and do many different things but they do require more resources than Slop Haulers. Rooster Riders. Arguably the most broken models in the game, IMO. Insane destructive potential and crazy threat range. Some care needed in employing them, though. Francois and Burt. Crazy damage. Can do it all. Really, really good. Lenny. The ultimate Support model. His Auras can make even the lowliest of Gremlins supremely scary. Bayou Gremlins. Cheap and really, really versatile. Very useful. Piglets. Their Pushes are really nice and they are really good harassment models. They have a couple of obvious weaknesses (mandatory Charges and super low Wp). Trixiebelle. Has synergy with basically everything in the Faction. Cheating Initiative is of course incredibly powerful but Trixie has a lot of other tricks as well (haha). Pigapult. Makes certain Schemes utterly trivial. Sammy LaCroix. Again, very versatile. Her basic attack can shut down models really well and she can carry Upgrades for Masters which can be crazy powerful for some Masters. I'm sure I've forgotten some but those should be most of the must-haves. There's naturally lots and lots of good models outside of that list (Rami, McTavish, Raphael, Gracie, Old Cranky, and so on and so forth). But I could easily take any of those models for any Master (though Ulix doesn't want too many non-Pigs).

I don't remember who it was but someone told a story of his opponent having his Bayou Gremlins banjo bash their own Somer to death in the hopes of denying Assassinate. And when told that it doesn't deny it he just laughed and thought that it was still a very Gremlin type of thing to do

I don't think that would deny Assassinate? It only requires for the enemy leader to be Killed or Sacrificed. But on topic, yeah, agreed. Gremlins are deceptively complicated in that there's a lot of things to juggle and you need to mitigate the chances for catastrophes. Gremlins offer different ways of doing that but you can also push your luck and have things backfire. Knowing when to push is a skill.

They are very competitive. Gremlins have several models which can lay claim to the title "best model of the price class" and all of their Masters are at the very least pretty good. They have the most AP of all factions and AP leads to options. They also likely do the most damage.

Lucius, Austringers, and Guild Guard would be the models I'd choose. Lucius because he is the weakest Master in the game. He is way too resource intensive and even with the resources he mostly does stuff that other Masters do better. Which is crazy. Austringers because they are silly and if they were made less silly Lucius' design would need to jump through fewer hoops. Lower the damage by quite a lot - have them be able to kill severely wounded models but not chip away big time on heavies. Guild Guard because they are kinda iconic for Guild yet no one takes them since they suck. I could see them simply dropping in cost to 3 as that would certainly make people take them, I'd think.

The Trapper is hilariously overpowered.

Slop Haulers and Rooster Riders are cream of the crop when it comes to Gremlin models and Mah can make really good use of them both. Creative Taxidermy is a bit of a mixed bag - Taxidermists are generally considered rather weak as far as Gremlins in that price range go (they are completely overshadowed by Francois LaCroix and Burt Jebsen) though they aren't actively horrible and Mah has some synergy with them. Stuffed Piglets are fun but not essential. So it's not a bad purchase as such, but a bit less exceptionally good than Slop Haulers and Roosters. As for the next crew box, well, Somer is really versatile, Lenny makes an amazing tag team with Trixiebelle (he gives Trixie Rams so Trixie can make Lenny attack every time she attacks) and Bayou Gremlins are always useful.

You are correct. It is pretty nasty.

I'll give you a hint, because it's more fun to find it out for yourself. Is there anything in Tara's mechanics that happens when a model dies (but doesn't happen if it is sacrificed)? Oh, and never take that Upgrade, ever. The Summoning is ridiculously better.

As you note, the comparison is really difficult to make since they perform such different functions. I really, really LSA with Ironsides, though. It is absolutely nuts - like a Railworker on steroids. Since they now come two to a box, I believe that we'll start seeing people taking two with Ironsides. It's only problem is that it is pretty slow but OTOH Ironsides lists tend to have ways around that.

Sure would!

Great stuff PanzerHarris and Myyrä - thank you! I think that Zoraida offers Gremlins plenty. Nurses and Waldgeists do stuff that Gremlins don't do and Obeys are very yummy with 1 AP Charges of Rooster Riders and Pigs. All in all Obeys are very versatile and something that Gremlins can utilize really well due to their long threat ranges, high damage output and general squishyness (Brewie needs a Suit and Mah can only Push and her stat is low).

Molly Summons very squishy stuff which are ideal for Grow to utilize. Also, Nekima can be a bit rough at the beginning. So yeah, a very rough match-up for the Resser player, unfortunately. Note that Molly can't Summon Flesh Constructs. Maybe it was one of the Students?

I really like Zoraida. She is just so versatile that whenever I'm playing her, I feel that I can accomplish anything. If there is a problem, Zoraida can solve it. And really, Bewitching and opposing Master is just so much fun! It's hard to appreciate properly before you've done it. Plus, she bring to the Gremlin stable something that others don't - namely super durable Waldgeists. Also Nurses. Now, the reservation about her is that her starter box is pretty useless for Gremlins. Silurids are good but there's no need to take them with Gremlins, really. And Bad Juju can't get his Upgrade and is really bad without it.

Cool list, Adran! Surprised By Perdita, most of the Gremlins (also, no Mah), Nico, and Hamelin (this one is the most surprising, I think). But I would've honestly been very disappointed if your list didn't include any curve balls

Ah, yeah, you got a new Master - sorry about that (I thought "aah blutac" in Katadders's post was akin to "ah, damn!" )

One more thing about his list: he seems to rate Masters into the unplayable category if he considers that someone else in the Faction does the things they do but better. I think that Zoraida is competitive with Neverborn but I can easily see the argument that she doesn't offer enough stuff over Dreamer and Collodi to merit being chosen. So you might win but that wouldn't necessarily prove him "wrong", so to say. That said, I do like Mei Feng and feel that she has things to offer with her crowd control, movement, and shielding. Not to mention the Foundry models that she can bring.

I'm not saying that his word is the law - it's an opinion among others. But it does have quite a bit of experience and play skill behind it. But I think that it is important to remember that absolute tier lists are impossible to concoct. They are always personal to some degree. Maybe someone has an easy time againt Lilith and doesn't really get her to work when playing and therefore rates her low. I think that's completely justified. These are opinions, not facts. If you look at Stryder's list, I think that it is internally consistent and he appreciates certain things very highly while he doesn't think that some things are all that. Someone else might think otherwise and be just as "right". Heck, I still stand behind my list in the first post, after all

He's the reigning UK Master.

I think they try to do too many things without being really good in any of them. They aren't durable enough, shooty enough, or hitty enough, really. The Aura, while nice in theory, is really small for what it is and it requires a suit. Not a fan. And I fully agree with Dogmantra - Slop Haulers or Lightning Bugs just leave these fellows completely in the dust.

Stryder has a very big meta, though. That said, I do agree that very few people would rate Guild McMourning above Perdita.

And to expand on what Munindk said, Wyrd make boxes in batches. It seems that the Children of December batch has run out and they'll likely make a new batch but it might take a bit to get from China to distributors to stores.

Great stuff! Thank you for weighing in. Some question if you don't mind, as some of the choices certainly piqued my interest. I mean, Mei Feng being in the bottom I can understand. I disagree but it isn't all that interesting IMO and I can certainly see why you would come to that conclusion. But a couple are more interesting IMO and I would love to hear your reasoning for them. I can easily understand McCabe but why McMourning? To me it seems that he is completely superfluous compared to McCabe? Why do you rate Zoraida that badly? Is it just because she's Super squishy to some common things? Is this simply because Outcasts are so damn hardcore or do you really think that Outcast Tara is really bad?

I don't think that any of the others switch tiers based on the faction they are played in. Some are better in one faction or the other but I don't think that the change is all that drastic on anyone else than McMourning. I generally thought of the "best" version. Most of the time the difference isn't big enough to switch tiers (I think that the difference in power between Horror and Spirit Molly isn't all that huge, for example. It is there, but it isn't drastic). He's great for teaching noobs! *the veteran is doing something incomprehensible, flipping cards, cursing, flipping more cards. "OK, that's my Master done, then. I Paralyzed two of my own dudes and killed my Totem. Also dropped a Scheme Marker and walked twice. Your turn."* Huh? Who is disfavored by all the Schemes? I'd say that both Wong and Ophelia shoot better than Somer and Ulix summons way better. I can still see the argument about him being at the top, mind. So I let you choose Strat and Schemes and then I take Colette/Levi/Perdita and you take Lucius and you think that it's a completely even match? (Supposing that my skill level was about equal to yours, that is) Oh, and good discussion everyone, thank you!

Yan Lo got a big boost with his Emissary. Hoffman is good but he has quite a few very unfavourable match-ups. I could easily see someone put Hoffman into Tier 2.