decker_cky

Aside from the students that can take a hit as well as anything in the game (particularly if you have bleeding edge tech around).

Yeah. I think it'll be interesting running a few turns of malifaux child, until you're ready to bring out big blue. Student of conflict could be worthwhile, but is rather expensive. Essence of power....its probably the best way to get use out of it, but it's still so limited. That said....kadru could get a lot of utility out of essence of power in terms of soulstone use.

One of those two-syllable K masters anyways...

The thing to be aware of is that Kirai is really vulnerable to Belles, as she has flight, Wk6 and a tendency to leave burning on her crew.

If you get caught off-guard (or make it appear so), burn some soulstones on prevention to keep your master alive early. You should be able to counterattack and quickly drop an unsupported Betty.

Marcus can do a similar thing offensively. One thing I've found that is spectacular against Kirai is a kaeris list going full burning (kirai, firestarter, captain, child). Doesn't activate Ikyro, and doesn't cause damage for Kirai to pawn off. So long as she doesn't have condition removal handy, it's one of the most frustrating matchups for a Kirai player to face.

But 3 minimum damage isn't really outstanding compared to the competition. Emissary has a 4 min on the charge and a 2 min that triggers burning, plus an 0 for an additional 2 damage ignoring everything. Snow storm is min 3 damage. Blessed is 2 min damage, but the triggers mean it often does more damage (not to mention coming with the speed to engage the targets you want to). What the golem does special is: 1.) Auto trigger slow 2.) Toss 3.) Melee expert 4.) Cool model Those are the key factors in favour of taking the golem.

I like the Hoarcat eat your fill option. Cat is weakened and engaged, it can teleport out with Sandeep's (0), focus, and target something that's weak with Arcane Storm to heal back up.

My impression of Rasputina lists has always been that you start with two big models and the wendigo (generally two of the following: emissary, snow storm, myranda/blessed, mech rider, and ice golem), then fill out to need with other frozen heart models.

Finding a tome isn't really valuable either, since Arcane Storm has one built in (nice for other actions activating student of all, but the mech rider isn't going to be using Sandeep's 0 actions). Great find on the miner trick though. Makes them a great addition in a Sandeep crew.

The Students aren't far from being more resilient punk zombies, and they benefit from a lot of arcanist upgrades, and the mobility available in the arcanist list (sandeep himself, the captain, angelica). I could definitely see them being the basis for Sandeep in a list where you need to kill. Valedictorian + imbued energies, is of course a beater that competes with anything out there.

Valedictorian stoning for a mask is already a 12ss investment (10ss for Val, 1ss for Sandeep's upgrade, and 1ss for the mask) compared to 7ss and a low card for Kudra. They're in completely different realms in terms of investment. Not that valedictorian isn't worth that investment, but it can't be looked at in the same light as Kudra. Kudra might be best used as a model that can zip up a side in the first turn or two to run schemes, while remaining a threat to jump into the fray (meaning stay away from her gamin upgrade and from warding runes, which imply a central field role).

To add to the list of similar abilities, the Captain's wind walls are neither dense nor blocking, but last until his next activation.

What are you expecting from a 7ss model? She's pretty dangerous on the charge, and she's the only model that can reliably use Sandeep's teleport (if her upgrade gives her the mask, or she burns a stone for the mask). She's not a potent model, but has deceiving offence and defence through her ability to always burn a soulstone. She's great against armoured targets with her charge and poison.

Oxfordian mages won't always make sense, nor will the out of faction academics upgrade. It's important to realise that Sandeep boosts everything - only one of his upgrades really focuses on making academics better. For example, for turf war, I'd consider bringing in a bunch of students with the Captain carrying bleeding edge tech to boost their mobility (and therefore maximize flurry) and raise their resilience to ridiculous levels. In show of force, Oxfordian mages boosting a couple of hard case henchmen is a good idea. In other games, he may want an almost totally non-thematic crew (for example, the discussion above shows how he can be a boon to a frozen heart heavy crew).

Another nice thing with Banasuva and frozen heart is if you have snow storm, he allows some placement shenanigans for a more mobile Banasuva, even if he has the "no move or push" upgrade (which I think is generally the best one for him). If you have Kudra's gamin upgrade, I think you'll want to start with a gamin or two on the table too.

Would steam arachnids be the fastest cheap constructs for the purpose of blade and claw? Don't need to be too much faster to add options to something like the mauler (which early on will often hug cover rather than bolt forward).

Tie to Colette is that as a minion, almost all of Colette's tricks work on Boris. He also can trigger an (0) interact with his new action, which occasionally could be important.

I think you missed on the Marcus crew. Marcus + Waldgeists + Silurids is IMO a much better start for Marcus (molemen are great once you add silurids, but aren't anything special alone). That said...agree that he's tier 2 on the restricted budget. If you boost the fund to $120 or $130, you can fit a lot more. At a $100 limit, everyone should start with Ramos (heck....no reason not to do Marcus and Ramos box sets as a combo).

Wisp is also another swamp beast for the spawn mother to feel protective of (potential free charge). My experience with the spawn mother is that she was better than she seems like she should be. The Wisp makes the mother more flexible.

Companion is a nice ability to have around, and makes stand together work. No Df triggers is a solid ability to keep in the toolkit (particularly against gremlins, but there's plenty of df triggers to go around these days). Stand together and critical strike make it so your opponent can't afford to let them hit. While not as potent as rail workers they have a higher top-end damage, and don't rely on a discard effect (something people underestimate the cost of). Are they top tier models? Obviously not. Is it worth it to take them when you won't get value from false claim? Probably not. But there's a definite niche where they have value.

Mechapork is not a beast.

I think it will open some crazy options for rogue necromancies, which are both beasts and constructs, and suffer slightly from a lack of speed. Marcus also gets silurids or gupps as easy options to position the necromancy where he wants. It may be enough to get scorpius in position when he needs to be to cause slow, making it much more potent. Marcus can actually run a pretty good beast and claw poison list around a core of rogue necromancies, poison gamin, and scorpius.

Can't you take the upgrade on 17 mages, making them 85 soulstones?

I have a confession guys.....I bought a third slate ridge mauler yesterday to reach the $60 LGS threshold. I think I have a bear problem.