Lighthawk

What this thread is about: Pretty much what it says on the tin, my thoughts on playing the guild. Characters I use, tactics, patterns I've noticed. What this thread is not about: Optimization. This isn't about how to make an unbeatable crew, bend the rules to maximize results, or seek out those combos that make people want to jump over the table at you for using. This is more of a "This works for me" kind of thing, and "This is why". Hopefully other people will share their own thoughts about how the same stuff either does or does not work for them, why they agree or disagree, and what they might do instead. So to start things off, I'm going to be talking about my favorite master, Perdita Ortega. Stats Perdita has one of the most impressive stat lines in the game. Great walking distance, which is only made better by being Fast. Her charge is impressive, though I have yet to ever make a charge with Perdita since standing back and shooting is really her strong suit. She has awesome defensive prowess between her great willpower and even better defense. Her wounds aren't impressive for a master, but hardly low enough to really be something I'd consider a weakness, especially since actually hitting her is so tough. Her real weakness stat-wise is the mere two soul stones she brings. For me, taking Perdita means I'm pretty much giving up another model on the battlefield in order to max her out at 8 stones. I have however rarely felt that this was a bad trade off. Perdita is a beastly model, and between her strong defense and a horde of soul stones, I have only lost her in one game, and even then it was only during the final round after all soul stones had been drained away. Ultimately I feel that Perdita with 8 stones is far more dangerous to my opponent than any 6 stone cost model could be. Abilities Companion: While I very rarely use any Ortega Alpha strikes, I do use this ability on the occasion that there are two separate issues that both require moving first to resolve in my favor. Using Nino's Where'd He Go spell in order to get him out of melee so that Perdita can then shoot the hell out of the enemy model for example. I find this to be a situational, but useful ability. Evasive 2: It's a good ability, but one I rarely have to use. That's mostly a faction of the crews my friends play though. Gunfighter: This is a big part of why Perdita is dangerous. Generally you can weaken if not cripple ranged fighters by getting them in melee. Perdita however is in no way diminished by going toe to toe with another model, so melee mobbing her is far less effective than it is against most ranged models. I rarely bother with careful distancing and spacing with Perdita, because it just doesn't worry me much if she ends up in melee. Immune to Influence: Extremely effective against models that rely on spells, or that have that one spell that makes them truly dangerous. When Nicodem was my primary opponent, I often found Lady J getting herself paralyzed trying to get close to him. Perdita could just outright ignore the spell. See the Unseen: This combined with ItI is what makes Perdita dangerous against a lot of trickster based models. These two abilities often strip away such models' primary means of defense, pitting them in a straight stat battle with Perdita, which is rarely a winning situation. This makes Perdita the go to girl for dealing with Harmless or Pitiful models, taking them out efficiently. Actions Fast: There is no way to overstate how powerful this makes Perdita. While a lot of masters do have a third action, most are restricted to a certain given action. Perdita however just has a third general action that she can use for anything. Need to run across the battlefield? Three walks gets her 18 inches. Need to kill something already in range? You have three shots to get the job done. A target is out of range and has some kind of defense to give attacks a negagtive flip? Bah, Perdita can walk and then still make a Focused strike. This is, in my mind, Perdita's greatest asset, because it gives her options. Hero's Gamble: Situational, and luck dependent, but it has helped me on occasion by dumping a hand of 4s and lower and getting even one 10+ card. That's still one good Fate Cheat more than I had before. Quick Draw: My standard use of Perdita's 0 action. Rarely a game changer, but it does put some area control down. I rarely actually get to take the shot, as most of the time the fact that Perdita is on watch for any ranged attacks, castings, or charges means my opponent just won't take any of those actions. While the action denial isn't as viscerally appealing as using Perdita to put a round into someone, I believe that using the Action to help dictate what my opponent can and can't do is more important than whatever damage it might cause. Triggers Anticipation: Very rarely used, as I find critical strike to be almost universally more useful. Anticipation only gets picked on those few attacks that I flip a mask on the attack and know that regardless of the damage, the target is dying. Critical Strike: Perdita does good damage as it is, this makes her do great damage, especially if another ram is flipped or cheated on top of the built in one. With Fast allowing her to get another attack in, Perdita can lay down a serious beating. One of my proudest moments for her was having Rogue Necromancy summoned right by Perdita, and her promptly activating and just gunning the creature (re)dead like it was a little punk. Faster'n You: Another trigger I rarely use, but only because my opponents almost never dare to shoot at Perdita. Just like attacking Lady J in melee, attacking Perdita at range is just asking for it. More so actually, given Perdita's beefy defense stat. Unless it's with a sniper model that can out range her, it's just too chancy. Spells Bullet Bending: Situational, but I have used it on occasion. More often I like to remind my opponents of the spell to discourage them from thinking they could move somewhere (like towards a goal) and rely on cover to keep them safe. Like with Quick Draw, I feel the real advantage to this spell is in using it to dictate enemy actions. Spellbreaker: Amazingly, I have never actually used this spell. It's clearly powerful and useful, but 1) The Ortegas have Shrug Off for dealing with most effects and 2) I often run with some Witchling Stalkers, and I'd much rather they use an AP to cast Dispel Magic, thus letting Perdita save her APs for what she does best, killing. Execute: Another rarely used asset for me. That -3 CB really drops Perdita's attack from great to blah. +3 to the damage flip is nice, but the catch is that you have to hit first. I'd rather be certain I hit for weak damage than chance missing just for the hope to get in a severe. Plus it's using up a mask I'd sooner save for Obey, or for another Ortega to use. Obey: Very fun and useful spell that I often use during the first round to help get some extra positioning done. While Perdita could use her Fast to get damn far up the battlefield, most of the time I prefer to restrict her to a double walk and use Obey to help some other important model get into a tactically useful position. I think anyone who knows anything about the Ortegas knows how well the spell works with Papa Loco, so no real reason to rehash that. While the spell can be used on enemy models, I never have, finding it easier to target my own since I know I can make them fail the resist. Way I see it, you're using obey for three reasons: Moving one of your models into a better position, moving an enemy model into a worse position, or using it to make an attack through another model. Well I've had plenty of uses of the first option, but never found myself in a situation where I felt moving an enemy model was a better choice to just killing it with Perdita. As for the final option, if I use an enemy model, I have to win two duels; one to Obey it, and one to make it's attack hit. At least Obeying my own model means only passing one duel since I can make it lose the resist. Overview: Perdita is just outright dangerous. For me, she is her own strategy, especially loaded up with a full bag of soul stones. I have rarely ever feared for her safety, and play her highly aggressively, even when she's on her own. If something on my opponent's side needs to die, Perdita is my first, second, and third choice to kill it. She is my first choice for denying my opponent the ability to complete his strategy/schemes, letting my other models worry about my own strategy/schemes. She's fast enough that avoiding her is difficult, and has such a powerful balance of offense and defense that few other models can stand before her. The only models the people I play against have that really makes me worry for Perdita are Lilith and Killjoy. Any other models I'll casually toss Perdita towards to kill, those two I'll play a bit more defensively against, relying on her high defense and soul stones to keep her alive while gunning them down. I can't say I have any models I regularly pair with Perdita, as she really doesn't need anyone's help to be dangerous, and few could keep up with her anyway. I do like Nino with her, since while he is slow, his extreme range lets him still contribute to her battles, and she can always swing back to intercept anything trying to close in on him. Obeying him in the first round helps get him into a prime sniping position quickly, and is a common use of the spell when I do pair them up. More often though, Perdita just goes where I need her to go, and if some of my other models happen to be there too, well then they can be the anvil to Perdita's hammer.

Heh, glad you enjoyed it As it should be...as it should be. Can't say it felt that way, but it may have been. Still, winning on the flip isn't nearly as useful as winning on the cheat.

My side The Guild: Agents of order and control. Master Sonnia Criid, self propelled artillery piece Minions The Judge, loaned right hand man Nino Ortega, trigger happy south-paw Francisco Ortega, mustachioed duelist 3x Death Marshals, coffin slingers His side The Neverborn: Inhuman scum Master Lilith, bladed buzzsaw b**** Minions Mature Nephilim, death from above 2x Young Nephilim, lesser death from above Cherub, teleportation unit Freikorps Strongarm Suit, steampunk Stark. The Battlefield Light to moderate woodlands transitioning into rocky fields on the Neverborn side. Guild Objectives Plant Evidence Raid Hold Out Neverborn Objectives Plant Evidence Stake a Claim (Tree) Kidnap (Death Marshals) The Battle Well right off the bat Fate spit on me and didn't let up the whole game. We went the full 6 turns, and every turn I discarded all remaining cards and drew a fresh hand. Out of the 36 cards I thus drew into my hand, only about 6 of them were 10 or better. About 50-60% of the remaining 30 were 4 or less. So my ability to cheat fate was severely gimped. Things continued to go less then stellar as the Neverborn sent the Strongarm leaping and then walking up the battlefield, and then the Cherub swooped in and used Transposition to swap the Strongarm with a Young Neph, which was then in range to reach a piece of terrain on my side of the field and claim a VP in the first round. Lilith also pressed in and dropped the Illusionary Forest in a position to really screw with the LoS of several of my shooty models. Round one ended with some general maneuvering for position. Round two swung back my way, with Nino using the Illusionary Forest as cover to snipe from. Sonnia showed her fiery side, catching Lilith with a cheated, soul stoned Flame Burst with a beefy 31 cast. Severe damage got cheated in, and the Explosive Burst trigger let me place blasts on the Mature and one Young Neph before Sonnia pulled back out of range. The Cherub then used Transposition again to yank Lilith out and drop the Strongarm back into the thick of things, but his attemps to blast Sonnia both missed. Well I was having enough of the teleportation shenanigans, and in round three got a Death Marshal in position to gun down the Cherub, nicely leaving Lilith at the far back of the battlefield for the moment. Unfortunately a fellow Marshal got himself murdered by the Strongarm. Lilith's fast let her race back up the field and still have an AP left to use Transposition to yank another Marshal out of safety, dropping a Young Neph near Nino even as she tossed the Marshal into the waiting claws of the Mature Neph, which proceeded to yank his guts out for him. Nino managed to pull through however. The second Young Neph came flying out of cover in an attempt to engage my final Marshal, but just misjudged the distance, and landed about 1/8 of an inch outside of his melee range. Francisco charged in to engage the creature, using his two inch melee to keep away from the Black Blood. Judge jumped in to help dispatch the creature, and positioned himself to deny the Strongarm a clear shot at the last Marshal in the following round, as well as getting the Mature Neph engaged to lock it down. Round four saw me being forced to use one of my few high hand cards to get Nino out danger, sacrificing a 13 because it was the only card in hand with the mask needed for his Where'd He Go spell. He slipped free of the Young Neph and put a round in it, and then Sonnia Violated it to death, summoning a Witchling Stalker. My last Marshal showed true grit in twice denying Lilith's attempt to Transposition him near her. The Mature Neph, despite being engaged with Judge, was able to reach the Marshal however due to Judge's two inch melee, a 50mm base, and its own two inch melee as it just circled around Judge to its true target. The Marshal however once again proved himself to be tougher than his fellows, a man of true brass balls as he stood up to the nightmarish monster and survived the attack. He then made his disengage attempt, and ran like a little girl for the safety of the rocks. Judge finished off the Mature Neph in round five, and the Stalker engaged Lilith for no damage, but at least put an end to her Transposition tricks with Disrupt Magic, and locked her in place in melee. Sonnia bounced a pair of Flame Bursts off the Witchling to burn Lilith's wounds down. The Strongarm put an agumented fist through Judge's skull, and then planted another piece of evidence. The fleeing Marshal planted some evidence of his own, as did Francisco. Lilith and the Stalker both roasted to death thanks to Sonnia in round six. Unfortunately the Strongarm was able to leap its way into my deployment zone and plant another piece of evidence. Nino tried to put the Freikorps down, but his armor held out. The last Marshal couldn't reach any other terrain to claim any more VP, and Francisco foolishly had turned around to come back for the Strongarm in the last round, and found himself out of position to either attack the more mobile Freikorps or reach a piece of enemy terrain. End results Guild Objectives Plant Evidence: 2 VP Raid: 2 VP Hold Out: 0 VP Total: 4 VP Neverborn Objectives Plant Evidence: 3 VP Stake a Claim (Tree): 0 VP Kidnap (Death Marshals): 1 VP Total: 4VP Battle Result Draw Battle Certainty: 85% certainty in the accuracy of the detailed events, as this was written up the day afterwards with minimal notes. No major events were likely misremembered, but some order of events might be skewed.

First off, let me just say Thank You to everyone who's posted, as there have been some very nice and useful ideas all around. Second I played against my Freikorps friend last night and...the inconsiderate rat !@#$%^& actually played Lilath instead of Von Schill, thus completely denying me the opportunity to find out if any of my or anyone else's ideas on dealing with the Freikorps with Sonnia would have worked, and how well if they did. Okay, so maybe I take back the rat !@#$%^& thing, as it was a good fight that ended in a draw, and I did get to use Sonnia more in her element of throwing around great balls of burning hurt. Actually might write the battle up.

That aggressiveness is probably the key then. The guy I play with likes to use his Trapper very defensively, often using From the Shadows and then just leaving him in place, and thus untargetable, for two or three turns as a discouragement to moving into certain parts of the battlefield. A card drain tactic with Sonnia and the stalkers could work, assuming they live to accomplish it. Then follow up with the likes of Nino's headshot when he no longer has cards to avoid the instant kill.

Some riflemen would be nice; so would the executioner. It's hard trying to decide what to get first, so many different models to try. Only the range of a trapper...what kind of crew are you playing that a 16" range qualifies for 'only'? =o Interesting that for you he tends to lose against a trapper, in my own experience Nino tends to win out due to his higher potential damage output.

I wish I had either the Austinger or Watcher, I rather like what they can bring. Unfortunately gaming funds are low at the moment, so I'm stuck with the box set options. I'll see what I can do as far as throwing around a little pain to everyone and then spawning witchlings though. See in my, admittedly limited experience with her, actually getting VoM to spawn a witchling is pretty tough. It's not to often for me that the Guild leaves people clinging to their last shreds of life. They generally tend to result in gratuitous overkill. I want to like Sam more, I really do, but he is such a glass cannon, and an expensive one. Everyone I play with knows it too, and knows to take him out early. Yeah, my minions pretty much have to carry the fight, which is what I'd like to change, or at least get it so that Sonnia feels like she's contributing something. And Nino has earned himself a near permanent place in my crew selection, almost regardless of whatever else I'm taking. The only model he regularly takes that isn't blast immune is the Strongarm, which is so armored that bouncing blasts into it feels kind of useless. I like that Sonnia can handle herself in melee, but I've never managed to get her back out of a melee situation alive. Counterspell, maybe the best ability that never gets used, because everyone knows she has it and thus never bothers. Though looking at the spell and the way its worded, could you use it to keep enemy models near Sonnia from buffing themselves? For example, shut down Lady J's sword style. Noted. However the thing about the Freikorps player in question is that he is pretty defensive minded, and that seems like a more aggressive approach than he'd be comfortable with. I'll keep it in mind though.

The situation: I have three guild Masters: Lady J, Perdita, and Sonnia, plus each one's box set worth of minions. The problem: Sonnia almost never gets used due to the crews of the people I play with. Only one guy has a caster heavy crew, but I don't play him very often and he has other crews he uses as well that, like most of the rest of the crews my friends have, are pretty light on casters. This is compounded by the fact that the guy I play against the most often goes with Von Schill and his mercs, who can all just ignore Sonnia's big splash damage dealing tactics. So nine times out of ten, LJ or 'Dita are just flat out better choices, and Sonnia just remains in my carrying case. I would like to change that. Possible solution: Playing Sonnia with an Ortega crew, and using Flame Wall to help isolate targets for killing. Alternately start off with an Ortega alpha strike, then Flame Wall to reduce the other Crew's ability to effectively retaliate. I'm curious if anyone here has tried using Sonnia in this kind of defensive role, and if so how it worked out, and if there is anything I should know about making it work. Or if anyone has some alternate ideas on getting the most out of Sonnia when facing low casting crews. Thank you