Brewmaster

That deception article was the odd man out in the chronicle for me. Inquisitor up top there hit my opinion.

Love: Trixie. She is the BEST henchman Gremlins have. Love: That game where I Thinking Lucked a kill-shot on Izamu with super max Red Joker damage from Somer Hate: Me not existing! Hate: Fingers costing 10SS

Part 2: After sleeping at Lars and Gertrudes, the plan was hatched. The group had a set of "party poppers" (explodey flashbangs) that they planted in one of the many sites Temujin was digging in around town. Several jokes about the thriving weasel business around town later, the group wheeled their wagon to the mayor's office, set up a one pound swivel gun they picked up from a previous session, and hoped the flashbang distraction would draw Temujin out. Aaaand it did Big Things in the Combat: Temujin's stats were straight Cojo, I put 3 Molemen in the fight. Threw in more breakable terrain, and ran with it. Highlights include the molemen not landing ANY hits, Temujin backhanding Davis off the cart (got a rampage trigger), and Winifred putting Burning 5 on Temujin. Davis got smart and started looking for the Cerberus I hinted at earlier in Part 1, giving me the PERFECT opportunity to introduce Arlan, a SUPER obvious tinkerer who's been going around with 3 constructs that are prepped for combat. Notes: I want to do a LITTLE tinkering with magic (there's some pretty good discussions over in the Discussion forum). My personal preference? Max immuto on one spell is equal to ranks in the skill used to cast that spell.

A fair critique. Lenny's got a super thick voice in my head, but I can definitely tone things down a bit to help readability.

This one's more for me so I can keep my writing skills up. This is NOT an official Iron Quill entry, but commentary is appreciated. It was the twisting and shaking of the pig that woke him up first, followed by the cold stone floor nuzzling his face. Lenny’s eyes opened to Creamcup staring at him with the loving stare only a pig could muster, her wet nose checking to see if his face was edible. “C’mon hon. Youse know I ain’t eatins. Dem’s little’ns job.” Dull thuds of pain rolled around on his body; fortunately most of them were in his head. What was bugging him was the fact that he couldn’t recollect the “before-this”. It usually took Lenny a bit to remember things that didn’t involve raising Creamcup or hitting stuff the Boss S’omer said needed hitting, but he could usually follow the breadcrumbs back to the beginning. No such luck here. Lenny sat down cross-legged, gently holding Creamcup in his lap. “Dis heah be right mess of pickle, girl. Healp me do some tinkin den.” Creamcup snuffled out a thoughtful suggestion as she curled up. “Mmm, fair ‘nough girl. I didsn’t be tinking on dat one.” Lenny idly scratched behind Creamcup’s ears with both hands as he walked through the steps of the day. The breakfast was thick cuts of bacon that had a couple of teeth stuck in them from the punch Lenny gave to the fool Tomcat who thought Lenny wasn’t looking when he stole the bacon. Lenny then took Creamcup on a walk, where he found 5 frogs, 2 alligators, and punched them all. Lenny couldn’t be too careful around smaller creatures what with their devious thinking processes. Lenny’s nose distracted him from thinking with a pungent burning smell. It was a smell that occasionally followed ‘Raida when she came around to tell Boss S’omer what she wanted. Chewing on his lip, Lenny finally stood up, tucking Creamcup under one arm. “Less see what dis nonsense is.” Lenny followed the smell through several stone rooms with bits of moss clinging to the walls. Lenny could hear a bubbling sound as he got closer to the smell that seemed to be coming from a small room off to the side. Creamcup squirmed and jumped out of his grasp, scrabbling into the room. “’Ey! Get’s back heah!” Lenny shouted, chasing after him. Lenny paused as he saw a Gremlin hunched over a tarnished teapot balanced over a small fire by three horseshoes. The Gremlin was covered in thick burlap clothes, and wearing a precariously balanced hat that could complete with Boss S’omer. “Well now… Seems Fish Eye soup WAS the key. Glad to see you’re up.” The Gremlin continued to stir the mix for a bit. “You know who I am, right?” Lenny frowned as he crossed his arms, running through the names of the Gremlins he knew. “Lacroix… Youse da Lacroix whats be workin wid ‘Raida.” Lenny finally said after a surprisingly fast 4 minutes. The Gremlin chuckled, then plopped a bird beak into the mix. “Sammi. And ‘Working With’ is a strong statement.” Sammi replied. “Let’s say… I’m a fan.” “Fine and dandy. Now… whachu want. Boss S’omer always says ’never trust the honeyed words of a silver tongue’, and youse seeming likes you gots a whole set of silverware in dere. ” Sammi turned to Lenny and let out a belly laugh, causing Creamcup to look up from the biscuit she had been nibbling at. “Rather succinct. Fine, guess I can make this quick.” Sammi responded. “It’s time for you to change.” Lenny stared blankly at Sammi, visible signs of trying to process the statement sitting on Lenny’s face. Creamcup snuffled around the teapot as Sammi sat quietly, sneezing after she got a full smell of what Sammi was cooking. As the minutes passed, Sammi finally said, “Do… I need to explain this more?” Lenny crossed his arms and frowned. “NO!... But best youse should healp Creamcup unnastand. She’s a bit slow to get runnin.” Lenny responded, scooping up his pet and sitting near Sammi, wiping Creamcup’s nose clean with his shirt. Sammi paused for a moment, shrugged, then turned to the pot. “You are at an important point in your life Lenny. The river you’ve been on has taken many twists and turns, and has finally reached a branch. You need to pick the right path.” Lenny nodded as he scratched Creamcup behind the ears. “Right path, right path, yup.” Lenny responded. Sammi sniffed at the mixture, then plucked a hair from Lenny’s arm, tossing it into the mix. A small poof of light purple smoke drifted up from the pot, glowing with an inner light. Lenny and Creamcup’s eyes were transfixed on the rising smoke as Sammi continued. “The Bayou is changing. The days of the biggest hat being in charge are changing. Spoons, hats, guns… the rules are being rewritten. And Boss ‘Raida is gonna write the best rules of them all.” Sammi’s smile grew more. “You can be who you are right now, or you can be someone stronger. Someone better.” Sammi waved a hand over the smoke, and it stretched and rolled into the familiar shape of a small scale Lenny. “Daww… he be lookin likes a baby me!” Lenny exclaimed, holding up Creamcup to let her sniff at the creation. Creamcup offered a contemplative oink, then tried to lick at Lenny’s fingers. “Wait… What’s in dis for youse? Ain’t nobody offer nothing what don’t be wrapped in strings. What’s I be owing you?” Sammi’s grin grew its biggest yet. “What you owe me? What you owe is the fact that you say yes. You agree to follow a path I ask.” Sammi commented, pulling out a small bundle of twine that he began to carefully shape into a humanoid. “The ‘string’ as you put it is agreeing that an idea is more important than you.” Lenny narrowed his eyes. “Youse doin somethin wid mah brain? I don’ts like it when people go dere and I don’ts be figgerin it out. Bugs me.” Lenny said, Creamcup oinking in agreement. Sammi shook her head, then inhaled the purple smoke deeply. Pausing for a moment, she blew the smoke towards Lenny, smiling as his eyes began to blink separately. “You’ll figure out what’s happening. After all, I’m simply helping you to find you.” The room dropped away from Lenny’s eyes as the smoke seeped into him. Lenny could feel Creamcup’s heartbeat, followed by Sammi’s heartbeat. By the time it occurred to Lenny that this was an oddity, a ringing began tolling in his ears. Lenny stood, faintly hearing the oinking of Creamcup as the ringing grew, drawing him like a fish to a worm. Lenny found himself standing in front of a small lacquered box where the ringing was definitely coming from. “You can still back out.” Came the faint voice of Sammi. “You have the power to make that choice. Or you can open the box to see what has been written for you.” Lenny felt the world expand and contract around him, bending and twisting around the box in front of him. Lenny’s mind was filled with multiple thoughts, ones with substance and meaning. Lenny could feel the thoughts branching into bigger and more complex thoughts, all of which would become reality by opening the box. Lenny’s hands wrapped around the box, and he could practically feel the electricity coming from it. Lenny barely heard Sammi’s giggling in the background as one stubby finger moved to the tarnished clasp on the front. The ringing suddenly silenced as Lenny flipped the clasp, Sammi dancing in the corner of his eye. Lenny felt power rush into him as he opened the box to find 4 masks of varying designs. His hands gingerly rested on a red one with gold trim, the fabric feeling like the night time sky. He had never seen these before, but knew they were for him; had been waiting for him. Lenny undid the laces in the back of the mask, the box gingerly tucked in one armpit. “As Lenny, you can be killed; you can be stopped. But as something more, your name lives on.” Sammi said in a solemn, definitive voice. Creamcup rubbed up against Lenny’s leg, an action barely noticeable as Lenny embraced Fate by tugging the mask on. The world felt different to him. Thoughts were there, and what’s more, they were sharp. His shoulders lifted, the pride of his purpose clear like a reflection in a pond to him. “Si.” Came the stronger voice. “I can change things. I must have a new name though. One that represents my new sharpness. One that fits the power I claim with these masks.” Sammi nodded to him, barely contained glee causing her to sway back and forth. “You’re absolutely right. Where Lenny is the anvil weapons are forged upon, Mancha Roja is the hammer that forges them.” Mancha Roja cracked his knuckles, looking between Sammi and Creamcup. “And what do you think, miha? “ Mancha asked Creamcup. The pig blinked then snorted; a response that couldn’t have been clearer. Nodding in agreement, Mancha looked to Sammi. “I’m going to need a cape.” 1514 words, all ingredients used.

So, I've got a bit of a longer idea here that I'll post a minimum of each Wednesday. Anytime there's an update, I'll linky-link here. Hope you guys enjoy! The measured timbre from the guitar strings wafted up to mingle with the cigar smoke. Knife edges of sunset came in through the shuttered window to frame the guitar player in pin stripes. The chair gave a satisfying creak as he shook the sleep out of his legs, tapping out an accompanying beat with the toes of his boots. "You sound down girl." The sandpaper voice finally broke the melodious calm. "How long since your last tune up?" He danced on the strings for a moment, then replied "Oh don't be that way. The other fellas use cases because they don't know a good guitar needs some aging. Might as well be one of them wine collectors." The man tapped the embers of his cigar out into a soup bowl on the table in front of him. It had been nearly 30 minutes at this point, but the man could wait. Chasing bounties was like chasing music; rushing it will just end up messy. It's more satisfying to let the prize come to you. And this bounty was looking exceptionally juicy. Connie Tanner; all-around sleaze, gifted with the talents of extortion, cattle rustling, and forgery. Connie also understood the rule of dodging the Guild custom-tailored noose: keep your nose down, and go out far enough from the city to make it too expensive to be found. Fortunately Connie made enough enemies along the way that the paycheck would eventually get good enough. The man's fingers paused as the muted clopping of hooves on dirt road reached him. He tapped the bridge of the guitar, mulling the next few minutes over in his head. Connie was a panicky sort, and those kind of people could swing a situation wildly. A short, frumpy looking man sloshed his way awkwardly through the front door, reeking of the Three Kingdoms drink saw-kay. Connie blinked his eyes until they stopped swimming, then stumbled in the direction of his bed. He nearly fell from spinning around at the sound of the man striking a match on his boot to light a new cigar. "Washh are you doin in mah house?" Connie declared, pointing a finger at the spitoon behind the man. "Connie Tanner... you've been a bad boy. I've been paid to learn you some manners." The man responded, plucking out a simple tune. Connie's face mushed through a couple emotions before finally settling on anger, followed by an enthusiastic fumbling for his coat pistol. The man spun up from his chair, feeling the dig of the guitar strap as he slung the guitar behind him. His hands slid over the ivory pistol grips he knew by heart, and the man had two guns to Connie's chest before Connie could even find the coat pocket. "Now just WHY would you go and do a damn fool thing like that? Men get awfully ornery, you try and pull a gun on em. You might even up and hurt someone. Now, you want to play 20 questions and guess which of your messes brought me here, or you want me to just cut to the business end of it?" Connie's eyes waltzed around the man's even stare; his mouth was trying to mutter something clever but tripping over itself. Connie's shoulders finally slumped, and he slouched to the ground with his hands in his lap. "I'm nnot... the baddie here." Connie slurred. "Ish it myy fault stupids are stupid? I ASK YOU." The man stared at Connie for a moment as he let the gravity of the situation sit on Connie's shoulders. "So... You're just teaching them a lesson... burnt hand learns best and all that. Am I crystal so far?" Connie nodded sluggishly. The man snapped the butt of one pistol across Connie's face. "I've got all kinds of talking I could do here, but truth of it is I'm just collecting a check on this one. And you don't seem like the type who'd listen at any rate, so how about we just make this transaction nice and easy." Connie's eyes gained a moment of clarity, and he held his hands out in front of him. "Well Sheriff? Gonna clap me in irons?" Connie said, swaying to some non-existent wind. The man chuckled as he holstered his pistols and pulled out a set of handcuffs. "Call me Sue." As Sue brought the handcuffs to Connie's skin, Connie recoiled in a vehement howl, gingerly holding his sizzling wrists. Sue blew out a slow trail of smoke, tapping the toe of his boot on the floor. "Aayup. Looks about right. So, I have a bounty to bring in Connie Tanner. Who in the blue blazes are you? You smell like you rolled in a sah-kay barrel even though Connie's go-to is scotch, you went heel with your right hand even though Connie's a lefty, and most cattle punchers don't take a pistol butt like you did, much less a pencil pusher like Connie." Connie's face cracked slightly as the wobbling drunk was replaced by a tensed predator. What first looked like an underbite was in actuality Connie's mouth stretching out. "Well I'll be a Gremlin banker. You're some kinda special, aintcha fido?" For a moment that stretched on like a rainstorm, the two stared at each other, their heartbeats ticking away like pocketwatches in their ears. Then the thunderbolt of violence struck. The creature that was Connie slapped away the handcuffs that Sue threw at him, letting out a howl at the sizzle. Sue's pistols were storms of their own, sending thunderclaps through the air and hitting nothing. Tufts of fur broke through the creatures skin as his ears crinkled and extended to a point. "A fox hunt is it? This day just keeps getting fancier." Sue commented beneath the windchime clatter of the bullet shells hitting the floor. "Kitsune, you insolent human!" The creature bellowed as it swiped at Sue with several flashes of claws. "You dishonor me with your ignorant tongue!" Sue kept his cool as the cacophony of destruction shredded the house, but the fight was swinging wildly out of his control. He had prepped for a bag job, not this doppelganger. Fate it seemed had a sense of humor today. The door to the house exploded inward from a momentous sledgehammer hit. The person holding the hammer was the exact opposite of what Sue anticipated. It was a young woman with her brunette hair up in a loose ponytail. Her look said railworker, complete with an impressively tuned pneumatic arm. With a wild gleam in her eye, the woman bellowed, "Alright you double-dealing louse ridden squirtstain! You're coming with holy mother fate what's with this crap?!" "Quit your howling, wench!" The creature shouted. "Once I've snapped this insects bones like kindling and licked the marrow clean, I'll deal with you next." Sue felt the hairs on his neck stand as he could visibly see the woman bubbling over. His gut wrenched with panic as the full weight of a lightly glowing sledgehammer sailed past his face, clipping the creature slightly. Showers of debris spewed from the sledgehammer's impacts as the woman lashed out and forced the creature onto the defense. "Ain't nobody alive who can get away with calling me a wench. It's too bad you signed your death warrant, but if it's any consolation I'm gonna get a LOT of use out of you as a throw rug." The woman said calmly, snapping a support beam with an explosive swing

The guys above me honestly covered it. Instead of looking at Somer as the "Gremlin Playdoh Factory", think of him as a box of Lego connector pieces. Find the killy-est non leader model the gremlins can have. You know that trigger that makes them deal piles of damage? Somer can push that trigger. Like it was stated above, Somer can strip cards from a player that needs them. Somer's benefits can change based on what you put around him. Should you go with Ophelia on Assassinate? I'd personally say yes, but I play 3 masters. If you want one master that can handle anything reasonably, Somer's got it.

Thanks guys! I was really sweating this one because there were some GREAT stories!

Been a little quiet here, time to get caught up I guess I like monkeys. I also like having a bit of humor to accent my games. Combine this with a big push forward of the plot and you get part 1 of a 2 part-ish story. Natalie has hired the group once more to deal with a second symbol she's found (the first one was that Mining cave fight thing). The new twist is that Warren (who Natalie has been training) is going to close the symbol, and the group needs to bodyguard him. The group did a little shopping, got some bits done, got the intel from Natalie, then headed out. The town up north they're heading to is pretty frontiers-sy (complete with log wall surrounding the city). The first thing the players find is that the population dropped by half, the second thing they notice is a rather eccentric old man tinkerer by the name of Lars (cue my incredibly bad and probably offensive Scandinavian accent). Lars and his wife Gertrude explain that the town is under the control of a talking gorilla who's been turning the town into his zombie workforce. Group consensus is that the monkey (called Temujin) is trying to find the symbol. The group did some recon, and is ready to start the next day. Big thing I wanted to do for this one was a bit of creative reflavoring. I've been looking for an excuse to use my Cojo model and I MIGHT have been watching Planet of the Apes, so little bit nicodem + little bit marcus = Temujin the magic using talking monkey.

I agree with you guys, I just had to run through pages 36 and 37 in my head till it made sense. Page 37 seems to say you CAN declare an action, if you don't have enough AP to pay for it, no AP is spent and the action stops without effect. So, you COULD declare a normal charge, not a pigcharge, but no AP is spent so you're still left with an activated pig with 1 AP.

97% sure we got it resolved, but just for the sake of having all the angles covered: Say a pig with the set'er off and Pigcharge ability has 1 ap left in it's activation and the only legal target is a friendly. Which of the following scenarios happens? 1) you do not declare that the charge is a pigcharge, you don't have enough ap to complete the action, the pig is unable to take any more actions, his turn ends. 2) You must declare a 1 charge against the target. Relevant stuffs: Set'er Off: when the model has the opportunity to declare an action... it must take a charge action if there is a legal target available. Pigcharge: this model may perform the 2 charge action as a 1.

I think we may have found a rules question thing just for clarity Reading in the book, what I say results in a loop: I have the option to declare an action I must declare a charge given that there is a legal target. I say the charge costs 2ap I don't have enough ap to take the action, so no ap are spent and the action ends without effect. So, based on the second paragraph of "declare action and spend ap" page 37: If you have 1ap floating, and there's a legal target fora pigcharge, in order to avoid a loop, you must spend a 1 charge.

Correction to my previous statement, you choose to make charge cost 2. Pigcharge says "May".

So, I kinda LIKE how this list is starting to look: Zoraida -2SS Take Swampfiends whenever Nurse 2 Waldegeists Mancha Roja 3 Bayou Gremlins 39 points nets you a hard hitter with 4 attacks (if you count an Obey), objective runners with awesome blockers in the waldys, and enough room to tailor the crew to the scheme. Personal preference: Merris Lacroix Hex Bag for Raida Dirty cheater for Mancha Full stones

So, scenario 1: you kill an enemy, you have 1 AP floating, and the only legal target is a friendly. In that instance, you either pass if you control the model and don't want to attack your guy, or your opponent can use a 1 to charge if they control the action. Scenario 2: You have 2 AP floating, and the closest target is yours. Your options are spend 1 AP to charge the target, then spend the remaining 1AP normally because the pig is now within range of a gremlin, Spend 2 AP to charge the target, or your opponent spends 1AP to charge if they control the action. Keeping track of the "safe-zone" areas is important when using pigs. You might have to change your activation order because starting with a pig will kill a gremlins.

The big thing to help out the player with what they "know" (setting the meta game expectations) is that the station is what their parents did. You make your bones through effort, not what your parents did. I would be inclined to allow a little meta-gaming if that player sold me on it, but ultimately it's a matter of letting the player know they gotta work up to Latigo Pistoleros at this point, much less reach a Santiago. Balance is one of those tricky things that the honest answer is "you kinda have to eyeball it". There's a thing in the fatemaster's book that's a series of questions you can ask your players (I'll find it later but it's the "if they answer yes to two or more of these, then they're combat dangerous".) One of the things I've used to great effect is environmental challenges. I had my guys fight an ice summoner guy, and there were "Regen crystals", 40mm markers on the board. They had a slow effect if you failed a check next to them, and they have the main guy an armor bump (which I described directly). If the player isn't "combat oriented", they have something else they can do, which in turn changes how dangerous the combat is. Just a quick post, I'll throw up a bit more later

Seriously! I really liked the variety of the stories this time!

Silurids aren't worth it IMO, Haven't messed with Bad Juju THAT much, Waldegeists are a GREAT addition. The Nurse/Lenny combo is a GREAT bodyguard choice, Rooster Riders are a hardcore choice. Any of the gremlin models with the Swampfiend keyword are also worth looking at.

Seconded the Ophelia choices, but if you want to be interesting, here's a core that provides a different play: S'omer -Can O Beans 2 Skeeters Mctavish -Mud toss The Vik's 0 actions that make things hardcore still only provide conditions. Student of Conflict? Fast CONDITION. And you have a McTavish who doesn't mind shooting into melee and getting good positions. Skeeters and Can o Beans means multiple times you can force a TN9-10 Willpower duel, and sometimes it's useful having a card versus card model when it comes to the Skeeter's defense. They send the Hench-Vik up? You S'omer the Leader Vik, and the Hench's Defense and Willpower bonus drops, and it's a battle of who flips better. If Killjoy is a threat you're concerned about, remember if it can't be placed, it can't be summoned.

Skipped the 'pult and the root beer golem. They both look pretty, but they're not really staples in my playstyle. (blahblahresponsiblepurchasinghabitsblahblah) That Merris though... Kinda puts to shame my Pere/Stormboyz conversion I did for a proxy

Now THAT's an interesting experiment. Lenny's 10, Hog's 5, 'Pult is 8, and Husbandry is 3. With a lack of suit manipulation, the hinge of this combo is having tomes for Lenny and having to do some card adjustment to hit weak damage. It's heavy card investment on essentially a turn 3 free Warpig. You could instead have Merris Lacroix race circles around him and net a turn 2 and a turn 4 warpig.

I WANT to sing that song now! THANKS Lord Byron Digging the story though! Read through quick, but we'll see if I can give a better critique a bit later.

JUST discovered that. Problem completely resolved for me