J Rzasa

I generally play Gremlins as a lockdown/control. I like Somer for this, as his "Bigger hat than you" can really cause the opponent to lose their cool. Piglets are amazing Speed Bumps, and if you get cute you can stop up your opponent first turn. There are plenty of movement Shenanigans you can use to move piglets forward (like Pig Feed, or Sooey on the Hog Whisperer), and they have a 13" charge range (4 inch move, 8 inch charge, 1 inch reach). Lenny can create more of them, and keep models in the fight longer. Then I either run Schemes with more Piglets, or with Bayou Gremlins. If you need to do damage, Somer can hit like a truck with Lenny. He really is a sledgehammer with his gun, and Dirty Cheater makes him really resilient. I like to take a War Pig just in case I need a bigger tarpit that can hit like a truck. Once your Bayou gremlins run all their schemes, they are also speed bumps. If I can stop my opponent from reaching the center line, I'm probably going to win.

That's a good point. I had assumed in my head that if you were allowed to take Juju with the upgrade Zoraida has, you'd also have access to his upgrades. But you probably don't when you use him in a Gremlin Warband. It is a big gamble. A huge one. But if you can catch someone napping it might be a really nasty surprise. Might be worth trying with Killjoy alone, but then it isn't Zoraida specific. ~J

Rami was a pain in the butt. However, I don't understand the scale complaints. The new Kin scale perfectly with the Somer Box, and they look like a similar faction. If anything, I think the old models were sized poorly. Too short and squat. I do not, however, know how they scale with other factions as I haven't really looked. But compared to the new Bayou Gremlins, they are about the appropriate size. ~J Rzasa

It depends on my opponent I think, and what I'm trying to do. If I'm running a Somer Summoning Engine, it's worth it to send them in just to buy me time. It's also worth it in some story encounters that require lots of activations. Having 3 or 4 of them in the enemies deployment zone or close enough early wreaks havok with an opponents plans. If they are playing a faction like Guild, which tends towards small crew counts, sure they'll die but it will soak 2-3 turns unless they get lucky. ~J Rzasa

We've been toying with the idea of running Zoraida with Killjoy and Bad Juju both buried, and then using Wild Boars to charge into the enemy deployment zone and either pin them there or have the boars die and up comes Killjoy and Juju. Then you use Zoraida to accomplish schemes and strategies while almost all of your force is murdering the enemy in their deployment zone. A couple Bayou Gremlins to help Zoraida with schemes is good too. ~J Rzasa

Yeah, backing up Malal's comment - I find Somer is a master that excels when you flood the board with cheap models and run rampant over the board. I rarely have models left at the end of the game, but my win/loss record is very good. His warbands don't usually excel at wiping out the other warband, but the number of activations all those Bayou gremlins can output will really cause your opponents head aches. They simply lay down so many scheme markers that you are almost guaranteed certain schemes, like Line in the Sand. I use Pigs to run interference, but you don't need to if you don't want. ~J

I tend to run 3-4 with a Hog Whisperer, and a War Pig. I Sometimes run more, depending on schemes and strategies. Remember, if within 6" of a Hog Whisperer, they drop a Scheme Token when they die. Sometimes I'll race them toward the center and let them die to take line in the sand. Then I use Bayou Gremlins and other models to them from being removed. They also work well for the schemes where you pop a Scheme Marker at the end of a round and you get a point for all enemies within so many inches. If the scheme marker drops from death, and it took 2-3 models to kill the pig, you can usually clean up points. They are amazing objective runners, because of the Small special rule. If you use Pig Feed with Somer, you can often charge in the first turn, definitely the second. And the additional attacks can be nuts.

I happen to use a ton of Piglets, and they do tend to be my all stars. My lists looks something like this: Somer - Can o Beans (1) - Pig Feed (1) Gremlins x4 (12) Piglets x4 (16) War Pig (9) Hog Whisperer (5) I normally play 45 ss games. For a 50 SS game, I'd contemplate 2 more Bayou Gremlins, putting me at 6 total. I'd also consider 2 Mosquitos. Note, I don't use Lenny, Slop Haulers, or the Summoning Engine. I don't have Lenny or Slop Haulers (Really excited about Lenny in that Plastic Box), and this is the main reason I am not using it. However, I will try them out when the box set is released. I am actually looking to pick up 2 Slop Haulers in metal. All that aside, Piglets. I use my Gremlins for completing Objectives and taking pot shots. Sometimes this fails, and my opponents go directly after the Gremlins. If this is the case, I have Piglets drop objectives. Both Somer and the Hog Whisper ignores Set er Off within 8". This allows you to get your pigs in line and moving. With Pig Charge, a pig (and warpig) has a 13" threat range. This means you can be in someone's face pretty quickly, allowing your Bayou Gremlins time to drop tokens and cause other mayhem. Remember, it doesn't matter how many enemy models you kill (unless you're playing Reckoning), or how many you have left. What matters is that you have the most VP at the end of the game. I often rush drop my schemes and then tie up my enemy for several rounds. I rarely have more than 2 models on the board. My Warpig has yet to survive a game, but I've only lost 1 out of 10 (I'm not counting the 1 I lost on purpose to specifically get points in an Achievement League). That 6 Def is huge, and the minus flip to shoot is great. One thing I don't understand from you post, the model is height 1, and I don't remember a special rule on the thing that says it does not block line of sight. Have I been cheating people? I swear I've read those cards 100 times. Is it a part of the Small special rule? Or is it something you missed as well?

I'm fairly new to Gremlins myself, but have been rather successful with them here in the early going. Obviously I'm not the definitive source, but maybe what I'm fielding can help you out. I'm currently 3-1-2 in the 6 actual games I've played. There were some test games in there that I don't count because we weren't using scenarios and schemes, which basically means we weren't playing the game. That really should be 4-1-1, but there was some confusion in a game and we called it a tie. I use Somer pretty exclusively. I used Ofelia once for an Achievement Tournament, and while I was sucessful in that game, I didn't like the way she played. She's far too aggressive, and I've found if you try to go toe to toe with something like Neverborn you're going to get chewed alive. While I am looking forward to playing with Ofelia more, especially once I have her entire warband in plastic, I'm staying away from her until I'm more comfortable with the game and models. In our area, we've been playing at 45 Soul Stones. I'm fielding Somer, 4 Bayou Gremlins, 4 Piglets, a War Pig, and a Hog Whisperer. With Somer, I field the upgrades Can of Beans, and Pig Feed. This allows me to more or less cover the board with models, and the 2 models with the 8" Pork Whispering Rule allows me to keep the piglets and War Pig in line. The Piglets are my stars. At Def 6, and having the Small special rule, they are perfect for pushing the field quickly and setting scheme markers. It's hard to shoot them, and you can keep them far enough from the Hog Whisperer to stop things from shooting him. The 1 action charge is also really nice, because Master's that have Defensive Push triggers can't run from the initial charge, they will simply get charged again with the second action. (Please let me know if there is a rule against charging twice, looking through the rules I can't find it.) Just a side note, I said that in my experience going toe to toe with some warbands will get you chewed to bits, I'm sure there is a way to make Gremlins into a beaty type warband. In fact, Ofelia's crew is really good, and there are plenty of good, tough models. I don't see a reason to do this, especially when the game is truly won and lost on the backs of Objectives. Not saying it can't be done, I just don't find it optimal. ~J