Whut

They're not perfect, but generally do a good job and are phenomenal compared to every other tabletop gaming company I've encountered by a mile I'll have to look myself later. I'm open to the idea that RaW it works that way in a similar fashion to what happened with the Ricochet Trigger. But as far as intentions are concerned, you're unlikely to convince me that out of all "Start of Activation" effects Wyrd accidentally worded differently ONLY the two abilities which would be most abusable with Cryptologists.

Correct. I think Wyrd is incredibly scrupulous and consistent in their word choice, and they intentionally worded those abilities that way specifically to avoid the Cryptologist being able to use it out of activation. I think these are the only two models in the game that are worded this way too, so it's not like there's another reason to use "When this model activates" as opposed to "at the start of this model's activation" Presumably (without having looked in the rulebook) it's something like.... "at the start of this model's activation" occurs at Time=1 during the model's activation, with actions take place at T=2 and end of activation at T=3. "When this model activates" would occur at T=0, before the "start of activation" effects are calculated and resolved

Can you quote the rulebook? I would love for it to be but I don't think it is. Do you go for 2 EAE each turn or 3? I think if going for 3 every turn, relying on keeping up with 4 web markers is going to spread your resources thin by Turn 3.

Unfortunately not possible, Fungus Among Us is "When this model Activates" not "At the Start of the Activation" so she actually has to activate. She can replace twice if she gets Will Of Cadmus though!

Inarguable Core IMO: Nexus w/ FlushWithCash Shambling Nest x2 Meredith Archivist Intrepid Emissary or Effigy w/ FateUpgrade Austera&Twigge (or Vernon&Welles, other?) (for dropping 2+ Schemes to summon from) I quite like the Nightsilk Creeper against non-WP-targeting crews. Fastest model in the Keyword, Tanky, Disruptive using Webs, and probably the easiest way to get Nexus attacking in Melee early. His attack is lackluster but reliable and he can attack 3 times if near a web marker. Its possible, but the suit isn't built in (and they don't benefit from Font Of Knowledge), you take a damage, and you need to stack a condition first - probably Poison from Rancid Transplant? Two Hopeful Prospects still do this better. Not only do they give Focused with their passive ability, they can also Concentrate and have Meredith Rancid Transplant the Focused onto Nexus. Edit: Granted I understand this isn't Focused+2 unless you use both of Meredith's AP or wait until Turn 2/3 Or if you find another way to stack a +2 condition on turn 1, Nexus can Transmutation that herself and then have Meredith Rancid Transplant it onto her. 2 Poison from Transplant is still only 1 damage or Meredith can Transplant someone else (an Eyes and Ears maybe) to take it off of Nexus if you're worried about it

I can't say I agree with this, so I'd like to know more. Down to the Last Drop is admittedly nice being one of the better Parasite spreaders, but Spelleaters... are slow-moving (granted, they can be lured around on 8's, WillOC forced to walk on probably 7-9's, or Exoskeletal'd but I consider nearly any AP Nexus isn't attacking with to be a waste) have a relatively terrible melee attack are ranged damage models, but... are in a crew which already has 3 of those (Nexus, Archivist, Meredith). IMO Cadmus need to supplement their core of those 3 with some melee disruptors/threats, not double down don't get in melee for Nexus to draw attacks from (and in fact, require even MORE melee support from the crew for DttLD. don't get in melee to fully utilize Legion to fling damage on enemies don't ignore Concealment or Friendly Fire don't benefit much from Focused because of their flat damage tracks are one of the squishier elements of the crew with just 7 Health and Shielded+1 for 7 Stones (the whole crew has Legion) can't benefit or get less benefit from many friendly actions because Redirect Magic isn't optional (WillofCadmus, Transmutation, Exoskeletal triggers, Font of Knowledge) Burning & Poison after the first point do almost nothing (although still 1-2 damage at end of turn is decent) I can see them being a cool Tech pick against discard-heavy and trigger-reliant crews (JackDaw comes to mind) but otherwise, I'd never hire one. for 1 stone less you get a Husk which has Hard2Wound (and we know from Schtook H2W+DamageReduction is hella OP) letting them be roadblocks for Nexus/Meredith/Archivist, melee synergizes much better with Nexus and Legion, have solid actions and triggers, Creep and DrawnToPain make them much faster, and extra Health is a wash with Shielded. for just 1 stone more you can get two Hopeful Prospects which do more for your shooting game, bring multiple other support benefits, can soak 2 Siphon Powers each at almost no cost, always heal off Meredith, refund you stones if they are killed near the FlushWithCash bearer, and can become Spelleaters (or Husks) if they land a kill (which is much easier in Cadmus than most Keywords because of easy Injured).

I made an Explorer's review for all the Versatile choices. If you're interested you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSayJizcKBQ

99% of the time? No, definitely not. But in theory could there be a situation where it is worth it to get a kill with the Prospect followed by Runaway bonus Action so Cooper kills the Runaway, netting you a SS and scheme marker? Yea it's possible, probably on Turn 5 with very few models left on the board. Maybe your opponent is going to score Assassinate next activation and you really need the Stone, or maybe you really need that Scheme Marker, etc

Boring conversation helps Jedza because the Intrepid Aurs heals you every time you pass the simple duel by 2 or more

Sure he'll die, but my Master has 3x min3+stagger attacks usually on plus flips (as in, the summon is not kinda the only crucial thing he does like Kirai). So if he uses 1AP to deal 2 damage, possibly generate 2 more attacks (if it gets to Activate), later drop a shadow marker and possibly give you a SS, and effectively... Remove a Focus from Reva and give her slow or double slow Give Archie slow, make him discard a card, and remove Flurry next activation Remove one focus and one of Seamus' two 4/6/8 shots Remove a focus and give slow to Dead Rider Eat one or several AP from some other models which do stuff to its WP Am I supposed to think that's "Horrible"? And as far as taking it in crews, if it gets to Activate Turn 1, push some stuff, maybe drop a shadow marker, and then eats 5+ damage from an enemy and refund me a SS? I'm happy with that, cause that 5 damage didn't go into Ivan or Effigy w/ Fate Upgrade who will be generating me WAY more than 5 stones of value during the remainder of the game

Wait, why are Nocturnes horrible? They're 5 Health sure, but still Df6 with permanent concealment, and when targeting near shadow markers get auto-plus to duel and damage, arguably hitting harder than a baseline Daeva. They can push allies or enemies on a 6 with a plus flip giving distracted and with two decent triggers, and they're Walk6 Unimpeded so they can walk away and threaten or fake schemes to throw your opponent off. If Ivan gains more by killing a WP4 model and getting a Nocturne in the process than by targeting a WP5+ model specifically for summoning, it's not bad. At worst the Nocture eats a focused attack and severe, which is still 2AP and a good card. I'm thinking of including one in my normal list - they can move Ivan into his marker nest if moved away, give DUA Distracted so you aren't relying only on Gibson, move those DUA models which helps with their 8" ranges or Rook's 0" melee, drop Shadow Markers to protect Ivan or give DUA Concealment or for Ivan to jump to, and keep himself in range without ever taking a Move action and typically never using hand cards. He's never going to be the star of the show, but as a backup to Gibson supporting the crew? I don't think it's "horrible" Oh, and I think Explorers just have a better time taking low cost models because of the Flush with Cash upgrade.

Dedicating so many cards to preventing Ivan's summons is risky though. With his 3 AP you're unlikely to succeed (at worst Ivan can usually switch to targeting a <5WP model with his last AP and force a Nocturne), but might be left with a small hand and can no longer target Rook or Eva, and are susceptible to Execute, Pressure, Firefly, etc I think this is more likely the reverse case, actually. Personally I'd want to activate Ivan as late as possible every turn. This lets him have his activation ready to correct his position if he gets pushed, hopefully gives the summon last activation, and gives his crew a chance to drain your hand. Will you be holding 2-3 severes that long? What if he attacks <6 WP models, dealing 3 and staggered to each and pushing his Daeva through anyway? I'm sure giving him a hard time when it comes to his summon is a good idea, but don't expect that to be an easy answer to beating him ============= On an unrelated note, what do you guys think about Hopeful Prospects and Operatives? Operatives are fairly cheap, get Ambush, can remove scheme markers, drop shadows, are essentially ruthless, and attack enemies engaged with Umbra models with a free Double Plus if not Triple. Ivan, Rook, or Austera can also set them up for drawing 2 cards on those attacks whether they succeed or fail. But at 5 health they're in one-shot territory to a focused severe before using a single PoP. Hopefuls are one stone less, let you cycle a card, can do a little healing, remove conditions, have a 14" gun, are most importantly H2K, can become Brocken or Daeva, and can pass free focus to Ivan when he scores a kill, but come with a lot of anti-synergies. Their heal and condition removal requires removing all conditions, which takes away Focus and Distracted. They're slow, so might have trouble keeping close to Ivan always. If transforming into Brocken/Daeva not near enemies they're sluggish so Operative/Nocturne might be more common. And they don't have UAffairs, so they can't shoot softened targets if Ivan's summons are engaged with them (the most common location of softened targets) and Gibson has to be careful with his Firefly (although they can remove their own Distracted if they don't have Focused). Also, taking Ivan w/ FlushWCash, Effigy w/ FateUpgrade, and 1-2 Prospects makes me feel like I'm building a house of cards, or investing my life savings into Bitcoin.

You don't have to directly target the opponent's hand to pressure their hand. Against crews without absurd card draw you have scary options like Sovereign Shockwave and Pulse threatening Stunned, Sovereign Focused attacks threatening Severe 6, the Beebe/Calyspo Min4 damage I mentioned above, Vernon GlimpseTV, Winston Red&Black, etc. All of these will pull cards gradually until Winston Places Rook forward and then Rook double executes end of turn. The opposite is also true, if Rook sits there threatening Execute, your opponent may be holding cards he would have otherwise cheated or discarded for his own abilities. Rook's weakness though is mobility, his actions are so good that every Walk is a waste. So if you do take him you have to have someone available to push him around.

This is 100% correct, but regardless Beebe and Calypso is a fantastic pair to take with Anya. There's a little maneuvering required for LoS but Beebe auto-draws the tomes he needs for 2x Stat6 ignore resist triggers attacks that always cheat a 9, with essentially Min4 plus 1-2 damage for everyone within 3". They're also crazy resilient and provide a huge threat/disruption to take pressure off of Sovereign and Anya, Beebe can attack Sovereign to heal him, Calypso can push Sovereign at the cost of 1 damage to trigger the Pulse, and god forbid if Sovereign dies at least he drops a Scrap to resummon Calypso, saving you an Action and a Tome Downside: the moment you declare Anya people will know to take Armor-Ignoring attacks for Sovereign anyway.

Also, it's very important to note that a Hopeful Prospect discards all upgrades when replacing, so if you do the Timeworn Blade trick they lose the artifact

Same

No. You can't relent simple duels, unfortunately

The card is chosen at time of trigger declaration, so I believe at this time the conflict card is still in the conflict - so you can choose any of the cards discarded from the duel (either from getting a + flip or cheating) but cannot cycle the 13 crow again and again.

A few handfuls of questions: 1 - Does Lamplighter's Shimmering Lights apply after the move portion of the Charge action, before it generates the Melee action? (Thus, immediately applying to the melee action) "Shimmering Lights: Enemy models that end a move wthin (A)2 of this model gain Distracted +1 after resolving the current action or ability" 2 - Does Lamplighter's Unnatural Glow consider the "Terrain Marker" from the perspective of the Lamplighter or the Target? Essentially, when targeting a Moorwraith, can the Moorwraith Heal 1/2/3 because from the perspective of the Lamplighter it is within 2" of itself, which the Lamplighter can treat as a Terrain Marker. Unnatural Glow: [...] Then, this model may have the target Heal 1 or 1/2/3 if it is within (A)2 of a Terrain Marker. Rolling Stones: Other friendly Seeker models may treat this model as a Severe Impassable Terrain Marker, which cannot be removed [...] 3 - Does a friendly model within 2" of two Lit Lamp Markers get ++ to a duel once per activation? (Don't think so, but...) Can it get + to a duel twice per activation, as this would be making use of two auras with the same name but at two separate times? 4 - When a Bellhop Porter "I Found Another" a Lit Lamp Marker, does that marker also give + flips to friendly models for the rest of the game? Or is the "+ flip for rest of the game" effect created by the Light the Way action and thus tied only to the marker targeted? The action technically does not specify that the effect is a passive ability of all Lit Lamp Markers. 5 - When a model heals, can multiple Moorwraiths push towards it, as their Chronicle ability affects themselves and not the healed model? 6 - What happens when Grave Goo's Accidental Roll Over trigger cannot clear a model's base? The trigger doesn't permit you to move "up to" 5 inches, so is this move just illegal and you cannot move in that direction, or would you stop in base contact with the model? If you were to stop in base contact with a model, does this count as "moving through" the model for purposes of dealing the damage? ARO: Push this model 5" in any direction, ignoring any models. Models that this model moved through... 7 - What is the timing of Chronicle effects? Do they apply immediately after the model Heals, or after resolving the action that healed it? This could be especially important for timing Tannenbaum and Austera's deck manipulations. Chronicle(something): After another model within (A)6 Heals, [...] For example: Enemy Nurse uses Bottle of Painkillers to heal McMourning with the Pulled Here and There Trigger. Can a Surveyor Chronicle to create a Geode next to McMourning such that he cannot push 3" in that direction when the Trigger is resolved?

Can anyone think of any (realistic) way to heal during an enemy activation other than using Fragility of Life? Using OOK tech too. I don't think it's possible, right? Edit: OH! Intrepid Aura

I don't think this will make them good enough, but I believe that Cryptologists' Bonus also activates "start of activation" effects from other models - for example healing from Jedza/Meredith, or Shielded+1 from Intrepid Emissary.

These are my choices. My primary interests are DUA/Umbra (which I'll just call Ivan) and Cadmus I have some interest in Wastrel, Apex, Seeker -- Corrupted Ley Lines: Cadmus/Ivan with Botanist(s), or Wastrel. Just try to deny the enemy with push effects/engaging their carrier/staggered. The Damned and Surveyors in some situations can take control of the center marker by surrounding it with Terrain similar to how Zipp does it. Symbols of Authority: Eva, Damned, Vernon&W, Winston Finnigan (surfing on someone), Artemis+Ullr. Also Cadmus can play some great defense on some maps with summoned EAE and Nests defending markers tucked in corners. Surveyors can do the stupid Pillar thing on markers tucked in corners with their Chronicle too. Recover Evidence: Probably Ivan. Winston Finnigan and Eva are very good here. Seeker can also play this well by forcing the enemy to approach and using 2" engagement ranges + Life Tokens to make it very hard for the enemy to collect markers without Don't Mind Me. Public Enemies: Obviously Apex is king. Don't take Ivan or Wastrel. Cadmus can do well since they have so many Insignificant models, death from Parasite tokens goes on the Upgrade carrier, and their Keyword are primarily 6 and 8 cost and tanky for their points. Of interesting note is Beebe + Calypso. They take up 12 stones, are dangerous + tanky, and Calypso only gives up 1 Bounty Token and then gets summoned back. Seeker can also do well since they deny kills, but you can't farm lots of Life Tokens since everyone brings elite crews here. -- Breakthrough / Spread Them Out / Leave Your Mark / Sabotage: Austera and Twigge - Enough Said. Ivan is very good here - Ivan, Corvis, and Operative can both remove and place scheme markers. He also summons near enemies and those new summons near the enemy DZ can disengage and threaten (or fake!) Breakthrough/Sabotage. If I can't take Ivan (like if opponent is Ressers - too many hard counters) then Apex, Seeker, or Cadmus can do fine if they take Austera and Twigge, Damned, Vernon&W, Winston Finnigan (OOK), Tannenbaum, etc Assassinate I don't take this often. Defensive options include Intrepid Emissary, Flush With Cash, healing, and against melee crews: Mikhail 16, Meredith's Quarantine, Eva's Lock. Apex is the best here - Cooper is difficult to kill and very dangerous, as are the Crypsis. Ivan doubles down on staying alive since he's so central to his crew but can also threaten the enemy Master well. Seeker is great defensively. Cadmus can do well here but will require investment to keep Nexus alive. Vendetta: You can do the typical Sniper thing with a Crypsis Corps (careful only Stat 5). Austera and Twigge can shoot someone once and then play safe. Seeker can keep their Vendetta model (either their own, or enemy's target) alive indefinitely. Intrepid Effigy with fate upgrade is another viable option. Eva isn't bad, she can hit once and then teleport away or lock herself to stay safe. Mr Mordrake is a great option if the opponent can't ignore Demise. Claim Jump: Seeker with Mikhail is obviously the best choice here. Mr Mordrake if the opponent can't ignore Demise. Winston Finnigan since he practically can't be hit. Grave Goo is a tanky model, heals itself, and discourages attacking it with Hazardous. Look at Assassinate for good options to protect your Claimer. Generally we have a lot of healing in our faction which makes the second point easier to score. Runic Binding: Tannenbaum is a great choice, as he lets you pick a different scheme. Research Mission: I'm 90% sure this scheme is going away in GG2 - it's just too easy for some crews. Ivan and Cadmus have an easy time, but also can't help but give your opponent an easier time too - so be careful. Explorers have way too many marker options: Lamplighters, Bellhop Porter, Surveyors, Vatagi, Beebe, Damned, etc Hidden Martyrs: Unsure about this one - but Price of Progress models are both dangerous and prompt your opponent to take the easy kill. I imagine Ivan can do well here, Corvis Rook with Fast from Gibson charging everything and POP-ing Execute 3 times can't go unaddressed, and then Intrepid Effigy can get the second point. Taking an Operative who POPs to drop schemes or Shadow Markers until she's at 1 Health (and then is still too dangerous to keep alive with her double positive gun and 2 free card draw). An interesting option is Beebe and Calypso - Calypso dies and Beebe stays safe by making a new one. Cadmus can deny VP using Poison/Burning. Take Prisoner: Deny using Cadmus Burning/Poison. Careful if your crew makes Hazardous terrain because your crew can be denied. The first point is easy, but the second is hard, since if your opponent activates last it's very hard to prevent them from running away. The Treasure Map upgrade can help with this, but is otherwise such a bad upgrade I worry it reveals you're taking Take Prisoner. Tannenbaum can give you a backup plan on a 13. Cadmus or Winston Finnigan can place enemy models in ways they can never escape. Ivan with his many small pushes and summoning Daeva can do well. Catch and Release: I usually wouldn't take this, except for Seeker who can keep a Surveyor alive forever. Tannenbaum can sometimes give you a backup plan. Let Them Bleed: No real preference here. Explorers' healing is great for denial. Keep note of your 2 most expensive models. If you take it make sure you have a fast model who can damage someone hiding away from you.

Most importantly they give Cooper Focused+1 when he kills a model so he can reload his rifle without taking the Concentrate action. They also remove conditions, can do a little healing, give a little card draw, have H2K, and sit there Concentrating until they fire off a 5 damage shot and turn into a Harpooner or Crypsis

16 H2W, decent Df, built in healing trigger, (sometimes) pseudo-Incorporeal wounds which (sometimes) bounce damage back to you! I think there's no end to the uses for these things. Place them in chokepoints and watch the enemy waste 3-4 attacks killing them. Place them in the way between Idols markers or engage enemies on the markers to make the following turn difficult. Place them in areas you'll want to Exoskeleton to early in the game. Engage enemies and force them to waste AP for disengage or move. Place them near your own objectives and Obey them with ignore Insignificant. I think this is highly underestimating the value Nests bring just by being there. Even if they just die, they probably ate 3-4 attacks (and thus held up whatever attacked them for at least a full activation). If you're going against the most mobile crews available like Zipp, there's often a slow model in there such as Hodgepodge Emissary or Mancha, or an objective to babysit like Corrupted Idols or Authority Markers. Compare 2 of those to 60% of the totems in the game which are little guys with 3-5 wounds who help on Turn 1-2 and then die to a single focused attack.