retnab

What Ward do people bring when they do a single Oxfordian Mage?  I typically bring the Nemesis Ward so it has access to all its ranged triggers on all attacks, but I'm thinking if I do single Mage with Sandeep I might do Blood for the option of doing work in melee too.  I find I basically never bring the Doom Ward, which I know is silly because that's just leaving behind Regen +1 but I like the other buffs the Mages get more.

Pretty sure PullMyFinger's wrong there.  It clearly states that an ability taken with Beacon can't be taken by someone else via Beacon, not that they can't be used again at all.

I brought Sandeep with Visions to my game with the Trickster, figuring the summons who can Interact right away or while engaged would be very useful.  However because everyone was clumped together randomly in the middle the game was a bloodbath from the first activation and Interacting barely happened at all.  Be aware that you won't be reliably given space *to* interact in that encounter.

Still uncertain who I want for the Man, I kind of figured Kaeris or Mei Feng to get there fast.  For the Child I'd agree Rasputina sounds good.

2 minutes ago, Gnomezilla said:

Whoops. That was kind of an important thing to forget to ask about beforehand. Well, it had to happen to someone.

And it was my first game on the first day too!  What are the odds  It wasn't even an impressive score either, we both went 3-3 because we had a scheme heavy pool with the Trickster's encounter and from turn 1 it was just a bloodbath so nearly no scheming even happened.  The Trickster was interacted with only once in the entire game and I couldn't cheat when I did it, got the suit that let my opponent move her away and that was it haha.

So, not to be that guy, but I had a draw today.  Lol, how do we report it?  We were both Arcanists playing Trickster if that helps.

Question, for the schemes are we using the ones from the rulebook or Gaining Grounds?

The description the Self Righteous Man has is definitely the best, it's a shame I don't much care about the beast side of Arcanists though.  I'm fully intending on playing all 3 story rounds but I'm leaning mostly towards the Trickster currently (plus the Trickster setup just sounds way too fun and wacky not to try).

The full list of ability names, though maybe missing something from book 4, are as follows (made into a quote so people can minimize it, I know it's a huge list):

Quote

ARCANISTS

MASTERS

Colette (Prompt, Disappearing Act)

HENCHMEN

Amina Naidu (Sharp Wit, Summons)

Cassandra (Breath of Fire)

Kudra (Elemental Bolt)

Myranda (Primal Flame, Hunting Call)

Snowstorm (Icy Tornado)

The Captain (Airburst, Wind Wall)

The Firestarter (Ignition, BUUUURRRN!, Twirling With The Gas Can)

ENFORCERS

Angelica (Projected Voice)

Arcane Emissary (Elemental Rage)

Oxfordian Mage (Elemental Bolt)

MINIONS

Arcane Effigy (Arcane Fury)

Coryphee (Blinding, Dance Partner)

Ice Dancer (Ice Path)

Performer (Siren Call, Seduction)

Silent One (Freeze)

PEONS

Electric Creation (Burst)

Mannequin (Full of Pins)

TOTEMS

Brass Arachnid (Stoke)

Emberling (Fan the Flames, Cool Down)

Eternal Flame (Flaming Detonation)

Mouse (You Ain't Leavin')

MERCENARIES

HENCHMEN

Aionius (Bony Fingers, Out of Time)

Anna Lovelace (The Swirling Damned)

ENFORCERS

Burt Jebsen (Crackerjack Timing)

Friekorps Librarian (Ancient Words, Healing Energy)

Gluttony (None Can Be Found, A Rhythm To Those Who Hunger)

Greed (A Song To Die For, The Greed Spreads)

Hans (Smile You Son of a...)

Johan (Rebel Yell)

Lust (Heartbreaker, Now Kiss!)

Nurse Heartsbane (Hold Still Dear)

Pride (Condescending Flattery, This Song Is All About You)

Sloth (Bored To Death, Lullaby)

Sue (Tread the Line)

MINIONS

Hog Whisperer (Sooey!, Stik'm!)

Oiran (Lure)

TOTEMS

Malifaux Child (Misplaced Trust)

ACADEMICS

MINIONS

Sanctioned Spellcasters (Elemental Bolt, Elemental Burst)

FOUNDRY

HENCHMEN

Sparks (Packed With Explosives)

I've actually made a full Word document fully detailing all the abilities she can Understudy up to parts of Ripples of Fate (I was a bit bored... it's 11 pages long).  Not sure if I'm allowed to share it on here though, what with it having the Ca's and TN's and such.

Just now, BFOmega said:

One of them becoming Gremlin or Neverborn seems odd to me, it feels like that's something you'd need to be born as, though I'm not that far into the fluff yet, so I could be wrong.

There are humans working with the Gremlins like Gluttony, and the Neverborn could have them go all Black Blood or maybe hang out with Lynch.

I'm not sure which of the three I'm most interested in... I'd love it if we could get another model be Frozen Heart but I'm really struggling to see how the setup will allow models to be too specific in categories.  Showgirl or M&SU seems definitely the most likely that any model we win would be in.

More character Frozen Heart models would be pretty great, I'd love a reason to change up my Rasputina lists a bit.

This looks like a cool idea, I'll definitely be playing!  I'm guessing we'll get to know the abilities the three can get next week?

Hmm those blades really are huge.  What are the attachment points on the blade-to-torso like, would it look silly without them on the model?

I hadn't thought of Practiced Productions combining with his personal upgrade, that's nasty and fantastic!  Sounds like a great setup for handing out Flight/Schemes to models near Kaeris, or Truth In Flame for easy access to a strong hand for the turn.

 

Yes, assuming you don't want it to do something else.

Nasty turn 1 play: Toolkit gives Howard 's or Armor +1, Joss kills it, Brass gives Howard Reactivate, Ramos gets Scrap to play with and Howard gets a turn 1 murder spree still 

Specifically with Joss or the Large Arachnids, as they get two Scrap Markers from one body, yes.  If you're wanting a list similar to what you have that might work a bit better, try something like this:

Ramos (6ss cache, Arcane Reservoir, Under Pressure)

Joss (Bleeding Edge Tech)

Howard Langston

2x Large Arachnids

Steam Arachnid

Brass Arachnid

Obviously depending on schemes and things, but this is just something that will work with what you have.  Large Arachnids and Rail Workers can swap out for each other pretty easily.  The Steam Arachnid in there is for Joss to kill turn one (if you don't Black Joker either damage flip it's a guaranteed 2 Scrap turn one, if you get a Mobile Toolkit it's 1ss cheaper for the same job).  Brass Arachnid and Howard Langston are best of friends if Brass can give Howard Reactivate.  That'll give him a non-linear 28" charge threat turn one (activates once, walks 3x.  Activates again, walks, charges) and you'll suddenly see why your other players try to kill him ASAP.  The Large Arachnids are good, especially if you can get into that Under Pressure aura they can get really nasty with  to damage, basically guaranteeing you can cheat in the Severe damage when you need it.  Hope this helps!

So I'm planning on buying the Emissary when it comes out next month and I was wondering if anyone who bought it early can share how big the model is (height, width, etc)?  It looks pretty great in my opinion but I've been a bit concerned about how far out those arm blades go since they were first shown.  Do the blades go off the base very much?

I was wondering, has anyone tried the Shastar Guard yet?  I haven't heard much mentioned about them and I'm not really sure where they fit in yet. Do they get any synergy from other Academics?  I kind of thought bringing an Oxfordian Blood Mage and one Guard for his  might be good, but would the Guard get anything out of the deal?

If you mean the Union Miners I love them for their False Claim, they're pretty good at Set Up or other schemes that need Scheme Markers to be near the enemy thanks to the 3" placement range.

1 hour ago, Guslado said:

I just put the upgrades with the card of the model that I summoned. As to which of Sandeep's Ca actions have been used, I've just been using a dry erase to mark them off each time they are used in a turn.

That's what I was doing with the Upgrade cards too, but I like using the 9 card pages and that doesn't really work there.  Then again I've never used a non-Ramos summoner so I may just have to get used to that.  Smart thinking just marking the abilities off on the card though, I'll do that next time.

12 hours ago, dancater said:

Besides can't complain if you force your opponent to expend the resources to constantly bury a summoned model.  Good to hear that he is playing really nicely and balanced and also kind of pleased he is interesting and challenging because ultimately I prefer that sort of game.  

I am wondering what his builds are going to play out like, the Academic thing sounds interesting but niche, the Poison Gamin actually in his box are I think going to be very unusual selections for his crew, you'll see them summoned now and then but SS purchased I'd imagine rarely.

retnab (and others) any particular stand out models (other than Big Blue) in your games?

Did Kudra get a look in?

Which little Gamin are getting summoned regularly? 

I agree, Banasuva being Buried nearly every turn left the rest of the crew (mostly) safe from the same issue.  The build that I used in the game was:

Sandeep (Arcane Reservoir, Behold Another World, Enlightened Soul, 4ss cache)

Cassandra (Practiced Productions)

Kudra (Free of Mortal Shackles)

Howard Langston

Sue

Arcane Effigy

Fire Gamin

I took Frame (Howard) and Exhaust Their Forces, going 7-4 when my opponent correctly assumed Howard was the Frame target and didn't kill him.  The Fire Gamin to start was to give Kudra the built in  right away, plus an optional Banasuva summon (which ended up happening).  With Sue and Arcane Reservoir I had the 12 in hand to summon Banasuva most turns which was nice.  Incorporeal Howard got a decent amount done, killing a Death Marshal and a summoned Student of Steel sent after him, then locking Karina down.  Kudra took out a Void Wretch running schemes on the sides, picked up the heads Howard threw at her, and blew up Banasuva after he appeared at 2 health and Slow when the Void Wretch died nowhere near another enemy (he had the no move upgrade, so no Kudra would have meant no Banasuva later).

MVP of the game was definitely Cassandra though, she shot multiple Breath of Fire's into the enemy crew, getting a fair few blasts and forcing the Nothing Beast to spend his Void Shield and still take out more than half his health, while Blasting onto Tara.  Later on she hunted down the other Void Wretch not killing it, but forcing my opponent to only get 1 Covert Breakthrough point.  Sandeep spent most of his time in the center of the board handing out abilities, dropping a Metal Gamin to pick up heads (which Kudra ended up handling just fine so he wasn't too useful), Banasuva when I could, and firing off his Arcane Storm into anything he could.  He also kept Howard Incorporeal most turns, but also made Cassie Incorporeal once to be able to chase the Void Wretch through a forest.

His kit is incredibly flexible and I will absolutely be playing more of him!  Just a fantastic master, very fun to play.  It's going to be a bit tricky keeping track of everything though, I'm thinking of making little tokens to keep track of who has the Earth, Fire, and Wind upgrades and which of his 4 Ca's that can be Beaconed out are still available.

I picked Rasputina, since the leader of a magical ice themed cannibal cult has a lot of room for creepy / twisted artwork.

Just got my first game in with Sandeep today, it went really great.  Sandeep is a really weird playstyle but holy wow is he fun and well designed!  I nearly got off the nasty combo I mentioned above, got everything to work except Big Blue failed at the (0) place, oops.  Went 7-4 vs Resser Tara in Headhunter, I went Behold Another World because Visions of Wind to place a Gamin that picks the head right up is a real easy VP.  Looking back I'm pretty sure I forgot half the new stuff every turn, I know I wasn't doing Impossible To Wound on some of the attacks but considering how much you need to keep track of I think I still did okay.  Also, lol, it turns out Banasuva really hates being Buried - he only got a single attack in all game, but it was a RJ flip that killed an already injured Tara and Bete Noir so he still got his value in.

4 minutes ago, Fog said:

That's a lot of cards, but it would be hilarious. I think I'll try it today.

Haha sounds good, let us know how well (or terribly) it goes!

I just had a thought... with Sandeep bring a model that has Accomplice (Myranda, Arcane Effigy, I think that's it?).  Have that model activate and do a Beaconed spell with a  in it.  Sandeep triggers Student of All to summon Banasuva in.  The model ends its activation within 6" of Banasuva, who immediately activates and wrecks some face before your opponent can do anything about it.  Takes some cards to get happening, and you need a Gamin on the field already, but it sounds like a fun and nasty setup to me!