JoeJones

The metal one is out of production, and therefore difficult to find. The plastic one still doesn't have a release date, unfortunately.

I, too, am waiting patiently for the Large Arachnid. Ramos needs a new not-so-little friend.

As a Ramos player who hasn't played as Resser yet, I can only advise on his strengths & weaknesses. Ramos's strengths lie in his summoning, his crew buffs, and the usual suspects who accompany him.

First off, his summoning. As long as he has access to a scrap marker, Ramos can summon one spider on a 5 of any suit, 2 spiders on an 8 of tomes (or any 8 + a soulstone), or 3 spiders on an 11 of tomes + one soulstone. He can flood the board with spiders, given enough scrap. Given that each spider is a significant minion with high defensive stats and armor, these spiders can overwhelm the board if not controlled. To fight this swarm you must either cut off the supply of scrap (through removal, blocking LOS, or keeping them outside Ramos's 6" summoning range), cause Ramos to discard his hand (I'm not familiar enough with Ressers to know what discard tricks they have, but forcing a lot of duels to make him cheat away his hand could work), or kill the spiders faster than Ramos can summon them (easier said than done, from my experience). I didn't mention killing Ramos as a way to stop his summoning, since is not only plays near the back of his crew, but also is surprisingly resilient: Armor+2 and healing when constructs are killed nearby make his 10 wounds stretch much further than you'd expect from a squishy spellcaster.

Ramos's crew buffs tend to be fairly formidable also. Under Pressure gives his friendly constructs within 8" positive flips on Ml attacks, Field Generator gives his crew within 6" positive flips on Df, and Combat Mechanic allows Ramos to heal friendly constructs. Not every Ramos player will take all these upgrades, since Ramos likes the flexibility that Arcane Reservoir grants, among other options. Also watch for Bleeding Edge Tech on Joss, which will allow summoned spiders to regenerate at the start of their activations, partially or completely negating the damage they receive from being summoned.

And with that, we come to Ramos's right-men: Joss and Howard Langston. These two models provide the bulk of the offense in Ramos's standard crew, and many players will take them as auto-includes for him. Joss is extremely resilient and his Arc Axe ignores most defense abilities (Armor, HtW, HtK, all Df triggers). Howard Langston is surprisingly fast (due to Nimble), has 4 weak damage, and has an auto-kill trigger on his attack. Any plan to beat Ramos must include plans to destroy, distract, or otherwise negate these two, while also controlling the spider population. Add to these two a decent ranged threat and a sacrificial construct to get the spider engine going, and that is my standard Ramos list.

On my first turn as Ramos, I will generally move the sacrificial construct forward so that Joss can charge & kill it, dropping 2 scrap markers for the first couple summons. I will move Howard Langston into position to either threaten my opponent's heavy hitter or send him up to clear a flank. Any summoned spiders (or hired ones) will start heading to tie up opponents or run schemes. Ramos, of course, moves into position, buffs, and summons.

This is how I play Ramos. Other people may change things up (Mech Rider instead of Howard Langston, for example), but it should be a reasonable overview, so that you can start thinking about how to counter various parts of the crew. As always, keep your eye on schemes and strategies, and remember that tar pits are good things against speedy heavy hitters.

With apologies to my fellow Arcanists, of course, but my second faction will be Ressers when I finally start getting them assembled and painted.

I haven't actually played (painted, or even assembled) Killjoy yet, but he does look like a lot of fun. Anyway, the people who have used him against me had a lot of fun....

I can really see Killjoy shining in a crew that utilizes bury shenanigans: Tara, Death Marshals, Tara WITH Death Marshals, etc. However, with (extremely) careful placement & activation order I can see him being successfully used without being buried. 

Overall, between the beautiful mini and the amazing stats & abilities, I would say go for it. Killjoy has one or two minor issues (high ss cost, occasionally charges friendly models), but he seems to be worth it.

I've found the Brass Arachnid to be situational at best. On the one hand, putting Reactivate on Howard or Joss can be a game-changer. On the other hand, getting Reactivate requires a high Tome card which Ramos needs for summoning more spiders. My advice is to test it out to see if it works for you. (Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I am somewhat biased against the Brass Arachnid since I greatly dislike its model. I recommend that you try it out, though, since some people swear by it.)

When Steam Arachnids form a swarm, the swarm comes into play at full health and ready to be activated. However, it counts as being summoned so it comes into play with the Slow condition and cannot perform Interact actions on its first turn.

Howard Langston with HPM is outstanding. Let's see if I can come up with a decent combination:

Ironsides (Challenge the Crowd, Iron Determination, Warding Runes)

Howard Langston (Imbued Energies)

Johan (Imbued Energies)

=24 ss

Challenge the Crowd & Iron Determination are there to keep Ironsides alive and buffing for as long as possible, and Warding Runes is there to Counterspell Lures, for the most part. Hank is there to kill stuff, of course, and Johan provides condition removal, healing, and a tertiary beatstick. No scheme running to speak of in this crew, but if you're paired with Colette, she should have that covered. No ranged attacks, either, unless you count Hank's potential 18" threat range on a Fast, Nimble Charge (walk 5", walk 5", charge 6", 2" melee range).

For 2ss, you can get Imbued Protection, but I generally prefer Imbued Energies. I'm not sure if there are any other 2 ss Arcanist upgrades which would be useful for Johan - especially not compared to the almost game-breaking goodness of Imbued Energies.

HPM + the Hard Way sounds like it would be very painful, assuming you can get burning on the intended target. I've had mixed results with Message from the Union so far, but then I've only really used it a couple times. The (much more experienced) Arcanist player in my group has sworn by Ironsides with Gunsmiths.

Yes, the -1 Df from Latch On is cumulative. Steam Arachnids are very nice 4ss minions.

i strongly suggest getting Howard Langston on the table as soon as possible. He is arguably the best melee beater in the game.

For the tarpit list, I would most likely switch out Arcane Reservoir for Challenge the Crowd, which would give her a bit more resilience as a tarpit. I'm not exactly sure what to do with the leftover stone, however.

i'm not sure about the gunline list, since I've never used Willie or the Gunsmiths.

Bleeding Edge Tech won't help the Golem, since it only affects minion constructs. It will heal the Gamin, but sometimes I prefer the Gamin to die & explode....

i've used the Captain with Raspy before for Airburst shenanigans, and he's proven his worth in doing so. However, I find myself troubled when spending that many stones for a non-Frozen Heart model in a Raspy crew. I'm not saying that the Captain isn't useful with Raspy, just that Snow Storm provides similar functionality with a lot more Frozen Heart synergy. 

46 minutes ago, The Warlock said:

Thanks, this is quite helpful indeed

Activation is Spider -> Joss -> Ramos then to get scrap and spiders further up field? Reading over Arcane Reservoir and Ramos's reliance on tomes, I can see how it'd be useful (huzzah for 20:20 hindsight). Also, as Joss drops two scrap per construct killed it's useful with combat mechanic to heal summoned arachnids?

Pretty new to Arcanists and Malifaux itself - only been playing for a month.

 

For healing the Arachnids, I use Bleeding Edge Tech on Joss. With that upgrade, if the arachnids activate within 8" and LOS of Joss, they regenerate one wound. Bleeding Edge Tech provides great synergy with Ramos's summons.

I normally use Ramos with Arcane Reservoir, Under Pressure, and either Field Generator or Combat Mechanic. I also take Joss (Bleeding Edge Tech and Recharge Soulstone), Howard Langston (Imbued Energies), a ranged specialist (Envy or December Acolyte), then either Essence of Power and one Steam Arachnid, or else two Steam Arachnids. 

My first turn, I move one Steam Arachnid up to the edge of Joss's charge range, then kill it with Joss to generate 2 scrap markers for Ramos to summon from. The second Steam Arachnid (if I take a second one) will move up to start working on schemes. Howard will move up to threaten...everything, and my ranged specialist will find a decent spot to set up and start shooting. After that, my plans change to account for schemes/strategies and my opponent's actions.

Remember that the Steam Arachnids are mainly scheme runners & tarpits. Howard (or the Rail Golem) & Joss are the meat of the crew and must do their jobs if Ramos is to win. Ramos is mostly there to summon spiders and buff his constructs, but he can be very effective in combat if necessary.

Hopefully, you found this helpful. I'm still fairly new to this game (~7 months playing), but I've had some success with Ramos.

I'm likely to use Blessed of December and Snow Storm in the same list. I've been know to use Sabertooth Cerberus & Ice Golem together, and Blessed + Snow Storm seems like an upgraded version of that combo.

Boomstick24 got best theme for his Green Lantern Corps Ramos crew. I'm not sure how he placed overall in the standings, though. 

I took 2nd with my Ramos crew: Ramos (Arcane Reservoir, Field a Generator, Under Pressure, 5 ss), Joss (Bleeding Edge Tech, Recharge Soulstone), Miss Step (Imbued Energies), Envy (Imbued Energies), and 2 Steam Arachnids.

My first opponent was playing Perdita & her family on a Western street scene. I got shot to pieces, but ended up in a 5-5 draw.

My second opponent was playing Ophelia & her kin in a forest filled with decaying walls. We got into melee, where Miss Step softened the Kin up and Joss finished them. I won 9-7, I believe. 

My third opponent was playing Nicodem. Joss & Envy were able to hold the summoned undead at bay while my spiders ran schemes and Miss Step took the long way around the board to threaten Nicodem. I won the summoners' duel and the game, 8-5.

The overall winner was playing Lady J with all Guild Marshals: the Judge, 3 standard Death Marshals, Miss Terious, and the Lone Marshal. (If my memory serves me correctly.)

The tournament was a lot of fun overall, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

I'm going to this tournament as well (Yes, My Master at Game Nite), and I was also thinking that Ramos is my best master for the schemes & strategies.  I had originally thought about taking Rasputina, but I haven't gotten Snow Storm yet, so Raspy would have a harder time of it. I had also considered running Marcus, but I'm not especially effective with him yet. 

Intereference seems to favor Ramos, since he can flood the board with spiders. Turf War is good for Joss & Hank with backup, and headhunter favors mobile melee beaters...like Joss & Hank. I'm most likely going to wing it on the schemes, since I haven't had time to work with the Gaining Grounds schemes much yet. 

One very specific piece of advice for using Ramos in this setting: if you are facing an Arcanist player you think might be running Marcus, take his Under Pressure upgrade since it gives him Counterspell. Trust me on this.

5 hours ago, Boomstick24 said:

Since Arcanists have no non-TT dual-faction master, I'd like to see one.

On that point, does anyone know why Wong isn't dual-faction Arcanists/Gremlins?

The same reason that Hoffmann isn't dual-faction Arcanist/Guild, I'd say.

I'd like to see a Rezzer/Arcanist dual-faction master. Since those two factions are the most magically-inclined ones, you'd think (or I would, at least) that there would be some crossover. My initial thoughts are either a sorcerer who starts hearing voices or a construct builder who decides to use humans as parts.

Either Ramos or Raspy would work well as a first master. I started with Raspy back in June and I'm ok running her. After I picked up Ramos, however, I got hooked. I won my first game with him, and now he's my primary master. Spiders...good.....

That is beautiful.

All I know is that if I have a plus flip to damage, I'm likely to flip a severe and a black joker. Correspondingly, if I'm on a double negative flip, I have a reasonable chance to flip a red joker, especially immediately after the above. 

In summary, bad things happen.

I had a great time at the tournament. Thank you for hosting it!

According to page 6 of Shifting Loyalties, the Arsenal Leader must be hired as the Crew Leader for each game and cannot change from game to game. The only way you may choose a different Leader is if your Leader is Annihilated and another Henchman (or the highest soulstone cost model, if you don't have another Henchman) is chosen as Leader, or you hire a Master, who then becomes the Leader.

Just one master for a year? Tough question.

For me, it would come down to Ramos or Rasputina, and Ramos tends to be more versatile than Raspy, so I'd go with Ramos. I think....

For Arcanists, I'd go with Ramos & Ironsides, then add in Johan and either an extra box of Arachnids for summoning shenanigans or December Acolytes for sniping.

If you're running him as Ten Thunders, you have to use Ototo. When I first saw that model, I immediately thought of Hida Kisada and Hida Yakamo.

The Ten Thunders Archers fit into the theme, painted as Hiruma Archers, most likely.

I assume you'll have Yan Lo painted up like Kuni Yori, before he fell to the Shadowlands.

Yes, I played L5R a very long time ago, from Emerald Edition until the start of Gold Edition.

Right now, my crutch would most likely be Ramos. I can look at almost any combination of schemes and strategies, and realize I'd do best running Ramos & summoning spiders.

For non-master models, Miss Step, Sabertooth Cerberus, December Acolyte, and the Wendigo.

For upgrades, Arcane Reservoir and Imbued Energies.