MuMantai

I often have Joss as my main damage dealer in Ramos crews. With the help of the Captain, the Brass Arachnid and Imbued Energies he usually gets to where I need him.

The Problem is buffing her without making her too good with the Thunders. Keep in mind that she has easy access to summoning there, especially constructs (Komainu), so the buying of a trigger with damage would be a lot more potent for them than it would be for us. Other than that, solid ideas

Do the same with Carlos, and you also have self healing at the end of the turn. No HtK (but you could get that with the Automaton), but in my opinion, Carlos is at least as tanky as Joss. Also, Captain for even more Bullet Proof, and Imbued Protection gets him to Df 7. Or you could get him Warding Runes for Counterspell and other nice things from the mages.

It's +1 and , so he gets Sh 6 when shooting a target near a scheme marker.

Our highest reliable damage has to be the Ice Golem. Even on weak you are on 9 to 10 damage, that is hard to beat. And positive damage flips are not that hard to come by... Toolkit can do it, as can Colette with either Doves or Prompt for Focus. Or he can get fast from different sources. Next should be Joss with his (2), who can use the same tricks to get his damage (5/8/10) in. Rail Golem can do 8 with Locomotion on severe. Then there are quite a few models that can do 7, and even more with 6, not counting red jokers.

I like to play Ironsides into Ply. I tend to activate her early, pull stuff in, Ply with her and activate Challenge. That in combination with the Steamfitter condition makes it hard for opponents to get Ply at all, while her crew can ply and wreck faces around her. Also, Hand Picked Men makes it a lot easier to remove Ply once it is applied. Had a lot of success with that. I think the third game will be the hardest for her, she is decent into headhunter, but Eliminate is risky.

A bit of clarification: I have eight single spiders and two swarms with two spider models each. I have yet to encounter a player who would give me grief for that. That is the six spiders from Ramos' box plus another box of six of them. That is plenty. As I said, six individuals and one swarm is enough for most situations, that would be Ramos' box plus a small spider box, or you work with magnets. In play, usually the better the game goes, the more spiders you need. They are the first thing you shove into your opponents face (or the second, if you play Howard), and the more of them survive, the better your board position. That means, if you have no more spiders to summon, you can usually skip that step, as it just is a "more winning" move. Swarms are a similar beast, you usually summon them in one of two situations: You either have nothing better to do with your spiders, or you desperately need a beater. Both situations are rare, which is why you seldom need a swarm and almost never need two.

I have eight spiders and two swarms. I had all spiders on the table like once or twice, and have once used both swarms. In a normal game, you should be good with six spiders and one swarm, I would guess.

While I agree with you there, I think even then, Nicodem is a bit stronger than Ramos. In my eyes, the problem is not Ramos being too weak (he is not), the problem is Nicodem being too strong. And I hope that gets fixed at some point in the future.

You could also use the Emissarys Flesh and Metal ability, if you want to stay in faction.

Ramos and Constructs. Under Pressure gives your contructs positive flips, which is exactly what you need to threaten Jack himself, so Ramos is a walking bubble of space Jack does not want to be near. The Brass Arachnid can also give models with a curse another activation so they can do useful things later in the turn after flipping the upgrade. Other than that, just endure. If you can kill him, great, if not, don't try. Kill the crew, as they will be the ones doing schemes and strategy most of the time. Don't try to overextend and claim your part of the board, make him come to you. If he does, you can fight him, if not, he usually already lost. I have played quite a lot against Pandora, and with her it is the same game: Ignore her, kill the crew, and you have a much easier time. Hope this helps

There are more models to do the Strike marker trick with but Amina. Performers can also pull models to them, or (my personal favourite) The Captain. Works even better with Combat Mechanic, so Ramos can chain into whatever model uses the markers afterwards. But that comes at the cost of two upgrade slots taken and neither Arcane Reservoir nor Under Pressure. I have played The Captain with Ramos some times now (no surprise there, I have played him everywhere ), and he is a good keeper for Bleeding Edge Tech. He also helps with the Howard Alpha by making him another 5" faster, and helps Ramos with his speed, if need be. He also helps the Brass Arachnid to get to whatever he needs to reactivate, which really helps

I mostly agree. I would take two Egg Clutches, just because they are summonable (I'm not quite on board with hiring them, you have units for that that can come back and do something useful later in the game), but you propably can use a third if you are lucky or leave some on the board. For the eels, take one if you want to, but I would skip the second for now. Summoning them is nice, but will propably not happen often, and 50$ are a lot of money for that. It depends on how much money you have available and how much you want to take advantage of the kickstarter. You can just play the game, and if you find yourself summoning eels left and right, buy more later. They will be available at retail. And until then, just use a proxy. Same with the eggs. Take some, and if you find yourself needing more, buy some more.

If the Emissary is engaged, she would still randomize. I see no evidence to the contrary. As to the Emissary, I like him. Yes, we have no confluxes that really scream "take me", but I have played him quite a lot with Sandeep, with Imbued Energies. 16" thread range are fun In my view, he has a similar role to the Captain. He is a backline model that is reasonably tanky, can move other models around and deals quite ok damage. The Elemental Rage attack may not do incredibal damage, but it is ok, and with range 6 with no projectile, it is quite flexible, and it has some great triggers. Also, he can do reliable 6 damage in an activation, 8 on a charge, which is not bad for his price range. I wouldn't argue he can make any list, he lacks some important synergies for that (construct for Ramos and Mei, M&SU for Toni), but he is playable, and I would argue he is not a bad pick in a lot of situations.

Yes, you can. You are still aiming a action into an engagement. All "Node" does is letting you channel through the Emissary when he is engaged. All other rules regarding the actions still apply. That has some strange inteactions when you channel through him into the engagement he is part of, but it is still resolved the way it would otherwise.

That depends on the target. You can channel through the Emissary, even if it is engaged, but if you target a model that is engaged, you still have to randomize as normal (even when the target is engaged by the Emissary).

I will just quote what this wise squirrel said

He has. His (0) action is a attack. The question was if he has a thread range of 8" or 7" in charge, and I argue he has 8" on targets with at least 2" engagement range.

As far as I see it, the mage can charge models with 2" engagement range or higher at 8". The mage charges and moves in 2" of the target. He is engaged then, so he gets his 2" engagement range and engages his target. He ends the movement engaged, so the charge is valid. Do I get the timing wrong? The mage has his melee range as long as he is engaged (if he wants to), so as soon as he moves to the target, he has the range. He doesn't have it at the start of the move, but before the end, which is the important part. This has also strange side effects, as he can charge a model with 2" engagement range, while not being able to charge something with 1", but it is possible, as far as I can see it.

Looking at the strategies, you will have a hard time in Ours, as you have only three models that count. Symbols may be possible, as the rider can go and take some, being safe(ish) in the process, but that makes the frontline problem (see below) even worse. For Ply you have three models that can do it, plus spiders the turns after they are summoned, while giving you enemies at least three models they can ply, without being able to ply back. Plus all models summoned that turn. For Public Executions, you lack a bit killing power, and spiders are a nice target for that. Supply Wagons may be ok again, due to the rider. I like the Rider/Steamfitter combo, but you need the Steamfitter for scrap for Ramos, so no Armor there. That leaves you with a model that wants to essentially hide until turn three, a support model, a summoner master and three peons. You really lack a front. You may make due with spiders for a turn or two, but turn three at the latest, your enemy stands in your midst. Also, when you damage Ramos for cards, he will not last very long, as he has only ten wounds. On that point, the trigger on a rider just works on enemies. I would really think about the peons first here. Do you really need a toolkit when you have the Steamfitter? Is the steamfitter the right choice here? Do you need the Arachnid? You want a model or two that stands tall and lets you survive the first two turns in order to get the spider factory going. If you want to take the Rider, which is not a bad choice, I would propably skip the Brass Arachnid, the Toolkit and the Raptor, and take something like Joss. Then, when on turn three he finally should go down, you have enough spiders to carry you through the rest of the game.

I love the model. I used him before he was lowered in cost quite a bit, up to three 5" pushes on a 6 are quite good. On top of that he has very good damage, a surprising threat range (8" charge, 3" melee range) and while not all that survivable, has a good trigger to discourage charges. Plus soft cover on a stick. Such a good package. He gets great with Ironsides, because Hand-Picked Men, but I use him in almost all lists these days, mostly for pushing models forward to enable charges/shoots, and then charging in when the lines clash. Before, he competed with the Emissary, who has a similar place (give actions to other models, good damage with decent survivability, displace enemies), now with them costing the same there is no contest anymore. A bit sad, I also like the Emissary, but I will find a place for him again, I am sure

The way I see it, he loses his armor at the end of the turn. He gets Burning +1 at the start of the turn. Dance of Flame triggers, he gets Armor +1. The Steamfitter (or somebody) reduces Burning, he now has Burning +0. Dance of Flame triggers Armor to +0 (both are discarded?) The Steamfitter then gives Carlos Armor +1 until end of game. Carlos pushes/hits something, gets Burning +1. Dance of Flame triggers, gives him the Armor +1 Condition for Armor +2 until end of turn End of turn: Burning ends, Armor ends. Also, if he already has Armor +1, he can get a maximum of +1 through burning, as +2 is the maximum of his armor condition, from whatever source.

This. They are gold with Ironsides. She shores up their two weak points (low health does not matter when they cannot be attacked because Toni has Challenge up, and 2/4/6 on a positive damage is just so much more juicy), and lets their strong points shine. The push is great for Toni to get into position to pull something in turn 1, the Bull Style trigger, at the right time, can be devastating, and the other triggers are great as well. And the Chakram action is great to prime other models for Hand Picked Men. Other lists I have used them are Sandeep (they can copy the place, which is great) and Colette, and they can do work there too, but never as much as with Ironsides.

It's nice if you just want to spam attacks, as it increases the chance to get a "Red Joker" by 100%. That is the playstyle it benefits the most (outside of summoning, didn't think about that). Especially if you just spam into HtW/ItW models or with hard cover. If you use your attacks more precisely, focussing/double focussing to cheat damage, the effectiveness of this upgrade degrades massively. Keep in mind, it benefits Raspi and Raspi only. The more cards she flips, the more effect you get.

I am testing a Rougarou and the Captain in a list at the moment. I quite like it. The push of the Captain was good before, but with the additional pounce, it gets really great. Bonus if you push the Rougarou in position before But then, I was the odd one out to play the Captain before he was reduced in cost, so he makes almost eveny list I play at the moment