Xekros

I've thought about it a bit more, and this actually brings up an issue I'm seeing with various models, one which was deemed somewhat abusive in late M2E. Specifically, the concept of "Ideally, I'd put the majority of my AP into this one model," which, I think, speaks primarily to the disparity between our good models and the other pieces we have to work with. It's actually an issue I have with the design concept behind Lucius and the Elite/Mimic models (and why I concepted a complete overhaul of them despite never having played them), in that it seems to encourage chaining Obeys between your own models and not actually interacting with the opponent for a long time (2E Newcius was my favorite master, so I may be biased). That turned into a Lucius rant, whoops. The main point is that putting a load of AP into a single model is, to me at least, really boring and was deemed abusive last edition, so seems like they'd try to avoid it this time around.

The problem is access to focus on relevant Actions. I checked just now, and 16 models have the term Focused on them. 6 of those are Journalists, through Chasing a Story, and I don't think that focus is being used to buff their damage output. Beyond that, two applications are on totems, and three more are on unrelated Masters. Of the remaining 5, 2 are simply using the fact that there's Focused on a model to do something, and one is Greed, which requires other Crossroads models to be in play. That leaves us 2 models that can apply Focus to other models: the Guild Steward and Santiago Ortega. I also looked at Concentrate, and, of the 10 models with that term on them, only 2 aren't Family, which is entirely insular in its Concentrate generation. The two remaining models are Dashel, and The Jury, which is actually an anti-concentrate aura for enemies. I don't necessarily think this is a problem, as Focus is good for more than just bypassing Cover/Concealment (Serene Countenance, for example), but when a lot of Guild's schtick is shooting, it's pretty noticable. On top of that, we only have Niño with Sharpshooter, and Perdita, Santiago, and Riflemen with Expert Shot. Functionally, that means that for every Action that needs to bypass certain terrain, we have to spend 2 Actions to get 1 usable Action. I think we have enough efficiency issues as is.

While that would be nice, I can't really see that happening, Perdita's AP are just too good for that, and if they nerf her AP to accommodate, she'll feel terrible without comboing her into space. I can definitely see them simply saying "non-master" instead of "lower cost model", though.

@Fetid Strumpet As I said in the post, my ideas are based on my experience, and I've not yet played either of Phiona or Reichart. Not to say they don't need buffs, just that I don't know. @Mikes Sam seems like a setup model, to me, so maybe I'm just using him wrong, but his best use seems to be to light things on fire for Sonnia, but nothing in the crew has any way to get around cover/concealment except the Handler, and that model isn't quite durable enough to get close enough to use Witchfire, from my experience. And the Handler needs to be around the other Witchling models for the first few activations anyway. The Thralls have a hard time getting into melee for me, though I think part of that is due to my common opponents playing Wp heavy crews, so Drawn to Pain doesn't work. I don't really include the various Witchlings in the "lighting things on fire" category because all but the totem basically need to die to get burning out effectively. The Purifying Flame works really well on that front, but the lack of Handler buff makes it a lot harder to get it in place to use Hovering Flame. I also completely forgot about Sanctioned Spellcasters, not sure what to do with them at all (or if they even need anything), as I've only used them once or twice.

Some thoughts I've had, probably coherent, definitely untested, but, in my opinion, interesting enough to get feedback on. Primarily for Witch Hunters, since I've played them most. The intent is not necessarily that all of these happen, but I hope that some of them happen All Witch Hunters - Counterspell - change to "Models within 6 must discard a card to declare triggers" Sonnia - Seeking Flames - Also ignore Dense and Stealth. Flameburst - Increase range by X, where X is the value of the Burning condition on the target. iirc, targeting happens, then range is determined, then legality is determined, which is how this is intended to work. Smothering Flame - Reduces damage received by X, where X is the damage the target would take from burning at the end of the turn. This would be neat, but maybe a bit much. Add to Df. Probably a more reasonable defensive buff, though less interesting. Samael Hopkins - Gain Sharpshooter Witchling Handler - Goad Witchling - remove minion restrictions [New ability] Follow the Pack - When a friendly Witchling model ends its activation, one friendly model within 6 of this model may move up to 2" towards the Witchling. I've only recently come up with this, so I haven't considered the numbers or aura sources well yet, but something to this effect. Thalarian Queller - [New ability] Lockdown - Remove all Lockdown Markers created by this Action. Drop a Lockdown Marker within range (6-8"). Enemy models may not be placed within 6 of a Lockdown Marker. Lockdown Markers cannot be removed except by this Action. The intent is for the marker to work like Blow it to Hell, except with a Gravity Well effect from the marker itself. This is inspired by the old Area Suppression markers, but helps a bit with the mobility issues we have. The ranges are entirely arbitrary, but something like that. Barrier to the Other World -> Lantern of Souls Preventing Demise abilities would have been more useful than slight summon damage. Also, we have Marshals for our anti-summoners, and we need some anti-demise tech. Witchling Thrall - Gain Creep Along Witchling Stalker - [New ability] Light the Way - When targeting a model without Burning, this model gains + to its attack actions. This would let them automatically add the first burning, at least, without dying. I have other ideas, mostly for Lucius and, by extension, Dashel, but I think this is already enough text for one post. Thanks for reading, and I'm curious to hear what you think.

It's not that we don't have specific models with good mobility, it's that overall our options are primarily the Walk action, usually without Unimpeded. One of the most mobile models I've found in faction is the Witchling Stalker, and that's due to Unimpeded and Mv 7 if they start near a Handler. A major issue with things like Creep Along or Consolidate Power, is that they need to move towards a friendly model, which is incredibly unhelpful for moving up in the first place. Lucius is considered a very mobile crew, as he has Entourage for 2" (only while unengaged) and various Obeys to make things walk (again) out of activation. Mercenaries, on the other hand, get a free 2" push at the start of each turn, regardless of engagement, and Ronin get another 3" when they activate. Dreamer can just throw Chompy across the entire table, and his summons happen on enemy models. Just as a couple of examples.

Perhaps just add 0.5 to the winner of the reflip? Not sure if that argues with the whole number nature of the rest of the game, but I don't think it would, especially since it's not relevant except for determining ordering before a turn/deployment.

I've been trying to figure out what they would put in the remaining boxes as well, but I always run into the problem that the various models Hoffman has are pretty specialized into their given roles, with Hunters (of the remaining options) being the most versatile, from what I've seen. The special order thing should work to fix what problems you'll have with the duplication. @theamazingmrg The Kaeris box only comes to 19 points (Kaeris, totem, Firestarter 7ss, 3x Fire Gamin 4ss), so having that low of a SS box isn't unprecedented. I'd argue it would make for poor "Starter Box Only" games, but I doubt they're terribly concerned by that. That said, I'd be more inclined to put 3x Hunters in the core and putting the Watchers somewhere else. Better to have a core box over curve than under curve; I was in a core box league recently and a guy was playing Kaeris and felt (rightfully) significantly underpowered.

Lead Lined Coat gives Laugh Off, which will help with the positioning problems. Also of note: Stealth is super annoying, but doesn't deny LoS, so if they're on fire, their ranges will still be reduced by Sonnia's Smothering Flame, which does include Leap.

In local games (haven't been able to test network), Insignificant models can be selected for schemes. I've tried it with the Printing Press and Trained Raptor, and my opponent a couple days ago did it with the Eternal Flame. He's new and didn't realize it was Insignificant, so he used it as his Claim Jump target.

Also of note, Stealth doesn't deny LoS, so, for example, Smothering Flame still affects them even if Sonnia can't target the model.

Unfortunately, I have to agree. Which is a problem not because you're right, but because that seems like a pretty significant oversight from a design perspective.

"At the end of each Turn, a Crew gains 1 VP if more enemy models were killed that Turn than it has scored VP for this Strategy" Does seem to count kills, not deaths. Probably needs an FAQ, but they can't do any other schemes/strats, so it seems odd that they'd found for this one.

"models with the Insignificant Ability are ignored for the purposes of Strategies and Schemes in every way." Would indicate to me that any kills scored by the insignificant models wouldn't count towards kills for reckoning.

While amusing, it also makes it nearly impossible for you to score any points yourself, as Hoffman and the attendant must do literally everything. Though I do like the idea of LLC on Hoffman.

Chasing a Story should proc for your other journalists, though, if being friendly to one crew makes you an enemy of the other inherently. Might need some research.

Well, knowing Wyrd, the mask is probably a separate piece, so you could glue it to his hat or something?

I forgot to quite the proper post, but can't delete this. Ignore it.

I have to ask: what are you all finding Cornelius' place to be within Guild? We have Sonnia for blasts, Perdita for shooting, Lady J and Hoffman for tanky, slow hard hitters, and Dashel for swarms of models. (Nellie and Lucius are just completely different, so not really relevant here). I'm not really seeing a place where he's the best option, except maybe against Guild opponents, due to the concealment vs. the prevalence of our own shooting. I'm probably missing something, but he just doesn't seem to be the best at any of the things he does. Is it just that he does all of it decently?

It's the same, but that one needs at least a 7 for the TN (still need to hit that even on a friendly), so going through concealment will still be an issue.

Oh man, that's great! Slap a LLC or No Prisoners on Langston and I don't think anyone will want that on the other side of the table. I forgot to mention that in my prior post

A few of QoL requests, which might be a lot harder than I think they are: Better card sorting options, such as nesting sorting types: for example, I like to see my cards by keyword > station > cost > alphabetical, but sorting by keyword does half of this most of the time, and searching for keyword, then sorting by station seems to go by reverse cost within each station. On that topic, more sortable terms, such as by MV, high to low, for example. Searching for Abilities/Actions, rather than just the whole text of the card: when I look for "terrifying" I'm not usually also looking for everything with Ruthless. Perhaps this could use the same sort of "tag" as icons, like putting a colon in front or something. These first 2 would, I think, have issues with metadata size, but I'm not really sure. Last, and also least, the ability to share and then import collections as guest collections/users. E.g. someone on the forum has X models and would like crew building advice, I could then just import the linked list as a guest collection and build using only those models. Overall, great app, thanks for all your work.

I'm realizing I tend to swap by station rather than actual cost rather instinctively, thanks for pointing that out, and, reading Melissa's card, I actually quite like her as well. That said, for pool 2 specifically, I think the extra movement granted by the Hunter is more valuable, due to the schemes and strat rewarding positioning more than killing overall. I imagine you're probably using the Clockwork Grenade more than Transfer Power for her bonus action?

From @Myyrä's list, I'd say drop K.O.R.E. and 2 Hunters to add Joss, Langston, abd a Watcher. Third Floor Wars just did a podcast about Hoffman, which is where I'm getting a lot of my info, so probably just listen to that instead.

It's certainly the most cohesive list I see from those models, my only thoughts would be to add another LLC (judge/rider probably), and swap in an exorcist for Grimwell or a DM if the opponent is running a heavy summoner. As for Augmented, it hits hard, is hard to take down, and has a lot of little pushes throughout. Also Joss and Langston.