MEGAHORSE

Well for my group, while we havent had the time to play lately, we arent using wave 3 things yet, so Anna is off the table. She is a definite power jump for our ranged and control options. Datsue ba is card hungry, and seems terrible. She is a trap, in some scenarios. One of the most valuable lessons one can learn on their own is how to list build based around your playstyle and strengths, as well as the task at hand. Dont take "netlists". I know this game doesnt promote netlisting, but you still see plenty of it, particularly with "All comer" lists. I think there is plenty of hyperbole and there are casual and competitive players on this forum, so you're seeing alot of different perspectives, but you sometimes dont know from which perspective the person is speaking. For example, I think Canine Remains are one of the worst Resser models rules wise, but plenty of people swear by them. I also personally think Sybelle is a pretty useless tarpit outside of Molly, where she just teleports her around for 8ss. I think Izamu is an overrated glass cannon, but others dont feel the same way. At the end of the day, it's really how you utilize the model. I know, it's a cop out for me to say that, but it's true. Datsue ba's strengths lie in the schemes, strategies, terrain, and the player's own skill and strengths. With Seamus, Datsue ba's Seishin can be used to provide cover for him, and since Seamus is less concerned with keeping high cards for summoning/swirling spirits/Expunging, he can afford to pitch an 8+ for a few turns to get valuable activation control and ways to activate back alley without needing to worry as much. Is that worth 9-10ss for that effect? That's up to you. Is the ignore armor always worth it? No, but now you have an out against Illuminated/Arcanists/Outcasts who rely on it as their perhaps only defensive measure. Since Seamus cannot ignore armor, and neither can Belles, Sybelle, etc, taking her against Arcanists isn't a bad idea! Like Sybelle, Datsue's damage track isnt impressive, it's the utility she offers that makes her shine. She isn't meant to be specifically killy, or tarpitty, but somewhere in the middle, while offering you free walks, activation control, conditional summoning, etc. I'm going to go through each point now, on this edit. This is true. However, Phillip is also much weaker in melee and has but HtW and Manipulative to keep him safe, while offering different utility. I find Hard To Wound+Manipulative particularly weak to a sustained assault, but merely dissuades random pot shots. Izamu is incredibly weak to anything that ignores armor (many many ranged units these days) and anything that forces placement/movement on Wp duels outside his activation. My Neverborn opponents love seeing him since he's so easy to neutralize, if not outright kill. On the same page, they typically struggle against Datsue ba without throwing a higher point model against it in melee. This plays more into how like you said, Datsue isnt something you always take, and I think the same can be said of Izamu. You're right. Many games, like with Phillip, I'm not even attacking with her. The Gaki summon is the juicy thing to aim for. It's when attacking comes up, I make use of it. Many games she makes scheme markers for Phillip and Seishin for my master, occasionally walking spirits, and being menacing. My opponents over-evaluate her power, and gun for her, throwing alot of AP into taking her down due to her nice defensive abilities. I'd rather them focus her than Phillip or my master! In addition, cheating in a high card for Severe and spending a soulstone, if needed, to summon a Gaki and kill a model is what makes Datsue ba so dangerous. Yes, it's resource intensive, but she suddenly removes a model and creates a new one for you, which is a huge swing in activation numbers and may cause your opponent to completely need to re-evaluate their game plan. It's fun to surprise people with it, since they dont expect it. This is true. If I dont think I can manage a Seishin, like with a weak hand or a hand I want to save for more important things, I move a spirit instead. Worst case, it's not a bad 0 to try for if you have nothing to move off her one 0 action, or stop a model from walking. Dont underestimate the power of activation control off these little mooks! Worst case it makes the opponent think twice about tabling some weak summonable spirits near you, especially with Plant Explosives and similar schemes. I dont really use it often. Best use of it could be for popping it turn 1 and have Kirai summon off of a Night Terror you hired, to summon an Onyro then a Hanged, netting a free scheme marker upfield for Phillip. It's more of a support type action. Per my statements before, she is both support, beater, and tarpit when need be. She can't be all of these things at her point cost, without being overpowered as all getout. The issue isnt that the opponent will cheat it, it's the tax that it costs them to do so. a 6+ over the course of the turn can eventually strip 10+ cards when they really want to hit her... only for you to cheat higher when they fail to connect. She's much more durable than some other models, depending on the circumstances. I never account for the discarding 2 cards thing, but it keeps them from holding higher cards for next turn! She's taxing, like playing Stax/MUD in magic. If I make you pay more for your spells, you have less mana to counter what I will do next turn, it slows you down. You're right about blasts and pulses. But not every model. This is true of Mindless Zombies as well, but Seishin pack more utility. While their abilities arent always useful, having them as a tool is the key. It brings something to the table you dont have to hire in before the game begins. Kirai loves them as Beacons to deflect damage, as summon batteries, swiling aether targets, etc. Much like McMourning and Expunging, I wouldnt make it your singular gameplan, but more or less an option. It definitely catches opponents off guard.

Agreed with @Fireuser on Datsue being anti-armor. Lately I've been taking it in many, many lists, even against my non-arcanist opponent's (she sure shines there!) for that ability alone. I see her as the Spirit version of Sybelle. She provides many of the same benefits at the same point cost, and it's hard not to justify taking her with a Spirit Master for all that she can offer. She enhances the abilities of many other models in your crew, helping them move about on a 0, much like Sybelle. Yan Lo, when he gives a model +2 Armor, also turns that model into a spirit, allowing her 0 to be used to Walk a previously non-spirit model as well. Her attacks arent particularly damaging, even for an 8 point model sans upgrades, but the triggers can be devastating to the opponent Tough to remove from the table without a focused effort, usually by a higher point model. Sybelle has terrifying, hard to wound, Def5 Wp5, and alot of wounds. If the opponent is going to remove her, they're gonna gun for her. Same with Datsue, and with the healing spirits tend to bring (and their masters/Chiaki/Seishin), her 6 wounds can go a longer way. Incorporeal and Terrifying on Datsue also help her survive random attacks, and if your opponent wants to remove her, they need to put some effort into it. She then will make them discard 2 card when she does die, so it's incredibly taxing, possibly taxing their entire hand between terrifying and trying to put her down, just to lose two more cards. Her upgrades further enhance the crew. Spirit Whispers and Beacon (I sometimes put beacon on kirai) can summon additional models to help keep her healed (when you sacrifice the seishin) and provide activation control, as well as allowing you to continue summoning or plant free schemes when your nearby non-seishin models die. Sybelle does this too! Her attacks gain more relevant triggers or further enhance the infamous belle lure.

Dont tell my opponent!

I wouldnt hire anything you can summon save for maybe Night Terrors, due to them being very anti-Rasputina and anti-shooty, as well as being 3 point incorporeal hard to kill models. Those abilities all togehter just make me feel warm inside. I like Necropunks as scheme runners for her, since you can summon Onyro, Night Terrors, and Gaki off of them turn 1, then have them activate, heal, and start planting scheme markers for Phillip to eat or for the scheme in general. I should also mention hiring more Undead/Living models for Ikyro to pop out of. Phillip is my favorite for this, and for him to hold Take Back the Night. He provides so much card advantage and blocks alot of charge lanes for me. Belles/Nurses are also really strong as well with Kirai (And who arent they strong with?) I've yet to try Nurses, but Belles make positioning that much more advantageous for you, especially for setting up an Izamu alpha strike or getting models in range of The Hanged's Whispers of Beyond. By the way, you should summon as many of those bad boys as possible. You know what is mean? 3 hanged, Ikyro, and Izamu all threatening parts of the board! The Flesh Construct isnt a bad summoning battery and for newer players I recommend starting there since he can plant schemes and just stay near her as Ikyro bait and he heals slowly each turn, but has alot of health to accomodate summoning Shikome/Hanged off of. In my last game, Pandora paraylyzed one of my Night Terrors who had 1hp left. If he activated, he would have had to make a Def 13 duel I believe or die to her, so I had Kirai swirl him back to her in place of a Seishin, and then summoned The Hanged off of him, since he was as good as dead. Kirai is the most flexible of all of the Resser masters (with Tara/McM being probably a close second, but I've yet to field Tara). Her tricks should be ABUSED liberally IMO. And sacrificing dying models is incredibly fun. Or making your opponent waste AP removing Seishin, and healing them with Spirit beacon, to activate them, swing at the thing trying to kill them, then sacrifice themselves to heal the model with Spirit Beacon. Kirai to me a fair master. But she's a huge middle finger to the opponent, since she can just so easily adapt to anything and run most things well.

I've only faced Levi with Horror Molly, but Kirai is definitely an all around solid pick. McM, if he can get close, can make those Waifs into some flesh constructs if he's lucky. With Horror Molly I've relied on the Killjoy bomb to pressure Alyce and Libarians and usually have Sybelle and Molly deal with Ashes and Dust/Levi by getting in their face and waste their AP chasing her down/killing her Punk Zombies.

hahaha! I knew it was a lost game when he denied me the new Outflank strategy early, so I set up the Pandy kill by summoning three hanged and a few night terrors to keep him busy and harass him. Worth it! I think getting revenge on Pandy is good for any Resser, right? I've turned her into a Flesh Construct once, now a Gaki. Now I need to kill her with Seamus and raise her as a Rotten Belle to rub it in I think...

For Crooked men/Rogue Necro/Nicodem/Emissary blasts, what I do is flip, hope its 11+ a low card i have in hand, target my flesh construct near enemy models, and flip for my attack AGAINST the flesh construct. cheat in low for fleshie, cheat in 11+ to negate the hard to wound. with Def3Wp2, it isnt hard on Ca 5-6 on those attacks. On the straight flip, cheat in another high card. I do this on turns where i have two high cards and i dont want to expunge. With Nicodem I do it to heal my own models under the blast markers. It's janky and risky, but I love playing that way. example, Crooked men shooting the construct, 5 vs def 3. Cheat in 1 for construct (4) cheat in 10+ (15, beating by 11 so straight flip,hopefully of crows) for the Crooked Men. Spread poison!!!

It's been about a month since I've gotten a game in, my LGS has thursday night events, but usually im busy thursdays for whatever reason, and i prefer to practice amongst friends. One needed a break, one was busy, and one took off for about 2-3 weeks as well to the western half of the country for some relaxation, so I was pretty out of practice bringing Kirai to Guard the Stash vs Pandora. I havent played Pandy since my early days of the game when she was a horrible NPE (and we played Turf War, so she was even more difficult to deal with). We called it end of turn 4 since he had to leave, but he had it in the bag, with 9/10VP to my 7. But I did turn Pandora into a Gaki! Some Whispers from Beyond spam followed up by teleporting Kirai to Izamu and flipping red joker on the attack made me a new buddy! So now my list is as follows Mei Feng x1 Pandora x1

I like to put Take Back the Night on Phillip myself, but with Molly, you're good keeping it on her since Phillip wont be keeping up with how aggressive she *typically* wants to be played. So good call there. It's another great way to get extra cards, and with Molly, as you've seen you need all you can get Just remember that trigger! It's easy to forget. Sebastian's big draw for Molly would probably be for the anti-shoot aura for helping her survive, and like you said, eating the mindless zombies. While he could eat zombies, he would need to be so far upfield near her and the action. With how squishy he is, it's very risky imo. I personally, despite having not tested it, think it's not worth the soulstone cost for the hire like it might be for Nicodem/Kirai/McM/etc. I'm not sold on it yet, but he does have potential. Please let us know how it goes! Perhaps early turns can be anti-shooty aura, planting schemes for Phillip, etc. I just find for what I want to hire with Horror Molly, I dont have room for him. I mostly like taking Killjoy instead. Mindless zombies themselves are great for molly just sticking around and being Horrors near the Carrion Emissary. Also, if you like to count cards, Phillip's effectiveness increases dramatically. Wait until a point in turn 2 or so, when youve seen alot of low cards, then activate him and eat markers to hit those high cards.

In addition it's Seishin being murdered for the scheme and not your summoned/hired models. While denying VP is incredibly important in the game, so is resource management and risk aversion. If I can bait them into an easy VP to kill a Seishin with their Firestarter, then have Izamu charge and ruin it, he got a VP, but the opponent lost a very key model. (Or hell, example, one of their minions).

So I've yet to really use the emissary, despite having a well painted Avatar of Decay proxy. I notice many players using the generic upgrade, and I dont fault them for doing so! Giving Belles/Autopsies/Nurses a plus on attack flips is always a powerful advantage. But how have the master specific upgrades been working for all of you? I know for me, the Nicodem and Molly upgrades look the weakest on paper, as Nicodem's seems to make the Mindless fairly decent at holding models down via disengaging strikes, or just able to slowly chip away with attacks. Molly's requires proper LOS to give them black blood, which seems incredible, but enemies would probably rather just disengage. Funny enough, McMourning's upgrade looks the most fun to me, especially since the blasts apply poison to all affected models. The plus flips help out the autopsies, belles, and nurses, and while I dont know how competitive it is, it looks goofy as all get out!

The only box you'd probably want to buy with such a small budget is Seamus's box. Molly's box really wants Seamus's, Nicodem's, Students, etc to be effective. She wants Sybelle to move her around, tarpit, enable Belles Belles to be generally annoying and provide board control. she can also summon more punk zombies from nicodem as they are her best summon if you can get them at 2 wounds due to hard to kill. hard to kill is my favorite thing ever Students for having a swiss army knife. usually anti armor to deal with arcanists Valedictorian is a decent henchmen for molly that can run off on her own to accomplish schemes/harass snipers/help strip triggers.

Thanks community, I'm glad I wasnt missing anything

Haha of course! I just had to wonder just, why? Why even print it? Or somehow is there some future Leader who might find this marginally useful? lol. It's not even useful for the new GG2016 since the upgrade related scheme doesnt even count leader upgrades! hahahaha

Asylum Stone Restriction: Leader Cost 1ss -> When this model is targeted by an action, it can expend a SS to increase its Df or Wp for the remainder of the duel. 0-5 is +1, 6-10 is +2, 11-14 is +3. This cannot increase the value of the stat over 8. -> (0) This model may discard this upgrade to force a target model within LOS to make a TN12 Horror Duel Besides obvious janky gimmicky things like Yin's Gnawing Fears or Molly's Revelations to make the opposing model fail this horror duel... what is the point of this upgrade at all? Was there a use for it in a different meta? Is there some interaction I am missing with this upgrade? I ask you, the community, as I really wanna know what this can be used for! Thank you for your responses in advance.

Every game I use Seishin, some new way of using them, or some new light dawns on me to their usefulness. They're so simple, yet very complex and fun to utilize. Especially with Datsueba's upgrades to spam them out and recover ones that might otherwise die. I've fallen in love with them, as I have Kirai. Love the blog post man!

Yeah, it does, you said be the change I want to be. According to you, I have to be that change, I made those topics, but then you go and call it irrelevant. So how many topics do I need to create in this calendar year to be sufficient for you? 4? 10? So just admit you're just wanting to put me down for criticizing your topic. Suggestion: get back on topic rather than pulling your seniority and putting me down Apologies for not posting 100% what you want to hear about Anna, Belles, etc. I wasnt responding to your criticism of Anna, I was merely stating my thoughts on Anna. I havent had the chance to put her on the table, as my group is still slowly experimenting with the new masters out in plastic. I eagerly await it! Especially in the mirror match I'm sorry you dont find my input helpful.

...lol I actually have. And none of them are about belles Might wanna do some research yourself bud Back on topic. As others have stated, I'm sure Wyrd knows about the abuses that pushes, places, free walks, etc do to the game and the NPE some can experience from it. Anna seems to be this fix. Unlike Taelor (A supposed silver bullet to summoning), her pulse doesnt need to be activated, nor does she need to charge the target. Sure, Lure still has uses outside of that, but it's not a complete hoser!

But really, what's the point of it except by getting topic views/posts of people getting upset? OP asked for people's opinions on a hot button issue and is anyone really surprised it went off topic? I havent played the game long, but similar topics have come up in what seems like nearly once every 2-3 weeks. Is someone starting some plan to try to show there is controversy over Belles? I mean, you'll do what you've always done, adapted. There are other models with Lure, you use them or dont bother with Lure. Seamus gets hit hard. Done, that's it, you dont really need a ton of people fighting over semantics to tell you that. Gamin got a cuddle, and now we need to speculate week after week what will happen to Belles because they excel in one specific scenario. I just wish the forum had more to offer than complaints and worrying about Belles. Apologizes if this came off as an attack on you, or OP. It's not. It's just a dead horse.

There isnt, i tried making a makeshift drawing of it with the models near the top of the report. my friend has a picture of the terrain, i need to get that from him sometime

Thanks for the clarification on Corpse Bloat, it's the "You cannot use this if the model has less than 4 wounds remaining" that makes my brain just wanna say it's 4 wounds to use as well!

Thanks, didnt have my cards in front of me

I really look forward to using him with Horror Molly. He comes with Black Blood, and I think being up in the thick of it with the punk zombies is a great place for him to be, turning them into downright scary models with + to hit and damage. Or heck, with Spirit Molly! Seishin and Spirit Beacon combo well with him. Summon a Seishin with Datsue ba (Or Kirai, although I was mentioning Spirit Molly). Swing at it, declare mask trigger "after killing the target, gain vitality +1". So you damage the model, you get Vitality +1. It dies, you now have Vitality +2 off of the mask trigger. Discard a card to summon a new Seishin close to him. Repeat to have Vitality +4 turn 1. This can be used then for a massive turn 2 Reactivate/place. Right? Or am I off with this synergy? I'm greatly looking forward to Wave 3. Other than Sloth, I've yet to pick him up. He's very underwhelming compared to Anna/Harry/Marshall

I can definitely see this and it's why I really dont care for Rafkin. And probably why I suffered so often early on with McMourning trying to set up Expunges too hard. edit: I've had time to reflect on this. Looking at it as black or white is pretty rough. There will be situations and scenarios where Transfusion is a great pick. Sure, it can lead you into a trap with McMourning, but it definitely is a useful 0 action.

As others have pointed out, Izamu is mostly taken in crews where the master or another henchmen like Datsue ba can speed him up. It helps really take advantage of the 3psuedoAP he has. However, with my meta being pretty armor heavy among my friends, everyone is taking anti armor, even against my crews for the threat of Izamu. Hans typically two shots Izamu turns 1-2. Collodi can too by Prompting a Trapper. I've had it happen, even after cheating to save him. It's really rough! If I was in an unknown meta I would feel more happy about taking him, but him having only one defensive ability is the main reason I dislike him and Toshiro. Armor +2 and Hard to Wound +2 is pretty significant if your opponent cannot deal with it... or has the red joker still in their deck. It's why I like statlines like Valedictorian/Rogue Necro more. They not only need to pass the horror duel, but they need to deal with Impossible to Wound (they cant). Or with Valedictorian, Hard to Wound, Terrifying, AND Armor +1. It's very, very taxing for most models, especially lower ss models, to deal with. I dont want to pretend to act like this makes them tougher than Izamu, but it covers more bases and makes my opponents really think twice before committing to taking the model out. While you have to run support for Izamu, you also probably want to heal the rogue necro once it does start taking hits. I also have been hesitant to run RN as others have stated, it loses its effectiveness without some backup healing to keep it topped off once it gets some focus. It's a scary model. Sure, Dead Rider costs two more points, from turn 3 onward, you have the Melee Expert off of Dead Rider's first 0 action if needed. It's psuedo armor is also much, much better, and continues to get better as the game goes on. I just wish he was a spirit... I do think Izamu is overrated. Primarily due to Really desiring some movement help to get going Your opponent can ignore Armor and he's going down quickly But if they cant ignore armor, hey, he's great! But for me it's putting 10 points in one basket in my anti-armor meta. For now, I'm not running him and trying other beaters out (unless it is with Kirai or Yan Lo). edit: In fact, lets speak of him outside of Yan Lo and Kirai where he is optimal. One can take him and the Graveyard Spirit with Nicodem for example. I've not seen anyone take him with McMourning (obviously) or Tara. Spirit Molly is another one. She doesnt offer him much besides Adversary and requires doxies/belles to help him advance up the field. I mean, my main point is that I think he is incredibly overrated on forums and groups as some end all be all impossible to kill master beatstick. I may be using some hyperbole here, but that's my $0.02