Four_N_Six

When I did that tournament with Brewmaster the only model that came consistently was Fingers because he's a great scheme runner and I love his heal. I only brought Wesley in one game. And I know Liquid Bravery is a thing. My point is just that the scheme pool isn't always the only factor when choosing a master and crew.

It's really hard to make this call. In general, people consider my drinking buddy one of the weakest, but I just took 2nd place a couple of weeks ago in a tournament using literally only Brewmaster. That's not because the schemes fell perfectly into place for me or because my opponent completely screwed up. Matches were against Titania, Hoffman, and Sandeep. With so many variables, I don't know that I like questioning a master's power in the game. Mostly because a game doesn't hinge on a master. The master just adds their tricks to it, but you have 50 soulstones worth of models backing the master up and working independently of it. You can tell me all day that my master can't do the scheme pool, but if I have the First Mate or Fingers running schemes and getting me 6 points, then it doesn't matter much what master I bring along with them. It plays a factor, of course, but if I have a crew designed that can score me points, the master shouldn't effect it much. Those are the games when Mah Tucket comes out. If it's a scheme/strategy pool that my crew can handle alone, I can let Mah just mess with my opponent. Or Brewmaster Swill. Or Zipp displace enemy positioning. There are masters that can be considered better, but I like to think that a lot of it is just them not getting enough action. People have masters they "prefer" to use, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Master A is 100% of the time better for the particular scheme pool than Master B is. You might have an easier time, and make different crew selections, but A and B should both be able to handle it just fine. Then, you also have to look at opposing faction as a factor. A lot of people will consider Som'er to be a great choice for a huge selection of scheme pools. However, if you're going against Ressers or Neverborn and having to worry about a lot of horror duels, then I'm not sure an army of Bayou Gremlins are the best option.

He added it to his release schedule. I think it's the 3rd one out? 10T Brewmaster is the next master. So thank you for doing the service for us. We're going to critique the Hell out of you.

I always forget Zoraida, unfortunately. I bought her while I was playing Neverborn, and haven't made the leap to even try her as a Gremlin yet. She's on the list. When I go back to my green guys, I'm focusing on the masters I neglected last time.

You're looking at trouble selecting a gremlin, but I think certain masters have a good advantage over her. Som'er might do alright. Her attacks against willpower will hurt a bayou gremlin, but when you're throwing 3 a turn at her, the best she can do is just take them down. Then you summon 3 more and throw them at her, and just eat her AP. Obviously it isn't a perfect world and she'll find a way out, but it's potential. Hell, just throw stuffed piglets at her and shoot them with Som'er and blast her. Wong would be my secondary choice over Zipp. Give him Gremlin's Luck and throw those expendable Stuffed Piglets at her. Randomize to hit them, and she's screwed. Can't test to resist the blast so she can't push away, and she'll be potentially taking the pulse damage, too. That's (ideally) a minimum of 6 damage (3 from the , 2 from the , 1 stuffed damage). I hesitate to suggest a Mah Tucket crew, though she's one of my favorites. She has triggers to force pushes on melee attacks, which means she can keep engaged with Pandora. Her crew (Bushwackers) also have an above average stat line for Gremlins, which is the main reason I would suggest them. I'm not a big fan of Ophelia or Ulix, but they do have the damage potential to eat through her before she can do much. Burn a couple of stones with Ophelia for Thinkin' Luck and Pandora should only last a couple of shots.

There are general masters that are better in the situation, but Marcus isn't a guarantee either way. Depends on the player. When I had just started the game, a local guy offered to play me while I used Pandora. He used Tara. Should have been a slam dunk for Pandora, but it wasn't. If I could choose a single master, knowing I was up against Pandora, it would be Zipp. Nothing she can do about him coming at her.

I use Teddy and Kade a lot. The only problem is, if somebody wants Teddy dead, then Teddy is dead. Df 3 isn't going to help you, his only chance is at survival is his Terrifying test, which isn't hard to get through. I always use Poltergeist with Pandora, if I use a totem. He does very well as long as you know how to keep it alive, and it's about the best way to keep Teddy alive, unless you throw an Insidious Madness in with him instead. Either way it's 5 stones. I like the Autumn Knights because of their . Pass a test when you activate engaged with them or get slow. So in a Pandora crew, it's slow and Misery damage. I pretty much stick to Thorn and Tooth. Thorn's curse is better, I feel, and she has a long engagement range to get that working out best for you. Tooth's curse is good for putting out some extra damage, as long as it survives the enemy's free attack.

I'd probably do Dreamer, Pandora, and Lilith. Pandora is a pain in everybody's ass, really. Other than specific masters. I don't think Zipp particularly cares about her either way. But her crew is relatively effective against most opponents, which gives her a wide range of usefulness. Dreamer being able to summon (though I don't play him that way) means he can be effective in nearly any scheme pool you want him in. With how Eliminate the Leadership works, I'd probably steer clear of using him there, but otherwise go for it. I typically use similar crews for Pandora and Dreamer as well, so you shouldn't need a bunch of models from opposite ends of the spectrum. Lilith, the way I play her, is an independent pain in the ass from the rest of her crew. Which means you can do the same thing I said for the other two masters, just getting the models they would use, and let Lilith do her own thing. People like running Nephilim crews with her but I don't particularly see the point. She doesn't really have any synergy with anybody. She doesn't do things that target black blood, or improve the usefulness of terror tots. Her card and upgrades all focus on just her, so that's how I play her. Alternatively, you could pick up Titania instead of either Dreamer or Lilith. I'd probably replace Dreamer in this situation, just because Lilith is a better beater than he is if you need a good "killy" master. Though replacing Lilith with Titania isn't a bad idea either. She gets a lot of mileage out of crews Pandora would love to run, so that's a plus. Her Autumn Knights are good in a Pandora crew as well. I haven't tried it yet, but I was considering using all three Autumn Knights with Collodi. Seems like a half decent idea.

I always thought a second round of totems would be cool. Maybe just faction specific, to keep it simple at least.

I think they're at the appropriate cost. The issue isn't necessarily the model, or what they do. It's that as a faction, we have a lot of good models in the lower cost range that people are used to which perform a function very similar to what survivors would do. Some models bring more. A good comparison is Lightning Bugs. Same cost, similar roles. But the bugs have some potential healing and scheme running, plus a (0) action that can turn things at the end of a turn for the better, whereas Survivors have hard to kill. I know it isn't true of everybody, but I've noticed that people are a little hesitant to try a new model if it's replacing something they've been running for a long time. If it's similar enough, then in order to justify replacing an old model it has to do something better. Otherwise I'm better off sticking with the old model that I already know how to run.

It doesn't have to be 100% the same throughout the faction. Sammy is Kin and she has 2 card. I just think it would be nice to get some in-game mechanics built around the different families. Things they have in common that make them work together. A lot of undead have Hard to Wound. Woes typically attack willpower. Guild are boring. They all have their "thing." I didn't say it was a perfect, but I'd like it to be shown more in the game.

I think Mah is mostly fine as she is. Two of her Chores could be adjusted to be more useful most of the time (as it stands right now, 90% of the time I want a and could care less about the other options). I don't like giving Lass Bayou 2 Card. I see Gremlins as a faction of families. The Jones, the Kin, the Tuckets, and a dozen others from our TtB book. Each of those families should have their own trick. 2 Card is a Jones trick. The Tuckets have "Get Off My Land" and an above average stat line for gremlins.

I only have experience with the two, so I guess I just lucked out choosing the factions with the good generic totem.

How about like Tara's ability? "Must discard two cards or their whole hand."

I guess I can understand the slight confusion or the argument, but since it says "must discard" then I would make them discard the 1 if it's all they had. I'd consider it a petty stretch of the rules and wording if I was playing an opponent and claimed they didn't have to discard anything because they didn't have 2 to discard.

Do Over, Barrel Up, all that good stuff. There was an upgrade deck with just the Wave 4 stuff in it. So if you have any friends that play other factions, you can go in on it together and get everything for both of you. That's what my friends and I did. I've gone broke on this game enough, and before I know it, Gencon and a new book will be here. Presumably.

First, I take offense about the Poltergeist. I bring him all the time. Barbaros nearby with Challenge going and a poltergeist putting you at negative flips? You'll never hit the Poltergeist and it makes Pandora's attacks extremely dangerous. Hell, throw it near Teddy and all of a sudden the model that's easy to kill isn't so easy to kill. A TN 13 Horror Duel is pretty horrifying when you can't cheat it. Even a good WP model needs a 6 to get that off. Definitely not impossible, but it'll make them think twice, that's for sure. Secondly, I think this is an issue with most factions. Looking at Gremlins, I bring Old Cranky with most of my masters. Som'er, Ophelia (whom I don't play), and Zipp are the only real exceptions (Zoraida having already been mentioned here). There are some hard "Cranky" masters. Those (for me) being Wong, Ulix, and Mah Tucket. I will admit that the Little Lass hasn't gotten a lot of testing out, but when I see a master that does a good amount of killing, I'd rather Old Cranky be nearby to give me soulstones back. Even Brewmaster, who's totem gives you a 1-Up Mushroom, I've had varying success with Old Cranky. I used Cranky in 2/3 games this past weekend and ended up doing much better in the tournament than I usually do. I suppose it just goes according to how good the faction generic totem is. Personally, I think it would be cool if the next book had new totems in it. Either a new one for each master and give some flexibility there, or just one new generic totem per faction. Go along a little with the new masters we just received last year. As for Neverborn, it's all situational. I suppose in a game like Turf War or Guard the Stash, the Gorar wouldn't be an awful choice for Titania. The extra card from PM is nice, but does she REALLY need that last minute scheme marker? Jacob Lynch will always take his totem, as will Zoraida. Though I've had a little success with Mama Z using the PM for a couple of rounds just for that quick scheme marker point and then summoning in the Doll later. I've only got one game in with Colodi, but I'm sure his totem will always be there for him. The only master I always take PM with is Lilith, to be perfectly honest. That's mostly for the double down on Rush of Magic.

Tournament was today. I think there were ten of us? I didn't get an official head count. However, I ran only Brewmaster with the lists I posted above (except a small change on the second game), and I ended up taking second place. Games went to turn 4, turn 4, and turn 3. First match ended up as a 9-9 tie against Titania. My list against Titania, Nekima, Dopplegangar, Thorn, Tooth, Mysterious Effigy, and an Insidious Madness (I think that's the whole thing). He successfully got all 3 from claim jump, which ended up being the down to the wire thing I was trying to stop. Had Fingers successfully disengaged on turn 4, he would have flipped a scheme marker and denied a point. Brewmaster locked down Nekima and Titania pretty effectively, and with Mancha getting challenge up, it kept my slop hauler alive a lot longer than it should have been considering he did Dig Their Graves. Second game I ended up 7-3 victory. It was completely blind luck that I ended up removing the Iron Skeeter from my crew and adding in Sparks to help boost the Whiskey Golem, because my opponent brought Hoffman and Sparks basically shut that crap down turns 2, 3, and most of 4 before he died. My plan for Guard the Stash was to have the Whiskey Golem (fast) hold one stash marker on his own. With Barrel Up attached and Fingers nearby with Drinking "Problem," the idea was to get two attacks and use the fast AP to get his +2 Df to keep him alive, and heal 2/4/6 every time he attacked. Unfortunately, Joss got severely lucky and Red Jokered the damage against Whiskey Golem, which there was no defending or healing back. Brewmaster locked down a Peacekeeper, Guardian, and Hoffman a good portion of the game. He kept Swill +1 on Johan until turn 4, basically removing his chance of getting conditions off the rest of the crew. I was also very lucky that my opponent took Last Stand and then instantly killed the only offensive damage model I brought, effectively guaranteeing he'd never get a single point from that scheme. Fingers stopped him from getting Claim Jump by just flipping scheme markers he put down, and the First Mate croaked Joss off of the second Stash marker to deny points. First Mate was supposed to get me Leave Your Mark, but he had to replace Whiskey Golem, so I ended up only getting 1 point from LYM the entire game. Brewmaster held the other marker on his own. I let him die after I activated him on turn 4 so Wesley became the new Brewmaster, giving me a couple extra AP and Hangover casts, which probably got me the extra points. Third game was a 6-3 victory against Sandeep. I played pretty aggresively. Unfortunately, Brewmaster didn't get a whole lot done that game in terms of Swill, but my crew was able to get the job done on their own enough. Sandeep only ended up summoning a couple of gamin the whole game, which were eaten alive by gators and Burt Jebsen to score my Hunting Party points. Sandeed was accused a couple of times for extra points there, and I kept Brewmaster on my side of the board for Reconnoiter. Francois held my back-right table quarter for 2 turns, and the melee brawl was mostly in my back-left table quarter. The brawl was close enough to the center of the board that none of those models counted toward the scheme, so I tossed the Whiskey Golem and Burt up the left side of the board into my front-left table quarter and they ended up holding that the first couple of turns. That game only went to turn 3, though. At the end of turn 3, Burt had to go Reckless and haul ass across the board to get into my front-right table quarter after Francois died. He didn't score me the quarter, but I held two other quarters and he ended up tying my opponent's model count and essentially blocking him from scoring it. All in all I had a ton of fun, which was the overall goal of playing Brewmaster this tournament and then somehow ended up doing better than I do when I select my crews in an attempt to win. So that's a super win as far as I'm concerned. Made a few mistakes here or there, but obviously nothing too bad. Next tournament? All Mah Tucket.

I enjoy my time with Reva, but I've had more success with Zipp in most of the games I've played.

Oh yes, I have plenty of experience with Brewmaster in. Not much in tournaments, so I've been trying to test out his effectiveness. I'm determined to play him successfully in a tournament, but really I just want to have fun this time around. I get stressed out when I'm trying to win, so I just wanted to play a master I really like and just enjoy myself. Especially if my opponent has never fought Brewmaster before. It's fun to watch people squirm and try to figure a way out of the contest (there isn't one). The most success I've had is from locking down a master drinking and potentially one other model, sometimes two depending on who I'm fighting and how well they're dodging the contest. I use fingers for healing and scheme running as much as I can. He's such a pain in the ass to lock down.

I might just be interpreting how you have the list set up incorrectly, but you have "Treasure Map (First Mate)..." Which makes it seem like Treasure Map is a First Mate upgrade, but it isn't. It's an upgrade for any Sky Pirate. Also, I don't remember the name of the ability, but First Mate has a built in ability that does essentially the same thing as Treasure Map (just without the benefit based on the suit). So having Treasure Map on First Mate essentially allows you to double dip from one scheme marker.

Alright, I think I have my stuff figured out enough to at least have fun with a chance of victory. Round 1 I'm looking to do Show of Force and Search the Ruins. Brewmaster (Stilts) Old Cranky Mancha Roja (Dirty Cheater) Fingers (Drinking "Problem") Merris LaCroix Burt Jebsen (Dirty Cheater) 2 Stuffed Piglets Slop Hauler Since round 1 is the main round where I'll be mostly bunched up, I figure a Slop Hauler tossed in would help a little. Merris shouldn't have a problem solo'ing Ruins as long as I don't over extend her too early, with Fingers helping if necessary and flipping enemy scheme markers to deny them Ruins or Dig Their Graves. Round 2 will be Leave Your Mark and Claim Jump Brewmaster Fingers (Drinking "Problem") First Mate (Treasure Map, Where the Captain Can't See) Iron Skeeter (Hovering Airship) Whiskey Golem (0 cost upgrade) Wesley Sammy LaCroix With his upgrade, Whiskey might have a good shot at holding a marker on his own. I'm also considering dropping out that Iron Skeeter for Sparks, which would allow Whiskey to get a couple of attacks in a turn plus get his defense up to 7. First Mate and Fingers run my schemes, and First Mate definitely shouldn't have a hard time denying my opponent, since round 2 is scheme marker heavy. Round 3. Accusation and Hunting Party Brewmaster Old Cranky McTavish Francois (Stilts) Burt Jebsen (Dirty Cheater) Whiskey Golem (0 cost upgrade) 2 Bayou Gator I'm taking the advice of my associate Math here and going aggressive after the leader if it's a summoner, and the crew if it isn't. Bayou Gators should do fairly well with melee expert if Brewmaster hangs back and swills priority targets. Just a quick thought on each round. Things will probably have to switch around depending on the opponent's declared faction, but more or less this is what I'm looking at. Any replacement suggestions are welcome, I'm sure I didn't think of everything.

I like the idea of being aggressive with him. I haven't used Francois in many moons, so I think that's the idea for that one. Maybe bring an elite kill heavy list and just have Brewmaster Swill from a distance while my beaters pick the crew clean. Or attempt to, anyway.

Okay brain trust, tournament is this Sunday and Brewmaster is coming to the entire thing. Schemes and Strats went up today. I have an idea of each round, but figured I'd throw myself to the wolves and see what everybody else thought. Apparently I got a on these games, because by pure Dumb Luck, it seems like I'll have a good shot at the first two games. Game 3 is a different story. Schemes n Strats: Round 1: Extraction with Standard Deploy Schemes: Claim Jump, Dig Their Graves, Frame for Murder, Show of Force, and Search the Ruins Round 2: Guard the Stash with Flank Deploy Schemes: Claim Jump, Leave Your Mark, Eliminate the Leadership, Hidden Trap, and Last Stand Round 3: Reconnoiter with Close Deploy Schemes: Claim Jump, Accusation, Dig Their Graves, Hunting Party, and Set Up Round 1 I'm looking at Frame for Murder on a priority target. Wesley is usually a good option, and have Burt Jebsen in crew to pass attacks onto Wesley when they come from a Master or Henchman. Possibly just toss it onto a different model, but I am typically a fan of FFM. I could go hard and just put it on Whiskey and slingshot it at the master. Obvious yes, but they can deal with the attacks if they don't want to kill it. Probably Show of Force along with it, since Whiskey will have his upgrade and Fingers will probably have on Drinking "Problem" at least. Not a bad bet for Extraction anyways, I'll just have to worry about the opponent also doing it. Round 2 I don't like the schemes on, so I'll probably do Leave Your Mark and let the First Mate out to play with it. He's also very good at doing Claim Jump on his own as I've seen in the past, so that's a possibility as well, and maybe have some cheaper models go for LYM. I'm considering bringing Mancha for this one instead of Whiskey and see if Brewmaster can paralyze the leader with Hold Their Hair Back, and let Mancha just outright kill the leader. Long shot on that one, so I'll probably go with the first two I mentioned. Round 3 is obviously going to be an issue do to having to spread out for Recon, but Accusation shouldn't be hard at all, and I can fall back on Claim Jump if I don't come up with a better idea.

I hate to use models everybody loves. They get enough play time without me contributing to it and I much prefer to find better options. That being said, McTavish is probably a decent choice. He can eat corpse markers on a (0), to help reduce the usefulness. I'd definitely choose a more tanky crew. Ulix isn't a bad choice. The master options, and one I'd probably go with, is either Wong, Zipp, or Brewmaster. With Wong, you're going to be trying to blow her off the table first. She brings much better range, he brings much better damage. Plus if you use Swinecursed and a good Glowy target (There's McTavish again), it brings a good few tanky models that regenerate and do more damage than they typically should, trying to clear her crew before she clears yours. If McTavish is the magical target, it also means he's doing that additional damage from range, so as to stay out of Reva's range by just killing and staying away from corpse markers. Anything gets killed too close, he can eat the marker before she can use it against him. The Brewmaster might not be the popular choice, but it's probably the one I'd go with. With a Brewmaster crew, you're not really trying to kill models. You might have some hires with the capability to kill well, and I generally have one or two that can, but the overall point of the crew is to shut models down without killing them, so you're reducing her usefulness. Or, at least, not contributing to it. I'd also play around with the idea of Sparks and the Whiskey Golem, as they reduce the corpses she receives. Third option is my go-to for any option because he's just amazing, Zipp. He runs a construct heavy crew if he wants to, so no corpses for Reva at all, Sparks can help add to that, and Zipp is fast enough to get right the Hell in her face before she knows he's coming. He won't have the advantage on the Ml attack, but if he can hit it, he can try to get her out of LoS for corpses and endangering the crew. I'd still probably go Brewmaster on this one, but Zipp is a close second choice. Unless he can get good use out of Wong. All 3 will typically work well enough, it's just that Wong needs to really do that damage before she can so the corpses are on her side of the board before his crew gets killed.