Cadaverousbirth

40 minutes ago, Pyrflamme said:

I think Armor +2 would help Von Schill's survival noticeably. it also sets him aside from the rank and file with their Armor +1, and there's enough Armor hate out there that it wouldn't be too out of control.

If you want to ask where the extra +1 appears from...well, it's all about the 'stache.

 

You can easily point to the new fluff for a perfect justification. A finely groomed mustache is always a welcome addition of course. 

I think that's a big thing about perspective on model's strengths. Death Marshalls are Good but not Great. Austringers went from Amazeballs to Great. 

Roosters went from OMGWOW to Great. Belles went from OPcrazysmackaroons to Great. That works out pretty good to me. 

You're welcome  

If you get McCabe, Thralls, and Hounds you should be pretty set for a while. Enough to scratch that Guild itch without needing to go too crazy, and also opening the door to your next 10 Thunder collection!

Dropping Flames of the Put to zero would be pretty neat. It's nice as-is but no one ever takes it because it's so expensive.

@JDAntoine have you not played many games with Mark for Death in the pool? Marking something early and then boxing it several times is both hilarious and exceptionally good. Fingers crossed that something similar stays in GG17.

55 minutes ago, JDAntoine said:

Absolutely, in general I think the Guild Marshals have been pushed a bit back indirectly by this. It's very logical that they gained the Void characteristic but I do think the game would have been even cooler if they also recieved just the slightest of boost.

How would you boost them? I think the Recruiters do that well enough when they're included. Boxing an enemy is still a very good ability, likely the reason they stayed the same.

Lucius is going to love pushing them and then boxing somebody out of activation

2 hours ago, Kadeton said:

The design team.

Personally I don't think the change will have a significant impact on the actual effectiveness of Belles in play. It will, however, have a huge effect on the perception of Belles' power. People look at Ca 8 on a 5ss model and lose their minds, but apparently Ca 7 is fine?

I think the change to Belles is fine, I'm just a bit disappointed that the range of stat values seems to get narrower over time. It sometimes feels like if any stat is more than 7 or less than 5, that's enough reason for some to dismiss the entire model as "OP" or "worthless".

They were overpowered for their cost, I know this argument is ten men beating a dead horse into a fine mist but it is true, and it has finally been addressed with a deft hand. Dropping their cast from HUGECRAPOHGOD levels to "Great" is a big deal, and lowering their wounds by one helps keep them in line more with what they're worth. Belles have one job and they do it well, but now there's a bigger model pool to resist it other than Hannah, El Mayor'd Perdita and Counterspell models.

This stops them being a huge outlier. They still have the strongest Lure in the game, but instead of them being 1st and everyone else starting at 4th, 5th, or 10th (Oiran), now it's more like 1, 2, 3, 4, 10

I don't think this breaks the "cannot take your Attack actions against yourself" rule. Better rules lawyers will have to chime for preciseness but I think if you get the trigger it will just have no affect. The trigger would still technically go off but since you can't make attack actions against yourself nothing would happen.

If the trigger said "must" then that could be the case, but then you wouldn't declare the trigger anyway making it a mute point.

Not a huge deal but I'd like to point out that Lady Justice's no-condition ability is a pulse so "Protected by Francisco" won't be removed from her but can be from any other models within that distance. Something to watch out for if you El Mayor another model

I just bought Colette, mainly for a Performer for Nellie, but there she is. I wasn't planning on playing her for a while just because of what I've heard about the three Prompt turns which sounded cheesy and boring. Now with this change it draws more of my attention because of her other abilities being able to carry more weight over a game versus just the one being constantly used. Like the Levi cuddle, this actually makes me want to play another strong - without being ridiculous - master. Yay!

Just now, trikk said:

And then Paralyze happens ;(

Stalkers say no!  That's a lot of eggs for one basket but that basket has the highest Ml damage in the game so.....

21 minutes ago, Gnomezilla said:

Guild power reductions gentle and necessary. I'm happy with them.

Why in the world did guardians get buffed? They did need just that amount of help, but...Curious.

Dat Guardian buff  I'll have to bring my double Guardian list out again. The min 1 damage on the sword was a real let down, now that they can do more damage at less cost makes them acceptable as far as I can see. I bet the buff was to get them on the table more often, since Franc's El Mayor is better than ++Df. Now I'm imagining a Lady J tank build with Franc, Guardian, and Recruiter making sure she doesn't go down. *sword swishing sounds*

Now I'm going to have to buy Lucius now, too. His buffs and the Austringer cuddle looks like a great balance. Austringers will take a step back in the "always take 2 always" category to the "maybe one most of the time" which is great for list variety. Franc's cuddle is small but warranted, I like it. Having just traded my Sonnia crew for Raspi I can't help but feel bad for my friend who now has to work around the Papa cuddle. Oops 

No more Nothing Beast in Enforcer Brawl! Welcome to the Henchman Hardcore crowd you tentacly gentleman. 

Belle cuddle has been a loooooooooong time coming, and it is small enough to now make them good for their cost instead of insta-broken cheap. Now if only Oiran get a buff in 2017 

@trikk and @4thstringer these are the two builds I've been using with Nellie too. Guild Nellie and Merc Nellie offer a lot of flexibility between them. 

I disagree with Brutal needing a Conflux, at least with Nellie, you should try Debt on him and go to town. Burying an Austringers and having a +1 damage on the bird attack is pretty...brutal. He's not necessary but fun. 

For the OP's available masters Sonnia definitely benefits the most from Brutal's Burning attack. It doesn't need LoS and can catch people off guard. "One Burning? Ok you can have it." "Now Sonnia will activate..." Also burying Papa Loco for two turns and then launching him at an enemy scheme marker to explode is nice. They shouldn't have much of a crew left after turn 3. 

Wow. Now I'm interested in getting a Lazarus too haha

2 hours ago, Clockwork_Fish said:

Yeah, I've played maybe six or seven games with her so far, and nobody takes a shot at her.  I don't know why, maybe they think I've stacked my hand with four aces or something?  She's not that intimidating.

It's probably the fast Peacekeeper, Francisco, and Phiona barreling down their throats 

I'm four games in with her and I have yet to use this, like trikk, which is sad because it could really annoy someone good  So far everyone's just ignored her and gone after the beaters.

Generally the first turn or two she's safe and can ditch the crap cards for activations, then later when she's in the thick of things they become weak damage, stone'd off of course.  

"There is no such thing as a bad card in a Nellie hand." - One of the commenters on the Schemes & Stones episode about Nellie, sorry I can't remember your name

Misaki likes having the Last Blossom Jorogumo for Smoke & Shadows shenanigans. They are also scary beaters that can take some of the heat off of her and hunt the small fish that Misaki shouldn't waste her time killing. Ohaguro Bettari is also nice as an extra threat that can come at the opponent from unexpected points, such as from behind a building. If you get the Shadow Emissary at some point both of these ladies will like its confluxes (generic & Thunder) and its a great model on its own. Special mention that Ama No Zako is also an Oni that can follow Misaki into Outcasts.

McCabe also loves Jorogumo for amazing Nimble/Reactivate targets. He will also lead you into the Guild which I wholeheartedly endorse but may not be for you  

Mei Fang likes the Obsidian Oni to drop scrap markers at range and they are also very solid for their points, but aren't constructs so no rail walking points. The Mechanical Porkchop is still probably a better hire for her.

Tengu are great scheme runners so can be good with anyone without assistance. The Yokai can fill a similar role and can hit harder too, but are that one more stone expensive to hire.

Shenlong is not necessary to help shore up Asami, but he is very good as I hope your fellow community member can attest. Sensei Yu doesn't do anything particularly unique with Asami so I'd say its safe to leave that box out. I'd say overall to get Misaki and eventually the Emissary. That way you have a summoning/movement master and a killy master that can utilize the Oni well.

25 minutes ago, JDAntoine said:

Being strapped to your own creation's arm just looks very odd to me. I'm sure there is a piece of lore that says it's done this way but to me it doesn't make a ton of sence visually. If your capable of creating pretty much everything out of metal it's unlikely that you'll use leather bands as the last resource for your creation. The mixed media makes sence for me on Ryle as Charles wants him to remain as human as possible but otherwise I think Hoffman would prefer design that shows off his skills.

There is a lore explanation for that. In Hoff's fluff piece about becoming his Avatar he was hit by the abundant ambient magical energy and transformed into the big stompy bot by amalgamating (see what I did?) a bunch of railroad steel and broken machinery while fighting some other big, mechanical monstrosity. He has an introspective moment of seeing his unconscious body lying on the ground and needs to protect his "useless self" from harm, thus the baby hold. Hoffman's spirit/magic created the avatar spontaneously, he didn't work on it in a shop or anything so he used whatever was around at the time. I believe this was in Twisting Fates? Not 100% sure on that one.  

Nightmare Hoffman box with Hoff in a better looking Hannah-type suit would be pretty cool too.

I see a Nellie and Perdita vs. Lynch and Mei dance off in February...

Yes! This is amazing news. I'm on the fence for the KS because of funds (the mind is willing but the wallet is spungy and bruised) so hearing that I can get to assemble the same stuff later on is a huge boon. 

Solkan has it. When have you ever even played a game and not said very loudly, "Prepare to get the Guild all up in ya!" Or some other fashion. 

12 minutes ago, Frozen Feet said:

Oh no... its target an ENEMY...

Yeah, it's too bad that doesn't work. Franc is still the best with Hermanos. Judge is second but he also needs a TN so he could fail. 

Full crew box is a great limitation and excuse to use more models than you normally would. Kaeris box is a great example, as are Lady J's , Shenlong's and Marcus' boxes. Just be careful about that pick though, Lynch, Ramos, and Sonnia will still ruin someone's day. Don't be a jerk, indeed.

15 hours ago, trikk said:

 I think Handlers, Exorcists, Proxy, Scales, Hopkins and the Sergeants and a few other models are in need of buffs before him.

I want to expand on this because I mostly agree.

Handlers - over-costed. Make them 7ss and now they're in the same slot as the new Death Marshall Recruiter as a specific buffer (witch hunters vs. marshalls) instead of the Francisco spot, ugh.

Exorcists - they're niche, really niche. They shine in their specific role but are lackluster everywhere else. Meh, they're fine but fall into the trap of countering your opponent without knowing what they'll bring, potentially making your strategy mute if the opponent doesn't match up with your counter. I dunno.

Governor's Proxy - complete re-write. Right now he's garbage and competes with the immensely better Brutal Effigy. Its gimmick is dumb and when your one unique thing is bad and countered easily, you belong in the trash. Maybe give him an easy heal?

Scales - another gimmick that doesn't live up to expectations. I'd prefer a powerful 2 action, once per game if your opponent has more cards than you, both players discard their hands. That would make him worth taking for the gimmick, and gives Lady J the advantage when your hand is terrible.

Sergeants - one of the models that needs to be a point less expensive or a little better stats, like was discussed earlier. Right now they follow Dashel as being under-par for their cost. I'm hoping Mounted Guard and Allison Dade will make them more worth taking, but that remains to be seen.

The goal wouldn't be to make these models OP deathmachines or anything, but balance them to par with similar models for their cost trying to do the same thing.

BONUS BEATING A DEAD HORSE:

Lucius - All he needs is in-built suites or lowering of his TNs to not be so card draining. No other master needs so much resources to do the minimum on their base card. Thralls, his Conflux, and the Terracotta Warriors help a little but they feel like several small bandages trying to fix a broken leg.

23 minutes ago, Freman said:

Mounted Freikorpsmen.

I would buy a horse wearing a Freikorps suit.