Jinn

I just don't hire the Showgirls. A typical Colette list for me might include: Colette + Doves Carlos/Cassandra (8SS) Coryphee Duet (12SS) Mechanical Rider (11SS) (maybe with Diesel Engine, +2SS) Angelica (7SS) Soulstone Miner w/ Magical Training (8SS) I haven't taken this exact list before but I think it should actually be pretty solid even with a 2SS cache. The SS miner can generate stones and Colette can use the doves, so you have less reliance on a cache. In my last game with Colette (vs Viks) I ran almost this exact list, but with a Steam Arachnid instead of the Soulstone Miner. It died at the start of turn 2 in my deployment zone (Flank + Corrupted Idols), so I wouldn't recommend it. You could easily swap out the Soulstone Miner for a Mannequin as well if you wanted some backup healing for the living models. This list is decently tanky (without relying on distracted + manipulative, which fails versus stones and is clunky to use as a defence) so long as you don't send the Rider into a big combat on turn 1 or 2. There are still plenty of crews who can threaten you but much less than if you rely on Showgirls/Ice Dancers.

"If the Strategy Marker would be Dropped on top of a Strategy Marker, Impassable Terrain, or a model, the player with Initiative instead Drops the Strategy Marker evenly on the centerline, touching but not overlapping that Strategy Marker, Impassable Terrain, or model. If this is not possible, the Strategy Marker is not Dropped." The way I had understood this strategy is that if you fail to drop it the first time then you drop it next to whatever blocked it. If you fail to drop it again then the exact same wording kicks in and you must drop it adjacent to whatever blocked it and so on. Maybe yours is the correct ruling however and it is possible to block an Idol without filling the centreline. The amount of terrain you would need makes it very difficult to do with destructible terrain though. You would need to get two terrain markers on the edge and another three markers 8" up on one side and then not have them be removed by the numerous models on that side. I expect this would cost more AP to set up than it would take my opponent to remove. You're right, I misremembered slightly. Aionus walked up once to be on the centreline and then used his unbury twice to drop an unactivated Nothing Beast and Void Hunter. Herald had put Aionus 6" up the board in concealing and my opponent had soulstones to prevent whatever damage I could get up to Aionus. I never said Aionus was on top of my crew either. All of the tying up of my crew Aionus did was done by being within LoS to fast models, which included the Ice Golem which my opponent unburied behind Aionus using Sever Timeline. Again though, outside of defending how I played this game this is kind of irrelevant. Aionus acted as a taxi and as a more annoying version of Mood Swings this game and in any strategy other than Corrupted Idols I wouldn't have a problem with him. It is literally only due to his pass token generation in only Corrupted Idols that I think this one trigger on one of his actions is unbalanced.

The reason I didn't try to activate the Golem is because that line of play would (almost) never have allowed me to threaten Aionus if my opponent didn't want it to. The only outcome which would be unfavourable to my opponent would be if the Ice Golem got through all of those enemy activations alive and unburied (just two Void Wretches are probably going to do around ~3 damage and cause ~3 TN14 Wp duels, and that's a small fraction of my opponent's crew), and it would have been exceedingly unfavourable for her if Aionus was still engaging the Ice Golem. Trying to activate the Ice Golem (and thereby passing) was quite unlikely to achieve that outcome, so I didn't do it. I would have had to allow Tara to activate literally her entire crew in a row and all she would have to do with those activations to make me gain almost nothing from giving her free rein is kill or bury the Golem OR Aionus. Instead I tried to threaten Aionus with other models and tried to kill the Nothing Beast before it could be buried (quite hard to do). I also don't quite understand why you think it would cost Tara effectively two pass tokens. Maybe my local scene is an anomaly, but we usually don't pass activations when our important models are engaged and threatening each other, that is the exact point where we choose save them for initiative. This argument about the Ice Golem and the Buffering ability is kind of irrelevant though. I don't know for sure what the best line of play is there and I don't particularly care from a balance perspective. There are plenty of models that are more capable than Aionus when it comes to tying up and annoying the enemy crew. My problem with Aionus is only the advantage he gives to the Corrupted Idols strategy. I doubt he will even need to be errataed as long as whatever Gaining Grounds equivalent comes out doesn't make one player near guaranteed winning initiative on every turn except the first into a disproportionate advantage in one of the Strats.

The issue is that if I choose to go that route there is absolutely nothing stopping the Tara player from either causing a bunch of TN14 Wp duels and chip damage with Void Wretches or just burying Aionus to save him. Or from just doing both if the buries don't work out or something else happens. I can't just pass 2-4 activations in a row on turn two when the Nothing Beast and a Void Hunter are in the middle of my crew, and if I did I wouldn't even get anything out of it as long as my opponent remembers to save two pass tokens and a high card. The whole problem with the activations is further aggravated by Tara getting a free activation every turn that doesn't give her opponent a pass token. In this game my opponents plan was to just kill the Ice Golem before I got to activate it by using a bunch of attacks from a few Void Wretches, a Void Hunter, a Dead Outlaw. That didn't go to plan so instead she buried it (causing it to lose fast) and had it unbury on the opposite side of the board to where the action was. It eventually walked back to the action and got a single attack in on turn 5. That would all be fine if I could at least have contested the Strategy, but as it stood I needed to both get full points on schemes and ensure my opponent got no points on schemes to get a win. And that was with me being lucky enough to get the first Idol Marker. Unfortunately they can still drop scheme markers, charge through walls from a safe position, be healed up, and/or attack any of my models that are buried ignoring range and LoS. Very few models in the game can be as effective as Obliteration models are while on such low health. This is how Tara plays and it is cool and powerful and I don't have a problem with it. What I have a problem with is one crew getting a very large and uninteractive advantage on the strategy. You can't block the spawn of Idol Markers. If I don't spread my crew out (hard to do when you're not incorporeal and have to deal with terrain) then my opponent can get to every Idol Marker spawn except the middle one before I do. It is also quite hard to control the centreline when your opponent's third to last activation is Aionus unburying the Nothing Beast (unactivated, fast) and a Void Hunter (unactivated) (and unburying Tara in a less aggressive position) over the centreline and ready to attack my crew. I managed to get full control of most of the centreline from turn three onward. I still only got one point from the strategy (from the first idol) because my opponent concentrated something like 40+ SS worth of models around the leftmost four Idol Markers and I would have needed to get to them, kill most of them, and then interact with the Idols, potentially multiple times, to get them over the centreline. It would be a challenge to do that even if I managed to steamroll her crew, which I didn't.

Whenever I threaten a model in Tara's crew but don't manage to kill it my opponent will usually just have a Void Wretch walk up to it and bury it with a bonus action, making it impossible to finish off. This game I had an unactivated Ice Golem (with attuned) sitting right next to Aionus (potentially min 5!), but because it had fast I was unable to threaten him unless I gave my opponent like 6 activations in a row (pretty good defensive tech btw). All I'm saying is that I find winning on VP in Corrupted Idols a bit difficult when my opponent in all likelihood gets to choose the placement of 4-5 of the Idol Markers and goes first on every turn that matters. If the pass token generating mechanic was something I could plausibly disrupt or if it required interaction with my crew then it would be a lot fairer in my opinion.

My opponent had Servant of Dark Powers on Aionus and used him to unbury Tara, The Nothing Beast, and a Void Hunter over the centerline. My opponent only needed a 9 or a 10 to make it impossible for me to win initiative and two of the suits put the Idols on the side of the table with her entire crew. 50% of the time I would have to cheat initiative first which I rarely did because my king would be equivalent to a 7-11 for my opponent. The large surplus of pass tokens also made threatening Aionus very hard due to his ability to pass enemy (enemies with fast) activations with them. Aionus is very hard to beat in this strategy because the Tara player can choose which side of the board she is going to hoard markers on after deployment and then easily redeploy there. I can't really interact with the strategy from that point on until around turn 4/5, and that is only if I'm able to walk over to Tara's new side of the table and kill most of her models so I can interact with the Idols. I think being able to control the suit of initiative with almost no ability for your opponent to contest you is unbalanced in Corrupted Idols.

In my last game against Tara my opponent used Aionus and his easy Pass Token generation to force all but the first Idol Marker to appear on one side of the board. Tara was easily able to redeploy her crew right next to all of the Idol Markers using her buries while I only ever managed to get the first Idol Marker. My opponent routinely outactivated me and simultaneously got 16+ on initiative on several turns.

Is anyone getting any results out of Lust, or is she as terrible as she looks? I don't understand why she is so squishy compared to the other Crossroads models, with her having 4 Df and 7 health. Also, how often are models actually drawing cards in your experience?

Steam Arachnid Swarms are crazy good, especially with the Diesel Engine upgrade. They're extremely good at scheming and killing. I'm expecting Soulstone Miners and Steam Arachnid Swarms to be nerfed whenever Wyrd does their first errata though, so maybe don't go all in on buying them. Hopefully we're still left with a versatile schemerunner because I don't think Hoarcats are particularly good at scheming. I really wish they had Ambush or something to put them at the same level as other schemerunners.

Youko seems pretty good to me! Edit: Apparently I shouldn't lend my sister my phone while logged in here @LexLock I am actually not the biggest fan of Youko and crew.

Sorry, I missed that. I had thought she was almost too good for a 16 cost as a secondary master which is why her being 15SS was a surprise to me.

Zoraida costs 15 now. They fixed Youko Hamasaki's pseudo-obey so that she gets to choose and control the action.

Probably not what you're looking for, but Yin the Penangalan is kind of a vampire. The Penanggalan myth is a variant of vampire folklore.

Combined Arms rules: "During the game, the Combined Arms Fireteam uses the Acting Values, Abilities, Actions, and Fireteam size listed on its special Unit Card, rather than the information listed on the normal Unit Card. In all other ways, it functions as a normal Fireteam in the unit it came with (including Activations, Orders, etc.)." So, given that aside from Acting Values, Abilities, Actions, and Fireteam size you treat it as a normal fireteam for that unit, does that mean you technically don't treat Combined Arms fireteams as Titans? I'm pretty sure it isn't intended to work that way but I think that's how it reads. Also, do you deploy the Combined Arms separately from the rest of the unit, assuming they are supposed to be treated as Titans?

With focused efforts for an inspire token you can glory Unathi with a 6 using Mine Control Device, which makes it well worth it in my experience. After you flip to glory it's still useful to fish for tomes or turn low tomes into a draw. You can combo it with Medal of Honor to hand out an extra inspire token per turn as well. The actual effect of the mines is mostly a side benefit in my opinion. I've used it to (sort of) block off a cult portal in the past, but I wouldn't rely on that stopping anyone. I've gotta agree with you on Mehal Sefari, why would I want one of my most expensive units to be soaking hits for my champions? I'd much rather hire a Mechanised Infantry for 1 scrip less and have the regular fireteams protect my leaders while the 36" range gun does its work. Having a range of 14" on their guns leaves them easily outranged by KE and easily within range for a melee follow up against Cult or Hordes, which they are not tanky enough to survive. Relying on reinforcement tokens to survive when the only ability or action that immediately reinforces is a trigger on Unathi is also a problem for them. Additionally, Electrocutioners are so much better for just 1 more scrip.

I think that they're relatively common and it's just that Sonnia is too good at her job. Every Witchling Stalker is (supposed to be) a caught magic user and I think the Witchling Thralls were supposed to be magic users on par with the powerful Arcanists like Ramos or Marcus, although I may be remembering their fluff incorrectly. I really do wish there were more actual mages (who follow a specific school) in the Arcanists though. Some more models in line with the Oxfordian Mages would be great.

It is always pretty easy to flip them back as you can spend reinforcement tokens freely during their activation to do so. If you have Thrace or Kassa you can speed it along a bit. If you get the tactics discount for being behind on VP getting the Medic! stratagem is a no-brainer for 1 tactics token. My main King's Empire opponent brings Kassa with her Bigger is Better upgrade and the King's Hand and maybe an Abyssinian titan to get Kassa +2 tactics. Add on a Medal of Honor for +1 tactics gets her to 5 tactics. So she activates and discards a tactics token to flip to glory, draws 3-5 cards by flipping assets on the King's Hand, maybe gets it to take a Gatling Gun attack. Then, later in the turn, using the Keep Calm and Carry On stratagem my opponent flips Kassa from glory to get a second activation, discards a tactics token to flip her back into glory, and then generates another 5 tactics tokens. Let me tell you, from the receiving end of it this is a very powerful strategy to face. KE is up something like 6ish tactics tokens and 6+ cards with a very healthy Titan.

It actually does, weirdly enough. The Sp stat is an Acting Value and it is that AV that determines the number of inches moved in an order.

Yep. You basically have to allocate your resources at the start of the turn, do you want Stratagems or cards? Do you want to save some Tactics tokens? My primary opponent in Cult has taken to purchasing The Burning Man Descends, a 4 cost stratagem, on the first turn of every game. Having no cards is pretty dangerous if you don't have initiative though.

South Wales Borderers are absolutely amazing. After they lose a single model they get better stats than most 9+ cost units. They get +2 to ALL Acting Values of a fireteam if it has lost a model, which includes Sp, Df, Wp, and Ar. That puts their stats to 9Sp, 6Df, 6Wp, and 9Ar, and then they also get a Stat 7, (effectively) strength 3, which is solid for a 9 cost and amazing for a 6 cost. I hate fighting these things. Honourable mention to the Behind Enemy Lines Stratagem that can summon these in your opponent's deployment zone, preferably after all of their dangerous models have gone allowing them to heal up on the next turn.

I'm not a big fan of the Mehal Sefari. The tactics they can generate are nice but they are sort of squishy for their cost and become much worse when engaged in melee (worse in that they lose all utility). I think I would almost always prefer to hire Mechanized Infantry for 8 (36" gun and free card draw for all) or Electrocutioners for 10 (I haven't used these guys yet, but area attacks are amazing and I know that direct hits bypassing defences are extremely annoying) over them. I also don't particularly want my 9 cost unit to be the one tanking hits for my champions. I think one of the key (intended) weaknesses of Abyssinia is the lack of a horde unit to take hits, such as the South Wales Borderers and the Broken, and I don't think the Mehal Sefari are a good replacement due to their cost. Basotho Cavalry I quite like on the other hand. They're cheap, extremely fast, and kind of annoying. I managed to hit my opponents Adeodatos with enough pinned tokens that he couldn't reach his nearest portal on turn 1, which really slowed him down. Another reason to take them is that they don't have any assets vying for the space a prototype could go, meaning you can use Overclocked to actually attach something during the game (something I've found hard to do given how much I want to attach an Adjunct to every unit). Also the image of the Basotho Cavalry charging at you with an Experimental Rocket at the ready is great.

In my last game against cult I took 3 Flare Guns and a Chemical Fogger. I used Prince Unathi to glory two of my units before they activated using the Flare Gun's Zeppelin Bombardment on some Df 3 Stalking Portals, eventually killing the entire unit. The main advantage of the Flare Gun is that you can target almost anyone which makes the low AV not so crippling. I later used the Overclocked stratagem to put an Explosive Rocket on the Basotho Cavalry (because they were the only unit in my crew without an Asset) which they used to snipe a Breachling and flip to glory. I want to try bringing Electrocutioners in a two commander game with four Prototypes attached so that they can make something like 8 attacks a turn (including the adjunct action) and provide some free card draw with Unathi.

Kassa's ability draws a card every time a friendly Titan asset within 12" is flipped, that's what they are referring to. You draw three cards if you use the 5 margin trigger, two from Kassa's ability and one from the action specifying that you draw a card.

The wording here is very confusing if that is what it is intended to mean. If it applies to an Order that hasn't been given yet then why does it say remaining movement? Movement that may not have even been generated yet can't be considered remaining... Changing it to: "Fireteams that move in this way may not use any subsequent movement granted by an Order and cannot use the Dimensional Instability rule again during this Activation." would be more clear IMO, or: "After a fireteam moves in this way it cannot use any movement granted by an Order, and cannot use the Dimensional Instability rule again during this Activation." At the very least the part of it that refers to "the Order" should be changed somehow, as it doesn't quite make sense. Also... Wouldn't placing a model during deployment technically allow it to use the portals? This would allow for some nasty rushes on turn 1, so I hope people aren't playing it this way. Could be fun though

You do need to take the Cult Envoy card though, as you can only attach assets belonging to your allegiance. This does mean no Binh Nguyen.