KingSeras

2 hours ago, retnab said:

Make it "another friendly Mercenary" so Battle Tempo doesn't trigger it and throw in Once Per Turn and I think we have us some actual viable Merc synergy!

I think I'd rather have a +2 cap than a once per turn restriction, because popping all around the board with each other is what you want them to do, and it would "feel good" to be able to rack that up a bit. 

I think something like this would go a long way:

Adding "if this model is moved, Pushed, or Placed by a friendly Mercenary, it gains Focused +1" to Battle Tempo. Most Merc models can move, push, or place themselves or someone else. By move I mean the moves from On the Move, Chain Gang, etc. I'll leave specifying that to the devs getting paid to fix this. 

Just Push or Place would work too, though lessens the impact I want it to have. 

Cap it at +2 if it might get out of hand. 

Having them gain Focused for doing their thing gives you a reason to bring Mercs so their defense and damage gets a buff while they control the flow of battle movement. I don't think that's too much to ask. 

Gonna die on this hill - make the rest of Mercenary work together please thank you and goodnight 

Von Schill appears to have not been invited to this Outcasts meeting! 

Awkward, since he has the biggest home base... 

The trigger really sets up a subtle incentive to play more aggressively, and that's good - brings back a bit of their old high risk high reward play style. 

Definitely curious about how it shakes out in actual play. 

7 hours ago, retnab said:

I'm glad to see the Mercenary keyword show up somewhere on her card for sure.  The wording feels a bit weird to me though, it sounds like if the other Merc kills them then Vik can count as getting the kill which seems backwards?

It triggers the heal chain. That's the part I'm the most excited about. 

How do you all feel about the new Trigger? 

I feel like it solves the issue of Vik ignoring her own Keyword, but doesn't really satisfy me. I'd have preferred the fix on other models, because Taelor as Mercenary leader just has a repeat of the Viks problem. 

I am, however, really curious to try it out. Looks like it has a lot of potential. 

The best choices with them seem to be:

Emissary and/or Effigy 

Stalker 

Barbaros (for extra tanking) 

All Versatile. Should a Master's best choices really all be Versatile? I think not. 

Bringing in the Stalker further highlights the issue that their own damn keyword doesn't do anything for them. 

I actually think the Viks themselves are quite a lot of fun, so we agree there. 

My issue is with the rest of the Keyword which is as you pointed out, pretty one note, but also lacking in internal cohesion. They're just Versatile models that cost extra sometimes. 

21 minutes ago, Gnomezilla said:

Ehhhh...I’m not sure it’s a bad thing to have crew bonuses more or less tied to what models are doing independently. Last Blossom has independent ‘kill moar’ bonuses and they seem to thrive. Whatever problems monks might have, automatic independent chi token generation isn’t one of them. No synergy to be disrupted might not be a bad thing (says someone who thrives on synergistic plays, the jankier the better).

Last Blossom interacts with Shadow Markers. Mercenary interacts with... Nothing.  I'm not saying it needs to be a Rube Goldberg mechanical machine but it should interlock somehow. It's perfectly balanced, it's just not interesting or worthwhile to play in theme. 

I agree with @retnab - the Mercenary keyword could cease existing and all models could become Versatile and it would change nothing. That's not good. 

I think I can sum up my mechanical issues with the theme. It's taken me a long while to put my finger on it exactly but here's what I feel is missing:

There's no inherent in theme bonus or incentives for doing the things they're good at (mobility, damage) besides that those things are inherently good. Compare to Bandit, which has a lot of set up/pay off for attacking enemies and counter scoring. 

In order to feel like a cohesive, interesting theme, there needs to be an additional incentive or bonus associated with dealing damage or moving - all things the Mercenaries are great at. 

It could look something like:

Hungry for Payment: When a friendly Mercenary model kills an enemy within X", draw a card. 

Or

Loyal to the Coin: if this model ends a Push or Place within X" of a friendly Mercenary model, it gains Focused +1

Or give someone Works Best Alone. 

I'd rather not see any of these added to the Viks, but rather their Crew. Give the Crew incentives to play around or near them and to benefit from their murder. 

Otherwise, they're best with Versatile hires and as scheme runners, and I think that's not how it should shake out. 

I played the hell out of them in the closed beta and I was a little disappointed to see them come into open beta unchanged. The TN reduction on Dragon's Bite is nice but like people have pointed out its a Hail Mary play, not a bread and butter Tactical. 

After a number of failed attempts to play them like their old versions, I realized that yeah, the best way to play is to treat them like the most murderous scheme runners in the game. Mercenary kicks ass at Plant Explosives. Reckoning is a trap, don't do it. 

I've said previously that I think Whirlwind would be better replaced by Puncture or Sweeping Strike. It's current iteration is barely worth using. 

Besides all that I find Mercenary to be a weak and kinda boring theme. Nothing in the mechanics inspires me to think these models do violence for money and some straight up feel like they've been added here because they didn't have anywhere else to go. I like Big Jake but I don't know how he fits in. The Student could stand to support the Viks more as well. I'd still really like to see someone have some kind of corpse-marker-for-resources ability or action to tie the theme together.