BFOmega

You're starting with Joss and Howard and not going the kill everything route? Good luck there.

That said, if you're going for Mei's Avatar, it specializes in minions, so starting with 2 Henchmen and an Enforcer, and working towards another Henchman might not be the best. Also, with only 3 models at the start, you will be ridiculously out activated, and if you end up in a marker/interact heavy scheme pool, you're kinda boned (not to mention interference...)

Assuming you want to stay bigger, I would definitely drop one of them for something schemey ( angelica/Cassandra+PP and a raptor, soulstone miners, union miners, ice dancers, wind gamin, we got lots of options.)

So, it's possible I'll be playing in a Shifting Loyalties campaign in the near future, and I was wondering how good the various avatar masters were.

I've seen what the upgrades do, but experience shows theory vs reality aren't always the same.

Planning on starting Joss most likely, if that makes any difference. Maybe Snowstorm if I go the raspy route.

Quick Edit: Mei's actually looks really strong if you pair her with some good minions (Large Arachnids/swarms, Acolyte/silent ones, performers...)

The one thing I could see Mech Rider being a top buy for her is if you're trying to play only her, where it would help pad out her Recon/Interference game.

The best add to Mei's box is likely Ramos's box, as Howard and Joss are great with her, spiders aren't terrible scheme runners, and Ramos himself provides a good complimentary set of skills.

Outside of that, I've heard good things about Sparks and the Mechanical Porkchop, Mech Rider is all around good (plus Mei likes fast constructs). Large Arachnids probably aren't bad either, though can be a bit slow.

1 minute ago, Mrbedlam said:

Do all the results reset now? or do Our wins from week 1,2 carry over to who we control on week 3,4?

 

They reset for who wins them this week, but carry over at the end for which faction they ultimately end up in.

1 minute ago, MunkyMuddFace said:

Handing out Incorporeal is fun. 

I had a fun assassination run with Howard. He had Imbued Energies. I had Sandeep give him Incorporeal. On Howards activation, he dropped Energies to gain Fast. Nimble action to walk thru a building he was hiding behind. 0 action to use Sandeep's 6 inch Placement. Pitch a card to Flurry. Attack again with the Fast AP. Four attacks with minimum 4 damage is oh so tasty. "Atrocious" is how my opponent described the onslaught haha

Howard isn't a minion or academic, so he can't use the placement 0 action.

4 hours ago, Guslado said:

I need to give the incorporeal upgrade a go, seems like it could be really handy but I haven't found a spot for it in the crew yet.

I think one of the best uses of this would be to make Joss incorporeal in a situation you need something that can just tank an entire (non casting) team and come out the other side. With his armor, it takes a 7 damage hit to do more than 1 wound, which he could then stone away if needed. Warding Runes gives counterspell, no conditions, regen, he could use Sandeep's cast that heals if needed, or bring along a silent one or librarian.

Lazarus isn't a bad choice for some ranged support either. Spiders are semi-disposable, so if you had to you could blast off of them, and his 0 Assimilate has a lot of juicy targets in a Ramos crew. They in your face? Howard/Joss attacks to the face. Want another ranged attack? Ramos Electrical Fire. Need to bunker down? Double up on Arcing Screen. Also, benefits from Powered by Flame if it's in range, so a nice bonus there.

It depends on what you're wanting to do. Rail Golem kills things, and though it's a bit inconstant, given enough tomes it can kill their entire crew. Not an exaggeration. Granted, he's fighting Ramos for those tomes as well, though you'll usually just need one high one for him a turn. He's in a similar niche as Howard, but with higher highs and lower lows (basically, less consistent)

The Mech rider, however, is more of a scheme/strategy completer. Throw her off on a flank in interference and she can mostly hold it herself, between her speed, late game tankiness, and summons, unless they send something big at her, which lets you take advantage on the other flank, and she should be able to keep herself safe enough until backup comes. In addition, the scheme markers she drops from her attack are REALLY good at getting Set Up and Detonate the Charges.

Damn, I'm torn. The Self-Righteous man has the coolest sounding stuff for us, but I don't play or really have that much of an interest in Marcus. Then, the woman's is a bit boring atm, but I want anything with construct synergy I can get.

What are the chances any of them could end up Academics? Werewolf Academic sounds awesome to me.

Three Doves, a raptor, and Caberet seems way overkill, unless you're using the doves as a buff I suppose. If you drop the raptor, a dove, and a SS you can get a large arachnid or a Silent one for some staying power or healing, and Angelica for more shenanigans, or Willie... so many options. Dropping a raptor and 2 doves gets you another Acolyte.

There's 10 activations as is as well, so you could drop that be a couple and still be fine.

Elemental Bolt from Kudra is the only one you're missing from Sandeep's crew box.

Ah ok, makes sense.

Foundry or Academic wouldn't be out of the question either.

One of them becoming Gremlin or Neverborn seems odd to me, it feels like that's something you'd need to be born as, though I'm not that far into the fluff yet, so I could be wrong.

English guy looks the best, like the concept of the other two more, depending on what the guy is self-righteous about.

 

 

What blocking thing does Kudra have?

0 action, 1 50mm illusionary Forest marker. No placement restrictions though, and lasts until the action is taken again

Hmm... Raspy, Carlos, Captain, Kudra. Block everything everywhere. Someone should try it and report back.

(not me, that shit sounds terrible)

 

 Going to get the box and then a box of little arachnids to supplement him for all of the summoning I think he will be doing.

Definitely go for the box of 6 spiders instead of 3, unless you're going to magnetize them. That'll give you 9 singles and one swarm rather than 6 and 1. I've definitely had 6-9 spiders on the board a few times, so it's not that uncommon.

An electric creation or mobile toolkit for Joss to kill at the start to make scrap isn't a bad idea either.

Gonna have to disagree with Mei. You can't play Kang outside her crew in Arcanists, and Rail Workers are decent with Colette, but not great, so she doesn't add that much to Colette, and Colette doesn't add that much to Mei either (other than Cassandra, who is kinda a good addition to anyone). She would be a good grab after you've gotten Ramos though.

Also, Raspy's box itself doesn't play that great with Colette either, it's more the Silent One's and December Acolytes that go with the crew. That said, if you're getting and filling out the Raspy crew, it would be fine.

Ramos is probably the best though. Joss and Howard are super good with Colette straight out of the box, and both are pretty good into Ressers, with Howards high min damage mitigating Hard to Wound, and Joss just ignoring it. Plus, they can drop scrap instead of corpse, limiting their summoning resources in some cases.

2 hours ago, Bengt said:

Also, doesn't everyone bring Chiaki for condition removal?  

Just bring Chiaki removal, ezpz

9 minutes ago, decker_cky said:

She's pretty dangerous on the charge, and she's the only model that can reliably use Sandeep's teleport (if her upgrade gives her the mask, or she burns a stone for the mask).

Valedictorian can also stone for the mask, though doesn't get the discard a card to get the stone back mechanic, and is more expensive. 

But you could set her up to have Hard to Wound +1, Armor +1, incorporeal, and regen 1. Which seems ridiculous. 

Actually Joss might be even more ridiculous with the incorp/regen. They'd have to do 7 damage in one hit to do more than 1 damage to him, which he could SS if necessary. Hell, a Red Joker'd Seamus shot would only do 4 damage. Then if they do get him down, he gets reactivate on Hard to Kill, then activates and heals to 2. Oh, and you can't put conditions on him.

That could be especially dirty combined with some form of healing in addition to the regen, likely silent ones or the librarian.

11 hours ago, dancater said:

In addition the Blade & Claw upgrade has obvious utility with many faction pieces. 

I might be wrong but I think that the Mannequins are viable constructs for the 'Blade'   The Arcane Emissary

Mannequins are peons, so no switching with them. Arcane emissary is only a construct when he's played with Ramos (or Mei if sparks robots him)

6 minutes ago, Kevin Finch said:

Only thing to look out for is that the poison gamin are only beasts, so be careful with blade & claw.

They're definitely Beast and Construct both.

26 minutes ago, dancater said:

Sandeep box looks interesting, the combination of station characteristics will be important.  Sandeep is clearly Academic (would be nice if he is also M&SU), Kudra is probably an Academic (could also be M&SU and/or Showgirl - I'd love her as Showgirl)

Sandeep and Kudra are both only Academic. Banasuva also not a construct, to complete the set of them.

Maybe a bird pecked it.