fauxreigner

Either Perdita or Sonnia would be excellent picks as a first master. They don't have overly complex mechanics, while still allowing for very competitive play. I wouldn't describe them as "all round" masters in that they are both quite focused on damage dealing. But they can build crews around themselves are that capable of achieving most schemes. I don't have any experience with Sonnia, but Perdita was my first serious master and I can tell you it was a really fun way to learn the game. She is super mobile, and can laugh off most incoming damage thanks to her insane Df/Wp stats, while zooming round and killing enemy models at will. Her totem also provides excellent mobility to the rest of your crew. You can build a reasonable crew around Perdita starting with her Latigo box, and adding in some cheaper scheme-runner models. Death Marshals are a solid pick, especially given the synergy with Papa Loco, but I would also highly recommend picking up Hoffman's box - the Watcher and Hunter are excellent models that make it into many of my Perdita crews, and I've even gotten good use out of the Guardian. I have no plans to play with Hoffman himself, but still consider his box one of the best purchases I made. To get yourself more competitive, you might want to also grab some Austringers as they provide stronger shooting support than the options in the Latigo box itself - certainly more useful than Santiago and arguably Nino, although that depends a lot on schemes. Given that you already have the Perdita box, if I had to suggest a strong "all-comers" crew that you can field with minimal additional purchases, it would be something along the lines of: Perdita, Francisco, Enslaved Nephelim, 2xHunter, Austringer, Nino (or second Austringer), Watcher. Some simple tweaks can be made to tailor towards the scheme pool. And if you are starting with small Henchman-led games, you can run Francisco as your leader and remove a couple of the models, and it would still be a solid crew.

Oops, good catch. How did I not notice that? Fixed.

I'd also guess that a crew full of Freikorps Suits is her worst nightmare? But would that be enough to discourage taking her against Outcasts in general?

I'd agree that Perdita is a great choice if restricting yourself to single master at a tournament, especially for newer players. Her fast learning curve is probably the reason I managed to place well in my first tournament. But I do worry that blunt objects like her are one of the easier things for top-tier players to deal with? She's not exactly unpredictable. I'm glad to hear that McCabe has a pretty consistent role in a tournament arsenal, I find him very interesting and was already considering him as my third master. I think I want to try running solo-McMourning at my next major tournament. I don't expect this to go as well as solo-Perdita, but I think it's a necessary step in becoming comfortable with him in competitive play and learning his weaknesses. After that I'll try switching between the two based on strat and scheme pools, while gradually introducing McCabe. Follow-up question: to what degree do you consider opponent's faction when choosing your master? What do you consider as the really bad matchups for Perdita, Sonnia, McCabe?

Hi Guilders, As an aspiring tournament player, I'd like to collect some information from the more experienced players about the pool of models you tend to draw from in tournaments. In particular, how many different masters do you go armed with, and how many do you find yourself drawing from on a regular basis? Do you equip yourself with every Guild master, and choose entirely based on the strat and schemes? Or do you have a core group (say 2-3) that you feel comfortable with, and plug any weaknesses through other models in the crew? As some background, I went to my first major tournament a month ago - a 2 day event with 5 games. I took only Perdita, as she was the only Master I had enough experience with to play competitively. I managed to do pretty well, coming 7th out of 50 players (4W-1L) and was the top Guild player. However, I noticed several weaknesses and know I will need a more diverse master pool if I want to push up towards the podium spots. I've recently started playing a lot of McMourning, who fills the gap with heavy interact-based scheme pools that Perdita struggles with. But I feel like I'm still some way from being able to switch between the two at will, in a fast-paced and competitive tournament environment. So just looking for some accounts of how many (and which) masters you tend to call upon during a tournament, and how long it took you to become comfortable switching between that many masters in fast-paced play? Thanks!

Out of interest, what do you think of as the Guild Standard? I've seen surprisingly little Guild at tournaments and competitive play in my area so not sure what is considered our competitive backbone.

Interesting strat and scheme combo. So, I usually start by picking the master best suited for the strat, and build a crew that supports them while achieving schemes. But with Reconnoiter/Interference I take a different approach, and start with a few good solid models that function well on their on their own, without support from the rest of the crew. These strats force so much spreading out that I don't like the crew to be too reliant on one another. The hunter is great for this role - relatively fast and survivable, and packs enough punch to take out opposing runners. And best of all, the 3" end-of-turn push is perfect for Recon because if they end their turn near the boundary between two table quarters, they can push into either one before points are scored. So, lets start by hiring two hunters. Next, I can hardly talk about mobile, self-sufficient models without going to the Pale Rider. Especially when the schemes are so tailor made for him. With his marker dropping trick, he can essentially score Breakthrough on his own, or get markers into dense clumps of enemy models for Plant Explosives (because its not interact). And, as long I can keep him safe through turns 1-2, he will score Bodyguard no problem. So, sign him up. Now its time to think about what I want my master to achieve in this game. Their primary function really needs to be to spoil my opponent's plans - make it too dangerous to enter a particular table quarter, take out the Bodyguard model, etc. Of my masters, Perdita is tailor made for this job and I think she'd be the most competitive choice. But I'm just having so much fun with McMourning recently that I've gotta choose him instead. He's certainly not a terrible choice here - his interact shenanigans will help with Breakthrough or Plant Explosives, and his end of turn poison-push has the same utility for Recon as the hunter's. With McMourning always comes Francisco and the Brutal Effigy, and either a Nurse or the Chihuahua to get him nicely poisoned up. In this case it needs to be the Chihuahua to save a few points. Finally, I'll round out the list with an Austringer, for the particular roles of taking out 4-wound scheme runners that are attempting to score breakthrough, and to help drop markers with engaged models for Explosives. So, the list is: McMourning (5 cache) Plastic surgery (1) On the clock (1) Francisco (8) Wade in (1) Brutal Effigy (4) Zombie Chihuahua (2) Hunter (7) Hunter (7) Austringer (6) Pale Rider (12) And my scheme selections will likely be Bodyguard (Pale Rider) and either Breakthrough or Plant Explosives, depending on opponent's crew.

You certainly have everything necessary for some competitive Perdita and Sonnia builds there. For Lady Justice, Sidir will be a boon and you'll want to pick up the emissary when he's a available in a couple of months, or convert one. I've no experience with Hoffman, but you might want some of the arcanist robots to run him most effectively.

I have had some success with the Sidir/Francisco combo with McMourning, who really benefits from the Ml like Lady J. Its not cost effective enough to make it into every list, but when the strat/schemes force the action into a small portion of the table it can be very strong. When I see Extraction (/Turf War) and Show of Force in the pool its a very attractive choice. And especially against rezzers it becomes more powerful thanks to the Promises Wp, and the fact that Sidir can hurl himself in the way of a Lure, laugh it off, and then block line of sight to the target thus preventing further lure attempts. The main problem with Sidir is that for someone who likes to throw himself in the way of incoming attacks, he's not great at taking a punch. There is an empty spot on the bottom right of his card-front where it would be nice to see "Armor +1", or at the very least "Bulletproof +1". Either that, or have By Your Side built in, so that we could at least choose to add armor via the lead-lined cloak without giving up Promises. I don't feel like either of those changes would make him overpowered at 9ss. I'm still happy to use him tho, given that he has one of the coolest sculpts in the whole game .

Great thread, thanks for posting! This is exactly the type of mental exercise I love so will post my first ever forum comment (stepping out from lurking in the shadows!). I'll tackle this with a few general thoughts, then the list, then some commentary on roles. So, I like this scheme pool in general. Not a fan of Public Demonstration, just because I tend not to use the types of minions that I want to have up in my opponent's face. But I can build a crew capable of the other 4 schemes, and then make my decision based on the opponent's crew and the table. Of the two masters I'm comfortable with (Perdita and McMourning) headhunter makes me favor McMourning, both because of his interact abilities and because I don't want to kill things from across the table. So... this is going to be a McMourning list. Now, how to approach the crew? With no prior knowledge of opponent/table, I would lean towards Hunting Party (because of nice synergy with Headhunter) so a couple of hard-hitting henchmen/enforcers are a must. I also like Exhaust, because McMourning and a couple of austringers can cover it between them (and the austringers are an auto-take for Headhunter). But I also want to be prepared for Convict Labor and Inspection, because Hunting Party may be unfavorable given my opponent's crew, and Exhaust does not synergize well with Headhunter and Hunting Party so I might want to avoid it. So I need some mobile models who can get to table corners and/or churn out scheme markers. OK, enough rambling, and onto the list: McMourning (5 cache) Plastic surgery On the clock Francisco Wade in Hermanos Brutal Effigy Nurse Austringer Austringer Watcher Pale Rider The plan is for McMourning, Francisco, the nurse and the effigy to travel together, generating heads and exhausting things (if I take Exhaust). The Effigy ups McMournings survivability, the Nurse boosts combat output, paralyzes high-priority targets, and if necessary paralyze-heals Franc and the Doc. Soulstones will be used almost exclusively to keep Franc alive. The Pale Rider is a real star in Hunting Party, he will go off on his own and track down backfield minions, or get himself to a corner (Inspection) or drop markers (Convict Labor). A very versatile model indeed that I'm learning to get more out of. The austringers quarterback the head collection, weaken stuff for hunting party, or prompt interacts for Exhaust/Convict Labor. Finally, the watcher is there to swoop in on hard-to-reach heads, or interfere with an opponent's Convict Labor, or to get to a corner for Inspection. I might tweak a couple of things if I already knew the opponent's faction and table setup, but overall I like the list and feel like it covers most of my bases.