susannymn

Hello, quick question: I haven't played the game in some time (a couple months *before* quarantine began) so I'm out of date and practice, but looking to get back in. There's a local Boogeyman that I could use some help planning as I dust off my Arcanists: What's our best play into Leveticus, specifically in Public Enemies? Looking at the example crew below, what's the best way to either survive him our outkill him on the killiest scenario? I'm just drawing a blank here and need some help. Thanks!

Leveticus Crew (Outcasts)
Size: 50 - Pool: 8
Leader:
  Leveticus
    -Servant of Dark Powers
Totem(s):
  Hollow Waif
  Hollow Waif 2
Hires:
  Ashes and Dust
  Rusty Alyce
  Hodgepodge Emissary
  Pride
  Necropunk

I think Captain/Emissary are near auto includes for Colette, since they're the best Min 3 Beaters she had affordable access to and they synergize well with her ability to put them where the pain needs to go. You can threaten the enemy deployment zone on 1 with both of them. Envy is also a solid choice with her, as she can drop him into a Sniper nest to bring the pain. The rest seem more all around utility picks (condition removal, weird burying scheme running, holding a Magical Training upgrade, etc), but those three seem like they'll get play.

I think the way to think of it is: It's not Colette doing it, it's not Colette's rule, the text is not on her card. It's the Doves. So, each of the 3 Doves get to do that once. Possibly per activation of any model, possibly per turn. That's the unclear part.

Re: 2/7 Hotfix

...OK, not to encourage anything and I think the Doves were fine before, but shouldn't Smuggle Soulstone be 'Once Per Turn' instead of 'Activation', since the thing is technically happening outside of the Doves Activation? I mean, the intent is to make Colette draw from a different Dove each time, right? So 'Turn' would make that clearer?

27 minutes ago, WWHSD said:

The one thing that still bugs me about the Doves is the combination of Puny and Annoying. Unless you are parking the Dove next to something that wants to stand still and take tactical actions, it’s pointless. Even if you do find a model that wants to stand still and take tactical actions, it may not even care that it has a fat stack of Distracted.

Haven't spent much time on the schemes, but wouldn't this protect the Doves from, like, Mark for Death?

It's not an infinite loop, she's hard bound by the number of Doves present and can't summon more than she starts with, so it does have bounds . Also, it's Doves. Spamming Doves seems like the *least* lethal option out there for any summon in the game.

Re: Colette's changes this week - I really dig them. The Soulstone trick with the Doves is exactly the kind of thing she needed, now she can actually get the suits she needs to function the way she's supposed to and it's on an expendable resource too. Changing her this way will also incentivise playing her in her own crew instead of dropping her into another crew, since you'd have to pay the tax for each dove she brings with her. Also, yay summoning Doves! Glad you're back! Would love you slightly more if you were on a Mask instead of a Tome but I know we can't have everything!

Fun note: If Colette is stunned, she literally can't deal damage.

OK, that's done. Colette can't guarantee a bury anymore, her movement trick got worse, and she lost her damaging melee attack (or, she lost the suit on it,.so damage is now suit or stone dependant). She may be the only Master in the game now that doesn't have a damaging melee attack (double check me on this), barring the right triggers. If she gets Stunned, she now dies, pretty easily.

I think this went too far. I get why it happened, but I think it still went too far. So now I propose a change, entirely thematic and that may help her get her feet back while not feeling too OP: Give her back her demi-Soulstone from 2e. She is so radically suit dependant, that getting back her stone means she'll get *one* thing right each turn at least, so she better make it count. It's also very fluffy and is an easy enough change. Eh? Eh?

"Colette: Adjusted Fade Away by turning it into a Df/Wp Tome Trigger and reduces damage by 2 instead of having the Action fail. Reduced Df to -5TOME. Reduced Presto Chango’s stat to 6. Showstopper’s Pulse reduced to 2”. Lowered Sword Trick to 3/4/6. Removed Crow on Distracting Illusions."

Oof. *pours one out for Colette*

3 hours ago, Sebasthos said:

I think in her crew, she is okay-relatively speaking. I will admit, however, that I am not happy about her balancing as a supersolo. But that is true in general, I am not comfortable with the "hire a master into your crew"-idea.

That does make it difficult to balance, doesn't it? Like, if that weren't an option then we could have powerful Masters, but weak Totems or Crews. Or we could have weaker Masters propped up by the other models available. But alas, we must balance raw in every potential combination. We need to factor Sandeep summoning Fire Gamin into a Kaeris crew, and Ironsides being flung forward in a Colette crew, etc. Makes it very tricky. Very, very tricky...

'Performer' is marked for changes in the 1/31 document.

And now we wait...

34 minutes ago, kaintxu said:

I don't want to go back into Colette discusions, but just about the plan to throw them up so that your opponent kills them with a beater or you send up your own, that wont happen, any kind of ranged attack is going to kill them. Every crew has one, so they are either out of LoS or they are dead

You can put the birds in a relatively safe spot (behind a building, completely out of LOS, etc) and still teleport your Beater forward. You can jump a significant Distance with the scheme market hopping, including getting a perfect charge angle for your murderer centerpiece.

12 minutes ago, Michael Curran said:

So you use all of these out of performer models in your crew because.........

Colette’s Crew is...... poopee?

Min 3 Damage is a Hell of a drug . And they're all Versatile, the ones I mentioned. So they fit. And I did mention the Coryphee!

Think of it this way:

It's turn one. Two doves active. They fly forward 14", into defensible positions where they're safe from retaliation. Maybe your opponent can get a beater on them, maybe not. It's almost worse for them if they can.

After your opponent has used all but three models, it's Colette's turn. She has the option now to walk forward once, which will put both Doves (or their killers) into range. She then can Presto Chango. If the Doves are alive, then she has sent the Captain and the Arcane Emissary forward like 16" into perfect charge range on the enemy's back line. If the Doves were killed, then she instead grabs the murders and drops their already activated selves directly in front of the Captain and the Emissary and, screw it, the Coryphee and Envy and whoever else wants a piece of them. The target dies. You can deliver murder reliably on Turn One, where you want it, every time. Doves make this happen.

Doves are there to run into position and then be Presto Chango'd out so your Beater is now in enemy lines. Or to swap.out for the enemy Leader when you throw them into *your* lines to be curb stomped by your entire crew. They could be better, but they're fine.

I mean, not to blame the victim, but why did your opponent ditch all his cards before Colette activated? It seems like a mistake everyone will make... Once. And the after that it's fine. Resource allocation is the name of the game, if your opponent can punish an empty hand then don't have an empty hand, or since you know they're bringing Colette then just bring in some card draw models.

Arcane Reservoir is the best probability skewer mechanic in the game. Over the course of 5 rounds, it  will win you games passively. Never leave home with just 6 cards in your hand.

11 minutes ago, Ludvig said:

I don't suppose you'd care to elaborate just a little bit?

I'm reasoning that if the ability to stone for an onslaught lets you kill an enemy model that would otherwise have survived it was worth the 2ss investment on the upgrade, especially if that gave you a point in reckoning or prevented enemy scoring in turf war. The minion aura also makes that soulstone count double when it is used. Angelica getting that extra marker out could also be a significant boost to your vp as BFOmega pointed out. It's not nearly as much of an autotake as magical training though, in m2e just the extra hand size took a master upgrade and 2ss I think?

I see it being wasted in most games; that it would just be better to have +2 Soulstone Cache than trying something cute. Especially since the upgrade makes whatever it is on a higher priority target that you would then spend *more* stones to keep safe. It will be the Sunk Cost Falacy writ large.

There may be specific circumstances that make it work. Angelica, for example, may be the golden ticket, since she's mostly backfield. Then again, using those 2 stones to have Colette swap a scheme runner forward may still be simpler. So I see it being a waste of resources that locks you into a deniable path.

Short version:

-Magical Training = Mandatory (on a minion, plus maybe useful on a frontline Master/Henchman)

-Diesel Engine = Situational

-Soulstone Cache = a Trap

I just really hope she's still good in the end; I've wanted her to be good for so long...

25 minutes ago, kaintxu said:

Then a focus attack from a beater or seamus and she is half gone as she can’t even cheat high enough to win, all for what, moving some models along? 

Guess a lot of people who have not even tried her are happy just from achieving goals from theory craft. (Missing Mason)

i was gonna play her this Friday again to see how it goes as I use her better, but I might as well go back to rasputina or Titania and just leave Colette alone as people is just going to complain about her like it had happened in every edition. 

If a Beater or Seamus focuses and fires, why the crap wouldn't she just bury herself?

Yeah, that doesn't work. Making Unbury a Bonus Action doesn't apply, since you can't take Actions while buried, so really burying it is kind of committing suicide .

4 hours ago, Franchute said:

Ok. You still need to move a minion first and turn 1 you may not get it far away. It is still very powerful. With a stat of 7 against Wp, it sounds like you could easily get it on an enemy too. It also sounds like a good lure mechanic.

I know; you're never going to actually get 22" from this, that's just the theoretical max, but shit getting something like 14" turn 1 only takes a Speed 6 minion and a 6 of Masks, so extremely easy to do (or it takes an enemy moving about 7" out and tagging them with a decently high mask/card plus stone). Also if you're moving them 14", they may not be *in* the enemy zone, but that puts them in charge range, so pretty much as good.

17 minutes ago, Franchute said:

Presto Chango seems to have range 8". How do you do to send a guy 20+" away?

"Presto-Chango 8" 7 Wp 13M
Place a Scheme Marker in base contact with the target. Place the target into base contact with a friendly model within range, then place the friendly model in base contact with the Scheme Marker placed this way."

Colette stands in the middle, and swaps to models' positions, plus a bit more. Max Distance is like 21ish".

EDIT - 22.299" theoretical max.