Baskakov_Dmitriy

Why does it work this way?

My main faction is Arcanists (though I own some of the Outcast models, like Johan), my friend's is Ten Thunders. My friend's crew isn't assembled yet, so we play Henchman Hardcore using my models, the ones that I know well (my main crew is Rasputina with her thematic models occupying most of the space). During our last game the crew of my friend was: Leader: Snow Storm (cache 2) - Sub Zero (1 SS) Ice Golem (9 SS) Ice Gamin (4 SS) Silent One (6 SS) My crew was: Leader: Snow Storm (cache 2) December Acolyte (7 SS) December Acolyte (7 SS) Silent One (6 SS) We took turns installing the terrain, flipping a card for the player installing first. Sadly, I did not make a photo of the result, but the important parts were: 1) A Ht 3 forest on my right flank behind which my friend could flank my crew, perhaps with some losses, but still. 2) A Hard cover thingie that did not actually matter, because the Silent One (Df 3) standing behind it has suddenly charged forward and got Severe damage (6) from my December Acolyte (which would need to focus to get a cheatable damage flip normally) 3) A Ht 3 building (Hard Cover, doesn't block LoS) a couple of inches right and behind the center line, so the other December Acolyte could stand on it, score points for the strat, and actually see some of her crew, most importantly the Ice Golem which was not within required distance from the forest and hence it was a clear (second) shot from the December Acolyte, Sh 6, to the Ice Golem (Df 2). My friend has waited for too much (was attacking my crew only by the third Turn instead of the second Turn), so things didn't go rather well. 3-4 cards per Turn discarded for nothing due to the built-in trigger, slows... My friend has managed to kill my Henchman because I have announced a wrong suit on the Red Joker in my hand, but the end result was 8-3. ______ Now the important stuff. What I would do against this shooting crew as my friend's crew is charging in as fast as possible, hoping for Bulletproof on the Snow Storm (and "In the middle of the storm") to do its job, engage the Acolytes and then outdamage them. Or even rush to kill the Henchman if I could place the Ice Golem rightly. But I already see a counter: use Snow Storm's Sh attack to push the enemy away, as the whole enemy crew is Frozen Heart. A Joss+Howard Langston+Arcane Effigy+Mobile Toolkit crew would do a rampage on the enemy Henchman because there is a place to hide most of the time. And if I the shooting crew would place an even higher roof, it would be able to see almost all of the models if not all of them, making the enemy to discard cards and get Slow. So, the question. How does one actually counter a shooting crew? How does one protect against that many shooters? Should we simply use more terrain objects?

I have noticed that 1 SS is left in this build. What is a good idea to buy? Which 2d upgrade for Kang? What do you thing about the following build? (Toshiro the Daimyo, Yin the Penangalan, Chiaki the Niece, something else) What would you take as that something else? I notice that I can present it as either Ten Thunders or Resurrectionist build.

If you have Armour +2, do you also automatically count as having Armour +1?

Henchman Hardcore is a rather cool format, but: 1) Many interesting models are of almost no use in there because a lot of their power comes from summoning abilities (Mechanical Rider, or the poor Ferdinand Vogel). 2) Limited cache means that you are almost obligated to build an exactly 20SS crew, no less, or you lose something for nothing. Those restrictions make no sense to me, but I am kinda new to the scene, so it is likely due to me not understanding something. Anyway, why do those restrictions exist?

My friend who has recently bought Ten Thunders plays a lot of Henchman Hardcore, so I am asking: which things in that faction work well in this weird format. Preferably things that also work well in 35SS or 50SS formats.

My friend is into Japanese theme and likes fencing, and hence has bought Misaki box. However, my main faction is Arcanists, and I know nothing about Ten Thunders besides the fact that their cards are fancy. What is a good addition for Misaki crew for 35SS if my friend is new to the game? I have seen Rezzer version of Yan Lo in play, and it seems powerful and interesting. Is it also competitive in the Ten Thunders?

From my currently very limited HH experience, cards are a valuable resource even in HH, because you both have 6 cards to cheat fate. This means that while you have more cards per model to defend against an enemy, your enemy has more cards to attack, and vice versa. Yes, in almost every Turn you will have a lot of cards that are too low to use for cheating fate, and the Mages are cool at that. But what if you have a really, really good hand, which also happens from time to time? Either way, I would normally place my bet on Howard Langston activating two times in a row due to Seize the Day, each time with a new hand, not on Joss+3 mages. After all, Initiative might be reflipped. Howard needs 1 card to inflict 4/5/6 with Decapitate on Rams. The mages discard for 2/3/4. They have decapitate-esque thing on their (0), but it is not what they are supposed to do normally, and it is not the thing for which they need to discard.

Not that I actually plan for him to stay back. This crew is all-or-nothing anyway. No way to heal, a one-use Upgrade on Howard. If Howard Langston doesn't make it to deliver 2-3 MI attacks with +Flips to an important enemy model and dies before that, I am almost doomed to lose anyway. After at least one important enemy model is removed, Joss is supposed to have some room to play aggressively. That's what I have Arcane Effigy for, aside from removing conditions: to add Burning+1 to his attacks. Even if Joss gets hit, if he survives due to Hard to Wound, he is very likely to do a lot of interesting stuff too. But if I wait for too long, I am likely to suffer too much damage to be able to do something. That's what Henchman Hardcore is all about anyway.

This is an interesting combo, but you lose 3 SS for nothing, assuming that the Oxfordian trio uses their standard two 0SS upgrades, and taking into account that Seize the Day and Warding Runes cost 1 SS each. Remember that excess Soulstones don't go into your cache in HH, they are just lost, which makes me sad -- just as the fact that you cannot summon models in HH, which makes some really interesting models useless (hey, Ferdinand Fogel!).

So I can still hit the Emissary that way?

1) Leader: Joss (Cache 3) 2) Howard Langston (12 SS) - Imbued Energies (1 SS) 3) Arcane Effigy (4 SS) 4) Mobile Toolkit (3 SS) The strategy is kinda obvious, but depends on our enemy's crew. Give +flips to Mi to Joss or Langston, give Radiance to Joss, charge, hit something, likely kill something, preferably enemy Henchman if he is dumb enough, or someone else. Remove a bad condition via the Effigy if our foe can apply one. We need to discard 1 card for the Mobile Toolkit, and 1 for Flurry. I think about dropping Imbued Energies for Well Rehearsed for Joss for extra HtK, so our Henchman is less likely to die, and more likely to pay back. What do you think about such a crew?

I have thought about a weird, but likely common situation when Arcane Emissary is in the field to help Raspi. Arcane Emissary has the Elemental Conflux upgrade. Ice Mirror and Shattered Mirror abilities both say "When taking a Ca Action, this model may draw LoS and range from a friendly model with Frozen Heart within 10" and LoS that is not engaged". So, Arcane Emissary engages a couple of enemies, but it is still possible to shoot through him via both, because, according to the "Node" ability given by the Emissary's upgrade, "Masters never consider this model to be engaged for the purposes of their Abilities". Of course, Arcane Emissary is an Enforcer, a model that is supposed to hit hard, and that is supposed to engage models. But Rasputina's main attacks, Freeze Over and December's Curse, are Projectile Attacks, and hence randomize their target when shooting into engagement. And normally Rasputina could occasionally hit her friendly Emissary. On the other hand, at that moment Rasputina is using her Ability (one of the Mirrors) to take an action through the Arcane Emissary, and, according to Emissary's upgrade, it is not considered engaged for that purpose. So, does Rasputina need to randomize the target or not? If yes, this sounds very weird to me.

I didn't really plan sacrificing the Toolkit that early. I could get some use of it later by giving +flips to Joss, perhaps even giving Reactivate to the Toolkit and Joss too, so Joss has two activations with +flips to MI and Dmg. Electric Summoning lets me spare the Toolkit, which is kinda expensive to sacrifice it for a mere scrap marker... Not only does it cost 4 SS, it is also Rare 1.

Hello! I plan to attend a novice-tier 35ss tournament this weekend. The prize pool looks very tasty, so I would actually like to win it if possible. And I am trying to find a good combo. The tournament simply uses current GG2018 rotation. One of the rosters that I am considering is this heavy-hitting one: Ramos (3+1=4) Pool - Leviathan Power Core (1) - Arcane Reservoir (2) - Electric Summoning (1) Brass Arachnid (4) Joss (10) Howard Langston (12) - Well Rehearsed (1) Mobile Toolkit (3) Obviously, Joss and Langston are intended to kill everything they can reach under the reactivates of the Brass Arachnid, Ramos summons the spiders, and Mobile Toolkit gives the best fitting Construct +Flips to melee. The cards needed (ideally): - 7 Tomes for Ramos to summon the Electrical Creation, then we have two action points to shoot it dead, or we can use a medium card - 11 Tomes and a Soulstone to summon the spiders, then we can have 1 more AP if we killed the Creation with one shot - 1 card is to be discarded by the Mobile Toolkit. If it gets the Reactivate condition instead of Joss, 1 more card is to be discarded. - 3 cards of at least 10 for the reactivates. Or one 10 for 1 reactivate, if we are short on cards. - 1 or 2 cards to discard for Langston's flurry. Would like to hear your opinions.

Hello! I plan to attend a novice-tier 35ss tournament this weekend. The prize pool looks very tasty, so I would actually like to win it if possible. And I am trying to find a good combo. The tournament simply uses current GG2018 rotation. Here is one of the roasters that I am considering. Do you find it viable? What exactly to do on the first turn when the Rider cannot summon yet? Declared Faction: Arcanists Leader: Ramos - Cache:(3+3=6) - Vox Populi 1ss - Leviathan Power Core 1ss - Arcane Reservoir 2ss - Brass Arachnid 4ss - Mechanical Rider 12ss - Union Steamfitter 6ss - Mobile Toolkit 3ss - Malifaux Raptor 3ss The combo is very slow, it is intended to shine since around the 3d Turn, and its full power is only released at the 5th Turn, but long games happen at novice-tier tournaments. The Brass Arachnid reactivates the Mechanical Rider. The Mechanical Rider is used to summon Metal Gamin (2 per Turn) Union Steamfitter activates when a tasty card is seen and makes us a Scrap Marker Ramos summons spiders, places Strike markers and shoots occasionally Mobile Toolkit gives the Rider +flips to damage. Malifaux Raptor is used to hit a friendly model to look at the top deck and look for good cards, because this build is extremely card hungry. On turn 2 I need: 11 Tomes for Ramos, 10 to reactivate, 8 Tomes for the Rider to summon and 8 Tomes again for the same purpose, 2 cards for the Steamfitter to discard, 1 card for the Mobile Toolkit to discard, and perhaps 2 low cards to cheat damage, so Malifaux Raptor and perhaps even the Rider can hit Ramos to help with the cards: the Rider by using the "draw a card" trigger and the Raptor by looking through the top 3 cards. Pretty much the same on turn 3, but the Rider needs just two 8s instead of two 8 Tomes. What we draw: 7 cards at our hand at the start of the Turn, 1 card by the Rider's trigger, and the Raptor allows us to reorder 3 more cards. As for me, this would be interesting if our enemy would just sit and watch, but the foe likely won't. Any ways to improve it?

OK, so, overall the Ice Golem is indeed a very weak model. So sad. But seems like I am not going to golem-based set-ups. Looks like I am going to try something else.

Hello! I've been trying to use the Ice Golem in my Rasputina crew, and my impression was that this model is only good at one single thing: dying. The primary reason is Df 2, it is very easy to hit this model; cheating fate on Df duels is only a waste of cards. Yes, it has Wd 10, but 1-2 activations of decent models can roll out this amount of damage kinda quickly, a powerful model can do it in one activation, especially given that the Golem will likely be hit with cheatable damage flips. Armour 2 usually doesn't help much, and if even if Rasputina gives it Armour +2, the Golem still doesn't last for too long. Since the armour is given till the end of a turn, it would also make me activate Rasputina too early. The Ice Golem isn't fast either with his Wk 4 and Cg 6, and will have a very hard time reaching someone on the battlefield. If it does somehow hit, the damage of 3/3/6 of its (1) AP attack isn't impressive without a focus. The (3) attack is powerful, but the range is 1". I've been thinking about a summon-based Rasputing build, but I am really unsure if Wd 6 Ice Golem is even worth it for 11 Tomes, a Soulstone and a Scrap Marker, given that Rasputina is a shooting-based master. The best I can have is including the Essence of Power in the crew to get Ca+1 and a +1 to the summoning flip, so we need "just" 10 Tomes and have a positive flip. I've been considering using an Arcane Emissary or some other model to deliver the golems right onto the battlefield through Ice Mirror, but this will get us -1 to Ca or require the Shattered Heart upgrade which costs 3 Soulstones. The Scrap Markers will be delivered as Ice Gamin models that we can summon with 6 Tomes, given the buff from Essence of Power totem. Anyway, this seems really inferior to real summoners like Nicodem or Gamelin, and Rasputina can do a lot more if she has Shattered Heart upgrade, 11 Tomes at hand and a Soulstone, especially if she doesn't need a Union Steamfitter for Scrap Markers and an upgrade to summon. So, how does one use the Ice Golems at all?