Barmution

Competitive tournament performance should be the sole origin of erratas and esp. nerfs IMHO. These forums have been full of predictions about different masters being completely OP and then something like Kaeris, Tara or Dreamer (which was absurdly enough decried as weak by some to the point of shrieking when anybody even mentions Stitched ) comes in and wins several tournaments as solo masters or at least mains. I don't think forum consensus amounts to much because the really competitive players *are* looking at everything; presuming that stuff has gone under their radar is just that: Presumptuous. That said things aren't set in stone by any margin yet and the metas have yet to shake out. I wouldn't be adverse to an indirect nerf to Obey to change the wording on either Obey itself or the strategies to prevent models from taking Interact actions defined by the strategy while being controlled by the opposing crew.

It's worth getting the Zipp box just for The First Mate. Don't get me wrong, Zipp and his crew are awesome in their own right, but The First Mate is probably among the objectively best single models in M3e atm and he has some amazing synergies with Z due to having the Swampfiend keyword. He'll earn the 3 SS extra compared to a regular Silurid back in every game you pick him up in. Don't just take my word for it, proxy him into your next Z game and check it out for yourself.

The wording on both parts, ie. summoner and mimic, are near identical as that in 2e. There's very little reason to believe that they will change anything about the interpretation in 3e.

Are you sure about this? I thought the restriction that keeps Mimic etc. from working on most summoning actions was the "doesn't attach upgrades" and "non-master" parts? I have been interpreting "listing a model by name" the same way as Ogid. Edit: Searched and found the relevant FAQ in the rules forum and you're right.

Minion heavy is absolutely viable with the Freikorps although that would IMHO put an even greater value on Hannah's Arcane Reservoir due to the card hunger stemming from both Shouting Orders and some minion specific abilities. And Hannah is great value on her own to boot.

I agree that you don't bring him for killing, but you can't bring him for much else either. 2 attacks per turn to generate relatively easy simple duels that requires 7s to go off is pretty mediocre unless your opponent actively A. Clumps up or B. Summons smaller, low hp models. The scheme marker clearing anybody in your crew can do with the grenade belt, the Librarian and Hannah can even Siphon Power to get the suit. The Cover part doesn't come into play a lot in my experience and for it to do so (and in general) Laz needs a lot of attention from VS to get into a good position or keep up with the guys he's supposed to give Cover to. Is he bad in himself? No. But the opportunity cost to bring him along and support him when you're already packing Arik and Hannah 99% of the time is too high, IMHO.

I'm still pretty convinced that the Wanted Criminal on a Librarian (which you wrote about in another thread) is a contender for the best 2 SS investment in the game due to Swagger and them gaining an engagement range from it.

Sorry for editing my answer like that, just realized that my answer was intended to reflect the usefulness of the rocket launcher on those guys in general, not just through the Give 'em Hell trigger. Still a big thing to be aware of for those using VS.

Yes, that's true but you can still get solid use out of the launcher on the model's own activation. Less flexibility/awesomeness during VS' activation but still pretty good.

I think BBB is great in any crew but extra awesome in Zoraida as she can obey him to Calculate and then refill her hand from the improved deck. You'll always find another good use for those 9 SS but the deck rigging that combo gives you allows Zoraida to do fill her crew multiplier role even better IMHO. I would mostly pick him up in a pool that dictates you build a somewhat elite crew, tho.

Rocket Launcher is good, Rocket Launcher on a focused Librarian or previously activated Freikorpsman who has a built in ram from his bonus action is awesome. Von Schill's strength is the flexibility his upgrades gives his crew, esp. movement from the Rocket Boots or the Assault Shield (the bonus action). Denial of scheme marker based schemes is trivial due to the Grenade Belt upgrade and he himself is ridiculously tanky if you put some healing into the crew and can charge out of engagement so he decides when he's tarpitting and when he's gunning for objectives. I wouldn't really consider using his attack actions unless you've got a desperate need to remove stuff that's either HtW or in Cover but his support both in Shouting Orders and the upgrades allows your crew to be flexible to the point of your opponent having to commit to suboptimal choices. And remember that the push from the Load Up comes before the action from the crow trigger, allowing for some element of surprise. I keep seeing people trying to play VS as a killy master. That's not his thing anymore and you will get disappointed. But IMHO he got way more awesome and the Freikorps are now able to get VP from almost any Strat and Scheme pool. PS. Don't bring Lazarus, he's just not worth it in 95% of match ups.

It's nothing to plan around but IMHO it's a strong option if the opportunity arises to say, kill off some squishy models that otherwise would be hard to get to (backfield Changelings, many totems, things that rely on either stealth, incorporeal or defensive triggers to stay alive). The main thing that makes it differ from Ramos' exploding constructs is that the game state is quite unpredictable for your opponent to read or plan against: Vs Ramos he knows that during Ramos' activation, if he is within range of either constructs or scrap markers then he's in danger of getting some pulses onto him. Vs von Schill there is literally nothing except Trunky being within 12-15" of something that indicates if this is coming. What I described is the gist of the maneuver, there's plenty of other ways to pull off the killing Trunky part. And I personally don't think needing a 7 and 5 high cards and some specified suits or SS is a big price to pay for a 4 damage pulse situated basically wherever you need it. I don't think you could reliably get that much value for cards or actions with comparable use of plain shooting actions if you can guarantee at least 2 targets wo armor, esp. considering that the highest card in hand you need to pull this off is a 7. Just remember that this will be a one time play per match. You're not looking to set it up, you're looking for your opponent to put himself into a position where you can hit a couple of squishy or damaged targets. In many cases it will catch people completely off guard and if they play around it then you've technically lost nothing since it requires almost 0 setup and only units on the board that you'd field anyway. Will it win you games by itself? Probably not. But it's a potentially effective gotcha, a tool in your (explosive) toolbox. And it costs you nothing to field, so why not be aware that it is something that you can pull off unresisted with a 7 as your high card?

Oooh, that's pretty sweet. Another way to do it t1 is to add Vasilisa and use her Pulling the Strings to make the BBS take another bonus action. That way you get even more focus onto your other models as well. The only thing I'm concerned about is giving up a lot of initiative and movement turn 1 to make this happen but you can get some absolute bargains SS wise.

That would work as the movement comes from an action the model itself is taking.

That is correct. The flip is still subject to damage modifiers/limiters from sources like Hard To Wound or Cruel Disappointment, though. The logic behind this is that the model whose action/ability is the source of the damage flip is the one that gets to cheat it.

Add to that the fact that you can move Trunky ~15" (using place) and detonate him with two actions from von Schill wo Trunky even starting von Schill's activation w the Land Mines upgrade on him and it's actually a pretty flexible and high powered AoE with few real counters. Goes like this: Von Schill activates, does the Load Up w crow trigger on Trunky. Trunky pushes 2", attaches Rocket Boots, places within 6" and discards a card to swap the Boots for Land Mines. Von Schill charges Trunky who relents, hits him w Clockwork Arm and the Pull trigger. Trunky takes 1 damage and is placed within 5". Another unit with LoS to Trunky gets a free shot at Trunky to kill him and trigger his demise. Ideally Trunky is at 2 health before this chain of events starts or you'll have to fire with a model in step 4 that has easy access to 4 damage on a shooting attack (Rusty Alice comes to mind), or you could add a pre step with attaching an upgrade via Load Up w crow trigger to either a Librarian or Hannah within 6" (2" push + 4" range) of Trunky who could then use Siphon Power to deal 1 to him when using the action on the upgrade. Fun times!

I am also severely underwhelmed by the Firebranded. For key models in the keyword the Burning condition is already a resource, adding a 6 SS model whose main utility is based on spending that resource and has attacks that are mediocre at the very best, will not help you much. I'd get a medical automaton or Oxfordian mage OOK before looking at these guys tbh.

Not entirely sure about that. If you are of the opinion that they absolutely need the Lucid Dreams engine going from turn 1 then I agree, otherwise I think there's room for quite a bit of OOK models, esp. given the great variation among NVB versatile units and secondary masters.

I'd use Alphonse LeBlanc instead: Big beater than can potentially toss up to 3 models of up to sz3 10". Perfect for when you need that express bacon delivery.

You literally quoted the post where I told you how: Hog Whisperer uses his Pig Sticker attack for the mask trigger on the Sow. The trigger, Stick'em, let's a beast take any non-bonus action without the "no named model restriction" that Obey and Herd'em has.

She is very good in her own right in Neverborn, esp. since healing is somewhat scarce. Lucius bringing in Agent 46 that can copy Twist Reality off of Serena, getting a stat 6 on it and making the enemy unable the cheat against the attack is plain nasty as getting the Hole in the World trigger off becomes really easy, allowing you to mess with your opponents placement.

Get the Soulstone Miners too, they're amazing.

It doesn't. There was a fair bit of talk about this one during Beta combined with Thoon while he didn't have the Once Per Turn limitation on the Frozen Trophy trigger. People mostly ignored it after Thoon got the limitation but it's fairly potent if a little vulnerable to key pieces getting taken out. Guessing that it doesn't generate much of a buzz since Dead Man's Hand is expected to not be allowed as part of the Gaining Grounds rule set when it arrives.

I don't think Titania has won or been pivotal in any major 3e tourneys so far so you might have heard wrong She's pretty straightforward though, so I guess there could be a conflation with regards to her being easy to play at a relatively high level compared to some other masters. Outside the box I'd definitely recommend Doppleganger, Changelings and Investigators and you'll need at least one solid beater to copy attacks off of and I'd be tempted to go with the Rider if you're only getting one big model. Serena Bowman could also do some nice work with a Lucius crew IMHO. If you're looking for big minions to order around I'd get a pack of Nephilim, they might be worth paying OOK tax for w Lucius. You can expect a crew that will need to plan their actions and activations pretty thoroughly, that has a big potential for both card draw and focused damage due to being able to activate the same model a lot of times during the same round. The crew's weaknesses is that they're often going to rely on a couple of key models to get the heavy lifting done and there's quite an amount of moving parts that can be taken out to make things a lot harder for you.

I'm not really swearing to the Hog Whisperer but I think the main draw for him is the Stick' em trigger on the Pig Sticker attack, allowing you to take any non-bonus action, including summoning with the Sow. Combined with Tools For the Job you can get a LOT of stuff done with this guy but if you want healing then he's obviously taking back seat to the Slop Hauler.