Peturd

Should have clarified, was against insomniac dreamer. Summon dreamer would have been a bigger issue with drudges for sure. As is, you want to waste ap on killing them, all the power to you. They’ll be back. And the heal pulse is nice. And yeah, Zerg rush out 3 turn one. Toni’s card draw was good by turn 3 if more were needed. Took two miners, a steam fitter, Howard, Fitz, and the gunslinger. Coppelius almost got the gunslinger, down to 1. But the drudge pulsed back up to 2 twice before she finally got killed. Drudge can walk then gunslinger bonus push to him. So got to double shoot a lot. I saw all this debate so tried to keep Toni line of site until people settle on a bit more of a consensus. New Dreamer was meh.

Got a game in against Dreamer today. Was really easy to keep dredges coming out, and slog things down. Went minion heavy. Her ranged attack seemed to be the way to go! But she can swing between it and out of it pretty reliably. Fitz was soooo much more useful just being around. And a drudge escorting a gunsmith made a pretty potent combo. Felt different but in a pool of Break The Line Wedge, they worked really well. Lots of extra interacts, walks, or concentrates as required. Took Bait and Switch and Detonate Charges. There is tons of scheme markers in a cluster it’s hard for the opponent to see everything coming or do anything to stop the obvious ones.

Definitely an interesting take on Toni! Besides the obvious leaning towards schemes, they also get slightly more resilience for the minion heavy crew her abilities encourage. Both her and the dredge have some healing now, to go with Mouse’s. And the swarm feeds into it. Plus the wording on Stand Together makes Fitz even better by him now making potentially everyone armor 1 and hard to wound. I can definitely see taking either or depending on lots of factors. Have to wait to Sunday to test it out!

Legs look to have changed position to suit as well!

I’ve had some luck with the order Initiates. It’s nice to be able to force a min 4 (+1 from stampede) hit out of a cheap minion when it comes up too. Like jackalope ties something up then charge. Have had them punch above their weight often enough. Usually a once a game opportunity, but relatively easy to force when it happens. They can be fast, or stealthy as required. Overall I rate em. But mostly I agree with Jordan’s assessments (and agree with the pedantic pointing out that silent ones aren’t the core minion). Though I’ve never played or faced Mei.

So, how is everyone feeling about gg2? My knee jerk was it would be bad for Toni but the more I settle in on it, there are definitely some good pools for the M&SU. Union miners and steamfitters might have a use, which is nice. Miner can get detonate charges so easy. Versatiles help of course. I’ve like Toni in Leylines in the past, same as turf war. I could even see break the line sometimes. Just not symbols. Thoughts?!

I try to save a tome for Kaeris to get an extra pyre out if hitting a non-burning enemy (since smolder only works if they are already burning). So a lot of her activations get me 3 pyres total. Sonnia has potential for more obviously though. I feel like the most important difference (as you allude to) is Kaeris can "run and gun" and fly. Sonnia may have 14" range (same as charge 6" and 8" range) but Kaeris can be a scalpel choosing targets in a way Sonnia can't as part of that range (the charge move) is changing your attack vector. It also is often spent charging into a pyre getting burning going on herself. Sonnia does have her totem for firey presence, but it doesn't compare to the self burning Kaeris and wildfire can get stacked turn 1. And Sonnia needs to walk to get into pyre positions, which must all be in a line or cluster at the same spot instead of up to 24" apart like Kaeris's two. Allows Kaeris to drop an "aggressive" and "defensive" pyre the same turn. Straight up though Sonnia feels like the slower moving slightly more power to her spells version. Kaeris having less magical umph but making up for it with her speed and tricks. And based on every anime I've ever watched, that makes Kaeris the protagonist, so Kaeris will win! hahaha

Oh! A Colette who uses smoke (ie shadow markers) and can do a concealing aura and stuff along those lines. Kind of buff the defenses of your crew or conceal them! Anti-shooting Colette!

So many ideas, likely none even close to what we'll see. But random speculation is fun: Beast summoner Marcus Melee beater Marcus Old school blaster-master Raspy Raspy who summons gamin from ice pillars, or golems from multiple Kaeris who does the same but with pyres Kaeris who uses her sword she wears on her model Toni, Union President - operating a little bit like Lucious commanding her own models Hoffman with command construct (which he should have had already!) Sandeep a bit like the spell eaters; spells switching between different element types (burning, poison, slow) Maybe a tanky version of Mei Feng ... who uses burning for more defense? Give a job to the forgelings fiery presence Colette is hard ... The possibilities are endless!

Fair point on Kaeris. I like Elijah and less often but sometimes a firebranded. I’ve been playing without putting magical training on a soulstone miner for a while now expecting either the living only change or worse. So fire branded aren’t actually a bad carrier. Tried them in maybe 6 games. With all the injured, they are a bit more accurate than they appear. All work with the totems pace (though Elijah is usually riding with the mech rider) and the fire branded can use the totems burning to heal. Never have taken a fire gamin. A good overall point on Marcus, though I never declare Neverborn. I like Marcus and chimeras looks, and style. It’s just not good enough. When I say try to carve out a niche, I truly mean Try with a capital T. I haven’t seen a pool I prefer them in. But won’t go a year without getting games in with him (or Raspy).

I dont have Colette or Sandeep so removing them from my thoughts: Kaeris feels like a good pick outside of turf war. And Toni (or Hoffman) should have some good play outside of symbols. Both depending into the pool of schemes, deployment and opponent of course. No love for Mei, but maybe I’m not seeing something. I like Raspy more than most, but this doesn’t look like her gg (still good at denial as always). Marcus got a boost, will try to find a niche for him in this packet. I think overall I like Kaeris better, but a plus is initiates are now one of the best targets for magical training. The obvious crews to take death beds are also targets of it (December/wildfire/elemental/foundry are all near their own markers a lot). Union miners should be able to get detonate charges easily if you keep em alive. Vendetta got less appealing for Coryphee and gamin using the replace trick (don’t usually like that scheme anyway). Some poorly laid out thoughts from a player in a different meta ... for all that’s worth. Hahaha

Where is this info? What were the sub 30 masters? Mei, Raspy, Marcus, and?

Appreciate the quick answers! Firebranded aren’t amazing but the heal is nice when they have the rider, eternal flame etc to pull off. Or also when you have 6 burning on an enemy with 1 health left. I have been playing it that way in my first 4 games with Kaeris and just started to doubt myself. Can be a clutch heal and they are good mop up duty on injured targets down at 3/4df.

Firebranded have a bonus ability Embrace the Flame. “Reduce the value of the burning condition on the target and any model within (3) of the target by any amount. The target heals an amount equal to the total value of Burning reduced this way (to a maximum of 3)” So, does the amount have to be the same for each model? Can I choose 0 on the target, and 2 on a model in range of the pulse, and have the target heal 2? Or does it have to be the same amount for each model affected?

And the things that ignore hazardous, or have huge WP. Or are trying to out scheme and out maneuver you. Tonis is a sword. Plaag stabs people before they can stab him. But it also works to dodge, parry and counter attack with a sword. Plaag is in a tough meta, and faces the top players in vassal. If you don’t like his style list: Try the other opinions here where you play. If it works great. If not try his. It’s a fun game. So just try everything!

She has legit swagger. A person who has Pandora open her box in front of her and says "that's cute ... I've seen worse" and goes back to doing her work. I like it. And there is definitely some dynamics in the renders uploaded now. A whole keyword of worth in the swirly bits around Harata (he at least took any dynamic excitement Beebe might have had)

I personally see Howard in 2/3 of my lists. And I don’t think that it’s all OOK and Versatiles. Plaag likely plays it that way though, and is almost definitely better than I am. I find the rest are all just dependent on the pool, opponent and board. Going to be shot at by everything; bring the Captain. Amina was mvp against Nephelim the other day just for denying charges and obeying them out of combat so I could kill 1 at a time. Id take Fitz against someone like Anya or Colette maybe.... usually he feels like a bit of a waste. Okay to get claim jump though if you are against a crew you make it up there. Ive taken a Union miner to score certain schemes (not in gg1 much, though sabotage is possible, it’s so far to get a squishy model). Steamfitters sometimes land in to support Howard and Mecharachnids for me.

Box is in “Upcoming” now! Cool to see the renders!!

Kaeris is pretty solid even with a couple stinkers in her keyword. Elijah does WORK when you get him in position. Her henchmen are both adequate (one great, one okay). Firebranded are sometimes loved, sometimes not, depending on who you ask. I like them though. But Arcanist versatiles make up for the smaller keyword choices. Hoffman is a good master, but personally I think if you have M&SU already there’s not many pools where the two aren’t just interchangeable. Once you have one, the other is slightly more redundant if you are going for a “get three crews to cover my bases” approach.

That is the kind of explanation that, if I was the game designer and read that (assuming it’s not what wyrd meant) I’d instantly switch to “oh yeah, you figured it out! That’s exactly what We were thinking!”

That’s generous but ... Stepping away for a bit and re-reading it, I think the way I wrote it I would have taken it the way you did the first time. But you say what I meant more succinctly than I did. Hahaha Back on topic, I do wish there was more options to have a beast horde instead of just elites. I love the story with the swarm of birds. A crappy (low SS disposable) hound option would be great too. Just to give another play style option, for different pools etc

Nope, I’m not sure why you are assuming that from what I wrote, but I can only read from my own point of view. Must be a me problem

The problem with trigger off a trigger pouncing strike and onslaught. Marcus shouldn’t be able to set off attack chains that long, in a crew that can drop mutations for suits to guarantee them. The faq went the right way I think

Explorers starter has a loose theme. Mr. Ngaatoro is Gretchen's bodyguard/second/enforcer, a society man through and through. Tanenbaum is a society cartographer, he is assigned to Jedza right now, but a society guy primarily. And the Hopeful Prospects are just that. The other non-construct models, Jessie, Vernon/Welles and Botanists, who are also versatile are also direct society members loyal to the society over any master. Which is only vaguely a theme, but I kind of like how the versatiles all make sense to be versatile, as they'd hop from master to master as ordered by the society.

Ivan of course should be summoning, so I see not wanting to take him to Public Enemies. But I've tried it a couple of times, and he doesn't feel useless as a mobile turret of doom, his damage can be really impressive, and reliable to hit for min 3. Plus he hands out staggered. His crew has access to attack any stat pretty reliably, with Mordrake being copied, and shockwaves making attacking MV reliable too. Otherwise you either take high DF or high WP models to defend against him and are in trouble either way. Most of his keyword have Df 6 as well as access to passive (and low cost) healing. And his summons are far from Gamin for survivability. Just only summon stuff when you know it can survive. There are better masters for it, but I am beginning to think Ivan isn't a terrible solo master so far. Surprisingly flexible, and not because of summons.