Phillip and the Nanny

[graeme27uk]

What are they good for? Why take them?

[rancor709]

He is basically card draw, deck manipulations as well as enemy scheme removal.

[Patzer]

I have only played with them once, but I were not impressed at all. Can anyone pitch me why I should take them before going with, for instance, Mortimer?

[MasterDisaster]

Well looking at the card I'd argue they are pretty damn good. Tough to deal with thanks to HtW, Manipulative 13, Df6 and Wp5. That right there isn't going to be the easiest model to get at. On top of all this he's also Henchman so can use SS to defend himself and when taken with Belles in the crew he can get around fairly quickly. 

 

In a game where cards control the flow of the game being able to mill the deck for good cards and discarding the poor ones offers you some really nice advantages so Lost Knowledge is quite useful in that regard. They can turn enemy scheme markers into corpse markers which is pretty sweet. Not only are you denying the enemy schemes but you are providing your crew with resources for summoning via Nico, Yan Lo, Spare Parts Upgrade etc. On top of this possibly the most stellar part of this models card is Chatty, denying the ability to interact can seriously cripple the opponents plans when looking at dealing with interact based objectives. 

 

Overall he's not a beat stick although his damage and triggers are pretty good all things considered, nor is he a tank but he's also not going to melt at the first charge of the game. For the most part I'd consider him to be the Resser equivalent of Mr Tannen, they compare quite well in that he is a support piece that can help you out and deny the enemy.

[graeme27uk]

Problem I have with him/them is that they are not combat based and don't really add to the combat prowess of a crew. Whilst being able to get cards and deny schemes is great, this just adds to the attrition war that Ressers do. But at the end of the day models walking around and being able to remove models (either kill or paralyse) are going to trump any other shenanegans.

 

Whilst its not about wiping out the other crew, a dead crew cannot interact or counter-attack.

[DeleteAccount]

Yes and no. Thing is, once an enemy scheme marker is placed, it costs a ton of resources to move, phillip makes that trivial. Also stopping interactions in the right place forces them to take down phillip, who might not be the hardest, but now it forces their hand.

[Nagash1959]

A 4 + is all it takes to remove two enemy scheme markers for a (0) AP action while dropping a 12" area of denial? Yes please. The only thing I'm not entirely satisfied with is Molly's lack of built in corpse usage.

[Dirial]

Problem I have with him/them is that they are not combat based and don't really add to the combat prowess of a crew. Whilst being able to get cards and deny schemes is great, this just adds to the attrition war that Ressers do. But at the end of the day models walking around and being able to remove models (either kill or paralyse) are going to trump any other shenanegans.

 

Whilst its not about wiping out the other crew, a dead crew cannot interact or counter-attack.

 

Schemes like Plant Explosives, Distract, Deliver a Message or Spring the Trap make me disagree with you. A killy model is not always the better option. Although I agree that Philip has abetter place in a straightforward crew that has the killy part down on it's own. 

[Daysleeper]

A 4 + is all it takes to remove two enemy scheme markers for a (0) AP action while dropping a 12" area of denial? Yes please. The only thing I'm not entirely satisfied with is Molly's lack of built in corpse usage.

 

Why not play Phillip with an other master?

Btw. does anybody know how the model will look like? I'm still reading the old fluff and already know that phillip is just a head with no body, but i don't know (yet) who his "nanny" is.

I realy hope the model looks fantastic as i realy want to get it.

[DeleteAccount]

The nanny is a new thing. We have seen Phillip in a pram, but Molly was the one pushing it in those instances. She probably summoned up a caretaker for him and hopefully will get some nice fluff of where she came from.

[graeme27uk]

Yeh, Philip is just a disembodied undead head of some philosopher/doctor type if I remember. Nanny I have visions of some spinster sort with bonnet and such... Big Victorian-style pram.

[Daysleeper]

Phillip was a student that survived Kytheria and then (after dying in a sanatarium) his head lead seamus/molly/raspi/Lady J to kytheria

[Nagash1959]

Daysleeper, you're very much on the money with that. Seamus and Nicodem will LOVE this guy for what he does. I only mentioned it because he's still designed as Molly's Henchman (and I fully support Henchmen being designed to augment their master) and presumably Philip will be part of Molly's box set given the current way the crews are being done. While I can see Molly taking Spare Parts when Philip is around I love her native upgrades too much to consider ditching one. Mind you, I am saying that entirely from a Theoryfaux stand point until I get to put in table time with her (damn you for being so fun Yan Lo!). It feels like he has a great action that could support his crew, but his crew won't have use for the action.

 

 

EDIT: As for the model, Philips head will be in the pram we've heard of in stories, obviously. I'm hoping the Nanny is going to be a big hulking monster like the Student of Sinew, but with a pretty floral bonnet.

[AL the zombie]

I played Philip throughout the Beta. I haven't played Philip In his final form but just from looking at the changes i'd say in certain scheme pools He can be a huge presence. Being able to activate late and discard 1 possibly discard 2 enemy counters can make any of the counter based schemes difficult. and then there is always corpse bloat on Philip. additionally his card draw with crooligans or just finish the job models could get silly. Molly loves cards like Nico loves corpses and being able to draw 2 and discard 1 is a great chance for her to get suites she needs for triggers or just another card for discard fodder. her o action obey for him can also net you a chatty manipulative 13 model which I could see being useful.

[Math Mathonwy]

EDIT: As for the model, Philips head will be in the pram we've heard of in stories, obviously. I'm hoping the Nanny is going to be a big hulking monster like the Student of Sinew, but with a pretty floral bonnet.

Due to the Manipulative 13 ability, I, unfortunately, doubt it.

[Nagash1959]

to hopes.

 

[AL the zombie]

Due to the Manipulative 13 ability, I, unfortunately, doubt it.

Yep It is why I was hoping In the Beta he would keep terrifying instead and just make his Nanny sculpt be grotesque to the max in order to justify the tn.

 

I'm still really looking forward to the model and art as I plan to give Wyrd more of my money as soon as the molly box hits.

[Dryzen]

Well Phillip is a spirit and an undead.... So what about taking him with Kirai? Hear me out here, this is total Theoryfaux but just something kicking around in my head. 

 

First, the obvious. Kirai is a summoner. So who doesn't like hand manipulation to try and get a few more spirits on the board? Not much more to explain here. Moving on.

Second, Kirai's crew is already quite aggresive and pretty damaging in their own right. She doesn't really require another beatstick, imo. What she could use some help with is scheme markers, something Phillip should be able to produce easily with the help of "Adversary" seeing as he is a spirit. Just need the suits for the triggers, which his above use can help with.

Third, Phillip is undead. Which mean if he is close enough to Lost Love or Kirai, you can use him to summon Ikiryo. Which is nice, since if you take Phillip you probably won't be taking Datsue Ba, who is also undead. So at least you keep this part.

 

Finally, Phillip can also consume enemy scheme markers and create corpse counters. Well you might be thinking something along the lines of "Well Kirai has no use for corpses", and you're right. She doesn't. However, Toshiro does. Toshiro is a very interesting pick with Kirai as his "Diamyo" aura has good synergy with "Adversary" and since Kirai tends to take many minions this seems like a good mix. Now about those corpse markers. Toshiro has a 0 action that allows him to consume corpses to hand out Focused to minions. So now you are dealing with Focused +1, double positive flip minions..... In a strategy like Turf War that could be pretty lethal. Not to mention if you take Toshiro's Command the Graves upgrade, he could also summon Ashigaru for you, and more summoning doesn't hurt. This might also be useful in Recon now that I think about it.

 

This is something I would try if my Kirai crew wasn't still in pieces. Keeping Datsue Ba and Izamu off the board in favor of Phillip and Toshiro... just a thought.

 

Morgue, on 27 Apr 2014 - 4:34 PM, said:

 

I've had quite a few games where I opted out of Phil and Nurse + Crooligan + Dead Doxy and it was just miserably difficult to put him in place and get anything out of him before he was focused down in a single activation by any striker-type model.

 

Yet another thing Kirai can do for Phillip. Since he is a spirit she can move him all over the place by switching him with other spirits. :-)

[Morgue]

Phillip fills in a decent niche for the Resurrectionists that's probably our least represented; scheme manipulation. Outside of a couple models in-faction, we don't have many ways to mitigate enemy scheme placement, and so Philip does a good bit to help with that by either destroying them, or removing their ability to place Scheme markers.

The problem I've developed with Philip post beta wave 2, is that to be anywhere near successful, you pretty much need to also hire a Crooligan and a Dead Doxy. Obviously Molly and Nicodem can just summon those models into the game, but Seamus, Tara, McMourning, and Yan Lo have to spend an additional 10 SS to really fully utilize Philip.

(The Crooligan for Creepy / The Mist to bolster his in-faction abysmal defenses, the Doxy to greatly increase his mobility, and by extension, utility)

I've had quite a few games where I opted out of Phil and Nurse + Crooligan + Dead Doxy and it was just miserably difficult to put him in place and get anything out of him before he was focused down in a single activation by any striker-type model.

Still though, he's quite powerful if he's got the right models around him, and his ability to destroy 2 Scheme Markers for a 4c and a 4 of anything isn't something to just laugh at. Sacking a friendly Scheme marker for a card isn't too bad, and synergizes well with bag Seamus.