Where To Go From Here - Pandora Query

[TehMik]

So, my current Pandora crew is her box set plus teddy.

I've been given a budget (and permission) by the significant other to drop about $50 to expand it. Currently my shopping list has the arsenal deck and the pre-ordered doppelganger.

I'm wondering what I should prioritize. My recent games, all two of them, made me feel like I don't have enough staying power. Of course, I'm probably playing her wrong, but that's making me lean towards a killjoy.

I know I SHOULD get the widow weaver I just hate the model. It looks stupid. Sorry, you wonderful folks at Wyrd. 99% of the time you hit the mark. Just not this time, in my opnion. So if anyone has a good proxy idea for that I'm all ears.

Anyways, thoughts on where to go?

[Dirial]

I hear Waldgeists provide staying power to Neverborn.

 

I would suggest Stitched and/or Beckoners next: They mesh well with Pandora's Wp shenanigans and give more of ranged game. Pandora struggles somwhat against a good ranged game and those two remedy that a bit.

 

If you normally play the Aura-and-Simple Duel-game with pandora I would suggest Tannen. He makes cheating a chore.

 

And what do you have against the Weaver? One of the few models I would actually buy in metal these days (if I played Neverborn).

[MasterDisaster]

Insidious Madness and Iggy just straight to mind immediately if your not a fan of Widow Weaver's model. I kind of agree with you, it's not the best metal but her rules are awesome so it's worth looking for a proxy however nothing jumps immediately to mind. If I come across anything I'll let you know. 

 

Insidious Madness' work really well with Pandora. They work wonders with Pandora. They are cheap, fast and interact with all sorts of Wp based effects. They can force the opponent to discard a card before cheating on a Wp duel when within 4". They also have a 2" aura that makes the enemy take a Wp 10 duel or fail actions that target the Insidious Madness which has all sorts of uses with Pandora and Co. Their attacks come with a Condition that lowers Wp by -1 and it stacks which is real nasty! They can also do a  2 action that forces a Horror Duel. Overall these guys rock with Pandora. 

 

Iggy also has some interaction with Pandora, he has Incite which Pandora and if memory serve Candy have as well which can be really crippling to an opponents plans. His other (0) can reduce the Wp of enemy models within  6 by -2 if they haven't yet activated that turn. 

 

If you want staying power then Dirial's suggestion of Waldgheists are a good place to start. Neverborn aren't really know for their abundance of tanky models though so your options are somewhat limited in that regard. 

[Mason]

If you're looking for some beeftanks, then Lynch's starter box will give you three Illuminated, which are very tough and hard-hitting for Neverborn.  They don't have much direct synergy with Pandora (other than being Terrifying, so hey, Horror checks), but they do punch faces in and refuse to die pretty darn well. 

[zFiend]

The Depleted are quite nice as well actually. With Hard to wound, Hard to kill, 8 wounds and once they die they inflict 2 wounds withing 2", they cost 4ss in game and are minions so they count towards schemes and strategies. 

[MasterDisaster]

Oh yeah! I forgot about the Depleted, only Df 3 but they are pretty tough to shift. On average it'll take 3+AP to get rid of one once it's in position. 

[TehMik]

Thanks for the tips guys! I really appreciate the help.

[Bodiless]

I'll also throw in Terror Tots as an idea. They don't help with the staying power issue, but they are dirt cheap (4ss), significant, and very fast with sprint. They make excellent objective runners. Graves and Tannen would also work well (I'm planning on working them into my own Pandora crew). Tannen has some seriously annoying tricks and Graves is durable as all hell.

[Tigerstyle]

 

 

Iggy also has some interaction with Pandora, he has Incite which Pandora and if memory serve Candy have as well which can be really crippling to an opponents plans. 

 

Candy doesn't have Incite anymore.  I thought she did as well before a game last week as I frantically searched her card for it

 

You won't wrong with all the suggestions above.  I like Teddy alot, he's just all round cool.  Silurids are also excellent scheme runners.

 

If you want tanky, have a look at the Hooded Rider.  He can be pretty tough to shift in the late game in most match ups.

[Myth]

Tigerstyle, on 06 Jun 2014 - 10:18 AM, said:

Candy doesn't have Incite anymore.  I thought she did as well before a game last week as I frantically searched her card for it

 

I think Candy doesn't get it directly, but can hand it out via a trigger on one of her attacks.

[Bodiless]

Her "Wail" gives you Mood Swing on a trigger. 

[Viagrus]

If you have any friends that play Neverborn as well I would suggest getting together with them and split a package of each of the following; silurids, beckoners, terror tots. The silurids and terror tots are excellent schemers, they're fast as all get out. Silurids are great for deliver a message because you can leap into BTB with a master and use the remaining 2 AP to make the interact as well as plant explosives, distract and cursed object. Tots are just plain fast with sprint, provided you get lucky with the flip or have the masks in your hand to cheat.

Insidious Madness are amazing. They're fast, their attacks are WP resisit and cause a -1 WP to targets. They are great schemers as well. Then don't forget that they require your opponent to discard a card in order to cheat.

The beckoners are great becaue they give Pandy some range she sorely needs. The base damage isn't great (1/3/4) but add some sorrows around and you'll start some pain, and give the target brilliance, couple that with their tactical action "A Pleasant Distraction" making the target unable to take interact actions. Then there's lure, the built-in trigger allows you to reposition and Lure another target if need be.

If the scheme pool is very scheme marker heavy (rather common) consider taking the Fugue State upgrade on Pandy and take primordial magic to really spread the insignifigance and that Doppelganger can copy that from the Primoridal Magic and you have some serious insignificant spreading potential.

Tannen paired with an Insidious Madness will cause the opponent to discard 2 cards in order to cheat he also has chatty which is a 6" radius that prevents enemies from taking interact actions.

If you want some hitting power I'd suggest a Coppelius. He causes horror duels and dealing extra damage to failed horror duels. His attacks give him +1df. If you use Doppelganger to copy that attack she can get the same +1df as well.

I know much of this "advice" doesn't really fit your request for staying power, but Pandy's crews aren't big on living long. They're about getting the job done and that's what Malifaux is all about.

[TehMik]

I appreciate the tips guys, thanks! Ended up getting Mr. Tannen, the doppelganger, and the widow weaver. I know I stated I didn't like her model but 1) her rules are amazing, and 2) I'm planning on either proxying or converting a Miss Step into a killjoy and would rather have only one proxy/counts-as to reduce conversion.

 

Next on the shopping list - depleted and insidious madness.

[Gorbad]

I would have thought Miss Step would fit better as a Widow Weaver than as Killjoy.

[Drix]

Coppellius is a solid beat stick as well. His horror tricks work well with Pandora's Misery, and he has EXCELLENT synergy with her Poltergeist totem (the Wp debuff aura + Coppel's Horror tests.) 

[Tuttleboy]

If you can't bring yourself to like Widow Weaver, an Insidious Madness or 3 would do just as well. They both go well with Dreamer, too. We all know it's just a matter of time before you pick him up. 

[TehMik]

Love the WW rules, not a fan of the model. Don't like the metal insidious madness either. As for dreamer, yeah, he's on the list. Along with collodi, and Colette, and the brewmaster, and...

[Therril_83]

I've only played 2 games with Pandora in 2e so far, but there is one thing I've been contemplating for a while that I got to try out in my last game.

The sorrows have this nice (2)-action called Doldrums that hands out paralyzed. The problem with it is that Sorrows usually doesn't live very long when the opponent starts closing in. So I've been thinking of a way to get them closer to the enemy without wasting AP (primarily their own, but also don't want to use a model solely for pushing the sorrow). Last game, I tried using Mr. Graves to push the Sorrow forward, as he follows along after the push, it's not really a waste of AP as it saves himself using a Walk action.
So by setting up a couple of Mood Swings the turn before, I managed to get two activations before my opponent could really anything about it, and I pushed the sorrow up and managed to paralyze Yan Lo, which felt awesome for an entire 15 seconds or so, until I remembered that Chiaki was standing behind the corner and could just remove the condition
But still felt like a confirmation of sorts that the idea works.

 

So this was my long winded way of saying: consider adding Mr. Graves to your list. He doesn't really do much in the Wp-department (he has the no-charge-aura, but that's not much to talk about), but with the pushes he can do both to your crew and the opponent, as well as some decent stayingpower (only Df4, but armor+1 and Hard to Kill together with 9Wds isn't bad when you compare him to what's in Pandoras (start)box) he's a pretty versatile model that can give you alot of help.

[Bodiless]

So this was my long winded way of saying: consider adding Mr. Graves to your list. He doesn't really do much in the Wp-department (he has the no-charge-aura, but that's not much to talk about), but with the pushes he can do both to your crew and the opponent, as well as some decent stayingpower (only Df4, but armor+1 and Hard to Kill together with 9Wds isn't bad when you compare him to what's in Pandoras (start)box) he's a pretty versatile model that can give you alot of help.

 

He also gives you a model that attacks Df, rather than Wp, so you aren't totally one-dimensional in your approach. 

[TehMik]

Yeah, but Kade and Teddy do that quite nicely. But there is nice synergy between Mr. G and Mr. Tannen.