How should Som'er be played in a game?

[grave13]

I had an interesting discussion last night in the chat room on here. Seems that many people are playing Som'er differently than he was originally planned on paper IE. The back support/summoner role. Some are claiming him to be a viable front line support master. Now me just coming back into Malifoux I have decided to join in the gremlin fun. My gf is going to get the Bayou boss crew box. And lately I have been reading alot on Som'er.

No two people seem to play Som'er the same way.... With that being said. I see him playing a bigger role in a crew instead of him sitting in the back burning up his AP just to spam gremlins or other lesser crew. I want to know how I can get the most damage output from him and his crew? Is there a way to turn his crew box into something to be feared? I was messing with a crew creator app and made up a list for his crew box for a 50ss game.

Som'er

can o' beans

Encouragement

Family tree

Skeeter x2

Bayou gremlin x3

Burt Jebson

Gracie

Lenny

I'll love it and pet it....

Slop Hauler

Now im not sure with this list that the upgrades will work well for it or not. I would value advice on this crew list as im trying to create a solid 50ss crew list for casual play using Som'ers crew box.

What are your thoughts on how Som'er should be played? and advice on the crew list posted above please.

[thebarbalag]

The big question with this list, and any list for Malifaux, is: for what Strategy and Schemes? This looks like a solid list for a number of pools, but without knowing, it's hard to gauge. Som'er is a bit of a specialist, better and things like Reconnoiter, and marker-based schemes than say, Turf War, or Reckoning, or Assassinate. Not that he can't pull off those goals with the right list, but they're less "natural" for him. Gracie gives him an excellent heavy-hitter/tank which, combined with a Hauler can give the list a lot more staying power. Just remember, a "Take All Comers" list in Malifaux tends to be a bad idea. If this is what you own, no big deal, it should be fun to play with, if a bit vulnerable to good attrition and anti-summoning lists (watch out for Taelor). I'd highly suggest picking up The Kin box when it comes around (if you're not already waiting for the Gencon fairy to deliver it), as it will add excellent variety and generally give you everything you need to make a list for whatever comes your way.

[grave13]

Yes im waiting for more gremlin goodies to be released to brick and mortar stores. Gremlins will eventually have enough goodies to handle any situation in any scheme of Malifoux. Im eager to see more crew boxes come out. Really looking forward to something from Ma Tucket as she is suppose to be melee focused. But for now Somer will do just fine for a start into the madness that is gremlins. I think he is a solid choice in learning the play style of the gremlin faction.

[Robble]

My opinion is that somer takes far too much resources to be a solid summoner.

 

I like summoning with him turn 1 maybe 2 then get him shooting and stabbing.  because half dead low defense gremlins in range of something with blasts will wipe you clean off the table before your slop hauler gets to go.

 

Hes good in combat especially if you make them discard their hand first and if you have encouragement on sammy.

[grave13]

As for my above list. I havent picked it to play a certain scheme, i just made it for a general list to play casual games with. But I do hope to play games with different schemes to see how well it does in different situations. More than likely ill be playing against my gf and her Red chapel crew box. Im curious to see how well i can hold my own agsinst Seamus.

[grave13]

My opinion is that somer takes far too much resources to be a solid summoner.

 

I like summoning with him turn 1 maybe 2 then get him shooting and stabbing.  because half dead low defense gremlins in range of something with blasts will wipe you clean off the table before your slop hauler gets to go.

 

Hes good in combat especially if you make them discard their hand first and if you have encouragement on sammy.

Im still learing about somer. How do i go about in getting Somer to get my opponent to discard their hand? And im not familiar with sammy..what does he do?

[Brewmaster]

The biggest benefit about S'omer is he's been designed as the generalist of the Gremlins; he can handle a lot of stuff okay as opposed to the other masters handling a few things awesomely.

Let's say you want raw damage. The first list I think of is:

S'omer

-dirty cheater

-can o beans

Sammy Lacroix

-encouragement

2x Skeeters

With Encouragement on someone else, and Dirty Cheater on S'omer, you now have a master that gains free flips on duels as long as you cheat fate. The Skeeters can copy any 0 action S'omer has, so now you have multiple copies of can o beans floating around. The list is probably asking for a Lenny because hey, nearly free Thinking Luck for S'omer seems like a thing.

Beyond that... Tailor for what your likes are. I would have Lenny, a Slop Hauler, a Gremlin Taxidermist (with Dirty Cheater), a starter Stuffed Piglet, and 3 Bayou Gremlins. 2 stones floating could go to family tree if I need the people, Lenny's upgrade and 5 stones for Somer, or 6 stones for S'omer.

[grave13]

I didnt know that about the skeeters. Thanks for the advice. For the past week i been looking at the skeeters as a useless minature. Now i see its potential.

[Robble]

skeeters are one of the most powerful totems in the game.  they are fantastic tarpits... fly one into a snipers face and defensive stance... they wont be getting away and have to backtrack a fairly good hitter to kill it.  which means they wont be collecting schemes

[wizuriel]

Really? With Som'er been really liking Old Cranky. Makes the gremlins pretty hard to remove (until they kill themselves). 

[Brewmaster]

In meta game terms, Sammy Lacroix is the "Generic" Henchman the Gremlins have access to. Sammy's schtick is she's a copycat of Zoraida, and a copycat in general (represented by being able to take one of a leader's upgrades and treat it as a "Sammy" upgrade.) Sammy's got solid support potential, and can open up new avenues of "two limited upgrades from one master can be on the board". With S'omer, encouragement and pig feed are usually the go-tos to look at based on how your crew's built.

Old Cranky is definitely a playstyle choice. I prefer the Skeeters, but it really is the style of game that I enjoy more. Old Cranky provides solid buffs, and with a Merris Lacroix floating around, you can mitigate the bunching up issues you get with Cranky's bubbles.

[flindo]

I almost auto include burt in all of my lists, hes a fun model, dunno about Lenny with love it and pet it in this particular list.

[wizuriel]

general list I use (for scheme heavy games) is:

 

Gremlins Crew - 50 - Scrap

Somer Teeth Jones -- 4 Pool
 +Dirty Cheater [1]
 +Family Tree [2]

Old Cranky [4]
Bayou Gremlin [3]
Bayou Gremlin [3]
Gracie [10]
 +Saddle [1]
Lenny [9]
 +I'll Love it and Pet it... [1]
Sammy LaCroix [7]
 +Encouragement [2]
 +Quality Mash Liquor [2]
Slop Hauler [5]
 

first turn is usually pretty easy to summon 2 gremlins (between encouragement and dirty cheater and bayou 2 card get up to 3 flips an action). Gracie helps me summon and keep Som'er up with the crew. Lenny makes the gremlin firing squad, Som'er and Gracie just deadly in combat and between Lenny, Som'er and Sammy can usually overrun my opponents in Gremlins, piglets  and stuffed piglets.

 

Som'er + Lenny can do some absurd damage

[Rathnard]

The approach I've taken to using So'mer is what I like to call "Losing my way to Victory".

 

Basically summon Gremlins where possible and throw whatever I have into the enemy to prevent them achieving their objectives (Skeeters on Df stance are especially handy for that). Meanwhile my own models run around achieving my own objectives. Most of the time my opponent has put more of a dent into my crew than i have with theirs, but so long as I've claimed the VPs I need it doesn't matter.

 

So'mer himself has most often been a summoner for me, but only so long as I've had the cards (and the healing) for it . Otherwise I tend to take advantage of his flexibility, either supporting the crew or dealing a bit of damage himself. 

[grave13]

So Somer is pretty flexable on how he can run a crew? I do lije the fact that he can spawn new gremlins for his crew. The skeeters after learning more about them are awsome...just im not going to bank on the larva thing to spawn more skeeters... I would like to run Somer as support and if possible with the help of his crew threat elemination. He does have a wicked trigger on his gun. Lenny i see him as bayou gremlin backup. Add in Burt and Gracie just because why not have a few more members with decent wounds on them in the crew. Basicly I want to run Somer with a little bit of bayou gremlin spawning fun if need be and to be able to be able to handle threats on the board. As for upgrades what would you suggest i use for thr way I want to play Somer?

[Omenbringer]

skeeters are one of the most powerful totems in the game.  they are fantastic tarpits... fly one into a snipers face and defensive stance... they wont be getting away and have to backtrack a fairly good hitter to kill it.  which means they wont be collecting schemes

And they are fairly easy to mass summon as well contributing to out activation and deck cycling in the process.

[Vorschlag]

I mainly play Somer as a summoner and support master, if your keen on skeeters though and if you get the right hand spam their summoning after Somers to kill a couple of the wounded gremlins and get more Skeeters then use Lenny to fling them up field and can'o'beans everything.

 

Very situational but it could ruin your opponents day....then your opponent deploys the korp.

[Omenbringer]

You dont need the right hand to do this at all. It is very easy and consistently repeatable.

[grave13]

I have read mixed feelings on the skeeters. Some say they are hard to spam some say they are easy. So far im hearing more pros than cons on them. So what is the deal with spamming skeeters? If it is easy then what is the i guess you can say an easy skeeter spam formula? Im kinda new to the game and im trying to wrap my head around the play mechanics of Malifoux. Years of playing games like warmachine and hordes and MERCS have ruined me. Malifoux plays way differently where the extermination of an enemy crew will not win you the game. Im trying to get used to the fact this game is won by victory points. And i like that. It makes me not have to commit my whole crew to killing off the other persons master.

[grave13]

Also i understand the goal with gremlins is out AP your opponent. Is there a formula to exploit that in the Bayou boss crew box?

[Vorschlag]

You use Somers "do it like dis" to give the skeeters crows and then use "get ya bro" with either a cheated card or a stone to get two gremlins on 2 wounds.

 

Kill off the gremlins with the skeeters who have auto crows now and summon an additional two skeeters and you draw extra cards from the gremlins dying due to "survival of the fittest".

In the mean time Somer could have used his extra activations to summon more gremlins but you'd be spending your stones or cards to get this off, then again turn one nothing should be in range if they're not playing from the shadows.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but that seems the easiest way.

[Omenbringer]

Here are two posts that spell out the sequence very nicely.

 

My initial posting on the topic;

http://wyrd-games.net/community/topic/100949-for-wyrd-staff-regarding-skeeters-in-somers-box/?p=727022

 

And another posters that provides a bit more depth an alternate method;

http://wyrd-games.net/community/topic/102558-how-many-skeeters-needed-for-somer/?p=750950

 

The key difference between the two methods is that mine uses the Encouragement upgrade to deliver the wound that lowers the Bayou Gremlin's to the all important single wound (greatly increasing the odds of the Skeeter killing the target and summoning the new skeeter) where as the other poster uses Reckless and Lenny's protective aura to reduce the damage to a single point.

 

Either method can easily produce several Skeeters on turn 1 and as long as you have the Bayou Gremlin's for fodder turn after turn. The suit is important for this however getting extra cards from Survival of the Fittest helps with this.

[rgarbonzo]

You use Somers "do it like dis" to give the skeeters crows and then use "get ya bro" with either a cheated card or a stone to get two gremlins on 2 wounds.

 

Kill off the gremlins with the skeeters who have auto crows now and summon an additional two skeeters and you draw extra cards from the gremlins dying due to "survival of the fittest".

In the mean time Somer could have used his extra activations to summon more gremlins but you'd be spending your stones or cards to get this off, then again turn one nothing should be in range if they're not playing from the shadows.

Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but that seems the easiest way.

 

Skeeters are neither Pig nor Gremlin so they cannot benefit from Somer's Do It Like Dis action.  While it is possible to summon new Skeeters they are very suit dependant so if you have no in hand there will be no models being Larva'd that turn.

[Omenbringer]

Yep the Do it like Dis part is incorrect in my post (hold over from when it was possible during beta testing). I have gone back and added that note to my initial post.

[grave13]

Looks like im going to have to buy me a couple of skeeter blisters. Thank you omenbringer .if it hasnt been done yet the formulas to spam skeeters should be a pinned post in the gremlins section