First impressions of Brewmaster

[DevlinMudd]

After three years of playing Som'er and Ophelia (heh and crashing out of my last tournament!) I thought I might try my hand at another master. It was either going to be Ulix or Brewmaster, Brewie won out because a) I have his cards and he's easier to proxy. I played my first game with him the other day...

 

...and he spent nearly the whole game staring at the inside of a Death Marshal's coffin. So not the most glorious beginning. Even with the limited play time that I had with him I could see him oozing synergy with his crew and it really got me excited for when his box set is finally released.

 

Just from my theoryfaux afterwards I assumed that his crew works best in a tight bunch, to keep as many models as possible within the Drinking Contest bubble and Wesley's and the Brewmaster's Wp debuffs. In fact to me the synergies are so tight that it looks like you want to move in a single brick - Moon Shinobi target Wp with an Ml of 5, so they want to hit the poisoned models affected by Intoxication and Tipsy, the Golem wants to also be around Intoxicated models so its Sprung a Leak kicks in more often, and Fingers wants to be close in to share around the poison so the Brewmaster can make the most of it. This goes counter to everything I'm use to when playing Gremlins - spread out in case of blast markers! Does he suffer from this when playing Rasputina, Sonnia, etc?

 

Also the crew looks like it starts out very fragile, but once a decent amount of poison is spread around it would become nearly invincible. Initiative seems very important, and cards not so much, so I can see Trixiebelle being an auto-include most games just to increase the odds of winning initiative and getting the all-important Drinking Contest off at the start of the turn as well as sharing as much poison and swill out there on the models you're most worried about.

 

I'm looking forward to continuing my adventures with The Inebriated One and getting the know the little guy. There look to be enough tricks and combinations just from his basic crew to keep me happy for a good long while.

 

Or at least until Ulix's box set comes out.

[Hateful Darkblack]

The one time I got trounced by the Brewmaster, it was like this: The Brewmaster had this tarball with Wesley and the Whiskey Golem. It didn't kill my models. It just drew them in and held them there where they couldn't do anything but heal themselves, and the Brewmaster kept pulling more models in with Obey.

The Moon Shinobi hung out right outside the tarball, killing dudes as needed.

Fingers was off elsewhere, earning my opponent all the VP while everyone else was having a party.

It was totally devastating. He also had a pig and a few spare Gremlins around, but those were just speedbumps while he got set up. Having Killjoy and a pack of Ronin just sitting there unable to stop drinking, while fingers racked up VP, was a total boot to the head. What happened? My opponent rocked me. Fun game.

[Dirial]

That sounds like the one occasion I would have been happy to be a Malifaux citizen.

[DevlinMudd]

Ha awesome, sounds like what I was hoping to have happen. My canny opponent however also saw the crux of my plan and won initiative in turn two (must easier when you're Tara) and that was the end of that.

 

However I just read up on the Performer and oh my. Brainsplosion. I'll definitely be picking up Colette Du Bois's box set when it's out.

 

Now to hunt around for more mercenaries that play off poison...

[wizuriel]

What was the list? That is a lot of expensive models

[Malal]

Personally, when I run Brewie, I only bring Fingers dependent on the strat/schemes, Wesley if I've got the SS and never take the Golem or Moon Shinobi.

Trixiebelle and a Performer can put out a horrible amount of damage together and work well in his crew. The Performer I find especially useful, more poison and a pseudo-lure to drag into Brewie's bubble. I like Gracie for Saddle (put up Brewies aura, spam hangover then she drags him into the enemy without him having to waste his ap on walking). Really, any big hitter can take advantage of hangover, not tried it yet but reckon the Sow would be good.

[DevlinMudd]

Oh no don't tell me that, I'm still waiting for my Gen Con order with my Whiskey Golem! He looks awesome to put together and paint anyway.

 

I've taken Fingers a few times with Som'er, he sure is fantastic at Squatter's Rights and other Interact-heavy schemes and strategies. He attracts so much attention for the first few turns that the rest of the crew can dance around unmolested.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Take kang.

[rgarbonzo]

Why Kang, he does nothing particular against Brewmaster unless you are taking him against the Golem. 

[rgarbonzo]

On topic Moon Shinobi are perfect models for going against Stubborn models.  I had one charge and kill the Pale Rider thanks to the from Stubborn. Their Ml is 5 so either they will whiff or the opponent will try to cheat down to get you to a negative flip making low cards in your hand valuable. They are also perfect for debuffing crews or to be debuffed by Brewmaster himself!

[Fetid Strumpet]

No no, Take him with the Brewmaster. The absolute least fun games I've ever had in M2E were ALL against the Beta brewmaster, and the one model that showed up in just about every list I played against was Kang. He's just so good being utilized by the Brewmaster.

 

That of course assumes you are taking him as 10T, which as I just noticed this is the Gremlins forum, you might not prefer.

[Robble]

offensive brew crew, fingers on the offense giving out poison and bring some performers...

 

feels like playing a more durable Hamelin crew.

[Scirian]

Be aggressive with Brewie.

Running him into the thick of things is exciting and loads of fun.

Drinking Contest.

To bounce off Hateful, playing him against Freikorps, who are not "afraid" of bunching up? We spread out across the tree line turn one, turn two, Brewie rushes forward and locks down four models including the Von with Hangover and Drinking Contest. I held them like that for two turns. My opponent was unhappy.

His ability to hand out negative flips and keep his opponent where he wants him is brutal.

Gremlins: Francois (hits like a truck against negative defense duels?)

 

Ten Thunders:

It's like a whole other world in TT.

Kang gives positive twists to all minions and is a tank besides.

Izamu can keep everyone inside the bubble.

Graves and Tannen act like Mancha Roja and then some.

Sensei Yu is where it gets gross though: he can COPY Drinking Contest. Now you have two tarpits in the world.

[Mister Tezla]

I love the Brewmaster!  It took a few games to really be able to get his thematic crew down, but the last few tourney's i've played I wond out with the brewcrew. I always take at least 1 moon shinobi with him, simply because oponents who don't realize the Drunken Gremlin Kung Fu tend to at least try to tie when losing a duel ( giving the little grem-ninja a    ) and to bacily just keep my opponents on their toes with an atack that can target WP and moving shenanigans. 

 

 

Be aggressive with Brewie.

Running him into the thick of things is exciting and loads of fun.

Drinking Contest.

Agreed, but usualy I don;t move him in untill other models ( Whiskey, Shinbi, Fingers, etc) have had the chance to dish out a little bit of poison, making Brewmaster's "One for the road" that much more a pain. 

Brewy is  basically a support/buff/debuff/lockdown master so a lot different fro the damage dealing Ophelia or brute/summoning Somer, but throw his crew at your enemy and the wierd actions and poison synergy are alo of fun, and can greatly take even seasoned players by surprise. 

[G. Footman]

we still have to get the brewmaster vs mcmourning whiskey game in sometime Mr. Tezla

[Kalkris]

we still have to get the brewmaster vs mcmourning whiskey game in sometime Mr. Tezla

Make it a Shindig!

 

~Lil Kalki