Thematic Core Crews for Core Strategies (Jack Daw)

[Kalkris]

So, schemes and opposing faction aside, I want to hear what people think about (hopefully, mostly thematic) cores for a 50ss Jack Daw crew. For example, I figure this for Reckoning:

 

JD +7ss pool (5ss)

-3 Curses (0ss)

-Writhing Torment (2ss)

-Betrayer (1ss)

 

McTavish (10ss+1ss - merc tax)

-Scout the Field (1ss)

Ama No Zako (9ss)

-I Pay Better (1ss)

 

This is 30ss of bulky, scary things which leaves 20ss for other things, such as a Wretch (4ss) and 3 Rats (6ss), as well as Montresor + The Creeping Terror (9ss+1ss). There is quite a bit one can do with 20ss extra lenience, IMHO. Heck, the upgrades on Ama and McT are completely optional and can be used in a 12ss piece like 2 Drowned to compliment Ama.

 

For Turf War:

Same JD setup (7ss pool, same upgrades) (8ss overall cost)

 

Jaakuna Ubume (6ss)

Drowned x2 (12ss)

 

For this setup, we have 24ss to mess around with. We still need those stones for JD to keep alive since Turf War is a secondarily killy strat (killy strats need the stones, obviously). I *love* Montresor with The Creeping Terror (10ss). With his Ht3, most everything can see him on a more naturally-inclined board, and I keep things like Jaakuna nearby just in case anyway. I might even throw in Ama with Scout the Field (9ss+1ss) to throw at opponents, and maximize the usage of the Drowned (a model I would put to a 3 count).

 

For Squatters' Rights (assuming the taking of ALitS for ease of simplicity):

JD +5ss and same upgrades (8ss)

 

Crooked Man x2 (10ss)

Drowned x2 (12ss)

 

This is an easy 30ss core. You want to maximize your models so that getting those interacts in quickly comes second nature to the crew. Drowned can get those markers in and stick around in melee, so they are an asset to the strat. To keep the models working, I highly suggest Jaakuna Ubume (6ss) for Drowned tarpit work, the Wretch w/ 3 Rats (4ss+6ss) to out-activate to your liking, and *possibly* McTavish (10ss+1ss - merc tax) to keep JD as a viable squatter too (as if he needed more resilience). Ama no Zako (9ss) can also run tarpit work if you want that to happen.

 

Reconnoiter:

JD, same old hat (8ss)

 

Jaakuna Ubume (6ss)

Ama no Zako (9ss)

Drowned x2 (12ss)

 

This core is harder to justify at 35ss but it still works fine for the strat. Jaakuna and Ama can tarpit while slowly advancing, each assisted by a Drowned. JD helps move them up the field while the rest of your list holds the line on your starting quadrants of the board. This one is difficult for me to qualify, having not done enough of it, and as such I'm not sure what to recommend beyond the core. You will probably always lose this one to the Gremlin faction so in this case you may as well take Hamelin or Leve instead. A copout, I know, but a relevant one.

 

Stake a Claim is a strategy which I have missed all times except once in the Wave 2 beta, and due to its overwhelming complexity I hope never to deal with it again. But suffice it to say, I don't know what to take for it, in my endless inexperience on the strategy's front.

 

Anyone have opinions on what works for a core here? I mean, obviously the core depends on terrain (I am assuming normal amounts of such), the strat (the thesis of the thread), the schemes (with the only constant being ALitS, which can be accounted for pretty well with 2 Crooked Men under Jack Daw), and the faction of the opponent (as I said for Reconnoiter above, Gremlins will wreck JD's face by numbers so you're often better off choosing a different master for the task), as well as one big factor in casual play - the element of expectations. If you know what your opponent has in a faction, it is easier to figure out who and what they will hire. So, for example, if I choose Outcasts for Jack, and my opponent chooses Gremlins (and has a thematic Tri-Chi Brew Crew - but just that), I know what I will be dealing with there, so perhaps Reconnoiter wouldn't be too bad in the end.

 

Long story short, I want opinions on viable thematic cores for the Hangman. What have you got? Assume that the schemes will be attainable no matter how you draw them, assume the opponent is playing a viable yet manageable matchup in terms of faction (not assuming a mirror match) and assume a normal deal of terrain. Anyone?

 

~Lil Kalki

[Vanilla_Dice]

Not using guilty anywhere?

I would suggest in reckoning taking twist and turn, guilty and sue. Make sue tormented to help move him up the board then have him destroy things while guilty ties up/runs scheme

[Kadeton]

Yeah, "No Guilty?" was my first thought as well.

[Kalkris]

Not using guilty anywhere?

I would suggest in reckoning taking twist and turn, guilty and sue. Make sue tormented to help move him up the board then have him destroy things while guilty ties up/runs scheme

There are a few options I haven't really considered yet, the Guilty being one of them. I might just give Sue the Guillotine Injustice if I take him because that won't affect him.

 

I do know that the Guilty are pretty amazing for their cost, but being that I have no proxy for them (and want to wait for them to come out first), I've tried to decline using them. That being said, I could see that working in the Reckoning core I already have, as an elite crew of utter ridiculousness that just needs Torment to function properly. So for that configuration, in a general sense adding Sue + 2 Guilty (8ss +10ss) would shore up things pretty well, with an upgrade or two added in there somewhere.

 

Dunno the merit of taking Twist And Turn, just because it's rather card-intensive to get a singular action done. I can see a use for it if taking someone like Papa Loco, but I've tried to shy away from Papa Loco since he, more often than not, ends up being a liability. I *do*, however upon rereading options, see the merit of Twist And Turn with Ama no Zako's Swallow You Whole action, especially if things are failing horror duels as often as they may be in Jack's crew.

 

For a Twist And Turn-Jack centered Reckoning list, I might consider the following:

 

Jack +7ss pool (5ss)

-Firing Squad Injustice (0ss)

-Drowning Injustice (0ss)

-Twist And Turn (2ss)

-Writhing Torment (2ss)

-Betrayer (1ss)

10ss total for master augmentations

 

Montresor (9ss)

-The Creeping Terror (1ss)

Ama no Zako (9ss)

The Hanged (9ss)

Papa Loco (7ss)

The Guilty (5ss)

 

I wonder how it would work out. I like the idea of McTavish in here for defensive capabilities as well as his Hunting Rifle, but he wouldn't fit at 11ss (10+merc tax). I mean, I guess I could lay off of a stone and Montresor+Creeping Terror, but I *really* like the aura increase (albeit it can be on any hired Tormented model... but that leaves Papa Loco, who will probably be a liability by the end).

 

~Lil Kalki

[Adran]

Stake a claim

 

Jackdaw along with the push tormented upgrade and the take actions from tormented upgrade.

1 guilty to make Bishop Tormented

Nurse

Bishop with Oath keeper.

 

Turn 1

Torment Bishop.

Give him +2 wk from the nurse. (If you want, do this first then walk the nurse forward to give the guilty a tormented model to push towards)

Use Daw to move Bishop 1 walk with the upgrade 0 action. And then walk daw to make sure Bishop is in the Aura.

Activate Bishop, push him, move him a further 18" across the table. (or, just 6" and still drop a claim Marker just in the enemies half, leaving bishop in a place where he can activae next turn, move a further 8" (+3" push if daw is close enough) into enemy half and drop further claim markers.

 

Bishop is tough enough to take care of himself against almost all Ml threats, and 3 AP is good at moving and claim dropping.

 

It has worked well, although I found he wasn't quite so good stopping a Hoffman crew with 4 dogs and 2 watchers dropping more Claim Markers...

[Kadeton]

Bishop with Oath keeper.

I'd suggest that if you really want to go this route, Scramble is a vastly superior choice of upgrade for Bishop. +1 Wk might not sound like much, but when Scheme markers need to be 4" apart, a 5" Wk will let you place a heck of a lot more of them over the course of a game. Plus, Bishop really hates severe terrain, so Unimpeded goes a long way on most tables.

[Adran]

A lot of that depends on use.

If there is a lot of Severe then I would fully agree (locally we don't use a huge amount of severe, there is a lot more use of buildings, so I probably undervalue unimpeded) . The bonus 1" doesn't help all that much in scheme marker placing I find, although it does depend on the exact requirements of the scheme placement, but for that extra 1" to matter for the placement more than once per game is something I've not encountered, and so the bonus AP when I need it has worked out more useful.  

 

Thinking about it, I need to check the exact claim placing rules to work out if the 5" and his natural base size is enough to allow him to drop a claim every turn with out removing his previous claims. if it is, then it might be better, If it isn't then I prefere the AP when I need it (although the use of Nurses and Jack for extra movement can help Bishop a lot in this set up to still drop claims every turn on 4" wk.

[Kadeton]

No, it won't help for placing Claim markers. You basically need 3AP and a 7" Wk (or some other non-AP movement) to be able to start in base contact and still place a new Claim. (Scramble Bishop can do this with the help of a Nurse, non-Scramble Bishop can't.)

Placing Schemes is a different story. If you place a Scheme, walk 4", and place another one, it will have to be to the side and probably slightly in front of your model to avoid the 4" placement restriction. That means you'll have to walk twice before you can place another one in the same line (for Line in the Sand, say). A 5" Wk is just enough that with good placement you can always get three Schemes out every two turns.

If you're not finding that Unimpeded/Flight/Incorporeal makes a huge difference to the mobility of your models, then I'd say you're probably not playing with enough terrain - I usually aim for at least a quarter of the board area to be Severe.

[Vanilla_Dice]

In regards to twist and turn, don't negate able to use other models actions for the (1)action.

People think they are safe and out of range from whisper from beyond from a hanged behind cover, all already activated, only for jack to float up and cast it himself!

[zugov]

So...is there little else to discuss with Jack at the moment? I know people will be mainly waiting for the models to appear, but I kind of want to start looking at him now and go down the larger path of Outcast Resser that he, Levi and Tara will allow me.

[Kogan Style]

Having played Jack in tournaments, I can say 2 Guilty are very useful for saving the cursed upgrades to hit the enemy with. Their 0 action push makes them pretty mobile if you need to save AP for schemes, just don' t expect Murder Weapons to do much. having played all through the beta with 30mm bases, the change to 40mm did cause some grief, as they are not quite as mobile as before (10mm less mobile, you could say)

For Reckoning, I found a Tormented Librarian very useful when combined with Creeping Terror - 5" null field (taking suits away from stats) really can block melee monsters with inbuilt triggers.

For the JD Scheme Marker express (SME) - I always added in the Hodgepodge, as its cheap, hard to kill and can grant you soulstones with its 0 action (provided JD kills someone, which is what he will do when attempting the scheme marker trick)

Don't overlook Papa loco, lots of blasts, can kill himself (good for reckoning) and can give someone else (Montressor is a good target)  dmg flips is a bonus.

I used Montressor in Turf War to form the basis of the Tormented slingshot, it allowed me to get into the scoring zone on turn one (abeit not all the models I wanted, in heavy trerrain it is very difficult to fit 40/50mm bases through everything when pushing from different angles.

 

[Druso]

I tried a few days a go a crew that was the two 2ss cost upgrades of Jack, Montresor and the upgrade, Hanged, AmaNoZako, Nurse and Guilty, y did not take Ligeia because of is a easy way of gainning vp from the enemy. I think that nurses are a great model. I find problems in bring Montresor ss-efficient and I think that maybe another Hanged can be a better no-brain/easy option.

 

Also, i must try Loco in the future...with AmaNoZako and Jack so the mexican can go quickly to the enemy.