headhunter

[Sybarite]

So what are peoples thoughts and experiences with this strategy? How do you play? What do your headhunter crews look like etc! I'm curious I'm going to try it soon with Colette I think because I believe prompt would be great in this strategy.

[480]

I have played a few games of headhunter with som'er and have really enjoyed it. Outactivating your opponent is the key. Aswell as not spacing yourself out too much on the board. Always having models close to retrieve markers and as a side note, models that can insight chain activations would also be helpful.

[valhallan42nd]

Take a note of this list of models:

Doppleganger
Fingers
Performer (Merc)
Rat Catcher

Those all have "Don't Mind Me," allowing them to interact while engaged. These should be your priority selections and priority targets, as they will allow you to score points by picking up head markers in people's engagement ranges, and are the most direct way to force that through without challenges. Things that push or pull enemy forces away are also solid.

Beware of things that have a 3 inch engagement range; they're going to deny a lot of interacts. For the same reason, you'll want them as well. A 1 inch engagement range will have to work very hard to deny interacts; a two inch interact is really worthwhile.

[AnythingBut]

I generally play Marcus for headhunter.

 

Firstly his crew has a decent list of things with accomplice and companion. 

 

It has lots of 'free' movement with leap which can be great as the markers cannot be placed in base contact, kill something, placemarker, leap to it, pick the head up. 

 

and a decent amount of things with high engagement ranges (looking at you Waldgeists) to lock down head markers you cant pick up and stop the opponent doing the same. 

 

All these great attributes for the strat in a crew that by its nature is fast moving and hard hitting!

[Malal]

Well accomplice/companion, don't mind me, engagement ranges and out activation have all been mentioned and I agree, the other thing to look at is moving your opponents models, so Belles with Lure, Performers (again) with their pseudo Lure, Teddy with his push on damage and my personal favourite Wong with his Concussive Force trigger. Have models die where it's convenient for you to pick up the markers

[asrian]

Don't forget the lowly Mature Nephilim and Wing Buffet (and any Doppelgangers around who can copy it).

[Sybarite]

Please keep this an arcanist discussion.

Great advice guys! Seems like Marcus and a couple of performers and waldgeists would do great!

[asrian]

Yes dear.

I think, honestly, most crews that have access to good scheme style runners, accomplice/companion,  or pushes/lures can do very well in this strat. For Arcanist that brings to mind Marcus, Colette, and (speculating as I don't player her) Kaeris.

Another step on the knockbacks/repositions would lead me to believe that Ironsides (with her repositions) and the Captain (with his knock backs) could be useful as well. Or Rasputina to kill things and icewall to block them from LoS once she places the marker (remember attacker places the marker), then, if nothing is in range have an Ice Golem throw a Gamin at it (if possible).

Best I can think of off the top of my head though that isn't Colette/Marcus related.

[Sybarite]

Hmm how do knockbacks work timing-wise when you kill someone? Is the corpse knocked back? What happens with the head marker? Realised I don't know. But yeah could be good with knockbacks to push people out of combat and then pick up a head.

[Adran]

Its very interesting, as you need your crew to be able to do 2 things. They need to be able to create heads, and they need to be able to pick them up. ( I guess they also need to stop the enemy picking them up).

 

I've seen players win at this without killing an enemy model they just picked up all therir own heads (It was Gremlins, so there was a lot of them), but I certainly wouldn't plan to achieve this, as it largely relies on your opponent to make a mistake

 

Models that have access to a 3rd Ap can be useful, be it a attack as a (0), or nimble, that can allow them to kill, move and pick up the head in 1 activation.

 

Knockback works after damaging, so before death. I'd guess it then means the head willl be from the knocked back location

[Ampers&nd]

the two games I've played of headhunter have been very cagey, especially when you are outnumbered (damn gremlins) the general feel was don't even attempt an attack unless you are absolutely certain you are going to kill, and even more certain that you are going to get the head marker first. This means ranged attacking is just about useless, and models with long charges (I used the emissary as I thought the free (1) action could be useful) are a bit of a liability. the hints on here are good to ponder over, thanks.

[MasterDisaster]

The Captain seems like a natural fit for this. 3" engagement range, he's tough as nails and comes with push effects. If I were playing headhunter I'd probably grab this guy without a 2nd thought. 

[Whut]

I've always wanted to use the Captain and I'm glad that hid pushes might come in handy in this strategy. However my concern is the exact opposite: I feel he is extremely expensive and therefore a squishy liability for the points. I mean, Df6 is nice, but aside from souls tones for prevention he doesn't have much else to brag about in terms of defense. I'll be glad to get proven wrong

My vote in this strategy goes to Colette and Howard Langston. 0 action interacts are going to be brilliant for keeping up the tempo, prompt can be used to let a far away model who already activated grab a marker, as well as get models unengaged so they can move to pick up markers. Howard is Howard. Difficult to argue with someone who can walk, flurry, and then 0 action to pick up a marker all in one turn. EDIT: Derp this is wrong

I also disagree that shooty models are useless. One thing that is awesome in this strategy is spreading damage early to allow for easier kills later, and slow. I can think of a model that can do both of these very well, is not a pushover in melee as long as it takes a focus action, and is even better with Colette.

[Sholto]

Agreed. Although not specifically relevant to Arcanists, I played Headhunter with a shooty Lucius crew, using the Riflemen to whittle models down to 1 Wd and the others to finish them off and grab their heads. If you are playing against a melee crew, they are coming to you anyway so they might as well arrive badly injured/ with their heads nearly hanging off

[Sybarite]

Dont forget the captains awesome df trigger though he should never have to take two hits from a charge.

Agreed Whut, although Rehearsed only helps minions and showgirls so Howard cannot pick up markers for a zero action.

Sholto: thats an interesting take on it!

[hippodruid]

Important to note:  Howard can't use a (0) Interact action with Colette as he is neither a Minion nor a Showgirl (although I want to see someone make the latter without using Miss Step).

 

Blah, ninja'd.   Unimpressively ninja'd, no less.  That's what I get for posting at work!

[Ampers&nd]

I'll alter my shooty models are useless to shooty models are a risk then:) there's always a risk of accidentally blowing someone's head off and just giving the marker away, and most players woulcn't send a wounded melee model into a shooting crew, keeping it  at the back (or even killing it themselves so no marker appears) to deny VP rather than seeking to score, The advantages of weakening an enemy crew are there as Sholto says, and of course if he's hiding/killing his own men it leaves you free to pursue schemes even if you aren't scoring anything for the strategy. 

 

On that note- what Schemes do you think work well/are risky to take alongside Headhunter? Frame for murder is an obvious one, but it does mean you have to drop one head token, I had success with breakthrough and plant evidence with marcus as we by and large ignored each other and just dropped markers, neither force having enough of an advantage to both kill and claim a marker in one action so neither taking the risk. 

[madaxeman]

I'm not sure you'd accidentally give a marker away - the marker has to have been killed by "an enemy" so if your shooting is too good, all it does is create a marker in the enemy area that they need to get rid of, wasting an action but not losing a VP

[Ampers&nd]

Whenever a model kills or sacrifices a non-Peon

model which it considers an enemy, the Acting model's

controller must place a 30mm Head Marker within

3" and LoS of the killed or sacrificed model before

removing it from play. This Marker may not be placed

in base contact with any model; if there is nowhere it

can legally be placed, then skip placing a Marker. Any

model in base contact with a Head Marker may make a

(1) Interact Action with it to remove it from play.

 

The marker has to have been killed by an enemy to create it, but Any model can pick it up for the VP, that's why it's such a shifty scenario

[Whut]

I'm honestly super afraid of Gremlins in this strategy. What are you supposed to do against 2 to 6 bayou gremlins that are off running schemes if you can't risk killing them (assume your opponent is smart enough to run them in pairs/threes and stays out of your charge range reasonably well)

Not to mention at a moments notice a gremlin can fast, walk, focus, shoot, drop a 13 of rams followed by a severe for 6 damage (6 with a blast? Can't remember) while simultaneously killing itself and denying the marker. Or francois who can saddle on a pig, activate, fast, charge, kill, interact.

[Ampers&nd]

yeah, my first game was against gremlins and it was really difficult for me to do anything, groups of grems who want to die so they can grab the heads quick, plus if they mob you they have enough AP to stab, move to the token and pick up, horrifically hard game.  In the end it was only a very lucky turn in which my Blessed used it's push to stand on the Head marker it just made and somehow survived vs two roosters that got me a single strat VP. 

 

(haven't mentioned the Blessed yet- any model with a push after damaging is great in headhunter for exactly that, you can kill something then push onto the head, with the Blessed's 40mm base they have to kill it pick it up, and with leap it can pick them up itself if it gets the chance)

[madaxeman]

 

Whenever a model kills or sacrifices a non-Peon

model which it considers an enemy, the Acting model's

controller must place a 30mm Head Marker within

3" and LoS of the killed or sacrificed model before

removing it from play. This Marker may not be placed

in base contact with any model; if there is nowhere it

can legally be placed, then skip placing a Marker. Any

model in base contact with a Head Marker may make a

(1) Interact Action with it to remove it from play.

 

The marker has to have been killed by an enemy to create it, but Any model can pick it up for the VP, that's why it's such a shifty scenario

 

 

OK - if we are being precise then ( )... "any model may make a (1) interact action..." ... does the use of the phrase "any model" mean that Peons and other insignificant models not normally allowed to do interact actions can pick up heads in this scenario... ?

[madaxeman]

and, back to general stuff... is the plan to have few, hard to kill, killy, fast models (Howard etc) to deny the enemy chances and then nick a few yourself, or to have the mob approach described above and have gangs of (Mei player speaking here) metal gamin and railworkers, soulstone miners etc etc to do the mobbing strategy? 

[Whut]

In my opinion there is no real "mobbing" strategy. That implies something like Ramos tossing spiders into the enemy would be very good when in reality they will just kill a few and toss the markers somewhere outside the spider's engagement range to pick up. It's more of a denial strategy. Try to get models that are reasonably fast and cheap (so you can run them in pairs) that can stay clear of engagement and can run schemes that require placing markers rather than engaging.

Off the top of my head I think molemen would be pretty good as a model that won't die in pairs (so one can pick up the marker of the other) and can escape engagement by pushing (placing?).

Fire gamin is another one I think will be pretty good. Not only can they do the above, they are also a threat enough to require dying, and if you can kill an enemy model with burning at range, he doesn't drop a head!

Just a few things I thought up literally right now

[Adran]

OK - if we are being precise then ( )... "any model may make a (1) interact action..." ... does the use of the phrase "any model" mean that Peons and other insignificant models not normally allowed to do interact actions can pick up heads in this scenario... ?

Yes a non insignifigant peon could pick it up. If they are allowed to make a (1) interact, then they can pick it up. Of course, if the model has a rule saying it can't take interact actions, the stratagy doesn't over ride that rule.

 

But seriously, you can pick up any head, it doesn't have to be an opponents head. Its like Claim markers, they don't actually belong to any player once they are on the board, they can score for either player.

 

The few times I've played this, I have gone for the vbalenced style list.

A few decently heavy hitting models to generate the kills for me, and then a decent number of classic scheme runnign models which can gte to the heads and collect them for me.

I've tried to go for the slightly harder scheme runners, and then use them to kill enemy scheme runners, getting me 2 things, 1 a supply of easily generated heads, and secondly it makes the opponet  struggle on pickign heads up, if they don't have the models left.

 

And if you are keeping your scheme runners unengaged, Ranged attacks become good again. I had good sucess in my last game using Von Schill and Rusty Alyce to kill enemy dogs that were getting near to head markers, and then having the heads bounce near to my crew.