Spawn Mother Tips

[cursingbulldog]

So I've been playing alot of Spawn Mother lately in our local campaign and in regular 50 ss games and she's quickly become my favorite Henchman for neverborn. So far she's been a great points scoring models and I thought I'd share some tips and observations I've had since running her for others that may be interested.

 

First off her stats are fairly average which is actually right where you want her which will become clearer later.

 

Silent and Perfect Camouflage are great in the first couple of turns to keep her safe while she moves up into position.

Mothers Rage is great in swampfiend lists but I've only gotten to use it a couple of times due to either LOS issues, range or wanting to keep her where she is. 

The Hatching allows you to summon gupps on your egg markers if SM is killed . This is perfect for her and really plays into my strategy with her. 

 

On the back of her card her only attack action Menacing Talons is decent at Ml 6 and a 2/3/5 damage track. Its got a a posion trigger on the card and can gain a critical hit trigger with her upgrade. Useful but I don't often have her up in the thick of things until late in the game.

 

Onto the Tactical Actions where the meat of her card and strategy lay. 

 

First the (0) action Lay eggs. The main reason to hire her IMHO. You need to hit a TN 12 crow to lay an egg at cast 6. These egg markers can later be used to summon Gupps which are great scheme runners. They don't pop out right away which is both a blessing and a curse as they can't act yet but they also can't be killed before you get to use them. They have a 5 in Leap that only requires a mask to go off. I will almost always save a high enough crow specifically for this ability and go into the game allocating 1 SS specifically for this ability. 

 

The (2) Action Nesting Pool is how you summon the gupps outside of her being killed and using the Hatching ability. My use of this really depends on the flow of the game but in general unless it looks like shes going to die you'll almost always use this on turn 4. Even then its worth considering as you have to use this ability before laying eggs for the turn and if they kill you after getting another egg down they would just be wasting AP.

 

Lastly is the once per turn (1) action Nourish the Young. This increases the Charge Range of models in a 6 aura by +2 for the rest of the turn. This can be quite helpful but I haven't actually used this that much. This can be nice turn 5 if your gupps are in range to increase their leap. It could also be handy turn 2 as your bigger hitters are closing into melee but its best used early in the turn which removes your camouflage bonus.

 

Upgrades:

Protect the Young - This gives you a critical strike trigger on Menacing Talons and the ability to hire out of faction swampfiends if she is the leader. In a Henchman game if I'm planing on also taking Mctavish this is an auto include otherwise I mostly skip it. 

Hexed Among You - This lets you deploy swampfiends upfield during deployment. This can be great with Waldgiests to allow you to engage alot of units early after they charge and place their forests. If you don't have other swampfiends though its useless. 

Fears Given Form - I'm starting to like this alot more on SM. Late turn three I usually have 2 or three egg markers down and I'm going to either want her dead turn 4 or spend both AP hatching. After laying the turn 3 egg I'll charge her into range of as many enemies as I can, hopefully some that havent activated. You've then put your opponents between a rock and a hard place. They kill spawn mother to minimize the risk of passive damage and give you free gupps or either drain their hand or suffer damage to keep the gupps off the board.

The Mimics Blessing  - Only somewhat useful as you already have Perfect Camouflage. The card draw when killed though can be handy as you almost want Spawn Mother dead turn 4 or 5 and the card draw could get you masks for your gupps leap. 

 

 

Next is discussing why you are going to take her. She is best when Reconnoiter or  Interference strategies come up as her summons are significant minions and leap allows you to get into or out of engagement or into table quarters to score those turn 4 and 5 strategy points.

 

She is also great for marker dependent schemes like Line in The Sand. 2 gupps out on turn four can run to position and if you've got 2 masks turn 5 you only need those two models to get full points on alot of schemes. Breakthrough, plant evidence, outflank, or late game plant explosives are also all very achievable with 2 or 3 gupps. Power Ritual is a bit tougher alone but still possible. 

 

So here is my general game plan with her. 

 

Turn 1: If Reconnoiter or Interference are in the pool I'll drop an egg first action. I may also do this if power ritual is in the pool and my opponent has declared it or I'm taking it undeclared.  Otherwise double walk and then Lay Eggs. 

 

Turn 2: Usually double walk, either across the board for Line in the Sand or Outflank or forward for Break Through and Plant Evidence. Then Lay Eggs where most useful during these moves. 

 

Turn 3: Usually Lay Eggs first then charge into either a big hitter or a group of weaker models to tie them up. If I have a mask in hand I may lay this egg after the charge as long as there is no chance of her getting paralyzed to get the gupp to safely in case she goes down that turn. 

 

Turn 4: Almost always Nesting Pool. You need gupps to be able to interact on turn 5 and if you don't get them out turn 4 they can't do that. Followed by Lay Eggs. The only exception would be if she is low on wounds and i have a model that can easily kill her, like Mctavish or Nekima or even a gupps if she's low enough and I have a crow in hand to get a silurid out of the deal. 

 

Turn 5: Discard  my whole hand to get masks for leap, even some high cards. Its turn 5 people, its all about those sweet points. Whats that? ... Spawn Mother? Is she still alive? Really? Uh.... Lay Eggs and hope for that black joker? Otherwise what ever it takes to win. 

 

In summery keep her moving and get those eggs out across the board so your gupps will be in position to act turn 5. I want at least 2 eggs down by turn three. 3 is better. If you can only get 1 down you would have been better off just taking 2 gupps at the start of the game. Try to get your eggs in places where the gupps can get where they need to on turn 4 to act on turn 5, Ideally within 5 inches of where you want a scheme marker incase you don't have masks turn 4 or you need them to place 2 on turn 5. 

 

Edit: And wow this turned out alot longer then I thought it would. 

Edited April 5, 2015 by cursingbulldog

[Phinn]

I was already looking forward to Spawn Mother and Gupps release and after reading your post I am genuinely excited. I will probably get a T-shirt with Gupps that say "We love our Spawn Mommy" printed on it. Or "PWN with Spawn" or "Spawn or die trying" or...

 

How many Gupps models would you recommend to purchase along with Spawn Mother?

[cursingbulldog]

I only have 3 currently which was one of the metals i split up but as soon as they come in plastic I'll be getting at least another set. But with that I've only had need of more then 3 once or twice. 

[Adran]

The times I've used Spawn Mother (in Marcus lists) I made strong use of Nourish the young on turn 1 to give Silurids and Cerberus a 9" leap followed by a 9" charge, (and also consider makign the Cerberus fast from Imbued energies) to put a huge threat a .long way up the board. Its been surprisingly effective as a surprise tactic, and allowing Silurids to reach enemy scheme runers who thought they were safe on the flanks in the first turn. (That extra 4" is quite a bit on your threat range). So Activate her about mid turn, walk  to make ure she is in a place to affect as many of your leapers as posssible, and then lay the egg and nourish the young.

 

3 Gupps is probably the minimum you need. You'll need the nesting pool turn 4, so should summon 2-3 gupps at least

[decker_cky]

Marcus could run a pretty neat summoning list with the Spawn Mother and the Mech rider.

[Patzer]

Was thinking about fleshing out my Resser collection. Its settled, I am back in the saddle; Neverborn all the way. I'll get SM and a Gupp blister asap.

[Dirial]

Was thinking about fleshing out my Resser collection. Its settled, I am back in the saddle; Neverborn all the way. I'll get SM and a Gupp blister asap.

 

Ha! Suck it, Ressers!

[Patzer]

Juvenile's Wail actually brings some pretty neat last line of defence to the Gupps. Since it will turn more or less all swampfiends into quite scary beaters, and the opponent needs to account for that. Potentially a whole bunch of models with minimum damage 3/4.