Hitting backfield models

[Bodiless]

How do people solve the following problem?

 

Suppose your opponent has a key support piece (slop hauler, pigapult, sniper, Sonnia, Rasputina, etc) that can have a large impact on the game without pushing very far forward and can stay safely tucked behind the lines. How do you go about reaching and neutralizing that model?

 

I started thinking about this because a friend who plays 10T was talking about a game against Gremlins where his first activation was to have a katanaka sniper focus and then shoot the slop hauler dead. And it occurred to me that without hiring on a sniper myself I don't really have a good idea how you solve that particular problem in Neverborn. If a model doesn't need to move up to have a big impact on the game I can't think of an easy way in faction to reach that model and take it out. I'm assuming here that the opponent is careful enough not to just leave an easy charge, and has some piece in position to counter-charge a model that just races forward to engage. Thoughts?

[Myth]

There tends to be three primary ways to deal with such targets:

 

1) Go to the target. Lilith is pretty much the best at this - I've based a Hans in a sniper tower on turn 1 with her - and has the added advantage of being able to use terrain to block counter-charges, and tangle shadows to escape after she takes out her target. Outside of her, your options are either fast movers (Tots, Leapers, etc) or free friendly movement (Daydreams.) But the target itself starts to matter. If it is just a sniper, a Silurid leaping up and engaging it can potentially shut it down. If it is a slop hauler, who you actually need to kill, those models might not pack enough punch. Dreamer, meanwhile, can launch a Teddy across the board if he wants to, and it can take out most targets - but once committed without support, that model is likely to die, so you need to ensure it is a worthwhile trade. Zoraida can take some pig-charging From the Shadows swampfiends, which can set up for some real damage if you get to deploy second.

 

2) Bring the target to you. Again, Lilith is really good at this with Tangle Shadows. Outside of her, Lure is the best bet. Pandora obviously likes Lure, and some Lynch and Dreamer builds can do good things with it as well. Even Collodi can get in on the action if he brings a Beckoner.

 

3) Shoot 'em dead. Hans can be handy in just about any crew, while I like taking Freikorps Trapers with Collodi.

 

Of course, what if you don't have any of this? Or what if the target is Sonnia or Rasputina, who take somee real effort to eliminate? One approach is to just have your entire crew be a quickly moving one. Focus on that movement early on (rather than taking potshots at enemies), so that you can hit his ranks as a group, and possibly focus on the vulnerable parts. It isn't the smoothest answer, and a good opponent can often make you pay for it, but might be the only option left in some crews.

[Bodiless]

I've really soured on Tangle Shadows as a good way of moving enemy models around. As a general rule, one of the things I find people will tech against when someone declares Neverborn is willpower attacks. That Ca 5 has just let me down too many times at this point to feel like I can base a plan off of it. I find I am much better off moving one of my own models up the board and then targeting it. That hinges on your target model surviving for an activation though. 

 

Lucius with an austringer or two is another option that occurred to me, as long as what you are trying to hit isn't sitting too far back. If nothing else the threat of the austringer could keep something like a slop hauler farther back from the fight. And Sonnia would just as soon not be dive bombed multiple times. That is a very master-specific solution. 

 

Neverborn seem to be really lacking a consistent way to reach out and attack key backfield pieces without turning it into a suicide charge. Another example of a model I've been pondering dealing with is Old Major with Cornhusks. Cornhusks is a stupidly potent upgrade, and the only real way to deal with it is to remove the model carrying it. How do you kill off a Df4, Wp6 12W model with HtW that is going to be sitting somewhere just behind Ulix and the Wall of Summoned Pork? It seems like most factions are going to have an obvious solution to this kind of problem, but for NB it's not clear that you can do with anything short of a frontal assault. 

[Myth]

Yeah, the key with Tangle Shadows is not to plan on it until you see the enemy crew. Then you decide whether it will be used on your models or your opponents, and what schemes you can use to make it happen. You can force it through late in the round if you have the right cards, but just spamming it tends to be a good way to waste AP (and Soulstones).

 

As for Old Major... if the opponent has spent 11 SS on a model that is going to be hiding in the background, that's honestly not the scariest scenario. Most of his bonuses only apply to nearby models. Even Cornhusks requires LoS... and taking Piglets, who are kinda expensive in Gremlins, and really require Ulix and other pig-synergy to perform well.

 

In that scenario, I think the issue is more likely Ulix himself - and that is true of a lot of summoning crews. If the opponent has a Master who has a summoning-engine that can operate independent of enemy models, then you have two ways to deal with that:

1) Rush them, and try to overwhelm the opponent before they can really get going with the summoning; or

2) Ignore them, acknowledge that you won't be able to go toe-to-toe with them once they have the numerical superiority, but take advantage of the first couple turns to gain the lead on the strategy and schemes.

 

Which of those two is viable will depend on lots of stuff, certainly. But that's kinda the summoning dilemma as a whole, and Neverborn aren't really alone in needing to figure out how to deal with it. And Neverborn do have some good options there. Honestly, someone like Old Major is relatively easy for them to kill if they do get to him - a low Df, high Wd model can go down quickly if you have some fast, heavy hitters to send in its direction. It is usually everything else around that is the bigger concern.

[Bodiless]

Between Ulix and Lenny you can summon a fairly ridiculous number of piglets in very short order. And if you have a marker dependent scheme pool they can make it almost impossible for your opponent to accomplish anything, in which case 11 ss is a great investment, and at Ht3 most tables I've seen don't present a lot of trouble in drawing LOS to Major. But that's probably a different discussion. 

 

It sounds like having a designated assassin, who might or might not be a sniper, is a good idea to keep in mind when list building. Something that can reliably run down a low ss model or tie up a more significant one. How to do that without turning it into a bad trade would then be the challenge. 

 

Blowing it up with a pigapult would be a lot simpler.

[cursingbulldog]

Vasilisa and a stiched or if your playing collodi a Coryphee can work. Move up late in the turn, attack then attack and pull back the beginning of next turn.