Old Cranky

[Opheliaphile]

Greetings,

I just recently picked up my first Starter Boxes (Kin & Bayou Boss: I tend to jump feet first into the deep end) and I am really loving the play style of the Gremlins. I was looking over at Pull My Finger and I am interested in using Old Cranky on occasion. However I can't seem to find any info on him as to whether he is out, or when it is coming out.  Also, if he is not certainly out, is there somewhere I can see his stat card to try it out a little before he hits stores?

[wizuriel]

The model isn't out yet, and no rumours or previews on when he will be out or what he looks like.

As for the rules he is in the second book Crossroads. I've seen people make good conversions from the bayou gremlin with the pipe

[russrmc]

HIs art shows what he will look like- usually the models are pretty accurate...

[Dogmantra]

You could also pick up the Gremlin wave 2 arsenal deck while it's still available. That will give you stat cards for all the gremlin models in the Crossroads book if you can't afford to or don't want to pick up the whole book. You'll still need to provide your own model, or at least an empty base and some imagination.

[CannibalBob]

I really like the rules for Old Cranky, but I think he suffers a bit along with most of the generic faction totems in that Wyrd did an extremely good job at remaking the totems in 2nd edition.  There was a lot of totems in 1st edition that simply did not work too well since all the totems were basically the same and generally had one ability to distinguish them.  In 2nd edition they changed each totem so that they were a model with specific themed synergy with their master.  The end result is that most of the totems are pretty good.  This makes the generic faction totems a hard sell in a lot of cases since the themed master totem is often really good.

I think this issue is very pronouced in the Gremlin faction as well, since I cannot think of a single Gremlin totem that is not highly useful for their master.  If Old Crankly was in any other faction then I would probably snap him up for a variety of masters, but the gremlin masters usually get a lot from their totems.  I cannot imagine playing Som'er without his skeeters.  Ulix gets a lot of benefit from Penelope.  Wong's assistant gives him cheap access to crackerjack timing which helps bunch enemies up so that Wong can blow them apart with blast makers.  The Little Lass is quite a terror in melee with her wooden spoon.  Apprentice Wesley gives your Brewmaster a second lease on life.  And the Young Lacroix are quite good shooting minions for very cheap, and they can both fire and reload Ophelia's various upgrade guns.  I can see a few places where you could get good use from Old Cranky (probably Ophelia and Mah Tucket), but in general I think you will want the themed totems.

[Vidd]

CannibalBob, I completely agree with your post. I love the master-specific totems not only in terms of their synergy but even just thematically.

The only master I could really imagine taking Old Cranky with is Somer. Buffing Wp and Def to friendly models seems like the sort of thing that would work well with a summoning list.

I'd like to see the Totem that would make you forgo Wesley or Penelope, though.

[Tiny]

Wow really people dont use him all the time? I use him currently in all my somer, ophelia and Ulix crews. Havent used mah yet but i'll tell you for sure there is no way im pay 4ss for the little lass even if she does get an upgrade its not worth it for the lack of anything else she does. Brewmaster and zoraida no way u take old cranky. Wong the totem helps out with the nuking in a big way.

Ophelia gets a free soulstone every turn from him plus makes he even more obnoxiously unkillable with the bonus to df.

Somer gets a stone as well, and his swarm gets great bonuses.

Ulix gets teh card mill which summoners crave any opportunity they can get. Not to mention buffing the terrible (3 and 4) wp of the piglets and warpigs. Also brings the sow up to wp 6 which helps out with terror duels a lot.

He's what i reach to first more often than not.

THe fact he can place scheme markers as well is huge

[CannibalBob]

 

Somer gets a stone as well, and his swarm gets great bonuses.

I could be swayed for many masters, although I prefer the pig manuevering abilities that Penelope has for Ulix, but I don't think I could ever drop the skeeters for Som'er.  I find that Som'er really does not need many soulstones and I could care less about getting more.  He does not really need any extra card abilities beyond what his crew can already get for Bayou Two Card and Survival of the Fittest.

Skeeters are simply so amazingly versatile and can have a much larger area that they can effect on the board than Cranky has.  They can provide buffs (such as willpower), add control of the enemy via suppressing all triggers, can give you control over your own forces by guaranteeing suits or suppressing triggers, and they are good at providing harassment and pinning down enemies through engagement.  They can even allow you to fire into a melee where they are distracting the enemy without hitting them by accident.  And they do all of this over a huge effective area and for little cost.

I really like Old Cranky and the abilities that he has, but I just don't find that they come close to the effective use that Skeeter's have in a Som'er crew.  And I also see very little point in clumping up Bayou Gremlins and trying to make them more durable.  They are cheap and expendable.  You sacrifice them to achieve your goals and care little if they die.  Som'er can usually make more.

I would consider Old Cranky more in a Som'er list if he was trying to run enforcer heavy and bring all the Kin along with him.

[Tiny]

Do you not find that somer summoning crews are clumped anyway. I know my crews usually have a line of 3 gremlins that i summon 3 gremlins from, so thats 6 gremlins bunched right there. No question the skeeters can move out and do all those things and it is definitely annoying for the opponent at the time, i just find in the end its just superfluous. 

In regards to somer not needing stones I completely agree, he doesnt use any himself but francois is a black hole for soulstones so giving him an extra one to use every turn makes him survive that much longer which kills that much more of the enemy. 

Different strokes for different folks i guess.

[CannibalBob]

Do you not find that somer summoning crews are clumped anyway. I know my crews usually have a line of 3 gremlins that i summon 3 gremlins from, so thats 6 gremlins bunched right there. No question the skeeters can move out and do all those things and it is definitely annoying for the opponent at the time, i just find in the end its just superfluous. 

In regards to somer not needing stones I completely agree, he doesnt use any himself but francois is a black hole for soulstones so giving him an extra one to use every turn makes him survive that much longer which kills that much more of the enemy. 

Different strokes for different folks i guess.

No, I tend to summon the Gremlins and then send them off into the wild to do stuff.  I also tend to start with a number of Bayou Gremlins in the crew from the start and those spread out to do stuff while a couple stay close for summoning.  But even if you clump up you can always send the skeeters off to act as harassment models - which they are very very good at.

[Dogmantra]

I know this is a bit old but I thought I'd bring it back to mention a great use for old cranky I discovered today that people haven't mentioned.

Because of that +1Wp and to Df duels, him + lenny + a slop hauler create this invincibility bubble, especially if you want to give it to an Enforcer or Henchman who could then take Hide in the Mud for perpetual soft cover on top of that. Add Merris for immunity to taste. It's pretty expensive, but you are not killing that model until you seriously damage the bubble, and it doesn't cost much AP, just make sure they're all near each other, which you'll probably want for Lenny's free anyway.

[Vidd]

Those of you who do run Old Cranky, what do you do with him during the game? 

Do you try to keep him as far back as the auras allow or do you push him up field while trying to block LoS? At Df/Wd 4, he seems rather squishy.

Do any schemes/strategies make you choose him over Master-specific totems? I notice he's a peon but isn't Insignificant which obviously makes him interesting for certain schemes.

 

[Dogmantra]

To be honest, Old Cranky does spend most of his time walking around to make sure everyone can see him (Lenny sometimes ends up blocking LoS to friendlies if I'm not careful...) His shotgun is good though and if he's in range he'll often focus/shoot. Of course, he makes sure to ditch a bad card every single turn and if I'm running Sammy, will try to do it in range of her aura so she can ditch another bad card. Him + Lenny makes an alright wall to block Distract/Cursed Object because neither of them can gain it, but they can both hand it out.

It depends on the master for whether I take him or not. Brewie never takes him just because Wesley is so powerful (tho I don't play Brewie much) whereas Mah takes him over the Little Lass nearly always.

For Strats:

• Recon is a Som'er strat and he takes skeeters normally to help tie up enemy models and get Som'er moving early. (plus one stays back and hands out masks if I'm using summoning Sammy)
• Reckoning and Turf War are both generally Old Cranky strats regardless of master. For Turf War if I've got Mah I will consider taking Little Lass instead because I probably have a few Moon Shinobis in the middle too.
• Squatter's Rights is a crapshoot. Skeeters are very nice to shut down interacts and I often take Moon Shinobis for a 2" engagement range. However, depending on schemes and the board I sometimes take an Invincibility Bubble.

Schemes that flag up Old Cranky as a good choice to achieve:

• Protect Territory - his APs are typically less valuable than other models, and he can drop a scheme marker in the middle of his cluster, pretty much guaranteeing at least one marker.
• BODYGUARD - free 3 points here. Lenny, Old Cranky, Slop Hauler + Raphael as the target.

Schemes he's good at denying:

• Vendetta
• Assassinate
• Make them Suffer
• Basically any where your models have to die

so yeah that's when I pick him

Edited October 31, 2015 by Dogmantra

[szendroib]

I actually never use Wong's assistant, I think Old Cranky is much better. I also always pick Burt with Wong (sometimes even with glowy). He has crackerjack timing aswell minus the chain activation possibility but I never missed that one this far.

@Vidd: Just keep Cranky next to a group of your models to give them the bonus auras for survivability and extra SS. He is squishy but he won't be the main target (except against snipers). I usually simply move him on his turn and use his card draw ability. Sometimes he uses his shotgun, it can be an unpleasant surprise for the enemy. But ost of the time he is just a buff dispenser (+Wp, + Def flip, extra SS. extra card). I haven't used him yet with other masters since I like their totems very much (but Burt can almost do what the assistant can and he has insane damagae output).

I would also consider Old Cranky (and Quality mash) agains Neverborn anytime. They have a lot of Wp tricks and with Cranky and the upgrade most of your models will be in the 7-8 Wp range (except 4Wp enforcers/henches).