How to start?

[Blacks85]

I'm in with this crazy idea to start Gremlins !

I was wondering how to do it, I've no clue. I've read all the stat cards and upgrade ~3 times...but I'm still very confused about how the synergies are.

Main questions are:

• What are the pieces that can fill most of the crews? I mean the pieces that are solid and versatile for their points and do not need a specific master to work
• Any "must-know" rule to build a Gremlin crew? or any other advice
• Any good combo between couple of models, excluding master

I would like to have an idea of the "jolly" possibilities because - at the first sight - it looks like the crew are very vertical...you can't really mix masters and models from other masters? I mean, they lose a lot in doing this

Thanks 

p.s. My goal is to have fun and to be competitive when in Tournament, I don't really care about doing thematic crews 

[Math Mathonwy]

I think that Gremlin Masters generally can use any models. Ophelia in general tends to use fewer Pigs and Ulix naturally absolutely loves Pigs but other than those, you can mix and match pretty freely and remain very competitive.

As for the "must-haves", I'd say that these cover a lot of bases:

• Slop Haulers. The best Healers in the game but super versatile and can do damage in both Melee and at range (their debuff can be super effective) as well as Scheme. Require very little in the way of resources to run since there are no TNs to their actions, Triggers are more of the "nice to get" variety than must-haves and they have Bayou Two-card.
• Lightning Bugs. The other 5 SS multi-purpose Minion. Ignore Armor and good Triggers make them good damage support. They can also heal and do many different things but they do require more resources than Slop Haulers.
• Rooster Riders. Arguably the most broken models in the game, IMO. Insane destructive potential and crazy threat range. Some care needed in employing them, though.
• Francois and Burt. Crazy damage. Can do it all. Really, really good.
• Lenny. The ultimate Support model. His Auras can make even the lowliest of Gremlins supremely scary.
• Bayou Gremlins. Cheap and really, really versatile. Very useful.
• Piglets. Their Pushes are really nice and they are really good harassment models. They have a couple of obvious weaknesses (mandatory Charges and super low Wp).
• Trixiebelle. Has synergy with basically everything in the Faction. Cheating Initiative is of course incredibly powerful but Trixie has a lot of other tricks as well (haha).
• Pigapult. Makes certain Schemes utterly trivial.
• Sammy LaCroix. Again, very versatile. Her basic attack can shut down models really well and she can carry Upgrades for Masters which can be crazy powerful for some Masters.

I'm sure I've forgotten some but those should be most of the must-haves. There's naturally lots and lots of good models outside of that list (Rami, McTavish, Raphael, Gracie, Old Cranky, and so on and so forth). But I could easily take any of those models for any Master (though Ulix doesn't want too many non-Pigs).

[Dogmantra]

I don't really share your impression that Gremlins aren't very mix & match. There are certainly a few masters who want more focused crews (Ulix & pigs for example) but generally most gremlins work well with most gremlins, more so than some other factions (Arcanists come to mind as much less mix & match).

Som'er Teeth Jones is the most versatile master and is probably one to look into if you want to be able to run any models. He does whatever he pleases and it works well with most models.

Zoraida herself isn't as versatile as Som'er, and she prefers to have models that can hand out nasty conditions (via the voodoo doll) and at least one or two good Obey targets (anything that can charge as a (1) is a great Obey target) but generally she's pretty free to pick whichever models she wants.

Ophelia has quite a few synergies with other Kin models but don't let that force you into only taking Kin. I don't play her but I've seen her played successfully with barely any Kin models as well as with the full set.

Brewmaster... I don't play much at all, but generally going too Tri-Chi heavy seems to be kind of a trap?

Wong likes to have at least one heavy hitter who he can put his Magical condition onto, but other than that can basically pick what he wants.

Mah Tucket prefers having a decent chunk of Ml models but is pretty free to pick and choose whichever ones she wants.

Ulix is probably the most locked in to a theme, but he still has plenty of room to take a few models outside of Pigs. Merris is one that works very nicely with him.

 

What are the pieces that can fill most of the crews? I mean the pieces that are solid and versatile for their points and do not need a specific master to work

• Slop Haulers - these guys are incredible for the 5ss price point, their main draw is that they put out a load of healing, for 2 AP, they can heal 4 models for 1/2/3 with no duel or anything required. But they actually have an okay shoot and a pretty decent melee attack, both of which reduce the target's Df to 4 for the rest of the turn. I nearly always run at least one just for the healing but they have proved themselves as fighters more than a few times.
• Bayou Gremlins - at 3 stones, these guys are the cheapest minions in the game without Insignificant, meaning they can make for good and very cheap scheme runners, but they are also surprisingly scary shooters. Plus with just a few of these you will be out-activating your opponent. Som'er can obviously make more use out of them because he can summon them and hand out suits but they work well in every crew.
• Merris LaCroix - if you're worried that Bayou Gremlins won't be fast or hardy enough to get the scheme running done, Merris is perfect. She is also a fantastic pick against blast-heavy crews, since she just makes nearby models totally immune to blasts, which are often a good tactic against Gremlins.
• Burt Jebsen - One of the first models I consider when I want damage, he's a great melee beater and a pretty good shooter. He's got some utility too and he's frustratingly difficult to kill for your opponent. All at 7 stones!
• Lenny - The auras that Lenny puts out are so good that to make up for it he has awful defensive stats. Keep him in cover and healed up though, and he contributes so much by literally just standing there.
• Lightning Bugs - Another great 5 stone minion, they can do ANYTHING. Shooting, melee, healing, scheme running, you name it they do it. The only downside is that they can be a little fragile and card-intensive but that's a small price to pay. They also ignore armour with their main attack, which is something that is frustratingly powerful against Gremlins normally.

Math mentioned a few others, and they're definitely great picks, but I decided not to include them on the list because they tend to be a bit more situational or one-note (e.g. Francois is fantastic and he kills things but he also dies very easily), other than Trixiebelle who I personally just Don't Care For.

 

Any "must-know" rule to build a Gremlin crew? or any other advice

I sometimes fall into this trap myself but try not to take too many card-sucking models, and if you do, take some with Bayou Two-Card or that are fairly card-independent to make up for it. There are lots of models who love to use your cards but you can easily find yourself with no hand.

Also, make sure you consider your opponent's faction. A lot of Gremlins have pretty low Wp but there are plenty with higher Wp - when you're against Neverborn or Resurrectionists you probably want more from the second group, as well as considering the Liquid Bravery upgrade. Against Arcanists you probably want at least one thing to deal with armour, and maybe Merris for blasts. Just that sort of thing basically.

Any good combo between couple of models, excluding master

1. Stand models next to Lenny
2. you win

For reals though, actual "combo" tactic tricks there aren't many that come to me off the top of my head, it's more general gameplans.

Lenny with I'll Love And Pet It is a popular one to provide piglets as ammo for the Pigapult. Francois with Stilts is good too - he takes a lot of damage from his Dumb Luck trigger and he can discard stilts to reduce that damage to 0.

[Math Mathonwy]

18 minutes ago, Dogmantra said:

Brewmaster... I don't play much at all, but generally going too Tri-Chi heavy seems to be kind of a trap?

Roosters and Francois are IMO Brewie's best friends along with Trixie. Tri-Chi is indeed a bit of a trap. But I would, in general, rate Brewie as the weakest of the Gremlin Masters.

18 minutes ago, Dogmantra said:

Math mentioned a few others, and they're definitely great picks, but I decided not to include them on the list because they tend to be a bit more situational or one-note (e.g. Francois is fantastic and he kills things but he also dies very easily), other than Trixiebelle who I personally just Don't Care For.

Francois does make for a great Scheme Runner as well and he is fast, has 10 Wounds, the ability to use SS, and a very high Wp - I think that he is plenty durable for his price class.

I would argue that Rooster Riders should probably be even in your shorter list as they are truly bonkers.

But yeah, good post!

[Blacks85]

Thanks guys. Very nice feedback, I will definitively look into them.

[Eclipse]

With a BANG. Seriously, if you are playing Gremlins, there should be loud explosions everywhere. Pigapult, exploding piglets, Wong Demon Bag, Rooster Riders pecking out your brains... You name it. Well, even if were to say something more precise it would at most cover what the guys above said, so listen to the guys above. And don't forget the Bang!

[D6Damager]

Everyone gave great suggestions. I think the Wong box is the easiest to start learning without any other models purchased. Regardless of which box you pick, slop haulers should be the next purchase. Outside of more crew boxes, Sammy and Merris are good with a lot of different masters too.

[Vorschlag]

The models I field most often across all masters are:

Warpigs -absolutely  hated by most my opponents especially with a hog whisperer and/or obey.

Slop haulers - mainly with Somer, Ulix and brew master..I don't run Ophelia often enough but assume they fit in there too.

Taxidermist - in my opinion largely under rated, positive damage flips are too good to pass up some times.

Gracie - an absolute pig to get rid of especially with the right support models.

Lenny - great with Somer Ulix and Ophelia.

Hog whisperer - see warping, occasionally go as far as to bring him in to never born zoraida with the warping depending on the build.

Piggapult-presently only running this with Somer and Ulix but I can see it with zoraida catapulting the doll or for Ophelia's crew for placement.

Apart from these my builds are usually master specific.

Waiting on rooster riders.

Also worth a mention are stuffed piglets, I havnt done it myself but I've had these used against me tie up models and they can be quite frustrating if used in this way.

[Boshea]

Cool, was just looking at posting a thread like this. My main problem is I find I never have enough points to take what I want. Roughly how many points should I be dedicating to heavy hitters and support pieces versus just cheap activations?

[Blacks85]

Thanks again for suggestions.

The amount of points in hitter, cheaper models or whatever is too relative to the schemes / strats, in my opinion

That's the good part of this game.

 

[Math Mathonwy]

1 hour ago, Boshea said:

Cool, was just looking at posting a thread like this. My main problem is I find I never have enough points to take what I want. Roughly how many points should I be dedicating to heavy hitters and support pieces versus just cheap activations?

I hate this answer but: it depends on strat and Schemes and board. And most importantly on your Master. Brewie tends to perform better with a elite crew while Somer swarm works better as a swarm (surprise surprise). Ophelia can pad her activations with Youngs (though I seem to be the only one on the forums who appreciates them over Cranky) and Ulix can summon Piglets.

But what sort of lists have you been devising? Maybe we can help from that?

[Boshea]

Aware that the scheme/strat pool is the great decider, but just curious what you'd grab based on those factors. So far broken out gremlins twice

 

First List

-Zoraida

--Hex Bag

-3 Rooster Riders

-Francois

--Stilts

--Dumb Luck

-Sammy

-Iggy

-Nurse

 

Second List

-Somer

--Show Off

--Family Tree

-Pigapult

-3 Stuffed Piglets

-2 Bayou Gremlins

-Taxidermist

-Trixiebelle

-Slop Hauler

-Ol' Cranky

 

I think a lot of my problem has been getting my force to move forward while still doing its thing.

[Guildenstern]

I have kind of the same problem @Boshea keeping the models together that need to be together, while trying to compete through the terrain and for the schemes makes my brain hurt lol I keep forgettting stuff! Last game I totally spaced that Lenny could heal himself. I would have probably lost anyway, but my opponent had obviously chosen assassinate as their scheme and I parked a slophauler next to Lenny to try to help with that but ultimately lost him.

I can't offer too much advice on the issue, the only thing I have figured out after like three more games than you, is to make notes of how the combos go - so maybe, just maybe, I'll remember lol I'm sure a lot comes with practice too.

your second list is close to what I want to run as well! except I'll take Lenny where you have Trixie (Don't have her yet). And don't forget Masters get 3 upgrades and you can give Sammy 2 as well (I believe that's true of all henchmen but you might want to look it up), plus henchmen can use soulstones... something else I forgot in my last game sigh

Also - someone correct me if I'm wrong please! but is it a good idea, using Somer as a summoner, to take three Bayou Gremlins so he can hopefully get off Git Yer Bro 3X for summoning more? I've been taking 4 to start but maybe that's not the best use of the points