Arcanist Masters GG2016

[BFOmega]

If Howard dies after killing one thing, then Howard was in the wrong place, unless that one thing was a master (and even then it depends on the master). He can definitely be a glass cannon, but you throw him in on a flank towards the end of the turn, take something out (and reactivate, take out something else, and nimble closer to safety if you brought Brass arachnid), then there might be one model that can activate after him, so he probably doesn't die with 11 wds, armor 1 and terrifying.

Use him as a scalpel, not a hammer.

 

For the spiders, sure, you can kill them pretty easy, but that's AP not being used to attack other stuff, and I can just bring in more. You have blasts/mei that can take out multiple spiders in one AP? Welp, guess the spiders are splitting up this game. Or maybe they'll be a swarm instead!

Not saying Hunting party wasn't a cuddle or that reckoning isn't a weaker strat for him, but he's definitely capable.

[angyi]

47 minutes ago, BFOmega said:

For the spiders, sure, you can kill them pretty easy, but that's AP not being used to attack other stuff

Sure, the AP was used to score VPs

[BFOmega]

Unless it's Mei, so no points for hunting party . Reckoning isn't in the pool anymore either, so there's that too.

You can also always just summon till you have activation control, send those to do schemes, and go buff bot/damage Ramos. Powered by Flame and Arcane Effigy basically make his electrical fire CA7 4/4/6, can't complain there.

Or just blow up your own spiders. That's always fun.

[Fog]

20 hours ago, BFOmega said:

Powered by Flame and Arcane Effigy basically make his electrical fire CA7 4/4/6, can't complain there.

4/5/6

If you bring the essence of power he gets cast 8 too. Pretty lethal.

[BFOmega]

51 minutes ago, Fog said:

4/5/6

If you bring the essence of power he gets cast 8 too. Pretty lethal.

Right, my bad. I was thinking Joss's damage line for some reason.

[Sybarite]

1 hour ago, BFOmega said:

Right, my bad. I was thinking Joss's damage line for some reason.

Its wrong for Joss' damage track as well

[BFOmega]

1 minute ago, Sybarite said:

Its wrong for Joss' damage track as well

His gun is 2/2/4 isn't it? With the 2 burning it would go to 4/4/6 (I know he doesn't get effigy's buff, I was just transposing his track onto Ramos for some reason).

[Bengt]

3 hours ago, BFOmega said:

His gun is 2/2/4 isn't it? With the 2 burning it would go to 4/4/6 (I know he doesn't get effigy's buff, I was just transposing his track onto Ramos for some reason).

It's friendly leader so in a Henchman crew he can get Radiance, and yeah his gun has that track. I don't personally consider burning equal to pure damage though, and with Radiance you don't even automatically get the burning.

[farabaugh100]

I don't really agree with the theory that adding + burning adds to the damage track.  One because condition removal exist in this game and two the damage dose not happen right away.  Sometimes you need to kill something right away.  Burning doesn't add to that.  

One thing I would like to see is to rank each strat best to worse for each master.  For example:

Ramos: Reconnoiter,  Interference, Extraction, Guard the stash, Stake A claim, Squatters rights, Turf war, Collect the bounty, Headhunter, Reckoning.

(Note This isn't a true ranking but an example)

[Adran]

 Burning adds to the damage, if you are looking on a large enough scale.

If you want the model to die before it activates this turn, then  Burning probably isn't going to help you, but if you want it to die this turn before VP are scored, then burning does help you. 

Lots of people like to look at the highest possible output, in which case, a model which does 2 damage and 2 burning, can do 4 damage. Enough to kill a terror tot at  the cost of 1 AP. 

Its like charging does not make the Jackolope do 3/3/4 damage, it actually does 1/1/2 +2 damage, which only really matters when you get the red joker.

 

I really struggle to fill in a list of best to worst for most masters. The only Strategy that I think really splits masters apart is Stake a claim, because of the ability to get a model somewhere with 2 AP spare. Some masters really excel at this, and make factions that otherwise struggle able to compete. Its not entirely the case in Arcanists, as there are a decent number of non master specific ways to get models moving far enough without costing AP (or in the case of the duet, still having 2 AP), but even so models like Colette, Marcus and to a small extent Ramos find it easier thanks to a combination of re-activate (from the Brass arachnid)/alpha,/easy ways to passing out AP, ability to hire models that are good at it (silurids) or just actually being fast enough to stake a claim every turn on your own. 

[angyi]

IMO there are too many factors that would make this kind of listing unhelpful. Sure there are remarkably strong or weak master-strategy combos, but
- you also have schemes and terrain in every game,
- sometimes crew selection is more important than the master itself,
- if you know a master well enough, you'll do better with him, than with one you barely know but who is theoretically better suited to the strategy.
So is Ramos better in Turf War than Guard the Stash?

[orkdork]

I think Colette is more all comers than Ramos. Ramos has a bit more versatility on strats, but Colette owns the schemes.

The real reason Colette crushes headhunter, for example, is that she can easily go for a 6-5 win. It forces your opponent to over extend.

[madaxeman]

On 24/05/2016 at 3:12 PM, farabaugh100 said:

I don't really agree with the theory that adding + burning adds to the damage track.  One because condition removal exist in this game and two the damage dose not happen right away.  Sometimes you need to kill something right away.  Burning doesn't add to that.  

It also means your target gets two uses out of their armour... 

[RustAndTheCity]

What do you guys see as the best ways for arcanist players to deny hunting party? 

[Patzer]

29 minutes ago, RustAndTheCity said:

What do you guys see as the best ways for arcanist players to deny hunting party? 

Kill enemy henchmen and enforcers.

[thebarbalag]

5 minutes ago, Patzer said:

Kill enemy henchmen and enforcers.

This only works if you can keep your opponent from eliminating all of your minions/peons. If they're all gone, it doesn't matter what killed them.

[Patzer]

8 minutes ago, thebarbalag said:

This only works if you can keep your opponent from eliminating all of your minions/peons. If they're all gone, it doesn't matter what killed them.

Indeed. So one cannot be reckless with such models. They are very well suited as bait though. It might even be worth to let up 1vp if that leads to bad positioning on the opponents part. Generally, peons and minions should be played conservatively when HP is around (and you think the opponent might have taken HP, i.e.).

[thebarbalag]

Leaving something cheap (Raptor, Arachnid, Toolkit) in the backfield can work. I do this in NB w/the Primordial Magic all the time. Of course, that continues to net me Rush of Magic every turn, and it's only 2ss, but 3-4ss to deny 3 VP is worth it.

[decker_cky]

On 25/05/2016 at 1:13 PM, madaxeman said:

It also means your target gets two uses out of their armour... 

And avoids armour in the case of 1 damage attacks with 1 burning.

[Patzer]

9 hours ago, thebarbalag said:

Leaving something cheap (Raptor, Arachnid, Toolkit) in the backfield can work. I do this in NB w/the Primordial Magic all the time. Of course, that continues to net me Rush of Magic every turn, and it's only 2ss, but 3-4ss to deny 3 VP is worth it.

Prim Magic is cheating, (in this Arcanist context at least)

[Adran]

16 hours ago, RustAndTheCity said:

What do you guys see as the best ways for arcanist players to deny hunting party? 

We have some fairly solid minions that you can use with a degree of safety. The Large arachnid near  a bleeding edge tech, or a Rattler near Myranda, and they will struggle to get them killed.