Kaeris's Mech Rider

[mercury]

If I were to purchase a Mechanical Rider for my Kaeris crew, which constructs do I need for summoning purposes?

Will I get away with just Arachnids, Fire Gamin and Metal Gamin, or do I also need to invest in things like Ice Gamin and Coryphee? Does Kaeris have any special synergy with constructs other than Fire Gamin?

[trikk]

You can`t summon a Coryphee as she is 7 SS and Rider only allows 4SS minions.

As for Ice Gamins, I wouldn`t use her outside of Rasputina probably.

 

Steam Arachnids, Fire and Metal Gamins are all you need in my opinion.

 

As for synergies - Kaeris has a very flexible hiring pool (except maybe firestarter which is always nice to have) and can work with a lot of models -> mainly through her limited upgrades - Grab and Drop and Puryfing flame. The first lets your models flight and drop scheme markers if they activate near her and are burning. The latter allows models that end the turn near her to heal damage equal to their burning condition instead of suffering damage.

[OldMetalShip]

Since the errata on Metal Gamin, I've only summoned Fire Gamin in regular games. Best Wk, Df, and Ca of the 4 summonable units with a defensive trigger to boot(not that it goes off often). So you may end up wanting an additional box of Fire Gamin if you hire any or if your opponent doesn't kill any.

[decker_cky]

Fire gamin are by far the least resilient of the options. Metal gamin have extra armour, arachnids have extra defence, and ice gamin have an extra wound. Fire gamin are good for adding surprisingly good shooting, and for adding their burning, but they die to a stiff wind. 

I imagine when mercury said Coryphee he meant mannequins. I think they're a nice option to have around, but you won't use them too often. I also think performers are excellent with kaeris for the offensive use of scheme markers, so buying a set of performers/mannequins is worthwhile overall (they're also fun models to paint).

I'd say you don't need ice gamin with Kaeris, but there's times when you might want the other options. 

[admiralvorkraft]

Aren't Mannequins peons?

[trikk]

They are

[BFOmega]

There is one good synergy with the Large Arachnids and Grab and Drop, where you can move them up with wings of flame and drop the free scheme marker, then have them eat it the next turn for on ALL flips for the next turn. Pretty good for a 6SS model. They're a little slow though.

[retnab]

Most of the time I'm summoning Fire Gamin, as them dying only spreads more Burning and their attacks are really decent for 4ss. I'll summon a Spider whenever I need something to go run a scheme, they're the fastest durable model the Rider can summon. I almost never bother with a Metal Gamin but if you need something to tank an area it is still the best option with the higher Armor value. I find 3 of each of those is plenty, if your opponent isn't killing things you're already in a good place most likely.

[Bengt]

Well there aren't any station based limitations so you can summon a Mannequin or Electric Creation if you want to. They come in at 1 Wd though so plan ahead (especially with EC since it will explode the first time it activates).

[admiralvorkraft]

Not having the card in front of me, I thought it was limited to minions. Thanks for clearing that up!

[decker_cky]

6 hours ago, BFOmega said:

There is one good synergy with the Large Arachnids and Grab and Drop, where you can move them up with wings of flame and drop the free scheme marker, then have them eat it the next turn for on ALL flips for the next turn. Pretty good for a 6SS model. They're a little slow though.

Large arachnids can't be summoned by the rider (it's the small arachnids that are being talked about). That said - agreed - large arachnids are amazing with Kaeris. 

3 hours ago, admiralvorkraft said:

Not having the card in front of me, I thought it was limited to minions. Thanks for clearing that up!

Where the peons are limited is in the fact that they don't get regeneration from bleeding edge tech. 

[BFOmega]

14 hours ago, decker_cky said:

Large arachnids can't be summoned by the rider (it's the small arachnids that are being talked about). That said - agreed - large arachnids are amazing with Kaeris. 

I'm aware, I was answering the second part of his question

[decker_cky]

Oh. <embarassed>. Who reads the end of a post anyways?

Powered by flames means that Kaeris has synergy with all constructs, if they're used within  a certain area. 

[hydranixx]

On 5/31/2016 at 2:06 AM, OldMetalShip said:

Since the errata on Metal Gamin, I've only summoned Fire Gamin in regular games. Best Wk, Df, and Ca of the 4 summonable units with a defensive trigger to boot(not that it goes off often). So you may end up wanting an additional box of Fire Gamin if you hire any or if your opponent doesn't kill any.

Does anyone actually use so many in their lists that they have none left to summon after hiring, though? I've struggled to find any lists that include 2-3 Fire Gamin.

But yeah, I'd summon them over the other choices almost without exception. Their Wk stat alone makes them a more attractive option for covering most schemes and they have some modest ranged damage too.

[Sybarite]

Umm arachnids are wk5 df wp 6 unimpeded. So the fire gamin wk stat isnt all that impressive. That said they are both good options.

[angyi]

I don't think wk4-wk5 is an issue. The mech rider usually runs up the field on either side, then spawns the little constructs, preferably in safe locations for additional activations and interactions, or sometimes to be a casual speedbump. Now, the spiders are 'unimpeded' with df6, and the metal gamin are df5 arm2, so both are more reliable than the fire gamin. In this regard the relatively good ranged ability of the fire gamin is hypothetical and uninteresting.

[trikk]

Actually with Kaeris you can use disenganging strikes with Ml 5 and when you blow up you put burning on stuff.

[Clockwork_Fish]

I'll usually take one or two Metal Gamin as bodyguards when playing with Kaeris, Ironsides or Mei Feng.  Johan in particular has a big target on his back in those crews, and the extra Def helps.

[Griffin839]

On 5/31/2016 at 7:25 PM, hydranixx said:

Does anyone actually use so many in their lists that they have none left to summon after hiring, though? I've struggled to find any lists that include 2-3 Fire Gamin.

But yeah, I'd summon them over the other choices almost without exception. Their Wk stat alone makes them a more attractive option for covering most schemes and they have some modest ranged damage too.

I take 3 in my go to kaeris list. I dont use mech rider though.

Kaeris- 4ss, Grab and Drop, Bleeding Edge Tech

Firestarter- Imbued Energies

Rail Golem -Imbued Energies

Gunsmith

Gunsmith

Fire Gamin

Fire Gamin

Fire Gamin

Eternal Flame

I love all of our gamin more than it seems a lot of people do. Gamin may be weak and fragile but what they provide arcanists is a way to interact with our opponent's hand and deck. Because they are so cheap and have 2 ranged attacks each, you can force your opponent to filter through their deck just by attacking and being attacked. I will often shoot something I want to kill with Kaeris or the Rail Golem first with a fire gamin. If it goes off they get burning and some damage, most of the time they flip a high card off their deck, or feel like they have to cheat a moderate or high card from their hand to prevent the burning. Also great. The gamin has done his job at this point. They add a whole other dimension to the game.

 

Another fun thing to do is take the list above and sub out the Rail Golem for 3 more fire gamin so you have kaeris, the firestarter, 2 gunsmiths, 6 gamin and the eternal flame. Its a lot of shooting and a lot of fire and the eternal flame will kill 1 or 2 models a game with its expunge ability.

[hydranixx]

On 6/5/2016 at 6:25 AM, Griffin839 said:

Another fun thing to do is take the list above and sub out the Rail Golem for 3 more fire gamin so you have kaeris, the firestarter, 2 gunsmiths, 6 gamin and the eternal flame. Its a lot of shooting and a lot of fire and the eternal flame will kill 1 or 2 models a game with its expunge ability.

Thanks for that.. you've given me a lot to think about. I've gotten a lot of mileage of out my 3 ember demons so far, so I could totally get hyped playing another 2-3 haha.

The Rail Golem is very popular as well, with good reason, so both lists look dope, and I think I'll be running some variation of either one when I acquire some more Arcanists.