Expanding Gremlins - what should i buy next?

[Shazaa]

Hi everyone First post for me, but i've been lurking since i started Malifaux.
I own a Wong crew box, which i expanded with Burt Jebsen and the Slop Haulers. I've found it to work well, and i'll eventually get Gracie and Sammy Lacroix, but i wanted to get a second master now in order to have more variety and the possibility of chosing after seeing which strategy and schemes i'll have to play with. So, as i own this pieces, what would be a good Crew box to get that complements well with what i have? I'd like to avoid buying loads of stuff right now, so i'd prefer to limit to only a crew box. Was looking at Som'er, but if i read it correctly he needs many models to summon, right? Maybe Ophelia? My doubt about Ophelia is that her ranged playstyle might be too similar to Wong's, so i would get little benefit in owning just these two?
Thanks in advance

[Dogmantra]

You don't have to play Som'er as a summoner, it's just one option. If you don't summon with him, then you will have a slightly harder time in certain strategies, but it won't totally lock him out of being useful at all. He's incredibly versatile and you'll benefit greatly from Lenny and Bayou Gremlins being available to you. The Lightning Bugs and to a lesser extent Mancha Roja from the Wong box synergise rather nicely with Som'er, as they both have lots of triggers, and Som'er + Skeeters can hand out the correct suits for them. Lightning Bugs are also just all-round great models, and eventually if you do start summoning, in my opinion a Lightning Bug makes a better healer in that situation than a Slop Hauler.

On the other hand, while Ophelia does have a bit more of a killy playstyle a la Wong, she is much more single-target focused, and her box brings some really useful (and fun) enforcers and a very good Henchman. Francois LaCroix is a melee beast with great damage potential and definitely worth having. Rami is fun although a little situational, but it's hilarious to wipe out an enemy model on the first activation of the game. Raphael is a solid model who's frustratingly difficult to kill, and Pere Ravage is just hilarious fun, although again fairly situational. The Young LaCroix totems in that box are also commonly used as Bayou Gremlin proxies, if you and your opponent are okay with that.

 

Personally I'd say Som'er, since he's my favourite master and Ophelia is the one in faction I just won't touch out of total lack of interest. In terms of master, Som'er is a bit more different from Wong, as a more supporty model, and his crew box is more swarmy, whereas Ophelia's is more elite. Since you have Burt and Mancha Roja already you're not really desperate for elite models, but it's up to you. If you really get into Gremlins, it's not a bad idea to grab both crew boxes at some point in the future anyway since they contain some fantastically useful models.

[Math Mathonwy]

I think that Dogmantra is right. Somer's box gives you the most options and Somer's playstyle is fun. And even though he too generates blasts from range, he is quite a different experience from Wong.

Gremlin boxes are a bit problematic in that only Wong and Somer have Minions that make other Masters excited. Zoraida's box basically has only Zoraida and her totem that are of any use to a Gremlin player. Ulix has three Wild Boars which are seldom seen outside of Ulix and possibly Zoraida lists. Mah has Bayou Bushwhackers which are rather lackluster. And Brewmaster's Moon Shinobis are similarly somewhat marginal. And finally Ophelia's box doesn't have any Minions at all, though the Enforcers it contains are low-points cost and generally useful.

[Shazaa]

Thanks, if i can make a Som'er list work without the need for a load of other summons i think i'll take that. I prefer having a different playstyle which can be later on expanded in a summoner type of Leader, also i read around that Som'er is one of the best Gremlins leaders because of his adaptability to different schemes, when having available different models to build a list.
Thanks I'm loving the Gremlins faction, even if when i initially approached Malifaux it was the one i discarded as "nah i won't like them". Then i saw some painted models in my FLGS, saw the boxes and fell in love ahahah

[Blacks85]

Dogmantra and Math are absolutely right and indeed quicker than me to answer

Somer and Ophelia are both the best options if you aim to reuse models and combine them together.

If you want a totally different playstyle, you should probably look toward Ulix and some pigs  

 

[Shazaa]

Ulix is definitely in my to buy list. I'll just wait until I buy more pig models and then I'll get him eventually,as i think that right now it would require too much of an investment for me to consider. Unleashing a horde of pigs and boars on my opponent seems too fun to skip though 

[Guildenstern]

since you already have the slop haulers, a single extra box of Bayou Gremlins would really be about all you need for Somer as summoner. I guess unless you really want to do a horde upon horde of them or something.

[Blacks85]

12 hours ago, Guildenstern said:

since you already have the slop haulers, a single extra box of Bayou Gremlins would really be about all you need for Somer as summoner. I guess unless you really want to do a horde upon horde of them or something.

An extra box is good, however you might find yourself limited in choice with only 4 extra gremlins.

If you want to be free in game to summon whenever you want to, you unfortunately need 2 extra boxes.

[Math Mathonwy]

On 7/12/2016 at 11:42 AM, Blacks85 said:

An extra box is good, however you might find yourself limited in choice with only 4 extra gremlins.

If you want to be free in game to summon whenever you want to, you unfortunately need 2 extra boxes.

I think that at the point where you have eight Bayou Gremlins on the board, it is most of the time a good idea to do something else with Somer's AP and his arsenal of tricks than keep on Summoning.

(There's also the special edition Bayou Gremlin that you can get from Mystery Boxes which would get you to nine)

[Blacks85]

27 minutes ago, Math Mathonwy said:

I think that at the point where you have eight Bayou Gremlins on the board, it is most of the time a good idea to do something else with Somer's AP and his arsenal of tricks than keep on Summoning.

(There's also the special edition Bayou Gremlin that you can get from Mystery Boxes which would get you to nine)

You might be right, but first and only game I had with Somer

• exhaust their forces
• Interference, 
• Leave your mark
• Take prisoner
• Catch and release

I didn't have to care at all to someone to die or kill anything...

So I wanted to spam gremlin as hell onto the battlefield, I've summoned 14...and ended with 11 of them!
(He was a summoner too, we've finished with 40 models into the board )

Surely is rare, but it may happens!