Beacon of Knowledge Box - Somewhat Baseless Wondering

[brdparker]

I really want that box set; it looks so cool. Any thoughts on what the models are/do? Here are some of my starting, somewhat baseless thoughts:

Banasuva: 9 to 12-cost academic enforcer with powerful Ml and somewhat powerful ranged Ca that doubles as a utility (something like a free push for friendlies, or some positive condition gained).

Kudra: 4 or 5-cost academic totem with some buffs (perhaps healing, perhaps grants Furious Casting to friendlies), some minor punishment for enemy's poison condition. Rather squishy, but also has a self-heal.

Poison Gamin: Most gamin are 4, so maybe they'll put a twist and make them 3 instead, but insignificant minions (a la Night Terrors). Gain significant within an aura (6"?) of enemies with the poison condition. Some cheap ranged attack that hands out poison, and some minor push for a friendly (something like 2 or 3" on a (0) action) to help with Mage Movement.

Sandeep's Card Back: Dude needs a powerful damaging Ca that allows him to draw cards. Maybe something that has a low stat, but a trigger off his weapon thing allows him to Ca for free at a bonus (against an enemy with poison?). I like the idea of an (0) action aura that gives out furious casting, so maybe he and Kudra will share that (as a totem often has a minor version/duplicate of a master's ability).

Upgrades:

(San 1) Given the number of actions Sandeep can take (3 plus a (0) plus one for each of his Ca actions friendlies take), maybe he has something that gives him a draw and discard or he pushes 1" after finishing a Ca action.

(San 2) We know he's got a thing for gamins, so I would imagine there's a buff for gamin, or perhaps a summoning mechanic on an upgrade. Maybe draw some of Banasuva's essence to summon one (Banasuva suffers 2 wounds and summons a gamin within 6").

(Ban 1) For Banasuva, I'm thinking there's one of Sandeep's Ca actions he/she/it's more attuned to than others so it might have an upgrade that allows it to cast that specific one more than once/turn, or cast from Sandeep's upgrades.

(Other) Maybe another Oxfordian Mage upgrade, only usable if led by an academic? Please?

OTOH, I'm curious what the Banasuva as a 50mm based totem/enforcer would look like, similar to Huggy. Could be a fun toy for the arcanists to have.

 

Again, none of these are particularly evidenced except through minor conjectures on the box art and poses. What other thoughts do you guys have?

[Bengt]

I hope the big guy is a paper tiger totem. And Kudra is a badass assassin type. Wyrd has been sneaky and put all the named characters on the front and the Gamin on the side of the box though, so no help there - unless they are actually playing it straight and the Gamin are the totems!

[brdparker]

4 minutes ago, Bengt said:

I hope the big guy is a paper tiger totem. And Kudra is a badass assassin type. Wyrd has been sneaky and put all the named characters on the front and the Gamin on the side of the box though, so no help there - unless they are actually playing it straight and the Gamin are the totems!

Yeah, that'd be cool to have a rare master with multiple totems. I think Colette's the only one in faction.

[Squirrelich]

11 minutes ago, Bengt said:

I hope the big guy is a paper tiger totem. And Kudra is a badass assassin type. Wyrd has been sneaky and put all the named characters on the front and the Gamin on the side of the box though, so no help there - unless they are actually playing it straight and the Gamin are the totems!

I 100% agree with you.

[Mason]

1 hour ago, brdparker said:

Kudra: 4 or 5-cost academic totem with some buffs (perhaps healing, perhaps grants Furious Casting to friendlies), some minor punishment for enemy's poison condition. Rather squishy, but also has a self-heal.

Kudra is not the totem.

[retnab]

The big guy is the totem? That is pretty great xD I'm guessing Kudra's the Henchman then, unless they're pulling a Huggy and making Banasuva a Totem/Hench. I do hope the Poison Gamin aren't the Totem for the sake of the Mech Rider's summoning options getting even more flexible. Also with Poison Gamin coming, maybe Scorpius might start showing up paired with them in lists? I'm 100% ordering these from the store during GenCon, can't wait to see what they all do but I think I'm already in love

[Bengt]

5 minutes ago, retnab said:

I do hope the Poison Gamin aren't the Totem for the sake of the Mech Rider's summoning options getting even more flexible.

I doubt they'll be constructs anyway, probably living like the Wind Gamin or nothing. I doubt there will even be another 4 SS Arcanist construct in this edition.

[osoi]

Or they can just cost more than 4ss.

I'm looking forward to this crew but not sure if I will picking them up straight away. Bansuva looks amazing and I see Kudra being someone along the lines of Myranda but as an academic

[Fog]

They're going to rock your world. 

[decker_cky]

15 hours ago, osoi said:

Or they can just cost more than 4ss.

I'm looking forward to this crew but not sure if I will picking them up straight away. Bansuva looks amazing and I see Kudra being someone along the lines of Myranda but as an academic

She shape changes into lesson plans?

[hydranixx]

It would be really cool if Sandeep & co could mutate existing conditions on models into other conditions. Say, converting all Burning on a model into Poison, converting 3 Poison into Slow, converting 1 Burning & 1 Poison into Paralysed. Seems about time Arcanists could do that, and would give some more value to the new poison theme as well.

[brdparker]

1 hour ago, hydranixx said:

It would be really cool if Sandeep & co could mutate existing conditions on models into other conditions. Say, converting all Burning on a model into Poison, converting 3 Poison into Slow, converting 1 Burning & 1 Poison into Paralysed. Seems about time Arcanists could do that, and would give some more value to the new poison theme as well.

Ooh, I like that, especially the smaller amounts of differing conditions (1 Burn/1 Pois) into more powerful debuffs. Makes you have to diversify your crew more.

[hydranixx]

13 minutes ago, brdparker said:

Ooh, I like that, especially the smaller amounts of differing conditions (1 Burn/1 Pois) into more powerful debuffs. Makes you have to diversify your crew more.

Yeah, I think 'someone' should have an affect like this, and who better than the most wizardly wizard in a faction full of wizards

I think Oxfordians would become even more synergistic with Sandeep. They have access to handing out either Burning +2 or Slow with 2 of their 4 triggers, if I recall correctly; they'd become a toolbox for applying whatever condition you need to your target, and/or pushing the target into a place you them to to be. Then Sandeep and/or his henchman can amplify the condition and change it into something far more meaningful. 

Mutating conditions on your own models into something more favourable could also be pretty clutch. McMourning is gearing up to Expunge your Rail Golem for tonnes of poison damage? Just turn it all into burning. 

I'm also really interested in the totem. It looks very odd, in a really awesome way. Perhaps, given the chaotic, weird nature of its aethetics, it's card could focus on meddling enemy models capabilities; perhaps it could:

- Swap a model's stats for a time; a cast action that gives a condition that makes your opponent's model use its Df stat for all Wp duels and its Wp stat for all Df duels until the end of turn/it's next activation. 
- An 3-6"? aura that makes all enemy models that do not have Insignificant, gain Insignificant while within aura range. All models that naturally have Insignificant on their cards, lose Insignificant while within aura range.
- Influence cover somehow, with an action that lasts until he next activates, degrading/upgrading nearby severe/hard cover to soft cover, or vice versa. 

[retnab]

I'm very curious to see how the Oxfordians will interact with Sandeep as well, the Academic tag is already a bonus and if he has a good spell to Beacon they'll be able to cast it as part of their Furious Casting (if I'm reading everything correctly).  Just 2 1/2 weeks until we get to see the back of that card  

[Bengt]

1 hour ago, retnab said:

I'm very curious to see how the Oxfordians will interact with Sandeep as well, the Academic tag is already a bonus and if he has a good spell to Beacon they'll be able to cast it as part of their Furious Casting (if I'm reading everything correctly).  Just 2 1/2 weeks until we get to see the back of that card  

Well it depends on what you mean. Each of Sandeep's Ca actions can only be beaconed once per turn but Furious Casting doesn't need to be all the same action, so an Oxfordian can Furious, do a Sandeep action and then two Elemental Bolts. There is no way Furious Casting lets you get around the once per turn of a single one of Sandeep's actions. If Sandeep has loads of Ca attack actions (as Furious only works on attacks, not tactical) you could of course cycle through several in a single Furious action. 

[katadder]

5 hours ago, hydranixx said:

I'm also really interested in the totem. It looks very odd, in a really awesome way. Perhaps, given the chaotic, weird nature of its aethetics, it's card could focus on meddling enemy models capabilities; perhaps it could:

- Swap a model's stats for a time; a cast action that gives a condition that makes your opponent's model use its Df stat for all Wp duels and its Wp stat for all Df duels until the end of turn/it's next activation. 
- An 3-6"? aura that makes all enemy models that do not have Insignificant, gain Insignificant while within aura range. All models that naturally have Insignificant on their cards, lose Insignificant while within aura range.
- Influence cover somehow, with an action that lasts until he next activates, degrading/upgrading nearby severe/hard cover to soft cover, or vice versa. 

which one do you think is the totem?

[hydranixx]

5 hours ago, katadder said:

which one do you think is the totem?

I've been led to believe it's the tall genie-looking guy. There's been relatively big totems before - such as the Poltergeist - so it is possible for a totem to be as big as he is. Then again, he might well be a totem enforcer / totem henchman hybrid, similar to Hungering Darkness. Or even just a straight enforcer at that rate. Either way, I'd be stoked because I'd love to see what upgrades he can buy. 

[Adran]

All we've had for certain  is that the totem isn't Kudra. That leaves 3 options. its Poison Gamin, its Banasuva, or we have only our second master without a dedicated Totem. (and the first plastic box without a totem).

We've had 1 henchmen totem, and 1 enforcer totem so far. So pretty much anything is possible. 

[Fetid Strumpet]

Ummm, who exactly are you thinking doesn't have a dedicated totem? Every master has a dedicated totem, they might not all be good, but they all have one.

[Adran]

8 minutes ago, Fetid Strumpet said:

Ummm, who exactly are you thinking doesn't have a dedicated totem? Every master has a dedicated totem, they might not all be good, but they all have one.

The Viks

[Fetid Strumpet]

They have a dedicated totem, everyone else can take it though. I suspect that this could devolve into a meaningless semantic argument though where I say dedicated means designed for them and with them in mind, and the opposing side says dedicated means only hirable by them, so I'll leave it that. No point derailing the thread. 

[retnab]

8 hours ago, Bengt said:

Well it depends on what you mean. Each of Sandeep's Ca actions can only be beaconed once per turn but Furious Casting doesn't need to be all the same action, so an Oxfordian can Furious, do a Sandeep action and then two Elemental Bolts. There is no way Furious Casting lets you get around the once per turn of a single one of Sandeep's actions. If Sandeep has loads of Ca attack actions (as Furious only works on attacks, not tactical) you could of course cycle through several in a single Furious action. 

Exactly what I'm thinking, yeah.  Giving the Oxfordians more flexibility in what they're using their Furious Casting on (and potentially getting a 4th AP through Sandeep's Student of All ability in one 6ss activation) can't be anything but good.  Heck, if he has enough good Attack spells they could theoretically spend all 3 AP on Beaconed spells (all different ones of course).  I just really want to know not only what, but also how many spells Sandeep has!

[hydranixx]

You have your answer now, good sir! 

Looks like there's quite a few choices, too, as he has 2 1ap spells and 2 0ap spells to work with - and they can all be copied by nearby mages and minions. Included in the kit are 2 separate pushes, one of which can heal, a method to take free interact actions, and a 6" placement spell. This guy is nuts!

[Fog]

I may buy him, paint him, and play him at the con

[The Warlock]

I was originally going to pass up Sandeep in favour of Reva, but his background made me reconsider. Also: Gamin! It'll be interesting to see if all the gamin have the same conditions for summoning or if there's specific requirements for each type.