Rooster Riders - help me not get underwhelemd

[Kobayashi]

So I assembled my Rooster Riders and itching to ready them up, for the next monthly get together.

And I really, really want to play one. In order to not get underwhelmed and keep my expectations in check.

Mind you I only have Ophelia; Wong and Brewmaster, tjhough I heard Mah is wonderful with them, she is not on the table.

 

Currently in a Wong / Ophelia Crew I see the Rooster more as a fast flanker, intercepting models, that want to sneak past by my Crew or stop schemerunners. I don't fancy sending them to an early demise with nothing done already.

So how would you use the Roosters. Where do they shine and what better not to do, even if it is tempting.

[-Loki-]

They're not really very subtle. They're alpha strikers. They can't take a hit, but for a 6 point model they hit well above their weight. They've essentially for a 22" charge bubble thanks to Reckless and Rooster Charge, and have a rifle to boot. Pick something you want to hurt or kill and aim the rooster rider at it. It'll likely die next turn, but it'll go down in a blaze of glory.

[Kobayashi]

5 minutes ago, -Loki- said:

They're not really very subtle. They're alpha strikers. They can't take a hit, but for a 6 point model they hit well above their weight. They've essentially for a 22" charge bubble thanks to Reckless and Rooster Charge, and have a rifle to boot. Pick something you want to hurt or kill and aim the rooster rider at it. It'll likely die next turn, but it'll go down in a blaze of glory.

And there I was hoping it was more than a missle just shooting in...

[Math Mathonwy]

21 minutes ago, Kobayashi said:

And there I was hoping it was more than a missle just shooting in...

What were you hoping for? You can use them for Scheming since they have a massive Wk stat and access to three AP but that's about it. As Loki notes, they are not very subtle.

Note also that they are not very good team players. Their Ram trigger means that they need to charge the closest target they are not engaged with and since you're never engaged with friendlies you need to really take care in positioning if you wish to use them in tandem with your own dudes. Bayou Two-card can help a bit, of course.

[Kobayashi]

41 minutes ago, Math Mathonwy said:

What were you hoping for?

Something that eluded me. I was thinking in the vdin of Franks usage of Stilts to reduce his Dumb Luck Trigger to 0.

41 minutes ago, Math Mathonwy said:

 You can use them for Scheming since they have a massive Wk stat and access to three AP but that's about it. As Loki notes, they are not very subtle.

Note also that they are not very good team players. Their Ram trigger means that they need to charge the closest target they are not engaged with and since you're never engaged with friendlies you need to really take care in positioning if you wish to use them in tandem with your own dudes. Bayou Two-card can help a bit, of course.

So it is rather them fire and forget and if they survive to do more, they do more. For Schememarkers I'd rather use Merris, but maybe they can throw a curveball, but that's about it.

[-Loki-]

Not all units are flexible, and you don't always need a flexible unit. Sometimes you just need a drunk Gremlin with a rifle on a huge, angry bird to trample things underfoot. If that's what you need, there are rooster riders. If that's not what you need, there's anything else in the faction.

[Blacks85]

I Partially disagree, I mean

I use them for scheme objectives more than to hard beat something.

I find the elite like Burt, Raphael, Rami, etc...much more effective and reliable if you need to beat something and spread dmg.

Instead, if you need to run schemes like detonate charges, setup...and so on...they are just the better models in the game

Mobility is just over the top, literally too much. 

[Kobayashi]

Just now, -Loki- said:

Not all units are flexible, and you don't always need a flexible unit. Sometimes you just need a drunk Gremlin with a rifle on a huge, angry bird to trample things underfoot. If that's what you need, there are rooster riders. If that's not what you need, there's anything else in the faction.

Sure, but the game had me so much on it's tip toes with the last units I bought, where there had always been some kind of nice mechanic to leverage. Now I was a bit paranoid that I would miss anything with the Roosters...

[Math Mathonwy]

12 minutes ago, Kobayashi said:

Something that eluded me. There are some nice uses. I was thinking in the vain of Franks usage of Stilts to reduce his Dumb Luck Trigger to 0.

Oh, you mean tricks.

Well, the Rooster Rampage is utterly insane if you can get it off in a controlled fashion. Encouragement from Somer, their own Dumb Luck on their rifle and simply shooting them with a Bayou Gremlin are all ways of causing damage to them. This is of course highly risky but that's Gremlins for you.

They also make excellent Obey targets due to their 1 AP Charge. With Brewie you could first give something negative flips and then sic the Rooster at them. Guaranteed to wreck their day. And with Binge you can even get the Rooster to Charge again!

[Kobayashi]

I was rather thinking more of them using in them in Tandem with Ophelia and Wong, since they are my go to Masters.

I would rather keep The Brewmaster on the bench for the time being, since I don't feel confident leveraging everything he got to.

 

Though I will Keep thjose tricks to heart. 

[Adran]

Sorry, I don't think there are many unseen tricks to the roosters. You're just stuck with an up to 8 attack per turn model with the capability to put down a scheme marker 14" away from where it started each turn. Also with a ranged attack when needed. They can be pretty scary when glowy. Anything which makes models better will be good with them. If you take Aionus (or the student of Conflict) with Wong, then you are looking  at the chance for 10 attacks with a minimum damage of 3 ignoring most defenses. 

[Kobayashi]

11 minutes ago, Adran said:

Sorry, I don't think there are many unseen tricks to the roosters.

That's still okay :). If there ain't any I know what I get myself into. :), but as mentioned above, I've encountered more stuff than meets the eye and am not taking everything straightforward as is anymore. If there is nothing to it, there is nothing to it. I will happily cruise a Rooster into my enemy if that means he will "explode" within his minions; charging everything and goes down with a loud WARK!

[Blacks85]

20 minutes ago, Adran said:

Sorry, I don't think there are many unseen tricks to the roosters. You're just stuck with an up to 8 attack per turn model

How do you do 8 attacks per turn?

 

[Dogmantra]

My favourite trick with Roosters is to casually mention you feel like playing Zoraida with 8 Roosters. Your opponent may conveniently remember something they had to do and be unable to play. It counts as a win.

[Adran]

1 minute ago, Blacks85 said:

How do you do 8 attacks per turn?

 

Its a bit of a perfect storm. 

go reckless, thats 3 AP. each ofd those can be a charge (assuming you've ended up disengaged at the end of the last charge, probably by killing the targtet), and on one of the charge attacks can trigger stampeede to get a 4th charge. 

It requires a bit of luck, but good planning means you ought to pick targets that you think will be killied on 2 attacks and the triggered charge will happen even if you are engaed, so it will let you charge somethign tough, charge away from it, and then cahreg back if you want. 

 

[Blacks85]

16 minutes ago, Adran said:

Its a bit of a perfect storm. 

go reckless, thats 3 AP. each ofd those can be a charge (assuming you've ended up disengaged at the end of the last charge, probably by killing the targtet), and on one of the charge attacks can trigger stampeede to get a 4th charge. 

It requires a bit of luck, but good planning means you ought to pick targets that you think will be killied on 2 attacks and the triggered charge will happen even if you are engaed, so it will let you charge somethign tough, charge away from it, and then cahreg back if you want. 

 

Ye, ye...not that much luck at the end.

For some reasons, my brain though "8 actions" meaning 8 charges or 8 single attack actions

Need to sleep more...

[Kobayashi]

55 minutes ago, Adran said:

Its a bit of a perfect storm. 

go reckless, thats 3 AP. each ofd those can be a charge (assuming you've ended up disengaged at the end of the last charge, probably by killing the targtet), and on one of the charge attacks can trigger stampeede to get a 4th charge. 

It requires a bit of luck, but good planning means you ought to pick targets that you think will be killied on 2 attacks and the triggered charge will happen even if you are engaed, so it will let you charge somethign tough, charge away from it, and then cahreg back if you want. 

 

If I could pull that of in our gaming club, they will force me to Play 10 Thunders more.

 

57 minutes ago, Dogmantra said:

My favourite trick with Roosters is to casually mention you feel like playing Zoraida with 8 Roosters. Your opponent may conveniently remember something they had to do and be unable to play. It counts as a win.

Seems I Need to buy MOAAAR Roosters

[Tayne]

It's a niche event, but three roosters are an easy way to three VP in Public Demonstration thanks to a potential 21" move across the board. You have to make sure that they will survive until the end of the turn, of course, but in my experience the turns after (when you have three Roosters threatening their backfield) tends to get them into a flap.

 

Get it. A flap.

I'm so funny I worry at times.

 

..

 

I'll get my coat.

[Four_N_Six]

I've still avoided even buying their box.  I think the best use of them is probably hunting down opponent scheme runners.  Use them as scheme runners yourself, but if your opponent has something going off dropping markers, toss a Rider at it.  Like it's been mentioned before, if I need melee damage done, we have other great models to hire instead.

[Blacks85]

9 hours ago, Four_N_Six said:

I've still avoided even buying their box.  I think the best use of them is probably hunting down opponent scheme runners.  Use them as scheme runners yourself, but if your opponent has something going off dropping markers, toss a Rider at it.  Like it's been mentioned before, if I need melee damage done, we have other great models to hire instead.

How can you don't buy them?

Beside being very strong, they are also crazy cool

 

[Kobayashi]

17 hours ago, Four_N_Six said:

I've still avoided even buying their box.  I think the best use of them is probably hunting down opponent scheme runners.  Use them as scheme runners yourself, but if your opponent has something going off dropping markers, toss a Rider at it.  Like it's been mentioned before, if I need melee damage done, we have other great models to hire instead.

Cool, we are on the same page. Currently painting one

On 29.7.2016 at 7:39 AM, Kobayashi said:

Currently in a Wong / Ophelia Crew I see the Rooster more as a fast flanker, intercepting models, that want to sneak past by my Crew or stop schemerunners. I don't fancy sending them to an early demise with nothing done already.

 

[Dumb Luck]

Three Roosters with Zoraida (or maybe Mah too?) is a really reliable way to get an early lead in Stake a Claim.

[orkdork]

My issue with roosters is that after my three get me 3 VP and deny my opponent ~2, they die 18 SS for a 5-VP swing is barely on track for a double-digit margin of victory.

[Kobayashi]

12 minutes ago, orkdork said:

My issue with roosters is that after my three get me 3 VP and deny my opponent ~2, they die 18 SS for a 5-VP swing is barely on track for a double-digit margin of victory.

Well, at least I can always play this when I activate them

[Je ne c'est LaCroix]

Kill stupid bird-throwing Austringers d.e.d. ded.