Ripples of Fate Musings: Arcanists

[OctaBit]

The upgrade itself can go on anything that can get an upgrade. You then target a non master, non peon beast. Then target a non master, non peon construct within the same range of the original model. So you can't use it on ramos or marcus, and the raptor is also out. However I really don't see that being an issue.

[Krosanreaper]

17 minutes ago, Bengt said:

So the model with the upgrade doesn't move? He swaps two other models with each other? Can you move your Master if he is Ramos/Marcus or is there some restriction?

In any case it seems powerful, especially with some crazy fast guys like Raptors and Doves. And it's fairly easy to make anything a Beast with Raptors. Making anything a Construct requires Mei+Sparks right?

You could even make Ice Golem SMASH!  

30 minutes ago, OctaBit said:

Ya it says kill, not sacrifice.

 

So what do people think of Blade and claw? Personally I think this thing is bonkers. If all three of the models are on 50mm bases and are in a straight line at max range you can get a potential 23" place, as a (0). You also have a 50/50 chance of getting it off the top of the deck. Pair this with models who are both constructs and beasts and this can be really flexible. The ones I can think of off the top of my head are poison gamin, scorpius, and the RN (with marcus).

So the important restriction on Blade and Claw is non-leader non-peon for the targets. It targets a beast and a construct, so while the holder can target themselves it could also be a third part targeting the two for maximum total distance, as described by OctaBit. Looks like I'm adding this upgrade and a Malifaux Raptor to my Ramos list to make Langston a beast give him the ability to swap with spiders.

[Jordon]

It does require some setup while also dictating your hiring pool somewhat. I think it's meant to promote some diversity into what can otherwise be a "standard" list. It also gives an indirect boost to the scorpius and any other models with both beast and construct characteristics (poison gamin?).

Personally I'm more excited for what it can do for the ice golem and blessed. God knows the golem can definitely benefit from the boost in speed (while also being a good carrier for the upgrade itself)

 

[OctaBit]

I think it will be very effective in a Sandeep crew. With the ability to summon poison gamin you can fill either of the two parts.

 

Funny thing you could do if you have banasuva out with the earth upgrade. You can have the model with B&C use beacon to trigger student of all to get Sandeep to summon a poison gamin. Then have the original model use B&C to move banasuva to where the gamin was. Could be a good way to reposition Banasuva to  lock down a key model or act as a tar pit/ bodyguard for Sandeep.

[Bengt]

Ok, so it wasn't quite a crazy as I thought.  It still seems like a solid upgrade, both for early speed boosts and re-positioning later in the game. I guess I could use some more beasts though, currently I only own Raptors...

[decker_cky]

I think it will open some crazy options for rogue necromancies, which are both beasts and constructs, and suffer slightly from a lack of speed. Marcus also gets silurids or gupps as easy options to position the necromancy where he wants. 

It may be enough to get scorpius in position when he needs to be to cause slow, making it much more potent.

Marcus can actually run a pretty good beast and claw poison list around a core of rogue necromancies, poison gamin, and scorpius.

[dancater]

Interesting to get more information on Blade & Claw.  Fortunately nice as obviously over powered as I feared but it does seem pretty flexible and interesting and certainly potentially boosts several of the slower Arc choices.

So my thinking at the moment, just chalk boarding.

• Obvious first use is to put a slower beater into a ideal position to inflict the pain, as I've already identified Ice Golem just got teleport!  Equally smaller faster minions have an interesting place and threat potential, so Molemen, Steam Arachnids, various Gamin, the Hoarcat pride, the Effigy.  Can also as identified be used to wave in beaters so the Blessed and Golem chain for example.
• Next and equally observed is to use to pull a beater out of an exposed position after they have charged forward to maim something or had Black Joker misfortune while trying to, now you can get out before the full counterattack.  This would also work for Joss in particular.
• As identified it has very interesting application for the Beast/Construct hybrids, so Scorpius, Rogue Necromancy, Mechanized Pork Chop and any abilities which can "grant" Beast or Construct so Marcus and Sparks.
• The Mechanized Rider which is fast, adaptable, not easy to kill and a construct just got a incidental buff.
• It has some obvious scheme/strategy applications where you can place things into and out of critical positions for things ranging from Assassination to Bodyguard.  In this role could be an excellent "misdirect" so a big beater could charge around threatening various things only to be teleported out in order to alpha the master for assassinate surprise.

Basically a potentially significant upgrade.  But having said that still very situational because you will need to build a list in order to take advantage.  So the Scorpius really is significant now, if the Poison Gamin is a Beast & Construct that will be huge.  Myranda also could be interesting in certain lists, she is pretty quick and can become an instant Beast that I need piece.

[BFOmega]

8 minutes ago, dancater said:

  So the Scorpius really is significant now, if the Poison Gamin is a Beast & Construct that will be huge. 

Can confirm poison gamin are beasts and constructs.

[dancater]

35 minutes ago, BFOmega said:

Can confirm poison gamin are beasts and constructs.

Well they just got real interesting.

[BFOmega]

On a possibly related note, The Valedictorian is a construct...

[decker_cky]

Mechapork is not a beast.

[BFOmega]

Maybe a bird pecked it.

[OctaBit]

Or it got bit by a dog...

[Emeryt]

I find Blade and Claw pretty amazing as a Marcus player. And, tbh, see a potential in it in Raspy' lists as well (Myranda + IE / Blessed).

Not only it can help improve survivability in the team (withdrawing wounded Cerberus, putting Rogue Necro in its place), it can potencially improve the Alpha Strike in 2nd turn (Myranda charge, shapeshift, brings Killjoy and Cerberus, the cat attacks, swaps with Rogue Necro, kills more).

It can also work as a disturbance. You don't really need to use it once, but letting the opponent know that You have it, can force him to make mistakes or play more defensively, allowing You to get more field and run schemes. A bit similarly as Killjoy works sometimes (though much cheaper ;-) ).
 

[floso]

I see a lot of potential with blade and claw. My thinking is it will.be.great on joss.or Howard. Turn.1 quick.beast goes in like cerberus turn 2 joss 0 jumps in moves squisher cerberus to safety

[Merbak]

I think it might be best on Myranda herself, as she's the only one who can take it that also has accomplice.  </ShiftyEyes>

It actually makes her useful for something other than turning into Killjoy and Cerberus/Slate Ridge Mauler.  Turn two (or at an appropriate later time) charge in, teleport back out sending in a Howard/Joss/Golem, which then gets to chain activate.  Then again the next turn on a new target.

[bertmac]

 

Ok, so it wasn't quite a crazy as I thought.  It still seems like a solid upgrade, both for early speed boosts and re-positioning later in the game. I guess I could use some more beasts though, currently I only own Raptors...

Get yourself a cerberus.

[retnab]

I was wondering, has anyone tried the Shastar Guard yet?  I haven't heard much mentioned about them and I'm not really sure where they fit in yet. Do they get any synergy from other Academics?  I kind of thought bringing an Oxfordian Blood Mage and one Guard for his  might be good, but would the Guard get anything out of the deal?

[Jordon]

 

I was wondering, has anyone tried the Shastar Guard yet?  I haven't heard much mentioned about them and I'm not really sure where they fit in yet. Do they get any synergy from other Academics?  I kind of thought bringing an Oxfordian Blood Mage and one Guard for his  might be good, but would the Guard get anything out of the deal?

Just theory-faux here as I have no real experience using them yet, but so so far they seem like bodyguard that operates in close proximity with other models. I feel like they'll be great escorts for the Oxfordian Mage's who can have problems when engaged. Their damage looks very consistent, but at the cost of being somewhat fragile looking.

They also have a hint of shenanigans in that they can cheat Df duels to draw a card. So in crew's such as Kaeris, Ironsides or Sandeep who tend to target their crew with friendlily attack actions, they offer some effective card cycling (similar to gunsmiths who cheat in Ram's to gain fast).

My gut feeling is that you'll see these guys in crew's that can offer them good support. So Kaeris with her healing/flight, Sandeep with pushes/incorporeal, Ironsides and her Hand Picked Men aura.  Not much there for Ramos, Mei or Marcus and I feel like Colette has better prompt targets. Raspy has too many good options available in theme, but the free push as well as access to an armour buff is something that could work decently. 

[MuMantai]

 

I was wondering, has anyone tried the Shastar Guard yet?  I haven't heard much mentioned about them and I'm not really sure where they fit in yet. Do they get any synergy from other Academics?  I kind of thought bringing an Oxfordian Blood Mage and one Guard for his  might be good, but would the Guard get anything out of the deal?

 

I've tried them with Sandeep and found them quite good. With Imbued Energies and the (0) place effect, they have some crazy thread ranges and angles, and with the free focus and triggers they can dish out some good damage. They are not as sturdy as some of our other options, but they are reasonably hard to kill (haha). I liked them. I'm looking forward to trying them with Ironsides, I think they will be beastly with her.

Don't give too much emphasis on the (0) in my oppinion, it is a nice bonus, but no reason to field them.

[admiralvorkraft]

I find the free push each turn to be the most compelling reason to field them. If I need durable beaters, I've got Large Arachnids for 2ss cheaper and they bring marker removal, or Railworkers for 5ss if I'm not leaning on M&SU synergies. For the same price, I get an Arachnid Swarm with pulse marker removal, native healing, and built-in positives to damage.

The push is a material advantage though. Mobility tricks are always good.

[Jordon]

Also since they are an enforcer, they are able to carry the M&SU specific upgrade's on a fairly cheap platform. The Firestarter is cheaper, but I rarely put such upgrades on him as he's usually off doing his own thing far away from the crew most of the time.

I also think they're going to be one of the better carriers of our new Well Rehearsed upgrade given they have H2K. With this upgrade it's essentially giving a secondary H2K, meaning on 2Wds, you'd need to sink 3AP into actually killing this model with this upgrade (made better with it's exceptional Df/Wp 6)

[spooky_squirrel]

I've been using a single Shastar Vidiya Guard under multiple masters.

On 8/31/2016 at 6:56 AM, retnab said:

I was wondering, has anyone tried the Shastar Guard yet?  I haven't heard much mentioned about them and I'm not really sure where they fit in yet. Do they get any synergy from other Academics?  I kind of thought bringing an Oxfordian Blood Mage and one Guard for his  might be good, but would the Guard get anything out of the deal?

The Guard doesn't necessarily get anything out of that deal, except another beater close at hand. Someone that can potentially finish the job of killing a model if the Guard came up short.

 

On 9/1/2016 at 7:38 AM, Jordon said:

Also since they are an enforcer, they are able to carry the M&SU specific upgrade's on a fairly cheap platform. The Firestarter is cheaper, but I rarely put such upgrades on him as he's usually off doing his own thing far away from the crew most of the time.

This is what I have been doing under Mei Feng. The Shastar Vidiya Guard brings Bleeding Edge Tech. It also brings its own (0) to push a buddy up the field. I end up using that on Kang so that Kang's influence reaches further. This is where is gets rather bonkers though: when facing undead or constructs and operating near Kang as a clean-up counter-charge element, the Guard's on a double positive attack/damage on first attack (pitch a card for Know the Weapon), and a single positive on attack/damage on the second attack. With his damage spread and triggers, that can be terrifying. I've had him one-stab armored enforcers off the table (damage cannot be reduced trigger) from full health. Oh, and he's immune to Horror duels all the while.