Sandeep discussion

[osoi]

The Mech rider is going to be a very solid addition to any Sandeep crew, not just for what Jordan has posted above. You may end up summoning Gamin you want to use to buff Kudra, use to get Banasuva out while not maxing out on your upgrades, she adds a lot of flexibility to Sandeep and helps his playstyle out immensely.

[decker_cky]

Finding a tome isn't really valuable either, since Arcane Storm has one built in (nice for other actions activating student of all, but the mech rider isn't going to be using Sandeep's 0 actions).

 

Great find on the miner trick though. Makes them a great addition in a Sandeep crew.

[Jordon]

Basically any model with natural abilities will make for interesting hires. Here are a few more to think about

Cerberus three headed rule will work with arcane storm (I don't really see this as a great option though)

Steam arachnid swarm have strength in numbers to allow them to gain positives to damage for arcane storm

Johan can gain positives to attack when next to M&SU

Large arachnid using Temporary limb can gain positives to all flips making any beacon ability easier to use

Soulstone miner can use soulstones and thus can burn a stone to trigger any ability, or gain the suit to leap since it's a minion

Blessed and Hoarcat can use "eat your fill" when using arcane storm

Mobile toolkit gives positives to damage on any construct to then use arcane storm

 

[angyi]

1 hour ago, Jordon said:

Cerberus three headed rule will work with arcane storm (I don't really see this as a great option though)

 

Well it's a really good option when your cat doesn't have a good position to pull its weight in melee, or you don't have the mask to increase its threat range / save its butt after the charge. It's a 9+1 points beast that will no longer have any passive turns, at least not necessarily...

[decker_cky]

I like the Hoarcat eat your fill option. Cat is weakened and engaged, it can teleport out with Sandeep's (0), focus, and target something that's weak with Arcane Storm to heal back up. 

[brdparker]

8 hours ago, decker_cky said:

I like the Hoarcat eat your fill option. Cat is weakened and engaged, it can teleport out with Sandeep's (0), focus, and target something that's weak with Arcane Storm to heal back up. 

That sounds like a particularly solid use for them (and I have yet to find an excuse to field them in M2E, so this is good news!)

[Mxbedlam]

I kinda love the gunsmith idea. It gives them a solid amount of versatility.

[Jordon]

In terms of mercenaries, here are some models to think about.

Blood wretch can use their (1) to give them +1 damage and allow them to draw two cards and discard one. This is actually pretty sweet with arcane storm and it also helps that the watch heals overtime it kills an enemy.

Hans and the freikorpsmen can reference the field guide to gain suits but it eats up a (0).

Aionus in a academic heavy list can allow a model to discard a card to gain fast. This can be used with Sandeep's ability to suffer damage and draw a card. Essentially allowing Sandeep to take a point of damage to give someone fast. 

Gracie has eat your fill which can pair nicely with arcane storm. 

Bishop can just add any suit to all of his duels making him a great early beacon adopter. Since he's swift it could let him pull in a model using beacon and letting him still flurry on it.

[retnab]

I just had a thought... with Sandeep bring a model that has Accomplice (Myranda, Arcane Effigy, I think that's it?).  Have that model activate and do a Beaconed spell with a  in it.  Sandeep triggers Student of All to summon Banasuva in.  The model ends its activation within 6" of Banasuva, who immediately activates and wrecks some face before your opponent can do anything about it.  Takes some cards to get happening, and you need a Gamin on the field already, but it sounds like a fun and nasty setup to me!

[Fog]

16 hours ago, retnab said:

I just had a thought... with Sandeep bring a model that has Accomplice (Myranda, Arcane Effigy, I think that's it?).  Have that model activate and do a Beaconed spell with a  in it.  Sandeep triggers Student of All to summon Banasuva in.  The model ends its activation within 6" of Banasuva, who immediately activates and wrecks some face before your opponent can do anything about it.  Takes some cards to get happening, and you need a Gamin on the field already, but it sounds like a fun and nasty setup to me!

That's a lot of cards, but it would be hilarious. I think I'll try it today.

[retnab]

4 minutes ago, Fog said:

That's a lot of cards, but it would be hilarious. I think I'll try it today.

Haha sounds good, let us know how well (or terribly) it goes!

[Fire At Will]

Does Sandeep need to sacrifice any other totem he hires when he summons Banasuva? Because if not, an Academic-heavy Ssandeep list might like some Essence of Power

[Kevin Finch]

Yeah,  but that doesn't stop him from taking it in the first place.  So use the essence,  and lose it when you need to get some sweet sweet Banasuva action. 

[decker_cky]

Yeah. I think it'll be interesting running a few turns of malifaux child, until you're ready to bring out big blue. Student of conflict could be worthwhile, but is rather expensive. Essence of power....its probably the best way to get use out of it, but it's still so limited.

That said....kadru could get a lot of utility out of essence of power in terms of soulstone use.

[Fog]

I ended up giving a couple demos instead, and then a player wanted to try something new and requested to NOT lay against Arcanists so it'll have to wait.

[Fire At Will]

I just played a game against Sandeep. He dropped Big Blue pretty much in the middle of my guys (I was running Guild McMourning) the end of turn 1 and just wrecked face thereafter. I think he's going to be a bit of an onion in terms of playstyles

[Fog]

Sandeep is top tier.  I've been saying it for a long, long time.

[Fire At Will]

I'm very glad I got him! Now to get somemore gamin... And Im sure my Guild crews won't mind me picking up some Sanctioned Spellcasters

[retnab]

Just got my first game in with Sandeep today, it went really great.  Sandeep is a really weird playstyle but holy wow is he fun and well designed!  I nearly got off the nasty combo I mentioned above, got everything to work except Big Blue failed at the (0) place, oops.  Went 7-4 vs Resser Tara in Headhunter, I went Behold Another World because Visions of Wind to place a Gamin that picks the head right up is a real easy VP.  Looking back I'm pretty sure I forgot half the new stuff every turn, I know I wasn't doing Impossible To Wound on some of the attacks but considering how much you need to keep track of I think I still did okay.  Also, lol, it turns out Banasuva really hates being Buried - he only got a single attack in all game, but it was a RJ flip that killed an already injured Tara and Bete Noir so he still got his value in.

[dancater]

Besides can't complain if you force your opponent to expend the resources to constantly bury a summoned model.  Good to hear that he is playing really nicely and balanced and also kind of pleased he is interesting and challenging because ultimately I prefer that sort of game.  

I am wondering what his builds are going to play out like, the Academic thing sounds interesting but niche, the Poison Gamin actually in his box are I think going to be very unusual selections for his crew, you'll see them summoned now and then but SS purchased I'd imagine rarely.

retnab (and others) any particular stand out models (other than Big Blue) in your games?

Did Kudra get a look in?

Which little Gamin are getting summoned regularly? 

[Jordon]

I actually think an all academic list is more viable than people give it credit. They have plenty of hitting power and board control and they only major weakness I can see amongst most of the academics is their speed. Luckily Sandeep has his own solution to that between incorporeal and his (0) to leap.

In terms of actually interactions, gamin make wonderful scheme runners (especially with the proper upgrades) and lets not forget Sandeep himself can be a one man show with his potential 4AP and essentially free interact action. That means if your positioned properly and utilize all his AP, he can actually drop 3 markers on a given turn. I just feel like Sandeep goes a long way in shoring up many of the potential weaknesses of an all academic list. 

[Fog]

I feel like the real weakness of academics is that they generally can't take a hit and don't want to be in melee. Sandeep still helps them out a lot, but most academics don't stand particularly well on their own feet. Shoring up weaknesses generally isn't as effective as supporting strengths, I've found.

On which gamin to summon: 

I'm really liking wind gamin for chatty and the attack buff. Your opponent needs to kill it, and in doing so gives you a 5" push somewhere. You might want metal to keep the aura up longer, but you can generally replace it your next activation, even if Sandeep has already gone.

Otherwise, my summon choice will really depend on the situation. Do I need durability, range, explosive demise? If it's a model I expect to get killed right away, wind for the push. If it might last, I'll stop and think.  McMourning probably gets poison. Lots of terrifying? Ice. Frame for murder? Fire. Try to avoid giving people relevant markers by focusing on constructs vs living. Which gamin are in reach and which are still in my bag?

That last one is why I summoned mostly poison at GenCon, sadly. Wasting time finding stat cards wouldn't have been cool.

[angyi]

4 hours ago, Fog said:

Shoring up weaknesses generally isn't as effective as supporting strengths, I've found.

+1

To my understanding, the potential of hiring out-of faction academics provides you with tools for the appropriate situation, eg. Singularity, for a price of an upgrade slot. In-faction academics are also niche models, as far from the all-comer approach as possible. Sandeep Desai is "Kaeris squared", I mean he works well with every single model he's able to hire, even more than Kaeris. Which is a good thing, also it's kind of disadvantageous to thematic lists, compared to the more open and pragmatical model selection.

[decker_cky]

8 hours ago, Fog said:

I feel like the real weakness of academics is that they generally can't take a hit and don't want to be in melee. Sandeep still helps them out a lot, but most academics don't stand particularly well on their own feet.

Aside from the students that can take a hit as well as anything in the game (particularly if you have bleeding edge tech around).

[Guslado]

I've been finding that an academic heavy list works well in strategies where everyone is gathering near the middle (ie Turf War, Extraction, Guard the Stash). Only played two games so far (one win one loss), both with Academic heavy lists and I am liking the amount of damage they can put out. Definitely not for every strat/scheme pool, but they definitely have their place. I am starting to think that Gamin summoning should be done more on opportunity than as a focus--I definitely burned through my stones too quickly getting some Gamin and Big Blue out in the last game I played.