Nellie vs Brewmaster

[Clockwork_Fish]

So I got to try out Nellie today, and it was certainly fun if a bit of a mess.  It was a 50SS Reconnoiter battle, standard deployment.  I was trying for Breakthrough and Make them Suffer, my opponent took Line in the Sand and Distract.

Crew 1

Nellie with Delegation, Misleading Headlines, Guild Funds

Phiona with Wrath of the Guild, Lead Lined Coat

Francisco with Wade In, Lead Lined Coat

Austringer

Latigo Pistolero

Field Reporter x 2

Printing Press

7 SS

 

Crew 2 (I can't recall his upgrades; Brewmaster is a mystery to me)

Brewmaster

Fingers

Trixie Belle

Burt Jebsen

Moon Shinobi

Rooster Rider

Taxidermist

Stuffed Piglet

Apprentice Wesley

3 SS

 

Turn 1

I moved moved of my crew up the right flank, discarding two cards to pass twice, hoping someone would wander in range.  The Taxidermist nudged the Stuffed Piglet a little too far forwards.  The Austringer made Nellie interact to drop a scheme marker, and I used her 0 action to push forwards and give the poor pig humiliation.  I tried throwing it on Apprentice Wesley but failed, so decided to lower my evidence to push Nellie back the way she came and gave Phiona fast with her last action.  The Rooster Rider ran forward and dropped a scheme marker along the center line, and Burt started creeping along the left side of the board.

Turn 2

The Rooster Rider dropped another scheme marker, but Nellie popped back up and cast Propaganda on him, pushing him into Phiona who ate him alive.  That was my one bit of good luck, as Unfortunately she and one of my Reporters got bogged down in Brewmaster's aura of suck with a heap of poison on Nellie.  Burt Jebsen took over scheme duty, laying a marker on the left flank along the center line.  Francisco and the Pistolero got pushed back almost to my deployment zone by Trixie Belle.  Fingers put Distract on Nellie and the nearby reporter.  The Moon Shinobi tried to beat up Nellie, which put her down two wounds.  The other reporter used Corroborating Evidence to remove one of the Rooster's scheme markers.  Unfortunately I ended up bogged down in one table quarter, and lost out on Strategy.  On the bright side, the Austringer was able to push Nellie away from Brewmaster, and I'd earned enough Evidence to get 2 Soulstones.

Nellie 1 - Brewmaster 2

Turn 3

Nellie used Lead to run for the hills, while reporter #1 started...drinking.  A lot.  Nellie used Propaganda on Apprentice Wesley and fed him to Phiona thanks to the Angry Mob trigger.  The Taxidermist created another Stuffed Piglet and used it to bog down Phiona and Francisco, but it was killed by Phiona, wounding Francisco.  Her second attack wounded the Moon Shinobi, who tried to push toward Brewmaster to heal and was shot dead by the Pistolero.  Trixie Belle tried to lure the Brewmaster out of the center of the board so my opponent could lock down two table quarters and tie me in a third, but a black joker on Gremlin Lure let Nellie push her within 6" of the center, and she grudgingly had to waste an action on walking back where she was.  So nobody scored for Strategy, I got another for Make them Suffer, and my opponent one for Distract

Nellie 2 - Brewmaster 3

Turn 4

Brewmaster tried to lock down Francisco and slapped poison and a on him, but Phiona placed in base using Look Out! Phiona had El Mayor on her and basically ignored his drinking contest.  The Brewmaster got hurt, and the Taxidermist took a mining pick in the face and died.  Trixie Belle was Propaganda'd to death, Reporter 1 started removing enemy scheme markers and Reporter 2 started planting for Breakthrough.  Burt had by now circled around and took a shot at the Pistolero, wounding him, but Francisco took a focused shot and reduced Burt to one wound.  The last Stuffed Piglet finally succumbed to humiliation (having spent most of the game binge drinking to stay alive) which left no more minion/peon models.  My opponent was unable to score for Strategy but got another for Distract.  I got one for strategy, and another for Make them Suffer.

Nellie 4 -  Brewmaster 4

Turn 5

At this point, I had my whole crew, and my opponent had Brewmaster, Burt and Fingers, all wounded.  So we called it here.  We figured Fingers could get another scheme marker down for Line in the Sand, but Burt and Brewmaster were living on borrowed time, he'd already maxed out Distract, and there was nothing to stop Reporter 2 or Nellie from dropping schemes for Breakthrough.

So the final score (near as we can figure) would have been

Nellie 8 - Brewmaster 7

I have to say I really like Nellie.  She's a deceptively vicious choice for kill-y schemes and strategies like Make them Suffer.  I only bothered with Misinformation on turn one, as it's a bit of a resource drain.  Phiona is definitely a monster, and using Nellie to feed her models using the Guild and Angry Mob triggers is great.

Francisco didn't really do much but hand out El Mayor twice, but wasn't in position to do so for most of the game, and thanks to Brewmaster and Trixie Belle he wasn't able to do much.  I think maybe I'll leave him out next time, drop Misleading Headlines for Embedded, and try out a couple mercs.  I'm thinking Envy and Sue.  Nellie's great at moving the enemy around but unless you want to set your own troops on fire she's not so great at moving her own.  Lead lets her move quickly on her own, but unless you spam fast on everyone she'll leave the rest of her crew behind.