Is Tara really that bad?

[Anung Un Rama]

is Tara really that bad? I keep hearing that she is crap and a real sub optimal choice. Is it people dont know how to play her properly is she in fact a crap choice?

[Fetid Strumpet]

No Tara is not bad. She is complicated to play, her rules are spread over a lot of cards, an if you try to focus on what it looks like what she is supposed to do, i.e. Try to bury things, you will have a hard time of it. She's a master with a potential 6 AP a turn, with the ability to help dictate initiative. If you run her with those two facts more in te forefront of your mind you'll do better with her.

[daniello_s]

Master who can do alpha-strike with Killjoy-bomb and can win initiative quite easily can't be bad

[Duront]

I used to play a lot of Tara as I really like her story and theme but i realized after a year of play that if I wanted to be a great tara player, I needed to only play with her. There is so much nuance with her play style that you need to always know what to do and if you make a mistake there is usually VERY little room for recovery.

Her downsides have been made worse with other models getting similar mechanics that are easier to do (Brutal Emissary, Aionis). I think that you can play her and win but be prepared to work twice as hard as most masters to accomplish the same task.

[boots468]

Yeah, I wouldn't go so far as to call her crap, but she takes a while to learn, and even once you're good with her, then very few people would call her top tier. Certainly not " real sub optimal " though.

Of course, as that is her reputation, she's a bit rarer than most masters, so few people know exactly how to play against her, and she does bring some unique things to the table.

If you have the horror models to summon handy, then I'd say these days Karina is better than most totems, so that helps Tara a bit and if you're willing to not have Tara's reactivate, her anti-interact (0) can really help with the right schemes.

It's a shame that one her most powerful abilities (choose to re flip to see if game finishes) often can't be used in most competitive play though, as they are fixed turn limit, or you run out of time for turn 6 etc.

[Shimian]

Speaking about Tara, just a short question. What non-resser models do I need for her? I bought her crew box and some Death Marshals. Since I got nearly every Resser model, I am now looking for mercs and stuff to make the most out of her.

[Terwox]

 

Speaking about Tara, just a short question. What non-resser models do I need for her? I bought her crew box and some Death Marshals. Since I got nearly every Resser model, I am now looking for mercs and stuff to make the most out of her.

 

Bishop, Killjoy.  That's about it.  Bishop is probably better, unless you're against black blood.

Scion of the Void is alright and fun to play with (don't forget it can essentially unbury itself) but not "necessary."  Really fits her theme though!  And it makes void wretches ok when they steal her attack.

[EnternalVoid]

 

Speaking about Tara, just a short question. What non-resser models do I need for her? I bought her crew box and some Death Marshals. Since I got nearly every Resser model, I am now looking for mercs and stuff to make the most out of her.

Honestly as a Resser I don't think Tara needs Mercs that much.  I mean most will suggest having Johan because he can be useful across the board for just about any faction but she is really not Needing anything out of the Outcast that does not come in her box or death marshals.

Now if you want to play her as an outcasts that would of course be another tale.

[DeleteAccount]

She's not crap, she is just clunky, her base card has a lot of useless clutter (that sword and pistol barely ever get any use...) and her real actions come from her upgrades, making her bloat a lot since it feels like you need 3 upgrades or bust. The lack of a keyword also means that playing as a resser you can't really bring her theme crew with her without being forced into other things and her theme crew is mostly a trap anyway since playing without a hand can be pretty horrible to work with.

She is at her strongest as a delivery service. With her own bury and another bury that works outside of her cycle (death marshal) she can easily deliver 2 big models with fast and have them carve a bloody path on her final activation (marshal buried model is let out by Tara, gets kill, this releases model buried by Tara). The Rogue Necromancy is a walking deathball when you don't have to worry about it being taken down at range before it can get delivered.

Her other forte is just giving AP all over the place, the AOE fast is huge and works wonders with pretty much anything. I personally highly recommend Spare Parts with her, a full life Autopsy is a fantastic speedbump summon and will waste a ton of enemy AP while barely putting a dent on your own use (lets be fair, Tara has 6AP but has a hard time doing anything worth mentioning with it).

Just don't focus on the give fast to enemies aspect of her unless you have played that aspect of hers to death or really want to commit to it, it's a lot more likely to go south than it is to go in your favor and burying enemy models with her theme triggers is mostly an exercise in frustration, be happy when it happens, but don't have your plan based on it and even then, always make sure you don't want to bury something of your own since if you do bury an enemy in the incorrect time, you can screw yourself over.

[Nukemouse]

Giving Fast to enemies really relies on using a lot of stuff that punishes willpower. Unless you manage to pull the entire enemy crew into Montresor so they have -3 wp and Karina is using her aura on them and you have void wretches and Nothing Beast moving in and this and that and whatever its not worth it. Though if you are willing to build your whole list for it it can do some nice stuff and just giving one or two enemies fast for the -2 wp can leave them pretty vulnerable.

[Math Mathonwy]

I have been known to sword stuff to death with her on occasion - that 6AP does add up with her Ml6 even though her damage track does leave quite a bit to be desired.

And yeah, I've come to conclusion that ignoring her theme crew (Death Marshalls are the only thing I miss from it) and focusing on giving Fast to your own models is the key to playing her. Rotten Belles are excellent at luring an already-activated enemy model into your lines so that you can apply Fast and then slaughter that enemy.

I have also began to steer away from the "bomb" style of dropping something huge in the face of the enemy. These days I more often drop something like Sebastian in there or transport a Nurse into a more advantageous position or something. But then again I tend to shy away from ultra expensive models with Ressers in general.

[DeleteAccount]

Well, her sword is pretty crummy and I've never used her echoes trigger, but it can still get the job done, I once had to start charging a Killjoy and stab it to death during 2 activations (managed to survive his activation) and took him down, but it's certainly a less than ideal situation to be in with her if swinging your sword is your best bet.

I do have to insist on delivering at least one big bad, Izamu is always decently reliable and the Rogue Necromancy has a tremendous amount of burst, but if you want to keep it cheap, a humble Fast punk zombie can get shit done too. But yeah, she doesn't need taxi shenanigans to get stuff done, the Spare Parts crew I brought Mortimer for the show with Corpse Bloat and didn't even bring the Symbiote upgrade and fared decently enough and it does open your upgrades for other stuff.

[Stadon]

Tara is an incredibly awkward master to play.  If you try to play her as you think she's intended to play (bury/unbury shenanigans) she's extremely fiddly.  You kind of need to already know how to play her to learn how to play her.  Her personal burying mechanic is super awkward, her attack actions are not great, the rest of her actions require specific timing/positioning, and she cannot function without several upgrades.  If you get all of her upgrades, support models, and timing down right, she ends up being a good at delivering a model to exactly where you want it, but lacks the amazing support features that other masters bring to the table.  Burying Tara is not quite a one trick pony, but it's close, especially relative to other Resser masters.  If you want to really salt that wound, compare the ease of use and capability of the Tara, the dedicated Bury/Unbury master, to any guild crew taking the Brutal Effigy.  It does all of Tara's Bury/Alpha Strike shenanigans, only easier and better, in addition to having a straight up better way to duplicate buried model's attacks.  

Summoning Tara is good, but kind of depressing.  The back of her card then becomes "This model has 6 AP.  Take an Upgrade to actually use them".  Don't get me wrong, an army of fast rogue necros is amazing, but it just seems kind of hollow and is, again, a fiddly multipart combo.  When it works it's great, when it doesn't she just doesn't have anything good to fall back on.  

[chris_havoc]

I love Tara! So here's my opinion, mostly on her in-theme stuff:

The Bad Stuff:

I think she is a relatively poorly written Master as they could have done a better job of making her work like she's supposed to without all the necessary Upgrades and so on. Karina is still an awful Totem in my opinion but others seem to like her so it is likely a play style thing. Still she tries to do too much in my opinion and can't accomplish anything because of it. She's not survivable to stick around for her Aura, she is awful at doing anything really effective to Buried models. Her Summon requires that you don't play her sans cards and in a themey way. Also as an Enforcer she gets no SS to get the right Crow so completely at the mercy of Crows in hand. Just horrible in my opinion but potentially cool in so many ways. The Nothing Beast needing an Upgrade to survive is a shame because he can't take others but the Upgrade does fix him hugely. Just again... she needs a rewrite or at least reorganisation. I understand Wyrd were under time constraints with Levi not being ready Wave 1. Thanks Levi. Honestly though as clunky as her cards are, she's still really fun to play with and against. Oh yeah you can basically ignore the non-Tara Upgrades for her crew in Wave 1. Even Eternal Journey very rarely sees play despite being cool as you have to play her other Upgrades to get her going in her intended role.

 

The Good Stuff:

Tara herself is very cool but restricted by the way her cards are written. Not talking about having to Activate first or discard cards and the like, more things like Pull of the Void not being on her card and being restricted to only working when other models can Activate on her crew. Besides that she is really cool. Having  on Initiative is really great and lets you Activate Tara before anyone can stop her from bringing out a big beastie she buried last turn. Or bury and unbury a beasty so it can chain activate. The bury bomb technique only tends to work in her first Turn/Activation if you are playing a themed crew as it requires cards to make it happen, incidentally that's why her sword is pretty good in my opinion. Glimpse the Void auto-Trigger Ml vs Df gives her some versatility and no TN like Pull of the Void. Eternal Moments is really fun to play with Dead of Winter's -2 Wp (again, needing an Upgrade) if you can get it right, your whole crew can get Fast and one enemy model gets the same. Belles are good at making that happen. Even if it does go awry, and you give a few Enemy models Fast they will learn quickly it comes at a cost. As most of her basic models hit Wp or benefit against Fast models. Wk 5 makes her crazy fast with 6 Actions so she can usually get off an effective first turn bury bomb and because has a fast crew and can unbury slower models you usually won't over extend. All that being said though, don't be afraid to skip her activating first, it can be a trap if you have another model that needs to go first. Plus being able to Activate Tara whenever in your Turn does give you some versatility. Now the card discard style of play is my bread and butter, it is high risk often but that risk often pays off especially with models to capitalise on it like Aionus or Nothing Beast. The worry about having few cards is usually mitigated by the fact that your opponent will be reeling to stop a Fast onslaught and if you play in theme they will need to get rid of cards which puts you at an advantage. Df 8/9 is nothing to scoff at. Oh her other (0) is very cool too stopping Interacts is pretty potent and also makes her not activating first have a big effect on the game.

Her basic crew options are pretty great I believe! Void Wretches are crazy fast and can hide very well while you have cards so they don't get hit. Also, don't be fooled by Ml 4, in a swarm these guys can dish out damage especially against Fast models, also their (0) for Fast/Slow is very useful for controlling the board. The Nothing Beast is one of my favourites. Unfortunately he NEEDS Void Shield but with Fast and Casting Expert this guy can hit HARD. Either go for 2 Focus hits to up the odds of moderatedamage or take 3/4 swings and go for damage potential. His (0) and other Ca are both very good too now he can stick around. Death Marshalls are solid models and survivable. Hitting Wp with his Pine Box is another bonus.

Pretty much all the fixes that Wave 2 released were amazing. The Void Shield is great for the Nothing Beast who now doesn't die in a stiff breeze, also people like Karina's Summon even though I don't. The same can be said for the Wave 3 models and Aionus. They all get her working very well. The Scion is a solid hitter and isn't worried about being caught out with few cards in hand. I think using her Actions out of Activation is a bit of a trap other than the unbury but it has corner case uses. Aionus can give out Fast and Slow and hit buried models so complements her greatly. He also messes with Schemes and Void Wretches are very good at schemes to begin with. The Forgotten Marshall is also great because he can do all the Bury work and leave Tara an extra action or stop you from having to hire a Death Marshall. He also hits hard and has decent survivability. Hayreddin is another model that complements her enormously he's fast and hits hard. Also Df 7 makes losing cards less troublesome and  to damage make The Scion and Nothing Beast's damage tracks look pretty tasty. 

[Slapdrone]

Big Tara player so I get most of what your saying.  Forgotten Marshal had pine box in the first beta round and than it got taken out.  How does he help with bury work now?

[chris_havoc]

Well because he can bury himself Tara or the Death Marshall don't have to use an action of their's to do so.