Ramos questions

[Anung Un Rama]

So I picked up the old Ramos metal crew plus a blister of spiders. I have a few questions;

Seeing as it is the old box I don't have Joss. Can I live without him? Who can I get in box by themselves that can cover his role or something similar?

What should my next few purchases be?

 

[admiralvorkraft]

Joss is really nice to have, mostly because he gives you two scrap on your sacrificial cheap construct. A Large Arachnid does the same thing, it's cheaper though, and slightly less reliable.

Joss is also generally considered the best carrier for Bleeding Edge Tech and Powered By Flame - two upgrades that are generally considered auto include in Ramos crews.

[spooky_squirrel]

In addition to what is mentioned above: Joss provides a front line guy that helps keep attention and pressure off of Ramos. He's too solid to ignore, so your opponent will want to neutralize him. If you can't get him (or don't care to yet), you'll probably want another front line beater in his place. For that you might consider something like the Rail Golem (who really wants to be on fire) and/or Arcane Emissary. Large Arachnids help with getting scrap markers from kills. To kick off Ramos' factory, you'll probably want a throw-away construct like an Electric Creation, Mobile Toolkit, etc. Bringing a Rail Golem, you might consider the fire gamin as the sucker to kick off a splash of burning early. Electric Creation is the most cost-effective way to do this (see the Ramos threads for more detail).

[Adran]

There are other models that can perform similar roles to that of Joss. (Although none really do all of them, but you might not want all of them in any given game)

If you want a scrap producer, then the Large Archnid will also produce 2 scrap when it kills a construct. If you want a hard hitting model with some armour, then you have Howard, Rail Golem, Corephyee duet (I'm also going to add Carlos here but the figure isn't out yet). If you want something to carry Bleeding edge Tech, then Firestarter or Johan are options. If you think you will be plagued by defensive triggers then there are models like Union Miners that can get to ignore them

 

So you can get by without Joss. I don't think buyign a new box just for him s worth it. Buying the box for him, the brass arachind and some more spiders is starting to get decent value though, if you do find you want more spiders then it might be worth investing in the plastic box then, but you can play without Joss. 

[Mxbedlam]

Buy the plastic box anyway You'll need the spiders. I don't think I've ever run Ramos without Joss. He's a highly resilient damage deal who ignores some of the most difficult abilities out there. He also acts as a buff node for all my spiders, giving them regen and burning on their attacks. Even though Howard can hold one of these upgrades, I don't keep him centralized enough to make good use of them. Joss is the front line captain to Ramos' backline general role.

Side note: Can we get a Ramos sticky? THere's been a lot of questions about him lately

[admiralvorkraft]

Johan is a good carrier of M&SU upgrades (upgrade, I suppose) and comes in a single box. I would argue against Electrical Summoning (though the electrical creation is a great sacrifice for its Wp 10 if nothing else) for most scrap creation purposes, but it's the only way to go if you happen to be playing in blind deployment.

Also, if you're interested (and US based) I can probably get you the old metal Joss model because the have his solo blister at the lgs. PM me if you're interested but act soon as I'm leaving town in the next couple days

[Anung Un Rama]

Cheers for the replies

@admiralvorkraft thank you for the kind offer but i bought the box anyways lol

I decided to buy the box. Im using the metal Ramos because its a nice model and some of the spiders. Using the placcy Joss, Howard, Brass spider and the little spiders.

On the subject of spiders I have built 9 individual spiders and one base of swarm. Do I need anymore or is this enough?

@Mrbedlam I second your suggestion a Ramos sticky is very much needed!!!

[spooky_squirrel]

If you average summoning 2 per turn and don't hire any, that's enough for 4 turns of summoning without casualties. So you should be good to go. Don't forget that you can always have Ramos use magnetism to put some damage on your own spiders when you need more scrap markers to summon off of, and Joss gets you two for the price of one if he gets the kill  ...because if your opponent isn't killing off your spiders, you will end up needing to (to generate scrap markers) if you want to summon more.

[Mxbedlam]

I always try to put my spiders in harms way every turn, whether slowing things down or charging to put some burning on something.  

[Anung Un Rama]

Everyone says get a mechanical rider but im thinking about giving the rail golem a go first.

[BFOmega]

It depends on what you're wanting to do. Rail Golem kills things, and though it's a bit inconstant, given enough tomes it can kill their entire crew. Not an exaggeration. Granted, he's fighting Ramos for those tomes as well, though you'll usually just need one high one for him a turn. He's in a similar niche as Howard, but with higher highs and lower lows (basically, less consistent)

The Mech rider, however, is more of a scheme/strategy completer. Throw her off on a flank in interference and she can mostly hold it herself, between her speed, late game tankiness, and summons, unless they send something big at her, which lets you take advantage on the other flank, and she should be able to keep herself safe enough until backup comes. In addition, the scheme markers she drops from her attack are REALLY good at getting Set Up and Detonate the Charges.

[spooky_squirrel]

The thing with the Mechanical Rider is she's a summoning Enforcer. If you want to skew heavy with summoning, that's 1 metal gamin (or fire gamin or mannequin) a turn on top of the ~2 spiders from Ramos. You'll have a lot of activations, but you're going to be countered hard by the same things that make Ramos want to stay back. I like running her with other crews (like Ironsides) that are tying up the middle of the board, so that she's free to drop scoring minions in the enemy deployment zone or run down enemy scheme runners (or the defensive solo minion hiding from the hunting party in the back corner somewhere). If you're running Ramos' spider factory in the middle of the board, you do have an edge in attrition that might make it worthwhile to bring the Mech Rider as a scheme runner, and just shy away from taking the schemes that require solidly killing things. Her card draw is a reliable source of a spare card per turn, which can really help out with getting the cards you need to keep going.

The Rail Golem, oh my... if you get it set on fire (not just burning 1-2, think like burning 4-5)... it's a terror. If you're under locomotion and smacking things with the (0) attack and still have burning left, your min damage is 5 and you can potentially keep triggering it until you run out of steam (or burning, as the case is). As BFOmega mentioned, it's Tomes intensive and it will fight with Ramos for them. The other option, if you're not going for the "make them suffer" one-construct show, you can vent steam in the middle of a pack of things and set them on fire. I get use out of this in other crews, but I've never really considered the Rail Golem in Ramos' crew.

You also might consider the Arcane Emissary. It's another 10 pt Enforcer, but with Ramos' conflux it's also a Construct and a source of magnetism (for popping your own spiders and making scrap). That may not seem like much, but when you start factoring in the other things that Ramos and company can do, especially with constructs, it can get pretty hairy for your opponent pretty quickly. A reactivating  (from Brass Spider) Charge 10 monster that blows away scheme and corpse markers as part of its charge is intense. Especially when it has a 'discard a card to prompt a nearby non-leader' effect ...you know, for when Joss didn't quite finish killing that thing next to him or you're one spider-dropped scheme marker from the third point in Convict Labor. It's nuts.

[Anung Un Rama]

Cheers for the replies. I am really unsure about my next purchase. I really would love to stay in M&SU theme but I dont know. I cant the emissary until october/November, ill grab it then.

What would you recommend for the next purchase?

[Mxbedlam]

For M&SU theme there's Johan, Ironsides box, Kaeris box, and Gunsmiths. IMO Johan is someone you wanna take with you a lot anyway. He's beefy and can really smack something down when he needs to, or remove nasty conditions. Ironsides box has the Captain who can push things around and also deal out some nasty damage. Kaeris box has the Firestarter who is a very much overlooked scheme running 7SS henchman

[Anung Un Rama]

I really like the captain's miniature looks very cool.....but i wouldnt really use much else from the box.

Ill look at getting a hold of a Johan. The Gunsmiths intrigue me, I like the concept how would they go in a Ramos crew?

[Trixter]

On ‎19‎.‎09‎.‎2016 at 1:37 PM, Morgy said:

Cheers for the replies. I am really unsure about my next purchase. I really would love to stay in M&SU theme but I dont know. I cant the emissary until october/November, ill grab it then.

What would you recommend for the next purchase?

May be Joss still selling here: