Proper use of Bete Noire

[McSkip]

Hey guys,

I was wondering how to use Bete effectivly and in the right way. I`m planing to use her in a McMourning list.

First  rules question:

When she`s unburried but not activated and killed, is she able to come back in the same turn? If yes, what about if she was already active?

Tactical questions:

1. Better starting burried?

2. When unburried, immidiately activate and try to kill sth or waiting and try to get "fast"?

I think Bete is because of her rules and squishyness rather difficult to play, so any advice how to handle her right is highly appriciated.

Thank you for any help!

[Bengt]

He ability to bury and unbury is not tied to her having activated or not. So whenever she gets to 0 Wd and you pass the duel she will bury. Whenever the right kind of model dies she can unbury.

I'd say start buried.

Activate her with priority as she is as you say rather squishy. But don't activate her just for the hell of it, if you have a better opportunity elsewhere do it first. If she gets fast after her activation it will stay until her next activation.

[Mikey_C]

3 hours ago, McSkip said:

First  rules question:

When she`s unburried but not activated and killed, is she able to come back in the same turn? If yes, what about if she was already active?

Activated or not she can come back multiple times in the same turn. 

3 hours ago, McSkip said:

Tactical questions:

1. Better starting burried?

2. When unburried, immidiately activate and try to kill sth or waiting and try to get "fast"?

1. I prefer to start Bete on the table, she has a nice anti shooting aura that I prefer to benefit from most times. 

2. Depends on the situation. Keep in mind though Bete's not a great killing model. She has great triggers though, so if the model she's unburried near hasn't activated yet it can be advantageous to attack right away.

 

One last point, I feel Bete best fits in with the non-summoning focused masters (Tara, Seamus etc.). Most of the summoners want to use that 10 you are saving to keep Bete from dying to summon whatever the situation calls for. So I think she works best for a master that doesn't feel hampered by holding a 10+ just for Bete.

[McSkip]

Thank you guys! So she can burry as much as she wants, good to know

I will start her on the table when I face a shooty crew I think. I will try her this tuesday, maybe she wrecks some face!

[Falos]

I use beta with Tara mainly I start off buried with her and kill joy and watch my opponents face as they worry about killing something. It's so much fun well for me

[Math Mathonwy]

One bit of advice that has served me very well with Bete is this: don't become obsessed about her coming back. If you don't have a card in hand which can save her, you can still Unbury her. Weigh the risks and the rewards of doing so.

Another thing worth noting, that Falos kinda touched there, is that Bete has an effect on the game even when she is just waiting in limbo. Your opponent has to consider her appearance and how that will affect the table state. Killing that Scheme Running Necropunk might not be the best idea if Bete pops out, dispatches of the killer and runs the Scheme anyway. So maybe your opponent doesn't go after the Necropunk but you might never know that this was because of your investment in Bete.

All that said, Aionus is sadly a Merc that can appear in any crew and hard counters Bete completely. So taking her is a risk and she wasn't all that superb to begin with (difficult to use properly). I really wish Bete was simply invulnerable while Buried as she is a bit of a special case with the burial mechanics.

[Khaiden]

I play Bete quite a lot, this is how I play her. Not saying it’s the best way but it works quite good for me.

I take her in my crew when I want to protect schemerunners that need to travel into my opponents half of the table and/or play mind games with them. Ive lately been playing a lot with Reva lately and Bete has become an auto-take for me in Reva crews, Ill explain why further down.

So about those mindgames.
She is quite easy to forget about and often you want the opponent to respect her even when she is not out on the table.
If I want the opponent to fear Bete popping out I sometimes casually mention her like “wops better not forget Bete this match, I usually forget I have her.. hehe” and the opponent will automatically have her top of mind as a threat and might to overthink his actions and make mistakes.

On the other hand if my opponent forgets about her and is about to do something that will punish him I of keep my big mouth shut and let them walk into it.

When I do pop her out I try to position her in a way that she ties up the opponents unactivated models and wait as long as possible to activate her. That way the opponent need to think hard on what to do and hopefully make the mistake and attack her. With defence 7 she Is very hard to hit and most often the opponent need to use their control-hand just to get a hit in. Wasting AP and cards on a model that can come back is what we love seeing the opponent do. Especially if she has not activated yet. Sure that 10 needed to succeed with “One with the night” is annoying to keep in hand but I’ve noticed that as long as the opponent see that you have cards in hand they are not that eager to attacking her at all. When I feel that she is safe for the turn I use the 10+ card for other things if needed.

If I have a high crow in hand and have the opportunity to paralyze an imported living unactivated model I go for her activation early to get that paralyze in. Most masters are living.

Her plus flip on attacks is amazing with all the triggers. Most often the opponent doesn’t bother to cheat since you manage to land the hit with the high card. You can now cheat in to get the suit you really want to trigger. Don’t forget that you can’t use the lower card that you flipped since you need to choose one of the cards flipped to be the card you add to your stat you are using. Ive seen this done wrong by a lot of players on abilities they have plus flip and different triggers. But that’s another topic.

Another thing that players forget about Bete is that she only unbury when Living and Undead models die. Fortunately for us Corpse Candles, Crooligans, and Mindless Zombies that I usually throw in the opponents face to threaten them with Bete are all undead. Seisins and Shieldbearers that have “turned” is not undead or living though so She is not popping out from those models.

Revas Corpse Candles are amazing with Bete, they basically let you unbury Beté in a way not possible before. Reva summons one 8” towards where you want bete to pop. (8” and 30mm from the base) When the corpse candle later activates its slow but since their “kill them self ability” is a 0 they can walk 4” and pop Bete out. With Betes 1” melee range you can position Bete for a flurry about 14,4” away from Reva or 22,4” charge-threat.
Since her meleerange is only 1” making it easier to positon her right is very valuable.

Last game I had I popped Bete up close to a group of activated enemy models and put down a schememarker to get Detonate the Charges in. (the other marker for full points was created by Reva.
I later that match used another corpse candle to pop her out in charge range of a Terror tot that I had previously ignored. Its was peacefully running down my flank to dish out scheme markers for leave your mark.. Bete denied the schememarker to score and killed the tot.

To summarize how i play her:
1. Don’t activate to quickly after she comes out, let the opponent take the hard decisions.
2. If you feel she is safe for the turn and you need to use that high card you are hogging for something important.. use it. If Bete has done her part in the match and its OK for her to Die.. use the card as well even if she is not safe. It’s the scores that matter not keeping your models around.
3. If you play Reva, give Bete a go and try out my corpse-candle shananigans. You will love it.
4. Casually remind the opponent that you have Bete in stand by ready for action when it suits you. Extra good if the opponent already finds her annoying.

Cheers!

[Bengt]

5 hours ago, Khaiden said:

Don’t forget that you can’t use the lower card that you flipped since you need to choose one of the cards flipped to be the card you add to your stat you are using.

If you have  you can use any card, even a lower one. This is stated outright on page 27 RB.

[Khaiden]

34 minutes ago, Bengt said:

If you have  you can use any card, even a lower one. This is stated outright on page 27 RB.

Yes but you need to chose one of the flipped cards as Active, of course you can choose the lower value card but then the opponent will probably cheat fate if he is about to lose the duel. I guess I was not 100% clear of what I ment.

 

[Phototropic]

i also find bete works well with scheme runnners since she can place scheme markers or hand out scheme related conditions on the turn she appears giving her quite a big reach. I've definitely had my share of scheme scoring or denying moments like @Khaiden described earlier. I enjoy playing with her threat more to keep models safe and get my opponent second guessing their plans. So she is definitely good at attacking with flurry, a high ml and +ve, but don't forget what she can add to a schemey game and the mind games.