Crew box that synergizes with Kaeris?

[Ein Silverkin]

My first crew box of M2E was Kaeris's and I'd like to buy a second crew box where the models inside will synergize well with her and vice versa. Recommendations?

[dancater]

Ramos box is excellent with anything Howard and Joss are 1st tier and the spiders are good.

Ironsides is also a strong contender.  Kaeris synergises well with The Captain and his abilities.  In addition the Ox Mages are interesting for Kaeris and can hand out Burning at range, in particular with the option to take three for 15SS this is potentially workable.

Mei Feng and her crew of rail workers.  You can't use Kang but the Rail workers themselves are solid tough models and can have Burning interaction.

Those are the three crew boxes I'd consider, any of them are good, I think Ramos box is the best universal Arcanist model value but with Kaeris all three are equally valid.  The others are Colette (no synergy although Performers are good and Cassandra excellent), Rasputina (no synergy at all), Sandeep (no synergy) and Marcus (again no synergy).

Outside of crew boxes I'd look at...

Mechanical Rider is simply so good that some people consider it unfair.  It can summon Fire Gamin, Spiders and Metal Gamin, scheme run and is durable and reasonably kill-y. 

Raptors as they are cheap and excellent in every build.  No real synergy but a 3SS and as fast and aggravating as they are including them in a crew is not a chore.

Rail Golem as it hits a ton, is durable and loves Burning.  Most folks prefer Howard but in particular in Kaeris crew the Rail Golem can shine.

Gunsmiths really benefit from Burning and are a solid all around model.

The Arcane Emissary provides Kaeris with a extremely useful buff and it also is fast moving and hits pretty hard. 

The Arcane Effigy because its small, cheap, removes conditions and helps Burning so what's not to love.  Auto include for me.

Union Miners are scheme-y and can work with Burning.

Metal Gamin are borderline useful, they have some Burning interact and are tough but to be honest since the Mech Rider induced cuddle there are better choices for what they bring available to Kaeris, most notably both Fire Gamin and Rail Workers bring tough and more flexibility/synergy.  Borderline include.

Those are the main Arcanist boxes I'd look at with Kaeris (the new Showgirl[man] Carlos is also intriguing but his model is not out so obviously you can't get him).

Multiple mercenaries are good potential inclusions and I'll leave that list for another person and time.  In short I think the above Arcanist models are all really useful with Kaeris.  

[decker_cky]

Colette is probably the best one, for cassandra and the performers (when using Kaeris, scheme marker synergy is generally bigger than burning synergy). My kaeris crews almost always have at least one performer and cassandra. 

Ironsides is a close second.  I'm a big fan of the captain. He's amazing for all crews, but I find kaeris crews really love the extra mobility. He also has some burning synergy. Oxfordian mages are great too now, and have burning synergy.

Ramos box is a safe and surely useful buy - everything in the set is amazing, and does well in a kaeris crew, I just don't think it does anything too special for Kaeris. 

[Jordon]

I think there are a good many crew boxes that will synergies well with Kaeris. She's a decent support master that works well with just about anything, especially if that something has burning. 

However it's a little more awkward when looking at what works best with her crew box. The firestarter is excellent and is almost an auto include for Ironsides, however she has very little use for the fire gamin. Someone like Ramos can make decent use of the fire gamin but there's nothing outstanding about them and he can probably find better henchmen than the firestarter. 

My best suggestion would probably be Mei Feng since she can benefit from having constructs for her rail walking and all that burning synergy can help fuel her Tiger Claws. Not to mention that her own box is very light on ranged attacks, which the Kaeris box has in spades. The counter to that is Mei's box in a Karis list, which works out well aside from Kang who can only be hired with Mei herself. The Railworkers really benefit from the healing with their armour and H2K and the flight helps to offset some of their speed deficiency. Also Kaeris' ability to draw cards can help to fuel their implacable assault. They also have a nifty (0) that directly synergies with burning models, which should see a lot more use with Kaeris.

[Solidhavok]

I think Ironsides is the way to go here - the Oxfordian mages are now a real steal at 15ss for 3, and when you throw Warding Runes on Firestarter with the 3 Oxfordians' upgrades, you end up with a Firestarter that goes reckless every turn, and then regenerates the damage.  The Oxfordians also have the ability to throw around some burning, so even better for Kaeris to immolate or do other tricks with.

Second choice is probably Mei Fang or Ramos.  Ramos box is kind of a 'must have' for the two staples - Joss and Howard - who can work some powered by flame or bleeding edge tech with your gamin and/or any spiders that you hire.  So really, think about which master you want to play next, and just get that box.

 

[hydranixx]

On 9/19/2016 at 2:50 PM, dancater said:

Raptors as they are cheap and excellent in every build.  No real synergy but a 3SS and as fast and aggravating as they are including them in a crew is not a chore.

Your advice is sound, but I'm not sure you give enough credit to Raptors with Kaeris. Wings of Fire + Raptors is a synergy in of itself; 16" double walk with Flight to place a scheme marker, then flying anywhere next turn to engage enemies or whatnot. They're top tier scheme marker runners for GnD Kaeris, just make sure you bring Malifaux Child to give them burning early on.

On 9/19/2016 at 3:39 PM, Jordon said:

My best suggestion would probably be Mei Feng since she can benefit from having constructs for her rail walking and all that burning synergy can help fuel her Tiger Claws. Not to mention that her own box is very light on ranged attacks, which the Kaeris box has in spades. The counter to that is Mei's box in a Karis list, which works out well aside from Kang who can only be hired with Mei herself. The Railworkers really benefit from the healing with their armour and H2K and the flight helps to offset some of their speed deficiency. Also Kaeris' ability to draw cards can help to fuel their implacable assault. They also have a nifty (0) that directly synergies with burning models, which should see a lot more use with Kaeris.

I second this. I started Kaeris, then got Mei Feng, and found the Railworkers alone were worth the pick up. They have lots of great synergy with both of these Masters. Kaeris loves hiring one or of them for their measly 5ss cost. Conversely, Mei quite likes a Fire Gamin or two in her crew for a cheap, simple burning source as well as being Constructs to assist her in her mobility. 

These two Masters both like anything to do with burning and constructs, so they can happily share a model pool if you wanted to include a Rail Golem, Willie, Gunsmith etc

Ramos' box set is also very strong addition for Kaeris. As some others have noted, there's less direct synergy, but there is some as their also M&SU. Ramos himself is a great master, but even if you don't want to play him, the Henchman and Enforcer in his box set are very competitive choices and his Spiders are reliable enough scheme runners.

Kaeris + Mei Feng + Ramos + Rail Golem = very synergistic hiring pool full of construct and burning shenanigans.