Sandeep experiences so far?

[Guslado]

14 hours ago, spooky_squirrel said:

 The trio of Oxfordian Mages can do a lot of work, but they're not always what I want or need on the table. 

I've found that if I'm bringing Sandeep, I'm bringing the trio of mages and Unaligned Sage. For 16 total stones it's too good not to bring--as the Mages are enforcers they aren't going to yield points for Hunting Party (a fact that a lot of people forget) and can earn you points for it. Also, Unaligned Sage makes it so that Academics don't need LOS to benefit from Beacon allowing your forces to cover more ground and The Sight Beyond (especially when used via Student of All early in the turn) allows you to lock down the opponent in engagement and still blast them off the table with your elemental bolts. Combine that with the  they get on Wp duels when they are in LOS of an M&SU model (and they nearly always are because Joss is just delightful), their Arcane Shields, and Temporary Shielding and you have yourself some great enforcers that hit well above their 5 ss weight class. I know that the words "auto-include" are looked down upon, but the Mages and Unaligned Sage fit the bill.

[CougDyver]

Got in three tournament games this weekend with Sandeep.  Loss 4-3 vs Pandora, and 7-4 and 6-4 wins vs McCabe. 

First game was collect the bounty, ran him with mage gunline, Joss, blessed, and Kudra.  Probably not the best situation since the summoning gave a few cheap points for the bounty, and the mages aren't too difficult to kill for being enforcers.  Still, had a chance but forgot about Pandora's ability to re-position when she wins a duel, meaning my charge with Kudra was pretty useless.

Interference vs McCabe was a little easier, between summoning to either tie up his models or to create new models, was able to control 2 (if not 3) table quarters most of the time.  Ran with Mech Rider, Firestarter, Kudra, and the mages.  

Final game was stake a claim vs mccabe.  He had quite the force of hounds and guild pathfinders, and i stuck with the mages and kudra, with a blessed and the firestarter.  Between the blessed with leap, firestarter with reckless, summoned wind gamin, and sandeep's psuedo-leap, I was able to be wherever i needed on the board to either place claim markers or prevent him from placing.  Then the mages went to town on his models to score hunting party, and a final turn dash by the firestarter (sacrifice buried wind gamin for 5", reckless for an extra AP, and discarding imbued energies for fast for a total of 4 AP) allowed me to score undercover entourage.  

The more I play him, the harder time I have not taking the mages.  Kudra I keep taking in hopes she does something awesome, but haven't been able to set her up properly yet.  Firestarter with the mages giving him regen +1 I seem to get more utility out of.

[spooky_squirrel]

This past weekend I switched gears from running Sandeep as a primary summoner (summon as much as possible as quickly as possible) to running an Academic-based build:

Sandeep (Commands, Unaligned Sage, Arcane Reservoir) (4/4)
Cassandra (Practiced Production, Warding Runes) (10)
The Valedictorian (Warding Runes, Imbued Energies) (12)
Oxfordian Mage (Blood Ward, Temporary Shielding) (6)
Silent One (6)
Sanctioned Spellcaster (5)
Wind Gamin (4)

(47 stones, 7 stone cache; strat: Guard the Stash; Schemes selected: Eliminate the Leadership, Set Up (VoB); bluffing Claim Jump and Covert Breakthrough; opponent playing Viks; fifth scheme: Take Prisoner)

My thinking in selecting schemes was that the Viks would come forward in Turn 2, giving me a turn of setting up Scheme Markers near the majority of my forces, and I would pummel VoA with whatever beater-class options survived their approach, including Sandeep if needed. It worked, but not exactly as planned.

One thing I keep doing that keeps looking more and more like a mistake is a Beacon-triggered summoning of Fire Gamin (Commands in Earth) as a control piece early in the turn. It does create a zone of "I'm not sure I want to leave any models in LOS and 13" of that thing" in some opponents, but I'm finding that it leaves me with a turret that is too far back to properly support the rest of my force (and be supported by), let alone contribute directly to strat/schemes. I'm thinking that a better early summon would be a Wind Gamin (Commands in Wind) that will enhance the threat of everything near it while serving as a mobile body for Practiced Production for assisting in dropping Scheme Markers near where I expect the Set Up target to end up. This lets me have it already in play at the beginning of Turn 2, where I can use its Leap and movement to get it near where the fight will be (i.e. near where I'm planning on dropping a Commands in Flame Banasuva). It also leaves me the ability to summon that turret into play in a region where it will have more effect on the fight itself.

What I found with The Valedictorian being able to (0) place and flurry was that I got a ton of attacks, but the first flurry exchange of the game was not supported by the Commands of Wind caddy--which left her at flipping cards while I was at a reduced hand due to cheating for a Student of All summoning and cheating to get Banasuva into play. It looked and felt like a lot of whiffed attacks. The second flurry was supported by Commands of Wind, which left VoA at 1 wound. I burned up a lot of soulstones keeping The Valedictorian alive for that second chance, which helped burn some of my opponent's soulstones as well. Unfortunately for her valiant effort, VoA finished her off.

Similarly, the Commands in Flame Banasuva is an interesting late-turn threat. My hand being exhausted by the time he activates means I don't really care that he cannot cheat. Unfortunately, if he's not supported by things like the Commands in Wind X Gamin, it means that he's got an impressive whiffing factor as well. His role was to get backfield and threaten models like Hans, Sue, and Vanessa (which he succeeded in doing quite well, tying up Vanessa so that Cassandra could kill her, then chasing Hans out of cover and killing Sue while engaging Hans). However, he wasn't being as effective a beater as he could be, simply because the Commands in Wind bearer was busy supporting The Valedictorian against the Viks.

Viktoria of Blood ended up killing Sandeep and going after the Silent One, which left her right next to the spread of Scheme markers that I had been building up and shifting with Practiced Production, giving both of us 3VP on our related schemes (EtL for him, Set Up VoB for me). Not exactly how I planned it, but it was late enough in the game where my tools were in play and doing their job. Viktoria of Ashes ended up killing The Valedictorian and dying to a Wind Gamin (baked in bonus attacks is a lot better than I expected, especially when the other Wind Gamin nearby is giving it on the attack) after being brought back down to 1 wound from burning and attacks. The sheer volume of attacks whittled away all of his soulstones trying to deny me the VP.

Cassandra, as always when operating within enemy threat range, needs to activate early and Southern Hospitality to help her avoid threats. I made this mistake in Turn 5, and she died trying to Guard the Stash for the 10th VP. This also meant that the job I hired her for (shifting Scheme Markers and using her mobility to threaten/kill support or counter-charge early Viks) worked against her defensive ability; the job required later activation and the defensive ability required earlier activation. I may end up using a different set of upgrades on the next time around (Warding Runes never really came into play, the Oxfordian Mage was brought down by Hans). She did not have as many Ca actions to copy while on the table as it looked like she should have, simply because of the range of Understudy, but she operated close enough to the Sanctioned Spellcaster that she could copy his attacks in case her own weren't what I needed.

The Silent One did some healing, but not nearly as much work as I had hoped. In the end, her biggest effects were forcing my opponent to burn through cards to avoid the magic attacks, then burn through AP trying to kill her with VoB after she turned into a statue. She lived long enough to allow me to use Practiced Production to drop the third and final Scheme Marker needed for Set Up.

 

With The Valedictorian, I think it would have worked better if I had supported it better. Killing VoA outright instead of leaving her near dead would have allowed The Valedictorian to live a little longer and chew up more of my opponent's AP. Unfortunately, The Valedictorian with upgrades falls into the 10-13 stone range that Arcanists have no lack of good choices to drop in, which leaves a lot of "well if I ..." options from crew hiring all the way through to actual decisions made on the table.
 

All in all, the game seemed close, and if VoB had not taken so long killing Sandeep and the Silent One, she would have been able to score full points on Covert Breakthrough (my opponent's second scheme). I finished at 9 points (3 for strat, 3 for EtL, 3 for SU), and my opponent finished at 8 (4 for strat, 3 for EtL, 1 for CB).

[angyi]

I just won a small local tournament with Sandeep this weekend, playing an almost fixed list: Sandeep Desai (+2SS, Arcane Reservoir, Visions, Unaligned Sage), Cassandra (Practiced Production), Mech Rider (Well Rehearsed), 3×Mages, Wind Gamin, Raptor. I only made minor changes here and there, eg. I burned a stone for another upgrade on Cassandra when I wanted to deny Show of Force. The games went vs Ophelia, Sonnia and Perdita. My experience so far:

• The trio of Mages will always be my core for Sandeep, with the possible exception of Collect the Bounty. They are efficient, expendable and thematic as well, and with Sandeep they form a cheap core of 4 models, meaning I have a comfortable amount of ~30SS for another 4-5 models to hit a healthy model count.
• Cassandra with a raptor and the Mech Rider make a VP juggernaut with any master. The only thing I've noticed: with the trio of mages, the crew doesn't need much more hitting power, so I never wished for having Howard, Joss or even the Valedictorian instead of Cassandra or the Rider. Which is good news for Kudra, the Captain and other dubious talents in my reserve pool.
• Enlightened Soul sounds really good, but Unaligned Sage is really good. Even with 3 mages and no other academics, I think it's the most useful upgrade Sandeep can take (assuming he already has AR and one summoning upgrade), with Seize the Day coming a close second if I suspect my opponent to field an extreme aggro list.
• Banasuva is not a straightforward beater but an excellent distraction piece. I seldom summon him on turn 1-2, more often on turns 3-4-5 when the game goes more tangled, and 8SS worth of face eating djinn-ness can cause serious logistical problems.
• Big Jake is waiting for assembly on my desk, and he seems to add another interesting vector to the crew, being a minion. Myranda is another option, especially with the new upgrade Blade & Claw, which also gives Poison Gamin a new perspective.

[spooky_squirrel]

21 minutes ago, angyi said:

• The trio of Mages will always be my core for Sandeep, with the possible exception of Collect the Bounty. They are efficient, expendable and thematic as well, and with Sandeep they form a cheap core of 4 models, meaning I have a comfortable amount of ~30SS for another 4-5 models to hit a healthy model count.
• Cassandra with a raptor and the Mech Rider make a VP juggernaut with any master. The only thing I've noticed: with the trio of mages, the crew doesn't need much more hitting power, so I never wished for having Howard, Joss or even the Valedictorian instead of Cassandra or the Rider. Which is good news for Kudra, the Captain and other dubious talents in my reserve pool.
• Enlightened Soul sounds really good, but Unaligned Sage is really good. Even with 3 mages and no other academics, I think it's the most useful upgrade Sandeep can take (assuming he already has AR and one summoning upgrade), with Seize the Day coming a close second if I suspect my opponent to field an extreme aggro list.
• Banasuva is not a straightforward beater but an excellent distraction piece. I seldom summon him on turn 1-2, more often on turns 3-4-5 when the game goes more tangled, and 8SS worth of face eating djinn-ness can cause serious logistical problems.

I'm inclined to agree with the first point, though I my playstyle of preference leans more Commands than Visions--so I'm giving them a boost on their casting with a nearby Commands in Wind Gamin. When using Unaligned Sage, if you're going into Collect the Bounty (or want to benefit from other potential synergies), Sanctioned Spellcasters have a similar spell (no furious casting) for pummeling anything that's not anti-caster for the same stone cost. The thing that I run into in my local meta is a lot of counter-spelling. Aionus, Sonnia, and a handful of other strong anti-magic options show up a lot. So I've been thinking of ways to branch out a bit to have things that can punch armor, ignore cover, or otherwise handle things I can reasonably expect.

Cassandra and the range of things like Wind Gamin (and the unlimited range of the Raptors) with Practiced Production makes anything involving dropping scheme markers more reliable. When I'm bringing her with this upgrade, everything is a potential marker node, so I worry less about how I'll get markers where I need them and focus more on getting markers out. I haven't seen much need for Coryphee Duet, Hank, or Joss in a Sandeep crew, simply because there's more control synergy to his crew than killing. This ties into the slight difference of opinion I have on the third bullet:

I like running the Emissary with him (Arcane Conflux) because of the serious boost it gives minions that I summon (again, Commands, so I'm planning on getting stuck in) and hire, and Enlightened Soul gives me the ability to have that monster charge straight through things and wreck targets of choice that felt they were safe. If I'm not running the Emissary, then the other effects on the card seem nice, but not as nice as being able to sit out of LOS of friendlies and still have them able to Beacon. Strategy and Schemes dictate whether or not I'm reaching for the Emissary over some of the other options.

On your last point, absolutely 100% on. It's a distraction piece that can tie up supporters and shooters (Commands in Flame is what I give him so that he can get moving to his target of choice). The size of his base and reach of his weapon allow him to engage models from a fair distance away, creating a zone of useless snipers and threatened healers. By the end of Turn 2, I know where the support pieces are and I've maneuvered Sandeep up to where he can drop Banasuva close enough to push/place/charge/double walk in to tie up what he needs to. A late Turn 2-3 activation of him without the ability to cheat does not phase me much (I've already churned cards for various abilities), and if he's not getting bonuses from other models (Arcane Conflux Emissary, Commands in Wind Gamin), he's still being a distraction that's a little expensive to ignore.

19 stones and 4 cache is what the Sandeep (with AR and two upgrades of choice, personal mileage may vary) and a trio of Oxfordian Mages starts at. From there, if you're looking for 7 cache (summoning, damage prevention), you have 28 stones available.
Emissary is 10; Cassy is 8 plus upgrades (Practiced Production and Warding Runes always look tempting), so expect 10; Mechanical Rider is 12. We end up hitting the part of our hiring pool that has no shortage of options. The Captain starts at 10, and can quickly end up at 13 if you're tempted to maximize his control contribution and give him some added perks from the wards. I haven't fielded Myranda at all, but I know that she presents an interesting and deadly threat.
Looking further down the bench, I've seen Angelica with Practiced Production (7 stones) providing friendly control pushing to get your pieces into place, as well as providing a caddy for dropping scheme markers anywhere you need them. Pair this with a Raptor if you need markers in the back field, and you come out to that same stone cost of 10.
Kudra starts at 7 stones and her personal upgrade can be interesting, I've enjoyed detonating Banasuva in the middle of a mess of 1-2 wound models, and her 4 attacks on the charge and Ml 7 (from having the right Gamin nearby) creates a zone of "this seems like a bad person to be near" for less than what the rest of the mentioned Henchmen are costing in stones. Outside of that, Warding Runes is something I've used, and Recharge Soulstone also seems like a good option if you're planning on having things die around her. She also helps feed the confluence of the Mages, giving you more freedom to spread them out without losing a guaranteed in their duels.

Which leaves us looking at 15-18 stones to flesh out the field after any one of these options, with an existing force of 5-6 models. It's not a bad count, and which ones you bring in really depend on what your strat/schemes are. Commands Sandeep can put force multipliers and area denial down with a vengeance when it's time to kill, whereas Visions Sandeep can get scheme markers in play and shut down interacts for less killy schemes. I like to have a Gamin on the table from the start (usually a Wind Gamin if only one).

It ends up being a deeper starting crew than when I run an Elite Ramos factory, with 7-9 activations from the start and none of them are there to die as fast as possible instead of Ramos' 6-7 with one guaranteed to die. What I'm warming up to is the idea of using Sandeep as a toolbox controller who happens to be able to summon, and if I hire a crew with that in mind I'm less likely to jam myself up as I play.

[angyi]

@spooky_squirrel Very good read thanks, we seem to agree on the basics

The sans-Oxfordian crew gives me some headache, but my best idea for the time being is hiring 3 Sanctioned Spellcasters and 2-3 cheap Arcanist henchmen to abuse the Collar and provide the VPs needed. Of course Sandeep works well with 90% of the models he's able to hire, but this way the basic mechanism of the crew would remain the same, with the obvious minor differences of course. Other than the Sanctioned Spellcasters, out-of-faction academics don't really excite me. The Valedictorian is good but not really needed, the Iron Zombies are not so good and not really needed, and the Librarian, well, healing is not something I desperately need in a Sandeep crew, not for 7SS. As you said, control is its main strength, and it's always a good idea to play on your strengths, instead of opening new ways of mediocrity.

I never tried the Emissary (with or without Sandeep), but you make a good point here, definitely worth a try.

[spooky_squirrel]

Silent Ones have a heal that's limited to once per activation (as a (0) action) for 1SS less than the Librarian. The Librarian can furious cast its Ancient Words and strip baked in attack suits to try and block triggers.. but Control Collared Sanctioned Spellcasters can get as many attacks as you care to spend AP from cheap henchmen like Kudra and The Firestarter, while having a (0) that blocks many types of control abilities being used by your opponent.

If I really need healing, I'm inclined to bring it in with the Silent Ones, because they've got other tools that I might make use of (including closed loop recasting of their attacks without interfering with their healing), and because they're a minion they benefit from other things I might want to do, like Arcane Conflux boosts or use the more restricted Beacon abilities--but I don't need healing as much as I sometimes think I do. Many of the things I would prefer to keep alive get cut down in a single activation and everything else is expendable in the pursuit of the 11 VP required to decide the outcome (10 if you're fine with playing to tie, including own points earned and enemy points denied), which makes healers less than useful.

The Iron Zombies strike me as being too situational. Nico/Horror Molly can summon them in to answer specific crews and thus will always have the best use of these guys. Hiring as an Academic with Sandeep? I suppose Student of Sinew could come into play if you know you have a high chance of facing an undead crew, if you know you're facing living you might put Viscera on the table.. The ability to turn off triggers (8" range, Wp resist Ca 6) is nice.. but that's an expensive hire if the things they work best against are nowhere to be found (Oni, Tara crews, Spirits, anything that doesn't care about triggers and/or horror). Terrifying (All) on The Valedictorian helped get some cards out of my opponent's hand (and deck), but didn't do more than that; turning off triggers never came into play (though it would do a number to Francisco's expected damage output if you turned off Critical Strike triggers).

Maybe some more (out of faction) Academics will find their way into Ridley or Malifaux proper, smuggled in by the Ten Thunders or corrupted/influenced by the Neverborn. That being said, the Shastar Vidiya Guard are supposed to be available this weekend and I'm curious how they will do at filling in the holes in a Oxfordian Mage line (melee, non-Ca attack actions).

[angyi]

@spooky_squirrel I think the Mech Rider (or the Emissary) and a Raptor (or Gamin) can be traded for two Guards if you want something more hardy, less schemy. I'm still a bit dubious about them, they seem to be a bit too expensive for something that I'm not sure my crew needs at all.

[spooky_squirrel]

@angyi I think so too. For Turf War/Guard the Stash strategies where being able to hold a point on the board matters, it will be nice to have options that aren't reliant on Armor and Armor-enhancing triggers (I love Rail Workers, but when something that ignores armor and other damage reduction sidles up to them, they fold fast) to hold objectives. The pitching a card for focus lets them also have teeth. I don't expect to field more than one under Sandeep, but in an M&SU crew with Ironsides, I could see bringing more.

Edited November 24, 2016 by spooky_squirrel
specifying 'other damage reduction'

[osoi]

9 hours ago, spooky_squirrel said:

@angyi I think so too. For Turf War/Guard the Stash strategies where being able to hold a point on the board matters, it will be nice to have options that aren't reliant on Armor and Armor-enhancing triggers (I love Rail Workers, but when something that ignores armor sidles up to them, they fold fast) to hold objectives. The pitching a card for focus lets them also have teeth. I don't expect to field more than one under Sandeep, but in an M&SU crew with Ironsides, I could see bringing more.

Agree with pretty well every word of this. I'm keen to give them a fair go and see how they do. I have a feeling one will definitely be all we want to run with Sandeep and I will have to figure a place for them go go with Ironsides too.

[Pyrflamme]

10 hours ago, spooky_squirrel said:

@angyi I think so too. For Turf War/Guard the Stash strategies where being able to hold a point on the board matters, it will be nice to have options that aren't reliant on Armor and Armor-enhancing triggers (I love Rail Workers, but when something that ignores armor sidles up to them, they fold fast) to hold objectives. The pitching a card for focus lets them also have teeth. I don't expect to field more than one under Sandeep, but in an M&SU crew with Ironsides, I could see bringing more.

Just to check since you mentioned "Armor-enhancing triggers" - you are aware that Rail Workers' Df trigger is not an increase in Armor, right? It's just an unnamed "reduce damage by 2 to a minimum of 1". Abilities that ignore Armor will not ignore it, although anything that says "damage cannot be reduced" will ignore it.

You may be confusing it with the triggers found on Guardian/Ryle/Warden where they get additional Armor for the duration of the triggering attack action.

[spooky_squirrel]

On 11/23/2016 at 6:48 PM, Pyrflamme said:

Just to check since you mentioned "Armor-enhancing triggers" - you are aware that Rail Workers' Df trigger is not an increase in Armor, right? It's just an unnamed "reduce damage by 2 to a minimum of 1". Abilities that ignore Armor will not ignore it, although anything that says "damage cannot be reduced" will ignore it.

You may be confusing it with the triggers found on Guardian/Ryle/Warden where they get additional Armor for the duration of the triggering attack action.

Yeah, double-checked my cards, I had mentally crossed up my two go-to armored tanks (that I hire for Mei Feng and Ironsides usually). The Rail Worker's reduction only gets ignored by damage that cannot be reduced. The other go-to for me with Mei Feng/Ironsides and holding ground are Large Steam Arachnids, who get +2 Armor as a defensive trigger--I should have clarified that when I need crew members to hold objectives I'm usually reaching for Metal Gamin (stand ground, armor), Rail Workers (armor, metal on metal, hard to kill), and Large Steam Arachnids (armor, grind to a halt), which can all be countered with anti-armor/anti-damage reduction. Metal Gamin can be summoned in by Sandeep if I need them, so hiring them isn't as appealing.

Something with 8 wounds and Hard to Kill will take a lot of effort to remove for any crew that isn't built around blowing through all of that. The same two 6 damage hits that would outright kill two Metal Gamin or a single Rail Worker will leave the guard at the Hard to Kill threshold. So when I need a higher quality objective holder, I'll be considering reaching for one of these, especially with all of their other interesting abilities, including the card cycling ability--which does not specify enemy, so I can use it on anything that I might normally relent to and pitch a low card for a draw, like The Captain's Airburst within a Sandeep crew to fish for cards to help Beacon abilities and/or summoning while pushing these guys up the field to either hold or threaten an objective. That's not even accounting for Sandeep builds that might make the Guard Incorporeal.

[retnab]

8 hours ago, spooky_squirrel said:

So when I need a higher quality objective holder, I'll be considering reaching for one of these, especially with all of their other interesting abilities, including the card cycling ability--which does not specify enemy, so I can use it on anything that I might normally relent to and pitch a low card for a draw, like The Captain's Airburst within a Sandeep crew to fish for cards to help Beacon abilities and/or summoning while pushing these guys up the field to either hold or threaten an objective. That's not even accounting for Sandeep builds that might make the Guard Incorporeal.

I just had a thought about that card cycling effect... use Lust's Heartbreaker on the Guard, Guard cheats for the draw, then Lust looks at the top 3 cards in your deck and puts them in whatever order you want, Guard's draw effect triggers and you draw whatever card you put on top.  It's an expensive combo, but could make for some really reliable draw power!

[spooky_squirrel]

5 hours ago, retnab said:

I just had a thought about that card cycling effect... use Lust's Heartbreaker on the Guard, Guard cheats for the draw, then Lust looks at the top 3 cards in your deck and puts them in whatever order you want, Guard's draw effect triggers and you draw whatever card you put on top.  It's an expensive combo, but could make for some really reliable draw power!

I double-checked Lust's card. In addition to doing damage, you discard one non-joker card. So it could be handy for loading the next card to hand for cheating, pulling the Black Joker into your hand so that you don't flip it, pulling a card to hand that you need for doing something else..

But that's 17 stones for the two models (no upgrades) required to do it. It looks amusing though. I know that Sandeep is always needing  cards near at hand for his summons, and cycling unwanted cards helps get to the wanted ones.

[Nikodemus]

On 22/11/2016 at 7:51 PM, angyi said:

Big Jake is waiting for assembly on my desk, and he seems to add another interesting vector to the crew, being a minion.

My card says 'enforcer'. Is there an errata I'm not aware of?

[angyi]

@Nikodemus So does mine  He was a minion during the playtest, and PMF still lists him as a minion. I haven't checked the card carefully enough. Thanks!

[Dereikt]

Bit of an odd thought, but does anyone have experience using the Arachnid Swarm with Sandeep?

Glancing over their abilities, it seems there's a few points in their favour.

•  to all damage flips makes Arcane Storm a lot more effective.
• As a tough melee model but still a minion, it can make good use of the teleport.
• When the summoned Gamin are inevitably turned into Scrap markers, the Swarm can salvage their remains for some good healing. 

Of course, that's untested theory, but I'm interested to know if anyone's tested it in practice. Thoughts?

[retnab]

20 hours ago, Dereikt said:

Bit of an odd thought, but does anyone have experience using the Arachnid Swarm with Sandeep?

Glancing over their abilities, it seems there's a few points in their favour.

•  to all damage flips makes Arcane Storm a lot more effective.
• As a tough melee model but still a minion, it can make good use of the teleport.
• When the summoned Gamin are inevitably turned into Scrap markers, the Swarm can salvage their remains for some good healing. 

Of course, that's untested theory, but I'm interested to know if anyone's tested it in practice. Thoughts?

That's a pretty good idea, I might try that out.  I find that just about everyone in my crew can use Arcane Storm at some point so I haven't really brought in models specifically for it, but it could be an easy moderate 4 damage and like you say it's pretty tanky.

[Guslado]

On 11/22/2016 at 6:23 PM, spooky_squirrel said:

Silent Ones have a heal that's limited to once per activation (as a (0) action) for 1SS less than the Librarian. The Librarian can furious cast its Ancient Words and strip baked in attack suits to try and block triggers.

Unfortunately the Librarians can't use furious casting with Healing Energy--at the end of this action is says "If this Crew's leader is not an Outcast, this action may only be taken once per Turn." Still a solid ability and a great target to use Cassandra's Understudy on.

[spooky_squirrel]

2 minutes ago, Guslado said:

Unfortunately the Librarians can't use furious casting with Healing Energy--at the end of this action is says "If this Crew's leader is not an Outcast, this action may only be taken once per Turn." Still a solid ability and a great target to use Cassandra's Understudy on.

What I was getting at was that they have furious casting to attack with Ancient Words, not heal with.

The compare/contrast was against the Oxfordian Mages ability to furious cast and the Sanctioned Spellcasters lack thereof.

[Adran]

11 hours ago, Guslado said:

Unfortunately the Librarians can't use furious casting with Healing Energy--at the end of this action is says "If this Crew's leader is not an Outcast, this action may only be taken once per Turn." Still a solid ability and a great target to use Cassandra's Understudy on.

the Librarian can't ever furious cast healing energy, as furious cast allows you to make 3 Ca attacks, and healing energy is a tactical action. 

[JoeCL]

Had a really fun time playing sandeep for the first time yesterday. He didn't do anything too powerful,  but he always had the right tool for the job. Kudra was f'ed with one health and surrounded by enemies. She activated, teleported out with Sandeep's action, and dropped the scheme marker I needed for 1 VP before meeting her untimely demise. Very fun.

I found myself not using sandeep's actions that much - because every crew member usually has their own good actions - but at several critical moments his movement shenanigans saves my bacon.

[angyi]

6 hours ago, JoeCL said:

I found myself not using sandeep's actions that much - because every crew member usually has their own good actions - but at several critical moments his movement shenanigans saves my bacon.

In my experience the biggest mistake Sandeep players can make is pushing anything Sandeep offers. Academics in crew building, copying spells, summoning Banasuva etc. Those are all possibilities that you have to be aware of, and use at the right time.

[vanduynamite]

My experience has been super good. I am a relatively new player, but even so I have won each of the four games I've played with Sandeep so far. I think I have taken Commands each time, for both the Commands in Wind upgrade and putting Commands in Flame or Earth on Banasuva. Especially if CiW upgraded gamin is in the right spot, having CiF on Banasuva is great because he can charge and have 3 attacks the turn he's summoned - no cheating, but + attacks are also pretty good.

One of my favorite things I've done is put CiW on an Ice Gamin, summoned Banasuva off it once for 2 damage, so it's at 3 Wd. Banasuva dies at some point. Some time later, the ice gamin activates Bite of Winter. Then Sandeep summons Banasuva in with CiF, smacks the Ice Gamin for 2 more from the summon and uses his 0 to get Frozen Heart. Banasuva was summoned in the right position so he could immediately attack while next to the gamin, and does so twice with + to attack and +1 damage (and hit twice!). Then I Tossed the ice gamin into the fray, forcing two models to take a Wk duel or 2 damage (one failed), and the Ice Gamin failed its Wk duel, dies and passes out another 2 Wd to both models. It was real goofy but I was happy with it. Then I summoned a CiW gamin back the next turn anyways!

[Nick86]

I'm really loving Sandeep as a ranged damage dealer/sniper.

In the 10 games I've played so far I have summoned Gamin/Banasuva only 4 times. I generally run the 3 mages and the Essence of Power and depending on the cards in my hand of course can generally delete an opposition big hitter with Sandeep in a turn.

Im finding the EoP great not only because of its +1 cast aura, but because of its innate + to any duel if a soulstone is used Sandeep can use Soulstones as Focus if you stone for a ram. 

In a good turn you can dish out 16 damage with him, I've found him deceptively punchy, certainly much more than I expected when first reading his card.