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Zipp - rather good fun


Joel

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I just cant get into the First mate anymore. Ever since replacing him for 5 stuffed piglets ive been so happy with zipp. 

I do agree on 1 iron skeeter, 2 feels very meh to me and not worth the cost for what it does. 

I am surprised by the amount of gremlins that go against the grain of good stuff. As a faction it hasn't exactly performed to a top level, at least not to the point where there is a flagbearer for the faction. Something like Neverborn (which everyone and their mother plays/wins with) i can see the sense of wanting to "being different". 

To me, Gremlins have a poor internal balance. Much of it has to do with reckless and just good solid abilities vs specialized abilities. In the end i see things and go "why would i take that over burt/rooster in 95% of cases"

 

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2 hours ago, Sergrum said:

I just cant get into the First mate anymore. Ever since replacing him for 5 stuffed piglets ive been so happy with zipp. 

I do agree on 1 iron skeeter, 2 feels very meh to me and not worth the cost for what it does. 

I am surprised by the amount of gremlins that go against the grain of good stuff. As a faction it hasn't exactly performed to a top level, at least not to the point where there is a flagbearer for the faction. Something like Neverborn (which everyone and their mother plays/wins with) i can see the sense of wanting to "being different". 

To me, Gremlins have a poor internal balance. Much of it has to do with reckless and just good solid abilities vs specialized abilities. In the end i see things and go "why would i take that over burt/rooster in 95% of cases"

 

I'm a neverborn player and I really appreciate a henchman-level silurid! Leap is amazing, especially on a model that can count for undercover entourage.  I think many gremlin models have untapped potential because fewer players dig past the "obvious" choices.  This makes gremlin lists very predictable, which is another reason they haven't risen to the yep of events.

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20 minutes ago, Joel said:

I'm a neverborn player and I really appreciate a henchman-level silurid! Leap is amazing, especially on a model that can count for undercover entourage.  I think many gremlin models have untapped potential because fewer players dig past the "obvious" choices.  This makes gremlin lists very predictable, which is another reason they haven't risen to the yep of events.

I started as Neverborn as well, and once I went green I didn't go back to tentacles (not yet, anyway.  Zombies first).  I feel the same way about the First Mate, and I tend to enjoy models others find useless or not worth taking.

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4 minutes ago, PositronMike said:

I love the first mate and earl with Zipp. I won't always take a skeeter as it depends what I am trying with the list. I still need to work out how to get more out of the porkchop other than just using it for scrap and to hold a point on the board. 

Send it in with fast, let it take a hit, heal it with Earl.

use Earl to give it suits to ensure triggers 

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1 hour ago, PositronMike said:

I love the first mate and earl with Zipp. I won't always take a skeeter as it depends what I am trying with the list. I still need to work out how to get more out of the porkchop other than just using it for scrap and to hold a point on the board. 

Note that a Hog Whisperer can give it Reactivate. It hurts for three but the damage can be reduced so Armor helps (as does Lenny or extra Armor from Sparks, for example). Reactivate for two or even just one damage is pretty good stuff.

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8 hours ago, Sergrum said:

I just cant get into the First mate anymore. Ever since replacing him for 5 stuffed piglets ive been so happy with zipp. 

I do agree on 1 iron skeeter, 2 feels very meh to me and not worth the cost for what it does. 

I am surprised by the amount of gremlins that go against the grain of good stuff. As a faction it hasn't exactly performed to a top level, at least not to the point where there is a flagbearer for the faction. Something like Neverborn (which everyone and their mother plays/wins with) i can see the sense of wanting to "being different". 

To me, Gremlins have a poor internal balance. Much of it has to do with reckless and just good solid abilities vs specialized abilities. In the end i see things and go "why would i take that over burt/rooster in 95% of cases"

 

Alex Schmid, I presume?

Side note but I think the other reason why you don't get many Gremlin players getting far up in events is that there generally aren't many at events. At least in my experience anyway. I seem to do alright, when I can be bothered to turn up. Maybe they need to take after me?

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Good to hear.

Back on topic.

Some of my gremlin lists lately have just been brute force. I rarely use earl burns for his heal/suits, i typically just fly him to the center line with zipp and he drops convict markers. Roosters scheme/kill. Burt kills,frank kills. Zipp annoys. Stuffed activate control/annoy/kill. 

No super special combos, most ap sent walking/Scheming/Killin. It's really just about positioning and picking the right attacks.

I've started to wonder if 1/2 the combos gremlins have are worth the effort and models it takes to do them. 

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So, I took Zipp to a 34 player, 3 round event today and had a great time.  I also managed to win the event being one of only 3 players on 3 wins and having the best VP diff.  I used a mostly fixed crew, just trading one model and it's upgrades out for game 3.

I faced Wong in extraction - won 10-1. 

Key points: taxidermist killing mctavish and 2 swine cursed. Zipp zapping Wong after throwing him away from a scoring position. 

Next was Collodi in headhunter - won 5-3.

Key points: taxidermist getting killed early bagging me all 3 for frame for murder.  Only 1 head picked up all game, costing my opponent 2 cards.

Finally it was Kaeris in Guard the Stash - won 9-6

key points: Zipp throwing opponents around say from scoring positions and stuffed piglets making a real nuisance of themselves.

i managed to pick up best painted too. 

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3 hours ago, Sergrum said:

Nice job on the win.

 

What was the fixed crew?

Zipp (diatribe, hovering airship, dirty cheater), 7ss

earl

taxidermist

gracie (saddle)

4 stuffed piglets 

2 ronin

i switched out Gracie for the first mate carrying his personal upgrade and treasure map in game 3 when covert breakthrough and quick murder were in the pool together.

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I've been using at least one ronin in every list in 2016  - right up until I started testing Zipp.  I have now brought them back into consideration after 10 games to get a feel for him and his crew.

I've found Zipp to be both card and stone hungry - mainly due to the suit and TN requirements rife throughout his thematic models.

Ronin fix this issue with their Seppuku (o) action, and add armour penetration and decent minions to the pool - Zipp tends to be minion light and these help fix that.  

Frankly, I see ronin as SO good (regardless of faction or master) that NOT including them for 10 games was pretty difficult.  It's the mix of having hard to mill at 6 wounds and being disguised so you can't charge them that make them tougher than they look.

Yesterday was the first time I tried 4 stuffed hired - the extra activation control was great.  With a reactivating Gracie and a taxidermist making another stuffed a turn you can get 12 activations if you need it.  When you can out-activate Collodi, you are onto something.

I wouldn't use 4 every game, but in some strategies/schemes peons are actually rather good.  I still haven't had Zipp throw pigs at people yet though - I want to get that working with sparks for added bang.

 

Between the ronin and the stuffed piglets, not only do you have a lot of activations, you have models that drain AP by forcing the enemy to chew through them to get anything done.  Every AP I can make you spend that  doesn't bring you VP is a step in the right direction.

I might be able to swap a single ronin out for a Burt or Sparks or similar, but I want to test more with 2 before I make that leap.

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I would love to make a good use out of my taxidermist especially with zipp, but I get really discouraged by his stat (also I love Burt and Francois models so I really like to pick them) ! How do you use him especially in a intensive card crew like the zipp one?  Do you mainly go for scheme runners/squishy targets or for the big guys?

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don't worry too much about his statline.  If I want him to be in play a bit longer I give him dirty cheater - he gets to cheat quite often as he has that built in pos flip on damage and can take 4+ actions a turn.  As for cards, all he really needs is one 9, but its not the end of the world if he doesn't find it.

I like to have a mix of hitters and runners in any crew, but I generally prefer models flexible enough to do both jobs.

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2 minutes ago, Joel said:

don't worry too much about his statline.  If I want him to be in play a bit longer I give him dirty cheater - he gets to cheat quite often as he has that built in pos flip on damage and can take 4+ actions a turn.  As for cards, all he really needs is one 9, but its not the end of the world if he doesn't find it.

I like to have a mix of hitters and runners in any crew, but I generally prefer models flexible enough to do both jobs.

Fair enough! also with a load of stuffed backing you up, it get risky to kill a taxidermist. Also you made me want to try out hovering airship on zipp really badly XD his mobility + 3ap sure makes him even a worst annoyance than before.

How often do you find yourself picking skeeters? I really like them, and generally run 2 of them, 1 with hovering airship and the other varies, generally focusing on scheme/piece delivery, but found out that it would had been better to just have one as many of you stated before, generally because of how fragile they are, and because if I want a flying scheme runner, merris can do the same thing even faster.

And with zipp, do you find yourself using more often the piano or Up we go? I really have hard time not wanting to throw something in the air instead of zapping stuff just because of how frustrating is for my opponent to defend on hot xD

 Sorry for the load of questions but  I've mainly run a thematic crew with him (with great succes generally, loosing only one  game for now) but i would like to try different play styles and avoid to "fall in the trap" of sticking too much with the theme of the crew, especially since people are starting to get used to zipp and how I play him, so I'd like to try some unexpected strategies :)

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I vary between the pianos/zapper/up we go! quite a lot in game, and it depends on what I'm trying to do and where I need Zipp to be, and if I have the cards or not.

If I'm card starved, then Up we go! becomes very useful as you always have the advantage.  The pianos work best at longer range and if I dont want to expose zipp (or earl) just yet.  The zapper condition is simply nasty and can shut down some models.  Try it on arcane emmisary and see the big cow howl.

 

Skeeters I run as 1 or 2.  Three is too many for me, but the others have their place.  Usually if I want want anotehr model delivered upfield and the terrain is unfavourable for non-fliers.

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