Zipp - rather good fun

[Sergrum]

Glad to see people finally coming around to the stuffed spam.

What did you end up doing with gracie, hauling around the taxedermist?

Surprised by the ronin. I just dont see how they are better then Burt, especially in your crew. Besides their (0) and disguised everything they do Burt does better, as well as benefiting from being able to be saddled and immune to stuffed piglets explosions. 

[Joel]

Gracie saddled up the taxidermist and got him into the thick of things then went "hit me! hit me!" rather effectively giving taxidermist time to wreck face.  

Everyone says that about ronin   I could maybe switch one for burt, but I don't see how you can say "besides their (0) and disguised" when that is precisely the reason they make the cut.  Being able to restock a hand or grab stones in a pinch is pure gold.  Denying charges chews enemy ap.  Don't forget that they also ignore armour and can pos flip the damage, making them useful red joker outlets.

Another point is that they are minions - and in some schemes this makes them more valuable.  I took public demo in game 2 vs. collodi and got it with them and Earl.

Also, with Burt, because he is more aggressive, I feel (and I'm sure others do too) the need to go and be more aggressive with him on the board.

I might sub him in for one of them if, say, show of force was in the pool - but I wouldn't include him as default in my list.

as I said, I've been (over) using ronin all of 2016 in crews from every faction and I've not been disappointed yet.

[Sergrum]

Maybe its the fact that im more aggressive in my playstyle that makes me love Burt/Frank Roosters more. 

 

[Joel]

10 minutes ago, Sergrum said:

Maybe its the fact that im more aggressive in my playstyle that makes me love Burt/Frank Roosters more. 

 

Style is a factor, and there is no one answer - sometimes that level of aggression is necessary and useful.  The Angry Birds list I have planned is pure aggression with no brain attached.   I'm looking forward to using it.

[wizuriel]

Well just finished painting up Zipp and Earl and hopefully can get an iron skeeter done in time for a tournament tomorrow. 

[Joel]

Angry Birds Zipp:

 

Zipp (diatribe, dirty cheater, hovering airship)

Earl

Gremlin taxidermist (dirty cheater)

3 rooster riders

pigapult

4 stuffed piglets

not a serious list, but would be good fun to run at something 

[Sergrum]

Besides the Pigapult (which still isnt bad) i'd say this list would work just fine :P. Dont think you can convince your opponents it's all for "fun", if it works itd just be frustrating to play vs. 

 

Used the tax for the first time today. I can def see some potential in some situations. I ran him with Wong as opposed to zipp. and felt he filled a nice role.

[Joel]

2 hours ago, Sergrum said:

Besides the Pigapult (which still isnt bad) i'd say this list would work just fine :P. Dont think you can convince your opponents it's all for "fun", if it works itd just be frustrating to play vs. 

 

Used the tax for the first time today. I can def see some potential in some situations. I ran him with Wong as opposed to zipp. and felt he filled a nice role.

I've painted it to look like the angry birds game ? This would be a list I'd run if I just wanted to turn my brain off. 

Nice to hear the taxidermist has caught your attention - I like him a lot

[Joel]

So, I've been playing in the UK nationals this weekend, my 4th event with Zipp.  I used him in all 7 games.  I ended up with a podium spot with 6 wins and 1 loss.  He's still great fun

[Math Mathonwy]

11 hours ago, Joel said:

So, I've been playing in the UK nationals this weekend, my 4th event with Zipp.  I used him in all 7 games.  I ended up with a podium spot with 6 wins and 1 loss.  He's still great fun

Really well done - congrats!

Have you found weaknesses in Zipp's game, yet?

[Joel]

24 minutes ago, Math Mathonwy said:

Really well done - congrats!

Have you found weaknesses in Zipp's game, yet?

good question - the short answer is no, not really.  He's survivable enough as things tend to leave him alone and 12 wounds is pretty good. The most wounds I took on him all event were 5 from a viktoria of blood hit.  If I total all the damage he took all event it wouldnt have killed him once...

it anything I find I want to reposition him out of his activation quite often, but I'm lacking a tool to do that at the moment.  Considering adding in Lust for this in the future.

[Sergrum]

Great to hear Joe. Did you run the same list every game? What models you end up taking the most?

[Joel]

2 hours ago, Sergrum said:

Great to hear Joe. Did you run the same list every game? What models you end up taking the most?

I ran a fixed list for the first 4 games and then changed about a bit for day 2.

I took multiple stuffed piglets in every list (between 3-5) and always a taxidermist, earl and first mate.  Others that got a look in were Burt, an Iron skeeter, 2 ronin, 3 rooster riders.

[Math Mathonwy]

No Gracie anymore?

But I have to say that I love that as a cheap buy-in to Gremlins. Zipp box, Creative Taxidermy, Roosters, Burt, and Ronin (well, I don't think I would recommend Ronin to others  ). But certainly a good option to complement the the usual Somer + Ophelia + Slop Haulers approach. 

[Joel]

Gracie was with me all day, as was pigapult, strongarm suit, killjoy, merris, sparks, 2 porkchops, pere ravage, a second iron skeeter and more piggies.  The pools/terrain/opponent didn't suit them this weekend though, so they saw no games.

those ronin - if it wasn't for them I'd not have finished as highly as I did.

[Math Mathonwy]

7 minutes ago, Joel said:

Gracie was with me all day, as was pigapult, strongarm suit, killjoy, merris, sparks, 2 porkchops, pere ravage, a second iron skeeter and more piggies.  The pools/terrain/opponent didn't suit them this weekend though, so they saw no games.

Ah, yeah, just read that you faced Outcasts five times out of seven in the event so I understand not bringing Gracie!

7 minutes ago, Joel said:

those ronin - if it wasn't for them I'd not have finished as highly as I did.

I'm not disputing your skill with them but if someone asks a cheap way into Gremlins, they wouldn't be on my list of recommendations.

(also, are you sure that you wouldn't have won those games had the Ronin been Francois and Sammy? ) 

[Joel]

yep - I they got me public demo for 3vp in the game I used 2 in, and the hard to kill kept the lone ronin alive near a guard the stash marker in the game I took 1 in - that and the disguised ability preventing charges in a hunting party game.

public demo with 2 ronin and earl burns is a little unfair

[daniello_s]

You know, after reading this topic I'l looking at Sparks and his friends with huuuge interest. Especially when I hear that Taxidermist, Rooster Riders and Pigapult are heavily involved

[Joel]

Roosters only got one game out of the 7 (and only 2 games out of 22 now).  Pigapult has had just the one.  Not sure that counts as "heavily involved".

still, they have their moments

[Joel]

I thought I'd write a post about the schemes I'm favouring with zipp and his crew at the moment

 

convict labour: not really - this is acually fairly easy to accomplish with a zipp crew - an iron skeeter with poorly handled explovies can drop a model in a position to drop markers from turn 1 - and can use the upgrade to make stuffed piglets drop scheme markers for you too.  I've not taken it as defending those points hasn't really looked easy given the crews I've been facing.

take prisoner: a great pick for zipp who can go and grab anyone and throw them into a position for you to get 3vp - he's also good at blocking it for your opponent.

show of force: a nice easy one here, and again easy to deny with all the push/place tricks you can do.  With the sky pirate upgrades being viable here, and dirty cheater being useful, it's not hard to build a crew that has 4+ scoring models.  I favour the first mate with 2 upgrades here though as he can leap in when necessary and use the croak to push enemy models out of scoring positions.

hunting party: I tend to stay away from this, but it is fairly viable since the crew is naturally enforcer heavy.

exhaust forces: I've taken this a few times now as its pretty easy to tag a model or two.  I haven't always scored from this though!

neutralise the leader: I've done this once and got it - Zipp can be pretty killy by himself to this end if you give him the hovering airship upgrade.  Between this and up we go, few masters are really safe.

catch and release: not taken this one yet.

detonate charges: a zipp speciality - dropping those markers near this crew is tricky, and he can drop you near his markers if needs be.

set up: not taken yet

search the ruins: don't take this against zipp...in fact, don't take this!

mark for death: not taken it yet

public demo: nice and easy! with one minion being moved by zipp (hi Earl) you just need a couple more who are speedy - and gremlins aren't lacking options there.

inspection: not tried it, but it does look easy

quick murder: as with neutralise the leader, zipp can be very killy, and his crew can scratcha  few wounds off things too to help out. 

occupy turf: not a great one as the crew tends to be minion light, so I've not bothered

frame for murder: taken it lots - always got my points.

undercover entourage: zipp and the first mate find this ridiculously easy to do, almost an auto-pick.

leave your mark: pretty easy, why not take it?

covert breakthrough: requires the crew to dedicate a model or two to this - so I've not bothered yet, but I could see it being viable against the right opponent.

 

 

[Twg]

Can you advise me where the weak points are for this master. I have Zipp, but have not used him or faced him. Joel, you lost once at the Nationals. Was this due to your errors or someone found a weakness in the crew? At present Zipp does look like a very flexible master.

[Joel]

13 hours ago, Twg said:

Can you advise me where the weak points are for this master. I have Zipp, but have not used him or faced him. Joel, you lost once at the Nationals. Was this due to your errors or someone found a weakness in the crew? At present Zipp does look like a very flexible master.

Mostly it was due to bring matched against Hamelin in interference in the hands of a competent player.  No great weakness in the crew was exposed, it's just very difficult to score detonate charges when your opponent out-activates you by 7 activations and has rat kings coming up that switch off your markers.

i think I may have used burt wrong in this game, maybe needed to be more aggressive with him, but I don't think that would have made much difference.  I lost 7-5.

against other masters, I'd still rate Zipp in interference with his ability to move models about he's good at it.

I played against the same player, still using Hamelin in the last round and smashed him this time as pool and strategy (stake a claim) were more favourable. I was 5-0 up in turn 2 and opponent realised he wasn't going to score any VPs at all so we called it there. 

As for General Zipp weak points, I've gotta say the only one I can see is that he drains soulstones and cards quickly as he is suit hungry. 

If you do face him, kill Earl fast! This increases zipp's drain on cards/stones as he isn't getting suits anymore. 

[Joel]

Oh, and if someone goes after Zipp with enough energy, he'll go down pretty quickly - so he needs to be kept mobile to survive 

[Twg]

The new henchman for Osami looks as though it should present Zipp with a few issues, in that she can charge ignoring LOS and doesn't allow DF triggers. Also a pain for a fair few other masters too!

Thanks for the advice.

[Joel]

1 hour ago, Twg said:

The new henchman for Osami looks as though it should present Zipp with a few issues, in that she can charge ignoring LOS and doesn't allow DF triggers. Also a pain for a fair few other masters too!

Thanks for the advice.

I've faced her a couple of times and yes, she's a pain - but that is where those 12 wounds come in  If he can survive the charge, then he can kill her easily with "up we go!".  His best plan though is to make himself difficult to catch by that henchman - he can be put to good use doing other things I find.