Tara/SotV Fastball Special List

[PossiblyInsane]

Hello, all.

I've been working on a Tara list intended to take the Beastie Bomb to it's fullest possible extreme, while still retaining some viability in scheme running should the initial strike fail. I'm fairly new to the game, so thoughts/advice on the list or how best to play to it's strengths would be greatly appreciated.

 

50 ss Tara Outcasts list: Fastball Special

 

Master

Tara (Cache 4), Upgrade: Knowledge of Eternity (2 ss)

 

Henchmen

Scion of the Void (8 ss)

 

Enforcers

Killjoy (12 ss).  Can start buried, and has a built in unbury mechanic, saving health and AP on the SotV.

The Nothing Beast (10 ss), Upgrade: Void Shield (0 ss)

 

Minions

Rat King (8 ss). The strongest 8 ss or less minion available that can tolerate losing 4 wounds, since it can turn itself into a Rat Catcher.

Friekorps Trapper (6 ss)

Void Wretch (4 ss). Mostly there to heal the SotV when it gets itself in trouble.

 

Basic play strategy: Killjoy deploys buried. The Friekorps Trapper deploys 6" from the opponent's deployment area, as close as possible to the bulk of the enemy crew (preferably in cover, but not essential. Even if it's killed on the first activation through bad luck on the initiative flip and unfortunate deployment, an angry Killjoy will pop out unless sacrifice/bury shenanigans were involved). Everyone else deploys in The Nothing Beast's nice 10" from The Faceless Oblivion. Strongest when deploying second and winning initiative.

First, Tara uses Pull the Void 3 times to bury and give fast to the Scion of the Void, the Rat King, and The Nothing Beast (in that order). Then, the Friekorps trapper moves towards the enemy, shoots and Repositions to get a bit closer, then uses The Hollowing (from the SotV's Whispers from the Nothing) to unbury the Rat King. Ideally, the Rat King will kill an enemy model and unbury the rest of the crew. Failing that, it can also use The Hollowing to unbury the SotV to finish the job, and turn into a Rat Catcher if it's dropped below 4 wounds. If the Rat king dies before this, the rest of the crew unburies anyway.

Unless there is a terrible run of bad luck/mismatched deployment, the enemy crew now has a Rat King, a SotV, a Fast Nothing Beast, and Killjoy in the middle of their deployment zone, and will probably have a rather bad day. The Rat King and the SotV will likely only have 4 wounds or less, but both have mechanics to get around that. Tara can reactivate and move up the field to rejoin her crew, run schemes, or whatnot while the enemy crew is dealing with the massive new threat in it's ranks or running away.

An alternative list I'm considering replaces the Rat King and Killjoy with Montressor, Ama no Zako (as Henchmen, they won't take damage from The Hollowing, and are more likely to secure the unburying kill than the Rat King), and a Malifaux Child (for the additional casting of Pull the Void needed to bury the extra model). Such a draft would be stronger in combat and offer more tactical/movement options than the first list, but requires an extra activation to set up which any sensible enemy crew will be using to scatter to the four winds, and opens the risk of the enemy crew killing the Friekorps Trapper before Tara can get everyone buried.

[Nukemouse]

Well Montresor can help bunch up the enemy crew and reduce WP for people like the nothing beast and killjoy's terror aura. I think he would be useful.

[PossiblyInsane]

Well Montresor can help bunch up the enemy crew and reduce WP for people like the nothing beast and killjoy's terror aura. I think he would be useful.

That is a very good point. Still the list as stands right now is fairly tightly budgeted. The Tara upgrade+SotV+Friekorps Trapper+Nothing Beast essential to the strategy take up 26 ss. Without a Void Wretch, the SotV won't likely be useful past turn 2 (no way to unbury that won't cause damage). I suppose the Void Wretch could be swapped for Obliteration Symbiote on Tara to save 2 points, but that does mean the SotV won't be able to share actions.

 

Still, Montressor does help quite a bit with some of the weaknesses of this list. Hmm. 

 

Montressor's Nimble does mean the Friekorps Trapper can be positioned in a safer position further away from enemy deployment, so the Trapper should be able to spare the extra setup turn. And against Living crews, Ama No Zaka is as Terrifying as Killjoy and still a pretty good beatstick.

[Kadeton]

You've got some interesting ideas, but...

12 hours ago, PossiblyInsane said:

Unless there is a terrible run of bad luck/mismatched deployment, the enemy crew now has a Rat King, a SotV, a Fast Nothing Beast, and Killjoy in the middle of their deployment zone, and will probably have a rather bad day.

I feel like this is the point at which this strategy can simply fall apart. Most of the enemy crew is still able to activate at this point, and while you've got a fair pile of nasties they've got their whole crew, including their Master. You've spent resources getting all your stuff into their deployment zone, but everything they've got is still raring to go and it's probably the enemy's activation. Imagine unburying that clump of models into a Viktoria crew - after their activation, you'd have nothing left!

Basically, making this trick work relies on the enemy crew being unable to handle the pressure of several dangerous models in their midst. In many cases that will work fine, but sometimes it will just fall flat. Try it against controllers like Pandora or Brewmaster to get a sense of how badly things can go.

Still, give it a try - if your local meta is light on control and heavy on ranged damage crews this could be really effective.

[Nukemouse]

I think this strategy would be very effective against the guild, save for one potential flaw. Papa Loco. Kadeton points out that ranged crews are going to be the weakest to this and Guild focus on ranged the most, but one can imagine if Papa Loco were taken he blow your entire crew up!

[apes-ma]

15 hours ago, PossiblyInsane said:

First, Tara uses Pull the Void 3 times to bury and give fast to the Scion of the Void, the Rat King, and The Nothing Beast (in that order).

This is a super cool idea - but unfortunately it doesn't work! The Glimpse the Void trigger on Pull the Void starts by saying "After damaging, if no other models are buried", which means that since Killjoy is buried, Tara won't be able to bury Scion, Rat King or The Nothing Beast. It also means that even if Killjoy is NOT buried, she can only bury one of these models, since once one model is buried the trigger stops working. I wish it did work, though - it sounds great!

[Adran]

I might be remembering it wrong, but doesn't the nothing beasts upgrade allow you to not count friendly models when you are checking if something is buried? 

 

[apes-ma]

Just now, Adran said:

I might be remembering it wrong, but doesn't the nothing beasts upgrade allow you to not count friendly models when you are checking if something is buried? 

 

That's true, but only when you are using Glimpse the Void against an ENEMY model - you still cannot use Glimpse the Void on a friendly model when there is already a friendly model buried.

[PositronMike]

In order to get multiple models buried you will either need Death Marshals or the Emissary. I would be tempted to start with killjoy on the board and let Tara ping him for fast and them bury him. You can then use the Emissary or a Death Marshal to bury a second model that Tara has also pinged for fast. I would be very tempted to only do two models and use the Emissary as if you set it up correctly the emissary can give the companion trinket to the second model you bury. This means that at the end of turn 1 you unbury 1 fast model with Tara and use that model to kill something to pop a sat kill joy out who can then charge another model. Then at the start of turn 2 killjoy can go and pop oath keeper for fast and then after killjoy has gone the second model companion activates pops oath keeper for fast and hits the enemy.

Doing this means you can have 4 beater model activations with fast in a row which should make a big dent in the enemy crew.

[SoylentRobot]

i thought only void wretches could use the SotV's actions?

[PossiblyInsane]

9 hours ago, Kadeton said:

You've got some interesting ideas, but...

I feel like this is the point at which this strategy can simply fall apart. Most of the enemy crew is still able to activate at this point, and while you've got a fair pile of nasties they've got their whole crew, including their Master. You've spent resources getting all your stuff into their deployment zone, but everything they've got is still raring to go and it's probably the enemy's activation. Imagine unburying that clump of models into a Viktoria crew - after their activation, you'd have nothing left!

Basically, making this trick work relies on the enemy crew being unable to handle the pressure of several dangerous models in their midst. In many cases that will work fine, but sometimes it will just fall flat. Try it against controllers like Pandora or Brewmaster to get a sense of how badly things can go.

Still, give it a try - if your local meta is light on control and heavy on ranged damage crews this could be really effective.

 

I certainly shall. Thank you for the advice!

 

7 hours ago, apes-ma said:

This is a super cool idea - but unfortunately it doesn't work! The Glimpse the Void trigger on Pull the Void starts by saying "After damaging, if no other models are buried", which means that since Killjoy is buried, Tara won't be able to bury Scion, Rat King or The Nothing Beast. It also means that even if Killjoy is NOT buried, she can only bury one of these models, since once one model is buried the trigger stops working. I wish it did work, though - it sounds great!

 

*Rereads the fine print on Void Shield*

So it does. Darn you, Wyrd Games and your target differentiation for game balance! 

Thanks for pointing that out! So, for this to get off the ground, I'll have to replace the Nothing Beast with something to bury models with, and it will take a little longer to set up.

 

5 hours ago, PositronMike said:

In order to get multiple models buried you will either need Death Marshals or the Emissary. I would be tempted to start with killjoy on the board and let Tara ping him for fast and them bury him. You can then use the Emissary or a Death Marshal to bury a second model that Tara has also pinged for fast. I would be very tempted to only do two models and use the Emissary as if you set it up correctly the emissary can give the companion trinket to the second model you bury. This means that at the end of turn 1 you unbury 1 fast model with Tara and use that model to kill something to pop a sat kill joy out who can then charge another model. Then at the start of turn 2 killjoy can go and pop oath keeper for fast and then after killjoy has gone the second model companion activates pops oath keeper for fast and hits the enemy.

Doing this means you can have 4 beater model activations with fast in a row which should make a big dent in the enemy crew.

 

And there it is! The more I look at it, the more I like the sound of the Emissary. Companion activations, added utility, synergy with the SotV's Forgotten to Time trigger for extra damage (once the Emissary gets up the field, anyways), slowing or burying tough units...

 

2 hours ago, SoylentRobot said:

i thought only void wretches could use the SotV's actions?

 

While she's buried, all friendly non-Peon models get to use them! It's just that she takes 2 damage every time they do, which you can't prevent or reduce. Void wretches are very useful to draft with her, though, since she can bury to avoid damage and they can heal buried models.

[SoylentRobot]

oh righto, i thought void wretches were involved somehow