Parker starting upgrades - what do you like?

[apes-ma]

What configuration of upgrades do you Parker players like to start the game with? I feel like an Oathkeeper is a shoein, and probably Highwayman as well, but what about the third slot? Do you like coordinated heist for the extra mobility at the start (it's harder to stick on later as well)? Stick up to shoot Parker over the board? Or hail of bullets to get some movement lanes blocked off early? I feel like Crate of Dynamite and Human Shield are not really in consideration, and Black Market seems more effective later in the game as well.

[Mr_Roy]

After 20 odd games with parker my starting upgrades are:

Oathkeeper 

Highwayman or black market (depending on the scheme pool and if you want to start interacting turn 1)

Stick up

 

I normally discard stick up at the start of parker's first activation to effectively give him a free AP. I then normally attach hail of bullets,  crate of dynamite or just put stick up back on.

[asrian]

Slightly different than @Mr_Roy. I start with Oathkeeper, Highwayman, and Hail of Bullets. I tend to use Oathkeeper Turn 1 or Two, then buy Stick Up to replace Oathkeeper. I like the trigger on Hail of Bullets to give me Enemy Scheme Markers with Stick Up, which means I'm not having to eat up my SS to pay for rebuying it typically, and for the severe/hazardous terrain. From there I just roll with whatever is needed for upgrades.

[Bangarang]

I have played 10 or so games and I am loving him.

Firstly I think there is no point bringing oathkeeper, especially if your spending it in the first turn?? Stick up does the same thing and you will be using it more so might aswell save yourself the trouble of carrying around more upgrades for no point. 

He needs a limited upgrade for the extra (0) but more importantly the passive ability on marker pick up, depends on whether you need more attacks or more interacts on which one you choose, don't change during the game as you lose the passive ability while upgrade cycling the limited ones.

The third upgrade will depend on how you play, if you like oathkeeper (for later turns maybe) or survivalist (my choice), hail of bullets only if there isn't cover already and that helps with moving up the table. 

 

General = Stick up, Highwayman, Survivalist

Schemey= Stick up, Black Market, Hail of Bullets

Damage = Highwayman, crate of dynamites, oathkeeper or stick up

[Trample]

Oathkeeper, Hail of Bullets, and Highwayman. After turn one I'm usually inclined to replace oathkeeper with Crate of Dynamite. 

[Erik1978]

If there is corner deployment, I always take Coordinted Heist, otherwise it depends on the opponent and schemes but often I run with Highwayman or Hail of Bullets and, more often than not: Stick Up. Discard it turn 1 or 2 for extra move + getting the SS back. I usually end up discarding all upgrades on him turn 2 for damage, then buying whatever is handy like Stick Up and Crate of Dynamite.

I get great satisfaction from Stick Up: "See this SS I use for extra cards now? YOU paid for that, thanks!"

[apes-ma]

7 hours ago, Bangarang said:

 

Firstly I think there is no point bringing oathkeeper, especially if your spending it in the first turn?? Stick up does the same thing and you will be using it more so might aswell save yourself the trouble of carrying around more upgrades for no point.

 

General = Stick up, Highwayman, Survivalist

Schemey= Stick up, Black Market, Hail of Bullets

Damage = Highwayman, crate of dynamites, oathkeeper or stick up

That's a really good point about Oathkeeper actually - keeping Oathkeeper for non-moving actions seems a lot better.

I often start Crate of Dynamite on Mad Dog, and then reattach it if needs be later on in the game.

[Murdock365]

A friend and I spent some time scouring the Ripples of Fate Outcast section and found that soulstone stealing Parker is most definitely a thing! My standard loadout for him is, Stick up, Highwayman and Crate of Dynamite. 

 

If playing anything like stake a claim, and depending on some schemes I'll swap out stick up for co-ordinated heist to get that extra 5" walk and start applying pressure.

 

[Uncommon_Man]

Oathkeeper, Scout the Field, Coordinated Heist, almost always.  The sheer amount of positioning I can leverage out of this is astounding. Whole crew gets a free Scout the Field move, burn Oathkeeper turn 1 for Fast and to free up an upgrade slot, which also gives you back the stone you paid for it. The term 'Ambush' just doesn't do it credit.  Depending on schemes you can 5 Finger Discount into either Black Market or Highwayman, usually Highwayman, often without paying for it since with 4 Ap and a free move its pretty easy to get a scheme marker near Parker to steal for the upgrade and then since you have it you either draw 2 or get a stone.

And thats just Parker.

Scout the Field and Coordinated Heist are then easy to cycle into something else, while providing useful benefits in the meantime.

[apes-ma]

On 24/11/2016 at 9:50 PM, Uncommon_Man said:

Oathkeeper, Scout the Field, Coordinated Heist, almost always.  The sheer amount of positioning I can leverage out of this is astounding. Whole crew gets a free Scout the Field move, burn Oathkeeper turn 1 for Fast and to free up an upgrade slot, which also gives you back the stone you paid for it. The term 'Ambush' just doesn't do it credit.  Depending on schemes you can 5 Finger Discount into either Black Market or Highwayman, usually Highwayman, often without paying for it since with 4 Ap and a free move its pretty easy to get a scheme marker near Parker to steal for the upgrade and then since you have it you either draw 2 or get a stone.

And thats just Parker.

Scout the Field and Coordinated Heist are then easy to cycle into something else, while providing useful benefits in the meantime.

I had never thought of this combo - this actually sounds great. Do you find yourself with the rest of your crew left behind and doing nothing though? For example, Johan and Sue are two models I often fit into a Parker crew, and since they are both walk 4 I feel like they might end up twiddling their thumbs with the bandits coming out of the gates so fast. Not to mention the fact that Doc might find it hard to catch up? I suppose his push helps though, and Parker could always spend a couple of AP on the first turn making the slow non-bandits walk up the board to join in the fun, which still might be worth it. I will give this a try, it sounds really fun!

[Uncommon_Man]

You definitely get more mileage out of Bandits than other models, I tend to run at least 2 Bandidos and Mad Dog, and oddly enough this is the one crew that I rather like Hans in, map depending. Even if Johan and Sue don't get into position until turn 2, your screen of bandits has probably bought you the time anyway. A Performer can also be solid, since you are dropping scheme markers near enemy models like candy, so she can lure your models and blow up markers without a care.

[Erorior]

So far with Parker I usually begin with Highwayman/Black Market, Oath Keeper and Hail of Bullets (unless the board is too open for the hail to be effective). FIrst switch is usally from oathkeeper to Stick Up.

Regarding the limited upgrades, I've found myself to get more mileage out of Black Market so far. Once the scheme markers start to drop, Parker usually nets me 1-2 soulstones each turn (1 from discarding an upgrade and one from discarding a scheme marker via Five Finger discount, Fistful of Scrip or Crate of Dynamite). With those he (and any henchmen) gets a good bit more survivable.

 

[Drool_bucket]

Interesting that no one is including Scout the Field.  Keep Oathkeeper for turn 2 discarding because Scout the Field turn one allows to charge something outside of LoS....  

give it a whirl?

[Kirby]

9 hours ago, Drool_bucket said:

Interesting that no one is including Scout the Field.  Keep Oathkeeper for turn 2 discarding because Scout the Field turn one allows to charge something outside of LoS....  

give it a whirl?

What are you charging Turn 1?

[Drool_bucket]

well, not certainly charging, but using the move from Scout just like you're probably using Oathkeeper's extra AP to get in to position.  You could shoot some, charge something... whatever. 

the point is instead of dropping Oathkeeper first turn, drop it second because you're effectively getting the same thing out of it, an AP to walk...  but then the benefit of shooting/charging something that they hid

 

[Kirby]

Ah gotcha, that makes sense

[fauxreigner]

Given that his totem is a healer and he likes to be in the thick of it, I'm surprised more people are not talking about Survivalist as a starting upgrade. Is this because you find your opponent is not focusing damage onto him, or because the other upgrades just give too much utility to pass up?

(This coming from the perspective of someone who never played with or against parker, but is intrigued enough by his rules to possibly invest in him, so would like to learn from you people with experience). 

[Erorior]

On 12/3/2016 at 4:19 AM, Drool_bucket said:

Interesting that no one is including Scout the Field.  Keep Oathkeeper for turn 2 discarding because Scout the Field turn one allows to charge something outside of LoS....  

give it a whirl?

I tried taking Scout the Field along with Oathkeeper and Hail of Bullets yesterday, and it worked fabulously. As you said, it was nice to save Oathkeeper to turn two, while still getting the extra walk at the begninning. This allowed Parker to advance from a safe angle and discarding Scout the Field to put out some hail markers in a passage where the entire enemy crew would have to pass through if they didn't want to spent a lot of AP climbing. It opens up nice options to keep Parker safe while putting out early disruption.