Dead Rider- thoughts?

[Anung Un Rama]

I have never seen a resser player take the dead rider including myself. I have heard fellow ressers say that he is "crap". Maybe in comparison to the mech rider he is inferior. Does a nyone use him and what sort of crews is he good in?

[Hateful Darkblack]

High damage and the drag trigger is actually really AP-efficient. I've taken him a few times and he generally pulls his weight.

[godswearhats]

The Dead Rider seems like a very situational model. I haven't used him directly because of his high cost (both the $$ and Soulstones). My Little Helper makes me WAY more interested in taking him. Either you can use it early (turn 2) to prevent anyone from being able to target him from more than 3" away (effectively making him unchargeable and unshootable). Or you can use it later where it becomes a pseudo fourth attack.

There are certain schemes that I think the Dead Rider is a good choice for. In order of preference, they are:

Leave Your Mark: Unimpeded with a Wk 6 means that he can drop all the necessary markers each turn to score this on his own. A 50mm base and a 3" engagement range means he can keep things away from the marker easily, and if you use An Errand for Master on Turn 2, he can't be charged or shot, so someone would have to waste AP to walk up to him (which seems unlikely).

Take Prisoner: Being able to survive until turn 5 and then swoop in and drag off whatever your Take Prisoner target is in order to score 3 VP, using the built-in Ml trigger is pretty strong

Inspection: Put him on one side and the rest of your crew on the other. Again, using My Little Helper to protect him Turn 2 gives him time to get up to at least for protection Turn 3 and onward.

A Quick Murder: In most cases, he's too far away to be killed on Turn 1, you can make him unchargeable turn 2 (or turn 3 if that's more appropriate), and by turn 3 onward he's pretty durable. This heavily discourages your opponent from taking the scheme and makes it more likely they'd only score 2.

Covert Breakthrough: He can poop out enough scheme markers and protect them to score this on his own during turns 3 4 and 5. It's not a perfect use for him, but it's not awful.

Hunting Party: There are better choices specifically for this scheme, but if it's in the pool along with some of the others higher up the list, it makes him a better choice.

Hope this helps,

~gwh

 

[Fetid Strumpet]

My experience with him tends to be he might do very well, sometimes. However he is too unreliable to take as a standard piece. For 12 ss he shouldn't have to spend a 6 of crows from the second turn on just to get an extra attack. There is enough anti-belle tech that is going to get brought as soon as you declare Ressers that his pull is unreliable, and his horror ability is strong but SUPER situational. He is not a competitive option outside of very specific niche builds. Buy him instantly if you like the model and want to paint him. Leave him in the box on the store shelf if you are looking for a strong model for their mechanics. Buy Izamu instead.

[spooky_squirrel]

The Riders can be very interesting, but even the Mechanical Rider (commonly seen as the best of them) can be a trap for the person using it. I watched one of the Arcanists in my local meta lose his Mech Rider fairly early in the first turn of a tournament game, and it threw off his momentum and plans. 12 stones stock is a heavy investment, and you need it to be doing 3-4 VP of work (earning or denying) to make up for other options you could be hiring in.

Running him with a summoning master would help make up for the loss of activations, but it will dictate how your early game goes more.

[Strangely Brown]

22 hours ago, godswearhats said:

The Dead Rider seems like a very situational model. I haven't used him directly because of his high cost (both the $$ and Soulstones). My Little Helper makes me WAY more interested in taking him. Either you can use it early (turn 2) to prevent anyone from being able to target him from more than 3" away (effectively making him unchargeable and unshootable). Or you can use it later where it becomes a pseudo fourth attack.

There are certain schemes that I think the Dead Rider is a good choice for. In order of preference, they are:

Leave Your Mark: Unimpeded with a Wk 6 means that he can drop all the necessary markers each turn to score this on his own. A 50mm base and a 3" engagement range means he can keep things away from the marker easily, and if you use An Errand for Master on Turn 2, he can't be charged or shot, so someone would have to waste AP to walk up to him (which seems unlikely).

Take Prisoner: Being able to survive until turn 5 and then swoop in and drag off whatever your Take Prisoner target is in order to score 3 VP, using the built-in Ml trigger is pretty strong

Inspection: Put him on one side and the rest of your crew on the other. Again, using My Little Helper to protect him Turn 2 gives him time to get up to at least for protection Turn 3 and onward.

A Quick Murder: In most cases, he's too far away to be killed on Turn 1, you can make him unchargeable turn 2 (or turn 3 if that's more appropriate), and by turn 3 onward he's pretty durable. This heavily discourages your opponent from taking the scheme and makes it more likely they'd only score 2.

Covert Breakthrough: He can poop out enough scheme markers and protect them to score this on his own during turns 3 4 and 5. It's not a perfect use for him, but it's not awful.

Hunting Party: There are better choices specifically for this scheme, but if it's in the pool along with some of the others higher up the list, it makes him a better choice.

Hope this helps,

~gwh

 

Bah, now you've pointed these schemes out I have to buy and paint him...see what you've done?

[godswearhats]

2 hours ago, Strangely Brown said:

Bah, now you've pointed these schemes out I have to buy and paint him...see what you've done?

You're welcome. :-D

[godswearhats]

If it's any consolation, @Strangely Brown, I talked myself into buying one too.

[Kogan Style]

I would say that Leave your Mark is not a good choice for the DR. The enemy only needs to be within 4" of the scheme marker to deny it, so the DR Melee range of 3" works against it when trying to interact and keep enemies away from the marker. 

Other schemes do work in its favour though.

[godswearhats]

11 hours ago, Kogan Style said:

I would say that Leave your Mark is not a good choice for the DR. The enemy only needs to be within 4" of the scheme marker to deny it, so the DR Melee range of 3" works against it when trying to interact and keep enemies away from the marker. 

Other schemes do work in its favour though.

If you're on a flank and you put the scheme marker between the DR and the board edge, then someone has to come within engagement range in order to prevent the marker from being lifted. Which probably means they are sacrificing that model to prevent you from scoring it? I guess time will tell. I've bought the model now so I suspect I'll use it a bunch and see :-)