Raphael LaCroix - the runt of the litter?

[Bazlord_Prime]

So I don't hear much about Raphael LaCroix when I'm listening to podcasts about various Gremlin masters (then again, I don't hear anything about Rami or Pere either - it's mainly just "Francois, Francois, Francois FTW").  

Does anybody use him much?  He seems like an intriguing prospect for some builds, as he might be a bit more self-reliant than most Gremlins in that he's HTK, has Armour, and can buff himself when he's damaged.  I actually had a thought that he might be quite a good flanker or w.h.y. in a Wong crew if you make him Glowy, giving him Armour +2 and Regen, he starts to look a bit Terminator.  And making him ignore Armour, HTK and incorporeal.  The logistics don't quite work smoothly though, I guess - he'd activate, regen 1 wound, go Reckless for one wound, then try to shoot something and get Dumb Luck, but then he'd take 2 damage less due to Armour, and actually you kinda want him to be down below 4 wounds so that he gets his . But it's a neat little trick he has to push out of Engagement so that he can shoot something in the face.  I like that 

I guess that there are plenty of more bonkers targets for Glowy though, and in a non-Wong crew when Francois is the same cost as Raphael, but has more wounds, more Wp, and is a Henchman (and can competently do both  and ), Raphael just doesn't really offer enough?

[PositronMike]

I really like Raphael and use him quite often as a flanker or scheme runner. As you say he is self sufficient which is nice in gremlins and means he can do what you need him to with out dedicating resources to help him do it. 

[Math Mathonwy]

I like him a lot. He has crazy damage and he is very durable and very self-sufficient. He fills his niche very nicely. Francois is a lot less durable unless you use a lot of Stones at which point he is kinda a lot more expensive.

[Dogmantra]

Raphael & Francois do completely different things (and imo Francois costs at least 9 stones - stilts and either dirty cheater or on yer tip toes). I'd compare Raphael to Burt more, and Burt does normally win out but there are some good reasons to take Raphael. First is of course if you already have Burt and want a similar model

But yeah he's a good flanker, he's a great scheme runner if you want to go super durable for your runners. But one of his biggest advantages is just how annoying he is to kill. He's not that hard to actually hit, but armour 1 stops weaker models really putting a dent in him, but then the stronger models come up against HtK and his free reckless with damage. And engaging him is pretty useless because he'll just push away. He sucks up a lot of AP to properly shut down, which normally results in him being kinda left to do his own thing. Which is when you sit him near Lenny and pump out those great Dumb Lucks where he takes -2 damage from it because of his armour.

 

 

1 hour ago, Bazlord_Prime said:

make him Glowy, giving him Armour +2 and Regen,

Ooo Glowy doesn't give an extra Armour +1, it gives an extra +1 damage on attacks. Also, you can do Regen and Reckless in either order because they happen at the same time, do it's pretty good.

[Bazlord_Prime]

8 minutes ago, Dogmantra said:

Ooo Glowy doesn't give an extra Armour +1, it gives an extra +1 damage on attacks. Also, you can do Regen and Reckless in either order because they happen at the same time, do it's pretty good.

Oh, right!  Thanks for correcting me - I haven't used Wong in a while.  

[DefyingReality]

I definitely get a lot of mileage out of Raphael. He seems to get looked over in a lot of La Croix discussions, but he also gets overlooked on the table and is really good for sneaking up a crazy effective damage source because of it. I've also used him in a brick of three Bayou Gremlins with a Slop Hauler in feeding range a couple of times when the Bodguard scheme was in the pool, and it's worked like a charm each time as a source of massed ranged fire that winds up being surprisingly durable (except for when the little ones blow themselves up... ah, well.)

[Askelada]

First game using Raphael - Damn! He's tough guy, use him to kill enemy models. Result - not so good as plan.

Second game - Maybe try him as schemrun. Result - good, but 7ss +1 for upgrade, with such pure stats... very risque.

Third game - try change Raph on Burt. Result - over 10 games later, continue use Burt=)