Help with Union Miners

[H4ml3t]

So at a tournament yesterday one of the prize options available was Union Miners and I'd heard they're good so I chose them.

Now that I'm looking at they're cards I'm wondering how I'll use them. They seem too slow for scheme running and for cheap point holders or melee attacks I'd rather take Rail Workers.

How do you all use Union Miners and who do you use them with? Thanks.

[retnab]

First make sure they're the errata cards from this Jan, since they got some pretty nice buffs.

When I bring them, it's for two reasons: Modified Welder for Burning things (my stuff with Kaeris, the opponent's if I also have Gunsmiths), and False Claim. FC is by far my favourite use of them, and you're right that they're not scheme runners in the conventional sense. But combining their ability to place multiple schemes without using an Interact action is great for things like Dig Their Graves, getting around nuisances like Zipp, or enhancing stuff like Practiced Productions, Large Arachnids, and Willie. Their melee isn't too bad either if a friendly M&SU model is nearby.

I never take more than 1, but they definitely have their uses!

[H4ml3t]

Thanks. They're welder could be of use in a Mei Feng crew as well. Once they're assembled and painted I'll give them a try.

[joediamond]

Yeah, after playing them with their new errata, my opinion of them has improved dramatically.  They probably would never have seen the table without it.  

 

I think they absolutely need to go in with other M&SU models to get any use out of their melee attack.  However, with a Union buddy they hit a lot harder than they should for their cost, especially if you can hit with a .  Luckily, they have Companion as well, which makes this fairly easy to set up.  In fact, they are one of the few Arcanist models who have Companion/Accomplice.

 

The welder has always been a decent tool for setting up Burning shenanigans for Mei or Kaeris crews.  However, it now has potential for actual offensive use, or for efficiently stacking lots of burning on models that want it.  You can set up a decent Rail Golem Rampage or start Carlos at burning +3 with a single AP and no required cards/suits.  Keep in mind if you have a low , you can effectively give the Rail Golem burning +3, since it's Df trigger is "after resolving."  Also, if you are playing Kaeris with her healing upgrade, the Union Miners can act as healers whose "heal spell" requires no special suits/cards.

 

Lastly, their False Claim ability.  Any ability that drops scheme markers without the word "Interact" popping up is nice, since it gets around things like Chatty or any of the "cannot Interact" debuffs that some crews can apply.  It also means that you can ignore the 4" restriction for placing scheme markers, which, combined with the action's range, gives you a lot of flexibility in how you litter the board with markers.  I find it has good use for schemes like Dig their Graves or models that burn through lots of scheme markers (e.g. Colette crews, Large Arachnids).

 

Oh, and False Claim's interaction with the Well Rehearsed upgrade is hilarious, considering how many scheme markers they can churn out.

Edited April 17, 2017 by joediamond
Forgot about Well Rehearsed :P

[iamfanboy]

In case you don't know, the buffs are as follows:

Union Miners: Improvised Weapon gained +1 Range. Modified Welder increased to Burning +2. False Claim only discards a Scheme Marker if both are still in play, instead of one Marker no matter what; restriction on only being able to be used when they can Interact changed to only being able to be used when unengaged.

So that means Improvised Weapons, with an M&SU model nearby, is a 2" melee that ignores Triggers and has a Critical Strike Trigger with a + to Damage flips. On a 5ss model. That's pretty good, especially on a model that you're probably taking because of its ability to spew Scheme Markers.

I think I might convert one of mine into a high-kicking model that got dragged onto the stage, just like they describe in the fiction of the Star Theater. It's just too good with Colette. Ironsides with Hand-Picked Men also makes his attack hit WAAAAYYY hard as well.

[Adran]

They are really strong schemers because they don't need to move to put markers 7" apart. Because of that they don't need to move anywhere near as fast as you think. 

They aren't as good at non scheme marker schemes as the typical schemer, but any that need scheme markers they are as fast or faster than a terror tot or a cruligan to complete them. (I worked out the numbers before they changed the schemes, but the union miner can do Line in the sand by turn 3. The cruligan and the terror tot need turn 5. Undercover breakthrough can be done turn 4 by the miner. Its turn 4 for the cruligan or the terror tot as well. It also can do claim jump every turn by itself, neither of the other two can. 

I liked them a lot before the errata. 

[spooky_squirrel]

7 hours ago, Adran said:

They are really strong schemers because they don't need to move to put markers 7" apart. Because of that they don't need to move anywhere near as fast as you think. 

They aren't as good at non scheme marker schemes as the typical schemer, but any that need scheme markers they are as fast or faster than a terror tot or a cruligan to complete them. (I worked out the numbers before they changed the schemes, but the union miner can do Line in the sand by turn 3. The cruligan and the terror tot need turn 5. Undercover breakthrough can be done turn 4 by the miner. Its turn 4 for the cruligan or the terror tot as well. It also can do claim jump every turn by itself, neither of the other two can. 

I liked them a lot before the errata. 

This has been my take on them as well. They already had a role in Colette All Together Now play, even before the errata, as well as more general Leave Your Mark, since you could chuck their marker and keep your infiltrated marker. I had use for them with Large Steam Arachnids (they get helped by the M&SU spider bot, the LSA can eat the scheme marker for baked-in positives).

 

The errata made it so that I'm constantly trying to figure out if they're they've got a non-marker role in the scenarios I'm in. The increase to their melee range extends the no defensive triggers for you threat of their primary weapons, and the Burning +2 instead means that things that feed off of self-burning (Rail Golem, Carlos) get an extra kick, and the opponent has to put more effort into stripping burning from their own models to avoid things that love burning targets; like Gunsmiths, sure, but I play Mei Feng, so I'm looking at things like her Tiger Claws and the Rail Worker's ranged attack 0. Then there's the whole Union buddies bit combined with crit strike. Anything I can do to get on positives or boost my damage output I'm a fan of when I'm playing for blood.