Sandeep essentials

[rvdbarnes]

I'm fancying a dabble with Sandeep and wondered what everyone felt was his must buys when putting an order together?

[retnab]

I'd say if you wanted to get a solid baseline to go with Amina, some assorted Gamin (Fire and Wind are my regulars), Kandara, and Ironsides' crew box. He can take just about anyone and be happy, but those work especially well with him.

[MuMantai]

I love to play both Emissary and Effigy with him. Mages, as was said, and Gamin to have something to summon (Wind Gamin, mainly, sometimes Ice or Metal)

Other than that, he has the ability to make almost any model shine, so you can play him with anything you want, really. Kandara will be very good with him, I am sure, haven't played with Amina yet. I would toss the Soulstone Miner in the mix, but he is just my favourite scheme runner with all masters.

[KingCrow]

I personally always bring a Librarian for that trigger for card draw, decent damage and heals if needed.  I've started to bring Amina a lot as well as she helps with Sandeeps only real down-side, which is survivability.  Wind Gamin are still good scheme runners but aren't auto-summons any more but their push upon dying is good.  Anna Lovelace is another model I bring a lot since she has her no push aura, high min damage Ca that doesn't randomize and helps with card circulation. Oh, and the effigy because condition removal and its survivability for 4 SS is so very good.  Other than these models, it all depends on what you're facing.  

I personally think the Mages are just okay.  They can put down some hurt and do some pushes but they can also be shut down relatively easy.   I've dropped a Malifaux Raptor in the midst of them before and watched them waste 2 turns doing nothing but try to move away.  They are worth a few games to see how they play but don't look at trying to bring them every time.  

[WWHSD]

I like the Metal Gamin as the summon that gets the "can't attack but gives his buddies  to the attacks" upgrade because they have non-attack actions on their card to spend their AP on. I'll use a Wind Gamin if I think that the bubble needs to be more mobile or if Kudra will be close (since she gets an additional offensive buff from being near Wind Gamin). 

[WWHSD]

5 minutes ago, KingCrow said:

 I've dropped a Malifaux Raptor in the midst of them before and watched them waste 2 turns doing nothing but try to move away. 

Doesn't the Mage that can have 4 melee attacks in a round make short work of the Raptor?

[so_diogenes]

I think it depends on what other stuff you have available.

Everything mentioned above is great, as is the University of Transmortis Rezzers box, Silent Ones, the Ramos box for Howard (making howard incorporeal with Sandeep's upgrade is a fun time) and/or Joss for holding points. Myranda/Sabretooth Cerberus is something I do a lot, and Shastar Vidiya Guards are pretty cool too although I've only taken them a few times.

[KingCrow]

10 minutes ago, WWHSD said:

Doesn't the Mage that can have 4 melee attacks in a round make short work of the Raptor?

The Raptor has Df 6 and I had a much better hand than my opponent.  I was more than willing to waste some cards to have a peon tie up 3 models for a few rounds.

[spooky_squirrel]

3 hours ago, WWHSD said:

Doesn't the Mage that can have 4 melee attacks in a round make short work of the Raptor?

At Df 6, not many things make short work of the Raptor, it always costs AP and potentially other resources depending on how badly it needs to be removed.. For the Oxfordian Mages, this ends up being a bad situation overall:
Looking at just the Oxfordian Trio and the Raptor, the Blood Ward Mage would have to activate first. If you pitch a card to furious cast against a 3 stone peon harassment model, that's a resource you don't have available to use elsewhere. That's two ways in which I have messed up your plans: forcing your activation order to respond to the bird and getting you to pitch a card just to start the attack.
Similar to @KingCrow, if I'm in the position where I have a Malifaux Raptor in the middle of your Oxfordian Mages, I will happily cheat fate to force you to spend more resources to deal with that bird. It's a 3 stone model that's taking 18 (15) stones' worth of models out of action. All I have to do if I'm losing is cheat high enough to force you to cheat as well and you're getting less for the resources you're burning than I am.

I like to bring the Raptor for a number of things, including peaking at my own deck. In a summoner crew that is a very powerful ability to have--just make sure that when you're using it, it plays into your overall goal. The other use I've been getting out of Raptors is turning my own stuff into Beasts to make use of Blade and Claw, but that's a tool you might not need/want under Sandeep.

[spooky_squirrel]

One essential thing to bear in mind with Sandeep is that your cards in hand are incredibly important. Anything that lets you get some additional card control is going to be a good thing for you. This is one of the reasons people bring Myranda with Imbued Energies in a Sandeep crew. What she turns into isn't as important as the fact you're getting 4 new cards in hand.

Everything that Sandeep wants to do relies on suit/TN. Everything his Beacon-using crew wants to do relies on suit/TN. If you're using Wind Gamin as your scheme runners, their leap demands a specific card. Any model you have that would want to copy an ability that cannot stone* is going to be very reliant on having the requisite card in hand.

So that is something to bear in mind. You're likely to have models that require pitching a card to get a special effect in the first place and you're likely to need cards to do things (relying on top-decking a TN and suit is a great way to get a sense of the vulnerabilities of a crew). I'm of the frame of mind that my Control Hand is there to support my actions, but I need to make sure that it's not overworked because I'm aggressive in using it in the first place. I'm very likely to make use of discard for effect abilities if I have them and they're appropriate for what I'm trying to do. This means that to avoid overworking my hand, I'm going to want to limit my reliance on cheating if I'm using those abilities (and vice versa: limit the amount of discard for effect if I know that I'm needing to hit specific TNs/suits for effects).

* On models that can stone: Soulstone Miners are minions that can use soulstones. This reduces their reliance on a specific card suit for TN, so you could potentially get some extra work out of them. As minions they can maximize use of Beacon if they're close enough to Sandeep. I'd consider them for a number of reasons.

[madaxeman]

Arcane Effigy. Companion ("Oh, hi - look like Sandeep just got to summon you with his out of turn activation. Wanna go next?")  and Condition Removal (like, "oh, I forgot - you are slow when summoned?  .. let me fix that for you too!").  

Getting 5 consecutive actions and a summons from a turn with a 4SS minion is a real hoot. If you summon a Wind Gamin and get their Leap as well it feel like 6 actions...