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Neil Henry Question


KingCrow

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Needing to verify something :

The new model Neil Henry has an ability to let him discard a card to take an attack against an enemy after a friendly construct deals damage to it.  So, if Neil damages something after being made a Construct by Sparks, can he discard a card to get a free attack since he's a friendly construct?

If so, a Fast Neil could be a dangerous thing.  Especially since he can also hand out Fragile. 

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23 minutes ago, KingCrow said:

Needing to verify something :

The new model Neil Henry has an ability to let him discard a card to take an attack against an enemy after a friendly construct deals damage to it.  So, if Neil damages something after being made a Construct by Sparks, can he discard a card to get a free attack since he's a friendly construct?

Yeah, that looks to be the result of the current wording.  On the other hand, my head sort of hurts when I think about the wording which would prevent that "When other friendly Construct model ..." being present on a model that isn't a Construct.  

 

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If so, a Fast Neil could be a dangerous thing.  Especially since he can also hand out Fragile. 

Compared to Fast Howard Langston (due to Imbued Energies)?  Or just running Neil Henry with a construct crew?

It looks like it has potential, but you're still discarding cards for AP.  

 

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Oh well, seems very niche and needing too much set up, really. 

Neil seems cool and solid.. But utilizing Sparks and your whole hand for a ml6 2/4/5? I'm not very sold on this.. I see his ability like a once (twice if you have a crappy hand) per turn - ISH. Seems too card hungry for an intensive use. 

Only speculative and on paper. I'll try him when the model will be available on the store. 

Imho

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For sure this guy is a niche model but if he gets the Fragile condition on the enemy, that's a lot of potential 4/5 damage each attack (from 2-5+ attacks) from a 7 Soulstone model. Nothing too crazy, right? Lol.

Trading cards for AP is basically what you do when you flurry so it's even there.  Maybe even a bit better as you dont have to dedicate all you attacks on to one target like Flurry does.  Also, he could get fast each turn from Sparks so that kind of outshines the one and done Howard.  Yes, Howard is a hige threat even with fast but I think this is a cheaper way to get potentially more damage. But yea, it's basically a once or twice per turn ability as you dont want to completely blow your hand. 

The setup isn't too much outside of my standard Mei Feng crew anyways as I always bring Sparks and the Mechanized Porkchop with her.  

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The ability says "after a friendly" not other, so I'd argue yeah he totally could!  He seems like he can do some crazy damage.  I really want to have him do something like double walk to an enemy and make them Fragile, then follow up with a Steam Arachnid Swarm and have both of them beat the heck out of the enemy and only for 13 points too!

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16 hours ago, Frollo the Wordbearer said:

Oh well, seems very niche and needing too much set up, really. 

Neil seems cool and solid.. But utilizing Sparks and your whole hand for a ml6 2/4/5? I'm not very sold on this.. I see his ability like a once (twice if you have a crappy hand) per turn - ISH. Seems too card hungry for an intensive use. 

Only speculative and on paper. I'll try him when the model will be available on the store. 

Imho

I'm seeing Sparks making Neil a Construct mainly to give him Fast or so Mei can Railwalk off of him and then maybe Neil discards for an extra attack triggered by his own hits if as an added benefit when it's useful.

Sparks making Neil Fast is already kind of resource intensive (needs scrap, a 6:tome+, and a 6+) and Foundry crews tend to burn through cards so I don't know that I'd ever plan on having Neil throw a bunch of "Better Than A Machine" attacks triggered by his own attacks. That seems like you are pouring a ton of resources into a mediocre attack. 

I think the best use of his "Better Than A Machine" abiltity will be to knock that last wound or two off a model that a friendly construct didn't finish off.
 

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Sparks making anyone fast is kind of resource intensive but you're getting the Construct trait, Armor +1 and fast all in the same action and trigger-to-action. Plus, as a Henchman, Sparks can ensure he gets that trigger.  

Neil is a bit sub-par but in a crew that normally makes a decent amount of scrap (especially in TT with the Obsidian Statue) and has a high chance of inflicting 4/5 damage per hit with Fragile, he might see a bit of play, especially since he is only 7 SS.  Plus, he is an enforcer so you could give him psuedo-HTK with the Well Rehearsed upgrade.  

Although Reactivate and Fragile are strong game-play-wise I do agree the rest of his abilities are resource intensive.  Using cards and scrap markers for a 7 SS model might seem like a waste but the payoff might be huge.  He's probably going to be best in Ramos crew but I'm just theory-fauxing how to play him outside of Ramos since I don't play dedicated summoners (yes, I know Ramos can be played otherwise but summoning is his main schtick).  Running him behind a few spiders or other cheap constructs is probably going to be the best way to play Neil, especially since he heals 2 damage whenever a friendly construct dies within 6 inches from his "Better than a Machine ability".  

Might be interesting to run him with Mei and her TT Toshiro Komainu summoning crew.  (Although I suppose I should continue that discussing on the TT forums).

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@WWHSD yeah, exactly my thought.

 

@KingCrow

At first I thought he was very sub-par but the more I think, the more he convinces me about his value.. In Ramos' crews. He seems someway a perfect fit; his main strengths is to not having a real defensive ability: no armour, no htk, just a very good amount of wound for his price and a good syneric heal, plus a ok-ish damage. 

With well rehearsed and the heal, he and Ramos should be on the table for quite a while, needing too much resources to deal with. 

I'm tinkering with this idea from some time, now.. And look forward to have him. Let's just hope he'll hit the stores soon. 

 

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1 hour ago, Frollo the Wordbearer said:

With well rehearsed and the heal, he and Ramos should be on the table for quite a while, needing too much resources to deal with.

Add a Steamfitter in there and he can have Armor too. With Joss, that's 3 very difficult to remove pieces, and still a good amount of room to fill out the rest of the crew. Could be something good to run in turf war type schemes

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Well.. I think they have different roles. 

Railworker is a light class beater, slow and tank. 

Neil is, basically, a tank. His strength is not relying on ignoranble defense (like armor, HtK or triggers) but in having a bunch of wounds (9 wounds for a 7ss is good) and in the automatic heal. And in a Ramos crew he should have plenty of heals available. 

Railworkers are quite bad when they meet someone who ignores some of their defense (worse when they meet people like Levy or Joss, but well..). Neil doesn't have direct counters. 

And he's not a construct, which is great sometimes (like when you are face to the wrong end of a relic hammer). 

Don't know if this will be enough to make him competitive, but I think he will be fun at least. 

My 2 cents

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