The Real LaCroix-Ophelia tactica

[DanteJH]

Hello everyone and welcome to an Ophelia tactica and discussion thread!

What does Ophelia do and why would I take her?

Ophelia is, in my opinion, the most versatile master in gremlins. She provides outstanding movement and support to her crew through her many zero actions, upgrades and auras which will be discussed later, she is also the hardest to kill gremlin master because of a fantastic stat line, defensive trigger, healing potential and ‘Plink!’ ability, in my 2 years of playing her I’ve only had her die once. She’s also no slouch when it comes to damage dealing either, when it comes to alpha striking Ophelia is the first choice. Her native attack, while having a low base damage, is very likely to hit and her upgrades provide some high damage options.

Front of Card Abilities and Stat Line

Ophelia’s stat line is as follows

Df 6 Wp 6 Wd 12 Wk 6 Cg 6 Ht1

This is a pretty standard stat line for a master but what pops out is a high walk, a height of 1 and a lack of weaknesses. Her high walk not only increases how fast she is but also increases her crews movement as most of her support abilities revolve around her position. A hieght of one has its advantages and disadvantages but is good for hiding her if you need to, as previously stated though, her stat line is solid

Ophelia has 4 front of card abilities

Df/Wp Masks:Second-Loudest Squeel

Ophelia’s squeel states that after taking damage, she may push 4 inches in any direction. This is mostly used to push out of engagements and to deprive the second attacks of charges as she can push outside a charging models melee range. This squeel also doesn’t specify taking damage from an enemy model meaning simple duels and your own models can trigger this, shooting Ophelia to make her move where you want her to is an option and can play into one of her upgrades but more on that later.

”Shoot High Boys!”

Gives Ophelia a 3’ aura that states that friendly models within the aura don’t flip for hieght 1 models when shooting into enganents. While this isn’t as good as ignoring engaments, it is a fairly large aura that can be used when Ophelia is in and outside of melee. This obviously boosts the shooting ability of your own crew but I like it while using Ophelia as a road block while having a model within 3’ but not engaged to shoot in.

Companion

States that whenever another friendly model ends its activation within 6’ this model may immediately activate. This ability is part of what makes her so good at alpha striking but also lets your crew finish off models without giving your opponent a chance to react.

’Plink!’

States that whenever Ophelia takes damage, she may discard an upgrade to reduce the damage by 1. While this doesn’t sound like an efficient use of her upgrades, once we get to her totem, you’ll see how easily she can get her upgrades back. This is largely what keeps her alive for so long and specific upgrades coincide with this ability.

The front of her card gives you a very good snapshot of what she’s all about and some of her themes. A solid, consistent master with offensive capabilities and crew support that won’t stay down.

Back of the Card

The back of Ophelia’s card seems a bit barren with only a single attack a fistful of tactical actions but like the front of her card, it’s all simple, effective and reliable 

The Rough Riders

The Rough Riders are Ophelia’s only attack action and have a range of 12’ but can be used in melee at 2’. They’re shoot 6 with an in-built +flip meaning they’re very likely to hit, unfortunately her damage is only 2/3/4 but she does have a ram trigger for ‘Thinkin Luck’ which deals 1 damage to Ophelia but boosts the damage to 4/6/8 which is extremely respectable. While the trigger isn’t built in it’s very easy to be flipping 3 cards to hit because of one of her 0’ actions coming up making it likely you’ll hit a ram and with a control hand and stones you can devote resources to guarantee to ram.

Ooo, A Girl!

The first of her 0 actions and an extremely potent one at that! This 0 action pushes any friendly model within 8’ into base contact with you! For most models, that’s almost 2 so worth of walking! This action is extremely important when talking about alpha striking which will be discussed later but also for removing models from places they don’t want to be, wether it’s pulling frank out of a set up or pushing Burt out of dodge this action is great offensively, defensively and for denial.

With My Eyes Closed!

Her 2nd 0 action is gives her a +flip to all attack actions for the rest of the turn with the stipulation that when declaring that action, your opponent can choose the target as long as it’s an enemy model and a legal target. On face value this may seem bad, giving your opponent the choice is never a good thing because they’ll always do what’s best for them but there’s some tricks to make it worthwhile. The first trick I like to use is to use the 0’ then declare a charge against a model I want gone, a little known fact is that a charge is not an attack action, it’s a tactical action that generates 2 1ap attack actions on a single target. This means is that your opponent doesn’t get to choose who gets charged because a charge isn’t an attack action and even if you’d be engaging multiple models by doing so, attacks generated by a change can only be used on the model declares. Another way around it is just to get into melee with a single model because they’d be the only legal target. This action is very important  for raw beat face Ophelia which will be discussed when we get to different play styles and it’s how you flip that third card on the Rough Riders discussed earlier.

Reload!

Her final action is a 1 action that lets her attach any of her named upgrades. I have used this before but only when I’ve been in really tight spots because when we get to her totem you’ll see that there’s a much better way to do it

Upgrades

Ophelia’s upgrades are a large part of how she plays as upgrade cycling he’s become an even bigger part of her playstyles thanks to her wave 5 upgrades, I’ll first go over her names upgrades and then onto the general faction upgrades 

Jug Rocket (1ss)

The Jug Rocket upgrade gives Ophelia an attack and a 0 tactical action. 

The attack action is namely, the jug rocket which is a shoot 6 gun that does 3/4/5 damage. The higher damage track is already reason enough to use this weapon over the Rough Riders but the attack also ignores line of site! I’ve been able to kill those small, important models who are hidden behind buildings, forests and other models with extreme ease thanks to this upgrade. The only downside is that after using the attack action, the upgrade is discarded but it isn’t as bad as it sounds as you’ll realise when we get to one of her new upgrades 

The 0’ action it provides is called “Your Turn!” And places another friendly Kin model within 2’ of Ophelia anywhere within 8’. An upgrade coming up gives Ophelia Instinctual and it’s common for an alpha strike Ophelia to walk, pull a model with Ooo, A Girl! then fling it another 8 with Your Turn!, that’s absurd movement for no cost whatsoever! It’s also important to note that it is a place and as such ignored terrain, keep in mind when a sniper is giving you trouble!

My Threatening Gun (1ss)

Her second upgrade also provides an attack and a 0’ action and boy the attack action!

The Threatening Gun is a shoot 6 with a built in ram, range 12 attack action deals a solid 3/4/6 damage and forces the target model to take a TN 13 horror duel, not too shabby! It has a ram trigger is for ‘That’s a Big Gun!’ which forces all models within 2’ of the target to take the same horror deul but keep in mind it is ALL models, friendly and enemy. Just like the jug rocket the upgrade is discarded after the attack but is, in my opinion, the attack to use if you aren’t in melee.

The upgrade also provides a new 0 action “Move It!” which lets a Kin model take an action with the stipulation that any flips resulting form the action take a -flip. I use this mostly for taking walk actions and interacts but a fun trick is to give this to Sammy who can make Ophelia shoot as her in built + cancles our the -.

Hooch Igniter (1ss)

This upgrade is the most situational of her 3 guns and gives her an attack and a 1ap tactical action.

Her ‘Hooch Igniter’ attack is a sh6 with an in-built ram that deals 1B/1BB/1BBB and has an in built trigger to give everyone damaged burning+2. Situational, but a good pick for a bunched up crew because of just how many blasts you can get off the severe damage. Just as the other guns, you discard the flamethrower after using it.

The tactical action it gives is ‘Move and Burn!’ Which gets rid of the slow and paralysed from all Kin within 10 in exchange for a bit of burning. You’ll use this action 1 in every 30 games but by god it will win you those games. It’s important to note though that is is just Kin models but this will still save you against pandora.

Metal-Lined Coat (2ss)

Is the first of her wave 5 upgrades and gives her instinctual and says that when you Plink-off the upgrade it reduces 2 damage. Instinctual is fantastic for Ophelia and is extremely important for the alpha strike playstyle so you can pull, them throw a model. It’s also just good to have around and in a way gives her more ap in a game. Fantastic

Useless Junk (1ss)

The second of her wave 5 upgrades has a lot more words on it than the first and supports the upgrade cycling abilities while providing free movement, healing and scheme markers. The first thing the upgrade does is give all other friendly Kin models in play an ability called ‘Something to Remeber Her By’ which states that at the start of their activation, they may push up to 6’ towards a friendly junk marker in play, if they end in base contact with the marker they may heal 2 damage and you may place a scheme marker in base contact with the junk marker, then discard the junk marker. Now, you may be asking what these junk markers are, the second ability on the card says that whenever Ophelia discards an upgrade that she may put a junk marker anywhere within line of sight.

I can’t understate how good this is, free movement, healing and markers for the cost of doing what you do anyway. Note that the model isn’t placing the marker after coming into contact with the junk meaning that it can still be placed in an engagement making schemes like dig graves a breeze and gets around insignificant. The way the timing works as well means that you can go reckless, then push essentially healing it back. My typical alpha strike is to walk or be lured by trixie, use Ooo, a Girl to pull frank 8, use Your Turn to throw frank 8 then shoot an enemy model with the Threatening Gun and drop the junk marker 6’ in front of Frank. I’ll go into more detail about alpha striking later but when Francois activated he will have gotten 24’ of free movement and that’s mental.

Dirty Cheater (1ss)

Dirty cheater states that whenever Ophelia cheats fate during her activation that she heals a wound. This is a good upgrade to take because with all the plinking, Ophelia tends to be taking a lots of 1 damage. Why I don’t take this though is because she needs the slots for other things, she can get enough healing from other sources and I prefer the upgrade on other models but if you do take it, I understand why.

Liquid Bravery (1ss)

Liquid Bravery gives Ophelia a 0 action and stubborn which means that enemies targeting her Wp are at a -flip to do so. The 0 action ‘Down the Hatch’ gives all friendly minions with 10 of Ophelia +1 Wp. This upgrade is an auto-take against neverborn and ressers who want to mess with your head!

Stilts (1ss)

Stilts boosts Ophelia up to ht2 which is whatever but also says that she can discard the upgrade to take no damage from a melee attack. I find this a bit overkill but it is good insurance against red jokers and being discarded does mean it plays into her upgrade cycling. The main problem here is that I prefer this on another model.

Quality-Mash Liquor (2ss)

Gives Ophelia a 1 action to heal a model within 2’ 1/2/3. Not terrible but not worth 2ss and a slot, especially if you’re using useless junk and a slop hauler.

Team-Work (1ss)

This upgrade can go on any Kin model and gives a 1ap tactical action that lets you push 6’ into an engagement then push a friendly model up to 6’ out. I’ve played around with this upgrade a bit on various Kin models and have found it useful on Francois to push Ophelia out of engaments but now that Useless Junk is out and the crew has squeel, there are better ways of getting Ophelia and her crew out of engaments, not to mention her 0 actions

Totems

Ophelia has 2 very good options for her totem, I’ll give an overview of each and tell you my thoughts on which you should take.

The Young LaCroix 

The Young LaCroix are 2ss totems of which you can take 3. Straight off the bat, if you hire these guys with Ophelia you’ve spent 6ss and have half a crew, this means Ophelia can actually support a very elite crew. The Young LaCroix are so important to Ophelia because they have a 1ap action to attach an Ophelia upgrade if they’re within 6’ with the conditions that they can’t attach more than one of an upgrade and you can’t go over the limit of 3. This is your main way of giving Ophelia her upgrades but if the young are within 6’ of Ophelia they can also use any attack actions on her upgrades at a -2sh. By focusing and picking my targets correctly, I’ve killed so many models that a 2ss model probably shouldn’t have with a threatening gun. The Young also tend to survive as they usually stay towards the back and their ability ‘Small Target’ gives them -flips to shoots at them. So these totems are extremely cheap, you can take 3, they can give Ophelia upgrades as a simple 1 action with no Ca and can use master attacks at a disadvantage.

Old Crankey

This old man the the gremlins generic totem and some people swear by him, as @Finalscene says:

“Ophelia is the master I use him with the most. I tend toward the young LaCroix for when I need activation control or when I'm running kin-heavy lists, but old cranky is great with in his own way. In a game where I feel like Ophelia is going to be targeted, he comes with me for the wp buff, df + and the ability to gain ss when I kill models with Ophelia (she's very good at taking a hefty model a turn, compared to Wong blowing up large amounts of small models, or Mah chasing scheme runners) this extra ss a turn let's me play Ophelia a bit more recklessly since I can plink 2 dmg with her upgrade and then ss prevent any dmg that's leftover. He's also a great choice to bring when Sammy is in the crew because he can cycle a card with his 0 and she can get a free cycle as well. The main problem I find with him is that he telegraphs where I'll move my kill model since I have to move old cranky there first. Ophelia doesn't have this problem since she can ooh a girl to pull him to her side.”

So which totem should you take? Personally, I recommend always taking the Young LaCroix. The merc totems are trash with Ophelia and I think tha old cranky is good but leaves you 2 activations down and means you can’t equip upgrades meaning that you have to pay for all of them, you can’t make liberal use of the great attack actions on the upgrades and you also leave Ophelia more vulnerable because you won’t have the upgrades to always be Plinking and won’t have the junk makers to heal.

Frequently Taken Models

The following are models requently taken in my Ophelia crews and the rolls they play, I’ll also give you a sample list that can act as a base for your list building.

Francois LaCroix

Francois is an 8 stone killing machine. His main claim to fame is having a sword with built-in dumb like for a stupid 4/6/10 damage track. Being a Kin model and having Companion he is usually Ophelia’s other half when it comes to alpha striking. Even if you don’t plan to alpha strike, he’s still a solid model and worth the stones every time. I like to put stilts on Francois because with a df4 he’s usually getting hit but another trick is that you can ditch the stilts to not take dumb luck damage when you hit that severe.

Raphael LaCroix 

Raphael is another Kin model who recently got put down to 6 stones. This was a mistake. There is no reason not to take Raphael with a solid gun with dumb luck, armour, htk and much more wounds than he should have. I like to use Raphael to gobble up scheme runners and take on bigger models if I have rams in hand. When he gets hurt, he can go reckless for free and gets a + to damage flips. I like to take dirty cheater on him because healing models with armour is extremely efficient and reckless gives you more opportunities to cheat.

Pere Ravage

Pere makes me giggle. Pere is a blaster/bomb/meme machine and in my experience he’s used in 1 of 3 ways. The first way is as a bomb as he has the ‘oopsie’ action on the back of card to which makes everyone with a huge 6 inches take a high df duel or take 5 then he takes 5 and on the front of his card he deals an automatic 4 damage to all within 2’ when he dies. If everything goes off you’re looking at 10 damage to all within 6’ and 14 to all within 2’, the main issue with this is that ‘Oopsie’ needs a suit but besides that Ophelia has no issue transporting him and I have won games on turn one. The second way I use him is just as a blaster and for 6 stones he’s pretty good at it. He has a solid melee and shoot attack that all have blasts and his shoot attack has a much-loved trigger on it called ‘stupid’ in a ram. This trigger triples the damage of the attack but kills Pere afterwards but a damage track of 2/3b/4bb going to 6/9b/12bb is no joke and I have killed masters with this, a great use of the red joker or high ram if you get it in hand. The last way to use him is a roadblock and objective holder, it’s not that he’s tough to kill but people down want to go close to him and he’s got a good wd count. Pere is just fun, take him

Trixibelle 

Trixibelle is largely a control model with her main action being her lure. This lure pushes enemies away but pulls friendlies their charge. I use Trixi in the early to help some of the slower parts of the crew speed up as Ophelia’s crews are generally fast ones. Mid and late game she is usually shooting, pushing enemies away and messing with scheme markers.

Slop Hauler

The slop hauler is s fantastic model being credited as having one of if not the best heals in the game and can make this durable crew stupidly tough to chew through. He’s not bad in combat either as both his melee and gun lowers the targets df to 4 making juicy targets for the Young LaCroix 

Burt Jebson

A classic melee model that can pass attacks off to the more durable and healable Kin models around him. This is usually where my second dirty cheater is going so he can heal back his reckless. Burt also has a decent gun that can keep firing as long as the masks keep flowing and combos well with pere as he has an action that forces models to bunch up

Banjonistas

I like taking a couple of banjonistas with Ophelia because they cover one of this crews only weaknesses which is armour and speed the crew up even more. Their banjo music is a Ca action with no projectile icon that has a host of good triggers and ignored armour. They also have a great front of card ability that says when they activate, all friendlies within 6’ May push up to 2’ giving everyone a bit more moment early game but can disengage models mid and late game. 

Sammy LaCroix

Sammy is another Kin model that is uses cast actions to debuff enemy models making them not able to walk or charge, force horror duels or not let them use triggers. Sammy can also summon stuffed piglets and remove enemy scheme markers. I mostly use Sammy to keep the parts of the enemy crew that aren’t being Ophelia-d and Frank-d busy. Sammy can also take a master upgrade and I like to give her the Threatening Gun as it’s a great once off attack and can be used to obey Ophelia. The only drawback is that if Sammy holds it, Ophelia can’t which is something to consider.

Whiskey Golem

Plain and simple I love the Whiskey Golem. He’s a walk 6 nimble fellow with armour and a built in defensive trigger that ends people’s activation if they can’t pass a huge tn 17 wp deul. He’s also another min damage 3 model who has multiple triggers to heal. He’s everything the Ophelia crew wants, fast, deadly and almost unkillable

Fingers

Fingers is the bomb when it comes to anything involving interact actions. Though expensive, he’s an extremely fast scheme runner who can interact while engage, doesn’t let enemies interact within 6 and has a squeel that triggers after resolving, a must have for Symbols of Authority 

Lenny

While not as good as he used to be I know some people do take him but I have my gripes with him. He’s a slow beater that provides damage reduction and free rams to non leaders within 3. He’s great if you need to bunch up but I find that he goes down too easily and is a bit expensive, I could have a whiskey golem. One interesting trick is that he can toss Ophelia saving a master ap or 2 but I can find better uses for 9 stones.

The First Mate 

The First Mate is an interesting model who’s based armour getting rid of enemy scheme markers. He has a trigger on his leap to discard a marker and when he does he cycles 2 cards and gets armour+1, oppressive in certain pools.

Taxidermist

As @Finalscene says, the Taxidermist is also a decent beater since his ml has a built in trigger which gives him a + on damage. He can also summon off of corpses (there will be plenty in my usual killy Ophelia crew) which is just more activations which all masters love. He finds a spot in most of my lists.

Iron Skeeter

As @Finalscene says, Iron Skeeter leans the crew even harder into alpha striking; I often use Ophelia to launch pere forward into the main clump of enemies while using iron Skeeter to taxi Francois, Burt Jebson, or Raphael after models away from the main group while also giving fast. This makes whichever model I taxi able to have 4 AP(reckless and fast) while being close enough to attack immediately. Its also a great idea to take the upgrade, poorly-handled explosives on him because he can give pere a condition to make him explode even more when he dies. Alsogives an attack action which can drop scheme markers off friendly or enemy models. This can help Sammy LaCroix  summon stuffed pigs offenemy scheme markers more consistently.

Merris LaCroix

Thanks to @Davie and @Finalscene for this contribution:

Merris might lack offensive potential, since she exclusively deals indirect damage via burning (+3 per shot, which ignores cover though!) but she is a great scheme-runner. She has flying, reckless and is Kin.

You can drop 3 Scheme-Markers in a single activation with her: Push to a Junk-Marker, drop a Scheme-Marker, move, drop a second Scheme-Marker, move, use (0) Bombs Away and drop a third Scheme-Marker. If you activated her with reckless you can even add another Move or Shoot to that! Once I scored enough VP with her I like to use her as distraction piece and place her close to enemy models. Once she dies, she puts burning +4 on everything around her in  a 2-Inch Pulse.

You can also use her (1) Gremlin Cunning to stack your deck, although I somehow never seem to find a Situation to use this.

And last but not least: she will protect your other Models from Blasts and Pulses in a very huge 6 Inch-radius.

Playstyles

Ophelia is an extremely versatile master who can change gears easily and fill any role your crew so these are in no way the the only ways to play Ophelia. Please leave any other playstyles below

Alpha Strike

A favourite crew build is an alpha strike list that aims to dive the enemy lines and kill one or two models on the first turn. Ophelia’s movement tricks and her and franks companion ability facilitate this because of how fast you can dive you can get in the targets face and companion doesn’t let your opponent react. Another trait of an alpha strike list is a high activation crew so you can catch the opponent out activated. A big decision in alpha strikes list is how far you want to commit to it, I usually just throw in Ophelia and Frank but an iron skeeter with Burt to boot is a great addition. Here’s a sample full-dive list

50 SS Gremlins Crew

Ophelia + 4 Pool

Young LaCroix (2)

Young LaCroix (2)

Young LaCroix (2)

Francois LaCroix (8)

 - Dirty Cheater (1)

Burt Jebsen (8)

 - Dirty Cheater (1)

Iron Skeeter (6)

Banjonista (5)

Banjonista (5)

Bayou Gremlin (3)

Bayou Gremlin (3)

Bayou Gremlin (3)

Gun Line

An Ophelia gun line makes use of her ‘Shoot High Boys!’ ability and Lenny’s auras to put the hurt on the enemy crew while having some survavable models do engage the enemy crew thereby denying them cover. Here’s an example list:

50 SS Gremlins Crew

Ophelia + 3 Pool

 - My Threatenin' Gun (1)

 - Hooch Igniter (1)

 - Hide In The Mud (1)

Old Cranky (4)

Francois LaCroix (8)

 - Stilts (1)

Lenny (9)

Raphael LaCroix (6)

 - Dirty Cheater (1)

Pere Ravage (6)

Survivor (4)

Survivor (4)

Survivor (4)

Kin

A Kin list focuses on the Kin models to make the most of their synergy and the useless just upgrade in an aim to win by outlasting and being more effiecent than the enemy crew. Here’s an example list:

50 SS Gremlins Crew

Ophelia + 5 Pool

Young LaCroix (2)

Young LaCroix (2)

Young LaCroix (2)

Francois LaCroix (8)

 - Stilts (1)

 - Team Work (1)

Sammy LaCroix (7)

 - My Threatenin' Gun (1)

 - Dirty Cheater (1)

Raphael LaCroix (6)

 - Dirty Cheater (1)

Pere Ravage (6)

Banjonista (5)

Slop Hauler (5)

GG18 Schemes and Strats 

Being so versatile, Ophelia can generally do most schemes and startagies but here’s a breakdown for each strat and scheme 

Strategies and Paired Schemes

Public Execution and Eliminate the Leadership:

Ophelia and her crew are my go-to for public executions because they can put out heavy damage while being able to heal and reduce most hits they take. Ophelia is fantastic in eliminate because of how survivable this is and this is also a great scheme to take for a first turn alpha strike

Ours and Guarded Treasure:

The Ophelia crew is good at Ours for the same reasons they’re good at executions but when you add on top her heavy positioning support, this is crew becomes my first pick for ours. The crew is also henchman and enforcer heavy because of the and with the free markers from the junk, guarded treasure is easy.

Supply Wagons and Guarded Treasure

The Ophelia crew, while not my first choice in wagons, is still very strong in it. They have the movement to both accelerate and intercept the enemy crew but lack the large bases. For this strat, I recommend bring the whiskey golem and pere for cart pushing. See above for guarded treasure.

Ply for Information and Surround Them

The Ophelia crew is fine at Ply, it’s movement helps get close to the enemy before they can get to you and the crew can easily kill models with the condition. The crew doesn’t really have any tricks other than that though but Ophelia is always solid. I recommend either a Zoraida or Som’er crew for Ply. In the other hand, the high movement of the crew makes Surround fairly easy and depending on the scheme  pool it’s a good pick

Symbols of Authority and Punish the Weak:

While not my first choice Ophelia’s movement and large threat range make her very competitive. She’s not bad at it at all but I’d rather play Zipp or Zoraida. Ophelia is fine for punish the weak as her and frank can chop any minion or poen up with ease but the presence of the Young LaCroix mean it’s a good pick against her

Numbered Schemes

1. Cover Breakthrough: as a rule of thumb, the Ophelia crew is good st anything to do with scheme markers in specific places because of Useless Junk and this is no exemption. The crew also likes end of game schemes as the crew likes to focus on killing stuff for the first couple turns.

2. Dig Their Graves: Useless Junk let’s Kin models easily drop markers in range and then kill the model which they are also very proficient at.

3. Set Up: another great market scheme aided by the fact that Ophelia crews usually have above average activations. Just be careful you don’t kill your target!

4. Hold Up Their Forces: gremlins in general are good at this scheme but I’d rather just kill anyone in front of me and this can get problematic late game. It’s fine but if there’s something better I’d pick that instead. Also, high activation crews like us are good picks to hold up because of our model count so keep that in mind if this is in the pool!

5. Undercover Enourage: gremlin masters in general are good at this and being another end of game scheme where Ophelia has to be alive and in the right position, she’s good at it.

6. Inescapable Trap: another marker scheme but I don’t like it as much because it requires multiple enemy models to be in position which we can’t control well

7. Show of Force: Ophelia crews are usually henchman and enforcer heavy making this a good pick.

8. Search the Ruins: an ending game scheme that can be done almost passively with Useless Junk. I love it!

9. Take Prisoner: I’d rather he be dead. We have enough movement, it’s fine 

10. Take One for the Team: as a general rule, don’t pick schemes that depend on your opponent. When I play Ophelia, most of their crew is gone by turn 3 leaving not much to kill my sucker. It just needs things you can’t control to happen, next.

11. Recover Evidence: this scheme isn’t a marker scheme but we’re still ok at it, we can easily kill models denying it but I feel that there’s usually better options. It’s fine.

12. Vendetta: considering how easily it is to alpha strike with Francois, this is a good but risky pick. This scheme is dependant on enemy models, so choose with discretion 

13. Public Demonstation: requires 3 high cost minions. We have great 4 stone minions but there are just better choices.

First-Purchases for a New Player and Suggested List

Hey there newbie! So you’ve decided to start with Ophelia, great pick! I usually suggest Som’er or Ophelia to new players as simple masters with a lot of depth and a really good crew box. 

Since you’re new, we’ll assume you’re on a budget of about $100. If you want to buy a second crew box I’d HIGHLY suggest the somer crew box as they compliment each other really well. Lenny is a fantastic model who combos amazingly with Ophelia’s crew and play style with free rams and damage reduction. Bayou gremlins are a faction staple who can work great for scheming and gun-lining with Ophelia. Here’s a sample list:

50 SS Gremlins Crew

Ophelia + 4 Pool

Young LaCroix (2)

Young LaCroix (2)

Young LaCroix (2)

Francois LaCroix (8)

 - Stilts (1)

Lenny (9)

Raphael LaCroix (6)

 - Dirty Cheater (1)

Pere Ravage (6)

Bayou Gremlin (3)

Bayou Gremlin (3)

Bayou Gremlin (3)

Bayou Gremlin (3)

If you want to just get smaller supplements, I’d recommend Burt Jebson as a solid melee model, slop haulers to provide some fantastic healing, and banjonistas to speed up the crew, ignore armour and dance around engagements. Here’s a sample list

50 SS Gremlins Crew

Ophelia + 6 Pool

Young LaCroix (2)

Young LaCroix (2)

Young LaCroix (2)

Francois LaCroix (8)

 - Stilts (1)

Burt Jebsen (8)

 - Dirty Cheater (1)

Raphael LaCroix (6)

 - Dirty Cheater (1)

Pere Ravage (6)

Banjonista (5)

Slop Hauler (5)

Weaknesses of the Crew

Ophelia is fantastic but just like anyone else she has weaknesses (though not many). Her crews first big weakness is against damage reduction, namely armour and incorporeal. This slows down what the crew does best and makes dumb luck less effective and more costly. A remedy is to always take at least one banjonista if you know damage reduction is coming or even if you aren’t sure.

Her second weakness is that she wants Kin models around. This isn’t necessarily bad as most Kin are very good models but she does like that keyword an awe full lot.

and that’s it! Ophelia has very little weaknesses which is another reason I like her so much. Good luck and happy hunting Kin!

This tactica is a work in progress, if you want to add anything or think anything should be changed, please post below. Please also consider writing a tactica of another gremlin master of your own!

 

[DanteJH]

Finished about half, tell me what you think so far!

[Finalscene]

Useless junk markers can't be used by Ophelia. The upgrade gives 'other' kin models the ability to push toward them.

[Finalscene]

I would add Iron Skeeters and gremlin taxidermists to the frequently taken models. Iron Skeeter leans the crew even harder into alpha striking; I often use Ophelia to launch pere forward into the main clump of enemies while using iron Skeeter to taxi Francois, Burt Jebson, or Raphael after models away from the main group while also giving fast. This makes whichever model I taxi able to have 4 AP (reckless and fast) while being close enough to attack immediately. Its also a great idea to take the upgrade, poorly-handled explosives on him because he can give pere a condition to make him explode even more when he dies. Also gives an attack action which can drop scheme markers off friendly or enemy models. This can help Sammy LaCroix  summon stuffed pigs off enemy scheme markers more consistently. Taxidermist is also a decent beater since his ml has a built in trigger which gives him a + on damage. He can also summon off of corpses (there will be plenty in my usual killy Ophelia crew) which is just more activations which all masters love. He finds a spot in most of my lists.

[Finalscene]

Also Sammy lacroix's good student ability says that no other model in the crew may have the same master upgrade as the one she takes.

[Davie]

Did not have time to read it. However I'd like to say : THANK YOU! This is great! Thank you very very much for your work. I'm sure every gremlin player on the Forum will appreciate it!

[DanteJH]

Thanks @Finalscene, correcting now

[GrumpyGrandpa]

Nice with a solid guide that explains the models on an individuel level. 

I really suffer from running the same lists constantly, and so I never include models like Raphael (which is wierd, since I love Somer and he'd be able to supply him with a Ram-trigger).

[daniello_s]

One note for the crew list in the post - Ophelia really really needs DC as a default upgrade. She is SS hungry for Thinking Luck trigger and having an access to reasonably good healing option helps her staying alive longer while not spending tonnes of SS for damage prevention.

[Finalscene]

For the kin heavy crew, I would suggest starting Ophelia with useless junk so the young can create trash efficiently. Young LaCroix 1 can give her metal lined coat, shoot at her causing her to relent and plink off the coat making a trash marker. Young LaCroix 2 does the same. (creating a second trash marker) Young LaCroix 3 can then give her metal lined coat and whichever gun she wants. Ophelia can then do her thing, usually pulling and launching  a model forward then shooting her gun upgrade to create another trash marker. This creates 3 trash markers on turn 1. Maybe 4 if you plink an enemy attack.

[wizuriel]

My threatening gun got nerfed / errata. The damage track is actually 3/4/6 and the ram is not built in

 

Jug rocket was also nerfed that the 0 is now other friendly kin and can't be used on herself

[DanteJH]

54 minutes ago, wizuriel said:

My threatening gun got nerfed / errata. The damage track is actually 3/4/6 and the ram is not built in

 

Jug rocket was also nerfed that the 0 is now other friendly kin and can't be used on herself

Thanks for the heads up! Changing now

[Beeray]

On 4/10/2018 at 8:38 AM, DanteJH said:

The Young LaCroix are so important to Ophelia because they have a 1ap action to attach an Ophelia upgrade if they’re within 6’ ignoring all restrictions.

Their 1 action to attach doesnt ignore the Master limit of 3. Nor can you attach an upgrade that is already attached.

[DanteJH]

9 hours ago, Beeray said:

Their 1 action to attach doesnt ignore the Master limit of 3. Nor can you attach an upgrade that is already attached.

Thanks, I knew that but should make it clear. Good eye!

[green-n-dumb]

Burt Jebsen is not just a melee beater.
He can have infinite shooting on triger, can be tanky when have some friend near him and have nice tactical action that pulls everything to target.

 

I bought Ophelia and Somer when i started playing Malifaux and didnt gave her a single shot - can't understand why do we need her when we have Somer or Wong or Zipp.
She is like scheming and shooting but i dont see any reasons to pick her.

[PolishSausage]

These would be the main reasons to pick her over Somer/Wong/Zipp:

 

Reliable shooting SH6 pair.  with another paired that can be set up * when your hand is trash and you are winging it.

Min 4's dmg

Variable attack types.  ( one that ignores LOS is HUUGE)

Damage Reduction that is (*)

Access to obey - ish abilities for 0 ( you get 2 now) with no TN's

Interesting gimmick with trash 

No ht 1 randomization for shooting

2ss totem that you can hire 3 of ( activation control and dangerous red J dumb luck model)

"free 3 upgrades" ~ more SS in cache

 

 

[Finalscene]

3 minutes ago, PolishSausage said:

These would be the main reasons to pick her over Somer/Wong/Zipp:

 

Reliable shooting SH6 pair.  with another paired that can be set up * when your hand is trash and you are winging it.

Min 4's dmg

Variable attack types.  ( one that ignores LOS is HUUGE)

Damage Reduction that is (*)

Access to obey - ish abilities for 0 ( you get 2 now) with no TN's

Interesting gimmick with trash 

No ht 1 randomization for shooting

2ss totem that you can hire 3 of ( activation control and dangerous red J dumb luck model)

"free 3 upgrades" ~ more SS in cache

 

 

She is also the only master we can launch with the pigapult. Her hooch igniter can also remove paralyze from kin that get launched from pigapult if you position well.

[DanteJH]

Like, seriously @green-n-dumb, she’s so good because of how consistent and versatile she is. She has an answer for every situation, gives her crew so much passive ap and I’ve only ever had her die once cause she’s that damn survivable. She can also run really elite or really spammy crews because of her totem and her ss efficiency makes me wet. Give her a go man

[PolishSausage]

Go to list:

Ophelia (3) +3

Youngx3 +6

Franc +8 (do over +1)

Swinecursed +7

Pere +6

Raphael +6

Banjonista +5

Survivor +4

Lucky Effigy +4

 

11 activation total

[PolishSausage]

also another fun fact.

The (0) action that obeys a kin to take 1ap at neg flip, you can just have one of the young attach another upgrade to her. Very fancy AP management.

[Davie]

as I mentioned before: I love this thread.

There is one Model I'd like to add: Merris LaCroix.

While Merris does not Play into the Killy-Theme of most of the other Kin, I really like her a lot. She is rather fast with her reckless flying and really good at dropping scheme-markers.

Yes, you could say that dropping scheme markers is not as important since you drop them with "something to remember her by" but sometimes you want to place a marker or two in hard to reach spots and not in the middle of where sh*t is going down.

 

[Finalscene]

32 minutes ago, Davie said:

as I mentioned before: I love this thread.

There is one Model I'd like to add: Merris LaCroix.

While Merris does not Play into the Killy-Theme of most of the other Kin, I really like her a lot. She is rather fast with her reckless flying and really good at dropping scheme-markers.

Yes, you could say that dropping scheme markers is not as important since you drop them with "something to remember her by" but sometimes you want to place a marker or two in hard to reach spots and not in the middle of where sh*t is going down.

 

I had completely forgotten merris! She can score marker schemes all on her own. She gives me points every time I play her. With useless junk can let her make 3 scheme markers in a single activation. Push into base contact with a trash marker, walk, place a scheme markers, walk, 0ap bombs away for third marker.

[Rosskov]

I would add the Lucky Effigy to common choices (for me anyway).  Ophelia flips a lot of cards so having an ability that let's you heal one for every ram flipped is useful as is its "hit me ability" for closing down charge lanes and drawing attention away from squishy kin models. If an enemy model that is height 2 or above is tied up with the effigy,  ophelia and those around here and rami can all shoot at it without randomising. 

 

Good work on this. Thanks for taking the time to work on it.

[DanteJH]

Could you write me a little paharagraph about the models you want in it @Rosskov and @Davie? I don’t use either of them so you if you could write one in this thread I’ll add it to the tactica. Thanks a lot guys!

[Davie]

I send you a message.

 

Can anyone say something about Big Brain Brin? I mean... he is Kin after all...