How the heck do I deal with Brewmaster??

[CapnBloodbeard]

Sooo.....I played against Brewmaster for the first time yesterday.  

Now, THAT was educational.  Brewie, whisky golem.....can't remember what else.

Bewie just shut me down completely.  I didn't know he came back, so Vik of Ash was able to knock him off after spending a fair bit of cards (Vik of Blood did flight of the dragons to pull her in too).  Killed Brewie, he came back, gave me poison (absolutely nothing I could do), so then had neg flips, reduced WP and had to pass a WP duel every action.  So, a full activation I couldn't do a single thing.  Just absolutely no chance of even getting past the WP duels, let alone getting past them and then doing something useful.  

 

Later in the game I had Laz and Vanessa close together, Brewmaster managed to get over there pretty quickly (apparently he has some pushes?), did the same poison spiel on those 2, so both are engaged, completely unable to do anything and I needed to drop some scheme markers.    I got belted 10-2

So......how on earth do I deal with Brewmaster?  

 

Deployment: Standard

Strategy: Ours

Schemes: Guarded treasure, undercover entourage, inescapable trap, search the ruins, vendetta (I took search, and vendetta)

My crew:-

Viktoria of Ashes

- Sisters in Fury

- Survivalist

 

Viktoria of blood

- Soaring Dragon

- Mark of Shez'uul

 

Malifaux Child

Scion of the Void

Vanessa

Lazarus

Hodgepodge effigy

Hans

- Scout the Field

 

(my crew list is probably a bit wack.....first time I've played Viks for about a year, and prob my first game in at least 6 months.  I thought Scion might compliment the Bury mechanic, though I didn't end up using it at all in 2 games.  Hans + Scout for vendetta, Vanessa was doing command construct on Laz, Child likes to hand out with Vanessa and heal her to bounce that onto the others and also to cast Ash's buffs....although he didn't get to do that, because when they were near combat they were already engaged and needed to activate first).  

 

 

[Ludvig]

Stones can cancel neg flips but generally it's better to attack him from far away. Winning initiative is also handy. 

[CapnBloodbeard]

22 minutes ago, Ludvig said:

Stones can cancel neg flips but generally it's better to attack him from far away. Winning initiative is also handy. 

Tried to with  Laz, he had some pushes from somewhere and still got in my face.  

Stones would have been a good one.  Can't remember if I had any stones left.  

[Jesy Blue]

Was this 10 Thunders or Gremlins? 

If Gremlins you'll never get inititive because of Trixiebell. 

If Ten Thunders you'll never hit him with the Vik's dog pile attack because of Misdirection.

Rmember your positive flips on Willpower on the Vik's with your cards in hand, the timing on that for cheating the willpower duel is key. 

Sisterly Bonds will help mitigate a lot of the damage, every time he directly gives you poison or swill (the negative flips), all Sisters heal... it's minor, but you have space for it.

The totem is how The Brewmaster respawns.  If you can remove it first, or move them apart, he won't respawn.

All of The Brewmaster's big defenses require a non-built in suit or two, and those are the only real soul stone needs for the crew, typically.  If you can force them away early and still survive/be not out of position, you can stop his big defenses.

The pushes are from an upgrade any Tri-Chi model can take, it only pushes TOWARDS a living Brewmaster, so plan your lanes accordingly.

[Freman]

Hamelin and as many condition immune models as possible.

"Poison? What's that?"

[Seadhna]

Use Oath and Emissary instead of Soaring, Brewie will die Turn 1 or 2 to a Vik bomb

[Boomstick]

As someone who plays both Brewie and Viks, definitely remember your positive flips for Wp (and everything else, since Swill affects all duels AND flips, including the healing flips you take for failing Drinking contest, but with her positive to attack, Blood will be swinging in at a straight if she's Swilled) on the Viks and activate them accordingly to take advantage of that.

Really, you want to not engage him, given the choice. Take out Westly first so he can't come back (though one of his new upgrades allows Westly to come back when discarded, so be aware).

Ranged attacks are the way to go to wear him down. This is one match up I'd suggest holding back with the Viks. Let Brewie move up a bit and let Lazarus and Vanessa wear him down/remove key pieces. Set the Viks up to counter charge if Brewie closes the distance to your ranged models. Yes, he'll have the Drinking Contest up at that point, but your Wp positives will help with that, even with Swill. And if he's worn down a bit it's not as bit of a deal to spend a stone on the Drinking Contest duel to make sure the attack happens.