Adding abyssinia envoy

[DeleteAccount]

So, I've been looking a bit through abyssinia's toys for envoy potenrial. First thing I'm noticing is that there is no way to get Experimental Assets, so seems like Electrocutioners lose some stock. Second is since Kassa is a must, you will want at least one titan. Outside of that, looking through the units, the Mehal Seffari seem to be great to get some card draw going, Crow Runners seem like more competent inflitrators thanks to moving your own units and the combined arms units, specially the mechanized infantry thanks to Edmonton making them shoot more seem strong as well.

Anybody played with them and noticed any good stuff?

[DeleteAccount]

Guess nobody has fiddled with this at all then?

[Tris]

Not played with them yet as we are only 4 guys / 4 factions and so always play at the same time, which limits the borrowing options^^

[DeleteAccount]

Sounds reasonable. On my side, the resident tourny players are already looking into gibbering + cult mixed forces so was wondering if anybody had been doing similar exercises.

[Tris]

Only thing I´ve read and thought about is Kassa and a Kings Hand, giving her (and to a extend the Kings Hand) basically a double turn via the "Keep Calm" stratagem^^

 

But couldn`t try it until now as where still playing at 25scrip and I want to get the basics first before trying something funny 😛

 

Mechanized Infantry seem quite good though with their big shooty robot and might fit exactly into the Empires play style.

Question is if we would like to get their Bikes over our Motor Scouts for example, or use Basothos as cheap screening units?

Crowrunners - would have to read their card again to see if any of their actions and triggers require Abyssinian units?

Otherwise they seem like solid "schemers", at least that`s what the Abyssinian forums say

 

Think Electrocutioners lose too much synergy outside of Abyssinia and I´m not 100% sure Steel Legion is worth it for us at 12 scrip.

[spooky_squirrel]

Steel Legion is a large cost up front, but they can get a ton of work done under Kassa, especially with the Cutter's card draw mechanic and the fire teams' ability to shoot into engagements that involve the Cutter. It can help fill the close combat void with a unit that doesn't have to be in Glory to do stuff in close combat.

Mechanized Infantry is another shooting unit being added to a Company full of them. On the upside, it'll work well with Kassa, as it brings a Titan to the table that she can exploit.

Marauders (the bikes) are 3 scrip base, +1 for the first toughness asset. So they're more costly than your Motor Scouts by a significant margin. Buuuuut being a Two-Seater means that they can receive a Rush order, dart a significant distance, and claim/flip an objective (they have a special rule that lets them take any action on Rush, not just melee). As an Aby player I have yet to be able to do this because my opponent sees the Marauder and is fully willing to sink a significant amount of firepower into it in order to keep it from running around freely, so the other thing you might look at it as is a bullet magnet.

[DeleteAccount]

The idea with mechanized infantry is more about using Edmonton to make it shoot a few extra times since that gun is very beefe, though I can certainly see using Steel Legion though it is a lot spendier.

I was wondering also about Mehal Seffari, I really feel the lack of reliable card draw in Kings Empire, but Nehal Seffari in glory early become a card engine, bur don't know if that's enough to justify.

[Tris]

17 minutes ago, spooky_squirrel said:

Steel Legion is a large cost up front, but they can get a ton of work done under Kassa, especially with the Cutter's card draw mechanic and the fire teams' ability to shoot into engagements that involve the Cutter. It can help fill the close combat void with a unit that doesn't have to be in Glory to do stuff in close combat.

Mechanized Infantry is another shooting unit being added to a Company full of them. On the upside, it'll work well with Kassa, as it brings a Titan to the table that she can exploit.

Marauders (the bikes) are 3 scrip base, +1 for the first toughness asset. So they're more costly than your Motor Scouts by a significant margin. Buuuuut being a Two-Seater means that they can receive a Rush order, dart a significant distance, and claim/flip an objective (they have a special rule that lets them take any action on Rush, not just melee). As an Aby player I have yet to be able to do this because my opponent sees the Marauder and is fully willing to sink a significant amount of firepower into it in order to keep it from running around freely, so the other thing you might look at it as is a bullet magnet.

Yeah, melee potential is something to look at in Allies, although I find Borderers and Dragoons quite capable themselves.

 

If we`re counting toughness upgrades, a Motor Scout is also 3 pts, but yeah, it`s 5 for two compared to 7 for two, depends on how much you want them to actually do I suppose^^

 

EDIT:

Can`t even take Marauders as you are only allowed to take Abyssinia SQUADS as an envoy^^

[Tris]

2 minutes ago, Razhem said:

The idea with mechanized infantry is more about using Edmonton to make it shoot a few extra times since that gun is very beefe, though I can certainly see using Steel Legion though it is a lot spendier.

I was wondering also about Mehal Seffari, I really feel the lack of reliable card draw in Kings Empire, but Nehal Seffari in glory early become a card engine, bur don't know if that's enough to justify.

Also str 4 on melee and more tactic tokens and commander movement for you on  a trigger on their gun (?) - actually a lot of options if my friend wouldn`t play at the same time as I do xD

[spooky_squirrel]

1 minute ago, Tris said:

Yeah, melee potential is something to look at in Allies, although I find Borderers and Dragoons quite capable themselves.

 

If we`re counting toughness upgrades, a Motor Scout is also 3 pts, but yeah, it`s 5 for two compared to 7 for two, depends on how much you want them to actually do I suppose^^

If you don't take toughness on them, you're better off putting that 3 scrip on something else

I mainly include that in the cost because for the first Marauder you can get two plain Motor Scouts. That's more activations to put towards completing the operation objectives, to include flipping objectives back to your control. That's also more bodies for your opponent to target. I would probably not go to two Marauders with toughness simply because you can bring a Motor Scout for that second toughness and have a spare scrip to sink into another unit or assets and make use of the Motor Scout's abilities (such as summoning more).

Usually when I'm thinking about the opposite direction (KE envoy into Aby), I'm looking at units like the Borderers and wondering if bringing in an element that's purely close combat like that would benefit me at all, with all the tools available in faction, compared to leaving the Envoy option open or hiring Thrace instead.

 

Just now, Tris said:

Also str 4 on melee and more tactic tokens and commander movement for you on  a trigger on their gun (?) - actually a lot of options if my friend wouldn`t play at the same time as I do xD

These are the things I use Mehal Sefari for, but I'm an Aby player, so I've got card draw in many places. I think they're good, and the way they can reinforce for being a bodyguard unit may come in handy for KE players who are trying to hang back a bit anyway.

[DeleteAccount]

Well, the Marauder vs Motor Scout thing is moot since only squads can be taken as part of envoys (thanks @Tris hadn't noticed that). I've also noticed that I can add an engineer to any unit I field from abyssinia, so a couple of units with engineer's should really help with my card draw dilema. It does mean Kassa is around which also means titans though, which doesn't seem like an option against cult due to how good they are at titan busting. But will definitely keep it in mind.

[Tris]

17 minutes ago, Razhem said:

Well, the Marauder vs Motor Scout thing is moot since only squads can be taken as part of envoys (thanks @Tris hadn't noticed that). I've also noticed that I can add an engineer to any unit I field from abyssinia, so a couple of units with engineer's should really help with my card draw dilema. It does mean Kassa is around which also means titans though, which doesn't seem like an option against cult due to how good they are at titan busting. But will definitely keep it in mind.

Damn, and I didn`t think about the Engineers  -sweet card draw

Ha, you gotta love a new game where nothing is set yet^^

[spooky_squirrel]

Engineers with Mechanized Infantry is silly (in a good way).. because the unit is making a ranged attack, it helps stack things for when you decide to bring guns to bear.

Mmm.. yeah.. keyword squads is kind of limiting.

[DeleteAccount]

Well, I'm happy with it only being squads, was making mixmatching a bit tooo tempting for my liking.

[DeleteAccount]

Whelp, had a game against Abyssinia and I used pure King's Empire with Margaret and Charles and after seeing my opponent constantly drawing and having q good stock of Tactic tokens while I bqrely had any cards or tokens, it's become crystal clear that Kassa is a MUST if you expect any true results with King's Empire since our ability to generate resources is meh and our stuff in general is kind of fragile.

Having accepted this, I've also accepted adding Abyssinia units into the mix. Mechanized Infantry are a no brainer since it lets Kassa get full Ta between that and the King's Hand as well as being a solid unit which brings a LOT of card draw.

More interesting are on one hand Mehal Seffari. This is the unit I'm not really that sure on, bu theory dictates that having a unit that can be engaged and deal the pain will be huge. Last game some Electrocutioners went into glory and then proceeded to teleport 3 times doing pulses which meant one of my units of Royal Rifle Corps were engaged, hurt and doing a whole lot of nothing shooting in melee and not being in Glory (had no Ta at that point in the turn). Their Protect trigger is also amazing and we can garuantee it with the radio Transmitter. It also means we add another Engineer so more card draw.

Finally, the Crow Runners can be interesting as a summon unit instead of the South Wales Borderers using Behind Enemy Lines. The later is much better at living, but Crow Runners can do much better objective work so csn conditionally be a true game changer.

Anybody that has played around with other Abyssinia units?

[Tris]

8 minutes ago, Razhem said:

Whelp, had a game against Abyssinia and I used pure King's Empire with Margaret and Charles and after seeing my opponent constantly drawing and having q good stock of Tactic tokens while I bqrely had any cards or tokens, it's become crystal clear that Kassa is a MUST if you expect any true results with King's Empire since our ability to generate resources is meh and our stuff in general is kind of fragile.

Having accepted this, I've also accepted adding Abyssinia units into the mix. Mechanized Infantry are a no brainer since it lets Kassa get full Ta between that and the King's Hand as well as being a solid unit which brings a LOT of card draw.

More interesting are on one hand Mehal Seffari. This is the unit I'm not really that sure on, bu theory dictates that having a unit that can be engaged and deal the pain will be huge. Last game some Electrocutioners went into glory and then proceeded to teleport 3 times doing pulses which meant one of my units of Royal Rifle Corps were engaged, hurt and doing a whole lot of nothing shooting in melee and not being in Glory (had no Ta at that point in the turn). Their Protect trigger is also amazing and we can garuantee it with the radio Transmitter. It also means we add another Engineer so more card draw.

Finally, the Crow Runners can be interesting as a summon unit instead of the South Wales Borderers using Behind Enemy Lines. The later is much better at living, but Crow Runners can do much better objective work so csn conditionally be a true game changer.

Anybody that has played around with other Abyssinia units?

I´ve found that I have noct much script left after 2 Titans, and to be honest, I don`t think that Mehal Safari are really better than our units in that price range.

If I´m looking for close combat support I´m okay with Dragoons, Borderers or a Steel Legion (against everyone except Cult that is  ).

Adding ever more close combat hampers our ability to shoot at important stuff, although I agree that it seems really important to have some melee buffer in any list as shooting get`s quite bad quite fast on a board with normal terrain density.

 

Other unit I´ve used besides the Mechanized Infantry and Steel Legion are the Basothos, just as a filler.

They are quite fast but otherwise rather unimpressive, and suffer from the same "no adjuncts for big models" problem our Dragoons do, but they are fast and can tie things up for a turn or two.

[retnab]

In my experience the best go-to melee unit in the Empire is the RRC  Getting the built in ,  Point Blank, and access to Barrage makes the unit super valuable at all ranges.

[DeleteAccount]

1 hour ago, retnab said:

In my experience the best go-to melee unit in the Empire is the RRC  Getting the built in ,  Point Blank, and access to Barrage makes the unit super valuable at all ranges.

I fully agree, but sadly, we here in tje King's Empire have to actually work to get into glory, so I've had my fair share of matches where I get them into glory turn 1 and others where I barely manage to get anything into glory all game. So I'd rather have something I can count on if things go quicker than expected.

[Tris]

21 minutes ago, Razhem said:

I fully agree, but sadly, we here in tje King's Empire have to actually work to get into glory, so I've had my fair share of matches where I get them into glory turn 1 and others where I barely manage to get anything into glory all game. So I'd rather have something I can count on if things go quicker than expected.

That is very true, some people assume it`s a given to kill several fireteams a turn against an opponent with a far superior hand...

 

But that ties into my advise from the other thread, think we have to play an aggressive game, bad flips/cards won`t save you if you`re holding back because threat ranges are too high, so you might as well charge forwards and bring the fight to them  (and please understand, of course I´m not talking about headlong charging without a plan, pick your fights  )

This`ll also make it easier to draw cards with the RRC later in the game if you need it then.