How does one play Tara?

[wizdom]

Generally speaking, how is Tara’s keyword/crew played? I’m trying to get a feel for the rhythm/tactics of the crew based on the M3E Beta cards.

[Adran]

I wouldn't like to commit to a "right way" this early on (or possibly ever) and there have been a few Beta iterations since I last played her...

I like to get Void hunters summoned each turn and use them as distraction pieces. I  use the bonus action as often as possible until it lands at least once so I can unbury the summons. If I think I am likely to want to bury my own models later I will probably try and get more fasts out, but I'll try and pick models where my opponent can't gain benefits from the fast.

I like to use the scion as a killer, when both it and the target are buried, but until then it just bumbles about.

I used to hire a student of Conflict so I could give fast to my own crew to ensure I can unbury.

Other than that I focus on scoring VPs and remember Tara has 5 ap over the turn, so she can get almost anywhere to scheme  if needed.

I don't generally go for focusing on bburying the opponent, but its certainly one way to go. Its probably a build that wants Talos.

 

I've found the crew interesting, but you need to understand your machine, which probably means that to really learn it, you need to overload it or under fuel it to find the right place for things so be prepared for some games to fail while you are learning it.

[Kobosov]

My thoughts after playing her for the first time today and having been reading her for a while in order to figure out how to play her:

-Tara's main functions are: summoning (2 Wretches/Hunter, depending on what your plan is, but I'd go for first turn - 2 Wretches and send them running) and then SCHEMING. She doesn't shoot, she can't Stutter Time more than twice per turn (which is great but still, you don't want her THAT close to the enemy), but she has 4 AP remaining after summoning, so... (plus, she moves 6''... or 7.2'' if you use her ability to place). 

-Don't overbury your things, because there are not that many ways to Unbury. As Adran said before, Student of Conflict may be a good idea in order to have a reliable Fast. Aionus is the other main way to Unbury (together with Karina), but they may still die. 

-You won't bury many things, again. Most of the enemies have to be really close to be buried and the crew is squishy-ish.

-Aionus' main function for me is not Buffering, again, because most of the enemies won't have Fast. Otoh, he provides you with 4 pass tokens if you play your cards properly -> Initiative OR 2E Hamelin-esque Overactivation. 

-Haven't played Talos. He seems too slow, unless attaching him Servant of Dark Powers -> 10 SS, a little bit too much. Cthulhu does the same beater role.

-A Prospector is a good idea. One more soulstone each turn, one more card each turn.  

[Trample]

What are folks using as void hunters until those models come out?  

[CrimsonWraith]

On 6/5/2019 at 6:26 AM, Trample said:

What are folks using as void hunters until those models come out?  

I converted mine from Reaper Bones Giant Scorpions by shortening the legs and swapping pincers for tentacles from a dune beast.

 

[Morgan Vening]

On 6/5/2019 at 10:26 PM, Trample said:

What are folks using as void hunters until those models come out?  

I was gonna use the Everblight Raek (Hordes/Warmachine), because it really looks like it's evolved from a Void Wretch.

But there's apparently only one sculpt, and buying them that way is gonna be at least twice as much as what the official versions would cost.

[Hawkoon]

4 hours ago, Morgan Vening said:

I was gonna use the Everblight Raek (Hordes/Warmachine), because it really looks like it's evolved from a Void Wretch.

But there's apparently only one sculpt, and buying them that way is gonna be at least twice as much as what the official versions would cost.

Already got 2 of those, but sadly they're on 40mm bases, and I don't want to rebase them (cool models though, proxied one for Nekimas totem earlier)

[Nikodemus]

1 minute ago, Hawkoon said:

Already got 2 of those, but sadly they're on 40mm bases, and I don't want to rebase them (cool models though, proxied one for Nekimas totem earlier)

Void Hunters are on 40mm bases.

[Hawkoon]

42 minutes ago, Nikodemus said:

Void Hunters are on 40mm bases.

Well right you are! Somehow I was thinking they were on 30mm bases.

Thanks👍

Haven't played Tara yet with 3e rules, so might just have to give her a go soon.

[Trample]

Thanks for the suggestions. Looking around though I thought maybe I would try using frenzy from TOS since it's a great excuse to get land sharks on the table and they look like they could fit in to the crew. They look like they're about the right size. 

Now I need to fin an excuse to use that Rhino in a crew somewhere. 

[Da Git]

So the Schemes & Stones Outcast review piqued my interest in Tara... Her mechanics seem really interesting but require a heap of finesse.  Activation control seems to be key as you don't really want your opponent taking advantage of all the fast you're giving them (unless they have 2 wds and are within Age to Destruction range!). Popping up and down seems like a hoot, but again it requires Fast, which is generally on your opponent, so you're reliant on their positioning.

Otherwise, the crew seems mostly melee damage with a sprinkling of ranged damage and lots of bury tricks. What am I missing? Does it all go together when you actually put it on the table?  Is there a general rule for Stutter time (eg. bury your models early turn, then hand out Fast after they activate?). Any tips for when and how you use your bury tricks on friendlies?

As for the models, from what I can gather from reading the cards. Please correct me if I'm (highly likely!) wrong.

Tara - from her 5AP you generally want to be summoning every turn, when is the best time to do this, first or second activation and when do you usually activate her for both activations? Otherwise, she seems to mostly want to hit things with her sword or use the Crow trigger on Timeslip to redistribute Fast from enemy to friendly. Stutter time to Bury/Fast as necessary.

Karina - hang back or run up a flank using her heal/unbury trying to look inconspicuous, maybe run some schemes, then try to move within 8" of Tara when she gets low on health.

Aionus - This guy seems rock solid with some quality stats, but hagain has a lot going on. Do you hang back a bit to keep him safe and use Sever Timeline to unbury for mass pass tokens or get him in there for giving out Slow/Fast?  With him in the crew, it kind of feels like you want a small-elite crew to generate as many pass tokens as possible to take advantage of Buffering? Servant of Dark Powers or Wanted Criminal seem like good potential upgrades.

Scion of the Void - Seems like you want this guy buried as much as possible using Siphon Essence with trigger to do some quality damage... Otherwise, if you've got low Tomes, you could use Hungry Emptiness on you own models that don't have conditions to get the Surge trigger...

Talos - seems like a beast! Armour two, Terrifying 11 and 3/4/5 damage. Really wants you to play the aggressive bury game for his burning abilities. Servant of Dark Powers seems good on him to get him up there and keep his health topped up.

The Nothing Beast - Quick, tanky, good damage, this guy seems pretty great! All the Void beasts want you to play the aggressive Fast game to get + to flips, do you find yourself holding back and attacking buried models or getting in there to use Accelerate Time? Servant of Dark Powers or Wanted Criminal seem like good potential upgrades.

Void Hunter - This guy seems like his ideal turn would be charging away somewhere not useful, attacking a buried model and then unburying it and burying himself! Otherwise, going late in the turn when you've got no cards in hand and attacking in the hopes to bury enemies. Your premier summon, do you ever hire these guys?

Void Wretch - Good schemer, good that Glimpse is built-in on his attack, good going late turn when neither player has any cards. Your backup summon when you don't have an 11. If you have a 12, would you find yourself summoning 2 of these guys or would you prefer a Void Hunter instead?

Some Versatile models that seem good -

• Hans for long range damage (could be a cool Undead Guild Rifleman conversion here if you cast your mind back to the Dead of Winter story!)
• Midnight Stalker for easy access to Fast;
• Malifaux child to copy Timeslip, Channelled healing, Accelerate Time;
• Effigy for Plenty of Wares (can also be copied by Child) and retrieve Soulstones, Effissary to hand out upgrades and more healing/Companion/Don't Mind me as required
• Prospector - SS and scheme manipulation are always handy!

How have you found the crew from actual experience/theoryfaux?

 

[Adran]

Midnight stalker is actually rubbish for fast he gains it at the start of his activation, so it goes at the end of his activation. meaning there is 0 chance for tara to make use of it. (I didn't realise this until I put him on the table the first time in a tara crew). He's a solid model in his own right, but he doesn't help the fast game.

There were several conflicting views on how well the crew worked together, but I generally found it worked well.

My Stutter time rules depend on my opponent. Its often the case that the opponent tries to stop these duels, (or so I found when I played with only a few models with Stutter time) so its almost always worth trying to get it going.  I often find that once I've got a fast to land, its much easier to get more to land, but again, that's my opponents. I generally don't try to play burying tricks with my own models unless I want them buried, or I strongly suspect I'm going to get several sources of unbury. (Either I already have a fast or two out there, or can see several easy opportunities). Picking good targets for fast is the challenge. Its got a little easier thanks to Buffering, but the obvious ones are still those that have activated already.  

[CapnBloodbeard]

has anybody put much effort into the 2points damage for activating with fast near certain models?  Seems like this could be abused to give a model a fair bit of damage just for waking up.....

Although perhaps it's more situational; the opponent can just avoid activating that model, and in the meantime you're probably better off letting your models wander off and do something more useful.....

[Adran]

2 hours ago, CapnBloodbeard said:

has anybody put much effort into the 2points damage for activating with fast near certain models?  Seems like this could be abused to give a model a fair bit of damage just for waking up.....

I think it's a safety net rather than a serious aim. I don't think it's going to happen that often, but if you have models to unbury then it's a possibly tricky choice. 

[Alerteddonkey42]

12 hours ago, Adran said:

I think it's a safety net rather than a serious aim. I don't think it's going to happen that often, but if you have models to unbury then it's a possibly tricky choice. 

I agree. I wouldn't commit too much to trying to make the aura for 2 damage work. It can be nice for finishing off hard to kill models (or something that just happens to be left on 1 or 2 wounds) but it rarely comes up for me. I usually aim my bonus actions to give fast at a model that has already activated for the turn. This gives you time to unbury next to the model and you don't have to use resources (like pass tokens for Aionus) to makes sure the opponent doesn't benefit from fast. 

I've been really enjoying Tara. I've found that she can really drain resources from the opponent between terrifying duels, glimpse the void triggers, scion of the void trigger (on buried targets), and spamming the bonus action for fast against models that have activated (it is hard for the opponent to have the cards necessary for all of this). Nothing beast is great at absorbing attack actions from the opponent and then burying to be healed. I have found that the crew plays a really good tar pit and resource drain game while Tara and a few other efficient models complete all your schemes. Tara is great at scheming but also serves to pressure the opponent's resources with her in-built trigger on melee. She really just does whatever you need her to (on top of summoning!).  

I did want to know if anyone was getting good use out of Talos. He seems like a good model but I haven't had the best results with him. 

[noob]

Quote

I did want to know if anyone was getting good use out of Talos. He seems like a good model but I haven't had the best results with him. 

I use him with the Servant of Dark Powers upgrade, giving him the start of the game move to get where he can be used in turn 2 and then the added staying power of the healing on a kill-which he does quite a bit of for me against models in melee and the ones that I wittle down while buried.  He activates later in the turn, after taking a hit or two, and damaging both a model or two on the table as well as one off the table (buried).  His WP check for terror helps melt the opponent's deck too.  Armor 2 is great.

I Run:

Tara (2SS)
Karina
Hannah
Scion of the Void
Nothing Beast
Talos (Servant of Dark Powers)
Hans
Void Wretch

I messed up and played with Bishop the other day, forgetting that Fast ended at the summation of the model's activation so the "easy unbury" model was not that at all lol.  Had to take him out of the list.

 

[noob]

I don't know if it's better to run Servant of Dark Powers on Talos or on Hannah.  Hannah moving forward allows for more bury test targets end of turn one so Scion and Talos can start hurting it.

Then, as she usually gets somewhat scrappy with the 6' aura she has and her awesome melee, the healing when killing would help.

But Talos is quite slow, and he will only be in melee from Turn 2 on whereas Hannah can still bury/harm targets from a distance away....  Hmm.

[ShinChan]

39 minutes ago, noob said:

I don't know if it's better to run Servant of Dark Powers on Talos or on Hannah.  Hannah moving forward allows for more bury test targets end of turn one so Scion and Talos can start hurting it.

Then, as she usually gets somewhat scrappy with the 6' aura she has and her awesome melee, the healing when killing would help.

But Talos is quite slow, and he will only be in melee from Turn 2 on whereas Hannah can still bury/harm targets from a distance away....  Hmm.

If you bring the Emissary, you can easily help Talos to get to places thanks to the 3" push and the +1Mv for starting the activation close to the Emissary. If you bring a Prospector too, that's a free push for him/her. Add the Student of conflict to the equation, and you can convert that scheme marker in fast for Talos or any other model.

First turn I usually use Aionus to hit the Nothing Beast and Talos in order to give them fast. Then Talos is moving 3" push thanks to the Emissary. With his 3 actions you could walk 2 times for a total of 10" and charge for another 5" (the +1Mv from the emissary is during the whole activation). That's a 19" range in a turn (push of 3" + Mv5 x2 + Charge 5" + 1").

After that, don't expect him to get to places, but I usually count on him to die, with a lot of effort from my opponent hopefully. Otherwise, you can bring people around with the Prospector, so Talos would be closer to his enemies.

 

 

[noob]

8 minutes ago, ShinChan said:

Emissary...Talos...Emissary...Student of conflict...Talos...

...Aionus...Nothing Beast...Talos...Talos...Emissary. ....

 

Thanks for the input @ShinChan !  I'll look into the Emissary and Aionus.

[noob]

May take SoC in lieu of that Void Wretch, for a cheap way to put out the Fast condition without losing other models in the list.

Aionus and Hannah are really close in cost.  Aionus can't duo as a heavy bruiser.  Is it *worth-not "work"* considering changing those two out?  Maybe not?

Edited July 8, 2019 by noob

[ShinChan]

35 minutes ago, noob said:

May take SoC in lieu of that Void Wretch, for a cheap way to put out the Fast condition without losing other models in the list.

Aionus and Hannah are really close in cost.  Aionus can't duo as a heavy bruiser.  Is it *worth-not "work"* considering changing those two out?  Maybe not?

What does Hannah brings to the crew? The Glimpse of the Void? Tara doesn't rely that much on having buried models anymore, so that becomes situational.

I really don't like how Aionus ended up, but he brings more to the crew that Hannah. He's a support piece that get's bonuses for killing, but he has 0 defensive abilities. So he is way overcosted for what he does, but even tho, the ability to unbury at will any buried models and gain 2 pass tokens, is quite worth it.

My initial set up:

1. Emissary activates:
   • Pushes Talos and drop scheme marker.
   • Put regeneration in Talos.
   • Moves to catch up with Talos for the extra movement.
2. Activate the NB:
   • Moves to catch up with Talos.
   • Focus.
3. Activate Prospector for the free push to the scheme marker.
   • Focus and walk, walk and "I've struck SS", or whatever you consider interesting here, but get the free SS, you're just activating him now for the free push
4. Activate SoC:
   • Moves close to Talos and NB
   • Brings Aionus closer with the  action.
   • Give fast to some one with the scheme marker (Aionus itself can be a good candidate, the Emissary or even Tara if you already activated her once, to cancel the slow from the 2nd activation).
5. Activate Aionus
   • Attack the NB and Talos, giving them 1 damage to each one of them (thanks to Armor and incorporeal) and giving them fast.
   • Bury the NB with the  action.
   • If you already activated Tara and summoned something, in step 4 give Fast to Aionus so he can also unbury the summons.
6. Enjoy

At this point you will still have at least another Tara activation and whatever you've summoned. Talos with fast and Mv 5 for his activation, and the NB buried, with fast and 1 focus, ready to pop up in the next turn. I usually manage to do this "Beastie Bomb" trick in first turn, after charging something with Talos, I activate Tara and manage to put Fast on someone. Win the initiative turn 2 and make the NB appear close to Talos. Now your opponent has your main tank and your main beater in his face, and has to deal with them, while the rest of your crew runs to catch up with them or accomplish any of the Strategy/Schemes. 

[NAX3011]

Is the Emissary really needed I dont lile the donkey dude....

[ShinChan]

Just now, NAX3011 said:

Is the Emissary really needed I dont lile the donkey dude....

I love the model, probably one of my favourites. It's not necessary at all to make Tara's work, but I've really find him useful when I use Talos in order to solve its movement problems.

[NAX3011]

I ended up like this

 

Tara

Karina Ostrowski

Student of Conflict (5)

Aionus (10)

Scion of the Void (6)

The Nothing Beast (9)

Talos (8)

-Servant

Prospector (6)

 

Tomorrow I will play Tara my first time ever, but I really don't know what I should do and when I should do it. Do you have some advices?

The only thing I know is I will summon a VW (not the Car xD) turn 1 and 2 to run Schemes. The VH isn't released yet so I could not summon them yet.

 

[noob]

17 hours ago, ShinChan said:

What does Hannah brings to the crew? The Glimpse of the Void? Tara doesn't rely that much on having buried models anymore, so that becomes situational.

I really don't like how Aionus ended up, but he brings more to the crew that Hannah. He's a support piece that get's bonuses for killing, but he has 0 defensive abilities. So he is way overcosted for what he does, but even tho, the ability to unbury at will any buried models and gain 2 pass tokens, is quite worth it.

Yeah, and the upgrades in 2E allowed forced unburies (and burying worked differently back then so I always focused on burying models).  Maybe I need to adjust that approach a bit but I see your points in Aionus, though his lack of defense scares me.  I may have to save a soulstone for him in case he gets into a pinch.

Crew is adjusted again, thanks!

Tara (2SS)
Karina
Aionus
Scion of the Void
Nothing Beast
Talos (Servant of Dark Powers)
Hans
Student of Conflict