Alan Reid

[4thstringer]

I'm trying to talk myself into thinking he's good.  Nefarious pact is in some ways better than arcane res (especially in Lucius).  Another card if he's obeyed by Lucius.   A few really good triggers on garrote, a few other ones on one quick question.   And multiple useful rapid actions.

The bad?  Neither garrote not hidden pistol nor one question are good.   They are all situational.  And the most interesting triggers aren't built in.  

Add onto this that there is a lot of competition in that role: lawyers, investigators both fit a similar but not identical role.  

So what do you think.  Alan Reid.  Good?  Bad?  Will you even be able to tell?

[Fetid Strumpet]

One more question is good, especially given the ubiquity of Focus, but mostly he seems pretty meh.

[Clockwork_Fish]

Haven't tried him, but I do like the ability to hand out Staggered with a action.  I don't think he's bad at least.

[KingJocko]

Played against a Nekima crew as Lucius and had Alan roll with 2 Investigators. Boring Conversation and Diversion shut down a lot options, "One More Question" meant one less attack from Nekima every turn, and once Staggered landed the 3 of them would dog pile for min 3 damage. With a few Issue Commands those 3 took out Nekima and 2 Mature Nephilim by themselves and spent the rest of the game scoring Ley Line since they were barely alive. I agree on his own he's not impressive, but like a lot of Elite models he's a manipulator so its not about what he can do as much as it's what he stops the enemy from doing.

[Sweet Tooth]

He’s definitely situational given the very different actions available to him. I’ve mostly given up on his gun and am trying to get use out of the Garrote and One More Question. 

Also, really happy to see other folks have opposite experiences with Lucius v Nekima than I had. I played my first game against Nekima last week and the Young Nephilim chewed through Alan and the investigators. The built in  to their attack shut down the Elite models’ only defense and I was quickly out of models to retaliate with. 

[4thstringer]

17 minutes ago, Sweet Tooth said:

He’s definitely situational given the very different actions available to him. I’ve mostly given up on his gun and am trying to get use out of the Garrote and One More Question. 

Also, really happy to see other folks have opposite experiences with Lucius v Nekima than I had. I played my first game against Nekima last week and the Young Nephilim chewed through Alan and the investigators. The built in  to their attack shut down the Elite models’ only defense and I was quickly out of models to retaliate with. 

Haven't played the matchup yet but that's what I predict.

[trikk]

I honestly want to try him outside of Lucius. Marshals have access to a decent number of staggered and he starts to hit pretty hard and gives a card and blocks bonus action

[le_wahou]

2 minutes ago, trikk said:

I honestly want to try him outside of Lucius. Witch Hunters have access to a decent number of staggered and he starts to hit pretty hard and gives a card and blocks bonus action

Before thinking of him as a beater, you must remember his 0 melee range. If he is in first line, he will get locked by model with range 1.

[trikk]

21 minutes ago, le_wahou said:

Before thinking of him as a beater, you must remember his 0 melee range. If he is in first line, he will get locked by model with range 1.

Engaging him isn't that useful because he can still attack you with Staggered and One More Question. And getting even one TALK is pretty nice.

[Gaston]

This is what I had from a Neverborn perspective, thought it may help:

Alan Reid: In a crew full of complex models, Alan Reid is probably the hardest model in the crew to get work out of, and takes a lot of set up. On the basics, he has a Garrote just like an Investigator, with a fun trigger to force Schemes to be revealed. He also has a side arm for putting out some damage at range. To use him as a beater, use Startle as a free action to apply Staggered, then charge in for min damage 3.

But you can get much deeper using him, by leveraging “One More Question”. Obviously ranged Slow on a stick is quite strong. But it is really the engaged clause and Coordinated Attack trigger that make him dirty. It requires comboing together him, a False Witness, and an Insidious Madness. At that point the Witness uses Distraction to give the enemy negative flips on Wp duels, then he does One More Question while the Madness engages. Your opponent is at a negative and cannot cheat, and with the Coordinated Attack trigger you are putting down 1/3/4 followed by a 2/3/4 attack, also defended with a negative flip. If you get the right suits or use soulstones, that is a minimum of 3 damage, but usually with the negative flips you can get much higher. It takes a LOT, but can be VERY effective and can burn a model down surprisingly quickly. Also if they go to attack the Insidious back and are in the Distraction bubble, then they are a negative flip against the Terrifying check. If you are not comfortable with the Madness, you can do the same with a Mature Nephilim or Hooded Rider, where they use Ride/Fly With Me to deposit the False Witness in the optimum position, also their minimum damage is higher (but they attack Wp not Df).

Finally, he can be used as a psuedo-tank with Boring Conversation. This puts up a Wp 10 test for all actions within 6”. In and of itself, 10 is not a high target number, but the Injured condition reduces the Wp stat. Once you drop Wp a couple of points, performing any action near him becomes quite challenging (not to mention Distraction aura from the False Witness). Couple this with his Slow attack and an aura of bonus action denial, and he can stop models cold. Additionally, you can stack this with Terrifying, so now attacks require two TN tests before they can be made. And all of this is stacked on the other defensive abilities of the crew, such as Intimidating Authority. 

[Qracy]

I have pretty good experiences with Alan in a Lucius Crew. Just went forward with him and the Scribe, being within 6" to important models in turn 2, turning on his boring conversation.

In combination with the scribe standing nearby, this is very nasty and disturbing for the enemy: TN10 WP duel every time he does anything else than walk, no bonus actions within 4" and when the enemy does not hit the TN10 WP duel, he has to invest 2 cards for cheating/passing the duel. Very nice to clear the enemy's hand.

This works pretty well  a lot of times against different enemys. Sometimes a gave Alan a Lead Lined coat, to make him more durable. He is no match winner, but because of his disturbing aura, he gains some attention and grants Lucius and the Agent some air to breath.