Bayou Smugglers

[Rosskov]

So this is the only bayou model I've never had on the table. Does anyone use them? If so when and why? 

Tell me your war stories. 

[ShinChan]

Never, and I have them painted, but if someone have suggestions, I'll be happy to hear them. 

2" mele range is quite nice, the rest on their card is just average or directly bad, since there isn't any real and useful synergy (or I am wrong and I don't see it) 

[Jesy Blue]

You're not wrong, there is nothing to see.

[OracleToronto]

as stated 2" melee is nice (as it is super rare) which helps them protect the scheme markers they have tricks with ... but it is a lot of set up and requires multiple un-interupted actions to pull off ... and its super obvious to your opponent.   

[Jesy Blue]

If you were just looking for a cheap 2" you could get an Akaname for 5 stones, including tax, and have a few cool tricks that work better than the smuggler.

[S4lt]

There is no reason to hire them that I can see. They could drop to 5ss and still struggle to make it in. 

[ShinChan]

Maybe if they had Looted Supplies / Loot their Coprses and the dame broken rifle as the Desperate Mercenaries (with the Drop it! trigger) would make them better.

For 6ss, Unimpeded too. It really meets their fluff/miniature appealing. 

[Maniacal_cackle]

Life of crime seems superrrr good (normally you have to spend an action to eat enemy scheme markers, but with this you can gain an action to eat an enemy marker??), and it is the only way to get it in Bayou, right? Forage is also a very good ability.

But one major problem is they so strongly signal that you're anti-scheming that your opponent can just skip scheme marker schemes a lot of the time.

Tides of fate would be amazing... If you couldn't just do it at the start of the turn normally.

One saving grace is that they can push their allies so effectively (for instance, if your ally moves forward and schemes, you can charge and push the ally forward, then walk and gain fast the next turn). It nets you almost one free action. And it allows you to cycle a card with showboating. And they can knock aside enemies. I suspect that trigger is key to making them more than just an expensive anti-schemer.

My friend is picking some up, so will report back if they do well (in a Zipp crew).

[ShinChan]

Infamous already have a lot of anti-scheming abilities, way more usefull that giving fast to a Bayou Smuggler, who has very low chances of survival or doing anything useful with that 3 action.

For the pish, you already have the Iron Skeeters for 1ss more that are way better at it (Fly eith me and trigger in the attack).

 

[Maniacal_cackle]

18 minutes ago, ShinChan said:

Infamous already have a lot of anti-scheming abilities, way more usefull that giving fast to a Bayou Smuggler, who has very low chances of survival or doing anything useful with that 3 action.

For the pish, you already have the Iron Skeeters for 1ss more that are way better at it (Fly eith me and trigger in the attack).

 

True! That does seem awfully redundant!

[Mxbedlam]

Tides of Fate would be really good if Bayou had any other way to generate Soul Stones. Could you imagine Tides of Fate in a list with Dashel?

[Scoffer]

5 minutes ago, Mrbedlam said:

Tides of Fate would be really good if Bayou had any other way to generate Soul Stones. Could you imagine Tides of Fate in a list with Dashel?

Who said "Soulstone Miner"?

[Mxbedlam]

2 minutes ago, Scoffer said:

Who said "Soulstone Miner"?

you know...that's not a bad idea. Its a start at least

[Rathnard]

I've used one twice now, both times in a Wong crew with 12 Cups of Coffee.

In the first game he helped achieve Harness Leylines & Breakthrough, before Perdita's crew blew him away (along with the rest of my crew! ). In the second game he tied up a Friekorps Scout before killing it (with help from Gracie). Getting tied up in a brawl that included Von Schill and two Librarians prevented him doing much more, but he lasted longer than i expected thanks to his ability to use Soulstones. 

In both games i don't feel i got full use out of him, partly because i kept forgetting Showboating. But he never felt like a waste of stones either, even with the added expense of the coffee upgrade. 

I'll agree that there are probably more efficient options for scheme/anti-scheme duties, but i think he gets added value from his card cycling abilities, and some unexpected resiliance from his ability to use Soulstones.

So yeah - my initial impressions of the smuggler are luke-warm at best. But I'm not ready to give up on him quite yet!