Brewmaster, looking for tips to getting the party started

[wizuriel]

So been trying to play Brewmaster more since I see a few people on this forum that love him and for the life of me I really can't seem to get his party started. I find one of my issues is I really struggle to hand out poison. I usually find a lot of my crew either doesn't really hand out poison the way I want, or I'm using a lot of AP to setup the poison game that most crews could use just to kill the enemy model.

Looking at the tri-chi models

Akaname: I love these guys and feel they hit way out of their weight class (espically for Asami), but if they are targeted usually die to 1 focus shot or will self destruct. Most games what I find is they start summoning a scrap / scheme depending on scheme and if I bring cooper and poison some of my own guys. Eventually they will engage an enemy model within 2" by outside their range and slow/poison them. My opponent will realize what a pain they are and something will focus to shoot in combat and cheat for the severe damage to 1 shot them. 

Apprentice Wesley: Is pretty much gold for a totem, but DF4 and 4 wds does down fast

Cooper Jones: I want to like her, but she doesn't hand out poison and I feel I spend a lot of AP for her to summon in gamin (which I know works out SS wise, but it's a lot of resources and starting to wonder if it's a trap). Usually with her I try to setup 1st turn that she ends with 4 poison so next turn can summon in a whiskey gamin with 4/5 wds remaining (so usually she will double walk and either akaname will pulse poison to her and other models will walk and charge her).

Finger: Too expensive imo. A small favour on a  attack I find means he is using 2 AP and his bonus action and a  to obey a friendly model. Using it on an enemy is pretty meh since the enemy is engaged and doesn't consider him friendly there isn't that much useful actions I've found using it on an enemy. Engaging an enemy and using One More Question I've found is pretty useful, but just doesn't seem to be what I want fingers for. A Toast I find though is amazing in a Brewmaster crew and wish other models had ways to obey him to get more uses out of it. Since fingers himself doesn't use poison on him using Brewmaster to small favour him on the lure with a  just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Fingers wants to try and make enemies lives miserable but without agile or don't mind me I find he gets stuck not where he wants too easily (though I will admit I'm comparing him too much to his 2E self which was a bit over the top).

Moon Shinobi: Usually die pretty fast for me as I have had terrible luck with them. In theory they should be okay models hitting outside their weight class with Drunken Kung Fu, but if they don't kill what they are targeting. they will die very quickly in retaliation.

Popcorn Turner: Also a must take imo. More sources of Alcohol Poisoning is pretty great. Unless he puts poison on enemy models though I find he can die faster than you want and his attacks only have a 25-50% chance to apply poison before stones/cheating  I find he needs to run with another model to help him out, but with Mv6 and On The Move nothing else in Tri Chi can really keep up with him (and the crew really fits over those  cards).

Whiskey Gamin: Normally like to summon these guys in, but starting to think might be better to hire them than try to spend the resources on Cooper Jones to summon them in. I usually use Gamin to scheme for me. In theory I want to like Moonshine Dispenser to spread poison, but find that since most of Brewmasters crew hands out poison in that they need to use their AP to focus to shoot into combat (or have wesley or a tanuki to baby sit them to give them focus)

Whiskey Golem: A fantastic model imo that I normally take ook. With nimble and min 3 + poison I usually use him pretty independently to flatten enemy models as opposed to try and control them.

Fermented River Monk: Haven't used, imo they look like a flat out better pick than Moon Shinobi for the same price. Just don't have the models or cards

Tanuki: their DF trigger is gold, but they die very easily and can't really poison the enemy crew, The focus from them can really help with Gamin shooting into combat or getting that initial hit from Brewmaster. Though Wesley on a 7 can heal 2, give focus and condition removal. 

 

Honourary Tri Chi models

Trixie: I really like the 2nd lure in brewmaster, and her main attack just works so well with brewmaster as she can slow someone and give Brewmaster extra attacks to lay the drink down on whatever Brewmaster has invited to the party. Usually run the 2 of them together to start a party wherever is a convenient lure range to make the opponents life drunk. 

 

I find playing Tri Chi you really want to get a model at 3+ poison, but since most things only do 1 or 2 poison getting that 3rd poison is very hard. I want to hire models like Tanuki,cooper ect but then find I don't have enough reliable ways to hand out poison outside of  triggers. 

 

 

[Jesy Blue]

My first

1 hour ago, wizuriel said:

I find playing Tri Chi you really want to get a model at 3+ poison, but since most things only do 1 or 2 poison getting that 3rd poison is very hard. I want to hire models like Tanuki,cooper ect but then find I don't have enough reliable ways to hand out poison outside of  triggers.

My first activation is always Fingers: Toast, Toast, Trusty Flask with the Shower of Booze trigger (all you need is a 3+), and everything around you has 3 Poison.

Wesley, Fingers, Shinobi, and Fermented River Monks have the "Have A Drink" attack; don't be afraid to slap your own friends with it and relent.

Once you have a bunch of poison on your own models, set up attacks on Brewmaster to try to trigger your own "Your Drunk, Go Home" to push farther than you could walk.

 

 

[soda_popinski]

A few random things:

I usually run mechanized porkchop. Then i use akaname to drop scrap markers for the porkchop to railwalk to. It makes the porkchop insanely mobile and versatile in strats/schemes where you really need to get to certain places fast (and then back).

Rami LaCroix often makes my lists, since both tanuki and wesley can give him focused. That extra ranged threat makes a big difference. It sort of forces you opponent to get into your bubble.

I always charge my own models with Have a drink so you can get the movement plus the poison.

[Mxbedlam]

15 hours ago, wizuriel said:

So been trying to play Brewmaster more since I see a few people on this forum that love him and for the life of me I really can't seem to get his party started. I find one of my issues is I really struggle to hand out poison. I usually find a lot of my crew either doesn't really hand out poison the way I want, or I'm using a lot of AP to setup the poison game that most crews could use just to kill the enemy model.

Looking at the tri-chi models

Akaname: I love these guys and feel they hit way out of their weight class (espically for Asami), but if they are targeted usually die to 1 focus shot or will self destruct. Most games what I find is they start summoning a scrap / scheme depending on scheme and if I bring cooper and poison some of my own guys. Eventually they will engage an enemy model within 2" by outside their range and slow/poison them. My opponent will realize what a pain they are and something will focus to shoot in combat and cheat for the severe damage to 1 shot them. 

Apprentice Wesley: Is pretty much gold for a totem, but DF4 and 4 wds does down fast

Cooper Jones: I want to like her, but she doesn't hand out poison and I feel I spend a lot of AP for her to summon in gamin (which I know works out SS wise, but it's a lot of resources and starting to wonder if it's a trap). Usually with her I try to setup 1st turn that she ends with 4 poison so next turn can summon in a whiskey gamin with 4/5 wds remaining (so usually she will double walk and either akaname will pulse poison to her and other models will walk and charge her).

Finger: Too expensive imo. A small favour on a  attack I find means he is using 2 AP and his bonus action and a  to obey a friendly model. Using it on an enemy is pretty meh since the enemy is engaged and doesn't consider him friendly there isn't that much useful actions I've found using it on an enemy. Engaging an enemy and using One More Question I've found is pretty useful, but just doesn't seem to be what I want fingers for. A Toast I find though is amazing in a Brewmaster crew and wish other models had ways to obey him to get more uses out of it. Since fingers himself doesn't use poison on him using Brewmaster to small favour him on the lure with a  just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Fingers wants to try and make enemies lives miserable but without agile or don't mind me I find he gets stuck not where he wants too easily (though I will admit I'm comparing him too much to his 2E self which was a bit over the top).

Moon Shinobi: Usually die pretty fast for me as I have had terrible luck with them. In theory they should be okay models hitting outside their weight class with Drunken Kung Fu, but if they don't kill what they are targeting. they will die very quickly in retaliation.

Popcorn Turner: Also a must take imo. More sources of Alcohol Poisoning is pretty great. Unless he puts poison on enemy models though I find he can die faster than you want and his attacks only have a 25-50% chance to apply poison before stones/cheating  I find he needs to run with another model to help him out, but with Mv6 and On The Move nothing else in Tri Chi can really keep up with him (and the crew really fits over those  cards).

Whiskey Gamin: Normally like to summon these guys in, but starting to think might be better to hire them than try to spend the resources on Cooper Jones to summon them in. I usually use Gamin to scheme for me. In theory I want to like Moonshine Dispenser to spread poison, but find that since most of Brewmasters crew hands out poison in that they need to use their AP to focus to shoot into combat (or have wesley or a tanuki to baby sit them to give them focus)

Whiskey Golem: A fantastic model imo that I normally take ook. With nimble and min 3 + poison I usually use him pretty independently to flatten enemy models as opposed to try and control them.

Fermented River Monk: Haven't used, imo they look like a flat out better pick than Moon Shinobi for the same price. Just don't have the models or cards

Tanuki: their DF trigger is gold, but they die very easily and can't really poison the enemy crew, The focus from them can really help with Gamin shooting into combat or getting that initial hit from Brewmaster. Though Wesley on a 7 can heal 2, give focus and condition removal. 

 

Honourary Tri Chi models

Trixie: I really like the 2nd lure in brewmaster, and her main attack just works so well with brewmaster as she can slow someone and give Brewmaster extra attacks to lay the drink down on whatever Brewmaster has invited to the party. Usually run the 2 of them together to start a party wherever is a convenient lure range to make the opponents life drunk. 

 

I find playing Tri Chi you really want to get a model at 3+ poison, but since most things only do 1 or 2 poison getting that 3rd poison is very hard. I want to hire models like Tanuki,cooper ect but then find I don't have enough reliable ways to hand out poison outside of  triggers. 

 

 

So I have quite a few Brew games under my belt, and he's one of my favorite masters.  Generally an akaname and a tanuki are easy top picks for my lists. Here's the Deal though, you don't need 3 poison on every model. you just need 3 poison on the models you want to lock down. So for instance, Brew can hit someone 1 time (2 poison), Lure someone in (2 poison), then bonus action with a low crow to splash poison on everyone around him (3 poison for both).

Tanuki are really there for extra heals and focus. Its honestly flat out amazing. I find that most people end up getitng tied in with the big 2 inch engage models and don't have the chance to target the tanuki, making them decent Claim jump targets.

Fingers is all about the denial. Your opponent simply can't do dig graves or detonate charges, or probably even harness the ley lines while fingers is near the scrum. Usually you are gonna have 2 or more models trapped in Brew's drunken web, so getting hte trigger on small favor means you can have one of those models hit another.  He's not an auto take but when hte pool says scheme markers, he's golden

Cooper is the crux of an engine. IF you bring her its generally to make the machine work. I bring her in a Robots list with Brewie that includes the porkchop and the emissary, which along with the Whiskey Golem means that she's support healing, shielding the main beaters of your crew. Combined with the fact that you only need 1 or 2 poison on her to get a gamin train started to do some schemes outside of your bubble.

Gamin are amazing. flat out. Bring them early, liquor them up and suddenly they are poison bombs into the heart of your enemy, or they are using that poison to score outflank or search ruins while the rest of your party does their thing

Popcorn is wierd. He looks like you want him in the bubble, but he is so excellent on his own pushing the strategy buttons and threatening scheme runners. He's deadly fast and has breath of fire, which means he has a long reach.

Shinobi are NUTS when used properly. They benefit greatly from distracted, which they hand out, your opponent has to get to them to engage them which they can usually squeal or bonus action out of. If they need to get in the mix, they can hand out not 1, not 2, but 4 different conditions in a single activation. Most models don't deal well with being distracted, staggered, poisoned and stunned. 

Akaname are key models. bring 2. keep them safe. Sure they die easily but they are 4 points. Its ok.  As long as they drop 2 turns of Scrap, Scheme, Move 4 inches they have almost scored you the second point of dig on their own. OR they have given you fuel to heal/sheild/summon. The key to keeping Akaname alive is that the rest of your crew needs to be too aggressive to be ignored. 

Brew himself: PUT COFFEE ON HIM. Seriously. WIth coffee he turns off all bonus actions and eats scheme markers for focus. Then his passive abilities make them slow, putting him back to nearly the oppressive levels he could get to in m2e. WIth all the crazy healing in the crew, Brew doesn't usually die unless some heavy range takes him down. Pairing him with Trixie means that you get twice the lures and dictate the fights where you want them to be and with whom you want to fight.  Make your opponent afraid of his damage output too. Don't be afraid to pull a master in and Drop 20+ damage on them in a single activation. They should fear the brew

You summed Whiskey up pretty well. He does the things, beats the faces and spews out more poison to buff and debuff. Go whiskey. Occasionally I like Complex on him for shenanigans

OOK: Trixie, you nailed it. Emissary. He's a construct. Cooper buffs him. He has long threat range that a lot of brew crew doesn't. Eats markers.  Gives you free cheat off the deck. Porkchop makes scraps for Cooper. Buffs your melee. Who cares if you take damage, you heal it all back. Good Ol' Boys. Tanky sons of bitches that have drunken strength. Sure its a stat 4 if they are on their own but 2 of them can stick together for some real heft.  

[Jivetyrant]

Fingers is probably the best way to hand out poison in the crew, don’t overlook him!  His Toast tactical action hands out poison 1 to all models within a 6” pulse with NO resist.  That’s a really, really big deal!  Pair that with his have a drink to hand out 2 poison and potentially obey the model targeted with a built in suit... pretty nice.

Additionally he puts a LOT of hand pressure on your opponent between chatty, beer goggles and the mental trauma trigger on his One More Thing attack.  Pair him up with Popcorn and Whisky Golem and you’ve got 3 models with beer goggles in your opponents face forcing discards to attack them without a -flip, forcing discards to interact with chatty, slowing everything with brewmasters poison aura and keeping them at 2” engage ranges AND threatening nasty damage with mental trauma, whisky golem and brewmaster... sounds pretty good to me.  

[azog]

Regarding Cooper Jones, I played with her this week for the first time (first time with Brewie, so take this for what it's worth..).

I must say that her durability was a positive surprise. She only summoned one Gamin before being engaged by a metal gamin and a saboteur. She held them both off as well as taking some ranged abuse from Willie for the whole game. I think that using her as a tar pit for smaller/scheme running models might be the best use of her, summoning only until you have other use for her.

[Hurin the steadfast]

Quote

Honourary Tri Chi models

Trixie: I really like the 2nd lure in brewmaster, and her main attack just works so well with brewmaster as she can slow someone and give Brewmaster extra attacks to lay the drink down on whatever Brewmaster has invited to the party. Usually run the 2 of them together to start a party wherever is a convenient lure range to make the opponents life drunk. 

Regarding the mentioned trigger Coordinated Attack as part of Trixie´s Sharp Wit attack, does the friendly model, that takes a Attack against the target, have to be within the  range to be able to do it? 

Thanks

[Adran]

44 minutes ago, Hurin the steadfast said:

Regarding the mentioned trigger Coordinated Attack as part of Trixie´s Sharp Wit attack, does the friendly model, that takes a Attack against the target, have to be within the  range to be able to do it? 

Thanks

Yes. Nothing in the trigger allows them to ignore range.

(If they didn't have to be in range, then any model on the table could make the attack)

[Aemaru]

How do you manage heavy armored crew like hoffman for instance ? 

I saw few solutions like 

emissary, sparks leblanc, warpigs , rami lacroix but outside these solutions not really comboing with trichi is it possible to handle heavy armored crew with burning + poison + slow ?

what are your experiences against that kind of crew (one or two players in my meta play hoffman ^^) ?

[Mxbedlam]

6 hours ago, Aemaru said:

How do you manage heavy armored crew like hoffman for instance ? 

I saw few solutions like 

emissary, sparks leblanc, warpigs , rami lacroix but outside these solutions not really comboing with trichi is it possible to handle heavy armored crew with burning + poison + slow ?

what are your experiences against that kind of crew (one or two players in my meta play hoffman ^^) ?

Hoff is a tough nut to crack for sure, but the solution to Hoffman is always quantity of attacks over quality. Armor piercing isn't reliable enough. Hit him for 5 small attacks vs 1 big attack.  12 cups shuts down his bonus action pushes so brew can absolutely lock stuff down. Emissary can be fast enough to get in and take out his support and heal pieces in the back field and Brew generally has enough healing to deal with most of the scary stuff. 

[Jesy Blue]

Same... Augmented is usually an elite crew, so we will outnumber them, and the combination of Slow aura and no bonus actions will really show the crew down from outputting damage, which your heals will easily keep up with.

And handing out Staggered and other conditions will prevent them from even leaving the Drunk Tank bubble.... and poison needs to be constant not high... no matter how much armor, they can never stop that one point.

[Clement]

So then trying to bring this all together, what would you consider a good "default" brewmaster crew?  He feels really strapped for points trying to bring together a functional crew.

[Antebellum]

I usually do something like:

Brewmaster & Apprentice

Fingers or Popcorn

Whiskey Golem

1 or 2 Moon Shinobi

1 or 2 Whiskey Gamin

1 or 2 Akaname

Trixi or First Mate are solid choices too.

 

Akaname are more important if you need to drop scheme markers, Fingers is more important if you're expecting a clump in the middle, while Popcorn is more important if you need to run on the outskirts. If you're expecting lots of hard to kill or serene countenance , Moon Shinobie are huge!