Ressers in the Iron Scorpius tournament.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Molly vs. Ivan for the third round!

I have one simple goal: have my master survive til second activation this time!

EDIT: Having trouble deciding on my last slot. Anna (for another target that can't be hit by summons), Yin (for an 8-cost model with terrifying, and for kidnapping key pieces/get stuff out of position), or Nurse and a whisper for Molly (to get rid of distracted).

[Paddywhack]

Won't Anna's Aura shut down Ivan's summoning? That would be really helpful as getting a Brocken summoned from 10" away is a bad day. 

Though the Nurse for Distracted removal is good too...

[Maniacal_cackle]

Just now, Paddywhack said:

Won't Anna's Aura shut down Ivan's summoning? That would be really helpful as getting a Brocken summoned from 10" away is a bad day. 

Though the Nurse for Distracted removal is good too...

Yeah, it's a tough call.

I'm not *too* worried about summons, though, as I have Vincent in the list already so he can one-shot any summon that gets in the way.

I also have constructed the list so there's no WP 6 models except Molly, so summoning a Brocken is tricky (can only do it against WP 7 models or serene countenance, both of which are tricky).

[Maniacal_cackle]

Oh should note that Anna can't really shut the summoning down entirely, as he can generally abuse LOS to stop Anna's aura. It is just one more model that is immune.

But maybe I swap Vincent for Anna?

[Paddywhack]

3 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Oh should note that Anna can't really shut the summoning down entirely, as he can generally abuse LOS to stop Anna's aura. It is just one more model that is immune.

But maybe I swap Vincent for Anna?

It still limits where he can place them and might make them not come in at all in some cases. If you've limited yourself to avoid few models with less than 6Wp that is a big help. Those are his best summons/hires. The Daeva look annoying, but not as bad as a Brocken.

Vincent is a good idea, but he can't ignore the Concealing that all the the Umbra have. So he'll be shooting at a neg flip most of the time without Focus or other +. Could make it hard to be effective. 

[Maniacal_cackle]

4 minutes ago, Paddywhack said:

It still limits where he can place them and might make them not come in at all in some cases. If you've limited yourself to avoid few models with less than 6Wp that is a big help. Those are his best summons/hires. The Daeva look annoying, but not as bad as a Brocken.

Vincent is a good idea, but he can't ignore the Concealing that all the the Umbra have. So he'll be shooting at a neg flip most of the time without Focus or other +. Could make it hard to be effective. 

One of my biggest thoughts is taking both Vincent and Anna just so I can test out how effective each is xD

Anna's gun will be basically useless, though, and the board is covered in forests so she'll be spending a lot of time at half movement trying to get into melee. That's another point in favour of yin.

[Maniacal_cackle]

If I had just declared Reva, I could have vincent and anna as auto-takes basically. My opponent expected Reva too, so perhaps I was foolish xD

[Paddywhack]

Tough call. They're both expensive and if there are a lot of forests (concealing I assume) both are going to be hampered. 

If there is a lot of severe you might throw a curveball and take a Student of Viscera? Rush and Unimpeded along with Stunned and Ambush. Lots of movement, good dmg track/triggers. Not sure it fits what you are looking for to fill the spot though. 

[Maniacal_cackle]

There's the map!

Will have a look at students!

[ShinChan]

Vincent is not worth the stones. Rapid Fire on him is a joke, he's not mobile, he doesn't ignore cover or concealment and Ivan doesn't have models with Incorporeal or HtW (at least that I recall). Also, Stat 6 vs Df6 that is always in concealing is just terrible (plus terrifying, but at least he has Wp7).

Anna is good to make explode a Corpse Candle (and getting a card out of it!). The aura isn't ideal, but it will force your opponent to take extra steps for a successful summoning. Not that he needs to summon, when he can attack you 3 times from 17" away with a damage track of 3/4/5 and built-in staggered, while sitting in one of those forest and benefiting from concealment.

Take also into account that English Ivan doesn't need any model from his keyword to work to his full potential. Gibson is a must because he's great, but I would expect to face a couple of OOK (overpowered) models like the Archivist, Winston, Calypso+Beebe or Mikhail (the last two are unimpeded and Calypso doesn't care about Pyres).

Tannembaum can really mess with your Final Veil and healing abilities by putting low cards back in the top of your deck (or recovering his high cards).

You're playing against one of the strongest masters atm, with one of the masters with the worst keyword, so best of luck!  

[Maniacal_cackle]

5 minutes ago, ShinChan said:

Vincent is not worth the stones. Rapid Fire on him is a joke, he's not mobile, he doesn't ignore cover or concealment and Ivan doesn't have models with Incorporeal or HtW (at least that I recall). Also, Stat 6 vs Df6 that is always in concealing is just terrible (plus terrifying, but at least he has Wp7).

Vincent can one shot summons, so that's why I'm considering him. Although I guess that's a much smaller factor if he can just go nuke mode so easily, which he apparently can xD

8 minutes ago, ShinChan said:

Anna is good to make explode a Corpse Candle (and getting a card out of it!). The aura isn't ideal, but it will force your opponent to take extra steps for a successful summoning. Not that he needs to summon, when he can attack you 3 times from 17" away with a damage track of 3/4/5 and built-in staggered, while sitting in one of those forest and benefiting from concealment.

Take also into account that English Ivan doesn't need any model from his keyword to work to his full potential. Gibson is a must because he's great, but I would expect to face a couple of OOK (overpowered) models like the Archivist, Winston, Calypso+Beebe or Mikhail (the last two are unimpeded and Calypso doesn't care about Pyres).

Tannembaum can really mess with your Final Veil and healing abilities by putting low cards back in the top of your deck (or recovering his high cards).

You're playing against one of the strongest masters atm, with one of the masters with the worst keyword, so best of luck!  

Oh, I actually declared Molly. So I guess now I'm actually reasonably glad I didn't declare Reva xD

[Paddywhack]

14 minutes ago, ShinChan said:

when he can attack you 3 times from 17" away with a damage track of 3/4/5 and built-in staggered, while sitting in one of those forest and benefiting from concealment.

How is he getting 17" range? The +1 dmg is only if the Target is in concealing, not Ivan. Unless I'm missing something else. I haven't had to face him yet, just battle reports and banter. I do think he is on the top of the scale for Masters. 

I would expect to see Calypso+Beebe as they are a real PITA. If you can time it, Molly's Irreducible will do well there if you do have to face him. You need to wait until after Beebe's Activation though as otherwise he'll just heal Calypso right back if you didn't kill it in one go. Beeb can heal 4 on Calypso without a chance of failing and no cost. 

There is a lot of Concealing on that table (assuming forests are?). That is a perfect table for Ivan and horrible for most anyone else really. Most tables have too little - that one feels like too much. I'm really not sure how Umbra has so much Df6, Concealing, and a 6inch healing aura that heals 2... 

[touchdown]

if you shoot through a shadow marker, the target has concealing.

[Maniacal_cackle]

5 minutes ago, Paddywhack said:

How is he getting 17" range?

His bonus action is basically a leap, so he can jump into a forest and then shoot out of it (getting concealment and movement all in one go.

Right, I think everyone has convinced me to take Yin xD

Now just to figure out what to do in the Vincent/Anna slot. I'm a bit worried about hired Brocken spectres, but also assume most people don't hire them...

[touchdown]

If you bring Vincent you are incentivizing summoning Daeva's for the attack when they're summoned in if he's scared of being 1-shot killed. I don't know if this is good or bad, but it's something.

[Maniacal_cackle]

3 minutes ago, touchdown said:

If you bring Vincent you are incentivizing summoning Daeva's for the attack when they're summoned in if he's scared of being 1-shot killed. I don't know if this is good or bad, but it's something.

Oh? Why are Daeva better than brocken for that?

[touchdown]

3 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Oh? Why are Daeva better than brocken for that?

They attack when they're placed. So if you think the summon will die before it activates it does something.

[ShinChan]

15 hours ago, Paddywhack said:

How is he getting 17" range? The +1 dmg is only if the Target is in concealing, not Ivan. Unless I'm missing something else. I haven't had to face him yet, just battle reports and banter. I do think he is on the top of the scale for Masters. 

If the target has concealing, so usually always. He also has a pseudoleap (leap only to concealing). Also Gibson can give Distracted +4 (using Mr Mordrake) and focus +1. In turn 1 Ivan can easily be at Focus +3 and distracted +4. Repeat in turn 2 for Distracted +8 and Focus +5, always attacking through concealing, so all his attacks will be at   or    to the duel with some having a  to the damage.

15 hours ago, Paddywhack said:

There is a lot of Concealing on that table (assuming forests are?). That is a perfect table for Ivan and horrible for most anyone else really. Most tables have too little - that one feels like too much. I'm really not sure how Umbra has so much Df6, Concealing, and a 6inch healing aura that heals 2... 

Umbra are way too good. I can't believe that they only come with Stunned when they're summoned. Something went terribly in the testing to release them like this. The Wp 3 is a joke, when most Wp attacks are not mele, so they will go with a  to the attack to target them.

[Paddywhack]

1 hour ago, ShinChan said:

Umbra are way too good. I can't believe that they only come with Stunned when they're summoned. Something went terribly in the testing to release them like this. The Wp 3 is a joke, when most Wp attacks are not mele, so they will go with a  to the attack to target them.

Yup. They are a bit over the top to be honest. Sadly won't see an errata on them for some time. They usually like to let things live in the wild for months before they make changes. At the very least Ungentlemanly Affairs should lose the Distracted. It plays havoc with too many other crews and becomes a hard counter. 

1 hour ago, ShinChan said:

If the target has concealing, so usually always.

Ah. Yes... That is awful. You may as well have just made it built in as Ivan can just stand by any one of his minions and the target then 'has' concealing. It should say, "if the target is in Concealing Terrain..." That appears to be more the intent imo (you're in a shadow and it jumps out and grabs you - not a shadow 10" away holding you...). Or just remove it and make it Shadow Marker only. 

[Maniacal_cackle]

The pool:

• Corner public enemies
  • Catch and Release
  • Hidden Martyrs
  • Take Prisoner
  • Runic Binding
  • Claim Jump

My crew:

• Molly & Machine
• Dead Rider
• Archie
• Yin
• Nurse
• Crooligan
• Crooligan

His crew:

• Ivan & Mordrake
• Gibson DeWalt
• Corvis Rook
• Eva Havenhand
• Winston Finnigan
• Intrepid Emissary

I'm a bit worried about Dead Rider passing out Brockens, but at the same time it is so darn good on this map and against his crew. I'm really glad I took Yin now considering his crew composition.

Initially I thought Anna and Vincent would be good here, but I figured I should take a crew I know how to play rather than try to tech against a crew I don't really understand to begin with.

This list is also well positioned to take on most of the schemes. His crew can't take Catch and Release, and its only option for Hidden Martyrs is Mordrake and Eva, so I'll have to be careful to kill both of them in the same turn I suppose (which is going to be pretty darn hard 😜).

I assume he'll claim jump, and possibly take Prisoner as Winston is great at scoring Take Prisoner.

I think I have a plan to score/deny all that, so will see how it goes!

[Maniacal_cackle]

I'm half tempted to take Runic Binding so I can use his summons against him, but feel like that's a terrible idea 😂

[Pergli]

Molly may actually be okay against Ivan because of her irreducible dmg. Just have to focus her up so she can ignore the concealing. Nurse should also give her focus with her bonus, with 3 focus she should be able to do 9 irreducible damage to Ivan in one turn if you play your cards right. 

Whats the plan for the crooligans and Nurse?

[Maniacal_cackle]

4 minutes ago, Pergli said:

Molly may actually be okay against Ivan because of her irreducible dmg. Just have to focus her up so she can ignore the concealing. Nurse should also give her focus with her bonus, with 3 focus she should be able to do 9 irreducible damage to Ivan in one turn if you play your cards right. 

Whats the plan for the crooligans and Nurse?

I actually took a bunch more soulstones than I usually do so I could get positive flips with Molly. That way I can use focus on other models. Archie will thankfully be immune to distracted as well

Crooligans I use in every Molly crew. They can score pretty much any scheme or strat, they act as little murder bombs (often teleporting in and hitting for 3), they give me an outlet for constructive criticism (activation control), etc. And they're only worth one token for Public Enemies!

The nurse... It was a big toss-up whether I wanted to have Nurse + 2nd crooligan or something strong like Vincent or Anna here. I went with nurse + 2nd crooligan for a few reasons:

• I'm not too familiar with Anna, and thought I'd rather focus on having my own strong gameplan than trying to tech agaisnt a crew I don't know very well.
• Having a 2nd crooligan lets me bluff on schemes, as it isn't clear which one I'm using to score points until I reveal stuff.
• Two crooligans makes it a lot easier to score runic binding if need be (although Molly can solo runic binding in an activation with the right conditions).
• Having too many beaters can be hard to support (stones, cards, focus, etc). Having an extra support piece seemed wise (condition removal, healing, tools for the job, repositioning, adding focus, etc).

I've never actually used a nurse with Molly, though, so will see how we go. I've now got 2 different sources of healing which may be overkill xD

[Maniacal_cackle]

Oh, I guess I should say there's probably a debate to be had on crooligans vs night terrors in many cases (though my playstyle favours crooligans).

But in this case, having my models produce a concealing aura seems like a terrible idea against Ivan xD

[Pergli]

Cool, just curious as to the thought process and sounds good.

If you are not familiar with Anna, you should definitely start working with her. She is a HUGE support piece as well as a surprise beater. No place affects within 6 can hamper summoners as well as a whole host of other things that you don't appreciate it until it happens. Example, if you killed Mordrake and he wanted to teleport back to English Ivan for his nonsense heal but Anna is there, he can't place so he just dies.

Hostile workplace environment is also such a large amount of annoyance for your opponent. Ivan couldn't push his models around or place them. Gibson can't heal or give friendly distracted. Etc, etc, etc.. 

Obviously, this would make her a HUGE target but with stat 6 and armor 1, with stones she can typically tank for a few turns while the rest of your crew picks them off. Not to count the amount of card draw she can bring to the crew if your opponent is spending AP trying to remove her. She can even be a beater if needed with a 3/5/6 melee!

Definitely don't play her if you aren't used to her but putting her on the table to learn the model will pay dividends.