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Jessie Halliday, my Wastrel white whale.


DonQOT

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I just can't get a handle on the charmly befuddling lass. 

Her abilities seem halfway built for several different roles but don't seem to add up to anything. Depths is not useless, but she doesn't really have the movement tricks to add a lot of value to it. Evasive is a nice bonus against some attacks. Hard to kill is always nice, but the crews main source of healing doesn't make it super appealing. 

All in all the front of her card makes it seem like she wants to be on the front lines, but when the back of her card doesn't have anything to really capitalize on it. She only has ranged attacks. Her double push on the harpoon trigger seems like it would be situational on breaking up a bubble, but then the crew kinda likes the enemy to bunch up for all those shockwaves and pulses. You could drag a backline model into the scrum but she doesn't have the mobility herself to get good angles and I feel like almost any other model is a better target for ride with me and your other movement tricks.

Soulstone flare isn't bad as another shockwave, but rarely is distracted or interact blocking what I need in any matchups I've tried.

The only thing I am really keen on is archeological dig for scrap, stone, and scheme generation. But, again, your other schemers are better for markers and cheaper, you have other scrap generators that add more value elsewhere, and if I feel like I need more soulstones I have flush with cash to slap on a model.

I suppose she is cheap, but I am hard pressed to see what she adds for Society McCabe that can't be found much better elsewhere in the faction for a much better value for price point. In a faction with a plethora of henchforcers with too many useful abilities, why is Halliday even here?

Anyone manage to crack the code on her? I'd love some insight from more experienced folk on this one.

Towards thee I roll, though jack of all z but master of none model. To the last, I ponder thee. From hell's heart I try to list build with thee. For obsessive keyword's sake I have spent too much time thinking about thee. Sink all Henchmen and Enforcers to one common pool, and since none of them are worse than thine, I compromise my crew to pieces trying to work with thee, though not needing thee, thou damned, vague Lara Croft expy.

Thus I give up the TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF YOUR BLOODY SPEAR!

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First off, the model render on the box is bad, so I don't think we want her to be playable anyway xD

But some thoughts on what is supposed to make her good at least:

Marker denial - She can remove any marker (and replace it with a scrap)!! That's pretty good! But it costs an action. In a faction with access to the Treasure Map upgrade... So yeah, can't see this being useful in ES (maybe TT need marker removal?) The triggers on it are not strong enough to be worth a stone, but do give you good value if you have a card to cheat.

Scrap Generation - Wastrel doesn't have any reliable scrap generation past the first with Luna. So I think Jessie is supposed to fill that gap a bit. But again, we have things like B&C, Daeva, etc. So we have a lot of scrap options in ES.

Soulstone Flare - Denying an interact at the right time wins games. But shockwaves are not reliable. Not being able to time it basically means this is a damage 1, distracted 1 with occasional upside. But as a bonus action, seems really good. Just not sure it is reason to take the model.

Repositioning enemies - Repositioning enemies is amazing, but since it has to be 3" towards Jessie it seems super limited. If that's what you want, you'd much rather have the Harpooner with the built in Lead The Target.

 

And yeah, as you say, I can imagine often there are other priorities for Ride With Me (even if it is just to use a low tome to heal). I think overall she is great for casual play if you can stand the sculpt, but I don't see her being played in tournaments much? Certainly not in ES where we have better options. I could be wrong though.

EDIT: That said, I haven't played with the model, and you can't really judge a model until you see it on the battlefield.

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Yes. Dig is still pretty decent, but it is a bonus action, so it competes with Flare, not to mention then also competing with passing and using artifacts, none of which synergize with her kit all that well, if you can call that at all useful. Marker removal is actually a good new utility for Wastrel, I'll grant.

And Harpooner just highlights the fact that the faction has the same gun but better on a minion. For one stat less you have multiple useful triggers with one built in that I think eclipses Jessie's own in most any circumstance. I know they are the same cost, but it is still a little sad to see a Hench be outdone at it's own schtick by a minion.

She just doesn't seem punchy enough on her own for her cost and actually seems to have negative synergy with a large part of her own keyword's design. I just do not understand her! What are you for Jessie. I must know what you are for!

Edit: Oops, did not mean to imply dig was a bonus action. Got my argument all confused there.

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4 minutes ago, DonQOT said:

Yes. Dig is still pretty decent, but it is a bonus action, so it competes with Flare, not to mention then also competing with passing and using artifacts, none of which synergize with her kit all that well, if you can call that at all useful. Marker removal is actually a good new utility for Wastrel, I'll grant.

I was more thinking you can put Dig on any other model, so marker removal is nothing special.

5 minutes ago, DonQOT said:

She just doesn't seem punchy enough on her own for her cost and actually seems to have negative synergy with a large part of her own keyword's design. I just do not understand her! What are you for Jessie. I must know what you are for!

I think she is for casual players who like thematic play. She offers things the rest of the keyword doesn't. Sure, you can do better by building OOK brews, but a lot of players like to stay in keyword.

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I mean, I am a player that really likes to stay in keyword. That's probably why I am so frustrated trying to make her work.

I really want to like her. She's a fun permutation on the pulp adventurer theme of the crew. She adds some dementionality by being ostensibly less cut throat than the others. I just wish, even if she wasn't a particularly obviously powerful choice, she had a mechanical identity that I could more easily grasp.

But now I am certain I am just whingeing (as if I haven't been from the start) so I'll stop. But if anyone has any other compelling ideas about her, I'm still anxious to be persuaded.

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5 minutes ago, DonQOT said:

I mean, I am a player that really likes to stay in keyword. That's probably why I am so frustrated trying to make her work.

I really want to like her. She's a fun permutation on the pulp adventurer theme of the crew. She adds some dementionality by being ostensibly less cut throat than the others. I just wish, even if she wasn't a particularly obviously powerful choice, she had a mechanical identity that I could more easily grasp.

But now I am certain I am just whingeing (as if I haven't been from the start) so I'll stop. But if anyone has any other compelling ideas about her, I'm still anxious to be persuaded.

I'll give her a go once I get my crew on the table and report back! I suspect that the shockwave is pretty key to her value.

It is in a crew that already puts out tons of simple duels, so the shockwave is a lot better than it initially looks. And stat 6 on her harpoon isn't laughable, can definitely mess with opponent's a bit.

Still, I think you're probably right and I can't imagine she is ever top quality.

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3 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Scrap Generation - Wastrel doesn't have any reliable scrap generation past the first with Luna. So I think Jessie is supposed to fill that gap a bit. But again, we have things like B&C, Daeva, etc. So we have a lot of scrap options in ES.

 

i dont disagree with what else you said, but they do have *something* cheaper and probobly easier to get an early scrap, hucksters have "inflated worth" well worth spending a card for if you have one, as it can pay off heftily to have out two scrap after two activations (luna and huckster(s)) also, hucksters are just amazing so...

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8 minutes ago, fire5tone said:

i dont disagree with what else you said, but they do have *something* cheaper and probobly easier to get an early scrap, hucksters have "inflated worth" well worth spending a card for if you have one, as it can pay off heftily to have out two scrap after two activations (luna and huckster(s))

Hucksters can create scrap with 9 cards out of 54. Jessie can do it with 33 out of 54, I believe.

So I'd say Jessie hits the bar of reliably doing it turn one, while Hucksters will be a bit more inconsistent. In ten cards (assuming you draw 4 extra cards), you have about an 84% chance to have a card that can do it, but it might be a red joker. More realisticaly if you want to use a non-severe (up to a ten), you have ~66% chance to see a card in the first ten cards.

So even if you're drawing a bunch of extra cards, it isn't nearly as reliable on the Huckster.

EDIT: 68% chance to see it in your opening six.

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6 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Hucksters can create scrap with 9 cards out of 54. Jessie can do it with 33 out of 54, I believe.

So I'd say Jessie hits the bar of reliably doing it turn one, while Hucksters will be a bit more inconsistent. In ten cards (assuming you draw 4 extra cards), you have about an 84% chance to have a card that can do it, but it might be a red joker. More realisticaly if you want to use a non-severe (up to a ten), you have ~66% chance to see a card in the first ten cards.

So even if you're drawing a bunch of extra cards, it isn't nearly as reliable on the Huckster.

EDIT: 68% chance to see it in your opening six.

they need a 6, but that is fair, though i still dont think jessie is all that worth it, even with higher consistency you will probobly have a huckster invariably 

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1 minute ago, fire5tone said:

they need a 6, but that is fair, though i still dont think jessie is all that worth it, even with higher consistency you will probobly have a huckster invariably 

Yeah, so I think 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 of masks is 9 cards that can do it out of the 54 cards.

But I agree, Hucksters seem so good you're going to have them anyway, so taking Jessie to close the gap for just maybe not having a mask doesn't seem great xD Although it is a nice part of the overall package.

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Purely theoryfaux as I haven't used the model.

It looks like she's a good backline defender. First turn, ideally you make a scrap and get a ss. Then she hangs back and disrupts the opponent getting Leylines, Symbols, Breakthrough, Sabotage, etc. If the opponent doesn't get back there fast, she generates resources.

Unfortunately, she doesn't look like as good at this as a prospector or ss miner, which cost 1 fewer.

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3 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

Are there any good friendly targets in the crew to harpoon out of melee? 

I think in keyword there isn't any armor but ok stuff like maybe. Like 1 health to stop a Samurai from having to disengage or to "turn off" friendly fire before McCabe shoots. 

That's neat that it can affect your own models, but Alpinist just seems better in almost every situation where you want to move your own models?

So seems like a case of "this model can do a bit of everything, but not great at anything".

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I had a recent game with a pool where she was quite useful. I'd played her I think 3 times before that, and always wished I'd taken something else, but this time was different! I played Basse into:

Wedge - Symbols
Leave Your Mark, Assassinate, Research Mission, Hidden Martyrs, Sabotage

My opponent played Reva

So Jessie isn't great at Symbols, since isnt fast enough to take them and literally is incapable of defending them because she lacks an engagement range. However, she seems to favor Wedge deployment, since she only has to walk once in order to reach the centerline with Archeological Dig. On Turn 2 she removed my opponent's scheme marker, which allowed me to score LYM, and I placed the Scrap on the centerline which scored me Research Mission. She has a good cost for Hidden Martyrs, my opponent said he didnt attack her because he was worried about that, and she is useful for denying sabotage

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

Although spending 2 actions to farm a soulstone just seems... Really inefficient? I guess if you're making use of the scrap it seems alright, but after turn 1 I'm not as concerned with scrap generation.

So buying a 7 stone model that spends the game popping out up to 5 soulstones doesn't seem like good value to me (although I am skeptical of even Prospectors in Outcasts, so what do I know).

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3 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Although spending 2 actions to farm a soulstone just seems... Really inefficient? I guess if you're making use of the scrap it seems alright, but after turn 1 I'm not as concerned with scrap generation.

So buying a 7 stone model that spends the game popping out up to 5 soulstones doesn't seem like good value to me (although I am skeptical of even Prospectors in Outcasts, so what do I know).

I only ever get 3-4 stones from a prospector, they also provide scheme marker removal and creation, and some card cycling/drawing. Likewise I think Jessie can generate soul stones while also pulling enemies away from where they want to be. I don't know if it's worth it, but I think this change makes it more likely to be.

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6 minutes ago, touchdown said:

I only ever get 3-4 stones from a prospector, they also provide scheme marker removal and creation, and some card cycling/drawing. Likewise I think Jessie can generate soul stones while also pulling enemies away from where they want to be. I don't know if it's worth it, but I think this change makes it more likely to be.

True! The key answer to all this stuff is basically always:

"Merits testing!"

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I don't play Wastrel, but as far as the new pool of available Strat and Schemes goes, I think she looks very strong in Death Beds, marginally interesting in Bait and Switch, and better than ever for Strats themselves.

In Death Beds, she can remove either of the Markers that your opponent needs, and you might even luck out if you hit a :mask and just happen to earn a Soulstone while doing it. The fact that she also adds Scrap Marker is strong if you play Wastrel, or Calypso + Dr Beebe, or if you happened to choose Scrap as your own Death Beds Marker too.

But it goes even a step further that this if you instead hit that :crow trigger to place a friendly Scheme Marker down, as that sets up both Conditions to score Death Beds for yourself while denying the opponent, all in just one AP. That's just incredibly efficient, especially since all you need is a 6. I think this might be enough of a reason to bring her in when this Scheme shows up all on its own.

As for Bait and Switch, she can pull the enemy model you selected for the scheme either 3", or 6" if you hit her :ram trigger, across the centreline and away from the centre of the board itself to score the first point, and potentially pull enemies out of your Deployment Zone in the extreme late game to score the 2nd VP. Alternatively, if you suspect your opponent has taken it on one of your models, she could even pull that model 3" or 6" back to deny the opponent. It's marginal, but if you see this scheme in a pool with Death Beds and/or Research Mission, it could have some play.

Speaking more generally, her Soulstone Flare is stronger than ever when it connects since your opponent has to take the Interact Action in 3 of the 4 available strats to score the Strat, and the 4th still rewards being able to take the Interact Action to throw the Lodestone around. Anytime she hits and they fail can have big consequences - but the main problem with it has always been that if your opponent cares about it, they'll just cheat the duel to win, and if they don't care about it, then it's only 1 damage and Distracted 1. 

So, can we make it reliable? Well I've been thinking about what might happen if you just throw Harata into the melee to tag enemies in his Distraction Aura so that they're on a :-flipto resist the duel before she throws in the Flare. Most non-Soulstone users will fail it, and it'll either tax Soulstone users just to get back to a straight flip or if they don't, then they're most likely going to fail it too. While he's there, he can have a few swings with that wonderful 3/4/5 Taiaha. 

Should you bring Harata and Jessie to every game? No, of course not. But certainly in EVS I think they're a really strong pairing, especially if you already have Calypso and Dr Beebe, and especially in Schemey pools (Don't forget Harata's Echoes of the Ocean and ranged anti Scheme Marker attack).

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Okay, I think i must break a lance (it is a saying in germany for backing someone up) for Jessie here,

I use her a lot of times and she ist pretty good in what she does. The only downside in my opinion is her missing melee attack.

Taking a look at the amount of marker in play nowadays, she is super in removing them. Her free action pressures your opponents hand by a lot and she has hard to kill  Distracting and not being allowed to take interacts is a huge punish if your opponent does not succeed, besides being a henchman, which is also a big upside for 7 points. She is also able to give you some stones pretty easily, which I like a lot especially with english Ivan for example. She also enabled easy research missions. Her Harpoon Gun ist often times used to pull enemies in range so Ivan can use his summoning ability or just to drag some people into pit traps, which is kinda nice :-).

Drawing cards is nice to have, but more like meh, when you dont take her in wastrel. The free scrap is SUPERB for McCabe.

I use her a lot in McCabe (of course) and I like her in scheme heavy missions to pressure your opponents hand. Ivan also likes her a lot and what you should take into consideration: She only costs 7 points as henchman, which is pretty rare as a versatile.

So, all in all I also did not like her in the beginning, but my opponents told me, that she was one of the most annoying models I could play against them.

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