Ressers in April Vassal Series.

[Maniacal_cackle]

We're almost to the next series! Now hopefully GG2 is going to release and they'll redo all the pools, but if not... See round 1 below!

These threads are open to anyone - whether or not you're participating in the series, you're welcome to join in the brainstorming

NOTE: Round 1 has changed to Symbols!

[Maniacal_cackle]

Molly seems a bit tricky here (although that may not stop me). Crooligans are super good at catch and release, but you'd rather see that in a pool that doesn't involve killing. Same goes for Breakthrough - running into the enemy deployment zone in Recover Evidence can be hard.

Seamus seems surprisingly good here. He can do some killing, and can score Breakthrough with ease. There's quite a bit of (destructible) blocking terrain to work with. Sad about Vendetta - will be tricky to get it with Bete Noire in Recover Evidence (I hate this strategy for messing with my bury shenanigans xD).

Reva can be pretty solid into Recover Evidence, but is a bit matchup dependent. 

So all my usual suspects at least feel doable. I'm sure Von Schtook and yan Lo are great here as well xD

[belorey]

Oh here you are! Guards get him! Don't worry @Maniacal_cackle you will have a fair trial before our executioner's take care of you.

[Maniacal_cackle]

4 minutes ago, belorey said:

Oh here you are! Guards get him! Don't worry @Maniacal_cackle you will have a fair trial before our executioner's take care of you.

I tried to run away to the Neverborn thread, but it turns out it isn't up yet.

You got me 😢 

EDIT: Oh wait, Vincent can use exorcism on the executioner's! I'm saved!!

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

13 minutes ago, belorey said:

Oh here you are! Guards get him! Don't worry @Maniacal_cackle you will have a fair trial before our executioner's take care of you.

no one expects the spanish inquisition!

[belorey]

[Maniacal_cackle]

>.>

[Maniacal_cackle]

I did it! I figured out super secret tech for the first round of April!!!!

Now do I sign up for April after all, or take a break (and just reveal the super secret tech here?)

[Pergli]

Sign up AND reveal super secret tech here

I already know what i'm running regardless of opponent/matchup but I hope GG2 is released in 2 days so this all changes. 

I think Reva is going to be really good and alot of fun here. 

EDIT: If I match up into Bayou... i'll have to actually think about it since Bayou just laughs at markers.

[Maniacal_cackle]

4 minutes ago, Pergli said:

Sign up AND reveal super secret tech here

I already know what i'm running regardless of opponent/matchup but I hope GG2 is released in 2 days so this all changes. 

Haha, okay okay:

• Reva & candles
• Carrion Emissary
• Manos
• Bete Noire with GST
• Bone Pile
• Shieldbearer

This list can get both Bete and Bone Pile down to 1 hp on turn one (with 0 risk of accidental death from flipping all severes), and then heal them both back to 6+ health. The tricky part was figuring out how to do it without accidental death xD

So you can drop two evidence markers in your deployment zone in the far back corner, then have two models that can teleport around the map (making Vendetta, Catch and Release, and Breakthrough all easy scoring options).

[Pergli]

Blegh, that is the one thing I hate about recover evidence. Dropping markers in your corner deployment as a denial strategy! 

Maybe i'll just do the Yan Lo spam. Drop 3 markers in my deployment, have Anna with 1 and Regen 3 + Manos running around the corner. Super fun and interactive gameplay  

[Maniacal_cackle]

Just now, Pergli said:

Blegh, that is the one thing I hate about recover evidence. Dropping markers in your corner deployment as a denial strategy! 

Maybe i'll just do the Yan Lo spam. Drop 3 markers in my deployment, have Anna with 1 and Regen 3 + Manos running around the corner. Super fun and interactive gameplay  

Yeah, I don't get why Recover Evidence is more popular than Public Enemies.  I love Public Enemies for list building, but dislike Recover Evidence.

Recover Evidence should have been "after you kill an enemy model, drop a strategy token in base contact with it" (with some adjustments for what happens when killed by conditions, etc).

[Maniacal_cackle]

The original reason for figuring all this out is I just want to be able to bury my damn models.

You can't bury until you drop the tokens off. So that was a side effect of the tech.

[Pergli]

Just now, Maniacal_cackle said:

Yeah, I don't get why Recover Evidence is more popular than Public Enemies.  I love Public Enemies for list building, but dislike Recover Evidence.

Recover Evidence should have been "after you kill an enemy model, drop a strategy token in base contact with it" (with some adjustments for what happens when killed by conditions, etc).

I think it was during beta but there are 2 models that break this so they had to change it. Grave Golem will never die so they keep markers on them forever. They thought about making it so if they become buried then the marker drops or you can choose not to bury but then that ruins Tara. Dropping to 1 wound was the only good compromise they had :(. Also, add in anyone with Demise eternal who are all pretty annoying to put down. 

 

 

[Maniacal_cackle]

Just now, Pergli said:

I think it was during beta but there are 2 models that break this so they had to change it. Grave Golem will never die so they keep markers on them forever. They thought about making it so if they become buried then the marker drops or you can choose not to bury but then that ruins Tara. Dropping to 1 wound was the only good compromise they had :(. Also, add in anyone with Demise eternal who are all pretty annoying to put down. 

Haha, yeah, I think I was the one who discovered the grave golem shenanigans when playtesting it with my friend.

I meant more that models shouldn't have intel markers full stop. Just killing anything should drop a strategy marker.

This way you don't have to worry about the shenanigans with people dropping their own markers, as the only thing that matters is death.

But I guess no solution is perfect. Looking forward to GG2 and different strategies!

[Maniacal_cackle]

Just as long as I can bury my own darn models in GG2 xD

[Pergli]

The REAL question is: What do you do if you match up into Cadmus first round and not just any Cadmus but Plaag's cadmus . There are other challenging players and match ups but Plaag or even NotSoEmpty's Cadmus as a match up is going to be the tough cookie to crack. 

Cadmus is STRONG into recover as their chaff won't have evidence and can pick up evidence. Let them bleed will be near impossible with all the healing, vendetta is doable if you can focus a single model, Catch and Release would need to be lucky and getting the 2nd point is laughable, breakthrough might give you a point but definitely not two.

Granted... literally every pool is now: how do I counter Cadmus? 

To beat a Cadmus player, one must think like a Cadmus player. Be one with the swarm.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Just now, Pergli said:

The REAL question is: What do you do if you match up into Cadmus first round and not just any Cadmus but Plaag's cadmus . There are other challenging players and match ups but Plaag or even NotSoEmpty's Cadmus as a match up is going to be the tough cookie to crack. 

Cadmus is STRONG into recover as their chaff won't have evidence and can pick up evidence. Let them bleed will be near impossible with all the healing, vendetta is doable if you can focus a single model, Catch and Release would need to be lucky and getting the 2nd point is laughable, breakthrough might give you a point but definitely not two.

Granted... literally every pool is now: how do I counter Cadmus? 

To beat a Cadmus player, one must think like a Cadmus player. Be one with the swarm.

I think my list would work really well, except that you can't score the first point of catch and release (he gets last activaiton), and vendetta is likely off the table if he takes emissary as well.

Second point on catch and release is usually pretty easy (since there is only one activation where Bone Pile can be attacked ideally, since you have it buried for most of the relevant turns). Problem is Cadmus with their initiative winning and activation control likely gets 2-4 activations to stop your first and second point.

I think whatever you do you would want to go for a low-scoring game.

I think your Reva list had a lot of promise, right? Just set up a gunline and mow them down as they come at you. Reva becomes expendable which is a major bonus. So if you do manage to drop a marker somewhere, you can potentially knock aside them. Although both players getting 0 strategy points is possibly a good outcome as well.

Runic Binding... I think would have a lot of potential here if not for Nexus just using last activation to pick up your scheme markers.

Whatever the plan, I think going for a 2-1 win is probably a solid bet?

[Maniacal_cackle]

Also, it may be possible to abuse the bridges.

This map seems really bad for Cadmus, so if Cadmus can be beat in this pool, this map is probably why? xD

[Higgybeans]

21 minutes ago, Pergli said:

Blegh, that is the one thing I hate about recover evidence. Dropping markers in your corner deployment as a denial strategy! 

Maybe i'll just do the Yan Lo spam. Drop 3 markers in my deployment, have Anna with 1 and Regen 3 + Manos running around the corner. Super fun and interactive gameplay  

Yeah, this sucks. I played against Hamlin last time on evidence, and I got super lucky his rat kings were close to the front so I could push close enough to remove the markers. I personally feel that it should have something like "If this model is put to 1hp, or killed by a friendly model. The opponent may put the evidence on the centreline." It would stop any of the uninteractive gameplay. But then gg2 is soon, so it will probably leave

[Faceface]

12 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Haha, okay okay:

• Reva & candles
• Carrion Emissary
• Manos
• Bete Noire with GST
• Bone Pile
• Shieldbearer

This list can get both Bete and Bone Pile down to 1 hp on turn one (with 0 risk of accidental death from flipping all severes), and then heal them both back to 6+ health. The tricky part was figuring out how to do it without accidental death xD

So you can drop two evidence markers in your deployment zone in the far back corner, then have two models that can teleport around the map (making Vendetta, Catch and Release, and Breakthrough all easy scoring options).

This is a cunning plan! How are you planning to pump out enough healing to pull this off? 

[Maniacal_cackle]

44 minutes ago, Faceface said:

This is a cunning plan! How are you planning to pump out enough healing to pull this off? 

I did it on vassal, let's see if I can remember...

• Carrion Emissary shoots both for 3 (BP 5, BN 4) and makes a mindless zombie near bone pile
• Corpse candle activates and attacks Bete once for one (BP 5, BN 3)
• Shieldbearer activates pulses focus and drop the burning marker over it and Bete (shieldbearer burning 1), charges Bete and pushes her 0 inches doing 1 damage (SB burning 3, BN burning 1, BN 2 health left)
• Shieldbearer attacks again to push Bete (SB burning 4, BN 1 health left with 2 burning)
• Bete noire drops token
• Manos activates and attacks bone pile (BP 3 health left), then siphons power off of bone pile to leap (BP 2 health left.
• Bone pile activates and throws a bone to Bete Noire to heal Bete Noire 1/2/3 (assume moderate heal 2, BN up to 3, BP down to one). Bone pile drops marker then eats a corpse marker (zombie) to heal two and is now at three.
• Reva activates, uses two bonus actions from swift action, eats 4 burning from shieldbearer and 2 from bete noire for 6 healing 3 to each bone pile and Bete Noire (BN 4, BP 6)
• Bete noire activates and heals 2 from GST. Attacks Manos to self bury (he regens next turn). (BN 6)

And there you go, Bete and Bone pile each on six life

The really tricky thing with building this engine was avoiding it being card hungry or needing precise damage hits. At no point in the chain can a model accidentally kill another model.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Also it seems like a lot of effort, but you're also ending with 2 focus on Reva, 2 focus on Manos, 1-2 focus on Bete, and 1 on carrion Emissary.

So you are actually doing a lot to prepare for the rest of the game, and all the movement shenanigans make it easy to get out of there.

[SEV]

So what you're saying is : if I play against Reva, my crew must have a way to be in her face quickly (this combo take your whole turn to execute).  Than the fight will be mostly in your deployment Zone for the rest of the game.

[Mycellanious]

1 hour ago, SEV said:

So what you're saying is : if I play against Reva, my crew must have a way to be in her face quickly (this combo take your whole turn to execute).  Than the fight will be mostly in your deployment Zone for the rest of the game.

Fortunately no masters in the game are capable of that in Flank deployment