Reinstate the governor’s secretary! Make Lucius great again!

[Regelridderen]

Lucy and his lawyers are one of the coolest and most unique concepts, I’ve ever seen in any war game. Trouble is… They seem to get caught in their own red tape these days, and the efficiency is … on the level of public offices under political scrutiny. It might be very much in theme, but even if ‘faux is flavourful that’s too much of an rpg experience.

We got Lucy2, and although he is fun to play and more efficient at his thing, his ‘thing’ of being an Assassins Creed knock-off just seems a little off. While not doing much for his keyword as such - but he works, people like him, so let’s leave it at that.

Instead, I’d love a speculative thread on how to improve his first version, and his keywords, to play effectively within the secret police/faceless bureaucrat theme, Just for the fun of it, and if some wyrd designer would happen to fall upon it and draw some inspiration for an errata, even better.

So, let’s have a go at it.

[Regelridderen]

Let’s start with the master manipulator Lucius himself.

FRONT OF CARD

His front of card is fairly okay in theme. His defensive skills might be a bit subpar, Serene Countenance only encourages models to focus against him and make damage more extreme, and it’s also fairly straightforward for a ‘tricksy’ character. I’d love to see some disruption here, like Mood Swings or Silent Control, something that makes fighting Lucius a pain. Maybe Know The Warrior to keep in line with the crews card draw -shtick, so you might deal him damage, but you won’t drain his resources.

There are two issues with it. Entourage is a sad ability in a game, where you don’t want your master to Walk. And as Lucius only bonus action is Misinformation, Nimble might be a good addition.

BACK OF CARD

Here is Lucius big problems. He’s a mix of lacklustre gunplatform and Issue Command is basically making your Master do ‘nothing’ - in the cool sense.

Fancy Cane. Very cool ability (thematically), I like that it’s clear that Lucius isn’t a damage dealer. But give the ability some master level purpose at least. Bump the stat up to 6 or maybe even 7 (he is supposed to be a master fancer after all). Make it his defense, build in the Tome to hand out Distracted, add a Stagger -trigger for synergy with the keyword, and you’ll suddenly want a plan for engaging him – like any other Master.

Hidden Sniper. Really cool ability as well, but having your master stand and shoot thrice for 2/3/4 won’t win you games, and it certainly won’t feel rewarding. Compared to Zoraidas arced Obey, or Lord Cooper and Seamus’ big guns, it feels like you brought a drawing of a gun to Verdunne.

I’d love to see it become a bonus action. Up the stat to 6, so you can force it through on most models change the damage to 2/3/5+Injured with a wealth of triggers, so Lucius is prepared for everything ie. Ram = Devastating Strike, Crow = Execute, Mask = Stagger, Tome = Drop a scheme marker. It would become an important moment in any turn, but also make it a consideration on when to activate Lucius. 

Issue Command

I’d love to see something more on this, so you’re not just exchanging master level actions for minion level. Triggers to hand out focus, or drop scheme markers would be cool and in theme. Maybe build on a trigger for Elite/Mimic or even separates to encourage playing in keyword, as opposed to hiring in Nephilim.

You could also bake in a trigger for if Lucius were to command himself (to walk), meaning you could get value out of the Entourage ability.

Misinformation

I have no strong feelings. My biggest issue was that it was Lucius only bonus action.

[Regelridderen]

Investigators are some of my favourite models, yet also some of the least useful.

Expensive minions with no staying power. The potential to do decent damage, yet it’s often too clunky to work in reality. Two investigators and a False Witness will get you across the field fast, but once you’re there, your biggest trick seem to be turning them into corpse markers.

FRONT OF CARD

A bunch of really cool abilities. Indeed the Investigators biggest issue is that his out-of-activation outshines his activation, and he is looking a lot more interesting in GG4 than he did ever before. Reducing his cost to 6, could be a way of making him worthwhile, where he doesn’t compete with Henchman/Enforcers.

BACK OF CARD

Garrote is pretty cool, if you get Staggered out beforehand, but in my experience, this rarely turns out ‘right’. I’d love to see the crow baked into the attack as well.

INTERROGATE

Not much to see here. I’d love to see it renamed to Halt! Police! And taget Mv instead for more synergy with the Keywords ability to hand out Staggered , though. But it’s an ability that gained a lot from GG4.

ACTIVE CRIME SCENE

Really cool thematic ability. Unfortunately a bit too passive, even disruptive to his own FOC abilities. Adding a trigger like I’d better secure this! - remove a scheme marker and heal 2. Could go hand in hand with making him more durable, or one to drop one himself would make him a great schemer model - and set up his FOC-abilities. Or A New Horizon to yeet that troublesome evidence out of sight.

Indeed expanding on Active Crime Scene more than the rest can really make this model come into it’s own right, in a game where you want your models to be able to make three significant actions.

[Regelridderen]

False Witnesses are right up there with Investigators. They’re some of the most characterful models, and their theme really tells the story of Lucius’ morals.

FRONT OF CARD

Phew! There’s a lot. And it’s all very cool. An extra Ht. Wouldn’t hurt, so a single focused gunshot wouldn’t kill her. Yet, again these aren’t heroes, and they’re innocent bystanders.

If anything, give them Nimble so their bonus action can count for something. And it would fit the theme that they’re quick to get into position to ‘witness’ the crime.

I could also imagine them with Heightened Senses as they get themselves in the mood to shout J’accuse! If the speed of getting Nimble would be too much. Focused might not do much for the model, but it would put less of a resource drain on your hand, as you set up the kill.

BACK OF CARD

J’accuse! Is a really cool ability. But I don’t think it’d hurt balance to expand Adversary(Elite) to include Mimic. 

That’s it really.

[Regelridderen]

Guild Lawyers, everyone loves these guys…

FRONT OF CARD

Chatty, Tools… Annoying and useful. Nice.

BACK OF CARD

Obey it’s cool that you can transfer actions. But I’d love to see an action that would be generally useful, once your squishy crew has been decimated.

Maybe Interrogate. Wouldn’t that be thematic - with Stagger on a mask and and Draw Out Secrets on a tome. You’d get hand pressure and synergy with Investigators.

I wouldn’t let it completely replace Obey, as one of the key and unique strengths of the Lucius crew is that you can’t really tell, when a model is ‘done’.

[Regelridderen]

Agent 46 - he used to be so cool, or usable at least. Then he became useless… I always compare him to Lord Cooper’s robot, and always think, that it got the role of the super ninja that was meant for Agent 46

FRONT OF CARD

Underwhelming. A close combat model with Stealth as it’s only defence. That’s underwhelming…Intimidating Authority, Combat Finesse, Know The Warrior, Adaptive, Df6 would all fit the theme of our bladed assassin - maybe not all of them, but a combination.

BACK OF CARD

Build in the ram for his Twirling Blades Min3 is such a stable in beater models. And even when your hand is bled out, you’ll feel that this guy can accomplish something. I’d love to switch Pouncing Strike for Coordinated Attack/Stagger. Out of activations and Staggered is the crew’s shtick after all, and there are plenty of pouncing models in other keywords. Or throw in a Draw Out Secrets to keep with the theme.

Analyze Weakness The most useful part is the On Your Heels Trigger. 

Inhuman Physiology put it back on front of card. The errata killed the model. Instead remove Mimic so you can’t exploit it with Guard Rifles etc.

Instead give our Agent a bonus action that help him do his job, like Heightened Senses or Juggernaut. Or how about Lucy2’s Down The Wrong Path.

 

[Brilliance Laced Whiskey]

Oh boy, hmm.

 

I quite like the false witness.  I think +1 hitpoint is enough for me.

 

I don't think lawyers need anything, though they are in a weird place where they kind of step on Lucius 1 toes.  However,  I'm not sure people would be happy if they moved away from that.  A reposition trigger on the obey would be nice, but that's me being greedy.

 

Slap flurry on Agent 46 and done.  When he gets to you, he's stabbing.

 

Ah yes, the Investigator.  Garrote is clunky when combined with the models rules.  Range 0 makes sense.  Maybe give the model +2MV to charges.  Make garrote a 2/3/4 with a +1 damage for stagger.  Slippery, perhaps?

 

But at the end of the day you are spending many points and actions in order for your 7 cost model the equal of other teams 7 cost models.  Crookskins and ranged stagger help with that.  However, they still just aren't really there.  I think I'm going to have to think about that a bit.

 

I'm gonna have to get back to you on Lucius 1, because he has some hurdles to overcomes.  I wouldn't mind another trigger on Issue Command to make giving up your master AP a little more efficient.

 

[justsomeguy]

Overall some cool ideas, but have to be careful buffing all of these models as Lucy 2 is already competitive. I think Lucy1 should support the Elite keyword.

Love the idea of adding a trigger to walk Lucius on issue command.  I've felt that Entourage could push all friendly models up to 2 inches regardless of engagement. That would really help the crews' 0" melees while also fitting theme of slippery bureaucrats.  Issue command should also gain Preparations to hand out focus on a tome. Maybe even raise the tn and build in the tome. I think it also would be thematic to allow arcing (draw los and range) through another elite or mimic within range. At the least Issue Command needs to ignore concealment.

Misinformation rarely feels good, but with extra walks to maneuver around it may not need anything else. An interesting change you could also put hidden sniper as a bonus action and give it better stat and/or draw out secrets.

Finally to buff the crew Lucius needs a defensive ability that extends to his keywords. Something like salvage site that targets a scheme marker and reduces all damage by 2.  Or maybe a front of card aura that allows models to remove a scheme marker to reduce damage to 0.

[Brilliance Laced Whiskey]

Issue Command ignores concealment already because it is a tactical action.

 

For Lucius 1:

If he had Arcane Reservoir +2 or something it would go a long ways. 

 

Fancy cane needs to go away.  It will never get used.  Some sort of drip related insult would work.  A condition of some kind, with a potential of a a distracted pulse or something.  Something to help assist the crew survive.  You are lesser than him, he knows it, and he will put you in your place.  Get insulted by him and people will notice.

 

An ability to react to opponents performing out of activation actions would be nice too.  Or, give him "I knew you were going to do that" to deny enemy triggers.

[trikk]

2 minutes ago, Brilliance Laced Whiskey said:

Issue Command ignores concealment already because it is a tactical action.

 

For Lucius 1:

If he had Arcane Reservoir +2 or something it would go a long ways. 

I think Lucius1 gets so many cards, cards are not an issue with him. The issue is that Issue Command is fundamentally flawed. Trading a master AP is not worth a non-master AP

[Regelridderen]

13 hours ago, Brilliance Laced Whiskey said:

I don't think lawyers need anything, though they are in a weird place where they kind of step on Lucius 1 toes.  However,  I'm not sure people would be happy if they moved away from that.  A reposition trigger on the obey would be nice, but that's me being greedy.

My view is that Lawyers are a good place to build synergy for the crew, ie. If they could Stagger, they’d go a long way to enable Alan and the Investigators to make their Garrotes worthwhile.

Of course, they’re obviously already good, as you see them OOK. But there is also a shift in minion design - newer minions are far more useful, like the internal synergy on the Crookskins being able to Stagger and having a Mv attack etc.

10 hours ago, Brilliance Laced Whiskey said:

Fancy cane needs to go away.  It will never get used.  Some sort of drip related insult would work.  A condition of some kind, with a potential of a a distracted pulse or something.  Something to help assist the crew survive.  You are lesser than him, he knows it, and he will put you in your place.  Get insulted by him and people will notice.

 

An ability to react to opponents performing out of activation actions would be nice too.  Or, give him "I knew you were going to do that" to deny enemy triggers.

I don’t mind the gentleman’s flair of Fancy Cane, obviously Lucius shouldn’t be a beater master, but having an engagement range is surprisingly important, but the role of the attack should be defensive/obstructive. Showing his superiority in playing with his kill, playing for time, then having his ‘minions’ finish the job. That’s why I suggested adding defensive traits to the otherwise ineffective 2/3/4 attack.

I love the idea of him sabotaging OOAs. Although it might be too much of a counter to Obey-masters like Mama Z.