Getting Pine Box to work

[rancor]

I am gathering my crew for a guild army. I have yet to play a game, but have read the rules in their entirety, and understand the general flow and idea of everything. I've play Warmachine/Hordes, WH40k, and Magic the gathering. So I'm pretty used to learning new rules in a hurry.

My LGS is just getting around to the end of our first month of running this game twice a week. Its still taking a while to get everyone to give it a chance. We are still running 25ss games, and enjoying at that level.

I have purchased perdita, and 3 death marshalls. The last model I plan on picking up (hopefully today) is the executioner. That will bring me to 19ss. Since persita has a cache of 2, thats 8 SS exactly, the 25ss game max.

What I wanted to ask you guys was this: I love the concept of the death marshals. They especially remind me of Roland from the Dark Tower series. My only worry is, I've be getting a lot of negative comments about using Pine Box. Everyone is telling me its really hard to pull off. The way I figure it, I use obey from perdita to make a death marshall charge a target, then on the marshals turn, they stick it in the box. Is there a flaw to my logic, am I missing something here? Do you guys know of an easier way to make it work?

I just want to bury my enemies alive...is that too much to ask!?!?

[Fool]

It's hard to pull off, because of the suit and card requirement for pine box, also you need to be within 1" of the target and have 2 AP. I think it's a great spell, but I usually don't have the cards or AP to use it.

[nilus]

You have the right strategy for it. But Pine Box isn't a power that gets used a lot. Its great when you can pull it off but as fool mentioned it isn't the easiest to do.

That being said the Death Marshalls are far from a one trick pony. They have great ranged attacks and are also pretty versatile in melee. They don't tend to stand up to much abuse(even with hard to wound), but even as they die they get a free attack off.

[Fool]

You have the right strategy for it. But Pine Box isn't a power that gets used a lot. Its great when you can pull it off but as fool mentioned it isn't the easiest to do.

That being said the Death Marshalls are far from a one trick pony. They have great ranged attacks and are also pretty versatile in melee. They don't tend to stand up to much abuse(even with hard to wound), but even as they die they get a free attack off.

Oh, I love death marshalls, for all the reasons that nilus stated.

[rancor]

Any comments on my suggested crew for a 25ss game

perdita (cache 2)

death marshall (cost 12)

executioner (cost 7)

gives me 19 used with 8 sould stones, the max for a 25ss game.

[Fool]

Any comments on my suggested crew for a 25ss game

perdita (cache 2)

death marshall (cost 12)

executioner (cost 7)

gives me 19 used with 8 sould stones, the max for a 25ss game.

I would swap out 1 death marshall for a witchling stalker. Witchlings are better in close combat (then DM's), blow up, have the minus to casting flips, have scout, have a magical weapon, and can remove 1 effect from a model. They also are not to bad at shooting things, but not as good as a death marshall.

I usually only take 1 though, it gives your crew a little versatility.

[paradox]

With a cast of 4, even dropping the Red Joker on Pine Box puts your max value at 18. With a resist of 6, many models worth boxing only need a 13 to beat that, which leaves the 5 cards possible to resist your one best cast.

Chances are that any model worth tossing in a box and blowing an 11+ on, your opponent has a card to drop on resisting.

After several games of trying to make it work, I agreed that it is more of a fluff ability than a real threat. I have yet to get it to work.

[Wendigo]

I would add a Witchling to your crew too, but not exchange for a Death marshall, but for soulstones form your cache. Maybe a totem might be to your liking too. Also I cannot comment on Perditas totem, I faired pretty well with her 2ss cache in 19-25ss games.

[Brochilles]

Pine box is a difficult spell to get off, but I think the thing to remember is that it's a phenomanolly powerful speel for a 4ss model. Also, while the Death Marshall's Ca may be lower and make it difficult to get it off, you do have to remember that their Wp is pretty decent, so if they Pine Box something, you have a decent chance of keeping it buried. (especially if you have a Governor's Proxy in LoS)

Then again, I may be biased to love Pine Box. The first time I played Justice and her Marshall's was against Lillith, and I Boxed the Mature Nephilim in the second turn and kept it there for 3 rounds. Heh, only reason he got out was because Lillith jumped the Marshall that had him.

[higherbrow]

I haven't played much with Marshals, mostly because I like Witchlings so much. But I do often wish that the Witchlings had a better ranged attack, so if you want to focus on shooting, Marshals are probably better for you. The Executioner is very strong against melee forces, but he drops really easily to forces with a strong ranged component. I'd recommend not taking him with a bunch of Marshals and Perdita as there's nothing to screen him, and all he does is buys one of your Marshals an extra turn. Of course, if you're facing a Ressurectionist force, he can't be beat, and if you know your opponent likes melee troops, he's also pretty hard to beat for efficiency.

[Sarrazon]

I love Pine Box as a fluffy power, but as a useful combat ability it's spotty. The big issues with it are that it's a 2-action spell, and that it's hard to get off. It's not something you can throw out any old time, it's something you need to plan for, and get lucky. First, because it's a 2-action with a melee range, you're going to need to get that Death Marshal into melee and wait a turn before you can pull it off. This can be circumvented with stuff that makes you move the Death Marshal without activating him, such as Obey. The other thing is the Death Marshals don't have a great cast stat, and they need a crow. You're going to need to have a card in your hand that you're sure will get the spell off, or else you shouldn't bother trying.

All that being said, it's an extraordinarily useful spell. It'll grab someone and hopefully keep them off for several turns, at least. You just need to remember to plan it out.

[Justin]

So, I haven't read the whole thread, but has somebody mentioned not to forget you can pine box your own models?

The executioner likes his own personal taxi. Lady J on occasion too.

And remember the Wp duel to get out every turn is a may.

[Sarrazon]

That too. It's a technique I haven't had much chance to play around with, but I'm looking forwards to it. It seems rather more useful with The Executioner over Justice, because his defense is even worse than hers, and he's got nothing he can do at range, unlike Lady Justice.

If you don't mind being a jerk, it's also a kinda cheesy way to protect yourself if your opponent gets Assassinate, or you choose Bodyguard.

[AntiZombie]

ive used it a few times on occasion. I view it as a reactionary spell. First of all i don't cast it unless i have a good crow in my hand.

The way that i use it is i bait an enemy into me. For instance baby kade came into my melee range and got an attack off on someone else that was in base to base with the marshall. Then i cast pine box and shoved the kid in a coffin, worked like a charm

so its not something that i usually go into combat hoping to use, ill usually use it to get someone out of combat or like i said, bait someone into.

I hadnt considered the use of it on your own models though...this is intriguing

[Marcalla]

I was under the impression that they were going to "fix" using pine box on your own models. (so that you can't anymore)

I love the game use of this, even if it doesn't exactly fit the fluff.

[Justin]

I was under the impression that they were going to "fix" using pine box on your own models. (so that you can't anymore)

I love the game use of this, even if it doesn't exactly fit the fluff.

Just double checked the errata, nothing of the sort. And I'm glad, it's a clever way to use it. Not broken, really.

[jestersfall]

J had a death marshal pine box a adult nifhmel it was in there most of the game really can take a low wp model out of play in a pinch.