New recruit, looking for expansion advice

[GodimusPryme]

First of all hey, new archanist player here!

So I recently picked up the book, 2 decks, the ramos box and the 'Tina box. I have been crashing around the boards this weekend reading up on the other "new player help" threads to get some ideas of where to go next.

The main reason for this post is for suggestions for two crews to face off against each-other for demos. I originally bought the ramos and tina boxes because they are the same faction but look very different and that is important to me when giving demos.

For those of you that have been running demos, have you been using the boxed sets as is, or have you been adding a few things? do you all feel that the two sets I currently have would be balanced against each other or should I run two different factions?

Just wondering what other peoples thoughts on this were. If the general opinion is that I should use 2 different factions, my thoughts were for a guild crew, namely either LadyJ or Sonnia Criid, but if you all feel the the ramos and 'Tina box sets are balanced against one another I will focus on expanding those to forces for myself as well as for demos.

sorry if this was a bit of a rambling post, any input is welcome,

later,

Pryme.

[eruletho]

For demo purposes, I would think two different factions would be good, particularly Justice since she is melee-heavy against Tina since she is cast-heavy.

As for your crew expansion... December Acolytes are pretty good, but i would definitely get Joss for both Tina and Ramos' sake, since he is a melee beast for both crews. Picking up a Cerebus for Tina wouldn't hurt either, since she could use the fast model to pull off schemes. For Ramos, Rusty Alyce is a really good idea, since she is a powerful ranged shot that can summon more minions and overflow the board with tiny, creepy-crawly machines. You also definitely want a Brass Arachnid for Ramos and a Essence of Power for Tina. I saw EoP over the Wendigo becuase the EoP increases the likelihood of a good damage flip for her best spell, December's Curse. Also, more steampunk arachnids/swarms never hurts either.

[CserZ]

Welcome Aboard! :-)

Ramos like to run with Joss and Johann. Joss is The Injun Killing Machine(™) a real melee monster with some surprise-reactivation. Johann is a fairly low-cost (khmm, in term of Ramos's crew) ranged option with a good melee ability. Brass Arachnid is your friend too (Stroke is just great if the cards are right); another Reactivation on a construct can ruin anybody's day :-) (But one modell may reactivated only once per turn! So no Infernal Duracell Injun Killing Machine ;-D). Arachnid Swarms are melee beast too and the individual arachnids are Ramos's suicide bomber teams with more or less guaranteed damage (SS prevention can save the enemy's Master but not the crew). You can use the Convict Gunslinger for more ranged power and/or to controll your enemy's hand.

On greater points game Alyce is your friend; another ranged platform, more card-options, a hurtly reactivation (the 3rd in the crew), charge-hamperer Bag of Tricks and some wandering low-cost undead-machines.

[Slinkdawg]

I picked up the Viki sisters as my off-faction master for demos and have not regretted it. They have a good bit of melee and are fun.

Plus you have the added option to field them with any in-faction crew, so they can play with your main faction or against it for demo purposes.

Guild could definitely be fun too if that's more what you're going for. I'd second the vote for Lady Justice and the Death Marshals.

[GodimusPryme]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I just put an order in last night for the Lady Justice box, as well as some reinforcements for Ramos and 'Tina.

-pryme

[Wombats]

Late to this thread...

Did you pick up the Brass Arachnid and Essence of Power?

They really put Ramos and Rasputina in business.

I use the little sprite from the flame base accessories instead of the Essence of Power because its looks nicer alongside the Gamins.

[GodimusPryme]

Yeah my second order came in on friday, with some more arachnids, horecats, acolyte, Joss, essence, Brass arachnid, saber-tooth, alyce and a Gunslinger, kinda big order, but I wanted essentially two armies at both box set size and bigger that my friends and I could play with, at least untill they get their stuff...(already hooked one friend)

I kinda like the essence of power mini myself, just got to come up with a cool way to paint it.

my first 35ss list is looking like this for ramos:

Ramos 2ss

2 arachnid swarm 18

joss 9

Brass Arachnid 2

Ice gamin 4

just wondering if maybe i should drop a swarm in favor of a gunslinger and a single spider?

later,

Pryme

[Angus Khan]

just wondering if maybe i should drop a swarm in favor of a gunslinger and a single spider?

My absolute favorite 35SS Ramos list is to have Ramos and either the Borg or Joss, then load up on steam spiders. (I can usually fit around 7 individual spiders, plus some extra SS for Ramos.)

On that note, I would say keep the swarm unless you really need the range from the gunslinger. (More spiders are good! )

[CserZ]

just wondering if maybe i should drop a swarm in favor of a gunslinger and a single spider?

Sure :-) And the Gamin; there is no place for December's monsters in a list of the Savior of the World! :-) And one note: Ramos is free, the 2ss is his cache of Soulstones to begin the game with.

My recommended list:

Ramos

Brass Arachnid (2)

Swarm (9)

Joss (9)

Single Arachnid (3) you can do two more arachnid to form the second Swarm

Convict Gunslinger (6) for a ranged option

Johann (6 remember, he is M&SU member!) he is very good with Joss and more ranged option

OR

drop the Swarm (9) and single Arachnid (3), you can do it later with good hand (Salvage Under Fire+Construct Spider, and one more time in the same turn with Stroke from Brass Arachnid) and bring in Alyce (10) plus 2 SS for the game; she's brilliant!

[GodimusPryme]

good suggestions, I will give them all a try untill I find the list that works for me,

@CserZ sorry for the confusion, the 2ss I listed after ramos is the Extra 2ss in the list. making his total 4.

[Loafalotapus]

I like your list, except for the gamin, his ranged weapon just isn't good enough for me to justify, plust the fact that his best abilitiy is wasted without other models with frozen heart. Just my 2 cents though.

Dropping a swarm and the gamin, and using 2 spiders and Johan seems better to me. Johan adds range plus is very good in melee, especially near Ramos, and you get another soulstone to add to summon spider.

[Wombats]

Pretty sure Bite of Winter (is that the name of the +1 damage?) applies to Raspy's spells - the main target, not the blast.

Think it might even upgrade Biting Chill to 3 damage which means 3 casts to lower Lilith to 1 Wd rather than 5...needed with her high Df.

It is a big call to delay Raspy's activation to set it off, though.

Thats enough to justify an Ice Golem used as a long-range spotting turret if my opponent has a Slaughter objective or similiar.

Gamins aren't quite there for me, perhaps because I played them a lot in early games...should go back there someday.

Hopefully Goons of December will get some more synergistic abilities in the next book.

I like them a lot but fielding them together, as in the stories, you end up with a lot of redundancy.

[GodimusPryme]

the gamin was there mostly as filler, and I don't currently own johan, though he is on the list.

Wombats, so you don't use gamin in your raspy lists anymore? what do you use in their stead?

[Wombats]

Ice Golem as his Height 3 is great for whanging spells through his Line of Sight.

I also put together the models for a Crazy Cat Lady list:

- Hoarcat Prides

- Cereberus

- Wendigo

Which is fun but not particularly effective...the Hoarcats turn up late / get out maneouvred and killed before they strike...probably her best shot at Reconoiter, though.

The most recent I tried was Arachnid Swarms (heal themselves), Essence of Power and a big Golem. Very solid and stacking Armour buffs can be very effective.

I really should go back and try the Gamin again, the more I've played with Raspy the better I've used Freeze Over and Ice Pillars which will get them into situations where they can shoot more.

[GodimusPryme]

I did pick up some hoarcats and a sabertooth for something similare, but what about the Acolyte? I got him too, and he seems pretty solid for 6ss?

[paperbag4]

I usually 2 or 3 Gamin PLUS the Golem. Having them split off to the sides, but still close enough for Icy Mirror, negates a lot of Rasputina's slowness.

My typical 30 SS list is:

Tina

Essence of Power (Wendigo if I'm using Cerberus)

Golem

2 x Gamin

Cerberus or Acolyte or Convict Gunslinger (depending on strategy)

This leaves me with 7 or 8 stones to abuse by overpowering December's Curses through the Gamin and Golem.