Auto-Includes

[higherbrow]

Make your case for any models you consider auto-includes in any Guild force. I'm expecting 3 or 4 Samael posts, a few about Marshals and/or Witchlings, maybe a Nino post or Austringers or something. But I want to advocate Fransisco Ortega. Or, as I call him, the Bargain Bin Beater.

At 5 points, I'm rapidly beginning to consider Fransisco an auto-include in any Guild force. His versatility and independence allow him to fit into any Strategy and Scheme combination, with any Master, and excel in just about any situation.

Let's start with his ranged abilities. At 6R combat, Fransisco brings a highly respectable accuracy for a 5 point model, and a better than average damage track of 2-3-5, identical to the Marshals that would be the common ranged stock troops for Guild. His Critical Strike continues to mirror the cheaper Marshals, but his Fannin' trigger suddenly raises an eyebrow. Used correctly, the Fannin' trigger can severely disrupt opponents trying to utilize Companion chains, particularly totems. Squeeze a shot against a Master, cheat a Mask onto the attack, free shot on the totem. And with most totems sitting on 4 Wds, and a Critical trigger, you only need moderate damage to kill, or even weak damage with a Rams on the attack for double Critical.

But here's the kicker: he gets better in melee. For 5 points you're buying a 7R combat with 2-3-5, critical strike, and Flurry. If you go for a Flurry, you're almost guaranteed to hit two of your three, which is a minimum of 6 damage (2 weaks with single crit trigger each), to say nothing of putting effort into cheating. Your top end in dreamland is 21 with no red jokers on damage. Compare to Witchlings. Witchlings are one of the best 4 point melee models in the game, with a 6R cb, 2-3-5 damage track, crit strike and drain magic triggers, and Immolating Demise. Fransisco trades the Drain Magic for an extra Cb and the Demise for Flurry. Don't forget the extra inch on his Charge. A 7" charge with a 2" range gives him a 2" advantage over the Stalkers in getting into melee on a charge.

But wait, there's MORE! I'm missing the point of both Marshals AND Stalkers here, aren't I? Marshals bring Hard to Wound and Slow to Die, while Stalkers have, in addition to the Immolating Demise, Disrupt Magic and Dispel Magic. What does Fransisco bring to compare? I'm GLAD YOU ASKED! Duelist is a very very strong skill. Let's take a look at what Duelist can do FOR YOU! You want to squeeze a shot off on someone sitting behind Hard Cover, eh? Flip an Ace and you can't cheat? That's the PITS man, the PITS. But you say you cast Duelist? Well, looks like you can cheat after all, and all for the low low price of the worst card in your hand! Simply discard the worst card you got, and flip over another pair of initial combat cards! While this isn't by any means a guaranteed method, or even a guaranteed improvement, it gives a lot more stability. Fransisco's the only non-Master I can think of that allows you to affect your starting card on a down flipped attack. And we aren't. Done. Yet. With his 6 WP, Fransisco is a hard-to-manipulate opponent, and then he brings Stubborn to the table. Seamus does NOT want to see Fransisco on the other side of the board, nor does Pandora or anyone hoping to abuse Obey. And we're still NOT DONE. Shrug Off keeps Fransisco free of Poison and any other ongoing effects. It's like cheating.

While I don't see myself Menacing over Charging very often, the option is there for models like Candy, or someone who might be looking to Disengage you.

Now, you might be saying "Well, you make a good case, but Stalkers are still slightly better in melee." Or, you might be saying "Yes, I suppose, but Death Marshals bring more ranged power to the table." Here we get to the joy of Fransisco. For just 1 more point than either of them, you get a model comparable to both of them in their best case scenarios.

So, let's talk about how he fits in with each Master. Lady Justice is a melee beater who is primarily worried about getting mowed down before she can get to the action. Fransisco in a Lady Justice crew can advance along with the Death Marshals, providing good cover fire while LJ darts from cover to cover, then provides a strong melee combatant if your opponent gets something nasty into your back lines. Having Fransisco intercept incoming melee characters and keeping your Marshals out of combat is invaluable. Perdita, of course, is superman and can do pretty much anything. Fransisco is simply a very solid beater with the random bonus of Family. With Sonnia, Fransisco provides the flexibility she desperately wants in her troops. Sonnia's crew needs to be able to shift between ranged and melee based on how the opponent is positioning, and few models in the Guild do it as well as Fransisco. It also helps that he can protect himself against the dangerous WP duels that Samael can't afford to fail, so he doesn't need to hang out in Advanced Counterspell range.

tl;dr: Fransisco brings the hurt at range and in melee, and does well working with a tight attack strategy or a loose Reconnoiter style strategy. His high attack abilities and high WP lend him good board control, and for 5 points, you can't do better.

[Selds]

I don't think I can ever go without a convict gunslinger after single hand-idly taking down an ice golem at full health in one activation.

For 5 points Francisco is pretty dang good the only problem I have had with him is that he dies easily. Nice write up.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Selds

[eruletho]

Dang...

you almost have me wanting to add Guild to my list of played factions just to use Fransisco. Very impressive look at a figure I glanced over when choosing factions when I started.

[junkenstein]

Ive used him a few times; never used duellist. I find he dies easily, but Ill certainly try him again (?tomorow) and pay more attention to him.

[paradox]

Great post! Very convincing. It has only reinforced my decision to swap Sonnia for the Ortegas

[nightgaunt98c]

I'll add a little Francisco love(he needs it since I've seena few people say he's the best guy to drop from a Perdita crew). He also has good movement stats, which are useful in a number of scenarios.

[Pipeline]

Francisco is the best value in the guild

I havent sat him out since he showed up in the mail

I'm also really loving the Executioner. The psychological value is great. People are afraid of that dude and act accordingly. I usually march him off to die but, as long as he takes out a few of the enemy and disrupts their plans, he's made his points back.

His df is crap, so he goes down easy to ranged attacks. Keep him screened until a charge presents itself.

[Gremlin Luv]

I would never use the convict gunslinger over Nino, ever. For the extra SS I would rather be able to get 6" extra range and a CB of 9 with the ability to ignore cover and minimize forest issues. Also, if he does get roped into combat, I think he has a better shot of getting out of it.

I want to put Samael in my list. Not sure he's an auto include, haven't used him yet so I can't comment. But Francisco is the MAN! I will never not have him in my guild list for any reason, he does everything well except take a hit, which can be managed with smart play. I've had him take out masters in a single activation on a couple occasions.

I currently use Perdita, but I want to try Lady J out with a contigent of the Ortegas (probably Nino and Francisco). They are 12 SS of pure awesome spank time. :marshmell

[Raintar]

If we are not restricting this by faction, I would say the best auto-include is Doppleganger of the Neverborn. He is just too versatile and can do too many things not to take. Whether it be healing for the Nephilum with Lilith, casting Project Emotions with Pandora, or Obey with Zoradia he is just too good. Oh yeah and Ill Omens is an insanely good ability too :X.

[Fool]

If we are not restricting this by faction, I would say the best auto-include is Doppleganger of the Neverborn. He is just too versatile and can do too many things not to take. Whether it be healing for the Nephilum with Lilith, casting Project Emotions with Pandora, or Obey with Zoradia he is just too good. Oh yeah and Ill Omens is an insanely good ability too :X.

With this being in the Guild section, I would have to assume that it is restricted by faction. Otherwise it would be in general discussion.

And I totally agree with Higherbrow.

[Achilles]

I'd definitely pit Nino and Francisco against 12 SSs of any other troops and expect them to come out ahead every time. Great ranged abilities and with Nino's ability to leave combat and Francisco's good mix of value up close and at range they're definitely a deadly-duo.

[Gremlin Luv]

Woo hoo! I just saw something about hans with nino...expensive, but gross at the same time. Off track though, this is guild only! I think the austringers, when they come out, will be close to this as well!

[nilus]

Where is the love for Santiago?

He is a beast to kill and don't make the mistake of just wounding him. He gets downright nasty with rapid fire and a free walk every turn.

[Gremlin Luv]

If he gets caught in combat, he stinks. For the same cost as Nino, he's good, but nowhere near the same effectiveness. Nino has an easier time getting out of a bad situation (Where'd he go?)

[Fool]

Woo hoo! I just saw something about hans with nino...expensive, but gross at the same time. Off track though, this is guild only! I think the austringers, when they come out, will be close to this as well!

No, Nino and hans, at least has a guild connection, unlike the doppelganger. Share if you would like. I just didn't want this thread to get grossly off topic.

I always take a witchling stalker, because of dispel magic. someone has paralyzed, no problem. Shrug off is great, but won't help you if they don't have any actions.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Fool

[xankriegor]

As of today my auto-include for Guild crews are 2 Austringers.

Put them behind terrain features like a wall, forests, a house or whatever and just shoot away. Attack twice, activate the other Austringer, attack twice again and then activate any 1 model of your choice.

My friend still yells imba for hours after the match. Can't wait for the models to be released.

Well worth their 5ss cost.

[higherbrow]

I don't think Santiago is that good of a deal, since he's just awful in melee. I still take him every time because I love the idea of him getting shot, flipping out, and going into bullet time.

Seconding the Austringers. I've toyed with them a bit, and activating Austringer into Austringer into Sonnia lets you wipe out even hard to kill masters with one activation.

[AkumaKaze]

For me I have to include the Merc Bishop. He IS expensive but very versatile and REALLY good at wrecking some serious face! I definitely have to look at the gunslinger and Nino.

[Raintar]

Fransisco may be really good but I think Stalkers should be given some consideration and here's why. They're great in close combat, their rune blades are strong that have good CB and minimum damage 3 on a 4SS model. They explode when they die which is awesome for your spammable melee troop. They're magic resistant which is pretty darn useful, but the icing on the cake is their 0 action Disrupt Magic. If you can get one of them in Raspy/Nicodem's range it can shut them down completely (pending initiative), and they are two of the best masters in the game. Ruins Haemlin and pretty much anything that uses or relies on spells. Not bad for 4SS.

[TimeLapse]

Well Im not sure about atuo include, but I recently started playing with the Executioner in my perdita list, He is a vary wellcome addition of melee awesomeness. I love paired weapons, with CB of 6 (rams) base damage 3/4/5 with an atuo critical strike making his smallest damage a 4 or a 5 if you get a ram. Also the fact that your opponet does not get df triggers is awesome and helps fight lilith.

Now in my perdita list haveing him in there with last rights helps round out my list to be able to better fight rezers.

Also Love his Job, great skill, I mean beaing able to heal all wounds after killing a model, I mean how sweet is that!

Now played with Nino you have two headshoot/decaoitate skills in the same list to scare your opponet.

You take all that and add Slow to die, terrifying 11 and only costing SS 7 he is I think the best overlooked model the guild has to offer.

He does have some flaws in my mind that you should keep in mind when playing him. He only has df 3 so useing cover to move up is key, aslo his movement is only 4 and he has not +1 actions but with obey in the list this downfall is not soo bad, and having heath 9 is also good to keep him alive till he kills something and then heals himself!

Did I say that he is ONLY 7 SS!!!!

But there is my rant on the executioner, and yes the model is vary ugly. I wish they would make an alt post for him, maybe a female one that not soo fat... and hairy....

But for now I use my voodoo proxy, (Under my perdita voodoo list in the painted forums if you are intrested to see what he looks like.)

Thanks for reading,

Andrew

Edited July 1, 2010 by TimeLapse