Colette: Trying Out Movement Tricks

[Sholto]

I am trying to think of different moves to pull off with my Colette crew, but I have only had one game with her so far, so would like to try this out here and see if I have missed anything.

It is situational, obviously, and is a form of refused flank.

Say I have Colette, two Coryphee, Cassandra, two Mannequins and two Performers (I do). I think I can deploy the two Performers and one Mannequin way over on the right, everyone else way over on the left, and get them all together again in a single activation. This can be effective if your opponent has also split his deployment to match your own, as you can then gang up on one part of his crew with all of your own.

• Deploy Colette, two Coryphee, Cassandra and Mannequin 1 in a bunch. Make sure Mannequin 1 is in base contact with Coryphee 1.
  
• Deploy the two Performers and Mannequin 2 about 30"-36" away.
  
• Activate Mannequin 2 and Link(0) to a Performer. Don't Companion, though.
  
• Your opponent will Activate a model. After that comes your Big Move!
  
• Activate Mannequin 1. Declare Companion, so Colette, the two Coryphee and Cassandra will all activate simultaneously. Link(0) to Coryphee 1.
  
• Activate Coryphee 1. It moves twice, covering 16". Mannequin 1 is placed in base contact, probably on the other side of the Coryphee to put it 18" from Colette.
  
• Activate Colette. She uses Illusionist on Mannequin 1 and swaps places with it, and then uses Illusionist on Mannequin 2 and swaps with it. Wheee!
  
• Activate Coryphee 2. It uses Dance Partner, and you place it in base contact with Coryphee 1. You then use Dance Together and place a Coryphee Duet in base contact with Coryphee 2, and then remove Coryphees 1 & 2.
  
• The Coryphee Duet activates immediately. It was not around to receive Companion, although arguably Companion transfers to it as an effect anyway, but in any event under the rules for Replacing models, the Coryphee Duet activates immediately. It can use any AP or actions the Replaced models did not use, so it can use Fast(+1) and (if it wants) 3 (0) Actions. The Link also transfers to the Coryphee Duet. The Coryphee Duet uses Fast(+1) to move another 9". Mannequin 1 is then placed in base contact with the Coryphee Duet.
  
• Activate Cassandra. She uses Nimble to move twice, for a total of 10" and then uses Dance Partner to be placed in base contact with the Coryphee Duet. Remember that provided the Coryphee Duet is within 18" of Cassandra you can place Cassandra in base contact on eg. the far side - for an extra free 2" of movement!
  

Total move approx 30" in a single activation.

This leaves Mannequin 2 rather alone and in the middle of your deployment zone. You did leave the poor thing in cover, yes? Your opponent will get one activation, and then when you activate the Linked Performer the Mannequin will snap back and your whole crew will be 28" or more away from where they started.

Thoughts? Comments? Corrections? Improvements?

Edited October 4, 2010 by Sholto

[LoboStele]

Yep, that's precisely how it works! Very powerful. I like using the crew and doing the Arcanist scheme for Power Ritual, as I can nail 3 out of 4 corners on the first turn.

I hadn't realized how strong Cassandra's Dance Partner was until I started playing with the Coryphees. The fact that the crew can move so much and still have a solid way to fight for itself is just brutal. It can be tough for your opponent's squad to chase them down if they are mostly melee.

[Sholto]

What gets me is its not just the movement of individual models, but the ability to move all your heavy hitters 30" in one go. And with Colette still having a Reactivate if she needs it

Power Ritual would be easy with movement like this, as you say. In my sole game I tried Sabotage and, with the Coryphee's movement, knew that not only could I announce it safely, but that my model would almost certainly survive the Turn. It got there on Turn 1, Sabotaged the building and indeed stayed alive.

I can't get too carried away with these girls, though, as I know that of the other crews I play Sonnia would tear the magic out of them and Perdita would still shoot them to pieces. Having fun so far, though

[quotemyname]

Unless I missed something, I think you can only choose one companion for the Mannequin. Therefore you can't activate coryphee1, 2, Collette, and Cassandra simultaneously, you must pick one.

I also believe this leaves Collette in the corner of the board where the Performers had originally started out, but I may somehow have misread your post.

[Koali]

the problem is, that with lower Soulstoones this trick would not work that good...

Corrys = 14

Cassy = 9

2 Performers with their living Dresses = 12

and you are on 35 SS....

In 25 or 30 SS games.. you have to leave out some Girls...

But Ok.. this Showgirls are still fast ...

I like fast Crews...

[LoboStele]

Power Ritual would be easy with movement like this, as you say. In my sole game I tried Sabotage and, with the Coryphee's movement, knew that not only could I announce it safely, but that my model would almost certainly survive the Turn. It got there on Turn 1, Sabotaged the building and indeed stayed alive.

LOL, yeah, Sabotage works quite well, just don't do stupid things like I did last week, and press forward for Sabotage on Round 1, only to lose init, and then have Dreamer/LCB annihilate the Coryphee Duet in one activation, haha. I forgot Dreamer was a Spirit and could move through walls, and then he pulled Triggers and crap all over the place and killed them outright. Whoops.

I can't get too carried away with these girls, though, as I know that of the other crews I play Sonnia would tear the magic out of them and Perdita would still shoot them to pieces. Having fun so far, though

Maybe it's just the guys at my store, but I haven't lost to either Sonnia or Perdita yet. Perdita has a really tough time hitting either Cassandra or the Coryphees, especially if you use Cassie's Southern Charm, and the Coryphees have the natural to Defense flips, and then you they have Bulletproof as well. Colette can easily bury a piece or two when necessary, and then with nearly everyone having access to Use Soulstone, it's pretty easy to keep your big pieces well protected. Actually, Papa Loco has typically done more damage to my crew than anything else in those matchups.

Unless I missed something, I think you can only choose one companion for the Mannequin. Therefore you can't activate coryphee1, 2, Collette, and Cassandra simultaneously, you must pick one.

I also believe this leaves Collette in the corner of the board where the Performers had originally started out, but I may somehow have misread your post.

Check the Errata. The piece with Companion activates first. Then any number of pieces within 6" that meet the Companion requirement (Showgirls, in this case) may activate after the first model has finished.

[Sholto]

the problem is, that with lower Soulstoones this trick would not work that good...

Agreed, but at lower Soulstones you can still do some pretty nifty tricks.

Illusionist works in so many situations, and can be used to slingshot Colette or (if there's a Coryphee about) Cassandra >36" in a Turn.

Kidnapping enemy models is fun, too. All you need is a Tome in your hand, an enemy 25" away, Colette, a Coryphee (or Cassandra), a Performer and a Mannequin linked to Colette. Activate the Mannequin, use Companion. The Coryphee (or Cassandra) activates and runs forward (16" in the case of the Coryphee or 15" in the case of Cassandra). Then get the Performer to Bash Colette. Trick the damage down to zero and cheat your Tome into Colette's Df total, activating her Trigger. The Performer gets Slow and Colette gets a free Illusionist. Use this to swap with the Coryphee (or Cassandra). Now activate Colette and cast Disappearing Act on the model you want to kidnap up to 8" away, then use Illusionist again to swap with your Linked Mannequin. After the swap Colette's activation ends and the Linked Mannequin jumps back to her.

Result: one kidnapped model that will pop out in base contact with your heavy hitters at the start of the next Turn. Companion and destroy it, lather, rinse, repeat. And since it is Colette casting Disappearing Act, there is probably no chance of the opponent beating your casting total.

Edited October 4, 2010 by Sholto

[LoboStele]

Holy crap, I hadn't thought about using my own pieces to pull off Colette's Blinding Flash defensive trigger. THAT is nasty, and something I MUST remember. Would be a much better use of the Performers than I've had in most my other games so far, LOL.

As for the starting SoulStone total of the crew, I've found lately that I've been running only 1 Performer/Mannequin set, and then either going with 2 Doves in the starting squad, or Johan, so that I have 1-2 SS left over to add to the cache. I have a tough time using any of the Performer/Mannequin's spells, as I usually don't flip what I need for the spells, and then I normally like hanging onto the high :masks for use with Cassandra/Coryphees. So I've found that the only thing I really end up using the Perf/Manne for is just swapping around, which having only 1 set of them is plenty enough.

Sometimes I've been proxying the Arcanist Gunsmith instead of Johan as well. Less SS in your cache, but he can be nasty, especially if you're able to use his (0) action for all the extra :+fates

[quotemyname]

Check the Errata. The piece with Companion activates first. Then any number of pieces within 6" that meet the Companion requirement (Showgirls, in this case) may activate after the first model has finished.

Thanks for clearing that up, but that still doesn't answer my other question: Doesn't this activation sequence end up with Collette back where Performer 1 started the turn off?

[Sholto]

Thanks for clearing that up, but that still doesn't answer my other question: Doesn't this activation sequence end up with Collette back where Performer 1 started the turn off?

You are starting off with two groups of models - the Colette Group and the Performer Group, 30"-36" apart. The idea is to get the Colette Group all the way over to the Performer Group in a single activation (say a Nytmare Bomb just arrived in your deployment zone!). Colette uses Illusionist on the 1st Mannequin and then uses it on the 2nd Mannequin, moving her a total of almost 36". Remember the 2nd Mannequin starts with the Performer Group. The rest of the Colette Group move approx 30", so both Groups end up right next to each other. Is that what you meant?

[ninjahamster]

Then get the Performer to Bash Colette. Trick the damage down to zero and cheat your Tome into Colette's Df total, activating her Trigger.

Alas - page 54 says that you can't target your crew's master with a strike (unless it's been errated or changed)

[Wodschow]

Alas - page 54 says that you can't target your crew's master with a strike (unless it's been errated or changed)

It has...

A model now only cannot target itself.

Edit: It's in the errata, but yeah you said that yourself already

[ninjahamster]

Aha - thought as much - I knew I couldn't be correcting someone after only playing about 3 games

was thinking about it on the drive home, then checked my rulebook - and have just found the errata - so ignore me