Sell me on Ramos

[Sirroelivan]

Right, so I'm currently playing Lilith, but considering to switch to another Master & faction since I don't like her playstyle that much.

So anyway, I was considering both Ramos and Som'er Teeth Jones, but I'm afraid the Gremlins might be a bit too random for my tastes.

Now I was wondering if you guys could give me a short overview of Ramos' playstyle.

[thaehl]

I personally dont play Ramos, but Im around enough people who do so let me give it a whirl. Ramos is a powerful arcanist master, who specializes in armor for the most part, if I remember correctly ramos has armor 2, which is great on top of that you can give him arching screen to hurt the opponent if they hurt you. One must be careful though Victor has very little defence so he is no tank like Lilith, he rally to me seems like an efficent support master, he doesnt want to be in the fray per say, but shouldnt mind if it ends up happening, he has plenty of models to work with, and his constructs are wicked efficant.

[Werecat]

One thing: arcing screen is an aura, so Ramos himself can't benefit from it. Nice spell for the brass aracnid or mobile toolkit to cast though.

I'd agree with most other things said. He does a bit of a few different things. He's a bit of a summoner(construct spider, electrical creation), a bit of a direct damager(electrical fire, controlled detonation), and a bit of a buffer(arcing screen, combat mechanic). Sadly, he has "Jack-of-all-trades" syndrome. He doesn't do any of his roles spectacularly. But if you can strike a balance, he can reasonably handle most situations. At first, I thought he was a relatively boring master. But I think there's a lot more to him. I'm looking forward to playing him more. I think he's a master that you need to put some effort into, but you get proportionate rewards for your time.

Edited October 20, 2010 by Werecat

[Lictor]

Ramos is a Buff Master, there is no doubt about it. But Summon an Electrical Creation into a group of people, detonate it, then use a Soulstone with Electrical fire and you will remove most minions comfortably.

Thaehl just about under-estimates his crews performance however =). Ramos is a jack of all trades, but his constructs are very specific, and his talents support them so much further.

Joss can potentially inflict 8 damage in a single strike (At work no rule book, hoping my memory is correct)

Between Steamborg and Arachnid Swarm 7 devastating Melee swipes will remove most masters from the game. Paired Claws and + flips above a certain amount of wounds always helps.

I fully recommend Rusty Alyce, a ruling in another thread stipulates that her ability 'Something to Live for' means having 8 Control Cards. :worship:

I found the Brass Arachnid to be slightly over-rated as Stoke is too freaking hard to pull off, needing an 11 of Tome =/

Ramos and Alyce can also summon a crap load of extra gribblies reasonably easily to add to your force as well between Arachnids and Steampunks.

With the new rules as well he has a few extra options to play with like the Guardian and Hunter which both look quite cool as concept art.

He also has a very large combination of things he can take that have synergy with him (as long as they are constructs) so you'll always have options for varying play styles.

I will stop rambling here.

[druchii]

The way I've seen Ramos most effectively played is as a turret master. Much like Rasputina he's slow, easy to whack in combat, and prone to getting bogged down in protracted combats.

Fortunately he comes with one of THE best 9ss models in the game. His Arachnid swarm is terrifying. Gets a free (0) healing flip a turn, has melee MASTER AND has a minimum damage of 3(do NOT underestimate this!). It also ignores terrain and other models for passing through (Arachnid and Pass Through respectively). Very scary models, and I've seen a 35ss crea with two Arachnid swarms and a Steamborg rip people to shreds.

A lot of talk is said about Arcing Screen, but it requires one thing that I dislike: for Ramos to be close to his minion. IE close to combat, and opposing models. Sitting back, Electrical Fire-ing models is what I'd use him for, with the occasional new spider (which he can do easily each of the first few turns of the game, especially with the new RP totem). Ramos chills in the rear with the gear, while his spiders conquer.

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[Harvest Ranger]

I've used Ramos a few times and the swarms are what my opponents fear the most, mainly because you can rebuild them and they do a lot of cool stuff. There's not a lot of fat on those spiders, all their talents/abilities are useful. The Steamborg is good but once he dies he's gone. And although I have yet to try it myself I have to agree with the others, Ramos is pretty flexible in crew builds.

[hippieshopper]

I don't really understand Ramos' crew all that well but I think I have played against him enough to point out a few things. Although most of them have already been mentioned.

If you really have nothing in range for his electrical fire spell (like the first turn), the guy I play against frequently will use the [2] action Salvage Under Fire, then [+1] Casting Expert [1] Electrical Creation, followed by [0] Construct Spider.

In my opinion, I think the Toolbox is a better bang for your buck. The Arachnid can Stoke and has a higher cast, but the toolbox makes it piss easy to summon things, which Ramos excels at.

If you're going against Spirits...like Kirai or the Halloween events or something, try taking Johan. He has an awesome 3" melee range and his weapon is magical and ignores armor. He only costs 6 points and he's Hard to Kill and Slow to Die. I see him used constantly to bodyguard Ramos because when he is near him, he gets +2 Cb, putting him at 7 which is the same as my Punk Zombies.