Hogs ate my face -- this n00b needs answers

[malifauxnoob]

Hello everyone! :turtle: I introduced myself already and thought I would just jump right in with something that I have been trying to find the answer for for the last several days.

I just started Malifaux like a month ago and I played a guy who within the 2nd turn used the Hog Whisperer, to make the pigs fly (Never Happen...), moved half way across the board, used like 2 activations, ate my face (Stik'm in tha As@) and then "flew" back half way across the board. Is this legal? Flying back after doing this? I can't find that anywhere.

Thanks in advance for any answers or advice!

Edited January 9, 2011 by malifauxnoob

[Alondir]

erm tbh iv never played a Sommer player but piggies can be quick, what skills did he use at the time?

and all malifaux players i now are more than happy to discuss what they are doing if im confused , next time you see him ask him to run you through what he did. im sure he would be more than happy to explain

[Alondir]

if i were to guess though i would say he used Never happen on his pig, then Stik'm in The ass! to give the pig reactivate (gets to activate twice in a turn). activate the pig and walk however meny times (it has flight so ignores terrain)

next time it activates he gets Stampede, which lets him (2)pigcharge for 1ap, and Pigcharge into your model, then keep pigcharging towards his own lines (if his units there the closest non-pig models in LoS)

and most of his models have reckless so they can suffer a wound to become fast

[malifauxnoob]

next time it activates he gets Stampede, which lets him (2)pigcharge for 1ap, and Pigcharge into your model, then keep pigcharging towards his own lines (if his units there the closest non-pig models in LoS)

and most of his models have reckless so they can suffer a wound to become fast

Woaaa... so he gets three activation points? Oh. My. Gosh :crazy: How many times can you do reckless? Everytime they get wounded? Apologies in advance for all these questions and thanks so much for taking the time to answer

Edited January 9, 2011 by malifauxnoob

[Wodschow]

Huh..? You sound as if you haven't gotten the basics down just quite yet..

You can only ever reactivate once in a given turn (ie. two activations in a turn at the most).

In each of those activations pigs can spend up to 3 general AP rather than the normal 2 general AP, all thanks to (+1)Reckless, which does cost them 1 Wd to use.

Edit:

-You can only use Reckless once per activation.

-Your description of what the opponent did is rather vague so it's hard to tell if he did anything wrong. Most likely however if he ran the pig across the table alone on its first activation then it'd Stampede on the second activation, making it unlikely that he could run it back again.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Wodschow

[malifauxnoob]

Huh..? You sound as if you haven't gotten the basics down just quite yet..

Thats why my name is n00b and mentioned I've been playing a very short time. I certainly didn't call myself "expert" :laugh: There aren't many people I can go to with these questions and the whole thing is a new learning experience for me. I figure why not go straight to the forum and ask if you can't make heads or tails from some of the rules in the books?

In each of those activations pigs can spend up to 3 general AP rather than the normal 2 general AP, all thanks to (+1)Reckless, which does cost them 1 Wd to use.

Gottcha. Thanks for answering!

[Omenbringer]

Sounds like what he used was the "Pig Boomerang" tactic. Yes it is perfectly legal as long as he sets it up correctly.

Pig Boomerang sequence:

1) Hog Whisperer makes em fly with Never Happen and can give one reactivate via Stik em in the Ass

2) Skeeters cast Sooey to guide the piggies to where you want them (setting up stampede and an ideal line to the intended target)

3) Pigs activate and fly at the target they want (hopefully activating stampede) and each using up to 3 AP due to reckless.

4) Some'r, another Skeeter or another Hog Whisperer uses Sooey to bring the whole squadron back to set up for the next run.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Omenbringer

[Sezar]

WE've got a Sommer player in our group and we're not sure about this:

Can you give Reactivate to a pig that has still not been activated so it can activate twice in that same turn later?

[Omenbringer]

That has been answered in the rules forum as yes you can.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Omenbringer

[malifauxnoob]

Sounds like what he used was the "Pig Boomerang" tactic. Yes it is perfectly legal as long as he sets it up correctly.

Pig Boomerang sequence:

1) Hog Whisperer makes em fly with Never Happen and can give one reactivate via Stik em in the Ass

2) Skeeters cast Sooey to guide the piggies to where you want them (setting up stampede and an ideal line to the intended target)

3) Pigs activate and fly at the target they want (hopefully activating stampede) and each using up to 3 AP due to reckless.

4) Some'r, another Skeeter or another Hog Whisperer uses Sooey to bring the whole squadron back to set up for the next run.

A "Pig Boomerang" tactic? Oh. My. Gosh. Wow.

Hey! This is amazing! Thanks SO much for breaking this down. My husband and I were at this for about 2 hours after playing this guy, trying to figure this out. My husband had figured out the Never Happen and Stik Em in the As@ parts but we were both at a loss for the rest. We are both very new to the game and really appreciate this! I just told him what you said and now I guess our next step is to try and figure out how to shut this kind of thing down. Maybe using Obey or Lure or something like that? I'll have to read some more! Thanks again!

[Omenbringer]

A "Pig Boomerang" tactic? Oh. My. Gosh. Wow.

Hey! This is amazing! Thanks SO much for breaking this down. My husband and I were at this for about 2 hours after playing this guy, trying to figure this out. My husband had figured out the Never Happen and Stik Em in the As@ parts but we were both at a loss for the rest. We are both very new to the game and really appreciate this! I just told him what you said and now I guess our next step is to try and figure out how to shut this kind of thing down. Maybe using Obey or Lure or something like that? I'll have to read some more! Thanks again!

The easiest method is to take out the Hog Whisperers, then the Skeeters. The Pigs are a lot less controllable (reliable) without those models.

P.S. this is one of my favorite tactics with Some'r. My pig squadrons fly to Wagner's "Die Valkyrie". Also the new models from Rising Powers give this tactic even more flexibility.

Edited January 9, 2011 by Omenbringer

[malifauxnoob]

The easiest method is to take out the Hog Whisperers, then the Skeeters. The Pigs are a lot less controllable (reliable) without those models.

Thanks for the heads up! I think we shall practice a bit with some scenerios tonight!

...My pig squadrons fly to Wagner's "Die Valkyrie".

Wow. That is so completely awsome. I bow to you sir!

[hippieshopper]

Yes, I've also seen Lure work wonders on them as you pull their own guys into the piggies way so that they get charged instead.

I am not much of a Guildie so I don't know the specifics of that spell.

[Omenbringer]

With the guild it is more likely Obey then Lure (but yes the hookers can do the same thing with lure). The problem with this counter is that a Some'r crew is going to outnumber you model wise (especially when you consider that only a few models can lure or obey) so can react to this much easier and work to redirect the charges.

[hippieshopper]

That's true, my brother plays Seamus pretty exclusively and even though he takes 90% Belles...So'mer has so many more little dudes, it's ridiculous.

[Sandwich]

The simple counter to the Pigcharges, as Seamus, is to simply plant the Copy Cat, or any totem really, right in the middle of a Gremlin Swarm and pop Terrifying -> 14.

You cheat up to not scatter and we're on an equal card hand (Empty) when your pig finally decides to charge my Belles.

[hippieshopper]

The pigs don't fall back though.

When they get scared, they charge.

Set'er Off: This model (Piglet) Stampedes if any one of the following conditions are met:

When it would fall back. This model Stampedes instead of falling back.

When it begins it's activation more than 8" away from a friendly Gremlin.

When it begins it's activation within 8" of a Pig already Stampeding

Edited January 12, 2011 by hippieshopper

[Darguth]

This tactic is very hard to stop due to the vast amount of movement they will get, that they can fly over any kind of rough terrain, and that casting "Sooey!" with a Giant Mosquito is even less dangerous than before due to the V2 "Swine Dash" rules.

Positioning can help you a lot though since once "Set 'er off!" has got the pigs stampeding you can't really point them towards the target too accurately. Try to position high Df models near the forefront where the pigs will be forced to charge them. They only have a Cb rating of 4, so they will have a hard time hitting anything of Df:7-8 reliably.

Also, when it is your turn to activate be sure to focus-fire as much as possible because if you let them make the return trip to Som'er or a Slop Hauler they can heal 'em up (more of an issue for the War Pig, the Piglets usually die in a hit or two).