Sonnia Cridd Overview and Tactics

[cerealkiller195]

just finished updating my blog on my fave guild master, comments and criticisms welcome as i'm sure i must have missed something.

http://thewastedwarrior.blogspot.com/

[mpangelu]

In reguards to the blast part...

I'm not sure what exact page it is in the RM, but I'm 100% certain I've read in there that the initial target doesn't suffer the damage of the blast, only the initial boom, and everyone else is one severity less.

Also, I'm pretty sure that her card says you can place the blast markers as normal, up to 2" from the initial target. Not, TARGET ->2" BLAST-> 2" BLAST...

But otherwise, very nice rundown, it's nice to see someone took the time for the breakdown. It's also worth noting in my opinion I believe Sonia is one of those who almost always needs max ss cap. As she tends to go through them very very quickly.

[cerealkiller195]

Thank you very much for reading it, I went back to edit the two parts as I broke out the rules manual and double checked everything and you were right.

I believe it is optimal to have Sonnia with her full stone allotment, though most times I tend to be very comfortable with 6 stones. On occasion I would even drop a scheme to get into the 7-8 soul stones for a game. My main reasoning is that I can focus on two objectives easier than three. At the same time I can work on denying my opponent his objectives, I do not need to worry about splitting my forces too much.

I can't wait to try out Sonnia's avatar in the coming weeks, I am glad that I made the choice to learn how to use her quite well. Especially when her avatar looks so awesome!

[mpangelu]

Oh yeah, I can quite easily understand that. I wasn't at first a fan of Criid, my friends who got me into the game ranted and raved about her, but I even admitted that it was probably because I didn't quite fully get how to get the most out of her. My favorite is still probably my lovely lady j. But, I definately took a second look at Criid after seeing her avatar. When I saw that I went holy @&$&$&&@$&&!#!&... And after going back and seeing some of the strategies with her and trying her out more, she takes my breath away!

[Atherzon]

In your discussion of Violation of Magic, you point out that the spell does wounds and not damage. While this is good to note if you are targeting something with Armor (or Magic Resistance), it doesn't matter when targeting Spirits since they take full damage from spells, anyway.

[cerealkiller195]

@mpangelu- actually i am JUST starting lady j due to the dead justice box, not that i didn't think she was good or anything. Just that i started with Sonnia took a break came back with Lucius and only now am I looking at the other guild masters. I have a few trick lists I want to build with Perdita but I don't want to use her as often because a lot of people see Perdita as "easy mode" and i love a challenege.

@Atherzon- i know i was just trying (unsuccessfully i suppose) to let any new players or some players that haven't caught on, know that anything that does wounds will go through armor/spirit/etc. Even if what caused the wounds is not magical (poison for example) it would still do the full amount of wounds because spirits only halve damage not wounds.

I will try and clear it up in a few hours, besides that what did you think of the article?

[Wulfen]

Nice job, CK, I noticed the same thing mentioned earlier, about the blast damage and it's trigger, glad you got that squared away.

And yes, her avatar is awesome. Finally got a game in with it last week; takes a bit to get used to it, but I think it can be effective in games.

[cerealkiller195]

Nice what did you run with Avatar Sonnia? I was thinking of running:

Sonnia + avatar

Desperate Merc x2

Witchling Handler

Witchling

Fire Gamin x3

Watcher

it gives Sonnia 7 stones to play with which should be more than enough, in theory you could take another watcher and start Sonnia at her base 4 dropping a strategy for 2 extra stones.

First turn you just farm burning tokens, make the fire gamins attack the handler a few times (going to for weak damage since its 1) in melee. Casting Inferno to damage the mercs bringing down to 1.

Second turn Have Sonnia have cast Violation of Magic on both Mercs turning them into Witchlings, when the Mercs die they will heal the Handler. Make sure to cast Inferno to at least meet 1 requirement.. Have the Handler stay out of line of sight and just use "Words Written" twice to push your slow Witchlings or the same Witchling into combat.

Third turn have Sonnia manifest using (2) action, she can use her (0) to take Tokens off of Handler to heal herself and cast Pyre/Light Em Up.

This of course also depends on the type of scenario you are playing and opposing faction. But that is my going to be my first test list with Avatar Sonnia, hopefully on Saturday.

[Fastenhate]

You don't mention that Advanced Counterspell only has a 3 inch range. Yes its any spell but the range is pretty short.

[cerealkiller195]

Fixed/cleared up a sentence or two that were unclear. As far as Advanced Counter Spell is concerned, yes it has "limited range" but seeing as some spells are 12"+ range I think it's still something great and unique to Sonnia since she can cover her minions and deny some enemy spell casting without wasting a (0) action.

[nix]

Nice what did you run with Avatar Sonnia? I was thinking of running:

Sonnia + avatar

Desperate Merc x2

Witchling Handler

Witchling

Fire Gamin x3

Watcher

it gives Sonnia 7 stones to play with which should be more than enough, in theory you could take another watcher and start Sonnia at her base 4 dropping a strategy for 2 extra stones.

First turn you just farm burning tokens, make the fire gamins attack the handler a few times (going to for weak damage since its 1) in melee. Casting Inferno to damage the mercs bringing down to 1.

Second turn Have Sonnia have cast Violation of Magic on both Mercs turning them into Witchlings, when the Mercs die they will heal the Handler. Make sure to cast Inferno to at least meet 1 requirement.. Have the Handler stay out of line of sight and just use "Words Written" twice to push your slow Witchlings or the same Witchling into combat.

Third turn have Sonnia manifest using (2) action, she can use her (0) to take Tokens off of Handler to heal herself and cast Pyre/Light Em Up.

This of course also depends on the type of scenario you are playing and opposing faction. But that is my going to be my first test list with Avatar Sonnia, hopefully on Saturday.

Just started reading down through this thread. First, let me say I enjoyed the blog post. I plan to link to it in an upcoming post on my blog talking about aSonnia.

On your tactics quoted above, first thing, why are you putting burning tokens on the handler turn 1? These would drop off at the end of turn 1, giving the handler damage or slow. I am not sure I see the benefit.

Second is a question about your turn 2. In order to get Violation off twice you would need to be holding 2 cards that were at least 10:tomes. In your experience, isn't this a bit of a risk?

For myself, I decided to drop trying to take Desp. Merc's to turn into witchlings because it slowed down my manifest. Inferno and Confiscated Lore are both (0) actions, so I had to choose between a guaranteed book and getting inferno off a second time on turn 2.

You can always use inferno on turn 3 and still manifest for a (2) action, but that leaves you with just your Casting Master to use. I will try this list out in my next game and see how it works out.

[cerealkiller195]

Good thing I didn't try that in game yet lol i didn't notice that burning tokens went away I assumed they were like blight tokens and stayed on. After re reading it the plan changes somewhat. The desperate mercs are still going to be turned into witchlings just not right away.

Since the Mercs stick around till the end of the third turn closing phase, between 3 turns if i could not find a good suited card I think I would be in trouble regardless lol. Just something about third turn using the (0) For My Family on and Uncontrolled Fire for a cb 5 to attack and :+fate to damage is great when you can fire at 4 separate targets or the same target 4 times.

Hopefully I will be able to try out my avatar list on saturday vs pandora or another neverborn list going non avatar.

[Wulfen]

Nice what did you run with Avatar Sonnia? I was thinking of running:

Sonnia + avatar

Desperate Merc x2

Witchling Handler

Witchling

Fire Gamin x3

Watcher

it gives Sonnia 7 stones to play with which should be more than enough, in theory you could take another watcher and start Sonnia at her base 4 dropping a strategy for 2 extra stones.

First turn you just farm burning tokens, make the fire gamins attack the handler a few times (going to for weak damage since its 1) in melee. Casting Inferno to damage the mercs bringing down to 1.

Second turn Have Sonnia have cast Violation of Magic on both Mercs turning them into Witchlings, when the Mercs die they will heal the Handler. Make sure to cast Inferno to at least meet 1 requirement.. Have the Handler stay out of line of sight and just use "Words Written" twice to push your slow Witchlings or the same Witchling into combat.

Third turn have Sonnia manifest using (2) action, she can use her (0) to take Tokens off of Handler to heal herself and cast Pyre/Light Em Up.

This of course also depends on the type of scenario you are playing and opposing faction. But that is my going to be my first test list with Avatar Sonnia, hopefully on Saturday.

My list consisted of current models that are out, including the Avatar from GenCon; our group doesn't like to proxy, generally. I ran, at 40SS:

Sonnia Criid -- 7 Cache

-Avatar [2ss]

Death Marshal [4ss]

Death Marshal [4ss]

Executioner [7ss]

Samael Hopkins [8ss]

Witchling Stalker [4ss]

Witchling Stalker [4ss]

Witchling Stalker [4ss]

In hindsight, I possibly should have replaced the Executioner with Nino, but against Kirai I tried to make him a target. Problem there is he is just too slow, and Kirai is able to ignore him, basically.

[cerealkiller195]

The executioner is very hard to justify unless he pulls off a game winning move and then you consider using him again every now and then. He is too slow to really be effective unless he is baby sitting gun lines or you have someone spam obey on him to make him dangerous. But if you are spamming obey you might as well take better models (models with trigger happy or better triggers) so it's personal preference.

have you thought about using the judge? his judged spell is pretty nasty against spirits and he can even cast it into a melee combat without any fear since it is not a spell. I tend to take nino a lot i just can't resist a cb 9 trigger happy model...

[Fastenhate]

Sorry about the limited ranged comment, I meant it as a warning. I am a new player and have had a few instances of trying to counter spells directed at my minions who were just outside the 3" range. It's definately something to think about as you position your force as you move forward to engage.

Thanks

Fastenhate

[cerealkiller195]

Not a problem at all it is true at times it does slip the mind so it is a good reminder. I tend to keep mid :tomes cards in my hand just in case i need to dispel a spell or two.

[Wulfen]

The executioner is very hard to justify unless he pulls off a game winning move and then you consider using him again every now and then. He is too slow to really be effective unless he is baby sitting gun lines or you have someone spam obey on him to make him dangerous. But if you are spamming obey you might as well take better models (models with trigger happy or better triggers) so it's personal preference.

have you thought about using the judge? his judged spell is pretty nasty against spirits and he can even cast it into a melee combat without any fear since it is not a spell. I tend to take nino a lot i just can't resist a cb 9 trigger happy model...

I've actually had a pretty good experience with the Executioner. He's not right for some strategies, of course, and probably not the one I had, but he's a great front line model. Your opponent is generally forced to deal with him before he gets to them, and if I can screen him with a Flame Wall or something to help with that, then he can be a real pain to deal with. He can one-shot many models, so your opponent will have to be careful what he commits to him, because I'll gladly soak up those wounds if I can get him right back with his StD action.

But anyway, to go back on the subject, Sonnia's avatar worked great in my game, but I misused the Burning tokens, I think. She was pretty low on wounds, and I was forced to use up almost all of my soulstones in defense, as I had Ikiryo's in my face the whole game. I got a couple models with Burning tokens and should have spammed that spell a couple times, then use them to heal her with her (0). But I got greedy and used them for extra damage instead.