Colette crew tactics and gameplay

[Drake]

Hi All,

Having played with Colette quite a bit now, and having worked out what I think are some good tactics and gameplay when using her, I thought I would post up my thoughs and suggestions for using her and her crew.

This is a different approach to the way Mr Nybbles originally did his Tactica, so hopefully it brings something different to you for your perusal...I have not focused on individual models, instead looking at overall gameplay and tactics to be used making the most of the synergies between models.

Please feel free to give any comments you have, or suggestions for tactics I havent included or those you feel could be tweaked to make them even better!

This is a work in progress.....but hopefully if we can flesh this out between us, it can go onto the Pull My Finger Wiki...

Due to the length I will post this in parts in this thread...

Edited September 8, 2011 by Drake

[Drake]

Attacking Tactics

Cassandra Snipe (v Dreamer) Version1

- Move Performer 10” forward first (see where Dreamer goes…). Then Coryphée Duet & Dove move up 18” towards Dreamer, Cassandra Dance Partners and Nimble forward and make flame attack (severe). Then use Bash on Colette to illusionist with Performer to get forward and then illusionist out the front 2 girls.

Cassandra Snipe (vDreamer) Version2 if good starting control hand

-Move Performer 10” forward first (see where Dreamer goes…) Then Dove and Coryphee Duet move up 18" towards Dreamer, Mannequin Link and Bash Colette to switch with Duet. Colette move up 4" then switch with Cassandra. Cassandra Nimble forward then 2 attacks with Flame Burst. Colette then Switch with Cassandra and Switch with mannequin to pull back .

Sirens call Lure (v Dreamer)

- Lure Daydream away from him to enable attacks on the Dreamer

Indirect Attack (v Df 8 models and Pandora/Dreamer & Nightmares/Kirai & Seishin)

- Orchestral Crescendo (preferably via LeapFrog),

- Cassandra Fire Blast lower Df enemy model next to target.

Leapfrog Assault (Companion) ideally 13-18” away from target

- Coryphée Duet attack, Cassandra switch attack, Mannequin Bash Colette to switch attack and switch back with linked Mannequin which bounces back to Colette.

Poison Leapfrog attack (Companion) Any distance up to 18”, ideally within 12”

- Coryphée Duet attack and Paralyse spell attack for 3rd action, Cassandra switch attack and Understudy Duet’s Paralyse spell, Mannequin Bash Colette to switch attack and switch back with Performer, who then attacks the 1 or 2 Paralysed models for 4 Poison counters each!

Kidnap (Companion)

- Coryphée or Cassandra move up to within 8” of target, Mannequin bash Colette into range for disappearing act, then illusionist out with linked mannequin (esp against dreamer’s nightmares and Kirai’s Seishin when necessary to target/damage Master)

Combination Leapfrog & Kidnap

- As above but Disappearing Act against different target with Colette rather than Magicians Duel on same target

Switch and Flank Attack

- Coryphée move 27”, Performer move 10” towards Coryphée, Colette switch with Performer then Cassandra. Cassandra dance partner to join Coryphée and attack

Jack Daw counter

- Do Kidnap on him!

Edited September 9, 2011 by Drake

[Drake]

Defending Tactics

Mobile Pyramid Defence (especially against Dreamer)

- Coryphée, Cassandra and Colette (at the base point) form up into an 18” Triangle, one on each point. Performer further back behind Colette just incase. This enables quick switching between models as the situation requires

Static T Box Defence (against Wp attack heavy opponents only, especially Pandora)

- Colette in centre of group with all friendly models within 4” forming T shape, Colette in top middle of T, Coryphée in one end, Cassandra on other end and Performer at the bottom of the T. Whole crew benefits from Wp bonus from Colette. NB: this easily enables Leapfrog, Poison Leapfrog and Kidnap tactics to be used…

Shutdown enemy big melee hitter

- Cassandra casts Mannequin’s Beautiful clothes on target melee monster

Mirrors Defence

- Mannequin and/or Cassandra cast Mirrors for protection

Reactive defence against Dreamer

Spread out for swaps with using Colette or Cassandra depending who the bomb is on..Always Keep Performer in range for Illusionist but out of the way in safety and Mannequin linked in base contact with Colette.

If Alp Bomb on Colette, Bash Colette with Mannequin (Mannequin is immune to Alps due to being Slow already). Colette swaps with safe model (Performer). Next Coryphee move in for the kill on 2 more Alps. Should make activations a lot easier now.

If Alp Bomb on Coryphee, Colette or Cassandra activates, swaps with Coryphee and then Magicians Duel/Flame Burst/Orchestral Crescendo on Alp(s).

If Alp Bomb on Cassandra, Colette swaps with Cassandra and Magicians Duel an Alp. Cassandra then activates and moves in to attack Alps, before Coryphee activates and does the same.

After my activations, 2+ Alps should be dead making activations a lot easier now.

[Drake]

Shared Strategy specific tactics for easier wins

Steal Treasure (Companion)

- For this, it may be worth taking a Student of Conflict..Give Cassandra Fast. Then run the Coryphee Duet up to the counter, Switch in Cassandra, grab the Treasure and Nimble back towards your Deployment zone with Southern Charm activated.

Claim Jump

- Disappearing act with Colette and Cassandra on centre last turn

Slaughter

- Hit and run attacks with Coryphée Duet, with help of Cassandra for moving around the board. Maximise kills and minimise losses. Drain Souls if necessary on Performer, Heal Duet and Cassandra.

Scheme specific tactics to achieve scheme VPs quickly

Power Ritual

- Coryphee Duet move up one side for 3rd corner interaction 2nd turn. Cassandra move up (and Harmless 1st turn if at ranged threat, or 2nd turn if first turn safe from ranged attack) opposite side for 4th corner interaction 2nd turn.

Bodyguard

- Hold onto the Black Joker if I get it in my control hand early on.

- Make most of Df Trigger

Sabotage

- Select a piece of terrain toward edge of board and preferably large to maximise contact

Edited September 8, 2011 by Drake

[Drake]

General Tactical Points

Always keep atleast 1, preferably 2, Mechanical Doves within 3” of Coryphée Duet

Keep any 3rd Mechanical Dove within 3” of Cassandra (for protecting switched Duet)

Activate Colette later in the turn to shift models around as needed, to avoid counter strikes/set up next turn, unless the tactic/situation specifically requires early re-positioning or cards/ss needed from her soulstone manipulation action

Remember the Bash ability of the Mannequin to reposition Colette before she activates

More Doves/Mannequins = more activations to control turns with

Coryphée activation can wait in a turn if it is not under immediate terminal threat and has Doves nearby. Colette/Cassandra may get it into a better position before it activates

[Fog]

For the life of me I never even considered using a mannequin to trigger Colette. *face palm*

[jty3]

Great post, Drake! I've been looking for a concise tactica like this. I will have to try out some of these tricks tonight.

[Mr_Smigs]

manaquin immune to Alp because it has slow already?

(IIRC, doesn't the alp have a statement that negates that, saying "even if the model already has slow"? don't have my book handy...)

[Dolomyte]

you can receive slow multiple times. so not immune.

@Drake really good post, keep it going.

[Ebonstar]

I really like the approach of this article. It's sort of "Intermediate Collette" once people get the hang of her basic rules. I especially like the Master specific tactics and look forward to what else you have to add.

[Drake]

manaquin immune to Alp because it has slow already?

(IIRC, doesn't the alp have a statement that negates that, saying "even if the model already has slow"? don't have my book handy...)

If that's the case I missed that...Although the tactic of activating the mannequin first still is sound as the Mannequin will be Wp 10 thanks to being next to Colette, so only need to flip a 2 or more to pass the Wp test to avoid gaining Slow again.

Thanks for the feedback. Please do contribute with further tactics and suggestions. Im interested to see what I might not have thought of... Apart from the uses of the Student of Conflict, I havent really looked at tactics that can be employed using models outside of the Showgirls.

There is also the flying bomb Doves tactic, but i'm not keen on this one as it generally involves 2 or 3 Doves being sacked that takes away the non Use Soulstone models' ability to use soulstones and Soulstones are precious! Though if you time it right you can have 4 explode in a single turn for 8 damage on a cluster of enemies... I may add this tactic if others feel it is worth including in the OP.

[Halflingspy]

For me, the flying bomb trick is the only way I've used them (only 4-5 Colette games under my belt), and I find it a godsend trick, especially versus ranged-heavy crews. Sacrificing a 2 soulstone model in order to slow down a perdita crew and get Nino trapped in melee for a while is priceless.