Kaeris tactics

[HeavensWrath]

I'm finding myself at a bit of a loss with Kaeris in some games. It seems difficult to spread enough burning tokens around to get a really nasty bomb out of accelerant. What are some ways others have used to load up models with burning tokens? Also when using her ignite attack on severe, does it also give tokens to models hit by the blast or just the initial target?

[sephiroa]

I'm finding myself at a bit of a loss with Kaeris in some games. It seems difficult to spread enough burning tokens around to get a really nasty bomb out of accelerant. What are some ways others have used to load up models with burning tokens? Also when using her ignite attack on severe, does it also give tokens to models hit by the blast or just the initial target?

use the ranged or melee attacks from a lot of fire gamins, that shoud do the trick.

jup, models hit by the blast also receive a token

[CannonFodder]

I played my first game with her and had the following

Kaeris

johan

Joss

2 fire gamin

2 gun smiths

Here is something I saw.

1) Turn 1 use (0) on Kaeris to draw a card, turn 2, use healing ability to heal her back up and to damage the gunsmiths so they can use their (0). With that you have :+fate:+fate on attack, you don't care about def abilities that gives cover or you . Try to keep :tomes for gunsmiths to attack for increased damage trigger.

2) Fire gamin have a charge of 8 inches, don't be afraid to use it. you give burning tokens on you target. then follow up with Kaeris and Kill it, causing all models in 3 inches to get Burning tokens and 2 Dmg to everything in 2 .

3) Joss brings nothing to the list. He's MS&U but other that +2 Cb on Johan, worthless.

4) Remember to take 1 wds before attack flips for burning heart, Worth it on Gamble you life.

5) Fire pillars + Johan Knock back = out of frying pan into fire.

6) When damaged choosing between a damage flip or Paralyzed, is sometime a tough choice.

Well that is my first impression. Not sure I want to make her a crew I specifically buy for, but in general not bad. not sure of synergies with Large Steampunk arachnid(LSA) or SS miner. I see LSA has a charge of 8 with melee expert which give it the same number of attacks as Arachnid swarm after moving 8 inches. (charge + 1 melee vs Mov Mov +2 melee) then blow it up for burning tokens, but unless I intend on expanding my Ramos crew to use them also not sure if worth it.

I play 10 master now and have not played Ramos much recently, if i intend on expanding my ramos selections I would definatly get LSA for both Kaeris and him. 3 scrap tokens on a 5 SS model make it worth it. Just fro Kaeris, worth it.

I see the Kaeris box a good selection on minions to either a company Ramos or Raspy. As a full crew, I'm still not sure, I would have to try again against a more experience opponent, I don't see enough output to really maximize her performance, but I think 3 fire gamin are required to fully take advantage of fire abilities.

[HeavensWrath]

I have found that Kaeris and her crew give pandora nightma4es. So much smouldering heart flying around she can't get a whole lot of momentum. Kaeris behind Ramos seems ace to deal with a Pandora crew.

[Orboros]

I'd say 3-4 fire gamins and, if you don't have problems with proxies, Iggy. Works well for me if you try to maximise the potential of the burning tokens and fire abilities

Edited October 28, 2011 by Orboros

[sephiroa]

I'd say 3-4 fire gamins and, if you don't have problems with proxies, Iggy. Works well for me if you try to maximise the potential of the burning tokens and fire abilities

the only thing about iggy is that his ranged attack doesn't give buring tokens.

but even so, use pacify, walk up the board and use playing with matches.

but I'm not seeing how good iggy is in a kaeris crew

[dsmiles]

But...how does Kaeris get to use Fire Gamin? When she leads a crew, she can only hire non-Master M&SU Members and Special Forces (M&SU Assets). I'm confused...:confused:

[Koali]

The Gamins themself allow her to hire them!

Its on their Cards...

[dsmiles]

The Gamins themself allow her to hire them!

Its on their Cards...

How did I miss that?

[CannonFodder]

How did I miss that?

Plus they are in her box...

[LoboStele]

I find that an excellent way to utilize Kaeris is via her Turn it Up trigger, and then Accelerant or Immolate. Her damage output with her ranged attack doesn't seem much at first, but you basically gotta remember that it's not really 1/2/3:blasts. It's really more like 2/3/4 or 1+Slow/2+Slow/3+Slow because of the burning tokens. Plus, since her trigger automatically goes off on the first attack, you should be able to dish out 3-4 burning tokens with 2 AP, and then do Accelerant or Immolate with the Casting Expert.

The Fire Pillar and Knockback trick is a really nice one though. Will have to give that a shot!

Gunsmiths are down-right awesome, but I want to find a way to heal them. I think that's the only weak part about them, is that once an enemy starts wailing on them, they go down relatively quick.

Haven't tried Iggy yet, myself, but I think the Pacify tricks he can pull off bring some very nice versatility to a Kaeris list.

Lastly....board control. If your opponent has a strategy requiring lots of movement around the board, or something like Treasure Hunt or Supply Wagon....almost nothing beats the combined table control of Raspy's Ice Pillars and Kaeris' Flame Wall. Crazy stuff.

Don't bother with those tricks against Nephilim or Kirai though, LOL.

[CannonFodder]

I find that an excellent way to utilize Kaeris is via her Turn it Up trigger, and then Accelerant or Immolate. Her damage output with her ranged attack doesn't seem much at first, but you basically gotta remember that it's not really 1/2/3:blasts. It's really more like 2/3/4 or 1+Slow/2+Slow/3+Slow because of the burning tokens. Plus, since her trigger automatically goes off on the first attack, you should be able to dish out 3-4 burning tokens with 2 AP, and then do Accelerant or Immolate with the Casting Expert.

Thats not 100% true, Burning tokens do stack, but the damage/slow does not. when you remove them you remove all burning and then give damage/slow. If you can see 3+ models from Kaeris before she moves then the possible output is really good, but if you play lots of terrain her LOS should be limited to 2 models, Give you a turn of Move, Double shoot, those with burning tokens.

[LoboStele]

Thats not 100% true, Burning tokens do stack, but the damage/slow does not. when you remove them you remove all burning and then give damage/slow. If you can see 3+ models from Kaeris before she moves then the possible output is really good, but if you play lots of terrain her LOS should be limited to 2 models, Give you a turn of Move, Double shoot, those with burning tokens.

Yeah, I suppose the damage I listed is true assuming you only attack each target with Ignite once in a turn, which is how I usually do it, unless I get lucky with Turn it Up triggers, and don't have any better targets.

It's too bad Kaeris' spells don't do additional damage based on the # of Burning Tokens a model has, like Sonnia's Avatar does. Then again, Kaeris is only a Henchman.

[Thalaric]

Having proxied Iggy, I can say he is definitely another good way to get some burning counters going. Using Incite and his 'I push towards you' trigger off of that get him in a nice clump of models and then cast Playing with Matches 1-2 times (depending on cards in hand and flips) and tag a bunch of models with damage and burning - just make sure the only models you have in the zone are Fire Gamin!

Sending a Fire Gamin as a sacrificial pawn is usually good too in a pinch. Position him in a spot where he will tag several models when he dies and then have Kaeris either blow them up for some unopposed burning counters or just let the opponent kill them for damage and burning, then they explode for more damage and burning on everyone else

[CannonFodder]

It's too bad Kaeris' spells don't do additional damage based on the # of Burning Tokens a model has, like Sonnia's Avatar does. Then again, Kaeris is only a Henchman.

I vaguely recall Sue doing something per burning token, but considering he does not work as a part of her crew or with Gunsmith (he hates ruthless) in pretty much dropped any combo ideas with him.

[LoboStele]

I vaguely recall Sue doing something per burning token, but considering he does not work as a part of her crew or with Gunsmith (he hates ruthless) in pretty much dropped any combo ideas with him.

Sue has a way to dish out Burning Tokens via an Aura, but yeah, he can't be in a crew with Ruthless models, so that rules out pairing him with the Gunsmiths. And he's not Special forces, so you can only put him in the crew if you have another Master as the leader. Still though, I don't think he's a bad choice, necessarily. Just a different option.

[evilmerlin]

What do you guys field Kaeris with at 30ss if you take everything in the box?

Another Gunsmith? Large Arachnid or a Soulstone miner? MORE Fire Gamins?

Edited October 31, 2011 by evilmerlin

[sephiroa]

What do you guys field Kaeris with at 30ss if you take everything in the box?

Another Gunsmith? Large Arachnid or a Soulstone miner? MORE Fire Gamins?

LSA or SSminer, i never tried the union miner, but he has a lot of love from some people here

[dsmiles]

What do you guys field Kaeris with at 30ss if you take everything in the box?

Another Gunsmith? Large Arachnid or a Soulstone miner? MORE Fire Gamins?

Currently a Soulstone Miner. (I don't have the others, and won't play models I don't own.)

[Calmdown]

I won't run Kaeris on her own, but I think she's probably the strongest 8 point model Arcanists have, mainly stemming from the fact that not only does she have great damage/control potential but also fills in one of the gaps in most Arcanist lists; mobility. Running her with Marcus for objective grabbing or Rasputina for blowing things up is pretty damn good.

I'm still not sold on Fire Gamin. 4 points to give out a couple of tokens and then likely die (or just get shot, and die, against many lists) is not really that much better than Ice Gamin. I think they may be suffering from 'new model syndrome' in that people are taking them just cos they can (and cos they're in the box).

Gunsmiths on the other hand... absolutely excellent, excellent model. I've been using them for quite a while and it's nice to finally have minis for them. They're one of the few models in the game that can pull their weight despite the lack of a (+1) action, thanks to their ridiculous +atk and +dmg flipping and great damage line with trigger. Plus thier defensive stuff and Smoldering Heart. So good!

[Sholto]

I plan to run Kaeris with Colette - not because of any great synergy, but just because the Arcanist gals should stick together.

In that vein, and with synergy in mind, I am keen to see how Kaeris gets on with Myranda (ie. turn into Raptor, make Kaeris a Beast and then use her spells all game long). If you can get Burning Tokens on things, it might work well.