testing the bayou waters

[KoreyMalifaux]

Hey all! So I'm a hardcore neverborn player. I picked up lilith box set first, then collodi, then z. Love neverborn. Lately though it seems as I've been bit by the gremlin bug. Bad. Skimmed through the fluff and I'm just loving the idea of a horde of crazy exploding pigs being driven by a wave of green nasties. Now I'm left with a decision. I know I will have to buy a bunch of models if I pick up Som'er box. And Ophelia seems like a good choice as her box is full of goodies from the get go. Can all you experienced bayou swashbucklers suggest a box, and why, and what models to pick up for those boxes first?

[Swan]

Kind of depends what you are looking for. If you are looking for a shooty army, similar to Perdita, then the Ophelia box set is great. Buying that box set, and adding in a blister of Young Lacroix will give you everything you need to start. After that, you flush out with some Bayou Gremlins to form the Gremlin Gun line. Other good adds would be a Pigapult for the Pere Ravage bomb, and a Taxidermist. The Taxidermist will take those poor Bayou Gremlins that have fallen and return them to the fight as Stuffed Piglets.

Now for a Som'er crew, before you ever start you need to add to his box set. His boxed crew has only 16 points of minions. The first things to add to this box would be a couple of Mosquitoes and some piglets. This will get your Pig Boomerang rolling. After these I would lean towards a Hog Whisperer, if you like running the Warpig, and a slop hauler.

Just a couple of ideas, I run both crews and have a lot of fun with each.

[frofgarm]

I just started playing gremlins after playing only showgirls. So far I have only played the lacroix, but I agree with swan. All you need to add is the young Lacroix and a few bayou gremlins. My next game I do plan on adding Lenny to the mix. So far i haven't won with the gremlins but have had lots of fun with them. Fun enough that I'm playing them in both the friday and saturday tourneys at gencon.

[KoreyMalifaux]

I think I'm definitely leaning towards the Som'er lead crew. I love the pigs!

[Omenbringer]

I just started playing gremlins after playing only showgirls. So far I have only played the lacroix, but I agree with swan. All you need to add is the young Lacroix and a few bayou gremlins. My next game I do plan on adding Lenny to the mix. So far i haven't won with the gremlins but have had lots of fun with them. Fun enough that I'm playing them in both the friday and saturday tourneys at gencon.

If you are going to run Lenny in the crew then I would suggest also bringing enough to set up a few Pig ladders. It really does help overcome his biggest deficiency. Coincidently I am in the process of building a Lenny specific tactica for Pull my finger.

[djkickz]

If you are going to run Lenny in the crew then I would suggest also bringing enough to set up a few Pig ladders. It really does help overcome his biggest deficiency. Coincidently I am in the process of building a Lenny specific tactica for Pull my finger.

super excited for this.

[Dumb Luck]

I think I'm definitely leaning towards the Som'er lead crew. I love the pigs!

I would advise against Somer's box set in that regard. It contains the Warpig - which isn't great - and most importantly, lacks the work horses/pigs of the list in the Piglets.

Two packs of Piglets, a Whisperer and a few Skeeters would be a fine next set of purchases. The usefulness of the Avatar can't be overlooked either.

[Omenbringer]

Definately agree that Som'er's crew box isn't great (for any of the standard builds) but it does form a nice base for the crew. No matter the build Som'er is going to want the staple models (Bayou gremlin, Skeeter and Piglet) in it.

Hell I have even been fielding the Warpig a lot more since the Taxidermist came out, he provides a lot more bang for the SS when he leaves three corpse counters for summoning Stuffed Piglets in a neat little pile upon his Death (dont recommend using this against Ressers ever BTW).

---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:12 PM ----------

super excited for this.

Me too, since historically I have been one of his biggest detractors (but I bought him so I might as well figure out a way to field him right?).

[KoreyMalifaux]

Great advice all. I kinda had my heart set on Som'er but as my LGS doesn't keep extras on hand such as piglets, whisperers, etc I will probably start out with Ophelia box and expand from there.

---------- Post added at 12:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:49 AM ----------

Not to mention I'm the slowest painter you've ever met, and that will help keep the model count down

[Omenbringer]

Not to mention I'm the slowest painter you've ever met, and that will help keep the model count down

Gremlins and Pigs paint surprisingly fast, especially in batches. You can usually get away with just a basecoat and a wash (for gremlins an avocado coloerd green and brownish-red wash, for pigs a mid flesh tone and brown wash). They look great with a very limited pallet.

[Dumb Luck]

A Piglet can be rush painted in about ten minutes.

Curious to see what you have planned for Lenny. I just think with Dumb, he's overcosted by a mile.

Ophelia is still not a bad start. She can be combined with Somer at a later date and is most liely, an easier crew to start with. Would get two packs of Gremlins, a pack of Young LaCroix and Slop Haulers next on your list.

[Omenbringer]

Strongly agree with Dumb Lucks recommendations for a starting Ophelia crew.

For the most part any gremlin crew is going to cost you more than just the crew box.

[Murphy'sLawyer]

Ophelia player and winner here. Her crew is much stronger than many would suggest. Though not many here have mentioned it bring a slophualer or two becuase with all the reckless and dumb luck that you 'will' be using the Slophualer takes all the gremlins from fodder to major threat.

The trick is finding out which models work well off each other for your style. I myself don't take bayou gremlins and still win far more than i lose with them, so the myth you have to run gunlines to be strong is not correct.

I also found Lenny to be very friendly with Ophelia and will be bring him often. He can take a heavy hitting with no problem and slophualers just makes him a headache for my opponent.

One thing to keep in mind, Ophelia is strong and can be great in combat but she is a support master first. Run your youngins in the front and use Rami to bait out your opponent into your firing range. Do not take the bait and move in to your opponent.

I can typically remove 80-90% of my opponet's crew while still have more than 50% of my crew left. Heck I have tabled more than a few crews while only kissing my Youngins and Pere, and I ment for them to die.

Remember you do have a lot more control over what will die than a lot of other crews. But positioning and order of activation is everything. Your crews stats and card flips don't mean much as long as it doesn't go completely south. Average flips will win you games.

[Omenbringer]

There is a lot of good advice up there but also some things that need to be expanded upon a bit more.

Slop Haulers are good but should usually be taken in pairs as they cant heal and move (though Ophelia can push one over with Oooo! A Girl! it will cost her a 0 action to do it) in the same turn. They are also very squishy so losing one is very hard on Ophelia since she has no way to replace losses or heal models without them.

Lenny can hit surprisingly hard but his problem is actually getting to the fight, his lack of Cg is a big problem. This is even more evident when you figure that he is more than likely going to be taking a Wd per turn just to get his 2 AP. Additionally, he is competing with the Slop Hauler for Ophelia's Oooo! A girl! free push.

I agree that Ophelia is definately a good support Master (though she can also get in and do things herself if needed). This is the reason you usually see recomendations for gunlines with lots of Bayou Gremlins (and full compliment of Young Lacroix's) it's so you can maximize the benefit of that support. From a practical standpoint hiring the whole kin will cost you 22 soul stones and provide 4 models for supporting (with 3 of the support abilities wasted since they are already represented on most of the models). Put another way that same 22 soul stones could hire 11 Bayou Gremlin's all of which can benefit from her support abilities. Each Kin model is the equivalent of 2.5-3 Bayou Gremlins which have the same or higher Df, more total Wd's (with each just high enough that your opponent will most likely need to either flip or cheat moderate damage to kill one or have it skitter away thanks to Squeel! and risk retaliation), more AP per turn, higher damage output (with or without the Dumb Luck Trigger in effect) and greatly increases the chance of out activating your opponent (which is a very large part of most gremlin strategy).

Dont get me wrong Ophelia and the kin are a great start (and are definately capable of winning) however augmenting the crew is a very viable option (especially once an opponent figures the crew out).