Colette Conundrum

[Iamwyrd]

So I've been out of the game for awhile. (1 yearish) And the other henchmen at my lgs is starting a fall/winter league and figured it would be a great starting point for me to jump back in. It gives me time to paint my crews and get missing models.

So my question is do most Colette players use a performer and mannequin?

If not what is a typical list you bring with Colette?

Im just trying to figure out what to paint for the league and back when I did play I never really brought a performer and mannequin. Just wondering if times had changed?

Thanks in advance for any advice or list posts.

[Jonas Albrecht]

Yes. The Performer and Mannequin make their way into a lot of Colette lists. I know most people place a higher value on the Mannequin for it's companion ability, durability, and Colette EVAC shenanigans, they're both pretty useful.

[Iamwyrd]

Cool thanks Jonas

Anyone else is free to post their thoughts too.

I have another quick questions, I stopped a month or so after book 3 came out so I never really got to use effigies. If I bring colette and the arcane effigy, does this stop colette from summoning doves? Or does it just stop her from hiring it from the get go? (Sorry if I should have posted this in the rules section.)

[Hateful Darkblack]

A typical Colette list looks something like this: Colette, 2 Coryphee, Cassandara, Performer + Mannequin, and a Mechanical Dove.

It's a pretty effective list, too.

[LoboStele]

Bringing the Arcane Effigy keeps you from 'attaching' any totems, so as soon as you summon a dove, it goes poof. Or, you might not be able to summon it at all. Whatever the case, I don't think the Effigy is worth using with Colette.

As for the Performer/Mannequins...yes, definitely worth it. The Mannequin is the only model with 'Companion (Showgirl)' so you need at least 1 in order to pull off Alpha Strikes. The crew TedPro listed is a really good 35 point crew. For what it's worth, I beat a 35 point Chompy + 3 Teddies list with that same crew last night (actually, I started with 2 doves). Granted, I DID get the Mannequin Replacement trigger off 3 times in that game, LOL.

[Iamwyrd]

Thanks tedpro, that seems like a solid list. Does it work for any strategy or do you need to tweak it depending on what you strategy get?

@lobo that's what I figured, I just wanted to make sure colette didn't have some exception of being able to summon hers. Thanks.

[Ozz]

That is a fairly standard Colette list above, and rarely gets tweaked to often, it is not great at slaughter, but it does objectives very well, and is fast so can hide and hit and run if needs be so i can deal with it, it should just end in a low scoring game as far as the SS dead goes.

As for the performer and Mannequin, i have never not taken one of them, i tend not to use the companion often yet, but i like the safety that it provides with Colette's illusionist ability.

[Iamwyrd]

That is a fairly standard Colette list above, and rarely gets tweaked to often, it is not great at slaughter, but it does objectives very well, and is fast so can hide and hit and run if needs be so i can deal with it, it should just end in a low scoring game as far as the SS dead goes.

As for the performer and Mannequin, i have never not taken one of them, i tend not to use the companion often yet, but i like the safety that it provides with Colette's illusionist ability.

I mean now that I think about it, I feel sort of stupid not taking one, because you get two models for 6 points and like you said it is another 2 models for Colette to escape too. So I will paint one up for the league, and use one.

Also its a slow grow league, so its 25,30,30,35,35 for the games, is colette even possible st 25 stones, alot of her minions seem expensive?

[Adran]

She is certainly Viable at 25 stones.

Choice of models is more scenario dependant, do you put all your eggs in a duet of baskets? Go with Cassandra and performers? Or look outside the show girls for help? Johan is a cheap damage dealer for example

At the lower levels, the performers are well worth the value, you're getting 2 activations for 6 SS, and a possible paralyse, which Cassandra can copy.

The manniquins Link can be used with illusionist to get free movement of what ever showgirl you want.

Edited August 15, 2012 by Adran

[Iamwyrd]

The manniquins Link can be used with illusionist to get free movement of what ever showgirl you want.

Im not sure what you mean by this???? Could someone explain this?

[Ozz]

Basically the Mannequin Links to Colette.

Colette then uses Illusionist on say Cassandra (who is in trouble and needs to excape before she gets hit)

Then for a second AP Colette wants to escape and so she uses Illusionist again on the Mannequin.

Then Colette uses or does not use her 0 action, your choice.

Then her activation is over, and the mannequin pops back into base contact with Colette, so this big threat on one of your models is now able to hit none.

And i just realised now having typed that that it was pointless as i miss read the quote:P

I am not sure what link has to do with it for just getting free movement going places, but you can use Colette to jump back and put someone else where she was if it is more useful for you at that point in the game. Basically illusionist can be used just the once if you prefer, that is the best can think of for it atm?

[Adran]

Ozz has explained what I meant.

By having a model that moves not in its activation, using it in Illisionist can mean you're not leaving a model behind.

Sorry the explaination wan't clear.

I often link to a corephee, which will get somewhere good on turn 1. Then on Turn 2 I will switch Colette there, and when I move the Corephee, the manniquin will snap back to the corephee.

Using this remember Link ends when used again, or the models are not in base contact at the end of the turn, and the linked model will move into base contact at the end of a move action, or the end of the activation

[Iamwyrd]

Oh I see what you mean now, thanks ozz and adran. I've never really like the performer and mannequin, but now I see that they are an important asset for colette. Man I feel dumb. . I would normally go outside the showgirls with kaeris joining colette and bringing her special forces and just having colette produce soulstones for kaeris.

[13th Warrior]

Once you get your head around the way Colette's movement shenanigans work she'll make your head spin let alone your opponent's!

If you want a cheeky free move and have a :tomes you can spare, try Companioning Colette and the Mannequin, then have the Mannequin bash Colette, cheat in the :tomes (if needed, you may flip one) and trigger A Blinding Flash. Colette can then swap with (to continue the example above) Cassandra, the Mannequin receives Slow, but doesn't care because it already is, and Colette can then activate, using 1 AP to switch with the Mannequin and leaving 1AP free to do other cool stuff!

Also, if using Johann and / or a Gunsmith (or really any model, but those two work well with Colette) consider using Disappearing Act on those two if you have the :masks for the Sleight of Hand trigger (this gets you your Soulstone back, so you Bury them for free!), swapping Colette upfield, then, at the end of the turn you unbury them within 6" of Colette, leaving your opponent with a headache as he has two big hitters and Colette to deal with next turn (obviously you need to think carefully about where and when to use this, but done right it can be devastating).

Cheers

Rob

[Ozz]

Oh I see what you mean now, thanks ozz and adran. I've never really like the performer and mannequin, but now I see that they are an important asset for colette. Man I feel dumb. . I would normally go outside the showgirls with kaeris joining colette and bringing her special forces and just having colette produce soulstones for kaeris.

Sorry slight derailment to follow but:

See Rob, Colette is actually just a SS factory for Kaeris, that is all! What do i keep telling you?

[LoboStele]

Actually, I don't think the Colette/Kaeris combo is all that powerful, personally. I don't think it's bad, necessarily, but there are other things I'd rather pair Kaeris with.

I think you lose out on too much of Colette's offensive usefulness if you don't have enough other Showgirls to work around her.

[Ozz]

This is Rob, he won a Tournament with guild, he can win with that combo

[Odin1981]

Please don't believe what most say about colette not being able to fight. She can and does fight really well its just that she is more hit, kill, and run. When she does this instead of most crews running to get stuck in then swinging for the fences.

People say she can't fight or sucks at slaughter but you generally have 3 of the quickest and durable models in the game that can also use ss to add to their impressive defences. All you have to do in slaughter is hide the performer and doves and just concentrate on models to focus down with cassie and duet that are isolated or out on their own. And if the enemy places their models closely together then companion cassie and duet use duet first have her tag a model for a minus to duels (via the mask, book combat trigger) stay within 6" of said model activate cassie port in with the move to or switch with duet spell and breath fire 1-2 times on said model and dump the templates on the closely packed together models.

In slaughter if you are good at hiding performer and doves all you really have to due is kill like 10ss worth of models and then just play keep away and you will win like 95% of the time all you have to remember is try to never leave cassie or the duet near a enemy master at the end of a turn before their defenses can be set up and you will be fine.

[13th Warrior]

This is Rob, he won a Tournament with guild, he can win with that combo

Nope, still not convinced - I'm with LoboStele on this one - Kaeris, Cassandra and the Duet put far too much strain on Colette's Soulstone production to make it a really strong combo, especially as the minions for Kaeris and Colette are not complementary.

Plus it kind of forces you into a slower, less mobile, offensive game as opposed to the hit and run tactics that the Showgirls do so well.

And no, Colette really doesn't suck at Slaughter, not sure why this keeps rearing its head - Cassie and the Duet have such range and speed that nothing's truly safe from them, and you can switch out the more vulnerable Performer for Johann, who's really quite nasty for 5ss. After all, if you need a Mannequin you can always make them in game; I like making them out of Peacekeepers or the various Riders *evil*

[Iamwyrd]

Ya I never had too much luck with my kaeris and colette combo other than with slaughter. But if I got any other strategy it was too slow.

But thanks everybody for the input, it is really helping me wrap my head around colette. Raspy is my main Arcanist master and I want to expand my knowledge into colette and ramos. Im okay with ramos, I just suck with colette. Lol

[fritz the cat]

Nope, still not convinced - I'm with LoboStele on this one - Kaeris, Cassandra and the Duet put far too much strain on Colette's Soulstone production to make it a really strong combo, especially as the minions for Kaeris and Colette are not complementary.

Plus it kind of forces you into a slower, less mobile, offensive game as opposed to the hit and run tactics that the Showgirls do so well.

And no, Colette really doesn't suck at Slaughter, not sure why this keeps rearing its head - Cassie and the Duet have such range and speed that nothing's truly safe from them, and you can switch out the more vulnerable Performer for Johann, who's really quite nasty for 5ss. After all, if you need a Mannequin you can always make them in game; I like making them out of Peacekeepers or the various Riders *evil*

Id say they're less weak at slaughter, and more struggle when they need to take out models that have lots of H2W or armor, as the damage splits arent terribly strong across the board. A few choice models can help make up that pitfall tho.

People I find play colette crews far too purist. You dont need 100% synergy if the models you add help you succeed in your strat/schemes