New to Gremlins

[flindo]

hey guys, I am new to Gremlins, and new to Malifaux in general, now I am waiting for the plastic kits to come out but I have a few questions surrounding the gremlins;

the main thing I am probably going to want is Bayou gremlins, but the question is how many would I normally want to take? they seem to be incredibly cheap compared to other people's basic troops so I wouldn't mind having swarms of them.

secondly, I was wondering if Som'er is solid, hes probably going to be the guy I start with and play with quite a bit before I pick up another.

and last, what is the general theme of gremlins, what kind of army are they, whats their strengths and weaknesses?

 

thanks for any replys!

[Brewmaster]

First off, welcome to Malifaux! I think you'll find the Gremlin faction to be incrediby enjoyable

 

So... questions. Bayou Gremlins are incredibly useful for getting multiple objectives done at once. In a game that's won by getting Victory Points, if you can just do more stuff than your opponent can, they won't be able to stop you. How many you need is dependent on how you like to play and if you have Somer as a master. Personal experience, having 6-8 on hand, run with 3-4 in the starting crew.

 

Somer is a generalist master. He can do a little bit of everything okay whereas other masters do that one thing great. He's highly adaptable, so you can find multiple playstyles with him.

 

Gremlin theme... outactivation is something you should be pushing with Gremlins. In a standard game where your opponent has 5-8 models on the board, you should have 7-10. Your models will be a bit squishier, but you should be taking more actions than your opponent. Big weakness is going to be low willpower.

 

Hope this helps!

[Omenbringer]

Som'er is fairly solid and provides a lot of versatility. He can be configured a few different ways with all of them providing solid support for the crew. If you are looking to go with his crew then you are going to want 8 Bayou Gremlin's (possibly more). I would also recommend Lenny, a Slop Hauler and some piglets. He and Lenny can do great things with the Pigapult also.

 

I would recommend a read of the Pullmyfinger wiki articles for him (both the M2e and 1.5 entries). I would agree that out activation is very important as is deck shaping and deck cycling. I would also stress that Bayou Gremlin's and Piglets aren't really about strength of hit but quantity. Willpower isn't as much of an issue as it was last edition thanks to the Liquid Bravery and Encouragement upgrades.

[flindo]

thanks for the replys, as far as having a lot of bayou gremlins that shouldnt be a problem, as I want to have 16 eventually, which is twice your starting reccomended number XD, well thanks guys and would appreciate more comments of course referring ot other things in the faction to help me get started.

[J Rzasa]

I'm fairly new to Gremlins myself, but have been rather successful with them here in the early going.  Obviously I'm not the definitive source, but maybe what I'm fielding can help you out.

 

I'm currently 3-1-2 in the 6 actual games I've played. There were some test games in there that I don't count because we weren't using scenarios and schemes, which basically means we weren't playing the game.  That really should be 4-1-1, but there was some confusion in a game and we called it a tie.

 

I use Somer pretty exclusively.  I used Ofelia once for an Achievement Tournament, and while I was sucessful in that game, I didn't like the way she played.  She's far too aggressive, and I've found if you try to go toe to toe with something like Neverborn you're going to get chewed alive.  While I am looking forward to playing with Ofelia more, especially once I have her entire warband in plastic, I'm staying away from her until I'm more comfortable with the game and models.

 

In our area, we've been playing at 45 Soul Stones.  I'm fielding Somer, 4 Bayou Gremlins, 4 Piglets, a War Pig, and a Hog Whisperer. With Somer, I field the upgrades Can of Beans, and Pig Feed.  This allows me to more or less cover the board with models, and the 2 models with the 8" Pork Whispering Rule allows me to keep the piglets and War Pig in line. The Piglets are my stars.  At Def 6, and having the Small special rule, they are perfect for pushing the field quickly and setting scheme markers.  It's hard to shoot them, and you can keep them far enough from the Hog Whisperer to stop things from shooting him.  The 1 action charge is also really nice, because Master's that have Defensive Push triggers can't run from the initial charge, they will simply get charged again with the second action. (Please let me know if there is a rule against charging twice, looking through the rules I can't find it.)

 

Just a side note, I said that in my experience going toe to toe with some warbands will get you chewed to bits, I'm sure there is a way to make Gremlins into a beaty type warband.  In fact, Ofelia's crew is really good, and there are plenty of good, tough models.  I don't see a reason to do this, especially when the game is truly won and lost on the backs of Objectives.  Not saying it can't be done, I just don't find it optimal.

 

~J

[Scirian]

Som'er is probably the best choice to start in gremlins.

He's how I started in the faction and I've never looked back.

He is great for almost any situation.

Though I tend to be a bit timid with him as a backfield summoner, he can scrap with the best of them by doubling his damage profiles via Thinkin' Luck.

I think that's the beauty of Som'er, there are so many ways to play him, and it's good for whatever your playstyle might be.

Try him with different crews and see what happens.

 

Strength lies in gremlins' ability to get luck on their side.

Bayou Two Card is so good that it makes my head spin.

The ability to cheat from the top of the deck makes my opponents crazy.

Also the number of AP skyrockets with gremlins.

Most of Som'er's crew has access to Reckless, which means 3AP per model.

When you have more models than your opponent and increase their AP in addition to that, you effectively double your available action pool.

To recap: Doubling Actions, Doubling Chances, Doubling Trouble

 

As far as things to augment Somer:

I would always recommed a Slop Hauler; they keep my green army alive.

I really love the Kin with Som'er as well.

Franc is probably my favorite Henchman; point him at something and it dies, auto dumb luck means his damage profile in melee is 4/6/10. He never survives the game, but he removes one or two massive threats before he turns to green mush (he Red Jokered the Strongarm Suit...I felt bad)

Raph is possibly the tankiest of the gremlins; with an average number of wounds and armor, Raph can take a pummeling, add in Dirty Cheater and you have a near immortal gremlin!

Rami is an easy sell, but Franc and Raph are my preferred Kin, but to each his own; he has a long ranged rifle, the ability to dumb luck, and an easy cast heal, with reckless. Turn one, move him to position, following turns, reckless, focus, fire, heal, repeat. Take him with dirty cheater and you can get two shots off without needing to heal.

Lenny is popular...I don't love him, the big dumb brute, but he has his uses.

[flindo]

I really like the idea of upgrades, the games I played before this is warhammer fantasy, 40K, warmahordes, firestorm armada, Infinity, Battletech and Xwing, while I would say its presentation is most similar to warmahordes, it is truely unique and I am looking forward to playing a game that is quite different to anything else