Catching up
Month 3
Carrying on from volume 2, we had the following shopping list using the month 1 bumper of $60 and month 2's first $25 installment:
Stopping interacts is incredibly big, both Distract and Cursed Object the enemy need to interact directly with your crew, if Tannen is near by, he stops this.
So why have I not mentioned the Beckoners much?
At the end of the day, I need more games with these ladies under my belt (that kind of sounds suspect doesn't it?) but 7 soulstones has felt like a lot for a support piece.
Maybe I should only field the one rather than both to have less of that pressure.
Dark Debts - $40
Giant Weasels - $18
Beckoners - $16
Mr Tannen - $11
Giant Weasels - $18
Beckoners - $16
Mr Tannen - $11
Total Spent - $85
Money remaining - $0
Nothing to drag over to this month ideally I don't want to spend all the money so I can make some future plans.
Now Mr Graves was the obvious choice as month 2 I got myself Mr Tannen, more on that guy later.
The other thought was the Depleted, some cheaper models that also can tie into the Brilliance sub theme the crew has.
So why would I want Mr Graves? His melee attack has a built in trigger which aids Tannen, helping throw his only real protection back up if he has activated and allowing him to be Manipulative once more, this melee attack itself hits very hard Ml6 with weak damage of 3 is very handy and it's other trigger Crushing Strike takes each ram and adds positive damage meaning if need be Graves can smash 6 damage into the enemies face fairly easily.
The other thing Mr Graves unlocks is Tannen's built in attack trigger which has Graves be able to push 5" towards the targeted enemy.
A nice combo with Tannen still keeping back and casting from 10" and giving Graves some extra speed which is simply a very handy thing for a guy who wants to be in the middle of the fight.
Graves also can push things about, the enemy (which he can get a trigger to then hit) and even his own crew, only once a turn, but that is nice enough if I consider I've already got the Kamaitachi to do the same.
Graves and pushes, Super Weasel and pushes and the Beckoners Lure can create a fairly controlling crew.
The Depleted however are also back on the radar.
They're only 4 soulstones, they can hand out Brilliance, are quite quick due to a (0) action push and for their cost are resilient.
As I said last volume:
"The guys are tar pits, with both Hard to Wound and Hard to Kill and 8wds they have some staying power.
They need it at Df3 which is really poor but they actually want to die, at least amongst the enemy.
Consumed which is on the front of their card means, when they die, they pop, not only dishing out 2 damage to everything (not just enemies) with 2" but also Brilliance."
Their a cheap minion which deserves attention and are hard to disengage from.
This means the enemy will kill them, possibly getting hurt and allowing some Brilliance tricks, but also, more importantly, sucking up what is probably much more valuable AP from your opponent.
As stated before these nice little packages are Insignificant but they are not Peons, they can still help outnumber in Recon and Turf War, plus still do a good job of guarding a flipped Squat marker.
Reckoning and Stake a Claim they will stay in the case.
4 soulstones is so cheap and in the end, this is what has pushed me to pick The Depleted.
Currently the minions are 7 stones, the totem and Tannen come in at 4 and 6 but overall leaving me realistically only fitting other minions in and I tend to want more than that in some Strategies, especially Reconnoiter.
Also, though Mr Graves will definitely be added one day, I am happy with Mr Tannen's role right now and Graves can hit stuff but the Illuminated do a fine job for now.
Still only time will tell if that decision is right.
Now Mr Graves was the obvious choice as month 2 I got myself Mr Tannen, more on that guy later.
The other thought was the Depleted, some cheaper models that also can tie into the Brilliance sub theme the crew has.
So why would I want Mr Graves? His melee attack has a built in trigger which aids Tannen, helping throw his only real protection back up if he has activated and allowing him to be Manipulative once more, this melee attack itself hits very hard Ml6 with weak damage of 3 is very handy and it's other trigger Crushing Strike takes each ram and adds positive damage meaning if need be Graves can smash 6 damage into the enemies face fairly easily.
The other thing Mr Graves unlocks is Tannen's built in attack trigger which has Graves be able to push 5" towards the targeted enemy.
A nice combo with Tannen still keeping back and casting from 10" and giving Graves some extra speed which is simply a very handy thing for a guy who wants to be in the middle of the fight.
Graves also can push things about, the enemy (which he can get a trigger to then hit) and even his own crew, only once a turn, but that is nice enough if I consider I've already got the Kamaitachi to do the same.
Graves and pushes, Super Weasel and pushes and the Beckoners Lure can create a fairly controlling crew.
The Depleted however are also back on the radar.
They're only 4 soulstones, they can hand out Brilliance, are quite quick due to a (0) action push and for their cost are resilient.
As I said last volume:
"The guys are tar pits, with both Hard to Wound and Hard to Kill and 8wds they have some staying power.
They need it at Df3 which is really poor but they actually want to die, at least amongst the enemy.
Consumed which is on the front of their card means, when they die, they pop, not only dishing out 2 damage to everything (not just enemies) with 2" but also Brilliance."
Their a cheap minion which deserves attention and are hard to disengage from.
This means the enemy will kill them, possibly getting hurt and allowing some Brilliance tricks, but also, more importantly, sucking up what is probably much more valuable AP from your opponent.
As stated before these nice little packages are Insignificant but they are not Peons, they can still help outnumber in Recon and Turf War, plus still do a good job of guarding a flipped Squat marker.
Reckoning and Stake a Claim they will stay in the case.
4 soulstones is so cheap and in the end, this is what has pushed me to pick The Depleted.
Currently the minions are 7 stones, the totem and Tannen come in at 4 and 6 but overall leaving me realistically only fitting other minions in and I tend to want more than that in some Strategies, especially Reconnoiter.
Also, though Mr Graves will definitely be added one day, I am happy with Mr Tannen's role right now and Graves can hit stuff but the Illuminated do a fine job for now.
Still only time will tell if that decision is right.
Dark Debts - $40
Giant Weasels - $18
Beckoners - $16
Mr Tannen - $11
The Depleted - £21
Giant Weasels - $18
Beckoners - $16
Mr Tannen - $11
The Depleted - £21
Total Spent - $106
Money remaining - $4
$4 spare is not the biggest amount but $29 next month gives more leeway or at least I can move the savings on to a larger purchase down the line.
Dark Debts from Element Games - £22.10
Giant Weasels from Otherworld miniatures - £11
Beckoners from Element Games - £9.34
Mr Tannen from Element Games - £6.38
The Depleted from Element Games - £11.90
Giant Weasels from Otherworld miniatures - £11
Beckoners from Element Games - £9.34
Mr Tannen from Element Games - £6.38
The Depleted from Element Games - £11.90
Total Spent- £60.72
Money remaining - £3.78
Two in Review
Let's have a chat
While discussing what I had decided to buy for Month 3 I mentioned one purchase from the previous month in particular quite a bit, good old creepy Mr Tannen.
Tannen was a fantastic purchase for me and you may have heard me discuss him a little on some @malifools episodes as well as saying it was in my top 3 Wave 2 models when on Isle of Faux Records (@IsleofFauxRecs) hosted by Ben Crowe@jondoe297b) and Austin Capewell (@Oathius).
6 soulstones is a bargain for him, being an Enforcer he can hold an upgrade which means, if needed I can Recalled Training or something that gets discarded to have the Kamaitachi push and heal him.
take
take
Recalled Training is always a go to as it so cheap and usually better than a soulstone in pool, usually.
The main reason Tannen is so great is that Chatty is a dominating ability.
Stopping interacts is incredibly big, both Distract and Cursed Object the enemy need to interact directly with your crew, if Tannen is near by, he stops this.
Your opponent Delivering a message, not if Tannen is about.
Breakthrough, Tannen stayed home, sorry.
Plant Explosives, Spring the Trap, these especially in Turf War are also easy for Chatty to stop.
Helping stop Plant Evidence, Power Ritual, Protect Territory and Line in the Sand is also great along with both the Stake a Claim and Squatter's Rights Strategies.
That was a lot of listing sure, but you can see how much far blocking interacts reach.
Mr Tannen does have to do a 1 action to raise the Chatty bubble but there isn't much else Tannen does need to do bar walk into position.
Leave it to Luck has all the potential I thought it did last volume, but in practice I never felt I wanted to do it unless I had a grip of Masks.
If the opponent is reliant on Tomes I can also see using it to thwart their efforts.
Bore to Tears is great if an enemy is already slow (movement wise) or is having to rush, this can ruin their day but really this ability isn't really at it's best without Graves about.
Bacon-huh?
So why have I not mentioned the Beckoners much?
Well simply I haven't had much luck with them.
Possibly it's just the strategies I've played or the positions they've been in but they have not really been worth their 7 soulstone cost to me.
Lure is great, it's range is fantastic so the Beckoners can keep away from the harm and although Ca6 isn't as powerful as the Ca8 of Rotten Belles but is usually enough to force through or have the opponent waste high cards.
Despicable Promises was where I wanted the Beckoners to shine.
10" is fairly close and well within a lot of enemies threat range, the 1/3/4 damage spread is nice but really is the tag ability to being able to hand out Brilliance, the real reason to cast this.
I fancied the idea of handing out Brilliance easily, opening up the possibility of more damage from the Illuminated being the main reason as well as unlocking Final Debt for Jacob Lynch himself.
The issue I have found, timing.
Lynch does like activating last for the extra cards, but not in a pinch, Illuminated if they have the chance also like to charge rather than be charged.
However, this means that the Beckoners would go after and handing out something which drops at the end of the turn would be mostly irrelevant.
Beckoners can keep Brilliance from dropping off but they need to be within 3". Three inches.
That is far too dangerous for Df4 models with 7 wounds. Admittedly their Don't Bite the Hand ability helps protect them, but if the enemy is attacking the Beckoners late (when the ability to cheat may be less likely) a negative flip still has a good chance of beating the poor stat.
Going first with the Beckoners is the way to do all these "brilliant" combos, but that ends up dictating some of the timing and pace, which I do not feel comfortable with.
At the end of the day, I need more games with these ladies under my belt (that kind of sounds suspect doesn't it?) but 7 soulstones has felt like a lot for a support piece.
Maybe I should only field the one rather than both to have less of that pressure.
Precognition
Month 3 spending is done and Month 4 in the actual #ToMB time scale has actually passed.
With a Month 4 game under my belt and interesting direction that I have decided to plan for I hope next volume will be a good read and a good insight into where a collection can go.
Don't forget, this time we spoke a lot about Neverborn models, but this is a Ten Thunder party.
Thank you again for reading
-Ben Sime (@psientologist)
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