Radiant (Part 2)

My Force

In the last part I covered the basics of what I had to bear in mind when undergoing the decision to use a Radiant Knight for my second Cadre.
This opens a lot of doors into grabbing miniatures outside my factions that I either like the sounds of on the table or simply really just want to paint.

Last time I left off with a list of models, some of which are actually either old Collector's models which have rules or the super sweet "Darkspace" models. The latter  part of this could be a list in itself.

• Candy Knight - 16pts
• Darkspace Candy - 9pts
• Darkspace Zineda - 13pts
• Darkspace Fiametta - 10pts
• Total - 48pts

This would be an awesome little Cadre for a small game simply adding a boost or two, I'd probably go for a couple of Esper condensers to power these girls up.

Candy the Leader

Before we delve into the list I really want to build, we better look at Candy herself, along with Cola to see what they bring to the table.
Being a force of Uniques synergy is going to be at a premium and not totally necessary, but definitely worth bearing in mind if we have to decide between two different models.

Corporate Sponsor is Candy's Cadre Ability. Allowing everyone to have their own Heal 3 for (2)(1) , this plays well into the lone wolf style play the Unique's may have to employ but also the fact it takes creation and essence esper is worth noting.
Candy representing three Esper affinities means in game I will want cards from that side of the wheel but if with mulligans and discards I can attempt to concentrate on only two this shall make the force hopefully more consistent even if my activation order is messed around with.

Candy has a great Melee and Shooting attack with a guard that can hold off overpowered, along with Recover which can improve with held Esper she should be able to deal with most fights.

Her other big thing is Caffeinated Cure-All an AoE which gives Recover 2, further keeping the Uniques alive but also can be pressed in a whole manner of situations, +1 attack skill, +1 defense skill  and +1 armour. This is a big game, either pressing a little to tweak a situation the way it needs to go or fully powering up many already strong models.

Cola, Candy's cute and cheeky companion is a great Cypher to have about.
The typical Channel and Master abilities will always be good as dealing with less models means you do want to ever waste actions, Esper is key.
Oh, and look one of his unique abilities helps with just that. Enough To Share place and AoE that gives out Held Esper.
According to boosts and terrain I can see having Cola in my queue early on just to set up the troops ready before they go on.

My Choices

One of the main reasons I am personally going to be taking Candy as a leader is that I want to do a Relic Knight lead Cerci Speed Circuit force but not be sat in a mirror match with one of my regular opponents too often.

This means that the choices in my cadre are going to lean towards the green side of things.
Hopefully this helps me create a Cadre that can sculpt better card hands through out the game.

That list again but removing all not Radiant or Cerci models.

Uniques for Candy:

• Candy Heart,
• Cordelia Clean,
• Ayu Beat (collector’s model),
• Suicide Queen (on foot, collector’s model),
• Darkspace Candy,
• Rin Farrah,
• Betty,
• Lug,

To start with I'm going to look at building a 70 point force. It is worth nothing that for the purposes of hiring Knights count as Uniques and this would mean that Candy could take another Knight with her at this size game.

Now this could prove to be a strong strategy but I aim to refrain from this, first off I really want Candy as the clear leader and secondly I feel I should be able to squeeze more into the list by not fielding two knights.

With Candy already chosen and costing 16 points we have 54 left to play with. Hopefully with enough models around the 10 point mark we can have a total of seven models including Cola.

To start I want

Betty and Lug

These two do not have to be fielded together but I think Linked will prove to be very outnumbered if I end up being outnumbered.

Lug is one of favourite models in the entire range and this is a painting project, however Lug is also really hand at being a blunt instrument to smash things with.

(2)(1) for Damage 6 is a cheap and consistent attack via Lug Smash this with a press that although leans into Chaos is only costing 2 more Esper and getting a huge 8 damage.

Not only does Link mess around with activation orders and your opponent when they think they know what is going on, Knockback on Lug's Clamp attack will also help mess these things up too.

Finally, a ton of wounds and a Guard with Backlash means that Lug can tussle with some of the tougher models out there.

Betty also uses a lot of Creation esper keeping what I want in my hand a little bit more clear.

Her Rivet Gun using 4 of said esper will be able to dish out 6 damage with shooting which can be handy finishing things off or backing up the Uniques who are diving in and out of melee.

Her other abilities like pushing Lug about and the fact she deal more damage due to him about are a good reason to take both. Lug also armours up Betty if she gets in close.

21 points well spent.

Next

Suicide Queen (Unique)

Thematically I can see Suicide Queen in this form following Candy into battle before she starts really taking her own lead with the Hell's Belles and company.

Again, another fantastic model to paint up which can also prove as some practice for the Questing Knight at a later date.

Game wise of the bat it helps for my list that again we have another 10 point model but it doesn't help that she is fairly reliant on Chaos esper. However knowing that Lug will occasionally want it makes this not so much of an issue and with the Held esper Cola can dish out this could help any problems too.

After all Suicide Queen can hold four esper which is a lot for just a Unique.

She isn't greedy with amount she needs anyway, Roll of the Dice a fairly random shooting attack only needs 2 to start with and Ace in the Hole her overcharged attack is only (3)(1) before pressing and still gets you Damage 6.

Juke her guard needs a bit more and although she uses Gun Kata I just hope she can avoid trouble a bit.

Lastly, Speed Trap the Knight versions Cadre ability appears as an AoE Debuff here and may also prove handy creating positions to pounce on the enemy or hold them off of Objectives with it stopping their follow up moves.

Wanting some more Held Esper really brings my eyes to

Cordelia Clean

It's costly at (4)(1)(1) but Spark of Life allows Cordelia to hound out lots of held esper as if she was a one shot of Cola's AoE, a very nice early turn play and great if Ms Clean decides to go "tag team style" on the enemy.

Team wise her Vacuum could really be a vicious move to allow someone like Lug to get the charge but because it is Pull 6(to 8), Line it can drag a lot of the enemy out of position or possibly more importantly into the firing lines of my models.

Cordelia's main attack Trash Day is solid, Damage 6 again which is a number that seems to appear a lot but with Line will at the very least make my opponents think twice about how they are keeping their models as if they don't hitting multiple things with this will be an amazing win for me.

Cordelia is a little more expensive than the other things I have selected so far at 13 points, but with her 7-4 Fly movement and the fact she has Channel Esper you can see why she is not cheap. Self sufficient but can be a great team player. A solid choice and again an awesome miniature.

Lastly with 10 points left to spend I can't quite afford Rin Farrah so is up between the two other Candy's I have available.

Game wise although technically the same person as the Knight you can field them together legally because their names are different. Maybe it's just a super fan who got their name changed?

My choice

Candy Heart

over Darkspace Candy for a few reasons. To start as painting project I think I will hold off the cosplay models for another time, maybe to do the silly 50 point list previously mentioned.

Game wise although Hyakuretsu Kyaku "Hundred Rending Legs" Chun Li's classic kick is a cheap Damage 5 with Rapidfire that if done with enough Presses could prove deadly it still requires more Esper than Heart's Sweet Slice.

The cosplay variant has a psychic attack which is a fire ball for up to Damage 6 but Heart has a gun than can do the same.

The big pull to Heart over Darkspace is simply that a Redirect tends to be better than a Guard, on top of this Heart is an Initiate for both Creation and Esper where as Chun Li is not.

Finally Heart being 8 points rather than 9 finishes this list at 68 points and gives me a lot more choice for boosts.

So there we have it 68 points. 7 Models and a decent amount of power.

Now to get painting and hopefully return with toys to show for a Part 3.

-Ben (@psientologist)