#ToMB2 Bound by Law (Martin) Month 1, Part 2

ToMB2 - Month 1, More Progress

So I’ve painted the crew and even managed to get in a game with them now. I played my good friend Luke Cocksedge (@Shakes1066) in a Guard the Stash game. I’ve promised him I won’t reveal what he was using, as we will both be attending a tournament soon (Gertfaux) and he’s scared that people will get the drop on him! ;0)

Anyway, I lost 9-3. Perhaps not a huge surprise as Luke is a very good player and I was limited by only taking the ToMB2 models I have. I was also quite reckless with my crew, throwing them in to see what happened. It was a good learning curve though and although I can’t do a battle report as such, I can write my thoughts on how the various models in my crew performed.

Starting with the Scribe: he’s a 2SS totem, so I wasn’t expecting great things. His built in trigger on his Ml attack did force Luke to cheat a couple of times to avoid its effects. I didn’t really get much else out of him though, the conditional removal option for Lucius could be handy, assuming he can keep up with his Master that is!

The Guild Guard were lacklustre. What I feel really let them down was their lowly Sh and Ml values of 4, they just never got to do much for me. Perhaps if they went later in the turn, when my opponent was low on cards, they may have achieved more. I never used their Menace tactical action but could see usefulness for it. The suit requirement does limit it coming into play though.

Guild Lawyers by comparison, were great! Okay, they cost 2SS more than a Guild Guard but I was able to make much better use out of them. One particular highlight was when one of Luke’s models killed a Guild Guard and then died itself due to the Lawyers casting Special Damages on it. I also made use of their Impassioned Defense (0) Action and all of the Abilities on the front of their card.

The Doppelganger was good but not great. The ability to cheat the Initiative flip was rarely used but I still think it’s a very useful ability to have. Mimic is also another very good reason to take the shape shifter but sadly I didn’t have many useful things nearby to copy most of the time. I must remember to keep her near to things that are worth mimicking in the future.

Dashel was resilient and was good at handing out Slow with his Baton but the low damage track meant that he was never really going to be much of a threat. His buffs to nearby Guardsmen were nice but overall I’m not sure I would value him at 9SS (12 if you include the upgrades I gave him)!

Lucius himself was great. Well, when I say great, I mean that he seemed to be quite difficult to get rid of primarily due to his Highest Authority Ability and high Df/Wp (Luke did eventually kill him in Turn 5). Other than that, I didn’t really use him as well as I could have. I did enjoy his (0) Hidden Sniper from the 2SS Secret Assets upgrade but most of his other Abilities and Actions didn’t come in to play.
So, what do I think so far? Well, I think on balance that I’d prefer to play Lucius as a Neverborn Master rather than a Guild one but for now I’m keeping my options open. A couple of things that I’m keen to try out are as follows:

1. Take an Illuminated and give Lucius the Wings of Darkness upgrade. This would allow me to use a Soul Stone to draw 3 cards rather than 2 after drawing my new hand at the start of the turn. I could then use the Devil’s Deal ability to put 3 wounds on the Illuminated and get the Soul Stone back. The Illuminated can then Regenerate 1 wound and Brillshape the other 2 in its activation. If I combine this with the Primordial Magic, I’d effectively be drawing 10 cards and discarding down to 6 at the start of every turn.

2. Take the Doppelganger and 2 Guild Austringers. With Lucius nearby, I can get 4 focussed shots out of this group a turn (1 each from the Austringers, 1 from the Doppelganger Mimicking and another from Lucius’ Commanding Presence walking nearby. With an 18” range at Sh7, ignoring LoS and cover, it should be quite tasty against anyone foolish enough to come too close. Of course, Dashel would make it even more effective but I still think he’s too expensive, so not sure I’d take him.

Anyway, that’s me for now. I’m starting to think seriously about my month 2 purchases, so stay tuned to find out what happens next!

- Martin (@MartinWodehouse)