Post by osiris on Jan 27, 2020 20:45:48 GMT -5
This is probably more of a Secondary posse, or a posse to be played in lower point value games, as it can use its Posse bonus at ANY size (even just the boss), and can only have, at max, 6 total units.
Let's look at the boss first then dig in to the options of which 6 units you will bring with him:
Viktor himself is fairly resilient, with a Durable Grit-7, Tough, and Indomitable, combined with the Taint check reroll to help keep him alive, he's not going to be super easy to bring down. He does lack Quick and the Dead though. When he does go down, at least you have Dying Breath as a consolation prize (assuming he's close enough) His attacks are above average, but nothing amazing. In fact, even though he has Rapport, the only thing he can use it for is to make a meat cleaver strike brutal. (It has recently been ruled that Rapport can only be used on the model's OWN activation). He also only has 2 fortune to share with his posse, so he's honestly not that impressive for his 170 points. Obviously his main purpose is to use Mutagenesis, but that DOES have a remarkably short range, and consumes one of those fortune chips, so you better have one available.
OK, All 6 slots are essentially the same:
Slot 1 allows Skip McKidney, OR any Mutation Unit
Slots 2-6 are any Mutation Unit.
Here's the list:
Pollux, Castor, Hexed Skinshifters, Kreechur, Juiced Hex Beasts, Nazombu Snake, Hex Beast Pack, Opie-Creation VIII, Fratelli, Marcus Cunningham, Nizhoni, Khali, Vivian Espinosa(golden army), and Kodiak(mercenaries)
Pollux and Castor are literally identical. They're actually decent little melee units, as they have Mettle along with Durable Grit-6. They're not slow, but as they need to stay very near the boss, it is painful to notice that they do not have teamwork, nor are they even faces. Their attack when away from the boss is reduced to 2 attacks at -2 each, which still isn't bad though. Their other obvious use is to use loyal companion to take hits for Viktor without burning fortune on take one for the team.
Hexed Skinshifter Pack - these are actually really good, as you can spend some big points and make them into a large pack of 6 models. They're also not unique, so technically you could take more than one of these units. They're Grit 5, but they do have mettle (which is less useful in groups, as disorder spreads to the entire unit...) but they are very fast, and have moving target, and are absolute blenders of death in combat, with three attacks at reach of 1" with -2 pierce and they frenzy!
Kreechur - this thing is really more of a bodyguard. its attacks are not impressive (and its swallow whole attack is very hard to use, being heavy and a melee attack, basically unless he's getting compelled out of his own turn, it's unlikely that he'll be able to use that attack anyway) However, it is Durable Grit-7 with tough AND hardy, and still has loyal companion for taking hits meant for the nearby boss. This loses attack power of Castor and Pollux, but is much more defensive. He also comes with his own fortune chip, but he does cost considerably more points than Pollux or Castor.
Juiced Hex Beast Pack - These actually aren't terrible either, as they are also Durable Grit-7 and have two really good attacks. They can also make ram attacks, and have bullrush which makes them fairly quick to get into melee. They also explode when dying giving out hazard tokens (like most hex beasties), but can can still make a taint check and come back as the smaller version of themselves.(well the last one in the unit anyway...) The real value here, is included in the cost of this unit is a free hexalith. For their cost, these are quite effective. Limit 2 hurts, and their mind is low (as is the mind of many things in this posse, see the discussion about this below) so they're easy to compel.
Nazombu Snake - A unit that can move and fight on its own, like the hexed skinshifters. It is much cheaper, but far less effective in combat as the skinshifters are, even if it is a bit more resilient. It does have a neat trick though, as its frenzied attack can spend an extra action point to hit at pierce -8... no that's not a typo, its an EIGHT. and if it hits, it hits twice... so, yeah, that could be an instant kill. Again, it has low limit, and low mind, making it vulnerable to compel (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, again, see below)
Hex Beast Pack - dont take these... ok they're cheap, but for a good reason. and you should have plenty of points to spend in this posse. They are already reanimated, so the posse bonus is lost on this unit as they can't use it. and if they get isolated, their limit drops to 1. plus their attack is already not amazing until you get into very large packs, but then their footprint on the tabletop gets enormous, especially trying to stay at least 2" from each other. Seriously, pick something else for this posse. If you wanna play with these, go look at Lucretia and Tibula's posse
Opie - Creation VIII - everyone's favorite snake model. Another Durable Grit-7 with both tough AND Hardy, not to mention the rerolled taint check, this bugger is pretty resilient. He has the strangly difficult to use Swallow hole attack of Kreechur, and the super powerful frenzied attack of the Nazombu Snake (that can still be raised to -8 pierce) and he even has a pretty decent normal attack, and a hazardous giving torrent shooting attack. He can frenzy as well, but that's more of just a luck thing. and he's super quick. He still has low mind but he's legendary and immune to compel... ugh. At least it has a limit of 3. It does have an additional drawback though, Viktor's resurrection ability doesn't work on him, because he's a Legendary unit.
Fratelli - (Quatto lives!) He has one of the worst drawbacks in the game, with Split Personality, as you never know how many action points that he will have on your turn. The only way to turn this ability into an advantage, is to give him those 1 Action point card draws, as he'll trade it in for the next random card in the deck. He comes with two fairly unique and above average shooting attacks, but honestly, the reason to bring this guy in your posse, is compel. He can make some of the big nasty monsters, WAY nastier by compelling them into lots of extra actions. He competes for a slot with Khali (see below) but remember Fratelli is the only one of the two that can be brought back with mutagenesis, and even with reanimated, can still spew out a bunch of compels each activation.
Skip McKidney - The Sawbones. you take a posse with a lot of high grit, durable units, and put a sawbones near them, and they're going to be bouncing alot more attacks off of themselves. He's not got the mega killing power of some of the other units in this posse, but the drug pistol should never be underestimated, as stun knocks tough right away, and it CAN even disorder units as well. Plus the fact that it's a ranged weapon, which is already rare in this posse, and he comes with his own fortune chip, I think he's a must-have for this posse, UNLESS you take multiple Hardy units, then he doesn't really bring anything.
Marcus Cunningham - one of the few Face choices, he's actually one of the least impressive units in the posse. he's not particularly fast, and only has a melee weapon, and he's durable Grit-6, which is good, but alot of other units in this posse are better. He's got limit 3 and a normal mind stat though, and does come with a fortune, so he's about worth his points. Honestly, I'd skip him though if I was building this posse.
Nizhoni - Fast, with Mettle, Quick and the Dead, and moving target, you can almost excuse her not having durable and "only" grit-6. Her torrent engulf attack suffers from a low aim stat, but her razor claws are still quite good. Honestly though, the REAL reason to bring this unit, is if you want to use Invigorate. Many of your powerhouse fighters in this posse are limit 2. As long as Nizhoni can see them and is 12" away, she can boost this up to 3, which can be very helpful, especially in melee heavy posses.
Khali - this is a terrible choice for this posse. She's Legendary, so Viktor can't use mutagenesis on her, and her shooting attacks, which look good because they can hand out negative status modifiers, are only Aim 3... She does have a very good melee attack at least. She ALSO brings compel though, which may be the only real reason to consider bringing her. Fratelli or Khali are your only choices for bringing compel, and both have fairly hefty drawbacks. I think Khali's are worse, but your mileage may vary. Sadly, with only 6 slots, I dont really see any way to bring both of them, adding lots more compel, as you just wont have that many things to compel, BUT, it could be done.
Vivian Espinosa - Another big 'special' hex beast, this is not a serious choice for this posse, as she can't use her frenzied attack. Her hammer hands ARE still a very good melee attack though, with RoA2, Stun, Brutal and Death Dealer. Using her mettle though brings her down to limit 1... You CAN use this unit, but probably should not if you aren't playing Golden Army and can bring Sofia with her.
Kodiak - this guy can hit HARD, or he can hit often. and he can pick and choose between the two. He's not quite as mobile as some of your other options for a melee unit, but he's not slow. He does have mettle and Quick and the dead(which is almost guaranteed to work once a turn due to sure foot), but is "only" Grit 6 and no durable. His real power is in this Juiced axe, Overcharged is an amazing ability, and this does it on EVERY hit, not just a crit. and he can spend an extra action point to make it pierce -6! Frenzying with the razor claws and quick striking is also a real possibility (and he can make them pierce -4 for one action even), he also comes with a fortune, so he's a good solid choice for this posse.
OK, so, how to play this posse? It will depend on which units you pick... You CAN take alot of independent, hard hitting melee units, like Kodiak, Hexed Skinshifters, Marcus Cunningham, and even Opie, then just use the boss as support, probably with Castor and/or pollux to keep him around, and skip mckidney helping keep your killers alive. This would be the easiest way to play this posse. However, this is a much more sinister way to play this posse as well.
After taking the boss, and your choice of bodyguard. Get two big packs of Juiced Hexbeasts, Skip McKidney, and both Fratelli and Khali. Move in echelon formation, Hexbeasts up front, a row with the boss, Skip, and whichever bodyguard you brought in the middle, and Fratelli and Khali in the back. The juiced hexbeasts then get compelled over and over and over, dishing out huge amounts of punishment. Skip helps keep them alive (they're already pretty rugged), and the boss can BRING THEM BACK if they die...
You can play a hybrid of this method and the first method as well (which may be the best of all. The boss, one bodyguard, ONE pack of hexbeasts, Skip McKidney, and One of the two compellers, and then use your other two slots for more independent killers, like Kodiak and a pack of Hexed Skinshifters. THAT would be a nasty posse with lots of tactical options and tons of units that will be frustratingly difficult to kill, and may come back even when you manage to kill them!
Let's look at the boss first then dig in to the options of which 6 units you will bring with him:
Viktor himself is fairly resilient, with a Durable Grit-7, Tough, and Indomitable, combined with the Taint check reroll to help keep him alive, he's not going to be super easy to bring down. He does lack Quick and the Dead though. When he does go down, at least you have Dying Breath as a consolation prize (assuming he's close enough) His attacks are above average, but nothing amazing. In fact, even though he has Rapport, the only thing he can use it for is to make a meat cleaver strike brutal. (It has recently been ruled that Rapport can only be used on the model's OWN activation). He also only has 2 fortune to share with his posse, so he's honestly not that impressive for his 170 points. Obviously his main purpose is to use Mutagenesis, but that DOES have a remarkably short range, and consumes one of those fortune chips, so you better have one available.
OK, All 6 slots are essentially the same:
Slot 1 allows Skip McKidney, OR any Mutation Unit
Slots 2-6 are any Mutation Unit.
Here's the list:
Pollux, Castor, Hexed Skinshifters, Kreechur, Juiced Hex Beasts, Nazombu Snake, Hex Beast Pack, Opie-Creation VIII, Fratelli, Marcus Cunningham, Nizhoni, Khali, Vivian Espinosa(golden army), and Kodiak(mercenaries)
Pollux and Castor are literally identical. They're actually decent little melee units, as they have Mettle along with Durable Grit-6. They're not slow, but as they need to stay very near the boss, it is painful to notice that they do not have teamwork, nor are they even faces. Their attack when away from the boss is reduced to 2 attacks at -2 each, which still isn't bad though. Their other obvious use is to use loyal companion to take hits for Viktor without burning fortune on take one for the team.
Hexed Skinshifter Pack - these are actually really good, as you can spend some big points and make them into a large pack of 6 models. They're also not unique, so technically you could take more than one of these units. They're Grit 5, but they do have mettle (which is less useful in groups, as disorder spreads to the entire unit...) but they are very fast, and have moving target, and are absolute blenders of death in combat, with three attacks at reach of 1" with -2 pierce and they frenzy!
Kreechur - this thing is really more of a bodyguard. its attacks are not impressive (and its swallow whole attack is very hard to use, being heavy and a melee attack, basically unless he's getting compelled out of his own turn, it's unlikely that he'll be able to use that attack anyway) However, it is Durable Grit-7 with tough AND hardy, and still has loyal companion for taking hits meant for the nearby boss. This loses attack power of Castor and Pollux, but is much more defensive. He also comes with his own fortune chip, but he does cost considerably more points than Pollux or Castor.
Juiced Hex Beast Pack - These actually aren't terrible either, as they are also Durable Grit-7 and have two really good attacks. They can also make ram attacks, and have bullrush which makes them fairly quick to get into melee. They also explode when dying giving out hazard tokens (like most hex beasties), but can can still make a taint check and come back as the smaller version of themselves.(well the last one in the unit anyway...) The real value here, is included in the cost of this unit is a free hexalith. For their cost, these are quite effective. Limit 2 hurts, and their mind is low (as is the mind of many things in this posse, see the discussion about this below) so they're easy to compel.
Nazombu Snake - A unit that can move and fight on its own, like the hexed skinshifters. It is much cheaper, but far less effective in combat as the skinshifters are, even if it is a bit more resilient. It does have a neat trick though, as its frenzied attack can spend an extra action point to hit at pierce -8... no that's not a typo, its an EIGHT. and if it hits, it hits twice... so, yeah, that could be an instant kill. Again, it has low limit, and low mind, making it vulnerable to compel (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, again, see below)
Hex Beast Pack - dont take these... ok they're cheap, but for a good reason. and you should have plenty of points to spend in this posse. They are already reanimated, so the posse bonus is lost on this unit as they can't use it. and if they get isolated, their limit drops to 1. plus their attack is already not amazing until you get into very large packs, but then their footprint on the tabletop gets enormous, especially trying to stay at least 2" from each other. Seriously, pick something else for this posse. If you wanna play with these, go look at Lucretia and Tibula's posse
Opie - Creation VIII - everyone's favorite snake model. Another Durable Grit-7 with both tough AND Hardy, not to mention the rerolled taint check, this bugger is pretty resilient. He has the strangly difficult to use Swallow hole attack of Kreechur, and the super powerful frenzied attack of the Nazombu Snake (that can still be raised to -8 pierce) and he even has a pretty decent normal attack, and a hazardous giving torrent shooting attack. He can frenzy as well, but that's more of just a luck thing. and he's super quick. He still has low mind but he's legendary and immune to compel... ugh. At least it has a limit of 3. It does have an additional drawback though, Viktor's resurrection ability doesn't work on him, because he's a Legendary unit.
Fratelli - (Quatto lives!) He has one of the worst drawbacks in the game, with Split Personality, as you never know how many action points that he will have on your turn. The only way to turn this ability into an advantage, is to give him those 1 Action point card draws, as he'll trade it in for the next random card in the deck. He comes with two fairly unique and above average shooting attacks, but honestly, the reason to bring this guy in your posse, is compel. He can make some of the big nasty monsters, WAY nastier by compelling them into lots of extra actions. He competes for a slot with Khali (see below) but remember Fratelli is the only one of the two that can be brought back with mutagenesis, and even with reanimated, can still spew out a bunch of compels each activation.
Skip McKidney - The Sawbones. you take a posse with a lot of high grit, durable units, and put a sawbones near them, and they're going to be bouncing alot more attacks off of themselves. He's not got the mega killing power of some of the other units in this posse, but the drug pistol should never be underestimated, as stun knocks tough right away, and it CAN even disorder units as well. Plus the fact that it's a ranged weapon, which is already rare in this posse, and he comes with his own fortune chip, I think he's a must-have for this posse, UNLESS you take multiple Hardy units, then he doesn't really bring anything.
Marcus Cunningham - one of the few Face choices, he's actually one of the least impressive units in the posse. he's not particularly fast, and only has a melee weapon, and he's durable Grit-6, which is good, but alot of other units in this posse are better. He's got limit 3 and a normal mind stat though, and does come with a fortune, so he's about worth his points. Honestly, I'd skip him though if I was building this posse.
Nizhoni - Fast, with Mettle, Quick and the Dead, and moving target, you can almost excuse her not having durable and "only" grit-6. Her torrent engulf attack suffers from a low aim stat, but her razor claws are still quite good. Honestly though, the REAL reason to bring this unit, is if you want to use Invigorate. Many of your powerhouse fighters in this posse are limit 2. As long as Nizhoni can see them and is 12" away, she can boost this up to 3, which can be very helpful, especially in melee heavy posses.
Khali - this is a terrible choice for this posse. She's Legendary, so Viktor can't use mutagenesis on her, and her shooting attacks, which look good because they can hand out negative status modifiers, are only Aim 3... She does have a very good melee attack at least. She ALSO brings compel though, which may be the only real reason to consider bringing her. Fratelli or Khali are your only choices for bringing compel, and both have fairly hefty drawbacks. I think Khali's are worse, but your mileage may vary. Sadly, with only 6 slots, I dont really see any way to bring both of them, adding lots more compel, as you just wont have that many things to compel, BUT, it could be done.
Vivian Espinosa - Another big 'special' hex beast, this is not a serious choice for this posse, as she can't use her frenzied attack. Her hammer hands ARE still a very good melee attack though, with RoA2, Stun, Brutal and Death Dealer. Using her mettle though brings her down to limit 1... You CAN use this unit, but probably should not if you aren't playing Golden Army and can bring Sofia with her.
Kodiak - this guy can hit HARD, or he can hit often. and he can pick and choose between the two. He's not quite as mobile as some of your other options for a melee unit, but he's not slow. He does have mettle and Quick and the dead(which is almost guaranteed to work once a turn due to sure foot), but is "only" Grit 6 and no durable. His real power is in this Juiced axe, Overcharged is an amazing ability, and this does it on EVERY hit, not just a crit. and he can spend an extra action point to make it pierce -6! Frenzying with the razor claws and quick striking is also a real possibility (and he can make them pierce -4 for one action even), he also comes with a fortune, so he's a good solid choice for this posse.
OK, so, how to play this posse? It will depend on which units you pick... You CAN take alot of independent, hard hitting melee units, like Kodiak, Hexed Skinshifters, Marcus Cunningham, and even Opie, then just use the boss as support, probably with Castor and/or pollux to keep him around, and skip mckidney helping keep your killers alive. This would be the easiest way to play this posse. However, this is a much more sinister way to play this posse as well.
After taking the boss, and your choice of bodyguard. Get two big packs of Juiced Hexbeasts, Skip McKidney, and both Fratelli and Khali. Move in echelon formation, Hexbeasts up front, a row with the boss, Skip, and whichever bodyguard you brought in the middle, and Fratelli and Khali in the back. The juiced hexbeasts then get compelled over and over and over, dishing out huge amounts of punishment. Skip helps keep them alive (they're already pretty rugged), and the boss can BRING THEM BACK if they die...
You can play a hybrid of this method and the first method as well (which may be the best of all. The boss, one bodyguard, ONE pack of hexbeasts, Skip McKidney, and One of the two compellers, and then use your other two slots for more independent killers, like Kodiak and a pack of Hexed Skinshifters. THAT would be a nasty posse with lots of tactical options and tons of units that will be frustratingly difficult to kill, and may come back even when you manage to kill them!