Post by osiris on Jan 28, 2020 20:06:12 GMT -5
Version 1.091
This posse seems designed to teach new players how to play the game. Each unit is fairly straightforward and not overly complex. Also, throughout the whole posse, there's a wide variety of the actions and special rules included in the game. Plus they all seem to come with a fortune of their own and have mostly solid stats.
It is another posse design that makes us go... WTF? No, it's not a bad list, but the posse has Slots for 8 units beyond the boss, but literally only 7 exist to fill those slots with. And they're all Unique... so... WTF?
The posse bonus says if you fill all the slots, you get Prodigious, which isn't a bad bonus. Well, since we know who has to go in all the slots, I guess let's just look at everyone in the posse:
Starting with the Boss: Earle Shepherd
He's actually listed in both the Lawmen and in the Outlaws (Mercenaries) sections of the website, so can be a main boss in either force, and he can ally with Hex and Enlightened as well.
He's got straight 6's for stats, which means he's above average at everything he does (9's with prodigious when focused, which is really nice) The Volcanic pistols he carries are very good on their own, and when combined with Rapport (which he does have) they're incredible. He carries a standard Iron Asp as well for a slightly above average melee ability (but honestly, he'll just use it for the parry, as he can close work with this pistols as well). Form Up on me indicates that this posse is meant to be used alongside some other posse, because it CANT have any hands units. He's a headhunter, which is ok, and he comes with Check the Bounty, which is expensive to use, but good adventure deck manipulation. He also has Override Automata, but as discussed in the past, itqs a short range compel for use against automata, and is situationally useful only. He has the standard Mettle and Quick and the dead, and 3 fortune to share. He's an all around above average boss, with a great shooting attack, and a variety of semi-useful skills. A jack of all trades.
Lets look at who's coming with him now:
Brutus - The first slot must go to brutus, so no matter else who you bring, he's always coming with Earle. Basically your typical bodyguard unit skills, but surprisingly fragile, so he doesn't excel in this role. He's pretty quick, but doesn't have moving target, he has NEITHER mettle nor tough, and is basically only Durable Grit-5. He does some with his own fortune chip so he's not wasting the boss' fortune to grit-reroll. The frenzied attack can be particularly nasty, but he must be very near the boss to use it. At least he's fairly cheap. AND he is a face, for triggered activations.
Alan Knox - this is your indirect fire mortar/grenade guy. He also has shrewd strategist, which is an excellent card manipulation ability, otherwise he's a one trick pony. above average stats, but not particularly resilient beyond the usual, he's best best is to stay out of LoS and lob in blast templates, hoping for crits. Again, comes with his own fortune for additional self-preservation.
Razors Li - This guy already has prodigious, so that's a waste of the posse bonus on him. Again, he has the typical face survivability with mettle, quick and the dead and grit 5 (his extra quick will help a tiny bit here). This guy is your mid range high RoA shooter. Even though his weapons are identical, we think this is becuase when you activate "thrown" that becomes a ranged weapon, so it leaves him with the other one to still use in melee that turn, but that's just speculation, it could simply be for comedic effect. Either way, a RoA 3 attack with Aim 7 and Quick draw, is pretty darn good, and he can dish out alot of hits. Again, he comes with his own fortune to help keep himself alive. (remember on the lookout is a waste on him, as it drops his RoA to 1, and his weapons are otherwise unremarkable)
Faraday - Another all around good fighter. nothing amazing, but good at a lot of different roles. His atomic pistols are quite good, especially with quickdraw. And he brings Gambler to the posse so that you can try to get rid of those dreaded 1 action point draws. He loses Quick and the Dead, but is Durable Grit-6 and still has mettle. (remember though he's a machine, so he's immune to stun yes, but disrupt weapons are BadNews(tm) for him.) he brings 1 chip of his own fortune as well.
Idina Vannez - she's probably my least favorite unit in the posse, because she literally can't move an shoot at all in the same turn (her only shooting attack is heavy), she also is indirect blast for shooting over walls like Alan, but at a higher rate of fire. remember you can spend an extra point to direct fire instead. She does have the typical 1 fortune for the units in this posse Significantly, she does bring rabble rouser, and since this entire posse is WELL under tournament cost, you can bring a VERY large angry mob unit with her. Which right now is basically a first turn kill on any enemy that doesn't have quick and the dead.
(deploy 12" from them, activate- dash move then charge the remaining distance, focusing into 8" of movement if necessary to bring more of them into melee range. a full strength unit will then deliver up to TWELVE attacks that are automatically hazardous, and if any of them crit, you get to make MORE attacks, that can also make more attacks that can also make more... and so on.)
Black Blood - now this guy is a real killer. He has trick shot, so ALSO doesn't need line of sight to hit his target, combined with spirit aim and the fact that he is now prodigious in this posse, his aim will be 9, on two shots at -3 pierce up to 18" away shooting through walls and on 9's or 10's they're fatal. OWCH. Typical defenses and the 1 fortune chip that everyone in this posse seems to have. he's also not terrible in melee if he gets tackled. He's tainted to boot, so he could become a hex beast or even regenerate when he dies.
Kodiak - this is your melee killer. he's pretty quick, with a bit more grit than the rest of the posse. but his big deal is that Juiced axe... hitting with overcharged automatically being added in is amazing, and he can forceful strike to make it pierce -6 (that's right... SIX). He can also quick strike and frenzy on hits and crits. HE brings an alternate attack for dealing with lots of fragile opponents as well, with RoA 3 and a still decent -2 pierce (which could actually be a -4 once per activation due to forceful strike). He's also tainted and can regenerate or become a hex beast.
How to play this posse? Well, each unit is fairly straightforward. Keep Brutus near the boss, get kodiak into melee as soon as possible. Razors Li and Faraday are your middle of the board mid range shooters. Alan knox and Idina Vannez maneuver around the terrain lobbing shots in indirectly. and black blood can hang back near any objectives on your own side while still delivering punishing firepower through the terrain from up to 18" away. Just play to each model's strength, and dont forget to use the Adventure Card abilities when you can to look for VP opportunities, and triggered activations can work on basically anyone in the posse as they're all faces. Dont forget to bring some Civilians for Rapport and a big old Angry Mob to murder some folk.
This posse seems designed to teach new players how to play the game. Each unit is fairly straightforward and not overly complex. Also, throughout the whole posse, there's a wide variety of the actions and special rules included in the game. Plus they all seem to come with a fortune of their own and have mostly solid stats.
It is another posse design that makes us go... WTF? No, it's not a bad list, but the posse has Slots for 8 units beyond the boss, but literally only 7 exist to fill those slots with. And they're all Unique... so... WTF?
The posse bonus says if you fill all the slots, you get Prodigious, which isn't a bad bonus. Well, since we know who has to go in all the slots, I guess let's just look at everyone in the posse:
Starting with the Boss: Earle Shepherd
He's actually listed in both the Lawmen and in the Outlaws (Mercenaries) sections of the website, so can be a main boss in either force, and he can ally with Hex and Enlightened as well.
He's got straight 6's for stats, which means he's above average at everything he does (9's with prodigious when focused, which is really nice) The Volcanic pistols he carries are very good on their own, and when combined with Rapport (which he does have) they're incredible. He carries a standard Iron Asp as well for a slightly above average melee ability (but honestly, he'll just use it for the parry, as he can close work with this pistols as well). Form Up on me indicates that this posse is meant to be used alongside some other posse, because it CANT have any hands units. He's a headhunter, which is ok, and he comes with Check the Bounty, which is expensive to use, but good adventure deck manipulation. He also has Override Automata, but as discussed in the past, itqs a short range compel for use against automata, and is situationally useful only. He has the standard Mettle and Quick and the dead, and 3 fortune to share. He's an all around above average boss, with a great shooting attack, and a variety of semi-useful skills. A jack of all trades.
Lets look at who's coming with him now:
Brutus - The first slot must go to brutus, so no matter else who you bring, he's always coming with Earle. Basically your typical bodyguard unit skills, but surprisingly fragile, so he doesn't excel in this role. He's pretty quick, but doesn't have moving target, he has NEITHER mettle nor tough, and is basically only Durable Grit-5. He does some with his own fortune chip so he's not wasting the boss' fortune to grit-reroll. The frenzied attack can be particularly nasty, but he must be very near the boss to use it. At least he's fairly cheap. AND he is a face, for triggered activations.
Alan Knox - this is your indirect fire mortar/grenade guy. He also has shrewd strategist, which is an excellent card manipulation ability, otherwise he's a one trick pony. above average stats, but not particularly resilient beyond the usual, he's best best is to stay out of LoS and lob in blast templates, hoping for crits. Again, comes with his own fortune for additional self-preservation.
Razors Li - This guy already has prodigious, so that's a waste of the posse bonus on him. Again, he has the typical face survivability with mettle, quick and the dead and grit 5 (his extra quick will help a tiny bit here). This guy is your mid range high RoA shooter. Even though his weapons are identical, we think this is becuase when you activate "thrown" that becomes a ranged weapon, so it leaves him with the other one to still use in melee that turn, but that's just speculation, it could simply be for comedic effect. Either way, a RoA 3 attack with Aim 7 and Quick draw, is pretty darn good, and he can dish out alot of hits. Again, he comes with his own fortune to help keep himself alive. (remember on the lookout is a waste on him, as it drops his RoA to 1, and his weapons are otherwise unremarkable)
Faraday - Another all around good fighter. nothing amazing, but good at a lot of different roles. His atomic pistols are quite good, especially with quickdraw. And he brings Gambler to the posse so that you can try to get rid of those dreaded 1 action point draws. He loses Quick and the Dead, but is Durable Grit-6 and still has mettle. (remember though he's a machine, so he's immune to stun yes, but disrupt weapons are BadNews(tm) for him.) he brings 1 chip of his own fortune as well.
Idina Vannez - she's probably my least favorite unit in the posse, because she literally can't move an shoot at all in the same turn (her only shooting attack is heavy), she also is indirect blast for shooting over walls like Alan, but at a higher rate of fire. remember you can spend an extra point to direct fire instead. She does have the typical 1 fortune for the units in this posse Significantly, she does bring rabble rouser, and since this entire posse is WELL under tournament cost, you can bring a VERY large angry mob unit with her. Which right now is basically a first turn kill on any enemy that doesn't have quick and the dead.
(deploy 12" from them, activate- dash move then charge the remaining distance, focusing into 8" of movement if necessary to bring more of them into melee range. a full strength unit will then deliver up to TWELVE attacks that are automatically hazardous, and if any of them crit, you get to make MORE attacks, that can also make more attacks that can also make more... and so on.)
Black Blood - now this guy is a real killer. He has trick shot, so ALSO doesn't need line of sight to hit his target, combined with spirit aim and the fact that he is now prodigious in this posse, his aim will be 9, on two shots at -3 pierce up to 18" away shooting through walls and on 9's or 10's they're fatal. OWCH. Typical defenses and the 1 fortune chip that everyone in this posse seems to have. he's also not terrible in melee if he gets tackled. He's tainted to boot, so he could become a hex beast or even regenerate when he dies.
Kodiak - this is your melee killer. he's pretty quick, with a bit more grit than the rest of the posse. but his big deal is that Juiced axe... hitting with overcharged automatically being added in is amazing, and he can forceful strike to make it pierce -6 (that's right... SIX). He can also quick strike and frenzy on hits and crits. HE brings an alternate attack for dealing with lots of fragile opponents as well, with RoA 3 and a still decent -2 pierce (which could actually be a -4 once per activation due to forceful strike). He's also tainted and can regenerate or become a hex beast.
How to play this posse? Well, each unit is fairly straightforward. Keep Brutus near the boss, get kodiak into melee as soon as possible. Razors Li and Faraday are your middle of the board mid range shooters. Alan knox and Idina Vannez maneuver around the terrain lobbing shots in indirectly. and black blood can hang back near any objectives on your own side while still delivering punishing firepower through the terrain from up to 18" away. Just play to each model's strength, and dont forget to use the Adventure Card abilities when you can to look for VP opportunities, and triggered activations can work on basically anyone in the posse as they're all faces. Dont forget to bring some Civilians for Rapport and a big old Angry Mob to murder some folk.