Gremlin dissection: bayou gremlins

In this dissection we have a look at the humble bayou gremlin. He is really the bread and butter of the faction and I’ll try to explain what tactics can be used in conjunction with this minion.

The stats

This minion is fairly average in his stats. There is nothing that jumps out at you and it should because you are paying only 3 soulstones for this critter. He is one of the lowest costing significant models that is also very versatile in what it can do on the board. He only has 4 Wounds and a WP of 4. He has a WK of 5 and a Charge of 7, which can give him a 13’ threat range if needed.

Overall, you get what you pay for cannonfodder to use when needed.

The skills

He has an interesting ability: Bayou Two Card. This allows him to cheat the top card from his deck. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. If you don’t want to spend a high card to cheat a low flip, why not use this ability to improve your duel. You can get lucky and draw a 13 of rams or get a 1 of crows.

Remember that you can Cheat Fate here and so can also cheat you damage flip if you wanted to (and can of course)

The next one is Drunk & Reckless. This ability gives you 1AP at the expense of 2 wounds. You have to declare it at the start of your turn, so think before you start to move. I normally don’t have a problem with my opponents if I do an action first and then say I’ve taken this ability, but in tournaments you need to watch out and try to remember it.

You can reduce the wounds however with the help of Lenny. More on this later.

The last one is High Pitched Squeel. This is a defensive trigger on a mask which lets you push away after a Ml attack. Normally the gremlin is dead after the first strike, but it’s still a fun ability to have.

The actions

He has 2 actions.

The first one is Boomstick. It has a Shooting of 4 and a Rg of 12. The damage is a low 1/2/3(blast), but that’s not all the shooting attack does. He has 4 triggers on his gun and you need to declare a trigger if possible. So, You’ll always have to use one and this can be an disadvantage as well.

The triggers that you need to declare are all suit related. One is the Dumb luck trigger which allows you to deal double damage and you suffer half. Another one is Whoops, Ricochet which deals 1 damage to friendly gremlin within 12 and LoS(so if you can’t see anything the trigger doesn’t go off). The next one, What if … more powder?, gives you more blasts on your attack. And the last on, I got ‘im, Pa!, pushes you 3’’ toward the enemy target.

The second attack is a basic Ml attack of 4 (Banjo Bash) and a range of 1. The damage is a low 1/2/3. There are no triggers. It can be useful if you only need to do 1 Wd on a model before it is dead, otherwise you know that your bayou gremlin isn’t on the board at the end of the next turn.

The tricks

It’s a minion, so you can’t take upgrades with this model.

The upgrades that work with this model is: Show off

This allows you to take a 2 action and make a casting flip. If you succeed everything in a range of 2 suffer 3 pulse damage. This is a nice one to give to Lenny since he is Ht 3 and I’ll only use this if I’ve got a lot of gremlins at my disposal. You need to sacrifice the model afterwards. So it can be a help in reckoning if you see that your gremlin is about to die. Blow him up before your opponent has the chance to kill him / her.

The looks

I really like the look of the new models. I am going to buy the new box set because you need to differentiate between the models. I own all the old bayou gremlins twice, so if I have 4 other gremlins, then there will be no more discussion about who was summoned and who had some wounds ect.

I like the attitudes of the models as well. They look vicious and mean, a bit less cartoony than the old models (which I find a bit sad).

The playbook

You can see the gremlin in a few different ways.

First he can be a resource. You need them to summon more gremlins with Somer. So you will need at least 2 or 3 to get the summoning train on the rails. And if you lose one early you need to have a backup or two just in case. So stock up on this little minion.

Secondly they can be bought to out-activate your opponent. They are cheap; so if you buy of them then you only have spend  12 points. If you buy 8 you’ve only spend 24 soulstones. These 8 models are probably more than your whole opponent’s crew.

Now why do you want lots of these gremlins? Well in certain scenarios like reconnoiter and stake a claim you need the models to achieve your objectives. The same can be said for certain schemes like plant explosives or breakthrough. All you need to do is spread out a bit and your opponent needs to divide his troops in order to deal with your VP scoring threat.

Another thing to think about is that these models are fast. It isn’t ap

parent in their profile, but with the ability to gain an extra AP you can move 15’’ on the board. That’s almost half of the table turn 1. You need to take 2 wounds but in the next turn you can lay down a scheme marker on the center line or interact with terrain or other models in the enemies half of the table. That alone is huge. You have mobility and speed to counter any model that threathens to come close. In a last resort, run him in and let him explode or tie the model up for a turn (use defensive stance then) so he can’t make that move that was crucial for that turn.

Last thing to remember. Lenny. He is so good with these Bayou Gremlins. He can give them an automatic ram in their attacks which inflict double damage. He reduces their drunk and reckless ability to only 1 WD. He can chuck these models up the board (you can't take interact actions this turn though), and let them move up to 25'' up the board. So he is really a key piece when you use a lot of Bayou Gremlins.

Hope this helped you fellow greenskins out there. See you next time.

Gremlin dissection: Lenny

In this dissection we have the Green mean dumb fighting machine: Lenny. He’s an enforcer that has a great supporting role in most gremlin crews.

The stats

He has a DF of 4 and a WP of 1, which is very low. The WP can be a problem, but as we delve into the model this isn’t that big of a problem as you might think. His cost is 9, which is high and a Ht of 3 which can be a problem when you shoot at him in combat.

Overall he is pretty average in his stats. Where he really shines, is in his passive abilities. He gives  your crew some buffs and reduces the damage your models take.

The skills

He has the ability Big target. This aura reduces all damage by one to a minimum of 1. The range is a bit short, but if you keep him near your key models, then you can make the most use of this ability. What does this ability mean? For your basic bayou gremlins this means that your drunk and reckless ability only costs you 1 wound instead of 2.

Also it means that you ignore damage from every source. It isn’t armor so” ignore armor abilities” don’t  apply to this. Burning damage is reduced ect. This is quite a useful ability to have.

He has Hard to Wound +1.  A nice ability to have since this is the only real defense you have.

Dumber luck is the most important reason why you take Lenny. He gives all gremlins and pigs in the aura-range the ram suit in their total. So this means that all your bayou gremlins and masters like somer and Ophelia have the dumb luck trigger automatically if they want. There are only a few times when I don’t take the dumb luck trigger on my gremlins. The damage potential they can dish out is huge and your opponent will think twice when they want to get into range of your gunline.

The last ability is Numbskull. This ability makes him immune to conditions. So this means for all negative abilities (like poison, burning, paralyze and slow), but also your positive abilities (like focus, defensive stance, fast). This is a good ability against crews  like Rasputina who hands out slow and paralyze or Pandora which makes you tale horrorduels (you can fail the duel, but are immune to the paralyze).

The actions

He has 3 actions.

The first one is Whack’n Stick. It has a decent Ml of 6 and a good damagespread. The trigger is a nice one on a ram. If you succeed, the enemy may not declare walk action while engaged .

What this means is that you can’t move away from Lenny or another model in which you are engaged with. Even if Lenny is gone you still can’t move if there is an enemy model in Ml range. This can be handy if Lenny is pulled away by a movement-trick  (Ooo, a girl for example)and the target enemy model is still engaged.

Overall a nice attack to have.

Next one is the Toss ability. You can push a Ht 1 model 10’ away from you.You reposition your own models or deal with enemy models that are too close to Lenny or other key models. They can get Dmg if they come in base contact with models or impassable terrain, so that’s a bonus. They also become insignificant.

The last one is a healing flip which requires a 9 of any suit. The Pet the Piggy! ability is a bit too difficult to cast so I rarely use it. You have other abilities that can heal up gremlin models.

The tricks

I tend to go low on upgrades on this model.

The only 3 I would consider are:

I’ll love it and pet it … : this gives you a shooting attack which can summon a piglet on a trigger. It’s only one soulstone, so if you have one to spare you can give yourself some more summoning-abilities.

It doesn’t have a shootingsymbol, so cover doesn’t apply to this attack. Something to consider …

Show off: this one can be handy if you play in a bayou heavy list. Somer comes in mind for this upgrade. You can stick it on Lenny instead of somer to free up an upgrade for somer. Also he is Ht 3 so he can draw line of sight over Ht 2 terrain.

Dirty cheater: I wouldn’t use this one on him regularly. The more optimal choices are Francois and your master, but if you have kill protégé in you scheme pool, then this one can make Lenny  a little bit more durable.

The looks

I like the look of this model. He has thez allure of a dumb brute and the piglet is quite funny. I like the old model too though. I can’t wait to get my hands on a new plastic Lenny.

The playbook

Like I’ve discussed before he is a great buffer in your crew. He works great with the Wave 1 masters: Somer and even more so with Ophellia. I don’t have any experience yet with the wave 2 masters.

Keep him back away from danger. He has 10 Wd, but can go down fairly easy if left unprotected. A slophauler near him can do wonders to keep the wounds to a minimum.

I sometimes use the toss ability when needed. Normally I try to toss Pere Ravage up the field and then let him wreak havoc .

Overall an excellent piece on the board, but you need to watch out for his low Wp.

Gremlin dissection: Pere Ravage

In the next dissection of the gremlin crew we have Pere Ravage. He’s the “heavy blast and pulse dealer” gremlin in the La Croix family.

The stats

He also has an average statline with the exception of his low WP. He is a cost of 6 and has 7 wounds. It’s pretty good, because you are going to try to be a deterrent to your opponent and for 6 points that’s a good deterrent in my eyes.

The skills

He has the ability Reckless which gives him an additional AP at the start of the turn. This will cost him 1 wound.

He has explosive demise 4 so everything around him in 2’’ range gets 4 damage when this model is killed (and not sacrificed, which means that he only explodes when he is reduced to 0 wounds) This can come in handy when he gets stuck into Ml and then you can try to shoot him. If you hit this model then you can potentially kill more models than you could normally. This makes an excellent piece to drop into the enemy lines and be a nuisance to deal with without losing a lot pieces in the process.

The last ability he has is Squeel, which is a defensive trigger and needs a mask. You can push away 4’’from a Ml Attack after you received damage. You can potentially stop a second attack on a charger or stop a Flurry action.

The actions

He has 2 attack actions: Burn Stick and Breathe Fire.

The Burn Stick has a rg of 1 and a Ml of 5. it does blast damage on medium and double blast on severe damage. on a ram he gets critical stike, which give +1 damage for every ram in the total.

The Breathe Fire attack has a rg of 8 and Sh of 5, which is fairly average. In all honesty, I’ve never have used this attack during my games. It has a lower damage output than the mL attack, but the same blasts apply here. On ram though it does triple damage. The downside is that you have to sacrifice the model, so his explosive demise doesn’t work.

He also has a tactical action Oopsie!.

This has a casting and a TN of 10 and a tome, which is a bit more difficult to get since you can’t use soulstones. The action lets everybody in a pulse of 6 make a TN Df 13 duel or suffer 5 damage. You can do this action 2 times of you want. And with a reckless action you can move up and do this action twice. Your model is killed afterwards of course, but you get an explosive demise of because he was killed and not sacrificed.

The tricks

The only upgrade I would consider is team work. Not for the innate ability to make you Ht 2, but for the 1 action, which places this model in bas contact with an enemy model and makes you push your other gremlin model out of harms way. That way the regular harmless bayou gremlin for example can become this exploding gremlin which can cause a lot of serious damage in your enemies crew.

The looks

I like the new model. It’s quite quirky and gives the gremlins back some of the random silly-ness that the new art is missing a bit in my eyes. I’ll definitely get the new model once it comes out and perhaps use this new model instead of the old model (when it is released).

The playbook

This model is there to do 1 thing. It needs to explode and take other models with it. It’s not a good model in reckoning, but in the other strategies it can become a board control character.

You can use him in different ways because of the blast damage and the pulse damage. You just need to kill him yourself or let him be killed by your opponent. Otherwise you do’t get the full potential out of this model.

Now to get it into enemy lines you can do a few things.

One, do the reckless ability and walk him up 15’

Two, toss him with Lenny. You become insignificant, but that’s not why this model is on the table. You can even deal some more damage with this toss if you push him against another model.

Three, you can launch him with the pigapult anywhere within 24’. You can drop a bomb in the enemy line and normally you out activate your opponent so your paralyze usually isn’t an issue. Just wait until your opponent is done with his activations and then launch Pere. Then let him activate and lose his paralyze. Next turn he is ready to wreak havoc.

Four, if you play with Ophelia you can push him into base contact with here and then move him further. This gives you an extra moveboost.

Five, the upgrade team work can move him into enemy lines and get your own models out of harms way.

Gremlin dissection: Raphael Lacroix

In the next dissection of the gremlin crew we have Raphael Lacroix. He’s the “heavy damage absorption” gremlin in the LaCroix family.

The stats

He has some average stats and the only thing that springs out is his CG of 8. He’s also a height of 1.

The skills

He has the ability Reckless which gives him an additional AP at the start of the turn. This will cost him 1 wound.

He has fueled by panic ,which is an interesting ability. as long as he as 4 WD or less he gets a [+] to damage flips and gets no damage from the reckless ability.

He has hard to kill, which means you first have to bring him down to 1 WD. then you need another attack to kill him. So even if you do 15 damage, you can only get him to 1 WD first and then you need to spend another AP to kill him with an attack or spell. This is a nice ability to have.

He also has Armor +1 which reduces damage by 1 to a minimum of 1.

All this helps him survive a little longer and he gets a little better if he is down on wounds.

The actions

He has 2 attack actions: Big Honkin’ Stock and Big Honkin’ Gun.

The Stick has a Ml of 3 and does low damage. It also has the Dumb luck trigger, so that’s quite good.

The gun is a bit better with a Sh of 5 and a range of 10. He does average damage and also has the dumb luck trigger, so that’s better and he has hard to kill so he won’t kill himself by accident.

He also has a tactical action as a (1) action which lets you push up to 4’’ away in any direction, but you have to be engaged to use it, so that’s pretty average since I always want to be in combat with him except if he has only 1 wound left.

The tricks

If there is one upgrade I would give him it would be team work. It allows you to place (important) him into combat and push some other gremlin away from combat. You can potentially protect a vital piece and be a tarpit for the model he will be engaged with.

The looks

I like the previous model better than this one. It had some more quirkiness to it and it had a bit more character to it. It looked a bit more like its counterpart in my opinion. So I will be sticking with my old model for now.

The playbook

In my eyes he plays like a tarpit model. He can stay around for that little bit longer than usual. If you’re lucky you can even heal him up again once he’s down to 1 wound. You can also use him a bodyguard scheme perhaps since he has hard to kill. Besides that he’s an average looking model in my eyes and I don’t use him that much in the current games I’ve been playing.

Happy new year - my 2014 resolutions (Purdy Fireworks)

It's the first day of the new year, so I wanted to make some new resolutions for the new year.

This year I want to do the following for my hobby:




Painting

I still have a few models left to paint before I've got all my stuff done for the gremlin faction:

Zoraida
Bad Juju
3x silurids
McTavish
Wong
Avatar of indulgence (Somer Avatar)
Rooster rider

Need to buy
Gracie
Burt

Need to convert

Whiskey golem: I've bought some barrels from this website: http://www.renedra.co.uk/webstore.html#

Besides that I've build my puppet wars unstiched. This will give me more models to play with in for example a Zoraida crew or play a Seamus crew with just puppets. I am really impressed with the quality of the models.
I'll do a review of this gam later this year once I've played it some more.

Last year my master was Ophelia, but this year I'll probably focus more on the brewmaster and take him to tournaments. I need to get out of the safty zone of my favorite master and try to use some other models.

Besides that that's about it for now. I hope to contribute some more on the Wyrd-forum and perhaps on chasing bacon podcast. http://chasingbacon.podbean.com/
I've not really approached them, but maybe we can do something in the near future.


Gaming wise I've been buying a lot of games through bundles like the humble bundle website.
https://www.humblebundle.com/
I purchased more than enough games to try and play this year. I've also bought the Ultima series and look forward in playing some Ultima 7 or 8. I recommend http://www.gog.com/ for this. If you're into retro gaming then this is the place for you.



Anyways, have a great year everyone and may all your flips be Red Jokers.