Miami-Vince: "Corpse Runnin"

Well after the essay-esque Reva gushing that was the last article, I’ll try and keep this one down a little bit more in the realms on not-craziness. (after rereading this article..this attempt was failed..)

So I’ll finish off Reva’s box *snigger* talking about Vince, Shield Bearers and a general upgrade that works wonders with Vince.

So first up, Vince, or Beef Cake as I like to call him (just look at that model), is Reva’s thematic Henchman, and…in all honesty, a huge part of her fluff, but I’ll let you home readers have a squiz at that yourselves.

Why....

Anyway, into the hard stuff.

Beef Cake at 8SS is a steal, (give I factor in the ability to stone for stuff is at least 1ss in cost). He has an above average Df and Wp, he also has a Mask built in on Df for his trigger that after resolving the attack, you can push 3” (also allowed for Wp, just not built in). Given he is just a shooting model, this is great…and also pure gold when people charge him. His wounds are a bit above average for an 8ss model which is great, He has an average Wk, and…oddly has a 6” Cg, but without any close combat actions…don’t know why they bothered.

So other front of card fun ness he has, ties in quite well with corpses and their usage (Vince probably has more use that Reva for Corpse markers overall).

Breath Out Their Essence, is once per activation, when a corpse marker is discarded with 6” of Vince by another model, he can draw, then discard a card. Not a bad little positive, just try and remember it (so when Reva flips a corps marker to a scheme, you could get a card cycle etc).

He also has The Final Veil like Reva which is the heal 1 for each non-peon killed within 8.

Finally he has Funeral Rites which works amazingly for him. The jist of it is when he activates he can choose a suit, for the rest of his activation, after both players have cheated, he can discard a corpse marker within 6” and LoS to add that suit to the final total, which is gosh darn amazing given one of his main “ERMAGERD” powers requires a non-printed suit.

So onto the back of his card.
His (1) attack action is Profaned Crossbow, which is a Sh 6 (with..like..wow.. a Crow) goes against Df, range 10 with a gun symbol. It has a low damage track of 2/3/4, but ignores Incorporeal and Hard to Wound. It also doesn’t randomize for friendly Spirits (got Izamu holding someone up, or a ‘killed’ shield bearer..oh yeah!). So it is a normal ish Excorcist crossbow, but it’s triggers is where it gets a little punchy.
On a crow (built in) Unhallowed Strike allows the crossbow to deal +1 damage for every corpse marker within 3” up to +2. That moves the track to a possible 4/5/6, which is amazing. Also to note, unlike Reva, this does not discard the corpse marker!

Next on a Tomes is a Repeating Crossbow. After damaging, shoot again, no trigger this time. Good if you want to discard a couple of corpse markers to get 4 shots, but IMHO, probably better doing 2 shots with min 4 damage if you’ve got the corpse markers nearby.

Finally a Ram is for Nothing Wasted, after killing an enemy model (even peons!!) you add 1SS to the crew’s pool! Hells yes!! Also the Ram-Corpse cheating marries up well with….

…his (0) attack action Light at the End no this action, married up with Reva’s solid damage track (and his to boot). It is a Ca6 (Masks) with a TN: 10 (Masks, Rams) Rst: Wp, Rg 10. The target model gets the following condition until Vince nexts activates (not end of turn!!) or dies “At Peace, Damage suffered by this model cannot be reduced or PREVENTED”!!. Lets think about that for a second. No armour, incorporeal, no bullet proof etc, and no allowance of stones! This is an amazing 1-2 punch against a master or henchman that needs to die. Factor in also, that it is on the target model, so you could mob it with a bunch of low-range stuff and put it down! Just saying I love Vince, and he’d be a solid pain in the arse without this (0) but god damn it is good! Also it has a trigger on a Mask that he can push 3”, useful if you need to get back into cover or some such.

Finally he has a (1) tactical action Funeral Pyre has a Ca 6(no Crows..holy shit!!) with a TN 12 and Rg 8. You target a Corpse marker and place a blast maker in contact with it. Any models touched pass a TN 15 Wk duel or suffer 2 damage that may not be reduced! (solid) Then discard the corpse marker.

Triggers are on a Tomes, you place 2 blasts instead of 1.

On a Crow, you don’t discard the Corpse Marker (great if you want 2 shots!).

I Think it is a not bad action, if you’ve got a clump of enemies gathered around and your opponent is low on cards, probably worth it given all you need is a six..and on average, they’ll need a 10 to stop the damage, pretty good card chewing tool (which lends itself to Corpse Candles putting off their buffs against enemy models etc).

Onto Vince’s upgrade, Deal with Death. It is a 1ss upgrade that essentially turns him into a Trapper. It gives him ‘true’ From the Shadows (suck it Schill) and a (0) action, discard a card to push out of combat. This also ties in fantastically with a generic upgrade that I’ll go over now, as it is only relevant to Vince in the Reva box.

My Little Helper, which you’ve all probably heard of by now is one of the excellent 1ss upgrades that all factions got in some form in Book 4. This one is good with Vince for 2 very important reasons.

As an aside, the thing people are getting worked up about is when he is killed he summons a Mindless Zombie, cool..but it means I’ve lost my 9-10 ss model… The real power is the other parts.

So after initiative is flipped, once per game, Vince can choose to draw a card, if he does so he gets a condition that stops any enemy actions outside of 3” targeting him, amazing!! Factor in that he can start up field with DwD, this is golden. Then as another added bonus, he may take 2 zero actions for the turn, that can be the same… oh whats that, you’ve gotten Light at the End off twice on 2 key models because you started so close to them, but at the same time can’t be targeted at range….oh god yes!! Truly amazing combination on Vince IMHO.

In one of the matches, he did this against Sonnia and Frank at the top of turn 1, then activated near last turn 2, which resulted in both a dead Sonnia and dead Frank, as no stone usage can really throw an opponent’s game! That and Sonnia couldn’t touch Vince, even though he was within crossbow range of her!!  I honestly would say it is one of better new 1ss factional upgrades!

Now Shield Bearers, my new favourite minion in the game (and in all honesty, the reason I bought the Reva box). 

Like the right to bear arms yeah?

Straight up these guys seem like crap!

6ss Cost, Df 4, Wp 6, Wd 4 (whaaat?!) Wk 5, Cg 6. Not at all great to look at are they…not at 6ss anyways, but fear not! Also they are living, so no summoning sorry gang.

Front of card abilities, Armour +1 (never hurts). Vigor, which gives them fast if any friendly models within 6” burns or discards a stone. This is actually really solid, given that generally if you’re burning a stone, you get some benefit from it, but then factor in that you’ll also give any Shield Bearers within 6” fast (or get rid of slow) never hurts, so solid! Finally, is where they start to get funky, Chosen, this essentially is how they come back to life, I’ll just quote the whole bit as it will be easier.

“Chosen: If this model would be killed and it does not have a Soulbound Upgrade attached, it is not killed. It heals all damage and attaches a Souldbound upgrade ignoring all restrictions, then places a Corpse Marker in base contact with itself.”

This is amazing for multiple reasons:
1. You now have a corpse marker up in the guts of things, while still having a functioning model.

2.The Soulbound upgrades are quite bloody useful depending on what you need (will fill you in on those in a moment).

3. It gives them this pseudo Hard to Kill, but with another 4 wounds after it, that can’t be ignored.

I’ll quickly get the back of their cards done as it is pretty basic (but still great).

So attack actions
(1) Salvaged Sword is your main go to, Ml 5 (Crows……), Rg 1”. 2/3/5(!) damage track.

Triggers:
On 2 crows, you place a corpse marker (hells yes!)

On a Ram, after failing, do 1 damage… I love this, similar to the Guardians one, is fantastic if they’ve cheated stupid high to save a model from copping the last wound.

The other is (1) Shield Slam, Ml 6 (thank god) Rg 1”. Does 1 damage and target is pushed up to 2” in any direction. Excellent for moving people off of objectives etc. Given if you wanted, on an engaged, fast shield bearer, you could (depending on enemies’ melee range), push a model 4 inches away and smack on some hurt.

They have a single (0) tactical action they gain until their next activation:
To the Death: They get +ve damage flips (good to push for that 5 high range damage).

Not Today (awesome!!): This model gains +2 Df.. God yes!

So now when we look at them in hind sight. You have a Df 6 model with Armour +1, 8 wounds with H2K in the middle. Although their Ml of 5 is crap, their damage track is very bloody solid given how survivable they are also.

But wait, that’s not all, now onto the Soulbound upgrades.

There is 3 different Soulbound upgrades, one of them being Rare 2, which probably won’t be an issue unless you’re running more than 2 Shield Bearers or getting up to shenanigans with some Draugr.

I’ll note, so I don’t have to touch on them every time, all of the cards have 2 things in common written on them.

1.That the upgrade can not be discarded or removed, so no having Hans, shooting this upgrades off of your ‘dead’ shield bearers.

2.Powerful Soul: If the model is a Revenant, it loses Living and gains Spirit

Now onto the fun stuff, First one is My fight is not finished. This one is not too bad, once the Shield Bearer is killed or sac’d properly with an attack action, the enemy must pass a TN 14 Df duel, or suffer a 2/3/4 damage flip that can’t be cheated. Not a bad option, especially if you’re opponent is running low on cards. I see it as a “Why not” Upgrade.

Second one is Gift of Death, which gives the Shield Bearer Finish the Job. Useful if you need it, and over the coarse of it’s life, it has dropped a corpse and a scheme marker for you for nothing.

Finally, Another Purpose is probably my favourite and the reason it is Rare 2. When this model is killed, you may discard a card to add 1ss to your pool. Hells yes!! So the Shield Bearer is now kind of a 5ss model which is amazing!

So in the few games I’ve had with Reva, she has had 2 Shield Bearers in each. All I can say though, and its one of those odd occasions (I love some good theory-fauxing..) that on paper, they are decent, but the second you see them on the board, they legitimately stick around far longer than they have any right to. The absolute wallopings these guys take is really odd. Generally I’ve found most people need 4-5 solid hits to bring them down. But the with Df 6 and give them some defensive, on a point and they don’t move.

Also if they do get ‘killed’ they drop a corpse marker so Reva can then punch the shit out of whatever is bullying her minions. Like I find a lot of punchy masters can redeploy if they need it, but can’t be everywhere at once, Reva though, really can be, it’s almost as if, every time you engage a Shield Bearer you need to be ready for a master to come down on your head.

Any way I bloody love the Shield Bearers!!

So there is the Reva box write up, hope it was enlightening and not too boring for all of you.

Got another game tonight that I’m going to maybe try a Carrion Emissary instead of a Izamu, but I’ll see how I go!

Cheers,

Nick