Revisionist thoughts on Reva

Coming to ease you into the death.....

So a fair few more Reva games under my belt, a pair of small tournament wins, and in all honesty I’ve come to the conclusion that she is pretty rude.

Like in your face offensive. I feel this will certainly lessen a large amount when people are aware of her schtick, which is horrid damage at range, but at the moment, she is just plain rude.

Managed to only lose her once so far (there has been a few close calls though!!) through a fool-hardy charge and forgetting about Bete Noire. But outside of that game and some of my early ones, she will happily kill a master or henchmen a term (given good cards, or if you have Yin’d them first).  

I’ll briefly chuck down some revised thoughts on Reva’s loadout and the use of Vincent as well as going through my usual (and really only) go-to picks that support her.

So serene for a beater (also obligatory horse scale mention).

I’ve started running Reva as just a pure beater, if an upgrade isn’t helping her beat in some way…eh. If her crew needs moving, or some such, they can learn to do it themselves.

Although I said that the Litany of the Fallen (Ignore reduction trigger) upgrade wasn’t great for the cost and the fact I really hadn’t looked into the new Decaying Aura and how it works. These 2 upgrades allow Reva to smack around armoured and SS using models from anywhere she wants.

Although it is only on her and not a condition on the target model (which lets be honest, can be removed), generally Reva can smash in enough face by herself. I still prefer Beyond Death (Tome-Charge Trigger and Regen +1) over Guises of Death (Corpse Candle in enemy deployment, can shoot her CA while engaged), as I feel it has much more of a pay-off over the course of a game.

Still a beefcake!! 

Vince, Either gets quite stripped down upgrade wise or possibly dropped depending on what I need now due to those 2 upgrades. Don’t get me wrong, he is still a hella solid shooter with some corpses around and, if you are happy to burn stones, is quite survivable. He is also a fantastic upgrade caddy for Show of Force.

Now anyway, onto some support fellas.

WiP Yin (when you see Izamu it will make sense...)

After a few more games, it really seems like Reva can do most of the beating for your crew, she can usually take off a key enemy model a turn, or set one up for finishing by another model. So I’ve found to use her support models as almost a force multiplier for Reva.

First one is Yin, oh my god Yin. This model is disgusting at the best of times. The fact you need to focus to get a straight flip on the bastard is crazy, that and Terrifying(All) 12 is a card drawer, DF is below average, but at 8ss she is nuts.

But where old mate really goes nuts is her (0) Gnawing Fear which casting on a 6 (so solid), The model that cops it enjoys the condition of -ve to all Ca and Wp duels until Yin next activates or is killed (which takes some work).

So not only can Yin set up a model for Vincents (0), but can also allow Reva to attack a models Wp with them at a -ve flip, and unless they can use Soulstones, very rarely will you need to use your hand to push attacks through. Meaning you can save bigger cards for other models instead of Reva. So if you want Reva to go after a model, save a 13 for Yin to throw it on an opponent, well worth the effort! That and if you get it on Sonnia, Raspy or any form of model (hell even Reva) that relies on Ca actions, it pretty much wrecks them for a turn unless they start burning stones or AP for focus. Yin is amazing. If you are looking for a MLH target, Yin is a solid choice, as 2 of those (0)s going off could put Reva in good stead to possible kill a few models. Also really don’t be afraid to move Yin up and Focus her for her (0) as a lot of the time you really just want Gnawing fear going off and if you can score a solid chard without cheating, all the better to save for Reva! 

I need to stop always Carrion on about him.....

Next up and probably man of the match every game I play is the Carrion Emissary, he also never leaves home without MLH.

First up, his +1 Wk aura is great, couple that with a pair of Shieldbearers that you’ve given fast with a stone burn (for a suite or whatever on a Hench or Reva) and boom that’s a 12” walk and a marker place on turn 1 for Convict Labour.

But that is one benefit, to me, that I’ve found, his biggest use is his Shards of Kythera ability, the amount of times that his has saved my bacon, especially with Reva is beyond counting. Factor in it craps out a zombie at the end of turn also gives Reva and Vince more coprse shenanigans and the fun of possibly engaging anything with a gun symbol and just being a nuisance.

His ability to flip a corpse to a scheme marker also works wonders in the Reva corpse-machine, which could in turn then be cycled along to Phillip and the Nanny if you want some intense AP usage for cards.

Not going to lie, it actually really helps game play by having
these markers on the board instead of some 50mm disks.

But honestly, MLH factored in with Shards of Kythera has allowed some amazing lane blocking unlike anything I’ve ever tried with Sonnia. That and it works really well with Reva’s Tome charge and (0) to teleport to a corpse outside of LOS but within 5”. Teleport-charge through the wall, wail on something, bounce back out with a zero…lovely!!

In my usual list this is followed by a pair of Shieldbearers which I love just as much thematically as I do synergistically. I’ve been over them before, and I will also note there has not been a time that I didn’t use the SS back upgrade one.

Last in the rotation is generally maybe Chiaki the Niece (if I feel a hanged turn 1 coming) or more usually a Necropunk (god these guys are just nuts scheme runners!!) to help the Shieldbearers run schemes.

I think I need to try some ‘outside the box’ things with Reva as I have not went into a battle yet without Yin, Emissary and 2 Shieldbearers, so any suggestions, or YOLO play ideas would be greatly appreciated!!