Welcome
Hobby
This week has been a little light on hobby (I'm in the middle of a commission and a move, so my hobby time is either sold or unavailable) but I did manage to get a lot of stuff based and put together! Pretty much all of my GenCon purchases are all together. This includes everyone's favorite magic professor, Sandeep, and the limited edition stuff, Miss Fire and the Wild Ones (I'd listen to that band...). Unfortunately, no paint made its way to a Malifaux model in my office this week, so I'm a little disappointed with myself, but that just makes it that much easier to beat this week next week!
Gaming
I managed to get a game in with Sandeep this week, and it was an absolute blast! I didn't take his unaligned sage upgrade for a spin (I don't have Transmortis or Sanctioned Spellcasters yet) but this was a setup that I would consider taking it with. My opponent was my awesome local Rezzer (Hi D!).
The Strat and Schemes
The plan was to be prepared for Reckoning, but not too worried about it. The abundance of summons with rezzers left me confident that I'll be able to kill a few models a turn, even though I don't have a ton of Killy models. A well placed gamin with the buff upgrade can turn innocuous models into combat monsters, or Banasuva into the diety of destruction he is based on.
A hired wind gamin and a summoned wind gamin can easily take care of line or plant evidence on their own, assassinate typically is a bad plan into rezzers, a summoned metal gamin and/or a support piece will hold on to protect territory easily, and I had no hard plan for vendetta.
My Crew
50 SS Arcanists Crew
Sandeep Desai + 5 Pool
- To Command Another Plane (1)
- Arcane Reservoir (2)
Joss (10)
- Warding Runes (1)
Oxfordian Mage (5)
- Temporary Shielding (0)
- Blood Ward (0)
Oxfordian Mage (5)
- Temporary Shielding (0)
- Nemesis Ward (0)
Oxfordian Mage (5)
- Temporary Shielding (0)
- Doom Ward (0)
Large Arachnid (6)
Silent One (6)
Wind Gamin (4)
Ice Gamin (4)
Deployment
Deployment: Flank Deployment (11)
Strategy: Reckoning (Crows)
Schemes:
* A Line in the Sand (Always)
* Assassinate (Crows)
* Protect Territory (Tomes)
* Plant Evidence (3)
* Vendetta (5)
Flank deployment suited me well, with scheme runners in the top prong of the "L" and most of my crew in the left prong. He countered my wind gamin with Yin (who I can't stop calling Y'inz, if you're from Pittsburgh you'll get it) and put the majority of his crew in the prong closest to my crew.
The Game
We'll keep the report itself pretty short to save room for the article. I declared protect territory and plant evidence. Belles did what belles do, I countered with my own movement shenanigans. Yin worked its way to the center and Joss attacked. I out activated my opponent, and was able to set up fairly well for the next turn, sending my arachnid on an extreme flanking maneuver while gamin set up for the schemes. I jammed his deployment pretty early and he did not have much luck with summoning (his hands and flips were utterly awful). We wound up calling the game at the end of turn four, with a grand total of zero summoned Rezzer models, and the only dead Arcanist model a summoned Banasuva. Very fun game, that could have gone completely the other direction with some more successful summons and lures (I don't think I'll ever take oxfordian mages without someone to trigger their student loans).
Sandeep is the kind of generalist master that doesn't suffer from "Jack of all Trades, Master of None". Who you hire with him is what will set the tone of what he will be doing. He is capable of charging in and being supported by his crew, and equally capable of supporting his crew.
Academics
Let me tell you about Sandeep's classroom. He doesn't judge, wether you are undead, a paramilitary wizard, or an imprisoned ticking time bomb on a leash. Everyone has the opportunity to learn a thing or two. What I don't want this article to turn into is "OMG theme lists are traps" or "You're not playing the game right if your lists aren't fluffy!". What I do want to address is that I don't think the most effective plan with this gentleman is to hire an all academic list. I have always been a fan of oxfordian mages and a librarian, so at its very worst the Unaligned Sage upgrade is a more efficient merc tax for the librarian.
Let's talk about the upgrade itself first. Sandeep doesn't hire academics regardless of faction natively, he needs to pay for the 1 soulstone non-limited upgrade Unaligned Sage. This upgrade allows friendly academics to use beacon regardless of los and hire out of faction academics. It also grants Sandeep two additional actions. Action Through Inaction allows Sandeep to perform a (1) action that lets him suffer a damage to draw a card whenever an academic discards a card. The Sight Beyond is a (1) action that allows other academics to not randomize when the target is near Sandeep.
So, who does this add to his hiring pool? Sanctioned Spellcasters, The Students (Steel, Sinew, Viscera), The Valedictorian, and librarians (plus all of the Arcanist academics). The Valedictorian is a beater without peer, and Arcanist upgrades are a great addition to an already good model. She also shares the lecture notes ability with all of the students, giving Arcanists access to easy disruption. The students... Sanctioned Spellcasters... Friekorps Librarians... As far as Arcanist Academics we have the Mages, who are a fairly known quantity as far as what they do. They have low wounds, movement shenanigans, and a powerful cast. Kudra is a henchman that I haven't had success unlocking yet. I also haven't had her on the table much, so I'm going to reserve judgement (though, four attacks on the charge is great against most hard to wound/high armor models). Amina is going to take a lot of study to get right, and as a nine stone henchman she is up against some tough competition. The Shastar Vidya Guard fill in that front line role, and I need to compare them to the students to figure out how to properly use them.
I like the idea of hiring Sanctioned Spellcasters to spread out my Oxfordian mages, and a block of three mages and two spellcasters comes out to 26 soulstones (with the oxfordian upgrades and Unaligned Sage). The problem is, this is an amazing second line, but there isn't too much of a great front line. Valedictorian with Warding Runes comes out to 11 SS and gives you a solid beater and a 37 point list with 7 models. Not too bad, but a little bit fragile. You have sanctioned spellcasters to protect the mages, a big flying beater, and room for a few more hires. I would really want to hire an M&SU henchman to turn on student loans, this means Amina, Captain, Firestarter, or Joss. We also want a gamin for summoning Banasuva, and a little bit of a cache. We're missing a little bit of healing/support in this list, something a librarian or a silent one would fill, scheme runners (who could ideally be summoned), and we still haven't bought a limited upgrade on Sandeep. Two to three stones for upgrades, two to three stones for his cache, and we have eight stones left for hiring. I'd be tempted to hire an ice and wind gamin, one of his limited upgrades and arcane reservoir. This leaves us with this list.
Nine models, some scheme running, some beating, and some support. It is a thematic list that doesn't fall too far into the keyword trap. The list may be a little stronger if I drop a Sanctioned Spellcaster for a Silent One or a Librarian, depending on how I want to shave points. Something to keep in mind is that the hiring process is on a bit of a timer, and you always want to build to a goal. This list has a lot of questions (from the war gaming idea of bringing a list that asks a question), has some great movement shenanigans for your list and the opponent, and can deliver things to some dangerous beating zones (woe to anyone that gets between the Valedictorian and Banasuva!)
That's it for hiring academics today, let me know if you agree, liked the exercise, or think I'm an utter nerd that missed the point entirely let me know!
Closing
Thanks for reading today! I hope you enjoyed some of my ramblings on Sandeep and my own experiences with the hobby. I hope I didn't wax poetic on the Academics for too long. I have been having such a great time theory crafting with Sandeep (and even getting games in!) and I really look forward to getting him all painted up to show off here on the blog.
Keep an eye out for me next week, and as always if you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me via email at ToBeAnArcanist@gmail.com on Twitter @KFinchster and right here on the blog in the comments below!
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