Publish or Perish; or Sandeep and the Academic field!

Welcome

Howdy folks!  Thanks for stopping by for another post today.  We've got a little bit of everything today, but our big topic is Academic use with Sandeep.  I've trawled through a couple great sources (Wyrd forums, A Wyrd Place on Facebook, the Malifaux subreddit etc...) to dig up some ideas and opinions for this article, so I hope everyone enjoys!

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!

I, Gamin, Will Save Us!

Introduction

     Howdy folks, and welcome back to a new edition of To Be An Arcanist!  Hopefully my World of Warcraft buddies pick up on this week's title.  It's been a long year with a lot of fun and exciting things going on in my life, and I'm ecstatic to throw my hat back into the blogging ring.  I've had my gaming energy revived by the latest release, and I figured the best way to get the ball rolling again is to have a discussion about my favorite master in the game right now, Sandeep Desai!

Sandeep's box

     In Sandeep's box you'll find the mystic himself, his henchman Kudra, his totem Banasuva, and three poison gamin.  He comes with 11 upgrades, two of which are limited. His limited upgrades are "To Command Another Plane" which enables his unique summoning and powers up his mace, and "To Behold Another World" which allows the other half of his summoning and gives his mace the ability to paralyze.  His non-limited upgrades are "Unaligned Sage" which allows him to hire academics regardless of faction and gives him some more synergy with them, and "Enlightened Soul" which lets him play around with incorporeal through a 0 action and let's him recover cards by killing enemy models.  Kudra gets "Free of Mortal Shackles" which buffs her for being close to gamin and gives her a 0 action that outright kills a friendly gamin.  This may seem a little counterintuitive, but between the affects that many gamin have that go off when they are killed (not sacrificed) and the limitations by which Sandeep's summoning is constrained, this is an extremely useful option.

     The last collection of upgrades are all extremely important to Sandeep's summoning mechanic.  He has two series of three upgrades, each series matching up to one of his limited upgrades.  These series are the "Commands" and "Visions" upgrades.  They are gamin only and can not be attached at the start of the game.  When Sandeep successfully uses his summon ability you must take an upgrade from the series that matches his equipped limited upgrade (we'll go more in depth on this topic in the next section).  In the "Visions" series we have "Visions in Flame", "Visions in Earth", and "Visions in Wind".  "Flame" disallows this model from cheating fate, but gives the model don't mind me.  "Earth" prevents the model from being moved or pushed (but not placed) even voluntarily, but gives it a 6 inch aura where enemy models must discard 2 cards to declare an interact action.  "Wind" disallows the model from making attack actions, but allows it to interact the turn it is summoned.  In the "Commands" series we have the similarly named "Commands in Flame", "Commands in Earth" and "Commands in Wind".  "Flame" also prevents the model from cheating fate, but makes it immune to slow.  "Earth" also prevents movement and pushing, but adds 1" of melee and 3" of shooting range.  "Wind" also prevents attack actions, but gives other models in a 3" aura + to all attack duels.

     That's a lot to unpack all at once, so let's take a look at what he can summon and how these upgrades interact with the summonees.

Summoning with Sandeep

     The man with the plan can summon 6 different models.  An 8 of masks will get you Ice, Fire, Metal, and Wind gamin.  A 9 of masks will get you a poison gamin.  The big daddy of the gamin however, is Banasuva.  Banasuva cannot be hired, but with a 12 of masks and 2 damage to an existing gamin you get this 8 cost minion totem.  Due to the upgrade based nature of Sandeep's summoning you will only ever have three extra gamin out at one time, but by getting them killed off you can get the upgrade back in the pool and summon something new.

     Let's start with the ice gamin.  At first glance these guys have two great roles, grenades for summoning Banasuva, and complicated buffs to Banasuva's damage.  Banasuva can steal abilities and actions from friendly gamin that are within 8".  The plan is you use the ice gamin' bite of winter to add +1 to frozen heart models' damage profiles.  Later in the turn you activate Banasuva, have him steal frozen heart from the ice gamin, and boom you have a true combat monster. (Thanks to Fog on the forums for pointing this one out at GenCon).  When summoning you've got a great set of options.  "Commands in Wind", "Visions Earth", and "Visions in Flame" makes the lowly ice gamin enough of a threat to incentivize getting hit by the ice grenade.

     Metal gamin, wether you love them or hate them since they were allegedly needed into t certainly serve a purpose in Sandeep's crew.  Turning them into a buff bot with "Commands in Wind" and casting protection of metal paired with going defensive is great.  Either of the immobile upgrades are great for shutting down a zone, and they allow you to use a 16" snipe shot of two damage to constructs by casting magnetism without caring about the push.  When summoned, these guys are great at holding a zone, and Sandeep's upgrades only make them better.

     Now we have the fire gamin.  These guys are probably my favorite choices for an ever so slightly more punchy option.  Increased range on their spit magma means you can get burning onto models from a crazy distance away.  These gamin also punish the opponent for killing them off, so any of the upgrades that buff a zone will put the opponent into a weird position, and I love it.

     Wind gamin are my favorite choice for scheme runners.  They don't really rely on their attacks, so the wind upgrades (go figure!) are great on them.  A wind gamin summoned in on the last round, leaping and interacting to clinch a last minute VP is such a juicy proposition.

     I am not claiming to have unlocked the mysteries of gamin in general, but the poison gamin still leaves me scratching my head a bit.  I'm positive that there are situations where you will want to summon them.  The push at the end of their activation is nice, the extra wound is useful and poison is nice.  That all being said, I still prefer burning to poison as an offensive condition.

     Time for the main attraction.  Banasuva the big blue flaming ball of death is ready to rumble.  Melee expert and a 3/4/5 damage spread with the option for blast damage on a tome, burning on a mask, and the option for +1 damage from ice gamin shenanigans all add up to make this guy an absolute monster.  He can throw height 1 models in the same fashion as the ice golem.  I imagine a magical Christmas dreamland where an ice gamin has set up his buff, Banasuva 0's to gain frozen heart, melee experts his first app to punch something, second ap to punch and finish it off, and third ap to throw the gamin at another model (or two), killing the gamin to trigger an explosion and finish off what it was thrown at.  Lofty goals, I know, but a man can dream.  "Commands in Flame" and "Commands in Earth" are my favorite upgrades for him, but any upgrade that doesn't prevent him from attacking is a solid choice.  Just remember with the earth upgrades you can always use Sandeep's 0 to place him into a better position.

     One last note about these guys.  There are five different little guys that can all work together to summon a big blue superhero.  Each of the little guys is associated with an element (earth, wind, water, fire, and something only vaguely associated with an element heart/poison I'm looking at you).  Where have we seen this before...

Closing

     Again, I am in no way an expert on the game, these are just my observations.  I'd love for the conversation to continue in the comments, let me know if you think I'm full of tuna fish, or if I'm the best thing you've ever heard!  We had a pretty lengthy article on the possible uses of Sandeep's summoning, so no battle report or hobby section this week, but look forward to more as we enter the wild west of wave four.

     If you like what you saw this week make sure to follow me on Twitter @KFinchster, email me at ToBeAnArcanist@gmail.com, or even leave a comment down at the bottom.  Thanks again and I look forward to getting back into the rhythm of things here on the Internet!