@thehug0naut apologies, I had in my “next hand” a stale hand from before I had changed my tech choices. This is my actual “next hand” (I will edit in as well):
Thieving Imp
Gorgon
Cursed Ghoul
Sacrifice the Weak
How would you like to change your post LS choices or patrols?
Spectral Hound (cheap big body for draws)
Free Speech (If not win condition then stay-in-the-game-condition)
STARTING HAND
Lawful Search
Flagstone Garrison
Bluecoat Musketeer → Stash
LS Draw → Arrest → Worker (A painful loss vs Gorgon but I need as many non-illusion units as possible now)
WORKERS
Porkhand Magistrate
Jail
Building Inspector
Reputable Newsman
Arrest
NextHand
Bluecoat Musketeer
Overeager Cadet
Spectral Hound
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($8)
Bigby - ($6)
Lawful Search, draw a card, look at your hand - ($5)
Hound kills skele, takes 1
Garrison - ($2)
Worker - ($1)
Float ($1)
Stash 1, Discard 0, reshuffle, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: L1 Bigby Hayes 2/3A [Stash]
Elite:
Scavenger: Mirror Illusion 0/1
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Spectral Hound 3/1
Flagstone Garrison -/4
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Peace)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 3
Deck: 8
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 9
Thoughts
After playing Bigby and Lawful Search, its clear I can’t get a good run at Garrison draws (and maybe I should have thought about that last turn) He will almost certainly be playing for D&D as a win condition and so my most important play is to get Free Speech delivered next turn to stop that and protect my units as much as possible from death by -1/-1 runes. That costs 4g next turn and then I have to hope I can patrol well enough to keep Quince alive for the next turn. Definitely feels bad that I can’t tech both Free Speeches and then let Bigby also cast it with Jurisdiction.
Potential Options:
Hound kills Skele+Garrison+Worker+Float 1g. Maximum economy.
Hound kills Skele+Garrison+Musketeer+draw. Strong payoff if I hit a cadet but only 20% chance of hitting and then behind on gold and cards. Slight bonus in that I get to Stash a card so I could ensure Free Speech or a non-zero cost unit stays in hand if I draw it. Don’t really rate Musketeer for patrolling this turn though.
Hound kills Skele+Garrison+Oni. Patrol Bigby in SQL, Oni in Scav. Gives me Oni next turn for extra aggro but still down a worker.
I think I want option 1. Leans more into my Garrison engine and maximises my economy. Hopefully it pays off. Patrol Bigby in SQL. Mirror in Scav as I think everything I want to do will be gold limited now.
Pestering Haunt, Jandra, The Negator, Summon Skeletons, Poisonblade Rogue
Patrol as below
Discard 3 Draw 4 rs Draw 1
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 18
Tech1 HP: 5
Tech2 HP: 5 DISEASE
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Orpal (1/3a)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Garth (3/4 lvl 7)
Cursed Crow (3/3)
Cursed Ghoul (4/5)
Crypt Crawler (3/2)
Skeletal Archery
Graveyard (3hp)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 9
End of Turn Hand
Soul Stone
Skeleton Javelineer
Deteriorate
Dark Pact
Sacrifice the Weak
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
Idk this might be close actually, if I get hit by Free Speech or stuck on my current hero lineup I don’t want to be unable to kill the garrison. Guess I’ll have Garth butter it up and if the block does, come, tech 3 time.
Spectral Hound
Spectral Flagbearer
Spectral Flagbearer
Free Speech
Lawful Search
Traffic Director
Manufactured Truth
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid + float + Scavenger - ($11)
Cadet, draw
Spectral Hound, draw - ($10)
Lawful Search, draw a card and look at your hand - ($9)
Bluecoat Musketeer, draw - ($7)
Quince+Midband - ($3)
Free Speech - ($1)
Float ($1)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Spectral Hound 3/3A
Elite: Overeager Cadet 3/2
Scavenger: Bluecoat Musketeer 1/2
Technician:
Lookout: Mirror Illusion 0/1
In Play:
L3 Sirius Quince 1/4
Flagstone Garrison -/1
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Tech II HP: 5 (Peace)
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 0
Disc: 7
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 9
Thoughts
So I’ve teched in more cheap illusions units in the hope that I can draw my second Garrison and start looping properly. Its not really a win condition but I don’t think I have enough gold to really do anything else right now. Sergeants or Judgement Day seem like plausible next plays if I can stabilise.
Ooft I’ve caught him with a hand full of spells and I’ve got Free Speech in hand. Once I cast that he’s got zero way to target my units. Hound in SQL seems great since it can only be solo killed by Ghoul. If I midband Quince he’s protected from Crow flying over and can also only be solo killed by Ghoul. Other than Orpal who can get up to 2, he’s working with the attack he’s got available in play so one more body 2HP body will guarantee I either have Quince or my 1HP Garrison next turn.
I guess Musketeer is worth the risk at it lets me maintain the threat of maxband Oni for my next turn. I need some luck to win this game anyway.
Soul Stone
Skeleton Javelineer
Deteriorate
Dark Pact
Sacrifice the Weak
Events of Turn:
Upkeep:
Get Gold (9)
Tech 2 cards (except turn 1)
All Teched Cards
Plague Lord x2
Sickness, Gorgon
Cursed Ghoul, Soul Stone
Sickness, Gorgon
Crypt Crawler, Dark Pact
Main:
Skeleton Javelineer (8)
Worker (7)
Tech 3 (2)
Tech Lab Demonology (1)
Ghoul kills SQL, takes 3
Crow kills Elite
Garth kills Scav, takes 1, you get 1g
Orpal kills Lookout
Crypt Crawler breaks your garrison
Workers
Sacrifice the Weak, Pestering Haunt, Jandra, The Negator, Summon Skeletons, Poisonblade Rogue
Patrol as below
Discard 3 Draw 4 rs Draw 1
Board Info:
Buildings:
Base HP: 18
Tech1 HP: 5
Tech2 HP: 5 DISEASE
Tech3 HP: 5
In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Skeleton Javelineer (1/1a)
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician:
Lookout:
In Play:
Garth (3/3 lvl 7)
Cursed Crow (3/3)
Cursed Ghoul (4/2)
Crypt Crawler (3/2)
Orpal (1/3 lvl 1)
Skeletal Archery
Graveyard (3hp)
Economy Info:
Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 4
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 2
Workers: 10
End of Turn Hand
Gorgon
Sickness
Thieving Imp
Sickness
Plague Lord
End of Turn Discard
My Thoughts
Going to be some attrition here it seems, we’ll see how big the engine gets restarted next turn but I like where I’m at. Debatable if I should go Zarramonde and Tech Lab, but I think Plague Lord might actually be better against Peace so we’ll do that first.
Free Speech, re-Garrison and hope we draw ok. I tossed in some Tax Collectors as I think the Free Speeches will force him to store up gold, especially with his Tech III built.
Well I think that went about as well as could be expected. I considered patrolling Quince but I think I just die without Free Speech. I think I’m probably dead anyway but at least I have a chance if his heroes are inert. This way if I get lucky I might keep one of Quince or Garrison for next turn.
Nothing I can do to salvage this one, GG! Had a couple of really busy days there, hence the delay responding.
I thought my plan mostly worked ok, though my hand size hurt me again, limiting my initial Garrison turns. Free Speech was really good at keeping me alive but I couldn’t sustain it.
Musketeer change obviously made no real impact, kept hoping to be able to use him but it never seemed to work out. Honestly that’s probably a good sign for it not being super broken vs Purple.
I’m game to try another as P1 Blue if you’re up for it? Any of the other changes you think we shoud try?
For what it’s worth I actually thought the threat of the hasty damage from musketeer affected my play quite a bit! You can read through my thoughts for a couple turns where I had to patrol more conservatively because of it
I’m game to play another, that felt pretty close so maybe we run out back no changes right now and reevaluate after
That’s great if it forced some different patrolling! Psychologically it was quite nice to know I had a hasty option available even if I didn’t get the chance to use it.
I was thinking towards the end of that game that main thing I would like is to do some work on making Bigby and Law tech II slightly better so that I have more options. I don’t think Peace or Truth are well suited to play vs Black so maybe an improved Law would work. I’ll keep thinking about that and we can discuss after our next game.
Speaking of which, GLHF
P1T1
StartingHand Workers
STARTING HAND
Traffic Director
Building Inspector → Worker (I still say this is unplayable vs Black)
Lawful Search
Bluecoat Musketeer
Arrest
WORKERS
Building Inspector
NextHand
Spectral Aven
Jail
Manufactured Truth
Reputable Newsman
Porkhand Magistrate
Discard
Bluecoat Musketeer
Arrest
Lawful Search
Tech 0 card(s)
Get Paid - ($4)
Worker - ($3)
Oni - ($1)
Traffic Director - ($0)
I really like that musketeer buff of yours. Probably it’s too strong against nullcraft, but this Oni start effectively neglects a proper imp start for black, which is huge. Thanks for testing these things out!
Options are to play Jail and go passive, play Aven and MT then trade Oni to kill Jandra, or delay Tech I to midband Oni and murder Jandra. Actually I don’t hate that last one. Got to watch about being low on units but Elite Training will be a real threat and I get three soldiers next turn if I max Oni. Boot Camp and Elite Training are both fine. Worst case I can Max Oni and Boot Camp a soldier of mine, or Newsman or sth.
I also thought it made some narrative sense with the flavour text (“downed man”-> not flying, “following orders” → needs paid) and the art since he doesn’t have as much of a blunderbuss style musket as Careless Musketeer
P1T3
Tech StartingHand Workers
TECH
Scribe (card draw, synergy with Oni spells)
The Art of War (part of my win condition)
STARTING HAND
Reputable Newsman → Discard
Jail
Lawful Search → Arrest
Boot Camp
Spectral Aven → Worker (liability vs Sickness + Orpal, anti-synergy with Oni Spells)
WORKERS
Building Inspector
Porkhand Magistrate
Spectral Aven
NextHand
Bluecoat Musketeer
Elite Training
Manufactured Truth
Lawful Search
The Art of War
Tech 2 card(s)
Imp Discard
Get Paid - ($6)
Lawful Search, draw a card, look at your hand - ($5)
Worker - ($4)
Tech I - ($3)
Maxband Oni, Soldiers - ($0)
Oni readily kills Imp, takes 2, you get 1g
Float ($0)
Discard 3, draw 3, reshuffle, draw 2
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader: Soldier 1/1A [Sparkshot]
Elite: Traffic Director 2/1 [Untargetable]
Scavenger: Soldier 1/1 [Sparkshot]
Technician: Soldier 1/1 [Sparkshot]
Lookout: L8 General Onimaru 4/3 [Frenzy 1, Resist 1]
In Play:
*
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 5
Deck: 5
Disc: 0
Gold:
Gold: 0
Workers: 7
Thoughts
Well his hand would have been perfect to neuter with Newsman, shame that he’s just been discarded!
My best plan is still to build Tech I + Maxband Oni, use Oni to kill Imp and patrol him in Lookout. That way my hand recovers and I make board clearing as awkward as possible. He’ll most likely be at Tech II on his following turn, unless he goes all in on maxband Orpal + Sickness but that seems high risk for him given the likelihood of AoW in my deck. I think TD is best in Elite so he’s can’t be sniped with StW. Hopefully means some supporting cast survives to help Oni next turn.
Jandra + Tech up looking pretty good, we’ll go with that and tech up. Could get hit by Arrest but probably won’t hurt too bad. Grabbing Doom Grasp as insurance and Abom as… extra crowd control
Bluecoat Musketeer
Elite Training
Manufactured Truth
Lawful Search
The Art of War
WORKERS
Building Inspector
Porkhand Magistrate
Spectral Aven
NextHand
Scribe
Reputable Newsman
Boot Camp
Jail
Discard
Scribe
Insurance Agent
Manufactured Truth
Elite Training
Lawful Search
The Art of War
Tech 2 card(s)
Get Paid - ($7)
Manufactured Truth, TD to Jandra - ($6)
Bluecoat Musketeer, shoots armour off Jandra - ($3)
Elite Training on Soldier and pseudo Jandra - ($1)
Elite and standard Soldier trade with real Jandra, 3x Sparkshot kills Orpal, levels whiff
Oni readily breaks Tech II, your base to 18
Pseudo Jandra and remaining Soldier break Tech I, your base to 16
Skip Worker
TD reverts at end of turn, keeps Elite Training till my next upkeep
Float ($1)
Discard 2, draw 4
Board Info: In Patrol:
Squad Leader:
Elite:
Scavenger:
Technician: Bluecoat Musketeer 1/2
Lookout: L8 General Onimaru 4/3 [Frenzy 1, Resist 1]
In Play:
Traffic Director 2/1A [Untargetable, Anti-Air, Sparkshot]
Soldier 1/1 [Sparkshot]
Buildings:
Base HP: 20
Tech I HP: 5
Economy Info: Cards:
Hand: 4
Deck: 1
Disc: 6
Gold:
Gold: 1
Workers: 7
Thoughts
Not often I’ve managed a double tech break on Frozen! I didn’t even need to use AoW either. Only real decision is whether to Worker or not, given that I have a floating gold it’s only really a question of hand size and cycle speed. I think Lawful Search is too useful right now and self cycling, so lets skip and stay at four cards.