Re-purposing Resources

Just a few ideas of using Resources bundled with one mini with another.

Soul Trap
(comes with Mourn)
Consider giving this to a heavy hitter like Supreme Zed; use Supreme Zed to target a model you don't want to see get back up (maybe if you have chosen the Revenge Agenda), perhaps backed up with Path of Destiny to stack the odds in your favour. Useful if facing a Team with healers backing up First Aid Kit etc.

Weapons Crate
(comes with Dr. Red & Howler)
Don't overlook that Gentleman can join a Team that has a majority of ARC members and then benefits from the Weapon Crate Resource.

Silencer Gun
(comes with Twilight)
Making a mainly Coven Team? What about taking Gentleman in lieu of Twilight? Take the Silencer Gun and he can Lurk from Round 1 and benefit every following Round without any further upkeep until it fails, while moving and still shooting with the Silencer Gun, which won't undo Lurk! Add in Flash Grenade for a roving sneaky gun-guy.

Tactica: Blood Rose

NAME: Blood Rose
SUBFACTION: Blood Watch
FUNCTION: Healer & teleporter

BRIEF: Last survivor of a lost other-dimensional culture; healer with the Blood Watch. Blood Rose requires careful use as her lack of defensive skills, relatively low Damage and relatively low defensive Traits (even with her Trump SPIRIT ) mean she is an easy potential target. On the plus side there should be little temptation to need or use Power-Ups, so her role is narrow meaning you can focus on Damage-dealing from the rest of the Team and are not left debating too much how to use her. Don’t be afraid to make maximum use of her AP Allowance – if you are taking Blood Rose in your Team, then it is for a very good reason, so don’t scrimp on making maximum use of her.


POWERS: Lacking Damaging Actions, Blood Rose is pure Support Supreme, focusing on deployment, healing and movement. While this may sound limiting, it arguably allows you to use other Team members a little more freely since Blood Rose offers a ‘get out of jail’ card of sorts. Of course the flipside is reduced damage dealing capacity overall.
Look to use her movement abilities early in the Encounter and probably healing more so later.

Overwhelming Mercy: very useful, since this can remove the Incapacitated Condition, a great way to return a model with Regeneration (such as Six Feet Under) back into the game. Don’t overlook the Burdened aspect, so if an Incapacitated model can be Healed with First Aid Kit instead, then that may be a worthwhile consideration if it is a safe option. Or use before the end of the Round to ensure AP for the Pool; net gain for a Level 2 is minimum 4 AP up to 6+ for Level 3 depending on who is targeted – a forward investment not to be overlooked.

Shadow Door: obviously beneficial for repositioning a friendly model, either to grab or contest an objective, or maybe to try and hold an enemy by placing a Supreme like Six Feet Under or Sgt. Bale into Base to Base, or basically overcome lack of other movement abilities. It is also expedient for a swift withdrawal if Blood Rose and a Team-mate are in danger; then I would suggest combining Shadow Door with Run* to get Blood Rose and the target as far from danger as possible.

Portal Of Thorns: possibly my favorite Action in Blood Rose’s repertoire. While Shadow Door is great for escaping Base to Base, Portal Of Thorns is more cost-effective as a simple movement of a friendly model. Movement distance can be maximized by having a healer near to Blood Rose to remove Damage points that she accrues.
Since the target model can be moved up to 10 inches without endangering Blood Rose, think about using Heroic Call (Battlefield Control) to set-up a tag team Action; reposition the target up to 10 inches away, then Activate the target to attack where you want them since a Charge* will add a further 6 inches, or most ranged attacks could be further combined with a Move*;) or set up with Trail’s A Second Ahead beforehand to respond to enemy movement through the Held Actions available. Especially useful to pick off a flanking model. The downside is that the friendly target will probably be left out of support range of your Team.
One option to consider is to use a tag team of Blood Rose and a model to carry a movable objective (Quest Plot, for example) back to safety in your deployment zone. This will require Blood Rose being within 6 inches of the objective location, meaning she will probably be taken down as a consequence, but it could offer a massive tactical advantage in doing so, so therefore worth the sacrifice; further protect the model grabbing the objective by dropping them safely behind a bodyguard such as Six feet Under.
Finally Portal Of Thorns is also handy to circumvent ‘screening’ tactics, dropping the target in the place behind the enemy screen to maximize impact.

Blood Roses Bloom: to use this effectively your Team needs to be fairly clustered; how confortable a proposition this will be will be influenced by the models you face – Tangent and Solar would be natural deterrents for example. It is going to be a very much situational Action to maximize benefit, but some subtle options may be on offer – maybe moving one of your Brawler Supremes (Six Feet Under and Sgt. Bale are good candidates) into Base to Base with a model you would like to hold in place, or at least threaten with Free Strikes. I can see little obvious advantage to moving out of Base to Base with this Action unless it is guaranteed to set-up a follow-up Action or attack.


RESOURCE: Astral Rose – very useful as it gives another heal and move option; of course it can be given to another Blood Watch Supreme to allow the same trick to be used on Blood Rose. Put a first aid Kit on another model and you have 3 ‘healers’ in your Team for maximum versatility.


SKILLS: Blood Rose’s Gate is very valuable for deploying very near to objectives, or even better tactical positions. Take an all-Blood Watch Team, and this ability gets even more potent. As an all-Blood Watch Team can cover ranged and close combat Actions, as well as some upcoming mobility with Moon Child and Loup Garou II, then it is a very good option.


WEAKNESSES: Firstly bear in mind that she is a prime target for any ‘big hitters’; models able to dish out attacks that can achieve up to 16 or more against DEFENSE or AGILITY should be in a position to take her out in one shot a lot of the time. She just isn’t designed to stand up to any kind of major punishment. Keep her out of danger. SPIRIT aside she lacks the Traits and Damage to handle any kind of sustained attack.



SYNERGIES: Any and all Blood Watch obviously, especially with her enhanced Gate for Blood Watch. Use with Androida for maximum speed and mobility. Trail makes a handy partner to deliver a ‘Supreme bomb’ (often called the Six Feet Under bomb); prime a Supreme with A Second Ahead (Trail) before launching with Portal Of Thorns into the middle of you enemy to maximize disruption. You will probably lose the Supreme you send, but it may cause a mess by doing so.

Tactica: Sovereign

Okay, this is based on the 'beta' rules for Sovereign.

NAME: Sovereign
SUBFACTION: none
FUNCTION: Objective holder, Base to Base lockdown, Team protection

BRIEF: British eternal protector.

POWERS: Sovereign offers a mix of ranged and Close Combat Actions and so at first glance bears comparison to Supremes such as Solar, but due to differing skills and Action effects he will have a much different role.

Albion Mk I is a nice basic Ranged attack with an option that turns it into one of the better Rays currently available. The upshot is that this is a versatile Action capable of tagging one of even several models if used right; the Ray should be great for thinning out groups of Minions while the Projectile can be used to soften up potential targets. When considering using the Pr version against a target, bear in mind that the RNG is the same distance as a Charge* and the net AP cost is the same for the projectile as for Charge* + Strike; select Action accordingly.

Bloody Swathe is an interesting offering, and potentially a very powerful Self-Blast given that 1 Power-Up die/cost affects all targets. Just remember to hold onto the Trump Roll until it is most effective. Against more than 1 defending target with Trump DEFENSE you may be able to force your opponent to burn AP and Power-Up dice, so it is worth considering that option. Of course in doing so you have burned half of Sovereign’s AP Allowance for the round, but it can certainly be worthwhile.

British Steel*; probably my favorite of his suite of actions, British Steel* should not really see much use until mid-to-late game when Sovereign is in the best desired position. On the surface it looks like win-win with +2 to STRENGTH and DEFENSE Opposed Rolls, but don’t overlook the movement penalty; with no movement enhancing Skills or Traits, Sovereign really needs to be in the right place at the right time to make best use of this ability. Of course that can be situational, and don’t be afraid to use British Steel*with a Strike and even a Power-Up for a potential Opposed roll total of 16 – not to be sniffed at, especially if those extra 2 points could be the difference between taking a foe out and not doing so. My main use for this would be to claim an objective or even to get into Base to Base with an opponent that you do not want to see move away in the current Round without risking a free Strike at STRENGTH 7. Avoid the mistake of stacking other +2 buffs on top of British Steel* as the effects will be limited as a net effect.

Covering Fire* is probably best used early in the Round, as it needs Sovereign to have available AP to enact its benefits. It is also very useful if Sovereign can place himself within RNG of models with multiple or potential multiple Ranged attacks (Virgo, Nuclear Jones etc.) as it may force them to move to avoid being shot at for attacking the designated Supreme on Sovereign’s Team. Not an ability to use all the time, as it may simply mean that Sovereign is targeted instead with his average for a Level 2 :AGL .

SKILLS: As a passive Skill, Leave No Trace is not going to require any significant consideration except in relation to Sovereign’s Team Power.

TEAM POWER – THE DEFENDER: My view is how importantly you rank Sovereign versus the importance of a model that he may replace. A Level 1 that can keep up-table and out of danger is probably ideal fodder to be replaced. Level 2’s on the other hand probably offer their own unique strengths and so should naturally be less obvious replacement choices.

WEAKNESSES: Sovereign’s primary weakness is a mixed blessing – his Team Power makes him durable yet stops him from being healed. If you are used to relying on Blood Rose and First Aid Kits, you may need to re-think how you play when including Sovereign in your Team, and there will be temptation to have a ‘sacrificial’ Supreme to use to bring Sovereign back. Also he isn’t very mobile by himself, and becomes less so with British Steel*.

SYNERGIES: Use Blood Rose for mobility – she can drop Sovereign where needed; use with Trail or Heroic Call (Battlefield Control) Resource and allow Sovereign to drop into the right place and throw down British Steel* and maybe even Covering Fire*. Enhance that further with the Path of Destiny Resource and suddenly you have created a very tough roadblock. Dead Eye (tactica) makes a great leader at EL 12+, partially compensating Sovereign’s lack of mobility.

Tactica: Dark Solar

NAME: Dark Solar
SUBFACTION: none; creates all-Nature synergies
FUNCTION: Big gun; brawler, blaster and leader

BRIEF: The evolution of Solar. As a continuation of his lesser form, Dark Solar offers improved (now tremendous) Close Combat and Ranged attacks and so works well as a center table beat-stick. Flight 5 adds mobility, and means that on land or in the air he is a combat big gun almost without peer. Finally, his inclusion adds real power(up) potential to a well-selected Team.

POWERS: Dark Solar’s Actions are primarily 3 Damage dealing Actions and 1 buff/de-buff Action. This gears him to being used aggressively and with moderately-decent defensive Traits and 19 Damage means he isn’t invulnerable.

At 2 AP Sun Ray is a nice basic Ranged Attack. Note that the Dark Solar version is better than the basic Solar iteration. In addition it can be used again if the target is Incapacitated or Eliminated. I would argue that lacking Defensive Traits and generating those extra Power-Up dice (see Team Power below), then do some math. Unless a target has so few Damage remaining that a Power-Up is unnecessary then I would argue to always use a Power-Up, especially if this is used with a lot of Dark Solar’s AP Allowance remaining (unless planning to use Night Sun in this Round).

Rip is a great Close Combat Action in my view, circumventing the benefits of Spectral while de-buffing the target and throwing in Aftershocks for good measure. While not quite as strong in STRENGTH Trait as Dark Solar’s ENERGY Actions, don’t forget that if he is Up, Up and Away a Charge* bonus can be stacked with Flight benefits and Power-Up for a pretty devastating attack (up to 17 total result). Consider setting up a target with Tritonious’ (Charge*+) Strike + Triton’s Strike, then in a later Activation Ebb Flow* (especially against Supremes relying on STRENGTH for many of their Actions). This sets up a situation where the target can’t use STRENGTH Actions but can be Damaged by Rip. Think about that kind of combination against Supremes like Hellsmith, Six Feet Under, Chimp Chi, Silverager with Rage Points, Father Oak, and Taurus etc.; basically models lacking DEFENSE Trump. Don’t overlook the opportunity to follow up Rip with Strikes from Dark Solar against the same target as they will be at -1 DEFENSE; basically a net Damage bonus of +1 for ‘free’. And finally Rip is ideal for hunting down Spectral Ace of Wraiths or Seabolt.

Face of the Sun is a better version of Solar’s Touch of the Sun. It is going to be a very situational bonus. If you have a couple or more Nature Supremes within RNG, then it should be cost-effective (Stalker should be within RNG most of the time). But using it will limit your attack Actions of course. I would suggest that the de-buff aspect against enemy skills (Blend, Gaia’s Enemy and Deflect) is a handy bonus, but won’t often be a key aim with this ability unless it looks like Dark Solar will be surrounded by suitable imminent attackers. Since Blend only applies against Ranged attacks, I think at 2 AP the de-buff aspect should mainly be viewed as an added benefit only, not as primary aim.

Night Sun; more targeted than Solar’s Sun Strikes, this is much more geared towards disruption. At 4 AP (plus Power-Up costs) the ideal primary targets probably have lower non-Trump AGILITY than Dark Solar’s ENERGY , so for main targets consider avoiding models not fitting this parameter or those lacking decent STRENGTH , and especially Supremes like Iron Train who will benefit from decent AGILITY equivalent due to Armored. Ideal primary targets should be already low on Damage and such models would include Supremes such as Giant Hadron, Hellsmith, Six Feet Under, enemy Solar, Dead Eye, Father Oak, Francis Gator, Rook, Taurus, Stormblades, and Aquarius. Of course a cluster of such targets is even better…

SKILLS: Always look to use Flight effectively - even at altitude 1 Dark Solar will be STRENGTH 7, DEFENSE 7 and AGILITY 6 and will still be able to use Close Combat Actions. Altitude 2 or more can be used fairly freely since if in Base to Base he will drop to altitude 1 anyway if using a Close Combat Action, but altitude 4 or 5 will take Dark Solar and Stalker away from being able to use Super Duo. Think of Flight 5 as a defense against high-power RNG 4 or less Actions or to avoid powerful fliers like Supreme Zed locking Dark Solar down for a Round or more. At altitude 1, Dark Solar will still benefit from Super Duo buff to AGILITY thus offering improved survivability against most ENERGY attacks as well as that small handful of Supremes using AGILITY vs. AGILITY for Close Combat Actions.

TEAM POWER – DAY & NIGHT: This needs to be declared at the beginning of each Round; remember to do this as it offers free benefits. In the early Rounds or against a Team with a lot of ENERGY based Actions I tend to favor Day, but as enemies start to run low on Damage, then Night comes into its own.

TEAM POWER – DARK SOLSTICE: There is simply no good reason not to take an all-Nature Team if using Dark Solar. Heroes and Villains offer good line-ups and this benefit should last most of the game. Enough said.

WEAKNESSES: Firstly even though as a Level 3 and he has good Traits, he is currently the L3 most vulnerable to ‘control’ Actions such as read Minds (Trail), Mind Grip (Gemini Y) and Fangs (Sanguine [night]). Secondly he has no defensive Trump Traits, so with concerted effort he can be worn down with no Power-Up counter to attacking Power-Ups and Trump Rolls. Don’t forget to mitigate this through Up, Up and Away and Super Duo.

SYNERGIES/RESOURCES: Stalker is pretty much a must as either Hero or Villain. Don’t leave home without Ahau-Kin’s Tiara. As for other line-up options? Think about Stoner Hawk – if within 2 inches Dark Solar can benefit from Redemption while offering a buff through Face of the Sun, massively increasing Dark Solar’s survivability (although opening up exposure to Self-Blasts, Blasts, Rays and similar Actions).
Father Oak’s Earth's Renewal offers a natural (no pun intended!) synergy with a Dark Solar/Stalker/Stoner Hawk combo, which then lends to inclusion of Acorn. On the Villain side the Ulthar Team offers some interesting options to fill out a Team with Taurus, Stormblades, and Gemini X and Gemini Y covering the roles of Brawler, Blaster and Support between them. Lastly don’t overlook Guerilla and Le Murtiple. Guerilla offers a similar Brawler-Blaster combo, thus adding some real firepower that can be buffed by Face of the Sun.

Tactica: Tritonious

NAME: Tritonious.
SUBFACTION: none.
FUNCTION: Water-synergies and level 1 beat stick; Water control; environment control (Water); consider for inclusion in all-Nature Teams or Dead Eye Team.

BRIEF: Half-alien hybrid.

POWERS: A tough-looking model, Tritonious doesn’t offer the best Traits or Damage track, but is a good proposition in the right circumstances. His Traits are decent on the whole; they are just not as specialized as with some Level 1 Supremes. All of his Actions interact with the Water Skill, meaning he is best used against or better yet alongside Supremes and Minions (think BOOM here) with Water. His Team power works in fairly unique way to enhance his whole Team if faced with Water terrain – Water terrain is Tritonious’ friend.

TRITON’S STRIKE* offers two real benefits; firstly if Tritonious is going toe-to-toe with a Supreme, especially one prone to using Ranged Attacks, he can turn them to Water and becomes Immune to their ENERGY attack Actions! Secondly the Triton’s Strike* allows Tritonious to affect Spectral models, useful when Supremes like Ace of Wraiths, Sanguine (night) and Seabolt are proving elusive when using Spectral. Lastly don’t overlook that it does not count against the limit of combinable Actions, meaning a Charge* + Triton’s Strike* + Strike combo is perfectly permissible; and don’t forget to Power-Up or Trump Roll the Strike – especially if it is a rare opportunity to Strike against a Spectral model.

DEHYDRATE is an okay Ranged Combat Action at 2 AP, in the correct circumstances, with a bonus effect that will be rarely triggered against Supremes, due to lack of Trump Roll or Power-Up, and given that most Supremes are Incapacitated rather than Eliminated. However used against Minions (or even Citizens!) it allows Tritonious to litter the battlefield with more and more pockets of Water terrain, which in turn can boost his STRENGTH and ENERGY traits. Consider using Dehydrate on a Minion while within range of a different tempting Charge* target; Dehydrate costs 2 AP, while the Charge* + Strike (+ Triton’s Strike* if desired) will result in STRENGTH 5 +1 for Charge* plus any Trump Roll and/or Power-Up buffs, allowing a range of results from 7 to 15 – not bad for a Level 1 Supreme, and if using Triton’s Strike*, that STRENGTH boost can become self-sustaining.

TIDAL offers a couple of options. If Tritonious is working with models with the Water Skill (Seabolt; Francis Gator; BOOM Minions with Water skill!) it provides a potential massive movement boost (great for contesting or claiming objectives, as well as moving models from danger or bringing them to the area of desired conflict) for only a small AP outlay and no loss of Movement Actions. You can literally ‘flood’ an area with models (sorry for that pun…). Alternatively it also allows area and tactical denial if facing Water models: just aim them in an inconvenient direction – useful for example if Seabolt has Go With The Flow potentially lined up; or to get models away from Agenda Tokens, Agenda Areas or Agenda Buildings.

EBB FLOW* can be seen as primarily a defensive Action, providing Spectral to Water models. Extra useful if facing a Team reliant on STRENGTH Actions of course. A cheap tactic may be to build an army of BOOM Blaster Minions with the Water Skill to exploit this protection and march them where they are needed most. Alternatively, if an enemy in Base to Base has been affected by Triton’s Strike* in the current Round, then Ebb Flow means that they cannot effectively use STRENGTH or ENERGY Actions against Tritonious in the current Round.

TEAM POWER – CHILD OF THE NEPTUNE: This is basically a synergy buff for Tritonious, allowing him a boost from Water terrain or friendly Water models within close proximity, at the cost of not being able to work alongside Ulthar. In essence, try to maximize this by at least having Water allies if possible (BOOM is your friend here).

SKILLS: With only a handful of skills it looks like Tritonious is a little limited, but on closer inspection they are all pretty good. Hatred/Ulthar makes Tritonious a decent choice if you expect to face those dastardly aliens; Immune/Water is novel in that it offers broad protection without requiring Tritonious to be vulnerable to Fire. Finally Fury 1 means that Tritonious can have a chance in a stand-up fight, except where he is massively outclassed (and of course he can compensate if he is outclassed by using Triton’s Strike and Ebb Flow*; think about that option if facing the likes of Hellsmith, Giant Hadron, Apebot, Guerilla, Father Oak, Dr Mercury, Six Feet Under, Solar or other beat stick types that lack DEFENSE Trump).

RESOURCES: The usual suspects here are all worth consideration: First Aid Kit for added durability; Heroic Call (for example, use Battlefield Control to Activate Tritonious to use Tidal to position Seabolt for a run with Go With The Flow); Nature’s Boon can add a net +3 to Tritonious’ Opposed Rolls for a Round if used correctly (if you know the terrain will have a suitable feature); Path of Destiny can give a second chance on that Trumped, Powered-Up Strike just when needed.

WEAKNESSES: Tritonious’ biggest weakness is probably that he is a Level 1 Supreme – his Actions would really step-up in capability if he had the extra Damage, higher Trait scores and extra Trump Trait of a Level 2; by this I mean he looks impressive as a model, has decent Traits and Damage, yet players need to be cautious enough not to try to use him the same way they would a Level 2 Supreme. Another weakness is that to get the best out of him, Tritonious either needs to be used alongside Water models, on a Water terrain heavy battlefield, or in opposition to a number of Water Supremes. He can operate without these requirements, but is not likely to do so as efficiently as with them.

SYNERGIES: Seabolt and Francis Gator both offer excellent synergies – Tritonious gets a STRENGTH and ENERGY buff if a Water Supreme such as these is within 3 inches. The downside is that Tidal may be less desirable to use since those Supremes could be subject to moves that are not wholly satisfactory. BOOM Minions could be a cheap but effective way of offering that Team Power boost to Tritonious: use Blasters or Support Minions with Water and Target Acquired to really enhance Combat Actions, or use More Than Punching Bags and have them hang back to add to the AP Pool and maybe add to Tritonious’ Traits at the same time. In Team-building, both Dead Eye and Mysterious Man can make good use of Tritonious, so don’t overlook him when playing EL 12+ games with either.

Tactica: Dead Eye

NAME: Dead Eye
SUBFACTION: unaligned heroes at EL 12+
FUNCTION: team-builder in larger games.

BRIEF: Dead Eye is one part beat-stick, one part galvanizing leader and one part forward observer; he is tough and durable and great fun to play. The Supreme Quarterback, both literally and metaphorically. Of course he is all about the big games, only appearing at EL 12+. Because of that he brings some limits despite the fact that he will be opening up a special Team Power.

POWERS: Dead Eye has only a couple of skills; both are useful in their own right, lending themselves to Dead Eye moving to engage his foes more directly and being at the centre of the action – like any good quarterback. His actions on the other hand, are where he excels. Due to the multiple modes for Dead Eye Pass and Field Tactics, Dead Eye has 7 choices of exclusive actions (but these are limited to only 1 of the Dead Eye Passes and 1 Field Tactics being used in a given round, of course). Certain of Dead Eye’s actions (Cyberfist, Field Tactics: Coach, Target) really work best and most efficiently when used early in the round, either in his first activation, or better yet if he is the first of your models activated.

In the right circumstances Cyberfist* is truly devastating. At AP 2 the cost-investment is always better paid up-front to maximize use of Dead Eye’s 3 Strikes available per round. Against fairly clustered foes (i.e. within Dead Eye’s Charge range), Dead Eye could theoretically Charge 3 different targets in the same round, circumstances permitting. In that case play the odds – a basic Cyberfist Charge Strike against a target eligible for the Power-Up is going to yield a result of between 10 and 17, with the mean result of 13-14 (13.5). Certain L1’s can be vulnerable to being taken out in a single blow, especially if already weakened. Look for synergies, and with luck Dead Eye could seriously dent or take down 3 models in a single round. To make maximum and most efficient use of Cyberfist look to make 2 Strikes minimum in the round.

Dead Eye Pass has 2 modes. Low Pass is great, and is arguably most useful against models lacking the ability to Get Up* without it counting against limits of Movement Actions/AP Pool. Use it to keep an enemy in place for Dead Eye or his allies to close on them. High Pass will be used less often by virtue of handing on a Burdening objective.

Field Tactics offers 3 great choices. Like Cyberfist, timing is key. Sprint* moves need to place friendly models in useful positions without compromising them or leaving them vulnerable. Pointless moves mean Sprint arguably can be a waste of AP; use judiciously. Coach* requires the models benefitting to be reasonably close to Dead Eye, however at AP 1 it is a dirt-cheap option, especially as it lasts through the round. Consider using it early in the round to maximize benefits – models passing within 7” of Dead Eye can then use the movement boost accordingly (especially for Charges). Turtle* offers a useful protection buff to models that can get into base to base – the downside being that suddenly the enemy has a nice cluster of targets for Blasts, Rays and Self-Blasts; basically the cons could outweigh the pro of gaining Invincible 1. I tend to favor Sprint the most, probably followed by Coach.

Target* is a nice and simple ability. Use to concentrate on and take down a durable foe. Use early in the round to maximize benefit for the greatest number of allied models. Consider combining with Low Pass or Strike depending on the circumstances. If considering the better of Cyberfist or Target against the model to be taken down, then think whether you want a team effort (saving Dead Eye’s AP allowance for other activations) or whether the big guy can do the job alone. Consider Power-Up synergies for friendly models benefitting from attacking the model affected by Target.

Finally don’t forget Dead Eye’s Final Game Resource. If used right (and it has a great range of 14”), it can really inconvenience your opponent, for example: dropping a Burden (maybe an objective); moving a model away from a position where it can utilize Blend; moving a model away from cover; moving a model into potential LOS of a team-mate of Dead Eye.

Local Patriot isn’t too limiting (at present), yet will offer considerable benefit when the Ulthar are finally unleashed.

My City really helps his team by extending the deployment zone. Perhaps more importantly Heroic Call is a brilliant freebie. While the Adrenaline Boost is nice for the team-wide healing, Battlefield Control can really play on Dead Eye’s other abilities. Consider using Battlefield Control to maneuver Dead Eye into an attack position (Move* and Strike) and move 2 other models, then following up Dead Eye’s activation with that of another attacking model. That model can either Move* again and attack (assuming sufficient Movement Actions available), or attack then Move* to get away from threats (basically a hit and run attack). There should be lots of options that work well, especially those where in an ideal world you would like to combine 2 actions but also need to Move* first to get the option to do so. For example when out of Charge* range of a suitable target, but only by an amount less than 4” (the first ‘free’ Move*). Alternatively use Battlefield Control with Low Pass (perhaps combined with Target) to make an enemy prone and more vulnerable to a follow-up attack by one of Dead Eye’s friends: if charging the friendly model will be at +2 (plus any other bonuses they can manage) and the target at -2 (for being prone) which is effectively a net +4 bonus; Power-Up to add to the result and a devastating attack can result, especially if the action used has any extra effect beyond simple damage (think how this could work with Harrier’s Rake ability to probably/possibly wipe out the AP allowance of the target; or with Stoner Hawk’s Rumble ability to Knock Down multiple models).

Vigilantes - they are not exclusive to Dead Eye, but really come into their own alongside him; so if using Dead Eye, then don't leave home without them is my advice. With him they add to your AP Pool and spread your Activation options, while being amongst the most formidable of Minions out there - all good.

WEAKNESSES: Dead Eye has few, if any, major weaknesses. However, even though two of the defensive Traits are his Trumps, he is comparatively weaker against most ENERGY attacks due to his AGILITY not being trumped. That said, Dead Eye has decent Damage points and his AGILITY is still good. Unlike some other Level 3’s he doesn’t come with a suite of Personal Resources equal to his level, and he has only a couple of skills: thus as a character he is tough, but as a Level 3 option he has his limitations in terms of breadth of capability when compared to other L3’s. Finally, his Heroes Team Power is limited by the Supremes that qualify: all Supremes have to have no Allegiance/Subfaction otherwise none benefit from this ability. As more models become available (like the forthcoming Jade Hawk & Skyline), the restriction actually lessens.

SYNERGIES: as a level 3, and by virtue of most of his actions, Dead Eye is all about team-building. L3’s shape the way a team is formed to benefit from the extra buffs that accompany their L3 Team Power. The current options are 3 of – (L1’s) Kitty Cheshire (due to Freelancer), Vector, Acorn, Harrier, Gentleman (using Greed); and 3 of – (L2’s) Father Oak, Stoner Hawk, Solar, Ace of Wraiths, Trail. Also don’t overlook the major boost Vigilantes gain and give: they add 4 AP for a full card (at the cost of losing the Minion cost-break on Strike and Move*; as well as needing to activate as Supremes), and are low-power L1 Supremes without counting against your Supreme limit for Team Selection. Their pros far outweigh the only real cons in my view.
In regard to team selection, then specific further synergies between team members is very much worth considering (e.g. if taking Acorn and/or Father Oak, then they do work better in tandem). Field Tactics: Sprint* can be useful for characters who you want to Move* but when you wish to reserve their AP allowance, perhaps if it is limited (Vector) or you wish to keep AP’s aside for Power Ups; similarly Coach* sets up a zone of movement buff. Field Tactics: Coach can work well to boost more free-moving characters such as Harrier, Vector and Solar. All Field Tactics are about buffs to the team, as is Target*. The buffs are pretty universal so work well with pretty much most character selections. And as noted Low Pass can set up Stoner Hawk’s Rumble buff.

Tactica: Sanguine (night; Level 2)

NAME: Sanguine (night) Level 2
SUBFACTION: Necroplane/unaligned
FUNCTION: Battlefield control.

BRIEF: Classic comic book vampire, Sanguine (night) is represents the big bad vampire, using many of the famous vampiric abilities including mental domination.

POWERS: Sanguine (night) offers a nice breadth of abilities. As with his day incarnation, he does not possess devastating direct attack Actions, needing to work some combinations of actions and synergies to deal high Damage. Instead he primarily offers some very effective control actions. While Crimson Mist and Fangs are a natural combo, it can become costly using likely up to 5 + target’s Action AP cost in AP’s – pretty much most of his AP Allowance.

Fangs is a useful battlefield control action and when used at the right time may be able to turn the tide of momentum. Since each Action can only be used once per round, using an enemy's Exclusive Actions against their allies also stops them from using that same Action against your models. Ideally use the Action that will both disrupt the enemy and leave the targeted model exposed/vulnerable; even a simple Move* from Base to Base to trigger Free Strikes may be worth a thought. Note also that you can still use Fangs after going Spectral using Crimson Mist (below). This allows Sanguine some leeway when facing Close Combat heavy melee hitters. Even if you lose initiative you can recover up to 3 of the damage sustained (using Crimson Mist), use Fangs in a following Activation (perhaps with a Move*), and then have an AP or two left over.

Crimson Mist is a particularly useful defensive ability. This Action will let Sanguine (night) move through models/terrain and escape melee without free strikes if that threat is in place. Use to evade front-line or mid-field models if you'd rather hunt one of their rear support models. Add to that the benefit of self-healing up to 3 Damage per Round without penalty (any more is too restrictive on balance) other than AP cost, and Sanguine (night) can be more durable than his Traits, Skills or Damage may at first indicate. Obviously beware the risks of ENERGY-using enemies when in Spectral form – it does not offer complete invulnerability, especially as AGILITY is reduced by X; don’t forget his Trump and other available buffs at such times. And of course being Spectral may allow Sanguine (night) to occupy an objective with a degree of safety.

Horror is potentially very powerful, applying -2 to all opposed rolls. In the right circumstances this is a really big penalty (and so a bonus for Sanguine’s Team). Don’t forget that SBl 4 can cover a large amount of the board (basically just over 9” in diameter circle). Try not to use Horror on enemy models you wish to use Fangs on, otherwise their efficacy will be compromised.

Bloodlust* allows Sanguine (night) and Draku to boost their STRENGTH as enemies are damaged within the Aura. The downside is that STRENGTH is not a Trump Trait and it is naturally incompatible with Crimson Mist. Because of this, I see Bloodlust as a back-up power that will be very situation-specific (groups of Minions and Citizens come to mind); the area affected may stack nicely with Horror (use Horror first), but the AP outlay is quite a lot (4 AP) so would really restrict use of Sanguine (night)’s other Actions. One option is to possibly use Bloodlust* with Fangs to generate a Free Strike against a model in Base to Base, but this will rarely be especially useful. With sequential Activations, Bloodlust could combine and stack with Horror to be followed up by a Charge and Strike for a healthy Damage output, but that is going to take at least 2 Activations (allowing a target to move away maybe) and around 6 AP to manage, plus maybe another 2 AP for Draku joining him.

Team Power – Deceiver: allows Sanguine (night) to stay in the game. If you want to make use of it keep a disposable friendly Supreme near to Sanguine (night) to allow Sanguine to stay in the game when Incapacitated/Eliminated. Models that are near to being taken out themselves are obvious candidates; Mourn is probably the ideal companion in this. You will likely need to follow up with Crimson Mist.

Skills – Freelancer is more a Team-building skill, deciding for you what kind of Team you want to build, and really influencing use in EL 12 games.

Draku – don’t leave home without him! He is cute, a vampire dog, Regenerates, heals through Bite, and best of all you opponent suffers if he or she takes him out. What isn’t there to like in all of that? Don’t forget that Draku can Strike as well as use his Bite.

Mobility – with his AP 7, a Run* action is not too costly for Sanguine (night), so he can be pretty mobile despite his lack of movement skills or actions.

WEAKNESSES: Sanguine (night) has a few key weaknesses. Firstly is that he doesn’t bring a single major damaging attack to bear, he needs to be used with models that can benefit from his Actions. Also, bear in mind that Bloodlust* is Sanguine (night)’s only * Action, meaning some planning is required to use his actions successfully. And remember that Crimson Mist can leave him very vulnerable to ENERGY attacks (use his Trump and other possible buffs if necessary).

SYNERGIES: Keep a ‘disposable’ friendly Supreme near to Sanguine (night) to allow Sanguine to stay in the game when Incapacitated/Eliminated – Mourn is the current best choice. Any friendly models can benefit from attacking models affected by Horror, meaning Sanguine (night) works well with anyone.

Tactica: Sanguine (day; Level 1)

NAME: Sanguine (day); Level 1
SUBFACTION: Necroplane
FUNCTION: attack synergy (Horror), Minion Elimination, support.

BRIEF: Classic comic book vampire, Sanguine (Day) is great in games in which you expect to face a lot of ‘grunt’ Minions – the faceless Non-Exclusive types.

POWERS: Sanguine lacks truly devastating one-shot attacks, instead offering Actions that are about Team work (read: Game Round planning) and Minion domination and Elimination.

Bloodarang is a great ranged attack for its AP cost; with luck (or at least favorable circumstances) multiple models can be affected. Given Sanguine’s STRENGTH, that may be the only real weakness of the ability, meaning it is best targeted at weakened Supremes (Knocked Down or subject to Horror below), those with low AGILITY (a lot of bricks qualify) or Minions. And of course Minions count as models for gaining Night Points…

Blood Favor is a nifty support ability – healing for Necroplane models (useful for keeping Mourn in the game when he is off on his own, or topping up Supreme Zed’s first Damage track to avoid his effective Elimination if counting win conditions on Supreme Levels. Therefore, some end-game planning can be useful for the final Round with this ability if Sanguine is still in play.

Whisper can be used to turn opposing Minions; it can also be used for cheap Night Points gain if directed at Sanguine’s own Minions. Look at Corrupt Cops, Hired Guns or ‘weak’ BOOM Minions in good numbers to exploit this. You will need to cluster around Sanguine and you will limit the effectiveness of those Minions, but if you are determined that you need the shift to Level 2 Sanguine, this is possibly the quickest route.

Horror is potentially very powerful, applying -2 to all opposed rolls. In the right circumstances this is a really big penalty (and so a bonus for Sanguine’s Team). And don’t forget that SBl 4 can cover a large amount of the board (basically just over 9” in diameter circle). Follow it up with Bloodarang and you can hopefully add some more Night Points; using the Horror itself is not often likely to yield extra Night Points, but it can create favorable circumstances to do so.

Team Power – Night Beckons: not much to consider here really, except to not overlook that with Fury 1 there are a couple of other options for Sanguine to take out Minions for cheap Night Points.

Skills – with his STRENGTH 3 Fury 1 is really for weak DEFENSE Supremes and especially Minions. Freelancer is more a Team-building skill, deciding for you what kind of Team you want to build, and really influencing use in EL 12 games.

Draku – don’t leave home without him! He is cute, a vampire dog, Regenerates and best of all your opponent suffers if he or she takes him out. What isn’t there to like in all of that?

WEAKNESSES: While well-rounded, Sanguine (day) offers no immediate devastating Trump-based attacks, instead offering attack synergies. Therefore, to use him effectively requires fore-thought and planning – Horror stacks well with anything that follows, including Sanguine’s own attacks, so it is worth using as early as possible in the Round.

SYNERGIES: With Horror, all of Sanguine’s Team can benefit from its use, and so Sanguine works well alongside anyone. Blood Favor requires that Sanguine is working with Necroplane Supremes, so at less than EL 12 you are specifically looking at Mourn to be able to fully utilize it.

Tactica: Nuclear Jones

NAME: Nuclear Jones
SUBFACTION: Heavy Metal
FUNCTION: Blaster/Support.

BRIEF: Heavy Metal’s premier blaster and radiation-fuelled powerhouse.

POWERS: Nuclear Jones is very attack focused, having 3 combat Exclusive Actions at his disposal. All of these actions play of one of his Trump Traits and have decent range or area of effect; in short he is a real combat powerhouse.

Nuclear Missile is nice and straight-forwards as a mid-range attack; combine with Move* for a 12 inch threat range. To take best advantage of the Action’s special rule to be used again, try to use Nuclear Missile during Nuclear Jones’ first activation each Game Round. With the Trump and Power-Up, this is probably one of the most devastating single-target attacks that any level 2 has.

Atom Heart is what qualifies Nuclear Jones as a support model. Since one of Nuclear Jones’ Exclusive Actions (Nuclear Leak) is very destructive to friend and foe alike, that may be more an end-of-game option, as is Detonation (also below), meaning that Atom Heart is best used in the early stages of a game before your forces disperse, or at least in conjunction with Nuclear Missile. A nice option, to best use this Action encourages a team to be built around Heavy Metal to maximize benefits. At EL 12 this is obvious, but at lower EL’s it means a quite specific line-up selection; Science Origins have a slight advantage in the meta-game right now, so an all Heavy Metal team is no bad thing. Of course strategy should not be based on one Action alone, but the upshot is that Nuclear Jones and Dr. Mercury both have very Heavy Metal-specific abilities in their repertoires, so there is real value in considering an all-Heavy Metal Team even at lower EL’s.

Nuclear Leak – very destructive, especially against targets with high/Trumped defenses (:AGL against Nuclear Missile for example); even the toughest target is going to suffer that Aftershocks Damage. Nuclear Leak is naturally fairly inimical to Atom Heart since it means keeping friendly models at a safe distance. Most Minions will be vaporized by Nuclear Leak, so it can be especially useful for thinning out hordes of Necro GI’s, Zombies or Mysterious Man-created Minions. If the Nuclear Jones player wants to create an area of temporary deterrence, useful against Minions and Supremes alike, then using the damage-inducing Action-payment option gives a 16.66% extra chance of succeeding in staying in place. I would suggest that a cost of 2 Damage from a starting pool of only 11 is too costly for such a precious model like Nuclear Jones unless there are no obvious alternatives. To get to Aftershocks 4+ there is a chance of that happening each round; to get to Aftershocks 7 for example, there is a 2.77% to 11.11% chance of that happening without using Damage to pay the cost of the Action (which will take the course of 4 Rounds; the first in which the Action is used, the second with first Aftershocks, and then two more rounds of increase); if using Damage the best this goes to in order to get to Aftershocks 6 is around 50%, but at that cost of 2 Damage, and of course the need to get the enemy into the right area. So the odds are not dead-on that it will get to massive damage potential. Of course Aftershocks 7, 6 or 5 is plenty, but so is Aftershocks 3 in my view. It is a great Action, I just feel it is just uncommon that it will get to the massive damage thresholds if your opponent knows what to look out for. Also, don’t forget that a Self Blast affects the range from the model, so a Nuclear Leak that stays in place has an effective diameter of just over 7 inches.

Detonation – Nuclear Jones’ ‘pre-emptive revenge’ Action. Keep in mind that while Heavy Metal models (friend or foe, by the way; Heroes can of course fight Heroes…) are Immune/Detonation, Nuclear Jones is still removed on using this action. In games not counting Agenda Points for lost Supremes this is not too costly, except for the loss of the model, but unless Nuclear Jones is on the verge of being taken out then it is wasteful to use this Action too early since in the following Game Round his AP contribution will be lost. If he is down to his last few Damage, then this an attractive and viable option.

Skills: not much to comment on except that Levitate offers some freedom of Movement; his Hatred is very narrow meaning you can forget about it until playing against Mysterious Man. It is Instability and Leave No Trace that are the ones to pay attention to: the more Damage he is exposed to, the more Instability rolls are needed. Thus, lots of low-yield Damage results could still run the risk of triggering that Instability.

Team Power – Weird Affinity: basically Nuke and Nuclear Jones cancel each other out. Neither a disadvantage nor an advantage really, very much a neutral and low-key Team Power.

WEAKNESSES: Nuclear Jones possesses decent defensive Traits, but a mediocre Damage track as far as Level 2 Supremes go. This means he can hold his own, but still needs to be used mindfully, especially if he falls victim to an unlucky Instability roll. Consider equipping Nuclear Jones with a First Aid Kit to mitigate his limited Damage pool. Another weakness is his suite of Exclusive Actions; Detonation is one-use only meaning that in game management terms he is largely limited to 3 Exclusive Actions as well as Universal Actions.

SYNERGIES: Heavy Metal – it should go without saying, but Nuclear Jones can help his team-mates with Atom Heart and they are Immune/Detonation, and so the more Heavy Metal Supremes that are near him the better. Dr. Mercury’s Mercurial Matrix makes Nuclear Jones even tougher for a round so he is a good companion. Chronin can maximize Nuclear Jones’ Nuclear Missile (especially if Trump has already been used) and Detonation attacks with Rewind. Outside of Heavy Metal, Blood Rose may be useful for placing Nuclear Jones in the best place for Nuclear Leak and/or Detonation, Trail can use A Second Ahead to allow Nuclear Jones to unleash a devastating torrent of attacks, and Stoner Hawk can be used to mitigate the limited Damage track that Nuclear Jones has due to his own Team Power, or Vector can do something similar with his Pixels. That said, on balance an all-Heavy Metal Team makes the most sense.

Tactica: Mourn

I love Mourn, I really do – he was one of the first Pulp City minis I finished painting; so I enjoyed trying to construct a tactica for him.

NAME: Mourn
SUBFACTION: Necroplane
FUNCTION: harassment, anti-Science, battlefield control.

BRIEF: Mourn has some expensive Actions relative to his AP Allowance. This means he has to be used judiciously to be effective. If used without care his mediocre Damage and lack of defensive Trumps or Skills (except for Flight) mean he is not going to stay around for long if targeted.

POWERS: Mourn has a nice variety of combat abilities, offering a degree of attack utility not all Level 1’s have. All of his Exclusive Actions play off his Trump (MIND), which compensates for his fairly average-at-best Traits.

Screams of the Dead is a limited-range basic Ray attack. It isn’t cheap (using half his AP), so be mindful of Mourn’s positioning after the Action, because if he Moves* then uses the Action, he will be vulnerable to counter-charge from any survivors. However, given that it targets SPIRIT, then undoubtedly a good potential victim will present themselves from time to time. Be careful about using it with Power-Up as that may ensure Mourn is left exposed for the remainder of the Game Round.

Ssshred Them!* is the real anti-Science option that Mourn has, but it needs to be used carefully. Mourn has to combine it with another Action (Screams will work, but leaves Mourn just as exposed as using Strike), which means he needs to be in the right place at the right time – plan ahead. Because of his AP Allowance Mourn will either need to be moved by another model or in the previous Round, or need to have a target come near to him if using the Ssshred Them!*/ Screams of the Dead combo. Successfully stack it with Screams of the Dead and suddenly Mourn has a devastating attack (effectively 9+d6 result) against the right target – Heavy Metal beware, as well as the likes of Apebot. Only Science Supremes like Dead Eye are likely to weather the Ssshred Them!*/ Screams of the Dead combo.

Banshee Wail is great for battlefield control, if timed right. To use it effectively it arguably should deny more AP Allowance than it costs, or should prevent use of specific Actions, so it will need to be used against low SPIRIT models or a sufficiently clustered group of enemies without too high SPIRIT. Since friendly models are affected, Mourn needs to be moved away from allies, meaning he will probably be vulnerable unless he can combine it with a Move*.

Sssuffer! is Mourn’s pre-emptive revenge tactic; use it when it looks like he would go down imminently to maximize his removal. If it would be likely that he would be taken out by a forthcoming action, then there is no loss in leaving him without actions and on 1 damage if he has enough enemies around him. Ideally used against clustered enemies of course.

Team Power – The Laughter of the Dead: like Sssuffer! this is basically another ‘revenge’ power, enhancing his battlefield control capability. The Team Power mitigates to a degree the fact that Mourn’s actions will often leave him exposed and therefore vulnerable; if he is taken out he will damage Living models within 4 inches.

Soul Trap – Mourn’s non-exclusive Resource offers a neat solution to those few durable models with Regeneration and/or First Aid Kits. Tempting to use against Six Feet Under, but don’t forget the latter has SPIRIT as a Trump also.

WEAKNESSES: Mourn has a few key weaknesses. Firstly some of his abilities are best suited to operating at least 4 inches from friendly models, or away from Living friendly models at any rate. His Traits are fairly average, and his Damage is mediocre, and lacking defensive skills means he is not going to hang around long if used effectively. Also, don’t forget Mourn cannot be used for Starting Rolls despite his encouraging MIND Trait. Due to his AP Allowance and the high cost of his actions, Mourn is unlikely to Power-Up often, so most of the time players will need to use his attacks basing their decisions on expected results of 5-10, or 10-15 for the Ssshred Them!*/ Screams of the Dead combo (which uses his full AP Allowance). Trump can mitigate this to an extent of course.

SYNERGIES: Mourn has some unique synergy requirements. He works best alongside Non-Living models, but is arguably best operating alone. Level 2 Sanguine could accompany him fairly safely (think about overlapping Horror from Sanguine with a follow-up Sssuffer!), and Boreas could use Wind Blast (from Elemental Mastery) to ‘push’ Mourn into a useful position to manage Mourn’s AP limits.

Tactica: Vector

I have published a few tactics summaries on the Pulp City Forum, but thought they may be useful posted here as well. I will group them under the umbrella label of 'Tactica' (a nod to my past in the hobby being very WH40K-centric).

NAME: Vector
SUBFACTION: unaligned Hero/Villain (great for either Dead Eye or Mysterious Man teams)
FUNCTION: Support; limited effect sniper.

BRIEF: Vector requires some thought to use; he is no ‘fire and forget’ Supreme, instead his abilities are all about team-working, and move and fire activations.

POWERS: Equipped with a couple of offensive Actions, a Defensive Action and another Action intended to manage his unique Resource(s), Vector arguably lacks some of the breadth that a few other Supremes can bring to bear.

Digital Blasters is a nice and cheap ranged attack, which can be boosted by combining multiple Digital Blasters. The default condition is two available per round, for a combined RNG 12 attack. Combined Digital Blasters and a Blink Move* give a ENERGY 5 attack, with the option of Power-Up and most importantly a threat range of 16 inches – nothing to be dismissed lightly.

Digital Shield is a limited defense and buff, forcing Vector to use a Pixel to benefit from only minor gains. Since Pixels should be used as effectively as possible, I don’t see this as the most beneficial use of a Pixel, except when Vector is isolated.

Pixels, Combine! allows Vector to replace pixels with Megapixel, at only the cost of an activation and no AP. So if you like using Mega Pixel, not a bad option.

Digital Knife is effectively an ENERGY-based Strike, with a useful boost. A cheap Base to Base attack option, especially if hanging in base to base until the next round (effectively the cost of Digital Knife can be seen to be balanced by the 1 point AP allowance gain). Rolling that 6 means a more vulnerable enemy for friendly models to attack (consider the net benefit if that enemy model is stacked with Pixels).

Skills – Blink and Annoying mean Vector is hard to pin down and thankfully has reduced vulnerability to charges, since he can quickly and freely move away from Base to Base with sufficient AP and actions available; try not to do this until after the calculation of the AP pool, so therefore in Vector’s first activation of the following round where it is not too dangerous to wait to do so. Cyberhead means he can be a cheap option for Mechanical Minion control (Sentry Bots, Advanced Sentry Bots, BOOM Mechanical Minions), since he can manage them from anywhere on the battlefield. Obviously Immune/MIND offers some limited protection against certain actions.

Team Power - Glitch: is largely about hindrance for Vector, basically changing the way he plays compared to most other Supremes in small ways. Thus players need to get used to the lack of STRENGTH and Strikes, as well as not worrying too much when in Base to Base with enemy models (but recognizing he only has 9 damage points and fairly mediocre-to-average defensive traits, and no defensive Trumps).

Pixels are great – a renewable Resource that only costs AP. They are useful for stacking bonuses to target specific enemies (my preferred use), as well as having the option to be burned up to negate some Damage if attached to a friendly Supreme (think about the vulnerable guys you want to keep around longer, or the bricks/tanks being dropped among enemies; the Six Feet Under bomb could be made more durable with Pixels attached to Six Feet Under). Unless equipped with Self Blasts or non-Friendly affecting Blasts or similar options, enemies swamped with Pixels will waste AP and activations to get rid of the Pixels stacked on them. Follow that up with a Powered-Up attack against the same enemy and some devastating attacks can be unleashed. Vector needs to be within 6 inches of enemies to target them with Pixels, so care needs to be used that he isn’t left too exposed as a result. Since gaining the bonus to Opposed Rolls against enemy models doesn’t burn up Pixels (and therefore Vector’s future AP), then that is my favored mode of use.
Mega Pixel – offers an attack or AP allowance drain against targets with weak-to-average DEFENSE. Since Energy Harvest Eliminates the Mega Pixel (and the 3 AP invested previously), and the Energy Strike is at ENERGY 5, and requires an activation by Vector to bring it into play, then I favor keeping Pixels rather than going for their ‘big brother’. Of course if one enemy model is too much to handle otherwise, then Energy Harvest may be a viable option to limit their utility, but consider that unless the target has a particularly low DEFENSE, then the AP reduction is probably going to be limited.

WEAKNESSES: Vector has a few key weaknesses. Firstly he has no STRENGTH Trait, so cannot make Strikes (although this is balanced by his Digital Blasters and Digital Knife abilities). Secondly he has one of the smallest AP allowances in the game, except when he is in base to base with an enemy – a balanced weakness of sorts, since his actions are all either very cheap or in fact free. To gain the AP boost requires being in base to base with an enemy, which means surviving charges (easier thanks to Annoying) based on fairly average DEFENSE and Damage. Thirdly, Digital Shield requires a friendly Model to be in Base to Base to work effectively, meaning bunched models for enemy Blast, Ray and Self Blast attacks.


SYNERGIES: Vector is all about synergies and buffs – both providing them, and benefiting from them also. Any friendly model can benefit from attacking enemies beset by Pixels. Ace of Wraiths Jack of Shadows action is ideal for Vector; he gains Spectral without losing anything since he has no STRENGTH actions to use. C.O.R.E.’s Omnipotent combines with Digital Blasters to create an attack that can both damage at long range (16 inches threat range) as well as reducing AP allowance. Iron Train can use Free Ride to place Vector in a more favorable position; for example Vector can be placed in cover from Iron Train, especially if due to his limited AP Vector would be vulnerable. Twilight makes a useful close companion as both Supremes have the Annoying and Blink combination of skills, and Vector would benefit from the +1 to all Opposed Rolls from Shadowzone.