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Following on from the Guild thread, I decided that we should spend some time looking at the Arcanists and what they can do.

First up, the starter sets.
The Order of the Chimera - Basic crew = 22 soulstones.
Miners and Steamfitters Union - Basic Crew = 28 soulstones.
Cult of December - Basic Crew = 21 Soulstones.

The Order of the Chimera focuses on using wild beasts to do it's bidding. These beasts (a three headed tiger and a giant snake in the starter set) are pretty powerful in close combat, with abilities to help them reach the enemy. Myranda (the non-master human) in the set also has several abilities to boost nearby beasts and can even shapechange into a creature.

The Miners and Steamfitters union is all about robots and cyborgs. The Arachnid Swarms have the ability to split into multiple little robot bugs and reform again into a bigger swarm. Every model has armour making them harder to hurt, and with melee master/melee expert the swarms and the Steamborg can dish out the hurt in combat.

The Cult of December has lots of constructs made of ice in it's ranks. The constructs are immune to terror and other morale checks. Like the M&SU, they all have armour to reduce damage. When they die, they explode causing damage to nearby models. Additionally, they all have ranged attacks, the ability to boost each other's powers and they can act as conduits for Rasputina's spells.

Masters

Marcus of the Order of the Chimera is focussed on controlling and manipulating both his own crew and the enemy. A particularly nice combo he has is to change an enemy model's type into 'Beast' and then take control of it for one round. Marcus also has a large number of personal buff spells which can make him faster, tougher or stronger as he chooses.

Ramos of the M&SUis a summoner, with a focus on constructs. One of the weakest masters one on one, Ramos should avoid melee combat at all costs. He can cancel enemy spells directed at him, and has 2 points of armour to reduce incoming damage, but his defence rating is terrible. He has two different summoning abilities which he can make use of each round, and some spells to heal or defend nearby constructs.

Rasputina, the Master from the Cult of December is a spell casting powerhouse. She can create walls, provide cover or armour to friends and can potentially cast 8 damage causing spells per turn with the right card draws. She can cast her spells through nearby ice constructs (though at a slight penalty), increasing her range. She can also freeze a piece of terrain and stop enemy models from moving through it, allowing her to control the battlefield and prevent models from charging her as, like Ramos, she is very weak in melee.

minor point on the MSFU chaps: the spiderbots (individually) can reduce an enemy's toughness by being in B2B with him. Definite potential there for swarming a chap and then whacking him with a lightning bolt or something.

me_in_japan wrote:minor point on the MSFU chaps: the spiderbots (individually) can reduce an enemy's toughness by being in B2B with him. Definite potential there for swarming a chap and then whacking him with a lightning bolt or something.

That's certainly a good tactic. 3 spiders should be enough to reduce anyone's defence down to zero giving you a good chance of causing severe damage on an attack. It is potentially devestating.