I'm writing a quick blog to think about my favourite character in Guild Ball at the moment - Tater of the Farmers' Guild. I know I keep going on about him but look at him... how can't you love a guy with a scythe?!
This mild mannered, scythe weilding, lady charming, pasty eating, cider drinking, potato carrying hunk may just be the saviour of the Big League for me (despite not being allowed to get him until the end of August... damn you GenCon!)
How?! Well... let's have a look at him and some of the synergy he has with Scalpel and the Morticians that I'm looking to run (after the first week).
Front of card
TAC 5 - average.
His kick is quite surprising! 3 dice is a nice little surprise for him when he looks to play the ball around, particularly in my team where many don't have great kick stats.
Here lies the problem though - DEF 4+, ARM 0... he is going to get hit and once people work out the strategy that I'm going to use him for, he's going down hard. However, 16 wounds is pretty decent, particularly with his Icy Sponge token going back to 8 wounds. Interestingly, he doesn't have a 2nd recovery on this card so he can keep getting back in the fight with a decent amount of wounds!
Onto the playbook, 5 results is fair and with the ability to wrap around on a charge, you could be doing some damage! I love the GB ability of Mow Down, giving me the chance to take out models through reducing armour and putting on incrimental damage.
The cropping ability is fantastic! Recovery of 2HP for free is excellent. We will have a look at Harvest Markers in a minute, but using the marker to recover HP increases survivability!
It is worth a mention that there are two opportunities for non-momentus pushes which allow for a bit of bullying and manouvering around the board to get players into positions where they can be vunerable.
I haven't mentioned the ability to churn out momentum too, with 4 of the playbook results generating that valuable commodity! WOW!
Back of Card
New Talent Spotted: Only in the Big League but it would very much depend on your opponent. I would be very surprised if your opponent for a friendly game said no! Tournaments, understandable! Combos with him would be filth!
Charmed [Female]: Look at him - he's handsome! He really should have been called 'Handsome Tater'! Say no more! Very useful against some selective models out there at the moment.
Fruits of Labour: The bread and butter it seems of Tater - Harvest-markers. Within 2" of him is fairly helpful as it allows for a bit of pre-planning in future turns.
Scything Charge: An additional 3 damage from a charge if he deals damage to an opponent, not just to that opponent but to all within his melee? Well... speaks for itself. This would need very careful model placement if he is to activate later on in the turn - watch out!!!
Gerrof My Land!: So... don't mow the harvest down and charge a target when they're within 6" of you? Seems strong! This is a circumstantial ability but one players will need to be aware of. I feel that in our Big League many players will try and avoid that area of the board. So, a 6" dominating bubble to bully the board with. I could see him and Silence working well together. In fact, with Obulus as a captain the possibilities with him would be absolutely ridiculous! (Think what he could do with Honour...) The key here is looking for harvest-markers and managing them within the game. I would suspect that there would be a whole load of corn with the full Farmers' Guild, so you could have the dotted about the board, covering all bases!
Special Rules Card
The fact you have to remove harvest markers at the end of the turn suggest that this will be a low influence guild on the face of it but really (if used), Tater is a 2/3 INF model. A nice trick that your opponent might not always plan for!
I wouldn't think that all Farmers' Guild models will have this ability but if you can gain an additional 4 influence a turn that's a huge boost!
It is worth noting that models can remove these markers through charges, so placement is vital here!
The question with Tater is when to activate him. Are you better off going with him first and dropping the harvest-marker to create an instant threat or do you lay the ground work with other players and use Tater as the model who goes in, puts a player on their ass and put the damage in? 9 dice on the charge gives you a realistic possibility of a wrap around when damaging so potentially 11 damage from one charge (dependant on results and how good your dice are!). With someone who could give you tooled up and maybe add confidence, crowding out... A perfect storm some would argue. He is a threat and a very real one.
Working with Scalpel
There are a few ways in which Tater can work with Scalpel - some of which are already mentioned but I will cover them again.
1. Use him as the initial contact with enemy models. A 10" threat range with the 'within 6" = charge' is a big bully on the pitch. I can see him being the one who goes in with a charge, puts the initial damage on a model and then gets the knock down in order to make the opponent make a key decision early. This could then be the opportunity for Scalpel/Cosset to wail in and have their wicked way with the target.
2. Control the board. As already mentioned, 6" charge range. It's a very much deny strategy - You go on this flank, I will end you! I don't see him as a hunter per-say but he is a good denial piece. Wingers/Forwards who use the flank to great effect can be nullified by using this ability and make the opponent think about their actions in the turn to come.
3. Double team. With Scalpel he also jog again after his activation (should Scalpel go before him), making his threat range just a little bit more unexpected for an opponent who thinks they have something locked in.
4. Scalpel's Legendary. So, the question with Scalpel was - 'What good is her legendary for?' and I answered that to some extend in my previous GB blog post but I can see real merit here. If Tater hasn't activated, get the Legendary play in, get those players closer to her, use the 'Second Wind' on herself after dodging out and get Tater charge in, hitting with his ability - you're making models take wounds and forcing models to deal with him early leaving you to pick up the pieces.
A Team with Tater in the Big League?
Funny you should mention that, I think there could some merit in looking at double scything blow and a lot of incremental damage throughout the playbooks and through character plays.
*Scalpel [C]
*Dirge [M]
*Silence
*Tater
*Cosset
*Graves
Using Graves' ability of Scything blow too gives an opponent something to worry about (result dependant).
Obulus would also be a very viable choice to add in... I just really want to use Scalpel and make her work as well as Obulus works! I know, I know... she will never be like Obulus! Quiet you!
I keep saying it, I'm super excited for the Farmers' Guild and I know that this card isn't the final version for the Season 3 Tater but with themes as strong as this, it's a great sign!
That's all from me... for now! Let's see how I get on in the Big League!
I'll see you soon.
@geekphotoguy
Thanks for the update!!! Very interested in trying this guy out and seeing how the Farmer's Guild design process goes!!! This looks pretty powerful with the "Gerroff my Land", 3 damage 2" reach charge, and healing options... very cool.
ReplyDeleteHe seems very cool. I can't wait for the Farmers' Guild to drop - even if he changes slightly! They seem a very all round Guild! Not sure how much football you would be able to play though!
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