This article will highlight the three models that are the only ones from their respective guild to be touched by this errata. Just made sense to put them together instead of one small post on each 😀
Here is Esters, Alloy and Veteran Brisket!
Disclaimer: In all my 4.7 posts, I am very much open to that I might be wrong.
That’s part of the beauty of this game after all, and in general just in sharing any kind of hobby – to discuss all our thoughts about it.
Also, some that I have written may very well be coloured heavily by stuff that other great people have already discussed elsewhere, and in all such cases I can only bow and thank them for their wisdom.
Enjoy! 😀
Esters
Card 4.7 above and 4.6 below
So Esters sings a new song! As you can see she isn’t getting a full rework like some of the others in this errata. But the changes she gets are very powerful and makes her way more relevant as a viable Brewers captain.
She gains increased base movement, and her Voice of Command is changed to “away from” and not “directly away from“. This matters a lot, as all points slightly farther from Esters are viable landing spots for her affected squaddies, compared to before when they were forced in a straight line directly away.
The only thing you really can’t do with this updated version of Voice of Command is kick with Esters herself, but apart from that her new mobility is a really big deal.
I haven’t played Esters myself, but faced her a number of times in addition to all the theorycrafting. I think she was always somewhere in between buffing her allies and doing work herself, and I don’t think that part has changed with this errata. What’s changed is her versatility in doing that work, and mainly her mobility-buffing of her team. Like with most underplayed models it was suggested somewhere along the way that she get a bigger rework, but she is actually quite good at what she does now. She looks like she’s in a good place.
Another thing that came up during testing is that Esters can now actually bring a lineup with a fairly good football game, which I feel is previously almost unheard of in Brewers. I know I’ve seen tons of discussions about wether to bring Friday or not, but now we might even see more play from vSpigot simply due to these changes in Esters.
Example lineup Esters, vSpigot, Friday, lets say Scum and Flea as well, and a flex spot. Shaking up rosters and playstyles just a little like this, that’s just such a perfect sweetspot to get from an errata.
Before the errata one could for example mainly play Esters as a tech pick when facing guild with lots of conditions, like Alchemist. But now she enables a really interesting variant of a 2-2 strategy.
Alloy
Card 4.7 above and 4.6 below
Of all the ninjas with a big axe, this guy is my fav ninja with a big axe. And now he looks like he will be more than just a “pretty face” to lure people into playing Blacksmiths. Many people online have been playing smiths these last few months, and there’s loads of discussion about them on the community discord. Especially since The Inspiring Hat made an open challenge for himself to try to play smiths to the very top of the leaderboard.
I know opinions already differ about wether new Alloy will be able to bring the last tools and axes he needs to see more competitive play, but at least we can agree that he’s buffed and that trying him out will be exciting regardless!
And the buffs he’s getting are quite substantial. The modes from his Arsenal trait is just straight up given to him, and two new modes are added to the trait. When he’s 6″ from Hearth at the start of his activation, he now gains either 2″ melee or +2 net hits on his next attack. Both Anatomical Precision and an extra Kick dice is always there on his card now.
This in itself is a strong buff obviously, but he also gets a change to his ranged damage play, that is changed from classic knives into Bladework. I’m not sure this play is really stronger, but rather just does something different.
Like the old play, this can be used multiple times per turn, but the range is shorter and it can only be triggered off the playbok on column three, instead of dealing poison and being buyable. The key thing that makes Bladework interesting is the fact that Alloy now gets a mini-teleport, like a wannabe Kami och vHearne. Each time he hits an enemy with this play he may make a 2″ dodge towards that model, which will grant him extra distance for threatening to score goals.
Apart from its possible effectiveness as a mobility tool, it can like Knives still be used to pop Resilience for example as well, as with all ranged plays.
He’s been called “the bes goal-scoring apprentice now” and I see the point, but I think he’s got to prove himself in action to get that distinction more than on paper. I agree that New Alloy will likely play a lot differently than he did before, and I think he will more often be able to both score a goal and activate Back to the Shadows to get to safety or into keeping pressure in another angle.
Still important to him to have Hearth around though, so for example using Back to the Shadows to reach Hearth again after going on a mission seems a good thing to try. However, it’s a calculated risk since it will often be hard or impossible due to their diffenerence in overall mobility.
But just like with many other models in the errata, I think this change might shake up the tournament roster in smiths. If Alloy gets deemed strong and fun enough, it will increase how often Hearth is played as well, the question is if they make it that far.
vBrisket
Card 4.7 above and 4.6 below
The butcher protagonist Brisket needed a buff in her veteran form. Several things have been updated, and she feels a lot stronger now. I saw a butchers player mentioning that he was hoping for more/other buffs in Butchers Guild, but I think this change brings some interesting changes to the guild.
Her ball is gone! Well, her Ball’s Gone is gone, that is 😉
Replaced by a new play Jagged Blade mimicking dirty knives but giving bleed instead of poison. FIts perfectly with the butchers’ subtheme around bleed, giving vBrisket a better place in a Fillet lineup for example.
She retains Field Medic, Unpredictable Movement and Quick Time, which are all of course good stuff.
Her playbook is buffed a lot I think, way more efficient in terms of dodges and a little buffed in damage output reliability as well. A momentous Tackle is always good as well for an opportunistic goal, even in butchers, to end a match early. vBrisket always had some goal threat with her speed and kickstat, and this playbook just makes her lean a little further forward into that.
But the biggest thing I think is her new trait Pragmatic that gives her a wonderful influence efficiency, letting her both charge and pass for 1 influence less. That means for example that giving her zero influence can still let her make a pass for free. Her previsous trait also gave som influence efficiency, but the demand to remain at the edge of the pitch hampered her too much to make it worth most often.
Being able to alternate between bringing relevant output and being a battery while retaining some usability on zero inf, that’s always a strong place for a model to be in.
She looks like she’ll be viable in any butcher lineup now, at least Ox and Fillet. I’ve barely played butchers myself yet, only against them. But I bought them from the POD last year and I’m looking forward to trying a game with new vBrisket!
Join the discussions on Discord or Facebook, and share your thoughts!
Get a game in with some updated models and take a picture! 😀
