Balanced/Broken Toyboxes

[ThePandaDirector]

After seeing a fair bit of debate over individual puppets, I thought that attention should turn to looking at the construction of a Toybox as a whole.

So what Toyboxes have you had most success with, which seem underwhelming and which have pound you into the dust? Feel free to discuss individual puppets but try to look beyond to what synergies they have with other puppets.

I mostly play Marcus and generally start with a base of:

Marcus
Joss
Misaki
December Acolyte
Ice Golem

Now Ice Golem might have Ice Blaster (auto rip), Miskai may have Magical Weapon (no dodge) and Joss may have Sparkling Axes (minimum of 3 cards to auto cause 2 rips), but then Justice's Toyboxes are usually juggling Powerful counters (and at Rg 3 with Nino), Seamus can really wear you down with his stream of St 3 Belles, Pandora has lots of tricks not to mention Mature Nephilim and Viktoria is fast and packs a hell of a punch.

Joss is an auto-include with Marcus in most games, his Sparkling Axes haven rid me of a few Hooded riders, but Rusty Alyce is also a good option. I haven't tried any non-tomes suit Sidekick except for their upgrades (more later). Miskai is one of my favourite Sidekicks purely because I can still animate her when my hand is poor and her magical weapon speaks for itself.

As for minions I didn't like December Acolyte for some reason during testing, but has become one of my favourites and another reason why I love Marcus (tomes ftw). It may not be game changing stat wise but it's upgrade limit and Delicious Stuffing make it a really versatile tool that also supports your hand (Hunting). Ice Golem is pretty solid muscle, but I'll likely replace him once tomes get's some more damage dealers *looks lovingly at his avatar*

Usually after that I would stick to Stuffed Animals, adding a Silurid and Guild Hound, one for offence, one for defence. Silurid has proved itself useful at times, but for some reason I've always had bad luck with masks =[ Guild Hound does rather poorly when not stuck to the side of you Master (can't wait for Lucius though), but the plucky puppy has helped take down Hooded Rider and in some games is the only thing between Marcus and a messy end.

In Shoebox sized games it can be hard to chose between a puppet that can be used in game (generally in suit) and one that is only really good for it's upgrade. My favourite has generally been Rotten Belle as the 2 extra stitches are great to have (an auto-include if I have Blue Teddy, going from 1 St to 4 really pays off). Plus with December Acolyte you've got to consider both what upgrades you will supply it and what you hope your opponent will supply.

In larger games I usually take two December Acolytes, and drop in Moleman and Razorspine Rattler. I've grown to really like Moleman as a cheaper variant of Acolyte, and on an impassible marker, together with Rad Sword and Cork Gun he can be AC 4, Df 13, Cb 4, St 3 with a Rg 2 attack - not too shabby =] Oh and with his free action Cover Up he can easily defend himself from all those nasty auto kill effects (opponent will have to do it the old fashioned way). As for Rattler I've tried hard to like him, but for some reason I've just not got much use out him, other than a cheaper alternative to Ice Golem (Tazed will likely come in useful some day).

I think if I expanded to non-suit Henchmen I would go with either Nino or Bete Noire. Nino can supply the hurt plus Precision 3 ain't too bad, but Bete not only has some nifty tricks, but Extra Thread is a great way to punish an opponent for taken powerful puppets (Hooded Rider, Executioner, Mature Nephilim, etc). I will definitely be picking up Lucius, and with I am the Law, he will form a mobile platform of Guild Hound (now AC 2!) and Guild Austringer (AC 4). Austringer, naturally with a Glowy Claw, and an upgraded Moleman will be the best of friends

I prefer to go cheap and nasty, using up most of my low-mid level cards on animations and effects, while saving the high cards for attack, dodge and generally getting me out of tight spots. I find the real strength of Marcus' Toyboxes are that he can make use of all the cards in the deck - and with Beastmaster you can balance your TB out of suit, without suffering come the Animation Phase. The downside is that Stuffed Animals are generally mediocre, lacking the power of ram puppets, the resilience of crwos or the distruptiveness of masks.

I may try using less conventional Toyboxes, using out of suit non-stuffed animals and some of the trickier pawns (hello masks). So far I've had success against my non-gaming friends, we've all had fun, but I haven't honestly noticed a great deal that seems particularly broken.

I know I've focussed on Marcus, but feel feee to discuss any Master or Toybox.

FIGHT!

[Hugor]

I also play Marcus predominately, and agree with what you have said.

Joss is fantastic, especially if he can pick up the Moleman's blindfold (Sparkling Axes from behind an Impassible token is amazing).

I, on the other hand, really like the Rattler. I typically take two (and usually have them both on the field at the same time). I almost always run them with a rip (either from a double animation in the first round in order to pick up a workbench or as a rip to Sew Up another puppet with Marcus' Everyone Share). That way, I can attack things and use tazed. (A ripped and paralyzed Executioner, Hooded Rider, etc... = one angry opponent).

I also stick with stuffed animals. I have had great luck with the Slurid. I leap him into groups of enemy puppets and then use Marcus' roar to cause a rip on all the surrounding puppets. He is then normally torn apart, and I can pick up his frog legs to upgrade one of the remaining puppets.

Outside of Marcus, I think Seamus moving around with Bete can be extremely fun. Seamus can pop gun people to add exhausts, then Bete can Sense Stuffing to rip the target puppet apart and they won't be able to dodge if in LOS and range 2 of Seamus. Throw Sebastian into the mix and he can pick up the decay counters and Shred some puppets.This does goes through crow cards fairly quickly, so having a Ronnin or two may help (and of course, ripping apart your own ronnin to up your hand in range 2 of Sebastian will get you more decay counters). On the down side, Bete is squishy, and keeping Seamus and Sebastian in the thick of the action is dangerous, so while theoretically the above is what I try to go for, it usually gets thwarted by some ranged attacks or something like Marcus' roar. (I feel like most puppets can be broken, and thus no one is...or as others have said, even if they are really strong, they can still be ripped apart or blocked just as easily as everyone else.) Of course punk zombies are good against those wielding Powerful bonuses (Joss, Hooded Rider, Executioners, etc...) and Rotten Belles and their ability to give confused effects are things to add as well.

When playing Pokey Vic, I usually just use the other puppets to block Pokey, clear the way for Pokey, or as points that Pokey can switch places with. Then I just attempt to kill the Masters with Pokey Vic as quickly as possible. I tend to take a lot of outcasts in her list if not all outcasts. Ronnins are good, since Pokey Vic can go through a hand in a single activation. Bad Jujus are fun, especially when you can use their upgrades. I have only played with Pokey twice though, so not totally sure if this is her best use.

[ThePandaDirector]

Marcus' Roar is always fun - you have to roar when you do it =]

It seems that Silurid's Frog legs are the most widely used upgrade (it is pretty good), but I think Ronin's Rad Sword and Rotten Belle's Mouldy Stuffing are the two that I almost always take, purely because they transform (especially combined) any puppet into a resilient combat beast. Ice Golem would go up to AC8, Df10 Cb3 with 6 stitches, but then I would rather use them on Acolyte, Moleman or Teddy just so I've got something really cheap and nasty.

I came up with this Wardrobe Toybox for a Marcus:

http://www.puppet-wars.com/puppet.html?Mas=3&Sz=12&Toys=30,15,18,31,12,5,13,32,32,34,21,27

Basically, Marcus, Lucius, Guild Hound and Austringer all stay cozy together, Guild Hound getting the most adjacent to Marcus while both ram pawns reduce their AC by 2 rams. Only reason I keep Lucius back is so he's safe, but if I'm feeling confident I could use the formation to creep towards the player.

Which hopefully it shouldn't really have to, because you have two lines of attack, one with Joss, December Acolyte, Ice Golem and Moleman and the other with Misaki, Ronin, Silurid and Moleman (Rotten Belle would be left till I needed either her or her upgrade). Silurid and Ronin are good for work bench takeover (plus have great upgrades), Ice Golem has some board control and the Molemen are reliable grunts that I treat like siege tanks - they move, deploy and lay down some hurt along with Austringer (who would appreciate it if my opponent has an Executioner).

It's pretty solid cards-wise, with most easy to activate, a balance of suit and two puppets (Acolyte and Ronin) who can supply me with more cards.

Upgrade wise December Acolyte will rob the enemy, Moleman will take Ronin's, Joss can always take one of the Molemen's when it's torn apart, while Belle's will either go to December Acolyte, Moleman or Silurid (could come in handy if I want to get Roar off more than once). I would use Misaki quite aggressively as Lucius is better if harder to activate.

Viktoira seems pretty straightforward, but you need to really pace the cards so not to run out. Three Ronin is a good place to start because their fast, deadly and can supply you with more cards (and as I mentioned their upgrade is solid). I can never help myself with Convict Gunslinger, I always end up doing Puppet Roulette (doesn't always go well).

The one Master I haven't really tried out is Pandora. I imagine I'd take Kade, 2 Silurids, a Cherub, Mature Nephilim, plus out of suits, not sure about Sorrow though.

[AcesOfBooks]

I tend to use pandora alot myself and have had alot of success with the sorrows (I run at least 2 if I can). If you can get both in contact with a high activation puppet you can basically make it stand around till it's dead (especially if you use pandora's power to add a :masks to it's activation cost). 1 sorrow is ok but 2 tend to deal quite well with big dudes. If things go well 2 rips a turn for not activating is pretty silly. (1 per sorrow making you not activate without a huge card). Plus if you kill em you gets cooties. What's not to love?

[ThePandaDirector]

Problem with Sorrows is they seem quite squishy, and I'd always just assassinate them quickly with a range or cheap puppet I don't mind losing. I imagine them being useful mid-late game as most puppets are already locked in combat and so you can get them into position. They do appear quite nasty though, especially when you imagine what else Pandora could be sending your way.