SpineSpur: Building Forces and Etc.

For the forth part in my SpineSpur series, I’m going to talk about how you build forces for the game.

EDIT: Here's an article that will help you understand how the game works. Read it.

But, before we get to that, I want to take a minute to talk about Thugs and other ‘Indifferent’ models. I forgot to do so when I was discussing the minor Agendas, so I’ll do so now.

Thugs –

Thugs are the lowest of the low in SpineSpur, willing to work for anyone with the promise of food or better weapons. They can carry four different weapons: short blades, bludgeoning weapons, Molotovs (and short blades) and chainsaws. Thugs can be used in Open and Agenda builds, to provide your forces with meat shields and warm bodies. They don’t have much health so they’ll drop quickly compared to just about any other model in the game.

Doppelgangers –

These little buggers can cause headaches to your enemies. You see, they can mimic any model in the game (which would require you to buy more copies of that one model, by the way), until the model does something that only that model can do, it attacks or takes damage. For example, if you have three copies of Cardinal Inferi, they would have to move in Walk mode because Drifting Movement is something only the Cardinal can do. This is really great for a game of Kill The Head, because you pick which model is the real one if it takes damage, increasing the chances of your Central Character surviving.

The Shattered –

These poor souls get forced into combat by the really bad people of SpineSpur. Well, I would hope only the bad guys use them. Then again, SpineSpur is full of bad guys… Anyway, The Shattered don’t have a whole lot going for them except that they can do some serious damage until they get damaged. If you’re wanting to protect some weak hitters, putting a few bases of these guys in front of them should work for you, but you’ll need to keep someone in base contact to herd them along.

Building your forces, the basics –

So, you’re going to get some models and you’re wondering just how you’re going to use them, right? I’ll see what I can do about educating you. Let’s roll!

Build Types:

In SpineSpur, there are three ways to build your forces: Open, Philosophy and Agenda. I mentioned these before, but I’m going talk a bit more about them.

In Open Build, you can pick models from two different, unopposed philosophies (plus Indifferent models). There are no bonuses for this, unlike the other two builds, but you do get more variety in your lists. In this build, you can have Dante Hayte and Booth working together, or Booth and Sex Star Six. This is the best way to build if you just want to grab some cool looking models but don’t want to get too involved in just one Agenda.

Opposing Philosophies:

Malevolent opposes Uncorrupted

Calculating opposes Psychotic

In Philosophy build, all the models must be of the same Philosophy (thus the name). This type of build is going to have fewer models, also allows you to buy just models you like, and you get 20% more points to play with. Here are the different models and the Philosophies they follow:

Indifferent:

Caretaker/Grave Golem (note: this the only way you’re going to get an Indifferent Philosophy force)

Thugs

Wild Dogs

Doppelgangers

Squealers

Pig Whispers

The Shattered

Uncorrupted:

Michael

Greygun

Radiants

Dante Hayte

Warriors of GOD

Fists of GOD

Composites

Nightingales

Calculating:

Anti-Pope

Aniel

Hidell

Cardinal Falcifer

Booth

Cardinal Anhelitus

Cardinal Inferi

Sisters of Obscenity

Psychotic:

Hack

Doc Akron

Billy Burns

Primes

Amy Brighteyes

Handyman

Granny’s Helpers

Trauma Hounds

Little Ones

Malevolent:

Cerebeast

Pigskin

Sex Star Six

Mr. Jingles

Snuffman

Gormandizer

Pigstickers

Shacklers

Torn

For those you getting stuff from the Kickstarter, you may want to order some models that are compatible with your Agenda but aren’t part of it. If you’re getting GOD, maybe get Booth or Greygun and Dante Hayte. It’ll give you some variety.

Agenda build:

Now, this is for people who like having a story behind your games. Thankfully, I don’t have to list a bunch of models because I’ve already done it. Twice. Okay, now it’s three times. The work I do for you people…

All kidding aside, this build is pretty cool, because each Agenda gets several sweet bonuses when you build your list around them. The bonuses compliment the Agenda by boosting the Grunts of the Agenda or allowing you to take more of them. You also get a once-per-game bonus to boot. For the smaller Agendas, there’s a Generic Agenda Bonus. You can even use this bonus instead of your normal one if you have a force of the Big Four.
When building a force this way, you can only take models of the same Agenda or models that can be taken by 'Any' Agenda. The philosophies don't matter, only what Agenda they belong to.

Building forces: Grunts and Individuals

Moving on to some more details about how you put together forces, we’re going to talk about the two major types of models.

Individuals –

These are the ‘named characters’ of the game, like Hack, Doc Akron and etc. You can only have one of these guys in a force and you should use them for your Central Character. The Central Character for your force is going to affect what Agenda and Philosophy your lists are based around, so choose wisely. They will also affect things like Favored (see below)

Grunts –

Models that aren’t Individuals are Grunts. Grunts are the backbone of every list. You can also take several Grunts in your list, depending on how many points your list is. For example, Thugs have a ‘3 per 50’ force limit, meaning you can take up to three Thugs per each full fifty points. Some Grunts are going to have a force limit of 1, but will also have Favored. Another example, Warriors of GOD have a force limit of 1, but have Favored (GOD) – 2. That means you can only have one Warrior unless your Central Character is a member of the GOD Agenda, then you get 2 per 50 points. Another example is Sisters of Obscenity, which have force limit 0, but Favored (Dark Faith) -1 and Favored (Anti-Pope) – 2. This means you can’t use Sisters unless your Central Character is a member of the Dark Faith Agenda and you get 1 per 50. If the Anti-Pope is your Central Character, you get 2 Sisters per 50 points.

Well, I hope this helps you guys. If you have more requests for information, don’t hesitate to leave a comment.