Noble (Commonwealth) Intentions

Commonwealth is generally a brute force faction that wins by bulldozing through opponents with their superior stats and damage bonuses/reductions.

So what happens when you take the most impressive brute force models within this brute force faction?  This isn't necessarily a new list as the core of this list has been around since the very start of moonstone. However, it has recently got some interesting new options with a new plate armoured human in Sir Guillemot Poppycock and the support options that the rest of his troupe box offers.

The Lords

Baron von Fancyhat

Baron von Fancyhat’s card.

As the poster boy of the nobles, Baron Von Fancyhat epitomises everything that nobles are expected to do. First and foremost, he has a fantastic melee stat line. With melee 5 he will be drawing more cards than most of his adversaries and with a range of 2" he will be outranging most of them too! As well as these fantastic stats he also has some fantastic passives and a signature to help with his melee combats. 'Plate Armour' means that Baron Von Fancyhat is obscenely tough when facing foes using non-magical damage. Combined with his Longsword for additional slicing and piercing damage, the Baron can dish out damage just as well as he can take it.

Fancyhat's main trick in melee though comes from his amazing signature. 'Master strike' is a major upgrade to the standard falling swing, gaining a follow-up strike against three melee cards and an additional point of damage against thrusts. This comes at the cost of one less damage against sweeping cuts but this can be circumnavigating by not upgrading or using the 'Master Strikes' follow up against sweeping cuts. With all this in mind, 'Master Strike' is a deadly attack against all melee cards but high guard and determining if your opponent will use a high guard or not is the key to utilising it.

Although his main role is wading into combat and destroying all in melee, Fancyhat also has an arcane attack and an active support ability. 'Shoot Pistol' isn't too reliable with an arcane of 3 and the Baron is often best just attacking stuff in melee. In the right situation though, such as to finish off a low wound giant who hits like a truck in melee, the pistol can shine. For his active ability, the Baron has the more unique 'Rallying Cry'. This can be an amazing counter to troupes with lots of energy-draining or it can be used to speed up your entire troupe turn one. This is done by reaction stepping with your humans to all your opponent's actions and then using 'Rallying Cry' before they activate!

Young Jack

Young Jack’s card.

Much like Fancyhat, Young Jack is another primarily damage focussed noble. There are however some differences which means these two can complement each other very well by doing their roles in a slightly different way with slightly different abilities. The first difference between the two is that Fancyhat is a human and Jack is a gnome. As a gnome Young Jacks' stats aren't as impressive as the Barons, sporting a Melee, Range and Arcane stat of 1 less than the Baron. One thing he does have over the human though is his energy. With a base energy of 3, Young Jack beats the Baron in his only real weak spot, a pathetic base energy of 2. In addition to this, being a gnome, Jack also has all this energy skewed to the left of his wounds and is therefore unlikely to lose much energy to damage.

The final components of Jacks' card to compare with Fancyhat's is his passives and signature. 'Ancestral Sword' is a straight upgrade when compared to the 'Longsword' as it deals +2 slicing damage instead of +1 as well as +1 piercing damage. So apart from when using thrusts, Jack will generally be dealing more damage than the illustrious Baron. Jack's damage reduction by comparison is more of a sidegrade than an upgrade. With the 'Ancestral Shield' Jack is able to resist all types of damage instead of just non-magical damage. This only reduces damage by -1 though so Young Jack will only fair better than the Baron here against magical attacks. This can make him a great pick into faeries and their magic damage when compared to Fancyhat. Finally, Jack's signature is completely different from Baron Von Fancyhat's. Instead of an aggressive move with many follow-ups, Jack has a defensive signature with damage and a defensive end step. In the rare situation Jack finds himself engaging an enemy he can't deal with he can use this to disengage them by bashing them away. This is also useful for moving models for other reasons, such as bashing a character off of a moonstone so that Young Jack can harvest it.

The rest of Young Jacks' toolkit consists of one active ability and one arcane ability. Due to his pathetic arcane of 2 his 'Magic Brew' will often go unused and if used it's quite unlikely to yield the exact result you want. It's therefore best used when Young Jack is wounded so he can make use of both pinks and blues. Alternatively, Young Jack can make use of 'Lucky' to get around his dreadful arcane. The most simple use of this ability is to find blue 3's and high pinks to use on 'Magic Brew'. Other uses can be setting up other models for their turns such as sticking blues on the top of the deck for other models to use later as heals or high greens for Fancyhat's pistol! As well as Jack there is another gnomish noble, Joanna, but her use is best within animal and gnome lists due to Älskling. If she was used within a noble list her most unique asset is her AoE signature which can give the nobles another way to deal with low health enemies like bunnies and faeries!

Sir Guillemot Poppycock

Sir Guillemot Poppycock’s card.

Our third noble of interest is yet another character who will happily wade into combat and smash some knees. Whilst Sir Guillemot Poppycock is often found at the center of soldier troupes supporting them with his passive and active abilities, he can also find a place in a noble troupe by leaning more on his combat prowess. Unlike the previous two nobles, Poppycock's melee utilises impact damage which can make him better suited at attacking characters with slicing damage reduction but not impact reduction. However, despite being a whopping +2 impact damage, impact damage ordinarily has the problem that it can only be utilised with two cards, rising attack and falling swing. In Poppycock's case, this isn't an issue though, as his signature is on a sweeping cut and deals impact damage.

As previously mentioned, Poppycock is normally known for his soldier support rather than his combat prowess. Whilst this is useless for his noble friends, it is useful for some of the support models which will later be mentioned. Most such support models are soldiers and are also some of your best models to hold moonstones. Unfortunately, they are also required to be close to the nobles to support them correctly. For this 'Yell Out Commands' can be invaluable as it speeds up said support models if they are weighed down with moonstones and 'The Governor' can help them draw their defensive signatures more reliably if they are attacked.

Much like Baron Von Fancyhat, Poppycock's main weakness is his pitiful energy supply. He is therefore best not used alongside Fancyhat as the pair may lead to a very severe energy deficiency in the troupe. Otherwise, when compared against Fancyhat his main two differences of note are 2 additional wounds and an evade of +1. This can make Poppycock tougher than Fancyhat into an opponent who focuses mainly on melee where his evade of +1 won't be an issue.

Kaufman

Kaufman’s card.

Despite being our fourth and final noble that we'll look at here, Kaufman is in fact the first noble and only commonwealth noble who doesn't focus on damage. He is also the only noble with no damage reduction, no damage bonuses and a signature that deals no damage. So what does he do? Kaufman's main ability is the ability to move loads of models around, enemy and friendly, in an incredibly energy-efficient way. He can also severely limit how an opponent can move their models and when they can't get away, steal their moonstones. The moonstone theft comes from his once per turn, 1 energy ability, 'A Generous Offer'. This can be fantastic against hard to kill models carrying moonstones like the Revenant or models who can easily avoid prolonged combats.

Kaufman's most simple piece of movement tech is his signature, a nil damage thrust that pushes enemies 2" directly away from him. His other movement ability is the active ability 'Shower of Gold'. This has many useful applications but the two most common uses are when the combat starts and at the start of the game. Near the beginning of the game, he can target a point just in front of his troupe to budge his entire troupe up the board and get them into combat easier. If this is the plan, then models should not deploy in base to base contact as they are likely to bump into each other and stop whilst making these moves. When combat starts he can start targeting points between both troupes so they converge on each other and get stuck into combat. When this happens the nobles are likely to come out on top where their combat prowess will likely completely outshine their opponents. A fantastic thing about 'Shower of Gold' is that as an active ability it doesn't draw arcane cards and will therefore get around high evade enemies as most movement abilities need to.

His second active ability, and possibly one of the hardest abilities in the game to master, is 'Money Bag'. Simply, 'Money Bag' creates a 6" bubble where movement is incredibly restrictive. This affects all models aside from Kaufman so these bag of gold tokens must be placed carefully as to not hamstring your own troupes movement. They don't however restrict reaction steps. So Kaufman can work very nicely with the Baron by getting all your characters to reaction step away from the bags then getting the Baron to 'Rallying Cry' the energy back. Generally, putting bags of gold out of range of all of your opponent's models that can still activate, but in range of models who need to make specific movements will cause the most disruption. However, lots of practice and experience will be needed to work out how best to restrict your opponent's movements and where bags need to be placed to do that. 

The Squires

Eric the Squire

Eric the Squire’s card.

Even though the nobles will obviously make the core of a noble list there is one model which is more important than every single noble in a noble list, Eric. Eric single-handedly makes the entire noble list work by majorly tuning up every single noble near him with a single passive and active ability. He is also the first character to offer a healing arcane ability. 'Field Medic' is a simple heal for X wounds that can target soldiers and nobles. At 3 arcane it might often fail and if it does succeed it probably won't heal for too much. 

However, Eric's energy is often best used for 'My Hero'. When targeting nobles, Eric will donate 2 energy to the target noble. This is perfect for nobles as it can circumnavigate their main weakness: A lack of energy. In Fancyhat and Poppycock's case, this can double their energy and hence double the number of attacks they can make. But it doesn't end there for melee bonuses! With 'Squire' all these nobles get a bonus 2 cards in melee too! This can push the Baron up to a tremendous 9 cards when he initiates an attack!

The most important thing with Eric therefore is to keep him close to nobles and alive. This can be done with his good evade of -1, damage reduction with 'Leather Jerkin' and his signature. His signature is particularly great as he can swap positions with a noble to punish the original model trying to attack Eric. It can also be used to run away if Eric is in possession of any moonstones. This is also particularly great as Eric will often find himself in possession of moonstones as nobles don't want to be saddled with slow carry and Eric can harvest them easily since he isn't a weakling.

Old Calders

Old Calders’ card.

Another character who can harvest and hold stones relatively safely is Old Calders with his 3 energy, lack of weakling and repositioning signature. Calders is also very useful for keeping nobles alive with a plethora of other tricks and support abilities. 'Sage Advice' is the first of these abilities and allows all his nearby friends to ignore catastrophes. This will normally be used to freely bluff all the noble's low arcane abilities, like the Baron's pistol, to prevent any catastrophe wounds. Against certain opponents, like Shabaroon, it can also shut down opponent-induced catastrophes too and will deny them another method they may use to try and take down your nobles!

Old Calders last two such supports abilities are a single active ability and a single arcane ability which can each be used for 1 energy. The arcane ability is the familiar 'Field Medic' which we have already seen on Eric. In comparison to Eric, Old Calders can make better use of 'Field Medic' with his higher arcane of 4 and his immunity to catastrophes. He also has more energy available as he doesn't need to dedicate energy to 'My Hero' like Eric regularly has to. Calders does have one active ability though with 'Look Out!'. Whilst not as powerful as 'My Hero', 'Look Out' has its uses and is certainly not as energy-intensive. This is usually the most powerful at the start of the game when some of your characters are susceptible to ranged damage or lure effects.

The final use for Old Calders is in melee. With 'Longsword', 'Quilted Armour' and 'Seen it all Before' he can pose a serious threat in melee if needed. In addition to this, Calders is a soldier and therefore gains +1 melee from Eric as well as +1 melee and access to 'Yell Out Commands' from Poppycock. With all this taken into account, Old Calders will draw 7 cards when he attacks, deal +1 slicing and piercing damage, reduce slicing damage he takes by -1 AND will see his entire opponent's hand. This will be most useful against low melee opponents as seeing their fewer options will allow you to calculate the optimal attack for Calders more easily. Whilst this is unlikely to deal as much damage as a nobles brutal attack, this is still certainly very respectable for what is essentially just a support model!

Bodyguards

Gotchgut

Gotchgut’s card.

If healing isn't the only way you want to keep your nobles alive, you can always try a bodyguard! Commonwealth has access to two models with 'Bodyguard' with Gotchgut and Brunhilde. In terms of a pure bodyguard, Gotchgut will often perform better as he reduces the damages he takes with 'Ramshackle Armour' and has 1 more wound compared to Brunhilde who is often better at supporting giants instead. With a bodyguard, the hard to kill nobles will become ridiculously hard to kill whilst flimsier nobles like Kaufman will now have something to keep them alive!

Otherwise, Gotchgut can help his troupe with his 'Brute Strength' which enables him to put out some very impressive damage when making melee attacks. In a noble troupe, when fighting alongside Poppycock, he can also make good use of 'Ooga-Booga!'. This can make the duo a terror for goblins as the giant can push them out of position and the noble can drain their energy. The two can also combine their abilities so that Gotchgut moves a goblin into Poppycocks range with 'Ooga-Booga!' and then Poppycock drains them with 'Ornithophobia'. If the unlucky goblin still has too much energy Gotchgut can engage them in melee and give them a 'Kick to the Guts' with his signature!

Tabby the Librarian

Tabby the Librarian’s card.

Another option for preventing damage is with Tabby and the excellent 'Caustic Contract' ability. At the cost of X-1 wounds, so 0 wounds if you use a 1, Tabby can put protection on a model and prevent it from suffering damage the next time it's successfully attacked. This can be great for any model in the game but it's even more effective with nobles for a couple of reasons. To start with, protection will only activate if you suffer any damage. This makes it even more dangerous for plate armoured nobles as with all their damage reduction opponents will often need to deal 3 non-magical damage to break the protection. Secondly, protection has a fantastic interaction with the 'Bodyguard' ability on Gotchgut. As the 'Bodyguard' ability redirects damage, Gotchgut can receive protection and whenever a noble take a large chunk of damage they can pass it off to Gotchgut and completely negate all the damage!

Tabby's second arcane ability is 'Librarian's Scorn'. Just like 'Caustic Contract' it cause X-1 wounds, has a range of 6" and costs 1 energy. However, instead of providing protection it instead pushes a target X" directly away. As it doesn't specifically target enemies or friendlies it can be used against any target and therefore has a huge number of uses. For example, pushing an enemy off a moonstone, pushing Baron Von Fancyhat into melee range, finishing off a low wound enemy with the X-1 wounds, etc. 

Tabby's final support ability is the unique 'Energy Syphon'. For the cost of 0 energy, Tabby can attempt to move energy around your troupe. The most common use for this is to move energy off models who can't engage other models or off healers who have nothing to heal. In combination with Eric, Tabby can help to get nobles to obscene levels of energy. The only disadvantage to this active ability is if a catastrophe is flipped which will cause a net loss of 2 energy and 2 wounds. There is however a couple of ways around this with Calders and Jack. With Calders, Tabby will be immune to catastrophe effects and so will not lose any energy or wounds if a catastrophe is flipped. Alternatively, Young Jack's 'Lucky' can set the deck up and guarantee that Tabby will flip a high card and not a catastrophe!

Overview

Altogether, the noble troupe is a melee powerhouse that will crush all opposition in melee once it engages the opponent. This is done with huge melee stats, brilliant signatures and great passive damage bonus in melee. Early in the game, the troupe will need to advance up the board as quickly as possible. Engaging the opponent as early as possible will let the nobles bring all their advantages to bear by forcing as many melee attacks and engagements as possible. The main weakness to keep in mind is the lack of models which want to carry moonstones. This is in part due to no models wanting 'Slow Carry' as everything needs to keep up and an abundance of 2 energy models. Support models therefore want to be aware of any easy to harvest moonstones near their deployment and nobles should prioritise killing enemy models with stones. Once one of your characters has a stone though, abilities like armour and bodyguard mean that they won't die and should keep the moonstones quite safe!