Ribald Rumble

Whilst most Goblins in Moonstone posses support abilities, some green skins possess little to no support whatsoever.

These models, such as the Firespitter and Grub, are generally the recipient of support from other Goblins. Although unable to support others, these 2 examples make a huge impact on the game when heavily supported. Ribald is another Goblin to add to this cast of models which will happily receive support for a huge payoff. However Ribald, much like the Firespitter, is slow and has a short range, massive damage ability. So how will these 2 seemingly similar models operate with eachother within Goblin traited lists?

Ribald

Ribald starts off with some relatively terrible, but not uncharacteristic stats. 2 Melee is pretty bad however you look at it. But with 2" range at least Ribald won't have to worry about counter attacks against 1" melee range opponents. This usually won't be much of an issue as Ribald comes with a complement of 11 wounds and 'Ramshackle armour' to reduce most damage. To continue Ribalds Boulder-esk statline he also comes with 3 arcane and a terrible +2 evade. So not hugely likely to hit with any arcane abilities and very likely to be hit back by arcane abilities. So, similar to the Firespitter, a very disappointing statline.

Moving away from his statline, Ribald has a couple of passive abilities and an arcane ability to help him along. Similar to other trolls, Ribald is loaded with some damage reduction and some melee damage increasing abilities. 'Ramshackle armour', as mentioned earlier, will decrease all incoming damage by -1 so long as it's not magical. Meanwhile, 'Ironclad Knuckles' will increase the damage of Ribalds impact attacks by +2. Much akin to The Firespitter, Ribald is also laden with the ability 'Slow'. Finally, similar to the Firespitter, Ribald has one arcane ability, a very high damage one. 'Fire cannon!' deals a phenomenal 3X-1 impact damage, enough to one shot a lot of models in the game with a green 3. However, as mentioned earlier, this comes with a low arcane stat of 3. Much like the Firespitter's 'Fireblast' it also has a catastrophe which blows the user up. 

So overall, Ribald is a troll with a comparatively poor melee ability and an inaccurate, high damage arcane ability. One thing that does set him apart from other trolls however is his possession of the Goblin trait. This opens Ribald up to a whole slew of supportive abilities that are normally unavailable to other trolls.

Cannon and Fire

So how should these 2 relatively similar models be used aside eachother? Short answer, they generally shouldn't. Whilst the idea of 2 models with massively powerful arcane attacks might seem tempting, the result is often poor at best. Both often need 3 or so models to support them. So taking them together will usually lead to the rest of your troupe supporting both of them mediocrely or not supporting one at all. Presuming this is the case, the troupes only offensive presence will only be 2 slow moving short ranged models. For high mobility troupes, this will be a joy to see as they can easily stay out of the short threat ranges and run off with all the moonstones.

So how should you choose between Ribald and the Firespitter? Although they perform similar roles, the way they perform these roles differs slightly. For example, whilst they both possess high damage short ranged abilities if you want accuracy you should be picking the Firespitter with his 2 higher arcane. But if you want to have any chance of getting stuck into melee then Ribald is the way to go. This is further helped by Ribalds superior toughness over the Firespitter by sporting more wounds and being able to fire whilst engaged, unlike the Firespitter. These additional wounds may not help at range however, as a 1 higher evade may result in higher damage from ranged arcane attacks which will offset the higher wound count. Against control orientated arcane abilities, Ribald will also suffer more as he will be targeted and hit far more often.

Another factor to take into account is the models which will be working with them. The Goblin King damages friendly models near him a lot, so Ribald is arguably a better choice. For Shabaroon however, the Firespitter may prove to be a more reliable partner in crime. With shabaroons ability to teleport a model and catastrophe it, he can work with either Goblin powerhouse very well. However, the Firespitter has a far better explosive catastrophe and struggles to activate it himself as much as Ribald for various reasons.

A final consideration is the opposing troupe that Ribald or the Firespitter will be facing off against. 2 of the more extreme match ups will be against Gnomes and Faeries. Against Faeries Ribald is all but sure to miss all his cannon shots with his low arcane. Furthermore, with slow and 2 energy to his name he will never be able to effectively engage any of them in combat either. The Firespitter on the other hand will never need to engage them in combat and will be one of few models in the game capable of acurately hitting the Faeries at range. He also carries further support to help other Goblins by lending them more energy with 'Two goblins walk into a tavern'. Whilst Ribald doesn't have any such explicit support abilities, he can support the troupe in other ways. Instead of helping friends Ribald can easily hinder enemies with multiple pushing abilities, with 'Fire cannon!'s primary ability, catastrophe and his signature move.

Gunpowder and Smoke

To conclude, a lot of what can be said for the Firespitter can be said for Ribald. Slow, short range & high damage. However, considering your own troupes models and opponents models you can tailor your list to suit the situation. Similar to the Firespitter, Ribald can be greatly helped by models with lure effects, like Boom Boom McBoom, and energy suppliers. Boom Boom McBoom can arguably be more helpful with Ribald compared to the Firespitter. With Ribald, 'Suckerpunch' has a fantastic new target and 'You'll never get this' will be as helpful as ever!