Winner Winner, Char-Grilled Faerie Dinner
Having recently participated in the Moonstone 2019 GT and having had a blast of a time, I've wanted to write about my favourite model in the game thus far - The Firespitter.
A wonderful model with some fantastically fun rules which perfectly encompass the goblins gameplay for me. The model itself catches the silliness of Goblins wonderfully with the small Goblin assisting with the bellows whilst the main pyromaniac straps a highly explosive barrel to his back before setting to his burning duties. As for his rules...
Up in Smoke
Firespitter’s card.
The Firespitter's card on first glance appears thoroughly underwhelming. Bad stats and a slew of passive negative abilities and other active abilities with detrimental effects points to a model which will often fail to pull its own weight. Melee 2 with a 1" range is nearly as bad as it gets for melee, however the Firespitter compounds his awful melee skills with predictable combatant forcing him to reveal these cards too. Defending against an attack whilst engaged by another model will therefore force him to draw and reveal 1 melee card putting him at the complete mercy of the attacker.
‘Fireblast’
The main issue with the Firespitter's ineptitude in melee is he is unable to use his signature 'Fireblast' whilst engaged. Therefore, locking the Firespitter down in combat is a quick way to nullify him for the whole game and with bad melee stats, he's unlikely to be aiding the team whilst trapped in melee. Firespitter's ability to disengage should be considered for this eventuality, unfortunately both options available to him are pretty bad due to energy inefficiency. The first option will simply be reaction stepping out of melee whenever this occurs, however this can only feasibly be done once as any more steps will bring you below 2 energy and deny the use of a 'Fireblast'. If an enemy model comes into base to base contact the Firespitter will then need more than one step to escape engagement and his activation will be essentially wasted. Alternatively you can attempt to use his signature move to escape melee, however with drawing 2 cards on the defence (4 if he goes for it, which might not be a bad idea considering the end step) it is unlikely to succeed and with predictable combatant you will be telegraphing his escape plan to your opponent. Whilst retreating 3" will often take you out of combat, the end step effect forces you to drop all your energy, thus reducing the Firespitter's activation to a single 2" jog. Worse still, a 3" melee model in base to base will still be engaging after this 3" retreat. Other crafty attackers may instead position so that you cannot retreat the full 3" and instead bump into another model or terrain to leave the Firespitter still helpless, engaged and without energy.
Energy
Energy, or a lack there of, forms the next of the Firespitter's long list of initial weaknesses. A single 'Fireblast' a turn doesn't make the Firespitter's damage exceptional especially compared with the likes of Flintlock and Quarrel who can also comfortably fire once per turn. Quarrel and Flintlock by comparison also have a greater threat range with Quarrel's crossbow having nearly double 'Fireblasts' range and Flintlock having access to a standard jog alongside his 12" rifle. By comparison, the Firespitter can jog 2" then step once to move himself a grand total of 3" before having to make do with his 8" gun. Unlike these two however, the Firespitter's ranged damage is magical and so ignores most damage reduction abilities currently in the game. This makes him great at melting through plate armour models such as Baron Von Fancy Hat and The Vicious Syd who can normally shrug off most non magical ranged damage.
From here we can see why some people are so lukewarm on the Firespitter, his output isn't great and he is mired by the following weaknesses:
A relatively small and linear threat range
An inability to contribute to melee or escape melee
A lack of energy
However, in a faction that oozes with internal synergy these issues can be remedied with a few characters to turn the Firespitter into a phenomenal threat.
The Fire-Starters
Boom Boom McBoom
Boom Boom McBoom brings one ability to start to counteract the Firespitter's shortcomings in 'You’ll never get this! Nah-na-na-na!'. As well as being a fantastically named ability it also pulls enemy models’ considerable distances towards the blunderbuss wielding maniac. The first use for this is pulling enemies out of formation and into awkward spaces in the open for the Firespitter to unload into later in the turn. With 2 attempts (with default energy) and a range of 10” this should be able to reliably find a target and pull them in every turn. This goes a great way for counteracting the Firespitter's small and very linear threat range.
The second use of this is insurance for when an enemy manages to close distance on the Firespitter and engage him. A 'You’ll never get this! Nah-na-na-na!' on an enemy engaging the Firespitter will disengage him quickly and quite reliably. Whilst not as exciting as pulling a giant or a troll into the Firespitter's firing line, the option is one more method of ensuring the Firespitter will always be able to use 'Fireblast' as much as possible.
Seasick Stu
Seasick Stu brings the fantastic 'Bawdy jokes' to aid the Firespitter in his work. Stu’s jokes allows him to move friendly models towards him and hands out free energy for those ending close enough to him. This ability works triple time to counteract all the Firespitter's main weakness’ and unlike 'You’ll never get this! Nah-na-na-na!' doesn’t require cards. Not drawing any cards provides 'Bawdy jokes' with perfect reliability, meaning that however you intend to use them you will be guaranteed to succeed. During the beginning of the game Stu can work in tandem with McBoom to both pull enemies towards the Firespitter and push the Firespitter towards said enemies, allowing Firespitter to threaten most models on the board turn one. Not bad for a character with a 2” jog.
As well as early threat extension, Stu’s guaranteed 1” drags can be helpful for shifting the Firespitter out of engagement. Stu is arguably more adept here than McBoom purely for the fact that not drawing cards will guarantee success. It also helps that you will probably be using 'Bawdy jokes' for energy anyway, disengagement is just a very nice secondary effect. On rare occasions, Stu can also make use of 'Rough tides' to push enemies away from the Firespitter, although this will sometimes fail unlike 'Bawdy jokes' and also does not replenish any energy. Whilst these disengagement and threat extension options are nice, the main use of 'Bawdy jokes' will often be to throw 2 energy at the Firespitter and whoever else is close at the time. With 2 additional energy the Firespitter will often have access to 5 energy, nearly enough for 3 'Fireblasts' now. The final model to be discussed however will easily and happily provide the Firespitter with 1 more point of energy, to supply the 3rd 'Fireblast'.
Shabaroon
Shabaroon's 'Goblin mischief' can add an additional point of energy to the Firespitter to enable a 3rd 'Fireblast' every turn. This energy also spills over to other goblins and will generally help the mobility, the digging, the melee, every aspect of your troupe. Apart from being an all round great pick for Goblins, Shabaroon also opens up an entirely new play-style for the Firespitter. 'Transconbobulate' is great, if unreliable, threat extension and disengagement mechanism, which also heals any damage the Firespitter may have taken. One large source of damage may be from the mad mushroom goblin himself with his final ability, 'Goblin luck'.
'Goblin luck' is unique in the way that it can leverage one of the Firespitter's disadvantages into an advantage. 'Goblin luck' combined with 'Fireblasts' explosive catastrophe can turn the pyromaniac into a mobile bomb. Against low health high evade enemies like faeries, 4 non-targeted damage can prove fatal. Whilst chaining 2 'goblin luck' explosions together can kill most models in the game. Alternatively, Shabaroon can be given energy by Seasick Stu or by the Firespitter himself with 'Two goblins walk into a tavern' to unlock another combo. With 5 energy, Shabaroon can attempt to use 'Transconbobulate' to teleport the Firespitter into the middle of an enemy troupe, then immediately detonate him with 'Goblin luck'. This can be more effective than using 'Goblin luck' first as this allows Shabaroon to better position the Firespitter before immediately detonating him.
Firespitter's Firestorm
“Squeeze that bellow Fergus, I gots a good feeling about this!”
A standard Firespitter turn can boil down to activating Shabaroon first to spread energy to all. This will generally be followed by Stu walking up and using 'Bawdy jokes' twice to give energy to the Firespitter and McBoom, as well as extending their threat ranges. From there McBoom should wait until an enemy presents itself to be reeled into the Firespitter's threat range. Followed finally by a 6 energy Firespitter activating and putting 3 'Fireblasts' into the unfortunate victim. Generally models with bad evade such as Fritz, Trolls and Giants will be most susceptible to this tactic. Being easily lured by Boom Boom McBoom and giving the Firespitter the greatest chance of hitting the dreaded blue 3. Most of these models with evade greater than 0 are all but guaranteed to be slain. Alternatively key models, or models which will threaten the rest of your troupe can be sniped first before they cause a problem.
However if things go wrong, the Firespitter has several fall back plans, most notably the mobile bomb that Shabaroon can assist in. This can be a great fall back plan if the Firespitter loses access to 'Fireblast' for any reason or enemies are too evasive to hit properly with 'Fireblast'. Here if a juicy target is available and close, the Firespitter can run in as close as possible and Shabaroon can 'Goblin luck' twice the following activation. Alternatively if a large clump of enemies is too far from the Firespitter to run at, Shabaroon can borrow some energy from Stu's or Firespitters abilities to 'Transconbobulate' the Firespitter before using 'Goblin luck' on him. A more controlled way to approach this can also be attained through Stu's pushes on enemies and McBooms pulls, where enemies can be clumped as close as possible together before sending in the Firespitter bomb.
In the recent 2019 GT I used the Firespitter alongside Shabaroon, Seasick Stu, Boom Boom McBoom and Doug. Doug whilst not necessary to support the Firespitter is a good all round character and can work with the Firespitter's game plan. With Stu, Doug can help lockdown large numbers of moonstones and can trap characters in awkward places with their 3" melee's. With enemies unable to move easily or collect moonstones, the Firespitter can destroy multiple trapped enemies in the open with ease. Two 3" melee models are also an excellent fall back plan for when the Firespitters two primary plans fail. If neither of the Firespitters preferred plans are workable the Firespitter can activate 3rd to last to 'Two goblins walk into a tavern' the two 3" melee threats. Stu and Doug can then attack with impunity without fearing retaliation at a 3" range with stacks of energy. Doug can also play into the Firespitter bomb strategy by following up on any 'Fireblast' survivors with 'Foul gases'.
Hopefully this has sold you on why the Firespitter is a great consideration for any Goblin troupe and has given you ideas on how to use (or possibly counter) the Goblin pyromaniac. But most importantly, letting rip with a torrent of fire or detonating the walking explosion is just fun! If there's any other Goblin models or tactics I should cover, let me know!
