Vax's Bamaka Tactics

[Vaxillus]

Hey folks, I think I've had enough games of this where I feel comfortable throwing in some basic tactics advice. I'm going to start off with a general overview of the faction and it's ups and downs followed by some character specific insights. I may fall behind now and then, but I hope to update along with new releases.


The Faction
The Bamakas are a stable, heavy hitting faction with a lot of control potential. In terms of models we have some really nasty brawlers and some really tough defensive characters. On the downside, we have the second lowest model count, which can be problematic for some of the current objective cards. We also have a distinct lack of ranged attacks save for two, but even those are once per game. This is little trouble, however, as Eden tends to emphasize close combat due to the proximity of fighter on the board and their speed of movement.

In terms of special abilities, Bamaka models tend to have a lot that require SP instead of AP. This is a boon because Bamakas specialize in producing large amounts of SP, which means we basically have a lot of free to use abilities which help make up for a low number of models. Many of these are possessed by our shamans, which seem weak at first but can be very useful for objective based games. We also have a lot of access to poison and slowdown, which is excellent for reducing the effectiveness of the opponent's heavy hitters.

We also have some solid Tactics cards. Contaminated area is awesome, and great for blocking off an area early in the game. Bamaka Clan Warcry is a HUGE source of SP. Pop that down on a combat-heavy turn and watch the SP roll in. I've gotten well over 10 in one turn! It can also fool your opponent, while after seeing you burn through SP on turn order and abilities you suddenly have a new supply. Below the Belt is also awesome, but is rather expensive. Couple it with retreat to the contaminated zones, however, and not only are you reducing the number of turns your opponent has to score, you can also nullify any scoring for a turn! Only three turns for objectives. The rest are pretty standard buffs. Be careful of Healing Herbs though. Only use it to recover one or two CP to regain the better number of a limb. Any more and you could get charged later and have no AP to defend.

Objectives is where the Bamakas really struggle. Two of our objectives rely on numbers, something which is not our strong point. We also lack both hidden missions any objective that translates the number of enemy points killed directly into VP, which can be a nasty trump for us while we're busy maneuvering for land capture or getting into the enemy's deployment zone. My suggestion is: use SP to force your opponent to choose their objective first. With plenty of SP, the expenditure is not a problem, and while a counter-pick is unlikely, you can keep from getting a bad match-up. Also, I would avoid Sacred Hunt. With the threat level stuck at 7, you can only score 70 victory points total, and your opponent can kill the NPCs to permanently deny you of those few precious points. If it were me, I'd make a house rule that it's 20 points for every point of threat level. It means there's a maximum of 140 points, which is a lot, but with your opponent killing things too you're very rarely going to get anywhere near that 140.

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Hopefully the mods don't mind me double-posting, but I don't want to make anything into a wall of text (or at least keep it a little wall).

The starter pack

Ngwane Lightening-Claw
Ngwane is the first of the Chakas (Bamaka tribal leaders) to be released. He certainly lives up to the name. His biggest boon is his CBT of 8, which is great for the Response reaction and will outright kill some of the less defensive or weak models in the game. It also makes dodging really tough. However, cause him 3 wounds to the arm and it goes down to a very average 4. Hope you have healing herbs or Jumamosi. The rest of his stats are generally good, and speed 5 means he can interrupt very well.

Ngwane's special rules are few but effective. He has protection where it counts on his arms and torso (I wish the model reflected the armor in the concept art) and is immune to Fear. He also causes Poison, which not only makes the opponent's attacks weaker but weakens their VIG stat, making a kill easier. He's also one of our few models to have a ranged attack is a one use devastator best used to do some damage to a tough model. He'll be throwing at a CBT of 5, which means he should always hit on average, and a +2 means a potential of 4 to 5 damage on an average to weak model. I've also gotten lucky and killed Ievgueni in a single hit! I'd recommend using it on the first turn to soften up the enemy.


Sigwana Clear-Spirit
Sigwana is our first shaman, a role which he performs almost exclusively. His stats are bad apart from his PSI, so keep him out of combat except to maybe finish off a weakened 10 point model.

Sigwana's abilities are easy to underestimate. For a 25 point model, he does no damage. However, he can drop slowdown markers on just about anybody for 1 SP a pop. While a single fighter can only receive up to 2 this way, you potentially do this to the entire enemy team if they were in range. I have yet to play the ISC, but I can see this being killer against them. Hallucinatory Haze is also nasty, but hard to get off. On average you'll maybe get 1 counter, but if you're lucky I can see it being really nasty. Deadly Fumes is also a great ability, ruining an opponent's attempt to play defensively. A good combo would be using Bak's Bait ability to get an opponent to activate and then force them to use all their AP or lose them immediately after, leaving them open to getter crushed with no AP to defend. He also allows allied Bamaka to ignore Slowdown, which seems excellent though I have not yet faced an enemy who could give me this condition.

Ngobo
Ngobo is an AMAZING assassin model. He can pop up anywhere, and with SPD 6 can interrupt just about anybody. Also, on the charge the opponent cannot make a response reaction, which forces them to dodge or just take damage. Assassination makes him even better, but it's hard to get off. Couple it with Sigwana's Deadly Fumes, however, and you'll be attacking at CBT 7 with no chance for a response on a charge.

You do have to use him with caution though, as his VIG goes from 4 to 2 after just 2 CP of damage. After that he will die very fast. He's a great example of a glass cannon. Also, don't forget about his poison. He will likely deal damage with his first attack, and that second one will hurt a lot more.

Abama Large Belly
Not to be confused with the American president, Abama is a perfect human wall. His VIG of 5 means he's tough, and it only goes down to 4 after 4 damage, which is hard to do. His Full Protection (1) means he can ignore anything with a combat of 4 or below unless it gets a lucky roll. Offensively he's about average, though his CBT goes down fast, though his regeneration ability is perfect if he gets pinged enough to have a stat reduced.

Usually, I either save his AP for regeneration or dodge in combat unless I know I can do some damage. While dodge is not so great with Speed 2, he already ignores one point because of protection, so it adds up. He's also great for charge bait. Watch a naive enemy throw their combat monster at him, do negligible damage, and then charge with someone like Ngwane and destroy them. On the downside, he's easy for the enemy to ignore, though if his CBT is still at 4 he can deal an average amount of damage.