Roland Lansbury - Action Compression + San Soak (Hard/Stan)

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Roland Banks - Heavy Attack 0 0 0 1.0
Roland Banks - Heavy Attack 0 0 0 1.0
Roland Banks - Heavy Attack 0 0 0 2.0
Roland Banks - Heavy Attack +2 Alley 0 0 0 3.0

StartWithTheName · 68446

This deck is a deck i have been refining over several playthroughs. Its still somewhat of a work in progress as ive only played through a few scenarios on hard. But so far it seems to be going well and since its based on auto clues and high boosting I dont envisage any issues. It should be fairly beginner friendly as everything does what it says on the tin. Just tell the new player that they have a lot of allies and should swap them liberally. More importantly if its contrasted with a seeker in the team it offers to showcase how different characters play differently in Arkham which is a real hook to catch their interest.

It started as a desperate deck for a comedy Carcosa run with some friends where we are attempting to kill as many allies as possible (see variants section for this). However it soon became apparent that if i dropped the desperate cards and took a few cantrips the deck would be decent "spikey" autoclue Roland ... that still seems to kill off as many allies as possible albeit less deliberately... Anyway - This represents my current thinking on it and I would relish comments and suggestions. I would take Laboratory Assistant over Dr. William T. Maleson outside of Dunwich, but i left him in as he sees some game against Corrosion frustration too.

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OVERVIEW

Roland is a strong action efficient ID with a great deck building pool. He is however somewhat of a glass cannon due to his low sanity and moderate . This deck largely ignores pure investigate actions by focusing on auto-clue options and uses the deckspace this releases to pack sanity soaks and heals to keep him on his feet. The deck is also stacked with action efficiency tools to keep your tempo going. You wont be clueing as hard as a seeker, but you will be offering a solid and consistent combat compliment to your team while pitching in a clue most turns.

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PILOTING

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MULLIGAN

Priorities:

  1. Eureka! - it may as well be 3 chances to be a weapon or a Beat Cop.
  2. 1 weapon. Machete>The Special> Automatic > Prepared for the Worst
  3. A Beat Cop.

Chuck anything else unless its scenario specific for whatever reason. If you got both a The Copper and The Chopper, keep:

  1. Frankly anything you just want to try out. its a game. enjoy yourself.
  2. Allies.
  3. Money.
  4. Vicious Blows

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MAIN DECK COMPONENT GROUPS

Combat Toolkit: - Standard Guardian Combat Shell + Roland's special.

You want a weapon eary to get use from Roland's ability asap. 5 weapons (if you count Prepared for the Worst) means you shouldnt have much difficulty finding one early. Also see Stick to the Plan in upgrades. The fact that Machete is reusable means you prefer it first, but you do eventually want a gun out too to deal with multiple engagements, enemies engaged with your comrades, fliers, other melee hate, or asset hate. Dont forget Roland's Special and .45 Automatic v2 also carry accuracy bonuses.

You need to land blows easilly. Base 4 isnt actually really enough to do this even with the +1 you get on most weapons. On hard it definitely wont be. That pip on Beat Cop goes a long way. Getting 2 down late game goes even further. Until then you`ll need to burn skill cards at times to deal with 3+ enemies, or find your Roland's .38 Special early. And ofc theres the usual bonus damage from both Vicious Blow & Beat Cop (v2 adds a lot here) where needed.

Pure action compression at the time you need it. This may as well say you get an extra attack action this turn. Its also great for aloof enemies (The Man in the Pallid Mask anyone? Whippoorwill anyone?). There are a few alternative options around these days if you prefer them (see Variants).

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Positional Toolkit & Clue Manipulation

In a thematically satisfying way, this deck is very keen to be where the clues are. Fieldwork and Inquiring Mind each rely on a clue on the location to function. And ofc so do his ,Roland's Special, ability, , and Art Student. Dr. William T. Maleson or Mysteries Remain let you drop clues on your location if needed. Shortcut lets you move to a location with a clue dragging an enemy with you without attack of opportunity (and potentially triggering Fieldwork) if needed. If not it is just an action in the bank for a pure tempo boost.

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Seeker Disposable Allies and Other San/Encounter Protection:

I like to think of these thematically as being people Roland is interviewing. Using the cheap disposable seeker allys Roland can keep a pseudo sanity pool in play and both refresh it and/or use it to tutor out Beat Cops via Calling in Favors. Honestly do just put all your horror on these that you can. You will get more soon enough and its better on them than you. Each of these also give the usual advantages when they come into play so those actions you spent refreshing your san pool arnt at a loss to your tempo.

Logical Reasoning lets you recover horror that went on Roland (particularly direct horror), but it also has the same that Guts has. These allow you to protect from nasty encounter deck tests or scenario tests as needed. Note that if the penalty of a test is indirect horror, then do feel free to save the cards and just stick the horror on an ally from time to time.

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Deck Consistency - Draw & Tutoring

Deck consistency is very important in any deck and shouldnt be understated here. Bonus damage is vital in a dedicated killer and in Roland its therefore also vital for getting clues. Its tempting to take draw/tutor cards out in favour of more toys, but be very careful how many you loose or you wont reliably find the damage options in the first place. My rule of thumb is to keep at least 6 in a deck, ideally 8, if you have a bit of a rig to build like we do here.

The Cantrips, Eureka!, Stick to the Plan (once you get it) each provide crucial deck thinning (the smaller your remaining deck the more likely the next card is one you were looking for). Use Overpower and Eureka! liberally on tests you expect to pass. They are there to self replace asap. Guts is a little different due to its encounter deck protection functionality, but often you`ll find you need to use it sooner rather than later anyway. Eureka!, Prepared for the Worst, and Calling in Favors offer tutoring effects. Because they look at a fixed number of cards, the fewer cards left in the deck the higher proportion of your deck you search boosting your odds on finding your target - hence some synergy with deck thinners. Finally, Laboratory Assistant lets you convert your San Soak refreshing into pure draw which can mean playing Calling in Favors may be equivalent to paying 1 to draw 2 for an action. A nice conversion rate if cash is high.

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Theres nothing to kill this turn what will I do ?

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UPGRADES

Then In order of your choice:

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VARIANTS:

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Want more auto clues ?

  • Taunt On the Hunt. Lets you draw an enemy to use your ability when there are non around. Its also tactic traited for Stick to the Plan.
  • Working a Hunch - I actually dont like this card in roland. its just too expensive and you need that cash for the allies and weapons in this build. But if you really must, you could put it over Overpower maybe. Evidence! is cheaper and a little more circumstantial but it plays into your game plan. Same pips too.

Want more draw ?

Want a different Taunt?

These all serve a similar purpose to Taunt. I find Taunt the most versatile, but pick whatever you prefer. "Let me handle this!" gains game if your party is likely to split up. On the Hunt is covered in clues and may well be taken alongside Taunt tbh and Heroic Rescue is possibly the least synergistsic since we dont have Guard Dogs, but it does a little extra damage i guess and you have the ally meat shields to take the hit for them.

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Lightning Gun/Shotgun Add on

Ive not actually tried this in roland so this is a little speculative, but ive done various similar builds in Zoey that im pretty sure the experience will transfer over. This looks like it will be a little cash strapped until you spend some xp mind and you may be sacrificing some draw too so you will want to compensate elsewhere.

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Desperate Cards

This build isn't as strong. It is a lot of fun and its where the deck began. I wouldnt take it through Dunwich (or anywhere you expect direct horror). But it seems to do ok on standard in carcosa. Its a bit harder to pilot, so i wouldnt recommend this to beginners in the same way, but you do get to see some great expressions on the faces of your fiends if they dont know what your up to.

  • Swap seeker allies around to get 2x Laboratory Assistant since you have dropped a lot of draw there (do not drop the Cops, you need the damage and +). I take 1x Art Student, 2x Laboratory Assistant
  • Taking a little (1, or maybe 2 if you like a challenge) sanity trauma actually plays into your game plan. Taking a lot does not. You need time to get those soaks down and you dont want to be vulnerable first turn. Note that you can potentially use Cover Up to get 1 trauma by choice if you like which amuses me.
  • Prioritise "I've had worse…", san heals/soaks and draw boosts in upgrading. Note that Stick to the Plan is still great even though we currently dont have san protection cards that it can host since it thins the deck. You can also get draw from Emergency Cache v2 on there.
  • Finally aim to get The Tattered Cloak. Its clearly written for a desperate build.

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Dirge of Reason (Novela) Cards:

for anyone unaware, these are the replacement signature cards for roland that came with The Dirge of Reason Novela available here or from your friendly local game store. I wouldnt recommend getting it unless you want to read the book. Its a bit pricey for the cards alone but the writing is actually decent (which if im honest i wasnt expecting).

Roland's .38 Special is a good gun but not essential. Here it is mainly used to provide the 4th weapon (5th if you count Prepared for the Worst). Hence wanting to pick up a second .45 Automatic to maintain draw consistency. the main advantage of the special is accuracy. That +3 rarely misses, but you can pick up .45 Automatic v2 for 2xp a pop which grants you +2 and a little retaliate protection. In exchange you get rid of Cover Up which can be a brutal and swingy signature weakness, for the milder The Dirge of Reason, which deals horror you can soak on your allies, or forces you to drop clues, which is a tempo hit, but isnt too bad overall.

Main Advantages of Core Build:

  • Saves xp on the upgraded .45 Automatic
  • Stronger gun early campaign (it will be a while before you get the v2 .45).

Main Advantages of Dirge Build:

Taking both:

  • Use the listed build + Replacement cards (as well as core sigs)
  • Overall this is a slightly lower strength deck than using either of the sets individually, that extra sig weakness is not really worth a sig benefit card from a pure efficiency perspective.
  • but it is fun! they do interact well. Dropping clues or Adding clues can help both Cover Up and the Special.

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9 comments

Mar 30, 2018 SGPrometheus · 797

This looks very interesting, and it sounds like you covered everything! For some reason I always undervalue Taunt, but it's obviously a strong include. I think I'll try this out sometime. Well done!

Mar 30, 2018 StartWithTheName · 68446

thanks @SGPrometheus. I think most combative support builds want at least 1 of the taunt style cards just for action compression. The value in taunt is that it gives you an action the turn you need to use it, which can be imortant for anything with more than say 2 health since you may need to move to the location first. Its also a natural compliment to Machete specifcally in multi player since the caveat of being engaged is occasionally problematic.

Apr 01, 2018 Fuzer · 1

another great deck. Thanks a lot!

Apr 02, 2018 StartWithTheName · 68446

Thanks @Fuzer.

Apr 02, 2018 dogzbody · 14

have you tried this solo?

Apr 02, 2018 StartWithTheName · 68446

@dogzbody I havent im afraid. When i play solo i typically play 2 handed so i wasnt comfortable giving the deck a solo tag. I actually spoke to a few folk on the discord when i published this and they suggested it might be easy to convert by adding a little more clueing. Working a Hunch and Flashlight were mentioned if that helps. The Overpower is the most flexible slot here so if i were to speculate, that might be the slot to swap.

Apr 04, 2018 Zuntir · 613

Do you have any tips on when/how to play Calling in Favors? I tried this deck, it played very well but i was very often sitting with CiF in hand and didn't play it :|

Apr 04, 2018 StartWithTheName · 68446

Hi @Zuntir, yeah Calling in Favors can be a tricky one. I have had occasional games where it sits in hand mainly because ive had plenty to do (usually kill) and needed to focus on the combat rig.

The short answer is it will vary from game to game but a good rule of thumb is to use it early on an Art Student or Laboratory Assistant or late on a Beat Cop v2.

It sort of serves 3 purposes i guess:

  1. Tutoring - this is only really important for the Beat Cops because you want one early ideally. It also begins to shed this benefit as you draw your other allies out of the deck over a game. This is probably the main reason it might sit in hand - Lack of important targets in the moment. Ofc if you are stood on a clue it also lets you chance grabbing an Art Student too or if you need draw, a Laboratory Assistant if you took them.
  2. Resetting hp/san on allies. This is really effective on Beat Cop v2s. Hence the prioritisation on upgrading. If you have Calling in Favors in hand you can use its quite liberally and just use put him back to replay him to reset his health. They arnt cheap mind, but the deck will pick up more reliable cash with xp ("I've had worse…"/Stand Together/Stick to the Plan). The tutoring is a bonus if it lands then. Similarly this lets you clear that 1 point of horror off an ally if your struggling.
  3. Reset the ability on Art Student and to a lesser extent Laboratory Assistant. Again the tutor effect may be a bonus here. But if you know you want an auto now or clue later on it may as well say pay 1 get an Art Student. Again if the tutor fails its a disappointment but not the end of the world.

I am slightly regretting putting Dr. William T. Maleson in the base spec these days. Im beginning to think Laboratory Assistant may be the better card for that slot now. But in principal if you know the scenario has a particularly nasty encounter card or you need to drop a clue, he can be added to the tutor targets ofc, but i feel thats more circumstantial.

The other thing to note is that it is a hedge. If you dont feel you need to use it this game becasue you got your rig up easilly, then your probably ahead of the game anyway, Its those times things are drawing out badly that you will love the site of this. On those good days, like any other card it can just be pips. So i guess its going into an investigate action. You do have 3 base afterall.

Apr 04, 2018 Zuntir · 613

Thank you for your response. I played a couple of games with either Laboratory Assistant or Dr. William T. Maleson and much prefer the former. It was only a handful of scenarios but Dr. William T. Maleson was just a meat/horrorshield. But i have to say i used replacement signature cards so didn't have to put down clue for Roland's .38 Special.