Francois LaCroix – Don’t call him a Pig-Licka

Francois LaCroix is a success story of sorts, a meek Gremlin he transformed himself into the second most feared Kin alive.

Francois shares the same genetic defense of four. There must have been some type of mutation in him because he carries a very un-Gremliny willpower of seven. With ten wounds and Reckless, he can be a great threat piece. His walk of five and charge of six means that he is as mobile as other Gremlins. Ht 1 means that Francois, as well as any small Gremlin with atrocious defense, is susceptible to Devour. Like most of the Kin he has Squeel to get out of combat, he can also Companion and activate after a friendly model finishes its activation within 6 inches. This can be great to remove some threats when combined with any of the damage dealing Kin.

Francois carries a sword and the Rough Rider pistol for his attacks. At Ml 6, Francois is very capable in close. He also carries an auto Dumb Luck on his sword that gives him access to 4/6/10 damage all the time. His pistol is only Sh 5 but has a 10-inch range as well as a good damage profile of 2/3/4. His pistol carries two triggers, Dumb Luck on a Ram and Loose Trigger on a Crow. Dumb Luck ups his ranged damage to 4/6/8 but the real gem is his Loose Trigger. This is one of the “infinite” triggers that are still in the game. It allows Francois to suffer one damage and then immediately shoot again. This follow up shot does not have to be at the same target, and it can be used multiple times. As long as you have wounds and are doing damage with Crows in the attack flip he can continue to shoot until there is either nothing left, he is dead, or he runs out of Crows.  Francois also has another attack action that has a Wp resist on the target with a range of 6-inches. It allows a 5” push and the target gains negatives to attack flips when he targets Francois. His only tactical action is a (0) action that, on a 5 of Tomes or higher, allows Francois to discard a card before performing a duel to gain a positive flip to the duel.

Francois has some interesting differing play styles. He is a Henchman so he can use Soul Stones to spend for Crows to continue his Loose Trigger. If you combine that with Showdown and Dirty Cheater, you can get many attacks from Francois though it would come at the cost of a card for every positive duel as well as using Soul Stones for crows before you flip cards, unless you have a handful of high Crows this gets expensive rather quickly.  As a Henchman, he also has access to two upgrade slots, since there is never enough Dirty Cheater to go around it is often better to decide on what your plan will be before equipping it to any specific model.  Francois goes extremely well with Ophelia since it allows Ophelia to move and then use a (0) action to place Francois near her and Francois can activate via Companion. He is the best Kin in melee combat and though he has a defense that is below average, he can use Soul Stones to do a couple of things. Firstly, he can spend a Soul Stone to get a positive defense flip and impart a negative flip to any damage he would suffer from the attack. The other things he can do are, he can use a Soul Stone to prevent damage and he can use a Soul Stone to get his Squeel trigger and push away from the threat. This is extremely useful when a model charges Francois, since it can allow Francois to Soul Stone a mask and take damage to push away from the charging model, denying it the second attack. Francois can also make use of the Gremlin See upgrade that gives him access to Shrug Off as a (0). For the cost of a card he can remove one condition of his choosing, so if Francois is on fire he can put himself completely out or discard Poison, Slow, the Hanged’s no heal condition. Team Work can be useful on him as well since it allows free movement into combat and pushes the model that was in combat up to 6” directly away. This allows Francois to get into melee where he wants to be but it does cost (1) AP. With access to 3 AP a turn, it allows Francois to get into combat and do some serious damage to the enemy before it can do the same to your crew. Francois can be a heavy hitter in your crew but like most Gremlin models if your opponent wants him gone often enough there will be no saving him.