Strontium Dog Miniatures Game - The Weerds

In this Strontium Dog Miniatures Game post, I'm going to be looking at fielding the Weerd Brothers both as separate band members and as a team.

Hiss Weerd

Hiss' stats are good but nothing exceptional. This makes him a good all-rounder and his Resist of 4 means he is resilient also. His Cool of 4 is important also as it brings another Star Chip to the table, and for 10 Notoriety this makes him one of the cheapest in the game to do so. His special rules are interesting too:

Double-Crosser: I have mixed feelings about this ability which gives you a cash boost when it comes to the Pay Off in a scenario - that is if you shoot a friendly model (that isn't a Weerd brother) and wound them! I love that it reflects an event in the strip but equally, from a narrative point of view (assuming you care about such things), it seems a little hard to believe that Hiss would be able to employ anyone if he always shot allies in the back! It could be very important for stealing a win in some situations where the bounties won on both sides are very close, so it's worth keeping this ability in mind. Shooting an ally in the back lowers their Resist, so that can be a good way to ensure you inflict a wound. However, I will be avoiding making use of this ability because, just as you may get a credits boost for successfully doing so, if you accidentally incapacitate a friendly model, then presumably your opponent gains the full bounty of that character by default (though the rules do not directly address this). Thematically, it makes sense that the undesirables of the S/D universe wouldn't be shy in trying to claim a bounty that wasn't theirs! That being the case, the bounty your enemy gains is likely to be higher than the 50,000 bonus you would receive so it doesn't seem worth the risk.

Schemer: This is a great and appropriately awarded rule which allows you to draw an additional Chicanery Card if Hiss is the leader of your gang.

Snake Hair: This improves Hiss' Fight for close combat, but given that it starts low, it feels like the mutation merely makes close combat a viable rather than a desirable option for the character.

Cuss Weerd

Cuss' stats are fairly unremarkable and his "ugly snecker" looks undesirable, but don't let any of that fool you. He is a must buy if you ever have 7 Notoriety spare to spend. He has a reasonable Shoot and has two basic hand blasters which you can use in tandem to increase your chances of hitting. But that isn't what's so good about Cuss - it's the fact that he is the cheapest character in the game to bring a Star Chip with him! Oh, and he has a nice ability too:

Brotherly Bonds: this allows Cuss to remove an Action Chip from Silent if he is also in the band. What this means is that, with some luck in the sequence of chips coming being drawn from the bag and success in returning Cuss' Star Chip to the bag, Cuss can not only activate several times per turn but also that this enables Silent Weerd to behave like a Star Chip character, activating several times in the one turn himself! Note that there is no range restriction on this ability, so you could game it and have Cuss shouting instructions to Silent from one side of the board to the other.  

Silent Weerd

The cheapest character to add to your band, costing 1 Notoriety (even the Gronk costs 3!), Silent is the closest character to useless in the whole game! He is described as bait and that is the perfect way to use him, to draw fire from powerful opponents, making them waste valuable time on an enemy who is virtually worthless in terms of bounty. You may be lucky to get to activate him twice or more in the one turn (thanks to Cuss as set out above), and if all your Christmases all come at one, you may even harm an enemy! If you have Cuss in your force and have another spare point of Notoriety to spend, you should definitely take him! 

Tactics

The Bad, the Ugly and the Target Practice is how this trio could be described, but they're actually pretty good, certainly as cheap options for beefing up your force. In the strip, the Weerds seem fairly cowardly and I would use them that way. They are better at shooting than fighting so pop them behind a bit of cover and take potshots at the enemy. There's no need for them to be in close proximity to each other so this gives you the option of spreading them out widely rather than becoming time trap bait by congregating closely together. If you are using the Weerds for an S/D band, making Hiss the leader gives you that all-important extra Chicanery Card - with Johnny Alpha in the band also, you'd have 4 Chicanery Cards and 4 Armoury Cards, pretty powerful! However, if you are teaming him up with pirates and the like, there may be better leaders for you to choose who have the same ability, i.e. Max Bubba, Kansyr and Darkus (the last only if you use my home-brew rules). 

Overall 

In situations where I have some extra Notoriety available, the combination of Cuss and Silent are likely to make an appearance in my forces! I think that for limited points these two bring a lot! Hiss is also good to have lead a S/D band but if it were a pirate or outlaw band, Kansyr would be a far better choice for only a marginal increased spend.

Want to read the strip? Pick up the graphic novels from the 2000AD store!