Hello fellow Wyrdos!

In an effort to bring a little light to your Mondays, I’m beginning a series where we’ll focus on the finer points of a single model and how it can benefit its faction in M3E. I’ll be starting with versatile models in each faction, as with the Keyword system in M3e, they are the utility belt of their factions, able to be hired into any crew without an extra soulstone tax.

To start with, I present for your examination, the Arcanist Soulstone Miner.

For 6ss, any Arcanist can hire this versatile construct minion, with a limit of two. They have the Keywords of Machina and Tricksy, meaning Ramos can summon them, and over in the Bayou, Mah has managed to sneak a few out of the Union’s clutches.

Their profile is pretty solid for a 6ss minion: 5 Health, Mv, and Df, with only 3Wp. But it’s a drill, how much willpower could it have? It’s health is backed up by Armor +2, making it a tough nut to crack. Unimpeded means it can benefit from the concealment in severe forests for additional defense without sacrificing mobility, and Demolitionist means it can take cover behind boxes, pianos, ice pillars, and more one turn destroy them the next turn before charging in or using the new avenue to get to scheming.

Speaking for scheming, the Soulstone Miner always makes interact actions as Bonus actions, so it can take two actions and scheme if needed. But you won’t often be doing that because of the standout ability on its card: Mine Soulstone. This ability lets it chose at the start of its activation to gain Stunned to gain your crew a Soulstone. This is of little concern in most cases, as Stunned means its Bonus Actions count against its normal two action limit–so it can still scheme–and that it may not declare triggers. It has some pretty good triggers on its attack, but as you’ll see in a moment, they’re also pretty situational. So, you’ll be gaining a Soulstone most turns unless you have a very good reason not to.

On the back of its card we find its Mining Tools attack disallows the target declaring Resistance Triggers against the Miner when it attacks, with a reasonable 1″ melee range, 5 stat against Df for a pretty standard 2/3/4 damage. It has a trigger for ever suit but Rams. These allow it to ignore armor, add a Soulstone when it kills an enemy, or place the target in base contact with a friendly Scheme or Pit Trap marker in 6″. A very nice toolbox for the Miner to open up if the need arises and your crew is already well-stocked on Soulstones. Under its tactical actions we find an action to destroy all Destructable terrain in a 3″ pulse for a 6, and two bonus actions: one to allow it to Bury for a 5–and lay down a Destructible Hazardous (Damage 1 & Injured +1) Pit Trap in base contact before it does–and the other to unbury with no flip needed, not within 6″ of the enemy deployment zone (this specifies it can be taken while buried).

All in all, a minion that lives up to its Versatile characteristic. These machines are wonderful for just about any Arcanist crew. If you need to spread out or reach a difficult spot they can cut right through severe terrain, or bury in order to unbury next turn where you need them to be (or at least nearby if you need them to help with Breakthrough or Power Ritual). A pretty standard Turn 1 activation for them is to gain you a Soulstone (already making them effectively a stone cheaper to hire) by gaining Stunned, Concentrating for Focus+1, and Burying. Turn 2, it gains you another Soulstone (because the Ability is not targeting the model, it can be declared while Buried), then uses its Bonus Action to Unbury as a normal Action due to Stunned, and has one action to do whatever you need it to. Except Interact; with or without Stunned, it can still only take one Bonus Action a turn, even if that Bonus Action is using a normal action slot, so the Miner can never unbury and Interact, Interact and Bury, or Bury and Unbury in the same turn.

So, with all of that taken together, what does this model bring to the widely varied Keywords of the Arcanists, you ask? For many, a solid foundation to balance the rest of their keyword upon. What I mean by that is, for another two stones, putting the Magical Training upgrade on a Soulstone Miner is a no-brainer. Suddenly, this already survivable toolbox minion gains Shielded+1 at the start of each and every turn, meaning the first hit it takes every turn will be reduced by 3 damage down to 0, unless it ignores Armor and/or Shielded. On top of that, the upgrade gives it Counterspell, so any nasty trigger targeting the Miner within Aura 6 can’t be declared unless the opponent discards a card. And on top of that excellent double helping of defensive tech, the Soulstone Miner is now the source of the infamous Arcanist 7 card hand from Arcane Reservoir. Put this 8ss package in pretty much any crew and even without specific keyword synergies, it makes a wonderful model to run up a flank and drill through some scheme runners, or hold a point for Outflank, near a Turf Marker, or unbury next to an enemy for Take Prisoner or to deny things like Claim Jump. For some more specific things each keyword like the Soulstone Miner for, how about these:

Toni, more than most, loves having extra soulstones for prevention both for herself and her potentially very Henchmen heavy crew. She can also make a crew where most models can incidentally destroy Destructible terrain en mass, and the Soulstone Miners break away from her bubble/buddy-system crew more easily than the rest of her models.

Sandeep and Ramos both appreciate the extra stones for summoning, and Ramos can even summon in the second Miner for double drilling.

Colette appreciates a minion that won’t die to a stiff breeze or a stern look to carry Magical Training, and the Miner can unbury wherever she needs it to for her to use as a friendly unbury point herself, since it can take a few hits and survive until she can activate after it’s positioned for her.

Hoffman appreciates all the Arcanist Versatile constructs, but the Soulstone Miner potentially getting Armor that can’t be ignored (even by Irreducible damage, despite some rather creative rule interpretations) and plenty of healing, means the Miner can be more reckless in where it goes to put its Counterspell to good use without worrying as much about losing Arcane Reservoir if it dies.

Raspy and Kaeris both appreciate extra stones in general and a survivable mobile minion to achieve schemes further afield, but I think they are the two Arcanist masters who can most easily take or leave the Soulstone Miner and rely on their keyword minions to carry Magical Training. Marcus is the next-most likely to forgo the drillbot for another beast–though he appreciates the extra stones to ensure he gets the triggers needed to hand out extra mutations to his Chimeras/Beasts, as well as a minion that can function beyond his bubble of highest efficiency for further scheming.

Meanwhile in the Bayou, Mah will appreciate the Miner’s ability to put out more Pit Traps and place enemies into base contact with them (especially since base contact for markers is not limited to side-to-side contact in M3E, the Miner can use it’s Dropped Down a Hole trigger to place an enemy on to the Pit Trap markers, immediately causing them to suffer their Hazardous effects).

All in all, it turns out the Union makes pretty solid mining equipment for its cost. It mines soulstones, will stand up to heavy use, and in a pinch can help defend the human miners (or gremlin bushwackers) from attack.

What do you think of the Soulstone Miner? What’s a versatile model you’d like to hear more about? Next Monday I’ll be continuing on through the factions to the Bayou, and probably won’t just repost this article with Mah at the top of the list. Probably.