Iron Man, 1920s Edition

Hey everyone, and welcome back to another Strength in Numbers deckbuild! If you'd like to check out the companion article to this deck and learn a bit more about Tommy and Becky, you can find that on our blog here: https://strengthinnumbersarkham.wordpress.com/2022/08/11/character-concept-iron-man-1920s-arkham-edition/

Intro

Kicking down doors, putting high-caliber enchanted rounds into monsters, and holding up collapsing buildings are all in a day's work for the dual pilots of the Paladin Project–the Agency's one-man advanced infantry program! Tommy, the human pilot, wears an Iron Man-style full-body battlesuit, complete with built-in weapons and reinforced with enchantments, blessings, and alien technology. But the real power of the suit comes from Becky, a spirit that resides within the suit and enhances its capabilities while also protecting Tommy from the cosmic threats they face!

Deck Breakdown

Tommy and Becky's deck is primarily a support tank, with a strong combat setup to put paid to the dangers you're taking off your allies.

It was originally built primarily around Protective Gear (representing the Paladin suit) and The Star • XVII (representing Becky's added protection), which combined make for a huge amount of damage and horror soak that pays for itself with interest AND can cancel certain treacheries from the deck. To add to that, "Let me handle this!" and First Watch allow Tommy and Becky to take hits for their friends and put themselves between allies and dangers–many of which can be cancelled using Protective Gear's ability, and the rest of which they can just take on the chin.

To maximize the effect of The Star, the deck also runs Tetsuo Mori, a loyal technician on the Paladin Project who is ready to help protect Tommy's friends as well as repairing the suit or other vital components should they get damaged. And finally, we have both of Tommy's available Composures, Combat Training and Plucky. The former represents Tommy's skills and prowess, while the latter represents Becky's. Both can be played for one resource or less, but soak up to 3 (for Plucky) or a whopping 8 (for Combat Training), meaning they generate a huge number of resources that can then be spent back on Composure stat boosts or reloading his signature weapon.

For combat, I chose to include a full upgrade package for Becky (the gun, not the spirit!). With Custom Ammunition (which can be stored on Stick to the Plan until you need it) and Enchant Weapon, Tommy's badass arm cannon can be dealing a clean 4 damage against the strongest enemies he'll face. Until you draw and upgrade the gun, Brand of Cthugha will serve as your backup weapon–if a literal sword of fire can be reasonably called a "backup".

The rest of the deck serves to increase consistency, giving Tommy a variety of ways to draw through his deck to get to the core cards I've already mentioned. For The Plan, I recommend Custom Ammunition, "Fool me once..." (so you only have to deal with Rookie Mistake once) or Ever Vigilant (if you need to guarantee your setup will be swift or want a backup if your Tarot dodges the mulligan), and Taunt.

In Action

Mulligan hard for a weapon, Moon Pendant, and your copies of The Star • XVII to try and get the tarot trigger. From there, you can get out one of your cards with soak and begin tanking hits and using Tommy's ability to turn a considerable profit–assuming perfect clear (which will admittedly not always be possible) Tetsuo profits between 1 and 5 resources, Protective Gear between 2 and 6, Combat Training between 4 and 8, and Plucky between 0 and 2. This should set you up for all the cashflow you need, and once you have Becky out, all the ammunition as well.

Tommy and Becky's main goal is to handle enemies by tanking, then killing, plus occasionally grabbing treacheries to cancel or soak. You should be able to considerably lighten the damage load on your allies and free up actions for them to advance the act, while dishing out one-hit kills to most enemies in a scenario.

Because the only clueving potential the pair has is in Becky's Plucky, and it's somewhat expensive to use consistently, Tommy is probably best in higher player counts where full specialization is most viable. But that doesn't mean he couldn't handle the classic 2p clue/fight duo, and with Becky's help he can always investigate in an emergency.

Variants

While building this deck, I couldn't help coming up with a whole HOST of alternative builds that I've themed as weapon loadouts for the Paladin suit. So, without further ado, here are a few you may want to try out on the same chassis:

• Siege Engine – using Enchanted Bow OR Telescopic Sight/Marksmanship, Tommy can pivot the suit into acting as long-range fire support, able to gun down enemies from an obscene distance, UBW Archer-style, thanks to Becky steadying his aim. You can even add in the Springfield M1903 for a more mortar and/or sniper rifle-style arm cannon.

• Float Like A Butterfly – replacing the usual cannon with a pair of mechanical Boxing Gloves gives Tommy a toe-to-toe–literally–melee setup capable of putting the hurt on enemies with his not-so-bare hands! This is probably the alternate loadout with the most changes, as you have to fill up the deck with a reasonable number of Spirit events like the aforementioned Toe to Toe, One-Two Punch, Heroic Rescue, and/or Counterpunch.

• Agency's Creed – speaking of Counterpunch and Heroic Rescue, this loadout chooses Survival Knives as its weapon of choice. A classic for all tank decks, this allows Tommy to reactively slaughter up to two enemies engaged with him per round, freeing up his main actions to move, engage, and take scenario-relevant tests.

• Hammer Time – well, you knew this was coming. The Hammer Bros., Cyclopean Hammer and Sledgehammer, are both fantastic choices for this deck, enhancing his one-hit kill potential and ease of use considerably at the cost of a significant XP hike. Plus, who doesn't want to see Iron Man cosplaying as Thor?

• Second Sight – less of a weapon loadout and more of an aesthetic shift, this build adds a second Plucky and makes a point of being able to investigate as well as fight, using tools like Sharp Vision and possibly even Old Keyring or Mariner's Compass (although the latter can be tough to manage with Tommy). This could theoretically be combined with one of the simpler weapon loadouts, like Hammer Time.

Conclusion

I had a great putting this deck together, and I can't wait to role-play the deuteragonists and their relationship at the table while blowing holes the size of dinner plates in all the monsters that threaten my friends!

One MAJOR final note–part of the reason I was inspired to finish this deck was the reveal of Hunter's Armor, one of the new Customizables from the upcoming Scarlet Keys expansion. That would make a fantastic replacement for Protective Gear, and actually fits the thematics behind this deck superbly well–I just haven't quite figured out which I'll roll with myself. So if you pivot this deck into a Customizable Armor build, I'd love to hear how it went, and which upgrades you picked for your Paladin suit in particular! Personally, I think Hexdrinker and Protective Runes could form the foundation for an awesome mass-tanking build that shoulders the harm for an entire team. Maybe with Safeguard...

But I'll leave all that as an exercise for the reader. I hope you enjoy!