Incunabulog

Malifaux – Avatar Seamus v McMourning 35ss

May 152013

At very short notice I got a 35ss game against Dave H at the club last night.

We flipped for Strategies and Dave H got Contain Power (ie. kill Seamus, bonus points to do it with your Master) and I got Turf War (more of my models in his table half than he has in mine, bonus points to get someone in his Deployment Zone).

With targeted assassination as his Strategy, Dave picked:-

McMourning (6ss cache)
Sebastian
Bête Noir
3 Necropunks
Flesh Construct
2 Dogs

He also picked Stake a Claim on a boat off to my right and McMourning’s A Piece For Me (get 5 body part counters from Master, Henchmen or Totems).
I had come with the core of my crew in mind, so the rest was just to flesh out the Ultimate Terror crew:-

Seamus (5ss cache)
Avatar
Molly
Grave Spirit
Yin
2 Rotten Belles
Crooligan

I picked Kill Protege on Bete Noir, and Breakthrough to complement my Strategy.

The table was a crowded city, with two 6” towers in the middle linked by a high bridge, lots of stairs and raised balconies, and finally some docks, running along the whole right hand side of the table.

My game plan was bunch up (to get the most from –Wp buffs) and try to keep key models alive until Seamus could Avatar on Turn 3 and get the Terror Train going, and then see how effective it was. It quickly became apparent Dave’s plan was to steam McMourning into my crew asap and kill Seamus, caution be damned.

Turn 1

I moved for position, gathering my models on my side of the large gap between the two central towers. Yin floated up on top of one of the towers, making her the closest model so that the Flesh Construct would fruitlessly try and climb the tower in the closing step. The Belles targeted the closest Necropunks with Distract, and succeeded in getting Slow on one of them. No Flurry for you next Turn, Mr Necropunk!

The Grave Spirit attached to Seamus, and it was only after that I realised it did nothing, as Seamus was not undead.

It turned out I didn’t really have to worry about Flurrying Necropunks too much, as it took Dave until Turn 5 to flip a high enough Mask to get Leap off! So everything of Dave’s moved up, with McMourning by far the closest (hidden on some steps on the right hand side of the rightmost of the two central towers.
My hand was middling this Turn, but not a single Crow. For a Molly crew this is bad news.

Turn 2

My hand had the Black Joker (which I kept for the rest of the game), two very low Crows and only one high card.

Dave got Initiative and his McMourning missile was put into effect. He had to move up through the tower to get in range of Seamus and tried his Scalpel Slinging. I knew I had to try and stop this, so cheated high on Df and stoned. Only a lucky SS flip on Seamus’ part kept him safe, and McMourning was stymied. He tried a spell on Molly, but Molly won the Wp duel from Pitiful, got the trigger and gave McMourning 2wds for his trouble, and McMourning scurried back to where he started. A big turning point in the game – had McMourning got into melee, it would all have been very different.

The Flesh Construct moved up, stopping in melee with Yin and a Rotten Belle, and passed the Anathema test from Yin. Yin and both Belles wailed on him. Molly hit the closest Necropunk, and Seamus moved over to the left (away from that horrible McMourning person) and blasted a Severe onto the same Necropunk, with only its Hard to Kill keeping it alive.

The Grave Spirit linked to Yin.

At the end of the Turn, the Flesh Construct hooked the Belle on my right, but Black Joker’d the damage.

Turn 3

I won Initiative and activated the Rotten Belle on my left. She was blocking Seamus’ path to the centre of the melee, so my thinking was I would move her up and then I could get Avatar Seamus into the fray. She moved up and walloped the Flesh Construct with her brolly.

The Flesh Construct activated and had another go at the Belle on my right. One hit got a trigger off and did a massive 6Dg, but the Black Joker struck on the next hit and the big guy missed!

Yin finished off the Flesh Construct and Bête Noir popped out (a Dog picked up the corpse counters). Dave had to cheat high to avoid the Anathema when she activated. She flurried at Yin, but only one hit got through and the Armour 2 kept the damage on Yin low.

At this point I should have used the Grave Spirit to cast Philosophy of Uncertainty on Bête Noir, all but guaranteeing 2VP for Kill Protégé. I should have, but I didn’t. Instead, the Crooligan activated and after two attempts got Mist to go off. Why? I have no idea

McMourning activated. Uh, oh. He moved up, Scalpel Slung into the badly wounded Belle on my right, killing her and netting a Corpse Counter. This landed him in melee with Yin, so McMourning got his first taste of Anathema (on a -2 Wp from Yin and the Crooligan!). He passed it, and then stabbed the Grave Spirit twice, getting him 2 of the 5 body parts counters he needed for his scheme (as well as healing him the 2wds he suffered earlier). The Grave Spirit died. Fortunately I remembered Seamus’ rule and drew cards for the dead totem and the dead Belle – I usually never remember to do that!

Seamus Avatared. I had a choice to either head into the middle of the melee or try to freak out McMourning. I went for McMourning, knowing that McMourning could probably take Seamus in melee easily, if he got Initiative. I boosted Seamus’ Terrifying to 15 and moved to within 3” of McMourning.

Molly killed off Bête Noir, getting me 2VP. Amazingly, Dave had cheated in his “bring Bête back card” so she could pass her Anathema test earlier on, but managed to flip high enough to Bury her anyway and heal all her wounds!

A Necropunk activated, failed Anathema from Yin and ran away (with Yin failing the disengaging strike). The Dog activated as well, failed as well, and was kept in place with a disengaging strike. Anathema was really starting to pose a problem for a crew not used to having to deal with Terrifying.

Turn 4

I got Initiative. Yay!

I also got a crap hand of cards. Boo. I kept the Black Joker, though, and a low Crow.

Seamus went. He tried Bellowing of the Big Bastard, but McMourning was having none of that. He tried to hit McMourning, but McMourning was too quick for him. Hmm. I boosted Seamus’ Terrifying to 17 and put up his aura of -2Wp. Deal with that, pal!

McMourning activated, having to make a Terrifying test of 17 with an effective Wp of 1! Dave flipped a 1(!), and cheated in a 13. He stoned, needing only a 3 to pass. He flipped a 2!!! I laughed, but I don’t think Dave laughed so much!

To make matters worse, to rub salt in the wound, to add injury to insult Yin succeeded in her disengaging strike and I flipped the Red Joker for damage, doing 6wds to McMourning and stopping him running away! He was now surrounded by enemies and on –flips for all duels until the end of his next Activation…

Yin then Activated, cast Constrict on McMourning (giving him Slow) and hit him, for a total of 5wds.

A Necropunk attacked my remaining Belle on the left, putting 6Dg on her.

Sebastian moved up, keeping away from Molly and Anathema Yin, and Cast Bloody Harvest, with Dave cheating in the Red Joker on the cast to make the total 19! Who died? Lots of people, that’s who. The Dog died (and Bete Noir popped back out), the Necropunk died (and moved back before dying to give Sebastian his corpse – ick!) and my last Belle died. Yin, Molly and the Crooligan all took 4wds. But the Belle, with her Slow to Die, cast Lure on 1Wp Seamus, dragging him into the middle of the melee (she Bashed him for 1wd). Since this was now the end of Bloody Harvest, Sebastian had to test against Terrifying 17 on a -3Wp ( He failed, tried to run and took wounds from Yin, and his Activation was over.

Molly activated and cast her damage spell, stoning it to put 2wds on McMourning and kill him off. She then tried to do some other stuff and failed.

Bête Noir had to activate now, and on -4Wp not even the Red Joker would be enough to pass Seamus’ Terrifying. She tried to flee taking disengaging strikes from Molly, the Crooligan, Yin (who all failed) and finally Seamus, who did 4wds to her, killing her off for the last time. She used her Slow to Die to try and make Seamus Insignificant, but was out of control cards now and failed.

What do you mean, the third Necropunk? Oh, yes, the third one. It had spent the whole game heading for the Stake a Claim target, climbing up and then down a 9” high bridge tower down by the docks. It was nearly there!

Turn 5

I drew a hand with three severes and a ten. Lovely!

Seamus killed off Sebastian and my whole crew moved forward, with Molly summoning Sybelle from the ruins of a Rotten Belle and McMourning hisself!
The other Necropunk (who had run away and spent Turn 4 Rallying), finally managed to cast Leap (told you it took 5 Turns!) and got out of their way.

There was no need to finish the Turn or play Turn 6, as it was obvious that Yin could easily Float into Dave’s deployment zone and I would have max VP from the Strategy and 2VP from Breakthrough.

Result: Dave scored 2 VP for Stake a Claim. I scored 2 VP from Kill Protege, 2 VP from Breakthrough and 4 VP from Turf War. 8-2 win for Seamus!

Thoughts: This was a cracking game, with several turning points. In Turn 2, if I had not stoned high for Seamus’ defence, McMourning would have found it much easier to deal with him. In Turn 4, if McMourning hadn’t stoned so low for his Terrifying test, he would have had a good chance of killing off Seamus (Dave had the Red Joker in hand). I think I got lucky, and I would really have been on the ropes if either of those events had gone another way.

The –Wp effects of the models in this crew stack to extreme effect, and I did not even get a chance to use Yin to give Molly Anathema. She would have been on Anathema 15 with Avatar Seamus on the table, but Yin can only give Anathema to a model that has Terrifying already, and Molly has to activate to get Terrifying. This sequence of Activations never came up, as I was always Activating Yin first.

For Dave’s part, he commented that he has yet to win with McMourning, which is a bit surprising. I wouldn’t take bets on that losing streak not ending soon! Avatar McMourning would have posed all sorts of problems to me, for one.

Yin is terrific, and well worth her points. Df6, 8 Wds and –flip on all Attacks against her makes her a rare support model that is very hard to put down, and that is before you consider how Anathema protects her! Adding in Wicked is the cherry on top, as a model that is forced to Rally in the middle of your crew is almost certainly going to die due to the –flips they are on for everything. When you combine her 2” melee with Seamus’ potential 4” melee reach, that is a huge area of the table you can make a no-go area to opponents who don’t want to burn their high cards or use soulstones just to get close.

Now, I am going to have a think about whether I should replace Molly with Jack Daw, and whether that will leave me with any friends whatsoever…

Blood, Steel & Stones II

Malifaux 1 Response »

May 072013

East Hench Dave Kerr-Smith came up with another format for a tournament, which is a bit like saying the sun rose in the morning. I swear DKS must climb some wild, snowy peak every month and stand naked in the wind until he brainstorms another tournament format. Or maybe he just thinks them up on his way to work, I dunno.

We had to create a 60ss pool of models, Summoned models not included. Masters weren’t included either, so you could take as many Masters as you liked, provided they were from the declared Faction. 60ss sounds like a lot, but when the TO is flipping for a Shared Strategy on the day, it is not as much as you might think. I would have liked to go with Molly, Yin and my schmexy new Seamus Avatar, but I am not sure I have 60ss worth of models for the Ressers! I could have done Outcasts, but the Masters have almost no synergy, meaning that any model in the pool would most likely be of use to one Master and no use to the others, so that would leave you making mini-pools within the 60ss allotment. Not ideal. I went Arcanists, as Ramos/ Avatar Ramos can handle most Strategies reasonably well, and I took Mei Feng for the ones that needed someone who could move like a greased banana on polished ice.

Here’s the pool:-

Ramos-
Mei Feng-
Avatar (Ramos)2
Mobile Toolkit3
Rail Golem9
Guardian7
Steampunk Arachnid3
Steampunk Arachnid3
Large Steampunk Arachnid5
Johan6
Willie6
Union Miner4
Union Miner4
Kang8
Total60

Mei Feng was a late addition to the pool (I forgot I had her!), which is why this pool is optimised for Ramos only.

The Rail Golem is a fairly obvious choice for Ramos these days. Not an autoinclude, but well worth his points and surprisingly mobile with his free charge move. Adding the Guardian to him makes him a real PITA to deal with. The two cheap SPA are in there for activation control, and so I can quickly make a Swarm if I want one. I will probably be summoning Large SPAs, but having one in the pool give me a cheap option that drops lots of scrap when it dies. Johan is there for some Union Miner-themed fun. Willie offers excellent blasts, board control and anti-Izamu abilities. The Union Miners are there in case I need to take on Lynch. Kang is there because KANG!!!

Game 1

30ss Shared King of The Hill

My opponent for the first game was Gareth, who brought:-

Perdita
Francisco
Santiago
2 x Guild Hounds
Austringer
Witchling Stalker

With a point on the table to hold that was not too far away, I decided Ramos would be ideal. Since the enemy would be unlikely to engage in melee, Avatar Ramos would suit as he could Leap around and engage them in melee, as well as churn out bigger Contructs to contest the middle. I chose:-

Ramos
Avatar
Mobile Toolkit
Rail Golem
Guardian
2 x Steampunk Arachnids

For schemes I flipped at random (yes, back to doing that!). I got Bodyguard and Frame for Murder, and Gareth chose Assassinate and Bodyguard. I took Frame for Murder on the Rail Golem, as it was a prime target, but it would likely take Perdita’s super-killyness to remove him from the game.

For the first three Turns I got Initiative and set up the Rail Golem’s Vent Steam, which frustrated the Ortegas’ attempts to shoot holes in my crew, while ensuring that I had a lock on the centre of the table for those lovely, lovely VPs. I made a Steampunk Arachnid Swarm and then foolishly threw it away to kill Francisco. Santiago gunned the Swarm down, as it was outside the steam cloud. The Witchling ran into the steam and had a go at the Rail Golem, but the Golem hammered it into the ground. The Guild Hounds were kept at bay by the Electrical Creation for a Turn, but repositioned with amazing speed and charged the Guardian. Along with Perdita’s shooting they managed to kill him off. We were both running low on models. Avatar Ramos joined the fray now, and both he and the Rail Golem charged Santiago and the Austringer. The Austringer got away, but Santiago was reduced to his Hard to Kill wound. When Perdita charged in and killed the Rail Golem, the blast took Santiago with it! In the final Turn Ramos made a Large Steampunk Arachnid to tie up Perdita and then leapt behind a wall and finished off the Austringer. The game ended with Perdita on the centre marker, shooting at Ramos, but failing to put any wounds on him.

Result: Gareth – 2 VP for Bodyguard and 1 VP for the Strategy (last Turn). Me – 4 VP for both Schemes and 2 VP for the Strategy. 6VP to 3VP. Win for the Arcanists!

Never mind that, though, because DKS had bought doughnuts!!!

Game 2

30ss Shared Treasure Hunt

With everyone high on sugar from free doughnuts, the place was abuzz for Game 2. Joe was there and it was on like Donkey Kong. Joe frowned, furrowed a fine, manly brow and picked:-

Nicodem (damn!)
A Vulture
2 x Ashigaru
Toshiro the Daimyo
Drowned
Rotten Belle

This seemed like as good a time as any to pick Mei Feng. She could get near the Treasure fast, and do some damage while she was there. I picked:-

Mei Feng (told you)
Rail Golem
Willie
2 x Steampunk Arachnids
Large Steampunk Arachnid

This gave me four Constructs for Railwalker points, which should be enough, plus Willie for some board control. I flipped for Schemes and got Grudge and Assassinate. I chose one of the Ashigaru for Grudge, reckoning the Rail Golem could smush it at some point. Mei Feng might have the mobility to get to Nicodem, but if she couldn’t kill him in one go, she would be toast. The Rail Golem was the only other model that stood a chance. Joe picked Breakthrough and Nico’s special Scheme that required him to have a corpse counter in every quarter of the board.

Turn 2 was where it all kicked off. The Treasure Marker was in a medium-sized forest, limiting line of sight wonderfully so that Nicodem couldn’t just paralyse everything of mine. Willie had lobbed a couple of blast counters already, with one of them right on the Treasure. The Drowned and one Ashigaru were close to it, and so was one of my Spiders. I moved the other up and it came within 2” of the Blast counter and I flipped – a Red Joker! The Blast counter went off, doing 5 Dg in a 5” radius ? The Drowned used its Slow to Die to move forward and then died in a fiery blast of its own, putting more damage on my crew. When the dust cleared, the Drowned and the Ashigaru were dead, as were both of my wee Spiders, while the Large Arachnid, Mei Feng and Willie all took a hurting (Willie spared a little by his armour).

The rest of the game was a furious grind on the Treasure Marker. Joe had played Mei Feng before, so he gave me a few welcome reminders of her abilities (I had also printed out Ratty’s cheat sheet for her). I got several of her triggers off, and she ended up killing the other Ashigaru (flipping a Red Joker for damage – oh, yeah!) and Toshiro. I should have pulled her out, however, as Nicodem simply made a Rogue Necromancy from the remains…

The battle carried on. The Rogue Necromancy died, but Nico summoned a Flesh Construct and a Punk Zombie, who managed to kill Mei. The Rail Golem smashed the Flesh Construct away from the Treasure, helping to ensure that (if Nico killed him himself) there was little chance there would be corpse counters in all four table quarters.

The game ended with the Belle making a run for my deployment zone and failing.

Result: Joe – 0VP for Schemes and 0VP for the Strategy. Me – the same! 0VP to 0VP – a bloody, brutal draw.

Game 3

30ss Shared Slaughter

Slaughter sounded ideal for Mei Feng, but Ramos was my main dude in this tournament so I decided to go with him. He is no slouch when it comes to killing things. Although I have yet to get best use out of Electrical Fire, his exploding bomb tricks more than make up for his lack of melee.

I chose:-

Ramos
Mobile Toolkit
Rail Golem
Guardian
Kang

No Avatar this time. Original flavour Ramos – he tastes like victory. The last thing I wanted to do was summon already wounded models for my opponent to kill off! Normal Ramos is very defensive (Arcing Screen), and in Slaughter I can afford to sit back and hold a position.

My opponent was Steve who had Ressers:-

Kirai
Lost Love
Datsue-Ba
Izamu
Rotten Belle
A Seishin or two

I flipped for Schemes and got the exact two I got for Game 2. Baws tae that. I flipped again and got Exterminate (sigh) and Sabotage. Neither were likely. I had no choice but to take Exterminate on Spirits (I can tell you right now I didn’t manage it) and I lacked the mobility for Sabotage. Steve chose Stake a Claim and Grudge on the Mobile Toolkit.

On Turn 1 I made an Electrical Creation and a Spider and stupidly realised my stupid error. Making weak models in Slaughter is a stupid thing to do! I kept the Spider hidden until Turn 4 (when I used it for a double Healing flip on the Guardian through Combat Mechanic) but decided that the Electrical Creation was worth the risk, as its blast spell wreaks havoc among Spirit crews. I didn’t use it (or Ramos) as well as I could have, but every time I summoned one I forced Steve to deal with it before it got to go pop.

The intention was to defend and force the Spirits to come to me, ideally attacking a crew with a Steam Cloud and Arcing Screen up. I deployed to defend the Stake a Claim objective on my right, and the Ramos blob only moved about 12” the whole game.

It was a cagey affair. I kept losing the Electrical Creation, which annoyingly kept giving Kirai another Seishin! Steve got 1 VP on Turn 2 for killing the sparking menace, but on Turns 3 & 4 I managed to kill more than he did, offing Datsue-Ba and Ikiryo on Turn 3, and the Lost Love and Ikiryo again on Turn 4.

I did a good job protecting the Mobile Toolkit, ensuring that the summoned Shikome and Ikiryo could not get it in melee. The Mobile Toolkit put up Arcing Screen, which hurt the Spirits more than their attacks hurt my Constructs. The Guardian took a battering, but the Spider I mentioned earlier was expended to heal it back up. The Rail Golem’s Vent Steam ensured that Izamu could not get a charge off and had to walk into melee on Turn 4 (Steve could not manage to Turn him into a spirit, so kept him back for most of the game. I am fairly sure I could have managed him had he charged in, but as a spirit? Not so sure)

Kang did very little. He got taken down to his Hard to Kill wound, but stayed alive and healed back up, only for the Shikome to Deny him his Sanzu (whatever that means), leaving him immobilised at the back of the crowd.

The game ended after four Turns.

Result: Steve – 1VP from the Strategy and 0VP from Schemes. Me – 2VP from the Strategy and 0VP from Schemes. 1VP to 2VP – a win for the Arcanists!

Then I had my doughnut from Turn 1. It was very nice.

Summary: I ended up taking 2nd place overall, and very pleased with that I was, too. Paul Campbell won the whole thing, and Dave Hamilton came in third place.

The painting prize went to Paul Andrew’s Gremlin crew, which was just incredible, and well deserved. I got some nice comments about my models, but apparently everything I had with me has won something or other in the past, so I need to get painting again if I want any more awards. Not a bad position to be in, I guess

Another really enjoyable event, and many thanks to DKS for organising it and to all my opponents for some great games (and to everyone else for making it a fun way to spend a day indoors with our toys). I did miss the silliness of the Daily Achievement League. Doughnuts are no replacement for silliness, DKS. This is known.

I got a good first go with Mei Feng, getting to see how her Triggers work, and how she fares on the offense (good) and on the defense (poor). I need to get used to using Railwalker properly, and a couple more games with her should do the job.

Next up on the Malifaux painting table, however, is Avatar Seamus and my Belles. I have Yin on the way from Arcane Miniatures, so am looking forward to trying out a seriously scary crew!

New Tau Codex

Tau, Warhammer 40k No Responses »

Apr 292013

I am aware there hasn’t been much in the way of updates on this blog. If only something monumental with regards to the Tau had happened recently to give me something to write about!

In truth, this blog is as much about Malifaux and anything else that takes my fancy as it about 40k, and there are loads of much better blogs out there (young ones, full of vim and vinegar) that have been pulling the new codex apart far better than I could.

I have managed to get two games in. The last was a Tau mirror-match, 1750 pts, and you can see the beginnings of Turn 1 above. The first game was against Dark Eldar. In brief, I am loving the new codex, as the sheer range of options should keep us going five years or so until the next codex. Yes, the next one. As with any Tau player, eagerly anticipating a new codex is such a familiar state to be in, it feels wrong not be thinking about it at all

Tau Riptide

Painting, Tau, Warhammer 40k No Responses »

Apr 282013

A photo of the almost completed Riptide and missile drones.

Terrific model. The support weapons are magnetized.

New Tau Models: Airbrushing Update

Painting, Tau, Warhammer 40k No Responses »

Apr 242013

Just a quick photo update showing the pre-shading on the Sun Shark Bomber and, below, on the Riptide.

Given the bulk of the Riptide I decided it would easier to do a partial assembly, paint it and then only complete the assembly once it is all done. I am using my normal Tau colour scheme of Graveyard Earth (now renamed and moved to the Base colour range), with Charred Brown. Black and white highlights, and I will add some red to tie it in with Farsight.

At the moment I have just inked all the panel lines, so nearly there. Might finish it tonight.

I have had one game with the new Codex so far (Shadowsun & infantry heavy vs Dark Eldar) and hoping to get another, bigger game soon. I am loving the new Codex, and now we can take more than one of the same weapon on Crisis Suits thanks to yesterday’s FAQ, it is only going to get better!

Malifaux – Rail Crew

Malifaux 5 Responses »

Apr 042013

Finally gotten round to my Rail Crew, with some railway bases for the Rail Workers, and the same talus bases for Mei Feng and the Emberling.

I added to Mei Feng’s base, to make the shattered timbers more 3D.

The Emberling will be a fun paint. Glowing coals with the white hot body coming out, cooling to a sooty black at the very top.

As a new thing, I have attached the models with the complicated bases to bits of sprue, and will paint them and the bases separately. See how it goes. Yes, Mei Feng’s sprue does say “Made in China”

I am aware this blog has been dormant for a long time, but I am still keeping busy in the hobby. It is just that much less of it is being reported on here! And I do know the new Tau are coming. I have my pre-order in

St Valentine’s Slaughter: not-Tournament Report – Misaki 35ss

Malifaux No Responses »

Feb 252013

Ten Thunders! Ho!!

Dave Kerr-Smith came up with a belter for this tournament, which turned it into one of the most fun ones, like, ever. There’s this thing called Dead of Winter which I think everyone knows about but me (because I have stopped paying attention) and it involves a Daily Achievement League (DAL) at the tournament.

Okay, let me backtrack. It’s not a tournament any more, it is an Organised Play Event (I think this is Dave K-S’s roundabout way of trying to convince Dave Hamilton to stop winning – if it’s not a tournament, the thinking goes, he might not try so hard. Yeah, no). Unfortunately, when Wyrd coined the phrase Organised Play Event they probably were not thinking that in the concrete wilds of Central Scotland, this translates to something you take your weans to, and hope the ball pit doesn’t leave them smelling too strongly of wee. Talk about taking the piss. A few of us tried to come up with alternative monikers for it, but that just turned into taking the piss in a slightly different way (Goal-Oriented Enjoyment Process being my best effort).

Anyway, to emphasise that this was not a tournament, Dave KS’ tireless Henchbrain had come up with all manner of non-tournament-style trimmings for this event, each of which I thought was bloody marvellous. Seriously (I am not, for the avoidance of doubt, still taking the piss). Special terrain galore on each table (win!) and the aforementioned Daily Achievement League (aforementioned and avoidance of doubt – can you tell I am typing this at my work???). The DAL has a veritable host of secondary objectives players can try and achieve throughout the day, some staid and forthright, and others bonkers and amusing(*).

My Crew, Assemble!

I was always going to get Misaki and her crew, as I feel at least partially responsible for her elevation to Master. The Book 3 story with her and Kaeris came out of a chat with Dan Weber, and what Wyrd wanted was a straight-up fight story. Originally it was going to be Misaki vs Guild, and the Peacekeeper lumbering late into the tale is an echo of that old intention. I am not sure if Wyrd always intended to elevate her to Master (certainly the intention to do more with 10T existed before Book 2 came out), but her dilemma over her future and how to resolve it was something I added to the story to make it more interesting than just a big fight scene. At the least, it was a happy coincidence that this was the direction Wyrd took her in the game.

The event was fixed Master 35ss, and I figured Misaki had a decent chance at all three Strategies. I could tailor my crew to the Strategies and the opponent, and with a fair selection of her available models to choose from I did not feel I would have many hard choices. The main models I am missing are 10T Archers and Wastrels. Ranged models are not great in a melee crew – the melee models want to be in melee but the ranged ones have to stop shooting when that happens. This creates a conflict within the crew that I am not keen on. It can and does work, but not well enough to make it worth me buying these models now. Wastrels are, however, fantastic models, and I need to get me some!

Game 1

Shared Deliver A Message

Taking the DAL to heart, I decided to tick off as many boxes as I could. I asked my opponent, Irving, to pick my crew and my Schemes. He picked my Schemes randomly (see below) and, since he was not familiar with the 10T, he picked my crew in much the same fashion. My crew ended up being:

·         Misaki (8 cache)
§  (Totem) Shang (3)
o   KANG! (8)
o   10T Brother (5)
o   10T Brother (5)
o   Oiran (4)
o   Yamaziko (6)

Irving took:-

·         Lilith (8 cache)
o   (Totem) Puking Snake
o   Mr Graves
o   Tuco
o   3 Silurid

Irving’s Deliver a Message method was pretty clear – it was green, slimy and had (0) Leap! Sadly, he had failed to pick any Ninjas (Torokage) for me, leaving me a bit stuck for movement tricks. I could get the Oiran close to Lilith and Lure a friendly model up, but the chances of that working are somewhere between slim and none. I could try and Lure Lilith, but soulstones.

For Schemes Irving declared Bodyguard and Stake a Claim, and for me he picked Emptied Pockets and Infiltrate Malifaux. Emptied Pockets meant Misaki had to Pilfer more soulstones from Lilith than Lilith had left at the end of the game. If you’re in melee with Lilith and not killing her, you’re doing it wrong, so that was going to be hard. Infiltrate Malifaux meant that I had to have two Dual Faction models alive at the end of the game. I only had two Dual Faction models, so that one was going to be tricky as well! Keeping the Oiran out of danger was fine, as she is not a front-line model, but KANG! needs to be in the mix to be of any use.

Irving played very well, while I dithered around with Misaki, unsure of what to do with her. Ultimately I got my deployment and Turn 1 all wrong, leaving models isolated by terrain and far from supporting models. The Silurid pack Delivered the Message on Turn 2. Misaki killed them all and took out Tuco over the remainder of the game, but did little else. My other models pressed mid-table, acting defensively and keeping the various protective auras up, and between them Yamaziko and KANG! managed to pincer Lilith and Deliver the Message on Turn 4.

Lilith killed KANG! (is it getting annoying yet? Do let me know) and then transposed out of danger, letting Mr Graves get into contact with the Stake a Claim terrain piece.

Last Turn was called as we ended Turn 4. We agreed to call the game at that point, as there was no way I could even get a draw by playing out Turn 5.

Result: I got 2 VP for Delivering the Message on Turn 4 and 1 VP for having the closest model to the Mysterious Effigy. Irving got 4 VP for Delivering the Message first, and 4 VP for his Schemes. 8-3 to Irving and a Loss for me.

Comments: In retrospect, I should have kept KANG! and the Oiran tight to Misaki (which, oddly enough, is how I deployed them). That would have forced Lilith forward, as nothing else in her crew would have stood a chance against those three models. The only other thing I could have done would have been to throw Misaki forward on Turn 1 her full 15” (could even Lure her forward with the Oiran for an extra Walk) and end Turn 1 with her in melee with Lilith. Then it would come down to an initiative flip as to who would Deliver the Message first. Good chance of losing Misaki in that scenario, though! Anyway, I could certainly have played it better, but Irving played it well, stuck to the Strategy and his Schemes and deserved the win.

Worth noting that both Irving and I played Turn 2 with our control hands face down. Cheating blind – it’s how you separate the men from the boys J

Game 2

Shared Treasure Hunt against Jonny and his New Hamelin. I love playing against Jonny’s crews as they are always very imaginatively converted and painted. This one turned out to be my Game of the Day, as it was so close.

I took:-

·         Misaki (7 cache)
o   Yamaziko (6)
o   KANG! (8)
o   Ototo (8)
o   10T Brother (5)
o   Torokage (6)

Jonny took:-

·         Hamelin
o   Nix
o   Stolen
o   Arcane Effigy
o   Ratcatcher
o   3 Rats

For Schemes Jonny took Plague on Malifaux (turn 3 models Insignificant) and Breakthrough). I knew I had to kill Nix, so took Kill Protege. I considered Hold Out but given how fast the rats could be, I decided against it (obviously this was before Jonny revealed his Schemes) and tookStake a Claim. If I could keep the Torokage alive, that one was pretty much in the bag. For the DAL I had to play a game with two unannounced Schemes, so I did not announce them. Jonny announced his.

I took Ototo as (a) I had painted him the night before and (b) see (a). The 10T Brother was in there for Companion fun. The Torokage was in there for movement tricks to get in about the enemy. Yamaziko was in there to try and combat the Wp duels I would be forced into, and because her 3” melee range can help deny the Treasure Marker. Not to mention her healing and soulstone use and her blast trigger. She’s actually pretty awesome. KANG! was in because KANG!!! That left me with nearly a max cache, and as with the Viks I am fairly sure Misaki needs them all.

I had a plan for this one! I put Misaki on Defensive Stance, walked twice and then used her (0) Shadow on the Ratcatcher. He moved up twice, and the free Walks put Misaki on the Treasure Marker on Turn 1, in Defensive Stance J The rest of my crew moved up to join, and the Torokage buried himself, and popped up very close to Hamelin, but completely hidden behind some terrain. Perfect! The rats swarmed Misaki around the Treasure Marker, but could not get through her Defensive Stance.

On Turn 2 Nix had a go at the Torokage and took him down to 2 Wds. I knew I had to kill Nix fast, as I had no Paired weapons and his neg flip aura would wreak havoc otherwise. Misaki charged Nix and missed, thanks to the negative flip. However, (0) You’re Mine! let her cancel out the negative flip and she killed him with a Severe damage on the next hit. She then used Downburst to try and scatter some rats. Sadly, Jonny top-decked like a champion and the rats all stayed put. My own 10T Brother got pushed away, though! Yamaziko moved up and put up her aura. Hamelin made Ototo charge Yamaziko, and I soulstoned to reduce the damage on her. The Ratcatcher moved up and remembered that Shadow was still in effect, so Misaki moved out of cover and managed to stop the Ratcatcher moving and hurt him some with a Wicked Disengaging strike. Sadly, this was to prove the undoing of her.

On Turn 3, with Misaki now in LoS of Hamelin, Hamelin charged her and Red Jokered her for an incredible 18 Dg! Misaki sat the rest of the game out. With Nix dead I had felt like the game was mine to win, but now Jonny had deftly turned the tables, and it was going to be an uphill struggle. I knew no-one was going to get the Treasure Marker, so it was going to be decided on Schemes. Jonny must have realised the same thing, as on Turn 4 Hamelin burned all his AP and three soulstones to make KANG!, Ototo and the 10T Brother Insignificant. Ouch. I had Kill Protege in the bag, so the best I could do was 2VP for getting Stake a Claim as well. My game became all about tying Hamelin down in mid-table so that the Torokage could get away un-noticed.

I came very close to killing Hamelin on Turn 5. I won initiative and companioned my whole crew. Yamaziko put up her +2 Wp aura (I was going to need it for all those Wp tests), the 10T Brother Charged Hamelin and locked him and the Effigy in melee. Ototo took Hamelin down to 1Wd and tried to kill the last Stolen, but flipped the Black Joker for damage! KANG! killed the Stolen, ready to wail on a soulstone-less Hamelin, but with no cards left in my hand KANG! failed the Wp test and was paralysed! Hamelin made like Usain Bolt and legged it for my deployment zone, acing the disengaging strikes, but had to go wide round Yamaziko and failed to make it. I dropped the Ninja in base contact with my Stake a Claim terrain piece.

Result: Jonny had 2 VP from his Scheme and I had 2 VP from mine. Draw!

Comments: A great game that kept swinging one way and then another. Nix dead! Red Joker – Misaki is dead! You’re all Insignificant! All your Stolen are dead and you’re at 1 Wd! Black Joker!J There were not any great tactical errors, although I learned not to expose Misaki to a possible soulstone’d Charge. I also realised that I could have done with some ranged models to snipe those Stolen. I wondered why Misaki could take Hans as a 10 Thunders model!

We both realised afterwards that either of us could have won by getting a model near the Mysterious Effigy for +1VP. Oops!

Game 3

Shared Beatdown, against Mark and his latest version of the Cult of December crew. If it hadn’t been for the fact I was facing Tina, I would have gone for a smaller, more elite crew, but against Tina I knew I needed to get all up in her icy grill to stand a chance. That meant Ninjas, like so:-

·         Misaki (7 cache)
o   Von Schill (10)
o   Ototo (8)
o   2 Torokage (12)
o   Desperate Mercenary (2)

Mark brought:-

·         Tina
o   Avatar
o   Snowstorm
o   Ice Golem
o   2 Ice Gamin
o   Wendigo
o   December Acolyte

I took two Torokage since I would be dropping them in the open, and if Tina got the initiative that Turn, I wanted to be able to try again with the surviving Torokage the next Turn. Von Schill was in there as in Beatdown he is golden, being so hard to kill. The Desperate Mercenary was in there to do her thing and sacrifice herself on Turn 3 (since that would not count against me for Beatdown), and Ototo was in there for some serious threat potential.

For Schemes Mark did not declare either of his (Bodyguard on Tina and Assassinate on Misaki). I took and declared Assassinate on Tina (since I knew I had to go for her anyway) andBreakthrough (Von Schill or the Torokage can do this, and Tina’s crew is usually too slow to backtrack).

On Turn 1 I moved a Torokage up and threw some smoke bombs, cheating in a Tome to make them last. Everything else moved up. Tina shot through the Ice Golem and put some wounds on the Torokage and on Misaki, but being in cover saved them from a real pummelling. I dropped the second Torokage within 7” or so of Tina and waited on the Initiative Flip.

Turn 2. I won the flip! The Torokage moved up, swapped places with Misaki (who was just within spell range) in melee with Tina. Snowstorm gave Misaki Frozen Heart and then pulled her towards him, forgetting that this pulled everything with Frozen Heart within 4”, which included Tina (and a load of other models)! Snowstorm then wailed on Misaki, but I soulstoned every hit and avoided damage. Misaki then activated and killed off Tina, and put some Wds on Snowstorm.

After that Mark’s crew had a helluva task, made even worse when Ototo arrived on the scene. He had dropped some wounds to the Ice Golem and smashed it in reply, and was then able to kill off the December Acolyte and Snowstorm. Misaki completed the task by killing the last Ice Gamin, leaving Tina’s crew entirely gone by the end of Turn 3.

Result: I got 2VP from the Strategy (killing more models than my opponent in Turns 2 & 3), +1 VP for getting a model next to the Mysterious Effigy and 4 VP from Schemes. Mark got 0VP. A 7-3 win for Misaki!

Comment: It was all over once Misaki survived Snowstorm’s onslaught and Tina went down. It was always going to be brutal, and if I had failed to lock Tina in melee she would have blasted my smaller crew apart fairly readily. Misaki would not have been able to weather a full turn of that (boom, boom!)

Overall: A loss, a draw and a win put me fifth on the day, and I came very close to winning the DAL. I did, however, win the Best Painted Model for Misaki.

I enjoyed playing Misaki and her crew. She is very like the Viktorias, and I love their playstyle as well – direct and to the point. Usually several, well-honed points, delivered to various vital organs.

(*What really makes the whole DAL thing is that none of the secondary objectives count towards VPs or towards anything to do with the scores on the day at all. You can ignore them completely (Mr D Hamilton, Esq), tick them off as you come across them in-game, but otherwise don’t actively go for them (pretty much everyone else) or you can pull on your big boy Poke-trousers and catch ‘em all (Jonny, Irving and me).

See, here’s the thing. For even the fluffiest of players at an Organised Play Event, there is always the awareness that, at the end of the day, the teacher is going to add up the scores and announce them to the whole class. You might not have any interest in winning or trying to place in the top three, but there is still that undercurrent of “it’s a competition”. And it’s only human nature to want to do well in one of those. Instead of, you know, pretending that the Viktorias are angered by the loss of Taelor and are going to ignore the Strategy in favour of doing everything in their power to force the offending enemy model to jump off a high building and kill themselves. Sure, you _can_ do that, but it is always going to be a self-imposed goal that originates and exists only in your head. There is no social aspect to it, because in the structured framework of a game there is no mechanism whereby one player’s declared intent seeps into the shared world of the game in that fashion. Sure, players declare Schemes, but those give VPs. They directly affect the actual outcome of the game. What the DAL creates is a meta-framework for social interaction that exists alongside but separate from the game rules and allows for players to strive to achieve things that are meaningless in VP terms, but that are socially agreed-upon and mutually comprehensible goals.

In practice, this means I can waste AP to get Von Schill drunk, or ask my opponent to chose my crew, and it is not just something weird or baffling that I am choosing to do that might engage the other player (“hey, this is fun”), but on the other hand it might just alienate them (“why is he not taking this seriously?”). We both know why I am doing it, and that adds to the social aspect of the game, but without raising any stakes in a competitive sense. There is no incentive on the opponent to respond to my DAL-seeking antics. He or she is free to choose to do so or not, and either choice is fine. DAL serves only to enhance the shared social contract that any game entails, and for that I heartily approve.)

Anarchy In The Streets – It’s Mollytime!

Malifaux 3 Responses »

Oct 092012

Unable to resist the lure of Malifaux’s most dangerous crew any longer, I have succumbed and purchased a Molly boxset, along with a few other models to round out her crew.

Why Molly? Well, she is arguably the least likely leader of a skirmish crew in the whole of miniature gaming. An undead reporter for the Malifaux Record, she is not glamorous, flashy, deadly or powerful. In fact, a straw poll of one (me) confirms the generally held view that Molly and her team are the most underpowered crew in Malifaux.

But everyone likes an underdog. In the Wyrd Chronicles and Books 1 & 2, Molly is presented as Seamus’ abused spouse. The long-suffering “her indoors”, she stoicly puts up with Seamus’ terrorising of her, not having any obvious alternatives.

My aim in writing her story in Book 3 was to present her in this manner, and to show her finding a way out at the end, the promise of an alternative where none had been before and – most importantly – one she had reached entirely by her own means, by turning to what she was good at and enjoyed (her investigative sleuthing). Empowered characters FTW!

In the game itself, Molly’s crew is oddly similar to the Showgirls. They have movement tricks aplenty, although in this case the Lure spell of the Belles gives Molly an ability to control the enemy crew’s movement to a degree the Showgirls cannot. Unlike a Seamus crew, however, Molly’s whole crew is surprisingly fast, which makes them good at playing avoidance and at grabbing out of the way VPs. Due to their mobility and abilty to move enemy models, they should also be good at isolating key enemy models and beating the snot out of them, notable with lots of de-buffing to ensure that the enemy in question cannot do much about it.

Well, that’s the theory! We’ll see how it plays in practice, and you will get some painted models soon and hopefully some batreps once I get the crew up and running.

Weekend Of Malifaux

Malifaux No Responses »

Oct 042012

This was my crew for every game in the Tournament

Five games in one weekend – I am turning into Bill from the Gamer’s Lounge!

I attended another Malifaux Tournament on the Saturday, and then on the Sunday a few of the tournament attendees came over to my place and we played some more. Because three games at a tournament is Not Enough Malifaux, obviously

The tournament itself was another Dave Kerr-Smith Joint (he rolls his own). 50ss Brawl, with teams. Each team is made up of two players, and each player brings a 25ss crew. Each game is Team vs Team, not player vs player, hence 50ss a side. Each player’s Master must be Brawl-compatible, but otherwise each crew is an independent crew on the table, and each player has their own SS pool and Control Hand. There are lots of other well-thought-out rules, but that should give you the gist of it.

The upsides of this format should be obvious. Four players round a table makes each game a very social experience. This was one of the noisiest and generally chattiest tournaments I have been to. People who like to focus on the game might not enjoy that so much, but I enjoy the buzz. Also, with 50ss per side on the table, each game is a fairly epic affair.

The downsides are also fairly obvious. With 50ss per side on the table, two of our games got to Turn 3 and only one got to Turn 4. And we were rushing that one. You might have a plan for victory in six Turns, but you can forget about it in this environment, because you are only going to have three Turns to win. Four if you are lucky. Several players told tales of how the call of “last Turn” or “cards down” had robbed them of vital VPs that were only a single Activation or even a single Action Point away.

It is worth noting that some crews (and even some Factions in this game) are good are getting VPs in the early Turns, but fade as the game goes on, while others are slow but sturdy, and excel in the closing stages. Fast, fragile crews rack up early VPs and then get crushed by the slow, brutal steamroller of the opposing crew and have to try and hold out for the win. However, if the steamroller never has enough Turns to properly engage with you and the scenario, the fast, fragile crew has a big advantage. The game is balanced over six+ Turns, so these tournament formats, while a lot of fun, need to be looked at with that in mind.

Me? I took a fast, brutal crew

I teamed up with Dave Hamilton (also from the G3 club in Glasgow). He has Guild, so we picked his Perdita to go with my Hoffman. I decided to do what I had not done in the last tournament and go Big Construct exclusively.

Hoffman (5ss cache)

Mobile Toolkit;
Peacekeeper;
Steamborg Executioner.

It is an all-eggs-in-one-or-two-baskets strategy, but I love multi-limbed, heavily-armoured baskets that hit like a tank shell, and move at about the same speed The theory is that if you bring an expensive dangerous model like the Peacekeeper to a small game (and 25ss is a fairly small crew), it has a large target painted on it. This gives you two choices; don’t take an expensive, dangerous model, or take two.

Dave H took:

Perdita (6ss cache)

Enslaved Nephilim;
Nino;
Santiago;
Guardian.

Very shooty and, with the Guardian, a very survivable crew.

The idea was that the Hoffball would run around getting VPs (as would Perdita, if necessary), while the Steamborg played backup and helped protect the gunline. The gunline would shoot things and Obey either crew’s models as necessary. These Obeys turned out to be vital in getting the Steamborg around the table quickly (esp in Game 3).

Since none of the games went beyond Turn 4, I will just do small summaries of each one.

Game 1 – Shared Reconnoitre

Jonny and Victoria

Dave and I were up against Jonny and Victoria, who done brung Ramos and Leviticus to the party. I hate Leviticus, since I hate losing models in general and he can reliably kill any single model in range per Activation. That, and I only have four models in my crew.

Jonny had:

Leviticus

Dead Doxy;
Rotten Belle;
Madame Sybelle;
Canine Remains;
Hollow Waif.

Victoria had:

Ramos

Steamborg Executioner;
Steampunk Arachnid Swarm;
Mobile Toolkit.

Dave took Bodyguard on Perdita, and I flipped randomly (yes, I am still doing that, and no, I probably shouldn’t have in a team tournament) and got Machine Spirit. I had to pick a Master, so I chose Leviticus, so I had to kill him with Hoffman’s Machine Puppet ability. Jonny took Gather Soulstones, and I cannot remember what scheme Victoria took.

An early Black Joker saw Leviticus’ dog-chopping go awry, and as a result Leviticus never made his second Hollow Waif. This turned out to be a big mistake, as he could not hide his lone Hollow Waif from Perdita, who gunned it down, leaving Levi in serious trouble. Which I compounded with a Peacekeeper to the face, and Levi was gone. Sadly, I managed to get my activation order wrong which meant that I could not use Hoffman to kill Levi as my Scheme demanded, so I missed out on 2VP.

The big, mid-table mashup that had been in offing since the game started finally came to pass, and we had the Hoffball up against a Steampunk Arachnid Swarm and an enemy Steamborg. Sadly, my own Steamborg never made it close to the action (I was keeping him back for the counter-charge, but didn’t need him and then ran out of time), but Hoffman gave a good account of himself, and managed to keep the Peacekeeper alive through a Steamborg charge, and kill off the Swarm.

As the game came to a close, Victoria’s Steamborg made a mad dash for an empty table quarter with some clever trigger use, and the game ended at the close of Turn 3 like this:

Jonny & Victoria – 2VP for holding two table quarters, and 2VP for Gather Soulstones. Total 4VP.

Dave & Dave (me) – 2 VP for holding two table quarters, and 2VP for Bodyguard. Total 4VP.

Result: DRAW.

If the game had gone on, there is a good chance Hoffman would have died to the enemy Steamborg, who would have been able to knock the Peacekeeper out of the way, charge Hoffman for free and then hit him twice more. There is little chance of the Hoff surviving that, tbh. I love Steamborgs

Game 2 – Shared Destroy The Evidence

Justin & Paul

For this game I made some custom markers. I had to wonder what kind of evidence Hoffman and Perdita would want to destroy so badly they would commit the considerable forces of the Guild to its eradication.

And then it came to me. Both of them are secret fans of a particular book, and have been sharing their fan fiction with each other. But – oh, noes! The journals of fan fiction have been stolen (they suspect Sonnia is behind it) and they must recover them before their secret is out!

What horrific fan fiction can it be?

50 Shades Of Guild

We were up against Justin & Paul, who were rocking Perdita and Sonnia. Obviously a fake Perdita, since we had the real one!

Justin had:

Perdita

Santiago;
Francisco;
Witchling Stalker;
2 Guild Hounds.

Paul had:

Sonnia:

Witchling Stalker;
Nino;
Witchling Handler;
Austringer.

Dave took Breakthrough for Perdita and I flipped Raid for Hoffman. Sigh. I had to end up with more non-Master, non-Totem models that one of these two opponents, and I only had two such models to begin with. Dave pointed out that Sonnia was likely to make more Witchlings as the game went on, so I took it against Justin’s crew. Paul took Bodyguard on fake-Perdita. ~~I cannot remember what Scheme Justin took~~. Justin took Breakthrough against me.

EDIT: You can read Justin’s excellent tournament report here.

We agreed that Hoffman would play for early VPs, so Turn 1 he raced up to nab the neutral Evidence Marker and get +1VP. A rumble quickly developed in mid-table, with the Hounds both piling in (killing the Mobile Toolkit) as well as a Stalker. The Steamborg was Obeyed to Charge in as well, so it was proper bloody in there! And all on Turn 1 – yay!

Ultimately the Stalker died (failing to explode due to Hoffman’s Dampening Field) and the ‘Borg killed a dog. Paul got Justin’s (slightly grudging!) approval to turn his other Hound into a Witchling, and placed it within 6″ – and also within range of three Terrifying models:)Dave and I agreed to let him re-place it in range of only one Terrifying model (the Borg), but as soon as the new Stalker activated he failed his Terrifying check and ran away into a lake. I imagine coming to life as a Stalker having been a dog only moments before, to realise that he was standing next to a half-man, half-machine spider with crab claws covered in dog meat probably had something to do with it.

Perdita got into a brilliant, stand-up shooting match with Other-Perdita. Both burned Soulstones like crazy (going through six each) as they each Activated, but oddly enough the Perdita with the Guardian attached to her prevailed. Fake-Perdita legged it back to her deployment zone, while real Perdita ran after her firing her pistols in the air and whooping like only an armed, teenage psychopath can.

Evil Nino made a nuisance of himself, Headshot-ing the Steamborg when I was out of control cards, while Hoffman and the Peacekeeper chopped Bad Santiago into chunks.

The game ended with the Peacekeeper charging Nino and the Witchling Handler, but I could not get the Evidence Marker in their deployment zone without another Turn.

Justin & Paul – 0VP for the Strategy and 2VP for Bodyguard on Fake Perdita.

Dave & Dave – 1 VP for the Strategy, 2VP for Raid and 2VP for Breakthrough.

Result: WIN.

Game 3 – Shared Claim Jump

Dave & Irving

Our win in Round 2 had put us on the top table, facing a Neverborn force run by Irving and Dave Reekie (yes, three Malifaux Daves at one table – nearly a critical mass of Davids. One more and the risk of spontaneous detonation would have been too high to chance).

Irving had:

Lilith:

Pimordial Magic;
Mature Nephilim;
Terror Tot;
Tuco.

Dave R had:

Zoraida:

Collodi;
Three Marrionettes;
Two Wicked Dolls
Two Desperate Mercenaries.

I was a bit worried about this one. Having played Zoraida before, I knew how bad a Conduited Obey could be, and the Steamborg is not Immune to Influence. The thought of him attacking our crews once or twice a Turn was not at all welcome. I deployed him near the Ortegas (sorry, Dave!). I have not played Collodi before (at least, I don’t think I have, although I might have played one game ages ago – Robert has the crew) so I was interested to see what he could do, as well as concerned at all those fast, nasty Dolls. Then there was Lilith. Once again, the Steamborg was an easy and obvious target for Transposition, as were any of the Ortega Minions. Lilith could get practically anywhere she wanted with that spell.

For Schemes Dave chose Hold Out against Zoraida, and I flipped and got Exterminate. Sigh, again. I think at this point Dave would have been entitled to get legitimately annoyed at a teammate who randomly determined his Schemes and was putting his chances of first place at risk by doing so. So I resolved to be extra killy in this game and try my hardest for the win. I picked the Nephilim of Irving’s crew for Exterminate, meaning I would have to kill Tuco, Lilith, the Tot and a Mature to get 2VP. Mega sigh.

As it turned out, I got Dave’s Scheme for him, and he nearly got mine!

Dave R chose Reclaim Malifaux, andIrvingchose Grudge on Nino.

Our strategy was to rush the Claim Marker on the last Turn, and hold back until then. Dave set up a nice Ortega gun line behind some graveyard railings, with the Guardian giving them all Armour, while I edged forward.

And then Zoraida flew 20″ down the right flank, and I was like a magpie in a Shiny Things Shop. Reckoning that the one thing Zoraida players never count on is losing Zoraida, I made a beeline for her, ending within 3″ of her. Intent declared! If she was dead her Dolls would be Insignificant.

On Turn 3 she tried to Bewitch Hoffman, but failed, and then legged it another 20″ right to the back of my deployment zone. But it was not far enough. The Peacekeeper charged her and did some damage, but her Trigger went off and I could not Machine Puppet the Peacekeeper to hit her any more that Turn. The Steamborg moved back and was then Obeyed to Charge her, also doing damage. Finally, Hoffman set off his Open Circuit pulse and fried the witch but good! He then Machine Puppet’d the Constructs to kill the two Dolls that had followed Zoraida. Hold Out was secured and Reclaim Malifaux was going to be a lot harder

The game went to Turn 4. Collodi managed to get eight out of nine table sections for Reclaim Malifaux, even without Zoraida to help out, but could not get the ninth. The Mature charged Nino and killed him, but Perdita and her gunline killed off the Terror Tot, Tuco and the Mature. We ended the game with Hoffman and the Peacekeeper, the Steamborg,Santiagoand the Guardian all around the Claim Jump marker, and only Lilith from the opposing crew to spoil the party. Yes, Lilith – she stayed hidden the entire game and only came out to make a dash for the Claim Jump at the end of Turn 4!

Irving & Dave – 0VP for the Strategy, 1VP for Reclaim Malifaux and 2VP for Grudge.

Dave & Dave – 2VP for the Strategy (but for Lilith being there we would have had 4) and 2 VP for Hold Out.

Result: WIN.

The overall tournament result was that Dave and I took first place! I’m sorry,Edinburghplayers, I can’t hear your sobbing over the sound of how awesomeGlasgowplayers are

The icing on this gaming cupcake was that I won Best Painted Model for my Steamborg. I think it was the airbrushed legs that sold it. I did tell Dave Kerr-Smith it was airbrushed, didn’t I? I think I did. I’m sure I did. Moving on.

Everyone had a good time at the tournament, I think. I certainly did, but I will enjoy seeing the format return to a non-Brawl setup. If nothing else, it will give us all much more chance to play our games to a conclusion. I don’t mean that as a criticism of Dave Kerr-Smith, by the way. I applaud inventive and varied tournament formats and Dave puts on the best tournaments around, and it is just that two Brawl-format events in a row resulted in two tournaments in a row with mostly unfinished games. A Brawl of some kind every third tournament or so would be my preference.

The other point to make is that as the winner of three of these tournaments, I think it is only fair to go ahead and crown me undisputed Malifaux King ofScotland. I promise not to let the success go to my head, nor to let it make me think any less of the players who pave the path to my glory with the slain bodies of their favourite models

Winning!

Sunday Brunch

I got another couple of games in on the Sunday; my Viktorias vs Dave “Former Teammate” Hamilton’s Dr McMourning crew at 35ss, and then my Showgirls vs Barry “Henchman” Kelly’s Lady Justice crew at 25ss.

Lazarus is one ugly fugger

In the Viks v McM game, I fielded Lazarus for the first time. Despite his grenade launcher, he is more comfortable in melee, since he can spread blasts around there, too. He is a solid model, and probably worth his points, although risky if you have too many other Viks in melee around him.

I also fielded the Avatar of Slaughter in this game for the first time, but I failed to get my Manifesting requirement (stupidly I kept my Viks >6″ apart, so I could not Companion them), and then I lost Gun Vik to McM.

That’s not bad lighting, btw. I deliberately painted her in a washed-out palette. Trying to make her look ‘desperate’!

Lastly, I fielded my fully painted Zephyr (Female Desperate Mercenary). True to her inspiration I had to use her “For My Family” ability to let her go out in a blaze of glory. She gets 4 shots at CB5 with plus flips on hitting and damage! Amazing. She did for McM and put a hurt on Rafkin. The plan was to kill her before the end of the Turn to gain the Healing Flip, but I couldn’t get anyone close enough. For 2ss, Desp Mercs are fantastic one-shot powerhouses.

The Showgirls game was primarily to let Barry see how Colette functions, as he has bought the crew. It was also, I did not realise, my first ever game vs Barry

At only 25ss I took Cassandra and the Duet, so there was no room for Performers, sadly. Still, Colette was her usual awesome self. Twice, Barry was sure he had her (and I was sure at one point, as well), but the classy lady never disappoints. Killed by a Death Marshall, she used her Slow to Die to make a Healing Flip with her last soulstone, and flipped the Red Joker! Back to full health! I swear she winked at me.

Barry nearly had an aneurysm chasing her down, as she bounced around between Cassy and the Duet, burying models and dropping them in the canals, making Soulstones and VPs like it was the easiest thing in the world. I never managed to get Mannequin Replacement off, sadly, although I tried twice. Lastly, putting the Duet on Defensive Stance = triple plus to Df flips That was hilarious. It was a very fun game, and I think Barry is looking forward to trying the Showgirls out soon.

By Gosh! It’s Joss!

Malifaux, Painting 1 Response »

Sep 112012

I used Joss for the first time in a game against Zoraida a couple of weeks ago, and he was MVP in that battle, so it was all but inevitable that I would give him a coat of paint. And now I have

I didn’t really plan much of this. I just sat down and went from one part of the model to another and it all sort of came together.

The one thing I did plan was tone and shade. I knew that I wanted the model to get brighter the closer it was to Joss’ head. Given how dark his skin and hair were going to be, that was the only way I knew to draw attention to his face. You will notice (reds and blues aside) the further you get from Joss’ face, the darker the colours are, and the closer to grey/ black they become. Tone and shade drain away.

You can probably tell that an airbrush had a large part to play here. I used my Iwata Neo for his shirt, legs and axes, and a hairy stick for the rest. A lot of what I am doing with the airbrush I have picked up from a Youtube channel – Buypainted. Fantastic HD videos of exciting airbrush action that can tell you what to do far more effectively that I can. I don’t try and copy what he is doing there, but instead I look at what he is doing for inspiration. A few things I have learned about airbrushing models:

1. You can be much more severe with the tonal or shading steps between adjacent colours when blending with an airbrush. For example, if I was to try and blend two colours on a model with a brush, I would use lots of different layers to get the blend, and each layer would only be slightly different from the last one. But when using an airbrush you can start with one colour and then go straight to a quite different one. The natural feathering of the airbrush will take care of the gradient for you. Joss’ axes go from quite a dark, navy blue to almost pure white, to take an example from this model. I painted the axes Electric Blue, washed with Asurmen Blue and then used the airbrush twice. Once with a dark navy blue and once with almost pure white. While it is true that trying to get that blend with a paint brush would have taken ages, the point I am making here is that airbrushes let you make big jumps in colour on a model, and trust that the airbrush will even it out for you.

2. Smooth colour transitions satisfy the eye almost as much as traditional shading and highlighting. This is why I think of using an airbrush as almost cheating, and is one of the things I picked up from Buypainted. Joss’ shirt is not shaded and highlighted in anything like the usual way, but it draws the eye and the colour complexity is satisfying. Once I had done the three colours with the airbrush, I gave it a light wash with Gyphonne Sepia (blending in a little Devlan Mud right at the bottom and under his arms while it was still wet). Then I gave it a single brushed highlight of VMC Ivory White just around the very top. Extremely simple and quite effective. With masking tape (I use Tamiya) you can do this sort of thing all over the model if you want.

3. You can use an airbrush to shade and highlight a model in the traditional way. It is harder and more time consuming than this colour transition method. I did this with the Guardian and Warden models. It gives a different final look, so it is a case of deciding which is best for your model.

I have a new painting setup, and here is a pic of it for your very own eyes (and quite lovely they are, too).

Lots of natural light, and a good view of the park across the street. Airbrush to hand, toolbox, glues, cutting mats down below, and lots of room to store extra paints on the windowsill. Not to mention that it is a permanent setup, now, so no more spending 5 mins setting it all up.

Also, cup of tea. It is not possible to overstate the importance of a cup of tea.

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