Malifaux - Ashes and Dust

I had a scrap last night, 30ss with Perdita vs Leveticus, shared treasure hunt with diagonal deployment.
Camera out of power so no photos :-(

Perdita Ortega -- 3 SS Pool
Governor's Proxy [2ss]

Guild Austringer [5ss]
Watcher [3ss]
Nino Ortega [7ss]
3 Death Marshals [12ss]

vs

Leveticus, Steampunk Necromancer -- 3 SS Pool

Ashes and Dust [13ss]
2 Steampunk Abominations [6ss]
Ryle, Guild Pawn [8ss]

Turn 1:

I won initiative and got the SPAs moving ;-) The can only take one walk a turn but they can keep pace with each other so it ends up they just move up in a bunch. They both used "Anomaly" so they could not be shot at. Ryle jumped forward and got into a covering position on my right flank. The Ashes and Dust contorted up about 9 inches to the SPAs and then moved and interacted with treasure counter on Turn one. Leveticus moved up and had a shot (range finder) at a Death Marshal. Leveticus didn't die but I had one good card in my hand ready for next turn (the Red Joker) so I planned to kill him at end on turn 2.  A good turn, I had the treasure token and would be able to move 3*4 inches next turn.

The Guild moved up Nino and cast "in my sights" on Ryle but to no avail. Perdita moved up and the Austringer and watcher tried some shot on the Ashes and Dust. Perdita tried to cast "obey"on Nino but it didn't work. You can only cast obey once per turn.

Turn 2:
Leveticus is a potent master if given a chance and the Guild player did just that. Leveticus cast Necrotic unmaking twice and created his first SPA of the game , about 5 inches away from the Austringer. He had 1 wound left and knew it would suffer from unstable Necromancy at start closing phase. I needed a redraw for next turn as I only had a 1,2 and 5 left ! Ryle didn't have to move and shot a Death Marshal using his trigger fully automatic and getting a severe damage twice! Two dead death marshals and the activation switching in my favor. The SPA and the Ashes and Dust were caught up in the middle with the treasure but getting shot. Nino took out the A&D the counter was dropped. Dust moved up in preparation for next turn.

The guild couldn't get any obey spells (You can only cast obey once per turn!) and a Death Marshall moved up a bit closer towards Ryle and had a shot. The Austringer took out a SPA. Perdita moved up and had a shot. The watcher had a shot.

Leveticus died in the closing phase and got a good draw of 13,12 and 11 plus some others.

Turn 3:

If I could get the counter over a wall I would have a clear run towards my deployment zone and victory. The Austringer took out Dust, bugger I mistimed that as meant I could not be drawn to the core. Ryle charged a Death marshall and killed him with a good blow from his hydraulic fist. The watcher moved into engage my SPA and stop the movement of the treasure. Perdita charged into the core and it tools some wounds. A SPA charged into the Austringer to try and stop the raptor strikes. Core dominated a SPA and caused 2 wounds on Perdita ! No control cards means you can't cheat fate which is what the situation was with the Guild player. SPA had his turn and caused 2 more wounds. Leveticus cast Necrotic unmaking on Perdita and caused 3 wounds.

End  closing phase and Perdita was affected by the Industrial Nightmare and lost her DF->12 duel ! (No control cards means you can't cheat fate) and was killed.

Victory to the Leveticus and his crew. We stopped as the Guild was on it last legs and I had a clear run plus my Master to get the treasure into my zone. Combined with Bodyguard and Assassinate I won.

The star of the game was

Took out 2 DM and controlled Perdita side of the board. He also produces 3 , yes 3 scrap counters for Leveticus to make some more SPAs

Malifaux - The return of Lord Chompy Bits

I had a game of Malifaux last night. My mate brought his outcasts and I played Neverborn. No clock this week as we had plenty of time for a scrap. Mission was shared turf war and square corner deployment. Announced scheme war protégée and breakthrough from Me and protégée and one hidden scheme from Ophelia.


Outcasts Crew - 30 - Scrap

Ophelia Lacroix -- 0 Pool
3 Young Lacroix [6ss]

Pere Ravagé [5ss]
Rami Lacroix [6ss]
Raphael Lacroix [6ss]
Slop Hauler [4ss]
Slop Hauler [4ss]
Francois Lacroix [5ss]

and I had LCB

Neverborn Crew - 30 - Scrap

The Dreamer -- 5 Pool

2 Daydreams [4ss]

Coppelius [9ss]

Teddy [9ss]

Insidious Madness [4ss]

Insidious Madness [4ss]

Turn 1: 

Ophelia took off and dragged up Rami. He took a shot at a madness and flipped the black joker and then next shot caused 1 wound. Then I moved up the dreamer and he started dreaming bad thoughts. The LCB popped out and the game was essentially over. A day dream was sacrificed to summon Teddy then Coppelius and also another madness. 

Gremlins got munched and chopped up then chopped up and eaten and then clawed and paralyzed . It wasn't pretty. Game over at end of turn 2.

Victory to the Neverborn

Malifaux - Avatar of Fate makes end game go to the Neverborn

Wow.

Malifaux is a great game. I had a game today , lists were as follows

Neverborn Crew - 30 - Scrap

Zoraida, the Hag -- 7 Pool
+ Zoraida, Avatar of Fate [2ss]

Collodi [8ss]

Marionette [2ss] * 4

Bad Juju, Mire Golem [10ss]

Guild Crew - 30 - Scrap

C. Hoffman -- 4 Pool

Mechanical Attendant [3ss]

Peacekeeper [9ss]

Watcher [3ss]

Guardian [7ss]

Ryle, Guild Pawn [8ss]

Deployment was corners and shared strategy of "Deliver a message". 1 announced scheme was "Eye for an Eye" by neverborn player (me!) I also had "stake a claim" on the water tower and the guild had "assassinate" and "breakthrough". We do random schemes to make it harder as you always seem to choose the easy ones to do! Must be human nature ;-)

Collodi is pulling the string again! Zoraida is mixing up a brew , maybe to help summon her Avatar!

Turn One - Ryle takes off towards the corner where the Neverborn are deployed.

The PK is quick, and his little puppet Hofman is along for the ride, no wait Hofmann is a master controlling the PK. The Bad JuJu appears on the left flank and it looks like trouble for Ryle and the Guardian. The Mechanical Attendant was worried about getting connected to a voodoo doll but I was always planning to summon some wicked doll instead.

Turn Two - Collodi take off around the side heading towards the "stake a claim" scheme. I figure I'm going to get wasted by Ryle anyway so might as well run for it. But Bad JuJu engaged both Ryle and the guardian temporily stopped the range fire from Ryle making the "run for it" safe. Zoraida decided to move to have some support as I was worried about the PK charging in!

Turn Three: Bad JuJu went down and the Guardian and Ryle headed towards Collodi. Collodi started being more aggressive (I had actually read the card and decided the puppets looks ok in CB). There were just a nuisance but did enough to make shots harder and give the guild something to worry about. 

Turn Four: Things were looking bad for Collodi but he always knew that Bad Juju was coming to help soon. Meanwhile some wicked dolls were causing trouble. Zoraida had cast "Crystal Ball" twice to get 1 requirement for summoning her Avatar, next turn would be good! Hoffman retreats so the Bad Juju can't charge. Collodi didn't realize he could cast "Breathe Life" to give his doll extras such as (+1) Melee expert.

Turn 5: Hoffman comes back in with the PK and tried to take out Collodi, a puppet takes the blow and dies. Zoraida manifest into her Avatar of Fate and casts obey on Collodi, which also trigger masters of manipulation so she gets to cast Obey on same target again. Collodi casts disassemble on the PK with a CA total of 25 (use a soul stone) and Guild player had no control cards left - Pheff- PK was just a pile of scrap. Second attempt was on Hoffman but spell was unsuccessful. Avatar of Fate is a casting expert but I forgot about this. I might read her card after the game. I like how weapon has withering touch which ignores armor. I also like the empowered by fate action where she can discard a control card to either heal or draws cards i.e. medium = 2 cards. Cool.

Game over, Neverborn 3 vp's Guild 0 vp's.

Notes: 

Read cards before game!

Avatar seemed to make end game more fun (for me anyway)

Marionettes are vicious when working together, thats a lot of attacks especially if they can flurry.

Collodi is a good henchman and enhances Zoraidas and probably all of the Neverborn masters although for 16 points you could some pretty nasty stuff!

Malifaux - Experimental game using a chess clock

Well,

I had a game against my mate today using a chess clock I downloaded onto my iPad. I allocated 60mins for 6 turns, thats 10mins a turn. We both agreed that would be ok and we started. Note: We would stop the clock for bits that we both did at the same time such as start of turn initiative, end of turn card draw and if we had to consult the rules.

Mission was a corner deployment Turf War. Factions were the Outcast with Von Schill vs the Ressie Kirai.

I took Outcasts (text is from Malifaux's crew creator)

Von Schill -- 2 SS Pool

Freikorpmann [4ss]
Freikorps Librarian [7ss]
Freikorps Specialist [5ss]
Freikorps Trapper [6ss]
Freikorps Trapper [6ss]
Freikorpmann [4ss]

and my Mate had a Ressurectionists Crew

Kirai Ankoku -- 6 SS Pool
Lost Love [2ss]
Datsue-Ba [7ss]
The Hanged [8ss]
Seishin [2ss] * 5 = [10ss]

I don't want to talk about the game as such but more the effect of the clock, the added time pressure.

Initially it was going ok, I noticed the Ressie player was taking quite a bit of time casting spells. I burnt through some time doing when I got stuck in a combat with the Sikome. It got to turn 5 and the Ressie player had only 3 mins left , I had about 12, to complete the last 2 turns. YIKES.

We finished when the the Ressie player used all his time. I had 10:52 left.

We had decided that the if you run out of time you lose. I played my last few activations based on the Ressie player having to finish and charged in Von Schill to try and get an unlikely scheme that would have given my 2 VP's and maybe 1 more for stake a claim. It didn't pay off but I was conscious of the time running out , when my mate lost track of it during a long master activation.

Options for next game

• If you run out of time you lose (current condition)
• If you run out of time, then the game finishes and a bonus 2 VP's going to person with time remaining. Calculate VPS using models current position.
• If you run out of time, finish the end of the turn and a bonus 2 VP,s going to person with time remaining. This rewards the player who used his time effectively but allows the game to come to a more satisfying conclusion. Calculate VPS and end of turn.
• Allocate 10 minutes per turn, a player finishes his turn with time expires as if he had activated all of his models. The other player can activate his models as if the other player had no activations left. This method guarantees the game will go for 6 turns. 

Add more time , maybe 25SS = 60 minutes each, 30SS = 70mins etc although I think it depends on the Master chosen. You can still run out of time so need to use one of the above rules.

Commenting on the game, a better list would have been (easy after the game ;-). Victoria with her magical weapons would have be great vs the spirits, while Von Schill and his team would have provided support and claimed objectives. I don't think Von Schill is very effective by himself but it appears he would perform the henchman role adequately. I might have to test this soon...

Outcasts Crew - 30 - Scrap

Viktoria --2 SS Pool 

Von Schill [9ss]

Freikorpmann [4ss]

Freikorpmann [4ss]

Freikorps Trapper [6ss]

Freikorps Specialist [5ss]

Malifaux - Time for a game

Well, I have not had a game of Malifaux for a while, but I had a game of Eden yesterday so time for a change. It gives me the opportunity to play my new resin model "Snowstorm" in a game.

Not sure on SS for game yet but because I haven't had a game in a while I'll keep it simple. I also has some new never born stuff but the rules are a bit tricky so Raspy gets the nod. I also have a Avatar made up but not painted.

Also its a chance to use more of a fantasy setting so I got out some Hirst Art terrain peices I made up a while ago. This should be fun as I have no idea who I'm playing.

The board

and crew

I might have to get some more Malifaux as it is a very good game and its good that its a different genre to Eden so I can justify playing and collecting both!

We played 30SS  and I took Tina and wendingo, Snowstorm, 2 gamin and a silent one plus a SS cache of 7. I ended up playing a Ressie list of Nico and grave spirit, 3 necropunks, 2 dogs, 2 punk zombies, Guy with spade and some crooked. wow thats a lot of models. We hadn't had a game for a while , I decided to keep it simple whilst my opponent just took his normal list.

To keep it short it, we didn't finish, only played 3 turns which was a shame as I would have delivered a message to nico and then taken to "loot" back to my deployment zone. It ended up being a 2 VP draw with Tina getting an announced eye for an eye and Nico getting hold out and frame for murder.

Good game but Malifaux is one of those games where you have to have read the cards, read the rules and be ready to move quickly. I only had a few models but once the Ressie player started summoning new models the game starts to slow down. It didn't help that I had a massive activation with Tina when she went  mental as casted 4 times in a row causing severe damage and killing about 5 models. The Snowstorm was very good but next time I would take some more gamin I think. I think next time we should just play 25 SS and not a summoning army to try and get the game finished.

Somer vs Lucius

Somer decided to investigate the three columns out in the run down section of Malifaux. It was a bit out of his comfort zone but the pigs were lookin for some fresh meat. He heard that there was some soul stones to be had and decided to take a look.

Crews were Somer

and Lucius.

Deployment was 6" standard and playing a new mission.

Lilith vs Nico - Battle report

I had painted up Nekima but had never used her in a game so when the Neverborn were chosen to take on the Ressies , I could see it being her day. Mission was a shared turf war.  I got grudge (on the punk zombie) and exterminate ( I chose to exterminate the constructs) . We randomise the schemes otherwise you would the the easy ones every time and it would get boring. My opponent got breakthrough and a secret scheme....

Crews were Lilith, Nekima, young nephimim, 3 terror tots and the worm. Ressies had Nico, grave spirit, Bette, 3 necro punks, 3 dogs and a punk zombie. Deployment was 6" standard.

Turn one:

Pretty much a movement turn, with the exception being Lilith getting some blood from 2 Soul Stones and the a Terror to growing into a young nep. The +4 and mask from Nekima helped with this and the cast was pretty straight forward. The necro punks were on the flanks and the dogs and neverborn went up the middle toward the ruined mansion. The newly matured young nep covered the 2 necropunks of the right hand side.

Turn two

This turn was all about the dogs providing the necessities to grow tiny tots into monsters. Nekima munched 2 dogs and got blood enough to grow a mature nep .

The rest of the turn was essentially, a young nep dive charged Neco and then Lilith got into combat with Nico as well and it was all over.Well almost. He was sitting there looking lonely so I thought lets give him the old 1-2 ;-) The grave guardian was not linked to Nico and he only had 5 wounds left.

Turn three:

Guess who got initiative ! The Neverborn did and Lilith finished of Nico before he could say "Braaaaaiiinnnnsss". He was split in half with a massive great sword strike. Game over...Well the Ressie player called it so it was a crushing victory to the Neverborn.

Summary:

A crushing victory to Lilith and her princess. Nico was dealt a harsh lesson in tactics today and if he leaves himself unprotected then he had better get ready for pain. Not linking the grave spirit and not retrieving the corpse counters to provide a zombie shield were the big mistakes. Also the dogs were just blood for the Neverborn so it was crazy to send them into the fray, especially vs Nekima. If I was the ressie player I would concentrate on playing the objectives and would have tried to force the Neverborn to spread out so Nekima auras were out of range etc. ? ? Not sure just my 2 cents.

Outcast vs Guild - Battle report

The outcast crew was comprised of Victoria*2, Von Schill, A specialist and 2 trappers played against Hoffman and his totem, a watcher, guardian, hunter and peacekeeper. The mission was a line in the sand and I was the attacker.  I had a scheme of assasinate and hold out while hoffman had an eye for an eye and breakthrough.

VS

Deployment:

I split my trappers to both corners of the board and everything else went in the middle. The Hoff put his hunter of to the left and everything else in the middle

Turn 1: Hoffman can move very quickly, he is like a magnet and get draw to metal of the construct. The rule that really gets the eye rolling is Maintain machines so the PK cannot suffer from fault wiring etc. Also the machine puppet seems all too easy to do. At least with Victoria*2 there are no complicated rules. The victorias moved forward toward the objectives. Von schill and specialist didn't have to move very far as the Hoff and the PK moved forward using override edict. I should have read the rules as Hoff moved the peacekeeper using override edict (the PK can ignore immune to influence!) and then reactivated later in turn... I thought it seemed a bit good. He moved into a central position. Specialist was close enough to flame using a concentrated burn to put a few wounds on PK.

Turn 2: Initiative to Hoff and the PK shot the specialist and dragged him in. Bugger, as he was then completely munched. In hindsight It was probably ok as the specialist had seriously wounded the PK which would prove fatal next turn. The vickys switched and managed to activate a marker.

Turn 3: The trapper was in melee with the PK and managed to avoid any damage, It then killed the PK and then shot the Hoff to bits. Von Schill finished the Hoff off and the game was conceded. The weakness of the Hoff list was the reliance on the PK. If he dies it is all over. The PK is tough but can be taken down with the correct weapons and some luck quite quickly.

End - Hoffman conceded,  I took full points Hoffman got zero

In conclusion;

I was comparing the Hoff to Ramos and the Hoff has 8 abilities to Ramos 3; 5 actions to 3; 1 trigger to 2 and 3 spells to 5. Hoffs weapon is better and ignores armor but other stats are about equal. Overall I think Hoff is better than Ramos and its a shame as Ramos just seems to have been short changed. Even with a mobile toolkit to help with summoning he is one of the weaker masters and really needs lots of scrap.

Kirai vs Von Schill Malifaux battle report

Todays scrap was between 2 quite different crews. Kirai is all about the summoning and Von Schill is a general list with good combat and ranged skills. This was going to be interesting to see what happens.

Kirai had her totem, 5 seishin, a gaki and Jack Daw. Von Schill had a specialist, a trapper, a librarian and 2 freikorps troopers. The strategy was a shared destroy evidence a with 2 schemes chosen at random and 6" standard deployment. I got grudge which I did on a seishin and kill protégée which happened to be Jack Daw, no chance of that happening. My opponent got an eye for an eye and breakthrough. We had a timer set and the aim was to get 6 turns done in 2 hours. Wyrd recommend 70 minutes I think?

I was forced to deploy first and I split the 2 trooper off to the right and everyone else on the left just below my triangular objectives. My opponent mirrored my deployment  but put Kirai behind a wall and jack was off to my right.

The objectives were Von schill triangles and Kirai circles. Neutral objective in the middle is the flag

Deployments

close up of trouble...I mean the models.

Some more pictures.... Sorry no narration ;-(