Two Games on Tuesday

I got to Huzzah at about 5:30 and already there were two games going - Bill was playing the really tall guy that's not Jay, and John was playing Tim. On Bill's board, it was Lady J (Bill) v. Marcus (really tall guy) and on the other board it was Marcus (John) v. Vikki (Tim). I watched the really tall guy playing a bit and saw a few new tricks to use with Marcus. I understand now how the Mole Men should be used. They dig in deep and then run around close to Marcus. They end up with an Armor of 6 or so, and Marcus can shunt any damage he takes to them (damage, not wounds, so the armor still reduces them). Anytime he's hit for 7 or less damage, the Mole takes 1. Not bad. The downfall there is that it really anchors Marcus. The game ended up being a tie as Marcus took down Lady J and then went to time with only him on the board for Really Tall Guy and a couple of Deathseekers or something on the board for Bill.

I was surprised by the number of Marcus players - though this is a pretty small sample size. Maybe he's one of the new masters to take. Seeing how he was run gave me some new ideas to try with him. Too bad Dreamer has really taken my focus right now.

It was getting really late and I was getting disappointed because it seemed like I wasn't going to get a game in. Chris was there, but he didn't want to play Malifaux, instead either running Infinity for Ryan (one game), or sitting around chatting (the rest of the time). Ryan wasn't in the mood for playing Malifaux after the tourney, plus he had to run the store, so no problem there. Another couple guys came in, but they ended up playing Uncharted Seas.

Finally, John and I got a chance to play at around 7:30.

30 Stones.
Shared Contain Power
Dreamer, 2x Lilu, 2x Lilitu, 6 stones (Bodyguard, Holdout)
Vikkis, 2x Ronin, Hans, Convict Gunslinger, Student of Conflict, 4 stones (Assassinate, Holdout)



I started with the Dreamer on the table and nothing else. He split his forces into two, one with both ronin, the Convict and the sword Vikki (closer to the middle of the table) and one with gun Vikki, Student, and Hans (near one of the edges). On turn one, we just had a lot of maneuvering - me moving behind a building near the back center of the table and him moving his two squads up but keeping cover. His sword Vikki took a lead in the one group and the other group stuck close together.

Turn two, I got the initiative. I had forgotten how Dreamer works a little and discarded my 5 of Masks (which would trigger my ability to toss out all my nightmares) and did not draw any masks in my hand. Oops. I moved the Dreamer forward and tried to cast the spell, flipping a 13 of Masks. Phew. All my Nephilim poured out near the Sword Vikki. I switched into LCB and proceeded to pound on her. First attack he stoned to miss. Second attack he stoned but I still hit him, triggering Onslaught and doing 2 damage. Third attack I hit and did another four damage, dropping him to one. That attack triggered All Done and the Dreamer was back on the table surrounded by Nightmares so he couldn't be targeted.

John looked at his nearly dead and defenseless Vikki and decided to activate the other Vikki and pull her out of harms way, trying to reconsolidate for a return attack later. I activated one of the women, companioned a man, and lured one of the ronin into one of my guys. The woman did a little damage to her, and then the guy went, companioning the second woman. He knocked the ronin down to 1 life. The girl went, companioned the last guy, finished off the ronin and lured the second one into my lines. The guy went and knocked her down to 3 life left with 2 poison on her. He went, seppukued his last Ronin to at least get stones out of it, brought the Convict around to shoot one of the chics. I don't think it hit, but even if it had, she could heal two back at the end of the turn. He brought his other Vikki a little closer to get ready for the next fight.

Turn three, I got initiative. I activated one of the girls, companioned a guy, and lured Vikki into my lines twice, then hit her for one. The guy went and companioned a girl, and smacked Vikki around, knocking her down to 1 life left. At that point, with another guy and girl going, and planning on killing the first Vikki and luring the second one into my lines to kill too, John asked if he could call it. Pretty brutal - two ronin and close to two Vikki's dead before turn 3 ended. That's hurting I can get behind. I never realized how much fun having Lure in your army is - those Belles have been given new life in my eyes!


Game Two - we were running short on time, so we just played 25 stones. We kept the same missions and switched up our secondary objectives.
25 Stones.
Shared Contain Power
Zoraida, Lilu, Lilitu, Hooded Rider, 8 stones (Bodyguard, Hold Out)
Vikkis, 2x Ronin, Convict Gunslinger, Student of Conflict, 7 stones (Grudge, Whatever the one is that lets you kill the highest point model (unless that's grudge, at which point it's whatever the one that lets you kill a model of your choice))



He deployed in such a way Zoraida couldn't see anything other than Vikki, and with not being able to target masters with the Voodoo Doll, it meant I didn't have much of an option. Turn one was all maneuvering. He pulled up tight, but kept himself out of sight behind buildings and rocks. I moved out into the open where I could see him, but kept my Hooded Rider in Night stance so he couldn't be targeted by ranged attacks and stuck my other models, who are shorter, behind him. Turns two and three were more of the same - him trying to keep out of sight and me trying to draw line to him. Around turn three, I decided that things were going in my favor. To get the scenario, he had to kill my master and Voodoo Doll (who wasn't out yet). To win his schemes, he had to come after my minions. I just had to stay alive and keep him out of my deployment zone, and he had a good distance to run to get to my deployment zone with only two turns left.

Finally on turn four, he moved out the Convict and took a few shots on Zoraida. He missed, and I popped a Voodoo Doll out on him, having him turn and blast one of the Vikkis. With the threat of the Voodoo Doll being popped gone, his entire crew rushed out to me, and after my Voodoo Doll also got the Convict to shoot Vikki, Vikki moved in on Zoraida and did 6 damage to her (I prevented 2 of it).

On turn 5, I popped the Red Joker for initiative when he popped the Black Joker. I cursed, then realized that was actually a good thing. I started with Zoraida who turned into a raven. She then flew away from the Vikki, using the Red Joker as her flip for defense and got away. She booked it to the other side of the board, out of range. The Voodoo Doll was companioned and re-linked to a Ronin, just to spread some Poison love if I got the chance. Vikki went and cut my Voodoo Doll in two, then moved in and killed the girl. The guy and the Hooded Rider killed her in response, but at that point the guy had only 3 life left and was going to die at the end of the turn. The process of that turn dropped him low in stones, so he had to seppuku one of his Ronin to get enough to bring back the second Vikki.

On turn 6, the Hooded Rider booked it away in Night Stance again and John made a new Vikki while running his Convict as close to my deployment zone as he could. I popped a new Voodoo Doll on the only minion I could see - my Hooded Rider - to prevent him from getting the point for me having no Totems on the board at the end. We flipped for the end of the game and the game ended. We measured and the Convict was an inch and a quarter out of my deployment zone. I got Hold Out and Bodyguard, and he got Grudge. I won, 4-2. Close game, most of it involving maneuvering and the like.