First Outing with the Viktorias

I headed over to Dan's place yesterday for a quick game of Malifaux. I had just painted up all of the Freikorps and the two Vikis, and Dan had finished of Ryle. Our models had been calling to us, telling us we had to get a game in, so we carved out a couple hours and played a pretty fun game.

Because I was using an entirely new crew, we opted for a 30 stone game.

(me) Viktorias, Von Schill, Freikorps Librarian, Freikorpsman, Convict Gunslinger, 5 stones
(Dan) Leviticus, Ryle, Belle, Rusty Alice, Punk Samurai, Canine Remains, 3 stones

Strategies: Vikis (Claim Jump), Leviticus (Treasure Hunt)
Schemes: Vikis (Bodyguard - Vikis, Stake a Claim), Leviticus (Bodyguard, Kill Protege - Librarian)

I stuck the Claim Jump marker near a building and called that building the Stake a Claim one so that I could hold both points at the same time. Dan made a mistake, he realized a few turns in, when he took Kill Protege on the Librarian since it had Counterspell and he would have to rely on damage from his other models.

I set nearly my entire crew along the left flank with the Sword Viki and Convict taking the middle-left of the board. He had a Belle and Punk Zombie opposite the Sword Viki and the rest of his crew around on the far right. Made me happy as the buildings were set that I could have a nice bit of LOS-blocking cover from his ranged as I moved up on the control point, while the Convict would discourage him from making an early rush for the treasure counter. As it was, his army was not particularly fast, so it would take him a while to reach the counter. On the flip side, he was very well set up to support any model that went for the treasure. For me to go out after them, I was going to leave myself out in the open and take a ton of spells and ranged attacks.

On turn one, we all just moved our models forward, setting them into position and grabbing cover that was scattered around the board. The bulk of my crew stayed out of LOS while the Sword Viki and Convict moved up together near the center a bit more cautiously.

On the second turn, my Convict moved out a little and took a shot at the Punk Samurai, doing very little damage. The Rotten Belle Lured the Convict closer, but Von Schill had his back, jumping out and killing the Punk Samurai with a couple of well-placed shots. Ryle busted around the corner and unloaded into the exposed Convict and I cheated a bit to keep him alive at 1 life left, trying to force Leviticus to show his ugly mug if he wanted to finish off the Convict. I knew I couldn't save him from Levi, but I wanted the old man's attention focused elsewhere. True to form, Levi came around the corner and blasted the poor Convict to his demise.

By now, my entire crew save the Sword Viki was near the Claim Jump. I just needed to hold on for four more turns.

Dan won initiative on the next round and Leviticus took a bead on the Sword Viki. We both used two stones and as the dust settled, Viki had taken four damage. Not bad, I figured, all things considered. I wanted to use the Sword Viki to kill the Rotten Belle, but didn't want to risk losing her, so I slid the Gun Viki around near the Librarian and snapped the Sword Viki to her. My Librarian went, dropped a Ram for her cast, and then Furiously Cast heals on Viki, bringing her back to full. Rusty Alice rushed to the center of the board for the treasure and pulled some heavy cover out of her Bag of Tricks. Von Schill and the Freikorpsman killed the Rotten Belle.

The next turn, Von Schill shot Leviticus down to 2 life left with his gun, which would limit the damage the old man could do, then slipped back with Nimble. Rusty Alice held firm and opened fire on the man, dropping him by 8. The Librarian again dropped the Ram and healed him back up by 6, putting him nearly fully healthy again. I kept hidden again for the time being, save my poor Freikorpsman who poked his head around a bit much and earned the wrath of Levi's crew.

On turn five, Rusty Alice grabbed the treasure and booked it back a bit near Ryle. The Vikis went, moving the Gun Viki forward and then snapping the Sword Viki out ahead of her. The Sword Viki immediately charged Ryle, hitting him, Whirlwinding into Alice, and then Whirlwinding back into Ryle. She attacked Ryle again, dropping him to one and Whirlwinding into Alice, dropping her to one. The retaliation was pretty fierce and the Sword Viki was killed, turning into a Steampunk Abomination but it was worth it. Von Schill jumped forward and shot both Rusty Alice and Ryle down.

On turn six, my Librarian and Gun Viki pushed back to protect their VPs. Leviticus came around and zapped at Von Schill, but couldn't kill him and killed himself in the process. I tried to figure out the best thing to do at that point, and when I finally saw it, Dan shook his head - he was hoping I wouldn't catch his mistake. Von Schill jumped over the house into melee with a Waif, killed it, and then shot the second Waif leaving Leviticus with no way to come back.

That was pretty much the end - he had a Steampunk Abomination left and I had Von Schill (slightly crispy - actually only one life remaining) and the Librarian and Gun Viki holding the Claim Jump/Stake a Claims. Final tally, 8-2 (as the Steampunk brought the treasure marker back to his deployment zone).

Not a bad outing for my first time with the Viktorias. The rest of Hamelin's crew should be arriving later this week and I'll be trying to give those two sets a spin for a while. Probably until the beginning of May when Nekima and the Blackblood Shaman hit the stores. I've got plans for those two...