Single Elimination Malifaux Tourney

Bill ran a single-elimination tournament over the weekend for Malifaux. I had been avoiding tournaments since starting up Malifaux - when I was playing Privateer Press games, in retrospect they were my least favorite and often most douche-y time as a player. Rather than do that again, I figured I should just avoid tournaments altogether.

In over a year of playing Malifaux, this was only the third tournament I had played in, and the second one I played in without being the ringer. The group of players we have here is great and I find that I can keep my cool a lot easier than I could with Warmachine and Hordes.

Anywho, Bill was running two tournaments yesterday. The first was a competitive 35 stone single elimination tournament. The second was a casual newbie-friendly 25 stone swiss tournament. They were timed so that the first four players eliminated from the elimination tournament could join the second tourney if they wanted to.

We could play one faction the entire way through, and pick from anything in that faction. I chose Neverborn so that I would have some variety in my lists. My only other option was Outcasts and I own the Vikis and Hamelin. I've already posted my thoughts on Hamelin in the past, so I decided to leave the Outcasts behind.




GAME ONE - DAN/ARCHANISTS
So the tournament began and my first opponent was Dan. We were pretty sure we would face each other at some point in the tournament, but to get each other round one was hard. One of us wasn't going to advance beyond the first round.

We flipped for Strategies and I pulled Claim Jump while he pulled Destroy the Evidence. Damn. That's nearly impossible to stop with Archanists. I expected to see Colette pulled out - he's on quite a roll against me with her. So I pulled out one of the lists I knew he had trouble with himself: Pandora, Lelu x2, Lilitu x2, Primordial Magic, Insidious Madness, 6 stones. He surprised me by pulling out Marcus, Rattlesnake, Cerberus Tiger, Shikome, Waldgeist, Moleman, and Jackalope, with 6 stones (I think). Very interesting. For schemes he took Kill Protege on one of my Lelus and Sabotage while I took Stake a Claim and Bodyguard on Pandora.

The first turn went far differently than I expected. His beasts moved around trying to flank me from two sides, the Tiger and Waldgeist moving around the right while the Shikome and Rattlesnake moved around the left flank. I moved my Primordial Magic towards the left flank and Shikome. Since she could not attack me, it gave me some safety, and who knows? I might be able to stall her with it. The Moleman hung back by my Claim Jump and Stake a Claim spot. Marcus finished off his turn by Howling to increase his WP and then charging Pandora with the last of his actions. He managed to hit her for 3, but I used a stone to prevent all the damage. Pandora tried to cast spells on the high-WP crew, but even using stones when a crow was flipped, nothing really paid her much mind.

The second turn, Marcus started off again. I sacrificed my Insidious Madness to reflip my initiative but flipped a 2 and 3 so failed. He Howled once more, this time catching Pandora in the aura too dropping her to 4 WP and raising him to a 9 WP. He swung at Pandora and I used a stone and he missed the WP duel. Pandora slid 4 inches away. Marcus had to use his last two actions to charge her and hit her for four damage. My four twins activated here and swarmed Marcus, running him out of stones and killing him, and doing some damage to the Cerberus. At this point he was out of stones and I had only one left. The Rattlesnake charged one of the Lilitu's (not the Protege one) and did a little damage, and the Shikome tried to move away from the Primordial Magic but the little guy held her in place for the first one. The Shikome broke free with the second one, moved to the Evidence marker and destroyed it. Pandora went and started trying to ping the beasts again, but with Howl still affecting them, she had a lot of trouble.

Turn three started with my initiative and finally the WPs were reset to normal. I started with the twins who promptly killed off the Rattler, Cerberus, and lured the Waldgeist into melee and killed him too. Shikome rushed into my deployment zone and gained Fast from being near her prey, so she destroyed the second Evidence marker. Pandora activated and finished her off. At this point he was down to the Moleman and my crew was nearly intact. They moved in on the Moleman and final objective point and the game was over, 8-2.

On the plus side, Dan ended up gaining the "Biggest Loser" award, having earned the fewest victory points in the first round, and took home the consolation prize of the Puppet Deck.

The other matches were a Pandora vs. Seamus game in which Pandora won. There was a Hoffman vs. Viktoria game in which Hoffman managed to pull out a very creative win as he got Eye for an Eye (he had to kill off several of his own models to do so). And there was an Ophelia vs. Perdita game in which the Ophelia crew won when the Perdita crew was out of the deployment zone by an inch or two, and failed to collect the last points. So round two would have two Neverborn, a Guild and an Outcast.




GAME TWO - eCHRIS/NEVERBORN
We took a break for lunch and came back to see the two Neverborn players matched up. I have never actually faced eChris, nor have I played against Pandora before, so this was going to be interesting. I was thinking over options at lunch and landed on playing a true mirror match - pit my Pandora against his. I pulled Slaughter and he pulled Destroy the Evidence. I took the exact same list as before and he took Pandora, Stitched Together x2, Sorrow x4, Insidious Madness x3, 6 stones. I took Bodyguard and Kidnap (Insidious Madness x3) while he took Stake a Claim and Holdout.

The first turn he moved everything up behind a pair of smoke clouds from his Insidious Madnesses while I moved my crew forward to be in position should I win initiative on the second round. I did win initiative and started off with Pandora. She moved in, Pacified two Sorrows and a Stitched Together, and then let off a few spells. She used Project Emotions catching the second Stitched Together and Pandora. Pandora passed with a stone, but the second Stitched fled. Then she tried to zap the Sorrow attached to Pandora with Self Loathing and dealt two damage to it. He started moving in his Insidious Madnesses to bring up (-) WP flips. I launched all my twins, bringing a Lelu up into melee with Pandora and two Sorrows, and killed one of the Sorrows, while the rest of them moved up a little and started trying to prick other models for a point or two of damage here and there. The remaining three Sorrows surrounded Lelu but his high wounds kept him alive when his Pandora pricked him with Incite. She slid over and hit my Pandora, causing her to flee. By now I was realizing just how fast this game was going to be for one of the Pandoras. Every time I defended from an attack, I had to make a WP duel, which was at a (-) flip due to either fleeing or Insidious Madnesses, and that dealt damage to me. I was already down by a good 5 or so life. At the end of the turn, my Lelu who was engaged killed one of the low-life Sorrows leaving two to deal with.

On turn three, I lost initiative and sacrificed my Insidious Madness to gain it. He then sacrificed two of his, finally tieing me on the second one. We reflipped and tied, and then reflipped again and he won by a substantial margin. His Pandora started and went full-bore into mine, killing her. I activated all my twins and managed to kill off his last two Sorrows and the Stitched Together that had not fled, as well as his last Insidious Madness (poison helped a lot here - they basically were put to a point where they would activate and immediately die each time). He moved his last Stitched on me but I turned the Gamble Your Lifes back on him, killing him. On his reactivation, he killed one of my Lelus. By the end of the turn, I had two Lilitus and a Lelu left, and he had Pandora. The problem was that killed Stitched Togethers didn't help my Slaughter (since Does Not Die ends up sacrificing them at the end of the turn, so I don't get the Slaughter points). I was down 16-17.

On turn four, I sent my crew at him. I knew I could not hit him (my hand sucked, and I had pretty low WP) so instead I would just get near him and attack my own models to spill black blood on him. It worked a little but I ended up with 3 wounds remaining on him and just one Lilitu left at the end of it.

Turns five and six were pretty identical. I did not go after his master but instead launched myself to his deployment zone to break Hold Out. I could not win, but might be able to pull a tie. He went after his objective markers but they were on the other side of the board. The game ended with him on his Stake a Claim and me with Kidnap. We called Bill over to see what the tie-breakers were. They were margin of victory up until then. I had +6 from my first game winning 8-2 and eChris had +5, winning his 8-3. I advanced by the skin of my teeth.

eChris congratulated me and told me he didn't mind losing so long as I kept Pandora in the last match - he didn't care who used her but wanted Pandora to win the day. I couldn't say no. It was a tough game.

The Hoffman vs. Ophelia game ended up with Hoffman winning and the final board was set up to be Guild vs. Neverborn.




GAME THREE - JOHN/GUILD
I had the suspicion that John might try to toss me a curve ball by not playing Hoffman. With my twins alpha strike and all the poison and automatic wounding, I figured I'd have a pretty good shot against it.

For strategy I flipped Reconnoiter and he flipped Slaughter. I hate Reconnoiter. Especially with only 6 scoring models in my army. I considered paying the stone to reflip, but decided against it. I wanted to keep my whole cache. I played the exact same list and John put down something unexpected: Sonnia, Witchling Stalker, Samael, Watcher, Peacekeeper, Nino and 8 stones (I think). For schemes I took Bodyguard and Kill Protege (Peacekeeper) while he took Bodyguard and Kill Protege (Lelu).

The board was set up with a ton of cover but not much that entirely block LOS. On the first turn, I moved up a bit, spreading out my twins. I sent one pair and the Insidious Madness left while the other pair and Pandora went right. He sent his entire army with the exception of the Watcher across from my Pandora group, while the Watcher went back to try to contest Reconnoiter from my Insidious Madness group.

On turn two, the fun started. He won initiative and sent his Peacekeeper rolling into my lines, trying to attack Pandora but failing the WP duel. My Lelu charged it and hit it for 6 wounds over the course of the turn, leaving it with 3 left and Poison 2. I was pretty happy about that. Until Sonnia zapped it with the blast spell, killing her Peacekeeper (and denying me Kill Protege) and dealing 4 damage to Pandora, Lelu and Lilitu. I activated Lilitu and tried to Lure Sonnia into my lines. He dispelled the first two, running his hand to about half, and then the third Lure worked with Double-Take, bringing Sonnia right to my front lines. My second Lilitu moved over and started Luring Sonnia towards her, dealing more wounds from Pandora, and then Lured Lelu into range. Lelu charged and dealt a nice chunk of damage to Sonnia. Meanwhile, the Stalker moved up to put up his anti-magic aura and Nino and Samael moved around to get ready for the next turn. At the end of the turn, the Twins healed each other up a bit and dealt four more wounds to Sonnia. She used her last two stones to keep herself alive.

I won initiative on turn three and activated all the twins. The first Lelu killed Sonnia, then double-moved next to the already-wounded Stalker. My Lilitu brought Samael over and did a couple wounds to him, and then my second Lelu charged Samael knocking him to nearly dead and putting himself close enough to him to make things troublesome at the end of the turn. Finally, my last Lilitu lured Nino into melee with a Lelu, denying him his gun. The Watcher moved in to shoot into the melee with the two Lelus and Stalker, managed to target and hit the Proteged Lelu, but didn't wound him. Pandora went and knocked the Stalker down to 2 life left, hit Nino with Self Loathing that caused him to run and then flipped the Red Joker and Severe on damage, one-shotting him, and finished off Samael. At the end of the turn, the Lilitu healings went off, bringing the Lelus to safe range, and then they dealt the final 2 wounds to the Stalker, killing him.

The last turn, I won initiative and activated my twins again. Lilitu moved up, lured Lelu forward and the boy charged and killed the Watcher. I spread out my army for Reconnoiter and ended up winning, 6-0.




FINAL COUNT
Pandora is my least-used Neverborn master by a fair margin. I was not planning on using her every game this time through, but chips just fell that way. I was actually planning on taking the Dreamer a bit more but I felt he was a bad option against Pandora and then I promised eChris I'd play Pandora on the third round.



I'd have to say my all-stars this tournament were the Lelus. Pandora only once all tournament drew a crow above a 6 and twice in the tournament was I able to force anything to flee due to the trigger (a Stitched in the second game and Nino in the third). The Lilitu's did a fair amount of control over the course, but the Lelu's gave me the option to switch from spell and WP damage to melee damage, and that proved crucial all three games. Against Marcus, Howl was wrecking me until I got into melee. Against Pandora, I needed to do enough damage quickly to kill things and Pandora's slow pricks weren't cutting it. And against Sonnia, her counterspell capability set me back to where I would have trouble doing anything to her without my melee options.

So I ended up pulling first place in the tournament with an 8-2 win, a 2-2 tie (won by 1 on point differential for the tie-breaker), and then a 6-0 win. Not too bad for my out-of-retirement tournament. I won a gift certificate for the store which I'll be using soon enough to pick up the Collodi box to complete my Neverborn, as well as a Malifaux Event Pass for the upcoming NoVA Open.

In the 25 stone tournament, Brian won first place with Lilith and Dan took second with Lucius. Congrats to both.

Alcatraz

My wife pointed me towards the new JJ Abrams show coming out mid-season 2012, Alcatraz. I know I'm already a fan of Abrams' work. Alias (before it got too weird), Lost, Fringe. All three are great shows in my book. Now he's coming out with a new show that just looks like a bundle of fun.

I've been looking over the production stills and haven't found any that have offered a great look at what the show's feel will be, but here's the trailer.

Basically the premise is this. Alcatraz closed down back in May 1963 for reasons of deteriorating conditions and expense. At least that's what the public story was. In fact what happened was that all 300+ prisoners simply disappeared into thin air. Now in 2011, they are reappearing, not having aged a day. Well, at least one of them does. Not sure the whole story there. So this guy escapes into the real world through a tour group and starts doing stuff in the real world. Meanwhile, a group of government officials and Alcatraz experts get clued in to what's happening and are trying to stop some of the most dangerous criminals while also trying to piece together what's happening and why.

Overall, looks like a great show. I'll be giving it a try when it comes out next year.

How I Miss You, Carnivale

"Before the Beginning, after the great war between Heaven and Hell, God created the Earth and gave dominion over it to the crafty ape he called Man. And to each generation was born a Creature of Light and a Creature of Darkness... and great armies clashed by night in the ancient war between good and evil. There was magic then. Nobility. And unimaginable cruelty. And so it was until the day that a false sun exploded over Trinity, and man forever traded away wonder for reason."

-Samson in "Milfay"



Carnivale was produced by HBO and it debuted in September of 2003. It lasted only two seasons before being canceled, closing out only two of the intended six seasons of the show.

Set in the wasteland background of Depression-Era United States, horror drama Carnivale features Biblical fight between Good and Evil hidden in the midst of the traveling freak show.

I have watched the series in its entirety three times now, and every time I've felt let down by the fact that the show never continued. In the end, though, its per-episode cost was prohibitively expensive for HBO to continue the show, and when the cost could not be lowered, the series got canceled.



The show was not for the casual viewer. The story built on each previous episode, and for a while early on in the series, you had to trust that something was going to make sense down the road. The first season especially was quite confusing and it's through repeat viewings, after having seen the second season, that I finally understand (I think) most of what was going on.

The show drops you right into the beginning of the mystery alongside a man named Ben whose mother has just died. A traveling carnival happens to pass by and Ben joins with them, having nothing else to do. His family farm has been repossessed by the bank, and he is on the run from the law.

Unusual events begin in earnest and Ben's confusion mirrors our own. He tries to fight against what is happening - the impending fight between good and evil - but the weight of it just rolls him over and he finds himself swept away in the entire event.



The series was designed to be told in three parts, each "book" taking place over two seasons. In essence, we were able to see the entire first book. So the show, thankfully, ends with a satisfying conclusion, but there are still mysteries that are growing. The writer has since released a few details of what was going to happen next, but all it has done is leave me thirsty for more.

I want to see what happens next and hold out hope that one day the story will be told, but I fear it has gone the way of another great supernatural mystery show: Twin Peaks. Be happy with what you got, because there won't be any more.

Nephilim Reinforcements

Back in March I decided that I would be playing only my Outcasts until my Nephilim army got the boost I was waiting for. Had a pretty good run with the Vikis and Hamelin, came to some new thoughts about Hamelin himself. But as of Friday, I finally got the two models I had been waiting for: the Black Blood Shaman and Nekima. And boy do they make the Nephilim lists a lot of fun.

Both of these models offer a whole toolbox of boosts and synergy to other Nephilim. Besides being able to get blood for others to use, they have ways to improve other Nephilim around them. Whether it's the static regeneration that Nekima provides, or the spells to improve the efficiency of Nephilim that the Black Blood Shaman provides, or any of the dozens of other abilities they bring, these two are going to make my Nephilim list much more varied. I can't wait to try them out with the old Grow-style Nephilim, or with the twins, or with any combinations. They've boosted my desire to play Lilith quite a bit so she's at the forefront of my gaming table now.



Nekima
I'll start with Nekima, the huge beast of a model. She may not look it in the picture, but this is a massive model. A Mature Nephilim, one of the biggest models back in book one, comes up to about her waist on this one. I'm not overly happy with the model itself. It looks great, but it's very fragile. I'm not fantastic at modeling, but I have done pinning and greenstuff before. This model doesn't lend itself easily to pinning given how tiny the connections are for the metal. I put together the Nightmare Lord Chompy Bits far easier than I did this model.

But enough about that. The model itself brings a whole slew of new abilities. Weighing in at a hefty 13 points, tied for the most expensive model in the game, she had better have a lot to her. And she does. A dozen wounds, melee hits like her sister, Lilith. She's a speedy girl, she flies, and she has a long reach. She's got four triggers and every time she hits, she can get one of them to go off, depending on the suit she draws. She's not high on the Defense, but she does has Irresistible and Regeneration to help ease the load. Overall I put her a little below the Mature Nephilim in sheer offense capability (no paired weapons, damage is a little lower) but she's a bit more survivable (Irresistible, more wounds, Regeneration instead of Armor).

Her big draw to me, though, is how she boosts other Nephilim. She can get blood when other things near her are killed, not having to spend a (0) and not having to do the killing herself. That alone lets me start drawing on the Grow chain from before far more efficiently. She has the ability to cut herself to make more blood if I need it, and she gives all Nephilim around her +4 CA when they're trying to Grow or Mature. Finally, she's got a (0) that can give a Mask to all Nephilim for one of their stats. So where I used to need a 9(Masks) to cast Grow, now my Terror Tots can cast it on a 5 of any suit. Not too shabby!

She has a few other abilities that, along with her Melee Expert and Instinctual, give her a lot of options during the turn. She can use Spill Black Blood to have Nephilim near her take wounds in order to drop automatic damage on models around them, no resist. She can make non-master Nephilim fly. She gives a debuff to the WP of nearby enemies. All in all, a great addition.




Black Blood Shaman
Less than half the points as Nekima, I can bring in the Black Blood for only 6 stones. It has a low defense and 8 wounds, with no other defenses to its name, but you're not taking it for its stats. It's a buffer for the Nephilim and almost nothing more. He's got a knife that causes Poison 3 (and could pop it on an AOE if it gets severe damage), but I think if you're attacking with him, you're in a bad spot already.

He has the same ability to get blood when nearby things die that Nekima has, and he's a Graverobber that can use Corpse Tokens in place of blood for his spells and talents. That's okay, but it becomes even better when his trigger off two of his spells actually works - he can turn the Corpse Token he spent on the spell into a Blood Token. Much more useful for his friends.

He's instinctual and has five (0) actions, 3-4 of which are very useful. He can cut himself for blood like Nekima and can force Nephilim around him to take wounds in order to spill their black blood onto enemies nearby. His unique (0)s are one that gives a little movement to nearby Nephilim, one that can give Nephilim near him Flurry, and one that ditches blood in order to gain one of four good buffs, from gaining Fast to getting Poison on weapons.

He has a few other spells. One hurts models without Black Blood or heals models with it. Given that his CA is better than his CB, he's more likely to use this spell than his knife most times he needs to fight. One of my favorite abilities, though, is Potent Blood. He can, for a (1), increase the Damage that Black Blood deals as it's spilt by +1. So instead of taking 1 damage for hitting a Nephilim in melee, you start taking 2. That's gonna hurt some people out there.


Grow Lists
With the addition of these two models, there are a lot of people talking about putting together "Grow Lists" or lists that do their best to maximize blood early in order to turn Terror Tots (3 point models) into Mature Nephilim (10 point models) quickly. With the models currently available (so no Desperate Mercenaries yet) I can fairly consistently get a Mature Nephilim and a Younger on the first turn, with the second Mature coming up on turn two. Having Nekima and two Mature Nephilim flying around with Lilith backing them up can make for a pretty nasty list. I assume. I haven't actually tried it yet. But it's on my list of things to give a whirl.

I've heard a lot of people on the Wyrd forums complaining about such a list, calling the tactics "cheesy" and criticising people who suggest using the list. I'll preface this by saying my first miniatures game that I really got into was Warmachine (way back in the day - I started playing the week Escalation came out). The 40k mentality of policing oneself never really sat right with me. These grow lists were talked about way back when Powers Rising first came out last August. Wyrd has changed the rules of a number of models between that book and now, and they did go through and make a few changes to Nekima and the Black Blood Shaman as well. However, they did not do anything to stop Grow lists from being viable. They made one change that slowed them a little (only one model can get Blood from Blood Sense now) but didn't do anything to stop them entirely. As such, it seems Wyrd as a company is okay with their existence.

Some of the gripes comes from the fact that you're killing your own models to gain a bonus. But that issue doesn't hold water with me either as there's an entire faction for whom a big tactic is to kill your own models to improve your crew - Reserrectionists.

In the end, I'll be using Grow Lists. If they prove to be no fun for my opponents, I'll limit using them. Not because I think they shouldn't exist, but because I prefer to have a fun game for my opponents.

Not a Close Game in the Pair

35ss Zoraida vs. Colette

Me: Zoraida, Mature Nephilim, Silurid x3, Terror Tot x3, 6 SS
Dan: Colette, Mechanical Dove, Cassandra, Coryphee x2, Performer & Mannequin, 7 SS

Strategy Me (Zoraida): A Line in the Sand
Strategy Dan (Colette): Plant Evidence

Schemes Me (Zoraida): Bodyguard, Kidnap (Coryphee x2, Performer)
Schemes Dan (Colette): Sabotage, Kill Protégé (Mature Nephilim)

Table was set up with a bunch of open buildings that models could move through forming a box around an open square so it was easy to see larger distances once you were in the square, but you’d have to move to get to the open areas. There were two small forests on the right side of the board, one on my side of the middle line and one on Dan’s.

We had Diagonal deployment.


TURN 1
Zoraida won initiative. I started with a Terror Tot, rushing along the bottom of the board to try to reach one side of the Dynamite tokens with his buddies and the Mature Nephilim. One of the Terror Tots managed to Sprint and be Carried by the Mature and made it in base-to-base with one of the Dynamite tokens. Meanwhile, Cassandra and the Silurids were meeting at the top left of the board. Cassandra activated one of the Plant Evidence locations, and my Silurids activated one of the Dynamite tokens and got in base to base with another. Zoraida flew out to the middle of the square in the center of the board to get a good look around, while the Coryphee Duet danced together (1 point for Kidnap!) and attacked the Terror Tot next to the Dynamite for 2 wounds. Colette jumped out to the middle top of the board and killed one of my Silurids with ease. I quickly realized a design flaw in my list. Almost half my points were taken up with models with 3 CA and 4 WP - my poor Silurids. Given that Colette targets those two stats, I knew they were not long for this world.


TURN 2
Zoraida won initiative again and I started off with my Silurids. They both activated together and launched themselves at Colette, doing a couple of points of damage between them, but not much. The Duet activated and killed the Terror Tot, then moved back out of danger. My other Tots moved in and activated two more Dynamite markers. My Mature Nephilim charged a Dove over a building, triggered Knock Aside, and charged the Coryphee Duet, knocking it down to 2 wounds remaining. My had was pretty atrocious - on my two attacks against the Duet, I flipped a 2 and 4, cheating in a 9 (my highest card)to hit (he had flipped the Black Joker) and a 7 (my next highest card) to do 5 damage, and then flipped a 1 and 2, not having anything left in my hand to cheat. Still, with some Black Blood from earlier, I was doing alright. Colette cleared out one of the Silurids and then dashed away while Cassandra tagged another Plant the Evidence point and moved on. Zoraida put a Voodoo Doll on the Coryphee Duet to give it some Poison, then tried to Obey the Mature to hit the Duet again, failing on the attack flips once more. The Mechanical Doves tried to kill the Voodoo Doll but failed to do so.


TURN 3
Colette won initiative here and things went pretty horribly for me. I knew the Poison wouldn't kill the Duet - she would be healed by the Mannequin before that could happen. Colette jumped over to the Mature and cast Disappearing Act on it, getting the trigger and sacrificing it (bypassing the 2 VP for Kill Protégé since she didn't kill the Mature Nephilim). I looked over the board and saw that Dan had increased his crew size while I was left with Zoraida, two Terror Tots and a Silurid, nearly dead. I ended up tossing in the towel, though I still had an okay chance of pulling out a tie if I could have kept three of the activated Dynamite Tokens up and killed the Performer. Not a great chance... not even a good chance... but a chance.


END OF THE GAME

Mike’s Crew (Zoraida): Zoraida, Silurid, Terror Tot x2

Dan’s Crew (Colette): Colette, Coryphee Duet, Cassandra, Mechanical Dove x2, Performer, Mannequin x2

Final Score: 3-6, Colette (I assume he would have gotten his Sabotage and Plant Evidence and broken my Line in the Sand)

~~~

Dan and I talked about the game for a little while, then re-racked the board and started another game. This time I went back to Outcasts, figuring I'd give them another swing.

35ss Viktoria vs. Marcus

Me: Viktorias, Student of Conflict, Von Schill, Freikorps Trapper, Freikorps Librarian, Convict Gunslinger, 5 SS
Dan: Marcus, Jackalope, Myranda, Razorspine Rattler, Sabertooth Cerberus, Shikome, 8 SS

Strategy Me (Viktoria): Claim Jump
Strategy Dan (Marcus): Supply Wagon

Schemes Me (Viktoria): Bodyguard, Stake a Claim
Schemes Dan (Marcus): Sabotage, Bodyguard

Table was set up with a bunch of open buildings that models could move through forming a box around an open square so it was easy to see larger distances once you were in the square, but you’d have to move to get to the open areas. There were two small forests on the right side of the board, one on my side of the middle line and one on Dan’s.

We had Diagonal deployment.

The Shikome picked the Trapper, who was deployed perched up on a rooftop, as her prey.


TURN 1
Viktoria won initiative and moved the Convict Gunslinger up a little ways. Marcus took the opportunity to show how fast he was. He took the walk-as-your-charge form and the +2 DF form, then rushed out to the middle of the board with some cover near where his Sabotage point was. I looked a little confused, but figured there was some greater plan there. I had my Librarian go and just move out. The Shikome rushed into a nearby building. I had the Student of Conflict give my Gun Viki Fast. Miranda turned into a second Shikome and started moving out. Von Schill turned on his rocket pack and jumped over a building to get LOS on Marcus where he had no cover. He lined up and shot. I cheated a 12 Rams and stoned for another Ram to give myself double-crit. I got severe damage for 7 wounds, only one of which was prevented. The Rattler moved out, but couldn't get very close. My Trapper lined up a pair of shots on Marcus but missed both times. The Cerberus moved up. My Viktorias both activated at once. The Gun Viki moved up, cast Sisters in Battle for +2 DG, and then brought the Sword Viki up in front of her. The Sword Viki charged Marcus and in two swings, cut the master down, dropping the Jackalope from the game too.


TURN 2
Viktoria won initiative again and I started with the Sword Viki. She charged into the building with the Shikome and cut it down to dead. Miranda/Shikome moved in and attacked the Sword Viki but missed. I went with my Gun Viki and had the two swap places, and she put 3 wounds into the Miranda/Shikome. The Cerberus Tiger leapt at the Gunslinger and did 4 wounds to him. The Trapper tried to shoot the Rattler but missed, proving himself the worst sniper I had seen. The Rattlesnake moved up and then charged the Librarian, dealing some damage to her. My Gunslinger went and opened fire on the Tiger. Sadly I could not Rapid Fire since I was in melee, but a couple of Trigger Happy flips took the Tiger down. My Librarian went and healed both herself and the Gunslinger for a couple, while Von Schill moved out and charged the Miranda/Shikome, putting another hit into it.


TURN 3
Marcus' crew won initiative and the Miranda/Shikome attacked the Gun Viktoria, but did little damage. The Sword Viktoria killed off the Rattlesnake, and then the Gun Viktoria killed off the Miranda/Shikome.


END OF THE GAME

Mike’s Crew (Viktoria): Everyone

Dan’s Crew (Marcus): No one

Final Score: 8-0, Viktorias

Poor Hamelin

I am by no means an expert with Hamelin. I have played him a half dozen times since his whole crew came out. I recognize that there could be more to him than I’m doing with him. I use less than half of his spell list. I rarely use most of his other abilities. I tend to concentrate on a couple of chief tactics with him, and so far the only game I’ve lost with him is the first one I played with him, before his whole crew was available.

I have come to a simple conclusion with Hamelin: he’s just not really that much fun. For myself or for my opponent. I have had people walk away from games against him angry or frustrated more than I have with any other master, and I’ve been playing crews like Dreamer and Pandora before. Not long ago, one of my opponents was frustrated enough to leave the store after a game against Hamelin. Another week, an opponent who is normally one of the most easy-going guys I play couldn’t keep his frustration out of his voice when we finished. I play the game for the enjoyment. I do not enjoy leaving people angry about having played the game.

For myself, I usually enjoy the very beginning of a Hamelin game – perhaps the first three turns or so. During that time, Hamelin is vulnerable and I’m racing as quickly as I can to shore up his weaknesses and make sure that he’s locking down his opponent. By turn four or so, that’s usually done and I find the game just a boring grind. The game’s conclusion has usually been set by then, and it’s just a matter of finishing it out.

The primary issue with Hamelin is that he makes opposing models Insignificant. This trait does two things for a Hamelin crew. First, Hamelin himself cannot be targeted by Insignificant models, and the Rat Catchers are harder to target by them. So it makes his crew harder to beat down. Second, Insignificant models cannot be used to score points for most Schemes and Strategies. Here’s the rub – while I’m making sure you can’t do anything to my crew, I am also making sure you can’t do anything to win the game. Usually models have one of two purposes: either stop the opposing crew or win at their own missions. In one swoop, Hamelin takes away both of those purposes and leaves the model with nothing to do. That Hamelin has multiple ways to achieve this means that by the end of the game, usually his models are the only ones out there that count for points.

In the end, there will probably turn out to be some methods to stop him that are sifted out. Colette and Dreamer used to be considered over-the-top, but over time, strategies to beat them have been discovered and while they’re both considered very good, neither is unstoppable. I believe that Hamelin will turn out the same – that some key strategies to stop him will come out or that he’ll have enough weaknesses that he’s not always going to be a grind, but for now even the players that would normally not blink twice about playing against anything are asking me to leave Hamelin behind.

A shame because he was a pretty expensive crew, and I had been looking forward to him since the book first came out last August, but I understand the frustration with him. Fortunately I have plenty of other options to take.

Stylish Blogger Award

Okay, so thanks to Jay over at Blood and Blades for nominating my blog for being Stylish. I'm not exactly sure what that means. But I do know there are rules that go along with being Stylish:

-- Thank and link back to the person giving you the award (see above)
-- Share seven things about yourself
-- Select 10-15 blogs who you think deserve this award (difficult... I don't read many)
-- Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award

Also, I've got to say seven things about myself. I don't know why it's seven of them, but I feel like I'm back in college with those email chains. Let's see... it's 2:16 PM. I'm listening to the soundtrack to Sunshine....

1. I firmly believe that the best days of my life have yet to come, even though almost every day of my life is pretty friggin' awesome as it is. If your best days are behind you, how sad that must be!

2. I never really saw myself as a kid person, but watching my nieces and nephews, and my friends' kids growing up is a neverending source of entertainment for me. I swear - kids say somet of the funniest things.

3. Every once in a while I think of how cool it would be to pick up and go somewhere else and just start anew. Much less now that I'm married, have a house, etc., but it does still hold some appeal. Problem now is selling my house and selling my wife on the idea.

4. I'm a fairly competative guy, so much so that I have actually quit playing in tournaments for my games for a while. I found myself becoming "that guy" at the tournaments - the one who always had to win.

5. I love to cook. I mean, who saw that one coming? I was in high school cooking up my grilled cheese sandwiches, and now I'm cooking a ton for my wife. It's fun to try different combinations, but man, I hate using recipes. I would rather just look over a recipe as a guideline and then do whatever I want. Sometimes my experiments turn out well. Sometimes... not so much.

6. I wish I had more time to write. I used to write all the time up through college, but once I entered the workforce, I've stopped. I haven't written a story I can remember in nearly ten years.

7. I pride myself on my roleplaying games, though. I love to GM, and I love to come up with complex stories that keep my players trying to figure them out. If I can get that wide-eyed "Oh S! I figured it out!" from my players during the game, I feel like I've succeeded.

Okay, so other blogs.

Dan's blog - Mongoose Blog
Bill's blog - Dead Tau Project
Chris' blog - Truddenia