Dan has been chomping at the bit to get in a game with Avatar Seamus. I finally got Avatar Zoraida all painted up and ready to go. I asked Dan if he wanted to get a game in after work yesterday and his response was something between ecstatic and delirious. So I headed by his place and we ended up playing two games. We were short on time (the Redskins were playing, and we had plans to head out to Champs to see the game) so we mostly concentrated on Manifesting our Avatars and giving them a whirl. So when the game turned drastically south for one of us, we just re-racked the models and tried again.
GAME ONE - 30 STONES - aZORAIDA vs. aSEAMUS
Zoraida w/ Avatar, 6 Stones
Collodi
Marionettes x4
Wicked Doll x2
Stitched Together
Seamus w/ Avatar, 8 Stones
Rotten Belle x2
Crooked Man x2
Necropunk x2
Strategy: Contain Power (Zoraida) vs. Destroy the Evidence (Seamus)
NB Schemes: Kidnap (Crooked Man x2, Blue Belle) & Bodyguard (Zoradia)
R Schemes: Stake a Claim, Breakthrough
The terrain was set up with a bunch of large buildings scattered throughout the board and there was almost nowhere where you could see from one side of the board to the other. Dan won deployment and chose to pick the diagonal where my LOS to his deployment zone was completely blocked so Zoradia could not get off her first turn shenanigans.
TURN ONE - ZORAIDA INITIATIVE
My Stitched Together moved forward twice, heading towards the northern Evidence Marker, and popped smoke. Dan's first Necropunk tried to leap but failed, and then double-moved keeping behind some buildings but getting closer to the northern Evidence Marker.
My first Wicked Doll moved forward twice behind the Stitched Together. Dan's second Necropunk tried to leap but failed as well. He double-moved south behind some buildings, heading toward the Southern Marker. He'd have farther to go, but if he could get a well-timed Leap, it would do him well.
My second Wicked Doll moved up twice, getting between the Northern and Southern Markers. The first Rotten Belle moved forward, her speed boosted by starting near Seamus, and took a lead at the edge of the central building close to the Northern Marker.
Zoraida activated at this point. She cast Crystal Ball and succeeded, ticking off her first Manifest box and looking over Dan's top three cards. I stacked them with the high cards first, figuring he'd think I'd do the opposite and try to burn through his cards early. Zoraida used Casting Expert to Obey one of the Wicked Dolls forward, closer to the Northern Marker, and then moved forward twice herself. Dan's second Rotten Belle moved forward once and then Lured Seamus forward. She missed the resulting attack on the top-hatted fool.
My first Marionette moved out of the Deployment Zone and then pulled Collodi a bit more forward. Seamus cast Face of Death to start his Manifest requirements, and then moved forward closer to the front lines, trying to see if he could be in position when the smoke dropped.
My second Marionette snapped to Collodi with his (0) and then pulled Collodi forward, centralizing him within all my dolls. Dan moved both of his Crooked Man out to get ready for the smoke to drop while my last two Marionettes snapped up to Collodi and then spread out a little.
Finally, Collodi went and made all his Dolls Fast since Fast sticks around to the next activation. Meant that next turn I'd have a full activation with Collodi and all my Dolls were already Fast.
Zoraida - 10 wounds, 6 soulstones, 1x Crystal Ball
Seamus - 12 wounds, 8 soulstones, 1x Face of Fear
TURN TWO - SEAMUS INITIATIVE
The Rotten Belle at the corner of the building started things off by moving out a little, then luring the Necropunk. She failed and had to cheat to succeed and Dan tossed out a 12 of Crows (!) to succeed. Either that was his low card, or he had a lot of crap in his hand that couldn't succeed in the cast. My Stitched Together, fast, moved up closer to the Belle and used Gamble Your Life twice. Being close enough to Collodi he was using an effective WP of 8, and the Belle lost both attempts. She ended up taking 7 damage total. Finally, the Stitched put up smoke to block off the Crooked Men and Seamus from seeing my crew.
The Necropunk that had been lured successfully cast Leap, moved up to the Northern Marker and destroyed it. My first Marionette moved up on the Necropunk and then discarded a card for Flurry. He hit for one damage, then missed twice.
Dan's Crooked Man in the back moved forward twice, getting in better position. My centralized Wicked Doll double-moved to the Southern Token, just trying to prevent another quick grab by the Necropunks.
The second Belle activated and moved forward, luring Seamus closer. She missed the resulting attack. My second Marionette pulled Collodi foward and then attacked the Necropunk twice and missed both times. I didn't want to kill the Necropunk... I had plans for him.
The second Necropunk tried to Leap but failed, so instead double-moved towards the Southern Marker, keeping just out of sight of my Wicked Doll around the building. My third Marionette snapped to Collodi and moved away, setting up for next turn.
Seamus activated and cast Face of Fear for the second time, achieving his first manifest requirement. He moved up into the smoke and put up No Escape on the Wicked Doll that had not yet activated. My last Marionette snapped to Collodi and moved into position for next turn.
The final Crooked Man double-moved to support the big scrum of models. He was out of activations and I still had a few to go.
I looked over the field and cursed myself - I had moved a Marionette between Zoraida and the Necropunk. I had planned on Obeying him twice (once with a Voodoo Doll) to get him to move through the smoke, then charge and kill the Belle with one wound left getting my Manifest Requirement, but I screwed myself up. Instead I cast Crystal Ball a second time, then put a Voodoo Doll up on one of my own Marionettes. The smoke was blocking my LOS to all the Ressers. Finally, she Obeyed my Stitched Together who tagged Seamus with Gamble Your Life. Dan spent a Soulstone and still failed the check and took 3 damage. My Voodoo Doll activated and Obeyed the Stitched Together again, and Seamus again burnt a Soulstone but failed to resist and took 3 more damage. Seamus used another Soulstone to prevent 2 of it. My Wicked Doll with passed so No Escape didn't go off, and then Collodi made all the Dolls fast again for next turn.
Zoraida - 10 wounds, 6 Soulstones, 2x Crystal Ball (COMPLETED)
Seamus - 8 wounds, 5 Soulstones, 2x Face of Fear (COMPLETED)
TURN THREE - ZORAIDA INITIATIVE
I looked over the board and knew I had one shot to get rid of Seamus before he Manifested and tore my crew a new one. As much as I wanted to bring in Avatar Zoraida, I figured I could wait and if I could take care of Seamus, I would have a solid control over this game. I activated Collodi. Collodi tagged my Stitched Together telling him to activate. He then breathed life into three of the Marionettes, giving them Melee Expert. I activated all my Marionettes at that point. One at a time they started snapping to Seamus and hitting him for a little damage at a time, slowly burning away stones and cards until the onslaught of attacks from the Marionettes and Stitched Together took him down.
At that point we called the game. We still had enough time for a second game if we started then and I confess I really wanted to see Avatar Seamus on the board. But I wasn't just going to give it away... Dan had to earn it!
We decided that the No Escape Manifest requirement was not worth over-extending Seamus to achieve. Better to lure the target in for the No Escape rather than move Seamus out into the opponent's crew.
I'll post up the second game, which actually saw both Avatars hit the table, in a little bit.
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