But this post is not about Skyrim. Maybe I’ll post something up about that in a bit. This post is about the Malifaux Winter League we’ve been running through these past weeks.
I’m 13 games into the league and we’re in week 5. Finish out this week and one more to go before the end. Last night I headed out to the store and got two games, one against a local Zee who’s just started. He’s been coming out for a few weeks in a row and has been showing clear improvement each week. This was my third game against him. My second game was against Bill trying out his Colette crew. Both games were 25 stones as my opponents were getting their learn on with their crews.
GAME ONE VS ZEE
Zee has played against my Lilith and Zoraida masters and wanted to try to face something different. I didn’t want to pull out Pandora. I considered the Dreamer a moment, but settled with Collodi after he mentioned he’d never seen the puppet master before. I gave him a quick overview of how Collodi works with his speed and pulling around effects, and the death-by-a-thousand-cuts that the Marionettes and Wicked Dolls pull off.
Collodi, Marionette x4, Wicked Doll x3, Stitched Together x2, 5 stones
Strategy: Deliver the Message
Schemes: None (there’s an achievement in the league for winning with no schemes)
Marcus, Raptor x4, Shikome, Trapper, 5 stones
Strategy: Reconnoiter
Schemes: Sabotage, Bodyguard
The Trapper deployed normally and the Shikome picked Collodi as her prey.
TURN ONE – COLLODI INITIATIVE
I started out this turn with the plan of doing pretty much nothing other than showing Zee what my crew does. The Stitched Togethers moved up and popped some smoke, the Marionettes pulled Collodi along a little and then snapped to him, and the Wicked Dolls jumped up to Collodi. The idea here was that after telling him how Collodi’s crew worked, I figured it might help to show him how fast they can be before actually getting into the fight. In the end, my whole crew ended up bunched together about 10” in front of where they had been and Collodi finished off by giving all my dolls fast, prepping them for the next turn.
Meanwhile, one of the Raptors made the Trapper a Beast and the Raptors and Shikome rushed towards the Sabotage, keeping hidden from me, while Marcus and the Trapper each took a tall hill overlooking the puppet swarm.
TURN TWO – MARCUS INITIATIVE
With no schemes to help me out, I knew I had to get the full 4 points for Deliver the Message, especially since he was so close to Sabotage already. I needed to Deliver the Message to Marcus and then kill him. With three of his Raptors swarmed together, I knew the best he’d be able to do with his crew would be 5 activations. I could stretch out my crew to 10. That would give me a lot of models left once he was finished.
He activated Marcus, Howled to drop my Stitcheds’ Willpower and increase his own, and then hopped back to the Trapper. He activated the Trapper with his (0) Companion, and the Trapper took a couple shots at one of the Stitched Togethers. A Black Joker meant only one hit for damage, and he took only one wound. I started with a Marionette who dragged Collodi over to the center of the board, then ran and hid behind a house. His Shikome moved out, Sabotaged the hill, and backed away again, not wanting to be killed before the end of the turn. I kept wasting activations until he was all spent, then dragged Collodi up to the front of the board near Marcus. A Wicked Doll pulled up next to Collodi, Delivered the Message to Marcus, and then used his Fast to attack Marcus, triggering Poison and a couple wounds. My last Marionette tried to drag Collodi away, but Marcus managed to hold him in place with a disengaging strike. I brought my last Wicked Doll up and put another couple hits on Marcus, dropping him a little more. Collodi finished things out by making both Stitched, two Wicked Dolls, and the Marionette fast for the next turn.
TURN THREE – MARCUS INITIATIVE
I considered stoning to try to win the initiative, but decided against it. It would have been nice to go with a Stitched Together against Marcus before he Howled, but I’d need a pretty high flip. Marcus started off and Zee decided he wanted to try something different. He used Feral to turn Collodi into a beast, used Stare Down, Howled, and then attacked him once, doing a couple damage which I used a Stone to prevent all of. I went with a Wicked Doll hoping to finish off Marcus and get rid of Stare Down before the Shikome got to me. Three attacks later, though, Marcus was still alive with one wound left (though he was out of stones). The Wicked Doll ended by healing Collodi with his (0) action.
The Shikome swept in on Collodi, gained Fast, and attacked three times. The first hit Mauled my Marionette. The second one hit Collodi for five wounds, but a Severe Prevention meant I took only 2. His third attack did another set of wounds and a Moderate Prevention cut down the damage a bit. My second Wicked Doll finished off Marcus, getting rid of Stare Down, and then went on the Trapper to attack him for a couple wounds. He finished by healing Collodi a little more too.
The Raptors all swarmed in to Collodi, but now without Stare Down, he was able to defend himself a bit better. The Trapper knifed a Wicked Doll. Over the course of the turn, I yanked all my puppets in and killed the Shikome and two Raptors.
TURN FOUR – COLLODI INITIATIVE
I started to get ready for the turn, but it was looking like a foregone conclusion at this point. With only a Trapper and two Raptors left, and my Stitched Togethers finally in a position to do something, we called it.
Final Score: Collodi 4 (Deliver the Message), Marcus 2 (Sabotage)
Overall, Zee did a fantastic job containing the Stitched Togethers. Other than tossing up smoke and missing in melee attacks, they did nothing all game. Marcus’ Howl was a nice advantage to him there.
I’ll post up the second game in a bit. Bill took pictures so I need to wait and steal those off his website so I can post a battle report with photos. That gets me an achievement in the league.
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