Avatar Zoraida and a Widow

For various reasons, our Malifaux gaming group has been talking about the Weaver Widow recently. Bill has tested her for a couple of games, and I decided to give her a swing yesterday too in a game against Dan. The store was packed yesterday with people finally back after vacations and the like. I think at our height we had 11 Malifaux players, including a couple of new faces, playing games. I only got one game in all night, but it was alright.

Dan and I lined up for a match, him taking Archanists and me taking Neverborn. We played 30 stones.

Me
Crew: Zoraida w/ Avatar, Widow Weaver, Hooded Rider, Baby Kade, Terror Tot, 7 stones
Strategy: Claim Jump
Schemes: Bodyguard (Zoraida), Stake a Claim

Dan
Crew: Kaeris, Gunsmith x2, Soulstone Miner, Fire Gamin x2, Large Steampunk Arachnid, 4 stones
Strategy: Distract (or Contain Power… whichever one keeps my master out of his deployment zone)
Schemes: Kill Protégé (Widow Weaver), Sabotage

Dan’s reaction to my crew as I pulled it out was hilarious. He knew I was playing Zoraida. I started with a Terror Tot and he just looked at me funny until I explained that I had a few extra stones and figured he’d be a good call. Then I pulled out Baby Kade. Then the Hooded Rider. Knowing I was also playing the Widow Weaver, he said, “Are you even trying here?”

In the end, though, the Immune to Influence and the Night Stance on the Hooded Rider proved a tough nut for him to crack, and Baby Kade’s Harmless and DEF 7 were really solid. And the Terror Tot gave me an objective runner that he had to contend with.

Since we were the last game to set up a game table last night, we had slimmer pickings on terrain. We pulled out a bunch of ruins from 40k style games. Unfortunately, there were windows all over the place so while there was cover, there was also a lot of LOS. We fixed that by saying all windows were covered, but any model within an inch of a window could take a (1) interact to break the window to provide LOS through it for the rest of the game. That way Zoraida’s Voodoo Doll on turn 1 wouldn’t screw up Dan’s game.

My Hooded Rider began the game in Night stance.




TURN ONE – ZORAIDA INITIATIVE
I drew three Masks in my opening hand. Unfortunately they were a 2, 3 and 7. None of them would get me a Crystal Ball use which I needed to manifest. I activated my models, moving out a bit, then had my Terror Tot sprint twice. I didn’t really care if he succeeded – I was just hoping to flip a 10 or better of Masks that Zoraida could later use with Bayou Two-Card. No luck. Finally I was down to Zoraida and my Widow Weaver. Zoraida activated and used Crystal Ball. I failed the initial flip, cheated my 7 of Masks, and then burned a stone needing a 3 or better. I flipped a 1. Darn. She moved up a little, then cast Obey on the Widow Weaver, forcing it to ditch two cards for a Scrap. On the Widow’s activation, it moved forward and ditched two more cards for a second scrap.

Over on Dan’s side of the board… not much happened. The Soulstone Miner dug up a Soulstone and cut its wounds to 3, and the rest of his crew started moving forward, led by the Gamin followed up by the Arachnid, Gunsmiths, and Kaeris.


TURN TWO – KAERIS INITIATIVE
My hand had no masks this turn, and a high card of a ten. Not the best look. I think my deck was squaring with me for leaving it to go to Ressers for a while. Or maybe it was trying to teach me just how useful the Widow was. Either way, it wasn’t looking good.

Dan wanted to force me to start moving folks out early, so he moved up with a Gamin for position. My Tot burned a couple of Sprints, hoping to flip into a good Mask, but no dice. The other Gamin moved into position near the first one. My Hooded Rider used Mounted Combat to ride out a couple inches, paste one of the Gamin, and then back away a good 7”, trying to get out of range of Kaeris. The Hooded Rider took a wound and a burning token in the exchange.

The Soulstone Miner buried itself, and I activated Zoraida. I had another Mask on the top of my deck and felt I had a good shot of stoning into the Crystal Ball. I cast the spell and stoned, getting my first Crystal Ball off. None of my cards were going to help me get a Teddy from the Widow, so instead I set myself up to Obey the Widow. After casting, the Widow ditched two cards for another Scrap token, leaving me one away from getting to a Teddy. Zoraida ended up by summoning a Wicked Doll next to a window Zoraida would be able to use to see the other side of the battle if it were broken.

Kaeris went and tried to burn Kade, but the kid’s Harmless and Defense 7 kept him safe. She moved up and then put up the inferno that hurt people that were burning, blasting the Rider for 4 wounds. Rather than take the damage, I ditched the burning token and took Paralyze. I wasn’t counting on the Rider to do much in the way of wounds, and I wanted to keep him alive. I figured his Night stance would probably keep him around a little longer.

My Widow ditched two cards for another Scrap, then tried to cast the Teddy summon blind, but failed the flip. I opted not to spend the four scrap, failing the spell for that reason too. The Widow just moved up a little more to get ready for the next turn.

The Gunsmiths moved up into position while my Wicked Doll smashed open the window and Baby Kade ran to the far side of the table a little behind Kaeris. The Large Steampunk tried to get to Kade, but didn’t manage to get through his Harmless.


TURN THREE – ZORAIDA INITIATIVE
Hmm… still no masks. The Miner had moved 8” up the table but stayed buried. I honestly don’t remember a lot about this turn. I know Zoraida got her second Crystal Ball to work, and I know Baby Kade tried to Backstab Kaeris. I missed with the Backstab and then hit with the Melee Expert attack, but didn’t get any triggers so he lost Harmless and only barely scratched Kaeris. He got hit for four wounds himself, falling to nearly dead. The Widow Weaver tried and failed to cast a summon for a Teddy, then failed again to summon a Wicked Doll. It ditched two more cards for another Scrap, meaning I could cast both summons in a turn if I got lucky next turn. The Gunsmiths shot my Widow Weaver for a solid 6 wounds.


TURN FOUR – ZORAIDA INITIATIVE
Did I get a mask? No. To make things worse, the Miner moved its 8” up to the Widow and popped out. Poor Widow Weaver. Fortunately I won initiative and led with the Widow. Blind, I tried to summon a Teddy and flipped an 11 of Masks. Holy smokes! I managed to spend 9 soulstones to summon a 9 soulstone model (only costing me 8 cards and a bunch of wasted Obeys and actions in between). The Widow attacked the Soulstone Miner twice more, ignoring its armor, but only dealt two wounds to it. The Soulstone Miner went ahead and killed the Weaver, netting Dan the first 2 points of the game.

Baby Kade activated next to Kaeris. He had taken a wound from Burning and was down to 1 wound left. He attacked with Melee Expert, dealing a wound to Kaeris, and then used a (2) to swap spots with my Slow Teddy. Kaeris blasted Teddy, but couldn’t Turn It Up because no other models were in 2” of her. She dealt a couple wounds to Teddy, but the bear didn’t mind. He Regenerated and clawed Kaeris for 3 more wounds. The Steampunk Arachnid tried to hurt Teddy but my Bear’s defense was off the chain! My Hooded Rider rode in to hit Kaeris for some more wounds, but missed, and then rode back. The Gamin charged my Rider (a mistake on Dan’s part – he had him in position to Sabotage but forgot). Zoraida Obeyed the Gamin to charge the Large Steampunk, then flew next to a Gunsmith in the middle of the board and manifested.


TURN FIVE – aZORAIDA INITIATIVE
I started off with aZoraida. It seemed the thing to do. I had a 10 of Masks (finally, now that I didn’t need it as much) and another low one. As well as an 11 and 13 off-suit. I had aZoraida cast Pins and Needles at the near-dead Gunsmith next to her, cheating in the 10 of Masks to hit and then Stoning to push it out of range. I got a (+) flip and got a severe, finishing off the Gunsmith and drawing cards equal to the wounds he had left (since I did more wounds than he had). I then shot off at the second Gunsmith, killing her in two shots and getting one trigger to build my hand a bit more. My last action was to start moving towards the objective marker on his side of the board.

Kaeris needed to heal, so she took a wound from all the M&SU guys around her. That killed the Soulstone Miner, and hurt a couple others around but healed her back up 4. She blasted the Teddy, trying to kill it, but couldn’t quite finish it off. Teddy went and attacked Kaeris three times, burning her down to 1 stone left. The Steampunk Arachnid killed off Teddy, and the Hooded Rider swung by and finished off the Large Steampunk Arachnid while the Tot and Baby Kade started running for the objective. The Gamin moved up and Sabotaged the building it needed to.

At the end of the turn, it was just Kaeris and a Gamin against a Tot, Baby Kade, the Rider and aZoraida.


TURN SIX – KAERIS INITIATIVE
Kaeris booked it towards the objective as well, putting a Flame Wall up between her and aZoraida so I couldn’t see her. Baby Kade, the Rider and aZoraida all moved towards the marker.


I think we miscounted our turns here because we played one more turn after this. Both Dan and I agreed that it was turn 5, so I had my Terror Tot charge Kaeris and deal some more wounds to her. If I had known it was turn 6, the Tot would have stayed in place and I would have won, 6-4. Instead, I moved away from the Claim Jump and we played one more turn.


TURN SIX-AND-A-HALF – aZORAIDA INITIATIVE
My Hooded Rider rode in and tried to finish off Kaeris but left her with a wound left. Kaeris couldn’t attack the Tot because it would bleed on her and she’d die. She put up a Flame Wall to try to block aZoraida from getting to the marker, and tried to attack the Hooded Rider but couldn’t do much to him. The Tot attacked and burned the last stone from Kaeris, and then aZoraida and Baby Kade got into position by the Claim Jump and Stake a Claim. aZoraida finished off by casting Obey on the Tot and having it attack Kaeris for the last wound. The triggered double-obey did not prove necessary, though I had it in pocket in case.

We flipped to see if the game would go on and it didn’t. aZoraida won, 8-4.





So the whole goal of this was to see how the Widow Weaver would perform.

On turn one, it got Obeyed and ditched four cards for two Scrap.
On turn two, it got Obeyed and ditched four cards for two Scrap.
On turn three, it ditched two cards for a Scrap, and got shot for 6.
On turn four, it luck-boxed into being able to summon a Teddy and dealt two wounds to a Soulstone Miner before being killed.

So I spent 9 soulstones, two Obeys and ten cards for a 9 soulstone Teddy.

Color me unimpressed.

Now granted I had very poor luck with my hand never drawing the Mask I needed. I will be trying her again, with Collodi in some builds, without him in others, to see if I can figure her out. I’m not even sure if she should be focusing on her summoning, but given that she has 4 defense, 10 wounds, and no real defenses to help, she’s not that survivable up close either.

Anyone else have luck with her?