Some Musings on My Resser Experiment

I got a pair of games in last night with my Ressers, continuing on my trek through the new crew. Last night was my unveiling of Nicodem.

Now by no means do I understand how to play Ressers yet, and certainly not Nicodem, so I strongly recommend that if you want to get tips on the correct way to play them, you listen to someone other than me. I managed to take my crew 1-1 last night, losing a game against Perdita and her head-shot happy Nino (seriousness… he triggered headshot 5 times in the game, sapping 4 cards, 4 soulstones, and outright killing my Dead Rider) and winning against a Kaeris crew (I had a few turns where my deck just couldn’t flip lower than Kaeris’, and as such he ended up having to cheat pretty much anything in the key early turns).

I am really enjoying my experimenting with Ressers. Playing with Nicodem, I was floored by just how much he could usually do during the game. Not once in both games did I resurrect a new model, and yet I still felt like I was using him effectively. Rigor Mortis, raise zombies, Decay, bolster undead. Without even bringing in a new model, I was able to do a lot with him. Perdita’s crew had his number with Immune to Influence and Stubborn, but Kaeris was not taking it all so well.

I’m also getting a better handle on Bette. I still haven’t killed more than one model with her in any game, but I’m learning better how to use her. Honestly, she feels to me a lot like a Neverborn model. Melee-centric, tricky movement with her popping up, and a glass cannon with some bizarre defense ability to boot. I think I’m going to enjoy her even more as I keep using her. Crooked Men are up near the top of my favorites too, even though they have yet to blast well enough to drop a blast template. The threat of it alone saps my opponent of cards usually, and if it does hit, all the better. It’s still a few damage from range.



There’s quite a shock that comes from switching from Neverborn to Ressers. The most obvious case last night was when I was trying to deliver a message to Perdita and thought I was set up in the perfect place – Second Generation Awesome Dan had told me that Necropunks were great for objectives. My Necropunk was a good clip away but with the cheat in my hand for Leap, I felt I was in a strong spot. Except that even with Leap, the little critter doesn’t move all that much. He hopped over and was still out of range to do anything other than continue to move. And then he was only speed 4! I’ve got my Neverborn objective grabbers down to a science, but the Ressers are quite a clip slower. On the other hand, I find Ressers clearly win out when I’m constructing a crew. I build to 30 stones and pull out a half-dozen models to put in my crew only to find I still have another 10-15 stones left to use. The sheer plethora of good low-stone cost models astounds me.

I do miss my Neverborn, though. I miss the speed and I miss the tricks they bring to the table. It took me a long time to really get Neverborn down, and now starting over with a new crew that plays so completely differently is a bit of a challenge. I don’t think Ressers have a prayer of replacing my first love, but they certainly are good for a change-up.

The Cycle of Games

While my blog tends to focus around the games I play most often - Malifaux at the moment - I consider myself a bit more well-rounded gamer than that. True I do enjoy miniatures games quite a bit, but I also enjoy my share of roleplaying and board games, with occasional dabbling in computer games and every once in a while, a card game too.

So, like any hobbiest, I guess my interest waxes and wanes in regards to different types of games. Right now I'm definitely at a low with card games (and have been there for many a year) and a low with computer games (though I am anxiously awaiting Mass Effect 3). My board game interest is waning at the moment. Malifaux and miniatures gaming is remaining flat near the top of my interest, but what's really rising for me right now is roleplaying.

A few months back I finished out running my campaign of Grimm, a tale where the characters all played kids who were caught in a grand story where they were flipping back and forth between the fairy tale world and the real world, only each time they moved back and forth, something changed in the real world. Slowly, as they traveled to Wonderland and Never-Never Land, stopping at a few other places inbetween, they figured out how to gain more control over what they were doing. Finally they ended up in Oz where they were able to defeat the evil overlord who was destroying the fairy tale worlds, stop the Wicked Witch of the West and break her hold over various members of the group, and rebuild the real world so that they could go home.

Every time our group ends a campaign, there's usually a break while we all wind down, play some board games, and generally goof off until the next campaign starts up. Since I ran the last campaign, it falls to other people in the group to run the next one (unless no one else wants to - then I'd run again). We have two people who like to GM and a third who occassionally does, so it means no GM has to run the games twice in a row - a good thing. Makes sure our GMs don't burn out.

This time, Brian's going to take the wheel and run us through our next adventure. He's always been a fan of Deadlands and the wild west, so he's building up a storyline for us to jump into. Since Dan's getting married in less than a month, we've decided to hold off until he gets back to actually launch the campaign. No sense in starting for a week or two and then taking a long break.

Overall, really looking forward to getting back in the seat and playing in a campaign. We'll be doing a couple one-shots between now and go-time, just to get our feet wet and help get a sense of the rules. Looking forward to the launch.

McMourning's Fear of Guns is Justified

Headed over to Bill’s house over the weekend to get a couple games in and do some podcasting (check out Episode 39 of the Gamers’ Lounge… though it wasn’t my best effort – I was working off about 4 hours of drunken sleep the night before). I strapped on my Go PACK (which Dan said made me look nerdy, but I think he’s just jealous) and trucked on over.

Bill and eChris had stepped out by the time Dan and I arrived, so we set up a game while we waited for them to come back with lunch. I had a number of my Ressers painted, so I decided to start with them. We flipped for missions and I flipped Slaughter while Dan flipped Destroy the Evidence. I really only had one list, so I went with that.

McMourning w/ 8 Stones
Zombie Chihuahua
Canine Remains x2
Crooked Men x2
Bette
Sebastian

With Destroy the Evidence, Dan switched up his list and took the guy who pretty much achieves that mission all by himself… Von Schill. Okay, so Collodi could do it even better, but Dan was playing his new Vikis, so Von Schill made the list.

Viktorias w/ 6 Stones
Von Schill
Ronin x2
Convict Gunslinger

We picked schemes and I decided to have some fun, declaring Assassinate on the VIkis and trying to get A Piece For Me with McMourning. Dan took First Blood, only later realizing that was a fairly easy two points, and… something else.

Turn one saw me with no crows in hand. So sad. I killed my dogs to get six body parts (and get Dan First Blood without even trying) and started moving out. The bulk of his crew came to face me in the center while Von Schill flew to the first objective marker out along the side.

On turn two, I drew no crows yet again despite ditching all but one card from my hand. My Crooked Men moved out to blast the Ronin and while they did not drop any AOEs, they did force him to discard some decent cards. Von Schill dropped one of the points and flew after the second one. I sent Sebastian after him and followed it up with McMourning moving out, slinging his scalpel at Von Schill and then attacking him some more. Von Schill was freaked out by the crazy doctor. The Vikis kept hanging back, keeping a bit safe.

Turn three saw no crows yet again, and only one card above a 10, so I couldn’t reliably bring out Bette either. I killed his Ronin, but he killed my Crooked Men in return. Von Schill tagged another point and then jumped up in the air. McMourning tossed his scalpel at him and followed him up, stabbing him and draining him of all but one stone, leaving him with only a couple life left. Sebastian started trying to get back in position.

Turn four finally saw me get a crow, but it was a two of crows. Not so useful. He won initiative and flew away with Von Schill and tagged the last point. Sebastian got gunned down by the Convict (damn non-painted model… blended in with the terrain and I forgot about her!). McMourning went after Von Schill, drained his last stone, and then hit again but I flipped the Black Joker for damage and Von Schill stuck around.

On turn five, I finally saw some good crows, but it was too late. Von Schill jumped away and shot McMourning, and the Convict Gunslinger finished off the poor sod. Bette jumped out but got cut down right after that and I lacked the card to keep her around.

Not a great showing for my second McMourning game, but I did learn something valuable: McMourning really relies on crows if you’re looking to do summons. But the flip side of that was that I actually enjoyed seeing what McMourning could do independent of summoning Flesh Constructs. He hits really hard, and he hits a heckuvalot. He’s deceptively fast. Overall, very pleased with him.

Deliveries and Painting

Over the past couple weeks I've been a little light on playing Malifaux. After playing a bunch in August, September has seen only two games, and in one of them I pretty much cheated left and right (entirely unintentionally, I assure you).

But my lack of playing games has been made up for in other ways. At the NoVA Open I used my prize money from one of the games to help fund my new carrying case - the Battlefoam Go PACK. Well, it and all the foam for it arrived and I moved my entire army into the new pack.



It carries 9" of foam, so with the padding and dividers, I ended up going with one 3" pluck foam and three 1 1/2" troop trays. With my Neverborn and Outcasts, I've already filled up two of those troop trays and started on the third, and I've filled up probably 2/3's of the pluck foam. Damn in Neverborn doesn't have a lot of large models. Of course, Nightmare Lord Chompy Bits takes up a big chunk of that space on his own.






But that's not all I got over the last couple weeks. Back when Advanced Deployment first released their burned wood tokens, I wanted to jump on them, but then I was laid off from my job so my wife and I had to tighten our belts. Now I've been working again for a few months and decided to go ahead and order some of the tokens. They had a lot more I wanted to get this time around.




Finally, I've been pushing myself to get my Ressers painted up quickly so I can start fielding them. I've been concentrating on getting McMourning table-ready first and over the past week I've gotten another batch of models ready to go. Add to that the fact that I was able to purchase a bunch of Big Jay's old Ressers and am slowly getting those primed and ready to paint and I expect to have a nice sized Resser crew pretty soon.



Don't be too critical of my paint jobs. Sam Adams Oktoberfest has hit the shelves and I may or may not have been drinking while I paint. Evidently it doesn't mix all that well. But still - they're table-ready, and that's what matters to me.


Finally, I've been invited to join Bill on the Gamer's Lounge with a few others to help go over the Twisting Fates book. A couple weekends ago we were out there talking about Avatars, and this weekend we're heading back to talk about the minions. Plus there's a bit about the recent Neverborn-hate out there in which Bill makes a pretty ballsy statement (for him). Not one I haven't heard before, but for the guy who tries to make his opponent enjoy every game, it seems to run against the grain. I'll leave it at that for the moment.

Moving On to Ressers

So after buying all of Neverborn and picking up the Vikis, Hamelin and Von Schill, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to move into next. I had always kinda liked the idea of Hoffman and Lucius (not together), but the rest of the Guild didn't excite me as much. Besides, a good buddy, Brian, just picked up a bunch of Guild to learn the game and I didn't want to step on his toes. And when Twisting Fates came out and I got a look at the Resser section, I knew exactly where I wanted to head next.

It also helped that my wife liked the Seamus and Kirai boxes and wanted to paint them up. I've always liked McMourning, so I started with him while my wife was working on Kirai. Last night I got two more models painted up and now I'm ready to unveil my next project: THE UNDEAD!!!!



Doesn't mean I'll be shelving Neverborn - they'll still be my primary faction - but as I get enough of my Ressers painted up and ready to go, I'll be fielding them too. Might try a Resser Month or two down the road to get some game time in with them. But they're not at all like the Vikis in prep-work - I was able to get the Vikis fielded in almost no time. The Ressers take a bit more effort. There are a lot of them!

Fantasy Football 2011

I just drafted for both of my fantasy football teams this year. We’re a couple days before the kickoff of the season and I’ve still got that hopeful look in my eye. Of course it’ll be slashed a few weeks into the season, but that’s alright. It’ll still be a bundle of fun all the way.

The first league is the one I’ve been in for several years now. This will be the fourth season, and for the past three seasons, I have made it to 4th place, but no farther. I’m the only person to make it to the playoffs all three years, but also the only person to make it to the playoffs and never win. We play with ten teams, two keepers a year (kept the same slot they were the previous year, but cannot be kept two years in a row, and cannot keep anyone from the first two rounds). I was able to keep LeSean McCoy in the 4th round and Peyton Hillis in the 10th.

My picks came in as:
1. Aaron Rodgers, QB – GB
2. Roddy White, WR – ATL
3. Antonio Gates, TE – SD
4. LeSean McCoy, RB – PHI (Keeper)
5. Brandon Lloyd, WR – DEN
6. Austin Collie, WR – IND
7. Daniel Thomas, RB – MIA
8. Mike Tolbert, RB – SD
9. Johnny Knox, WR – CHI
10. Peyton Hillis, RB – CLE (Keeper)
11. Malcolm Floyd, WR – SD
12. Green Bay D/ST, DST – GB
13. Jerome Harrison, RB – DET
14. Robert Meachem, WR – NO
15. James Jones, WR – GB

I did not intend to lead with a QB in the first round. I was hoping to grab one swinging back around in the second round, but when the keepers were announced at the beginning of the draft, Brees, Rivers and Vick were already off the board. I really wanted to get one of the top five QBs (poor Manning didn’t make the cut this year) which meant that I needed either Brady or Rodgers. I was the 7th pick in the draft, which meant I wouldn’t get another until the 14th pick. A lot of time for both Rodgers and Brady to be snatched up before me. I probably could have gotten one on the return swing, but I didn’t want to risk it. So instead of getting Andre Johnson for the third year straight, I held off and picked up Rodgers and Roddy White.

Drafting Austin Collie was a little bit of a stretch for me, especially with Manning’s health a big question-mark. But I figured it would probably pay off later down the stretch. I have enough receivers without Collie that I can keep him on the bench for a little while.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this team. I took a hit at RB this season, relying mostly on my keepers to keep me afloat, but I think I’m pretty strong everywhere else. Except Kicker. I should probably get myself one of them before the games start.



My second league is a new one for this year. My extended family from my mother’s side decided we’d all jump in to a new league. After emails circled around, we ended up with a monster 14-person league. This one will also have keepers starting next year – they can be anyone from 5th round or later, and only two keepers. I think. Maybe one. I didn’t really pay attention to it this year since it doesn’t matter yet.

I convinced my mom to join too, so I was helping her out with her draft and picks as we went through. I picked 9th out of 14.

My picks came in as:
1. Maurice Jones-Drew, RB - JAC
2. Greg Jennings, WR - GB
3. Antonio Gates, TE - SD
4. Dez Bryant, WR - DAL
5. Austin Collie, WR - IND
6. Tim Hightower, RB - WAS
7. AJ Green, WR - CIN
8. Sam Bradford, QB - STL
9. Braylon Edwards, WR - SF
10. Jerome Harriosn, RB - DET
11. Mike Williams, WR - SEA
12. Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB - BUF
13. Anthony Dixon, RB - SF
14. Sebastian Janikowski, K - OAK
15. Arizona D/ST, DST - ARI

I made a couple of bad calls here – like passing on Chris Johnson with the first pick only to find that he ended his holdout the very next day, and grabbing Greg Jennings when Calvin Johnson was still on the board. I didn’t even have him on my radar as I figured he’d already have been picked when it came to my draft, so I was already queued with a different receiver.

I also did not get the high QB I was hoping to draft, but that’s largely because the 14th person in the draft ended up picking two QBs back-to-back and then the whole string of them got taken before my turn to go. Every time I had someone targeted in a round, someone else drafted them a few picks before me and before I knew it, I was the only team without a QB so I picked up Bradford to hold me over.


Overall, though, I’m pretty happy with both teams. My first league is a little more competitive, though it will end up with far more good players out on waivers too. My family league is going to be a bit harder with only five people on the bench and slim pickings on the waiver wires. We’ll see how the year goes, but however it does, I’m just glad that there’s more football back in store.

NoVA Open, Part Three

And to finish out the story of the NoVA Open.

I had just successfully defended the top table in round three ending with a score of (9/+14/19) and was waiting on the other games to finish out before I’d find out who my opponent would be. The second table had Dixon facing off with another local of ours, Tim, in a Neverborn vs. Outcasts clash. As time was called, Tim had the lead and won the game in a close match. Dixon dropped out of the top tables and Tim joined me playing for first place.


ROUND FOUR - TIM, SHARED CLAIM JUMP

Tim and I have played each other several times in the past and I’ve always gotten the better of him. I knew his collection of Neverborn wasn’t that large and was pretty certain which master I’d be facing just on how I knew him. I didn’t want to take that into account in how I selected my crew, though – it seemed a little sketchy – so when he suggested that we play a true mirror match, I jumped at the chance. I suggested we add another addendum to that: only play with book 1 models. He liked the idea and we came up with a list we could both agree on.

Our schemes, unfortunately, could not be identical since we both had different schemes left.

Lilith, Primordial Magic, Mature Nephilim, Younger Nephilim, Terror Tots x3, 7 Soulstones

My Schemes: Kill Protégé: Mature Nephilim, Eye for an Eye

His Schemes: Hold Out, Kidnap: Terror Tots

The game was fairly hilarious as far as a mirror match goes. On the first turn, we each killed one of the other’s Terror Tots so we were even on models. On the second turn, I killed a second of his Terror Tots and grew one of my Tots into a Younger and he killed my other Younger, so we were still even on models. Our key pieces – Lilith and the Matures, were still hovering back on the field.

On the end of the second turn, I decided to throw caution to the wind and charged in at his Lilith with mine. I didn’t hit once, though I did drain a few of his stones. His Mature jumped in to the mix but missed my Lilith and I charged his Lilith with my Mature. A whole bunch of nothing happening in the middle, but at least we were all together.

Turn three started and he won initiative, going with Lilith hitting Defensive Stance. She attacked my Mature, doing some wounds, and then activated his Mature after who finished off mine. Meanwhile I had managed to kill off his Younger and grow a second Younger of my own. Lilith killed off his Mature and he had enough Blood to grow his Tot to a Younger and then to a Mature straight away. Our armies were at Lilith with the Primordial Magic and a Mature (Tim) against Lilith with a Primordial Magic and two Younger (me). Tough spot.



He won initiative again on turn four but I drew a 13 and the Red Joker into my hand, so I was pleased. He had Lilith Defensive Stance again while his Mature went after my Youngers, killing one. I had my Lilith attack his, stoned in and hit her for a straight flip. I dropped the Red Joker and flipped a Weak damage for 9. He prevented 3 of it. My Younger worked on his Mature but didn’t kill it. My Primordial Magic, who was also engaged, decided to get in the fun and attacked for a couple damage himself. Combat 3’s not that bad when he’s only Defense 4.

I finally won initiative on turn five and he was almost out of stones. I started with Lilith and she swung and missed, though it burned out the last of Tim’s stones. Lilith swung a second time and this time killed off Tim’s Lilith. I didn’t have enough room to go after his Mature, so I backed away to the center of the board and the Claim Jump. My Younger went next and brought his Mature down to one. His Mature killed my Younger.

On the last turn, Tim decided he had to risk going after Lilith. I had no stones and if he got a hit with a Red Joker, he’d kill Lilith and win. I cheated the first defense too high so that he got the -2 Combat from my defensive trigger, and the second attack missed. Lilith went and cut the Mature in half, leaving Tim with no models left. I held the center and won, 8-4.

So the tournament ended with me as the lone undefeated player. I ended up at (12/+19/27)


The second table was a Neverborn and Resserectionist player facing off, and the Resser won. On table three, Second Generation Awesome Dan was facing Wyrd Zee in a Resser/Archanist battle. Wyrd Zee pulled out an Archanist win, giving us a Neverborn/Resser/Archanist top three.

My prizes were a plaque (which is good – Chris, the owner of Huzzah Hobbies, said we weren’t allowed back if we didn’t bring back a prize), a Rules Manual, Twisting Fates, a painted Von Schill crew, and a $25 gift card to Battlefoam. I handed off the Rules Manual to one of the players who didn’t have one yet and handed off the Twisting Fates to the guy who took 4th Place, another local who didn’t have it yet. Dan had painted up the Von Schill crew and offered to buy my dinner in exchange for it since he painted it up and wanted to give the Freikorps a try. I already owned them, so I figured it was a good deal. I did finally order a new transport bag from BattleFoam, though. Romeo was there and showed me the new Go PACK – an awesome new backpack bag that was coming out a few days later. He didn’t have any to sell there, but I put one on special order and should be getting my new bag in a week or two.

I called it a day for Malifaux as my head was already starting to hurt. I don’t like playing in tournaments much – my head can’t take too many games in a row. We hit dinner with the Atlanta gang – a great group of guys – headed out to CVS for some medicine, handed in our Friday Achievement League packets and then went home.

The next morning I showed up back at Dan’s place and we headed out. When we arrived, we found out that Dan had won the Ressers Achievement prize for Friday: a Collodi Box set. Fantastic news, since Dan wanted to pick it up for his Leviticus crew, only he had literally just picked it up on the way in to the gaming area as we passed by the WarStore booth. Fortunately Tim also wanted it, so he was able to swap the Collodi box for a Viktoria box set.

Today was going to be mostly casual play. I won’t go into each game I played (mostly because I don’t remember them), but I do remember the basics of what I was facing off against.

My first game was me playing McMourning against Dan’s new Freikorps box set. I had him put together a 25 stone list and we just went to town in the M&SU Bar setup. It was a hilarious game of massive death everywhere. McMourning was finally able to Scalpel Sling Von Schill and carve him up while Mortimer (I think that’s his name) went out to collect all the bodies left behind for him. McMourning ended up with 21 body part tokens and a wicked grin on his face. I went home and painted this guy up – he’s a bundle of fun!



I also played against Zee. He used a Lucius list while I played Zoraida with Collodi in Shared Deliver the Message. I sold out to deliver him the message on turn one and failed by one on my flip and he was able to deliver the message to me on turn two when he won initiative. Even still, my Zoradia and Collodi pair managed to wipe out the entire group of Guild by turn six, and I moved Zoraida into his deployment zone to break his hidden scheme of Holdout. Meanwhile, I managed to nab two points from Deliver the Message, another two from Kill Protégé: Guild Guard Captain, and one from my hidden Holdout to win the game 5-4.

I got a rematch in against Chuck’s Perdita, this time playing with Zoraida and a few Nightmares (no Collodi) and pulled the game out there as Zoraida got near the gunslinger and managed to explode three Wicked Dolls on her to kill her.

eChris pulled out his Colette crew with a very unusual setup – Colette, Cassandra, and three pairs of Performer/Mannequins. He managed to turn three of the Dreamer’s models – Lelu and both Night Terrors (I LOVE those guys, by the way) into Mannequins over the course of the game, but I still hung on tooth and nail to win 6-4.

Finally, I got another game in against Dan, Dreamer against Vikis. I could tell by now my head was not in the game because I kept having to ask Dan what I was supposed to be doing and what he was supposed to be doing. I gave up two points for First Blood because I couldn’t remember what he took, even though it was only turn two. I then dropped Lord Chompy Bits between both Vikis, killed them both, and forgot to bring out the Dreamer so LCB died in return. If it weren’t for a bad flip by Von Schill and his fleeing from Lord Chompy Bits, Dan would have Delivered the Message too. I managed to wipe out his models, but far too slowly as he killed off Lelu for Kill Protégé. He ended up with 4 points, never managing to Deliver the Message after he failed the Terrify check, and I somehow pulled in 6 points, though Dan did have to remind me what I was doing nearly every turn.

With my brain clearly being mush, the Hurricane threatening to spill torrential rains on us, and me not wanting to stay awake until 5 AM, then drive home and have less than a day to recover before working again, Dan and I decided to clear out. We hung out for a little while longer, then turned in our Achievement sheets and headed out. Got a text from Bill the next day saying I’d won the Neverborn Saturday Achievement prize. Good deal!

Overall, a fantastic weekend. I got in 9 games of Malifaux against some old friends and some people I’d never faced before. Got to meet Zee finally, and won a tournament to boot. I think my only regret was not playing Bunniegod, who I didn’t put together was the guy who won GenCon until I was on the road home chatting with Dan. Evidently people had mentioned that fact several times over the course of the convention, but being deaf and having taken my hearing aids out for the convention (I don’t function well in loud, big areas), I managed to miss it every time someone mentioned that fact. He seemed like a really cool guy, and a lot of fun. I’d like to face him at some point – seems like he’d be a really good challenge.

Thanks to Bill for putting together a great series of events. Hopefully you’ve managed to recover.

Now to wait for my Go PACK to arrive. That thing is awesome! Seriousness, check it out if you haven’t already.