Mass Effect Playthrough: Part Two

My playthrough of Mass Effect continues.  I managed to get through the first game for the first time. Honestly, it left something to be desired.  If I had played ME1 before playing 2 or 3, I'm not sure how much effort I would have put in the other ones.  The game was shorter than I expected, the inventory system was clunky, and the stupid car driving parts were terrible.

I did find, however, that the game controls were a lot easier to master than I remembered them being the first time I tried to play the game.  I think part of that is because I had just finished ME3 before I tried ME1 the first time, and my brain was wired to work with the updated format from that game.  Now I'm finding the shift from 1 to 2 a little harder.

I did enjoy the story, though, and I'm happy to see some of the things I did in ME1 actually impact the story in ME2.  I saved Wrex, mostly by being a jerk to him.  I tended to do that to a lot of people in ME1.  (And so far I'm doing that to a lot of people in ME2 too).  Romanced Liara, let the annoying guy, Kaeden or something like that, die.  Sacrificed the Council and put Anderson in as the lead of the new one.  Just seemed like a much better idea than to put the sniveling politician who sold me out in place as the leader.

The game took me just about 15 hours.  I'm already about halfway to that playtime in ME2 and have only found five crew members - the two Cerberus ones, Garak, Mordin (who is certainly my favorite) and the bounty hunter.

I'm getting into familiar territory now.  This is the game I finished already three times.  I know this one pretty well.  But now I've got some more DLC to play through, and I have a few changes to how the story will go based on what I did in the first game.  Still rolling through - still enjoying it.

It is having the side-effect of reminding me of all the different ideas I have for a sci fi roleplaying game.  My L5R campaign is still going strong, but I think sci fi may be on the docket for next.

Mass Effect Playthrough: Part One

I have been playing through Mass Effect lately.  My intention was to stop on my blog from time to time and talk about the funny things I was involved with (assassinated canines while my real targets fled, etc) but I am finding it hard to do with Mass Effect.  I've never played the first game all the way through - I am only about three missions in now and already farther than I ever have been before - and I'm having trouble finding those funny moments in the game.

Okay, so I can complain a little about driving my Rover around and how impossible to navigate that thing is.  Or I can talk about how frustrating it can be trying to move past some of my own allies when they decide that the place they need to stand is the spot right in front of me and I can't get around them.

But it's not really funny to talk about the actual game that much.  In Assassin's Creed I could talk about how frustrated or angry I was with the characters and wanted to just jump off the edge of the skyscrapers.  But that doesn't happen in Mass Effect.  The characters are much more interesting, even in the shorter time I've been working with them.

Besides, there's less humor involved when I say things like, "I chose to murder the entire colony of people that were being mind-controlled by plants."  No one laughs when you pull that one out at a party.

Mass Effect Replay

With the DLC Citadel released recently, I've been thinking a lot about the Mass Effect line.  I played through the second one with all of its DLC - it still stands as my favorite game I've touched.  The third one was good as well, though it didn't reach the heights of the second one.  I played through it once (compared with the three times for the second one) and was satisfied with it.  I never got any of the DLC.  I tried going through the first game, but I never got very far before I ended up turning to other things.

So when Citadel was announced, I decided I should go ahead and give the game another run-through.  No doubt it'll take a while to play through all three games, but I'm looking forward to it.  There's a lot I've never seen - most of the first game, and any of the DLC from the third game - so I'm hoping there are still enough surprises in store.

I'll try to keep a log going of how the game turns out for me.

Oh, and for those who liked my Assassin's Creed 3 log, sorry that one kinda hit a sharp stop.  The game never really gelled for me.  I enjoyed some of it, but I had really been waiting for one specific encounter between two characters, and when it happened, I was left completely unsatisfied and lost interest in continuing.  I may go back to it one day - I feel like I'm over halfway through - but it won't be for a while.

Wild West Exodus: First Thoughts

There's a new miniature game being creating up on Kickstarter now (grab it quick - it's gone before too long) called Wild West Exodus that has gathered my attention.  I had heard about it a few times from various sources and finally decided to take a look at it myself over the weekend.  At this point I like what I'm seeing, but I'm having trouble deciding how much I'll like it in the long run, especially given that Malifaux is still kicking strong.

First, there are the pros.

I like the models.  Most of them, anyway.  I've heard some people dislike them, but overall I'm quite impressed with most of them.  I don't like any of the cavalry models, but the rest of them look really nice.  When I look at a group of Long Ranged Hired Hands and each of the models is distinct, it reminds me of back in the day with Warmachine when their Long Gunners were all just three different sculpts and I find I prefer the WWX ones.

The factions look interesting.  In fact, assuming that the Lawmen unlock, of the starting five factions, there's only one that does not appeal to me ascetically.  Compare that with Malifaux when I got into it where there were no full factions I liked, and only one that interested me enough to pick up early on and I'd say WWX comes out ahead.  In fact, my problem right now is that I don't know which faction I want to pick up.

There are the Outlaws.  These ones look pretty interesting, but both Dan and Slaz are looking into picking up these guys, so rather than having everyone face the same faction all around, I'm just dropping them from my consideration entirely.

Which is fine, because there's also the Union army.  I made fun of Long Gunners a little back there, but I actually really like the idea of these riflemen.  They seem like an elite-warrior type of faction, heavy in armor and shooting.  And honestly, who doesn't want to play Abe Lincoln?  (See what I did there?  Honest?  Abe Lincoln?  Oh, I'm awesome.)

I started doing some more research and found the styles that the different armies play.  The one that sounds most like it would fit my playstyle is the Warrior Nation - the Native American shape-shifting group.  They're fast and they're all about melee attacks.  They sound like they could be a lot of fun too.

Then there are the Lawmen.  Not much is known about them yet since they haven't been unlocked yet except they're led by Wyatt Earp and they have robots in their group.  When we first started talking about the game before I knew what the factions were, I said I wanted to play the Lawdog faction, whichever one that was.  So I'm looking forward to hearing more about the Lawmen.

The only faction that doesn't interest me at all is the Enlightened - the mad scientists who seem to bring the dead back to life.  They just don't look interesting, sound interesting, or... well...  I dunno.  But they don't interest me.

Right now I'm aiming for the Union, though the Lawmen will need some serious consideration, and the Warrior Nation keeps cropping up as a possibility.  I've got time to decide though.

When I think about the game compared with Malifaux, though, I do run into some parts I don't like.  It seems like the game is a little bigger in scale than Malifaux.  Where in Malifaux I can hit the table with six or seven guys in a normal sized game, I think I need more in the 11-13 range for a similarly-sized game in WWE.  Also, where Malifaux's complexity seemed to come from the different abilities on the models, I think WWE's is coming from the rules themselves.  I'm not sure how I would feel about that.

Regardless, it has earned a few test games.  I've printed out the rules and I'm ready to give the game a swing.  I'm also looking forward to listening to the interview that the Gamers Lounge is lining up with Romeo, one of the creators of the game, which should be coming out very soon.  Keep an eye out for it (shameless plug).

I'm hoping I like this game a lot.  If I do, I'll look forward to getting it on the table come September, and then Malifaux may have some serious competition.

Weekend Tournament

It has been about six months since my last tournament.  I have been having a very busy time at work these last few weeks, and this past Saturday was the first day off I had in over two weeks.  I figured I'd sleep as long as I wanted, and if I woke up in time for Bill's tournament, I'd head out for it.  Well, I woke up in time.  Still exhausted, but I have a hard time falling back to sleep in the mornings.

I couldn't figure out what crew to bring.  I had Guild and 10T that I had been playing a lot recently.  I figured it would be fun to try something different, so they both sat home.  I considered going back to Neverborn and taking a mix of just Lilith and Jakob, but I wanted to bring my travel pack and the Hungering Darkness was too big to fit in that bag.  Same for my attempt to bring Izamu.  So I decided on Von Schill (which quickly turned in to the Viktorias when I realized I did not have enough models to field Von Schill alone at 30 or 35 points... where's the Strongarm Suit when you need it!).

So I packed my bag and headed out to Huzzah Hobbies for the tournament.  Chris, the store owner, pulled me aside and told me there would be a lot of ridicule if our store failed to win the "Best Store in NoVA" trophy and the "Best Store on the East Coast" plaque.

When I walked in the store, Dan was happy to see I made it, then asked what I picked to play.  "Viki

There were a lot of people showing up - 19 total.  We lined up for pairings as Bill read them out.

ROUND ONE - NAYTE (Victory Comics), 35 Stones
VIKTORIAS vs. aMcMOURNING, SHARED LINE IN THE SAND (new version)
 
I started at table 7 with Nayte from Victory Comics, a friend of mine I haven't played in months.  He set the tone for this being a casual tournament (which is exactly what I was hoping for - the bug of competition in Malifaux has been waning) by asking me if there was any Resser master I wanted to see or didn't want to see.  I told him I'd love to see Yan Lo since I hadn't played him much, but he seemed a little hesitant.  He had very little experience with the old man.  So I revised to say "no Kirai".  I was tired of playing her.  Not that I felt like I couldn't take her down (the Vikis are a great matchup against her), but I didn't feel like going through the slog.

So out came Avatar McMourning - a model I've seen played but never with the same skill that Nayte has with him.  I pulled out my basic 35 stone Viktoria crew and we were off.

My Crew: Viktorias, Student of Conflict, Von Schill, Freikorps Trapper, Convict Gunslinger, Ronin, 7 stones
My Schemes: First Blood (Viki-specific), Stake a Claim

Nayte's Crew: McMourning w/ Avatar, Chihuahua, Canine Remains x2, Belle x2, Crooked Man x2, Night Terror x2, Sebastian, 6 stones
Nayte's Schemes: Stake a Claim, A Piece for Me (McMourning-specific)

Before I go on, this games was something of a hilarity.  I was barely able to talk straight due to being exhausted and asleep on my feet.  Nayte, on the other hand, was jittery with several cups of coffee in him already.  I couldn't work up energy for the life of me, and he couldn't keep still.

Nayte was able to out-activate me early on in the game, but that would not last forever as he farmed his own dogs for body parts.  Having played as and against McMourning, I was pretty confident that First Blood would be easy to get.  Even if he forced me to fight for it by killing only one of his dogs early, I had enough guns to get the second kill quickly, I figured.

Sure enough, he killed off both dogs early, netting me my First Blood scheme, and then started going after the Line in the Sand markers.  I was in a spot of bother being outnumbered as much as I was.  I sent a Ronin after one of the markers opposite a Crooked Man, sent my Trapper after the Night Terrors (I figured shooting and then Repositioning forward would get me up the field, but in the first two rounds he missed all four shots, so I ended up just having him run up the field to get objectives).  Von Schill, the Convict and the Vikis held the center pretty well.  Von Schill got an early Red Joker kill off on a Belle, and soon the activation order was swinging my way.  Still, he managed to grab the Strategy points on turns 2, 3 and 4, giving him a 3-2 lead at that point.

During turns 3 and 4, I popped as many shots on McMourning as I could.  I didn't want the Avatar to hit the table, and I certainly wanted to deny him his scheme points since he had the advantage in Strategy.  While my Ronin was killing Sebastian (and getting knocked down to 1 wound remaining herself, though her DF8 was able to keep her alive the rest of the game), Von Schill and the Convict killed the summoned Rouge Necromancy while the Viktorias charged down the fleeing McMourning, pasting him.

Outnumbered now, my crew flipped the dynamite markers to the correct side and I gained points on turns 5 and 6 while I chased down and killed off his last two models.  Final score: 6-3.

ROUND TWO - ALEX (North Carolina), 30 Stones
VIKTORIAS vs. LEVITICUS, SHARED RECONNOITER (new version)

After a victory, I ended up on the second table.  I looked down the line and saw that the first table was Outcast vs. Outcast (Vikis vs. Hamelin - both of them had played Leviticus the first game).  The second table was Outcast vs. Outcast (Vikis vs. Leviticus).  The third table was Outcasts vs. Archanists (Gremlins) and the fourth table was Outcasts vs. Ressers (Gremlins again).  Neverborn overpowered?  I don't think so.

Of course, this could have something to do with the fact that only one Neverborn player was at the tournament, and there were seven Outcasts.

My Crew: Viktorias, Student of Conflict, Von Schill, Freikorps Trapper, Convict Gunslinger, 7 stones
My Schemes: Holdout, Bodyguard

Alex's Crew: Leviticus, Canine Remains, Collodi, Marionette x4, Wicked Doll, Watcher, 6 stones
Alex's Schemes: Soulless Life (Leviticus-specific), Breakthrough

Alex and I bantered a little and I learned that I have a new power in tournaments: being on a podcast can be used to intimidate other players.  (Well, only the ones that don't know me personally - once they figure out I don't know as much about the game as I pretend to, the intimidation factor drops to about zero.)  We were playing Reconnoiter and I could see my crew was starting out outnumbered 10-6 (after the Waif was placed on the board).

My goal was simple: kill either Collodi or Leviticus.  I figured with one of those two down, I could handle the rest of the crew.

I deployed with my Convict and Trapper on one side of the board, my Vikis on the other with my Student, and Von Schill ready to support either way.  I wanted to take out the Watcher first because it was the most autonomous model in his crew and I didn't want it to lock down his Breakthrough and deny my Holdout.  So the Trapper killed it, and then Von Schill killed the Steam-thing that Leviticus summoned out of it.

Collodi and his dolls started coming around the side of the board and on turn three, they launched themselves into my Sword Viki.  I had seven soulstones, and by the end of the massive onslaught, I was down to a hand of only 3 4's, 3 soulstones, and had taken 3 wounds.  My Viktorias responded in turn.  The Student of Conflict gave Fast to the Gun Viki.  The Gun Viki gave the Sisters a (+) flip to hit (with all the Marionettes out there, two of them Filled with Stones, I wanted to get as many Whirlwind attacks as I could).  She killed off a Marionette and knocked one with stones in it down to 1 wound.  The Sword Viki then went and killed off the other Marionettes, then sapped a few Soulstones from Collodi.

Meanwhile, Von Schill forced Leviticus back by killing the advance Waif after Levi killed my Convict Gunslinger.

The next turn, Leviticus got initiative.  Collodi activated first, making a new Marionette to get him out of dodge.  My Viktorias activated and killed off Collodi and the Marionette.  Levi went after my Gun Viki, but I burned my soulstones to keep her alive.  With Leviticus dead and a good hand of cards, it was my chance to take out Levi too.  My Trapper moved forward and shot one Waif through a window, killing her.  Von Schill jet-packed down the field and got one shot off on the second Waif, killing it too.  Collodi down, Leviticus down.  Over the next few turns I racked up the Reconnoiter points and pulled a win, 8-0.

ROUND THREE - DAN (Huzzah Hobbies), 25 Stones
VON SCHILL vs. VIKTORIAS, SHARED KING OF THE HILL (new version)

The final round had four players still undefeated.  The top two undefeated players faced for first place, and the bottom two undefeated players faced for second place.  Since we both brought the same crew, we decided to make the game a little more fun than just a mirror match.  We agreed to split the gift certificate no matter who won, and then made a deal for crew creation: since he had not brought all his Von Schill stuff, he would play Vikis with no Freikorps, and I would play Von Schill.

Of course, this meant I had no choice but to play his box set - the only Freikorps models I owned.  Still, it would be great to have a game that didn't come down to "who got the initiative".

My Crew: Von Schill, Freikorps Specialist, Freikorps Librarian, Freikorps Trapper, Freikorpsman x2, 3 stones
My Schemes: Breakthrough, Kill Protege (Convict Gunslinger)

Dan's Crew: Viktorias, Student of Conflict, Ronin x2, Convict Gunslinger, 7 stones
Dan's Schemes: Bodyguard, Eye for an Eye

Unfortunately, the game did come down to "who got the initiative" anyway, and Dan flipped a 13 on that one.  The round before, I had moved Von Schill up, taken a shot on one of the Vikis, and dropped 8 wounds on her.  She prevented 2 of them leaving her still alive.  She charged me and tried to kill me, but couldn't quite pull it off.  And my Librarian (and my fate hand) never saw a Ram after the first turn, so no healing.  Three stones are not much against an onslaught of Vikis.

Von Schill fell, then his Sword Viki fell.  His Gun Viki came in to kill a Freikorpsman, and my other one charged her (Red Joker in hand for damage that would kill her), got to the straight flip, and then flipped the Black Joker on damage.

It was mostly cleanup by then.  My Trapper managed to kill the Student of Conflict and Gunslinger.  Both Ronin were dropped to 1 wound, and then one sacrificed itself for two Soulstones which Viki used to create a new Viki out of the other one.

Overall, there were about six flips that I needed probably two or three to go my way during the game.  I got one of them (the Red Joker damage on the Viki with Von Schill) and it wasn't quite enough to push the game in my favor.

Still, seeing Von Schill's box set take the game that close against a tailored Viki crew was pretty awesome.  I think the Strongarm Suit is going to be a big help for the crew - giving them a melee option, finally.  I would have probably dropped the Specialist in favor of the Suit.  While the Specialist spilled out a lot of wounds when he detonated his pack, none of those wounds actually mattered since they didn't kill anyone, and I had pretty much no one left to capitalize on the wounded models.

Final score: 8-4


FINAL THOUGHTS

After not being sure I was going to go to the tournament and making a last-minute decision to go, and then picking up a crew that I hadn't touched in six months, I figure I did pretty well.  I went 2-1 with 18 total Victory Points and a +7 VP Differential.

Congrats to Dan on his victory!  He led the Huzzah Hobbies crew in keeping both the Northern Virginia and East Coast prizes in Huzzah.  We'll be working on another tournament in the near future to give other stores another chance to wrest the prize from our hands.

Assassins Creed 3: The Second Day

I wasn't really expecting to hit each day that I played this game, but so far I've had some pretty bizarre occurrences each day, and I just can't help myself.  I've learned some key things about how life in the Assassin's Creed world differs from that of the real world.

How Not to Get Caught
I was given a mission where I had to sneak through a heavily guarded portion of Boston.  My skills have improved since my first day where I was falling out of trees and jumping off churches (well... I still jump off churches).

I've figured out how to read the screen as I'm going along too.  For example, if Red Coats see something unusual, they'll start to get suspicious and you can watch the bar of their suspicion rising.  Often that's your cue to hide or get out of the way from where they're moving.  I was so excited to have figured this part of the game out that while I was standing beside a warehouse on the docks, I was trying to keep an eye out for those cues.

My friend was with me.  My goals were to keep him safe and keep us both hidden from the enemies.  So sure enough, I see one of those bars start filling up and spring into action.  I turn and start running the other way to get into hiding.

Only my friend was standing right behind me.  So as I turned around and began running, I did what I do to anyone in my way when I start running.  I shoved him hard to my side.  He was standing on the edge of the docks.  I shoved him anyway.  Into the Atlantic.

As I started running, a warning came up saying that my friend had died.  Evidently that was the wrong choice to make.


How to Master the Art of the Assassination
Later, I had a bunch of friends (including the guy who took a drink in the Atlantic) who were disguised as British soldiers and pulling a wagon of prisoners in to a camp to try to infiltrate it.  I was leading the wagon and my friends would rush ahead and lay ambushes for any Redcoats they might see head of them.

It was fun.  I'd sit in the wagon, watch for my allies to get into position, and then shout for them to spring their trap before the Redcoats knew what was going on.  It all worked pretty well.

One time, I had a couple of my guys on rooftops while a Redcoat walked down beside the building under them.  He started to realize I wasn't the normal guy and I ordered my men to attack.  The guy on the rooftop dropped with his knife and plunged it deep into, and killing... the dog sitting next to the Redcloak.  The Redcloak was startled but had the presence of mind to pull out his gun and shoot my friend in the head (he survived the hit - it probably really hit him in the leg).

Sometimes I wonder how my team of ineptitude is actually going to achieve anything in the upcoming war.

Proper Chair Etiquette
Once I got away from the missions in Boston, I started wandering the countryside.  It was winter and snowy, so I figured I was probably cold and when I passed a tavern, I stopped in to warm up.  I muscled up to the bar, but no one wanted to talk to me.  I mean no one.  Weird, right?  Most games I play, I can usually throw the bartender a few gold for a drink or something.  Not in the colonies, evidently.

So I decided to go sit down at a table and listen to the music that someone was playing.  I walked by the table and moved to the chair.  Now I know I can sit on benches - I've done it before - but the best I could manage was standing on top of the chair.

I turned around to leave, but I couldn't!  I was stuck behind the stupid chair!  I finally figured out how to leave by leaping on the table and walking over it until I got to the other side.  Note to self: taverns are for chumps.


Clarity of Directions
Later, I finally tracked down a woman who really did not like me.  I mean, I don't know why she wouldn't.  I've only stalked her for miles through the snow and kept tracking her down.  And insulted her (only out of ignorance).

But finally she was okay with me enough to give me a chance.  So as we stood in the middle of the wilderness, snowcapped hills and forest all around us, she said, "Close to here, there's a hill.  Meet me there."  Then she headed off.

Really?  Close to here there's a hill?  Lady, there are four hills in my immediate field of vision.  You want to give me some more guidance than that?  If it wasn't for the tracker that popped up on my map, I'm pretty sure that would have ended poorly.

 
So my day two of Assassin's Creed went a bit better than my first day.  I am enjoying the game, but I think I'm enjoying making fun of it a little more so far.  Dan and I were talking about the beginning - he's going to be happy to stop playing the British guy and start playing the Native American character.  Personally, I love the British character.  He's got attitude, and he's proper.  It's the kind of roleplaying character I love to play.  Dan, on the other hand, doesn't like all the talking and smugness about him.  I say that's the best part.

Battle Report: Jakob Faces Zoraida's Younger Self

Dan and I went by Bill's house to do some podcasting, and afterwords we decided we'd go ahead and grab a game.  Dan played Mei Feng against Bill's daughter, Bianca, who's learning to play Colette.  Bill and I faced off on the other table.  Bill had just commented that he was undefeated against me in 2013 and I felt that simply could not stand.  So I pulled up my bag (currently filled with Ten Thunders) and tried to figure what to take.  I decided against McHammish since I've been playing him almost exclusively lately.  And I've been watching a couple other people playing Jakob lately and forgot how much fun he was.  So out Jakob came.  We decided on 35 stones and went to town.

My Crew: Ten Thunders
List: Jakob, Hungering Darkness, Beckoner x2, Stitched Together x2, 10T Archer, Wastrel (Feather), 7 stones

Strategy: Supply Wagon

Schemes: Breakthrough, Spread Brilliance (I think that's what it's called - the HD-specific one)

Since I was playing the list as a 10T list, I felt like I had to take some things that wouldn't be available to Jakob in a normal Neverborn list.  I decided on taking a Wastrel and assigning him my Breakthrough objective, and then took an Archer to make my list more Ranged than melee.  It meant I had only one dedicated-melee model (the Hungering Darkness), but I felt the Stitched Togethers might do well there too since they're short-ranged, high-damage models.

Bill's Crew: Neverborn

List: Zoraida w/ Avatar, Nekima, Terror Tot x3, Desperate Merc x2, Beckoner, 7 stones

Strategy: Claim Jump

Schemes: Kill Protege (10T Archer), Stake a Claim

Bill went with a standard Zoraida grow list.  He also hasn't played Avatar Zoraida that much, so he wanted to give her a try too.

The board was set up with several large clumps of trees and tall structures to block LOS all over the place, but then also had smaller pieces of rubble that would give people places to grab cover as they advanced.  We flipped for deployment and got Corners with Bill deploying first.  He kept his crew a bit back from the front of the corners line, making sure I couldn't reach him as fast.

I deployed my crew up front since I figured I would want to be contesting him early and try to kill off as much as I could before he was able to bring the full weight to bear against me.  I didn't have anything as long-ranged as Lure to try to disrupt the growing, but I did have the Beckoners and Archers.  Bill didn't give me much of a chance to shoot down the Desperate Mercs with how they were deployed, though.

TURN ONE - ZORAIDA INITIATIVE

This turn started out pretty standard on Bill's side with a bit of preparing to grow.  The Desperate Mercs went into Defensive Stance.  Nekima cut herself for a blood, grabbed Masks for all the Tots' spells, and slashed each Merc dropping them to 1 life left.  Both Tots hit their targets and Grew to Youngers.  Then Zoraida Obeyed one of them to Mature.

Meanwhile, my crew was advancing and grabbing cover.  I put up some fog, but not as far forward as I should have (I was playing cautiously with my Stitched, not wanting them to get cut down too fast) and Zoraida was able to drop a Voodoo Doll on one of my Beckoners.  I advanced Jakob into melee with the Beckoner so that if she activated, the only thing she could attack would be Jakob.  Not ideal, but better than having her kill off my Archer.

Near the end of the turn, Bill advanced with his Beckoner and tried to cast Come Hither on one of my Beckoners.  He passed Irresistible, and then we realized that she was flipping at a pair of (-)'s because she was Brilliant.  It resulted in a failed cast, and my realization that I needed to kill his Beckoner right quick.  Huggy moved up twice, then cast his Obey-like spell on her, forcing the Beckoner to charge Huggy, though she did not do any damage.

At the end of the turn, Huggy sapped a wound off of Bill's Beckoner.

TURN TWO - JAKOB INITIATIVE

I started with Huggy again, killing the Beckoner in a single hit, and then trying to make the lone Terror Tot who had run up last turn run towards me.  Unfortunately I was out of range and wasted my last action as I just repositioned slightly.

Zoraida Obeyed my Beckoner to attack Jakob and she hit, but I prevented the wounds meaning Jakob didn't take any poison either.  Bill finally got his first Crystal Ball off to start getting towards manifesting, though it cost him a soulstone too.  Zoraida then cast Bewitched on the Beckoner, meaning she could not cheat for the rest of the turn.

I moved my Archer forward, cast Yojiro for more damage, and Focused a shot on the Terror Tot, hitting and then cheating a Severe in to bypass the hard cover's Armor bonus and kill the Tot anyway.  He used his Voodoo Doll to Obey the Mature to charge one of my models, just working on bringing the Mature up the field and into range.  Recognizing that my crew was pretty vulnerable to a Mature's assault, I tried to figure out what to do next.  I wanted my Stitched to kill him, I think, so I had to out-activate him.  Fortunately I had the model advantage.  I activated my Voodoo-Dolled Beckoner who took two wounds and she shot the Mature, hitting to give him Brilliance and reduce his Willpower by 1.  I shot again and did another wound.

Nekima and the Younger moved up while my second Beckoner shot Nekima twice, missing both times and my Wastrel moved out to be away from where I expected the Mature to land.  I wanted to keep him alive if possible.

Sure enough, after regenerating one for being close to Nekima, the Mature charged in at one of my Stitched Togethers and triggered Knock Aside, shoving my Stitched Together back and then trying to jump on my Wastrel.  I was able to hold him in place with my Huggy and Beckoner.  He turned to attack... something else (Jakob, maybe?) and didn't do any more wounds.

Bill was out of models, so my Stitched Togethers went to work.  The first one dropped him down to 4 wounds left after building my hand a little, and then the second one dropped him to one wound left and walked away after building my hand some too.  At the end of the turn, Huggy sapped the last wound off him and the Mature died.

TURN THREE - JAKOB INITIATIVE

I was starting to get a bit confident.  I had killed off three models without taking much damage back.  Plus, I just drew the Ace of Masks and Nekima was in range of Jakob.  I flipped, won initiative, and looked over the board.  I would have to hit all three times, I figured, in order to kill her.  I had two Severes and the 1M.  Jakob activated, ditched a card for a third action and started shooting.  I had to hope my stones would push me into straight-flip range since I knew it would take all three shots to kill her.  Two soulstones, two Severe cards, and the Ace of Masks later, I killed her on the last shot, leaving Bill with Zoraida, a Younger, and a Voodoo Doll.  It wasn't looking likely that I'd get Spread Brilliance.

The Zoraida Obeyed the Younger to charge into melee with my 10T Archer.  Both of our hands were depleted a bit from the fight between Jakob and Nekima.  He was able to use a mid-ranged Mask to get Flay, but then only got Weak on the damage, dropping the Archer to 1 wound remaining.  Zoraida then turned into a Raven and flew 20" on to the Stake a Claim and Claim Jump.

I had to figure out how to kill the Younger without spilling blood onto the Archer.  My only shot I could think of was my Stitched.  I had to move up within 6", got more cards from Gambler, and then tried to Gamble My Life with him.  I hit, but didn't get to the 7 wounds I needed.  The Younger activated and locked up two points by killing the 10T Archer, then charged my Stitched for 4 wounds, hitting the Rotten Contents trigger to put a wound on Jakob, the Poisoned Beckoner, and the Younger.

My other Stitched killed the Younger, then started moving towards Bill's Deployment Zone.  With Obey as an option out there, I would need two models to lock up Breakthrough, I figured.  The Wastrel followed him on foot.

Meanwhile, the Hungering Darkness started moving towards Zoraida.  My Poisoned Beckoner dropped to 1 wound remaining and tried to shoot Zoraida, but failed.

My last Beckoner tried to Focus a shot on her, but Zoraida used a Soulstone to push the duel beyond what I could hit.  At the end of the turn, Huggy sapped a wound off the Beckoner that had one wound and two Poison on her, killing her.  Poor girl.

TURN FOUR - ZORAIDA INITIATIVE

Zoraida activated and cast Crystal Ball, using Bayou Two-Card on the 11M initiative flip to get her second use of the spell.  She then Manifested, ending up on the Stake a Claim marker, but also in melee with the Hungering Darkness.  She put up the bubble that allowed her to cycle her hand when other people cheated or used Soulstones, then zapped my Beckoner with Pins and Needles, dealing 5 wounds and 2 poison to her while filling her hand up with 5 new cards.  Her last action was to try to Obey the Beckoner.  He used a moderate Mask and then a Soulstone, but I was able to resist with my 13.

I had my whole crew left to go since the Voodoo Doll died.  Jakob moved up twice and then cast Dead Man's Hand, forcing him to drop 3 (of his 10+) cards and getting a 3, 3, 5 for myself.  Yay.  I guess.  The Hungering Darkness attacked and hit aZoradia (he was running low on soulstones and I had a hefty pile left) cutting her wounds down by a bit and giving her permanent Brilliance.  I attacked again, but he used his Soulstones to push me out of range of hitting without flipping VERY well.

Meanwhile, one of my Stitched and my Wastrel moved into Bill's deployment zone while my last Stitched, not wanting to be used against my own crew with aZoraida's uber-Obey, ran and hid behind some terrain.

TURN FIVE - JAKOB INITIATIVE

I flipped a 12 and he flipped the Black Joker for initiative.  He had one soulstone left and decided not to risk it on the Initiative here.  (Turned out to be a bad idea, since his next two cards were 13s, but who could have expected that?)

I decided to activate both Jakob and Huggy together.  Jakob charged aZoraida and Bill thought for a while as to whether this was a ploy to force him to use his last Soulstone or not.  With Huggy staring down at him, he decided to hold his soulstone for prevention flips.  Turned out it was no ploy at all as I dropped the Ace of Masks for damage, then flipped another Severe for 8 wounds.  He had five left so it meant the only prevention flip that would work was the Red Joker.  Which, of course, he was holding in his hand.  So that wouldn't help.

The game wrapped up there.  Turn six involved me grabbing the Breakthrough and we tallied points.

FINAL SCORE:
Jakob 6 (4 Supply Wagon, 0 Spread Brilliance, 2 Breakthrough)

Zoraida 2 (0 Claim Jump, 2 Kill Protege: 10T Archer, 0 Stake a Claim)

I found Spread Brilliance to be an annoying scheme to try to achieve in this game.  I couldn't keep any of his minions alive (except maybe the Beckoner) without worrying about them becoming melee beat-sticks and wrecking my crew.  I didn't have enough Control aspects of my crew to really go for keeping models alive but not contained.  So that was two lost points straight away.  If I gave Brilliance to Zoraida, she could lose it by Manifesting (unless she was close to a Beckoner, but Bill knew that and wouldn't let that happen if he felt threatened by the scheme), and I couldn't give it to a Voodoo Doll because he'd just sacrifice it to make another one.

A fun game to get back to Jakob with.  Though I used Dead Man's Hand only one turn the whole game, and he killed two models by the end of the game with his hold-out pistol (Nekima and aZoraida).  Not his normal game.  I never saw the Red Joker in my hand, but the Ace of Masks on those two turns certainly made Jakob deal more damage than I intended to this game.