The Immitation of the Sow

The first official tournament I attended this year was Boarfaux, hosted by Warboar's Paradise Bar. A fantastic venue and only really cramp because of the 30+ people that attended thus contributing to their biggest Malifaux event to date. Terrain was set up wonderfully and the T.O was clear, concise and kept players up to date with amount of time remaining. Everything you want in a tournament, casual or official.


I finished in the top ten, which is rather strange because I lost 3 games out of four... oh oh wait, had the results upside-down... I actually placed 26th. A result I'm pleased with as the talent and sportsmanship of players that attended was magnificent to say the least. It also highlighted that I need more games against the Viks and to actually study their threat range but more on that later.



I opted for Arcanists and brought with me Mei Feng and Rasputina. As usual Absolute Zero Sabrina took most of the limelight but Rail Walk Rihanna got a closing game in and played very well despite the disadvantages. Only knowing the opponent's faction means that I had to take into account that almost anything could be on the opposite side of the table, so I took the all-rounder in my stable unless Arcanist or Guild were sitting across from me.



Game 1 - Rasputina Vs Dreamer - 4-2 Loss

Standard Deployment - Guard the Stash
Convict Labour, Show of Force (Mine), Leave your Mark (Opp), Search the Ruins (Mine), A Quick Murder (Opp)


Announcing Neverborn in my meta normally means Pandy, Lily or Collodi. Lynch being mainly played Thunders together with Zoraida and Lucius being panned for being sub-par or plain boring. Imagine my surprise when Dreamer hit the table.
I've played against Dreamer exactly zero times but I know his card well enough and about his particular summoning/healing mechanic. It didn't really help in the long run but at least I wasn't clueless. As it was my first game I took: 

Rasputina w/ Armor of December, Child of December and Cold Nights (6 cache)
Joss w/ Imbued Energies
Snowstorm w/ Imbued Energies
Wendigo, Arcane Effigy, 2x Hoarcat Pride, Ice Garmin.

With a flying  summoning Dreamer and armor ignoring Teddy across from me, I knew I had a tough match ahead of me. My general plan was to have Wendigo and Raspy throw out walls to slow the advance of models drawing closer to the stash markers, if I obtain 1Vp over my opponent then all I needed was full points on schemes and I was set. Rasputina easily took Teddy down but failed to do anything of consequence for the rest of the match whilst Joss tanked hits admirably. Attempting to do the same with a Hoarcat Pride and Wendigo on the other stash marker simply wasn't working. The late game saw two damaged, reactivating Stitched Togethers Gambling for life 8 times total absolutely ruining the rest of my forces and closing the game. I scored nothing for Stash and 2Vp for Show of Force to my opponent's 2 Stash Vp and 2 Quick Murder Vp. It was brutal but at least it was a close game.

Game 2 - Rasputina vs Viks - 7-3 Loss

Flank Deployment - Squatters Rights
Convict Labour (Mine), Hunting Party (Both), Exhaust their Forces, Set Up, Undercover Entourage (Opp)

*NOTE: Not my game

If Outcasts are named, it's normally Viks, Levi or Daw. Knowing what Viks are like in competitive play, I assumed the Sisters were coming to play but for whatever reason this didn't click in my head and I failed to give the Sub Zero upgrade to anyone. Taking five damage to the face is slightly more tolerable when it ends the activation, prevents  Whirlwind and leaves a master that spent the turn buffed to the teeth in the clutches of frosty death. Sadly, as I don't use the upgrade nearly as much as I realistically should, I opted instead for:

Rasputina w/ Armor of December, Child of December, December's Pawn, Decoy (6 Cache)
Snowstorm w/ Imbued Protection, Decoy
Blessed of December w/ Killswitch
Wendigo, 2x Hoarcat Pride, Ronin

In hindsight, ditching the cats and Imbued Protection for a pair of Silent One and Sub Zero would have proven better in the long run but I have a weakness for the felines, something I need to plan a use for rather than starting every ARC list with "Two Hoarcat Prides with...".
The game started well enough, the Viks were being cagey for the early game which didn't help me out as my models were behind blocking terrain on brown alert waiting for the

impending beatdown. Wendigo and Hoarcat Pride took early Squat markers but then I just couldn't catch a break. Turn two my opponent brazenly puts the Viks out into the open on the last activation so turn 3 came down to Rasputina destoying her or the Viks killing Snowstorm and Ronin then tying up Rasputina. Initiative comes and he flips a face card....Kay.
I struggled for the rest of the game, the Blessed, bless her heart, failed to place enough markers for Convict Labour so tried to zero in on the Malifaux Child, needing only one hit to kill him scoring at least one point for Hunting Party, first attack wiffs and the second misses the trigger leaving the Child with wounds to spare. My opponent takes this time to walk Vik of Ashes over to my deployment and then uses the Malifaux Child to heal up to full with a top-decked 7 of Rams into a Red Joker heal. Blessed gets killed revealing Killswitch finishing off the child and at least scoring something. Final results, I only got 2 Squatter's Vp due to my crew being murderized, 1Vp for Hunting Party to my opponent's 3Vp in Squatters, 1Vp in Hunting Party (surprisingly) and full points for Entourage.

Game 3 - Rasputina vs Viks - 7-4 Win

Standard Deployment - Headhunter
Convict Labour, Take Prisoner (Opp, Silent One), Leave your Mark (Mine), Neutralize the Leader (Both), Public Demonstration

Outcasts again and again suspected the Viks and AGAIN didn't think Sub Zero was a good idea. With how much fun I found Blessed in the new Gaining Grounds schemes, I thought she would have the task of either backfield shenanigans or at least pick up some discarded heads. My list was as follows:

Rasputina w/ Arcane Reservoir, Armor of December, Child of December
Blessed of December w/ Imbued Energies
The Firestarter, Snowstorm, Silent One, Hoarcat Pride, Wendigo

With how often the Viks fail to kill important targets in one swing (which I say is outright strange) some healing was in order and after the beating I took last game, I thought it prudent to at least give the Viks a means to get distracted by some terrain hopping firethrower guy alongside a spattering of Silent One healing. In that beloved hindsight, I could have taken almost ANYONE ELSE instead of a Hoarcat Pride and Wendigo as they did nothing this game. The game once again started cagey as I was hiding and my opponent was hiding whilst getting into range. Blessed leapt up the board to start leaving marks everywhere whilst I was hoping and failing to bait out one of the sisters with a tasty hoarcat. The reckless Firestarter jumped out, gave the Vik of Blood Burning +4 then dived back behind cover only to be reminded that Viks have like 60" threat range and was beaten to a pulp by Ashes. Next turn Blood wisely flanked the Hoarcats and went straight into Snowstorm who was hanging out playing cards with Silent One. With Arcane Reservoir  and some dead lucky top decking and soulstoning, Snowstorm survived only taking 4 wounds. Silent one attacked the Vik for weak damage and got off her healing trigger then healed SS 2 wounds bringing him back to full.

Rasputina then unloaded Frozen Hell into the melee and finished off Blood leaving S'torm and 'One on a single wound each; something my opponent said afterwards that he never expected me to do, which is why he was so brazen. Ashes seeing her chance, rushes in and kills Snowstorm forgetting that Storm explodes after death, damaging Ashes and killing off Silent One, heads falling everywhere like a pinata victory. Rasputina finishes the job and pushes to pick a head up. Thus after the upkeep of final turn head collection I scored 2vp for Headhunter, 2Vp for Leave your Mark, and full Vp for Newt Leader. My opponent scored 3Vp for Headhunter but only managing to score 1Vp for Neutralize.

Game 4 - Mei Feng vs Seamus - 9-6 Loss

Flank Deployment - Reconnoiter
Convict Labour, Hunting Party (Opp), Exhaust their Forces (Mine), Covert Breakthrough (Both), Occupy their Turf

Haven't had much experience vs Seamus either, but again his gun, teleporting and belle summoning are well known. I decided on Mei Feng if only because I wanted a game with her rather than choosing the right master. Mei Feng is well documented in being bad at summoning Recon but with Breakthrough and Exhaust on the table, I presumed I could at least get 6 points. The list:

Mei Feng w/ Seismic Claws, Imbued Energies, Imbued Protection (5 cache)
Blessed of December w/ Imbued Energies
Howard Langston w/ Imbued Energies
2x Fire Garmin, 2x Hoarcat Pride

I really need to find an alternative to the cats. Either way, the game was a great back-and-forth with every turn after the first being a chess game of activation control and Reconnoiter denial. I managed to deny my opponent the first recon point but failed to grab any myself and the rest of the game his models were either exactly where they needed to be or Slow Belles were summoned to walk over the thresholds. Whilst I did a great job at Exhausting and laying scheme markers down, so was my opponent in killing my Cats and Garmin and laying his own markers. I wouldn't ever call it a close game but it was a great end to a day of Malifaux goodness.

The day as a whole was incredibly enjoyable and facing new opponents and new masters is always welcome in my casual eyes. Dreamer is an absolute blast to play against and Seamus is such a tricky bugger that you never know where a game is going to take you when he's across the table from you. Facing the Viks twice in a row was harsh but it was a arse-kicking reminder that I should learn their threat ranges and (If playing the Rasmus) bring along Sub Zero when I'm facing Outcasts. I spent the majority of the early game activating and passing the turn because of the Viks reputation rather than what was actually on the board and that obviously doesn't help me win games.

Rasputina played a healthy game of Malifaux and I was glad to bring her along to her first tournament. I feel had I not been on brown alert all game against good Vik players, she would have easily brought me more victory points. Mei Feng, despite me dropping her AGAIN into a Recon game vs Summoning, completely smashed the scheme pool and if I had more knowledge of threat ranges, could have easily gone toe-to-toe with the Viks or at least Soulstone Prevention-Leapt Aside to score more Vp than I did.

More knowledge to bring to the next event. Keep aiming for the stars and have fun out there.

Joden is in a Stable Relationship

After fixed master events, you tend to run into the problem that the master you chose kinda sorta gets killed on certain tables. It's nothing new but in these situations the Perdita's, the Levi's, the Lilith's and others get called OP or "Beginner mode" masters simply because their presence on a board requires an action that they are (mostly) very well defended against regardless of the scheme or strategy. Lilith and her crew doesn't NEED to be killed in Squatters Rights but when the Waldgeists have severe soft cover near Lili's dense severe soft cover on top of Squat markers, that whenever you get near or in, Nephilim keep pushing you out of, you sort of have to answer the question which that master is proposing:

Misaki in Growfaux did remarkably well as a whole. Having a master so dedicated to two things: Movement and Death, means that the only weakness she has is bad positioning, which to be fair, I'm quite proficient at. At the same time though, she was very basic. 
Her main theme seems to be having a lack of soulstones and more crew options because of it. Sadly, my Ten Thunders collection is lacking in any sort of defenses or ability to deal that mad damage yo. So when Misaki or Mei Feng take the wheel, they are wholesomely the center of my crew's damage potential, which means even when the heavy hitters: Izamu, Rail Workers, Torakage etc etc get to where they need to be, they are taken out with relative ease and then the master has to charge in anyway. At some point, buying the Dark Debts box for Illuminated, buying the tag-team of Mr Tannen and Mr Graves, then buying the Temple of Dawn box for Sensei Yu and hoping and praying for Ten Thunder's Brothers to come out in plastic means to extend my options in Ten Thunders would take a fairly large chunk out of my wage packet to play Master's that are fun but I have tremendous trouble winning even games with.

Really though, what this event has shown me is that I am so very tired of bad match ups that I bring onto myself. I've tried the single master ideology and it sort of worked with Yan Lo.
Forcing myself to take on every challenge as the underdog; it was with the goal in mind to find a way to make Yan Lo work and in essence I achieved that and gave a more narrowed focus on what his strengths and weaknesses are. With Mei on the other hand, I already know what she does well and what she doesn't so I'm not learning her so much more that I'm re-defining my own tactics that I bring to the table with any master. Simply having one master to bring to a game means I need to have a master who is a good all-rounder to avoid that bad match up occurrence, staying with a single crew leader is normally to my disadvantage and this fact is cemented even more so with the advent of Gaining Grounds 2016's scheme pool.

Mei Feng is primarily good at two things, defending her crew from ranged threats and chip damage in melee. Her secondary role being mobility and displacing enemy models yet so far, with a well distributed terrain layout, most of the time she's forcefully planting her limbs across a targets vital organs whilst they lean against a wall. With Vent Steam, whilst it's a great deterrent, the moment a model comes within charge range, it's up to those models to either deal with the threat or have Mei Feng rush into melee thus moving her away from the ideal location to put up the steam and many players know this to be the case. Sure they'll take a whole bunch of damage but they've traded one model to put the crosshairs on the rest of my crew. Ten Thunders Mei has Yamaziko to lead a hand for this, Feng Venting and Yama bracing, protecting each other's weaknesses but outside of Captain pushes, Arcanist lack a way to deter charges other than with the reply of the 5 point palm exploding heart technique.
It's a balancing act.

Reading back on past posts, you know who gets mentioned the most? Ironsides and Rasputina, more than likely due to those being the masters I played a lot with before Yan Lo but all the more because the high points of my time in Malifaux have these two masters kicking bottom and taking no notice of names (whilst being out of gum...). I had loads of fun with them and really wish I could have them back in the limelight.

Now I could start playing purely Ironsides or purely Rasputina but quite frankly, I've grown tired of the aforementioned bad match-ups. Those games where I've chosen my master beforehand and then you flip those strategies and those schemes and voila! Before the game has began I've already lost 4Vp. Negativity aside, having a well-rounded stable of Masters, in this case The Defensive Mei Feng, the Offensive Rasputina and the Stasis Ironsides, stops poor match-ups from happening as frequently. It means I only have my own skill to comment on when it comes to victories or defeats as I'm wiry of saying "Welp <Master> is no good in this game". 
If I get my face kicked in, I don't wanna be the guy who laments on what could of been if I had only brought <list of models> instead. 
Being able instead to say "I'm bringing this master and these models because they have the greatest chance of winning" is more logical to me than "Well I've made my choice, I'd better place my head on this grindstone". If I were to face Molly again, would I bring a master who struggles against one wound models or do I bring a master who is immune to black blood and can handle a crowd. If I were playing Turf War with Deliver the Message and Distract on the table would I bring a Melee threat or keep everyone dead at range? If I'm playing Squatters against a superior ranged opponent am I going to use models that have a hard time against that or bring a master who can protect them from it? Logically speaking, why would I gimp myself just to remind myself that in bad match-ups, a particular master is bad? I already knew they were! A player gains no further knowledge by repeating the exact same action again and again and expecting a different outcome. 

Have I ever told you the definition of using only one master?

Toni and Rasputina have their fair share of weaknesses like Mei Feng as well to be sure.
Ironsides hates schemes where the opponent benefits from the master staying in one place and any amount of pushes are her bane as it means her well crafted Death Metal Mosh Pit turns into a quiet sunday Pub Lunch. If Toni can't tarpit, she can't get Adrenaline and then she's "simply" a taunt/luring master. This does mean the opponent has to deal with Toni in order to effectively do anything within a 24" inch diameter bubble that isn't attacking Toni but she's happiest when she has 3 models in the thick of combat and kicking absolute royal behind.

Rasputina is harder to talk about when it comes to weaknesses as I've played her enough to circumvent her most well known ones. Melee is nothing to be feared when Snowstorm or Armor of December can be used to righteously punish a would-be attacker after sub-zero shuts them down. Engaging her Ice Mirrors is also well known but I personally don't rely on mirrors for this very reason, I keep my plans to 12" range and expect the added 10" only as a bonus. Range attacks and de-buff auras are a problem but that's where the Ice Pillars come in or keep in mind that the typical range of these threats are also 12" so the Raspmas can still attack back.

This is hard. Back in the day all the above really bothered me but, as above, I "fixed" them so they were more manageable. Okay, try-over, lets start again:
Summoning that aren't cluster summons can really drain Rasputina's killing potential, as at least 3/4's of the time, it's a toolbox summon and spending even 2Ap dealing with them is beneficial to my opponent's single Ap to summon it. If my opponent is able to summon an "effect when model dies" or 3" de-buff aura next to Rasputina, that pretty much end's her as they're no longer attempting to tar-pit 'Tina or using melee attacks against her. Willpower spam she also has a hard time with as if Counterspell isn't helping, it takes it toll.
Summoning and auras there we go, they're weaknesses. Moving on.

So far as Mei Feng goes, I see her more as a defensive master so if I'm facing guild for instance, Feng will likely appear if I feel Rapsy and Toni can't deal with the damage output. Vent Steam x2 is tricky to get through for anybody at range and so long as I don't stand in one place all game in the cage of hands I've created myself, I would at least have a chance. Mei Feng can and has dealt with a whole range of non-armored foes but if she can deal with them, Rasputina and Ironsides can do so better.

It's easy to see Rasputina as an all-rounder but Ironsides is better at pure shut down and out of the three it's clear to see that Feng has the best crew shield. If 'Tina kills a Crooligan after it's dropped it's breakthrough markers, it will take a whole lot of Ap to pick that one marker up. If on the other hand Toni has charged it head-on or taunt/lured it before that time, she has successfully shut that model down from doing it's job. Facing a marker-summoner? The summoner in question will love it if you killed that 4ss model so they can summon that 8ss model from it. Toni will hold them in place without necessarily killing them having the summoner provide their own rather than saying "Thanks for the easy summon mate". If I'm facing that wall of gunfire and casting though, Feng steps in and makes card flipping that much harder, as well as being able to scout the board once the pieces are in place. In essence all masters covering for the other's weaknesses, like a good stable should.

Time will tell how successful I am. Keep those tactics sharp and have fun out there.

What's in the box!!? - Arcanist Mei Feng

Mills, you look a little different...

New master, new box contents. Arcanist Feng is a completely different beast to Yan Lo, swapping out sheer durability and a static web a models for a more spread out team of scheme runners, solo beat sticks and a heap of burning to take advantage of. Lets go to check out the Rail system.

Mei Feng - Mei Feng actually has a number of choices when it comes to upgrade selection, the only auto-include is Seismic Claws for that sweet sweet combo action, then a (not very) tough choice of whether or not to use Arcane Reservoir; after that it's up to my opponent. If I suspect they're playing with incorporeal or ranged game, Vapormancy is a must and with the Vent Steam trigger making Ca & Sh actions that much harder. Marker manipulation? Thunderous Smash can lead a hand, deleting with ease all common markers, if it's a more lower end defense crew I'm facing, Price of Progress or Recharge Soulstone to take advantage of the situation and of course, the ever-present Instill Energy if I need a even more Ap. Lots of options but it makes for crucial decisions during the list building step, I can't take upgrades for the fun of it then find out they aren't being used whatsoever.

Emberling - Unlike push totems, Emberling won't feature in every list but as a Wk5 significant Incorporeal 3ss model, it has merit to scheme run if necessary. Depending on my opponent's models and their damage output, I could charge into a model (10" threat range) lay 0-4 burning on it then have Feng join in and get her +damage flip against them without having to spend her own trigger, end of turn via Stoke the Flames the burning deals damage and doesn't fall off.
Amazing if this actually happened but it's nice to think about if the situation comes up.
His Cool Down ability is far too costly but it's worth a blind flip if there's nothing else to do.

Kang - A model with mixed reactions. He is a tank to take down and hit's like one too but damn is he slow with average threat range and head of the Wk4 club. His Rousing Speech and The Worker's Champion buffs are the main reason I would take him, against horror duels, undead or constructs he's turns the regular model into a real threat... if he could just get up the board, which is why I take...

The Captain - If there's one crutch I have in Arcanists, it's this guy. Being able to increase my deployment zone by 5" for up to three models and generally assisting models afterwards makes The Captain a hard cut. If I'm already filling my ranks with 10ss-12ss he can stay at home but if I require speed over brawn, The Captain w/ Patron's Blessing is at my side.

Joss - Playing Arcanists? Give me two good reasons why you aren't packing Joss. He's got decent defenses, one of which grants him reactivate, an Axe which ignores all common barriers and a (2) action God Punch with 5/8/10 damage  that can paralyze and can turn dead targets into Mei Feng bounce pads (as well as being one himself). Such a good model and a hard cut when he doesn't fit a list (for some strange reason).

Howard Langston - Psst, if Frame for Murder is in the pool and I've hired Howard, he's the guy you have to kill to give me 2 or 3 vp. Tell no one.
Hank is unfortunately the model that does a lot but never survives the game. In the past I've used him as a scheme runner, as who the heck is going to mess with him but that's 12ss/13ss for a job that could be done by a model who's a third less expensive. Not this time round.
Terrifying (Living) 12 and Armor +1 are not wonderful buffers against an average def/wp but Nimble with Flurry are evil and having an easy Decapitate trigger going off with those three attacks is a model killer right there. In the future I need to pick and choose my targets and avoid using a quarter of my list as one scheme runner.

December Acolyte - From the Shadows with the ability to slow models and force discards is the primary reason I love bringing these guys so much. Their Smell Weakness is situational as if the Acolyte is on the table they are a massive target but when it comes into play against a target already in combat it turns that difficult to end model into a plate of instant mash potato. Lacks any synergy with Feng out of weakness smelling but when it offers this much to a crew, it doesn't need any.
Psst also a Frame for Murder choice...

Metal Garmin - Ouch These guys took a beating with errata, nonetheless, against a crew that can't deal with armor these guys can hold the fort quite well and against constructs they provide a basically unbeatable 2 damage snipe attack through Magnetism (16" - 24" threat range). One of the most famous members of the Wk4 clubhouse, so again, it limits my choices when list-building. They've changed from an auto-include to a defensive model protector and that's fine, their job has changed drastically yes but they still have a place in my lists and for rail-walking purposes they're golden.

Take it away!

Moleman - What another non-construct!?
I like Molemen for their sheer fanatical dedication to solely one thing: The Mole Train! A pair of leap-frogging Molemen can cover a field in scheme markers and only long ranged armor busters can deal with it. Keep them out of the action and watch the markers hit the floor. Only really helpful for Breakthrough, Plant Explosive/Evidence and Protect Territory though, otherwise they do 8ss worth of nothing. 

The Firestarter - His (most of the time) 3Ap and Flight makes him wonderfully mobile and if I really need an activated non-armored target to die at the end of the turn, pouring some tomes and soulstones on a model can almost always place a death mark on a model in question. Very fragile so I have to ensure he stays out of the way otherwise but for Vp gaining, this guy is a fantastic all-rounder for Arcanists.

Coryphee - The Coryphee's movement is ridiculous. As scheme runners and sometimes more importantly: Scheme hunters, you can't ask for a faster model, this speed with their native +flips to their def6 with Armor makes them hard to take down in one hit and so long as they aren't in the thick of things, they do their intended role perfectly. This is to say nothing about the complete absurdity that is the Coryphee Duet but sometimes a 14ss model is a lot to ask out of a list unless it's going to win this game all by itself.

Gunsmith - With all this burning going around, the Gunsmiths have a field day of triggers, random as they may be and also the heavily overlooked defense from those same burning models. Successfully ignite a model and the Gunsmiths are shooting better at it and have double +flips to any retaliation against them, which normally gives Smiths Fast or piles on more burning. Having some more anti-armor/HTK tech to go alongside Joss is icing on the cake.

Mechanical Rider - Sometimes you just want marker based schemes won. Pro-terri, Breakthrough, Power Ritual, both Plants, you just want to say "Yes I've won them" and Mech Rider has a high chance of doing just that. With the new errata on Metal Garmin you can even summon more than one thing now, giving it much more options. Just gotta keep it out of the limelight until turn 3, otherwise it goes down pretty darn easily.

Johan - Condition removal is big, being able to end ALL of them from a 10" range is even better. A 4+ of rams isn't guaranteed every turn but it's a least a decent probability so if my models are rooted, poisoned, etc etc the M&SU Merc has my back. A member of the Wk4 club so it does limit my options if I require Johan but with Finish the Job, a Relic hammer and flurry so long as he's where he needs to be, he hits hard. 

Blessed of December - When possible, I always bring a leaping model in the box purely for times when Stake a Claim rears it's head or my regular scheme runners are likely to have their armor ignored. The shields to her wounds are almost non-existent but if needed she has a pretty mean attack that can heal so for backfield purposes she performs well.

Fire Garmin - Cheap, ranged burning with a melee that gives burning and a def trigger that gives burning and upon death, gives burning...
Damage is sub-standard but the Garmin aren't here for damage, they are here to set up the rest of the crew for burning goodness.

Wille - I have to be honest, I've never had luck with Wille the Demo man but that was due to who I was throwing him up against. Ideally I want him going against def5 or armored targets, as anyone else sort of chuckles at Wille's attempts at offense. His LOS ignoring attack Demo Charge is fine but going down to Sh4 kills it unless it's the very last activation or I just want to plink some cards out of the opponent's hand. Ranged attacks also drop him so he's going to be bunkered down at Sh4 anyway. sigh I want to try him out as the times I have seen across from me he's made an impact in the game so I think he just needs the right table.

Can't stay long, Mills says there's a club he wants to take me to, says he can't talk about it though. 

Have fun out there.

Derailed - Improvement Works may Delay this Journey

Out of all the base strategies, Reconnoiter is my absolute favorite to play.
Turf War is a rush to the 6" outskirts to then do the old west shoot-out, Reckoning is dull when killing dudes was what folks were planning on doing anyway, Stake a Claim comes up very rarely and when it does it turns into Insanity Breakthrough and Squatter's Rights? Actually I really enjoy Squatter's Rights as well, I'm just not very good at it.

Reconnoiter simply excels at giving me everything I want in a game. Model positioning, being aware of every model in the game and thinking about what actions to take based on the enemies own movements. Reckoning and Turf War? It's a clash in the middle whilst scheme runners are praying no one takes heed of them whilst Squatters, despite my enjoyment of it regardless, is much the same: Run the center line, split some wigs.
Recon on the other hand turns the game into a tense battle of wits as melee and ranged attack actions carry very real weight when it comes to turn end to tally up table quarters. It's a great kind of tension when you think you've got it all worked out then realized all too late you've got yourself a model standing on a quarter line or the dead zone with nothing to show for it. Rasputina is a straight-up cold-hearted killer in Recon and Ironsides is a Super Massive Black Hole of split lips and bruised bones that no-one can escape. If I had a choice, Recon Corner deployment every time.

Mei Feng, when it comes down to it, is pretty much a good all-rounder in either Ten Thunders or Arcanists when it comes to strategies. She has decent killing potential and given correct positioning can really lay on the death of a thousand fists when required. She's also mobile enough to be where you need her to be. In Quarters Control she can move to different zones with ease and ensure that each zone is taken care of.

That is until summoners start playing ball in her court.

In West Philadelphia, Undead I raised...

I've never gotten on with Summoners. Perhaps it just isn't my style of play but having a group of models hired solely to bring other models into play seems backwards when you can  hire those very same models at the start and avoid all the faff. That said I have seen first hand what well played summoners can do to a game state, be it weight of numbers or having the right tool for the job for the price of a card (and possibly a Stone). Being able to out-activate an opponent early or mid-game is something no-one should ever dismiss as an advantage, having that same advantage pop up where you really don't need a model popping up, blocking charge lanes and LOS, is the reason why I respect Summoners but also loathe to play against them or with them. I have enough experience using cards effectively in a normal crew but adding in the typically high cost of summoning and spending 2-3 model's activations to do it, I could see myself with 2 great models on board but with no control hand to keep them alive.

Having models bamf in where ever their master wants is obviously a hugely effective tool to have in Recon, in the past, the golden olden days, back in my time, back when I was your age in the yesteryear, before your time, this didn't pose as much as a problem as it does in my modern malifaux, ya gosh-darn young people. Playing blast masters or masters that can lure/change positions of other models means that so long as the death count remains high, I was staying level with each play without going on the backpedal too often. A summoner would summon and I would either kill them dead or place them in a zone that wouldn't score any additional points.

Arcanist Mei Feng cannot do this.

Oh she can get to neighboring zones and layth down the smackth-down, which is fine against non-summoners in Reconnoiter games but the moment the bodies that hit the floor rebound back up like Sir Edwardo Mole-De-Whack, she can't keep up the pace. This isn't so much a weakness in Mei Feng being able to drop models, she can, it's the way she goes about it. Yes I'm throwing out 3x the Ap but that's 3x the amount of chances to get a bad flip I need to cheat or begging the black joker to rear it's head. When Feng zeros in on a model that needs to fly heavenward, she does so by Kensiro's Hundred Crack Fist rather than One Punch Man's...err, Punch. When the dust settles and that beating is replied with "I summon in a new dude" Mei Feng is sent back to square one with less cards and less soulstones. At this juncture she's regulated to Enforcer status for all the good her combination attacks do for the game as a whole and her crew has to do what they were doing anyway, but without a master.


As I've repeated many times, focusing on a single master will result in these things happening, I wouldn't bring Yan Lo to a game against Armor or pushes, I wouldn't bring Mei Feng to a summoning Recon unless they are the only master in my box and I'm knuckling down and rolling with the wave.

I had a grudge match against Mollusq earlier this week. He too has been focusing on one master: Collodi; if you check out his youtube channel you will see a similar story of making mistakes, experimenting with models and upgrades and generally becoming better through those trials and errors. Right now, he is a BEAST with Collodi and if at any point you happen to have a match against him, he will give you an amazing game with the sportsmanship and laughs you expect from a tabletop gamer. He and I first met in a hardcore henchman event and have fought once before when I was playing Yan Lo. Our match this time was:

Reconnoiter w/
A Line in the Sand (Myself, declared)
Protect Territory (Both, declared)
Distract (Mollusq)
Assassinate
Murder Protege

Full report here

My list was:
Mei Feng w/ Seismic Claws, Arcane Reservoir and Imbued Energies
In retrospect, I should have taken Thunderous Smash over Imbued Energies but at the time there was only one main marker based scheme. Looking back, being able to delete those scrap markers Collodi was summoning from would have been a boon. I live and learn.

Emberling
3ss incorporeal scheme runner, basically as a body who could run up to the center line and take more than one hit.

2x Coryphee
Speed and killing potential against a crew that doesn't have anti-armor was my idea here.

2x Fire Garmin
Wk5 and a good shooting action giving me some range and burning if needed

2X Metal Garmin
I knew I was facing constructs and against those same automatons, Metal Garmin are golden. They may have been nurfed but Magnetism cannot be ignored when your facing 4Wd puppets.

2x Mole Men
With my choice of schemes, I decided that littering the field with markers would help. Looking back now, the terrain wasn't on my side and the Mole Train is better suited for Plant Evidence and Breakthrough rather than Pro-Terri and LITS.

I was going for weight of numbers. In hindsight, with the speed of the Coryphee and long range magnetism of the Metal Garmin, I should have taken Murder Protege and taken out his own Coryphee with ease scoring full points by as early as turn 2 and as you see from Mollusq's bat rep, Distract would have been at the very least Zero sum had I taken it. At that point I could have focused on either a draw game or at least walking models into scoring zones and going defensive.
The thing is, my game plan in Recon (and one I now know is losing me more games than it's winning) is to be more defensive and force my opponent to over-extend to deal with my models, thus why I chose two schemes that didn't force me to interact with the enemy or go much past the center line. Which was a super massive mistake that leads to, at best draw games, or at worst, allowing my opponent to focus on a mere percentage of my crew rather than all of it.

Onto the game, I'll allow my opponents Bat rep to speak for the highlights but as for why I was doing what I was doing, well:

* The Coryphee were supposed to make a break for the center and drop a scheme marker then pair up and cause general mayhem, what actually happened was one getting too close to the Collodi fire and, not wanting to lose the capacity to obtain the duet, made me panic and pair them up earlier than intended. I then wasted all potential they had by hiding some more, getting distracted, removing it and then running to the hills. 3 turns of doing nothing with a 14ss model! It's lucky I'm not getting paid to be this dumb. Fear is the mind-killer ladies and gents. Had I had more faith in their survival due to high armor and auto-focus defensive I would have played them better, OR had them never pair up at all and do what they needed to individually. I've played the Coryphee about 5 times by this point and I seriously need to learn to use them properly.

*The Molemen ideally would have jumped from the spot they were shown to be stuck in and leap-frogged across the centerline. Even now, this was a terrible idea, the terrain sucked for this and doubly stupid of me since I was the one who set up the terrain prior to this game! Instead they were stuck in place and spent the game attacking (why?) then running away much too late to be of any use basically giving away distract points as they stood there removing it and getting re-distracted...

*Mei Feng herself, quite frankly did not have a plan for Mei Feng. With Mollusq placing models with keen-eyed perfection I couldn't get any decent combos off and pretty much spent the whole game with Feng trying in vain to swat away at high wound models that weren't interacting with my models. Had I taken Assassinate and more than two Metal Garmin, I could have at least focused on Collodi and stopped the summoning machine but even with getting him down to 2 Wds by end game, it was hard work. Had I been more conservative with Mei Feng I could have leaded a hand in removing the Effigies from the Molemen, freeing them up to do what I intended them to do or at the very least ignored Distract and entered each turn with full Ap.

Distract was the main Faux-Pas this game for me and a massive lesson in what it does. Mollusq played it was ease knowing that his numerous, hard to take out in one hit puppets (with Fast) would be in, or get into, combat to hand it out. It shut down two TWO 3Ap models because I was desperately trying to win both LITS and remain competitive in table quarters but alas the plate balancing fell to the ground with an audible shatter. Taking it myself would have lead to either himself doing what I did (spending 2ap taking it off) or ignoring it resulting in Zero Sum allowing me to focus on the other 7Vp.

Line in the Sand I've learned from now on to not be so hasty to take just because it's there. It's been a critical reason for defeat in both of my games with Mollusq and a massive drain on resources when I have won it. 2ap max if un-revealed with FOUR markers down in a very narrow space, 1ap if revealed and I happen to only have two markers. It takes a lot of work and unless I have Wk6 standard across 4 models and they are hardy enough to kill whatever comes near (essentially removing them from the game), it's all too easy end game for an opposing model to stroll over and pick ONE up to take away 2vp. Let's assume the Mole Train had delivered it's scheme marker cargo across the centerline for example. How hard would it have been for a Marionette to walk over and pick exactly one undefended scheme marker up? Not very hard at all really. Thus spending a whole game to earn 1Vp. I have to ban myself from ever choosing it again at this rate, Killing a master is easier!

I digress, it was a great game as so long as I learn from these silly mistakes and make my game better from it, I will benefit greatly from these crushing defeats and come back stronger so long as I remember these lessons. 

Time to get this train back on the tracks and repair those dud rails. Have fun out there. 

Getting back on Track

Whenever I started a master back in the early days of playing Malifaux, I had either the greatest beginner's luck or some sort of conspiracy was going on. My demo game with Ms Rasputina I ended up winning, my first game with Mei Feng I won and even "low tier" masters like Ironsides and Yan Lo I won my first games with. Ramos.... well I don't talk about my two games with Ramos. Safe to say, bringing a master I knew nothing about to a fixed faction tournament just because "Ramos is good at Reconnoiter and Squatters rights" was not one of my brightest moments.

Mei Feng I had early success with primarily due to my pendant for rushing into things and hitting the killswitch, a common affliction of Malifaux beginners. I was facing a lot of construct lists back then so with Metal Garmin magnetizing, Kang buffing and Rail workers discarding for 2 focus attacks it really put all of Feng's strengths into the spotlight. Then, shortly afterwards I faced a non-construct, non-undead list and got my face crushed. Turns out a slow crew with no range doesn't support Mei Feng as much as I would like and whilst Feng still rattled off her 5-9 combat Ap no problem, the moment her activation was over my opponent could rest easy and spend the rest of the turn earning Vp and making a joke out of my slow models feeble attempts at Vp denial. After 6 games of "not getting" Mei Feng I dropped her and moved on.

Looking back, I can see why I struggled, my list building was less to do with what schemes were on the board and more focused on the the Rail Network Boss getting off a 2-jump rail walk from constructs and pile into combat with Jackhammer Kick . Lists would include Metal Garmin, Kang, Rail Workers and Joss as default regardless of if I was playing Turf war or Reckoning then pure constructs afterward. Deployment was a central cluster of models and first turns consisted of double walking the faster models, single walking the slower ones and early turn 2 making sure this chain of models 6" apart was heading towards the nearest enemy model so Mei Feng could jump into combat and start doing her groove thang. Sadly this tactic means spending 45 soulstones to get Mei Feng into melee with hopes the opponent throws every model in their crew at her whilst simultaneously missing. This while her constructs stood around in awe literally chained up ready to be used as sonic the hedgehog bouncepads for Mei feng to escape or find another enemy model.

It was fun though I won't lie, combo master Mei Feng leads to commentary like: 
(1st Ap): Crack Imbued Energies - Railwalker - Railwalker - Jackhammer kick - Thunderous smash. 
(2nd & 3rd Ap): Charge - Tiger claws - Superheated - Tiger claws - Tremors - Tiger claws - Jackhammer kick - Vent steam. 
(4th Ap): Tiger claws - Jackhammer kick - Vent Steam.

And I'm spent

Three times the Ap? It's joyfully ridiculous and in that time Feng has practically moved over the whole board in an angry storm of asskicking but once that was over, I was down 5 cards and 4 soul stones leaving the rest of my crew to flail pathetically at whoever was missed during the Murder Train rampage. In focusing so much on creating as many combos as possible with Mei I was trading her whole crew just to rattle off a tremendous amount of AP. Killing one model dead or wounding 2 or 3 and using your whole hand to do it should result in Vp gain or stopping the opponents, it's simply a waste otherwise. Other models in Arcanist can do that sort of damage with 2Ap, so why use your master to do what a henchman or enforcer can do better?

The obvious question arises at this point, If a Henchman or Enforcer can kill models with less Ap, why use Mei Feng at all? Because killing models isn't Feng's only trick. Yes she has triggers for days but she can also defend the very same crew with Vent Steam, making sure those killy models or those scheme runners get to where they need to be A simple but hugely effective skill which allows her whole crew to score those Pointus Victorius. She also has wicked range to pull off attacks, a Railwalker into Jackhammer Kick alone can throw her 12" across the board for 1ap. It's impressive.

My recent games have taught me about waiting for a moment. It's all too tempting to rush in like the days of old but something clicked in my modern games, Mei Feng can hold back without wasting time and more than likely, is saving my crew by doing so. My first step back into the Rail Yard was against Resurrectionist McMourning who was utilizing Moonlighting and Spare Parts to fill up the board as well as Transfusion with Nurses and Mortimer to create poison bombs with Expunge. With how ultimately fragile Mei Feng is having only def6 and a decent defense trigger (if you have the high cards for it) it would have been lackluster to rush in and try to take down 'Mourning unless it would result in his death. So early turns were focused on scheme running and protecting those scheme runners with the help of Vent Steam. Turns 3 and 4 I turned my efforts in fishing out the Bodyguard targets and this is where Mei Feng really shined.

I lit up as many targets I could with Fire Garmin, targeting the lower of the defenses and then sent in Boss Lady Feng. 10" threat range gets you places and managing to find two henchman/enforcers near a wall meant I was able to string together far too many attacks with a positive flip to damage. By the middle of turn 4, there wasn't any Enforcers or Henchmen left on the table and forced my opponent to send in the doctor to eliminate the infection to his crew. This let my scheme running Mole Train and Coryphee Duet skip around backfield winning me Victory points whilst a 3ap Firestarter stayed well out the way and hid past centerline scoring my own bodyguard.

Without context this sounds like the rushing in of old, but yet this time it was for the benefit of the game rather than doing it "jus cos". Denying my opponent Bodyguard by surgically removing all possible/likely targets both stopped them from gaining their own Vp and Zero Sum wise put me 3 points above my opponent. If I had jumped in earlier, as well as not being able to take advantage of the targets new positions, it would have meant Vent steam wasn't in place that protected my crew from the mid-range poison threat my opponent had. Binding my time also made it possible to move Feng up slowly and get into that threat range without sending in a construct to Railwalk into. Less Railwalker, more damage-per-Ap. In this regard Mei Feng worked brilliantly.

On a side note, Firestarter has really surprised me. On paper he does nothing with 3Ap yet being able to throw out 2-5 burning on targets and generally stay out of the way for the cost of a wound was the reason I was so easily able to control the field, it helps to plan ahead but having the knowledge of "yes that model is dead by the end of turn" seriously helped my game plan out. Definitely a worthy consideration for future lists, although I lucked out these games as Firestarter as Bodyguard is very very risky to attempt to score full Vp with.

Out of the three games against the fine doctor, I won by 8-7 in both Reckoning and Turf and lost wholesale in the third losing 10-2.

The third game was Recon and against a summoner, I had no problem with the summons in the last two games because weight of models weren't scoring any more points than mine, this game, they were. My opponent by now had realized that Johan IS that damn good and poisoned the ever-loving hell out of him as soon as he could turning the merc into a Guild Hound. Mei Feng lasted until turn four attempting to quell the riot thinking Lady Ironsides made it look easy but ultimately ate 18 poison and turned into a Flesh Construct. With poison everywhere and Guild Hounds, Flesh Constructs and the odd Guild Autopsy running wild, my modest crew of remaining Fire Garmin and Gunsmiths were no match. 

Mei Feng got exactly where she wanted to go but with long-lasting conditions and dead models being brought back, she was not an optimal choice, alas, in my focus on EXACTLY WUN MASTER I will run into this weakness. Malifaux with it's crew creation after finding out schemes and strategies is designed around the fact that some masters will struggle with certain strategies or other masters. Good to know in the future when I branch out into stables of masters rather than intimate one-on-one's, that Mei Feng doesn't have the destructive capabilities to keep up with a summoner in Reconnoiter.

I've a lot more to learn with Mei Feng but having her crew do the VP gaining rather than have her sent off solo is just plain common sense that I never had at the start. Leaving Mei Feng mid-field and aiding her team is also a good habit I've found, double Vent Steam is a tough shield to crack for any long-range master. Also and most importantly, knowing when to end the combo. This is tough and will be a sticking point for me, having cards in hand or soulstones available to continue the pain is all very well and good but if this takes me miles away from a crew I could be protecting or taking cards away from other models, that extra 2 damage doesn't seem nearly as worth it. Mei Feng can be a beast but I've found that sharing out the model bashing with Joss or Howard provides so many more avenues of beatdown. I've seen new potential in a master I dropped for "not getting" and look forward to future games. Keep c-c-c-combo breaking and have fun out there.

A new challenger appears...

I've been playing Malifaux now for over 10 months now and if you play for this long, you start up a small (or very large) collection of masters. You won't necessarily play every master you buy but you'll get those crew boxes for the henchman and minions.
When I first started Malifaux I picked up "Children of December" with the December Acolyte box which is a fine start. Next was Molemen for scheme running but then I was running Rasputina (Death Incarnate), Ice Golem (Slow yet Smashy) and a whole handful of helpful-yet-easily-killed minions. So I did what I shouldn't of and bought the "Rail Crew" and played that instead for a few games, even got me some Metal & Fire Garmin with a Rail Golem. Then the bug set in, I bought "The M&SU" but found Ramos really hard to play and then bought "Master of the Paths" then "Troubleshooters" then "The Thunder"and at this point, I had to stand back and stop.

Stop.

I will never badmouth others for the practice of multi-master buying, all the masters in Malifaux are fun and hell, who is it hurting? The general advice veterans give is that if you want to be competitive or simply increase your tactical sphere, stick to one master or if not that stick to one faction. If you're playing Seamus for example, maybe your next master or crew box purchase should be Molly or McMourning, at a stretch Resurrectionist Yan Lo. 

but... 

If you were to see Collodi  in action and want to start some puppet Pandemonium, who is going to say "Well, you're a Resser, you can't stop being a Resser!" go play with the puppets, buy Perdita if you like her, play Marcus, play everybody if you want to, If you're having fun, keep on having fun.

I personally though, prefer the single master strategy for myself now. In my early days of Malifaux I did start buying every master I liked the look of but this is a well designed game, every master is good and has massive potential and if I had let myself I would be swimming in Masters and playing with none of them. With rarely playing more than twice a week, I discovered I simply didn't have the time. 

Eventually though, you play a master for long enough and you want a change of pace, I've played Yan Lo now for 25+ games and after that much time you either never want to stop or start looking elsewhere. Variety is the spice of life after all. 

So, after much deliberation, I've decided to re-visit the Murder Train herself: Mei Feng.
I had a lot of fun with her at first, lots of mobility, can string together a lot of attacks and is immune to slow and paralyze which is amazing. Then I looked at her crew and noticed it was very very slow. Wk4 average. Now I'm used to slow crews in Rasputina but Raspy is long range so gets around it with 12" threat range with a supporting crew increasing that range. With Mei Feng bounding around her railwalk targets, she gets to where she needs to go but then the rest of the crew are just standing around or wasting Ap walking to where they need to be. For Mei Feng to work with me, I need to find a way to loosen the grip on the need for going solo and make the rest of the crew useful in Feng's wake. Railwalker is amazing, don't get me wrong but a crew shouldn't be just one model trying to do everything, it should work as a whole engine.

Time to go to work. Have fun out there.