Shiro was musing his past again, perhaps his present wasn't something he was happy with, how philosophical. Taking ground in his past life was his preferred method to gaining information and setting up a base of influence in an unknown area. Other methods were sometimes faster, other methods got you killed much faster but setting up a base of operations first before cracking heads together yielded much better results than rushing in(and being able to retreat units to a protected stronghold when jobs went south gave the men a much needed morale boost).
After the Gremlins were forced out, it was time for Shiro to extend his influence further out and that required scouting out the surrounding landscape. Summoning forth Ashigaru retainers and his faithful Komainu, a newly acquired ability he obtained from his resurrection, he sent them to scope out more of Lambs Breath Nord. They would either return with information, or never return, presumed destroyed, both results gave Shiro a clearer vision of his surroundings. He allowed his current entourage time to get adjusted with the local fauna; that was when Jack appeared.
"I... want YOU... TO hit me... AS HARD... AS you CAN!..." it screamed, twitching it's head and flexing it's monstrous claws towards Shiro. Shiro was in awe rather than angry, how such a beast got past.... a puppet, a bored dragon and a sleepy sniper.... oh; Shiro seriously needed more footmen. Summoning was arduous.
Shiro responded to this challenge by near knocking this creature's head clean off, it seemed to have the effect it was looking for. Shiro named him "Jack", short for "Jacked-up S.O.B" and left the fool where he lay, smiling in near-unconsciousness.
Later when Jack had re-awoken, it made Shiro a deal: keep finding it pain, and Jack would fight by Shiro's side.
Well, with so much pain in Shiro's future yet to come, it was a safe bet.
Pain indeed. This weeks match was brutal and left me wondering if I can still compete. Absolutely devastating.
The game in question was:
Standard Deployment Reckoning
Protect Territory
Breakthrough
Make them Suffer
Frame for Murder
This weeks campaign bonus: Players get 2 script, up to a maximum of 6 for every scheme marker that's on the opponent's half of the table that isn't being used for scoring Vp.
My opponent brought with him:
Sebastian w/ Those Are Not Ours!
Rotten Belle
Rafkin
Nurse
Night Terror
2x Guild Autopsy
Malifaux Child
Things went off to a good start turn one, the both of us moving into position, Shadow Effigy and Toshiro making the whole crew drop scheme markers in place for bonus script and Protect Territory. Sadly after that it all went to the bleedin' choir invisible.
It turns out, charging Illuminated into 4 models that can poison and then boost the damage of said poison turn end is a terrible idea. Rafkin and Sebastian being to blame. Toshiro joined the fray but ended up the same way, the Dawn Serpent got badly injured, badly poisoned and then got chased by Sebastian killing it turn 3 whilst turns 4 and 5 had Komainu and Effigy bite the dust too. My whole crew sans Dawn Serpent flipping injuries. It was a complete and total thrashing and one I can't blame anybody else but my lack of poison manipulation experience (I'm normally immune to it or wiping it with Chiaki/Johan/Arcane Effigy) and once again thinking a model is immortal when it is merely difficult to kill.
My first game with Illuminated was less trial by fire and more trial by 200ft drop without a parachute. Armor +1, 2 forms of healing and a decent amount of wounds made me believe the junkie was this god among men and infallible to the attacks of said peons in his wake.
Sadly whilst being very consistent with damage and having bonkers threat range, he is no Viktoria. 7ss vs 22ss is a bad match-up no matter who's at the helm. History repeats.
Sigh
No matter, with my whole crew in bandages, it means my next game will be one of careful moves, knowing my opponent's models inside and out and scoring full Vp where it counts. With Week 5 closing in fast, I need to complete this bounty, and have enough script to buy Mr Yan Lo and his Soul Porter mate.
It only hurts when I laugh, regardless, have fun out there.
Showing posts with label Ten Thunders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ten Thunders. Show all posts
Monday, 18 April 2016
Monday, 11 April 2016
A Tale of Souls and Swords - Week 1
In a previous life, Shiro was audience to a friendly rivalry between two members of his clan, the lean Stringbean and the rotund Eggplant. They requested a non-lethal battle in order to show Shiro who was greater in combat, Shiro allowed it.
The fight lasted 3 seconds.
The moment Stringbean charged, Shiro knew the battle was over. Eggplant weaved under the first katana swing, parried the counter swing with his own, throwing Stringbean off balance, before kicking his leg and slashing accurately between the armored joints of his skinnier opponent's protective gear, ending the fight quickly and efficiently in a wobbly blur of expert motion. Stringbean's sword resounded on the ground shortly followed by the thud of his own body. Eggplant resumed his previous slouch, bowed, apologized for his rudeness and returned to the cheering celebrations of his peers.
Shiro was in awe rather than angry. Such unknown skill in his own ranks. Stringbean was allowed to live but forced the indignation of training under the tutelage of "Master Eggplant" when he recovered thereafter.
In the present, Shiro required a base of operations. Standing in his wake were the inhabitants of the bayou screeching and hollering as usual, no doubt calling to attention every guild guard in earshot. An excellent strategy; if the green ones meant to do it.
One could mistake the mindless chattering and clumsy demeanor to denote little combat experience in the gremlins but Shiro wasn't about to let this section of town slip from his hands and he made absolutely certain not to underestimate his foes. He ordered the Pathfinder to scout ahead and summoned his pet to side.
This fight won't be over in 3 seconds.
My first game on campaign road was a Squatters Rights game vs Gremlins then a second game of Reckoning right after, another faction I've been wanting to play more against.
This weeks weekly mission: After turn 2, players randomly place 4 Guild Guards down, at the end of any turn after the 2nd if there are no Guild Guards on the table, a Peacekeeper is placed in the center. Guild Guard give out 1 script, the Peacekeeper is worth 5 script but lets face it, other than an average damage spread from Lightning Bug's attack, neither of us were capable of taking down a 11Wd Armor +2 monstrosity without taking casualties in such a small game. So the pair of us avoided killing the last guard.
Toshiro was facing:
Trixiebelle
Lenny w/ I'll love it and pet it...
Slop Hauler
Burt Jebson
Lightning Bug
For an all-comers list, I liked my opponent's choices, Trixie for mobility and a ton of slap attack actions next to Lenny, almost everyone benefiting from Lenny's Rams aura as well as a small amount of summoning, the ever present Slop Hauler to heal everyone's Reckless and the offensive choices of Bug and Kurt Russell.
My List:
Toshiro w/ Command the Graves
Dawn Serpent
Shadow Effigy
Pathfinder
Komainu
My choices were more role-for-role, Komainu for his ability to tar-pit and pass out Slow, Pathfinder for Clockwork Trap disruption and sniper-esque attacks from range, Shadow Effigy for the ability to make scheme runners out of everyone and Dawn Serpent for being the greatest minion in the game (In my opinion). Toshiro ties everyone together passing out attack buffs, Fast and the very rare Focused, then summoning off of Dawn Serpent's targets. A neat little package that I desperately need to add some offensive power to in the near future.
For Squatter's Rights we were evenly matched, Lenny couldn't get any Piglet summons off but neither was Toshiro close enough to any markers. Pathfinder on the other hand was able to summon 2 Clockwork Traps but that didn't stop my opponent from laying down squat markers elsewhere. I won the game 9-7 ensuring Shiro was able to set up base in this part of Lambs Breath Nord.
For Reckoning, it was another story. We both played fairly cagey with the pair of us choosing Frame for Murder and Distract. It was a very close game but once Toshiro finished off Kurt Russell and Lenny Pig Missile'd Pathfinder (Both Frame for Murder participants) We both had the hard choice of Distract or Murder. With such a small game, it was either one or the other yet my opponent won out last turn when a summoned Komainu was unable to finish off his Slop Hauler thus getting distracted alongside an activated Toshiro and Dawn Serpent. Very well played. He won this game 7-6 but not without Lightning Bug taking an injury roll, the Gremlins proving just how distracting they can be whilst Shiro's crew were trying to evict them from his new grounds.
For my efforts, Toshiro now has Ml7 on his Katana strikes and Dawn Serpent is now immune to Slow and Paralyze, No doubt from hitting so many Gremlins around and having to duck and weave out of the way of thrown Piglets. With 5 Script taken from the dead Guild Guard's pockets, my crew is looking healthy with no injuries. Next week is going to be a slobberknocker!
The Campaign system is a great way to introduce another way to do a Slow Grow in my mind. Models increase in strength every game as well as saving Script for crew additions makes for games where sometimes you want to go for more script for later games rather than earning just one more Vp.
On the theory side of things; as with all Slow Grows, a small (or large) amount of summoning is a boon; especially when in this mode of play, models can take on severe injuries that can take them out of your arsenal completely (until re-bought). Having models that "don't exist" for the purposes of game play gives more of a reward to the risk of going up against a more killy crew.
Another thing that crossed my mind was list building itself. Assume for instance, I didn't hire Komainu and gave myself 5 Script on top of 5 Soulstones in my first game, knowing that the start of week two I can hire whoever I wanted with the 5 stone discount. It gives one more options but I felt it redundant when the first thing I would hire would be the Komainu for free anyway.
I have my next model to think about. With 5 Script, I can afford any 10ss Ten Thunders model. I need more aggression that's for sure, The Daimyo can dish out hurt, the Pathfinder can take away a lot of wounds but no one is really completely focused on the act of murder. Tosh for one is moving into position to get his minions buffed and trying to summon or give out Fast and Pathfinder is just trying to stay alive.
With my latest purchase of Dark Debts, Illuminated appear to the best choice for a minion focused list. Other models for consideration include Kang, for his buffs to go alongside Toshiro's. Yin, the Penangalan for a more defensive model to guard Warring Turfs, Protecting Territories and generally getting in the way and Katanaka Sniper for some needed range in games where rushing into models is a bad idea.
Illuminated is likely to win this week though and it gives me spare Script leftover in order to save up for future purchases (Skills and Upgrades come to mind). Going to be fun trying to figure out how a violent junkie high on tyrant heroin is going to work with Shiro in a way that makes sense.
Enjoy my average fan-fiction and have fun out there.
The fight lasted 3 seconds.
The moment Stringbean charged, Shiro knew the battle was over. Eggplant weaved under the first katana swing, parried the counter swing with his own, throwing Stringbean off balance, before kicking his leg and slashing accurately between the armored joints of his skinnier opponent's protective gear, ending the fight quickly and efficiently in a wobbly blur of expert motion. Stringbean's sword resounded on the ground shortly followed by the thud of his own body. Eggplant resumed his previous slouch, bowed, apologized for his rudeness and returned to the cheering celebrations of his peers.
Shiro was in awe rather than angry. Such unknown skill in his own ranks. Stringbean was allowed to live but forced the indignation of training under the tutelage of "Master Eggplant" when he recovered thereafter.
In the present, Shiro required a base of operations. Standing in his wake were the inhabitants of the bayou screeching and hollering as usual, no doubt calling to attention every guild guard in earshot. An excellent strategy; if the green ones meant to do it.
One could mistake the mindless chattering and clumsy demeanor to denote little combat experience in the gremlins but Shiro wasn't about to let this section of town slip from his hands and he made absolutely certain not to underestimate his foes. He ordered the Pathfinder to scout ahead and summoned his pet to side.
This fight won't be over in 3 seconds.
My first game on campaign road was a Squatters Rights game vs Gremlins then a second game of Reckoning right after, another faction I've been wanting to play more against.
This weeks weekly mission: After turn 2, players randomly place 4 Guild Guards down, at the end of any turn after the 2nd if there are no Guild Guards on the table, a Peacekeeper is placed in the center. Guild Guard give out 1 script, the Peacekeeper is worth 5 script but lets face it, other than an average damage spread from Lightning Bug's attack, neither of us were capable of taking down a 11Wd Armor +2 monstrosity without taking casualties in such a small game. So the pair of us avoided killing the last guard.
Toshiro was facing:
Trixiebelle
Lenny w/ I'll love it and pet it...
Slop Hauler
Burt Jebson
Lightning Bug
For an all-comers list, I liked my opponent's choices, Trixie for mobility and a ton of slap attack actions next to Lenny, almost everyone benefiting from Lenny's Rams aura as well as a small amount of summoning, the ever present Slop Hauler to heal everyone's Reckless and the offensive choices of Bug and Kurt Russell.
My List:
Toshiro w/ Command the Graves
Dawn Serpent
Shadow Effigy
Pathfinder
Komainu
My choices were more role-for-role, Komainu for his ability to tar-pit and pass out Slow, Pathfinder for Clockwork Trap disruption and sniper-esque attacks from range, Shadow Effigy for the ability to make scheme runners out of everyone and Dawn Serpent for being the greatest minion in the game (In my opinion). Toshiro ties everyone together passing out attack buffs, Fast and the very rare Focused, then summoning off of Dawn Serpent's targets. A neat little package that I desperately need to add some offensive power to in the near future.
For Squatter's Rights we were evenly matched, Lenny couldn't get any Piglet summons off but neither was Toshiro close enough to any markers. Pathfinder on the other hand was able to summon 2 Clockwork Traps but that didn't stop my opponent from laying down squat markers elsewhere. I won the game 9-7 ensuring Shiro was able to set up base in this part of Lambs Breath Nord.
For Reckoning, it was another story. We both played fairly cagey with the pair of us choosing Frame for Murder and Distract. It was a very close game but once Toshiro finished off Kurt Russell and Lenny Pig Missile'd Pathfinder (Both Frame for Murder participants) We both had the hard choice of Distract or Murder. With such a small game, it was either one or the other yet my opponent won out last turn when a summoned Komainu was unable to finish off his Slop Hauler thus getting distracted alongside an activated Toshiro and Dawn Serpent. Very well played. He won this game 7-6 but not without Lightning Bug taking an injury roll, the Gremlins proving just how distracting they can be whilst Shiro's crew were trying to evict them from his new grounds.
For my efforts, Toshiro now has Ml7 on his Katana strikes and Dawn Serpent is now immune to Slow and Paralyze, No doubt from hitting so many Gremlins around and having to duck and weave out of the way of thrown Piglets. With 5 Script taken from the dead Guild Guard's pockets, my crew is looking healthy with no injuries. Next week is going to be a slobberknocker!
The Campaign system is a great way to introduce another way to do a Slow Grow in my mind. Models increase in strength every game as well as saving Script for crew additions makes for games where sometimes you want to go for more script for later games rather than earning just one more Vp.
On the theory side of things; as with all Slow Grows, a small (or large) amount of summoning is a boon; especially when in this mode of play, models can take on severe injuries that can take them out of your arsenal completely (until re-bought). Having models that "don't exist" for the purposes of game play gives more of a reward to the risk of going up against a more killy crew.
Another thing that crossed my mind was list building itself. Assume for instance, I didn't hire Komainu and gave myself 5 Script on top of 5 Soulstones in my first game, knowing that the start of week two I can hire whoever I wanted with the 5 stone discount. It gives one more options but I felt it redundant when the first thing I would hire would be the Komainu for free anyway.
I have my next model to think about. With 5 Script, I can afford any 10ss Ten Thunders model. I need more aggression that's for sure, The Daimyo can dish out hurt, the Pathfinder can take away a lot of wounds but no one is really completely focused on the act of murder. Tosh for one is moving into position to get his minions buffed and trying to summon or give out Fast and Pathfinder is just trying to stay alive.
With my latest purchase of Dark Debts, Illuminated appear to the best choice for a minion focused list. Other models for consideration include Kang, for his buffs to go alongside Toshiro's. Yin, the Penangalan for a more defensive model to guard Warring Turfs, Protecting Territories and generally getting in the way and Katanaka Sniper for some needed range in games where rushing into models is a bad idea.
Illuminated is likely to win this week though and it gives me spare Script leftover in order to save up for future purchases (Skills and Upgrades come to mind). Going to be fun trying to figure out how a violent junkie high on tyrant heroin is going to work with Shiro in a way that makes sense.
Enjoy my average fan-fiction and have fun out there.
Friday, 8 April 2016
A Tale of Souls and Swords, Eternally Retold
Apparently alone with nothing but a pocket of scrap and a Pathfinder (who obviously wasn't bothered being lead and accompanied by an un-dead feudal samurai) Shiro still felt the eyes of the Ten Thunders watching his every step. The Dragon and the strangely compliant Puppet riding on it's back flying high above him enforced his paranoia and were both no doubt keeping his betters updated on his whereabouts and goings on... Somehow.
No peace.
Paranoia notwithstanding, with so many successful missions, even with his accidental possession of the once head of the Katanaka Clan, Shiro (Toshiro always felt to formal) could respect the Ten Thunder's way of leadership. Shiro had first hand knowledge, he lead the same way, once.
Failure was met with harsh and all-too-often fatal retribution yet victory came with vast benefits.
Such as continuing to move and think un-aided was a good one he joked.
It took some adjustment and quick thinking but Shiro was 5% sure he was getting away with the act. If the Ten Thunders knew, they obviously found him more useful alive than dead.
Shiro looked upon his prosthetic torso and his Katana skillfully artificed to look more akin to a Bokuto and grimly smiled. Come rain, snow, magical hurricanes or what was now plain abusive heat, Shiro was going to find what it was he sought, not for the Ten Thunders but for for himself. It's not often Fate hands one a second life after all...
Welcome to Lambs Breath Nord! My first Shifting Loyalties campaign and something I'm very excited to play! It's always been a want of mine to create a narrative within the games I play but I always struggled with the implementation of doing so. Yeah I could spin a tale of the mighty Rasputina rushing towards the enemy ruins to demand a refund on the blender they sold to her but then when I get near-table wiped, it sort of ruins the story I was planning on telling.
The Silent One fell to her knees, the receipt for the blender fell from her hands and danced out of reach in the harsh wind.
"Unfortunately, we need a receipt to refund this item, please get in touch with our customer service hotline" said Leviticus.
All was lost.
Within the Shifting Loyalties rule set though, this isn't a problem and creates games where you have a past, a goal and great way to connect together all the random match-ups one gets when playing Malifaux. It also allows me to stretch out my average fan fiction muscles when I have little to go on when it comes to Malifaux fluff.
I decided on playing Ten Thunders with Toshiro, the Daimyo leading the first wave of games. His buff to minions and summoning plus giving me pseudo 3Ap in his (0) actions gave me more options than if I were to run Kang (too slow) or Ototo (just as slow). Alongside him I hired Dawn Serpent (because as a minion able to be buffed by Tosh, the Dragon is ridiculous); A Shadow Effigy for easy scheme running, a Komainu and a Pathfinder for more summoning and disruption. All minions, all the time. Giving myself no script (the campaign currency used to hire and to buy upgrades) first week might be bad but for such a solid Vp focused line-up, I was happy to earn it from scratch. Plenty of opportunity out there.
Follow me as Shiro sets foot into the idyllic town of Lambs Breath Nord in order to find the Black Soulstone to free himself from his Ten Thunder masters and be a free, un-dead man. I can already tell its going to be a lot of fun.
Create legend on the stage of history and have fun out there.
No peace.
Paranoia notwithstanding, with so many successful missions, even with his accidental possession of the once head of the Katanaka Clan, Shiro (Toshiro always felt to formal) could respect the Ten Thunder's way of leadership. Shiro had first hand knowledge, he lead the same way, once.
Failure was met with harsh and all-too-often fatal retribution yet victory came with vast benefits.
Such as continuing to move and think un-aided was a good one he joked.
It took some adjustment and quick thinking but Shiro was 5% sure he was getting away with the act. If the Ten Thunders knew, they obviously found him more useful alive than dead.
Shiro looked upon his prosthetic torso and his Katana skillfully artificed to look more akin to a Bokuto and grimly smiled. Come rain, snow, magical hurricanes or what was now plain abusive heat, Shiro was going to find what it was he sought, not for the Ten Thunders but for for himself. It's not often Fate hands one a second life after all...
Welcome to Lambs Breath Nord! My first Shifting Loyalties campaign and something I'm very excited to play! It's always been a want of mine to create a narrative within the games I play but I always struggled with the implementation of doing so. Yeah I could spin a tale of the mighty Rasputina rushing towards the enemy ruins to demand a refund on the blender they sold to her but then when I get near-table wiped, it sort of ruins the story I was planning on telling.
The Silent One fell to her knees, the receipt for the blender fell from her hands and danced out of reach in the harsh wind.
"Unfortunately, we need a receipt to refund this item, please get in touch with our customer service hotline" said Leviticus.
All was lost.
Within the Shifting Loyalties rule set though, this isn't a problem and creates games where you have a past, a goal and great way to connect together all the random match-ups one gets when playing Malifaux. It also allows me to stretch out my average fan fiction muscles when I have little to go on when it comes to Malifaux fluff.
I decided on playing Ten Thunders with Toshiro, the Daimyo leading the first wave of games. His buff to minions and summoning plus giving me pseudo 3Ap in his (0) actions gave me more options than if I were to run Kang (too slow) or Ototo (just as slow). Alongside him I hired Dawn Serpent (because as a minion able to be buffed by Tosh, the Dragon is ridiculous); A Shadow Effigy for easy scheme running, a Komainu and a Pathfinder for more summoning and disruption. All minions, all the time. Giving myself no script (the campaign currency used to hire and to buy upgrades) first week might be bad but for such a solid Vp focused line-up, I was happy to earn it from scratch. Plenty of opportunity out there.
Follow me as Shiro sets foot into the idyllic town of Lambs Breath Nord in order to find the Black Soulstone to free himself from his Ten Thunder masters and be a free, un-dead man. I can already tell its going to be a lot of fun.
Create legend on the stage of history and have fun out there.
Monday, 4 April 2016
Season Review - Winter
Since the start of the year I've kept a record of all 50ss games I've played noting the Win/Loss, the strategy and whom I played with and against.
I would keep track of schemes chosen, Vp total, crew member selection frequency and how useful each model was to the game in question but keeping it simple seems to work better for me than updating an excel spreadsheet on the fly. Maybe someday I'll gain the ability to gather data like a BOSS and detail every Ap spent and Vp gained by every model I use but for now, I'll settle for a straightforward Win/Draw/Loss with X master.
Without further ado:
Most played Strategies:
- 1st Place - Reconnoiter - 5 Times
- 2nd Place - Squatter's Rights - 4 Times
- 3rd Place - Guard the Stash - 4 Times
Despite randomly flipping the strategy each game, my favorite strat came up 5 times in the course of 3 months, even Squatter's and Stash I find enjoyable. It's almost like telling the universe what I like playing pays off. Strange.
Most played Masters:
- 1st Place - Rasputina - 12 Times
- 2nd Place - Mei Feng - 6 Times
- 3rd Place - Misaki - 3 Times
- Participation Award - Ironsides - Once
- Newcomer Award - Kaeris
Lady 'Tina is no surprise whatsoever this season, every game I play it's a case of really wanting to play another master but then Rasputina shows up and pushes everyone around with her Frozen Hearts getting up in everyone's faces. Ms Mei getting half of Raspy's total games is a given at this point but the Rail walker has shown me that she can rock the house just as well as Rasputina; favorites are favorites though so it'll be tough to gain the discipline of not auto-taking the Rasmus for every encounter; or going the other extreme and not taking Rasputina when I really should.
Misaki sneaked in for bronze due completely to the Growfaux leaving Ironsides with little more than a little flag saying "Everyone's A Winner!".
The last game of the month saw Kaeris wining her inaugural match and she shows a lot of promise. Not as killy as the Ice Queen, not as brutal as the Oybun Metal Worker but rather a master with a lot of ways to deal with any given situation. Watch this space.
Most games won:
- 1st Place - Mei Feng - 4 games
- 2nd Place - Rasputina - 3 games
- 3rd Place - Misaki - 2 games
Mei Feng got in a trio of close game wins on the last day of the month hence her resurgence to the top of the leader board, facing Nicodem's mass summoning in non-recon/interference games will do that though (Hunting Party, hallowed be thy scheme, Coryphee Duet's will be done, on table, as it is in Malifaux). What this also means is so long as I don't play Feng simply to play her and choose my games carefully, she is a very good choice in good match-ups, dare I say, better than Rasputina. I'll be very interested to see how next the season plays out.Rassy only winning a quarter of her games is a little sad but when my local meta is full of champions of malifaux as mine is, you roll with the punches besides, if I had decided to use Rasputina for my final three games, I'm confident her score would have been better. Playing many games with experimental lists such as "Team Mega Buff" and the abysmal "Casting Gunline" and I should expect nothing less than a bad on-paper score.
Misaki fares better percentually (Is that a word? It is? Really? Nice) winning two-thirds of her games much like Mei but considering that Growfaux was all about trying out new masters and models, the results are a little skewed.
Masters played against by faction:
- Outcasts - 8 games
- Viktorias - 5 times; Jack Daw - Twice; Levi - Once
- Resurrectionists - 4 games
- Nicodem - Twice; Yan Lo - Once; Seamus - Once
- Neverborn - 3 games
- Pandora - Once; Collodi - Once; Dreamer - Once
- Guild - 3 games
- Sonnia - Once; Lady Justice - Once; Perdita - Once
- Arcanists - 2 games
- Rasputina - Twice
- Ten Thunders: - 2 games
- McCabe - Once; Mei Feng - Once
- Gremlins - 1 game
- Ulix - Once
Viktorias appear to be everyone's favorite right now in my experience, with many people either slaying with them or attempting the subtle chess game of early turn blitzkriegs. Viktorias might be top but the impression I get from many players is that they are one-trick-ponies, they either get the job done and get killed with ease; or fail to do anything and get killed with ease, which I sense frustrates more players than it intrigues. Otherwise a pretty even spread throughout. Some late games against Resurrectionists supercharged their faction to silver granting my wish to play more against them. Talking of which, I played against Yan Lo! Which got me very excited to play the old man once again. Maybe I'll pull him out of hibernation for a certain casual event starting in April....
Season total:- 23 games
- 9 Wins
- 1 Draw
- 13 Losses
So draws a close to this seasons games, with half of my games being lost I have to really buckle down and start taking my own advice. I'm slowly but surely getting to grips with what every master in the game does as well my own models strengths and weaknesses. Here's to closer games next season!
Continue to kick arse in a sportsmanlike fashion and have fun out there.
I would keep track of schemes chosen, Vp total, crew member selection frequency and how useful each model was to the game in question but keeping it simple seems to work better for me than updating an excel spreadsheet on the fly. Maybe someday I'll gain the ability to gather data like a BOSS and detail every Ap spent and Vp gained by every model I use but for now, I'll settle for a straightforward Win/Draw/Loss with X master.
Without further ado:
Most played Strategies:
- 1st Place - Reconnoiter - 5 Times
- 2nd Place - Squatter's Rights - 4 Times
- 3rd Place - Guard the Stash - 4 Times
Despite randomly flipping the strategy each game, my favorite strat came up 5 times in the course of 3 months, even Squatter's and Stash I find enjoyable. It's almost like telling the universe what I like playing pays off. Strange.
Most played Masters:
- 1st Place - Rasputina - 12 Times
- 2nd Place - Mei Feng - 6 Times
- 3rd Place - Misaki - 3 Times
- Participation Award - Ironsides - Once
- Newcomer Award - Kaeris
Lady 'Tina is no surprise whatsoever this season, every game I play it's a case of really wanting to play another master but then Rasputina shows up and pushes everyone around with her Frozen Hearts getting up in everyone's faces. Ms Mei getting half of Raspy's total games is a given at this point but the Rail walker has shown me that she can rock the house just as well as Rasputina; favorites are favorites though so it'll be tough to gain the discipline of not auto-taking the Rasmus for every encounter; or going the other extreme and not taking Rasputina when I really should.
Misaki sneaked in for bronze due completely to the Growfaux leaving Ironsides with little more than a little flag saying "Everyone's A Winner!".
The last game of the month saw Kaeris wining her inaugural match and she shows a lot of promise. Not as killy as the Ice Queen, not as brutal as the Oybun Metal Worker but rather a master with a lot of ways to deal with any given situation. Watch this space.
Most games won:
- 1st Place - Mei Feng - 4 games
- 2nd Place - Rasputina - 3 games
- 3rd Place - Misaki - 2 games
Mei Feng got in a trio of close game wins on the last day of the month hence her resurgence to the top of the leader board, facing Nicodem's mass summoning in non-recon/interference games will do that though (Hunting Party, hallowed be thy scheme, Coryphee Duet's will be done, on table, as it is in Malifaux). What this also means is so long as I don't play Feng simply to play her and choose my games carefully, she is a very good choice in good match-ups, dare I say, better than Rasputina. I'll be very interested to see how next the season plays out.Rassy only winning a quarter of her games is a little sad but when my local meta is full of champions of malifaux as mine is, you roll with the punches besides, if I had decided to use Rasputina for my final three games, I'm confident her score would have been better. Playing many games with experimental lists such as "Team Mega Buff" and the abysmal "Casting Gunline" and I should expect nothing less than a bad on-paper score.
Misaki fares better percentually (Is that a word? It is? Really? Nice) winning two-thirds of her games much like Mei but considering that Growfaux was all about trying out new masters and models, the results are a little skewed.
Masters played against by faction:
- Outcasts - 8 games
- Viktorias - 5 times; Jack Daw - Twice; Levi - Once
- Resurrectionists - 4 games
- Nicodem - Twice; Yan Lo - Once; Seamus - Once
- Neverborn - 3 games
- Pandora - Once; Collodi - Once; Dreamer - Once
- Guild - 3 games
- Sonnia - Once; Lady Justice - Once; Perdita - Once
- Arcanists - 2 games
- Rasputina - Twice
- Ten Thunders: - 2 games
- McCabe - Once; Mei Feng - Once
- Gremlins - 1 game
- Ulix - Once
Viktorias appear to be everyone's favorite right now in my experience, with many people either slaying with them or attempting the subtle chess game of early turn blitzkriegs. Viktorias might be top but the impression I get from many players is that they are one-trick-ponies, they either get the job done and get killed with ease; or fail to do anything and get killed with ease, which I sense frustrates more players than it intrigues. Otherwise a pretty even spread throughout. Some late games against Resurrectionists supercharged their faction to silver granting my wish to play more against them. Talking of which, I played against Yan Lo! Which got me very excited to play the old man once again. Maybe I'll pull him out of hibernation for a certain casual event starting in April....
Season total:- 23 games
- 9 Wins
- 1 Draw
- 13 Losses
So draws a close to this seasons games, with half of my games being lost I have to really buckle down and start taking my own advice. I'm slowly but surely getting to grips with what every master in the game does as well my own models strengths and weaknesses. Here's to closer games next season!
Continue to kick arse in a sportsmanlike fashion and have fun out there.
Monday, 22 February 2016
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.
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.
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.
Friday, 19 February 2016
Fast Dragon, Slow Grow Week the Final - Betrayal at the Summit
The final week of GrowFaux. Can Misaki find victory against this last opponent after her defeat at the hands of the Star Theater production? Game four is against the traitorous McCabe who finds himself between a Rock and a Dragon Place.
This game unfortunately gives full on example of why the base rule book schemes and strategies needed improving. This being a standard 50ss scheme pool meant that the easy options are revealed Breakthrough and revealed Protect Territory. You could attempt the all-or-nothing Take Prisoner, you could lay down 3 scheme markers and attempt to lure out the master into them; but lets face it, having one or two scheme runners run back field and lay down 4 markers during a game is so much easier in the long run.
50ss
Flank Deployment
Reconnoiter
A Line in the Sand
Breakthrough
Spring the Trap
Protect Territory
Take Prisoner
I'm facing a master who simply speaking, makes his whole crew better. Being able to hand off armor, nimble, regen +2 and a sword which ignores most common defenses; all of that on top of nasty reactivates and 4" pushes with a master who can slow and paralyze pretty much at will. Facing down a master like this will be hard work, facing down McCabe who gets what is practically an extra life when you "kill" him is just work. Like most masters out there, unless you spend all game doing so, McCabe isn't worth taking down unless you have some heavy firepower, which I do not unfortunately.
Being that I'm playing Flank Deployment with Reconnoiter and going with game standards Breakthough + Protect Territory revealed, I can play a more cagey game and select targets who have strayed too far. My opponent though can do exactly the same, this is a game that planning can only do so much in.
Misaki this time has Disguised. Stalking Bisento is great for more aggressive games but after last week, running up to the middle of the board without a plan made for a tasty Misaki Paste. I didn't need to use Disguised but being able to prevent charges on a master does limit sacrificial tar-pitting minion's threat ranges. With that I ran Untouchable as to not feel forced to down all of her soulstones in one go. To that I've added Hidden Agenda to get some extended use out of my Oiran. Loyal retainer Shang returns giving a nod of approval to the sheer amount of Last Blossoms in play but giving nothing else but an extra card in the draw step and a friendly smile.
Misaki is joined by Old Lady Yamaziko holding the Last Blossom's Smoke and Shadows, two Torakages, two Oiran, two Komainu and a Shadow Effigy for luck. That's a count of 10 activations in a Reconnoiter game, even if it ends up being an awful idea having so many minions it'll be a great send off to have Misaki run with her thematic crew.
My opponent played a strong list of McCabe with Glowing Saber, Badge of Speed & Promises. Theme standards Luna and two Wastrels joined Chiaki, a Dawn Serpent and Ototo with Recalled Training and Hidden Agenda (For the sole purpose of always having an upgrade on him for Promises Buff). So a four person team for scheme running and two heavy hitters to sweep up my 10 model advantage.
First turn I got initiative and gave the first turn to my opponent who activated McCabe, gave Dawn Serpent Reactivate, the Badge of Speed and Glowing Saber pushing him towards Yamaziko, and an Oiran. For some reason unknown to even me, I activated Shang and passed the turn...
My opponent seeing Yamaziko without Brace decided to charge in and killed her with two swings evening up the activation order. The Oiran responding by hitting the Dawn Serpent for 1 damage and a single poison setting up Unbeknownst effectively tar-pitting the Serpent. The Serpent activates again and with little else to do takes 2Ap walking out of combat and sets fire to a Komainu and dealing 1 damage to the nearby Shadow Effigy with Breathe Fire.
The Effigy used to under-utilized ability all models possess to take away the one burning from the Komainu then failed to make the stone dog Remember the Mission. The Komainu charged the Dawn Serpent dealing two lots of weak damage and Slow. Everybody else in the turn walked up to their future destinations whilst Misaki triple walked up the board ready for a 2nd turn kill.
Yeah, a lot happened turn one. Two fast masters will do this in Flank Deployment.
Second turn and my opponent gets the inititive ordering McCabe to give the Badge of Speed to Ototo and charging the Torakage placing him on 1 wound. The Torakage responding by running 12" the hell out of dodge via Agile. He then activated the slowed Dawn Serpent doing absolutely nothing to the Komainu who responded by dealing Severe damage and weak to kill the Dragon before it got the chance to reactivated.
A Wastrel seeing his opportunity for glory focus fired his Pocket Handgun at the Torakage missing completely. Misaki activates and takes down the very same Wastrel making sure not to be within Ototo's walk and melee range. Ototo activates, discards Recalled Training, Nimbles (!) towards Misaki and discards a card for Flurry...
Misaki dies... Like closed casket funeral dies... Like forensic scientists would have trouble identifying the corpse dies... It's a sad day for Misaki. I messed up.
This game unfortunately gives full on example of why the base rule book schemes and strategies needed improving. This being a standard 50ss scheme pool meant that the easy options are revealed Breakthrough and revealed Protect Territory. You could attempt the all-or-nothing Take Prisoner, you could lay down 3 scheme markers and attempt to lure out the master into them; but lets face it, having one or two scheme runners run back field and lay down 4 markers during a game is so much easier in the long run.
50ss
Flank Deployment
Reconnoiter
A Line in the Sand
Breakthrough
Spring the Trap
Protect Territory
Take Prisoner
I'm facing a master who simply speaking, makes his whole crew better. Being able to hand off armor, nimble, regen +2 and a sword which ignores most common defenses; all of that on top of nasty reactivates and 4" pushes with a master who can slow and paralyze pretty much at will. Facing down a master like this will be hard work, facing down McCabe who gets what is practically an extra life when you "kill" him is just work. Like most masters out there, unless you spend all game doing so, McCabe isn't worth taking down unless you have some heavy firepower, which I do not unfortunately.
Being that I'm playing Flank Deployment with Reconnoiter and going with game standards Breakthough + Protect Territory revealed, I can play a more cagey game and select targets who have strayed too far. My opponent though can do exactly the same, this is a game that planning can only do so much in.
Misaki this time has Disguised. Stalking Bisento is great for more aggressive games but after last week, running up to the middle of the board without a plan made for a tasty Misaki Paste. I didn't need to use Disguised but being able to prevent charges on a master does limit sacrificial tar-pitting minion's threat ranges. With that I ran Untouchable as to not feel forced to down all of her soulstones in one go. To that I've added Hidden Agenda to get some extended use out of my Oiran. Loyal retainer Shang returns giving a nod of approval to the sheer amount of Last Blossoms in play but giving nothing else but an extra card in the draw step and a friendly smile.
Misaki is joined by Old Lady Yamaziko holding the Last Blossom's Smoke and Shadows, two Torakages, two Oiran, two Komainu and a Shadow Effigy for luck. That's a count of 10 activations in a Reconnoiter game, even if it ends up being an awful idea having so many minions it'll be a great send off to have Misaki run with her thematic crew.
My opponent played a strong list of McCabe with Glowing Saber, Badge of Speed & Promises. Theme standards Luna and two Wastrels joined Chiaki, a Dawn Serpent and Ototo with Recalled Training and Hidden Agenda (For the sole purpose of always having an upgrade on him for Promises Buff). So a four person team for scheme running and two heavy hitters to sweep up my 10 model advantage.
First turn I got initiative and gave the first turn to my opponent who activated McCabe, gave Dawn Serpent Reactivate, the Badge of Speed and Glowing Saber pushing him towards Yamaziko, and an Oiran. For some reason unknown to even me, I activated Shang and passed the turn...
My opponent seeing Yamaziko without Brace decided to charge in and killed her with two swings evening up the activation order. The Oiran responding by hitting the Dawn Serpent for 1 damage and a single poison setting up Unbeknownst effectively tar-pitting the Serpent. The Serpent activates again and with little else to do takes 2Ap walking out of combat and sets fire to a Komainu and dealing 1 damage to the nearby Shadow Effigy with Breathe Fire.
The Effigy used to under-utilized ability all models possess to take away the one burning from the Komainu then failed to make the stone dog Remember the Mission. The Komainu charged the Dawn Serpent dealing two lots of weak damage and Slow. Everybody else in the turn walked up to their future destinations whilst Misaki triple walked up the board ready for a 2nd turn kill.
Yeah, a lot happened turn one. Two fast masters will do this in Flank Deployment.
Second turn and my opponent gets the inititive ordering McCabe to give the Badge of Speed to Ototo and charging the Torakage placing him on 1 wound. The Torakage responding by running 12" the hell out of dodge via Agile. He then activated the slowed Dawn Serpent doing absolutely nothing to the Komainu who responded by dealing Severe damage and weak to kill the Dragon before it got the chance to reactivated.
A Wastrel seeing his opportunity for glory focus fired his Pocket Handgun at the Torakage missing completely. Misaki activates and takes down the very same Wastrel making sure not to be within Ototo's walk and melee range. Ototo activates, discards Recalled Training, Nimbles (!) towards Misaki and discards a card for Flurry...
Misaki dies... Like closed casket funeral dies... Like forensic scientists would have trouble identifying the corpse dies... It's a sad day for Misaki. I messed up.
 |
| Misaki's off the twig! She's kicked the bucket, she's shuffled off 'er mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisibile!! |
At this point I maneuvered the rest of my crew in such a way as to at least achieve Reconnoiter whilst denying my opponent his. I also made sure to have the 1st Fast Oiran place down a scheme marker along the 2nd Komainu's marker whilst the second Oiran strode up and snatched the marker my opponent's Shadow Effigy laid down from under his nose.
Turn three and the last turn bell rang (playing tournament standard time with 18+1 activations with Flank Deployment leads to slower turns, the more you know) The Oiran-Komainu tag team set up Protect Territory and Breakthrough whilst the remaining Torakage laid down the second Breakthrough marker guaranteeing my 7 points. My opponent re-maneuvers and kills the wounded Komainu and the center Oiran and puts down enough markers to score full Breakthrough and Protect Territory, leaving me with 4 models to his 6. Alas, the game was called and we ended a tie game 7-7.
What a fantastic way to end the Slow Grow, with such a tactical game being played out with quick murder and game turnarounds happening almost each activation it was hard to keep track of something as trivial as Reconnoiter. It was a rough game for Misaki proving that once again, when a real melee threat enters her zone, she falls down like a house of cards in a hurricane next to 10 excitable puppies.
Using Oiran for the first time and I'm really impressed by their scheme running abilities. Being able to tar-pit enemies by frankly telling them "Go somewhere else" on top of their upgrade giving them easy access to Fast (So long as the holder doesn't die second turn), being hard to hunt down with Defensive Stance and Disguised. They make fantastic scheme runners in the same vein as Firestarter. I really enjoyed using them this game.
The Komainu once again proving that they can dish out some real hurt with Wp attacking slow and burning triggers on their attacks. They sometimes wiff their defense rolls, Df4 being the worst thing about them but when they do a job right, they go above and beyond.
My opponent showed me why McCabe is just so fun to play with and against. Being able to selectively give benefits to pushed targets and Reactivating your favorite minion is hard but fair to face across the table and really gave the Dawn Serpent an extra reason to be a real threat on the table. It was great fun and a master I look forward to facing again.
So we close the book on the Slow Growth of Misaki. Quite frankly she is a ton of fun and really very deadly when she's given the opportunity to be. Alas my problem with her and Ten Thunders Masters in general is that my current collection of models within the Thunder's faction is lacking in ways to deal with some threats out there outside of avoiding it or having only the master being able to take care of priority targets. If I'm facing armor or pushers then I only have Kang (if they are Constructs) and the Guild Pathfinder to deal with them (If I get the trigger), whilst my options in Arcanist are a lot more pronounced.
The only downside to "Growfaux" was my first two games being landslide victories, not to fault my opponents of course but I never really got to see Misaki in a even game because everything was so much in Misaki's favor. Then my third week's game being a testament to my own illusion of Misaki's toughness had her mashed into paste. The final week was where I saw Misaki's true potential being a hunter of minion/enforcer models but even then my complete lack of positioning skill lead once again to her quick demise. I'm simply not used to fragile masters, Ironsides takes a whole crew to take down, Rasputina doesn't get into combat or murders those that do, Yan Lo is nigh un-killable in 5 turns and even Mei Feng takes a lot longer to take down if only due to her Leap Aside trigger. Misaki being basically dead in 3-5 decent attacks is a 180 of what I expect in a masters survivablity. And when I fear for my master's life to a 2/4/6 damage track on any given turn, I end up making either bad plays or ballsy plays hoping a defensive stance will be enough (It isn't).
I think for the time being, my Ten Thunders experience will have to be postponed until I find myself in the Ten Thunders mindset. That is, having models who won't last to a round of good ol' fashioned beating. TT have models that can do almost every role except stand still and tank hits and unfortunately, I'm currently in the mind set of assuming a model will be around for a turn and a half of non-master attacks. We all have a playstyle. Mine is having models that stay on the table unless I kill them myself.
Have a great game and have fun out there.
Monday, 15 February 2016
Fast Dragon, Slow Grow Week Three - Cabaret Beatdown
Game the third for First Lieutenant of the Oyabun, this week she faces down the glamorous, seductive and deadly Collette Du Bois and her showgirls.
The femme fatales faced off against each other in the following:
45ss
Standard Deployment
Reckoning
A Line in the Sand
Assassinate
Murder Protege
Protect Territory
Power Ritual
Knowing that Colette, outside of a board wipe, is pretty much untouchable, Assassinate was out of the question. Misaki can kill masters more than some masters can but it would be an uphill struggle for little to no gain. I decided to go with the more suitable Murder Protege and near-auto take Protect Territory. Knowing that the showgirls will no doubt take the scheme marker schemes and win them with or without my interference meant I had one job this game: Score full on Reckoning without letting my opponent. List time, baby!
Misaki alongside mainstay Stalking Bisento now has Servant of the 5 Dragons to ensure I have the best chance of not being lured to my paralyzed/poisoned doom. Wp8 is a tough hurdle even for a Rotten Belle so the Performer's Ca6 lure shouldn't be a problem. Shang tags along because I really like choosing 6 cards out of seven at the start of my turns.
Yamaziko enters also with Servant of the 5 Dragons ensuring she never ever loses a willpower duel, she is also carrying the sole Torakage's Bamf bombs.
Dawn Serpent re-enters the fray as the aforementioned Regen Ca (Name changed due to Foreshadowing) it has against the high number of Ca means it should take a lot more Ap to take out. Equal Wp to lure Ca means I have to play my control hand tight in order to have the dragon be where he wants rather than what the opponents want.
Joining the crew are a pair of Katanaka Snipers to take long range soft cover ignoring pot shots at whomever is in range, with showgirls not known for their high amount of wounds, not needing to travel any further than the center line means a ranged threat that can shoot outside of Colette's influence is helpful to say the least.
My opponent played Colette with Cabaret Choreography and Nothing up my Sleeve. Alongside her was the ever faithful Cassandra, two Coryphee and a Performer. Joss was also there as he was in the Star Theater at the time and tagged himself along for the fun.
Geez.... My whole battle plan was so narrowly focused on being slapped around by Performers that I had wholesomely discounted that Arcanists have any heavy hitters whatsoever. Willpower 8 didn't help me in the slightest this game. With so much Armor +2 on Joss and the future Coryphee Duet, my min damage 2 hitters weren't doing anything.
Theoryfaux can once again take a running leap.
Turn one started out well with a Sniper taking out a Performer with a severe critical headshot. Torakage failed to bamf and everyone else moved up, including Misaki...
I must point out at this juncture that, at this point in time, I thought Misaki was untouchable (Not the upgrade) and that Stalking and then running 15" into Joss and Cassandra at the time felt like a good move. Tank some damage and then Assassinate the pair of them next turn, job jobbed. Turns out...
Turn 2 my opponent gains the initiative and Joss clocks Misaki in the chin with a Pneumatic Fist dealing moderate damage and Choke Slamming Misaki paralyzing her. Shang bounded up and healed Misaki for 2 wounds which then Cassandra knocked down to a single digit off an auto-Defensive but lacking in life saving soulstones Lady Dragon.
Dawn Serpent activated and not wanting to give away Reckoning Points, killed it's master... Handing Colette an easy Assassinate. Well this game is going well. A Coryphee Duet tangled with Yamaziko and a Sniper with the Torakage who couldn't find his Tele-bamf cards, wading in. Surely three models can deal with a duet?
Turn 3 and Dawn Serpent thinks he can tangle with Joss, assuming Regen Ca can tank the hits; turns out a single heal flip doesn't help against 4ap + 3 Prompts of attacks, thus dropping the Serpent. The duet finishes off Yamaziko with ease and puts the Sniper to his final wound from Hard to Kill scoring Reckoning, leaving me with a poultry Sniper, a soon-dead Torakage and Shang. I called the game the turn after with no way to murder Joss or to safely drop scheme markers.
I hoped for a beating and got my monkey paw wish from the Star Theater's number one act. I had a feeling it would come at my most cocksure and sure enough, this
Reckoning game proved just how paper-in-the-wind Misaki is against another melee combatant. Had Joss not paralyzed Misaki, having a 12 wound model knocked down to 4 in one attack is hard to survive for much longer on anyway. With so much to lose being that darn close to Joss and Cass, I didn't allow myself the time to get my opponent to use up his control hand in order for Assassinate to be an actual threat. It's the same mistake I made a hellova lot of the time with Yan Lo's Misdirection. Discarding 2 cards is only a tough choice when the opponent has 2 cards left, otherwise it's a high cost to otherwise severely damage a master who has it as their only defense. Assassinate is a killer, and has been, only if the opponent is out of cards, otherwise , it's an almost non-trigger.
A first turn activation Misaki might be necessary for Stalk but she is best left to an opponent with a depleted hand (obviously) on all turns subsequent. Otherwise Misaki is a Ml7 auto-focus Melee expert with an above average damage track. Still deadly but with no soulstones and only auto-defensive to save her from wound taking I need to ensure the target is already bloodied before Misaki wades in, finishes them off and then pushes to the next target or to the safety of cover.
Torakage I need to position better, they are superb when they first charge or bamf into an enemies face and auto-focus attack but in this game I found that another model was always in the way or needed assisting and turned a potentially threatening model into "Weak for 1 damage" fodder. 6Def 6Wds is respectable but they need to get in, kill, get out. I learned how to pilot Rasputina with a fundamentally weak crew and I need to do the same with Ten Thunders models.
Another day and another defeat. Lessons are learned, now it's time to ready myself for the final event: 50ss.
Discard ya hand so I can Misdirect and Assassinate ya and have fun out there.
The femme fatales faced off against each other in the following:
45ss
Standard Deployment
Reckoning
A Line in the Sand
Assassinate
Murder Protege
Protect Territory
Power Ritual
Knowing that Colette, outside of a board wipe, is pretty much untouchable, Assassinate was out of the question. Misaki can kill masters more than some masters can but it would be an uphill struggle for little to no gain. I decided to go with the more suitable Murder Protege and near-auto take Protect Territory. Knowing that the showgirls will no doubt take the scheme marker schemes and win them with or without my interference meant I had one job this game: Score full on Reckoning without letting my opponent. List time, baby!
Misaki alongside mainstay Stalking Bisento now has Servant of the 5 Dragons to ensure I have the best chance of not being lured to my paralyzed/poisoned doom. Wp8 is a tough hurdle even for a Rotten Belle so the Performer's Ca6 lure shouldn't be a problem. Shang tags along because I really like choosing 6 cards out of seven at the start of my turns.
Yamaziko enters also with Servant of the 5 Dragons ensuring she never ever loses a willpower duel, she is also carrying the sole Torakage's Bamf bombs.
Dawn Serpent re-enters the fray as the aforementioned Regen Ca (Name changed due to Foreshadowing) it has against the high number of Ca means it should take a lot more Ap to take out. Equal Wp to lure Ca means I have to play my control hand tight in order to have the dragon be where he wants rather than what the opponents want.
Joining the crew are a pair of Katanaka Snipers to take long range soft cover ignoring pot shots at whomever is in range, with showgirls not known for their high amount of wounds, not needing to travel any further than the center line means a ranged threat that can shoot outside of Colette's influence is helpful to say the least.
My opponent played Colette with Cabaret Choreography and Nothing up my Sleeve. Alongside her was the ever faithful Cassandra, two Coryphee and a Performer. Joss was also there as he was in the Star Theater at the time and tagged himself along for the fun.
Geez.... My whole battle plan was so narrowly focused on being slapped around by Performers that I had wholesomely discounted that Arcanists have any heavy hitters whatsoever. Willpower 8 didn't help me in the slightest this game. With so much Armor +2 on Joss and the future Coryphee Duet, my min damage 2 hitters weren't doing anything.
Theoryfaux can once again take a running leap.
Turn one started out well with a Sniper taking out a Performer with a severe critical headshot. Torakage failed to bamf and everyone else moved up, including Misaki...
I must point out at this juncture that, at this point in time, I thought Misaki was untouchable (Not the upgrade) and that Stalking and then running 15" into Joss and Cassandra at the time felt like a good move. Tank some damage and then Assassinate the pair of them next turn, job jobbed. Turns out...
Turn 2 my opponent gains the initiative and Joss clocks Misaki in the chin with a Pneumatic Fist dealing moderate damage and Choke Slamming Misaki paralyzing her. Shang bounded up and healed Misaki for 2 wounds which then Cassandra knocked down to a single digit off an auto-Defensive but lacking in life saving soulstones Lady Dragon.
Dawn Serpent activated and not wanting to give away Reckoning Points, killed it's master... Handing Colette an easy Assassinate. Well this game is going well. A Coryphee Duet tangled with Yamaziko and a Sniper with the Torakage who couldn't find his Tele-bamf cards, wading in. Surely three models can deal with a duet?
Turn 3 and Dawn Serpent thinks he can tangle with Joss, assuming Regen Ca can tank the hits; turns out a single heal flip doesn't help against 4ap + 3 Prompts of attacks, thus dropping the Serpent. The duet finishes off Yamaziko with ease and puts the Sniper to his final wound from Hard to Kill scoring Reckoning, leaving me with a poultry Sniper, a soon-dead Torakage and Shang. I called the game the turn after with no way to murder Joss or to safely drop scheme markers.
I hoped for a beating and got my monkey paw wish from the Star Theater's number one act. I had a feeling it would come at my most cocksure and sure enough, this
A first turn activation Misaki might be necessary for Stalk but she is best left to an opponent with a depleted hand (obviously) on all turns subsequent. Otherwise Misaki is a Ml7 auto-focus Melee expert with an above average damage track. Still deadly but with no soulstones and only auto-defensive to save her from wound taking I need to ensure the target is already bloodied before Misaki wades in, finishes them off and then pushes to the next target or to the safety of cover.
Torakage I need to position better, they are superb when they first charge or bamf into an enemies face and auto-focus attack but in this game I found that another model was always in the way or needed assisting and turned a potentially threatening model into "Weak for 1 damage" fodder. 6Def 6Wds is respectable but they need to get in, kill, get out. I learned how to pilot Rasputina with a fundamentally weak crew and I need to do the same with Ten Thunders models.
Another day and another defeat. Lessons are learned, now it's time to ready myself for the final event: 50ss.
Discard ya hand so I can Misdirect and Assassinate ya and have fun out there.
Monday, 8 February 2016
Fast Dragon, Slow Grow Week Two - Zodiac Calender Brawl
Game two for Misaki and now she's facing down the Tyrant of Plague: Hamelin.
This game allowed another style vs style game, being able to choose between a killy list and a more defensive list and both being valid strategies.
35ss
Flank Deployment
Squatter's Rights
A Line in the Sand
Bodyguard
Make Them Suffer
Protect Territory
Outflank
Facing down a master that is known for flooding the board with peons, Make them Suffer was an obvious choice; with the sole way of shutting me down being running a Malifaux Rat FAR away from Misaki and then never using Blighted or accidentally summoning off of his own models. Which lets face it, shuts Hamelin down. 3Vp in the bag easy. My next choice was either between the ever present Protect Territory or risking Bodyguard, I decided on the latter due to Rat King being well known for eating all of the scheme markers.
Onto the list:
Misaki retained her pet Shang and Stalking Bisento, adding Smoke & Shadows for the (future) two main-stays: Torakage. Being able to relocate a model who's safely buried until end of turn means, if I have the suit available that is, having no wasted turns trying to get up the board to assist. In this game and the couple of 50ss I've had playing it, it's always helped being able to Bamf a ninja to either far outside of combat or to wade in getting that sweet sweet Works Best Alone.
As I was deeply afraid of my models becoming slightly more English (Blighted), I added in Chiaki, the Neice in order to save the team from being wiped out by the black death. Being able to remove any possible Blighted, alongside Paralyze or the dreaded Sick in Bed condition.
Also being out of the way and never really stepping up to front lines means I can bluff Protect Territory whilst safely being away from deployment scoring fairly easily for Bodyguard.
Taelor I hired because Welcome to Malifaux scares summoners. Sometimes it doesn't matter, sometimes it creates bad plays and sometimes it gets Taelor dead. In this game she had the added benefit that she could be within 7" of Hamelin and garner the "Oh yay, Relic hammer" response (Walk + Hammer) forcing a move or getting anything in the way of her if the Stolen are taken care of. I didn't mind what happened so long as Taelor was able to get into combat and be the biggest target to deal with, allowing the Torakage a bit more wiggle room and keeping Chiaki safe from attention.
My opponent played a defensive list of Hamelin with his Anti-Charge aura (safe bet against Misaki), The Stolen, 2 Malifaux Rats, Freikcorps Trapper, Freikorps Librarian, and Ama No Zako, he revealed Outflank and Protect Territory.
First turn I got initiative and made Misaki lay waste to a From the Shadows Trapper to stop him taking pot shots at my fast-yet-weak crew. Stalked feels wasted when the upgrade gives you a (0) attack but auto-focus on Misaki's Bisento attacks is brutal no matter how many there are. I don't know weather my opponent planned for this to happen to get Misaki far away from the action but regardless the Trapper was a threat that needed dealing with.
My opponent spent the first turn making Ama No Zako walk and place a scheme marker, sacrificing the Stolen to summon 2 rats next to the two hired ones to create a Rat King to then Gnaw the placed scheme marker and move toward the second closest Squat marker to ready a claim next turn. My crew moved into positions that allowed them to next turn Walk-Interact second closest marker on my side and head up to the center. I normally hate Flank Deployment but having to play it so much recently I've come to respect it despite how it messes with my standard deployment ranges game.
Second turn was the marker claim turn. Misaki claimed the marker she wiped the Trapper's blood from and Stalked Ama No Zako. Ama No Zako claimed a marker and then walked to the furthest marker on his side. The Rat King was placed just outside of Hamelin's bubble allowing Taelor to take it down in one activation. Hamelin responded by Summoning two Stolen and then Obey'd Ama No Zako twice to walk up to and then take the Squat Marker. One Torakage took the second marker and walked towards the incoming melee whilst the second killed a Stolen that for some reason walked up to him, scoring the first Make them Suffer Vp.
This was a sticking point for me as it happened all game, The Stolen running into my models. I asked my opponent about it afterwards and he said that the Stolen are good at three things: making Rats, giving Blighted and handing out paralyze checks. But if he was giving out Make Them Suffer, why not flood the table with Rats? If he was avoiding giving Vp away, why run Stolen in to be murdered? I don't know if the easy Blighted and Paralyze check was worth it personally.
Turn three was the turning point, with Squatter's Rights safely in the bag for both players, it was time for murder, or at least attempted murder. Ama No Zako waded into the center of a Torakage, Taelor and the second Torakage and threw up some Miasma of Boils and Flies. Taelor killed a Rat that appeared scoring Make them Suffer and hit A.N.Z for weak. Torakage hit twice for weak one damages but the second Bamf'd out burying for the turn. The Librarian then healed Ama a decent amount resetting the clock.
Hamelin then Obey'd 'No Zaka to Focus then Obey'd her to attack Taelor... hitting a black joker. Man for a 1-in-54 chance, that black joker shows up at the worst moments. At the end of Turn 3, Torakage Bamf'd into the Librarian's face ready for face smashing.
Turn 4 the Torakage smashed academic face as promised. Misaki finally got into combat and Red Joker'd an Assassinate trigger into Ama No Zako (who once again Black Joker'd her focus attack, poor Oni) leaving Hamelin in the incredibly rare position of being out-activated. Another Stolen was killed and a marker was taken forcing a submission from my opponent. Chiaki being in place for full Bodyguard and full Make Them Suffer Vp to his 2vp from Squatters with no way to climb back, it would have been folly to continue other than seeing a board wipe.
It was a rough game. Facing Misaki with Make Them Suffer in the pool is hard enough for a summoner but trying to play a master like Hamelin without the Rat engine put the final nail in the coffin. The post game chat revealed that if he had played the game 3vp down knowing I'll be gunning for the Rats and the Stolen before other targets, the Rat engine would have overrun my non-blast list and tar-pitted the crud out me whilst he scored Outflank and Protect Terri.
This is what Slow Grows are for though, to be put into difficult situations and learn from them. What do you do when your master is blatantly giving away points? What happens when you can't do the one thing your master is known for and forced to do their secondary role?
My opponent realized in this game just how powerful Ama No Zako can be looking back at her presence in the game. If Ama didn't run into the black joker (twice) Hazardous Terrain with two lots of Min-damage 3 attacks and a zero obey to use other models to hit their allies would have ENDED my crew. Ama tied up two Torakage and Taelor, if she was able to hit already damaged Taelor twice it wouldn't be a long shot to expect Hazardous Terrain to finish off all three the next time they activated. Next turn, tank the damage take out all three with an Obey action on top of two attacks, heal up, job done.
Alas, I didn't learn much of anything with Misaki this game, due to the landslide nature of the game seeing Misaki kill stuff could have been safely assumed. Had the Rat swarm happened and branched out, Misaki and Taelor might have been able to dash around the table but until I get a re-match against The Pied Piper it will all be theoryfaux.
Onto my next game on week three, where I'll be playing <Sigh> Reckoning... Well all I can do is hope for a bad match up in order to really get the feel for Misaki's weak points. Until then, avoid that black joker at all costs and have fun out there.
This game allowed another style vs style game, being able to choose between a killy list and a more defensive list and both being valid strategies.
35ss
Flank Deployment
Squatter's Rights
A Line in the Sand
Bodyguard
Make Them Suffer
Protect Territory
Outflank
Facing down a master that is known for flooding the board with peons, Make them Suffer was an obvious choice; with the sole way of shutting me down being running a Malifaux Rat FAR away from Misaki and then never using Blighted or accidentally summoning off of his own models. Which lets face it, shuts Hamelin down. 3Vp in the bag easy. My next choice was either between the ever present Protect Territory or risking Bodyguard, I decided on the latter due to Rat King being well known for eating all of the scheme markers.
Onto the list:
Misaki retained her pet Shang and Stalking Bisento, adding Smoke & Shadows for the (future) two main-stays: Torakage. Being able to relocate a model who's safely buried until end of turn means, if I have the suit available that is, having no wasted turns trying to get up the board to assist. In this game and the couple of 50ss I've had playing it, it's always helped being able to Bamf a ninja to either far outside of combat or to wade in getting that sweet sweet Works Best Alone.As I was deeply afraid of my models becoming slightly more English (Blighted), I added in Chiaki, the Neice in order to save the team from being wiped out by the black death. Being able to remove any possible Blighted, alongside Paralyze or the dreaded Sick in Bed condition.
Also being out of the way and never really stepping up to front lines means I can bluff Protect Territory whilst safely being away from deployment scoring fairly easily for Bodyguard.
Taelor I hired because Welcome to Malifaux scares summoners. Sometimes it doesn't matter, sometimes it creates bad plays and sometimes it gets Taelor dead. In this game she had the added benefit that she could be within 7" of Hamelin and garner the "Oh yay, Relic hammer" response (Walk + Hammer) forcing a move or getting anything in the way of her if the Stolen are taken care of. I didn't mind what happened so long as Taelor was able to get into combat and be the biggest target to deal with, allowing the Torakage a bit more wiggle room and keeping Chiaki safe from attention.
My opponent played a defensive list of Hamelin with his Anti-Charge aura (safe bet against Misaki), The Stolen, 2 Malifaux Rats, Freikcorps Trapper, Freikorps Librarian, and Ama No Zako, he revealed Outflank and Protect Territory.
First turn I got initiative and made Misaki lay waste to a From the Shadows Trapper to stop him taking pot shots at my fast-yet-weak crew. Stalked feels wasted when the upgrade gives you a (0) attack but auto-focus on Misaki's Bisento attacks is brutal no matter how many there are. I don't know weather my opponent planned for this to happen to get Misaki far away from the action but regardless the Trapper was a threat that needed dealing with.
My opponent spent the first turn making Ama No Zako walk and place a scheme marker, sacrificing the Stolen to summon 2 rats next to the two hired ones to create a Rat King to then Gnaw the placed scheme marker and move toward the second closest Squat marker to ready a claim next turn. My crew moved into positions that allowed them to next turn Walk-Interact second closest marker on my side and head up to the center. I normally hate Flank Deployment but having to play it so much recently I've come to respect it despite how it messes with my standard deployment ranges game.
Second turn was the marker claim turn. Misaki claimed the marker she wiped the Trapper's blood from and Stalked Ama No Zako. Ama No Zako claimed a marker and then walked to the furthest marker on his side. The Rat King was placed just outside of Hamelin's bubble allowing Taelor to take it down in one activation. Hamelin responded by Summoning two Stolen and then Obey'd Ama No Zako twice to walk up to and then take the Squat Marker. One Torakage took the second marker and walked towards the incoming melee whilst the second killed a Stolen that for some reason walked up to him, scoring the first Make them Suffer Vp.
This was a sticking point for me as it happened all game, The Stolen running into my models. I asked my opponent about it afterwards and he said that the Stolen are good at three things: making Rats, giving Blighted and handing out paralyze checks. But if he was giving out Make Them Suffer, why not flood the table with Rats? If he was avoiding giving Vp away, why run Stolen in to be murdered? I don't know if the easy Blighted and Paralyze check was worth it personally.
Turn three was the turning point, with Squatter's Rights safely in the bag for both players, it was time for murder, or at least attempted murder. Ama No Zako waded into the center of a Torakage, Taelor and the second Torakage and threw up some Miasma of Boils and Flies. Taelor killed a Rat that appeared scoring Make them Suffer and hit A.N.Z for weak. Torakage hit twice for weak one damages but the second Bamf'd out burying for the turn. The Librarian then healed Ama a decent amount resetting the clock.
Hamelin then Obey'd 'No Zaka to Focus then Obey'd her to attack Taelor... hitting a black joker. Man for a 1-in-54 chance, that black joker shows up at the worst moments. At the end of Turn 3, Torakage Bamf'd into the Librarian's face ready for face smashing.
Turn 4 the Torakage smashed academic face as promised. Misaki finally got into combat and Red Joker'd an Assassinate trigger into Ama No Zako (who once again Black Joker'd her focus attack, poor Oni) leaving Hamelin in the incredibly rare position of being out-activated. Another Stolen was killed and a marker was taken forcing a submission from my opponent. Chiaki being in place for full Bodyguard and full Make Them Suffer Vp to his 2vp from Squatters with no way to climb back, it would have been folly to continue other than seeing a board wipe.
It was a rough game. Facing Misaki with Make Them Suffer in the pool is hard enough for a summoner but trying to play a master like Hamelin without the Rat engine put the final nail in the coffin. The post game chat revealed that if he had played the game 3vp down knowing I'll be gunning for the Rats and the Stolen before other targets, the Rat engine would have overrun my non-blast list and tar-pitted the crud out me whilst he scored Outflank and Protect Terri.
This is what Slow Grows are for though, to be put into difficult situations and learn from them. What do you do when your master is blatantly giving away points? What happens when you can't do the one thing your master is known for and forced to do their secondary role?
My opponent realized in this game just how powerful Ama No Zako can be looking back at her presence in the game. If Ama didn't run into the black joker (twice) Hazardous Terrain with two lots of Min-damage 3 attacks and a zero obey to use other models to hit their allies would have ENDED my crew. Ama tied up two Torakage and Taelor, if she was able to hit already damaged Taelor twice it wouldn't be a long shot to expect Hazardous Terrain to finish off all three the next time they activated. Next turn, tank the damage take out all three with an Obey action on top of two attacks, heal up, job done.
Alas, I didn't learn much of anything with Misaki this game, due to the landslide nature of the game seeing Misaki kill stuff could have been safely assumed. Had the Rat swarm happened and branched out, Misaki and Taelor might have been able to dash around the table but until I get a re-match against The Pied Piper it will all be theoryfaux.
Onto my next game on week three, where I'll be playing <Sigh> Reckoning... Well all I can do is hope for a bad match up in order to really get the feel for Misaki's weak points. Until then, avoid that black joker at all costs and have fun out there.
Monday, 1 February 2016
Fast Dragon, Slow Grow Week One - New vs Cold
My local game shop earlier last week started a casual tournament Slow Grow: "GrowFaux", rules being that you could only enter with a master you've played less than 3 times beforehand.
This gave me a choice, as your humble writer loves a Slow Grow. I could either assemble a scissor welding spirit herder as now Kirai's summons are actually trickling out, stay with Arcanists and try out herding beasts instead with Marcus or go plain budget and stick with the, until now, un-assembled Misaki. As Xmas kicks the butt of all people great and small, I decided to stick with what I had and ran the Lady of the Thunder.
My experience with Misaki has been mostly watching my girlfriend play her and having a couple of matches between ourselves. She always seemed to be either safely scheme running in the background or bouncing off models to get to where she needed to be so I wrote her off as "Fast melee scheme runner". I then once got ruined by Misaki in a Squatter's Rights game where the guy I was facing was being a whole hellova lot more aggressive and planted Mei Feng into the ground whilst a Dawn Serpent went around snacking on Metal Garmin and healing to full each turn. Both styles work but that game always stuck with me.
The first game appeared tailored to show just how many options Malifaux has in terms of winning Vp:
26ss Standard Deployment
Turf War
A Line in the Sand
Assassinate
Deliver a Message
Breakthrough
Vendetta
A bit of killy, a bit of interact and the standard getting to a place a slapping down a marker.
Luckily for me, my first game was against a first time Rasputina player. My opponent has been playing since 1st edition and has basically every master, he had great trouble actually finding a master he hadn't played less than 3 games of but Rasputina fit the bill. With prior knowledge of the Snow Queen being opposite me I built a list that contained some anti-casting tech:
Komainu I have already stated how useful they are, having them as a summon and general pest in Yan Lo worked out great and their Wp attacking slow triggering is plain nice. What I took them for this game was for their "Guard the Soul" action allowing them to make free Melee attacks to anyone casting within 6" of the dog. With most Frozen Hearts and Arcanists in general having Ca actions, I thought it was a good pick for some board control.
Next up, Dawn Serpent who I borrowed and wow, Wk6 Flight, Ml7 in Melee and range, decent damage spread. I took him for Counterspell but the Serpent is so much more. What I found out later as well was with half of my own list having Ca actions, Dawn Serpent had what I affectionately call Regen All. Having that many casters surround him ensured that even if it took damage, it was back up to full health next activation. Sweet.
With the limited soulstone pool I decided to play it safe and chose a Torakage, Shang for hand filtering and Misaki with Stalking Bisento has her sole upgrade. 5 activations and 2 soulstone cache I felt was best for such a low stone game and knowing what Rasputina can throw out, I was prepared for a showdown. A Snow-down if you will...
....
My opponent played a strange list but I could see where he was coming from. Rasputina had Armor of December (because it's the law) Child of December and Sub Zero, a Coryphee, Ice Garmin, Performer and Willie. I forgot to ask him the reason for his choices but in my own mind, Coryphee was for speed, Garmin for damage buffs and slow, Performer to drag Raspy along and lure someone for message delivering and Willie because... Willie.
I chose Breakthrough revealed because why not and Deliver a message. Why I chose Deliver a message is beyond me but obviously I thought Komainu was going to be near 'Tina at some point and use his teleporting zero. My opponent revealed Deliver a message and nothing else so I assumed Assassinate as Coryphee was the only combat model that could score full on Vendetta.
I started the game stalking Willie and through a combined effort of double walks and lures from both parties, I ended the first turn nose to nose with Performer and the demo man. Somehow I got initiative and went Assassinate trigger crazy throwing out a bunch of damage and absolutely ruining his hand and soulstone pool. Willie dropped but I gambled the assassinate trigger over pushing away with the Performer and my opponent discarded his last two cards to prevent death. Next activation: Deliver a Message. Luckily, a combined effort of Komainu and Dawn Serpent took care of Coryphee and left my opponent with very little on the field for Turf War. I piled into the center with my remaining models and due to a Torakage being a pest and Dawn Serpent stopping easy Overwhelms going off it led the game into a 7-4 win to me.
A very unfair game as I had built my list tailored to beating Rasputina, I believe my opponent was unaware of the sheer speed of Misaki and the amount of auto-focus attacks she can throw out on stalked models. With Shang on hand for emergency healing and having a god-darn DRAGON attacking his ranks in the mean time it meant his force of control pieces couldn't stand up to her in a fair fight. My hand was amazing which helped, cards not being used as I was Ml7 against Def5 or less combined with Rush of Magic allowing me to filter my hand meant despite the wholesome lack of stones, I was fairly confident that I had the defense available to be so aggressive.
It's hard to say in such a small game but I'm really enjoying Misaki's play style. Auto-focus on stalked targets is wonderful when you can throw out 4 attacks with threat of Assassinate to then leave combat last attack to bother someone else. Killing a performer with a (0) action Bisento to then charge over my own models in order to finish off a Coryphee is what lead to preventing my opponent from scoring Turf War, something none of my other masters could do so easily.
I don't know what my next game will bring but hopefully Misaki gets to shine again. Remember, when in doubt, use a dragon and have fun out there.
This gave me a choice, as your humble writer loves a Slow Grow. I could either assemble a scissor welding spirit herder as now Kirai's summons are actually trickling out, stay with Arcanists and try out herding beasts instead with Marcus or go plain budget and stick with the, until now, un-assembled Misaki. As Xmas kicks the butt of all people great and small, I decided to stick with what I had and ran the Lady of the Thunder.
My experience with Misaki has been mostly watching my girlfriend play her and having a couple of matches between ourselves. She always seemed to be either safely scheme running in the background or bouncing off models to get to where she needed to be so I wrote her off as "Fast melee scheme runner". I then once got ruined by Misaki in a Squatter's Rights game where the guy I was facing was being a whole hellova lot more aggressive and planted Mei Feng into the ground whilst a Dawn Serpent went around snacking on Metal Garmin and healing to full each turn. Both styles work but that game always stuck with me.
The first game appeared tailored to show just how many options Malifaux has in terms of winning Vp:
26ss Standard Deployment
Turf War
A Line in the Sand
Assassinate
Deliver a Message
Breakthrough
Vendetta
A bit of killy, a bit of interact and the standard getting to a place a slapping down a marker.
Luckily for me, my first game was against a first time Rasputina player. My opponent has been playing since 1st edition and has basically every master, he had great trouble actually finding a master he hadn't played less than 3 games of but Rasputina fit the bill. With prior knowledge of the Snow Queen being opposite me I built a list that contained some anti-casting tech:
Komainu I have already stated how useful they are, having them as a summon and general pest in Yan Lo worked out great and their Wp attacking slow triggering is plain nice. What I took them for this game was for their "Guard the Soul" action allowing them to make free Melee attacks to anyone casting within 6" of the dog. With most Frozen Hearts and Arcanists in general having Ca actions, I thought it was a good pick for some board control.
Next up, Dawn Serpent who I borrowed and wow, Wk6 Flight, Ml7 in Melee and range, decent damage spread. I took him for Counterspell but the Serpent is so much more. What I found out later as well was with half of my own list having Ca actions, Dawn Serpent had what I affectionately call Regen All. Having that many casters surround him ensured that even if it took damage, it was back up to full health next activation. Sweet.
With the limited soulstone pool I decided to play it safe and chose a Torakage, Shang for hand filtering and Misaki with Stalking Bisento has her sole upgrade. 5 activations and 2 soulstone cache I felt was best for such a low stone game and knowing what Rasputina can throw out, I was prepared for a showdown. A Snow-down if you will...
....
My opponent played a strange list but I could see where he was coming from. Rasputina had Armor of December (because it's the law) Child of December and Sub Zero, a Coryphee, Ice Garmin, Performer and Willie. I forgot to ask him the reason for his choices but in my own mind, Coryphee was for speed, Garmin for damage buffs and slow, Performer to drag Raspy along and lure someone for message delivering and Willie because... Willie.
I chose Breakthrough revealed because why not and Deliver a message. Why I chose Deliver a message is beyond me but obviously I thought Komainu was going to be near 'Tina at some point and use his teleporting zero. My opponent revealed Deliver a message and nothing else so I assumed Assassinate as Coryphee was the only combat model that could score full on Vendetta.
I started the game stalking Willie and through a combined effort of double walks and lures from both parties, I ended the first turn nose to nose with Performer and the demo man. Somehow I got initiative and went Assassinate trigger crazy throwing out a bunch of damage and absolutely ruining his hand and soulstone pool. Willie dropped but I gambled the assassinate trigger over pushing away with the Performer and my opponent discarded his last two cards to prevent death. Next activation: Deliver a Message. Luckily, a combined effort of Komainu and Dawn Serpent took care of Coryphee and left my opponent with very little on the field for Turf War. I piled into the center with my remaining models and due to a Torakage being a pest and Dawn Serpent stopping easy Overwhelms going off it led the game into a 7-4 win to me.
A very unfair game as I had built my list tailored to beating Rasputina, I believe my opponent was unaware of the sheer speed of Misaki and the amount of auto-focus attacks she can throw out on stalked models. With Shang on hand for emergency healing and having a god-darn DRAGON attacking his ranks in the mean time it meant his force of control pieces couldn't stand up to her in a fair fight. My hand was amazing which helped, cards not being used as I was Ml7 against Def5 or less combined with Rush of Magic allowing me to filter my hand meant despite the wholesome lack of stones, I was fairly confident that I had the defense available to be so aggressive.
It's hard to say in such a small game but I'm really enjoying Misaki's play style. Auto-focus on stalked targets is wonderful when you can throw out 4 attacks with threat of Assassinate to then leave combat last attack to bother someone else. Killing a performer with a (0) action Bisento to then charge over my own models in order to finish off a Coryphee is what lead to preventing my opponent from scoring Turf War, something none of my other masters could do so easily.
I don't know what my next game will bring but hopefully Misaki gets to shine again. Remember, when in doubt, use a dragon and have fun out there.
Friday, 27 November 2015
Saying farewell to the Path Master
It's been a long rocky road with Yan Lo. At first he was shelved for being "useless" then forgotten about whilst Ironsides took center (mosh pit) stage until finally I decided that I needed to give him a chance. I liked everything that was on his cards and upgrades but at first couldn't put them to use in actually winning games (Or at the very least, making it frustrating for my opponent to overcome). At some point I stepped back and thought to myself "when am I going to stop chopping and changing masters and start putting some table time into making one great?" It worked with Rasputina & Ironsides but not so much with Ramos, Misaki or Mei Feng.
The Yan man was very tough to play as at first and that primarily came down to two things: The damn Chi and the "reliance" on the Ancestor tagline.
Chi is dead easy once I set it up. Yan Lo is slow guy so getting anywhere near where I wanted to be first turn was going to leave him out in the open (A mistake I made plenty at the start). I've had great success with Clockwork Trap killing first turn and it's set me up for the rest of the game with Ash Acendant and Ca7; Ca8 if I felt discarding for Chi was worthwhile the next turn. After that, bodies hit the floor or Soul Porter gives him more Chi if required. Really easy and after playing him for so long, Chi has never once been a problem using the Trap method.
I've dismissed Yan's ancestral reliance in previous posts and it remains true to this day. Building a core list to "include at least 3 ancestors" left me with roughly 15-17ss left to build with, thus not making a core so much as making an all-comers list that has a pair of switch-outs, ergo struggling with anything that isn't Turf war with Breakthrough (which is in my mind the default strategy all-comers lists build to).
I've used Summoning Toshiro yes but outside of Soul Porter giving him a shove his Ancestor tag has never played a role in my games. I've also used Yin in some games but again, I used her for her absolutely bonkers defenses and ability to stop movement, not simply because she has a tag that's barely mentioned. Remember, Reliquary doesn't bring back upgrades.
Sooner or later though, even with all the success or all of the time spent honing skills, you want a change. I have met very few people who have been playing this game for more than 6 months who haven't changed masters or at least thinking about it very strongly. There's a lot of choice and using only your first master does become boring after a time. The time has come for Yan Lo and quite honestly I'm saddened that he didn't get a better send off.
My last three games were simply speaking, bad match-ups with Pushes and Armor taking the main blame. Turning the average damage track of 2/3/4 in Lo's crew into 1/2/3 or even worse 1/1/2, creates poor Ap efficiency so if there is a tough melee brawler with armor who bosses up to my guys and I don't have a convenient Clockwork Trap to the side in order to save everyone, I'm stuck doing 3 damage a turn to a 10Wd+ model whilst they are busy spitting red-hot destruction. When I flurry with Punk Zombies, I want models dead, not viciously scratched. Ronin and Pathfinder are the only anti-armor tech I have but they are really easy to take out in two Ap so I was stuck. The masters that have this as a main tactic/defense are hard-fought when you're taking Yan Lo and quite honestly, I would suggest someone else if facing these threats but this is Malifaux, sometimes you will get into terrible match-ups and you have to take it on the chin and move on.
Even so, my time with Yan Lo has been a memorable one, it's been thought provoking to take a master that on the surface looks to be a dud and start surprising myself with just how effective he can be. Yes he has bad match-ups, 80% of all Malifaux masters do but in the games where he's not facing Armor and Blasts he does bloody well and is going to be a master I will miss playing. Alas all good things must come to an end, it's time to consider another master who hasn't had so much table time. With any luck, they will be just as fun to play as Yan Lo has been. Keep strong and have fun out there.
The Yan man was very tough to play as at first and that primarily came down to two things: The damn Chi and the "reliance" on the Ancestor tagline.
Chi is dead easy once I set it up. Yan Lo is slow guy so getting anywhere near where I wanted to be first turn was going to leave him out in the open (A mistake I made plenty at the start). I've had great success with Clockwork Trap killing first turn and it's set me up for the rest of the game with Ash Acendant and Ca7; Ca8 if I felt discarding for Chi was worthwhile the next turn. After that, bodies hit the floor or Soul Porter gives him more Chi if required. Really easy and after playing him for so long, Chi has never once been a problem using the Trap method.
I've dismissed Yan's ancestral reliance in previous posts and it remains true to this day. Building a core list to "include at least 3 ancestors" left me with roughly 15-17ss left to build with, thus not making a core so much as making an all-comers list that has a pair of switch-outs, ergo struggling with anything that isn't Turf war with Breakthrough (which is in my mind the default strategy all-comers lists build to).
I've used Summoning Toshiro yes but outside of Soul Porter giving him a shove his Ancestor tag has never played a role in my games. I've also used Yin in some games but again, I used her for her absolutely bonkers defenses and ability to stop movement, not simply because she has a tag that's barely mentioned. Remember, Reliquary doesn't bring back upgrades.
Sooner or later though, even with all the success or all of the time spent honing skills, you want a change. I have met very few people who have been playing this game for more than 6 months who haven't changed masters or at least thinking about it very strongly. There's a lot of choice and using only your first master does become boring after a time. The time has come for Yan Lo and quite honestly I'm saddened that he didn't get a better send off.
My last three games were simply speaking, bad match-ups with Pushes and Armor taking the main blame. Turning the average damage track of 2/3/4 in Lo's crew into 1/2/3 or even worse 1/1/2, creates poor Ap efficiency so if there is a tough melee brawler with armor who bosses up to my guys and I don't have a convenient Clockwork Trap to the side in order to save everyone, I'm stuck doing 3 damage a turn to a 10Wd+ model whilst they are busy spitting red-hot destruction. When I flurry with Punk Zombies, I want models dead, not viciously scratched. Ronin and Pathfinder are the only anti-armor tech I have but they are really easy to take out in two Ap so I was stuck. The masters that have this as a main tactic/defense are hard-fought when you're taking Yan Lo and quite honestly, I would suggest someone else if facing these threats but this is Malifaux, sometimes you will get into terrible match-ups and you have to take it on the chin and move on.
Even so, my time with Yan Lo has been a memorable one, it's been thought provoking to take a master that on the surface looks to be a dud and start surprising myself with just how effective he can be. Yes he has bad match-ups, 80% of all Malifaux masters do but in the games where he's not facing Armor and Blasts he does bloody well and is going to be a master I will miss playing. Alas all good things must come to an end, it's time to consider another master who hasn't had so much table time. With any luck, they will be just as fun to play as Yan Lo has been. Keep strong and have fun out there.
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