Outside of models I've truly never used before, there are some were I have to congratulate Wyrd on the flavor and abilities of when it comes to their models. Being the mainly Arcanist player I am, the first thing to come into my head when thinking of impactful non-Masters is the Coryphee and the Duet they become.
Back when I first started Malifaux, I had a very real problem with Scheme runners with Rasputina. With little experience with the Ice Witch and at a time where not even all the masters crew boxes were released, it was hard to generate a list for Breakthrough/Plant Evidence etc etc, Frozen Heart back then just didn't have any runners.
My first inclusion were the Mole Men and for a while they were great, that is until they were attacked or, for instance, they had already dropped more than enough markers. They have a Very focused job and can't really diverge from that role, I needed something else.
As a new player I brought both Arsenal decks for Arcanists just so I knew what everything did (This also being when Crossroads wasn't released, dark times indeed) and the Coryphee appeared to be exactly what I was looking for: Fast models who were able to attack but more importantly could leave combat and not get charged in response. The Duet looked insane and rightly so for sacrificing two 7ss models. So I set about a proxy of the dancers and took them to the table.
... And subsequently got them killed before turn 3 every game I had them. As a player in general I have this idea that new models exist in another dimension where opponent's will let them do exactly what they want and watch in awe as they do their home run lap. I can't fault my opponent's actions, I was playing the Coryphee dumb. I ran them in range of Anti-Armor which destroyed them quickly, if I had planned to run the pair separately, I would panic at the loss of 2 wounds and try to duet them only to have them standing out in the open. In games where I duet'ed immediately I would use them as pure scheme runners rather than assassination units so spending 14ss to be backfield doing Mole Men's job (forgetting that with their speed and 3ap, they could achieve a number of base rulebook schemes on turn 5).
I would either play too cagey or too aggressive, but as I came to learn, there is a delicate nuance of balance to the puppet's role on the field.
Fast forward to modern day, the Coryphee are released in plastic now and by budgetary reasoning, I've magnetized them to properly duet together. I know now not to run them into big nasties but rather assassinating smaller models. I almost never run them as a single unit anymore, the first turn is hopefully a double walk into a Dance Partner-Dance Together. Why not duet immediately? Summoning a fresh model that still has 2ap left to use up to 17" into the table is veritably useful, especially in dealing with well-placed From the Shadows models or taking down an early minion who safely assumed double walking was a good move. Picturing two marionettes gracefully spinning across the battlefield and effortlessly taking down a Guild Pathfinder is a thing of beauty.
I have found despite this that Rasputina still doesn't like the Duet. Not being Frozen Heart and not having much synergy in the crew leaves the puppets in the box. Mei Feng on the other hand loves them. Fast constructs that can keep up with her, that can get her out of trouble via Rail Walk and being able start or finish a fight alongside the Rail Boss is amazing. The Duet's main weakness against range becomes silly when they are within the protective Vent Steam and having another 3ap model dancing beside a master and the often 3Ap Firestarter provides fantastic opportunities for Vp gain.
With only one game with Kaeris right now I don't know if they have a place but in their one game with her they provided a means to draw an optimal hand turn one before duet'ing and acted as bodyguards to the rather frail Kaeris saving her Ap to use her burning effectively.
Judging the Duet on it's own, having Auto-everything in attack and defense paired with Agile and Disguised make the dancers impossible to pin down with melee attacks alone. Hitting them with conditions or ranged attacks is preferable but to get through Df/Wp6 with a built-in positive, it's an uphill struggle. This is not to say they are invincible, far from it but so long as I keep them away from tables that can focus anti-armor rounds, avoiding charging them into more than 2 models who can wear down those 7Wd OR being in a position where models around the Duet prevent them from escaping then I'm confident they will always make for an memorable game and an additional challenge to my opponent. It's 14ss that I don't regret spending to include them.
Dance like no one is watching and have fun out there.
Showing posts with label Theory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theory. Show all posts
Monday, 25 April 2016
Monday, 21 March 2016
The Value of Sacrifice
Other titles in I had in mind were
"Frame for FUN"
"Just, Just Go Sit in a Corner"
& "Guys? Control Hand? Guys!?".
The more you know.
What I've found out and touched upon late last year was, sometimes in a game of Malifaux, some models just plain don't matter anymore. A recent game had Snowstorm face down the fury of a very angry Mei Feng but with activations remaining and the necessity of getting past opponent's high cards and the rather likely Vent Steam, I felt it best to leave it to fate.
A very sad, possibly in slow-motion, Snow and Storm, with a single tear running down both of their faces to the sound of a resonantly somber song, stand defeated. They both stare at Rasputina, no hatred in their eyes but rather tearful regrets.
Time stops. If only for a moment.
They smile as a suitably aggressive heavy metal music slowly fades in followed swiftly by Mei Feng's Tiger Claws destroying their very essence rending them asunder...
I want the thank the academy....
What actually happened far, far away from imagination land is Mei Feng flipping higher numbers than Snowstorm's numbers, my decision not to cheat higher, then removing the model depiction of a fictional character from the table.
The above prose sounds better in the grander scheme of things mind you.
It's a skill that beginner players learn to adapt into their games and it took me quite a long time to consider that with only a finite resource of control hand available for semi-assured actions, using them wisely and knowing when to "not bother" for certain models is not only reserved for just for when my control hand is empty but I don't want to repeat what I previously said in "The Devil Makes Work of Idle Hands" for hand management. I want to talk about those times when your one of the remaining 7 or 8 models is just not worth keeping around. They've lost that glow, they aren't the same model you've hired anymore and you want to move on and concentrate on your work. You're in different places and you feel a Oh good they're dead, man it was getting to be a drag being with that model dude.
I've had it happen in many games, turn four rolls up and I'm either winning or drawing with a chance at a comeback and my opponent activates and concentrates their fire on some dude who is out of position who's not ever going to score this game and who can only really attack for no gain. The rest of my models are protecting schemes, scoring for strategy or in a position where they can end the game where they need to be.
This guy This Guy though, he's getting nowhere in life, riding the coat-tails of my more successful models and not keeping up paying his half of the rent. If my opponent is courteous enough to, lets say, Evict this particular individual from my life; well I suppose I'll look the other way during this, shall we say, Intervention.
Sometimes you have to take advantage of your opponent's blood lust by being Zen and accept losing a model in this instance is a natural part of tabletop life. If they cheat cards in order to hit the poor individual then all the more better. When I'm on a speculative 7-6 victory and only really need those 4 models around to ensure that assumed point total, models 5 and 6 better be stopping the opponent's Vp or else they get no control hand to assist them with breathing. It's late game and the loss of a Key model is brutal so if my opponent wants to throw their fate at a small fry, so be it.
This is of course assuming I'm winning. When it's likely that loss is on the cards (and with a year's total win/draw/loss standing at 5/1/10, for me its certainly likely) getting to even decide what models live and die is sadly out of my hands. Most of my models by game end are either engaged or 12ft under, so I have absolutely no choice in letting a model die, most likely I'll need all of them to have a chance at a draw. In these situations who do you save cards for and who do you give the face cards to? They're all required to score!
Quite honestly, without the game in front of me, I can't give a general answer. If the strategy is low, focus on your guys who can score it and if a scheme is score-able, let your guys who have a chance take a shot I guess....
If both are low (as what most happens to yours truly, look I don't follow my own advice all the time, okay) then the fate deck will have to unfortunately cover you. I've had scoring models who have taken a LOT of heat and lived much longer than they had any right to by top-decking fate. When a Sister at the chapel of Viktoria takes more than 4 swings to take down Joss with all her relevant buffs and all I had were those lucky top decks, I call that a win even if it resulted in Vp, model and game loss.
Then there's the time the deck screws you and the models you'd expect to be able to take a series of hits and stay standing, are left as little more than dust in the wind. It happens. How many of you have suffered a face card vs Black Joker only to see a Red Joker in the damage flip? Devastating.
I've learned in my recent games to plan for eventualities. It's not always clear but by the middle of turn 3, I can roughly imagine how things are going to go down and what the score is likely to be by game end. What me and my opponent can do to change that can be at least assumed at this point also. By the end of turn 4, I have a detailed idea of what points are left to be scored so I attempt to make key models in advantageous positions long beforehand, which in turn (presuming my opponent is doing much the same) creates closer games than if I were to attempt purely last turn Vp gains. Gaining Grounds 2016's new schemes has leveled this out somewhat by allowing players to score throughout the game rather than the all or nothing at game's end that was the base rule book schemes but even so, with enough Malifaux experience, you get a gut-feeling how scores will go down by mid-game. It's shown me greater depth of forward planning and knowing what models are most likely to achieve that objective. And also what models are best left as bullet sponge punching bags.
Keep calm, remain Zen and have fun out there.
"Frame for FUN"
"Just, Just Go Sit in a Corner"
& "Guys? Control Hand? Guys!?".
The more you know.
What I've found out and touched upon late last year was, sometimes in a game of Malifaux, some models just plain don't matter anymore. A recent game had Snowstorm face down the fury of a very angry Mei Feng but with activations remaining and the necessity of getting past opponent's high cards and the rather likely Vent Steam, I felt it best to leave it to fate.
A very sad, possibly in slow-motion, Snow and Storm, with a single tear running down both of their faces to the sound of a resonantly somber song, stand defeated. They both stare at Rasputina, no hatred in their eyes but rather tearful regrets.
Time stops. If only for a moment.
They smile as a suitably aggressive heavy metal music slowly fades in followed swiftly by Mei Feng's Tiger Claws destroying their very essence rending them asunder...
I want the thank the academy....
What actually happened far, far away from imagination land is Mei Feng flipping higher numbers than Snowstorm's numbers, my decision not to cheat higher, then removing the model depiction of a fictional character from the table.
The above prose sounds better in the grander scheme of things mind you.
It's a skill that beginner players learn to adapt into their games and it took me quite a long time to consider that with only a finite resource of control hand available for semi-assured actions, using them wisely and knowing when to "not bother" for certain models is not only reserved for just for when my control hand is empty but I don't want to repeat what I previously said in "The Devil Makes Work of Idle Hands" for hand management. I want to talk about those times when your one of the remaining 7 or 8 models is just not worth keeping around. They've lost that glow, they aren't the same model you've hired anymore and you want to move on and concentrate on your work. You're in different places and you feel a Oh good they're dead, man it was getting to be a drag being with that model dude.
I've had it happen in many games, turn four rolls up and I'm either winning or drawing with a chance at a comeback and my opponent activates and concentrates their fire on some dude who is out of position who's not ever going to score this game and who can only really attack for no gain. The rest of my models are protecting schemes, scoring for strategy or in a position where they can end the game where they need to be.
This guy This Guy though, he's getting nowhere in life, riding the coat-tails of my more successful models and not keeping up paying his half of the rent. If my opponent is courteous enough to, lets say, Evict this particular individual from my life; well I suppose I'll look the other way during this, shall we say, Intervention.
Sometimes you have to take advantage of your opponent's blood lust by being Zen and accept losing a model in this instance is a natural part of tabletop life. If they cheat cards in order to hit the poor individual then all the more better. When I'm on a speculative 7-6 victory and only really need those 4 models around to ensure that assumed point total, models 5 and 6 better be stopping the opponent's Vp or else they get no control hand to assist them with breathing. It's late game and the loss of a Key model is brutal so if my opponent wants to throw their fate at a small fry, so be it.
This is of course assuming I'm winning. When it's likely that loss is on the cards (and with a year's total win/draw/loss standing at 5/1/10, for me its certainly likely) getting to even decide what models live and die is sadly out of my hands. Most of my models by game end are either engaged or 12ft under, so I have absolutely no choice in letting a model die, most likely I'll need all of them to have a chance at a draw. In these situations who do you save cards for and who do you give the face cards to? They're all required to score!
Quite honestly, without the game in front of me, I can't give a general answer. If the strategy is low, focus on your guys who can score it and if a scheme is score-able, let your guys who have a chance take a shot I guess....
If both are low (as what most happens to yours truly, look I don't follow my own advice all the time, okay) then the fate deck will have to unfortunately cover you. I've had scoring models who have taken a LOT of heat and lived much longer than they had any right to by top-decking fate. When a Sister at the chapel of Viktoria takes more than 4 swings to take down Joss with all her relevant buffs and all I had were those lucky top decks, I call that a win even if it resulted in Vp, model and game loss.
Then there's the time the deck screws you and the models you'd expect to be able to take a series of hits and stay standing, are left as little more than dust in the wind. It happens. How many of you have suffered a face card vs Black Joker only to see a Red Joker in the damage flip? Devastating.
I've learned in my recent games to plan for eventualities. It's not always clear but by the middle of turn 3, I can roughly imagine how things are going to go down and what the score is likely to be by game end. What me and my opponent can do to change that can be at least assumed at this point also. By the end of turn 4, I have a detailed idea of what points are left to be scored so I attempt to make key models in advantageous positions long beforehand, which in turn (presuming my opponent is doing much the same) creates closer games than if I were to attempt purely last turn Vp gains. Gaining Grounds 2016's new schemes has leveled this out somewhat by allowing players to score throughout the game rather than the all or nothing at game's end that was the base rule book schemes but even so, with enough Malifaux experience, you get a gut-feeling how scores will go down by mid-game. It's shown me greater depth of forward planning and knowing what models are most likely to achieve that objective. And also what models are best left as bullet sponge punching bags.
Keep calm, remain Zen and have fun out there.
Monday, 14 March 2016
Me? Deny your Vp by Support? No Mr Bond, I Expect You to Die!
I once had a very short and prompt discussion on the topic of Support masters versus Killy masters, with both of us agreeing at the time that Killy masters on the surface appear to have the advantage in terms of gaining and denying Vp; whereas a support master can easily score 10Vp but maybe have trouble against preventing the opposing players.
In my relatively limited and casual experience, this seemed to be the case. Yan Lo can and will score 10vp unless his crew is taken out to the point where it's no longer possible. Any common model (read non-peon) can score marker based schemes and every faction has a tanky model to stand and take hits whilst accomplishing interact actions or protecting future Vp investments but after that? How are you going to deal with your opponent scoring just as well with their models? It's something which killy crews can take advantage of easier than support masters
Most players I've pitched this question to have stated that masters being denoted as simple Death-dealing or Support is much too black and white which I stand to agree with. Rasputina is very killy but with Ice Pillars and handing out Armor +1 with Silent Ones healing alongside the fine Freeze Over, one could easily argue that hand-in-hand with sheer unadulterated death, that she's also great at supporting her crew allowing them to win games.
Nicodem is very supportive but with all his summons being buffed to the teeth and a general disregard for them un-living for too long, his crew can also be described as killy. Ramos creates spiders and does a bunch of Ap-oh-who-cares (I'm not a fan) but when his spiders are positioned with care, taking down a Df3 or less henchman with constructs having every buff they need is a simple job. Thus it comes down to what scheme pool is on the table and taking it from there.
How often does a table wipe happen in your meta? Many out there might be in agreement that winning a strategy with no one left across from you turn 3 onwards is the easiest thing ever (in most of circumstances mind; Collect the Bounty with a bunch of schemes requiring interactions or keeping your opponent's models alive will more than likely result in a tie) but really how often does it happen? Every game? Every one in five? If it happens a lot then either there's no terrain whatsoever or your opponents are making a lot of mistakes often. It's hard to come back from massive out-activation yes, especially when the Viks have Whirlwind'ed any model that's vaguely threatening from the table early game but, even if it's the most flukeiest luckiest set of circumstances ever, you could still win with nothing more than Wk4 significant models. Without living in a dream world though, facing down perfectly positioned death squadrons is tough without knowing exact threat ranges and a small amount of card counting, thus why Perdita, Levi, Sonnia, Viktorias are normally met with an audible "ehh" from new to advanced players.
On further musing, in my meta at least, the same "oh jeez, really?" can also be said about Dreamer, Collodi, Colette and Jack Daw. Masters and core crews that don't strictly rely on murder but still absolutely mess with your models to the point of stasis.
Jack Daw for instance isn't what you would call a damage dealing god, but being able to (effectively) shut down 3 models with basic ease, he doesn't need to be. He doesn't kill your models, more he gives your models the opportunity to kill themselves. With so much control on the board, your models don't have to be dead to stop doing what they need to do in a game.
Collette isn't killing any master but with enough experience playing Colette, she and her crew have free range of the table. Her showgirls and doves can pretty much be anywhere on the board and get out of trouble fairly well, interacting and placing scheme markers regardless of what's in their way. Hell, in emergency situations playing a purely thematic list, Prompt a Showgirl thrice, handing out 6 poison, then give the 8th posion and Siren Call them to A Sip of Wine. It's not perfect but it's an option (Or yaknow just Prompt Coryphee Duet a bunch and make me hate you).
It shows you just how much a mainly-support master can turn the tides when played well.
Thus I'm at an impasse, Killy masters can kill everything to win games, Support masters can tank that very same damage and win theirs. On the surface of things, Murder-makers have the upper-hand but looking deeper, I've found that it's simply not the case when looked at as a whole. Yes board wipes will win the game more often than not but getting to that point is a hard won battle if facing a support master with experience under their belt. Outside of not knowing the crew you're facing, a total party kill just doesn't happen that often.
From a new player perspective though, or even from the perspective of someone who has exclusively played killy masters until choosing to play a more control/support master, it may well seem to be that killing half the opposing crew seems the solution to all of life's problems. It's that clean-up duty that tweaks the details. A friend of mine has a fast support crew which typically runs up first turn to drop necessary markers, then second turn and beyond uses those models to tar-pit and drain Ap. They leave one or two models aside to gain Vp outside of combat with back-up summoning and the Slow condition being thrown everywhere. A Killy master still kills everything sure but can't always do that all important clean-up step to win the game when the dust settles.
So who wins out in the end? Both really. If you are pure kill-crazy, you lack ways to deal with Slow or Paralyze or an illusionary forest popping up. On the other hand, pure support only works for so long until you've gained board control but lack ways to do anything but deny some more. Solution? Have both. Joss in a Collete crew is synergistic well with her Prompt, whilst a Showgirl in a Ramos crew can get key models in very tough situations. Zen and Balance ladies and gentlemen.
Keep those cogs in your mind moving and have fun out there.
In my relatively limited and casual experience, this seemed to be the case. Yan Lo can and will score 10vp unless his crew is taken out to the point where it's no longer possible. Any common model (read non-peon) can score marker based schemes and every faction has a tanky model to stand and take hits whilst accomplishing interact actions or protecting future Vp investments but after that? How are you going to deal with your opponent scoring just as well with their models? It's something which killy crews can take advantage of easier than support masters
Most players I've pitched this question to have stated that masters being denoted as simple Death-dealing or Support is much too black and white which I stand to agree with. Rasputina is very killy but with Ice Pillars and handing out Armor +1 with Silent Ones healing alongside the fine Freeze Over, one could easily argue that hand-in-hand with sheer unadulterated death, that she's also great at supporting her crew allowing them to win games.
Nicodem is very supportive but with all his summons being buffed to the teeth and a general disregard for them un-living for too long, his crew can also be described as killy. Ramos creates spiders and does a bunch of Ap-oh-who-cares (I'm not a fan) but when his spiders are positioned with care, taking down a Df3 or less henchman with constructs having every buff they need is a simple job. Thus it comes down to what scheme pool is on the table and taking it from there.
How often does a table wipe happen in your meta? Many out there might be in agreement that winning a strategy with no one left across from you turn 3 onwards is the easiest thing ever (in most of circumstances mind; Collect the Bounty with a bunch of schemes requiring interactions or keeping your opponent's models alive will more than likely result in a tie) but really how often does it happen? Every game? Every one in five? If it happens a lot then either there's no terrain whatsoever or your opponents are making a lot of mistakes often. It's hard to come back from massive out-activation yes, especially when the Viks have Whirlwind'ed any model that's vaguely threatening from the table early game but, even if it's the most flukeiest luckiest set of circumstances ever, you could still win with nothing more than Wk4 significant models. Without living in a dream world though, facing down perfectly positioned death squadrons is tough without knowing exact threat ranges and a small amount of card counting, thus why Perdita, Levi, Sonnia, Viktorias are normally met with an audible "ehh" from new to advanced players.
On further musing, in my meta at least, the same "oh jeez, really?" can also be said about Dreamer, Collodi, Colette and Jack Daw. Masters and core crews that don't strictly rely on murder but still absolutely mess with your models to the point of stasis.
Jack Daw for instance isn't what you would call a damage dealing god, but being able to (effectively) shut down 3 models with basic ease, he doesn't need to be. He doesn't kill your models, more he gives your models the opportunity to kill themselves. With so much control on the board, your models don't have to be dead to stop doing what they need to do in a game.Collette isn't killing any master but with enough experience playing Colette, she and her crew have free range of the table. Her showgirls and doves can pretty much be anywhere on the board and get out of trouble fairly well, interacting and placing scheme markers regardless of what's in their way. Hell, in emergency situations playing a purely thematic list, Prompt a Showgirl thrice, handing out 6 poison, then give the 8th posion and Siren Call them to A Sip of Wine. It's not perfect but it's an option (Or yaknow just Prompt Coryphee Duet a bunch and make me hate you).
It shows you just how much a mainly-support master can turn the tides when played well.
Thus I'm at an impasse, Killy masters can kill everything to win games, Support masters can tank that very same damage and win theirs. On the surface of things, Murder-makers have the upper-hand but looking deeper, I've found that it's simply not the case when looked at as a whole. Yes board wipes will win the game more often than not but getting to that point is a hard won battle if facing a support master with experience under their belt. Outside of not knowing the crew you're facing, a total party kill just doesn't happen that often.
From a new player perspective though, or even from the perspective of someone who has exclusively played killy masters until choosing to play a more control/support master, it may well seem to be that killing half the opposing crew seems the solution to all of life's problems. It's that clean-up duty that tweaks the details. A friend of mine has a fast support crew which typically runs up first turn to drop necessary markers, then second turn and beyond uses those models to tar-pit and drain Ap. They leave one or two models aside to gain Vp outside of combat with back-up summoning and the Slow condition being thrown everywhere. A Killy master still kills everything sure but can't always do that all important clean-up step to win the game when the dust settles.
So who wins out in the end? Both really. If you are pure kill-crazy, you lack ways to deal with Slow or Paralyze or an illusionary forest popping up. On the other hand, pure support only works for so long until you've gained board control but lack ways to do anything but deny some more. Solution? Have both. Joss in a Collete crew is synergistic well with her Prompt, whilst a Showgirl in a Ramos crew can get key models in very tough situations. Zen and Balance ladies and gentlemen.
Keep those cogs in your mind moving and have fun out there.
Monday, 7 March 2016
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Toni?
With Rasputina recently dominating my stable of Rasputina, Rasputina's BFF and Rasputina's close friend I decided that another master should take the limelight in playing Gaining Grounds games when the scheme stars line up for her (which honestly, I'm playing by default now). Ironsides having a part of my heart that enjoys Tar-pit masters who are consistently singing Tubthumping whilst cracking skulls.
Then I hit a wall, a wall I told myself that I wouldn't bother smashing my head against unless I had proverbial cause and reason to. The last game I played was Guard the Stash with Convict Labor, Take Prisoner, Exhaust Their Forces, Search The Ruins and Occupy Their Turf and I couldn't for the life of me find a reason to take Ironsides over Rasputina. Guard the Stash requires models to stand in two places and tank hits which to be fair any Arcanist master can do, it's the schemes that forced Ms Toni back into the box.
Take Prisoner is awful for Ironsides as she's the prime target for it and giving away 3Vp when both Feng and 'Tina can simply railwalk/push out of combat is plain silly; Exhaust Their Forces is even worse as Toni welcomes enemy models into combat, even when she's not trying, so now I'm 6Vp down. Quite frankly, taking Rasputina and choosing Search the Ruins and Occupy Their Turf was the better call and despite losing against a very good Jack Daw player, he was clearly struggling and only scored 3vp more than me by luck of the draw and expertly hiding what schemes he was doing until the very last moment.
We had a discussion after the game and I mentioned my wanting to play Toni Ironsides more but the scheme pool just wasn't great for her, he then asked me the sensible questions of: What scheme pool is Ironside's scheme pool? Like what would you put in a scheme pool that Ironsides would clean house with?
I honestly couldn't answer.
Not out of thinking she is terrible in all schemes but more so that I've never asked that question myself: What does Ironsides excel in? So I looked deeper.
Out of the strategies I would only take Toni in Extraction as the middle is exactly where she wants to be and enemies have to take part in the royal rumble in order to score. Feng would still do well, as would Rasputina but in terms of who I would prefer, Toni is better for it in my eyes.
Those of you with keen eyesight may well notice that Extraction is one out of four common strategies, thus my first complaint, I can't see myself wanting Ironsides over Raspy or Mei in the majority of games I play and that's a big problem.
Onto the schemes. Out of the suited/always available schemes that I would pick Toni over the other two for, I simply wouldn't. Toni can do Exhaust Their Forces but then my opponent can do exactly the same back causing Zero Sum. Convict Labor and Leave Your Mark I would prefer Mei Feng for as as much as I have wild fantasies about Toni being this vortex of aggression, for the most part a savvy player is going to stay the heck out of the way increasing the chance that my markers aren't going to be able to score. Show of Force any master can do but I would prefer Feng or 'Tina to lead an upgraded crew into battle and Hunting Party is much easier to do when you're not bogged down by two models and can pick and choose death targets.
Again, a massive problem as now I'm playing a master who can play one strategy and who won't be able to take half of the scheme pool made available. Need I go on?
My first thought was why I even liked Ironsides so much back in the day if with this improved scheme pool is so bad for her? Maybe it was beginners luck or playing against players who were unaware of how lethal Toni can be if you feed her models to ramp up her Adrenaline but maybe it was more due to her potential greatly outshining her actual presence on the table.
You see, when Toni was first revealed in Crossroads and even in beta testing, forums and players alike were saying how mad broken she was and what insanity she could perform when she got her adrenaline engine going. How she could break the game with Hand Picked Men and the combos that could outmatch Mei Feng.
The realization set in fairly quickly once the fog of giddy theoryfaux faded away. Hand Picked Men always seems to fall short no matter how one sets it up and Adrenaline?
There's never enough Adrenaline.
Make all your arguments, tell me how Mouse and the Captain are supposed to pull models into Ironside's melee range allowing her maximum Adrenaline when she activates; but even with maximum models in melee with her, everything you want to do becomes a detriment. Want to combo into Toni's Uppercut? Lose 2 Adrenaline, Want to combo again? Lose 2 more. Wanna move to another target? Lose 1 more. Heal? Lose all of it. Trying to save it for future turns? Lose one every turn to heal a single wound.
Even if you weren't to focus on Adrenaline, a 2/3/4 vanilla damage track even at Ml7 is lackluster and whilst I love Uppercut, trading a whole activation for a (2) action to do 4-5 damage and give out Slow simply isn't enough especially when it's Ml4 base before Adrenaline.
Let me be fair, what happens when the perfect set up happens? Allow me to share:
Toni is next to an enemy she charged last turn and is sitting on Adrenaline +2. The Captain then Airbursts a target into melee with Toni. The opponent activates and nimble + charges The Captain who takes damage allowing Toni to discard 2 low cards for Adrenaline. Other activations happen during which time the opponent activates the models in melee with Ironsides and activates Good Shot, My Turn thrice. Ironsides activates and with her defense trigger and Protective alongside the two enemy models within 2" she has Adrenaline +7. She opens with Brass Knuckles using the trigger to combo into Uppercut killing the first enemy model. She does the same with the second enemy and uses her final Ap to lure The Captain's opponent into her melee range and then uses her Stand Up, Stand Tall to heal 3 wounds in order to tank the next turns damage.
Again, perfect set up. To actually achieve this set of unfortunate events you needed to have Toni end a turn on Adrenaline +3 (Which requires you to discard cards, stone for the non-in-built trigger on her attack or pitching Tomes to her def trigger, a lot of resources that no one else can use). The next turn having the Captain be in range to grab a critter then conveniently take non-lethal damage twice within 6" of Ironsides (which she has to pitch more cards to) THEN having both enemies wound but-not-too-much Toni forcing more Tomes or Stones and then being on life totals that allow 6-7 damage to finish them off. Then, luring another model into the fray which may result in needing to cheat a card taking more damage then seeing Toni on little to no wounds after three models worth of attacks and forcing her to dump her Adrenaline so she stands a chance next turn. To those counting at home, 4 discards (two of which need to be Tomes), 2 high Rams/2 Soulstones then a medium to high card in order to ensure the lure. In other words, your whole hand and this is the perfect set up. You might ask "You don't need that much Adrenaline", you do if you want to actually hit with Uppercut.
"What about Hand Picked Men?" Okay, another way to play Ironsides is as a luring support piece. With models preventing her from taking the damage by standing in charge lanes and other friendlies getting in nice and close with auto-focus attacks. Great on paper but with proper terrain lay-out models are going to get stuck on corners or be out of LOS more often than not. If I wanted my whole crew to be focused all the time I would play Shen Long or Collodi. If I wanted to stay in Arcanist then Marcus or Collette can do exactly the same Focus/Lure tactic and have a LOT more options in a game in terms of mobility and winning Vp. Trying to make a master like Toni work by erasing 80% of her card is not going to win any hearts.
I won't go into what changes I would make as that's a slippery slope that leads to "Ml9 on every stat and every model in her crew gains Focus+2 when they activate" and quite frankly outside of an ENORMOUS errata, none of what I or anyone else says or suggests would make much of a difference. Toni is simply too much of hassle to play competitively with.
She is a great looking model and one of the few stories I really enjoyed reading in the books, alas, whilst I can rave all day about how she's this great threat in mosh-pit melee, when I look at cold hard facts and table experience, she just doesn't do enough. She wants to be in the middle of a brawl but lacks the capacity to survive within it. She wants to deal lots of damage to lots of models but once she hurts the first target, she suddenly becomes unable to do so to others. It's a sad sorry state of affairs to be in Toni's steel toe-capped boots.
As much as I really want Ironsides to be the great model that I once envisioned her to be, it's simply not meant to be. I could conjure up lists and ways to make her more manageable or find ways to make her "work", adding M&SU models haphazardly or adding models that I hope get ignored to score Vp but when I play a game and say to myself "I could be earning Victory Points so much easier if I had taken anyone else" that's a sign of a bad master.
It's a strange day when I would prefer to take Yan Lo of all models over Toni Ironsides. The old man's constant fidgety movement removing targets from areas they need to be is unfortunately more likely to score Victory Points more often than the brawlers rooted punching. Even Ramos with how dreadfully boring he is can at least fill the board with mobile scheme runners.
Fortunately, the remaining masters in my stable of champions I'm having a lot of fun playing and with Ironsides no longer being forced into games, it means at least Mei Feng is able to get the games that she deserves against more than just a gunline. Alas, Toni will have to join Ramos in the case of un-used masters for the foreseeable future until I find myself in the mood to playing inefficient or plain dull crew leaders.
Stay true to yourself and have fun out there.
Then I hit a wall, a wall I told myself that I wouldn't bother smashing my head against unless I had proverbial cause and reason to. The last game I played was Guard the Stash with Convict Labor, Take Prisoner, Exhaust Their Forces, Search The Ruins and Occupy Their Turf and I couldn't for the life of me find a reason to take Ironsides over Rasputina. Guard the Stash requires models to stand in two places and tank hits which to be fair any Arcanist master can do, it's the schemes that forced Ms Toni back into the box.
Take Prisoner is awful for Ironsides as she's the prime target for it and giving away 3Vp when both Feng and 'Tina can simply railwalk/push out of combat is plain silly; Exhaust Their Forces is even worse as Toni welcomes enemy models into combat, even when she's not trying, so now I'm 6Vp down. Quite frankly, taking Rasputina and choosing Search the Ruins and Occupy Their Turf was the better call and despite losing against a very good Jack Daw player, he was clearly struggling and only scored 3vp more than me by luck of the draw and expertly hiding what schemes he was doing until the very last moment.
We had a discussion after the game and I mentioned my wanting to play Toni Ironsides more but the scheme pool just wasn't great for her, he then asked me the sensible questions of: What scheme pool is Ironside's scheme pool? Like what would you put in a scheme pool that Ironsides would clean house with?
I honestly couldn't answer.
Not out of thinking she is terrible in all schemes but more so that I've never asked that question myself: What does Ironsides excel in? So I looked deeper.
Out of the strategies I would only take Toni in Extraction as the middle is exactly where she wants to be and enemies have to take part in the royal rumble in order to score. Feng would still do well, as would Rasputina but in terms of who I would prefer, Toni is better for it in my eyes.
Those of you with keen eyesight may well notice that Extraction is one out of four common strategies, thus my first complaint, I can't see myself wanting Ironsides over Raspy or Mei in the majority of games I play and that's a big problem.
Onto the schemes. Out of the suited/always available schemes that I would pick Toni over the other two for, I simply wouldn't. Toni can do Exhaust Their Forces but then my opponent can do exactly the same back causing Zero Sum. Convict Labor and Leave Your Mark I would prefer Mei Feng for as as much as I have wild fantasies about Toni being this vortex of aggression, for the most part a savvy player is going to stay the heck out of the way increasing the chance that my markers aren't going to be able to score. Show of Force any master can do but I would prefer Feng or 'Tina to lead an upgraded crew into battle and Hunting Party is much easier to do when you're not bogged down by two models and can pick and choose death targets.
Again, a massive problem as now I'm playing a master who can play one strategy and who won't be able to take half of the scheme pool made available. Need I go on?
My first thought was why I even liked Ironsides so much back in the day if with this improved scheme pool is so bad for her? Maybe it was beginners luck or playing against players who were unaware of how lethal Toni can be if you feed her models to ramp up her Adrenaline but maybe it was more due to her potential greatly outshining her actual presence on the table.
You see, when Toni was first revealed in Crossroads and even in beta testing, forums and players alike were saying how mad broken she was and what insanity she could perform when she got her adrenaline engine going. How she could break the game with Hand Picked Men and the combos that could outmatch Mei Feng.
The realization set in fairly quickly once the fog of giddy theoryfaux faded away. Hand Picked Men always seems to fall short no matter how one sets it up and Adrenaline?
There's never enough Adrenaline.
Make all your arguments, tell me how Mouse and the Captain are supposed to pull models into Ironside's melee range allowing her maximum Adrenaline when she activates; but even with maximum models in melee with her, everything you want to do becomes a detriment. Want to combo into Toni's Uppercut? Lose 2 Adrenaline, Want to combo again? Lose 2 more. Wanna move to another target? Lose 1 more. Heal? Lose all of it. Trying to save it for future turns? Lose one every turn to heal a single wound.
Even if you weren't to focus on Adrenaline, a 2/3/4 vanilla damage track even at Ml7 is lackluster and whilst I love Uppercut, trading a whole activation for a (2) action to do 4-5 damage and give out Slow simply isn't enough especially when it's Ml4 base before Adrenaline.
Let me be fair, what happens when the perfect set up happens? Allow me to share:
Toni is next to an enemy she charged last turn and is sitting on Adrenaline +2. The Captain then Airbursts a target into melee with Toni. The opponent activates and nimble + charges The Captain who takes damage allowing Toni to discard 2 low cards for Adrenaline. Other activations happen during which time the opponent activates the models in melee with Ironsides and activates Good Shot, My Turn thrice. Ironsides activates and with her defense trigger and Protective alongside the two enemy models within 2" she has Adrenaline +7. She opens with Brass Knuckles using the trigger to combo into Uppercut killing the first enemy model. She does the same with the second enemy and uses her final Ap to lure The Captain's opponent into her melee range and then uses her Stand Up, Stand Tall to heal 3 wounds in order to tank the next turns damage.
Again, perfect set up. To actually achieve this set of unfortunate events you needed to have Toni end a turn on Adrenaline +3 (Which requires you to discard cards, stone for the non-in-built trigger on her attack or pitching Tomes to her def trigger, a lot of resources that no one else can use). The next turn having the Captain be in range to grab a critter then conveniently take non-lethal damage twice within 6" of Ironsides (which she has to pitch more cards to) THEN having both enemies wound but-not-too-much Toni forcing more Tomes or Stones and then being on life totals that allow 6-7 damage to finish them off. Then, luring another model into the fray which may result in needing to cheat a card taking more damage then seeing Toni on little to no wounds after three models worth of attacks and forcing her to dump her Adrenaline so she stands a chance next turn. To those counting at home, 4 discards (two of which need to be Tomes), 2 high Rams/2 Soulstones then a medium to high card in order to ensure the lure. In other words, your whole hand and this is the perfect set up. You might ask "You don't need that much Adrenaline", you do if you want to actually hit with Uppercut.
"What about Hand Picked Men?" Okay, another way to play Ironsides is as a luring support piece. With models preventing her from taking the damage by standing in charge lanes and other friendlies getting in nice and close with auto-focus attacks. Great on paper but with proper terrain lay-out models are going to get stuck on corners or be out of LOS more often than not. If I wanted my whole crew to be focused all the time I would play Shen Long or Collodi. If I wanted to stay in Arcanist then Marcus or Collette can do exactly the same Focus/Lure tactic and have a LOT more options in a game in terms of mobility and winning Vp. Trying to make a master like Toni work by erasing 80% of her card is not going to win any hearts.
I won't go into what changes I would make as that's a slippery slope that leads to "Ml9 on every stat and every model in her crew gains Focus+2 when they activate" and quite frankly outside of an ENORMOUS errata, none of what I or anyone else says or suggests would make much of a difference. Toni is simply too much of hassle to play competitively with.
She is a great looking model and one of the few stories I really enjoyed reading in the books, alas, whilst I can rave all day about how she's this great threat in mosh-pit melee, when I look at cold hard facts and table experience, she just doesn't do enough. She wants to be in the middle of a brawl but lacks the capacity to survive within it. She wants to deal lots of damage to lots of models but once she hurts the first target, she suddenly becomes unable to do so to others. It's a sad sorry state of affairs to be in Toni's steel toe-capped boots.
As much as I really want Ironsides to be the great model that I once envisioned her to be, it's simply not meant to be. I could conjure up lists and ways to make her more manageable or find ways to make her "work", adding M&SU models haphazardly or adding models that I hope get ignored to score Vp but when I play a game and say to myself "I could be earning Victory Points so much easier if I had taken anyone else" that's a sign of a bad master.
It's a strange day when I would prefer to take Yan Lo of all models over Toni Ironsides. The old man's constant fidgety movement removing targets from areas they need to be is unfortunately more likely to score Victory Points more often than the brawlers rooted punching. Even Ramos with how dreadfully boring he is can at least fill the board with mobile scheme runners.
Fortunately, the remaining masters in my stable of champions I'm having a lot of fun playing and with Ironsides no longer being forced into games, it means at least Mei Feng is able to get the games that she deserves against more than just a gunline. Alas, Toni will have to join Ramos in the case of un-used masters for the foreseeable future until I find myself in the mood to playing inefficient or plain dull crew leaders.
Stay true to yourself 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, 22 January 2016
Gaining Grounds 2016
Having just been released to the general public I thought I would include my thoughts on the new scheme pool Gaining grounds 2016 has offered us.
Gaining Grounds I have not had much experience playing, due to most players having the base rule book and the exceptionally helpful Schemes and Strategy deck Wyrd released not having including them, it was easier and simpler to play base strategies than keep a webpage open for the GG strats.
That being said, Gaining Grounds did indeed take the default strats and make them better. Extraction is better Turf War, Interference is better Reconnoiter, Headhunter and Collect the Bounty are better versions of Reckoning and Guard the Stash is basically what your doing in Squatters Rights but with more tactical application. I hope to play more of them in the future but alas the above reasons still exist.
What caught my eye the most though was the new scheme pool and by the holey britches of Zoraida, the base schemes needed re-tailoring and from what I've seen, GG16's look pretty damn good.
First things first, taking away the 5 common schemes and replacing them with Bizarro Protect Territtory (Convict Labor), Improved Distract (Exhust their forces), Non-Master Make Them Suffer (Hunting Party), Tactical Breakthrough (Leave your Mark) and my absolute favorite because it actually forces both players to build a list around it, Upgrade Utopia (Show of Force). None of these are auto-includes in my eyes which greatly interests me as whenever Breakthrough-Protect Terri were on the table, EVERYONE chooses and reveals them. All five are fun and have their own place as strong and weak for different factions and masters. It's not easy for Rasputina to place a marker down on the enemy half of the table every turn, but for Misaki or Collette, its so so easy. Cutting LITS completely means it's no longer there for the few masters who can actually do it or (by my own fault and admission) a trap scheme when you can't do 3 of the 4 others. Replacing it with Convict Labor means Recon/Interference bubble of no-score has a purpose and can make for some really exciting choices.
The other new feature is that all schemes now are un-revealed until you score from them which is fantastic. Voiding bonus points and actually making you work for Entourage or Breakthrough is magnificent and makes for a greater range of guessing and subterfuge that Malifaux was sold on but never really had because why gimp yourself on points doing a "hidden" breakthrough when it was obvious you were doing so and revealing it is and always has been the correct choice? Making it so "Johnny 3ap" turn 5 can't lay a scheme marker-move-lay a scheme marker anymore means having actual risk when trying for it. Yes some model choices will still score it amazingly easy as they always have but at least keeping them to 2 markers rather than 1 is doable.
Having the schemes hidden and some of them remarkably similar also continues the bluffing game. What the heck is the opponent trying having so many minions near your master? Are they there for Take Prisoner? Frame for Murder? Neutralize the Leader? Set Up? Mark for Death maybe? It has to be Public Demonstration then surely? or is is all a ruse so that MUCH EASIER OUTFLANK (Inspection) can be scored? Or, oh it might be Occupy their Turf?
Having so many schemes look sinister-ly like themselves might sound convoluted but to me, it looks to be magic. Something as pointless as placing a scheme marker down can now be seen as a threat in the right scheme pool.
So much hype. But is there a downside?
The negatives to an un-revealed scheme pool are small, the excitement of actually being able to bluff a scheme in order to ensure another is something I've been looking forward to but at the same time, it's easy to look at all the interact schemes and marker schemes always being together but sod's law will occasionally have the pool being very distinct and thus the element of surprise is lost. "Neutralize the Leader" in particular basically gives the middle finger to Leviticus who will simply give the opponent 3Vp if played in that scenario, making fixed master events plain silly if you are a Levi or Dreamer player and "Set Up" being the scheme of choice almost every time for Arcanist players. Also, whilst I see it as a good thing; with greater focus on the schemes affecting crew builds sometimes being too much for a single master, players with a range of masters they play well with are going to have a better scope of winning than new players who only have one or two, which has a slim chance of dividing the player base somewhat...
Time will tell, but overall I feel these new schemes will bring about a LOT more focus on building your crew for the schemes. So many games nowadays have players safely running an all-comers list that swap out Scheme-y Runner-y for Punch your Face-y because the main four are just too easy to do for every faction. The scheme pool now has a much greater hand in making smart crew choices and leaving some masters on the shelve for some games. This might mean players with more masters have the upper hand but that will have to be seen. As the game was always intended to be this way, it should come as no surprise that more masters means more avenues of victory.
Keep your models and masters fresh and have fun out there.
Gaining Grounds I have not had much experience playing, due to most players having the base rule book and the exceptionally helpful Schemes and Strategy deck Wyrd released not having including them, it was easier and simpler to play base strategies than keep a webpage open for the GG strats.
That being said, Gaining Grounds did indeed take the default strats and make them better. Extraction is better Turf War, Interference is better Reconnoiter, Headhunter and Collect the Bounty are better versions of Reckoning and Guard the Stash is basically what your doing in Squatters Rights but with more tactical application. I hope to play more of them in the future but alas the above reasons still exist.
What caught my eye the most though was the new scheme pool and by the holey britches of Zoraida, the base schemes needed re-tailoring and from what I've seen, GG16's look pretty damn good.
First things first, taking away the 5 common schemes and replacing them with Bizarro Protect Territtory (Convict Labor), Improved Distract (Exhust their forces), Non-Master Make Them Suffer (Hunting Party), Tactical Breakthrough (Leave your Mark) and my absolute favorite because it actually forces both players to build a list around it, Upgrade Utopia (Show of Force). None of these are auto-includes in my eyes which greatly interests me as whenever Breakthrough-Protect Terri were on the table, EVERYONE chooses and reveals them. All five are fun and have their own place as strong and weak for different factions and masters. It's not easy for Rasputina to place a marker down on the enemy half of the table every turn, but for Misaki or Collette, its so so easy. Cutting LITS completely means it's no longer there for the few masters who can actually do it or (by my own fault and admission) a trap scheme when you can't do 3 of the 4 others. Replacing it with Convict Labor means Recon/Interference bubble of no-score has a purpose and can make for some really exciting choices.
The other new feature is that all schemes now are un-revealed until you score from them which is fantastic. Voiding bonus points and actually making you work for Entourage or Breakthrough is magnificent and makes for a greater range of guessing and subterfuge that Malifaux was sold on but never really had because why gimp yourself on points doing a "hidden" breakthrough when it was obvious you were doing so and revealing it is and always has been the correct choice? Making it so "Johnny 3ap" turn 5 can't lay a scheme marker-move-lay a scheme marker anymore means having actual risk when trying for it. Yes some model choices will still score it amazingly easy as they always have but at least keeping them to 2 markers rather than 1 is doable.
Having the schemes hidden and some of them remarkably similar also continues the bluffing game. What the heck is the opponent trying having so many minions near your master? Are they there for Take Prisoner? Frame for Murder? Neutralize the Leader? Set Up? Mark for Death maybe? It has to be Public Demonstration then surely? or is is all a ruse so that MUCH EASIER OUTFLANK (Inspection) can be scored? Or, oh it might be Occupy their Turf?
Having so many schemes look sinister-ly like themselves might sound convoluted but to me, it looks to be magic. Something as pointless as placing a scheme marker down can now be seen as a threat in the right scheme pool.
So much hype. But is there a downside?
The negatives to an un-revealed scheme pool are small, the excitement of actually being able to bluff a scheme in order to ensure another is something I've been looking forward to but at the same time, it's easy to look at all the interact schemes and marker schemes always being together but sod's law will occasionally have the pool being very distinct and thus the element of surprise is lost. "Neutralize the Leader" in particular basically gives the middle finger to Leviticus who will simply give the opponent 3Vp if played in that scenario, making fixed master events plain silly if you are a Levi or Dreamer player and "Set Up" being the scheme of choice almost every time for Arcanist players. Also, whilst I see it as a good thing; with greater focus on the schemes affecting crew builds sometimes being too much for a single master, players with a range of masters they play well with are going to have a better scope of winning than new players who only have one or two, which has a slim chance of dividing the player base somewhat...
Time will tell, but overall I feel these new schemes will bring about a LOT more focus on building your crew for the schemes. So many games nowadays have players safely running an all-comers list that swap out Scheme-y Runner-y for Punch your Face-y because the main four are just too easy to do for every faction. The scheme pool now has a much greater hand in making smart crew choices and leaving some masters on the shelve for some games. This might mean players with more masters have the upper hand but that will have to be seen. As the game was always intended to be this way, it should come as no surprise that more masters means more avenues of victory.
Keep your models and masters fresh and have fun out there.
Monday, 18 January 2016
That's Numberwang
My local game shop late last year had a player enter who did what any new player does and chose their favourite looking master. Then that player went on to have a fantastic winning streak and became infamous from new and veteran players alike. He played Perdita Ortega.
Perdita is what some would say is a "beginners" master, looking at her card, you can understand why. Def7, Wp7, a "free" 8" push each turn and a pretty decent def trigger in Quick Draw, a near sniper level range with Sh7, an obey action, a mulligan and if there's nothing better to do, a condition that punishes charges and shoot actions in a 24" bubble.... and this is not to mention her upgrades.
Having a crew who have similar sky high stats who can further boost those stats within each other and incredibly cunning movement tricks makes for a hard game if you haven't memorized every single number, threat range and done a far share of theoretical number crunching. How many high cards have you seen? How many have came from that players hand compared to their deck? How many cards remaining and who's activated? A very hard skill to practice without a hellova lot of games under your belt.
I think about numbers in most games but without spending every game being perfectly silent, forcing my opponent to reveal all cards flipped and allowing me to note them down to "read their deck" is too much work right now and sort of kills the social mood in casual tabletop gaming.
I'm in it for fun not for crushing my enemies, see them driven before me and hear the lamentations of their women.
When a Ml6 goes up against a Def6 the defender still needs to flip or cheat a card that's value is +1 higher than the attacker to at stop being hit. Perdita with her Sh7 against say a Def5 means to avoid a shot in the T-Zone the defender needs to flip or cheat a card 3+ what Ms Otega flips or cheats. With the average defense being 5 in Malifaux, it means Perdita has a high if not very likely chance of always hitting, or at the very least shrugging off misses as the low margin that it is. With El Mayor in place as well, it is very intimidating as a player trying to prevent damage from her as well as even hit her back for any significant effect. With such base stats in place, you can see why she's seen as such a threat (at least from a casual viewpoint).
Wille is a model I've always wanted to use but never had much success with, this despite his Def 6 with average Wp and Sh6 that ignores armor peppered with Blast.
It's a numbers game though. If an opponent wants Wille dead, they will punch through that defense and go through his 7 wounds dropping him. Someone with a single charge can put Wille on the ropes and face no fancy horror duel or armor or defense trigger guarding his life doing so. Then he drops like a sack of potatoes (which explode).
The explosion is good don't get me wrong, 3 damage in the right spot can hurt but with his limited survival rate out in the open he usually goes 6ft under and plants moderate damage on his exterminator or, more likely, a threatening patch of dirt. Not exactly world ending. My problem is this very weakness, his frail nature leads me to either jump out in the open and get ripped apart or stay in restrictive cover in fear and throw out Sh4 attacks. That said, if for instance I knew exactly what my opponent was using and their individual threat range and stats, Wille would stand a chance at laying down some real threat; 10" range is still outside of the average threat range of melee chargers after all. This will give my opponent a reason to send forces to rid them of annoyance rather than kill an easy target. Thus allowing me to either let him sleep with the worms in an advantageous position or plan to save cards over for his continued existence.
My most hated models and the ones that disrupt me the most right now are Rotten Belles/Performers. Why is this? It's purely because I haven't read their cards enough to know the number game. Off the top of my head I know they have a ranged Lure that targets Wp with a decent CA8... or is it CA6 for Performer? That's it. They could have Def3 or Def6; I don't know without looking and that gives me a massive disadvantage in planning a turn. If I'm facing down these Lurers, I don't know the ranges involved so I dread everytime they activate, they either pull my models to their deaths or transport team mates. Both options hindering my plans of Vp denial. If I knew these numbers, I would have at least a clue on how to proceed.
Other things hinder my game, such as the aforementioned Manipulative. I've been out-activating an opponent but it nearly cost me the game because instead of waiting for the Manipulative model to activate thus lowering it's shields, I've targeted it and had to cheat in order to do basic attacks. Other games where it's been more even, I have had no choice but to target a non-activated Manipulative model. Now again, if I knew the numbers, I would obviously choose the right model for the job rather than again, the closest or the strongest.
Can my lowly Fire Garmin get past Howard's Terrifying 12 to knock off that final wound or is it better to send in a higher Wp model just in case? What even is Howard's defense?!
If I knew the numbers, it would be an easy call.
On the flipside, I once faced a Mei Feng crew with Rasputina and used my full knowledge of my opponent's models to easily play at range and keep his killy models either dead or busy. It was also the first game I truly saw the power of the December Acolyte. Being able to read your opponent's models without having to ask for stat cards or be surprised by a particularly high stat can mean the difference between victory and defeat between players of similar skill.
Homework is required, if you want to be the very best like no one ever was then get to the books and remember every single thing every Malifaux model does. Why don't I do this? Well for one thing, again, I'm in it for the fun. It sometimes makes for better games if a model can surprise you.
That said, being a blind man dodging arrows only because my eyes are tightly shut is no way to improve my game. How will I ever deal with a summoned Hanged if I consistently ignore his page in the rule book? How many times has a lone upgrade been the reason why I couldn't grasp a draw game? Balance is needed obviously, I still want to have wonder and excitement when it comes to games but I also don't want to be slapped by a model I should have sent to the cleaners. That's Numberwang for ya. Have fun out there.
Perdita is what some would say is a "beginners" master, looking at her card, you can understand why. Def7, Wp7, a "free" 8" push each turn and a pretty decent def trigger in Quick Draw, a near sniper level range with Sh7, an obey action, a mulligan and if there's nothing better to do, a condition that punishes charges and shoot actions in a 24" bubble.... and this is not to mention her upgrades.
Having a crew who have similar sky high stats who can further boost those stats within each other and incredibly cunning movement tricks makes for a hard game if you haven't memorized every single number, threat range and done a far share of theoretical number crunching. How many high cards have you seen? How many have came from that players hand compared to their deck? How many cards remaining and who's activated? A very hard skill to practice without a hellova lot of games under your belt.I think about numbers in most games but without spending every game being perfectly silent, forcing my opponent to reveal all cards flipped and allowing me to note them down to "read their deck" is too much work right now and sort of kills the social mood in casual tabletop gaming.
I'm in it for fun not for crushing my enemies, see them driven before me and hear the lamentations of their women.
When a Ml6 goes up against a Def6 the defender still needs to flip or cheat a card that's value is +1 higher than the attacker to at stop being hit. Perdita with her Sh7 against say a Def5 means to avoid a shot in the T-Zone the defender needs to flip or cheat a card 3+ what Ms Otega flips or cheats. With the average defense being 5 in Malifaux, it means Perdita has a high if not very likely chance of always hitting, or at the very least shrugging off misses as the low margin that it is. With El Mayor in place as well, it is very intimidating as a player trying to prevent damage from her as well as even hit her back for any significant effect. With such base stats in place, you can see why she's seen as such a threat (at least from a casual viewpoint).
Wille is a model I've always wanted to use but never had much success with, this despite his Def 6 with average Wp and Sh6 that ignores armor peppered with Blast.
It's a numbers game though. If an opponent wants Wille dead, they will punch through that defense and go through his 7 wounds dropping him. Someone with a single charge can put Wille on the ropes and face no fancy horror duel or armor or defense trigger guarding his life doing so. Then he drops like a sack of potatoes (which explode).
The explosion is good don't get me wrong, 3 damage in the right spot can hurt but with his limited survival rate out in the open he usually goes 6ft under and plants moderate damage on his exterminator or, more likely, a threatening patch of dirt. Not exactly world ending. My problem is this very weakness, his frail nature leads me to either jump out in the open and get ripped apart or stay in restrictive cover in fear and throw out Sh4 attacks. That said, if for instance I knew exactly what my opponent was using and their individual threat range and stats, Wille would stand a chance at laying down some real threat; 10" range is still outside of the average threat range of melee chargers after all. This will give my opponent a reason to send forces to rid them of annoyance rather than kill an easy target. Thus allowing me to either let him sleep with the worms in an advantageous position or plan to save cards over for his continued existence.
My most hated models and the ones that disrupt me the most right now are Rotten Belles/Performers. Why is this? It's purely because I haven't read their cards enough to know the number game. Off the top of my head I know they have a ranged Lure that targets Wp with a decent CA8... or is it CA6 for Performer? That's it. They could have Def3 or Def6; I don't know without looking and that gives me a massive disadvantage in planning a turn. If I'm facing down these Lurers, I don't know the ranges involved so I dread everytime they activate, they either pull my models to their deaths or transport team mates. Both options hindering my plans of Vp denial. If I knew these numbers, I would have at least a clue on how to proceed.
Other things hinder my game, such as the aforementioned Manipulative. I've been out-activating an opponent but it nearly cost me the game because instead of waiting for the Manipulative model to activate thus lowering it's shields, I've targeted it and had to cheat in order to do basic attacks. Other games where it's been more even, I have had no choice but to target a non-activated Manipulative model. Now again, if I knew the numbers, I would obviously choose the right model for the job rather than again, the closest or the strongest.
Can my lowly Fire Garmin get past Howard's Terrifying 12 to knock off that final wound or is it better to send in a higher Wp model just in case? What even is Howard's defense?!
If I knew the numbers, it would be an easy call.
On the flipside, I once faced a Mei Feng crew with Rasputina and used my full knowledge of my opponent's models to easily play at range and keep his killy models either dead or busy. It was also the first game I truly saw the power of the December Acolyte. Being able to read your opponent's models without having to ask for stat cards or be surprised by a particularly high stat can mean the difference between victory and defeat between players of similar skill.
Homework is required, if you want to be the very best like no one ever was then get to the books and remember every single thing every Malifaux model does. Why don't I do this? Well for one thing, again, I'm in it for the fun. It sometimes makes for better games if a model can surprise you.
That said, being a blind man dodging arrows only because my eyes are tightly shut is no way to improve my game. How will I ever deal with a summoned Hanged if I consistently ignore his page in the rule book? How many times has a lone upgrade been the reason why I couldn't grasp a draw game? Balance is needed obviously, I still want to have wonder and excitement when it comes to games but I also don't want to be slapped by a model I should have sent to the cleaners. That's Numberwang for ya. Have fun out there.
Monday, 11 January 2016
The Devil Makes Work of Idle Hands
Gunsmiths. Amazing aren't they? Using 3ap to cut through armor, prevent soulstone use and dealing blast damage all the while having double positive attack flips.
Johan. Amazing right? Ending all conditions and swinging a giant hammer, what's not to love?
Howard. Amazing. Decapitate on flurry? World-Ender.
Rail Golem. Has tons of burning and can locomotion for days with it's 5/6/8 damage track.
Oh how times have changed.
Once upon a time I would have agreed with everything said above, it's on the card, they can do all these things. You'll always have the suits you need in your hand... Right?...
These days I never rely on the actions of models who require suits unless they are henchmen or masters and I REALLY need a trigger to go off in order to achieve my goals. In my more recent games I've found that taking too many of these models which use non-built in triggers rapidly depletes my options if I'm taking them for those triggers. I remember taking Pathfinder back in my Ten Thunders days, assuming that a 6+ Tomes would be in my hand EVERY turn for summoning Traps. Some turns they weren't, most turns it was a high card which I needed to use for his trigger or for general cheating purposes.
In some games I've NEEDED Johan to get rid of conditions but for some reason I didn't have 4+ Rams, a card one reasonably expects to have in their hand every turn but no, sometimes you have no Rams, sometimes you have the 2 of Rams...
Gunsmiths. I can't tell you how many times my Gunsmiths WEREN'T Fast and cutting through armor and instead had to "just shoot" because, unless you're stacking the deck, having a low or high Rams plus a low or high Tomes for every activation isn't a guarantee. Even if you have these cards, are you willing to give up half your hand for one models activation? As if you are, that model needs to win you the game! I no longer rely on them to always have fast and always have that trigger for anti-armor, what I can rely on is them to have Sh6 Rng:12".
Thing is, even when you have these cards in hand, most of the time your opponent is putting enough pressure on you to force you to use those very same high cards to prevent that very same model from kicking the bucket. It's a dilemma and one you will face many times during games of Malifaux. Yes Hank's Decapitate trigger is great but if cheat in that 11 of Rams and your opponent dumps that 5 and 3 that were basically blank to them, you've pretty much discarded a way to keep Mr Langston alive for another turn. On the flip side if your opponent is low on cards, forcing a discard-or-die decision can lead them to make a difficult choice but are you willing to save that one card in order to it? Is Howard going to be alive long enough for your opponent to have little to no hand left? It's a tough one.
Trigger distribution is something you learn from experience playing Malifaux, no one tells you about it in the start but sooner or later you ease into your personal style and find out how your lists are sometimes harder to manage than they should be. Back to Gunsmiths, great ranged threat but this myth that they will always have fast and always get the trigger they need in either a low discard or having that high card in hand is folly at best. Discarding for a suit doesn't automatically mean they hit nor does assuming you'll have that soulstone prevention trigger on the next turn to end that henchman. They are great triggers in the right scenarios but don't think for a moment that you'll always have the right one in hand, probability or no.
Lets take another view, lets say you do have that 12trigger-suit in hand, at some point during the turn you want to ensure that trigger goes off right? But then the target inexplicably dies or your model gets pushed out of range or is hit by a de-buff. Do you hold onto the card you can "no longer use" for next turn or do you use it for defense this turn? Is that trigger going to help the game move along next turn and is worth waiting that turn to use? Or does it's effect not affect the big picture as a whole. Are you hurting Lazurus because he's wiping out your guys or are you killing those Molemen who are about to lay down too many markers to prevent?
Personally (for the time being) I've been taking the practice of saving cards face down for certain models effects that NEED to go off. A life saving condition wipe, a defense breaking trigger, to guarantee that slow trigger hits that model with flurry, that high card to leap or to make absolutely sure Railwalker goes off once. You have to choose your battles though, saving more than two cards like this means that when that inevitable duel rears it's ugly head, you're too busy saving for that slow trigger when another model is getting sacrificed because of it. I've had bad flips in duels which forced my hand and made me use the card I was saving to ensure I won an important duel but at least I made myself aware that had it not been for that 13 against my 4, I would have made that original play I was saving a card for and ensured it happened. It sucks when you start an activation and realized only too late that that minion last activation really didn't need to prevent 4 damage on it's 6wds by using the card you actually needed now for your henchman/master.
In one game my opponent decided (a choice he later wondered why he made) to put a bunch of poison on a Fire Garmin of mine to ensure Expunge killed him in one shot. I let it happen.
Now I could have prevented it, very easily in fact I was blessed with a hand of 8+ at the time but I saw that the Garmin wasn't defending anything, I still had a sizable force on my side and my scheme runners were steadily making their way up the flanks. This Garmin standing around and not defending, preventing or gaining Vp from it's presence wasn't worth ending my hand for, so I let the cards flip as they may. Later on in the turn I ensured my runners were defended and made sure Mei Feng had what she needed in order to hunt down bodyguard targets. Yes it was a shame I had to sacrifice a good shooter and provider of blast burning but I made the right choice and (unfortunately for my opponent) took advantage of his bloodlust.
How many different suits does your crew require? Three? Two? Just the one? Who needs them? Minions, Enforcers? Henchman, your Master? How many Soul stones will you need for stoning for cards, damage prevention flips, the rare yet sometimes crucial initiative flip? Are you using them every turn? What triggers are absolutely necessary each turn vs those that are kinda nice to randomly flip into?
The Captain has burning on his pushes but it's not something I would ever save a card for.
Shadow Effigy on the other hand has a really useful "Remember the Mission" ability which basically requires you to save a 10 for it to accurately happen.
Rasputina is my most stone hungry master. She wants Masks every attack for the ever present Overpower and because I love a bit of Shatter action I need either Masks or Rams to get the most out of my (0). Due to this dependency on specific suits, the rest of my crew has to do without the aid of Soulstones or sometimes even high cards if I require a particularly devastating activation. So when building a crew with Ms 'Tina I have to keep in mind that she will be using every stone available, so I have little in the way of henchmen which rely on prevention flips to stay upright or have suit dependent models in her games.
Yan Lo on the other hand has no such suit requirements or even high cards really, his upgrades and Chi do everything so saving cards for other models becomes a whole lot easier and makes for lists that *can* have a high density of models that rely on stones or saving of cards to do what it needs to.
Start with your master and their upgrades and take it from there, what abilities do you NEED and which ones can you blind flip and not worry too much about? Then it's all up to the luck of the draw that affects what each turn brings you in terms of options. Don't let attachment to non-key models ruin your game plan, and ensure you have a plan when that bad flip happens or if you need that key card to be used for survival instead of death dealing. Keep that poker face and have fun out there.
Johan. Amazing right? Ending all conditions and swinging a giant hammer, what's not to love?
Howard. Amazing. Decapitate on flurry? World-Ender.
Rail Golem. Has tons of burning and can locomotion for days with it's 5/6/8 damage track.
Oh how times have changed.
Once upon a time I would have agreed with everything said above, it's on the card, they can do all these things. You'll always have the suits you need in your hand... Right?...
These days I never rely on the actions of models who require suits unless they are henchmen or masters and I REALLY need a trigger to go off in order to achieve my goals. In my more recent games I've found that taking too many of these models which use non-built in triggers rapidly depletes my options if I'm taking them for those triggers. I remember taking Pathfinder back in my Ten Thunders days, assuming that a 6+ Tomes would be in my hand EVERY turn for summoning Traps. Some turns they weren't, most turns it was a high card which I needed to use for his trigger or for general cheating purposes.
In some games I've NEEDED Johan to get rid of conditions but for some reason I didn't have 4+ Rams, a card one reasonably expects to have in their hand every turn but no, sometimes you have no Rams, sometimes you have the 2 of Rams...
Gunsmiths. I can't tell you how many times my Gunsmiths WEREN'T Fast and cutting through armor and instead had to "just shoot" because, unless you're stacking the deck, having a low or high Rams plus a low or high Tomes for every activation isn't a guarantee. Even if you have these cards, are you willing to give up half your hand for one models activation? As if you are, that model needs to win you the game! I no longer rely on them to always have fast and always have that trigger for anti-armor, what I can rely on is them to have Sh6 Rng:12".
Thing is, even when you have these cards in hand, most of the time your opponent is putting enough pressure on you to force you to use those very same high cards to prevent that very same model from kicking the bucket. It's a dilemma and one you will face many times during games of Malifaux. Yes Hank's Decapitate trigger is great but if cheat in that 11 of Rams and your opponent dumps that 5 and 3 that were basically blank to them, you've pretty much discarded a way to keep Mr Langston alive for another turn. On the flip side if your opponent is low on cards, forcing a discard-or-die decision can lead them to make a difficult choice but are you willing to save that one card in order to it? Is Howard going to be alive long enough for your opponent to have little to no hand left? It's a tough one.
Trigger distribution is something you learn from experience playing Malifaux, no one tells you about it in the start but sooner or later you ease into your personal style and find out how your lists are sometimes harder to manage than they should be. Back to Gunsmiths, great ranged threat but this myth that they will always have fast and always get the trigger they need in either a low discard or having that high card in hand is folly at best. Discarding for a suit doesn't automatically mean they hit nor does assuming you'll have that soulstone prevention trigger on the next turn to end that henchman. They are great triggers in the right scenarios but don't think for a moment that you'll always have the right one in hand, probability or no.
Lets take another view, lets say you do have that 12trigger-suit in hand, at some point during the turn you want to ensure that trigger goes off right? But then the target inexplicably dies or your model gets pushed out of range or is hit by a de-buff. Do you hold onto the card you can "no longer use" for next turn or do you use it for defense this turn? Is that trigger going to help the game move along next turn and is worth waiting that turn to use? Or does it's effect not affect the big picture as a whole. Are you hurting Lazurus because he's wiping out your guys or are you killing those Molemen who are about to lay down too many markers to prevent?
Personally (for the time being) I've been taking the practice of saving cards face down for certain models effects that NEED to go off. A life saving condition wipe, a defense breaking trigger, to guarantee that slow trigger hits that model with flurry, that high card to leap or to make absolutely sure Railwalker goes off once. You have to choose your battles though, saving more than two cards like this means that when that inevitable duel rears it's ugly head, you're too busy saving for that slow trigger when another model is getting sacrificed because of it. I've had bad flips in duels which forced my hand and made me use the card I was saving to ensure I won an important duel but at least I made myself aware that had it not been for that 13 against my 4, I would have made that original play I was saving a card for and ensured it happened. It sucks when you start an activation and realized only too late that that minion last activation really didn't need to prevent 4 damage on it's 6wds by using the card you actually needed now for your henchman/master.
In one game my opponent decided (a choice he later wondered why he made) to put a bunch of poison on a Fire Garmin of mine to ensure Expunge killed him in one shot. I let it happen.
Now I could have prevented it, very easily in fact I was blessed with a hand of 8+ at the time but I saw that the Garmin wasn't defending anything, I still had a sizable force on my side and my scheme runners were steadily making their way up the flanks. This Garmin standing around and not defending, preventing or gaining Vp from it's presence wasn't worth ending my hand for, so I let the cards flip as they may. Later on in the turn I ensured my runners were defended and made sure Mei Feng had what she needed in order to hunt down bodyguard targets. Yes it was a shame I had to sacrifice a good shooter and provider of blast burning but I made the right choice and (unfortunately for my opponent) took advantage of his bloodlust.
How many different suits does your crew require? Three? Two? Just the one? Who needs them? Minions, Enforcers? Henchman, your Master? How many Soul stones will you need for stoning for cards, damage prevention flips, the rare yet sometimes crucial initiative flip? Are you using them every turn? What triggers are absolutely necessary each turn vs those that are kinda nice to randomly flip into?
The Captain has burning on his pushes but it's not something I would ever save a card for.
Shadow Effigy on the other hand has a really useful "Remember the Mission" ability which basically requires you to save a 10 for it to accurately happen.
Rasputina is my most stone hungry master. She wants Masks every attack for the ever present Overpower and because I love a bit of Shatter action I need either Masks or Rams to get the most out of my (0). Due to this dependency on specific suits, the rest of my crew has to do without the aid of Soulstones or sometimes even high cards if I require a particularly devastating activation. So when building a crew with Ms 'Tina I have to keep in mind that she will be using every stone available, so I have little in the way of henchmen which rely on prevention flips to stay upright or have suit dependent models in her games.
Yan Lo on the other hand has no such suit requirements or even high cards really, his upgrades and Chi do everything so saving cards for other models becomes a whole lot easier and makes for lists that *can* have a high density of models that rely on stones or saving of cards to do what it needs to.
Start with your master and their upgrades and take it from there, what abilities do you NEED and which ones can you blind flip and not worry too much about? Then it's all up to the luck of the draw that affects what each turn brings you in terms of options. Don't let attachment to non-key models ruin your game plan, and ensure you have a plan when that bad flip happens or if you need that key card to be used for survival instead of death dealing. Keep that poker face and have fun out there.
Monday, 4 January 2016
First Things First
It's the new year, new tournament calendar and new Malifaux prospects for your humble and sensationally attractive writer but before all that, I want to muse on the aspect of the first turn. Many say it's the most important turn after deployment, some say "nothing happens" or it's the movement turn, others use it to set up their game: IE Ramos' Scrap, Nicodem's Corpse pile, Yan Lo's Chi, Ironside's "You looking at me" drag, Vik's turn 1 Blitzkrieg etc etc. The first turn is a lot of things but never is it worthless, otherwise more players would play close deployment as their default to speed things along...
Before the game even starts, you will scatter some terrain and ensure at least a third of the board is covered in dense, blocking, severe, possibly hazardous or soft/hard cover terrain of various heights and sizes. If you've ever played with or against a ranged master on an open field you know just how important terrain is to a fair but all the more important: Fun and Interesting game. If you believe two melee masters could have no trouble on an empty field then you've never seen the Gravity Mosh pit of Ironsides or a Misaki cutting down dead every key model you possess whilst you magikarp spash in defiance.
Terrain is key but it's also the table edge you choose as well. Do you favour lots of blocking terrain or do you prefer hard cover pieces you can step over? Most organised events be them national or casual tournaments will have uneven tables especially for this reason. A bad match-up or staggering difference in ability can be improved just a little by determining what table edge gives you the most advantage or maybe you get screwed and get left with a table edge not so good, which brings me to my next point.
Deployment. It's safe bet that everybody is in agreement with is that it was the first reason for losing a game or simply that you as a player were wasting turns moving models diagonally because you found out too late it was a better idea to have that key model slightly more to the left...
Are you up against an opponent who you would make life so much easier for if you were bunched up into a cluster? Sonnia? Rasputina? Vik's? To some extent Yan Lo or Ironsides? Don't give them a free shot to obliterate your crew by lining everyone up shoulder to shoulder in direct LOS of them. All of the above examples are fully able to get into range of your table edge with surprising efficiency. Once I had a game using Ms Toni Ironsides and my opponent didn't realize that with help from the Captain, Toni can reach their deployment zone turn one. Setting off her (0) action Come get some and my opponent's crew is having to take Tn13 Wp duels to attempt to get away from her. Yes Toni died, of course she did; even Ms Troubleshooter will drop to a whole crews worth of attacks but my opponent was still very close to their deployment line at the end of turn 2, all because I was given the opportunity to take advantage of a cluster.
When clustering isn't a problem, you then have to factor in heavy hitters, firing lanes, flank availability then, if deploying second, where your opponent's key models are in relation to your own. Do their scheme runners have free range of the board or can you put a ranged threat in their way? Is that "From the shadows" model close enough to first-turn-kill without leaving yourself open? Do your lurers have good LOS to the models you want out of position? Lots and lots of questions and some I fail to ask myself in so many games.
Most of the time, the first turn is spent double walking or pot-shotting enemies in range, if anything drops, it's normally because you double-walked out in the open of a couple of ranged attackers or you're facing the Viktorias with La Terrain de Inadequacy. My most recent game against Mollusq proves what first turns can go like if you tell yourself you're untouchable and out of range. My Fire Garmin thought he could stroll out in the open awaiting Feng to leap-pad from him only to get lured out by a performer and nuked off the face of the earth by a crew in full knowledge nothing else was getting near them that turn, resulting in dropping scrap to be used for the Effigy flood I couldn't weather later on, all because of one Garmin.
Many a time, I've from the shadow'd a December Acolyte closer than I should have and my opponent has taken the advantage I've given them turn 1 and flat out murdered 14% of my list.
Another example, I had a match between Rasputina and Neverborn Lucius, my opponent had Mr Graves show the door to Candy and then walked both of them forward. Using the Captain to bring my forces forward, Raspy with help from Essence of Power and Ice Garmin damage buff ended those 18ss worth of models turn one. 36% of your crew gone before you even start scoring strategy victory points is hard to come back from.
One more just because it was pure genius on her part, I was facing my girlfriend's Misaki with my Mei Feng, she double walked up a Torakage so I railwalked and DESTROYED this poor ninja (with a smug look on my face no less)... only to get told it was her Frame for Murder and I just gave her 3Vp. On the first turn.....
What should you do first turn? Well that's up to each individual player, what are your plans for the next turn, even the next two turns? Do you need Hoffman in a certain position on the board to fully benefit from power-loop second turn? Make it happen. Really so long as you aren't stretching your neck out and taking damage un-necessarily, you're in good hands. If your scheme runners are in place to either do their runs or take up your opponents valuable ap to attempt to stop them then it's not a bad play. The sheer amount of times I've been baited by a well placed Crooligan and having one model leave the fight to go play Tag with them is un-believable, most of the time I've managed to stop them, but it took 10% of my crew and 4 turns to sort out the little ragamuffin.
Reaction and anticipation are the corporate buzz words to take away from this, react when necessary but anticipate that you might get screwed if suddenly your costly beater is out in the open covered in the viscera of your opponent's fallen cheap minion. Take heed of terrain then plan out a course of action. Keep your war table dust free and have fun out there.
Before the game even starts, you will scatter some terrain and ensure at least a third of the board is covered in dense, blocking, severe, possibly hazardous or soft/hard cover terrain of various heights and sizes. If you've ever played with or against a ranged master on an open field you know just how important terrain is to a fair but all the more important: Fun and Interesting game. If you believe two melee masters could have no trouble on an empty field then you've never seen the Gravity Mosh pit of Ironsides or a Misaki cutting down dead every key model you possess whilst you magikarp spash in defiance.Terrain is key but it's also the table edge you choose as well. Do you favour lots of blocking terrain or do you prefer hard cover pieces you can step over? Most organised events be them national or casual tournaments will have uneven tables especially for this reason. A bad match-up or staggering difference in ability can be improved just a little by determining what table edge gives you the most advantage or maybe you get screwed and get left with a table edge not so good, which brings me to my next point.
Deployment. It's safe bet that everybody is in agreement with is that it was the first reason for losing a game or simply that you as a player were wasting turns moving models diagonally because you found out too late it was a better idea to have that key model slightly more to the left...
Are you up against an opponent who you would make life so much easier for if you were bunched up into a cluster? Sonnia? Rasputina? Vik's? To some extent Yan Lo or Ironsides? Don't give them a free shot to obliterate your crew by lining everyone up shoulder to shoulder in direct LOS of them. All of the above examples are fully able to get into range of your table edge with surprising efficiency. Once I had a game using Ms Toni Ironsides and my opponent didn't realize that with help from the Captain, Toni can reach their deployment zone turn one. Setting off her (0) action Come get some and my opponent's crew is having to take Tn13 Wp duels to attempt to get away from her. Yes Toni died, of course she did; even Ms Troubleshooter will drop to a whole crews worth of attacks but my opponent was still very close to their deployment line at the end of turn 2, all because I was given the opportunity to take advantage of a cluster.
When clustering isn't a problem, you then have to factor in heavy hitters, firing lanes, flank availability then, if deploying second, where your opponent's key models are in relation to your own. Do their scheme runners have free range of the board or can you put a ranged threat in their way? Is that "From the shadows" model close enough to first-turn-kill without leaving yourself open? Do your lurers have good LOS to the models you want out of position? Lots and lots of questions and some I fail to ask myself in so many games.
Most of the time, the first turn is spent double walking or pot-shotting enemies in range, if anything drops, it's normally because you double-walked out in the open of a couple of ranged attackers or you're facing the Viktorias with La Terrain de Inadequacy. My most recent game against Mollusq proves what first turns can go like if you tell yourself you're untouchable and out of range. My Fire Garmin thought he could stroll out in the open awaiting Feng to leap-pad from him only to get lured out by a performer and nuked off the face of the earth by a crew in full knowledge nothing else was getting near them that turn, resulting in dropping scrap to be used for the Effigy flood I couldn't weather later on, all because of one Garmin.
Many a time, I've from the shadow'd a December Acolyte closer than I should have and my opponent has taken the advantage I've given them turn 1 and flat out murdered 14% of my list.
Another example, I had a match between Rasputina and Neverborn Lucius, my opponent had Mr Graves show the door to Candy and then walked both of them forward. Using the Captain to bring my forces forward, Raspy with help from Essence of Power and Ice Garmin damage buff ended those 18ss worth of models turn one. 36% of your crew gone before you even start scoring strategy victory points is hard to come back from.
One more just because it was pure genius on her part, I was facing my girlfriend's Misaki with my Mei Feng, she double walked up a Torakage so I railwalked and DESTROYED this poor ninja (with a smug look on my face no less)... only to get told it was her Frame for Murder and I just gave her 3Vp. On the first turn.....
What should you do first turn? Well that's up to each individual player, what are your plans for the next turn, even the next two turns? Do you need Hoffman in a certain position on the board to fully benefit from power-loop second turn? Make it happen. Really so long as you aren't stretching your neck out and taking damage un-necessarily, you're in good hands. If your scheme runners are in place to either do their runs or take up your opponents valuable ap to attempt to stop them then it's not a bad play. The sheer amount of times I've been baited by a well placed Crooligan and having one model leave the fight to go play Tag with them is un-believable, most of the time I've managed to stop them, but it took 10% of my crew and 4 turns to sort out the little ragamuffin.
Reaction and anticipation are the corporate buzz words to take away from this, react when necessary but anticipate that you might get screwed if suddenly your costly beater is out in the open covered in the viscera of your opponent's fallen cheap minion. Take heed of terrain then plan out a course of action. Keep your war table dust free and have fun out there.
Monday, 21 December 2015
What's in the box!!? - Arcanist Mei Feng
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| Mills, you look a little different... |
Mei Feng - Mei Feng actually has a number of choices when it comes to upgrade selection, the only auto-include is Seismic Claws for that sweet sweet combo action, then a (not very) tough choice of whether or not to use Arcane Reservoir; after that it's up to my opponent. If I suspect they're playing with incorporeal or ranged game, Vapormancy is a must and with the Vent Steam trigger making Ca & Sh actions that much harder. Marker manipulation? Thunderous Smash can lead a hand, deleting with ease all common markers, if it's a more lower end defense crew I'm facing, Price of Progress or Recharge Soulstone to take advantage of the situation and of course, the ever-present Instill Energy if I need a even more Ap. Lots of options but it makes for crucial decisions during the list building step, I can't take upgrades for the fun of it then find out they aren't being used whatsoever.
Emberling - Unlike push totems, Emberling won't feature in every list but as a Wk5 significant Incorporeal 3ss model, it has merit to scheme run if necessary. Depending on my opponent's models and their damage output, I could charge into a model (10" threat range) lay 0-4 burning on it then have Feng join in and get her +damage flip against them without having to spend her own trigger, end of turn via Stoke the Flames the burning deals damage and doesn't fall off.
Amazing if this actually happened but it's nice to think about if the situation comes up.
His Cool Down ability is far too costly but it's worth a blind flip if there's nothing else to do.
Kang - A model with mixed reactions. He is a tank to take down and hit's like one too but damn is he slow with average threat range and head of the Wk4 club. His Rousing Speech and The Worker's Champion buffs are the main reason I would take him, against horror duels, undead or constructs he's turns the regular model into a real threat... if he could just get up the board, which is why I take...
The Captain - If there's one crutch I have in Arcanists, it's this guy. Being able to increase my deployment zone by 5" for up to three models and generally assisting models afterwards makes The Captain a hard cut. If I'm already filling my ranks with 10ss-12ss he can stay at home but if I require speed over brawn, The Captain w/ Patron's Blessing is at my side.
Joss - Playing Arcanists? Give me two good reasons why you aren't packing Joss. He's got decent defenses, one of which grants him reactivate, an Axe which ignores all common barriers and a (2) action God Punch with 5/8/10 damage that can paralyze and can turn dead targets into Mei Feng bounce pads (as well as being one himself). Such a good model and a hard cut when he doesn't fit a list (for some strange reason).
Howard Langston - Psst, if Frame for Murder is in the pool and I've hired Howard, he's the guy you have to kill to give me 2 or 3 vp. Tell no one.
Hank is unfortunately the model that does a lot but never survives the game. In the past I've used him as a scheme runner, as who the heck is going to mess with him but that's 12ss/13ss for a job that could be done by a model who's a third less expensive. Not this time round.
Terrifying (Living) 12 and Armor +1 are not wonderful buffers against an average def/wp but Nimble with Flurry are evil and having an easy Decapitate trigger going off with those three attacks is a model killer right there. In the future I need to pick and choose my targets and avoid using a quarter of my list as one scheme runner.
December Acolyte - From the Shadows with the ability to slow models and force discards is the primary reason I love bringing these guys so much. Their Smell Weakness is situational as if the Acolyte is on the table they are a massive target but when it comes into play against a target already in combat it turns that difficult to end model into a plate of instant mash potato. Lacks any synergy with Feng out of weakness smelling but when it offers this much to a crew, it doesn't need any.
Psst also a Frame for Murder choice...
Metal Garmin - Ouch These guys took a beating with errata, nonetheless, against a crew that can't deal with armor these guys can hold the fort quite well and against constructs they provide a basically unbeatable 2 damage snipe attack through Magnetism (16" - 24" threat range). One of the most famous members of the Wk4 clubhouse, so again, it limits my choices when list-building. They've changed from an auto-include to a defensive model protector and that's fine, their job has changed drastically yes but they still have a place in my lists and for rail-walking purposes they're golden.
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| Take it away! |
Moleman - What another non-construct!?
I like Molemen for their sheer fanatical dedication to solely one thing: The Mole Train! A pair of leap-frogging Molemen can cover a field in scheme markers and only long ranged armor busters can deal with it. Keep them out of the action and watch the markers hit the floor. Only really helpful for Breakthrough, Plant Explosive/Evidence and Protect Territory though, otherwise they do 8ss worth of nothing.
The Firestarter - His (most of the time) 3Ap and Flight makes him wonderfully mobile and if I really need an activated non-armored target to die at the end of the turn, pouring some tomes and soulstones on a model can almost always place a death mark on a model in question. Very fragile so I have to ensure he stays out of the way otherwise but for Vp gaining, this guy is a fantastic all-rounder for Arcanists.
Coryphee - The Coryphee's movement is ridiculous. As scheme runners and sometimes more importantly: Scheme hunters, you can't ask for a faster model, this speed with their native +flips to their def6 with Armor makes them hard to take down in one hit and so long as they aren't in the thick of things, they do their intended role perfectly. This is to say nothing about the complete absurdity that is the Coryphee Duet but sometimes a 14ss model is a lot to ask out of a list unless it's going to win this game all by itself.
Mechanical Rider - Sometimes you just want marker based schemes won. Pro-terri, Breakthrough, Power Ritual, both Plants, you just want to say "Yes I've won them" and Mech Rider has a high chance of doing just that. With the new errata on Metal Garmin you can even summon more than one thing now, giving it much more options. Just gotta keep it out of the limelight until turn 3, otherwise it goes down pretty darn easily.
Johan - Condition removal is big, being able to end ALL of them from a 10" range is even better. A 4+ of rams isn't guaranteed every turn but it's a least a decent probability so if my models are rooted, poisoned, etc etc the M&SU Merc has my back. A member of the Wk4 club so it does limit my options if I require Johan but with Finish the Job, a Relic hammer and flurry so long as he's where he needs to be, he hits hard.
Blessed of December - When possible, I always bring a leaping model in the box purely for times when Stake a Claim rears it's head or my regular scheme runners are likely to have their armor ignored. The shields to her wounds are almost non-existent but if needed she has a pretty mean attack that can heal so for backfield purposes she performs well.
Fire Garmin - Cheap, ranged burning with a melee that gives burning and a def trigger that gives burning and upon death, gives burning...
Damage is sub-standard but the Garmin aren't here for damage, they are here to set up the rest of the crew for burning goodness.
Wille - I have to be honest, I've never had luck with Wille the Demo man but that was due to who I was throwing him up against. Ideally I want him going against def5 or armored targets, as anyone else sort of chuckles at Wille's attempts at offense. His LOS ignoring attack Demo Charge is fine but going down to Sh4 kills it unless it's the very last activation or I just want to plink some cards out of the opponent's hand. Ranged attacks also drop him so he's going to be bunkered down at Sh4 anyway. sigh I want to try him out as the times I have seen across from me he's made an impact in the game so I think he just needs the right table.
Can't stay long, Mills says there's a club he wants to take me to, says he can't talk about it though. Have fun out there.
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