Pre Game Amble
There isn't much in the way of amble for this game, I wanted a game and our henchman was visiting a local club, so 2+2 and all that.
I should say this is written two weeks after the event, something I blame on the torrent of mince pies over the Xmas period. Details might be a bit sketchy but this battle is one of my closest and most tactically challenging games of last year and so deserves a write up.
Strategies and Schemes
30ss - Shared Claim Jump
Liam - Holdout (announced), Kill Protégée (announced)
Me - Holdout (not announced), Eye for an Eye (announced)
Crew Selections
Me
Seamus
Carrion Effigy
Rotten Belle
2 Crooked Men
Canine Remains
2 Night Terrors
8ss cache
Liam
Perdita
Santana
Francisco
Exorcist
Death Marshall
Watcher
7ss cache
Pre Game Theory
Pre game theory was light. I've faced the Ortegas a couple of times but never against Liam, so I didn't know what his build was going to be. I'd decided night terrors were in if it was an objective mission and I wanted to return some fire with my crooked men. I figured having a carrion effigy might allow me to make some healing flips if required and the extra blast weapon might come in handy.
The Game
Turn 1
Turn 1 saw us hug the alleys that make up the majority of this board. Liam advanced down a diagonal alley that gave him a lot of cover, leaving the majority of his minions within a double walk of the objective. I'd setup in the ruins of two old townhouses and I was reluctant to move, figuring I'd hug the cover for a few turns before trying to breakthrough, I did advance my crooked men but was sure to keep them behind the rubble of another building that broadly approached the objective. My night terrors and effigy advanced along an alley that ran parallel to the objective, their purpose unclear, but I knew with their spirit and flight abilities they could come out of hiding if required.
Seamus shot the dog, charged the dog and still couldn't kill it! Flipping the black joker for damage with the flintlock really didn't help. No dead doxy for me this turn!
Turn 2
Liam won the initiative and opted to double walk Francisco towards the alley containing my night terrors and effigy. I had a feeling he was trying to use him as a lure, and was reluctant to commit my objective grabbers to the fight so early. I moved up my belle, to see what he did next, opting to keep my entire crew in as much cover as possible.
When the exorcist made a similar move, I could see my night terrors getting mobbed if they charged Francisco or attempted to move beyond the alley, so I partly pulled them back to take them out of shooting range, in case he chose to round the head of that alley next turn.
The second crooked man advanced further into the ruins, using a height 1 wall for cover. He took a couple of shots from Perdita but was thankfully only hit for two wounds.
Seamus finally killed the dog, although at this point it had cost him 4 AP's, and promptly converted it into a dead doxy, I figured the firepower might come in handy, as might her ridiculous charge length.
As turn two ended we realised the large amount of cover on this board was going to be a problem for both crews.
Turn 3
I won the initiative and opted to double walk my belle to a ruin directly opposite where the Ortegas were huddled, figuring she'd be safe and could potentially lure my crew into positions as required. It turned out to be a huge mistake, I hadn't seen a door and Santana shot and killed my belle in very quick order. I played three cover moves with the terrors and effigy, keeping Liam guessing as to their purpose, to see what he'd do next and was horrified when Perdita stuck her nose out of cover and felled one of my crooked men before calmly walking back behind the wall. Damn she is good with her critical strikes!
Above - all that remains of a killer shot, through a doorway and over two ruined walls, my poor Miss Peaches.
The exorcist doubled back towards the Ortegas and the Death Marshall moved up towards the objective, giving me a chance to score a couple of wounds on him with my second crooked man. Francisco hunkered down in the ruins and took a couple of pot shots at the crooked man but thankfully the cover saved him from all but a couple of wounds.
I had Seamus move up and summon miss peaches back, and in an effort to draw fire put her in front of a badly exposed Seamus.
Turn 4
Liam won the initiative and in quite a nifty first move, killed Peaches again and moved up his Exorcist and performed last rights on two corpse counters, leaving Seamus without any immediate backup. Thankfully when measuring one of the counters was out of range, but would mean Seamus had to double back if he was going to use it.
Instead I pulled the carrion effigy over and used the counter to perform a healing flip on Seamus. A bold move that left the effigy relatively exposed, with little cover to protect him. Given Liam had taken kill protégée on the effigy, it was like a red rag to a bull, but I needed the manauver to keep Seamus in the game.
My night terrors choose that moment to make a run for Liam's deployment zone. I figured Liam would have to divert his attention to deal with this new threat and if I was lucky one spirit would be intact enough for me to make it into his deployment zone.
Instead Liam hunkered down and fired on the effigy, which miraculously survived, but then went on to send the dead doxy into an early grave with fire from Francisco. This left Seamus all on his lonesome, facing down Perdita, an exorcist, a death Marshall and Santana, with Francisco probably in range as well!
Turn 5
I won the initiative and whilst over two activations Liam circled the Ortegas around the objective, my night terrors found themselves untroubled as they fled into Liam's deployment zone and denied him 2VPs for holdout.
Seamus charged the badly injured Death Marshall, killed him and got a few wounds in on the exorcist. This brought him back to full health but I was under no illusions about him surviving two rounds of combat against that many family members. The wall of Ortegas did some serious damage to Seamus and kept me from the objective. The absence of counters made summoning onto the objective impossible and sealed the game, as we'd run out of time.
The Result
4-3 loss to me.
Liam got claim jump uncontested but didn't get off either of his schemes.
I got eye for a eye and holdout off, but I hadn't announced holdout so only 3 VPs for me.
Sum up & Lesson Learnt
On the whole that didn't go to badly. It's probably good that it ended when it did otherwise the result would have slid to a 6-0 for me. I'm pretty sure Seamus couldn't have survived a turn with 5 heavily armed Guild bearing down on him and the carrion effigy would almost certainly have died.
I was gutted to have lost four models to some crack shooting with very little in return and when the exorcist performed last rights on their remains I got very worried.
The night terrors did their job, denying Liam his holdout, its a pity I didn't take breakthrough.
The canine remains cost Seamus two activations to kill, which is just stupid. I'm giving some serious thought towards breaking my no mercenaries rule at this point and taking a desperate merc over a dog in the future.
I only took the scheme 'eye for an eye' to try it out and it's only because we wrapped up early that it didn't come back to bite me. Another turn and there is no way we would have had anywhere near the same model count!
As I reflect though, a 4-3 loss to a henchman isn't a bad effort and my only real mistake was believing the cover would save my crew from
that much gun fire. I should learn to stay in the cover of darkness more, and strike from the shadows, and I definitely need to re-read the terrain rules.
Pre Game Amble
So last week at KRAGS, Mr Neverborn sidled over and asked me for a game vs his new crew. It could only be Jacob, since Mr Neverborn, like me, is a creature of habit. At the time we were seeing off some of our longest serving members and friends, and I was playing in an epic 8 way robo rally game (a great board game modelled on the tv series Robot Wars). We postponed a week, but here it finally is.
I've never won a game against Mr Neverborn and despite a weeks notice I hadn't had time to prepare (to much work ATM) so I dreamt up an all-comers list, which has a bit of everything, to see how various minions and traits do.
Strategies and Schemes
30ss core encounter
Standard deployment
Shared Distract
Breakthrough
Stake a Claim
We both decided on identical schemes just to keep it simple whilst we brokn in this new crew.
Crew Selections
Me
Seamus and Avatar
Madame Sybelle
Graveyard Spirit
Belle
Canine Remains
Drowned
Crooked Man
Night Terror
6ss cache
Mr Neverborn
Jacob Lynch
2 x Illuminated
2 x Depleted
2 x Beckoners
4ss cache
Pre Game Theory
My pre game theory was going to be light. I knew nothing about Jacob or how he played, so I focused instead on my all comers list.
I'll drop a dog for a dead doxy or a belle as required.
I'll play face of death on Seamus in turns 1&2 to meet his manifest requirements and assess whether to avatar as the game develops.
I'll try out both the drowned and crooked man ranged spells to work out what is more effective, and try to get the drowned in close to see how effective his slow to die schinanigans can be against this particular crew.
The belle will sit in the backfield for some lure and I'll probably keep Sybelle linked with the spirit near Seamus on bodyguard detail.
I had heard I could expect some card management schinanigans, so I thought I'd keep my soul stone cache high, in case I need to offset a diminished control hand.
The Game
Turn 1
Jon won initiative and over three activations doubled walked up two Illuminated and Beckoner to the centre of the board. The Beckoner managed to give my Belle brilliance but it dissipated at the end of the turn. The rest of his crew took a circular route, with a depleted on each flank and Jacob sitting in back field trying some card management.
I just generally shuffled forward, linked Seamus to the spirit and maybe over reached Sybelle in her eagerness to get into a punch up with the illuminated. She was 2 inches in front of the rest of the minions but I figured I could launch her into combat next turn or see how well she stood up against the illuminated if they tried to charge her terrifying.
I kept Seamus in the backfield casting face of death and double walking. For good measure, I also put out trail of fear to extend his terrifying affects.
Turn 2
I wanted first turn but when I flipped a 2 and Jon flipped an 11, I saw no point trying to reflip. Using the Beckoner accompanying the Illuminated, Jon double lured in Madame Sybelle (12") and gave her brilliance. Not liking how this was going, I tried to call a belle for some reinforcement but failed, so instead I flurried Sybelle against the nearest illuminated. Well against defence 8, suffice it to say I only did 3 wounds and no triggers. Sybelle was looking very exposed.
Jon activated the two illuminated over the next two activations and before I knew it Sybelle was dead. In hindsight, maybe I should have gone defensive stance and focus called a belle, to put up a wall. I also forgot her terrifying ability, a stupid mistake. Sybelle only really went down because I had really poor cards and Jon had given her brilliance.
You can see at this point Jacob has just sat in the backfield cycling his cards and generally denying me mine.
Turn 3
Turn 3 and once again Jon wins the activation. The Beckoner this time turned her attention to my canine remains and despite some pretty good resist values that pooch was off and running towards her. He didn't get into range of her brilliance, which was something, but then Jon moved in his depleted in his second activation to stroke that pooch into an early grave. A disturbing scene...
In return my crooked man moved and placed a shafted marker, my belle then lured an illuminated on to it for 3 damage.
My drowned used a small thicket of trees for cover and hit the depleted on the other flank but couldn't damage him.
Seamus finally moved up and shoots the other illuminated for 4 damage. He then summons a belle into the melee range of a freshly moved up Lynch and goes avatar. I figured at the time I'd hold lynch in combat for a turn with the belle, long enough for Seamus to kill the illuminated and then go avatar on Jacob. It was a reasonable sound plan that almost worked...
Turn 4
Turn 4 and once again Jon got first activation. I was beginning to wonder if Lynch was manipulating my deck shuffling between rounds.
Activating Lynch first and then the depleted on the right flank, my summoned belle went down to a brilliance related slaughter. Her slow to die action lured the drowned in nearer to Lynch, a tactic I now realise I shouldn't have been able to do with the drowned special rules.
Avatar Seamus finished off the illuminated and decided that was the point to go after Jacob. I backed him into a corner, pulled out gargantuan growth and smacked him around a bit. I think I did 4 wounds and Jon had no soulstones left.
My night terror really should have taken off for my claim jump at this point but instead I charged a Beckoner hoping I could blind her and stop some of this lure madness that was going on. He got into contact but her defensive trigger put pay to my attacks and it began to look like this girl had a thing for animals, after first luring the dog in and now playing with the birdie.
The original belle and the crooked man went after the Beckoner and Illuminated Jon had sent towards his claim jump. I could see them slipping behind me so I tried to undress the illuminated to make the crooked mans job easier. It didn't work and my crooked man got a couple of lumps on the Illuminated but not enough to stop him getting into contact with his claim jump.
The drowned tried for rip tide twice on lynch and failed.
Jon moved up one of his depleted to occupy my belle, meaning I had only my crooked man free to move.
Turn 5
In the last turn of the night (it was getting on for 1am), lynch made his escape and treble walked clear into my deployment zone. His illuminated in contact with the claim jump moved round the building, putting some mortar between him and the crooked man.
I moved Seamus into contact with my claim jump, figuring at this point it would be a 6-4 loss to me.
In his two activations however Jon progressively lured Seamus away from the claim jump and then out of his half of the table using his Beckoners.
above:Seamus lured away by the pretty girls
Below: epic run by Jacob clear into my deployment zone and the illuminated hunkering down to avoid my crooked man.
The Result
Sum up & lessons learnt
8-0 loss to me, damn you Avatar Seamus for going after those pretty Beckoners! It seemed like a fitting end for him though, he does have a thing for the ladies....
What a game, there is nothing like going up against a new master! It's really challenging to go up against a crew you've never seen in action before. The result belies how tight the game was, it was only some last turn movement schnanigans by Jacob, an illuminated and a Beckoner that dropped the result from a 6-4 loss to me, to a straight 8-0, a painful lesson in turn 5 tactics. We didn't make it the full six turns, which makes me wonder what Seamus would have done with those gals.
I can't believe I lost every activation to straight flips. I missed two good opportunities to put some pain down on Lynch because I just couldn't get first turn. Then when I did get him in Avatar Seamus's melee range he skipped out of the big boys grasp like a bar of soap in the bath. He's certainly a slippery critter and there was me thinking I had him with Seamus's wicked ability. I'm wondering now if staying in normal form and using his No Escape ability would have stopped Jacob skipping out, I must find out if that ability applies to pushes.
On the whole I'm reasonably happy with the performance of my crew, but loosing Sybelle in turn 2 was a blow.
I won't be taking a single night terror again and particularly against this crew, it just didn't serve me well.
Next time I'd be tempted to try the canine remains Bette Noir combo on this crew, given its heavy reliance on luring and brilliancing things for the kill, having Bette pop up and knife whoever in the back might help combat things.
I'm not sure taking avatar Seamus was a good move, his lower willpower really didn't help the situation and those two soulstones saved could have helped with some resist duels. Nor was focusing so intently on Jacob, that guy knows how to duck and weave!
The drowned did well, his slow to die action literally doing 2 damage on 4 of Jons crew when he died and the anti lure that they would bring to the crew means those Beckoners can shake their booty but they wouldn't come a running.
Where I continue to struggle however is in summoning replacement belles. The lures kept me from dropping the dog and my control hand rarely included the high crow I needed to raise. As usual when I throw a stone at the rise, I failed, which just adds insult to injury.
Oh well, you live and learn - or not if you're a Resser.....
Making up for my dismal and rather surreal weekend of work, I decided to sneak in a game at one my local clubs last night. This wasn't to well received by the Misses, but brownie points are meant to be squandered and she knows, from my track record, that I need the practice to get ready for Cancon and the GT next year.
Pre Game Amble
This was my third game against Mei Feng, so I had some idea of her tactics and I wanted to try out some different models that should give me some advantage in the fight.
This was Chris's first outing with Mei Feng, that said he's a very experienced player, and so I figured the odds were at best 50/50.
I think Mei Feng's greatest weakness is she doesn't have any magical weapons and only she and Kang really have any real attack spells. Most of her minions work on the basis of gimping up their defense or normal attacks. You're also generally facing a 50/50 split between living and construct models, allowing for some terror raising possibilities right off the bat.
It struck me that Kirai should do well against this crew, but I'm still getting my head around how she plays. I decided instead to test the water by taking a spirit in my Seamus crew and seeing how things went. I wanted to try a drowned specifically to see if it did any better against a Rail Gamin, but when I got there Chris put down a crew completely devoid of them. Doh!
Strategies and Schemes
Encounter Size : 25ss
Deployment : Standard
Strategies : Shared Treasure Hunt
Opponents Schemes : Stake a Claim, Bodyguard
My Schemes : Framed for Murder (Drowned), Bodyguard
Crew Selections
Me
Seamus
Graveyard Spirit
Madame Sybelle
Crooked Man
Rotten belle
Drowned
8 SS cache
My Opponent
Mei Feng
Kang
3 x Rail Workers
Emberling
5 SS Cache
Pre-Game Theory Hammer
Avoid rail walker movement schinanigans by snipping any rail worker or gamin that looks like its being pushed forward for that purpose. Try and cut off Mei Feng so she can't retreat, if she sticks her head out.
Link up Seamus for some extra protection from the graveyard spirit.
Try the drowned out against anything.
Try out some terror tactics with Seamus.
Use the Belle lure to net me that treasure in turn 1.
The Game
Turn 1
Chris won initiative and double walked up a rail worker. I activated Sybelle and a belle with the intention of luring a belle onto that treasure. Sybelle doubled walked but then choked the call belle spell with a black joker. The belle walked and the cast lure on Sybelle to pull her back in a little and avoid getting her killed in turn 1.
Chris moved up the Emberling and blew steam before rail walking Mei Feng up to do 2 wounds on Madame Sybelle and then hightailing it back behind Kang.
The rest of our crews just doubled walked to close the gap. I linked the graveyard spirit to Seamus for some protection.
Turn 2
I won initiative and with an Emberling blocking my path I figured Id kill that and try to alpha onto that treasure again. I flurried Sybelle but only managed to take the Emberling down two wounds. I then called my belle up but decided to place her for some protection on Sybelle rather than place on the treasure. Seamus shot a rail worker and when that failed charged him, killing him with a bag of tools strike. As a zero action I tried for arise but failed to get it off.
Mei Feng and Kang retaliated killing the foremost belle, and injuring Sybelle again. Seamus took 3 wounds from Mei Feng's trigger attack before retreating again using rail walker. With little to target the crooked man tried but missed a second rail worker and the drowned got two wounds off against Kang.
I burnt a soulstone increasing Seamus defence against a parting steam burst from Mei Feng.
Turn 3
Chris wins the initiative despite me burning a soulstone and heals Kang before shoving coals in Sybelles face. He then punches her for good measure, reducing her to 2 wounds. In retailiation a belle tries twice to get Kang to undress but fails, which means Sybelle has her work cut out for her and can't do more than score a couple of wounds on Kang.
Mei Feng in her most aggressive moves of the game goes hard at Seamus doing 8 wounds despite burning two more soulstones. Crucially she doesn't retreat because her crew are out of position. Seamus in return smacks her for 3 before getting slit jugular off and forcing Chris to discard his last two soulstones.
The crooked man is able to get a severe cave in off and kill another rail worker, which helps Seamus with his dwindling wounds.
Turn 4
Chris again wins initiative and blows steam on Feng to deposit burning tokens on almost all of my crew. She bounces away leaving Seamus on 1 wound. She gets into contact with the treasure and sends Kang and the last rail worker forward to block the limited alley I have to the objective.
With Sybelle and my belle bouncing off and then being eradicated by Kang in hand to hand, Seamus summons another belle, and focus shoots the rail worker, taking him out but leaving Seamus relatively weak and undefended, with no soulstones left.
Turn 5
Chris wins a critical initiative flip.
Kang goes toe to toe with Seamus and kills him. Mei Feng picks up the treasure and tries to stumble off. A belle lures her into dropping the treasure and my crooked man and drowned again bounce off of Kang.
Turn 6
With Mei Feng uninjured but unable to pickup the treasure Chris high tails it over to the cemetery he'd called for his stake a claim and nets himself a total of 4 VP'S. I bounce again off of Kang doing some damage but with Seamus dead and my drowned still very much live, I've scored zero. I tried to make it to the treasure but I simply didn't have the AP's to pick it up.
The Result
4-0 loss to me. Chris got off both his schemes but my lure made Mei Feng drop the treasure, stopping it being a 8-0 defeat for me!
Sum up & Lessons Learnt
In hindsight the graveyard spirit is a waste against Mei Feng, most of her abilities bypass the protection that the spirit provides.
Kang is a tank! He needs to be taken down early as he can heal wounds automatically up to the turn number, so in turn 5 he can heal 5 wounds!
Watch out for rail worker slow to die actions, their retailitory kick can kill a wounded minion.
I've got to stop announcing bodyguard on Seamus, it makes him a bullet magnet!
Maybe I shouldn't of announced frame for murder and I should have chosen a weaker minion, a 5 wound spirit was a dumb selection.
That's why I'm the Aspiring Ressurrectionist I suppose!
