Easter Equinox - Easter Faux Pas Story Encounter

Last week Krags hosted the bi-monthly co-op event we run in conjunction with Outpost South, which we have dubbed Faux Pas.

This month was our turn, and as it was Easter, our Henchman ran a special Easter story encounter, which I have to admit isn't an original encounter, more something he borrowed and used. Nonetheless it was great fun and so I thought I'd republish it here and show you what make it so entertaining:



You can read the full details of the encounter if you click on the image above.

The basic premise is that your soulstone cache and 10 choccy counters are up for grabs, the winner is the player with the most choccies and soulstones remaining at the end of the night. All you have to do is run your game strategy around collecting and minimising your use of soulstones.

A simple plan that isn't that easy to achieve. You see I think there are a few factors that are playing away in the background to make your choccy hoard simply melt away, namely:

But he's got more than me, that can't be fair can it?
It starts before even the first card is flipped, you've chosen your crew and then you realise your opponent has a larger soulstone cache. Playing Seamus I started with a humble two cache, playing Raspy my opponent started with five. Normally you know raspy is going to use some of those as the game unfolds, but as I explained earlier your natural tendency here should be to hoard. Therefore it can't possibly be fair that your opponent starts with double, or is it?

Carrying chocs is a significant task...
So picking up chocolate is a task for a significant model. I ran out canine remains and then had to wait for a second dog in the pack to get near it before I could pickup a counter. When one of my hunting pack got chocolate, I was loathe to send it running up the board with its mates, as it would have slowed the pack and risked that choccy, but at the same time, I needed the number to claim significant. In the end I played two different strategies, where it was safe, the encumbered dog followed on behind to give the scouting dog significant, and when it wasn't safe I simply traded it up for a belle using Seamus's hand canon and arise abilities.

Even so, picking up that counter takes an action so you have to work out the optimum way get into contact and get that choccy.

Don't just stand there...
As I eluded to in my last point, timing and movement are everything. Like any objective grabbing activity in Malifaux, you want to side up, grab that choc and then of course your activation is over. Next turn you've got a choice, either than choc laddened minion carries on and fights the good fight, or you run, or my case, shamble off for the hills.

If I push you, you might just drop that precious load...
There's nothing worse than getting your hands on an objective and someone pull s a push schinanigan on you. You've probably spent the entire last activation just getting your mits on that choccy, you done your stint in the open and your about to make for the hills when your opponent pushes you about, and in doing so that delicate morsel goes clattering into the gutter for any rogue to pickup. Keep an eye out for such trickery and remain vigilant.

It's chocolate and I'm hungry...
It calls to you on a subconscious level, promising sugary goodness and a brief moment of ecstasy. All you need to do is resist, but as some famous evil type once put it - resistance is futile.

And if it isn't calling to you, then its likely calling to your minions. Remember they're not immune and those low cards can and will come up at the most inopportune of times!s

Those are the chocolates your looking for
Lastly there's the mind games that your opponent might just try on you (because I'm guilty of trying....). You're in the middle of a duel, your crunching the math, you've come up one short of moderate damage and its such a shame because your on your last AP, and you only needed moderate damage to end this plucky minion. Your opponent reminds you you could always burn a stone, afterall only the joker is going to stop you ending my minion. And you're tempted....

This is when you should look into that smiling face and ask yourself, what's he up to? You see I worked out early on to keep an eye on my opponents pool:
- Your opponent wants you eating your pool because ultimately
those soulstones count to the victory conditions
- your opponent might be holding a choccy counter and that in
conjunction with a slow to die action gives that minion a healing flip
(see story encounter rules), which can't be good, sure they've
traded that choccy but they're still standing and who knows what
they have planned....

And there you have it, Malifaux with chocolate, what more could you possibly want.....


I should also put out a big shout out to Mr Fantasy who put together two stunning boards for the event...

Ten Thunders Hideout
The Ten Thunders have infiltrated all factions in Malifaux and the Bayou is no exception. With the infiltration and their work in the shadows complete, the Ten Thunders have turned their sights to a more permanent lair. Can this organisation tame the bayou or will the bayou be reclaimed by its denizens?




We discovered early on that the five structures on the bayou board were solar lights, which John and Justin ended up using as a form of turn counter. The light goes out, that's a turn down. It was quite cool to see the lights of this camp blink out one by one as the two Neverborn crews fought over the spoils.

Mr Magpies Circus
Mr Magpie has come to Malifaux bringing his troop of performers and misfits. To the common folk its is a wanted distraction from the drugery of their lives. To the unseen masters it is either an opportunity to hire the skills of some truly unique mercenarys or it is unwelcome competition.




Here's a link to Mr Fantasy's blog - Fire Water Portal, where you can find WIP and full pictures of these excellent tables.

Enjoy!

Faux Pas Club CoOp event 3 months in and Kirai realised

Last night our cooperative inter-club monthly event, dubbed Faux Pas, had its third outing. This event was created because there are pockets of Malifaux players dotted at the various clubs in Western Australia and the best way to mix up the local meta (and ensure you get games) is to get everyone in the same room. How do you do that when we are so dispersed? Well our answer has been to put on a schedule of events that moves between the clubs.

This schedule covers the many different and often overlooked aspects of Malifaux, last month being mysterious terrain and achievements.
This month was largely practice for the Thunderstruck Tourny being held here this weekend, which links achievements with the new gaining grounds 2013 strategies. Next month is Easter and as KRAGS (my local club) is hosting, we're planning a story encounter.

Three months in and its been good, we consistently get 8-10 people at these events and hopefully that number will rise. At the same time, I'm sat here puzzling over what more we can do to raise attendance. We continue to advertise in local outlets and on the local forums. We push hard in the run up to advertise and to ensure the regulars can attend and we try to have something different each time. All this is combined with the efforts of our henchmen, who is a very busy man. That said, I can't help feeling we've hit the glass ceiling. I know there are a lot more players out there, I just can't think how we can incentivise them to come to these events. Time will tell I suppose.


I think I can finally say I'm getting to grips with Kirai. I can now look at my hand and know what I'm going to need to focus on that turn.
- If I have crows then I'm evolving and summoning, or going for maul results in combat situations
- If I have masks then I'm moving minions around the board and I need to be looking to Datsu and Kirai to do this
- If I have rams then I'm healing things and again need to see what Datsu, Kirai and the Lost Love are up to.
- If I have tomes then I'm not doing a lot and I really need to card cycle with Kirai and bide my time, trying not to over extend myself.

All up, I'm happy that I've gone from the position in my first few games where I sat there saying 'I don't have the right suit' to 'ok I'm going to be focusing on this for the turn'.

I think the next objectives for me will be to try out avatar Kirai, to see how that changes my later game antics and to start looking at the time and place to use specific summoning strategies and when to use Jakume. Then it'll be on to looking at other spirits and seeing what they can add.

The other thing I need to do is work out is my summoning strategy dependant on who I'm facing. Last night I faced the Ortegas and I took a very risky strategy of sending off twin linked Shikome on one flank whilst Datsu and 3 Gaki went up the other. As someone who's just realised how important it is to keep Kirai near the fighting, this was not the strongest of strategies. It did work, but it could have gone horribly wrong at the same time.

(Two Shikome get the drop on a Death Marshall in last nights game)

Back to Basics - Teaching Someone Malifaux

Its been a quiet week on the blog front because I was delivering a project for work. It's all done and dusted now, and I spent my weekend just recovering from the exhaustion and stress that accompanied getting such a grand scale undertaking across the line.

But anyway, normal service will resume this week with a couple of posts I have planned. I'm playing our local henchman tomorrow night, so a bat rep will be available later in the week, but first I wanted to talk about getting back to basics, and how refreshing it can be to teach someone new the game.

Last Friday at KRAGS, I was about to sit down and hammer out a game against Mr Neverborn when a lady came wandering into our club wanting to learn more about a game called MaliFolk. Now trying to contain our amazement, Jon and I proceeded to offer up a seat for her and another new guy who was looking a bit lost. We threw down Raspy and Seamus in a 15 soulstone game that took most of the night but won us some new gamers and them a good understanding of the rules.

As I reflect, it's interesting that both Jon and I learnt something new about each of our crews, but I'll come to that, what I wanted to start with is how I went about explaining the game and I'll be researching other posts to see if anyone has tips on training someone new. Why am I writing this? Well I've always found that some people just don't know where to start when trying to explain a game to someone new. They often make the mistake of diving to deep, to quickly, when in reality, the person you're teaching wants two things from their first game, an introduction and a good time.

I'm not saying I have this down pat, I've only taught a few people this game but I do think its worth talking about, so where to start.

I start by asking a simple question - is this the first time you've played a something like this? From that you can immediately glisten the persons experience, and comfort levels. Someone new to the hobby will need an entirely different approach to someone porting from another system and its that first response that gets people opening up, you learn what they have played before, what they like and dislike, and quite often they'll tell you why they are interested in Malifaux.

Lets talk about the person completely new to the scene first. Quite often they find Malifaux because of iconography or budget, or maybe a mixture of both. I start by explaining a little about how the game plays, then the history of malifaux and finally (and this is one I got from Jon), why it is they are fighting.

It's also good to reference systems or concepts they might be familiar with, likening totems to familiars or the backstory of a particular crew to something they might recognise in recent culture or other systems.

Then inevitably comes a bit about budget, what's it going to cost to get into the game, and here you can compare Faux to other systems, where the entry point might be 3-5 times that of a starter crew and a few addons.

Then comes the points where you can invite them to the table. Always sit them down and let them play, rather than spectate. You get far more enjoyment and buy in from a new player by letting them play, this isn't much of a spectator sport after all, particularly if you don't know what's going on.

Once at the table I pull out some of the simpler crews available, no minions above 6 soulstones and keep it to 15-20 soulstones as an absolute maximum sized game.

This is the point where the two types of people converge and you can start to explain the different factions in a little detail, adding a little back story for the two crews.

I tend to play a variant of shared treasure hunt where it only takes one AP to pickup the treasure. I find is gives the non aggressive player something to focus on and the typical wargamer is happy because they can see their opponent coming towards them.


Next up I talk about the deck, show them the different suits and power levels. I always use the standard decks that have the power level printed on them, I think the person has enough to remember without working out the power level. Lastly you explain the jokers, for now just explain it as red very good, black very bad, no point going into the detail until necessary.

I'll then explain the basic characteristics of a character with both players before spending a brief amount of time one-on-one explaining some of the core abilities of the crew.

You'll be tempted to talk a lot more at this point but in reality you've probably talked enough and its time to get down to a game.

Setup a simple game of 15-20 soulstones and leave a couple of soulstones per master to play out the different was the can be used.

I go through the board and explain heights and cover type before the game starts but don't go into too much detail, we just need to note the height and types for them right now, we can get into the detail if they start to use the terrain.

Turn 1 cements deck handling and terminology, initiative, action points and movement. If, like me, you use treasure hunt then the new players will be focused on that objective and in reality little else, that's fine because it cements the fundamentals.

Turn 2 will usually see ranged combat, and by turn 3 someone is usually charging. That then just leaves the exceptions, using soulstones, willpower and counters. I never explain counters until they are used. I once saw a demo where the guy walked through every counter, it was like watching paint dry....



If you're playing the newbie then give them the game or make it a tight loss, don't go for the drubbing. If you have two at the table then a little friendly jostling is fine but let them work it out, offering tactical insights to the looser to help even the odds, should it need a helping hand.

And that essentially is it, except to say that training somebody new is often a revelation in its own right. In our demo game I saw Jon pick up on the Ice Gamin zero action bite of winter and how it combines with Decembers curse. Meanwhile the lady using my crew played the graveyard spirit much more aggressively than I would, causing six wounds over the game and sending him out to pick up that treasure when everything else was otherwise engaged.

Sometimes I guess it takes someone new to breakdown your preconceptions of how a game or character should be played.

Faux-Pas and Club Cooperation

One of the objectives I set myself for this month is to help in any way I can to build up the Malifaux community again. We've undergone some decline in numbers recently because of a general ramping up in the WarMachine and 40k scenes here. Couple this with the FIFO phenomenon (fly in, fly out - resources sector staff fly up to sites, work, then head home on alternating rosters) and it makes organising any events quite tricky.

There's another phenomenon though, one closer to our gaming hearts, which I call our hobby journeys. There's probably 400 gamers here in WA at any one time but what each of us is playing is influenced by so many things, what's going on in our local group, what's hot and not, what kick starters are going off, what's coming up in the tournament calendar and what we can each fit into our daily lives.

My point is that that the journey we start the year on, ,is rarely what we end the year on. This year alone I've gone through WHFB, board games, MTG and through it all there's of course been some Malifaux. Now multiply that up by the number of people in your local group or club and people you used to play week in, week out, you now play occasionally. Worse still for clubs is the issue of organising games. Someone will turn up with something new and either not get a game or could swing the meta towards that game instead. A club has to delicately balance the scales or people don't come back.

It's all about the journey, and how you find yourself at the same destination, albeit fleetingly, and how many others are there along side you. Yeah it's deep....

But anyway I was at the Skulls tournament a few weeks ago and the subject came up about how to promote the game again and get more involved. One of the guys from another local club suggested alternating a monthly malifaux night between our two clubs (Outpost South and Krags) and with a bit of positioning with our respective committees and buyin of our henchman, Faux-Pa was born.

The intention is to keep everyone on the same path by making sure there's something different about the game each month. It's alternated between the two clubs, so as not to favour one location or group, and each month is something different.

Hopefully this'll go someway towards building up the community again, only time will tell, but nonetheless I thought I'd share what we're trying here in case it can be of any use to you guys in promoting this awesome game in your neighbourhood.

Malifaux Battle Report - Seamus vs Jacob Lynch

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.....

Laminator fumes, and other water cooler moments

So in my local scene we tend to laminate our cards, I know others buy those little card protectors but for me it's all about the laminator fumes!

I miss those days of thumping open a new box of plastic crack and staring at the sprues, working out my conversion possibilities.

I'm sure Wyrd, with their move to plastics will offer me those days again but for now I contend myself with warming up the laminator and inhaling the fumes as another batch of the undead brigade is put through the ringer, then snipped, cut and filed ready for theory hammering or even a bit of play down at my local club.

The laminator has even become something of a water cooler for the Malifaux addicts at my local club, we circle the machine as it goes about its business in that slow rumble that tells you another sheet of gaming goodness is making its way into the world.

That laminator silently ushers in, with a collective sigh of approval, more minions, more combos and more opportunities for our collective crews.

It's a source of hope and despair and its always in motion, as this pic proves!