Auz Malifaux GT here I come!

Last night as I feverishly fought with Blogger pages to try and get my assembly instructions page working (which I kinda only partially succeeded in - stupid formatting), I was briefly interrupted by a forum notification reminding me about the Malifaux Australian GT.

No sooner had I finished my post, than I went to work on the Misses. Now she's known it was coming but permission slips are a fickle thing, so I always try to sweeten the deal. This time I knew she wouldn't want to come with me, so the tactic I'd used for Cancon wasn't going to work a second time.

I knew I needed to reduce the bill if if I was going to appeal the decision, so first things first, lets look at the details of the tourny. Ok the hotel has a room rate for the tourny, right there's $40 saving per night. The hotel Facebook page will chuck in a free continental brekky for a like on their page. I can do that for another $20 saving per night. So far I'd saved $180. Now the big one, the flight. A check of our frequent flyer miles shows there's enough to go to Sydney, right so if I explain this as I've save about $700, its only going to cost about $450 to go, will she go for it?

Well the title says it all really, and I shouldn't spin this out any longer. I have a great and understanding wife at the end of the day and yep I'm signed up, in fact I think I was the first to sign up.

So July is a big month, I want to lift my game. At Cancon the objective wasn't to come last. This time round I don't want to come last, I want nearer to the middle and I want at least 1 win per day. Lets see how I go!

Thunderstruck - Achievement Tournaments Reviewed

As I look back on the weekend that was Thunderstruck, I thought I’d share my conclusions on an achievement ranked Malifaux event.

As I mentioned in my last post, Thunderstruck had 55 achievements, with the winner of the tournament being the person who had racked up the most achievements after three games. As a secondary countback mechanism, our TO used Tournament Points to resolve any tie breaker situations.

If you click on the picture below, you can see the achievements we used. This sheet gives you an idea of whether an achievement can be completed once or several times within the three games we played.




So what is it like to play in an achievement orientated event? Well my experience was that it made for a much more relaxed and less competitive event. Our Henchman did a good job of relaxing the barriers, he allowed unpainted crews, increased round times and there was a broad enough spectrum of achievements to ensure everyone could score.

We played through three of the new gaining grounds missions, which in itself was an education for everyone, with some fierce fighting to capture the treasure or be king of the hill.

At the same time, I think we were all conscious that winning was only going to net us one achievement point per game, so you saw people playing their hands open or cheating blind, letting your opponent pick their crews, or trying plays they'd normally not risk to get their achievements.

It all creates a more light-hearted atmosphere, and I think it probably emulates some of the play testing that Wyrd went through in the development of the game. What do I mean by that? Well next time you play a game, try a round with your hand face up and you'll see a lot more decisive play, because you know exactly what your opponent has in their hand. Try a turn where your control hand is face down and you cheat blind, you'll have a lot more fun and at the same time your wins and losses in the turn become a lot more epic. That's what I mean.

So does the achievement concept work in a tournament environment? Well my own experience would have said yes but after speaking to a couple of attendees they had mixed feelings about the concept.
There was feedback that some of the achievements weren't possible with certain factions and you also need to look out for achievements that favour a faction. I had several people say I had one in the bag because I could easily end a game with more models than I started with. In reality I didn't, but that was down to me still learning Kirai.
Meanwhile Mr Fantasy, being the sneaky out-of-the-box thinker that he is, found a way to maximise his achievements whilst minimising the risk to his crew selection.

Picture the scene, you have a sixty soulstone pool to play with. You know you can earn six achievement points if you let your opponent choose your crew and it contains no duplicates. How do you ensure that happens, well you only take a 28ss crew, of all unique figures. Yeah sure you can pick my crew, oh and you don't really have a choice because even dropping the cheapest minion will exceed the master's cache.... Oh and they are all unique so that's 2 points per game. Like I said, cheeky, and my hat is off to Mr Fantasy for thinking of it. This from the man who had only played three games prior to the tourny! Achievement Tournys level the playing field.

So if you're careful with your achievements, are there any other gotchas? Well if you look back to the score sheet you might pick up on another, but if not, then my advice would be to design a score sheet where you can differentiate on the achievements earnt per game. It sounds trivial but when you want your opponent to sign off on your achievements, its a lot easier to distinguish if you can see what was achieved that game.

If you follow these points then I think you'll have a great time and put on a unique event that veterans and newbies will enjoy. I know I did, even though I only managed a humble middle of the pack position and 24 of the 28-31 achievement points I was predicting going into the event.

And here's the KRAGS crew at Thunderstruck: Back Row Mr Guild, Mr Neverborn and the grinning loon, on the right, is me, The Aspiring Ressurrectionist, meanwhile in front we have Mr Fantasy and Mr Arcanist.

Achievements Unlocked - Thunderstruck Tourny Part 1 - Prep

This weekend I'm taking part in a one day achievement orientated tournament called Thunderstruck.

Our local henchman has put together a sideline event, with a maximum of 12 players, where you win, not through winning games, but the deeds of your crew. It's a 60ss fixed faction pool, where a set list of achievements is provided and the winer will be the person with the most achievements at the end of the tourny. With only three games to play, getting the majority of these achievements is going to require combos to be taken and so looking at what's on the list, lets see what's possible.

I broadly categorised these into definites, requires some work and gonna be hard. I'm intending to take Seamus and Kirai as my masters and max out my pool with a mixture of minions that suit both. This will mean leaving some toys at home, but will give me a choice of masters and play styles.

So on to the achievements, which I reckon total to a maximum of 54 points.

Definite
Play a game against x faction (upto 3 points)
Well I know Neverborn, Arcanists and Guild will be representing and that I'm likely to be the only Resser, so I should see a minimum of two points from the three available

Play a game with a fully painted crew, painted master and minion (5 points)
That's five easy points, because even commission painted is going to count.

Accomplish breakthrough / end game with master in opponents deployment zone (2 points)
I know this is possible with Kirai and might be possible if I use the copycat killer or dead rider to swing Seamus over there but it will depend on the strategy

Take two unannounced schemes, win one unannounced scheme, randomly choose your schemes (3 points)
Should be possible but might sacrifice a win

Play a turn after the first without doing ranged damage (3 points)
Should be possible with Kirai, but definitely not going to happen if I have my usual Seamus list on the board.

Cheat red joker on damage (2 points)
Hey it should happen at least once, even with my cards.

Requires some work
Win a game (upto 3 points)
Well we all want to win games, but considering that wont net a tourny cup, I'd be happy to win one of the three games/points available here.

Accomplish a master or faction scheme (2 points)
Yeah I generally don't play these, so will require work

Allow your opponent to choose your crew (2 points)
Thinking about it, it shouldn't be to much of a disadvantage as ill be picking the 60ss pool of compatible models.

Play a turn, after turn 1, with you control hand face down/up (3 points)
Now that should be fun! Blind cheating I have to try this one but the open hands idea will also be interesting.



Gonna be hard
End the game with more models than you started with (1 point)
Gonna be hard (for Seamus or Kirai) unless I can convert an opponents crew

Kill an opponents leader with your leader (1 point)
Not my style and I only really see me doing this if I avatar.

Kill an opposing master with your totem (1 point)
Technically possible, providing I can keep it alive long enough and its a finisher on an already beaten up master

Select no schemes / win game without schemes (2 points)
This little combo is very tempting to take together but its going to require some really good plays. I can't see me taking this combo and I definitely don't see a win on the cards if I do.

Win a game with none of your models on the board (2 points)
I don't think I've ever done that but gaining grounds 2013 might change that.

Play a turn after the first without doing melee damage (3 points)
This will be hard with either of my crews, unless I hunker down for a turn.

End game with 4 cards of 2 or less, or 10 or more (2 points)
Well what can I say, that's all going to depend on the cards

Play a game with no duplicates in your crew (3)
Well for Kirai that's damn near impossible and I'm not sure how my Seamus crew will look under the 60ss cache.


So my prediction is I end up with 28-31 points but lets see.

Last night a couple our KRAGS regulars tried out some of the achievements in their game. They made me pick their crews and randomly select their schemes. They played a hand with it face down and were having so much fun blind cheating that they carried on that way all night! They even started adding sound effects and musical numbers for their crews!

I guess, at the end of the day, tourneys don't have to be competitive, this one is just going to be raw fun!

Gaining Grounds 2013 - Summary of Changes

After much noise on the subject, and more than one TO releasing details in their players pack, Wyrd finally announced a revision to the Gaining Grounds Tournament play guidelines last week.

This is my take on the changes and for the record I think these are all for the better, but I'll come to that later.

Wyrd run vs henchman run and other organised play events
At first glance it appears Wyrd have their own set of guidelines for running events, called the governors decree. It looks like this is the hard line version, with many of the changes in player requirements that are listed below, unchanged. Maybe Wyrd has done this to demand the ultimate from its tournaments, although I'm struggling to remember one they've 'officially' run, or it could be a sign that they want to introduce their own events? Anywho...

Player requirements - the letter of the law
There's been some subtle and not so subtle changes in the player requirements for a tourney:
- Fate Decks are listed as needing to be official Wyrd decks, perhaps to make it easier on TOs to check and your opponent to understand, perhaps to try and scupper the custom fate deck options that are popping up on the forums. Either way, I can see most TO's ignoring this
- The use of proxy models is now at the discretion of the TO. Here in Australia there is a big conversion and proxy following, with most TO's ignored the wording in the original gaining grounds guide
- The use of pre release models is also now at TO discretion, and seems like a good move given the long release dates on GenCon models
- Painted crews is now at TO discretion, which I think is a good and bad thing. By allowing unpainted or primed models you include a bigger selection of players, but at the same time, there's nothing like playing against a beautifully painted crew.

Rounds and Timings
The only notable change seems to be in round timing with Wyrd still recommending 10 minutes for encounter setup but then adding 10 minutes to the recommended timings for each round. At the end of the day, that suits me fine, and I look forward to having a little more play time per round, but then I haven't looked at this from a TO perspective yet, to see how that might impact a daily schedule.

Crew Construction
Crew construction has been better defined where a pool is available to players, with a clearer set of rules around selection. Examples include how masters and henchmen are allotted to a pool and the role of avatars and summoned models. There's even two nice examples to follow, with one showing special force, mercenary and compatible models from other factions.

Tournament Formats
Tournament formats has received some if the biggest updates with the introduction of a replacement alternative format and much tighter wording, so there is no ambiguities.

In the original gaining grounds you had the following scoring formats:
Domination
Disparity
Accumulation

In gaining grounds 2013 you have:
Standard - scored on TP, then diff, then VP
Disparity - unchanged, scored on diff, VP, TP
Victory - scored on VP, Diff, TP
Attrition - scored using standard format, but games decrease in size as the day goes on.

Attrition is a format I'd love to try out, but it won't be the format I choose for our clubs first Malifaux tournament. I can see its a format you use when you have a large enough player base, but as attrition is probably best started with a brawl, its likely to only appeal to those with big collections.

Strategies
Strategies have undergone the most significant of changes with a much heavier emphasis on scoring victory points as the game progresses, rather than totalling up at the end. TOs can still choose between individual and shared variants, but the strategies as a whole have undergone quite a revamp.

In the original gaining grounds, the selections were:
Jokers Contain Power
1-2. Treasure Hunt
3-5. Destroy the Evidence
6-8. Reconnoiter
9-11. Claim Jump
12-13. Slaughter

Whereas in gaining grounds 2013, the selections are:
Jokers Contain Power
1-2. Treasure Hunt
3-5. Land Grab
6-8. Slaughter
9-11. Line in the Sand
12-13. Master of the Hill

The common names belie the changes in the missions, you'll want to familiarise yourself with all missions. The stand out changes come in Land Grab, a reworked version of Reconnoiter and Master of the Hill, a reworked version of Claim Jump with a hill.

I won't go into any more detail in this entry, but suffice it to say there's enough change that experienced players will be revisiting their tactics and new players benefit from tighter rules and wording. If nothing else, these changes will shakeup the tourney scene a little and will give us all something to think about in the coming months.

Malifaux Tournament Report - Cancon Day 2 - Wins, Losses & Draws

The theme for day 2 was to play a 50ss brawl with two masters and then play two games, using each of the masters you'd taken into the brawl o head up one of the 35ss scraps. I choose Seamus and Kiari as I had little or no experience or confidence using Molly as a master.

So closing out day 2, my first ever brawl and two bigger point games, how did I do, well lets see.


Game 1 - Dave - Seamus & Kirai vs Nicodem & Kirai
Brawl
Shared Destroy the Evidence

Crews
Me - Seamus, Kirai, 5 Seishin, 2 crooked men, drowned, dead rider, graveyard spirit, lost love, Datsu Ba, Gaki, Avatar Seamus

Dave - Nicodem, Kirai, 4 canine remains, desperate merc, Sebastian, Dead Rider, Graveyard Spirit, Lost Love, 2 insidious madness, drowned

My strategies
Stake a Claim
Bodyguard (Kirai)

My opponents strategies
Stake a Claim
Assassinate (Seamus)

Game Summary & Outcome
After watching Dave slaughter four canines and a merc in two activations to get himself five corpses and five Seishin, I had to wonder what was coming next and wasn't surprised when two insidious madness ran up either flank to grab objectives. A perfectly thought out strategy that would allow Dave to capitalise in turn 2 unless I could get the drop on those outriders.

We both linked the graveyard spirit to our dead riders and then piled the rest of our minions on towards the centre evidence marker.

Turn 2 saw Dave win initiative and he immediate jumped on one evidence marker before leaping that madness forward for the evidence marker in my deployment zone. I skilled that with a couple of crooked men's eyeing little point in stopping the second, given how many minions were almost directly behind it.

I spent a lot of turn two trying to neautralise two threats, the dead rider and the drowned. Because of the way I had Kirai deployed if Dave had gotten off riptide, even once, it would have of devastated her Seishin and I wanted it dead to avoid that happening now or insusbsequent turns, where I might not have Seishin beacon raised. I was eventually forced to sent Datsu in and she did a good job of paralysing and in the next turn killing the drowned before she got totally mobbed by raised punk zombies and flesh constructs. I was desperate to get initiative and either pull her out, or when my cards failed me to get her two action two strike all combatants within 2" off, the damaged she might have done would have made up for me wasting her but sadly I lost that initiative as well.

Meanwhile both my dead rider and Seamus were taking the brunt of it with summoned Shikome needing to taken out to clear a path to my objectives. I was whittled down of turns two and three with Dave strengthening his position in the centre.

The final swan song came when Seamus bought it, Kirai was forced to flee and only the timely death of a Shikome allowed the dead rider to break through. We both had our objectives in the centre, Dave had broken though to get his objective in my deployment zone and his stake a claim, he was on ten VPs and I think he was a little gracious in letting my lost love get my claim and my dead rider trying to take out his lost love to get the evidence marker in his deployment zone. Unfortunately for me his lost love out up a valiant fight and denied me the APs I needed to get that last objective.

In the end it was a 10-7 loss to me, but still a fantastic game.

Learnings
Where to start, I certainly learnt a lot by playing a very experienced Resser player, thanks to Dave for the many lessons.

- Graveyard Spirit cannot link to Seamus, he's not undead and I really should learn to read my cards better!
- When it comes to remembering how many actions Kirai has taken there's nothing like the bingo dabber approach. Simply put a little mark on the back of the card next to the entries used and only wipe off when it's her next activation - it quickly reminded me if I'd put spirit and pitiful back on the her as part of her two zero and two one actions
- Nicodem and Kirai can effectively double dip if you start with a pool of canine remains, which you slaughter within range of both. Nicodem gets corpses and Kiri get Seishin
- A defensive stance flip doesn't have to accept the highest card, you can use defensive stance on a minion you intend to kill, flip three cards and take the lowest, thereby ensuring their fate
- Insidious madness's can be excellent objective grabbers in a large sized battle, they are very fast spirits



Game 2 - Peter - Collette vs Seamus
Shared Claim Jump

Crews
Seamus, Avatar Seamus, 3 drowned, 3 crooked men, rotten belle

Colette, Cassandra, performer and mannequin , 2 coryphee, 2 mechanical doves

My strategies
Kill Protégée (Cassandra)
Eye for an Eye

My opponents strategies
Perfect Performance (I think)

Game Summary & Outcome
I went into this game a little to trigger happy with the simple plan of shooting up those showgirls when they made their move on the claim jump. The drowned lead the way with the crooked men branching off slightly to act as a second wave, and Seamus and the belle following, ready to help out where they could.

The coryphee duet soon came bouncing into my lines forcing me to sacrifice two drowned over a couple of turns but every time I did damaged they old find a way to pass it on to another girl or spin just out of range.

Seamus came up a and made sure to get his avatar requirements off before shooting the performer. In return the drowned received a couple of mechanical dove hand grenades to the face, felling a second for very little advantage.

I think I must have taken the bate because my crooked men and Seamus became embroiled in a slug rest near the left side of the board whilst Cassandra and a mannequin were able to own what few models I'd been able to send peace meal towards the claim jump.

In the end I got eye for an eye off but lost out on the claim jump. Peter got off his scheme for a 6-2 loss for me.

Learnings
- Coryphee Duet is a tough model to combat. I'd tried to pin it in combat only to have it swapped out with another showgirl and I'd tried to one shot it with Seamus, neither had worked, if only I could have gone avatar on that bad girl
- Drowned aren't the solution against this crew, they're slow and because the crew doesn't need to bunch up, its better to invest in something different next time, probably into punk zombies
- Mechanical doves make excellent hand grenades, I need to look out for this tactic next time
- Next time I go up against Colette, remember she can take time to play, it's best to get on with your objective, as a activation can eat into your time limit



Game 3 - Todd - Nicodem vs Kirai
Shared Treasure Hunt

Crews
Kirai, 5 Seishin, canine remains, Lost Love, Datsu Ba, 2 drowned.

Nicodem, rotten belle, 2 punk samurai, 2 canine remains, dead rider, graveyard spirit

My strategies
Breakthrough
Exterminate (undead) - what was I thinking?...

My opponents strategies
Holdout

Game Summary & Outcome
With this being the Gencon variant I was expecting a blood bath and I wanted to try out some different tactics. With the drowned managing to scare me so much in game one and not really doing me any favours in game two, I decided to give them one more outing.

When Todd lunged at the treasure with canine remains and threatened to own anything that was set on them with his dead rider, I sent in the drowned and a shikome to see what could be done. The Shikome killed the dogs in no small order but it was soon set upon by the dead rider. My drowned were hit hard by Nicodems decay, with one falling and the other following in turn two for little or nothing in return.

I progressively traded up Seishin for another Shikome and Ikiryo (twice) but was getting to bogged down trying to hold the treasure. With Kirai exposed and no way to hold the treasure I lunged the Shikome for Todds deployment zone and pulled Kirai back.

In the end a couple of belle lures and a punk zombie just finished my Shikome, in Todds deployment zone, just as time was called, leaving Kirai with the lost love and very little else to show for it.

A 6-0 loss to me and my thanks to Todd for going over a lot of Nicodems tactics during the game.

Learnings
- The cb bonus that Nicodems bolster undead spell grants can turn any run of the mill minion into a one man killing machine
- I really like punk zombies, I need some!
- Nicodem's decay spell is lethal on drowned and against bunched up spirits in general. I need to find a way to combat or avoid long range magical blast damage.

Final Thoughts
Well Cancon was certainly an experience and a good one at that. It was a fantastic learning curve and a great opportunity to play against some of the best in Australia. I still have a long way to go before I'm of that caliber.

Would I do it again? Well in short, if tickets went on sale tomorrow, I'd be there front and centre, absolutely no doubt about it. Playing in an exhibition environment, rather than a dedicated tourney gave me an opportunity to catchup with friends, make some new ones, get some ideas for new boards and of course make some arbitrary purchases at the great many stands available.

It's also a slice of a life I think some gamers can take for granted. The great distances mean I'm rarely if ever going to be able to attend a GenCon, but Cancon at least gives me a flavour of what such an event must be like, and it feels good to be supporting something that will continue to grow and show off the best that Australia has to offer the gaming scene.

Malifaux Tournament Report - Cancon Day 1 - Wins, Losses & Draws

With the four games that made up the tournament under my belt, how did I do?, well lets see.

This post is being typed up a couple of days after the event (I was too busy having fun) so details may not be entirely accurate.


Game 1 - Jason - Misaki vs Seamus
Shared Reconnoiter

My schemes
Claim Jump
Frame for Murder (graveyard spirit)

My opponents schemes
Claim Jump
Grudge

Crews
Seamus, Graveyard Spirit, Belle, 2 Night Terrors, 2 Crooked Men, Canine Remains, Drowned

Misaki, Yamaziko, Ototo, Shang, 2 Torakage

Game Summary & Outcome
Misaki and Co are incredibly fast and downright lethal in close combat, but I think my strategy of avoiding combat worked to a degree. We spent a couple of turns dancing round each other with Toros burying before an ambush almost caught a raised dead doxy and two night terrors from getting near my stake a claim. I could see Misaki and Yamaziko would be in charge range next turn and I found the doxy was just out of melee range, so she took a walk backwards and fired her derringer into the combat. It hit the night terror but failed to wound, but it had the desired result because now my night terrors could use their action 'attracted to noise' to push out of combat and regroup before flock hopping their way over to my claim.

With the majority of the Misaki crew now activated I chose to activate Seamus, walk and shoot Yamaziko with his flintlock. I cheated up my total, got a straight flip and then cheated that with a red joker to inflict a severe and weak for 11 wounds. Not even her ability to use soulstones could save her and I used the resulting corpse to raise a rotten belle.

It didn't all go my way however, with a crooked man and drowned dying pointlessly to ninja combats and Shang making it very difficult for me to maintain my stake a claim.

I had no choice but to send Seamus scurrying after Misaki in the last couple of turns, but I was relatively confident she couldn't kill me. I think Jason had expended his cache at that point, and Seamus had 5 or so stones left. I regretted not having the belle pursue, as a lure on Misaki might have stopped her getting into contact with her stake a claim and I just couldn't do enough damage, or get close enough, with Seamus.

In the end it was a 6-3 loss to me, but the result i think belies how close the game was.

Learnings
- Misaki can cover a lot of ground, giving her something like a 15" charge range
- Shang is a nice little totem, he has respectable damage on both ranged and close combat attacks and is not to be underestimated
- The toro bury tactic gives them the ability to pop up in the start closing phase within 6 of another friendly. This is a fantastic ambush tactic and one to be avoided. I was very lucky that it was my night terrors that got ambushed!
- I think I missed out on a lot of what Misaki is capable of, as Jason put almost everything he had, after that initial contact, into movement to own the board.
- The graveyard spirit being insignificant cost me control of one table quarter on count back, although on reflection I'm sure Seamus got off Excessive Bleeding on one of Jason's crew and I forgot to action it



Game 2 - Andre - Seamus vs Perdita
Shared Destroy the Evidence

My schemes
Breakthrough (not announced)
Grudge (Exorcist)

My opponents schemes
Grudge (Copycat Killer)
Raid

Crews
Seamus, 2 Night terrors, 4 canine remains, Bette Noir, Copycat Killer.

Perdita, Peacekeeper, Exorcist, Santiago, Watcher, Judge

Game Summary & Outcome
This was the Gencon variant of DtE, so no destroying counters in turn 1.

The canine remains and Seamus ran up the centre, dodging a building and a forest to make a start on the closest objective. We had the majority of our objectives centred on the board and it was obviously going to be a blood bath. Andre advanced Perdita and the peacekeeper but the sudden movement of my night terrors on the right flank made him stop from committing his Exorcist and Santiago to the fight. In the centre I traded up one dog for a belle and sent the remaining three to keep the peacekeeper busy. Seamus and the belle got bogged down by Perdita and it was only when the dogs started dying the I got an opportunity to raise Bette and go at the peacekeeper with groin strikes. It took a couple of turns but I finally felled the behemoth, which is just as well, as Andrew had just wandered the peacekeeper into range of the copycat killer and was in danger of getting his grudge off.

Perdita broke away from combat and used her actions to walk clear into my deployment zone. I had no choice but to pursue with Seamus and a true Mexican standoff with the flintlock and a soulstone proved to fast for Perdita.

Meanwhile my night terrors, clearly outclassed by Santiago and the exorcist, settled for hunkering down in Andre's deployment zone and missing out on the last evidence marker.

In the end a 3-1 win to me.

Learnings
- A pack of canine remains is quite effective in close combat. Three managed to pick off something like 5 wounds from a peacekeeper and the debuff they do to defence when they pack together is quite effective
- Perdita can be very fast on her feet if she sacrifices her shooting she can move 15"
- Perdita's faster n you is triggered by charges or ranged shots, simply walking up to her and then using subsequent actions to melee strike bypasses her ability
- Bette Noir with a canine remains deployment system is quite effective, her groin strike did in a peacekeeper quite effectively and it can sometimes be safe to leave her in a combat but I still believe its safest to ensure you have the bury card in your hand before deciding if its time to summon her.
- I'm not sure I'd go with four dogs in one list again for this scenario. Sure they can destroy evidence (when there's two of them) but you must keep them huddled together, making them susceptible to a blast. Had they all died to a blast, Seamus isn't a good summoner and he would have struggled to recover the crew strength



Game 3 - Steve - Seamus vs Zoraida & Collodi
Shared Slaughter

My schemes
Assassinate (Collodi)

My opponents schemes
Assassinate (Seamus)

Crews
Seamus, Avatar Seamus, 3 Drowned, Graveyard Spirit, Bette Noir

Zoraida, Collodi, Lilitu, Lelu, 4 marionettes, 1 wicked doll

Game Summary & Outcome
Playing on a t-clips sewers board was a first and we had to work out what affect the sewage had in game terms on movement, opting to play it as severe we got down to it. I hunkered down waiting whilst Collodi and his dolls pushed and pulled their way over to me in two turns. I could see the twins were looking to outflank me, but I thought I could do enough damage to the dolls with my drowned and it almost worked. The drowned only got rip tide off once or twice before they were being swamped with dolls. The slaughter score just kept going up when I was forced to sacrifice the drowned to get bursting spray off on the killer dolls, but it was still fairly even.

Seamus went avatar after killing Lilitu and just managed to finish Lelu before being finished off by dolls. Again the laughter score was pretty even. Zoraida, who had been on doll production duties, chose that point to raven over although her presence wasn't necessary.

Bette appeared, through the death of Seamus, and finished off a couple of dolls but then got knifed in the back to give Steve the slaughter result and to completely table me.

Result 6-0 loss to me.

Learnings
- I got carried away with the runaway success I'd had with Bette in the last game and wasted 9ss here. She could only be raised by Seamus or Zoraida dying and whilst she did get vengeance for Seamus's death, a couple of crooked men, or better yet, some punk zombies, would have been a lot nicer.
- Drowned were quite effective at killing wicked dolls but the three wounds on a marionette saved them from instant death and then Collodi would just heal them up before sending them right back at me again.
- Pulses don't go through walls. It sounds obvious but when you're hoping to kill dolls and they are hunkered down in an adjacent room, that wall is going to get in the way!
- When you can't find an effective scheme, buy yourself five extra soulstones by dropping it. Another minion here might have helped bolster the defence and stop me from being tabled



Game 4 - Peter - Kirai vs Lady J
Shared Treasure Hunt

My schemes
Holdout
Bodyguard

My opponents strategies
Holdout (not announced)

Crews
Kirai, 5 Seishin, 2 Night Terrors, Gaki, Lost Love, Datsu-Ba

Lady J, Watcher, Austringer, Judge, 2 Witchlings, Desperate Merc

Game Summary & Outcome
When I saw the board and realised where the treasure was I immediately thought of Kirai. This board had one central street, which the treasure would be placed smack bang in the middle of. The buildings all ran down the street and I figured, if I went up the street in broad daylight I'd get cut to ribbons, so why not walk straight through those walls and stay in cover for as long as possible.

I flock hopped two night terrors, with the Gaki for support, up the right and took a more cautious summoning route on the left with Kirai, bringing up an Onryo and moving it and Datsu up on point to support the Terrors when they made their move.

Peter imarched most of his crew down the road and sent the Austringer and watcher up to higher ground.

We advanced and in turn 2 one of judges denied my terrors the treasure, so I swarmed it it with the terrors and brought up the Gaki. Lady J felled the Gaki and Peter started to reinforce his position around the treasure.

The Austringer fired off a couple of eagles, with those birds flying in doors and windows to get at my crew, but didn't do too much damage.

I summoned another Onryo and an Ikiryo and went out in the open to duke it out. We traded blows with Peter killing a Gaki and an Onryo and me killing a Witchling and hurting a judge.

Whilst this was going on, I could see the desperate merc advancing down a parallel street but I couldn't see it's purpose so I ignored it, figuring it would die at the end of turn 3. Peter proved me wrong when he burnt two soul stones to keep the merc alive and ran him clear into my deployment zone.

With Kirai near the back I launched her and her remaining Seishin at the merc but I was too far off to do anything. Meanwhile the centre of the board had become a bloodbath, denying us both the treasure.

In the end it was a 2-1 win to me.

Learnings
- Austringers ignore LOS and can be hitting you in turn two from 20 inches away if they want.
- If you're playing the Gencon version of treasure hunt, where you can't pick up the treasure in turn 1, then expect a pitched battle. I debate if using fast moving units like night terrors or canine remains is worth it. The ensuing brawl in the middle for the treasure needs some heavy hitters and your fast moving units are best left at home.
- Desperate Mercs can be more than a three turn wonder. In our game the merc was bolstered by two soulstones to keep him in the game and make him significant. This was used very effectively as I'd completely ignored the merc, believing it would die, instead it ran clear into my deployment zone to deny me holdout.

Tournament Roundup
So in the end two small wins and two quite large losses. Even so it was enough to place me 16th, so I accomplished my goal of not coming last.

It was a fantastic event and I'm really happy I attended. That said, day 2 was looming and with it my first brawl and two bigger games. How I did there will be the subject of my next post.

Cancon - Scoping out the opposition - Malifaux Tournament Report Part 2

There's still a few minutes before our burgeoning flight of gaming geeks hurtles into the air and whilst the misses cleans her camera lenses for probably the dozenth time, I sit slurping my coffee, finishing my Breakfast of Champions (Full English Fry up) and going over my sources of intelligence on the opposition at Cancon.

As someone, probably famous, and almost certainly a pessimist once put it, preparation and planning, prevents piss poor performance. The 6 P's. As I mop up the last of that breakfast with my slice of fried bread (anyone hungry yet) and equally glutton on the free wifi, I thought I'd share with you the sources of this intelligence. For you see nestled in the painting blogs and the inevitable tournament trash talk threads, certain truths can be glistened, like a prospector in the riverbed, panning the mud to find the pure gold.

Ok, enough of the breakfast talk and analogies.

So what do I know of the competition? Well I know at least eight of the crews out there, getting on for forty percent of the field of play, and I know a lot about the composition of those crews, despite this being a fixed faction, open master tournament.

From the painting threads I've been able to glisten that this rather beautifully painted Jacob crew will be in attendance and the painter was kind enough to even show his second master and say this was the total of his pool for the tourny. I have mixed feelings about going up against this crew. The painting is spectacular and it would be a joy to play against, but I wouldn't stand a chance against this one in a brawl and I'm still struggling against Jacob and Co in general.

in the pics below the painter has substituted Avatar Collette for Beckoners, making his second master Pandora, click on the images for a close up.








It turns out they'll likely be more than one in the team Jacob camp, with the painter behind this second variant dubbing him Colonel Sanders. You can see the resemblance and I wonder if he'll go as far as docking Huggy up to be a chicken or rooster.












Also on the painting threads was this Hoffman crew, which I have to say I love the blue scheme for. Again nothing there I want to face though, especially with Kirai, who lost 20ss of spirits in one activation to the Hoff in my last game.

I also know of at least one, probably two Mei Feng crews and a Misaki crew












Then comes the less tangible intelligence from the trash talk threads that tells me that I'm almost certainly facing.

There's a Collodi crew, which I'd love to play against, as I think I know exactly how to combat him. There's also a Marcus crew and possibly a Lucas crew.

Whether knowing any of this helps me remains to be seen, I suspect not, but it'll give me some areas to reread on the six hour flight and hopefully its given you some eye candy pics and maybe some inspiration for your crews.