I had great pleasure to take a part in the 50SS tournament which was held during Q-con convention in Belfast last Saturday. Till the last couple days before I thought I won't go but thanks to the chain of fortunate events (my wife called off her meetings that Saturday, a friend offered a lift from Dublin to Belfast and back) my little dream came true. Of course there had to be a draw back of some kind as usual so I came on the tournament sick with my head pounding and running nose (hello summer cold! :D).
The Deployment, Strategies and Schemes were known beforehand:
Game 1- flank deployment - interference- lits, protect territory, bodyguard , power ritual , distract.
Game 2 - standard deployment - collect the bounty- lits, assassinate , murder protege, entourage , distract.
Game 3 - close deployment - guard the stash- lits, bodyguard, assassinate, murder protege, outflank
Game 4 - corner deployment - squatter's right - lits, breakthrough, plant evidence, distract, outflank
It was fixed faction tournament so obviously I picked my beloved Outcasts. I didn't have much time to prepare myself for the tournament and I decided to field Levy in all 4 games.
Round 1
My opponent was... Mike with his Seamus (bad things happen in Malifaux... :D)
Seamus - Corpse Bloat, Sinister Reputation, Spare Parts - 7SS pool
Copycat Killer
2x Rotten Belle
Chiaki the Niece
3x Night Terror
Nurse
Bete Noire
Schemes: Protect Territory (revelead), Bodyguard (Chiaki)
I took:
Levy - Desolate Soul, Tally Sheet, To the Earth Return - 3SS pool
Rusty Alyce
2x Hollow Waif
Freikorps Librarian
Hannah
Hodgepodge Effigy
Johana
2x Void Wretch
Schemes: Power Ritual (revealed), Bodyguard (Johana)
Table:
And crews deployment:
Few highlights from the game:
- Seamus on turn 1 used extended Back Alley, focused and killed Librarian... I was devastated at the very start of the game. Of course this allowed to pop-out Bete and she charged Johana paralyzing her (thankfully inflicting only 2 wounds in total).
- Void Wretch damaged Bete and made her bury, then second Void Wretch killed this pesky thing with one attack. Same turn Levy killed Copycat summoning Abomination in his place. This allowed me to push off Ressers a bit.
- Summoned Abomination and Hannah successfully tarpit Seamus. Then we were securing our table quarters to earn Strategy VP's steadily and we dropped scheme markers for our announced schemes.
- On turn 4 we both announced Bodyguard scheme and we run out of the time to play another turn.
Final Score: Levy 8 - Seamus 8
Playing against Mike and not to lose I always consider as a win :)
Round 2
This round I had another Resser master as an opponent - Yan Lo.
Yan Lo - Fortify Spirit, Brutal Khakkhara - 5SS pool
Soul Porter
Izamu the Armor
Valedictorian
Yin
Hans
Bete Noire
Schemes: Entourage (Valedictorian). Second scheme I don't remember but I presume it was Murder Protege on Hannah or Lazarus.
I took:
Levy - Desolate Soul, Tally Sheet, To the Earth Return - 4SS pool
Rusty Alyce
2x Hollow Waif
Lazarus
Hannah
Hodgepodge Effigy
Johana
Abomination
Schemes: Murder Protege (Izamu) and ALITS (both not revealed). If I only knew that Yan Lo would pick the fight I would go for Assassinate instead of ALITS :D
Table:
Quick note - all water was treated as hazardous terrain. When I saw this table I really wished to have Jack Daw, Jaakuna and Drowned in my model collection...
Anyway, time for crews deployment:
My plan was easy - kill Izamu with Levi and push on my left flank avoiding Hans to drop scheme markers for ALITS.
Few highlights from the game:
- Izamu moved closer behind hard cover but Levy was able to to get into position (sacrificing Waif) and fire 3 times at Izamu killing him turn 1, summoning Abomination and earning 2VPs for Murder Protege. Bete decided to unbury now.
- Next turn Levy killed Soul Porter summoning another Abomination. Drawback of this was that Yan Lo had 3 Chi on him so he spent it on Bone Ascendant upgrade. Then he wisely used Hunpo Assault to get between Johana, Alyce and Waif, killing Waif and beating slightly Johana and Alyce. Fate wasn't in my favour as my swings from Johana (flurry) and Alyce either missed inflict minor damages on Yan Lo. Bete killed Abomiantion, Hans killed other Abomination which gave Yan Lo +1VP for strategy.
- Because of Hans, Levy had to be careful with positioning his last Waif and as Yin and Valedictorian started to push on my right flank I decided it is time to support Hannah and Lazarus there.
- On turn 3 Yan Lo got initiative and killed Hodgepodge (again Hunpo Assault) but thankfully barely scratched Johana and Rusty. Johana flurried again and left Yan Lo on last wound. Bete walked and hit Alyce paralazying her. Yin and Valedictiorian moved closer. Levy hurt Yin slightly. No VP's was scored this turn.
- On turn 4 Johana finished Yan Lo and Bete, Levy killed Yin but because Valedictorian hid behind hard cover he couldn't get to him as well. Unfortunately TO announced this is last turn.
Yan Lo got +2VP for Entourage and Levy +1VP for strategy.
Final Score: Levy 3 - Yan Lo 3
If I we played 5th turn I would have won getting extra points for ALITS (Johana and Rusty were ready to drop two scheme markers for ALITS).
But what was worse, my cold was getting its toll...
Round 3
This round I was playing against Zoraida:
Zoraida - Crystall Ball, Hex Bag - 5SS pool
Bad Juju - Eternal Fiend
2x Waldgeist
3x Silurid
Voodoo Doll
Schemes: Outflank and ALITS (both revealed)
I took:
Levy - Desolate Soul, Tally Sheet, To the Earth Return - 5SS pool
Rusty Alyce
2x Hollow Waif
Lazarus
Hodgepodge Effigy
Abomination
Ashes & Dust - Scramble
Schemes: Outflank and ALITS (both revealed)
Table and crews deployment:
Few highlights from the game:
- I decided to play aggressively: on the left flanl Ashes & Dust engaged Waldgeist on turn 1 and beat him severely. On the left flank Levy hurt another Waldgeist.
- Zoraida used Obey twice and Bad Juju moved twice towards Lazarus, charging him during his activation. Brave construct withstood the assault with minor scratch on the armor. Silurids used leap to drop two scheme markers for ALITS and they retreaded into the cover.
- Turn 2 Lazarus swung at Bad Juju hurting him. In retaliation swampfiend flurried but again inflicted minor damages on the construct. A&D killed Waldgeist also summoning Abomination in his place. Silurids tried to get close to the Stash markers so Levy took opportunity and killed one summoning another Abomination. That also prevent Zoraida from getting VP for strategy this turn. Levy started to collect VP's for Strategy
- Turn 3 Ashes & Dust charged and killed Silurid and Levy killed another one (getting another Abomination on the table)
Brave Lazarus finally was beaten by the Bad Juju, but was soon avenged by Alyce. I steadily started to drop more scheme markers for ALITS.
- Turn 4 was quick - Waldgeist died of Levy, I dropped more scheme markers and removed my opponents markers.Game was basically over by now.
Final Score: Levy 10 - Zoraida 0
I was very happy from the final score but now I was barely thinking and I lost my voice (when finally I got home my wife asked me if I were singing there whole day :D)
Round 4
This round my opponent was Arcanist Mei Feng:
Mei Feng - Arcane Reservoir, Price of Progress - 3SS pool
Mechanical Rider
Joss
Cassandra - Practised Production
2x December Acolyte
Schemes - Plant Evidence and ALITS (both revealed)
I took:
Levy - Desolate Soul, Tally Sheet, To the Earth Return - 5SS pool
Rusty Alyce
2x Hollow Waif
Hannah
Hodgepodge Effigy
Ashes & Dust - Scramble
Void Wretch
Schemes - Plant Evidence and Outflank (both revealed).
This was the first time I played against Mei and these Arcanist's models so I wasn't sure what to expect from them.
Table:
My opponent put two Acolytes in hard cover straight in my crew face :D
Few highlights from the game:
- Acolytes started to pound Hannah slowing her down. They withstood two shots from Levy and one from Rusty - bruised but alive. Cassandra used her trick with Practised Production placing scheme marker near Acolytes, dropping additional scheme marker near her which was later removed at the end of the turn.
- Turn 2 Mei's crew flipped two Squatter markers and Cassandra did her trick again. Ashes & Dust dropped scheme marker and charged Cassandra but she survived.
In the meantime Joss engaged two Waifs and Rusty (double walk) and Rider moved closer as well. One Acolyte died and second was on last wound. Mei got +1VP from Strategy.
- Turn 3 A&D killed Cassandra and fipped Squatter's marker, Joss killed two Waifs, Levy killed Acolyte and killed freshly summoned Metal Gamin. Another +1VP point for Mei.
- Turn 4 Hannah and Rusty died. Also Joss didn't survived Levy's wrath. Hodgepodge flipped Squatter's marker and positioned himself for Outflank.
Rider chased after Levy and A&D. Bot crews got +1VP each for Strategy.
- Turn 5 A&D dropped another scheme marker and charged Rider and hurt him. Rider killed A&D and used the trigger to drop two scheme markers.
Then I placed Dust Storm at the centreline on the far side of Hodgepodge which ultimately gave me +3VP for Outflank. Game has ended this turn.
Final Score: Levy 8 - Mei Feng 10
This is when my condition disallow me to calculate VP's correctly...
Next morning, after long sleep, good breakfast and whole lot of coffee I have reviewed my notes and photos from the game and calculated our VP's again.
I had two models at the both flanks for Outflank and I had two scheme markers in contact with different terrains. I also scored +2VP's for Strategy so my grand total was 8VPs.
My opponent had +4VP's for Strartegy and only 5 scheme markers on the centreline which also were in base contact with same piece of terrain (this big building on the picture above). There was no chance for my opponent to max out VP's for both Schemes. I seems that he scored grand total of 8VP's as well (4 strategy + 3 for ALITS (4 markers) + 1 for Plant Evidence (1 marker).
So ultimately it should be my third draw this day :D
Anyway I was really glad (and wrecked...) that I had a chance to get 4 games in one day.
I'd like to thanks to my opponent for great games and big, big thanks to Mike for organising this tournament.
Till next time!
My little Outcast group has increased its numbers - Tara & friends officially joined the club.
Few snapshots of the new members:
Those two unhealthy looking cowboys on the far left are my Guild Autopsies.
As you might guess soon you can expect Tara's games
reports but not until I prepare short report from yesterday's Q-con
tournament.
And the last note: since a new Master joined my ranks (plus Jack Daw coming on the horizon) I officially renamed the blog to: Outcasts on the job.
Till next time!
Game report - 11.06.2015
50SS Levy (daniello_s) vs Seamus (Mike)
Deployment: Flank Deployment
Strategy: Interference (Gaining Grounds 2015)
Schemes: ALITS, Protect Territory, Bodyguard, Distract, Power Ritual
Mike brought:
Seamus (5SS pool) - Bag o'Tools, Mad Harderbasher, Red Chapel Killer
Copycat Killer
2x Rotten Belle
4x Night Terror
Nurse
Bete Noire
Chiaki the Niece
I took:
Leveticus (5SS pool) - Tally Sheet, To the Earth Return, Desolate Soul
Rusty Alyce
2x Hollow Waif
Hannah
Hodgepodge Effigy
Freikorps Librarian
3x Void Wretch
Seamus picked: Protect Territory (revealed) and Bodyguard (Chiaki)
I took Power Ritual (revealed) and Bodyguard (Librarian).
This time Levy met Seamus on frozen grounds outside of Malifaux (I'm sure Rasputina was lurking somewhere nearby :D)
Table setup:
Seamus deployed first (Bete started buried):
and then Levy:
Turn 1
Levy won initiative flip but kindly allowed his opponent to go first.
Seamus split his crew in three groups: Night Terrors were moving swiftly along the table edges on their left and right flanks - 2 beasts on each side, Chiaki moved along right edge too and rest of the Ressers were moving towards centre.
Levy decided to move Librarian, 2x Void Wretches, Hodgepodge and one Waif along the table edge on his left flank and keep rest of the crew on his deployment quarter to ensure VP points for Strategy.
One Void Wretch tried to bite buried Bete but without success.
Of course Seamus wouldn't be himself if he hasn't tried to use Back Alley (16'' jump) and kill Waif - so he tried, succeeded and allowed Bete to unbury in base contact with Librarian and Void Wretch.
That pissed off Levy so he took a walk and shot Seamus twice damaging him slightly.
Bete used flurry on Librarian but she couldn't get through defence of brave Freikorps girl (1 damage inflicted).
Copycat Killer tried to finish second Waif so he jumped in base contact with Seamus, moved and shot her but missed.
Upkeep phase - No VP scored on either side;
Score after turn 1: Levy 0 - Seamus 0
Turn 2
Levy won initiative and despite terrible control hand (11, 7, 6 and four other cards lower) he decided it is a good time to kill Seamus.
Not hesitating he shot him 3 times burning soulstones to get a trigger negating damage prevention - unfortunately he was out of luck and made only 2 wounds.
Bete used flurry again. Opposite to Levy, Librarian was in favour of the mysterious powers of Malifaux and suffered 1 damage only :D
Rusty decided to kill Seamus - damage prevention was in use but left Seamus on the last wound.
Belles lured his master closer to them, then Nurse healed him fully and Chiaki removed his Paralyzed condition. After that Seamus used Back Alley and killed second Waif.
Librarian was annoyed by this time so he killed pesky Bet. Unfortunately canny Ressers used one Night Terror to tarpit Librarian and Void Wretch so they couldn't score points for Strategy.
Void Wretch and Hodgepodge tried to kill Terror (Void Wretch even gave him Fast condition to bumped his attack flips) but with very limited success.
To complete the havoc Copycat Killer used his trick again and shot twice the last Waif who was in hard cover.
Thankfully both shots missed but things were not looking good for Levy's crew...
Upkeep phase - Seamus: +1VP for Strategy;
Score after turn 2: Levy 0 - Seamus 1
Turn 3
Seamus won initiative.
Copycat walked twice and tarpit Levy.
Librarian used Furious Casting to kill Terror.
Seamus aimed at Rusty (with Focus). She had a feeling that something is going on and used soulstone to bumped her defence flip and impose negative flip on the damage from Seamus. She was right as Seamus had a Red Joker in his hand which he would use for damage but thanks to that negative flip she suffered 3 damage only. Seamus then walked away from Hannah (more than 4'' from her as she was using her aura on him) and raised Belle in base contact with Freikorps chief librarian.
Hodgepodge moved back to Levy and gave him Loyalty to the Coin.
Night Terror charged Void Wretch (and tarpit Librarian again) and inflicted 2 damage.
Hannah killed Belle and Levy killed Copycat summoning Abomination in his place and got 1 soulstone back (by this time we were both out of soulstones). Abomination walked towards Seamus and tarpit him.
Rusty swing twice at Seamus leaving wounding him slightly. Belle lured her away from Seamus who healed 2 wounds back.
Two Terrors approached Rusty, Chiaki and Nurse moved towards the table quarter where Librarian and 2 Void Wretches were already so Levy decided t reinforce this quarter with third Wretch.
(Librarian was awarded a Void Wretch Handler title :D)
Upkeep phase - Levy: +1VP for Strategy; Seamus: +1VP for Strategy;
Score after turn 3: Levy 1 - Seamus 2
Turn 4
Levy won initiative.
Hannah charged Seamus and was able to damage him although he used Hat to prevent major damage.
Seamus killed Abomination.
Hodgepodge gave Levy Loyalty to the Coin again. Terror walked and tried hit Rusty but missed.
Levy moved and with one shot killed other Terror summoning Abomination in its place (and gained a soulstone one more time).
Ressers realized that things started to go bad for them so Belle moved and dropped a scheme marker for Protect Territory.
Rusty took two swings and which not only killed Terror, but also summoned another Abomination.
Now Levy was more confident in his victory...
Chiaki moved and killed wounded Wretch.
Librarian and 2 other Wretches moved towards the table corner, dropping a scheme marker on the way (Power Ritual) and casting a The Hectic Glow on Chiaki giving her Slow condition
The summoned Abominations moved and denied Seamus a table quarter and VP point for Strategy.
We both announced Bodyguard scheme.
Upkeep phase - Levy: +1VP for Strategy, +1VP for Bodyguard; Seamus: +1VP for Bodyguard;
Score after turn 3: Levy 3 - Seamus 3
Turn 5
Levy won initiative.
Librarian used Furious Casting and left Chiaki on the last wound.
Seamus looked around... He was surrounded by Levy, Hannah, Rusty and 2 Abominations...
He looked in Levy's eyes and said: 'This round is for you my dear Mister'. Then he grabbed his hat from the ground, gave his opponents a farewell nod and started walking away. Rusty aimed his gun at him, but Levy put his hand on her protege shoulder and shook his head saying: 'There was enough murder this day, my dear.'
Knowing that he can't win, Mike called the game.
Upkeep phase - Levy: +1VP for Strategy, +2VP for Bodyguard, +3VP for Power Ritual; Seamus: +3VP for Protect Territory
Final Score: Levy 9 - Seamus 6
It was a tough game. Seamus outnumbered Levy at the start and inflicted a heavy loses but thankfully Librarian withstood Bete's attacks and Levy and Rusty killed Terrors with summoning Abominations which gave Outcasts an advantage later in the game.
Hannah was another key model in the game. She is an excellent anchor for Waif however having her in this crew meant my Wretches were almost defenceless at the starts of each turn :D
Till next time!
Game report - 04.06.2015
50SS Viks (daniello_s) vs Seamus (Owen)
Deployment: Corner Deployment
Strategy: Turf War
Schemes: ALITS, Assassinate, Bodyguard, Frame for Murder, Vendetta
Owen brought lovely looking Puppet Seamus crew:
Seamus (7SS pool) - Red Chapel Killer
Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle - Bleeding Tongue
Rotten Belle
Nurse
Punk Zombie
Bete Noire
2x Canine Remains
I hope Owen will take some photos of his crew in nearest future as those Puppet models are absolutely gorgeous.
I took:
Ash Viki (3SS pool) - Survivalist, Oathkeeper, Sisters in Fury
Blood Viki - Oathkeeper, mark of Shez'uul
Vanessa
Lazarus
Hannah
Abomination
Freikorps Librarian
Malifaux Child
Owen picked: Frame for Murder (Seamus) and Bodyguard (Bete)
I took Frame for Murder (Blood Viki) and Bodyguard (Librarian).
Deliberately I decided to leave sling-shot horror home and play with slightly different setup on Viks. Also I wanted to check if the low soulstone counts could be mitigated by the extra cards in my hand (additional card thanks to Hannah plus additional cards from Abomination biting Lazarus and Lazarus taking Assimilate from Abomination to bite it back).
Table setup:
Crews deployment;
Turn 1
Viks won initiative but allowed Seamus to go first.
The tradition had to be fulfilled and all turn was spent on moving towards the marker in the middle of the table.
Vik's crew went straight along the road...
... when Ressers decided to split their forces - Belle and Bete flanked Viks from the left and the rest of them from the right.
Ash decided to move along the table edge to have a better look at the nice, undead bubble in hope that Blood will get a chance to jump in the middle of it at some stage next turn.
Upkeep phase - No VP scored on either side;
Score after turn 1: Viks 0 - Seamus 0
Turn 2
Viks won initiative and started to prepare killing trap.
Librarian moved out of the Blood Viki way, Child cast Sisters in Fury.
In the meantime Canine found a bone. Seamus shot at Lazarus but missed (Lazarus cheated 13 for defence) and then use Back Alley to disappear 16'' behind Vik's crowd in the middle.
Punk Zombie advanced blocking the possible charge of Blood Viki so Ash moved aand charged him but he survived on the last wound.
Nurse healed him fully but then Blood Viki, who wasn't in LOS to to charge Punk Zombie walked twice and being in LOS of Ash used Melee Expert and killed Punk Zombie in single attack.
Hannah moved twice to be within 3'' from Seamus and Bete. Unfortunately I forgot that Ressers are know from dirty tricks so Belle lured Seamus out of 4'' range from Hannah and then Copycat jumped in base contact with Seamus and fire twice at Hannah. She had to burn soulstone for damage prevention and took 4 damage in total.
Lazarus who tried to shoot Madame Sybelle but failed a Horror test.
Upkeep phase - Viks +1VP for Strategy; Seamus +1VP for Strategy;
Score after turn 2: Viks 1 - Seamus 1
Turn 3
Viks really, really wanted to win the initiative but Seamus had flipped 12 so he went first.
Bete charged Hannah but inflicted only minor damage (one Black Joker on damage flip).
now Viks had a serious problem - what to do? Either activate Hannah and try to blast Bete, Copycat and Seamus or activate Blood Viki and kill Sybelle, Nurse and Canine.
Blood Viki decided to go first and burned Oathkeeper and charge Sybelle (being also in 2'' from Canine and Nurse).
4 attacks from frenzied Blood was enough to put Sybelle and Canine to sleep but Nurse survived severely beaten (and run away thanks to her defence trigger).
Seamus looked in the sky and decided that fate is on his side so he focused and shot at Hannah who was engaged with Bete. Unfortunately he successfully randomized shot on Hannah and killed for good. After that he used Back Alley to jump on the other side of building but because he had to be within 6'' of central marker he was in sight of Vik's crew.
Vanessa seeing what have just happened used her Arcane Staff and killed Copycat with Bete standing nearby (who buried herself successfully).
Second Canine was aware that Lazarus is going to kill it soon so he charged the construct but only scratch his armour (1 wound plus 1 Poison).
Ash burnt Oathkeeper and charged Nurse finishing her off. After that Lazarus killed Canine.
At this moment Seamus and his undead minions were absolutely outnumbered.
Upkeep phase - Viks +1VP for Strategy; Seamus +1VP for Strategy;
Score after turn 3: Viks 2 - Seamus 2
Turn 4
Viks won initiative.
I was keen to get VPs for Frame for Murder so Blood Viki moved twice and attacked Belle wounding her slightly.
I was hoping Seamus will do the same trick as with Hannah but he instead focused and killed Abomination allowing Bete to unbury. He also summoned Belle near Lazarus
Librarian used Furious Casting and killed Bete who failed to bury herself.
Belle put on +2 Defensive Stance but it wasn't enough as Ash moved and used Dragon's Flight to make herself and Blood attack on Belle hacking and slashing undead beauty to pieces. It wasn't a surprise as Sisters were buffed by the Sisters in Fury cast by Child.
Second Belle took a Defensive Stance as well but Vanessa charged her and killed her..
This way Viks negated Seamus a final VP from Strategy. After onslaught I announce Bodyguard on Librarian.
Upkeep phase - Viks +1VP for Strategy, +1VP for Bodyguard;
Score after turn 4: Viks 4 - Seamus 2
Turn 5
Seamus was surrounded by the angry Sisters...
He won initiative and I was hoping that in the act of desperation he will shoot Blood giving me a some points for Frame for Murder but instead he summoned Belle and took +2 Defensive Stance.
Now I knew I will get max points for Strategy and Bodyguard which allows me to win the encounter so Child cast a Sisters in Fury and then Blood executed filthy Seamus.
To my surprise Owen announced Frame for Murder on Seamus. I was really and truly expecting it on Punk Zombie which I killed on Turn 2 and after that I thought he could have either Assassination or Vendetta rather than Frame for Murder on his master.
At this point we agreed that fully buffed Ash Viki would easily kill last Belle so we immediately flipped for turn 6 - no success. Game has ended at Turn 5.
Upkeep phase - Viks +1VP for Strategy, +2VP for Bodyguard;
Seamus +2VP for Frame for Murder
Final score: Viks 7 - Seamus 4
It was really bloody game - Viks & friends killed 11 models in total losing only 2 in return.
I should have put Frame for Murder on Hannah however I was absolutely sure that no one wants to have Blood Viki close to his models and will try to kill her at the first opportunity.
Viks without sling-shot are still nasty like a hell as Oathkeepers give them enormous buff which combined with Sisters in Fury and mark of Shez'uul is a perfect source of terror for enemy crew.
Personally I think they work best with this tactic as the threat range is so insane that hardly anything can ignore it, but from time to time it is worthy to try something else :D
Steady flow of the extra cards proved to mitigate small SS pool however I wouldn't advice this to the new players.
Till next time!
