Monday 22 February 2016

Game report 20.02.16 50SS Hamelin vs Rasputina

Game report - 20.02.2016

50SS Hamelin (daniello_s) vs Rasputina (Dale)

Deployment: Corner Deployment
Strategy: Guard the Stash
Schemes: Convict Labor, Hunting Party, Inspection, Search the Ruins, Exhaust Their Forces

Dale brought:
Rasputina (6SS pool) - Shattered Heart, Cold Nights, Armour of December
(right after the game we noticed that Dale took 2 limited upgrades but thankfully it didn't impact the game too much)
Wendigo
Snow Storm
Ice Golem
Cassandra - Practiced Production
Performer
Ice Gamin

I took:
Hamelin (5SS pool) - Survivalist, The Piper
(Obey, obey, obey and charge zone denial)
The Stolen
(extra 2 Rats on turn 1)
Taelor
(anti-Construct hitter)
Bishop - Oathkeeper
(beat-stick who would hold Stash Marker)
Johana
(anti-Construct hitter and condition removal)
Nix
(Blight spreader and Guard the Stash holder)
Obedient Wretch
(Rat-machine key model)
Malifaux Rat
(cheap activation and Rat-machine support)

We both  picked: Hunting Party and Search the Ruins

Plan was this:
- use Rat machine to out-activate opponent but be aware of Rasputina's blasts so no bunching up guys unnecessary
- Nix and Bishop holds one Stash marker and would be reinforced by Rat King/Rat Catcher when summoned
- Taelor and Johana hold other Stash Marker
- Hamelin will try to position himself to be close enough to Obey anyone who might need it.

Deployment: Rasputina deployed first
(Hamelin's crew at the bottom of the first picture and on the right of the second)


Turn 1:
Initiative: Rasputina

Key moments/actions:
- we both moved towards Stash Markers
- Rat-engine would work almost great if Wretch didn't kill one of the Rats with 3x Severe damage on the damage flip... Still I got Rat Catcher (who hid behind the first Stash Marker) and Rat this turn.




Upkeep phase:
No VPs scored by either side.

Score after turn 1: Hamelin 0 - Rasputina 0

Turn 2:
Initiative: Rasputina

Key moments/actions:
- I was able to out-activate my opponent this turn
- Rat-engine didn't work at all this turn - no Crows on my hand...
- Snow Storm killed Rat to score point for Hunting Party
- Bishop burnt Oathkeeper, walked twice and charged Performer killing her - point for Hunting Party
- Nix secured second Stash Marker
- Rat Catcher dropped scheme marker for Search the Ruins
- Hamelin Obeyed Taelor and Johana to be within charged range of Snow Storm, Rasputina and Cassandra. Out of those 3 I picked Snow Storm as my target (Tina would end my activation and Cassandra had Southern Hospitality on her). Taelor hit twice and Snow Storm was hurt badly.
- As we played really casually and talked a lot I forgot to... activate Johana :D Well, if this didn't happen I would charge Snow Storm again and possible put him six feet under this turn. Because we shuffled our decks I decided to move Johana and drop another scheme marker for Search the Ruins.


Upkeep phase:
Hamelin: +1VP Strategy, +1VP Hunting Party
Rasputina: +1VP Hunting Party

Score after turn 2: Hamelin 2 - Rasputina 1

Turn 3:
Initiative: Hamelin

Key moments/actions:
- Taelor swung twice at Snow Storm. Snow Storm was left on the last wound.
- Rasputina used her Freeze Over action to Paralyze Taelor. of course randomizing through Snow Storm, Cassandra and Taelor went as planned :D. The Rasputina paralyzed Bishop as well.
- I knew Wendigo is lurking close by so Hamelin obeyed Johana to remove Paralyze from Taelor then he obeyed Taelor to swing at Snow Storm.  That would finish him off but Black Joker decided to show up on the damage flip...
- Johana had to step up and she charged and killed Snow Storm
- Ice Gamin and Golem moved towards one Stash Marker, when Cassandra secured second. Cassandra also hit Taelor and Johana.
- Wendigo damaged Taelor.
- I pressed more with Rat Catcher and remaining Rats to keep Tina and Cassandra busy. In the meantime one of the Rats died which gave Dale another point for Hunting Party.
- Nix hit Ice Gamin and tried to spread Blights on Gamin and Golem but they deflected it
- Rat-engine failed again - for second time I had no Crows at my hand.





Upkeep phase:
Hamelin: +1VP Strategy
Rasputina: +1VP Strategy, +1VP Hunting Party

Score after turn 3: Hamelin 3 - Rasputina 3

Turn 4:
Initiative: Rasputina

Key moments/actions:
- Rasputina used Armor of December to push away from Rat and then she shot at Wendigo and Taelor randomizing on Taelor. Hit went in with the blast which put Taelor and Johana on the last wounds. Second shot hit Wendigo and resulted which double blast killing both Taelor and Johana. Sweet...
- I was able to kill both Wendigo and Ice Gamin which would give me max points for Hunting Party.
- I also was able to make a mistake and charge Ice Golem to early with Bishop. I left him on 4 wounds remaining (lousy damage flips...) but in return Golem hit me with his Smash attack. I forgot Bishop had a single wound on him so even low (if you can call it low) damage would kill him. I had 12 on my hand so I was hoping to deflect that but Dale also had 12 and Bishop died. Well, my 3 big hitters died in the single turn but at least I was sure I'm gonna win this game as Johana dropped scheme marker on opponents half and close to centre of the table and Rat Catcher double walked ready to drop final scheme marker next turn.



Upkeep phase:
Hamelin: +1VP Strategy, +1VP Hunting Party

Score after turn 4: Hamelin 5 - Rasputina 3

Turn 4:
Initiative: Hamelin

Key moments/actions:
- I secured final scheme marker for Search the Ruins with Rat Cacher
- Rasputina killed Rat and walked towards one Stash Marker and Golem killed Nix
- Obedient Wretch secured me one Stash Marker,  Hamelin walked and secured other.
- Game ended here




Upkeep phase:
Hamelin: +1VP Strategy, +1VP Hunting Party, +3VP Search The Ruins
Rasputina: +1VP Hunting Party

Final score: Hamelin 10 - Rasputina 4

I was pretty happy after this game as it was my first encounter against Rasputina. Now I know I need to respect her damage abilities and also this pesky Paralyzing action.

Ratings for the crew:
(scale 1-5 where 1 is very bad performance and 5 is the star of the game)

Hamelin - 5
He did his job very well, summoned Stolen on regular basis, Obeyed crew reliably, secured points for Strategy and removed enemy scheme marker for Search the Ruins.

Taelor - 3
Put a lot of pressure on enemy crew but died too soon due to the one lucky damage flip and one well cheated.

Bishop - 3
Killed Performer and died after my stupid move. Still she (my Bishop is a girl :D) put a lot of pressure on the opponent.

Johana - 3
Exactly same as Taelor but if I haven't forgot to activate her properly on turn 2 she would possibly get rating 4.

Nix - 4
Secured points for Strategy and Hunting Party.

Obedient Wretch - 2
Due to the lack of Crows she did well with summoning Rats only on Turn 1. Then she secured point for Strategy at the turn 5.

Rat Catcher (summoned model) - 4
Secured points for Strategy and Search the Ruins.

Till next time!

Saturday 13 February 2016

Game report 12.02.16 50SS Tara vs McMourning

Game report - 12.02.2016

50SS Tara (daniello_s) vs McMourning (Mike)

Deployment: Standard Deployment
Strategy: Guard the Stash
Schemes: Convict Labour, Neutralise the Leader, Search the Ruins, Undercover Entourage, Public Demonstration

Quick note about schemes: we will have a Paddyfaux 2016 tournament soon and those schemes were picked by TO for first round of the tournament.

Mike brought:
McMourning (4SS pool) - Spare Parts, Moonlighting, Plastic Surgery
Sebastian - Transfusion, Those Are Not Ours!
Rafkin - Transfusion
2x Nurse
Forgotten Marshal
Crooligan
Guild Lawyer
Zombie Chihuahua

I took:
Tara (4SS pool) - Knowledge of Eternity, Death of Winter
(Slow/Fast caster with excellent interact action denial zone)
Karina - Faces of Oblivion
(fire support with an option for occasional summoning and putting Slow/Fast/Burning condition on buried models)
Aionus
(Slow caster who can attack buried models; scheme markers controller)
Nothing Beast - Void Shield
(highly mobile beat-stick)
2x Death Marshal
(strategy/scheme runners with option for burying models)
2x Void Wretch
(strategy/scheme runners with option to five Slow/fast to enemy)


Mike picked: Convict Labour and Search the Ruins
I took: Neutralise the Leader and Search the Ruins

My first game GG2016 schemes and also first time I use Tara and her crew as aggressive burying team. Not to mention first time I run Aionus. Loads of first time things on my part this game :D

Deployment (McMourning deployed first, Tara's crew is to the right):




Turn 1
Initiative: McMourning

Key moments/actions:
- Unfortunately McMourning won initiative flip with whooping 13 as I was ready for the first kill this game - Beast would torn apart Crooligan. Crooligan activated first and run away.
- We pushed forward towards Stash markers. I used Aionus' ability to give some of my models fast so they would move and drop scheme markers which would later be pushed by Aionus and his Midnight action.
- Mike put some Poison on McMourning and he used all of his dirty tricks to get close to my Death Marshal (whom I recklessly moved to far I must admit), put loads of Poison on him and then Expunge and kill him (summoning Flesh Construct). At this moment I knew this game gonna be my nightmare...
- Reactivating Tara dropped 3 cards making Aionus, Beast, Void Wretch and Flesh Construct Fast and then she charged Flesh Construct burying him in the result.



Upkeep phase:
No VPs scored by either side.

Score after turn 1: Tara  0 - McMourning 0

Turn 2:
Initiative: Tara

Key moments/actions:
- My mistake was not to activate Karina first to move and shoot at McMourning and then Accomplice Beast with Fast to charge doctor. Instead I went straight with Beast into doctors face beating him severely and forcing him to burn 2 soulstones for damage prevention. As I dropped him below half of the wounds I got +1VP for Neutralise the Leader.
- McMourning used his push again, put Poison on Karina, Expunged and killed her summoning another Flesh Construct (unburying Fast one as well) and double walked into safety. I run after him with Aionus and dropped him to last wound remaining. Death Marshal disengaged from Flesh  Construct and killed doctor (full VP for Neutralise the Leader this turn). Aionus also pushed mu scheme markers successfully this turn.
- Mike put some Poison on Death Marshal and one Void Wretch but I was able to bury Sebastian with Tara before he would be able to wreck my crew with extra damage from Poison.
- He also put 3 markers for Convict Labour.
- We both parked our models close to the Stash markers.




Upkeep phase:
Tara: +3VP Neutralise the Leader, +1VP Guard the Stash
McMourning: +1VP Convict Labour, +1VP Guard the Stash

Score after turn 2: Tara  4 - McMourning 2

Turn 3:
Initiative: Tara

Key moments/actions:
- Turn started with me drawing this hand:


After burning soulstone for extra cards I got another 2 and 13... Excellent start for that turn...

- Aionus activated first as I knew I had to punish Sebastian before he unburies. 3 attacks bounced of thanks to my poor attack flips backed up by nothing to cheat with... Perfect...
- Nurse activated, discarded low Crow and tried to Paralyze Tara but I used my high card to cheat and deflect this. Then Nurse attacked Tara second time with Take Your Meds and of course Mike flipped 12 Crow (because why not). Tara was paralyzed... Excellent.
- I tried to defend myself for the rest of the turn but I lost Void Wretch (Sebastian unburied) and eventually VP for strategy this turn.Game was lost at this moment.
- Death Marshal pine-boxed one of the Constructs and had to run away as he had +4 Poison on him and Sebastian was closing :D
- Crooligan removed one of my scheme markers.



Upkeep phase:
McMourning: +1VP Convict Labour, +1VP Guard the Stash

Score after turn 3: Tara  4 - McMourning 4

Turn 4
Initiative: Tara

Key moments/actions:
- This turn I had a completely opposite hand to the previous turn: Red joker, 13, 12, 11, 6 and Black Joker.
- Nothing Beast focused and killed Rafkin (cheating Red Joker for damage) and then also killed Chihuahua
- Mike pushed more and dropped more scheme markers.
- Tara moved, and unsuccessfully tried to give Nurse and Sebastian Slow. Tara also used her 0 action to disallow enemy model Interact Actions within 6'' which protected my 2 Markers near table centre.
- I wrongly moved Aionus as he wasn't 2'' from Stash marker and Mike negated me another VP for strategy killing my Void Wretch (dropped him to last wound and put Poison on him which killed him at the end of the turn).



Upkeep phase:
McMourning: +1VP Convict Labour, +1VP Guard the Stash

Score after turn 4: Tara 4 - McMourning 6

Turn 5
Initiative: Tara

Key moments/actions:
- Tara attacked Nurse who pushed away, then disengaged from Lawyer and dropped scheme marker. She also used her (0) action to protect my scheme markers.
- Other Nurse used her Take Your Meds on Aionus and Beast paralyzing them as (of course) Mike had two high Crows in the hand. After that I called the game.



Upkeep phase:
Tara: +2VP Search the Ruins
McMourning: +3VP Search the Ruins, +1VP Guard the Stash

Final score: Tara 6 - McMourning 10


Few comments after the game:
- Despite loss I think this Tara's crew has a huge potential. Of course it requires a lot of practice to run it properly.
- Aionus is a very interesting model to play although I wound mind if his attack action had even short distance range (even 4'') apart of only 2'' melee range but he is still very powerful tool.
- I hate, hate, hate when my opponent has so many luck with Paralyzing my models but getting Tara Paralyzed on lucky flip on turn 3 or two of my models on the last turn is a bit too much even for me :D

Till next time!