Game report 20.10.16 50SS Leveticus vs Dreamer

Game report - 20.10.2016

50SS Leveticus (daniello_s) vs Dreamer (Gavin)

Deployment: Standard Deployment
Strategy: Extraction
Schemes: Convict Labour, Exhaust Their Forces, Take Prisoner, Frame for Murder, Detonate Charges

Gavin brought:
Dreamer (6SS pool) - Dreams of Pain, On Wings of Darkness
Angel Eyes - Strange Alliances
Doppelganger - Mimic's Blessing
Mr Tannen
Beckoner
2x Alp
2x Daydream

I took:
Levi (5SS pool) - Pariah of Iron
(killing machine or at least believed widely to be still this kind of monster and Abomination summoner with the melee attack only)
Joss
(beater and strategy 'tanker', Waif anchor)
Rusty Alyce - From Aether
(beat-stick, shooter, Abomination summoner, Waif anchor)
Lazarus
(shooter, strategy 'tanker', Waif anchor)
Watcher
(scheme runner, cover-negating model to set up targets for Rusty and Lazarus)
Necropunk
(scheme runner)
Mobile Toolkit
(support model for Lazarus and Joss)
2x Hollow Waif
(Levi's life insurance)

Gavin picked Exhaust Their Forces and Frame for Murder (Tannen)
I picked Detonate Charges and Take Prisoner (Beckoner)

This game was a grand debut of Watcher and Mobile Toolkit. Watcher is great addition to Levi's crew as he can help Levi and any other good shooters like Rusty, Lazarus, Mad Dog to hit targets lurking behind the cover. Mobile Toolkit brings cheap activation and can buff friendly Constructs which Levi use to bring with himself thanks to Pariah of Iron upgrade.
Also for this game I decided to give another chance to From Aether upgrade to finally decide is it worthy of those 2SS.

Deployment: Levi deployed first (at the bottom of the photo):

Turn 1
Initiative: Levi

Key actions/moments:

- We both pushed forward (but not insanely far ;)) towards centre of the table. Dreamer summoned 2x Insidious Madness and Coppelius. As one Madness, Daydream, Coppelius and Tannen were in rather nice tight group I was eyeing to get a possible shot with blast on them with Lazarus next turn. Levi unburied in the forest in the central part of the table so he had good choice what to shoot at next turn.

Upkeep phase:
No VPs scored by either side.

Score after turn 1: Levi 0 - Dreamer 0

Turn 2
Initiative: Dreamer

- Tannen used his action to give Dreamer +2 Masks for any flips. Mobile Toolkit gave Lazarus + on damage flips so Alp tried to tarpit Lazarus. Lazarus burnt Oathkeeper, 2x walked and fired at Daydream hitting it with blast. This killed Daydream and Coppelius, put Madness on last wound and hit Tannen for 2 damage.
Moving Lazarus like that was risky stuff as he was pretty exposed to attacks but I wanted to remove some models from Dreamer's crew (Coppelius mainly).
- Dreamer summoned Teddy (yay!) and Daydream which put him on Waking +4 and brought Lord Chompy near Lazarus.
- Levi successfully randomized between Teddy and Lazarus and killed big huggy boy, then fired at Madness killing it and hurt Tannen.
- Chompy attacked Lazarus but Armour reduced most of the damages, same from attacks from Angel Eyes.
- I used opportunity and Necropunk and Watcher dropped two scheme markers between 2 Alps and Chompy for Detonate Charges.
- Rusty walked once and hit Angel Eyes for 3 damage (1 prevented). She also summoned Abomination from the scrap she summoned on turn 1.
- Joss prepared a charge at Chompy.
- I had more models near Extraction marker so I placed it 3'' towards my deployment area.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Extraction, +3VP Detonate Charges
Dreamer: +1VP Extraction

Score after turn 2: Levi 4 - Dreamer 1

Turn 3
Initiative: Dreamer

- Chompy and Angel Eyes together finished Lazarus.
- Rusty used Rapid Fire at Angel Eyes which forced Gavin to use all his remaining stones for damage prevention. Then Levi killed Angel Eyes and hit Doppelganger.
- Alps were tar-pitting me and brave Mobile Toolkit killed one of them by flipping Red Joker on damage. Unfortunately one Waif died of the Alp which triggered summoning another one...
- Tannen put on Joss -2 Walk/Charge condition so I was able to walk once and fired at Doppelganger hitting her.
- Madness put Exhaust on Watcher.
- Again I had more models near Extraction marker so I placed it 3'' towards my deployment area.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Extraction
Dreamer: +1VP Extraction, +1VP Exhaust Their Forces

Score after turn 3: Levi 5 - Dreamer 3

Turn 4
Initiative: Dreamer

- Chompy tried to wreak a havoc in my crew but I did tarpit him with Abomination on previous turn and all he could do was killing this Abomination.
- Levi took a chance and killed Tannen and Doppelganger.
- Madness put Exhaust on Watcher.
- I tried to kill Madness with Joss to negate Dreamer a point for Extraction but I failed...
- Because we had to finish earlier that day we knew it is the last turn so Necropunk leaped and double walked to Beckoner to give me points for Take Prisoner.
- Game finished on this turn.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Extraction, +3VP Take Prisoner
Dreamer: +1VP Extraction, +1VP Exhaust Their Forces, +2VP Frame for Murder

Final Score: Levi 9 - Dreamer 7

Few comments after the game:
- I wasn't able to fully test Watcher at this game. My shooting targets were already in the open so Watcher could engage in scheme running rather than spotting the targets. But I see great potential in this model and will use it extensively in coming games.
- Mobile Toolkit is nice, little addition to my crew and he boosts Lazarus very good. If I have spare 3SS and need another activation Toolkit will be my choice.
- As for From Aether upgrade - I summoned just one Abomination this turn and however I had two scrap markers ready on turn 3 and 4 I had no card to spare for this action (and flips failed). On the one hand this upgrade gives Rusty (0) action which she lacks on her card but on the other hand it is a bit dependable on good flips (especially later in the game when the action gets really hot) as in most of the cases I had a hard decision whether to use the high card to summon Abomination or use it for defend/attack flip and latter was almost always more important. So overally I think this upgrade could cost 1SS instead of 2 and at this case it would be pretty good choice for Rusty but now I think it would be good only fro Show of Force.

Till next time!

Game report 16.10.16 50SS Leveticus vs Seamus

Game report - 16.10.2016

50SS Leveticus (daniello_s) vs Puppet Seamus (Owen)

Deployment: Corner Deployment
Strategy: Interference
Schemes: Convict Labour, Leave Your Mark, Show of Force, Inspection, Public Demonstration

Owen brought:
Seamus (5SS pool) - Red Chapel Killer, Bag O'Tools
The Hanged
Rotten Belle
Madame Sybelle - Bleeding Tongue
Nurse
Necropunk
Carrion Emissary - Carrion Conflux

I took:
Levi (4SS pool) - Oathkeeper, To The Earth Return
(killing machine or at least believed widely to be still this kind of monster and Abomination summoner with the melee attack only)
Mechanical Rider
(summoner, scheme runner, Waif anchor)
Johana
(beat-stick, condition removal, Waif anchor)
Flesh Construct
(scheme runner; Waif anchor)
Soulstone Miner
(scheme runner)
2x Necropunk
(scheme runner)
Terracotta Warrior
(backup scheme runner, 'life insurance' for Minions/Enforcers, upgrade swapper for Levi)
2x Hollow Waif
(Levi's life insurance)

We both picked same schemes: Convict Labour and Leave Your Mark

Deployment: Seamus deployed first (Levi's crew at the bottom of the picture)

Turn 1
Initiative: Seamus

Key actions/moments:

- As usual first turn was about movement and positioning. I made sure I won't allow Seamus to have first turn kill and Owen made sure Levi will not harass his crew. Owen flanked me on both sides with Madame, Hanged and Belle on my right flank and Seamus, Emissary, Copycat, Nurse and Necropunk on my left flank
I shifted my models more towards centre and my right flank. Terracotta Warrior changed Levi's Pariah of Iron into Oathkeeper and put 'life insurance' condition on Mech Rider. I wasn't sure if I should do this but I unburied Soulstone Miner in far, top left corner of the table to distract Owen and threaten Necropunk and Nurse.

Upkeep phase:
No VPs scored by either side.

Score after turn 1: Levi 0 - Seamus 0

Turn 2
Initiative: Levi

Key actions/moments:

- Levi killed Mindless Zombie in melee summoning Abomination who was tar-pitting Seamus. Carrion Emissary killed Abomination which allowed Seamus to teleport in range to Soulstone Miner, focus and kill my construct by cheating damage with Red Joker.
- I pressed more on my right flank and Owen didn't decide to pick the fight and backed off Madame Sybelle, Hanged and Belle from my right flank. I was cool with that as I could easily claim this quarter for me especially since Rider could summon Arachnid this turn (I had 7 Tome on my hand).
- I dropped enough markers for Convict Labour this turn. Owen started to drop markers for same scheme as well.
- I unburied Levi to have juicy kill on Emissary if I win initiative next turn.
- Terracotta Warrior put his condition on Johana this turn.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Interference, +1VP Convict Labour
Seamus: +1VP Interference

Score after turn 2: Levi 2 - Seamus 1

Turn 3
Initiative: Levi

Key actions/moments:

- Levi activated first, burn Oathkeeper and... I blew the attack by forgetting to spent a stone for Ram so I couldn't use To The Earth Return trigger... Needless to say after all attacks Emissary was left on the last wound... Crap... Owen immediately re-positioned Emissary to keep him out of the trouble.
- Owen didn't want to pick the fight and played rather defensively which I used as opportunity to spread my models (Mech Rider summoned another Arachnid) and move closer to quarters occupied by Owen's crew.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Interference, +1VP Convict Labour, +1VP Levae Your Mark
Seamus: +1VP Interference, +1VP Convict Labour, +1VP Levae Your Mark

Score after turn 3: Levi 5 - Seamus 4

Turn 4
Initiative: Seamus

Key actions/moments:

- Owen realized I can try to deny him point for Interference but surprisingly he didn't decide to kill my model with Seamus but rather tried to use his Back Alley to jump into the other table quarter to keep it in this hands. Unfortunately (for him) I had enough models around (including Mech rider who summoned yet another Arachnid and Necropunk ready to Leap) to equal model count in one of his quarters.
- Levi killed Belle summoning Abomination in her place (with melee attack).

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Interference, +1VP Convict Labour, +1VP Levae Your Mark
Seamus: +1VP Convict Labour, +1VP Levae Your Mark

Score after turn 4: Levi 8 - Seamus 6

Turn 5
Initiative: Levi

Key actions/moments:

- This urn was similar to the turn 4 - Owen tried to get a point for Interference but I was able to negate it with the my models.
- Game ended at this turn.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Interference, +1VP Levae Your Mark
Seamus: +1VP Convict Labour, +1VP Levae Your Mark

Final score: Levi 10 - Seamus 8

Few comments after game:
- Terracotta Warrior - he was mainly sitting in the back just be sure he is in 12'' and LOS from Johana and Rider and scoring points for Interference. I think this model will be good addition to Levi's crew and I'll use it quite often.
- Soulstone Miner - it is another model I don't use too often and it died fast during this game but I think it has good potential to be solid scheme runner and back up Waif anchor.
- Flesh Construct - he was nursing Waif and didn't do anything spectacular. I'm not really sold to this model but I'll give him another chance soon.

Till the next time!

Autumn Awakening - 50SS Fixed Faction report - part 2

Autumn Awakening - 50SS Fixed Faction tournament - part 2

Round 2

Round 2 - Interference, Flank Deployment
Convict Labor, Take Prisoner , Exhaust Their Forces, Catch And Release, Occupy Their Turf

This I round I was paired with Mark and his Sonnia. Although encounter didn't necessary favored Rider crew (except Mech Rider who is brilliant in Interference) I decided to use same list as on round 1.

Mark brought this crew (from the top of my ind):
Sonnia - Cherufe's Imprint (4/5SS pool)
Malifaux Child
Dr Grimwell
Orderly
Brutal Emissary - Conflux of Incineration
Watcher
Witchling Stalker
Death Marshal
Big Jake

Mark picked Convict Labour and (to be confirmed as he didn't score any point from second scheme at this game).
I took Exhaust Their Forces and Take Prisoner (Sonnia)

I knew the key in this game will be to kill Emissary but I did a massive mistake by choosing wrong target for Take Prisoner. I should take it on Witchling Stalker or Malifaux Child instead and put a lot of pressure on Sonnia.

Deployment (Levi deployed first at the bottom of the picture)

As we had to play quite fast I had no chance to take enough notes and photos to make a full report so I'll try to describe briefly the most important moments in the game.

Turn 1

Sonnia and her crew moved quite aggressively towards me using flame pillars (x2) to block my LOS to her models. I took quite defensive stance making sure that Mech Rider will get regeneration trinket from my Emissary to keep it alive as long as possible and I moved along my right flank with Pale Rider and Mech Rider when Hooded and Dead Riders were staying on my left flank ready to jump towards centre of the table if needed, Levi was able to take one shot at Death Marshal dropping him to 2 wounds left.

Upkeep phase:
No VPs scored by either side.

Score after turn 1: Levi 0 - Sonnia 0

Turn 2
A crucial moment this turn was my win in initiative flip which allowed Levi to burn his Oathkeeper and kill both, Brutal Emissary and Death Marshal. Sonnia in response unleashed the hell killing Waif and hurting nearby Dead and Hooded Riders.
I chased off Watcher with my Pale Rider and moved Mech Rider towards quarter on my right flank summoning Arachnid this turn as well.
Mark dropped markers for Convict Labour. Dead Rider killed Orderly hiding near pillar at the centre of the table.

Upkeep phase:
Sonnia: +1VP Interference, +1VP Convict Labour

Score after turn 2: Levi 0 - Sonnia 2

Turn 3

Hooded Rider tagged Sonnia for Exhaust Their Forces but died of Grimwell's charge. Levi attacked Grimwell but did minor damage.
Dead Rider killed Child and swung at Jake (missed) and Sonnia (hit) making her Horror Duel (14) test but she passed. Mech Rider summoned another Arachnid and now I could easily claimed two table quarters. Pale Rider was chased Watcher away from my the table quarter contested now by Arachnid.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Interference, +1VP Exhaust Their Forces
Sonnia: +1VP Interference, +1VP Convict Labour

Score after turn 3: Levi 2 - Sonnia 4

Turn 4
Levi tried to kill Grimwell but left him on three wounds only. Thankfully Mech Rider summoned Metal Gamin (to threaten Watcher) and then charged him finishing him off (Mark was out off soulstones by this time). Dead Rider killed Watcher and attacked Sonnia but with no effect. The Jake killed Dead Rider (who was already on last two wounds). Pale Rider moved towards centre of the table killing Big Jake.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Interference
Sonnia: +1VP Convict Labour

Score after turn 4: Levi 3 - Sonnia 5

Turn 5

Big Jake re-spawned near Witchling Stalker and negated me pint for strategy but I knew I'll win this game despite the fact that we were short of time to finish this turn as I was closed to Sonnia with my models and additionally I tagged her with Exhaust.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Exhaust Their Forces, +3VP Take Prisoner

Final score: Levi 7 - Sonnia 5

It was tight game which confirmed my opinion that Sonnia is not perfect model for Take Prisoner and rather must die quickly before she can inflict loads of damage ;)


Round 3

Round 3 - Stake A Claim, Corner Deployment
Convict Labor, Neutralize the Leader, Show Of Force, Search The Ruins, A Quick Murder

Final round I played against Mike and his Reva. It would be his fourth game running her and my first game against her.

He brought:

Reva - Litanny of Faith, Guise of Death, Blood Mark (4SS pool)

Vincent - upgarde with gives him From Shadows

3x Nurse

2x Dead Doxy

Carrion Emissary with general Conflux

I knew that taking Levi for this game equals straight 3VPs for Mike but I wanted to use Crooligans for the first time and see how Sue and Freikorps Specialist will perform as corpse marker removing tools.

So I brought:

Levi - Pariah of Bone, Oathkeeper (4SS pool)

2x Hollow Waif

Freikorps Specialist

Sue

Dead Doxy

2x Rotten Belle

Necropunk

2x Crooligan

Mike picked Neutralize the Leader and A Quick Murder (Specialist)

I picked Search the Ruins and A Quick Murder (Carrion Emissary)

Deployment (Reva deployed first at the top of the picture):

As it was the last game and we had to hurry I took virtually no notes and just some pictures so I'll will generally describe what happened during that game.

I knew hiding Levi is not great idea so I went straight into the jaws of the death (so towards Reva) with plan that I'll try to put as much pressure on her as I can to allow my scheme runners stay alive as long as possible.

Levi killed Candle with charge and summoned Abomination. Mike used extra 1'' of walk (Emissary) to move his Nurses faster, then Doxies used their movement shenanigans to push one Nurse and Reva further).

I failed to inflict major damage on Reva with Levi (my cards were bad) and he was 'killed' in return pretty quick. Sue tried shooting contest with Vincent but was loosing it badly so I eventually moved him away.

We both had similar amount of Claim markers on the table so in the ended no one scored any pints for strategy however Mike made I mistake and thought Vincent was on his side so he didn't drop Claim Marker at one stage of the game when in reality Vincent was already on my side.

On turn 3 I was able to kill Emissary and one Nurse (I was lucky as with first shot at Nurse she flipped Black Joker on the defense and couldn't use her defensive trigger) but Reva used her shenanigans to jump into base contact with Corpse Marker and then charged Specialist (who I thought was perfectly safe from 

her) killing him.

Two Nurses and Doxy wreck a havoc in my crew and I couldn't do much about strategy however I was able to drop 3 markers for Search the Ruins. Unfortunately I wasn't bale to put 2 markers on Mike's side so I couldn't score for VPs for this scheme. 

At the last turn I knew I will loose by one point unless I lure away Nurse from Crooligan and then drop Claim marker but Nurse was lucky to flip Crow on Take Your Meds against Crooligan paralyzing it...

Just for he craic I tried to kill Reva but she stayed on last 2 wounds at the end f the game.

Eventually we scored this way:

Levi: +3VP A Quick Murder, +2VP Search the Ruins
Reva: +3VP A Quick Murder, +3VP Neutralize the Leader

Final score: Levi 5 - Reva 6

I think Reva is very, very strong master and maybe even too strong with her range threat and ability to choose to attack Df or Wp, disallowing to reduce damage from her attack and ignoring cover or not to have to randomize when attacking enemy model who is already engaged.. She kills way to easy and I see her as new Levi (before his Channel was cuddled). I'm sure when Mike gets more practice she will be my new nightmare...

So in the end I finished as second on the tournament but the most important was that I had a chance to play 3 games in one day and I'd like to thanks to my opponents for those great games I had.

Also big thanks to Robert who was organizing this event.

Till next time!

Autumn Awakening - 50SS Fixed Faction report - part 1

Autumn Awakening - 50SS Fixed Faction tournament - part 1

Last Saturday, which was 01 October, I was attending the 50SS fixed faction GG2016 tournament in Lisburn (Belfast).

We were playing 3 games with following encounters:

Round 1 - Collect The Bounty, Standard Deployment
Convict Labor, Hunting Party , Leave Your Mark, Frame For Murder, Inspection

Round 2 - Interference, Flank Deployment
Convict Labor, Take Prisoner , Exhaust Their Forces, Catch And Release, Occupy Their Turf

Round 3 - Stake A Claim, Corner Deployment
Convict Labor, Neutralize the Leader, Show Of Force, Search The Ruins, A Quick Murder

I decided to go with Levi although Neutralize the Leader in Round 3 would mean I'm giving away 3VPs almost freely but who cares ;)

As we had to play rather fast I couldn't take many notes and photos during the games so you must excuse me to leave rather brief report from second and third game ;)

Round 1

This round I was paired with Gavin, so my well known opponent. Gavin mentioned during our previous game that he wouldn't mind to play against Rider Levi in nearest future so I decided to give him this opportunity now and I used my usual Rider list:

Levi (4SS pool) - Oathkeeper
Hodgepodge Emissary - Conflux of Aetheral
Dead Rider
Pale Rider
Mechanical Rider
2x Hollow Waif

Gavin brought Neverborn Zoraida with this crew (I think I have remembered it correctly):

Zoraida (7SS)
Voodoo Doll
Bad Juju - Hexed Among You, Mimic's Blessing
Widow Weaver - Mimic's Blessing
2x Silurid
Waldgeist

Gavin picked Frame for Murder (Waldgeist) and Leave Your Mark.
I took Hunting Party and Leave Your Mark.

I deployed first (left side of the picture):

Turn 1
Initiative: Zoraida

Key actions/moments:

- Gavin moved forward with Waldgeist and one Silurid on my left flank and rest in the middle section/right flank
- I prepared an assault on enemy models on my left flank with Dead Rider and Pale Rider supported by Levi. Rest of my crew kept the safe distance. My hand was so bad this turn (highest 6...) that I couldn't even give a Trinket to one of my Riders...

Upkeep phase:
No VPs scored by either side.

Score after turn 1: Levi 0 - Zoraida 0

Turn 2
Initiative: Zoraida

Key actions/moments:

- Levi sacrificed his Waif to get into fire position on one Silurid and he killed him.
- Gavin used Hem on one of Waifs and killed here.
- Dead Rider and Pale Rider failed to finished off Walgeist and left him on the last wound.
- Mech Rider summoned Arachnid and stayed out of the trouble. Hooded Rider engaged Silurid who leaped into the centre of the table.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Collect the Bounty

Score after turn 2: Levi 1 - Zoraida 0

Turn 3
Initiative: Levi

Key actions/moments:

- Hooded Rider killed Silurid and Dead Rider finished off Waldgeist.
- Doll tried to Hem Hooded Rider but failed. Bad Juju charged him but was able to do small damage (damage reduction on Rider was already high).
- Widow Weaver and Pale Rider dropped scheme marker for Leave Your Mark.
- Mech Rider tried to attack Weaver but failed.
- Levi double walk and hurt Weaver for 2 damage.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Hunting Party, +1VP Leave Your Mark
Zoraida: +2VP Frame for Murder, +1VP Leave Your Mark

Score after turn 3: Levi 3 - Zoraida 3

Turn 4
Initiative: Zoraida

Key actions/moments:

- Dead and Hooded Rider killed Juju.
- Levi killed Doll. Zoraida focused and Obeyed Hooded Rider to kill last Waif (nasty trick ;)). That meant that on last turn Gavin would (possibly) get VP for strategy unless I kill Zoraida.
- Widow Weaver and Pale Rider dropped scheme marker for Leave Your Mark again.
- Mech Rider summoned another Arachnid, then attacked Widow Weaver but failed.
- As there was no Peon/Minion in Gavin's crew I scored another point for Hunting Party

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Collect the Bounty, +1VP Hunting Party, +1VP Leave Your Mark
Zoraida: +1VP Leave Your Mark

Score after turn 4: Levi 6 - Zoraida 4

Turn 5
Initiative: Zoraida

Key actions/moments:

- Zoraida summoned Doll and braced for my attack. Widow Weaver dropped another marker for Leave Your Mark.
- I calculated quickly that if I drop marker for Leave Your Mark I'll win the game by one point so I could try to kill Zoraida (for pure fun).
Alternatively I could ignore her and kill Voodoo Doll to get point for Hunting Party and move Mech Rider closer to Gavin's scheme marker to negate him a point for Leave Your Mark but it wouldn't be that funny as trying to kill old witch, wouldn't it? ;))
So I tried to attack her with Paler Rider (who dropped final scheme marker and then hurt her), Hooded Rider and Mech Rider (Dead Rider was too far sadly) but I only bruised her heavily.
- Game ended this turn.

Upkeep phase:
Levi: +1VP Leave Your Mark
Zoraida: +1VP Collect the Bounty, +1VP Leave Your Mark

Final score: Levi 7 - Zoraida 6

It was a good game and we both enjoyed it a lot. Rider crew really fun to run although still I believe it is not very competitive crew.

TBC on part 2...