Wednesday 1 March 2017

Time to say goodbye...

This is my post no100 and it is sad time to say goodbye to my Outcasts... I've played them since I started my journey with Malifaux, but every now and then it is a time for a change so my Outcasts story ends here.

I'd like to thanks to all you, guys and girls, who were willing to waste your valuable time to read my reports. I hope those were not boring ;)

Maybe, maybe I'll start a new blog soon once I resume regular gaming but till then take care and thanks gain.

Till next time!

;)

dan

Saturday 14 January 2017

Game report 11.01.17 50SS Leveticus vs Jakob Lynch

Game report - 11.01.2017

50SS Leveticus (daniello_s) vs Jakob Lynch (Gavin)

Deployment: Flank Deployment
Strategy: Interference
Schemes: Claim Jump, Accusation!, Eliminate the Leadership, Frame For Murder, Show of Force

Gavin brought:
Jakob Lynch (1SS pool) - Endless Hunger, Wanna See A Trick
Hungering Darkness - Addict
Mr Graves - Retribution Eye
Mr Tannen
2x Illuminated
Beckoner
Mysterious Emissary - Conflux of Hunger

I took:
Levi (5SS pool) - Pariah of Iron, Survivalist
(killing machine or at least believed widely to be still this kind of monster and Abomination summoner with the melee attack only)
Rogue Necromancy
(beat-stick, Waif anchor)
Johana
(beat-stick, condition removal, Waif anchor)
Mechanical Rider
(summoner, Waif anchor)
Freikorps Librarian
(healing support, Waif anchor)
Terracotta Warrior
('damage prevention' support)
Brutal Effigy
('healing support for Levi)
2x Hollow Waif
(Levi's life insurance)

Gavin picked Show of Force and Frame For Murder (Mr Tannen)
I picked Eliminate the Leadership and Frame for Murder (Terracotta Warrior)

That was my first time when I used Rogue Necromancy and I was expecting it performing good especially when backed by Terracotta's Warrior protection.
Also it was my third game with Levi when Eliminate the Leadership/Neutralize the Leader was in the pool and I wanted to check how he is going to work when I won't play him as usual. Because of that I decided to bring to his crew Brutal Effigy, Librarian and put Survivalist on Levi himself.

Gavin used heavily theme crew with Mysterious Emissary as the backup. He gambled a lot with 1SS in the pool however with the amount of pushes (Graves, Emissary) and Lure he had superior mobility and Lynch can easily get 3 extra cards if he needs to. Also I was aware that his crew has really strong punch and if my model will get lured and tagged with Brilliance it is as good as dead so I decided to play defensively and eliminate enemy models one by one rather than get into massive brawl.

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


Turn 1
Initiative: Levi

Key actions/moments:

- I moved my models rather conservatively. Mech Rider, Librarian, Brutal Effigy and one Waif moved along my left flank. Levi, Johana, Necromancy, Warrior and second Waif moved closer to the centre of the table but kept save distance from enemy models and stayed away more than 6'' from centre of the table.
- Warrior gave 'protection' to Johana and Necromancy and swapped Pariah of Iron for Survivalist.
- Gavin pushed his crew towards centre of the table ready to spread them out on turn 2. Only Beckoner moved along his left flank and lured one Illuminated who run far along this flank hiding behind the shed. Emissary also successfully summoned one Changeling.
- What I noticed was that Tannen was suspiciously moved forward so I assumed he is the one with Frame for Murder and I developed cunning plan - move my Levi twice and shot him hoping for weak damage flip. Then I would try to hit Tannen with Necromancy's range attack which damage I would cheat for weak bringing Tannen to last wound with Poison +1 and thanks to that I would avoid giving away a possible points for Frame for Murder. So Levi moved twice and attacked Tannen but I flipped severe damage. Oh well ;)



Upkeep phase:
No VPs scored by either side.

Score after turn 1: Levi 0 - Jakob Lynch 0

Turn 2
Initiative: Jakob Lynch

Key actions/moments:

- I noticed was that Gavin got two Aces during this turn and he didn't discard anything at the start of the turn so I expected him to have quite good hand with at least two Aces which he can use to inflict a huge pain to my Levi at the end of Jakob's turn. And I wasn't surprised that he pushed Lynch with Graves a bit closer to Levi.
- Necromancy snatched opportunity and fired at Graves wounding it with blast which clipped Jakob. Gavin used his one stone to prevent one damage.
- Emissary pushed Lynch closer to Levi so I faced a choice - either gamble and try to kill Jakob who was in soft cover (remainder - if I cheat attack against him I would suffer two damage each time I do it...) or attack Graves and run away. I decided to push my luck so I activated Brutal Effigy, gave Levi Fear Not The Sword condition, then I chain activate Levi burning the Oathkeeper at the start of his activation and started pounding Jakob. Levi had to use all his APs burning stones to negate soft cover but the end of his activation Lynch was dead and Levi was on 3 wounds (I had to cheat attack once but healing from Fear Not Sword was very helpful). Yay! Minus of this situation was that Levi was exposed to attacks but at least I scored 3VPs for Eliminate the Leadership.
- To my surprise Gavin didn't jump on Levi with the rest of his crew. He lured Necromancy once and shot it with Illuminated which inflicted 4 damage. I used Warrior's protection to prevent this damage which put huuuge target on Warrior from now on (which I really wanted to happen). Second Illuminated failed a Horror Duel when declared charge against Necromancy.
- I spread my crew making sure I get point for Strategy. Gavin did same thing plus he moved Mr Tannen closer to my crew just enough to clip Levi and some of my other models with Tannen's Cooler aura.
- At the end of the turn Gavin declared Show of Force which confused me a bit as I wasn't sure if he has Eliminate the Leadership and he was bluffing with not attacking Levi this turn or he has Frame for Murder on Tannen. Also at the end of the turn Gavin showed me that he had 4 Aces on the hand and said if I didn't kill Jakob he would inflict some serious pain on Levi or Necromancy (probably the latter). I was lucky anyway ;)


Upkeep phase:
Levi: 1VP Interference, 3VP Eliminate the Leadership
Jakob Lynch: 1VP Interference, 1VP Show of Force

Score after turn 2: Levi 4 - Jakob Lynch 2


Turn 3
Initiative: Jakob Lynch

Key actions/moments:

- I put protection on Necromancy again and moved Warrior close to engage Huggy. Also I pretend I check if Warrior has LOS to Johana and Rogue Necromancy. Gavin took a bait and killed Warrior with Huggy giving me 3VP for Frame for Murder.
- Necromancy torn one Illuminated to pieces. Beckoner put Brilliance on the Necromancy, but Johana removed it as I expected second Illuminated to charge the beast. Indeed Illuminated charged it but failed to inflict any substantial damage. Librarian healed Necromancy anyway.
- Mech Rider started summoning Arachnids and I was confident in keeping my left flank for the rest of the game.
- At the end of the turn I decided to have fun and walked once and then fired at Illuminated who was in melee with Necromancy. First randomized hit Necromancy so I declared trigger to take a free swing with beast at Illuminated hurting it a lot. Second shot went into Illuminated himself which allowed me to declare Smell Fear with Necromancy. This would kill Illuminated but I flipped Black Joker on attack.


Upkeep phase:
Levi: 1VP Interference, 3VP Frame for Murder
Jakob Lynch: 1VP Interference, 1VP Show of Force

Score after turn 3: Levi 8 - Jakob Lynch 4

Turn 4
Initiative: Jakob Lynch

Key actions/moments:

- Huggy tried to inflict the pain on Mech Rider but thanks to damage reduction I avoided loosing it. Anyway, just for protection measure I retreated Rider closer to Librarian who healed her a bit.
- Necromancy killed Illuminated. Levi killed Tannen (he was too annoying) and then I jumped on Graves with Levi and Johana killing him. This move allowed me also to negate Gavin point for Strategy this turn despite the fact that second Changeling was summoned by Emissary and supported Beckoner on this quarter.




Upkeep phase:
Levi: 1VP Interference
Jakob Lynch: 1VP Interference, 2VP Frame for Murder

Score after turn 4: Levi 9 - Jakob Lynch 7


Turn 5
Initiative: Jakob Lynch

Key actions/moments:

- Levi killed Beckoner with charge and then shot dead Changeling. Gavin moved Huggy closer to centre of the table and we agreed to call this game here.



Upkeep phase:
Levi: 1VP Interference
Jakob Lynch: 1VP Show of Force

Final score: Levi 10 - Jakob Lynch 8

Few comments after game:

- Playing Levi with Eliminate the Leadership is big gamble. He works ok with Survivalist and healing support from Brutal Effigy and Librarian but he will require 5+ stones just for damage prevention I think. Still I will use him when this scheme is in the pool as it is great challenge and I really like it.
- As predicted Necromancy in absolutely devastating beat-stick. When something is unlucky to be charged by it, then the poor bugger is in big trouble. Also her Ca range attack is really great and can nicely hit models with Df 5 or lower. Backed by Terracotta Warrior it stays longer with 5+ wounds and is really bog threat to opponent.

Till next time!




Saturday 7 January 2017

Game report 05.01.17 50SS Leveticus vs Pandora

Game report - 05.01.2017

50SS Leveticus (daniello_s) vs Pandora (Gavin)

Deployment: Standard Deployment
Strategy: Guard the Stash
Schemes: Claim Jump, Accusation!, Dig Their Graves, Recover Evidence, Undercover Entourage

Gavin brought:
Pandora (4SS pool) - The Box Opens, The Fugue State
Widow Weaver - Handbag
Candy - Fears Given Form
Mysterious Emissary - Conflux of Sorrow
2x Sorrow
Poltrgeist

I took:
Levi (4SS 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
(tanker for strategy, Waif anchor)
Strongarm Suit
(second tanker for strategy, Waif anchor)
Johana
(beat-stick, condition removal, Waif anchor)
Hodgepodge Emissary
(scheme runner, Waif anchor)
2x Necropunk
(scheme runners)
2x Hollow Waif
(Levi's life insurance)

Gavin picked Claim Jump and Accusation!
I picked Claim Jump and Undercover Entourage (Levi)

It was our first game with Gaining Grounds 2017 schemes plus it was my first game against Pandora so I was expecting this to be fun.

For this game I decided to test Hodgepodge Emissary in Levi's crew. In theory with GG2017 he should be quite viable option since he can push and drop scheme marker and his Destined based action is about dropping more scheme markers so I thought to give him a shot.

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


Turn 1
Initiative: Levi

Key actions/moments:

- First turn was as always about movement. Gavin pushed his crew aggressively towards centre line. Widow Weaver started to drop Web markers and Mysterious Emissary summoned Changeling.
I took more defensive stance keeping my models about half way from the Stash markers except Necropunks who moved full speed plus leaped to drop scheme markers for Claim Jump as far as possible on both flanks.
- My hand was really poor this turn. The best measure of this is that Emissary failed to give trinkets to Joss and Johana - I didn't flip 7+ and I had no cards to even cheat it...
- Levi took an opportunity (and gamble) and he walked twice to attack once Sorrow who exposed himself to far for his own good. I was lucky to hit it and I flipped severe on the damage. I didn't expect that to be honest.



Upkeep phase:
No VPs scored by either side.

Score after turn 1: Levi 0 - Pandora 0


Turn 2
Initiative: Levi

Key actions/moments:

- Levi took a Focus action to fire at second Sorrow in hard cover. Unfortunately my damage flip was weak only so I had to cheat the damage with my only severe card on my hand just to kill it. Then Levi missed a shot when he tried to hurt Changeling sitting near Stash marker.
- Dora killed Waif and did engage Necropunk.
- Mysterious Emissary created nasty hazardous marker on my side of the Stash marker and tried tarpit second Necropunk but I was able to leap with him and drop much needed scheme marker.
- Second web marker appeared near the Stash marker (the one which was close to the hazardous marker) and now it was quite tricky to position my models in this area so they wouldn't get hurt from the hazardous terrain and be affected by the Wp debuff from web markers.
- Joss took the risk to walk towards this marker and I had to cheat his Wk duel to avoid any damage from Hazardous terrain.
- Johana charged Poltergeist but was able to hit him only once.
- Strongarm secured me second Stash marker and Necropunk who was engaged by Dora leaped and dropped another scheme marker.




Upkeep phase:
Levi: 1VP Guard the Stash, 1VP Claim Jump
Pandora: 1VP Guard the Stash

Score after turn 2: Levi 2 - Pandora 1

Turn 3
Initiative: Pandora

Key actions/moments:

- Pandora charged and killed Necropunk. Then she dropped scheme marker.
- Johana killed Poltergeist.
- Widow Weaver hit Joss and Paralyzed him. Then he dropped scheme marker.
- Strongarm attacked Candy. First attack went through and I flipped Red Joker on damage. Gavin prevented one damage. Second attacked sadly missed. Levi then followed up and killed Candy. Then he dropped scheme marker.
- Hodgepodge Emissary failed to punish Mysterious Emissary.
- Changeling tagged Joss with Accusation!
- My second Necropunk leaped and dropped scheme marker.


Upkeep phase:
Levi: 1VP Guard the Stash, 1VP Claim Jump
Pandora: 1VP Claim Jump, 1VP Accusation!

Score after turn 3: Levi 4 - Pandora 3

Turn 4
Initiative: Pandora

Key actions/moments:

- Joss was Paralyzed again by Widow Weaver (-3Wp from Web markers plus poor hand again because why not?)
- Levi attacked Mysterious Emissary but couldn't kill him. Then Hodgepodge Emissary followed up and killed him but he needed both actions to do that.
- Changeling tagged Joss again with Accusation!
- Johana and Necropunk dropped scheme markers.
- Dora and Weaver dropped scheme markers.
- Strongarm failed Horror Duel against Dora and did nothing.



Upkeep phase:
Levi: 1VP Guard the Stash, 1VP Claim Jump
Pandora: 1VP Guard Stash, 1VP Claim Jump, 1VP Accusation!

Score after turn 4: Levi 6 - Pandora 6

Turn 5
Initiative: Pandora

Key actions/moments:

- Joss got Paralyzed yet again...
- Emissary tried to attack Changeling but failed (don't ask about my cards again please...).
- Changeling Blinked to Johana and gave her Accusation. Dora did same with Strongarm and she also killed second Waif.
- Johana needed tow attacks to kill Changeling.
- Strongarm did nothing as he failed Horror Duel again.
- Necropunk leaped and positioned himself to be sacrificed by Levi which would secure me points for Entourage. Levi had to to walk once close to the Hazardous marker. As I had really poor hand and couldn't pass Wk duel and Gavin flipped for hazardous terrain damage... severe!... Bollocks! Levi got 5 wounds (and I had no stones to prevent anything) so when he jumped into base contact with Necropunk he was below half of his wounds and not within enemy deployment zone. This costed me a win in this game as I was able to score only 1VP for Entourage instead of planned 2... Bad things happens in Malifaux...


Upkeep phase:
Levi: 1VP Guard the Stash, 1VP Undercover Entourage
Pandora: 1VP Guard Stash, 1VP Accusation!

Final score: Levi 8 - Pandora 8

Few comments after game:

- It was really good game. Loads of Wp duels is absolutely a nightmare especially when your control hand is below average all the time and you are at the mercy of the lucky flips. Also the last flip for hazardous damage broke my heart ;)
- Hodgepodge Emissary... Hmmm... Definitely I didn't use his all potential during this game but I think he can be quite interesting addition to Levi's crew however he occupies this 10SS spot and there is really heavy competition at the moment.

Till next time!