Norwegian Open

During the weekend 23-24. December, the Malifaux Norwegian Open tournament took place. We were 14 attendees, about half of which came from out of town, including two from Russia. I was one of the two to bring Guild. I didn't take too many pictures this time, so I will just write down some short summaries.

Game 1 against Neverborn. Corrupted Idols. I had Detonate Charges and Dig Their Graves.

She chose Pandora and I chose Lucius. I was tempted to bring a pure gunline with Pale Rider and Lone Marshal to just shoot off everything, but in the end decided to bring Matt Lewin's stagger spam list, as I felt I was up no matter what, and that list could possibly scheme better. Also, we could try and play the game instead of an abundance of stat 6/7 ruthless shots into poor Pandora and Candy.

I brought:

Lucius

Scribe

Agent 46, LLC

Dr. Grimwell

Alan Reid

Investigator

Lawyer

False Witness

Cache - 4

She had:

Pandora

Poltergeist

Teddy, Inhuman Reflexes

Candy

Serena Bowman

Baby Kade

Sorrow, Ancient Pact

Sorrow, Ancient Pact

She made a mistake early by committing the Poltergeist too far up the table, which lead to Agent 46 killing it, as well as a Sorrow. After that, it was pretty easy for the Agent and Grimwell to get a few more kills, to push the Idols were I needed them, and for the False Witness to score Detonate Charges on Teddy with ease. He also used his -wp aura to allow the Lawyer to easily obey Teddy and do 6dmg to Candy, who soon after died to some kind of hidden sniper. In the end, there were only Pandora and Teddy left on her side of the table, while I hadn't suffered any casualties. At the tail end of the game I even the playing field just a little by killing my own Scribe for the second point of Dig Their Graves.

7-0 victory for the Guild

Game 2 against Bayou. Plant Explosives. I had Claim Jump and Harness the Ley Line

My experience against Bayou was limited to playing against Ulix once and a few times against Zoraida. I had never faced Ophelia before and it showed...I picked Nellie, as I thought she had a shot in Plant Explosives

My list:

Nellie

Printing Press

Agent 46, LLC

Pale Rider, LLC

Pathfinder

Steward (Claim Jump)

False Witness

Cache - 7

Things didn't go well. I didn't know where it was best to place my guys and my hope of being able to dominate a shooting duel died when the Pathfinder was buried by a Glimpse the Void-trigger. I tried to claw myself back in the game, and thought I had scored Harness and Claim Jump when his Emissary suddenly ran over all my scheme markers and was standing in the middle of the board.

In the end, I lost 3-8. My greatest defeat in Malifaux ever. I learned a lot from the game though, and I will hopefully be ready for Ophelia shenanigans next time.

Game 3 was against Neverborn. Flank Reckoning. I had Hold Up Their Forces and Dig Their Graves.

I really wanted to drop Sonnia here, but due to a giant train in the middle of the board, I was too afraid of Nephilim closing the gap too quickly, so I decided to run with Lucius again. After deployment, I realised that if he kept his distance and went for Outflank, I would have to gun down whoever went there without hope of scoring schemes myself. I realised that he was massively up, but I hoped that he wouldn't see it and just rush me. After a lot of clever maneuvering during the game, we both scored two points for reckoning, he scored two for outflank, I managed to get one for Hold Up Their Forces, and on the last activation of the game, score the second point for Dig Their Graves. Incredibly close!

Victory to Guild, 5-4.

Game 4 against Ressers was Wedge Turf War where I took Leyline and Assassinate

He chose Kirai, I chose Lady J. There isn't a lot to say about this game. I think he expected me to kill Ikyrio so he could re-summon. Instead, I just left her, healed up a bit with Stewie and a Domador. Killed pretty much everything. We called it turn 2, where I had 2-1 due to time. I could probably have scored all 8 in a full game.

My list:

Lady J, LLC

Scales of Justice

Pale Rider, LLC

Lone Marshal

Domador

Stewie

Exorcist

Cache - 7

Victory to Guild, 2-1.

Game 5 was against Bayou. Flank Plant Explosives. I knew he was going to pick Zoraida, so I chose Lucius. I had Claim Jump and Search the Ruins.

My list:

Lucius

Scribey boi

Agent 46, LLC

Pale Rider, LLC

Doppleganger

Lawyer (Claim Jump)

Changeling

Changeling

Cache - 4

His list: (from memory)

Zoraida

First Mate

Bokour

Will O the Wisp

Silurid

Silurid

Brin

After I made a horrible mistake and gave away my PR early, I redeem myself by managing to shoot down one of his Silurids with Hidden Sniper from a Changeling, stopping him from scoring Outflank early. After a tense game, and one of the best games of Malifaux I have ever played, I managed to squeeze out a narrow win.

6-5 victory to the Guild!

In the end, I finished 2nd, only placing after the Bayou player in game 2. The whole tournament was a lovely experience against 5 great opponents. 

Malifaux Beach Party!

Played a tournament a few weeks back. We used the Gencon schemes and strats. I brought a few masters, but in the end, decided to drop Lady J into all three games.

Game 1: Lady Justice vs Toni Ironsides

My list:

Lady Justice, LLC - 2

Scales of Justice

Pale Rider, LLC - 13

Judge - 10

Lone Marshal - 9

Guild Steward - 6

Brutal Effigy, Effigy of Fate - 6

Cache - 4

Smash's list:

Toni

Mouse

Howard Langston

Amina

Fitzsimmons

Gunsmith

Gunsmith, Magical Training

Turf War on Corner Deployment
Schemes: Detonate Charges, Harness the Ley Line (both), Outflank, Claim Jump (both, I had on Steward), & Vendetta

First turns are mostly positioning with a few pot shots from each side. I am waiting him out, as I am sure I have a significant advantage from turn 3 and onwards, due to the Effigy and the Pale Rider.

On the second turn, Judge is lured into Toni and is left on 4hp and with one focus. I decide to immediately activate him to get some cards and smack Ironsides with a focused attack. Unfortunately for me, Judge pulls three tomes and dies. Lone Marshal kills a Gunsmith. Justice misses Langston three times with her attacks.

Emissary is put into play.

Pale Rider wins the game with a massive burst of dmg, killing Howard Langston, and doing significant dmg, burn and slow to other models as well as healing mine. Toni is put in a tricky position more than 1" away from my beaters AND slow. Justice jumps away to place scheme markers and Guild goes to 4-1. We started playing round 4, but it was at this point entirely clear that the Guild would win the game. I was pretty happy with the Pale Rider saving the day after Judge had gambled his life away so recklessly.

Game 2: Lady Justice vs Misaki

My list:

Lady Justice, LLC - 2

Scales of Justice

The Judge, LLC - 12

Pale Rider - 11

Jury - 8

Brutal Effigy, Effigy of Fate - 6

Death Marshal - 5

Misaki list:

Misaki
Shang
Shadow Emissary
Samurai w/stealth
Ten Thunders Archer
Torakage
Torakage
Low River monk

Plant Explosives on Standard Deployment »

Breakthrough (Both), Hold Up Their Forces, Take Prisoner, Assassinate (Guild), & Deliver A Message (TT)

So, the tactic here is more or less stupidly simple. The masters I had available were Perdita, Sonnia and Lady J. The two first can't play against the amount of stealth that TT brings to the table, so I picked Lady J, even though the scheme pool was not to her liking. Round 1 I lose my horseman to a BJ on mv test against Shadow Emissary and a RJ on a triple negative flip on his attack. This should only have been 8, but my opponent must have miscalculated. Either way, he had been in a bad spot. Misaki shuffles the RJ back into the deck and Samurai hits it on The Judge for 7 more dmg...

Judge is killed. DM kills Shang to prevent shenanigans from Misaki. Samurai is giving me a hard time.

I start scoring a few points for Plant Explosives and Assassinate, but it is really hard to stop his Torakage/Misaki from scoring, and he also manages to snag a point for Deliver a Message. I feel outgunned and outmaneuvered and there is not a whole lot I can do. I decide to send my Brutal Effigy forward, but he is dispatched by two lucky shots from the archer.

In the end, TT go to 7-4, when my DM manages to score a single point from Breakthrough. Lady J goes down on turn 4 and I have only the scales, the Jury and a single DM left. A devastating loss for the Guild.

This game was frustrating. I think I made some mistakes early when I moved up so aggressively on the left flank, but I thought I could bait out Misaki and force her to not bury due to aggressive Jury play. This didn't go so well when the PR went down first turn and the Judge following soon after. I also felt a little salty that TT has a model such as the Samurai that seems to just counter everything we have with his strong gun with +flips, stealth w/upgrade, armour+2 and juggernaut. I felt like I had nothing that could reliably deal with it, due to almost all our armour negotiation being ranged.

Game 3: Lady Justice vs Jack Daw

If last game two felt one-sided for me, I imagine my opponent felt much the same way about this game.

My list:

Lady Justice, LLC - 2

Scales of Justice

Pale Rider, LLC - 13

The Judge - 10

The Lone Marshal - 9

Brutal Effigy, Effigy of Fate - 6

Guild Steward - 6

Cache - 4

His list:

Jack Daw, Regen

Montressor

Hanged

Hanged

Jakuuma Umbe

Guilty

Guilty

Nurse

Corrupted Idols on Wedge Deployment 

Detonate Charges, Search The Ruins (both), Dig Their Graves, Power Ritual, & Vendetta (both. I had effigy on one of the Guilty)

I felt like I won deployment and could pretty much control all of the Idols when he was tucked away in the house like that. That could have prevented me from going in and killing all his models and simply controlling the game, but that was not to be. Guild Steward flipped a lucky mask on dispel magic and made J focused, as well as Judge with foul-mouthed motivation.

He uses his resources to kill my Effigy, while I use the Judge, The Lone Marshal and Lady Justice to just decimate him. Jakuuma goes down.

Soon he is left with only Jack and Montressor and at this point he simply concedes as there is really nothing left for him to do.

At the end of the day, I finished 2nd out of 6 players. I am more or less happy with it, but hope for a better showing against TT next time.

Perdita vs Jack Daw

Last test game before the tourney. I promised I wouldn't bring Lady J against Ressers this time, so I brought Perdita and her family and friends instead.

My list:

Perdita, LLC - 2

Enslaved Nephilim

Judge - 11

Santiago - 8

Nino - 7

Monster Hunter - 6

Monster Hunter - 6

Guild Steward - 6

Cache - 4

Morbius' list:

Jack Daw, Grave Spirit's Touch

Totem

Montressor

Jakumaa Umbe

Nurse

Hanged

Hanged

Guilty

Guilty

Cache - 0

Strategy: Plant Explosives

Schemes: Breakthrough (Guild), Hold Up Their Forces, Take Prisoner (Ressers), Assassinate (Both), & Deliver A Message

I try to deploy aggressively on the right flank so that I can shoot him with Nino while advancing with the MHs for planting explosives and scoring Breakthrough. This turns out to not work as well as I had hoped, as Nino is pushed and pulled forwards and backwards and is quickly despatched by a hanged and Jack Daw. Oh well, at least I managed to Creep Along on him before he bit the dust. Judge kills a Guilty with his pistol and gains an upgrade (yay :/). Perdita pushes forward and does some dmg.

My MHs put out some bombs and one of them manages to walk into the opposing DZ. Morbius spends his Jack Daw activation on killing the other one and moving into contact with the second to score Take Prisoner (unfortunately for him, the slippery MH uses deadly pursuit to get away before he can score) Perdita kills the Nurse and does 8dmg to Montressor, who runs away to hide. Santiago is killed by Jakumaa Umbe and a Guilty pops up. Guild is up 1-0

MH scores Breakthrough and the Judge kills another Guilty, which is great, as the upgrades don't stack. Perdita kills Jakumaa Umbe and the Guild Steward continues to plant those all-important bombs. Jack and a Hanged manages to kill Perdita for a single assassination point. Guild goes to 3-1.

We end here as we are running out of time. Given enough time, this would probably end 6-3 to the Guild, as Jack might to score two points by planting bombs, while the MH should be able to score Breakthrough unopposed. The two Hanged are low on life, but my only really killy model left is the Judge, so it is hard for me to stop him from scoring points by placing bombs. A good game.

Thoughts on the lists:

I like the list, even though I manage to give away Nino early and did not provide him significant backup. I made some significant deployment errors by isolating him on the flank, but luckily I was not punished too harshly for it. My opponent's list was fun to play against, and I am sure it will be close games for me in the future when both he and I understand how it works a little better. I think he made a mistake by advancing so cautiously with Jack early. Yes, it let him kill a few of my models, but ultimately lost him a few points from the strategy. On the other hand, it prevented me from getting good shots at him and scoring assassinate as well.

Lady Justice vs Kirai

Lady Justice vs Kirai

After half a year of radio silence, I am trying to get my blog game going again. This time we had a practice game for a local tournament coming up this weekend. We played the first of the scenarios from the GenCon scenario pack.

My list:

Lady Justice, LLC - 2

Scales of Justice

The Judge - 10

The Lone Marshal - 9

Domador - 7

Guild Steward - 6

Exorcist - 6

Exorcist - 6

Cache - 4

My opponent's list:

Kirai, The Whisper - 2

Ikiryo

Forgotten Marshal, The Whisper - 10

Datsue Ba - 9

Goryo - 8

Lost Love - 5

Onryo - 5

Seishin - 2

Seishin - 2

Cache - 7

Strategy: Turf War, Deployment: Corner

Schemes: Harness the Leyline (Guild, Ressers), Claim Jump (Guild: Judge, Ressers), Detonate Charges, Outflank, Vendetta

Deployment is good for me. He really only has one proper beater (Goryo) and I am betting that I can isolate him and kill him quickly. I am opting for going hard on my left side on the table with one of the Exorcists and The Lone Marshal if he tries to score Outflank, while moving the Judge up to score Claim Jump early.

I use the Exorcist as bait to lure the Goryo in and it works. Lady J easily dispatches him with a little help from The Judge, while The Lone Marshal dispatches a newly summoned Goryo with his free action. The board state is really good for me after turn 1.

Round 2 ends up being the last turn of the game. Kirai summons an Onryo, which is quickly killed by the Lone Marhshal, while Lady J does work in the middle of the board. At this point, Kirai and Datsue Ba is in a compromised position before turn 3 and my opponent concedes. I have only lost a single Exorcist at this point and I score an early 2-1, which would probably be a 4-1 turn 3 and a 7-1 or 7-2 at the end of the game.

I have to say that the cards favoured me a bit in this match. I started with an 11 and a 12 of crows which I held on to to kill summons, more or less neutralizing Kirai's impact on the game. I had a theory that he would be spending his good cards on summoning and not having much left for defense, and it turned out to be right. The scheme pool also highly favoured me.

I really missed a taxi this game. It was my first Marshal game without the Pale Rider, and it showed. The Judge is really slow and he ended up being more or less a card draw machine here. I am fairly happy with the list however, and The Lone Marshal was certainly the MVP this time.

Nellie vs Von Schill

Time to try a quick game with the Journalists against Barmution's Freikorps. I decided to stay completely in keyword, just to get a better feel of the crew, having only played with them twice before.

My Nellie list:

Nellie Cochrane

The Printing Press

Phiona Gage, Lead Lined Coat - 11

Allison Dade - 8

Undercover Reporter, Lead Lined Coat - 9

Field Reporter - 6

Field Reporter - 6

False Witness - 5

Cache - 5

Barmution's Von Schill list:

Von Schill

Steam Trunk

Hannah Lovelace - 10

Lazarus - 10

Arik - 9 (these two's cost were swapped after the game)

Freikorps Librarian - 7

Freikorpsmann - 5

Freikorpsmann - 5

Cache - 4

Strategy: Plant Explosives, Deployment: Corner

Schemes: Breakthrough, Harness The Ley Line (both), Power Ritual (Guild), Outflank, Assassinate (Outcasts)

I am pretty happy with deployment. My plan is to place scheme markers with the False Witness to move the Field Reporters up to the flanks and score Power Ritual early. I completely forgot that I needed a scheme marker in my own corner as well, and had to move Allison back to place one. Noob mistake. I decide that if the Freikorpsmen decide to move against one of the reporters, I will just place my Undercover Reporter on their head and be able to score easily. The False Witness moves up conservatively, but is unfortunately gunned down by a Freikorpsmann outside his activation by a combination of Von Schill's rocket launcher upgrade and a red joker on the damage flip.

Arik Schoemer uses a pair of Rocket Boots to jump in and kill the printing press, making sure to block LoS to Allison, so he can get off his no armour trigger. Lazarus moves up onto the gallow in the middle and starts lobbing grenades. I decide to put a press release on him, saving a 13 in case I need to cheat. I immediately pull the Black Joker. We also had a weird rules situation where Nellie couldn't force him to place a scheme marker with One More Question as she didn't have line of sight to anywhere he could theoretically place one. I score Power Ritual, and manage to also sneak in a bomb for 2-0.

This is where I realise that the Strategy I thought favoured me due to Nellies Don't Mind Me, isn't really all that favourable, as there is very few ways for me to actually stop Outcasts from scoring the strategy. Nellie and Allison don't have engagement ranges, and I can't tarpit Von Schill anyway, due to Diving Charge. I manage to stay alive by using Focus for defensive duels and score another point from the strategy, getting me to 3-1.

 I activate a Field Reporter to put a scheme marker on the centre line, planning to score a few points from Harness The Ley Line before the end of the game. Barmution activates a Freikorpsmann, references the Field Guide, Focuses and shoots at Nellie, who is currently sitting at 7 health. He has a 7 of rams, and my hand is horrible, with both a 1 and a 3 of rams, which doesn't help me much, even with Nellie's Scooped, so I cheat with an 11 of crows, he cheats in the Red Joker and flips a severe, doing 7dmg and killing Nellie, netting him two points for assassination.

It is too hard to get back into the game due to this, and Barmution manages to move another Freikorpsmann 15" and interact with one of my bombs to deny me an additional point. I score the last point for Power Ritual, while he score one for Harness The Ley Line (which I might have been able to stop with Field Reporters and the Undercover Reporter, but didn't think of at the time), and he also scores another for strategy.

So, I basically had the game in the bag, with an easy view for a 7-3 or thereabouts, but due to not activating Nellie first, I managed to lose the game 4-5.

Thoughts on the Journalist crew:

These guys know how to scheme, but precious little else. I don't really mind that and find them quite fun to play. Nellie is always a treat to bring to the table and I have some of my most eventful and intriguing games with her. I made a major mistake in choosing schemes, as I should obviously have picked Outflank instead of Harness The Ley Line, but I believed that The Field Reporters could move into the centre of the table after a while and do some shenanigans there. The Lead Lined Coat on the Undercover Reporter was quite fun to play with, but I don't think this was the game nor the scheme pool for it.

Thoughts on the Freikorps:

They know how to shoot and their upgrades are quite good. I am not a massive fan of the simple duel spam that Lazarus brings to the table and weren't really impressed by him. I think swapping the cost of him and Arik was the correct choice to make. I would like to play them again to get a better understanding of their strenghts and weaknesses.

Lady Justice vs Rasputina

This one is a little shorter than normal. I played a 30SS game against someone who hadn't played 3E before.

My Lady J list:

Lady J, Lead Lined Coat - 2

Scales of Justice

Brutal Emissary, Lead Lined Coat - 12

Death Marshal - 5

Watcher - 5

Cache - 5

Raspy list:

Raspy

Wendigo

Snow Storm

Silent One

December Acolyte

Strategy: Plant Explosives

Schemes: Breakthrough (Guild, Arcanists), Harness The Ley Line (Guild, Arcanists) Little fussy on the details as the game was played a few weeks ago.

Basically, this game shows what happens when people aren't 100% percent on what Lady J does. After a little back and forth, she jumps in and kills the Wendigo who moved a little too far up to try and blast the Death Marshal. Lady J is now in place to jump into Raspy and Snow Storm next turn. Watcher and totem move up to start scoring.

Lady J jumps in and starts killing stuff. Snow Storm nearly dies and Rasputina is left on a few boxes. Lady J almost kills Snow Storm on the counter, after he had to spend his first action to move into engagement range, and he has to spend all his stones to keep him alive. Brutal gets into position to wreak havoc.

Lady J kills everyone and we basically call the game here.

So, this one was a short one, but I think it highlights how devastating Lady J is to someone who doesn't really know how she works, which is probably also amplified by the fact that we only played 30SS. I am sure it will be harder to play her next time, when my opponent knows what she can do.

Perdita vs Seamus

I played another game against Morbius, who played Molly in the first game on this blog. I bought another Family list so I could try out their new rule.

My Perdita list:

Perdita

Enslaved Nephilim

Frank, Lead Lined Coat - 12

Santiago - 8

Papa Loco - 7

Nino - 7

Monster Hunter - 6

Monster Hunter - 6

Cache - 4

Morbius' Resser list:

Seamus

Copycat Killer

Madame Sybelle

Mortimer

Bete Noire

Mourner

Belle

Dead Doxy

DISCLAIMER: We were playing this game in another location than we usually do, so we only had my 2d-terrain from Warmachine. The table turned out to be to open in the middle and Family profited a lot from this.

Strategy: Reckoning

Schemes: Search the Ruins (Guild, Ressers), Dig Their Graves, Take Prisoner, Assassinate (Guild, Ressers), Vendetta

Deployment sees Nino threaten the Copycat Killer and the Monster Hunters moving to each flank to try and score Search the Ruins. I plan to move up as soon as possible to try and clear the board somewhat and give me some breathing space. I catch a lucky break as the Nephilim top decks an 11 of masks and has Santiago moving forward. The most irritating model in the world, Bete Noire decides to pop by.  Papa tries to throw his dynamite at her, but fails to hit the TN twice. She buries after Nino tries to shoot at her. Perdita somehow manages to hit Madame Sybelle twice and kill her with a little help from a bonus shot from Santiago. The Belle lures the MH into combat with her and Seamus kills him. Frank shoots at the Belle after bravadoing forward and Santiago finishes her off. The new rule is paying off.

The Family starts wiping stuff. The Doxy and Mourner goes down and I decide to wait one turn before I start scoring Search the Ruins, concentrating on removing models. Seamus shoots his flintlock at Perdita, but I cheat in a 13 and he misses.

Seamus hits Perdita for 8dmg, which I stone down to 6, and Morbius scores assassinate. Bete Noire continues to irritate me, but I manage to do 4dmg to her with Nino after he decides to stay in combat with Santiago and Perdita instead of burying. He had so few models left at this point that tying up my combat pieces was important. Perdita pulls the Red Joker on a dmg flip versus Seamus and does 7dmg. My pulls this game were on fire.

Perdita finishes Seamus off, Bete kills both Santiago and Perdita, but is killed by Papa's dynamite. I score 8, but he manages to pull off 3pts due to the assassination of Perdita.

The new Family rule is actually really cool. I got very lucky with my flips this game, but I still didn't really feel I had a lot of cards to spare. In practice, it does often result in extra shots from Santiago, but I also used it a few times to move my Monster Hunter on the right flank. In the most hectic turns, I seldom had more than one card to spare though. The end score was 8-3

The family feels more like a cohesive unit than it used to, but I am still puzzled by the nerfs they received after Closed Beta. Was Nino and the Enslaved Nephilim really too good? The Nephilim feels like the worst totem in Guild after it lost its mask on Obey. There are so few cards he can actually use that top nets you roughly a 9% shot of getting it off. He is often left pushing someone around and hoping for a tome. Nino's gun is still long ranged, but it isn't anything special anymore. I will admit this isn't a major source of frustration though.

The Monster Hunters still wants to fire at units who are not monsters and leaving the monsters to the wp6 guys, but they are good scheme runners, albeit a bit expensive for the role.

Frank is in a good place now. The stat7 on his sword really helps him shine.

The Family feels more fun than it did before the update, something I am very happy to report!