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!

Perdita vs Molly

This game was played on January 31st, and the updated files were released during the game, so we played using the old rules.

Third game on the blog and third game against Ressers. However, those Resser players are their own separate people, or so they claim

My Perdita list:

Perdita
Enslaved Nephilim
Francisco, Lead Lined Coat - 12
Santiago - 8
Monster Hunter - 6
Monster Hunter - 6
Abuela - 5
Pistolero - 4
Pistolero - 4
Cache - 5

My opponent's Molly list:

Molly, Whisper
Necrotic Machine
Phillip and the Nanny
Yin
Hanged
Rabble Riser
Rabble Riser
Crooligan
Cache - 5

Strategy was Turf War. Schemes were Breakthrough, Harness the Ley Line (Guild), Search the Ruins (Guild), Hold Up Their Forces, Take Prisoner

I think I deployed quite well. Abuela was in a position where she could roll over and Obey, and the Monster Hunters and Pistoleros were in a position where they could score schemes. I planned to try and use the forest to play around Lethe's Caress a little, even though it would be hard. We lay around the forest a bit. His Rabble Risers approach aggressively, so I roll grandma up within 6" so Molly can't reactivate them due to Meemaw's disapproval. The Pistoleros and MHs run around and try to do some schemes. 

Perdita shoots Molly several times, but it turns out it is rather futile. My models can't do the necessary dmg to a Molly out in the open without taking way too much dmg from Lethe's Caress. Frank kills a Rabble Riser and holds up another one. Molly does 5dmg to Santiago and makes me draw 5 cards. I score for strategy and Harness the Ley Line, my opponent scores for strategy. 2-1 to Guild. 

We struggle some more in the middle and Frank is left on one hp, Perdita on 5. I score for strategy and Search the Ruins and move to 4-1. I manage to kill Jyn, but both Molly and Phillip are at full life, as well as his Hanged. I am clearly losing the struggle in the middle, even though my scheme runners are making sure I will actually win the game. We didn't have time to play past this round as the store was closing.

I didn't get to use Tough as Nails a single time during this game. I managed to generate a single pass token during the game, which I used to pass and draw a card. Cards are easily the most valuable resource this crew has, and there is almost no way for the crew to get any card draw at all, I am therefore a little skeptical about the cost for the Family's ability being discarding a card. There are so many things they need to discard for already, or at least hit a 5+/6+ TN for to work. It gets even worse when playing against Terrifying, as they have no Ruthless models either. I am looking forward to trying the new ability, and I am very happy to see the designers keep testing out new approaches for the Family crew, but I still think there is a way to go before they are in a good place.