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.

Perdita vs McMourning

My Perdita List:

Perdita
Enslaved Nephilim
Fransisco, Lead Lined Coat - 12
Santiago - 8
Papa Loco - 7
Nino - 7
Monster Hunter - 6
Monster Hunter - 6
Cache - 4

McMourning List:

McMourning, The Whisper
Zombie Chihuahua
Sebastian
Rogue Necromancy
Carrion Emissary
Canine Remains
Nurse
Nurse
Cache - 5

Strategy: Plant Explosives
Schemes: Hold Up Their Forces (Guild), Deliver a Message (Ressers). Both had Harness The Ley Line

Deployment looked like this. I planned to start scoring Plant Explosives early by placing with Nino in turn 2 and try to move the Monster Hunters up to Harness the Ley Line turn 2, and score Plant Explosives on turn 3 and 4. Nino starts by doing 2dmg to the Rogue Necro. One of the Monster Hunters move up, stun the Rogue Necro and land 4 dmg on him, he later attacks back, dealing 2dmg to the MH after I spent a pass token to reduce the dmg by 2, the only time this game I got to use Tough as Nails. Frank finishes him off and I am in a good spot, seemingly. Carrion Emissary moves up a little, builds a wall to Mexico, cutting off my rightmost Monster Hunter and Papa somewhat. Perdita moves into the forest and shoots a few points of dmg off of him. Papa hits a blast of dynamite into the church, but both the Nurse and the Canine dodges gracefully. Santiago removes the poison from the MH damaged by the Necro and gives focuses her. McMourning was much quicker than I thought and moved into the forest, hit Perdita twice for massive dmg and was suddenly in the middle of my crew.

Frank heroicly intervens to push Perdita away from McMourning, flurries and hits McMourning several times, but due to hard to wound, never for more than two dmg. McMourning stones some of the dmg and heals most of it back after he Rancid Transplants Perdita and is back in the middle of my crew again. Rogue Necro does 5dmg to my Monster Hunter and poisons him. Nino picks off the totem. Santiago removes injured and poison from Perdita and gives her some focus.

This is where things start to go bad fast. My crew doesn't do enough dmg to take out McMourning, which is kind of annoying, as he has been in the middle of all my beaters for a while now. McMourning kills Perdita and Santiago, but is in return put down by Frank. Both my Monster Hunters die, and so does really my chances of scoring anything meaningful as well. I cannot even score Hold Up Their Forces due to the Nephilim being insignificant.

Frank picks off the Carrion Emissary, but I cannot manage to place enough Scheme Markers on the centreline, nor any additional bombs on my opponent's side of the table. In the end, he wins 5-1

This may sound bitter after having lost 1-5, but I am not sure how Family is supposed to work right now. This isn't something I suddenly realised after losing yesterday, but something that has been on the mind of both the players for quite a while, seeing as both of us play Guild. Perdita and her Family have been our most played crew by far, and they haven't really impressed us at all. Whoever plays them tend to lose big. There are several grit abilities in the crew, but no way to control them by turning them on now that Shotgun Wedding and Amina is gone, there is no card draw at all outside of Pass Tokens and Hero's Gamble, an ability that triggers off number of models in the crew, and doesn't really have anything to do with the Family keyword per se.

There is also no ruthless in the entire Family, which means that Monster Hunters are horribly afraid of monsters, and that the entire crew has yet another thing they need to spend cards on, on top of no card draw and seemingly everyone having a 5+/6+ free action they need to get off.

In my group, I have been advocating some changes to how Family work to make them synergise more with each other. I felt I had this combo piece when Shotgun Wedding allowed Abuela to hire Amina into the crew due to her anti-charge bubble, obey and her turning on grit. Admittedly, it felt weird that an Arcanist piece provided more synergy than a Family piece, but it was a workaround. I would love to see Abuela get an ability like Matriarch, where she turned on grit abilities for friendly Family members in an aura. Perdita should also have some of her abilities synergise more with Family members I think. As it is now, she is probably best in a multi-master crew with few models due to how Hero's Gamble and Tough as Nails work.

Lucius vs Molly

My Lucius list:

Lucius
The Scribe
Agent 46, Lead Lined Coat - 11
Doppleganger - 8
Investigator - 7
Lawyer - 6
Rifleman - 7
Rifleman - 7
Cache - 4

Molly list:
Molly
Necrotic Machine
Archie, Grave Spirit's Touch - 11
Phillip and the Nanny - 8
Grave Golem, Killer Instinct - 12
The Forgotten Marshal - 7
Rabble Riser - 6
Cache - 2 (Should have been 6, but my opponent thought you had to pay for your totem. I think he also paid an extra SS for the Grave Golem)

Strategy: Corrupted Idols
Schemes: I had Claim Jump on the Investigator and Breakthrough. My opponent had Claim Jump and Power Ritual.

After deployment, the board looked like this. The large terrain piece on the left side of my deployment zone is severe, so I decided to stay away from it. This may have been a mistake, seeing as the Idols might suddenly appear on the other side of the board, but I felt somewhat confident in my considerable firepower being enough to pick off any scheme runners moving toward that side of the board.

My opponent makes a mistake here and moves his Grave Golem cautiously forward. I respond by pushing and shuffling with scheme markers and Lucius and suddenly have all my four rifles (Riflemen, Dopple and Agent) in range, two of them even not having LoS to Molly. The Grave Golem goes down without managing to get out any Corpse Markers and I have a huge advantage early. Archie moves into position to jump onto Lucius.

I realise that I cannot actually prevent Archie from getting into Lucius without moving out so that Molly can see me, so I decide to keep him there and hope that Serene Countenance and soulstones will be enough for him to survive for a while. Worst case scenario, I can shoot into combat with Riflemen and take off a few wounds of Archie. Agent 46 steals Archie's fist and charges Phillip, but back to back 13s saves him and his Nanny from taking any dmg. His Rabble Riser pushes the Idol to my side of the board and charges a Rifleman. I pick off the Rabble Riser and manage to push the Idol back to his side of the board. The Investigator does some shenanigans with a corpse maker and pushes out of combat and walks to the middle to Claim Jump.

Turn 3, I gun down Molly and my opponent concedes. I have almost full board control and can more or less score the points I want while preventing him from scoring.

Thoughts on the crews:

GUILD:

Lucius: Lucius seems like a solid master. He has a great toolbox for controlling the pace of the game and to apply pressure where needed. I am still not convinced how useful he is commanding non-elites, as he has to pass an additional test without any card draw, but at least it is an option. Molly dictated his placement in this game a lot, but it worked out OK-ish.

Agent 46: Still the be-all and end-all of actual combat capability in the Elite crew. His Inhuman Physiology makes him Inhumanly strong (sorry), but I also feel like he is desperately needed at all times for this crew to actually accomplish what they are trying to do.

The Scribe: I misplayed the Scribe a bit this game. I should have been playing him closer to Lucius to pull him out of combat. I like him as a toolbox totem and think he is elegantly designed for what he is.

Doppleganger: My first time playing with him. Copying guns and shooting at people with stat 7 or charging with Agent 46s Twirling Blades was fun. As many other things in the Elite list, the doppleganger is a toolbox and often have the right tool for the job.

Investigator: Investigator is also really good at what she does. I seldom manage to get her to attack in any meaningful way, but often use her for card draw, pushes, discarding opponent's cards and running schemes. She is great at all those things.

Lawyer: I really like how the Lawyers play. Tools for the job just makes them so much fun to use. You often have to make a choice of whether to activate them when you have the right card on top of your dicard pile. As all the other elite models they are heavily reliant on actually having their beater in play to obey.

Riflemen: I mainly brought these guys to shoot, and for the two mimics to copy their weapons. That worked out really well, but they also provided my crew with some additional soulstones due to their ability to pick up corpse markers, as well as some additional dmg against charging enemies. I am still not sure if they actually fit in this crew, but they provide a deadly firebase and a lot of ranged threats, especially for an opponent who only wants to fight in melee. The fact that they ignore friendly fire is also extremely solid.

RESSERS:

Molly: So, Lethe's Caress sure is something. I think changing it to LoS really helped and it is in a much better place now. I managed to hide my combatants behind my opponent's bigger models, which allowed them to actually hit twice. I also had Agent 46 and Dopple as my primary beaters, which could copy other attacks to prevent me from taking dmg. I am not sure how this would work if I instead played something like Perdita and her gunfighter buddies though. With only one attack to choose from, the game would have been almost unwinnable, I think.

Grave Golem: I don't know why he lost his ability to generate corpse markers, but he seems weak now. I was easily able to pick him off turn one, even though he used the totem to try and heal it.

The rest of the crew seemed to work as intended, I especially liked Archie with his leap.

The Malifaux Tattler

In this blog, I want to document my journey as a new and mediocre Malifaux player into a decent one. I find that having a blog to write my thoughts in and to reflect upon the games I have played, is a great help in improving as a player. The name of the blog is, as most of you may have noticed, the name of the Malifaux newspaper, where Nellie Cochrane is the editor.

I am not the greatest hobbyist so the focus will be mostly on the games I play, but I will try to include some painting and modeling, if nothing else to make other people feel better about their own hobby skills.