I missed my gaming clubs game day to go swim in a beautiful lake in the sun…so I signed up for the Wet Coast GT instead! I played 11 games of Malifaux over 2 days…(5 of them were Hardcore :P). Unfortunately, I left my piece of paper with all my game notes on it, and so I’ve had to re-create some of this from memory. Which sucks in some cases because I can’t remember even the Schemes we played!
Reckoning 35ss
My first opponent was Tao and his Molly crew. Tao and I played last at GottaCon many months ago, and I beat him 7-1, because he wasn’t actually playing Malifaux – he was playing “take models off the table”. I was looking forward to a re-match because of all the talk about his incredible gaming prowess…
I took Mei Feng with Seismic Claws and Arcane Reservoir – the first because I never leave home without it and the second to help fuel the Rail Golems need for Tomes. I also took the Rail Golem, Joss with Open Current and Kang. A tight, hard crew for Reckoning.
He tabled me. I lost this one 10-3 or 10-2. He summoned 27ss of models onto the table, including a Rogue Necromancy and a second Hanged. 2 of his models gave other pieces Reactivate, to increase the destructive power of his best pieces.
Reconnoiter 45ss
My second opponent was Nico with his Kirai crew. I took Bodyguard on Kang, because he’s great at that and Frame for Murder on the Emberling. This turned out to be a silly idea, but I won 10-7 anyway.
I took Mei Feng with Seismic Claws and Imbued Energies, 3 Metal Gamin, 3 Rail Workers, Kang and the Emberling.
Reconnoiter is a solid Strategy for me. I have enough tanky models that I can overwhelm most opponents and stop them from getting points from it. If the Scheme pool is good for a swarm crew, then it just works out great for me.
I decided to kite Izamu in the bottom right corner, because I’d sent 2 Workers and a Gamin that way, and there was no way they’d be able to take him and a Hanged down while still holding the quarter. There was enough terrain that way that I could play the hiding game, but he eventually caught up with me. He tried to pull some of my models away from the fight in the top left by eventually moving Izamu into the bottom left corner, but it was too little, too late.
Most of the game was decided in the top left, where I had more than enough models to keep Reconnoiter from Nico.
He left a Night Terror in the top right to hold it for the game, playing down 3ss. Makes me think the December Acolyte would have been a good model to take. I ended up moving Mei up there to stop him claiming that quarter in turn 4 or 5.
The Frame for Murder thing was silly. He only had the one Master/Henchman – Kirai. And she’s a summoning Master, not a killing Master. At turn 4 I flew the Emberling into her face to try to get her to deal with him, but she instead did 2 damage to him and pushed him away so she could go somewhere else.
I got the 10 because Nico conceded the game.
Stake a Claim 50ss
My last opponent for this one-day tournament was Jesse and his Lady Justice crew. I took Mei with Seismic Claws, Arcane Reservoir and Imbued Energies, along with the Rail Golem, the Firestarter, the Emberling and 3 Metal Gamin.
I really love Stake a Claim. Mostly because it never gets flipped for other people, but I’ve played it once or twice and have a good plan for it. Firestarter is good because of Reckless, and the Rail Golem can move a long ways on Locomotion if he needs to. The Emberling is also great for the late game since he moves so quickly.
This game largely revolved around a grove of trees in the middle of the board. It had impassible terrain on both sides of it, with a little bit of open space surrounding it. Enough that with his mostly shooting crew that I didn’t want to let him see me. I broke the seal by moving Mei into the forest, but I Vented Steam to see if he’d move closer and shoot…he didn’t.
The game did finally break when he moved one Guild Hound into my side, trying to Breakthrough, and then charged the Rail Golem with a second one, flipping the Red Joker for damage and destroying the Golem!
I won this game 10-3, even though he had the power in the end. I had completely stopped him from getting Claim Markers on my side of the table, which is huge in this zero-sum Strategy. I had 3VPs for a good Plant Explosives in the middle forest, and 3 VPs for Breakthrough, which is a great Scheme for Emberling/Firestarter combo. I don’t even reveal it, I’m happier having to place that extra Scheme marker.
Conclusion
Tao won the tournament…I think he 10-something’d all of his opponents this day. I got Best Sportsman, which is fun. 🙂 I also won in the raffle a copy of the Gremlin Fate Deck. I don’t really like the art on this one, as it’s really hard to read. I tried to give it to Jamie, but he had a copy already! So now I have a spare and rare Fate Deck in my gaming closet to give away…
Still have the Hardcore tournament and the Story Encounter to write about – later!
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