Even though I am playing catch up, I decided that I would at least get a single game under my belt with Jakob and co. in the Month 1 style.
The first real reason was to write about it.
The second was so that I could do exactly what the first month of #ToMB helps with and that is focusing and learning a bit about the crew box, or in my case the crew and the Kamaitachi.
Now Aaron had already sort of picked himself a crew, I was the one who said to play 40ss (this is what I did with Marcus) but Jakob's box alone doesn't come up to that much.
This meant I was taking a full cache and wasted at least 4 soulstones.
Even if I was taking Hungering Darkness, you would only take about 4 stones worth of upgrades so that model swap doesn't make a difference as Huggy costs zero.
Now Aaron said I could take something else, I however wanted a true "Month 1 game" and he did even offer to drop something from his.
The challenge though seemed interesting, so I went with it.
Aaron hadn't played with his chosen master.
C(we call him Dustin) Hoffman.
His crew had the Mechanical Attendant, watcher, warden, guardian, hunter and a peace keeper, plus a couple of upgrades.
Scheme wise, here is my quick thought breakdown.
- Line in the Sand. Maybe announced this would be easy enough to do, originally I thought Flank deployment would make this a bit more difficult.
- Distract. Usually one of my favourites, but with a low model count, I decided to pass.
- Protect Territory. Actually a solid choice was up for consideration, especially with the Illuminated's staying power
- Plant Explosives. Seemed a solid choice considering that at least 2 models would want together in the centre for Turf War and Hoffman getting dragged about could be the third.
- Power Ritual. With Flank Deployment, this seemed interesting, getting the one in my corner is easy and being able to be only a foot away from where I would need to place another added with a push from the Kamaitachi, I thought I would go for this.
Both Aaron and I revealed Power Ritual, hid another scheme and off we went.
Turn 1
Keeping this turn brief, it saw an Illuminated place a marker in my corner and the other 2 head off for the others, I was outnumbered but I wanted to attempt to stop Aaron placing his.
The Kamaitachi dragged the corner Illuminated to counter the fact it started in the corner and used and Ace to go defensive, getting it back with Ace in the Hole from Lynch.
Lynch wondered forwards a bit and placed a scheme marker.
Aaron Ran the Hunter and Watcher down to one corner, a now nimble Peacekeeper went the other way and the guardian pulled Hoffman about who had the Warden and Attendant following behind.
Turn 2
The Watcher flapping it mechanical wings as hard as possible gets into position on the field to place a marker to start the Power Ritual for Hoffman.
Not alone the huge cat like robot the Hunter pounces into combat with a female Illuminated, slashing at her with mechanical claws but her Darkened, Brilliance filled body withstood the damage and used Brillshaper and her natural regeneration to get herself a second wind and start to fight back.
Lynch found himself in a position he had felt his Illuminated were meant to keep him out of, engaged with the giant shield and flat...wait what? Flatbread* wielding Guardian, maybe this weapon was from Hoffman's lunchbox, either way the Guardian wielded it with such skill.
Rather than use his mystical weasel-like totem to pull him out of danger, he commanded it to help position his Illuminated, he could see the bigger picture.
The Kamaitachi did it's job to show an Illuminated the correct path and tried to use the power of Katanaka's Flame against the Guardian, but it's shield diverted it.
The other corner of the field away from the Hunter and Watcher, Hoffman's biggest piece the Peacekeeper stomped around the corner and surprised an Illuminated.
Due to Hoffman's handy upgrades, the nimble Peacekeeper headed straight into combat with a Flurry.
Again the sheer staying power of it's Brilliance filled body allowed the Illuminated to hang on, maybe another divine force allowing it to dodge a fair few of the Peacekeeper's swipes.
Hoffman fiddled and poked the Guardian, which jolted it to attempt to ram it's shield into Jakob's face.
In the, obviously most manliest of styles and not remotely camp, Lynch squealed and got out of dodge.
The final Illuminated who had done it's job starting Lynch's power ritual headed forwards and attempted to fire off a Brilliance cloud at Hoffman. Unfortunately his attempt was thwarted which meant Jakob had to just do things the old fashion way and start firing off his Hold-Out Pistol with a whole array of different bullets loaded into the chambers of the cylinder.
His flurry of shots only managed to weaken the Guardian however who shielding Hoffman decided that it would show the Kamaitachi the power of natural fire and burnt it's devilish weasel body to a crisp.
The Mechanical attendant decided to catch up seeing that Hoffman was under fire as did the Warden from further across the field, starting to eye up Jakob.
The Weasel's death was a shame but near the cinders of where it once was a small package which Jakob had casually dropped earlier, ticked, buzzed and exploded into a mushroom cloud of poker chips covering Hoffman his guardian and handy attendant.
Turn 3
Like with the female Illuminated previously, the battle against the peacekeeper saw the Illuminated it was fighting regenerate and Brillshaper back to a form that looked almost undamaged.
His claws though were barely enough to even scratch the surface of the giant robot and he was still being held back in helping with Lynch's ritual.
Against the female Illuminated the robotic feline took advantage of it's speed again slashing at her but still failing to best her in combat. Still, Hoffman's plans for a Power Ritual were looking to be far more successful than Jakob's who also was having no chance in winning this Turf War now fighting with only one ally.
Speaking of this, the Illuminated, frustrated with it's inability to shoot and a realisation of the importance of where Jakob had been standing, charged headstrong into the fight attacking the guarded Hoffman from his flank.
Hoffman always with his tricks survived however and put his extremely handy blowtorch to work, decimating the poor Illuminated.
The female Illuminated battled back, pulling the last few bits and pieces of the Hunter apart, readying herself to get back to work but with a Watcher perching ever so close by with other plans.
The tin-birdman leaped from the trees to surprise her, a suicidal move but one for a greater purpose possibly being commanded by Hoffman even while he was under attack.
Things were only going well for the female Illuminated it seemed as another
Flurry of attacks and a twist of fate for the Illuminated it was battling showed the poor minion of Lynch be ripped to shreds, unable to fulfil his role in the Power Ritual or stopping the massive construct which casually walked over the remains of the "work" it had just done.
Lynch again whipped out his pistol, this time the finally gunning down the Guardian and then unloading the remaining bullets at Hoffman crippling him even further.
The ground was still not contested enough for Hoffman to lose control, but Lynch was holding his own.
Always outnumbered, but never outgunned.
Turn 4
There is not much to tell you about the story of the Watcher.
It died knowing that it had succeeded in starting Hoffman's ritual and held it's ground long enough that still even now, the Illuminated could not continue with Lynch's plans just yet.
Lynch with a fresh handful of ammunition loaded up and took Hoffman out of action while also pumping the Mechanical attendant full of lead too.
As the attendant fell to ground like a heap of scrap making a noise like a mechanic dropping their toolbox down some scaffolding, Hoffman's corpse disappeared into the shadows.
The Peacekeeper continued the ritual and still upgraded for speed quickly headed to where his master had fell.
The Warden unloaded his weapons to no avail, only a slice of it's
Restraint Claws managed to mildly cut a piece of material from Jakob's fancy suit.
Turn 5
Finally the female illuminated completed Lynch's ritual and ran as fast as she could to his aid..
Lynch continuing his gun show skills took another victim, besting the Warden in the shootout they had been having only to be surprised by the Peacekeeper who had nimbly crept up behind him and set off a small explosive.
Turn 6
The female Illuminated sprinted towards her master, the terrain was heavy though and though she put one foot in front of the other as fast as humanly (or maybe even inhumanly) possible, it was not enough.
Lynch, shaking with a mixture of excitement from surviving a fight with, so many, vicious constructs that he had never wanted to be in and yet also fear from the fright of the explosive and the sight of his largest opponent yet, fumbled about attempting to reload his Hold-Out Pistol found a harpoon straight through his leg.
Clawing and screaming, he fired some shots into the Peacekeeper as he was being dragged in.
A few panels sustained some damage, but this was nearly enough as it's huge clawed arms tore apart the Kentucky gentleman's suit and flung him into the shadows in which C.Hoffman had also disappeared into the darkness.
Results and thoughts
Hopefully you enjoyed a slightly more thematic battle report, if you translated it into game terms.
Aaron had picked the same schemes as me, but failing to get Plant Explosives early only managed a single victory point from it where as I got three.
We both successfully got our Power Rituals and if I only did take an extra model I may have also got to score points from Turf War too.
Luckily Lynch managed to stop Aaron getting all the points for the strategy and with only 2 turns of Aaron having filled it's requirements the game actually ended in a 6-6 Draw
Both Aaron and I had made some mistakes, his biggest being the Warden, originally deployed to place a scheme marker for Power Ritual forgot too.
This meant not only was it slowed down but Aaron had lost at least one walk with the Peacekeeper as it had to score the points for his side.
I have not noticed Final Debt needed to target things with Brilliance, which probably should've been obvious. The pistol had done a lot of work, but Final Debt could have taken out some models a bit quicker.
Oh also, I never expected Hoffman's Soulstone Torch to have a minimum 3 damage at Ml6.
Going forward.
Well first of all I need more minions so I can actually play 40 soulstones. Dark Debts however would be great for a 35 point game for anyone else starting out light with the crew.
I also need more minions though as right now I have zero diversity and the Illuminated are 7ss each not giving me a huge amount of leeway.
Woke up with a Hand is great and I will take again, Recalled training did get used to attempt to kill Hoffman in a turn and it was close, it was just a shame I had already lost the super weasel and couldn't do his tricks.
Expert Cheater is fun to bluff with and Squeal is great but I think in the future I will only be taking this upgrade if I feel the latter part will highly useful.
Kamaitachi, though dead quick (having only 4 wounds will do that to you) was useful, if I have more minions he will also be able to skulk around at the back better.
Though obviously not as powerful as Hungering Darkness with Lynch, it still adds some interesting dynamics, pushing about what is a fairly slow crew and also being able to dish out some cheeky burning when the opponent thinks the coast is clear.
I guess this leads nicely into the last part of this blog post.
Month 2
Month 2 I get to add $25 to my remaining $20 budget.
The first part of this $45 is $18** (£11) for the pack of Giant Weasels from Otherworld miniatures.
These seem to be the "standard" Kamaitachi proxy, though while we wait for Wyrd to make one, keep your eyes peeled for this
This is a bit of art from Zenit Miniatures, Kenei indiegogo they did for creatures and will obviously do the job too if out before the official Wyrd model.
$27 left to go
What do I want from month 2?
Bar the super weasel's push the crew lacks speed and cheap objective grabbers.
Also if I want to take advantage of
Brilliance with
Final Debt and the +2 damage the Illuminated can get along with all the other small advantages it can bring through out the crew.
This is only a sub-theme however so I don't want to get too tied into it.
The Depleted fill these criteria quite handily, their (0) action push gives them some speed, they're also only 4 soulstones and on top of that they can hand out
Brilliance.
Attacking isn't that reliable with them at only Ml4 and the trigger to hand out
Brilliance also needs a crow.
The guys are tar pits, with both
Hard to Wound and
Hard to Kill and 8wds they have some staying power.
They need it at Df3 which is really poor but they actually want to die, at least amongst the enemy.
Consumed which is on the front of their card means, when they die, they pop, not only dishing out 2 damage to everything (not just enemies) with 2" but also
Brilliance.
Now I like the Depleted, they do tick a few boxes, but with an almost faded pencil in my eyes.
First of all they can get shot off fairly easily and exploding is then a liability, let's take note the push they have is towards models who have
Brilliance which in the early turns will be my own stuff.
They get +1Ml and positive flips with disengaging strikes, but Ml5 isn't really that great on top of the fact, they are not
Wicked and therefore do not get to stick out
Brilliance this way. Sad times.
4 stones for a minion is also good, however, they are
Insignificant so are only really getting some Strategies and not many schemes. Kamaitachi is already one 4 stone minion who is like this, I don't particularly want to fill my crew half way with them.
Lastly,
Brilliance explosions are great but alone it doesn't stick around for long enough, I'm having to wait for my opponent to kill them before my models can take advantage.
The Depleted can give some control over that and Lynch does enjoy activating last, but this is also another small liability I can see appearing.
Depleted will be added to the collection, but finally the reason why not yet.
They're $21 and that would be all I get this month.
Beckoners now, these girls may be 7 soulstones however, they can dish out
Brilliance, keep it around thanks to
The Party Never Ends and all though are not fast themselves can
Lure the enemy which can help a lot.
The Beckoner's
Lure isn't the crazy Ca8 of the Rotten Belles but is a respectable 6 with a built in trigger which allows them to push, potentially speeding them up a little.
A Pleasant Distraction is also a slightly strange angle at solving the problem of being out-activated.
The opponent will still have "activation control" in those games but you can turn off some of the opponents ability to get on with their schemes.
Also 2 models not 3, but $16 is a lot less at this stage
With $11, I could save this but there are 2 models themed to go with Jakob Lynch I can afford.
Mr Graves and Mr Tannen.
Mr Tannen is my choice, Graves is great but I have the beatsticks in the Illuminated right now.
He also has a push which could prove useful but I look at his partner in crime and I feel he gives me a little more at this stage.
First of all 6ss is cheaper than the other models I have bar the Kamaitachi. Tannen has a (0) Tactical Action called
Leave it to Luck which especially at range can be very useful with the right hand giving flipped or played Masks within 6" of him +2 to their value, Tomes also get -2 which has it's applications.
However, +2 to a Lure, Lynch firing a
Coated Bullet with +2 and Illuminated with the
Filled with Stars trigger of their shooting also getting the bonus seems quite handy.
Mr Tannen is also an incredible control piece,
Bore to Tears doesn't add speed to the Lynch crew but can take it from the opponent's. The ability to be able to gain
Chatty also can hold up a lot of plans and is huge protection against
Cursed Object and
Distract, two schemes which the opponent may be tempted to take with such an ability to outnumber the Dark Debts force.
Finally
Cooler, making your opponents have to discard a card to cheat will rip apart their hand very fast and also pushes the fight in the Illuminated's direction even more.
So off to
Element Games it is.
So for the record:
Dark Debts - $40
Giant Weasels - $18
Beckoners - $16
Mr Tannen - $11
Total Spent - $85
Money remaining - $0
Nothing to drag over to next month, Mr Graves in my site due to his synergies with Tannen, but also preparing to be wrong and find I want The Depleted even more.
$85 is approximately £50.50
Dark Debts from Element Games - £22.10
Giant Weasels from Otherworld miniatures - £11***
Beckoners from Element Games - £9.34
Mr Tannen from Element Games - £6.38
Total Spent- £48.82
Money remaining - £1.68
That's it for Volume 2
Hopefully Volume 3 will come with another battle report and maybe even some paint on some models, failing actual paint at least some thought and ideas how I will be painting the rest of the crew and what I will be doing for the basing.
Thanks again for reading. Ciao.
-Ben (@psientologist)
*I realise it's Flatblade, but I had to insert our pointless joke somehow.
**It may be closer to $18.50, so I might have cheated 50 cents. Considering that I am buying 3 models for 1, where there is bound to be cheaper options, I feel justified with this.
***Thank to @daemonkin Rob McCallum for actually sorting me out with a spare weasel of his.
