Extraordinary
ɪkˈstrɔːd(ə)n(ə)ri,ɛk-,ˌɛkstrəˈɔːdɪn(ə)ri/
Adjective
Very unusual or remarkable.
This weekend past (at time of writing) was both the 2015 UK Masters and two single day events (allowing for players not making the second day of Masters have something to join) dubbed the League of Extraordinary Henchman(LoEH). Get it, Masters, Henchman, we're a clever lot us Malifaux players. Rather than having the Arcane Reservoir Podcast be some sort of six hour epic/monster to edit, I thought I'd leave the spotlight of that to the Masters (specifically the Master) and use this old blog to actually post my experiences from the commoners side of things.
Friday
It wouldn't be a tournament report from me if I didn't briefly cover the journey up.
Usual partner in crime Mr Aaron Bailey joined me, we were relying on public transport but rather than a Train straight to Coalville and stay in a cheap Travelodge in Leicester like last year we had a more fun and overall better plan and opportunity.
Good old Timmy Brown. Tim said that he would be driving to LoEH each day as it was roughly an hour and twenty minute drive so not worth the cost of accommodation, it meant that some of the other Black Jokers from around Cambridge area could possibly carpool and worked out well for Mark (Elwood) who unfortunately had to give up his Masters slot and just play LoEH Saturday (not both days).
Some things in life are more important than toy soldiers they tell me.
Along with Tim's gracious offer of driving he offered a very large squashy couch to Aaron and myself and that's what we did, train to London and then to whereTimLives.
Typically as is sod's law that being the most expensive train of the bunch was one where the barriers were all open and no one ever checked us. It doesn't just happen to you.
Oh also, not even a joke South West trains are much nicer than many other services. I'm not claiming they're the best, I'm not on them that often but the trains themselves are so much cleaner, comfortable and just better.
Not much to say about the trip. Aaron turned up about two minutes before our train left Poole. I had a Bento box in King's Cross-which made me happy and it was nice to chill out and catch with Aaron on the way since I had not actually seen him since recording AR+12.
Also not much to say about Friday night bar using all of this section as an excuse to big up Tim for being a top guy and having a nice spacious flat and obviously he's always a pleasure to shoot the shit with.
Aaron falling asleep while we chatted about video games.
Saturday
Let's actually get into some Malifaux and tournament chat.
First off, big shout to Joel Henry for running both events simultaneously and (spoilers) super smoothly. Not that I wouldn't write about a bad weekend or give critique but the weekend was fantastic and the running of it helped that a lot, it was a great start to my 2016 Tournament calendar and has me excited for more to come. Thanks to others like David Brown who sorted extra terrain too, plus whoever else (I wasn't there for set up sorry) but Mr "Clousseau" will get a mention or two later on.
Getting in just in time to register we signed in and were randomly assigned a table number and opponent also being handed a lovely measuring widget and blast marker.
Quickly for those who did not know, LoEH Saturday and Sunday were standard 50ss fixed faction games using the brand new (ooh ahh) GG2016 Schemes.
It was three rounds, which normally isn't my preference (and I do think we should have done four on the Saturday) but this helped for a more relaxed atmosphere. Totally understandable with two events at once and on top of that, possibility for a lot of confusion from the LoEH side and the new schemes.
My opponent for my first game since the UK Nationals was none other than that boy from Barnsley; Josh Fletcher. This event last year Josh and I played on the top table in the last game in an Arcanist off. He took me down and evened our score to a 1-1 at tournaments. We had played Recon the first time we faced and I believe Interference the second time (either way table quarters) and guess what...
- Game 1
- Interference/ Standard Deployment
- Convict Labour
- Hunting Party
- Exhaust their Forces
- Neutralise the Leader
- Catch and Release
This time however unlike our previous encounters Josh would be bringing filthy Neverborn while I kept true to the blue.
I opted not to go for the "obvious" in Ramos, as I hadn't even packed him (or at least the cards) as I'm just not feeling the love for him. My crew ended up being something like:
- Marcus, Arcane Reservoir, Feral Instincts, The Trail of the Gods
- Rogue Necromancy
- Blessed of December, Imbued Energies
- Myranda, Imbued Energies
- Johana
- Malifaux Raptor
- 2 Night Terrors
A bit of an odd list. Night Terrors can score and are great at tying things up for cheap whilst the Raptor can just do the latter. Myranda and the Blessed were in for Hunting Party duty and could be very quick both having access (in a roundabout way) to Leap. The Rogue Necromancy was in for a couple of reasons and honestly was a mistake, first was and extra model for hunting party and second was model that didn't mind holding back.
Josh's list was a virtual Greg Piskosz carbon copy:
- Lilith, upgrades
- Nekima
- Graves
- Doppelganger
- Johan, Retribution's Eye
- Primordial Magic
- 2 Terror Tots
All seems solid, as you'd expect. I was happy to see Tots knowing I'd planned for Hunting Party. I groaned as always at the Doppelganger and my brain wasn't awake enough for the Nekima mini-game but all was fine.
Convict Labour seemed too hard and although over six games at the weekend I didn't take it my mind has changed slightly about it. Hunting Party seemed great, forced Josh to field something small that hopefully the Blessed could hunt down and if there were multiple minions I could kill two birds with one stone, helping get quarters while scoring this. Exhaust their Forces and Catch and Release are two schemes like Distract and Cursed Object before them, I am not keen on. Neutralise the Leader would be my other choice by default but it's nice knowing that I can probably get a single VP with concentration even if the Master gets away. Also this was some of my odd(bad?) logic in having the Necro, it's Ml7, Three-headed, if it get's picked on by the Leader keeping away from the bulk of my force then that's good for me.
I won't be doing a play by play as simply I can't remember that much and there is also six games to cover.
Well I'd like to say that the general thing was that I played a bit like a moron, Josh and I played extremely slowly and however looking back at it all purely as a game that was annoying as a social interaction it was class as Josh is great.
I'm pretty sure like me Josh had not played much if any Malifaux since Nationals and was also tired (surprised he wasn't hungover). I'll admit I was a little gutted to play Josh round 1 as I'm sure we could've had an equally fun but more competitive game later on in the day and I was really hoping for an easy ride.
First idiotic mistake from me was actually in crew selection. The Rogue Necromancy is great but the board wasn't good for it and however I'm a little proud of myself for not taking the Mechanical Rider every game this table full of dense terrain was perfect for it.
I deployed the Necro badly, which was doubly punished as it walked into terrain very slowly and then was trapped by Wicked Vines throughout the game resulting in it doing absolutely nothing.
There were some position the Rogue Necromancy could've shot at stuff if Josh moved a little differently, a low light as such was after some dust had settled a Terror Tot with only two wounds left was in the Rogue's sights, perfect for Hunting Party.
It was 13" away.
Lilith doing her swapping models tricks was annoying but throughout the game it didn't manage to matter too much, Marcus himself was on form taking out the Doppelganger and socking it to Graves who did however become a major tar pit.
Nekima, she was a headache. I can handle her for the most part but she creates a strange mini game of trying to catch her and keep out of (or at least note of) her threat bubble.
As I said, I was tired and hadn't played for so long that this was not a time for this.
By the end of the game I think I had actually not played so bad, I was a portion of my crew down thanks to the Rogue Necromancy but what actually cost me the game was some simple movement with a Night Terror which had travelled to far to come back to my table edge and score a second Interference point.
The key to Josh's victory was Nekima, but in what was a pathetic way for a huge monster to earn it.
Turn 1 Johan almost killed my Johana. Nekima failed to hit or do damage to Johana after resulting in her having to stab herself to make Johana was actually dead.
The third turn Interference point I may've been able to get was scored by Josh thank to Nekima killing...
A Bird.
That also got Josh his second Hunting Party point that I failed to do, as I couldn't quite get to the last Tot.
Loss 2-3
That might be the lowest scoring game I've been involved in at a tournament.
Fun game but a whole lot of fail from me.
Until this point, I had only ever lost first round at Nationals. This weekend I started a new trend, which honestly is somewhat funny but I hope doesn't continue for too long.
Down the tables, I went from four to seven for the following:
- Game 2
- Squatter's Right/ Corner Deployment
- Convict Labour
- Leave your Mark
- Show of Force
- Covert Breakthrough
- Occupy their Turf
My opponent for this round would be Rik Phillips. A really nice guy who was new to the Malifaux scene and I believe the game in general.
I'll admit that him saying this did make me think that it was unlikely I wouldn't leave without the W, however it makes me care that much more about my opponent enjoying themselves as I want the scene to grow and without "fresh blood" especially really nice people like Rik everything is more likely to end up stagnant.
Anyway, that's a whole other barrel of monkeys, the other thing knowing I'd possibly be in for an easier game meant I could be a little bit more experimental with schemes.
In general, I look at Covert Breakthrough and Leave your Mark and the first seems a lot easier.
First off not revealing until the end helps it keep hidden, once you score 1VP from Leave the opponent has direct ways to stop it other than just removing markers, and that way, having models close by, is really quite easy for anyone to do.
Before I continue onto what I took I will also say, the reason I can't remember if Rik is just new to tournaments rather than the game is he was very competent.
A big part of that I think though was having an open conversation during the game.
Not just banter but just being audible about every action, asking questions and just genuinely having good communication.
Most players are fine with this, but I cannot stress enough how this helped.
- Marcus, Arcane Reservoir, Seize the Day, The Trail of the Gods
- Baritone Lola (Cassandra), Practiced Production
- Myranda, Imbued Energies
- Mechanical Rider, Imbued Energies
- Moleman
- Ice Dancer
- Malifaux Raptor
A few things to note in my list.
First off, yes the disgusting PP + Raptor combo, this seemed like some easy points but I planned on going after Leave your Mark as a challenge.
The other was having Imbued Energies on the Mechanical Rider, which I don't always do.
The three single point upgrades were in to go for Show of Force.
Originally, the list had a Silurid, which would also be good to do both Covert Breakthrough and maybe attempt Occupy their Turf. The latter of those I'm not particular keen on, so with my two schemes mostly picked before revealing crews I went for an Icedancer instead. Arguably, she does the same job but I just fancied giving her another go.
Rik's list was roughly:
- Nicodem, upgrades
- Mortimer, an upgrade
- Yin the Pangalan, an upgrade
- Valedictorian
- Rotten Belle
- Crooligan
- 2 Necro Punks
The crew looked very solid, I was surprised the Valedictorian didn't have an upgrade on it as her and Yin flying in as a combo would be very good at pressuring Show of Force even if Rik had not taken it.
I knew the Necro Punks would be solid in this strategy and made me think that Rik had to have gone for one of the backfield marker schemes if not more.
The Crooligan too would be a target; those little kids are very useful in this game too.
Let's get on to the highlights inside the game.
Val flew towards the centre and I sent on Lola very cautiously along with Myranda.
The way the board was Mechanical Rider didn't actually go help with Show of Force but rather go Crooligan hunting and just be a very large distraction.
Sending Lola into the centre was a very different way of using her than I'm used to. Luckily, for me, Val was actually a little busy with the Squatter's Right marker as on my right flank the Necropunks were being slapped about.
Super Marcus, walk 8 and all that good stuff went on the hunt for the punks, managing to take one out in the early turns later the other escaped temporarily and actually stopped me getting the first point for Strategy as the Ice Dancer had slid further than she should have.
The Ice Dancer had initially made an excess scheme marker to start the Practiced Production ball rolling and aided the Moleman who did his job fantastically.
This could not be said about Mech Rider.
On my left flank, I assumed that the Rider could deal with one model but no, the Rider was unable to kill the Crooligan and although I wanted to be a distraction, it meant the horse was tied down by several summoned undead and holding it from taking either marker that side.
Later the Ice Dancer came back and got me some strategy points though needed to go on Leave your Mark duty, as I was fearful the bird in Rik's deployment might not have been able to do it alone.
Luckily, I was wrong and PP scores 6VP again, even if half of that was just being on a model.
Marcus chased down the Necro punk and seeing more undead creeping towards my deployment from the Rider's side Marcus chased down the things leaking through along with a newly summoned Cerberus that had intercepted Yin.
In the end with Yin intercepted and Morty on the backboard, I "showed my force".
We didn't get the last turn in but Rik's Crooligan an early dart from Val scored him all the Strategy point he could get.
Win 8-3
In the end Rik revealed he was aiming for Occupy their turf, which on paper was a logical choice but I explained (as he had seen) how good the Necropunks could be anyway meaning that they are a target, same for the Crooligan.
The other scheme he had gone for was Covert Breakthrough and it also was not a bad shout, I did actually have to discard a marker and if my scary interceptors Marcus and Myranda (or Cerberus) didn't do that roll, he may have gotten the points.
Overall, a very fun game, top bloke and he said that he'd learnt a lot which honestly is the best I can hope to do. I hope that we will see Rik on the tournament scene some more.
Back up to almost where I started for the third and final round of the day to play the following:
- Game 3
- Head Hunter/ Standard Deployment
- Convict Labour
- Leave your Mark
- Exhaust their Forces
- Frame for Murder
- Undercover Entourage
My last for the day would be Andreas Frisch a top lad who plays Malifaux in the London scene.
He would be playing Outcasts and what turned out to be Leveticus (I thought he was gone), I took something like the following:
- Marcus, Arcane Reservoir, Seize the Day, The Trail of the Gods
- Baritone Lola (Cassandra), Practiced Production
- Myranda, Imbued Energies
- Big Jake, Imbued Energies
- Howard Langston, Imbued Energies
- Performer
- Malifaux Raptor
One notable thing in my list is Big Jake. I've said since I first saw him that I believe he has some potential (especially in the table quarters strategies) and the final round of the day seemed like a good excuse to bust my proxy out.
Big Jake has "Don't Mind Me" which is quite useful in HH and although he is a stone more than a Performer, he has some fighting potential and the turn 5 summoning tricks.
The other thing I thought I would try was assuming I'd want him to die prior to Turn 5, "cracking" an Imbued Energies for four cards at the same time could be a nice bonus along with the obvious potential that a third AP in one could have if I didn't save it.
Andreas took a combination something like:
- Leveticus
- Hans
- Hannah
- Strongarm Suit
- Friekorps Trapper
- 2 Hollow Waifs
Scheme wise I decided the Undercover Entourage was the way to go; I wasn't sure which model would be better as the target; Marcus or Lola, in the end I picked Lola as typically, Masters have a larger target on their head and Marcus wanted to fight.
The plan either way was to have them down either flank to both look like decent picks for the scheme.
The second choice could've been Leave your Mark but with two snipers and other models Andreas would likely keep backfield (as well as Leve teleporting) I opted to leave that and go for Frame for Murder on one of my favourite targets; Howard Langston.
Howard has to be dealt with and it this kind of strategy he can happily kill a model or two before going down.
This game was hilarious, a heavy hitting affair.
Andreas started by one shotting my Performer in the first turn. Howard who busted Fast in the first turn took out Hannah in two hits (which was kind of an oopsie).
Later Myranda was taken to a single wound by Leveticus forcing an "emergency Shape Change" where I believe the Cerberus and Marcus both killed Waif's in single attacks.
More importantly Howard was killed in a strike or two (no more because that's just how this game was) but because he had killed Hannah too efficiently it was only 2VP for me.
Still with Howard trading up a little and locking Victory Points in the back and forth was in my favour.
Marcus took out Hans and tussled with a Waif, but not before the sharp shooting Outcast took down Lola before she could "charm" anyone.
Typically as the game moved on Marcus was in a far better position for Undercover Entourage but that's just how it goes.
Jake had held back to grab the Perfomers head and between him, the speed of Marcus and a leaping Cat I was able to score the Strategy every turn and deny Andreas getting it for more than half.
I did make a key error in this game, well multiple but something that was truly a brain-fart and *spoilers* it wouldn't be the only time this weekend.
Big Jake's Consult the Ancestors means he can actually kill himself off to set up his Turn 5 summoning and with the ability to still Interact on arrival and Don't Mind Me he would be good to help lock up points.
The issue was though he takes two damage each Consult and has six wounds meaning to die on turn four you need to skip Consulting for a single turn. Simple.
Issue was somewhere along the line I skipped a turn of it and then the following forgetting to set up death on turn four.
At this point, he was actually amongst the Trapper and Strongarm but Andreas smartly did not aim attacks towards the Big man.
During turn, four Leveticus placed a marker and by the end of the turn, Andreas finally revealed one of his schemes. Leave your Mark.
At this point, I knew he could only get 2VP for it and match my Frame for Murder, but I knew I was unable to get my second scheme and wondered what his may be.
Turn 5 finished and the pesky Raptor held of Andreas' revealed scheme.
As we wrapped up in turned out that one of Andreas' untouched models was the "sucker", it was the Strongarm which had cleared it's area almost too efficiently.
With us, both getting zero for our second scheme it was a low scoring game that went in my favour thanks to collecting heads.
Win 6-3
In the end, I had finished on two wins and a loss with a respectable +7 victory point differential but although that was the top of the 2-1's a couple of 2-0-1's would keep me off an early year podium.
The quest still goes on.
In the end Mark Elwood managed to take the event down with Josh (my first round opponent) coming very close to taking down LoEH1 again with a second place finish and Hutch taking the final podium position.
Saturday Evening
Here I am Italicising (is that the right word?) as a warning for this section as it's nothing to do with Malifaux as a game.
Thanks to Maria Wieland for organising a meal for so many of us to get together. Last year's arranged by Joel was one of 2015's highlights for me and I'm happy to say that I will definitely look back on this with as much joy.
The Turkish Restaurant we all went in didn't have the advantage of space to get up so I made a conscious decision to not sit with Aaron or actually the "Black Jokers" as I speak to them and see them more than the rest of the scene.
It's not as if I sat with strangers though as I decided to follow Connor Barker (along with James Doxey) and park myself between him and Conor Rooney.
This worked out well as Craig Johnson sat in front of Connor and Josh Fletcher and eventually Martin Wodehouse joined us too.
With Rob, Pip, Ant, Jimmy and Joel all within easy shouting distance too this made for a good group to be amongst, a group of people I talk to in varying levels in and around the scene.
Plenty of laughs were had, interesting stories from Josh's Rugby days, Craig trying to eat, well everything, then being enraged by the fact my desert looked like a bigger portion.
Lots of topics some of which I may never repeat but I'd like to thank everyone there that night, especially those named above as it put a very positive spin on a start to 2016.
Sunday
Eight players from the Master's were eliminated. One re-entered as one (Rob Smith) was too worse for wear to play day two. This meant the second day of LoEH would be a tougher field.
I am sure karma will not get me for trolling the Harrogate boys who were eliminated.
My opponent for round one would be. Paul Butler.
Yeah one of those Harrogate lads which were in Masters. Luckily, I have a fair amount of experience against Paul's favourite faction (Guild) but this would be the first time we'd meet across a three by three.
- Game 1
- Turf War/ Flank Deployment
- Convict Labour
- Show of Force
- Exhaust their Forces
- Detonate the Charges
- Set Up
I still hadn't taken Convict Labour but I liked Show of Force and Set Up seemed like it would be the other choice over Detonate the Charges.
I left the Beast Master in the case for this game; it was time for my favourite Master of Malifaux:
- Mei Feng, Arcane Reservoir, Seismic Claws, Vapormancy
- Baritone Lola (Cassandra), Practiced Production
- Kang, Imbued Energies
- Myranda, Imbued Energies
- Mechanical Rider, Imbued Energies
- Arcane Effigy
The list I took was very small, possibly too much but it all had it's place.
I was going to fight very hard for Turf, not only easily getting the full VP unless things went very wrong but also get the full points for Show of Force even if Paul had taken a fair amount of upgrades too.
The amount of fight I could have in the centre would also mean that I could do a good job denying Turf War if things went right.
Mei Feng is my preferred master for this Strategy as Vent Steam is good and it's at it's best against Guild (in general) so what would she be up against?:
- Lucas McCabe, upgrades
- Luna
- 2 Hounds (Paul says it should've been 3, oops)
- Brutal Emissary
- Abuela Ortega
- Francisco Ortega
- Brutal Effigy (maybe not?)
Immediately I was trying to figure what tricks Paul would be pulling with the Emissary and I was in for a treat of a lesson. With Luna and Hounds, I suspected Paul had gone for one or both of the exploding marker schemes but also possibly Exhaust. Show of Force was also a possibility but my crew may have made him think twice about taking it 3 vs 4 with mine being arguably a lot more offensive doesn't make it seem the best, but who knew, that's half the fun of GG2016.
During the first turn I played very cautiously, both of us did activations which were virtually passes, feeling each other out, I was worried the Emissary would do something I forgot and even checked his card when moving my models in.
McCabe gave a dog reactivate and him and the Emissary moved some upgrades around. All kind of expected.
Then something I hadn't thought about happened.
The Emissary put the hound with reactivate in a box; in fact, Abuela later did her Obey type action to get him to box the other.
The dog collector was here.
What this meant is that both hounds, both of which had been given reactivate would pop out the box at the same time after everything had gone and they could place and remove plenty of markers.
At this point, I had been spreading markers everywhere with Practiced Production, some passive movement and the Rider's shooting.
I was showing my hand that scheme markers mattered to me and I was worried that these hounds could ruin my plans.
As expected Show of Force was on lock, however my second scheme, which was Set Up, was not.
I had many targets and although I toyed with the idea of putting it on Franc, I knew I wanted him dead fast, which thankfully a Cerberus shaped Myranda sorted for me.
Set Up though, was on the Emissary. The Emissary barely walked into the Turf and in fact moved away.
Paul decided to use a fun factor of GG2016. Bluffing.
He acted confused at what my second scheme was, double checking the range that Detonate the Charges had to be in (which at this stage would've been easier with Mech Rider pooping spiders) and didn't even mention Set Up.
His hounds helped him score the full three for his Charges even though Mei did try to stop this by putting down a dog before it got to go once, let alone a second time.
Eventually the Rider had to gun it out of the Turf to chase down the Emissary but between it and PP with Spiders, I was eventually able to Set Up the Brutal one for the full 3VP.
Unfortunately, for me I was unable to prevent Paul from getting any early VP for Turf War and although his numbers were dwindling, the game at this point was down to what he had taken as his second scheme.
And there it was, three more markers removed and Set Up was revealed by the man who acted as if he didn't know I had it.
Kang was his target and had fallen into the trap.
And time was up...
It's a shame we couldn't get more turns in as I was guaranteed to get my third Show of Force point that would make the game a draw and, even according to Paul himself, the best he could hope for after two turns was a draw. I had summoning and the killing potential to stop that final vital Turf War point (let's also not forget Kang and Mei's ability to push models) but time was my enemy here.
Loss 7-8
Still I couldn't be too sad knowing that if maybe I woke up quicker I could've got the win. I by no means think it was Paul's fault, more that of Sunday morning.
Typically, though I had to have another good player round one and I had lost another first round scaring me about what the year ahead will bring.
Next across the table was a nice surprise. Clousseau, the Henchman, David Brown.
David was on Arcanists this event and I had seen he played Rasputina earlier but did not know what he had (I suspect all they toys)
- Game 2
- Stake A Claim/ Close Deployment
- Convict Labour
- Hunting Party
- Take Prisoner
- Covert Breakthrough
- Frame for Murder
Time to do some leaping:
- Marcus, Arcane Reservoir, Feral Instincts, The Trail of the Gods
- 2 Silurids
- Blessed of December, Imbued Energies
- Myranda, Imbued Energies
- Baritone Lola (Cassandra), Practiced Production
- Moleman
I wanted a lot of Leap so I thought why not bring out the freshly painted Blessed again.
Practiced Production was probably not as needed but it did mean that if only a single Silurid could get the backfield it could do the work alone.
Covert Breakthrough seemed too obvious a choice not to take and the trio of models that could score Hunting Party had me set unless Clousseau had something especially good at hiding. Luckily for me, he didn't:
- Rasputina, upgrades
- Wendigo
- Snowstorm
- Ice Golem
- December Acolyte
- 2 Ice Gamin
With those three Ice Gamin, my mind was set on taking Hunting Party although it could prove painful. Snowstorm and the Ice Golem deployed to Rasputina's flanks but not on the far edges were two very scary models to see, especially in Close.
I would have to use the speed my list had and fight the big guys on my terms where possible.
The game started with a whimper as the Acolyte who only had a clear shot on Myranda failed to do much but my Blessed leapt on him and done equally as little.
In a sense, this was a blessing in disguise, as I could not score Hunting Party on turn 1 anyhow.
In addition, some turn 1 not scoring included Marcus actually gaining all three abilities from The Trail of the Gods to simply take out the Wendigo.
The reasoning for this was it was the only thing between my Silurid duo and Moleman and Clousseau's deployment.
I also feared the worst for my height one Mole so thought best to get the totem out of the way.
Rasputina was very central and I had spread my crew to the sides, anything that ever could be in range was far enough away from its allies to have blasts matter.
One target the Ice blue team got was Myranda that Snowstorm headed to engage. The choice of fight Snowstorm picked did telegraph the possibility of Frame for Murder. It wouldn't matter though as with it's attack taking Myranda to quite low on wounds she would not want to kill the spirit in her henchman form just to be blown up.
In the end, the summoned Cerberus appeared but didn't immediately get the job done.
Another round of fighting got the Cerberus to a couple of wounds meaning it's Maul would bring some mutual annihilation but score David 2VP.
However, while this happened Marcus decided to fight a bigger opponent as Lola stayed at the back intercepting Ice Gamin, which almost denied me a point for Strategy.
Speaking of Strategy points, this was more than locked up. To no one's surprise the pair of Silurids, Moleman and eventually the victorious Blessed were too much for Clousseau to stop.
Rasputina got a chance to blast the Blessed of the table and even have a go at Marcus but it was all for nought.
With Lola clearing away the Gamin along Practiced Production and the bouncy beasts placing all the types of markers I could use my full slew of victory points were locked up.
Being a joker strategy this means I had won but the Gamin did manage to finish the job for another 3VP.
Win 10-5
It was a decent game if a little one-sided. I could sit here and write how it was pure skill but the game did really boil down to who had the Silurids and who didn't.
I was thankful to get to play David and look forward to (more of) his events.
Final round of the weekend and another first for me.
Aaron Bailey.
Obviously not my first game against him but we have never faced off at a tournament in the two years of events we've attended.
- Game 3
- Reconnoiter/ Standard Deployment
- Convict Labour
- Exhaust their Forces
- Take Prisoner
- Neutralise the Leader
- Public Demonstration
Again, like Interference on the Saturday I'd still leave Ramos in my case, I like winning but I just don't find him fun. Also being against someone I suspected I'd have a faster paced game with I'd try some stuff:
- Marcus, Arcane Reservoir, Seize the Day, The Trail of the Gods
- Dawn Serpent
- Big Jake, Imbued Energies
- Myranda, Imbued Energies
- 2 Canine Remains
- 2 Night Terrors
- Moleman
It seemed as after having some fun with Big Jake the day before I'd try him in the Strategy where he is stronger. I'd also decided to take the Dawn Serpent to go for Public Demonstration.
In combination with the two Night Terrors, which I’d be taking anyway, they equated to exactly 15ss and I knew Aaron would take more things to stand by than just his master.
Aaron pondered for a while, I believe considering Sonnia but he just ended up going for his almost preset build:
- Perdita Ortega, upgrades
- Francisco Ortega, Wade In
- Abuela Ortega
- Nino Ortega
- Enslaved Nephilm
- Brutal Effigy
- 2 Austringers
Well Aaron had taken most of the Ortega family so plenty of Public Demo targets.
Looking back, I wonder if rushing at Nino would be a good idea, I didn't do this and I think him being so far back at the board makes this too obvious a telegraph along with the fact that it may take more time and therefore reduce the chances my three picks are all alive.
For a game where the two opponents had played each other a lot, it was one of many mistakes and total brain farts.
I had taken Neutralise the Leader as I felt it helped both schemes. The Dawn Serpent had a reason to be involved in the action to score Public Demo and was one of my most offensive pieces.
However, this big scrum in the centre, which also put Aaron in a bad position for scoring Strategy, put him in what must have been decision paralysis.
In the end, the Dawn Serpent was obviously important as Myranda and Marcus using Alpha put their resources into keeping the Serpent around.
However Aaron, barely reading the schemes and misunderstood Public Demonstration anyway.
All his efforts, which did eventually pay off, meant I still got 2VP thanks to the also almost dead Night Terrors being in the right positions.
I'm sure if Aaron understood the scheme I would've only got 1VP, but the Serpent being alive rather than the batmen would maybe help my other.
Who knows? If and buts.
The next point was that I could sense Aaron felt a little funny about Marcus holding back but I had a perfectly good Alpha Strike ready for Perdi.
Franc was dead and I could get in both Marcus with multiple attacks and the still three-headed Cerberus.
Marcus charged did nothing. Accomplice. Cerberus also does nothing. Great.
I suspected I could at least achieve 1VP for Neutralise.
That 1VP was another mistake made by Aaron this time. I should've kept Marcus back, as in the end he died and Aaron revealed Neutralise the Leader. The issue here? He never declared it at the half wounds point.
Marcus was still most likely dead, but once I had hit that point I assumed keeping Marcus alive wasn't as much of a priority as it turned out to be.
This ruckus in the centre ended up working out a lot better for Aaron. I may've got 2VP for a scheme but I was getting 0 for the other and Aaron had 3 locked down.
His other scheme was Convict Labour, which at first I was able to start denying but eventually my numbers went down as the remaining Ortegas cleared out the menagerie I had hired.
The ruckus had also stopped me scoring a point for Recon and then I made a boo-boo.
Somewhere along the line, I had thought we were a turn ahead.
I didn't make the mistake of forgetting to have Big Jake Consult the Ancestors my issue was he decided to chat with them too much.
Jake killed himself turn 3 (me thinking it was 4) meaning two turns he could've got me Strategy points he didn't.
In the end, this game was a shambles compared to what I'm used to having and although I was a little annoyed with Aaron's scheme mistakes I was more annoyed at my own bone headedness.
Loss 3-7
My cascade of cock-ups knocked my potential Victory points like dominoes. A game, which I was favoured to win, was lost and I ended up with a very mediocre 16th place.
However, a win would've once again got me fifth at best, as there were some draws.
To no one's surprise, Masters players filled the podium.
Martin Wodehouse had taken third. My first round opponent Paul had taken second (am I the silver kingmaker?) and James Doxey took the title.
Wrap Up
A sour note to leave on gaming wise for me, but overall I still had a fantastic weekend.
Learned a lot about the GG2016 schemes and was looking forward to more Malifaux.
We had a new Master, which I got to interview on the upcoming Arcane Reservoir +15 and overall I think this was the best start (results aside) I could hope for in 2016.
Thanks again to Joel for running a solid pair of events. Everyone I played, everyone at the meal and basically, anyone I interacted with over the weekend.
Special thanks to Tim Brown for looking after Aaron and me, giving us somewhere to stay and a way to get about.
Hope you enjoyed this very rough tournament report. I hope to get back to writing more here and the goal is still a minimum of a blog a fortnight (not including #MFXTOP).
Thanks for reading.
- Ben (@Psientologist)
