AR SWAG

Daffcon Story Encounter: The Strategies

Daffcon Story Strategies

The following are the strategies used at the story encounter ran at Daffcon by Martin Wodehouse (@MartinWodehouse) and Luke Cocksedge (@Shakes1066).

Give them a go, send them some tweets, enjoy.

“WHERE’S JIMMY?”

Both crews are in the Slums, one has been having a night on the town, the other is looking for a missing friend that was last seen in the area. It’s starting to get light and a blood curdling scream pierces the night, putting everyone on instant alert and sobering up those who were a little the worse for wear. A terrified man’s voice with a strong eastern European accent echoes through the streets: “Moroi! Moroi! Flee for your lives!”

At this point, the protagonists realise that they are not alone…

SETUP

Determine which player will be the Attacker and which will be the Defender, in any agreeable manner. Before deploying crews, the Attacker places two 30mm ‘Jimmy?’ Markers anywhere on the Defender’s Half of the table. Then, the Defender places two ‘Jimmy?’ Markers anywhere on the table. Each ‘Jimmy?’ Marker must be marked to represent one of the four suits: Rams, Crows, Tomes and Masks. The Defender secretly flips a card and notes its suit (reflipping any jokers).

ATTACKER VICTORY

Any model may take a (1) Interact Action while in base contact with a ‘Jimmy?’ Marker to place the ‘Jimmy?’ Marker on the model’s stat card. If the model leaves play, place the Marker in base contact with it before removing it. At the end of the game, if the ‘Jimmy?’ Marker with the noted suit is on the stat card of an Attacking model or in the Attacker’s Deployment Zone, the Attacker scores 4VP.

DEFENDER VICTORY

The Defender has one of the following victory conditions, depending on the suit of the card flipped to determine the Strategy:

Crows: They killed him! Slaughter them all! The Defender earns 1VP at the end of every Turn after the first in which the Defender killed or sacrificed two or more enemy models. At the end of every Turn after the first,, the Defender earns 1VP if the Attacker has no models left in play. No more that 1VP may be earned per Turn from this Strategy.

Rams: Protect Jimmy’s body! At the end of the game, score 4VP if the noted ‘Jimmy?’ Marker is on the table with at least two friendly models within 2” of it.

Tomes: Which one’s Jimmy? Check them all! At the end of the game, score 1VP for every ‘Jimmy?’ Marker not carried by an attacking model.

Masks: Bring back his body! The Defender may reveal which suit was flipped at any time. At the start of every Turn after the first, score 1VP if the noted ‘Jimmy?’ Marker is on the stat card of a Defending model, so long as the suit has been revealed.

“BRING THE DOCTOR TO ME!”

They don’t know why they've got to take this strange man to the old ironworks at Carfax but they are compelled to do so. He speaks to himself, he stops every thirty seconds to try and eat spiders, insects or other living things he’s spotted, and he smells funny. But, a job’s a job right? Someone else has got other ideas though…

SETUP

Determine which player will be the Attacker and which will be the Defender, in any agreeable manner. After all models have been deployed, the Attacker places a 30mm ‘Dr Noll’ Marker in her Deployment Zone.

SPECIAL

The ‘Dr Noll’ Marker ignores all game effects, except the following:

1. A model in base contact with ‘Dr Noll’ may take a (1) Interact –“Oooh Spider!” with it to move it 5” in any direction.

2. The Marker can be targeted by Attack Actions that do Dg and has the following Stats:

Df 6  Wp 6  Wd 10 Ht 2

3. The Marker can be targeted by Tactical Actions that allow it to make Healing Flips.

ATTACKER VICTORY

The Attacker earns 4VP if ‘Dr Noll’ is in the Defender’s Half of the table at the end of the game.

DEFENDER VICTORY

Delay him! The Defender earns 4VP at the end of the game if ‘Dr Noll’ is on the Attacker’s half of the table.

SUMMON THE BLOOD

Something ancient, powerful and utterly evil has been scheming in the darkness and now stands ready to reveal itself. The Vampyre threatens all living things and has to be thwarted. Those it has bound in thrall to its service though, will stop at nothing to help it achieve its aim.

SETUP

Determine which player will be the Attacker and which will be the Defender, in any agreeable manner. Place a 50mm ‘Sarcophagus’ Marker in the centre of the table. The ‘Sarcophagus’ is Ht 5, blocking, impassable terrain. While within 2” of the ‘Sarcophagus’, models receive +2 Ca to all Ca Actions.

ATTACKER VICTORY

At the end of every Turn after the first, the Attacker earns 1VP if she has at least one Scheme Marker in base contact with the ‘Sarcophagus’, then remove all of the Attacker’s Scheme Markers in base contact with the ‘Sarcophagus’.

DEFENDER VICTORY

Guardians. At the end of every Turn after the first, the Defender earns 1VP if she has at least two non-Peon models within 2” of the ‘Sarcophagus’.

SPECIAL

At the end of any turn when the total number of VP scored from the Strategy equals 4 or more, pause the game and ask the organiser for the Final Page.

THE FINAL PAGE

The power is mine! Now you will all feel my wrath!

The Vampyre Lamashtu is summoned to the table. This only happens once during the game.

Whichever player lost the Initiative that turn places Lamashtu in base contact with (or as close as possible to) the ‘Sarcohpagus’ Marker and then removes the ‘Sarcophagus’ Marker.

From now on, all previous victory conditions for the Strategy are frozen and no more points can be gained from them. For the rest of the game, players can only earn the following Strategy VP: If Lamashtu is reduced to half wounds or less by a player, they gain 1VP. If Lamashtu is killed, the player that killed her gains 1VP. With VPs already accrued, no player may score more than 4VP from the Strategies during the game. VPs from Schemes continue to be accrued as normal.

Lamashtu has the following stats:
Df 5  Wp 6  Wd 10  Wk 6  Cg 9  Ht 2 Base Size 50mm

ABILITIES

Preternatural Speed: This model has 1 additional General AP. After Initiative is determined, this model activates before any other. This model is immune to Slow and Paralysed. If engaged, it attacks whichever model is closest to it (if two or more models are equidistant from Lamashtu, the player that won Initiative determines her target randomly, as though shooting into an engagement). If unengaged, it charges the closest model. If there are no models within charge range, it will move as fast as it can towards the nearest model and attack it if possible. Whenever cards are flipped they are done so by the opposite crew to the one this model is interacting with and may not be cheated. This activation does not count towards either crew and the turn continues as normal after this model has activated.

Flight: This model is immune to falling damage and may ignore any terrain or models when moving.

Black Blood: All models without Black Blood within (P)1 suffer 1 damage when this model suffers damage.

Terrifying (All) 13: Enemy models must pass a TN 13 Horror Duel if they end a Walk Action within this model’s engagement range or target this model with an Action.

Armour +1: Reduce all damage suffered by this model by +1 to a minimum of 1

Impossible to Wound: Damage Flips against this model receive  and may not be cheated.

Very Hard to Kill: If this model has 2 or more wounds left, it cannot have its wounds reduced below 1. This Ability cannot be ignored.

Curse of the Vampyre: When targeted by an Exorcist, Relic Hammer or the Burning Condition, this model suffers +2 Dg

ATTACK ACTIONS

(1)Ancient Talons (Ml 6(MASK)  / Rst: Df / Rg: 1”(CLOSE) ): Target suffers 3/5/6 damage. This Action gains + to the Attack Flip.

 (MASK)(CROW) Drain: After Succeeding, target must discard 2 cards or 2 Soulstones or be killed. This model makes a 1/2/3 Healing flip.

Daffcon Story Encounter: The Background

Malifaux Story Encounter Daffcon 2016

The following is the story that Martin Wodehouse (@MartinWodehouse) wrote for the story encounter that he and Luke Cocksedge (@Shakes1066) ran at Daffcon.

Have a read, send them a tweet, enjoy.

Chapter One: The Stranger

Tepes Road, one of the many overcrowded, filthy and generally unpleasant places to be in the slums Malifaux. Never the less, its proximity to Southgate Station makes it a popular hangout for smugglers and criminals needing a quick exit from the city. The numerous makeshift bars and brothels along its length are popular   despite the conditions and if you have ‘business’ to run without too much Guild    interference, then the primarily eastern European immigrant population have no love for authority.

The rain had been falling constantly for 6 days now, a solid downpour that      threatened to overwhelm the city’s sewer network. Even the ubiquitous rats had taken shelter against the ceaseless fall of water that ran, in small torrents, from every rooftop and gutter to form large puddles in the detritus filled streets below.

On the highest rooftop of Tepes Road, hidden in part by the dark of the New Moon and also by its absolute stillness, akin to that of a gargoyle, a large figure crouched, seemingly unperturbed by the rain. It surveyed the street below, watching the      occasional scurrying figure, futilely attempting to dodge the raindrops as it went from a doorway to a bar, a brothel or back from one. Weak greenish yellow light from the few gas lampposts still working, cast eerie shadows from the movement, seemingly distorting the owners of the shadows beyond all recognition of how they should appear. No one seemed disturbed by this. After all, this was Malifaux, here the strange was commonplace.

And then the rain stopped. No sooner had the last drop landed when a thick mist began to weave its way through the streets, almost as if the rain had been holding it in check and now, unfettered, it claimed the roads and pavements for its own. With feline grace, the rooftop figure leapt from its perch into the street some forty feet  below, barely making a sound as it vanished into the mist.

Chapter Two: The Servant

Dr Richard Noll lay on his cot, staring at the ceiling and wandering what the spider, crawling along its cold dark brickwork, would taste like.

Of course he had tasted spiders before, back Earthside, when he had first received enlightenment. Here though everything was different, the same… but yet not the same. This place had power, he could sense it. In time, if he performed his duties well, at least some of that power would be his. Who knows, maybe one day all of it?

In the meantime though, he just needed to keep eating the spiders.

Truth be told, he’d been here for three days now and hadn’t eaten a single one. It was starting to become somewhat disconcerting. It didn’t help that he was locked in a cell, with high ceilings and no way to reach them. The spider had also been far less than accommodating, by refusing to come down from the ceiling at all. Not even for that thirty second ‘age’ when Richard had actually pretended to be asleep. He’d even faked a snore but the spider remained unconvinced and sat, inverted on the ceiling, watching him intently with at least five of its eight eyes.

You might think that being awake for three days solid would be difficult, perhaps even dangerous to one’s state of sanity, but Richard Noll was no ordinary…

“Who said that?” Richard spoke aloud in alarm.

“What?” came an eerily voiced reply.

“Are you the spider? Why are you talking to me?”

“No, I’m not the spider”

“So who are you then? I’m warning you, I’m armed and very dangerous!”

“No. You are neither.”

“You are the spider! Come down here and I’ll show you just how dangerous I can be! I bet you taste delicious.”

“I’m not the spider. You’re delusional.”

“Ha! How can I be delusional? I’m the only one here and yet you’re talking to me even though I can’t see you!”

“Did you even think about what you just said?”

“Well… if you’re not the spider and there’s no one else here, who are you then?”

“My dear chap, quite obviously, I am you.”

“What!? That’s just insane!”

“Isn’t it though? But on the bright side, it does mean you can have some deep and meaningful conversation with someone that truly understands you and is… Ahem!”

“Sorry? Did you say something?”

“You’re not listening to me are you?”

“I was, honestly.”

“No you weren’t, you were thinking about eating that spider again weren’t you?”

“Erm… no… alright then, yes, I was! But he looks so delicious!”

“Typical. The Master said you might get like this. It’s a good job I’m around to keep an eye on you!”

“She’s my Master, not yours!”

“Idiot! She’s ours! Now stop your babbling, the others will be here to let me out soon.”

“Others? What others? Why are they only letting you out? Why not me as well?”

“I despair sometimes, I really do. The Master is sending someone to get me, US! I meant us! They should be here soon and then we can carry on with our true       purpose here and unleash the… Look! Will you pay attention when I’m talking?! That damn spider is not coming down from there anytime soon and this is important.”

“Sorry.”

“That’s better. Now, as I was saying…”

A loud crash and the horrendous sound of screeching metal interrupted the        conversation and the cell door flew through the room, impacting against the far wall and shaking detritus loose. Bits of rotting mortar fell onto the cot and Richard sat up in surprise.

“Let’s go Doctor! Quickly!” a voice came from the doorway.

Needing no further encouragement Richard leapt to his feet and was about to run for the door, when he spotted a spider on the end of the bed.

“Coming.” He said, as he scooped the spider up with his hand and popped it into his mouth on his way out of the door. “Mmmmm, juicy.”

Chapter Three: The Summoning

It had been an age. Hard to be specific but she estimated almost six thousand years (by Earth reckoning) since Lamashtu had last trodden the ground in Malifaux.

It was time to come home.

So much had changed. Although not surprising, as Lamashtu had witnessed      first-hand the way in which the Humans had changed things Earthside over the  millennia. Many times, she had slept for centuries in the Human World and awoken to new sights and sounds. New smells, tastes and untold discoveries and ‘advancements’.

Yet something about the change in Malifaux unsettled her. It was tainted. This would not do at all. Once the Ritual was complete and she had her full strength,  Lamashtu would put things right here. The Humans were a poison, slowly        strangling the life from the land without thought of consequence. Even those that were aware, lacked the strength to stop this so called ‘progress’. They needed to learn their place or be exterminated. A shame, as so many of them had been       interesting over the years.

Everything was prepared. The human Doctor was being escorted here; the magical sarcophagus was ready; all known copies of the ‘Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments’ had been destroyed, so once the ritual had begun there would be no way to stop it. It was time to take her place in the sarcophagus and await her       rebirth.

Lamashtu gave one final look around, breathed deeply and stepped into the       sarcophagus, pulling it closed around her. In the cool darkness, she relaxed and her mind began to wander. Back through the centuries; the recent conversations with John Polidori, which of course he then went and wrote a book about so she had to kill him; that time in Wallachia in the 15^th Century, when she impersonated a local prince and fought against the Turks, was a particular favourite; Those          unfortunate incidents at Alnwick and Melrose; time spent with Nero, he was fun; Santorini; Egypt; even back in Mesopotamia, when her journey Earthside had first begun…

Lamashtu’s reverie was brought to a halt by an overwhelming surge of energy. The interior of the sarcophagus swam with green light and energy poured into every   fibre of her being.

It had begun.

Mercenaries

MALIFAUX MERCENARIES

Here is a list of all the current mercenaries for those who want to submit their top 16 to:
arcanereservoir@gmail.com

• Dr. Grimwell
• Nurse Heartsbane
• Greed
• Orderly
• Anna Lovelace
• Sloth
• Performer
• Envy
• Wrath
• Angel Eyes
• Scion of Black Blood
• Bloodwretch
• Aionus
• Hannah
• Taelor
• Student of Conflict
• Malifaux Child
• Bishop
• Convict Gunslinger
• Desperate Mercenary
• Freikorps Specialist
• Freikorpsman
• Hans
• Johan
• Killjoy
• Ronin
• Freikorps Librarian
• Freikorps Trapper
• Lazarus
• Sue
• Strongarm Suit
• Pride
• Big Jake
• Hog Whisperer
• McTavish  
• Burt Jebsen
• Gracie
• Gluttony
• Ama No Zako
• Oiran
• Torakage
• Lust

#MFXTOP "Little Monsters" Elite Four

#MFXTOP "Little Monsters"

Here are the Elite Four which will be put into a poll via Twitter and the @ArcaneReservoir account.

In alphabetical order of twitter handle:

@andythorngate

@Beard_Minis

@PeterGordo

@Proximocoal (Jen)

Thank you to all that entered, it was hard to slim it down to just four.
Please check the blog for future themes and get cracking.

-Ben (@Psientologist)

Enforcer Brawl

Enforcer Brawl

On an upcoming episode of Arcane Reservoir we will pit the Top 16 Enforcers (voted by you) against each other in the same style as the Henchman Brackets.

To make life easier, here is a colour coded list of every Enforcer.

Pick your top 16 and email them to ArcaneReservoir@gmail.com

• Executioner
• Peacekeeper
• The Lone Marshal
• Nino Ortega
• Papa Loco
• Santiago Ortega
• Abuela Ortega
• Guard Sergeant
• Exorcist
• Pale Rider
• Witchling Handler
• Brutal Emissary
• Nurse Heartsbane
• Greed
• 
  
• Bete Noire
• Rogue Necromancy
• Ikiryo
• Dead Rider
• Jaakuna Ubume
• Rafkin
• Carrion Emissary
• Sloth
• The Forgotten Marshal
• Hayreddin
• Cojo
• Ice Golem
• Howard Langston
• Rail Golem
• Sabertooth Cerberus
• Oxfordian Mage
• Coryphee Duet
• Mechanical Rider
• Angelica Arcanist
• Blessed of December
• Arcane Emissary
• Envy
• Baby Kade
• Teddy
• Doppleganger
• Mature Nephilim
• Coppelius
• Lelu
• Lilitu
• Iggy
• Tuco
• Hooded Rider
• Mysterious Emissary
• Wrath
• Scion of Black Blood
• 
  
• The Nothing Beast
• Karina
• Bishop
• Convict Gunslinger
• Freikorps Specialist
• Hans
• Johan
• Killjoy
• Ashes and Dust
• Freikorps Librarian
• Lazarus
• Sue
• Strongarm Suit
• Vanessa
• Desolation Engine
• Hodgepodge Emissary
• Pride
• Big Jake
• Lenny
• Whiskey Golem
• Pere Ravage
• Rami LaCroix
• Raphael LaCroix
• Gremlin Taxidermist
• Burt Jebsen
• Gracie
• Merris LaCroix
• Lucky Emissary
• Gluttony
• 
  
• Samurai
• Chiaki the Niece
• Izamu the Armor
• Yin the Penangalan
• Mr. Graves
• Mr. Tannen
• The Lone Swordsman
• Shadow Emissary
• Lust

#MFXTOP Jan'16 Winner and future themes

The Tyrant of Painting

For January 2016

@Proximocoal's Other Half Jen

with Datsue-Ba

Some beautifully impressive work here, I'm sure the quality colour scheme and free hand won over the voters with almost half of them picking this from the Elite Four.

Congratulations again to Jen and thanks to all who entered.

Moving Forwards

Starting from right now (the weekend of Feb 20th) new entries can be entered for the next theme.

Entries for this will need to be entered before March 25th.

However I have a lot of feedback saying they like to plan further ahead and would want to take part but the theme is too short notice for them.

Due to this the following will be a "MFXTOP Calendar" as such:

• February 20th - March 25th
• Little Monsters 
• (a model which has a SS cost of 5 or less)
• April 2nd - April 29th
• Agility of the Hare Easter Bunny 
• (a model which has a Wk of 6 or more)
• May 7th - June 3rd
• Could it be Magic? 
• (a model with a Ca action)
• June 11th - July 8th
• Summer Ray-GUN 
• (a model with a projectile[gun] icon)

The dates included are possibly incorrect, but give 4 weeks+ time to paint with the time gap for voting.

These dates are not set in stone but hopefully help people make some choices for what models they want to work on ahead of time.

Thanks again to everyone who has entered, voted and simply taken part.

Now go get on with those Little Monsters!

- Ben (@Psientologist)