Round 2, Fight!
Digital Jam
Previously I had mentioned I'd played Jan twice at 40ss recently.
Getting these #ToMB games in is very useful for planning purchases for Month 2 and what I think the crew is lacking and how that "$35" I have to spend can fill that gap.
This time we used Vassal, which you can find the bits you need to play it
here and
also here
Vassal for those unaware is a program that gives you a top-down view of a battlefield and digital objects (with cool puppet art) to move around as your models.
You get visual reminders for deployment zones, conditions and with a recent update even strategies, schemes and manifestations.
Lastly before I move on to how the game went, a painting update.
Yes, I've actually done some, I started with Cojo and bar a few bits like modelling and painting the tie he's done. Snow and some other bits needed to be added to base, this however will be done with a few models at once, but the shape of it is already sorted.
Expect some photos soon, but as this blog is about gaming I'll just leave this segment with a preview before we move on.
Rargh!
Pre-game
A useful tool you may or may not be aware of I tend to use to determine strategies and schemes is the brilliant twitter bot created by @oldmanmyke called @malifauxschemes
All you simply do is write a tweet with the handle at the front and it will reply giving you a Strategy, four schemes (as Line in the Sand is always available) and now even a deployment type.
Mike has also cleverly programmed it to give schemes to do with the Wyrd Gaming Grounds pack and other fancy things too.
So I tweeted and got the following.
Jan had declared his usual faction Gremlins for this game, he doesn't tend to field Mah Tucket and I suspected he would take a Master which was a little more defensive.
Squeel (gremlins defensive style of running away) and it's variants means that unless you are really dedicated, Assassinate is fairly difficult and Deliver a Message just comes across easier.
Deliver is also pretty great with Leap thanks to being able to do a big move using no actions so you can still do the 2AP action.
Spring is also fairly similar, so I think I'll leave that at home.
Breakthrough I still feel will be easier than Line in the Sand, this is totally dependant on terrain and Strategy and actually while running up and down the centre for Squatter's Rights you could argue Line is something you can do at the same time, however, with a limited number of models I like being able to attempt to split the opponents force and having some models run in and drop markers around may be a solid distraction.
Also some part of me feels that if I do go for Assassinate, Spring or Deliver and I'm right in the fact Jan will take a master who is more defensive, I will end up on his side of the board, probably with a model that can leap out a drop a marker.
Crew Selection, deployment and all that good stuff
My crew was again the entire Claw and Fang box, Myranda with Imbued Energies (obv) and Marcus having, Primal Instincts, The Trail of the gods and my old favourite Arcane Reservoir.
I like the combination of Arcane Reservoir and Marcus' limited upgrades as the discarded tomes is slightly negated by the extra card plus also it just gives you another chance to even have those tomes in hand.
Jan took Wong, along with the wizard was his "Lovely Assistant", 3 Bayou gremlins, McTavish (who was going to be magical thanks to Wong's glowy), Merris LaCroix and a trusty slop hauler.
It was fairly obvious I was going to get out activated in this game (even before seeing Jan's crew) and again my mind goes to what I will add in Month 2.
Wong is fairly lethal and does a lot of blasts, if I kept my crew together I didn't want it to be long.
McTavish I only had a rough idea of what he did. I knew he also had range and could still fight you off with his crocodile which could also eat counters. Being a huge amount of Jan's point made this guy a fairly big target but not one I should get obsessed with.
If Jan is going to snipe all day with him, McT himself won't be getting Strategy points, be able to do Breakthrough or really any of the other Schemes. I just had to make sure I either dealt with him quick or just played around him.
Merris is an extremely strong piece in the game.
I will add now while playing Vassal the best way to communicate rather than just typing to each other is using Skype, also in our call was @lemonconstuct aka Chris King of the Chasing Bacon (gremlin themed) podcast.
As discussed with both Jan and Chris, I could see and argument for saying Merris is too good. I don't think she is broken by any means but I have seen her fielded so often and for good reason.
Flight the ability to get a 3rd AP and a (0) action to drop a scheme marker means she can fly up to 15" about a sort schemes.
She isn't super offensive at all, but putting Burning+4 on any of my combat guys that kill her (bar Cojo as his reach is further than the pulse) is a nice way to go.
Gremlins are gremlins, these little Bayou buggers will be Jan's best way to make sure to get and negate me getting the Strategy. If I can eliminate them quickly with a charge from Cojo a leap and attack from the Cerberus or even a minimum 3 damage hit from Marcus without too much hassle, I will go for it.
I don't want to be dragged into bad positions, but the Gremlins not only are Jan's easiest way to out-activate me but they will be the ones to enable the rest of his crew to act a little more freely.
The Lovely Assistant is a ***** as a former card game player her ability Prepare the show seems insane to me, it did get knocked down to only arranging the top 4 rather than 5 cards, but this tends to allow Wong to do some disgusting things after they Accomplice
Last is the Slop Hauler, this guy also has reckless so can be tricky, but the main point in him is healing.
I think they're a great addition usually, but here I didn't really see the point.
The Bayou's would die too quickly to be healed, Wong is always going to hang back and will run away from everything if in danger, Merris is always off on her own so it leaves McT to be healed.
Can't he heal anyway?
Well with all this I made the assumption that Jan would take Breakthrough for many the same I would too.
I declared Deliver so to attempt to get all 10VP as well as the fact that the scheme pool really showed that there was a 3/4 chance I was going for it (plus I typically declare Line) if I'm taking it.
Jan has a hidden scheme.
This could be Line with Merris and the extra models, but I doubted it as I couldn't see the Gremlins running too far off alone. I suspected Assassinate as it stays hidden, but with this and all the other Master specific schemes in the pool Marcus wasn't going to Rambo his way in too often in this game.
As you can see here Jan used the hill to essentially declare McTavish will be sniping, Merris off on a flank to try and play the game in a "don't worry about me" style.
Wong near the assistant with less terrain in his immediate view, the assistant and hauler hanging by for back up and the gremlins in a line.
I used the train and big rock to my advantage but had no desire to clump too much in the corner or in the lava pit.
Myranda was going to escort Cojo and the RSR to give them her defensive aura and also possibly heal them as I advanced.
The big cat was ready to dive over the crates and Marcus kept the Jackalope around to defend him.
Turn 1
Well this was a brutal one, which really I expected, with Jan having the range I was always going to be gritting my teeth and flipping on the defensive side.
Myranda headed forwards with her little cadre, initially planning on using some rocks for cover, which I quickly learnt wasn't too relevant thanks to the fact McT ignored terrain penalties.
This meant that with a bit of shooting and the +1 damage due to Oooh Glowy he easily knocked the RSR down to 4 wounds.
Being out activated meant that the Cerberus though being one of the last things I activated still got punished early by the Lovely assistant preparing a powerful Red Joker themed showed for Wong to Lightning Jump him down to 3 wounds and also get Marcus with a bit of the blast damage.
Marcus made the first major mistake of the game, being Hare-like there was the possibility that I could fall into the trap of a turn 1 charge at the psychotic Bayou gremlin.
I debated it for a while but opted to just move again and go defensive, as you'll see in the upcoming screenshot, I could've flipped a Claim marker.
I guess in my head I thought about not being able to score turn 1, but the thing is, you can set up for turn 2 onwards.
This was a huge mistake and it would make the further turns harder for me than necessary.
The Jackalope was out of position, he failed to leap and I didn't have the cards.
A shame as Defend Me could've come in pretty useful and I suspected that I would get to Multiply as I could see some beasts getting gunned down.
The only other thing of note is Jan was yet to fly Merris forwards, using her cunning for some card manipulation. This highlighted the fact he knew she was an important tool, one I would love to take away from him.
This turn highlighted something for me. Cojo is so damn slow.
Look how far back he is, this was not so useful. I guessed at this stage he would a really expensive model for scheme marker duty or hopefully a good model to defend 2 Claim markers at one (thanks to his decent reach) but I knew he would just get shot a lot this game.
Turn 2
This turn was equal measures brutally horrible and good for me.
Jan wins Initiative, something fairly crucial as the injured Cerberus was poised to leap and charge into Wong.
Noticing this another show is prepared and Wong blows the cat clean of the table, the blasts continuing to get Marcus which forces him to use up some soulstones to sustain his life.
I continue to make mistakes this turn, trying to figure out for a while if I can get the RSR to flip a claim marker, stay in Myrandas bubble and get the benefits of being with an inch of the terrain.
Remember, McTavish ignores this? Well I didn't.
I could only do 2/3 and having Cojo nearby I assumed he or Myranda could flip the marker.
This was a colossal waste of AP as the terrain was irrelevant.
Jan not forgetting the Strategy sent a Gremlin onto the train to flip a marker and tempt Marcus away.
Not falling for this obvious ploy, I sent the Jackalope leaping onto the train and charging the injured Gremlin.
First attack misses as the Gremlin dodges, the second one sees the Jackalope getting his horns tied in a knot as he flips the Black Joker.
Cojo heads forwards to flip a marker and...
...can't even make it. Rather than bounding along, Cojo seems to move at such a leisurely speed, that for the second turn in a row, he continues to look majorly poor for his points.
McTavish continues his hunt and finishes off the "hidden cobra" a great shame as with a lot of Jan's crew still very compact I could see an untouched RSR doing a lot of work.
As I said in my previous posts, a huge issue Marcus' big beasts have is a pathetic defense combined with, well nothing, no armour or hard to wound meant that it wasn't remotely difficult for McTavish to gun the snake down.
Myranda though hugely pulling her weight got into position to flip the marker both other beasts failed to do, unzipped her human skin and popped out as a new Cerberus, poised to pounce.
This not only helped towards attempting to get points for Strategy but helped a little with activation control.
Gremlins ran about and that and Merris started to jet forwards.
The new Cerberus leapt into the battle lines and attempted to get some revenge on the beast hunting McTavish.
Chomping at his throat he managed to get him down to 4 wounds, he could regenerate but it was a good start and meant he was right in the thick of things.
Finally a big part of the turn.
As his totem failed to do the job Marcus powered up with all 3 powers from the Trail of the gods.
Using his first AP to speedily walk into combat with the Gremlin he then used his free combat AP to rip him apart.
With 2AP left Marcus did have the opportunity to flip the Claim marker.
I knew this would score me a VP this turn, but Marcus hungry for more Gremlin blood saw the Kaeris impersonator who had recently actually decided to fly forwards.
With the +2 damage boost, Marcus simply had to connect with 2 of his strikes and avoid the Black Joker for damage, but I recalled the Jackalope had already flipped it, so I was fine to go.
As it would surprise no one, Marcus tore Merris in two.
This was a conscious decision, I knew I would lose a VP this turn, but Merris was too fast to catch and was (at this point) the only way I could see Jan getting his 3VP for Breakthrough.
1 is less than 3.
It did occur to me after that, just in case, Marcus should've attempted to make Merris a beast and use his Chaunt. Possibly a mistake that I forgot, but it ended up not mattering this time.
Noteworthy I feel.
The way the board looked here, again I was hoping for Initiative in turn 3 so I could Leap and Deliver the message.
Cojo could flip another marker if needed, but according to how busy McTavish was, I suspected that charging the Gremlin nearby and either starting to place scheme markers or charging more Gremlins off may be his way forwards.
Marcus was on 4 wounds and I had only 2 stones left.
The Jackalope could maybe continue to help him, but if Jan did have Assassinate I didn't want to let him achieve it.
At this point however, I also considered that maybe Jan had simply not declared Deliver and that was why the now dead Gremlin initially headed forwards alone.
Turn 3
Initiative was once again in the hands of Jan a scary thing against my already battered and beaten crew.
Here the Assistant placed a marker to then Accomplice with McTavish for him to get out of combat.
(we then realised this couldn't be done, The Lovely Assistant cannot place markers, something to note but an honest mistake by Jan)
McTavish then desperately loaded and fired his rifle and reloaded and fired again hoping to kill the Cerberus, but determined to keep it alive I never allowed Jan to get any straight or positive damage flips and the cat survived on 2 wounds.
On it's last legs the Myranda-Cerberus leapt next to Wong and gave him a sexy massage... I mean scored me 3VP for Deliver the Message
Wong tries to finish the cat with his fan but only manages 1 damage. However, crucially he then *bamf'd* out of combat and unleashed a Lightning Jump onto the Jackalope killing it and again crashing blasts into Marcus' face and forcing him to use stones to keep himself on the table.
McTavish already having been activated meant that I went offensive with Cojo.
The Donkey Kong impersonator roly poly-ed right into the Gremlin but embarrassingly only managed to take him down to a single wound.
Cojo then flipped the Gremlin the bird due to this and he was pushed off to the edge of the board, allowing me to, I thought, try to charge McTavish next turn.
The slop hauler then shanked the highly injured Sabertooth and out emerged a new Jackalope (number 2) which failing to leap poked McT down another wound.
A few more Gremlins reposition and Marcus decides to finally get me some Strategy points and get the hell out of Wong's Line-of-site, really not fancying getting hit by lightning.
At this stage, things weren't looking good. If it were almost any other wargame it would definitely be over.
However This Is Malifaux!
I had scored 3 VP for one of my schemes, denied Jan (in my mind) the chance to get any for Breakthrough and also had a really good chance to stop him getting any others if Marcus could keep out of the way for long enough.
I also had only 1 VP for strategy, something we must note would be 2VP if Marcus flipped the marker on turn 1, but Jan, he didn't have any yet.
One pesky gremlin was ready to turn the Squatter's Rights tables, which meant that Cojo may have to give up on his plan.
The Jackalope, he was simply going to be a nuisance and hopefully get Jan to waste a few AP.
Turn 4
Jan uses a soul stone to reflip initiative with the Red Joker showing it's face and again keeping it away from me.
Wong decides that he is now the hunter and double walks to chase down Marcus.
Another
Lightning Jump takes Marcus down to 2 wounds and no more soulstones.
I measured to see if Cojo could even charge McTavish, unfortunately he was about an inch out.
He could've still headed that way, dropping a scheme marker on his way, but with a desire for blood and not wanting to lose out on VP for the strategy he charged back to the center line to quickly eliminate the pesky Gremlin.
McTavish takes out the Jackalope (number 2) and fires at Cojo, not killing him, but taking him right down to 4 wounds.
Speed of the Hare is fantastic again, allowing Marcus to place a marker, walk and do it again, putting in me a position to possibly get 3VPs for
Breakthrough.
Lastly though, the Slop Hauler has his day and hurls 2 buckets off poop at Marcus taking him out, but creating Jackalope (number 3). This confirms he didn't have
Assassinate.
End of turn 4 I had 5VP secured with Jan having none.
I have my markers down for 3 more VP but I know the Slop hauler can easily change that.
Cojo also, is as good as dead.
Still with the 5 I have, I don't see Jan getting any strategy points and the surprise is, he might get
Breakthrough
Turn 5
Yep, Jan get's initiative and starts with good old McTavish, he then however orders his attacks badly as he shoots and kills Jackalope (number 3), then finishes off Cojo making Jackalope (number 4).
As a sidenote, why does Glowy ignore Armour, Incorporeal and Hard to Kill? Feels it should be Hard to Wound to me.
My final activation, Jackalope (number 4) leaps and walks into combat to hold up a Gremlin.
Jan used his reckless Slop hauler to destroy a marker of mine, while Wong places a marker for his own Breakthrough.
This allowed me to get another point for Squatter's Rights but means Jan has potential with an extra turn to get rid of my last Breakthrough marker and put one down of his own for 3VP.
So he flips for the extra turn...
Turn 6
As I said, the extra turn enables Jan's Wong (tee hee) to place another marker
I at the time thought Jan forgot to take a wound of for reckless, he hadn't (sorry Jan) and therefor I think the Slop Hauler could probably get rid of my last marker.
However, the last Gremlin held up and McTavish being so far back did mean I gained the 4th and final point for Squatters Rights.
Conclusion
My last hand was sweet...
...pity I had no one to really use it.
Jan got 3VP for Breakthrough, his other scheme was Deliver the Message which he failed to do and scored 0VP for Squatter's Rights
I got 3VP for Deliver the Message, Breakthrough was taken away from me but I did get the full 4VP for Squatter's Rights
In the end that meant a second win for Claw and Fang 7-3
Well and that is it for this report.
I learnt that Marcus, Myranda and the Cerberus are still as good as I thought, Marcus might even be better.
The Jackalope can also be fantastic when not flipping the Black Joker.
RSR has potential in my mind, if you weren't slow when summoned, I could actually see Myranda using shapechange to become one.
Cojo.
Well I'm glad I painted him first as so far I find him dumb and slow.
Ml7 min3 damage charging hit has potential, but with only a 9" threat range it isn't reliable.
The pushes seems ok, but I prefer pushing my own models (RSR) than pushing the enemy.
Hard to Kill is good but I cannot justify the soul stone cost simply for that.
Sorry.
Also, I need more cheap guys, but that will be another post.
Thanks for reading.
-Ben (@psientologist)
