d_mun

Great to see something starting up. I hope to come down some time soon to get a game or ten in.

I'd like to vote for number 4 as the best.

Played this scenario yesterday and the "game winning" difference is that he didn't have a model standing on the objective in his deployment zone and I had Sebastian on mine. So getting the jump on the middle and far objective let me take a more leisurely pace to pick up the last two and cancel his objectives.

The problem from the Turn 1 destruction of Marker 4 is that it all has to be done on the first activation or your opponent will block it. I played the scenario a couple times this weekend and basically what I did was group up in the center. That left his Makers 3 & 4 open so he went for those easy points and gave me the middle. With schemes it ended 8-6 (my win) so it was less then ideal, but I reiterate that Kirai would have been better the my McMorning and Seamus crews. Even Nicodem might have worked better with Rigor Mortis.

Shared Destroy The Evidence The Basics: Four 30mm markers are placed. Marker 1 goes inside your opponent's deployment zone. Markers 2 and 3 go within 10" of their deployment zone (14" away from yours) and Marker 4 goes in the exact middle. Markers 1, 2 and 3 have to be eight inches away from each other, but they can be closer to Marker 4. The scenarios requires you to be in base-2-base with a Marker and perform a (2) Interact to destroy and remove it from the game. Melee blocks you from taking the Interact action. +1 Vp for getting both Marker 2 & 3 +1 Vp for getting Marker 4 +2 Vp for Marker 1. Things to remember: Getting the middle Marker asap is ideal. You need to get it if you want to get the full Vp for the game. Also your opponent is going to be pushing to get to your deployment zone so you'll want to avoid the Hold Out scheme, but on the flip side Breakthrough is really easy since you'll be heading that way anyway. Strategies: A lot of what held true for Treasure Hunt will hold true here since a large part of the fighting will take place in the middle of the board. Here’s a link if you need a quick reminder. Conversely you can just ignore it completely, give it to your opponent and go for the other three. It will depend on where you can put the markers and if you think your opponent can react to you splitting your forces or stall you. Something you’ll want to keep in mind is leaving a model back for defense to that can prevent your opponent from getting their Markers. Masters: Kirai – She really shines here since she can switch two spirit models. With Night Terrors getting quickly where you need to go and then switching for a fresh spirit you won’t have the same problems most people have of moving one turn and taking the interact the second turn. Nicodem – Rigor Mortis really punishes small crews since paralyzed models cannot block you from taking the (2) Interact action. Also if a scrum comes up in the middle you can fling decay with abandon to heal your models and take out your opponent’s. Night Terrors - Quick movers that are survivable with Spirit. The only downside is lack of companion so you’re opponent will be able to react to where you’re moving them. Avatar Seamus - Making your opponent move away when they try to activate is probably the easiest way I’ve found to clear anyone off the Markers.

It's small but I kind of like it. If you get the first initiative flip you can can pretty much secure 2vp from the get go and get your opponent on their back foot. Personally I might drop the Grave Spirit and/or the Avatar to free up some stones but it's pretty good as it stands.

The only thing I'm not as fan of is his the cost and the drain on our already strained pool. A lot of the Masters big spells are suit dependent, they have low df and/or low Cb so it takes even more to keep him alive. But other then that he's stones in the bank being both reliable and quick.

wow, just reread him... wow. With the extra move and def capabilities he's just about an auto-include for me.

Good point. With positioning you want your opponent reacting to you so you can dictate the pace of the game and when and where combat takes place. Then have the Masters mix it up when you're ready for it to happen.

Shared Treasure Hunt: So there's a 30mm token in the middle of the table. It takes a (1)interact action to pick it up, it reduces your movement to 4" and you move other then taking a walk action you drop the token. This will be less master specific and trying to find the combos to get there, try to pick it up and get moving back to your deployment zone on turn one. Things to Remember 1)+2vp if a significant model hold it OR it's in your deployment zone. +4vp if both are true. 2) If it's placed the exact center you only have to move 11.5" to get into base to base from the front of our deployment zone. 3) You can pick it up if you are engaged in melee. Nicodem - Rigor Mortis on the the enemy model with the counter. Wow, he casts that spell a lot. Canine Remain Rush - Wk of 6 means that you can get them up there first turn. Add in Sebastian to companion them and you get get a lot of dogs there turn one. Add McTavish to the list so he can make them do a (1) Action to pick it up or walk. Belle Alpha Strike edit: Thank you Fetid Strumpet & Soundwave for corrections and suggestions -The Red Chapel Gang is fast but somewhat unreliable. it requires Sybelle so the Rotten Belles can companion. A Belle/Sybelle walks 12" up to treasure. Belle 2 walks up 6", lures Dead Doxy. Dead Doxy (0)'s to model on the counter, picks up treasure. Alternatively you can Call Belle and get a Rotten Belle further up. You opponent will get their own shot at picking it up, so you may want to keep an extra Belle handy to get them to drop it. Belles - Just a good minion in here with Lure. The movement is a push so they're dropping the token or pulling the minion away so you can walk away. Necopunks - They can pick up the counter on turn one but it isn't as reliable as the Slurrids. Need a 6+ of Masks for the leap so it's very unreliable. Nurses - Very nice since her Reactivate Effect, from Massive dose, will let you get the token further away from the enemy. Cast it on a cheap minion like the canine remains or something you know is going to get the counter. Remember, you have to be 100% sure your opponent can't get there first since she has short range and will has to cast the spell before the minion move towards the token. Hamelin - For 10 points you'll get an obey which gets you more Ap to manipulate the treasure. Very expensive though so probably not worth it. Unless you're going to include a bunch of Ht 1 models. Could be interesting. McTavish - Obey your beast like the Canine Remains and Night Terrors to have them move closer to the treasure or away from the enemy. Kirai - Really good here. Have a spirit, say Night Terror, move towards the token. Kirai has it switch places with something more durable. New spirit picks it up and moves away. Night Terrors - Good for getting a colony of bats to the token in a hurry. They can get to the token on turn one. Kirai can use her spirit switching ability to swap a new one there and move the token away. edit: Thanks to Spiku Von Schill - Just money here. He has nimble so he gets three movements each activation. With Augmented Jump he loses the flight. However, he still does not get blocked by disengaging strikes. The only bad side is with Wk 5 he has to use all three actions to move to the token, unless you combo with something like a Rotten Belle. Summary: So no plan is going to survive first contact, especially if your opponent has the same idea as you. It could result in a massive scrum in the middle. So when you pick your crew, remember to have something to control the board and/or just kill what your opponent put near your treasure counter.

Why is it an auto draw for you?

Looking over the strategies and trying to figure out which Masters & Minions will excel, be sub-optimal and suck out loud. edit: General Assumptions: Just some basic assumptions I'm going to make as I go through. 1. Going for the 8-0 victory 2. Pick crew + masters after you know the strategy. Shared Treasure Hunt Shared Destroy the Evidence Shared Contain Power 2vp For killing all the opponent's leaders +2 if your Master kills their master McMorning: Our resident beatstick. He has the movement tricks with Scalpel Slinging, a major debuff with the Transplant and a Trigger that can get an extra attack. A lot of damage potential along with a high cache. He also has a 0 ability that is an unavoidable damage flip. He has a low Df and Wp so he probably won't survive any counter attack or movement mistakes. edit: suggestion by CalmDown Since he's going to be carving up the enemy Master anyway you might as well take his personal scheme. Nicodem: Very survivable with MZ but his personal source of damage is Decay. A good spell but fairly short range so you'll probably have to spend an AP moving up. Probably better at setting up the Master for the crew to do the work. Seamus: An assassination strategy for Seamus will be terrify the opponent's master. The problem with that is going to all the masters with high wp, construct, undead and a few of the Avatars. Not very reliable unless you know for sure what your opponent is bringing. Also his Excessive Bleeding can make the enemy master count as dead if they fail the WP->12 duel. Kirai: No offensive capabilities worth mentioning. Move along. Molly: She can lead a crew, but she's another one that will let her crew. Originally you could get 4 and give your opponent 2vp with Philosophy of uncertainty but still a mediocre trade. Kirai, Avatar of Vengence: Slow moving but she has a couple zero actions to help her get into melee. Her other abilities can get her 5 damage pretty reliably, but without melee master or fast she's probably going to have to finish what her spirits start. McMorning, Avatar of Athanasia: No boost to Df of Wp makes him still easy to hit. He gets armor +1 next to Simulacrum 29 but most of his abilities are geared towards boosting up Simulacrum 29. Nicodem, Avatar of Decay: The same offensive abilities as before but more survivable then before due to more Mindless Zombies on the table. In theory it could make it easier to chop down your opponents master but I think most opponents would see what is happening and settle for the +2vp before you can get the +4. Seamus, Avatar of Dread: More of what regular Seamus does, but better. The only model that is immune to his Terror now is the Avatar version of Chompy. He's lost the movement abilities but can force multiple terror tests a turn. His damage line has gone up as well. Summary: For this strategy I really like McMorning the most because he can reliably get the job done himself. A close 2nd is going to be the Avatar of Dread due to better terrifying and damage. Minions of note: Bete Noir - Can nab you +2vp quickly if your opponent is out of cards & Soulstones but I'd rather go for the +4. Crooked Men - Shaft Markers can make it dangerous for the opponent to engage your master directly and the blasts from Cave In can thin out their body guards. Canine Remains - Good to use in conjunction with melee masters as the -2 Df will let you save your bigger cards for cheating the damage flip. Also Rabies will let Masters like Seamus get their terror off easier. And they still retain their general utility. Necropunks - Keep close to your master to give them Slow, meaning less melee attacks against your Master. Also it's decent, not great, defense against LCB taking you out turn one. Rotten Belles - Draw out their Master or Lure away the body guard so your Master can do what they need to. Shikome - Prey whatever your opponent is using as body guard to clear the way. Von Schill - Very good at what he does, he can whittle the enemy Master down quite nicely. Just need to be careful he doesn't do it to well and get the kill himself. Jack Daw - With proper placing you could get your enemy in his no cheating/Soulstone aura, but it would be hard to keep both the enemy master within 6", your Master outside of that but within melee range of the enemy Master. At the beginning of the game probably keep him 7-8 inches to the left or right of Jack and make sure he moves forward. Crooligan - Situational, provides cover for your Master. Really shines against the spell slingers and shooters. Only take if you pick Masters before you pick the rest of the crew. Dead Doxy - Seduction puts your opponent at --Resist, but it is short range and requires a tome. However, the suit isn't always something you need so saving it for her might workout well. Jaakuna Ubum - Like an uber-Rotten Belle drawing in the Master, it is harder to cast requiring an 8+ that would probably be more useful in attacking the enemy Master. C&C welcome, I'll edit any information in as it comes up and add the other strategies.

I've found one solution to the speed disparity. Rarely they can bring everything at one stroke, so between that uneven approach and Rotten Belles drawing out the first elements I can cut them down piecemeal. so far it's worked well against the Arcanists, but I have to check against the other masters to be sure.

+1 Bit of a trip, especially after work but I'd like to hear about any tournaments you do. Do you have a regular day that you get together to play?

I like using the Risen from Privateer Press for extras, but I'm starting to think that box from reaper is looking pretty good. http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/zombies/latest/831002 (bottom of the page) I'd hope though that when the Nicodem avatar comes out they make alternate MZ's available.