Malifaux tournament report: Autumn's End 2016 (50SS); 24Sep2016

[Argentbadger]

I have been lucky enough to have two tournaments in Scotland on consecutive weekends on dates that I can actually attend, so Gareth and I headed to Common Ground Games in Stirling for Autumn's End 2016. I was thinking of using Gremlins again, but decided against it for two reasons. Firstly, I have hardly any Gremlins assembled, so I'd end up running pretty much the same crews I did at The Governor General's Wake last weekend. Secondly, and most importantly, I recently got the cool Kickstarter Hannah miniature and wanted to use her (as a Mercenary I could do that in Gremlins anyway of course, but she is at home in the Outcast faction).

Game 1: Outcasts (me) vs Gremlins (Ross)

Strategy: Guard The Stash, corner deployment

Schemes
Pool: Convict Labour, Hunting Party, Detonate the Charges, A Quick Murder, Take Prisoner
Outcasts: Hunting Party, A Quick Murder (McTavish)
Gremlins: Detonate the Charges, A Quick Murder (Hannah)

Crews
Outcasts: Viktoria of Ashes (Sisters in Spirit, Sisters in Fury, Synchronised Slaying), Viktoria of Blood (Oathkeeper, Mark of Shezuul), Malifaux Child, Johan, Freikorpsman, Freikorps Librarian, Freikorps Trapper, Hannah (I Pay Better)
Gremlins: Zoraida (Crystal Ball, Hex Bag, Tarot Reading), Burt Jebsen (Dirty Cheater), McTavish (Dirty Cheater, Stilts), Trixibelle (Hide In The Mud, Quality Mash Liquor), The First Mate (Where The Captain Can't See), Bayou Gremlin

Needless to say, I put Hannah in my crew first. I picked the Viktorias with the intention of using them to clear out anyone coming in to the Stash markers using my usual upgrade loadout. The Freikorpsman was included as a cheap piece to sit near a Stash marker and stay as safe as possible; I also thought that Wong might be a strong choice for Ross so the immunity to blasts and auras could be handy. I did think about swapping him and the Trapper for another Henchman to take Hunting Party off the table, but decided that the activations were more valuable even considering the risk of giving up points. Seeing McTavish on the board I figured I would have to kill him at some point so took A Quick Murder, and Hunting Party seemed very do-able considering only a single Bayou Gremlin and maybe some summonings of the Voodoo Doll.

Turn 1: Trixibelle pushes the Trapper back from his advanced position and he shoots back at her for a little damage. The Child casts Sisters in Fury before McTavish moves up and puts down a Hunting Screen in the gap between two buildings. Zoraida summons and Voodoo Doll which Hems Hannah; Johan focuses via I Pay Better and top decks the needed card to remove the condition with Rebel Yell (this might be the first time that this has ever happened to me). The Viktorias move up and I restrain my urge to fire them directly into McTavish; there is no rush at this point.

Turn 2: The Doll Hems Viktoria of Blood. I'm worried that some shenanigans are about to ensue that will stop me using her at all, so I move Viktoria of Ashes up, put up Sisters in Fury and slingshot Viktoria of Blood into McTavish and Zoraida. Sadly, after some fairly rubbish flipping, both are still alive and well. Zoraida Curses the Voodoo Doll, Obeys McTavish to attack Viktoria of Blood with his gator and the Bayou Gremlin to drop a scheme marker. McTavish then eats the scheme marker and cheats the flip so he gets a free attack; he puts some fairly beefy damage into Viktoria of Blood. Johan removes the conditions from her then Trixibelle heals and moves into scoring range of the right Stash marker. My Freikorpsman moves over to make sure I'm scoring both markers. The First Mate uses Menacing Croak to push Hannah into range of him and swipes at her; she eventually smacks him back. The Bayou Gremlin drops another scheme marker, presumably for McTavish to use later and the Librarian kills the Voodoo Doll to score Hunting Party. We both score for the strategy.

Turn 3: McTavish discards the nearby scheme marker and finally polishes off Viktoria of Blood. The Malifaux Child puts up Sisters in Fury as I'm not in a rush to take activations this turn. Trixibelle fails a Gremlin 'Lure' on Viktoria of Ashes and heals some more wounds. Viktoria of Ashes throws herself into McTavish, but Black Jokers the first damage flip and forces the discard of Stilts for the second attack so I don't even get a Whirlwind out of it. Burt Jebsen comes back round and hits Viktoria of Ashes and Zoraida Obeys him to kill her, Obeys McTavish to take a shot at the Librarian and fails to Obey Trixibelle. Hannah finishes killing The First Mate and the Trapper blows away the Bayou Gremlin to sort me out for Hunting Party. Johan, the Freikorpsman and the Librarian all fail to kill Trixibelle. I score Guard The Stash and Hunting Party.

Turn 4: The Librarian kills Trixibelle. Zoraida Obeys Burt and McTavish to walk forward, realising that the strategy is getting away from her, then Obeys the latter to attack the Freikorpsman. Johan kills McTavish to finally score two VP for A (not very) Quick Murder. Burt gets stuck into Hannah but can't kill her; she kills him in return with the last attack being a copy of the Librarian's Ancient Words. I score again for Hunting Party and the strategy.

Turn 5: Zoraida moves and drops a scheme marker; I opt not to go near it as I sense Detonate the Charges. I score again for Guard the Stash; Outcasts win 9 - 1 (4 for Guard the Stash, 3 for Hunting Party and 2 for A Quick Murder for me; 1 for Guard the Stash for Ross).

Ross was a really nice chap and it was terrific to meet him and play for the first time. I liked his crew a lot, and I'm particularly impressed with Burt and McTavish; I am certainly considering getting them for my own Gremlins at some point. I think Ross was a bit optimistic going for A Quick Murder on Hannah as she can be tricky to dispatch and doesn't really need to put herself too much in harm's way. Although I was a little disappointed at how the Viktorias bounced off the Gremlin crew it did have the effect of pinning them all back almost in their own deployment zone so it was quite effective in giving me control of the strategy.

[Argentbadger]

Game 2: Outcasts (me) vs Neverborn (Steve)

Strategy: Reckoning, flank deployment

Schemes
Pool: Convict Labour, Show of Force, Exhaust Their Forces, Catch and Release, Frame for Murder
Outcasts: Show of Force, Frame for Murder (Viktoria of Blood)
Neverborn: Show of Force, Frame for Murder (Teddy)

Crews
Outcasts: Viktoria of Ashes (Sisters in Spirit, Sisters in Fury, Synchronised Slaying), Viktoria of Blood (Oathkeeper, Mark of Shezuul), Malifaux Child, Johan, Freikorps Librarian, Hannah (I Pay Better), Taelor (Oathkeeper, Tally Sheet)

Neverborn: The Dreamer (Restless Dreams, Dreams of Pain, On Wings of Darkness), Teddy (On Dreaming Wings), Nekima (Mimic's Blessing), Doppelganger (Mimic's Blessing), 2 Daydreams

Despite knowing Steve for a couple of years and meeting him at almost every tournament in Scotland, we had previously never been paired up in a game. Reckoning is an easy choice for the Viktorias again, especially with Frame For Murder in the pool. I put it on Viktoria of Blood and consider it a win either way - either she dies and I score points, or she's left to rampage about the opponent's crew. I put Taelor in with Tally Sheet since she's good at killing stuff and hard to dispose of in her own right; Tally Sheet was to give me options (along with I Pay Better on Hannah) for Show of Force. As it happened, Taelor was an especially good pick against the summoning from The Dreamer; I have to admit that I thought it a strange choice of master from Steve for Reckoning. With Frame For Murder in the pool against me I always just accept that I'm losing three VP somewhere.

Turn 1: A Daydream pushes Teddy about and sacrifices itself for The Dreamer; the Malifaux Child puts up Sisters in Fury. The Dreamer summons a Stitched Together and Lelu then uses Empty Night to make Nekima Fast. Fast Nekima is definitely on my list of Things I Don't Want To See. Most of my crew move up, careful to stay outside move plus charge range of Nekima. Somewhere around this time I realise that I haven't asked Steve my standard 'have you faced the Viktorias before?' question'; it turns out that he hasn't so I explain the theory. Despite this, the Stitched Together, Lelu and Teddy all end up bunched together within slingshot range, so Viktoria of Blood discards Oathkeeper and blends all three of them. I wanted to make sure that I only had to deal with one of Teddy and Nekima so I think it was worth doing this even in turn one where it didn't score me points. Indeed, it actually cost me points as killing Teddy gives Steve his points for Frame For Murder. Nekima flies over and makes pretty heavy work of smiting Viktoria of Blood; she survives and Hannah copies Healing Energy to heal her via her sister.

Turn 2: I helpfully flip high enough on initiative that Steve doesn't Ill Omens to go first. So Viktoria of Ashes casts Sisters in Fury and companions her sister who carves up Nekima quite thoroughly but fails to hurt the Doppelganger. The Doppelganger copies Masamune and swings it into Viktoria of Blood. The Malifaux Child heals the Viktorias as I luckily have the right card in hand. The Dreamer summons a couple of Daydreams and an Alp, then turns into Lord Chompy Bits who kills Viktoria of Blood and gives me three VPs for Frame For Murder finally. Taelor uses Oathkeeper and kills Lord Chompy Bits. I score for Reckoning and Show of Force.

Turn 3: Taelor focuses via I Pay Better and charges the Doppelganger. I needed the Focus to get round the negative flip from Mimic's Blessing but she Black Jokers the first swing and of course misses the second due to the negative flip. It attacks back using Taelor's own Relic Hammer against her. The Malifaux Child puts up Sisters in Fury. The Dreamer summons Lelu and makes him Fast, being careful to put him out of reach of Taelor's Welcome To Malifaux ability. The Librarian discards a card to focus and fires at a nearby Daydream; I have 11 of tomes in hand to get the blasts and wipe out a whole pile of Daydreams and the Alp standing next to each other but Steve cheats in 13s on both attacks to so I can't even land a single hit. Lelu charges into the Librarian for some nasty damage and is in turn killed by Johan. Viktoria of Ashes charges into the scrum, slightly hurting The Dreamer but taking two Daydreams, the Alp and the Doppelganger out with a Whirlwind. I score for Reckoning and Show of Force again.

Turn 4: Taelor swings twice at the Dreamer; the first is put onto the last Daydream (killing it) and the second I am able to cheat in the Red Joker to end the small child with a massive magic hammer. Outcasts win 10 - 3 (full score for me; 3 for Frame For Murder for Steve).

It was wonderful to get a game against Steve as he's one of the last of the regular Stirling players I hadn't previously played. Obviously his unfamiliarity with the Viktorias was a big factor in the game, and I feel a bit bad for not discussing it with him before we started. Having said that, I am really surprised that he hasn't played against them before as Steve is quite a frequent tournament-goer. Steve's choice of The Dreamer seemed quite strange as he's best known as a summoner which is not really ideal in Reckoning. However, I'm not really familiar with The Dreamer so perhaps he also has a lot of options as support; of course the threat of Lord Chompy Bits is quite strong too.

[Argentbadger]

Game 3: Outcasts (me) vs Guild (Lewis)

Strategy: Headhunter, normal deployment

Schemes
Pool: Convict Labour, Show of Force, Leave Your Mark, Undercover Entourage, Public Demonstration
Outcasts: Show of Force, Undercover Entourage (Jack Daw)
Guild: Show of Force, Public Demonstration (Brutal Effigy, Warden, Guardian)

 

Crews
Outcasts: Jack Daw (Writhing Torment, Twist and Turn, Firing Squad Injustice, Guillotine Injustice, Drowning Injustice), Freikorps Librarian, Guilty, Rusty Alyce (Desolate Soul), Hannah (I Pay Better), Johan, Hodgepodge Effigy
Guild: Lady Justice (Implacable), Brutal Emissary (Conflux of Justice), The Judge (Debt To The Guild, Unrelenting Leader), Nino Ortega (Hair Trigger), Brutal Effigy, Warden, Guardian

For the third time, Hannah was the first model in my crew. I was quite close to just putting down the Viktorias again, but in the end went for Jack Daw as he is so good for Headhunter with the pushes and not-quite-Obeys from his upgrades. I took Rusty Alyce as I thought I might be able to gun down a few minions and summon in Abominations with her to gum up the Guild crew. I originally had Taelor in the crew but felt that I was lacking in activations so I swapped her out of Johan and the Effigy. Again, Show of Force seemed like a good choice out of a fairly uninspiring scheme pool; I also took Undercover Entourage on Jack Daw as he is hard to pin down, mobile and likely to survive to the end of the game. I appear to have failed to take a picture of our deployment.

Turn 1: Hannah, Alyce and Johan get made Tormented by various means and our crews advance; the Guardian puts Protect on Lady Justice. For reasons that are still not clear to me I leave Alyce right in the open so Nino eagerly Rapid Fires into her, drawing some soulstones out of me. She Rapid Fires him right back but can't do enough to kill the sniper. Lady Justice, to my great surprise, triple walks directly toward me, leaving her crew behind her. Johan pushes thanks to being near Jack Daw and charges Lady Justice, hurting her rather badly.

Turn 2: Johan Flurries Lady Justice taking her down to just a couple of wounds. The Brutal Effigy races up and puts Fear Not The Sword on Lady Justice who then chain activates and kills Alyce. The Librarian finishes off Nino and the Judge hurries over to pick up the poor chap's head. The Emissary fires off a few shots into my crew. Hannah finishes off Lady Justice and the Guilty collects her head. Jack Daw charges in to hurt The Judge, giving him Firing Squad Injustice and then puts Guillotine Injustice on the Guardian. Lewis duly discards the cards to keep the construct in play and charges back at Jack Daw for no effect. Sadly I have moved Jack Daw into the perfect place for Lewis to score Public Demonstration for the full three VPs; he also score for Show of Force and we both score on Headhunter.

Turn 3: Johan kills the Warden and is killed in turn by the Emissary. Hannah focuses with I Pay Better and smites The Judge for severe damage and the trigger; this not only takes him down to his Hard to Kill wound but also does some hefty damage to the Guardian and Effigy and paralyses the latter. The Guardian walks away from Jack Daw to collect a head. This was good focusing on the victory conditions from Lewis; it's easy to get distracted by such a brawl in the centre. Unfortunately, this also means the Guardian is out of combat so the Librarian Rapid Fires to kill it. The Guilty picks up another hand head and The Judge repositions; with Firing Squad Injustice and only a single wound left he couldn't afford to make any attacks. My Effigy puts Loyalty To The Coin on Jack Daw and ineffectively stabs the Emissary a couple of times. Jack Daw finishes off The Judge and the Brutal Effigy, handily turning a couple of the trash cards I was holding into tasty soulstones. We both score for the strategy again and I score for Show of Force.

Turn 4: Hannah attacks the Emissary. It moves to a better position and puts a bullet into most of my crew with the built-in trigger on Never Bluff A Six Gun; I forgot that Nether Flux on Hannah would have stopped this cold but it didn't matter. The Guilty and the Effigy combine to put the killing blows into the Emissary and the Librarian picks up a head. With no more work left to do, Jack Daw heads off to score Undercover Entourage. Outcasts win 10 - 6 (full score for me; 2 for Headhunter, 3 for Public Demonstration and 1 for Show of Force for Lewis).

As usual, Lewis ran me hard in that game; he's a really nice opponent who is getting better every time we play. I think I probably could have controlled Lady Justice better in this game; Firing Squad Injustice would have been lovely on her. But Lewis made (in my opinion) quite a big mistake just throwing Lady Justice at me on turn 1; possibly he hadn't accounted for the extra mobility the Jack Daw afforded Johan. It gave me the chance to really hurt his master while she was isolated from the rest of her crew and ultimately take her out of the game very early. Hannah did some great work in this game; previously I hadn't really appreciated how much value she gets from Jack Daw's pushes extending her tiny threat range. Lewis did make a good scheme choice with Public Demonstration as I didn't see it coming at all and indeed moved Jack Daw right into position to give up maximum points.

So once all the scores are in I am very pleased to get first place, just ahead of Ian's Neverborn on points difference. I was amazed by the number of people at the event; Kai is well-known for running a great tournament and so it is fantastic to see that the word is spreading and we're seeing more and more Malifaux players coming out. With so many players I'd like to see us moving to four round events more regularly but of course this has its own practical considerations. Thanks to Ross, Steve and Lewis for three great games of Malifaux, and to Kai for continuing to be a wonderful tournament organiser.

[Bengt]

As always your battle reports are great reads.

---

McTavish can't have Stilts as he not a Gremlin.

Empty Night can't target Nekima as she is not a Nightmare or Minion.

[Argentbadger]

Thanks very much for the kind words!  I've told Ross and Steve about your comments so they can check for future.  I'm impressed by your rules knowledge and attention to detail.

[Thana.]

Thanks a bunch for writing the reports Argentbadger, really like your style of writing. 

One other rules problem with the Dreamer player's list is that both dreams of pain and restless dreams are limited upgrades. 

[Argentbadger]

Thanks Thana, I'm glad you're enjoying them.

I've let Steve know about the limited upgrades on Dreamer; it is possible that I've just noted this down wrong though.  Either way, I think it didn't affect the game.