Breaching the 'Faux 2017: 64-players, 50SS, Bellevue WA

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Breaching the 'Faux is back for 2017! We'll have all the stuff you love about previous years - story-oriented, free swag, beer on site and all the other custom goodies! This year we're being organized by the chaps from the Dead Man's Hand podcast, with help from a bunch of other volunteers and the event will be at Mox Boarding House in Bellevue, WA, on April 15th and 16th.

Breaching the 'Faux's focus has always been on a good narrative, creating an atmosphere where you're a character in an ongoing story. It's designed as an immersive and narrative event whereby good people come together from around the region to play Malifaux together, without losing the balanced and competitive play that we all know and love about Malifaux.

Details are on our website (full tournament pack coming soon!) and tickets are available via Eventbrite.

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Here are the full rules for the tournament, in supplement to the general rules from Gaining Grounds 2017.

• Single faction, each player nominates what faction they'll be using for the duration of the tournament
• All official models are allowed. Reasonable proxies will be allowed for unreleased models or Avatars.
• Avatar upgrades are allowed for Round 3 only
• Game sizes are 50 soulstones
• All schemes are drawn from Gaining Grounds 2017. Each strategy and scheme pool is outlined below.
• Painting is not required. However, there will be additional raffle tickets for those with painted crews.

We have a limit of 64 players for the tournament. The schedule and scenarios outlined below are for a 5-round, 32-person tournament. Once we have sold 33 tickets, we will post the 6th and final scenario!

Schedule

Day One

Doors Open 10am, Round times 2h 20m

• Round 1: 10:30-12:50
• Lunch: 12:50-13:40
• Round 2: 13:40-16:00
• Round 3: 16:10-18:30
• Open gaming, eating, merriment: 18:30-midnight

Day Two

Doors open 10am, Round times 2h 0m

• Round 4: 10:30-12:30
• Lunch / Paint Judging: 12:30-13:15
• Round 5: 13:15-15:15
• Round 6: 15:30-17:30
• Prizes

The Day One schedule includes extra time to accommodate for the unusual story strategies. Day Two uses strategies entirely from Gaining Grounds 2017, and so aligns with the 2-hour guidelines from that document. Also, the compressed schedule on Day Two helps accommodate those traveling from out of town. If we end up only needing five rounds, then the schedule for Day Two will use the same schedule as Rounds 1-2, allowing extra gaming time per round, with a wrap up time around 16:30.

Alliances!

Every player entered in the tournament must choose an Alliance before the tournament starts: Either For Malifaux or For Humanity. On Day One, nobody will be paired against someone of the same Alliance. At the end of each round, a score will be calculated for each of the two Alliances based on results of their respective players. This Alliance Score will determine which Alliance is the Attacker (the winner from the prior round) or Defender (the losing side) in the subsequent round, for those rounds where there is an asymmetric strategy (2 and 3), or who gets deployment choice (rounds 4 and 5). It has no impact on the final round, as all bets are off!

All effort will be made to pair people away from their Alliances as much as possible, but some will likely end up turning traitor over the course of Day Two.

May the best Alliance win!

Prizes

Every attendee will receive one Wyrd Guilder for participation, a custom deck, a 3" Dead Zone terrain marker, and whatever other goodies can be acquired from our sponsors. In addition, everyone will get one raffle ticket for entry into the prize draw at the end of Day Two. There are other ways to win additional raffle tickets and Guilders, detailed below.

1st, 2nd and 3rd place for the following categories:

• Best Strategist
• Best Painted
• Best in Show (combination of the above)

will earn a trophy, and extra Guilders and Raffle tickets (3 of each for 1st place, 2 for second, and 1 for third).

Painting

Painted crews are not required. However, if you have at least some of your models painted, you'll receive an additional raffle ticket. If ALL of the models you play with over the course of the tournament are painted, you'll receive an additional raffle ticket on top of that.

Painted crews will be judged by both attendees and a panel for ranking. Judges will be looking for cohesion in paint scheme, presentation (display boards, bases), completeness (details, basing) and then finally quality of work. So even if you're not a great painter, you'll be ranked well for effort.

If you have a commission painted crew, please let the organizers know. You won't be eligible to win Best Painted but your rank will still count for Best in Show and you'll still earn the extra raffle tickets. This is done on an honor system, so we won't be grilling people about it :-)

Prize Draw

Prizes will be drawn at the end of day two. You must be there to win! Everyone will have at least 1 raffle ticket. Once your name has been drawn from the raffle box, you get to choose a prize from the prize pool. Any subsequent drawings of your name will be discarded, but the more tickets you have the more likely you are to pick sooner rather than later!

 

Scenarios

Round 1 - Looking for The Eye

Story: You are searching for an artifact known only as The Eye, which according to both research and rumor is meant to be a very large and pure soulstone, encased in a gold setting. A team of Earthside treasure hunters who were hot on the trail went missing in this area and rather than accidentally destroy evidence, you've agreed to an uneasy truce between you and your opponent (but you're keeping a wary eye on them - they're not to be trusted!). You've temporarily agreed to halt hostilities while you search for the missing team and whatever clues they might have had with them. The only problem is that the location borders the Quarantine Zone, and The Guild have been working on reclaiming this section, making any kind of covert operation a little more difficult.

All is going well, until the glowing purple spirit of a woman appears, wearing a ghostly pendant that looks a lot like The Eye itself. The spirit appears to be that of one of the treasure hunters, and it begins talking in a language that no-one understands. One thing is clear though: whoever controls that spirit has the best chance of retrieving The Eye. Time seems to stop for a moment as everyone looks at each other, then goes for their weapons. The truce is off! See if you can kill the idiot leading the other crew, or bring them down somehow - Guild authorities will likely be upon you soon, so maybe you can convince them that your enemy is guilty of other crimes? Oh, and don't forget to find any other clues to where The Eye might be!

Deployment: Blind (Standard)
Strategy: Extraction
Schemes:

•   Claim Jump
•   Frame for Murder
•   Accusation!
•   Set Up
•   Search The Ruins

Blind Deployment (from P. 80 of Rulebook)
In the Deploy Crews Step, the player deploying the first model is the Red Player, and the opponent is the Black Player. The players take a number of cards from a Fate Deck equal to the number of models in the Crew of the appropriate color. For example, the Red Player with 7 models will take 7 Rams or Masks from the deck.

Shuffle the red and black cards together to form a temporary deck. Starting with the Black Player, each player places a card from the top of the temporary deck face down (without looking at it) anywhere on the table, not touching another card. Once all the cards are placed, flip them over.

Each player may deploy a single model (starting with the Red Player) anywhere on top of a card of their color and then that card is removed.

Once the players have deployed all of their models, the deployment is treated as Standard Deployment for the remainder of the game, choosing a Deployment Zone as normal (but not actually placing any models there). This is important because some mechanics will reference the player's Deployment Zone.

 

Round 2 - Catch That Ghost!

Story: The spirit is evidently the ghost of one of the exploration team, judging by her age and clothing, and she seems to respond to other people (or creatures) being around, even if she doesn't speak a language anyone understands. And is she even really addressing anyone directly if she just keeps muttering the same phrases over and over?

Attacker: Maybe some of your allies will be able to understand her utterances and help lead you to The Eye? Get the ghost to a rendezvous point, and don't let anyone else hear what she has to say. Under any circumstances.

Defender: Even though you and your allies were unsuccessful in retrieving the explorer's ghost, she's still in transit and you've been able to figure out where she is and roughly where she's being taken - it crosses disputed turf that you consider yours! Make sure someone on your crew listens in on the ghost's ravings, and maybe the day can be saved.

Deployment: Corner
Strategy: Escort / Retrieve Information (see below)
Schemes:

•   Claim Jump
•   Dig Their Graves
•   Leave Your Mark
•   Tail 'em
•   Show of Force

Setup

After all models have been deployed, the Attacker places a 30mm Explorer's Ghost model in her Deployment Zone.

Special

The Explorer's Ghost model is friendly to the Attacking Crew, and it may not activate. It has the following stats:

Df: 6 Wp: 6 Wd: 8 Ht: 2, Incorporeal

The Ghost model ignores all game effects, except when it is targeted with an Attack or Interact Action. When targeted with an Attack Action the escort suffers damage as normal, but ignores any other effects (such as pushes, sacrifice, Conditions, etc.). A model in base contact with the Ghost may make a (1) Interact with it to move it 5" in any direction.

Attacker victory
The Attacker earns 4 VP if the Ghost model is in the Defender's Half of the table at the end of the game.

Defender victory
Twice per game, any of the Defender's non-Peon models may make a (2) Interact Action targeting the Ghost model to earn 2 VP

Round 3 - The Eye Opens

Story: The Eye has revealed some of its secrets. It needs to be reinstated into an altar, built specifically for this purpose, in order to be fully empowered. The Ghost of the explorer has revealed the location of that altar, and which other components are needed in order to activate The Eye.

Attacker: You can already feel the power flowing from The Eye, just being in proximity to the monument. Your goal is to place the Eye in the monument, and use the various components that the Explorer's Ghost told you about to activate it. You've been dogged by your enemy now for too long, and it's time to take care of the competition while you're at it.

Defender: There is powerful magic at work in this area. You've managed to track The Eye to this place, and now you want to be the one to activate its power. Steal what components you can from your enemy, and try to take as many of them out as you can on the way.

Special

Place a 50mm Arcane Monument marker in the Center of the table. The Monument is Ht 5, blocking, impassable and hard cover terrain.

Each side's Master may attach their Avatar Upgrade (from Shifting Loyalties), which takes up an Upgrade slot as normal. This begins in its Premanifestation mode. The Manifestation event type is "Delayed" - Avatars can manifest any time after the start of Turn 3. This represents the immense power released once the The Eye has opened! The Avatar rules are in the main rule book on P. 56.

Avatar models can be: the 1st Edition Avatar models from Wyrd; your faction's Emissary model, assuming you don't also use the Emissary in your crew; your Master model temporarily on a 50mm base. Reasonable proxies may also be used - contact us ahead of time if you want feedback on whether your proxy choice will be allowed.

Attacker victory

At the end of every Turn after the first, the Attacker earns 1 VP if they have at least one Scheme Marker in base contact with the Arcane Monument, then remove all of the Attacker's Scheme Markers in base contact with the Ancient Monument.

Defender victory

(The phrase "Key Model" refers to a model that is either an Enforcer, Henchman or Master, and is used for shorthand)

Once per Turn, on any turn after the first, a Key Model in the Defender's Crew may take a (1) Interact Action targeting an enemy Key Model within 1" to gain 1 VP. If an Attacker's Key Model is killed or sacrificed as a result of its own Crew's Actions or Abilities, the Defender gains 1 VP.

Deployment: Standard
Schemes

•     Claim Jump
•     Dig Their Graves
•     Eliminate The Leadership
•     Hunting Party
•     A Quick Murder

   

Round 4 - The Shards

Story: With the ritual complete, The Eye started glowing more and more strongly until ultimately it exploded into two large shards and many small ones, unleashing an unearthly amount of magical energy into the vicinity. This initially raised the effects of magic across this area, and many manifestations have been witnessed. However, the instability has also created magical dead zones, making Soulstone usage less reliable for everyone. While it's likely irreparable, the individual shards of The Eye still hold immense power. Protect the large pair, and make sure you get any small ones that have been pocketed by the enemy.

Special

Dead Zones: A Dead Zone is Ht 0 severe terrain. Each player places one 3" Dead Zone marker (provided) anywhere on the table at least 6" from either Deployment Zone. While in base contact with a Dead Zone, models may not take Ca Actions and are immune to Ca Actions.

Deployment: In the Deploy Crews step, The Alliance who is currently winning is treated as having won the flip. If both players are the same Alliance, flip as normal.

Deployment: Corner
Strategy: Guard the Stash
Schemes:

•     Claim Jump
•     Leave Your Mark
•     Accusation!
•     Recover Evidence
•     Inspection

Round 5 - A Blood Sacrifice

Story: It's been determined that in order to repair The Eye, Soulstone energy must be claimed and used to recharge it. The two large shards have proven to be immovable, but with a combination of the smaller shards you've retrieved it should be possible to anoint sufficient victims and kill them to recharge The Eye and allow it to reform.

Set Up: Place two 50mm Shard of The Eye markers (Ht 5, blocking, impassable, hard cover) on the Centerline each 5" on either side of the Center of the board (10" apart from each other - just like for Guard the Stash). While within 2" of a Shard of The Eye marker, models recieve +1 Ca to all Ca actions. In the Deploy Crews step, The Alliance who is currently winning is treated as having won the flip. If both players are the same Alliance, flip as normal.

Strategy: Headhunter
Schemes:

•     Claim Jump
•     Eliminate the Leadership
•     Accusation!
•     Mark for Death
•     Last Stand

Round 6 - ???

Once 33 tickets have been sold for the event, we will post round 6!

[godswearhats]

I'm pleased to announce the Secret Weapon Miniatures has been added as a sponsor! We'll be giving away a nice set of matched bases as part of the prize raffle.

[godswearhats]

Another sponsor announcement: Sparkle Party Death Mats will be providing mats for us to play on and a bunch of them for lucky raffle winners to take home to game on too :-)