Frolicking with the Fairies

[Tayne]

So after a stint with Gremlins on the run up to the ITC last weekend, I thought I'd faction hop again and take a look at Titania after she'd sat there unloved since Gencon. (Well, lovingly painted by @Elessarion, but very much unplayed.) Turns out there was a small event yesterday so I bundled into the car with a couple of friends and headed North. Small note, I have done some research by podcasts and reading up where I could so I wasn't heading in completely uninformed. However, I'd also not played Neverborn for over a year so knew I'd be rusty.

Game 1. The venue let us decide our first rounds as it was just a 10 man and they didn't want club mates to face each other. I turned to Ross Hill, the other Neverborn player for the event and asked if he fancied a Neverborn off. He did, so off we toddled.

Extraction, Standard Deployment, Claim Jump, Accusation, Dig Their Graves, Show of Force, Search the Ruins.

 

My List: Titania, Behold My Glory, On Wings of Darkness, Audience with the Queen

Primordial Magic

Barbaros, Malifaux Provides, A Thousand Faces

Doppelganger, A Thousand Faces

Sorrow

The Tooth

Mysterious Effigy

Baby Kade, Depression (a substitute as I wait for my Rougarou to arrive)

 

Ross revealed... Titania! Behold My Glory, Queens Champion (I can't remember other upgrades)

Nekima, Malifaux Provides

Doppelganger

Mysterious Emissary

2 Illuminated

Primordial Magic

 

I won't do a blow-by-blow, mostly because I can't remember. By the end of turn 1, we'd both moved forwards cautiously, his Nekima was about 17 inches away and I used Audience to snare his Doppelganger over, right in charge range of Baby Kade with the last activation. I discard a card for Sweetbreads, get in the charge and proceed to black joker the second damage swing. Ross then wins initiative with a flipped face card I couldn't beat, uses Doppelganger and copies Kade's lure, drawing Nekima close enough that she made short work of Kade and got the Queens Champion upgrade.

From here it turned into a slog fest. Barbaros and Nekima kept healing through scheme markers and their Queens, but the momentum had swung and Ross simply knew Neverborn better, leading to him getting the win. 5-9

Mostly, I spent this game getting my head around the interactions the crew had and learning attacks and abilities. I can read them a dozen times, but when I get the on the table is when that information sinks in. I did have a stand out moment when I moved Barbaros and declared accusation (also took dig their graves because, well, do I need to explain?). Ross had admitted he never imagined I would take that, whereas the moment I saw his crew I knew he had far more damage potential than I did. The Tooth was okay, but I kept not having a scheme marker in place (thanks to Nekima's Malifaux Provides) for the card draw, then Nekima dropped her pretty quickly, as you'd expect.

I'll try and post up the other two games later today.

[Tayne]

Game 2 I was on the bottom table against one of the local lads. It was:

Guard the Stash, Flank Deployment, Claim Jump, Frame for Murder, Leave your Mark, Set Up, A Quick Murder.

I took the same crew except for swapping the Sorrow for a Waldgeist (they can tank so well and just sit on a marker for me). I might have looked at swapping someone else for a second, but I only had one in the case.

Callum took:

Pandora, Box Opens, Fears Given Form,

Teddy,

Poltergeist,

Widow Weaver,

Baby Kade,

Iggy,

Insidious Madness,

I figured Set Up was a sure bet as Pandora would no doubt be charging me, as was a Quick Murder on his Teddy. Callum tried leave your mark. I don't remember what his other scheme was as (spoiler) he didn't score it.

The table had a river bisecting it and, for giggle factor, we had decided it was hazardous terrain (I firmly believe the should be more in the game). I lost the deployment and Callum told me to deploy first. This meant I chose the side where the Stash markers were my side of the river and, with just one path over it, his crew would either be bottlenecked or be taking damage getting across.

This game had me set up a comfortable lead turn one. I won initiative and had activation advantage so when Pandora came forward (his 6th activation, Teddy was stuck behind her otherwise) I was then able to get my three markers in place in the next three activations to score set up. Titania's zero to eat scheme markers and push someone was critical here, netting me a 3 point lead. Turn 2 I used the Effigy's buff to protect Titania, then used Audience to pull in Teddy, getting him nicely weakened. Teddy activated, successfully cast Gobble You Up and flurried Titania, only for me to flip high on my first defence flip and push away. I then underestimated how quickly Barbaros would drop in two misery aura's and lost him, giving my Titania an action. She killed Teddy, netting Quick Murder and giving away Frame for Murder.

Sigh.

I'd been planning around that. My Walgeist had it's markers up and could have charged Teddy whilst staying near the marker. I also had the Thorn who could walk in and get a couple more strikes and only surrender 2 points. I got greedy and gave away VP. Never mind.

From there, I had Callum on the back foot and could dominate. Kade came in and Red Jokered Poltergeist on the second swing, somehow hitting the Sweetbreads trigger twice. The Madness got away and dropped a marker for Leave Your Mark, but my Doppelganger could get close enough to stop it scoring and next turn, the Puke Worm made it insignificant. Time was called at the end of turn 4, leaving me at an 8-4 win. No spoon for me today!

[Tayne]

Game three vs Graham Bursnell, aka Blu Tack

Interference, Close Deployment, Claim Jump, Eliminate the Leadership, Dig Their Graves, Covert Breakthrough, Recover Evidence

Most amused by this draw, given that I'd surprised Blu Tack that morning (apparently our driver hadn't told him I was coming, then had to cancel) and driven up with him. Graham and I have played a few times now and it never fails to be amazing fun. It's never failed to be a win to him either (hey, he's number 2 in the country, I'm a lowly 81 here!) but that didn't matter. I was here for three fun games and knew I'd get that from the day the moment the drawer was announced.

I'll admit, I had no idea how to do interference with Titania. Previously with Neverborn I'd just send in Pandora to kill plenty, Titania doesn't have that sort of killing power though. So I shrugged and went full Fae on his ass.

My List

Titania, Behold my Glory, Aether Connection, Audience with a Queen (didn't mean to take this, but it was in my crew faux list so eh)

Aeslin, Taproot, Malifaux Provides

Puke Worm

Doppelganger, Malifaux Provides

The Claw

The Tooth

The Thorn

Mysterious Effigy

 

Graham's list (well, best as I remember it)

Misaki, Stalking Bisento, Oathkeeper

Emissary with Misaki's upgrade,

2 Bandidos

Big Jake

Shang

Montressor, his 0 upgrade, Oathkeeper

Johan, Oathkeeper

 

Close deployment. Misaki. Eliminate the Leadership. Yikes.

Yeah, I castled as if I was doing standard deployment, just behind a wood to hamper Graham's charges. I took Dig Their Graves and Eliminate the Leadership as there was no way he wasn't going to send Misaki in and, well, Dig Their Graves is simples for this crew.

Turn one saw me shuffle a bit and get some scheme markers down ready for Taproot or Titania herself to play with. Roughly halfway through, his Emissary came to the center line so I used The Tooth's challenge to draw him in. Only, his charge is just 5 so that didn't work exactly as planned. Still, got him close enough for The Claw to move up to the edge of the wood and Challenge him into my lines. Side note: I hadn't looked closely before and this was the moment I realized the different nuances to the challenges. Misaki then popped out and charged The Claw but Taproot kept him safe. It also meant I had Misaki ready to charge Titania next turn. I kill the Emissary, scoring Dig Their Graves turn one. Happy days. Graham announced recover evidence, I selected the five models most in my castle. 

What happened next was basically Fae pinball. Between the Effigy's buff and Taproot (well, before Aeslin died. Take that on Titania next game!), I mostly eluded attacks (The Thorn bought it early on though) with the Claw somehow surviving despite being Stalked. Misaki had her four attacks, all of them with the execute trigger and managed to kill.. no one. I responded, ignored Montressor charging in and watched as Johan positioned himself for next turn. Misaki died, scoring me Eliminate and Dig Their Graves. Graham scored for Interference.

Short version is that my castle held, preventing Graham from recovering any evidence, and Titania only ever took 2 wounds which she healed quickly enough, preventing him from scoring Elminate. I did have one note worthy activation right before time was called (sadly, no warnings were given) where the Doppelganger top decked a tome to copy Johan's hammer. She then promptly killed Montressor (he only had 3 wounds), swung at a Bandido behind her to kill her from full health in one and promptly Red Jokered the damage flip on Shang to boot. Time is called, Graham's only scored three for Interference, I'm at 6 for my schemes (probably could have done interference too if I'd thought about it to get to 7).

I finish 2-1 for the day and, somehow, hit third place for the event, winning me an Alt Kaeris that I promptly donated to Blu Tack. How his little face lit up with glee!

Anyways, some thoughts:

Titania is not without hope. She's not a power master or easy to use, certainly, but with practice and a plan, she can work.

Behold My Glory - I did not use this anywhere near enough. Graham pointed out at the end that I could have used it on Montressor and Johan in turns 3/4, he would have been able to do pretty much nothing to my crew, sheltered as she was behind models and with the Effigy's buff. Must take, and I need to practise it more.

Audience with the Queen - definitely has a place, and here I'm thinking things like A Quick Murder. It's a place effect and at a decent cast that only needs to tie with your opponent. Not a must take each game like Behold though.

Taproot - aka, Fairy Squeal. This caused a nightmare for Graham. In a Fae heavy list, it's a must take. Against Eliminate the Leadership I think I'll take this and Aether Connection to be doubly sure.

Mysterious Effigy - I never did remember his cheat fate aura, but his buff is powerful and saved Titania from Misaki and a Teddy-flurry with pos flips. I think I'll always take this little guy with her.

The Knights - I need more practise before I can really speak, but I found them to be a lot of fun. Moreso than the Barbaros led list of the previous two games. I will be running all three again! The Thorn is the standout so far. Built in draw a card? Yes please!

Aeslin - Was not impressed. Maybe she can loiter behind the knights with Titania, then swoop in, discard markers and pound out some damage? Lack of flight hampers that idea. She's the first I'll drop, I think I'd rather have Candy in that spot, Depression to make heals reliable and have her healing knights/Titania

Queens Champion - Ross used it to great effect against me. I'll try it sometime, verdict is out for now.

 

Overall? I had a lot of fun with the crew and felt more competitive than my last list (well, that was Mah firing pigs at people. Those games were always heavily one sided it just varied who it went to). I'm going to be running her for a while yet, especially when my Rougarou arrive!

[Viruk]

Very good read, thanks for taking time to put your thoughts here. I look forward to reading about your experiences with Rourgarou

[Tayne]

7 hours ago, Viruk said:

Very good read, thanks for taking time to put your thoughts here. I look forward to reading about your experiences with Rourgarou

No problem at all. Titania doesn't have a lot written about her yet as she, models aside, isn't the most inspiring of masters. That's not actually why I answered, I remembered some more thoughts on Aeslin as I was trying to sleep, and that is her 0 action preventing the enemy from moving, pushing or placing. This has some definite merits and I want to try her out against Ressers. The fact that she also has Ca attacks will help against models like The Hanged, and if I can get close her other zero could be a right pain to a summoner.

[katadder]

I am loving my titania and have had some good successes with her.

I agree that aeslin is underwhelming so will be replacing her with the emissary to boost all my minions (run all 3 knights and 2 rougarou).

bets combo then is the tooths lure and pushes on hits combined with 2 rougarou giving out a possible 11 attacks on the tooths activation (all with positives from emissary)

[Tayne]

26 minutes ago, katadder said:

I am loving my titania and have had some good successes with her.

I agree that aeslin is underwhelming so will be replacing her with the emissary to boost all my minions (run all 3 knights and 2 rougarou).

bets combo then is the tooths lure and pushes on hits combined with 2 rougarou giving out a possible 11 attacks on the tooths activation (all with positives from emissary)

Can't argue with that at all. I was half impressed with the Emissary when Ross ran it for the potential it gave, but the way the game went meant that it didn't really do much (Nekima hogged all the attention).

[Tayne]

37 minutes ago, katadder said:

Edit: double post