Sholto

Anniversary Bash at Worlds At War To celebrate the first year of Malifaux events at the Worlds At War store in Livingston, Dave Kerr-Smith arranged the Anniversary Bash, a 3 game 30/35/40 ss event with Fixed Faction and Shared Strategies. It was only his seventh tournament this year!!! We had ten players on the day with two Guild, three Arcanists, three Neverborn and two Outcasts. No Ressers at all, but we did have Som’er! (this tournament was in October, so this is all from memory and some photos. Not as much detail as usual, in other words) Game 1 30ss Shared Treasure Hunt For this first game I was drawn against Joe Taylor, who had a very unusual Marcus crew (inasmuch as any Marcus crew is unusual in these parts!): · Marcus (8ss cache) · Jackalope · Kaeris · Shikome · 3 Night Terrors I was also playing Arcanists, so for this game I chose Colette: · Colette (4ss cache) · Coryphee · Coryphee · Cassandra · Performer & Mannequin There was a rules twist whereby the Treasure Marker could not be picked up on Turn 1. I decided to be bold with Colette’s crew, fling them forward in force, camp on the Treasure Marker and try and make off with it on Turn 2. Joe took Power Ritual and Bodyguard. I flipped for my Schemes and got Eye for an Eye and Bodyguard. I had the Coryphee form Voltron/ become the Duet and raced them up into base contact with the Treasure Marker. Cassandra joined them as did a Mannequin who was Linked to the Duet. I was a bit concerned about the knot of Night Terrors coming across from the right flank, but reckoned they were more likely to be on Power Ritual duty the whole game. True to expectations they stayed away and let the rest of Marcus’ crew handle the Treasure Marker. On Turn 2 the Shikome, who had chosen the Duet as its Prey, swooped in and picked up the Treasure. Kaeris moved forward and started burning things up, putting some serious wounds on the Duet. At the end of Turn 2 I had the Treasure Marker, with the Duet, Cassandra and a Performer all gathered around it in the centre of the table, with the Shikome dead but with Marcus very close. The Duet was holding the goodies, but Marcus could not charge it, so he charged Colette instead and then killed the Duet I don’t like losing my lovely Duet – it makes Colette sad and she gets all pouty with me. In reply I managed to cast Seduction on Marcus, putting him at a double negative flip on Resist Duels. That, combined with repeated Magician’s Duels, killed off Marcus. Colette had made a Dove every Turn, and now Kaeris had two of them in her face, blocking her shooting and Magician’s Duelling her as well. As the game wrapped up I fell back, towards the knot of Night Terrors, who were racing across my deployment zone, aiming to complete Power Ritual. Colette brought Cassandra over and Cassy Breathed Fire on them, killing two of them. In the last Turn I won Initiative, but decided to let the third Night Terror live and let it complete Power Ritual, since by not killing it I got 2VP for Eye for an Eye (Joe already had 1VP for completing three corners of Power Ritual, so getting the fourth only netted him +1VP overall). In the end I got 4VP for the Strategy and 4VP for my Schemes. Joe got 1VP for his Schemes. Result: Win for Colette In this game I made the mistake of exposing the Duet without placing a Dove near it, and that helped get it killed. However, I also had terrible hands and poor luck flipping on Defence, which meant it was taking solid damage from Kaeris. Joe also played Kaeris very well, and really got a lot from her abilities. Still, getting Seduction off on Marcus was a nice result, and he never looked like surviving the resulting deluge of magic which he was on a double neg flip to resist the whole Turn. I had no idea what to expect from Marcus, never having played against him before, and he is very fast, versatile and a solid beatstick in melee if he gets an extra tome on Wild Heart. A great opening game and Joe was a terrific opponent. Game 2 35ss Shared Deliver A Message My opponent for this one was Mook, who was playing: · Lilith · Puking Snake · 7 Terror Tots · Mature Nephilim I took (see if you can spot the unforced error!): · Ramos o Avatar Ramos · Mobile Toolkit · Joss · 3 Large Steampunk Arachnids I had no idea how I wanted to achieve the Strategy in this game, and (if I’m being honest) I didn’t give it much thought. I just wanted to Manifest Ramatar and kick some bottom. I had some vague idea of using his mobility to get the job done, or using a Reactivating Joss to the same end. For Schemes I flipped Kill Protégé (Mature Nephilim) and Steal Relic. Mook had Holdout and Grudge (one of the LSA). As in Game 1 there was a slight rules twist – the message could not be delivered on Turn 1. Take that, Collodi! The table had lots of intact buildings around the edges, a gallows on my left flank and the middle was mostly open, with some rough ground and low cover. The army of Terror Tots exploded out across the table, with an early Illusory Forest sitting between my crew and Mook’s. The Mature Nephilim lined up a Diving Charge on a rooftop for Turn 2. I knew Joss was going to get it, so I gave him Armour 3 and put him in Defensive Stance. The Mature charged anyway and also used Melee Expert, but only doing two wounds to him in total – that Joss can take a hit. At the beginning of Turn 2, we realised my epic fail. I had taken three Large Steampunk Arachnids when they are Rare 2 I asked Mook to pick one and I removed that one from play, and ever the gentleman Mook did not even mention a forfeit on my part (which I should have offered, but it didn’t occur to me until later). The LSA in question had not actually done anything in the game so far, so its presence on the table had not (I think) been adverse in the game so far. Removing it did leave me 5ss down, however. Joss Flurried and killed off the Mature Nephilim, while my other two LSAs moved out to engage the Terror Tots, taking wounds but staying alive and killing off the Tots one by one. The Electrical Creation and summoned Steampunk Arachnid did some damage and got themselves killed mid-table, and Ramos Manifested on Turn 2. I wanted to Summon something on Turn 3 but annoyingly the only models I had with me were Large Steampunk Arachnids, and I couldn’t have any more of those. I wanted to Summon a Warden, but I didn’t have the models with me. Mook moved a Tot up and Lilith promptly transpositioned it, and the new one Delivered The Message! Drat! From there, my Spiders and Joss started moving past mid-table, pressing Lilith back into her own deployment zone. Here is a photo of me, throwing illegal models onto the table faster than the eye can see Ramatar used his Mass Obey spell, and got an additional charge out of each model in my crew. I did not realise he got to charge as well, but pretty much everything except one Tot, the totem and Lilith was dead at this point. She fell back, and ran inside an intact building (we had several Terraclips buildings around the table). Well, Mook called it running inside, I called it hiding ;-) The last Terror Tot stood in the doorway and the Puking Snake put up an Illusory Forest. There was an amusing moment when Mook realised there was also a doorway on my side of the building, that he had failed to notice! However, all my LSAs and Ramatar were on 50mm bases so they could not get inside the building. The only model that could do it was Joss. Joss ran in and Reactivated. And I forgot to Deliver The Message and Flurried instead... He missed with all his attacks. The game went to Turn 4 which was the last, and luckily Joss got initiative and Delivered The Message finally. Lilith then killed Joss. Ramatar peeked through the doorway and tried to kill off Lilith with his ranged spell, but failed. The game ended. Mook had 4VP from the Strategy and none from his Schemes (the LSA was still alive and was in his Deployment Zone to boot). I had 1 VP from the Strategy and 2VP from my Schemes (I had failed to even try and Steal the Relic with Joss). Result: Win to Lilith After my clod-headed mistake in taking an illegal crew I was lucky to actually finish the game, and this was very fun. Mook played very tactically, spreading his Terror Tots out to ensure there was nowhere Ramatar could hide and then delivering the message as quickly as he could. He then got Lilith out of harm’s way, and would have won by even more if I hadn’t been able to find a doorway he had missed! I don’t think if I had taken a legal 5ss model at the beginning the result would have been any different, to be honest. Well played, and a great opponent. Game 3 40ss Shared Turf War My opponent for the last game was Dave Hamilton, who was playing Lady J: · Lady J (8ss cache) · The Judge · Sammael · 2 Guild Guard · 3 Death Marshalls He may have also taken the Avatar, although he did not Manifest so it did not really feature in the game. With a massive 40ss to spend, there was only one Master who would have no problem spending them (and more): · Colette · 2 Coryphee · Lazarus · Mechanical Dove · 2 Performer & Mannequin pairs Yes, Lazarus. You’ll see I had been keen to try this crew out for a while, and it is not often you get to play at 40ss. I flipped for Schemes and got Grudge (I picked Sammael as he was deadly at range, so taking Grudge might keep him away from my fragile Showgirls, but he is also easy to kill in melee) and Sabotage. Dave H took Breakthrough and did not declare his other Scheme. I was on the same table as I had been for Game 2, and on the same side as well. The Guild deployed first, right across their deployment zone. I deployed in a group on my left. For the Lazarus trick to work I had to make sure certain models were in base contact or in range of other models. The Guild came surging forward while I built my Pain Train. Lazarus Assimilated Link from a Mannequin and Linked to a Duet. This Link remained in force for the remainder of the game. I killed one Dove (with Magician’s Duel, netting me a SS), made another Dove for a SS and killed it, too (getting that SS back!). The Doves left scrap counters which Lazarus picked up, as he was in base contact with them. With two scrap counters, on the next Turn whatever Lazarus Assimilated would be gained permanently Everything moved up my left flank, with the Coryphee forming the Duet (the Link transfers to the Duet) and Lazarus and the Duet plus Mannequin forming the vanguard of the Showgirl sortie. On Turn 2 I sent a Performer off to mid-table to tempt the Guild into going after her, but I misjudged the Judge’s Charge range and he took her down to 2Wds. Colette did a ‘Mannequin Dance’ and got her out of trouble. I tried to turn the Judge into a Mannequin while I was at it, but didn’t get the Tomes and could only Bury him. Sammael headed behind the buildings on my right, staying well away from the Showgirls. Everything else advanced down the middle apart from the two Guild Guard, who set up a 12” Cordon on the edge of their deployment zone. The Duet activated and ran forward and round the Cordon, killing one Guild Guard as it passed and ending in Melee with the other. A Death Marshall, who had to turn round and go back to get in range, took a shot at Lazarus, and then Lazarus activated and Assimilated Fast permanently He had up to four melee strikes on the hapless Guild Guard, and killed him in two. He fired at the Death Marshall with his remaining general AP. At the end of the Turn I unburied The Judge inside an intact building in my deployment zone. He would play no further part in the game. On Turn 3 I got initiative. Lazarus assimilated Armour 3 from the Mannequin linked to the Duet (there is a thread on the forums that confirms Lazarus can assimilate Armour, although it operates as normal Armour and not his special un-ignorable Armour) and fired three times, killing off the Death Marshall. He took some return fire (but with Armour 4 and being in cover he could have taken a lot more) and then the Duet activated and whisked the trio out of Line of Sight behind my Sabotage target, and then Sabotaged it. The rest of my crew were moving up on the left flank, fairly unmolested, as the Guild advanced. It was looking pretty good at this point. The Duet had the mobility to get Lazarus into melee with Sammael on the next Turn (27” of movement plus up to three 4” extra moves from hitting the Mannequin or Lazarus if I needed them) and there was no way Sammael would survive that – did I mention Lazarus gets plus flips against Guild models? I might even be able to take out the Death Marshall with him and still get back into the Guild deployment zone by the end of the game. I would get full VP for both Schemes and one or two for the Strategy. So, I went a bit mad. It happens. At the end of Turn 3 Lady J headed right for Colette. For some reason I decided that I ought to try and kill Lady J, as she was exposed, so my plan went out the window and I sent Colette and the Duet for Lady J. This tends to happen with me and Malifaux. I get an idea in my head about how the game is going to go, and decide that the version of the game playing out in my head is predictable and therefore uninteresting (if only because it has already played out in my head, so seeing it happen on the table is like watching a repeat), and try something horribly risky and unnecessary. But fun The other explanation is that I am stupid. Occam’s Razor suggests which of these may be the better explanation... Suffice to say the melee with Lady J was brutal and unforgiving. Colette died at least once, possibly more, flinging soulstones away like confetti. Because she can do that. Lady J was damned hard to hurt with the Coryphee and with Lazarus, and her Riposte nearly killed off the Coryphee at one point. A Death Marshall fired into melee, hitting Colette and Lady J. The next Turn I was left with nothing but Magician’s Duel, and frankly I should have gone for that from the beginning. Colette and her Doves Duelled away, and Lady J was dead at the end of Turn 5, but it was a very close thing. The rest of the Guild had moved into my Deployment zone, and it turned out that Dave’s undeclared Scheme was Stake a Claim, and it was on the very building I had unburied the Judge in on Turn 2! Lol Lazarus ran and, with Fast, made it into the Guild deployment zone. The Duet had been held up by disengaging strikes from Lady J before she died (well, obviously before she died, not even Lady J can make disengaging strikes from beyond the grave), and could not make it all the way to the Guild deployment zone. One of the Performers had made it inside, but the other would not reach it even with a full activation. Time for some shenanigans! Colette killed the Performer who would not make it to the end zone. Her death gave the Duet Reactivate, and the Duet moved into the end zone and Danced Apart, becoming two Significant models. However, the Performer whom I thought had made it into the end zone was actually a fraction out At the end of the game I got 3VP from the Strategy (2VP for having models in the enemy deployment zone and 1VP for having more models in the Guild table half than they had in mine). I got 2VP from Sabotage. Dave H had 3VP from the Strategy (2VP for having models in the enemy deployment zone and 1VP for having more models in my deployment zone than I had in his), and 3 VP from his Schemes. Result: Win for the Guild! This was a great game, and Dave is a very good player who (it seems to me) always has a clear plan for victory in all the games we have had. Would I take Lazarus again in this crew? Probably not. His ranged shooting is not great, and in melee Cassandra does everything Lazarus can and a bit more. She cannot Link to the Duet, so Lazarus will always have more AP than her and being able to drag around an Armour 4 melee beatstick that can hit 4 times, heal and get blasts off a trigger is pretty awesome, but Lazarus cannot use Magician’s Duel, nor can he debuff enemy models. On balance, I think Cassy is better for the crew. Yeah, I know – surprise! Sending the Duet and Lazarus after Lady J was the big mistake. There is every chance Colette, her Mannequin and a Dove or two could have done the job on their own, and while the Duet can sort-of take on a melee Master, Lazarus really cannot. Overall, I came in sixth place with one win and two losses. It was a great tournament, and I really liked playing at the higher SS levels. I think it is about time I started picking my Schemes again, though. And, writing these batreps a few weeks after the fact, I really want to play Colette again sometime soon Molly might have to wait.

You're welcome! I won't be entering any competitions, as I do some work for Wyrd so it is probably not a good idea, but thanks anyway

Brilliant stuff

This was a 25ss fixed list tournament, and that gal Molly insisted that I bring her along: Game 1 Beyond The Veil: A Personal Experience of Undeath (Being an occasional diary and journal of Molly Squidpiddge, deceased) It was on a breezy November evening, as the freshening wind blew the last of the ash leaves from the branches, that the rival news team made themselves known. I was in the ruins of the Old Slums, behind the crumbling brickwork of Morrison’s Letterwriting Services on Caseapple Street, on the advices of an aged purveyor of second hand cheeses, who claimed with a preacher’s certainty that the informant would be in this place, at this time. The hour and location being known, I had sent Lucy, a Crooligan of my acquaintance who clung to her filthy teddy bear as closely as she clung to my skirts, to gather up some of Seamus’ more imposing but alas still decomposing Belles: members of the press are not guaranteed safe passage in these difficult times, and less so when they are also Undead, a situation I have grown accustomed to if not entirely comfortable with. Lucy had returned not only with two Belles, Astrid and Gertrude, but it transpired Sybelle herself had answered my call, and brung along a luckless duck by the name of Heady, who had til recently been one of Colette’s showgirls. Ponto, faithful as ever, completed the ensemble. The informant would have had grounds to tremble had he seen my entourage, but what he would have made of the Ortegas remains a question I will have to ask him at another time. Quite what interest Perdita and her brothers had in the informant escapes me still, as we were not afforded an opportunity for dialogue, but it was clear that I was risking losing this important story to the Ortega ingénue. Resolving that Perdita’s ambitions to snatch this story from me must be put to bed, I realised that no message was quite so clear as a bloody nose. I was up against Alan “The Perforator” in Game 1, which was 25ss Shared Slaughter. Alan had: · Perdita · Santiago · Francisco · Nino · Latigo Pistolero · Watcher Worth pointing out that Alan’s crew won best painted at the tournament! My crew, which was fixed for the tournament, was: · Molly (5ss cache) · Necrotic Machine (Ponto) · Sybelle · Two Rotten Belles (Astrid & Gertrude) · Dead Doxy (Heady LaMarr) · Crooligan (Lucy) I dropped the Rogue Necromancy for this tournament, having used it to decent effect in my first ever Molly game vs Jakob. Given the Strategies in this tournament, I was worried it would end up dead in the first game (and thereby lose me the first game), and an obvious Kill Protégé target for every opponent to boot. In addition, it offers me nothing for Deliver a Message, although it would give me options for Contain Power. In the end, I went with utility models, numbers and flexibility. I flipped for my Schemes and got Bodyguard and Frame for Murder (Sybelle). Alan chose Bodyguard and Kill Protégé on Sybelle. My plan for this game was fairly simple. Lure something valuable in and kill it to get a lead in Slaughter, and then just try and hold onto that lead. The Crooligan would keep me safe from Nino. The plan went well to begin with, and I Lured Santiago in. Before he could activate (and deliver a Bulletstorm) Ponto hopped over and killed him outright with The Philosophy of Uncertainty, cheating and stoning the Cast to make it irresistible. Perdita focused her efforts on trying to get rid of the Crooligan, who was heading for Nino, but I managed to win initiative each Turn and keep her Mist up. Perdita then turned her attention to Heady (the Dead Doxy) and killed her, but she stayed alive with Final Encore. The game went four Turns, and at the end I had killed Santiago and although I had lost Ponto, it had not been killed or sacrificed by the enemy. I got 2 VP for the Strategy and 2 VP for my Schemes. Alan got 0VP for the Strategy and 2VP for his Schemes. Result: Win for Molly. After seeing what happened to Santiago, Alan tried not to get too close, although he could not outrange Lure. Had the game gone on, I am fairly sure I could have Lured in Francisco for a Sybelle/ Molly drubbing, although I would certainly have lost the Crooligan (Alan realised he could use Spellbreaker to get rid of The Mist, and did so on Turn 4). Once the Crooligan was gone, Nino would have come into play and my models would have started dying. The Crooligan more than earned its place in my crew with this one performance. I did one fun move with the Dead Doxy, where she walked 8” (thanks to Molly’s aura) and then tried to cast Inviting Approach on Francisco. The point was to get Seduction off for free, but Inviting Approach failed. The Dead Doxy then moved right back to where it had started from (as she was still within 4” of Molly). A neat little trick I will try again, as Seduction is one of the best debuff spells in the game. However, my first game was plagued by having to hold onto key cards that key spells depend on. This seems to be an ongoing problem with Molly – she is so card dependant that if you get a useful card the temptation is to hold onto it come what may. I ended up not drawing any cards for Turn 3 (keeping my whole hand), when the highest card I had was a nine! Game 2 Unfortunately, all the gunfire, mysterious mists and uncertain philosophies had caused my informant to turn tail and run, as Perdita and her brothers were now doing. The only person who knew where he would be now, as I was unlikely to find my recycled cheese merchant at such short notice, would be Dr Douglas McMourning. By Crooligan post I arranged to meet him at a different location in the ruined Old City, where tall poplars and beech grew wild among the cobbles. However, knowing how prone to silliness, japes and outright tomfoolery Dr McMourning was, I knew that I had to impress upon him first the gravity of my situation. If I could explain to him how important it was I meet with my informant, there was every chance the good Doctor would give true information. Otherwise, were he to speak before I, I was confident he would impart to me – in perfect Greek or maybe Latin, for he is an awful show-off – grandstanding gibberish, blatant balderdash or complete codswallop, before disappearing into the night in a way that I believe he thinks mysterious but on account of his poor eyesight does not realise that everyone can see him quite clearly, tiptoeing from shadow to shadow as if invisible. I choose not to remark on this in his presence, as it amuses me so. I was up against Mark, who was playing: · McMourning · Mortimer · Flesh Construct · 2 Necropunks · 1 Dog · 1 Zombie Chihuahua The Strategy was Shared Deliver a Message. I randomly flipped and got Assassinate and Army of The Dead for my Schemes. Yup, not great Schemes for Molly. Not impossible, though. Mark declared one Scheme (cannot remember what it was, but he did not get it) and left another undeclared. Funnily enough, Mark and I had been chatting before the round 2 draw, and had revealed our plans for achieving Deliver a Message, so we each knew what the other intended on doing! My aim was to Imbue Vigor on Sybelle, fling her forward, then Call Belle on a Rotten Belle to Deliver the Message. I could drop an unactivated Belle anywhere within 21”, which is not too bad. Not a great plan, and needs some high Masks to work, but it was all I could think of Mark’s plan was called Necropunks, and it involved Necropunks. Damned Necropunks! I decided to play defensively (which was a mistake) and to take out the first Necropunk with Lures followed up by blows to the head. I killed the first one, but McMourning’s crew was quick and the first Flesh Construct was in about my crew on Turn 2. I should have remembered its rule that makes it go for the nearest enemy model – and then deployed the Crooligan to draw it away. I threw the Dead Doxy forward, hoping it would die and I could switch it with an unactivated Belle or even Sybelle, who might then have a chance of Delivering the Message. It sort of worked, but then I Lured McMourning too far forward(!) and that put him in range of my main crew ‘blob’ for some Scalpel Slinging. He promptly did that and ended up within 2” of Molly, and then delivered the message. I then completely ignored TO Barry’s message that this was the Last Turn, and instead of delivering the message to McMourning I tried to kill him instead! Not that it would have made much difference. It was not even close, and Molly had a Necropunk within 2” of her as well as another Flesh Construct bearing down! A deserved win for Mark. The game ended on Turn 4 with McMourning having 5VP (4VP from the Strategy and 1VP from an undeclared Hold Out), while I had 0VP, having failed to get any Strats or Schemes. However, for the second game running, my Crooligan had survived! That must mean something, right? Result: Win for McMourning. I knew afterwards that I should have been bolder. I should also have been smarter, and tried to draw the Flesh Constructs away. Immune to Influence on the Flesh Constructs was a real pain, however, and meant that none of Molly’s spells and hardly any of the Belles’ spells could affect them. Without that debuffing magic, the resilience of Molly’s crew is not so impressive, and their damage output drops to pitiful. Lots to think about going into Game 3. Game 3 Dr McMourning had surprised me. Not in the content of his message which was, as expected, quite useless (unless I had a pressing need to bake soda scones and required his grandmother’s recipe to that end), but in the manner of its delivery. Ever the polymath, Dr McMourning had chosen to communicate in as esoteric and outlandish a style as he could conceive, although I think not even he had realised just how long it would take to spell out ingredients and cooking times in semaphore. His flags were very colourful, however. No matter. I had failed, and now had to deal with the consequences of that failure. I hope I do not flatter myself to think that no matter how experienced a reporter might be, he or she could not have anticipated the unusual twist the night’s events were about to take. McMourning’s message to me had been witnessed by that anguished soul Kirai Ankoku. Due to an extraordinary co-incidence, the semaphore code for “Rub with butter and preheat oven to 200 degrees” spells out an outrageous and, I believe, physically impossible insult in the language of the Three Kingdoms. At least, I hope it is physically impossible, although I am gratified by the fact that no matter how depraved one might be, should one wish to make the attempt one is unlikely to also find an aunt and a squirrel equally as depraved, although the morality of the also-necessary cabbage is a moot point. Be that as it may, the ever-tragic Kirai was now determined to regain her honour and smite me with all the power of her spiritual host. Never let it be said that there is a challenge to which I, Molly Squidpiddge, reporter from beyond the veil, will not rise. In short – I, too, have a posse. Battle was joined. This game was Shared Contain Power. I was playing Pete in this game, who had: · Kirai · 3 Seishin · Lost Love · 2 Onryo · Datsue Ba I flipped my Schemes and got Hold Out and Kill Protege on Datsue Ba. Pete took Breakthrough and something else (I forget). I decided that there was no way I was going to kill any Master with this crew, let alone kill Kirai with Molly. I would have to get rid of all her Seishin first and her Lost Love. So, I decided to keep Molly alive and go for my Schemes. I would Lure Datsue Ba in and kill her, and then hold mid-field and, should any Spirits get past me, Lure them back again to get Hold Out. If I could do that, victory was assured. My crew raced up to midfield, Luring Datsue Ba on the way. Turn 2 started with Datsue Ba almost in melee, and I won initiative. I was concerned that Kirai would swap Datsue Ba out of there, so I companioned Sybelle and two Belles and killed off Datsue Ba. Kirai summoned a Shikome, and for some reason it choose the Crooligan as its target. Not sure why; little bit of overkill there! The Shikome got into melee with the Crooligan, and the two Onryo piled in from the right flank. Heady (Dead Doxy) went to meet them and hold them in melee. Molly debuffed the Shikome. It got a full set of attacks in against the Crooligan, but the Crooligan was on Df7 and the Shikome was on a double neg for each attack! Then Ponto ran up, sacrificed herself and the Shikome was dead. I started Luring the Lost Love away from Kirai. Kirai jumped into the centre of the table, very near Molly, and summoned an Ikiryo right next to her. Sybelle charged the Ikiryo and a Belle slapped the Lost Love around a bit, while the Crooligan charged an Onryo. Another Belle Lured the last Seishin away from Kirai and killed it. The Crooligan died, and last Turn was called. Molly was very close to Kirai, and I was left with just her activation before the game ended. It was then I realised that I needed a Wp duel to target Kirai, that I had lots of SS and Kirai had none, and that I had lots of Crows in my hand to get Molly’s Wp trigger off. The trigger does 2Wd to the target every time Molly wins a Wp duel! So I targeted Kirai with Molly’s damage spell, doing 2Wd off the Trigger each time plus damage from the spell. Kirai died and came back thanks to the Lost Love. She was on one Wd left and I only had a (0) Action left. I tried to steal one of Kirai’s spells, which meant I had to target her first She took 2Wd and died for the last time. Turns out Molly is very good at killing Kirai! I had 4Vp from the Strategy, as my Leader had killed the opposing Leader. I also had 4VP for my Schemes. Pete got 0VP for his Schemes and Strat. Result: Win for Molly I felt a bit bad pressing the attack right at the end, as it was clear I had already won the game, but with a chance to kill off Kirai I could not let it go. Turns out those extra VP pushed me from not placing to placing 2nd overall This was a very good game for Molly. I managed to take up a good position on the table, isolate the enemy models, debuff them and kill them one by one, and when I was presented with the opportunity to make a run at Kirai, Molly’s crew had the tools for the job. I nearly over-reached, though. At one point Kirai was down to one Seishin and the Lost Love had been Lured far away from her. I buffed Sybelle’s Wk and had a card in hand for Call Belle, and was considering racing Sybelle forward and dropping a Rotten Belle on Kirai from about 20” away. I am glad I didn’t do it. It would have split my forces, and there is no way a Belle could have hurt Kirai in any significant way. I think I am started to realise the limits of this crew, as well as their strengths. Also, I realised that as good as Seduction is, Molly’s own debuffing spell is equally as nasty in its own way. I cannot see any reason to spend the cards so that Molly can borrow and cast Seduction, which I had been planning at one point. This was another great Malifaux tournament, and I enjoyed it a lot. It was our local henchman Barry’s first tournament, and it went very well, with the rounds running on time and everything going very smoothly. I struggled for time, but mainly as I am still learning this crew, but now I have three more games with them I think my play speed will improve. The tournament was won by Dave Hamilton, with three straight wins with his Nicodem crew. I came second and Mark Bonatti came third with McMourning. Yes, that means a Resser 1-2-3 at the tournament Who needs Yan Lo?

You can go Mannequin for some Link action to let Hoffman attach to anything he likes. Or you can go Ryle, Lucius, Witchling and Rusty Alyce for some silly firepower. But, yes, the big Hoffball works very well, and is hard to deal with, even if your opponent knows what to expect.

I took a look at your post count, realised you probably didn't know what a Rules Marshall was, and tried to explain it. This is a friendly group in my experience, and there are loads of people here who are only too keen to help new players out. No need to quit over a misunderstanding

Ratty is a Rules Marshall. If a RM says it, then it is official Wyrd errata. FWIW it agree with your reading of the rule on the card - that is how I read it. But the issue has now been officially clarified.

I don't see how you conclude that based on what Ratty said on the previous page. Could you explain?

Ratty weighed in on that one, and Lazarus got a serious buff as a result

Raid is a good Scheme for the Guild generally, who have lots of durable and killy models. Hoffman can struggle with it, as he often has a very low model count to begin with.

Finally got a chance to try out the Lazarus/ Duet combo in a 40ss game. He got his two Scrap on Turn 1 from dead Doves (and I got +2ss from killing them with Magician's Duel), Linked to the Duet and moved up 8". He Assimilated Fast permanently on Turn 2, and by then the Duet had killed one Guild Guard and was in Melee with a second. Lazarus killed the Guard and weathered the return fire as he was in cover. On Turn 3 he went first, killed a Death Marshall at range and Assimilated Armour +3 from the Mannequin. He took some fire and then the Duet pulled him away out of Line of Sight to complete Sabotage. The pair of them were now in my opponent's deployment zone! I was then going to use him and the Duet to chase down a Grudge target (Samael) and mop up another Death Marshall. I am pretty sure that over Turns 4 and 5 they would have been able to do that and get back to the enemy Deployment zone to get Turf War, but I saw Lady J and my plans flew out the window so I spent Turns 4 & 5 killing Lady J On Turn 4 he assimilated a spell from the Duet (Crescendo) and tried to Cast it three times, but I was out of cards and he flipped 1s or 2s each time I don't think I got much out of him that I wouldn't have accomplished with Cassandra, plus there are things Cassy can do well that he cannot (like cast Seduction, or Breathe Fire or use Magician's Duel). Nice for a fun game, but I will stick with Cassy for a Duet partner.

Nice costume - that looks like a lot of work. Kudos

I had always assumed Lazarus could not Assimilate armour. Mannequins, here I come

At 50ss it is well worth considering a Performer/ Mannequin pair. Hoffman gets Armor +3, and another Construct to follow him around automatically (the Mannequin can Link to him). The Performer's debuffing spells are not to be overlooked, either.

Have to agree with Tograth's conclusion.

Star Wars VII, huh? Wait 'til the internet gets a hold of this... Oh.

I did indeed leave a comment, and as you can guess I was so sorely tempted that I gave in Seduction is interesting. It has such a devastating effect if it works that if you target the right model with it, you can watch your opponent burn through his hand/ SS pool to stop it going off. Channel the spell to avoid burning your own cards (Molly can borrow it and then SS the cast, of course). This is just based on one game, but I found the Jacob player was running out of cards due to resisting Seduction. This only intensified when he failed to resist it and saw what happened (dead Hippo). When the cards ran out it left him stuck against Terrifying, Pitiful and Strangely Attractive. There were a lot of failed Charges in that game due to this. (Odd how focused Malifaux is on how your models feel about other models. Are they scared, repulsed, attracted, curious or sympathetic? It is very touchy-feely for a skirmish game )

I am with Omnivision6 and Rathnard - unless I am learning a new Master, I will randomnly generate Schemes for each game, and announce them both. It ensures that things are kept fresh and challenging. I have done this in a couple of tournaments, so far, as well as regular games.

I cannot think of any rules reason why the Student would not cost Molly the full 4SS. The Crew Creator is likely incorrect on this one. A PM to Ratty should solve it. The SoC could also give the RN Fast, which is possibly more attractive. Another paired Cb7 attack would be lovely

I have finally bought a Molly crew and got my first game with her last night at G3 in Glasgow against the local Henchman, Barry. First time ever playing Ressers This is Mollyfaux, so no Masters. Just purest-grade, finest-cut Molly. I played 35ss against the Dark Debts, and after three turns we had to call it, but we worked out that Molly had won quite handily. Setup: Shared Supply Wagon. I declared Breakthrough (because Molly has Boyle zombies) and Army of the Dead (because there was no way I would get Death After Death with Molly, right? and I wanted to try a Resser-only Scheme). Barry did not declare any Schemes, but he took Holdout and Frame for Murder on a Beckoner. My crew: Given the Strategy, I went with Belles over Crooligans. More survivable, thus making my Wagon more survivable, able to Lure enemy models in for a good pasting and fast enough to get my Scheme. Molly, Rogue Necromancy, Grave Spirit (Linked to RN), 2 Rotten Belles, 2 Dead Doxies and Sybelle. My plan: Keep the RN back for counter charging once it was safe from retaliation, and otherwise get my Belles into the thick of it and see what happens. Things Wot I Done Learned: Rotten Belles and Sybelle are scary fast, and if you leave your Supply Wagon unguarded they can reach it and wail on it a couple of times from half-way across the table +1VP on Turn 2 Belles of any description really don't put out much damage, esp against crews with armour. Terrifying really does work against the right crew. Two of the Depleted fled combat. Molly really needs Crows in hand, or she cannot do very much. Even to Imbue Vigour she needs a Mask. That said, she is an inviting target, but one that is very risky to go for. That alone gives her value. She can wander through the mayhem, failing to cast all sorts of spells, but her very presence draws enemy fire that she can easily weather or control. I managed to borrow the RN's damage spell once to good effect (killing off the Hungry Hippo) and I also managed to summon a Rotten Belle. Lure is awesome. I play Colette a lot and I like my movement tricks, so this feels like home to me. Summon a Belle where you want the RN to go, Molly gives the RN +3Wk, the Belle Lures it there and then the RN charges Jacob when he thought he was safe Dead Doxies are brilliant. Seduction (hi, Colette!) is an incredible spell, and these girls can spam it until it works, then put the target on -2Df. I did that to the Hungry Hippo! I was planning to kill the Hippo off with the RN at that point, but a Rotten Belle managed to kill it all by herself. Plus, when they die they can swap in a fresh Belle and heal themselves. Pure gold. (0)Inviting Approach is no Lure, but since it includes a strike and can be cast while engaged, it is basically a chance of gaining Melee Expert. Which is nice. The RN risked being underwhelming, but I did deliberately hold it back. The fact that its +2 attacks are with Fangs is a bit annoying - paired CB7 on the Claws is hard to give up. But, +2 attacks is better than none. I suspect that without its +2 attacks it will be close to rubbish, so keeping it unwounded until at least mid-game is my aim for now. Ironically, I ended up with more models than I had started with, thanks to undying Doxies and a summoned Rotten Belle. I doubt that will happen again for a while! We called it 6-0 to Molly at the end, and I think that is a fine showing for any kind of reporter, Undead or not. Next up, what can Crooligans do for me? All comments and suggestions on playing Molly (by herself) gratefully received!

Cheers, all Here are some more models in her crew: The base for the Rogue Necromancy will be built up so that its feet are actually touching something! I found the neck joins were terrible, and basically just cut them off and made my own joins out of greenstuff. Adding hair and fur hides the joins nicely. The Grave Spirit is a very easy model to paint! Airbrush a dark brown/ grey mix at the bottom, blend into a medium grey in the middle and then blend up to Vallejo Rotting Flesh at the top. Then a wash of Sepia and Brown with some drybrushing blends it all together. Very easy. Ponto was a bit of an experiment with metallic tones, and is not completely successful, but has taught me a thing or two. I may well go back and give her a pink ribbon PS. to give you an idea of how easy the airbrushing stage is, here are the 10T Brothers with just the airbrushing done. Yellow on all the clothing, then Leather Brown from a very low angle, and then a mix of Yellow/ White from a very high angle. A wash of Gyphonne Sepia ties it all together:

Zero guts required, tbh. I started with a primed model. I sprayed the yellow on in a nice even coat, not worrying about overspray, since I would paint over that later. Then I went back in with some orange and hit the bottom of her dress, making sure to keep the airbrush at a distance so that I got a smooth transition from orange into yellow. That was it with the airbrush A wash of Gryphonne Sepia helped tie in the colours and define the edges, and the rest of the model was done with traditional hairy stick techniques. Airbrushing a single part of a model like this is dead easy, and the result is more than worth it I reckon. EDIT: and I just realised I haven't painted her feet :slap:

It was, thanks. An Iwata Neo, using Vallejo Air paints.

Molly's crew is on my painting table, and the first one off it again is Molly herselfness. Because she is the Leader. No Seamus. No Master of any kind. Just Molly and her Crooligan Apocalpyse, coming at you like a velvet centipede: