icarianmirror

Wow, even though victory was snatched from you at the last moment, this was a great battle to read:-D Misaki sounds like a really scary Master and crew to go up against, even for a powerhouse like Lilith.

Thanks! Yeah, it really could have gone either way in that last round - we were both out of stones, and Sonnia wasn't having much luck with her spells. If I'd have missed that last Burst, or he'd won initiative, he'd have had me.

Huh, I'll have to keep that in mind for next time. Pretty sure it wouldn't have mattered, he had a lot of track close together at that area of the board, but it's good to know regardless:-)

"Mei! Mei! It's a Guild inspection crew!"

Mei Feng glared at the panicked rail worker. Perfect. A surprise inspection, today of all days. The tall woman sighed, then strode towards the office door, snagging a pair of spiked gloves from a nearby chair as she did.

"Get Kang and the boys over here and get to work on that rail. I will not let some petty Guild paper-pusher interfere with this operation."

She smiled thinly.

"And fire up the Golem. No survivors, no report!"

30SS Scrap: Sonnia Criid vs. Mei Feng

Strategy: Shared Escape and Survive

Guild: Sonnia Criid, Samael Hopkins, Nino Ortega, 3 Witchling Stalkers.

Schemes: Holdout, Frame for Murder (Samael, hidden).

Arcanists: Mei Feng, Emberling, Rail Golem, Kang, 2 Rail Workers.

Schemes: Breakthrough, Alternate Route.

The encounter took place in an out of the way railroad substation (The Railroad Substation map on Vassal). Deployment was Diagonal, with Mei's crew deploying in the top right section of the map, and the Guild forces opposite them in the lower left. Mei and the Emberling deployed apart from the rest of the crew, closer to the center-top of the map and near some stairs leading over a large set of platforms dividing the map. The remainder of the rail crew deployed along the railway to the right.

Sonnia's forces also split, with Samael and a Witchling deploying opposite Mei Feng's position, Sonnia in the middle of the deployment zone, Nino in cover near Sonnia and the remaining Witchlings in the bottom right area of the map. Mei won first initiative.

Turn One (Mei initiative):

The massive Rail Golem warmed up its engines, advancing twice down the tracks and dropping a Route Marker behind it as it went, finishing by venting a large steam cloud. Nino, not exactly happy about the idea of the giant metal monster coming his way, checked out his range with In My Sights, but fell just short. He adjusted his position slightly and waited. The first of Mei's Rail Workers decided to play it safe, dropping a Route Marker between the Embarkation Point and the Golem's marker. He then legged it up the field to catch up with the Golem, joined soon by his fellow worker. The Worker used Shovel Faster to stoke the Golem, building up its burning counters.

Meanwhile, Samael dashed up a hill overlooking the platforms that Mei would be advancing over. He took a prime position behind some nearby barrels and waited. A Witchling joined him shortly afterwards, throwing up an Anti-Magic aura around them both. As Kang moved up to join the Golem and Rail Workers, Sonnia stepped forward and dropped a Flame Wall across their path. Sadly, this was more a way to check ranges than anything productive.

Mei and her Emberling showed the Guild what movement means, as the Emberling used a Seismic punch to send Mei towards the nearby stairs. As Mei rapidly advanced on Samael's position, the Emberling joined her thanks to Link. Finally, the two remaining Witchlings moved up towards the rail group advancing down the tracks.

Turn Two (Sonnia initiative):

Sammael, realising that he wasn't going to have long before Mei was too close for comfort, activated his Flaming Bullets and let fly with a Rapid Fire barrage. The first shot drifted wide, but the second struck home, dealing Mei a large amount of damage, even through a Soulstone prevention flip, and ricocheting off to kill the Emberling. Another Soulstone for Mei gave her more than enough power to dodge the 3rd shot, leaving Sammael looking fairly exposed.

Mei, well and truly annoyed, dashed forward, then launched a Jackhammer Kick at Sammael. The Kick delivered a solid hit, and with Mei in a Badass Pose, she looked a lot harder to hurt. The martial Master followed up with a Scalding Breath, eating into Sammael's remaining wounds, and followed with a Vent Steam into Superheat, leaving him on half-health and burned. Showing her contempt, Mei took the time to hammer down another Route Marker on the off-chance it would be needed.

As the rail crew advanced on the other side of the map, two of the Witchlings scurried forwards on an intercept course, one further behind than the other. A Rail Worker, failing to stoke the Rail Golem's boiler this turn, moved up to engage the foremost Witchling. The Witchling near Sammael and Mei moved into combat to support the Guild shooter, and the second Rail Worker moved forward and laid out another Route Marker, bringing the rail close to halfway across the map.

Sonnia, deciding that Mei shouldn't be the only one to show off what a Master could do, dosed up on a Soulstone to gain Confiscated Lore. A Flame Burst strike resulted in severe damage, the blasts chaining across both Rail Workers and the nearby Witchling Stalker. Sonnia threw up a Flame Wall in the path of the Rail Golem, then tried to disassemble the out of combat Rail Worker with a pistol strike, but only managed to get control cards tossed to cancel the trigger.

The Rail Golem moved up, taking a measly damage from the wall thanks to its armor, and discarded its supply of burning counters to use the mighty PAIN TRAIN, gaining reactivate. Nino took the opportunity before the Golem could start up again to wing a couple of shots at it, knocking off a good half of its wounds. The reactivated Golem prepared to go to town, joining the combat between the Witchling and Rail Worker, but was unable to land a hit on the slippery stalker. The golem settled for using its instinctive to place a Route Marker on either side of itself, lengthening the rapidly growing railway. Kang moved around above the growing combat, while the remaining Witchling moved around it from below.

Turn Three (Sonnia initiative):

Sonnia started off the turn with a bang, dosing up on more Soulstones and using her newfound lore to send out another wave of blasts. These washed over the out of combat Rail Worker and bounce off to catch Kang, and all three combatants; Rail Golem, Rail Worker and Witchling. The two Workers are killed outright, and the one engaged with the Witchling lashes out, killing it and triggering a death explosion. All of this reduced the Golem to one wound, and Sonnia, unable to resist the opportunity, directed a Violation of Magic at it, creating a much smaller Witchling Stalker.

Mei, not to be outdone, effortlessly took Sammael off the table with a Tiger Claw strike. This did have the unfortunate side-effect of framing her for murder. Not one to let a minor thing like that slow her down, Mei leapt onto the nearby Witchling, took it down to half health and ended her move by Venting Steam and Superheating, catching both the Witchling and Sonnia in the dense cloud.

Nino took some shots at Kang, but was barely able to damage him. Kang retaliated by charging Sonnia, forcing her to burn another Soulstone to prevent the hit. Kang took advantage of Sonnia's pill-popping to lay down yet another section of rail, leaving only a small section of map left to link up the railway. The Golem-Witchling moved up to support its friend in combat with Mei, while the remaining original Witchling continued its trend of being a coward and doing absolutely nothing productive; a trend that continued till game end.

Turn 4 (Mei initiative):

Mei continued her streak of causing violent death by tearing apart the wounded Witchling, taking some damage from its Immolating Demise. An easy Tiger's Fury took her to the other Stalker, which was also quickly eviscirated, Mei using a Soulstone to prevent her death from this explosion. She quickly stepped into combat with Kang and Sonnia, throwing up a Vent Steam but proving unable to Superheat it.

Sonnia, fighting for her life, landed some quick sword blows on Kang, but was unable to seal the deal. She cast Inferno and attempted to bring up a Flame Wall behind the two Arcanists, locking them all in a raging fire. Her remaining power wasn't quite enough to bring up the wall, and Kang quickly made it a moot point, catching Sonnia in the gut with a shovel and throwing her back. He charged in, another swing knocking Sonnia back further and removing the threat of the Inferno. With Sonnia heavily wounded and out of the way, Kang proceeded to lay down another Route Marker, leaving barely inches of space needed to finish the track.

Nino retaliated, taking Kang to one wound with his first shot and finishing him off with the second. Kang, defiant to the last, threw a load of hot coals at Sonnia, but another Soulstone burn kept the Master alive.

Turn 5 (Sonnia initiative):

Winning the vital initiative flip, Sonnia was finally able to burn out the tenacious Arcanist master with her third and final cast of Flame Burst. With that, we called the game in favour of the Guild.

Sonnia limped through the charred circle, her breath coming in pained gasps. What a disaster. A team of Witchlings dead, Sammael critically injured and several valuable Soulstones gone, and what to show for it? A bunch of grunts and a pile of scrap. The enemy Master had vanished in the mass of steam and fire, and taken the big man with her. Sonnia fumbled out a cigarette and waved Nino down from the hill. This was not going to make a good report.

Her card is pretty recent, and there's nothing on the model errata pages about her triggers, so I'd say she's meant to have the second tome. It seems to be her main way of spreading burning counters, so it makes sense for her to have an automatic second shot, then have to work for subsequent triggers (since she loses -1:tomes each time the trigger goes off).

Ouch, I didn't even notice Rebuild Corpus was a 0 and not a 1:-( Cheers Razhem, I hate making mistakes like that.

I was able to have a game using Yan Lo on Vassal earlier, and despite the fact that we had a game that sort of encouraged our crews to avoid each other (Turf War vs Reconnoiter),I thought I'd share my experience with him. We were running 30SS, so I took the following:

Yan Lo

Soul Porter

Izamu

Chiaki

3 Ashigaru

So pretty much his box set + Izamu, as I wanted to get an idea of how his basic crew could run. I also traded two of my starting SS for chi, placing a point in Spirit and Ash.

Yan Lo: I'm not sure what to make of him yet. I feel like I was being too conservative with him, and I found it a bit of a balancing act to work out where he should be to be close enough to combat to matter (and get Chi) but not be in too much danger. I think I'll almost always take the early point in Spirit, as the extra mobility is huge. I think in a game with more conflict, he'd become a real force to be reckoned with pretty quick.

Soul Porter: Dear lord this little guy is amazing. As others have said, his move Ancestor spell alone makes him more than worth his price. The fact that he can also cast Yan's spells with a good degree of success is icing on the cake. This wee guy managed to revive Izamu for me once, so definitely earned a spot in my heart.

Chiaki: I was dubious, but she's insane. Pure support, but you couldn't ask for more. Movement, healing, effect removal (really relevant), plus her Chi and Ancestor funneling. I don't think I'd run a list without her. Also, she's surprisingly quick.

Izamu: He does what he says on the tin. Beats face and takes a beating, and does both well. His anti-trigger effect is incredible, and he really benefits from not having to worry too much about dying. He died twice in our game, and came back no worries both times.

Ashigaru: Really resiliant. I didn't get much use out of Wall of Steel, but these guys seem pretty solid. Their attacks aren't bad either, and even though through bad positioning I never managed to take advantage of House Guard - they still did just fine.

All in all, this crew seems like a really tough bunch, and I'm looking forward to trying them more.

Thanks Ratty, very much appreciated!

I feel like picking up a Guild set like Lady J and possibly Some'r Teeth Jones to represent the Outcasts would be pretty cool. It would mean you could show people each faction and what sort of things the factions tend to do well.

Vassal: icarianmirror

Skype: icarianmirror

GMT+12

The red and white does a nice job of making them feel like a unified force without making them 'uniform,' if that makes sense. I really like it! I also really like your Hans - he just looks appropriate and well done.

Thanks Justin, much appreciated:-)

First of all, I just want to say a massive thank you to those responsible for creating the Vassal module. My local Malifaux community pretty much doesn't exist anymore, but thanks to this a friend and I at opposite ends of the country had a game on the weekend! It was fantastic, and looks to be a regular thing. So, thank you very much!

The main point of this thread was me wondering about the shortly-to-begin Dead of Winter campaign, as I notice the rules have just gone up on a sub-forum. I was wondering what the chances were of there being a henchman a.) allowed, and b.) willing to organise one of these short achievement runs on Vassal? I feel like the format and time zone constraints will probably make this a difficult or impossible goal, but I figured there'd be no harm in asking about it.

Thanks for your time!

1. Yes, he can cast it on himself, but since he already has Casting Expert, he can't get it again. So it can't be infinitely chained.

2. The spell has a range of 15, so any models affected by the spell will have to be within that to get the benefits.

Really nice write-up! I've been wondering about Mr. Lynch and his team, and reading through this has made me a lot more interested in trying them out. Thanks for taking the time to do this:-)

If you plan to try other Neverborn masters at some point, the Twins (Lelu and Lilitu) are definitely a good choice. They work really well with just about any Neverborn master.

The picture link for her isn't working for me - having recently picked up Zoraida and generally being a Neverborn addict, I'd love to see her.

Sounds like the Dreamer, at least until we see how the Book 3 masters shape up^^ He may technically be a non-combat master, but his other side sure makes up for that, and from what I understand the twins work quite well with him.

Thanks for the comments guys:-D Yeah, the game was great overall, it definitely cemented Malifaux as my new wargame of choice. Cheers for the heads-up about the totems though, we'll remember that for next time^^ The really sad part is that we completely forgot Masters could burn stones to heal and prevent damage...and for initiative flips:-/ Ah well, always next time!

Hey guys, thought I'd throw up some images of the various bits and pieces I'm working on, get some feedback etc^^ To start, here's a couple of pieces from my Levi crew (plus a Gunslinger I bought while forgetting Levi couldn't take him:-/) and a Young Nephilim.

From what I understand, Coppelius and Teddy tend to be an 'either/or' pair, as they're both reasonably high cost models. I'm sure someone will put forward a better list, but maybe this as a starting point:

-Dreamer/LCB

-2x Daydreams

-Lelu

-Lelitu

-Stitched Together

-Coppelius

I think that gives you a few cool and fun things to play around with, without being over or under-powered.

I found the Rathnard interview to be a pretty good method (and great stuff for a Neverborn addict, thanks:-D), so doing it the same way would be cool. However it gets put out though is fine, I'll listen to it regardless.

Leveticus. I think Karn was also thinking of writing something on him, if I recall his tactica thread correctly, and having you both making Levi tactics would be awesome:-D

So, my two friends and I had our first ever Malifaux game tonight, and not being ones to shy away from a little over-complication, decided to just play a 3-way game. We set up on a standard 3x3 board, a half-abandoned city block, and each bought 25 soulstones. The crews were as follows:

Lilith (myself): Malifaux Cherub, Mature Nephilim, Young Nephilim, Terror Tot x2 (24ss) Strategy: Reconnoiter

Ramos: Brass Arachnid, Steamborg Executioner, Stempunk Arachnid Swarm, Steampunk Arachnid x1 (23ss) Strategy: Contain Power

Lady Justice: Scales of Justice, The Judge, Death Marshall x3 (21ss) Strategy: Destroy the Evidence

We decided to only pick strategies and ignore schemes, as this would be our first game. We also each had the maximum allotment of soulstones, to help ease mistakes. The board layout was a city block, bisected lengthways by a river. The river had 2 bridges, dividing the river into rough thirds. Various buildings (mostly cheap representations, as I had been slack on my terrain building) provided cover. Lady J and Ramos deployed in two of the corners on one side of the river, and Lilith in one corner on the opposite side. The 3 evidence markers for Lady J were placed one in each of Ramos and Lilith's deployment zone (henceforth 'DZ') and one in the middle of the bridge between those two zones.

So, after all that, here's the actual report. My apologies if I make a mistake, I was writing and playing at the same time:-)

Turn 1 - Initiative order Lilith, Lady Justice, Ramos.

A companion trio of Lilith, Cherub and the Mature activate and begin advancing on the unoccupied corner. Lady J, along with her scales, move onto the bridge that leads to the same quarter. Ramo's Steamborg advances onto the other bridge, heading for Lilith's deployment zone, while the Death Marshall trio and Ramo's Swarm and Arachnid move towards each other down a long street. Both of Lilith's tots, clearly being too stupid to know fear, try to sprint at the Steamborg and fail, settling for strolling towards it. The Brass Arachnid tries to reactivate the Steamborg, but fails. Ramos settle for salvaging a scrap counter, then making an Electrical Creation, which drifts along after the spiders. The Young Nephilim warily moves behind a building near the Steamborg's bridge, while the Judge tries and fails to arrest the Arachnid Swarm.

Turn 2 - Initiative order Lilith, Ramos, Lady Justice

Lilith's trio advances towards Lady J's bridge, and the totem tries to swap positions with the Guild leader, but isn't quite in range. Lilith throws an Illusionary Forest down between the two groups. The Steamborg stalks off the bridge, menacing the two Tots. One of the Death Marshalls takes a shot at the approaching swarm and strips two wounds from it, while the foremost Tot ducks around the approaching Borg and heads onto the bridge. The second Marshall wings the solitary Arachnid with an accurate shot, dealing one wound. Setting a trend for charging into poorly thought out combats, the Young Nephilim divebombs the 'Borg, managing to land 4 wounds. The solitary Arachnid runs at the two Death Marshalls that have activated and blows up, dealing both 2 damage. Lady J and the Judge move down off the bridge, keeping some distance between themselves and Lilith. The second Tot, deciding being near the Borg isn't worth it after all, starts running off after Lilith. The Arachnid Swarm charge the Death Marshalls, adding 3 more wounds to one, while the last Death Marshall heads off up the bridge to support Lady J.

Turn 3 - Initiative order Lilith, Lady Justice, Ramos

The Tot on the bridge heads on over, towards Ramos himself. The most wounded of the Death Marshalls casts Finish the Job, giving himself and his nearby partner a damage boost, then easily inflicits another 4 wounds on the Swarm. The Swarm proceeds to deny the Marshalls a victory by blowing itself up, killing the most wounded one and reducing the other to one wound. The remaining Marshall heads behind a nearby building, towards the river. Not one to be shown up, the 'Borg slaughters the Young Nephilim without a thought. Lilith and her companion group activate, and while the Cherub proves unable to swap itself for the Lady, Lilith is up to the task. A combined attack from her and the Mature reduce Lady J to only 2 wounds...only to have the Lady prove that weakened is far from dead, as she kills the Mature in a single round of combat. Ramos, watching as the other Masters accomplish his strategy for him, casually wipes the nearby Tot off the board with Electrical Fire, before making an Arachnid, which heads towards the wreckage of the Swarm. The Judge and the 3rd Death Marshall, finding the Cherub suddenly in their ranks, put two wounds on it after a furiously defending Cherub dodges most of the incoming blows. The last Tot slinks behind cover. At this stage, Lilith cannot accomplish her strategy.

Turn 4 - Initiative order Lilith, Ramos, Lady Justice

Lilith aims a vicious swing at Lady J, and is surprised when the defense swing is cheated lower- only to be soulstoned higher once again. Unable to beat the flip, Lilith misses, and recieves a riposte triggered off the lower cheat. 4 wounds vanish in one flick from Justice's blade. Lilith's second blow finally takes the tenacious master out of the fight, and gives Lilith a blood counter. The Neverborn master throws up a forest to deny the Steamborg a charge. The 'Borg, not deterred, moves into combat and swings, but is unable to hit. Meanwhile, the Death Marshall near the Judge finishes off the Cherub with ease. The remaining Tot takes Lilith's blood counter and becomes a Young. Ramos gains another scrap counter and makes one more Arachnid. While the heavily wounded Death Marshall moves into Ramos' DZ, the spiders move onto the bridge, following the Judge. The Judge himself, along with the Scales, move towards the Young.

Turn 5 - Initiative order Lilith, Lady Justice, Ramos (at least twice in this game, Lilith flipped Red Joker for initiative)

Lilith dispatches the Steamborg, and retreats towards the bridge near her DZ. The Marshall in Ramos' DZ makes it to the evidence counter in that area, but doesn't have the actions to activate it before Ramos burns him to a crisp. The Young charges the Judge, dealing 6 wounds, but is destroyed by the Judge's flurry immediately afterwards. The Brass Arachnid reactivates Ramos and moves to his side, while the remaining Death Marshall moves off the bridge and towards Lilith's DZ. Ramos moves to have LOS on Lilith, but fails to hit her with Electrical Fire. The two spiders follow the Death Marshall, climbing onto the bridge.

Turn 6 - Initiative order Ramos, Lilith, Lady Justice

Ramos lands the fire on Lilith, leaving her clinging to 2 wounds. She tries to charge him, but falls short, and tries to move out of LoS instead. The Death Marshall heads towards towards the evidence in Lilith's DZ. While the Judge follows, the Brass Arachnid reactivates Ramos, who moves, casts and incinerates Lilith - completing his strategy for 2 VP. The spiders cross the bridge.

Turn 7 - Initiative order Lady Justice, Ramos

The Marshall reaches the evidence in Lilith's DZ, but can't destroy it this turn. One of the spiders blows up near the Scales, dealing it 2 damage. The Judge moves next the the Marshall, while the Scales retreats from the remaining spider. Ramos and his Brass Arachnid move onto the bridge.

Turn 8 - Initiative order Lady Justice, Ramos

Judge moves near to the evidence marker at the middle of the bridge, but doesn't quite touch it, and the Brass Arachnid gives Ramos reactivate. The Death Marshall destroys the evidence he's touching. As the Scales moves near the Marshall, Ramos Fires the Judge to one wound, but even reactivating can't finish him off.

With that, the game ends. Ramos had the victory, with 2VP. Overall, we had a lot of fun, and will definitely be playing more in future^^

Ashes and Dust

Lelitu

Leveticus

Thanks for the kind words everyone:-D My friends and I will be having our first games tomorrow - Lilith, Lady J and Ramos -so very much looking forward to that.