Hateful Darkblack

Yeah, fair enough. Changed it to "a decent and surprisingly stubborn pool of wounds."

At Bay Area Open, I played three games, none of which had Assassinate in the pool, so no Recycling challenge. At OFCC, I played five games. The last two had Assassinate in the pool. Fourth Match I faced Kirai in Squatter's Rights. Leveticus managed to do a bunch of damage, then Ikiryo blocked the Waif from LOS with the Soulstone Miner I was using as the anchor, and Ikiryo + Kirai were able to kill Levy for good. However, thanks to a field full of Scrap and the Scramble Upgrade I was able to redploy Ashes and Dust to the other side of the board to kill Kirai on Turn Five. Kirai seems to have multiple layers of defense: Manipulative (so you gotta kill her late), a decent and surprisingly stubborn pool of wounds (so you gotta throw a lot of AP at it), the ability to shunt damage onto nearby spirits (so catch her when there aren't any around or kill them first), and her ability to summon an Ikiryo when hurt (so use melee attacks or attack when Ikiryo is already summoned.) I got full 4 VP for Squatter's Rights, 3 VP for another scheme (I think Delivery a Message?), and 2 VP for Assassinate. My opponent got 2 VP for Squatter's Rights, 3 VP for Bodyguard on Datsue-Ba, and 3 VP for another scheme (I think Deliver a Message?). Assassinate: Succeeded! Ashes + Dust killed her in Turn 5 for 2 VP. Abomination Recycling: Succeeded! Ashes + Dust did it, not Levy. Game: Won 9-8. Lessons learned: Kirai has a lot of wounds and a line of defense that involves a jumpscare monster. You need to be persistent when attacking her or you won't manage. Board control and quick redeploys go a long way. Fifth Game (last game of the tournament), I faced a Perdita Crew and a very tough match. It was Stake a Claim and I ended up doing a lot of movement and Interact tricks all game to stay ahead. Ryle held off Perdita's gang, while a Soulstone Miner and Ashes + Dust dropped a bunch of Claim markers. I did manage to kill Perdita, but when I spent the Soulstone to summon an Abomination off killing Perdita, Perdita spent a Soulstone to prevent some damage and I had to finish her off without recycling. I managed to split up Ashes and Dust to put a Dust Storm in his Watcher's face to stop last-turn Scheme Marker scrambling, which made a huge and final difference. Perdita didn't stick too close to Francisco this game, and I was eventually able to kill Francisco with Ryle, which probably made killing Perdita much much easier. Perdita's main defense is her Wp 7 Df 7 (9 and 9 if helped by Francisco), so it's powerful when you have the good cards to overcome it. Assassinate: Succeeded for full VP. Abomination Recycling: Close, but not. Game: Won 9-4 I believe. I got 3 VP for Stake a Claim (he stopped me with tied Claim Markers one round), 3 VP for Assassinate, and 3 VP for Breakthrough. Opponent got 0 VP for Stake a Claim, 3 VP for Plant Evidence, but only 1 VP for Breakthrough. Lessons learned: Have a plan for where you want to fight the enemy and what you want to be doing elsewhere while that's happening. At the same time, be prepared to improvise for a lot of adaptive movement tricks.

(The game was Leveticus vs. Pandora, Collect the Bounty. Leveticus took Line in the Sand (the "valves along the central pipeline") and Cursed Object ("-- stick the bells onto them."). Pandora took Distract ("Distract them, torment them, alarm them, devour them.") and Bodyguard ("She hoped that Kade was paying good attention to all of this") There wasn't any water in the ruins terrain we used but I liked the idea that it was happening in a flood plain. Comments and critique welcome!

Added a story: It's good to be back!

Word Count: 1406 All elements used. This is based on a game I played at the Bay Area Open on the final top table, with plenty of interpretation afterward.

"Eeeeeurgh," the girl complained, "Is the river going to keep rising? The mud is disgusting." "It will rise another foot," her mentor replied, "We must come here while the machinery is underwater or it will not function properly. Which is precisely why we spent so much buying you such expensive oilskin boots at yesterday's market, child." "I know!" she protested, "What's the point in getting nice boots if they're just going to get covered with muck and scum?" The older man shook his head and ignored the complaints, "Are the machines all prepared?" "Which ones, the weird moving pipes, the big stompy robots, or the creepy little bells?" she replied. "All of them, as I said." She gestured all around at the assembled machinery, insulted that he might even question it. "Look for yourself." The older man frowned and walked among the machines: the steam-powered harpooner, once silver and bright but now orange with rust. The howling artifact that spawned little screaming dust devils. The pieces of flesh and gears. The spiked bells. The assorted levels and contraptions. He nodded thoughtfully at them. "These will do," he concluded. "They are rusted but still functional." "I'm going to ignore that jibe," she replied snappishly. "And you know the plan?" She rolled her eyes and sighed and repeated the plan for the fiftieth time, "Direct the critters to add the valves along the central pipeline. Make sure they do it right. And if the Neverborn come out of the forest to stop us --" "When they come out to stop us." "-- stick the bells onto them." "The chimes act as a damper field. While attempting to interfere, they will in fact make the machinery work even better." "I knew that," she complained, almost by impulse, "And what about when your creepy doll-girls start tripping over everything?" The old man did not answer, except with a sad little smile. * * * The forests watched. So much to see here. So much to learn. Pandora opened her iron box, and new Sorrows came forth: disgust at a plan gone awry, the loss of machines turned to rust, the fear of a lost child. So much to learn. Kade sat nearby on the forest floor, idly stabbing the legs off the fireflies with a vicious precision. "Are you ready?" Pandora asked. Kade snorted and giggled, and ignored the question. "This whole thing is for your benefit, you know, so pay attention." "Bear," the infant Woe demanded insolently. He held forth his toy bear. Pandora smiled, "Very well." Green smoke poured from her hands and seeped into the stuffed doll. It grew and twisted quickly, growing enormous fangs and claws and a primeval hunch. Kade hugged the bear tightly. "Bear!" Among the shadows, another Pandora stood, examining her own rippling hands. "He isn't ready yet, you know." Pandora frowned, "I will decide that. And do not suppose on my form." The other Pandora looked nervous and let her skin ripple and take on yet another woman's form. There was no benefit in angering the Mistress, and much to be lost. "How may I repay my slight?" the doppelganger asked nervously. Pandora tilted her head and looked out toward the river with a smile. "In blood, of course." And just then, the two were distracted by a gleeful malevolent cheer, "Bear!" Kade the Innocent followed the lumbering monstrosity quickly out to the river. "The ambush starts now, then," the doppelganger said with wry amusement. But Pandora was already gone, floating across the floodplains along green mists. * * * The machinery was not much set up when Alyce heard the first rumblings of trouble. "They are here!" she said. She walked among the centuries-old ruins that were eroding and crumbling under the river's yearly force. "Take care of them," Leveticus said to the girl, not looking up from his workings. There were valves to connect, and machines to direct, and problems to handle. This was a crossroads of sorts, here. A place where the lines of aether met and crashed against each other, just in the same spot where the waters of the two rivers crashed and collided. There was more turbulence in a crossroads like this, but more potential as well. Shots rang out from the girl's pistol, and Leveticus looked up. "No, the bells!" he told her sharply, but then he saw the child, quite well surrounded and terrified. The girl stood atop a hill, firing in every direction into the green mists, panicked by giggling voices and twisting apparitions. Looming shapes would leap out at her and terrify her, only to disappear again. "Distract them," the woman called out to the mists, "Distract them, torment them, alarm them, devour them." Leveticus pointed his staff toward the woman, to unweave her and unmake her, but she moved too quickly, and Leveticus found to his horror that he had struck his own pupil, Alyce. The girl screamed in confusion and anger, turning around too many times. In the mists, one of the woes took the form of a leering imitation of her trusted mentor, his face contorted in strange menace. Another took the form of a giggling child. Others shrieked and moaned. She faced every way and could do nothing. The hulking form of a bear lunged out from among the ruins, but Leveticus could sense the magic of its animation -- a construct made from equal parts cloth and fear. He managed to unweave the thing with some concentration, leaving only a heap of fabrice and two enormous button eyes where the thing once stood. While he was distracted, though, the mists had gotten everywhere. His waifs were moaning and falling to the ground. His constructions were melting in fear. There was too much happening. He saw Alyce clutch her own neck and crumple to the ground, and he knew what it meant to fear. * * * Pandora swept through the battlefield, riding on the terrors of the newly sentient. These machines were such a wonder of the human age. She could feel their mechanical minds roil with new awareness. The rusted things, once mindlessly efficient, were confused by the rising sensation of emotions they had never known before: memory and ambition, dread and doubt. What utter satisfaction, the experience of these new minds awakening into torment. And what an honor to be the conductor of such a symphony of anguish. These minds, these innocent new minds, suddenly awakened and distorted and tearing themselves to shreds. That one, on mechanical horseback, shaking herself apart with new feelings of awareness. Those strange soulless half-humans no longer drifting about, but devouring themselves with anguish. The rusted lumps of half-flesh forgetting their duties and instead wailing with anguish. The girl fell, surrounded and consumed by mists, screaming at imagined or perhaps real betrayal from the old man she had trusted. The machines tore themselves apart. She advanced on the old man, barely noticing when one of the dying machines pinned a bell to her sleeve. She was uninterested in individual machines -- focusing her attention instead on the feast of emotions from the wrecked human expedition. She hoped that Kade was paying good attention to all of this. This was a lesson for his benefit, after all. * * * Leveticus felt himself slip free from his dissolving body, untethered for the moment. Alyce was lost, hopefully unconscious but perhaps dead. The machinery was falling apart. The Neverborn had torn the machines asunder. He had no anchor nearby, and so he floated free and watched over the ruins and the floodplains. A bell chimed. The valves churned. Everything would be alright. Alyce was gone, the Waifs were gone, and Leveticus was gone, but the machinery still churned. It was well-designed salvage, Leveticus thought with a bit too much pride. The artifacts milled about, still trying to set the machinery right. One particularly ancient piece of machinery tore across the field along a gust of dirty wind, and choked out a once-giggling Neveborn creature in the form of a pale and frightening infant. The woman screamed at the infant's loss. She scooped up the infant and drifted back into the forest along the green mists. Everyone was departed, one way or another. The machinery churned on, pumping aether through the crossroads to its true and secret destination. The river waters rose and washed away the corpses, and in time they would run dry again. Fate's purpose was served. Everything would be alright.

Yeah, Toshiro can't summon for Levy. Datsue-Ba can, I think.

Yeah, Ashes and Dust is a Summoner. Mech Rider is a Summoner. Waifs aren't summoners but they're closer. Levy is a Summoner. Alice is a Summoner. Abominations are Summoners. That's most of my Crew, honestly.

Let's keep it respectful, folks.

Actually, let's please keep the conversation civil.

I want to try Lazarus with Coryphee, so he can copy Dance Partner.

Wow, what a great set of stories! I'm sad that I wasn't able to jump in and write this round. I'll jump in on the next one, though. Kudos to the authors, and cheers to edonil for doing this! I think this might be my favorite topic, too. Drat.

Arise My Sweet says it can summon a Belle Minion. Molly isn't a Minion.

OH! I never wrote up the Story Encounter from Califaux. First and second matches, Assassinate wasn't on the table. Third match I faced Seamus. Couldn't even get close to assassinating him and in fact he Assassinated Levy instead (for 2 VP by killing all Waifs). He also killed Ashes and Dust and nearly killed Mech Rider too. Strong player! He had this valley area where Seamus hung out behind a bunch of terrain and killed my waifs as I tried to bring them in. Fortunately, I managed to win the game anyway based on a summoned Metal Gamin taking full Protecting Territory and Dust Storm getting 2VP for the objective-running Strategy. Assassinate: failed Abomination Recycling: totally failed Game: won 5-4. Lessons learned: Don't send an Ashes & Dust in where it can get Lured away from the table edge. Don't let Waifs get close to Seamus, because killing young women who are hiding behind terrain his his primary job skills at the top of his resume. Do win on VP anyway. Seamus is also super hard for Levy to kill thanks to high damage, Impossible to Wound and a tendency to stay behind cover.

2. I've played Leveticus a lot, and I've never seen anyone get full VP for Assassinate. I've rarely seen people get any VP for Assassinate, really. Only twice.

I love keeping a Black Joker in hand, because then it won't show up in play. When I get a Red Joker in hand, my goal is to use it on the same turn, so that it will go back into the deck on the next turn. Use it wisely, but don't save it forever or you'll never get use out of it. It's the resource that you get more of when you spend it.

If a model destroys itself (like Myranda's Shapechange or Dust Storm's Reformation), does the opponent get Bounty points for the Collect the Bounty Strategy?

Blaster (masters that focus on area-affect ranged attacks): Sonnia, Rasputina, Wong Beatstick (masters that focus on high-damage melee attacks): Lady Justice, McMourning, Marcus, Mei Feng, Viktorias, Misaki, Mah Tucket Shooters (masters that focus on ranged attacks): Perdita, Seamus, Kaeris, Leveticus, Ophelia Tarpits/Tanks (masters that focus on durability and holding territory): Yan Lo, Ironsides, Brewmaster Summoners (masters that focus on summoning): Nicodem, Molly, Kirai, Ramos, Dreamer, Hamelin, Ulix Runners/Swiss-Army-Knives (masters that focus on their own mobility, often with a broad mix of support and attacks): Tara, Von Schill, Shenlong Support (masters that focus on enhancing other models): C. Hoffman, McCabe, Lucius, Colette, Jakob Lynch, Som'er Controllers (masters that focus on manipulating how enemy models act, or the basic board/card layout): Lilith, Pandora, Zoraida, Collodi, Jack Daw Note of course that there's plenty of blur here. Perdita's got obey. Tara's got a lot of support. Seamus mixes maneuverability in with his shooting. Everyone's going to drop a Scheme Marker if it'll win a game. Different people will do these different ways also. My goal is to list major types and the masters that are usually used in those ways.

YEP. The 6 cards limit is just at the start of the turn.

Yaaay! Thank you!

Yeah, so much to learn! There are kind of a few things about Jack Daw to know: 1. He can move around other models a lot, but not always. Learning each of his movement tricks and when to use them all is key. 2. The curses are a great debuff. With a charge, he can actually kill a model by giving a curse in a melee attack and then tearing it off for extra damage. 3. His crew has a lot of things that make territory toxic. Often the best way to use this is to have a clump of poison, usually with Jaakuna Ubume to lure things into it. 4. Tarpits works poorly if the model making the tarpit gets killed. That's the chief problem with Montresor, and sometimes the problem with Lady Ligeia. 5. Jack Daw is REALLY GOOD at getting himself overextended and killed. You can use all your awesome powers to get in the opponents face on Turn One and then die and regret it Turn Two because you assumed your defenses would last forever and they didn't. So don't do that. 6. The best way to learn all Jack Daw's movement tricks is to practice them. And maybe give each set of tricks a name. Here's a page that has some basic information: http://pullmyfinger.wikispaces.com/M2E+Jack+Daw When you learn a thing, why not add it to the Wiki? Pretty please? Edit Jack Daw PullMyFinger Page.

Seamus actually does really well against Leveticus generally. With his high Wp and Impossible to Wound, Levy can't do a ton of damage, and Seamus can just jump around killing his other models (and he's great at Waif-hunting too!) Live For Pain and Haberdashery help a lot for soaking up wounds and keeping Seamus healed. The most important thing is cover. Get cover and use it. Don't leave your models without cover or Levy will melt them. And if Seamus can drop Levy with a flintlock pistol shot, all the better for Seamus. (I'm a Levy player but often get beaten up by Seamus during play.)

I had a tournament last weekend. Three rounds, Assassinate came up first and third game. First Game: Facing Perdita. She's hard for Levy to Assassinate! With Francisco by her side, she's rockin' a +2 Wp up to 9, which is hard to Unmake. So I killed Francisco first, of course, which helped. Lazarus took an Auto Fire against Perdita while she had "Faster n' You" up, which took away half of her Wd but nearly killed Lazarus in the process, and then she finished off Lazarus. Then I had a Hollow Waif kill a Witchling Stalker near her, which did another 2 damage (1 direct, 1 for the burning). On Turn Three (which was the last turn because Tournaments are like that), I had Levy do some unmaking attacks, but she managed to hold on to her last Wd and survived. Assasinate: Failed Recycle into Abomination: Failed. Win Match: Succeeded. (5-0) Third Game: Facing Seamus. This was the top-table match against one of the stronger players around, Chad, and he's beaten me with Seamus before in the top table. He makes great use of cover, picks objectives well, and catches me by surprise a lot. Wp 7 and Impossible To Wound plus healing makes for a durable master. Turn Three, Levy popped up with a perfect attack with no cover, but Seamus focused and killed him with a single shot before I could go. "Not today, Levy!" I ended up killing Seamus with Ryle in Turn Five, enough to get two Assassinate VP, but didn't recycle because Levy wasn't the killer. My opponent was courteous and awesome and played quickly so we could reach Turn Five - he was beating me in Turn Four so that made a big difference. Assassinate: Succeeded (2 VP). Recycle into Abomination: Failed Win Match: Succeeded (9-7)

I've used gone with either and done well at tournaments, but I think Iron is a little stronger. Depends a little on your models. You can also do great without either.

She's great at taking down enemy Masters.