Trixibelle vs. The Dreamer: 30 SS Dustup

[cengler]

My local store (Black Knight Games in Hamilton, Ontario) has hired a new store manager who has a great enthusiasm for Malifaux so we now have casual play “Malifaux Mondays.” My main game lately has been X-Wing (which I’ve been playing almost exclusively) but with all the new options in Crossroads I feel like my X-Wing season is ending with the Canadian National Championship later this month and a new season of Malifaux is beginning. Also, now that the Through The Breach RPG is available for purchase in stores my enthusiasm for all things Malifaux is trending way up. Today is Thanksgiving in Canada so almost all of our local players were eating turkey this evening but myself and one other player showed up and had a 30 soulstone dustup.

 

 

I still really feel like I’m learning the game as I need to refer constantly to my cards to be sure of what most of my models do and I am almost entirely unfamiliar with the abilities of my opponents’ models so every game is a big learning experience.

 

My Crew

Ever since reading her card when I bought the Wave II arsenal deck, I’ve wanted to try out Trixibelle. The very idea of a gremlin whose milkshake brings all the boys to the yard is too funny to not try out. I used my female Hog Whisperer as a proxy which fit well. We drew Turf War as our strategy so I wanted to have a decent number of bodies. My full crew was:

• Leader: Trixiebelle with Dirty Cheater and A Gun for a Lady
• Rami LaCroix
• Francois LaCroix
• Slop Hauler
• Bayou Gremlin x3

My Opposition

I don’t recall the specific options my opponent took but the models in his crew were:

• Leader: The Dreamer
• Coppelius
• Insidious Madness
• Stitched Together x2

I took Frame for Murder and Line in the Sand as my schemes. I find, when I play Gremlins, that I really like taking Frame for Murder as it’s easy to make a cheap Bayou Gremlin my “sucker” and I send him up-field with three walk actions via Drunk & Reckless. This makes an already squishy model even squishier and almost guarantees he dies early. Strangely, in this game, my “sucker” gremlin was like the Road Runner and just wouldn’t go down as he lasted for three turns before he died due to a series of very good defense flips. I considered cheating it down to ensure he died before the end of turn 2 for the extra VP but he was tying up both Coppelius and a Stitched Together and I thought he was doing more for me by keeping those two models engaged.

 

This was only the first or second time I was using Rami. With his 18” range I didn’t even move him from his starting location until turn 4. He didn’t do a ton of damage but his reliable shooting allowed him to chip away at the Stitched Togethers. The game was close and I felt like I was doing the right thing by not getting stuck in combat. I made good use of Trixiebelle’s Gremlin Lure ability. I was able to push a Stitched Together away so that its Creepy Fog ability wasn’t benefitting anyone and, on another occasions, pushed Lord Chompybits back so that he was denied a charge and out of combat for a turn. I also was able to use the Gremlin Lure on my own model to get him out of melee with Coppelius.

 

Conclusions & Lessons Learned

The game went to sixth turn which essentially lost me the game as I only had two figures left and, by the end of turn six, lost them both and suffered a 2 VP swing by not being able to claim any VP from the Turf War strategy. One rule that we both forgot was that friendly scheme markers cannot be within 4 inches of each other so, while I was able to lay down enough to achieve my Line in the Sand scheme, I would have needed to maneuver differently to place them legally.

 

I also need to remember that Rami only has six wounds. I used Reckless on two consecutive turns thinking that he had 8 or 10 wounds like many of his kin and unwittingly softened him up for easy disposal once I moved him up.

 

I finished the game having used all my soulstones which I’m taking away as a positive. In many games I’ve played I just plain forget that I have soulstones to use and, when I do remember, I agonize over deciding whether to use them. In this game, I feel like I used them all at appropriate times, in most cases to reduce damage or add positive flips to duels.

 

Trixiebelle was fun to use but, since my force was using ranged attacks much more than melee, I got no use of her abilities that key on Gremlins making melee attacks. Putting gremlins in melee situations seems counter-intuitive to me so I’m going to have to pore over my cards and see which gremlins make the most sense to have fighting up-close if I’m going to have Trixiebelle lead a crew again.

 

Reposted with permission from engler.ca

[Math Mathonwy]

Thank you for the report!

A couple of observations:

1) A Henchman vs Master is always going to be a bit lop-sided and Dreamer is a powerful Master so congrats on holding down the fort as well as you did!

2) Trixibelle doesn't have all that much Gremlin melee synergy, really. Mostly just her trigger on Slap and she really shouldn't be using that much. However, if you're looking for Melee Gremlins, Francois is the king, but Mancha Roja gives him a run for his money. Other than those two, Burt is very nice, Hog Whisperer is actually surprisingly good, Slop Hauler isn't actually bad, Lenny is pretty good and Taxidermist is nice as well, though very squishy. The inability to declare triggers hampers Taxidermist and Burt when used with Slap. And then there's Mah and Somer and of course.

3) As for the Scheme proximity limits, note that Trixiebelle has a nice way of going around that with her Presents Action.

4) From the pic, it looks like you could use some more terrain - especially once you move to bigger games.

But yeah, a good read and thank you for posting it!

[zFiend]

Or just as a suggestion if you play on a board like that, take Ophelia and you have tabled your opponent on turn 2.

[cengler]

Thanks for the kind remarks, Math. I won't take *too* much credit for doing sorta-well against Dreamer as my opponent was playing his first game of M2E ever.

 

It's interesting that you and zFiend made mention that the board needed more terrain. Maybe this is inexperience talking but I find that I prefer things a little more open when I'm playing Gremlins. I played a game not too long ago against a Sonnia crew that was set up with a lot of buildings in a formation that made for some grid-like streets. From an aesthetic perspective the table looked great but I found it very challenging to play on with Gremlins as my opponent was almost always able to benefit from soft cover. This necessitated me getting closer than I really wanted to in order to get a clear line of sight and I got charged... a lot! No doubt this was in large part due to my opponent knowing how to set up with his crew better than my more-or-less haphazard placement with my gremlins but, in general, I find I like a more open table (or at least one that isn't crowded with terrain).

[deValmont]

in general, I find I like a more open table (or at least one that isn't crowded with terrain).

 

  Math's not joking, there are crews that would absolutely wipe you up with that amount of terrain. Perdita, Ophelia, anyone with a lot of lure/movement tricks.

[cengler]

  Math's not joking, there are crews that would absolutely wipe you up with that amount of terrain. Perdita, Ophelia, anyone with a lot of lure/movement tricks.

 

For sure. I wasn't disagreeing; just sayin' from my limited experience.

 

Any tips on mitigating terrain-heavy tables for shooting-focused crews? LIberal use of Focus?

[Dirial]

For sure. I wasn't disagreeing; just sayin' from my limited experience.

 

Any tips on mitigating terrain-heavy tables for shooting-focused crews? LIberal use of Focus?

 

Exactly. Shrewd positioning and movement tricks, too.

 

I have to point out that, while I believe you enjoy open fields with a ranged crew, your opponent might not. Every now and again, a threat pops up where someone asks why ranged crews are that overpowered. This is the reason: You should have 25-50% of the board covered with terrain, so that shooting up the opponent is a tactical challenge and not an "I win"-button.

[cengler]

There was actually a lot more terrain on that field than the picture suggests. The game table edge started six inches in from where you see the tape measure and the cards (it was a 4' square table and we gave ourselves each six inches on either side to place cards, etc.). There was also a huge hill just out of frame to the right and several buildings to the left. But your point is well-made. A completely open field is no fun.

[Hateful Darkblack]

I really like Henchman vs. Master as a way to stack a game in one direction so a new player and and experienced player can play without the game being a foregone conclusion. It's like the extra stones in a Go game. Only different because Go stones don't counterbalance their sniper rifles with little pigs.

 

Fun report! Thanks for posting it!

[ArcticPangolin]

It'd be interesting to watch LCB be affected by Gremlin "Lure"...