It's Tough Being Queen - Slow Grow League Reports

[Dirial]

We have to design stat cards one day.

[zFiend]

I thought that was a core attribute. 

 

Hahaha. Right you are. 

[PraetorDragoon]

We have to design stat cards one day.

 

Let's hop to it then. If I remember there are stat card templates laying around in the TTB forums.

[zFiend]

Hahahah we should totally do that! (what she said.)

[MasterDisaster]

Slow Grow League Game 5 – 40ss – In the Dead of Night (Lilith vs. Seamus)

Standard Deployment – Turf War

ALiTS

Bodyguard

Breakthrough

Vendetta

Murder Protege

 

Lilith -- 7 Pool

+Living Blade [2]

+Rapid Growth [1]

+Wicked Mistress [1]

 

Cherub [3]

Barbaros [10]

+Obsidian Talons [1]

Black Blood Shaman [7]

Terror Tot [4]

Terror Tot [4]

Terror Tot [4]

 

Breakthrough (Revealed) & Murder Protégé (Revealed)

 

 

VS.

 

Seamus -- 3 Pool

 +Mad Haberdasher [2]

 +Red Chapel Killer [1]

 +Sinister Reputation [1]

 

Copycat Killer [3]

Bete Noire [8]

Madame Sybelle [8]

 +Bleeding Tongue [1]

 +Not Too Banged Up [1]

Rotten Belle [5]

Rotten Belle [5]

Rotten Belle [5]

 

Breakthrough (Revealed) & ALiTS (Revealed)

 

(My opponent left before I could get a snap of his crew)

 

It had been some time since Barbaros’ encounter with the living dead. He has come into contact with them whilst on a solo mission while Lilith dealt with her old nemesis Perdita. His dreams had been haunted with visions of rotten beings, horrors from the unknown and dark magics ever since. On this particular night his nightmares were incredibly vivid, it was as though something was encouraging them. He was twisting and turning in his sleep. Lilith stood over her favoured son, and was lovingly stroking his thick wiry hair, a genuine look of concern was plastered. It wasn’t often she took on the mothering role in this way. Barbaros had been through a lot in his relatively short life as a Nephilim and his time in the human’s fighting pits had caused him to see many horrors. She knew it was bad if Barbaros was this tormented.

 

Lilith had called one of the Shaman to inspect Barbaros’ to determine the nature of the dreams and interpret them to discover why he had been afflicted. This shaman was older than most, he was draped in tattered leather, old bone totems and long black leathery gloves covered his arms upto the elbows. He prepared a tincture of herbs in his ritual chalice and drew a ritual blade from it’s sheath which hung upon his belt. The shaman drew the blade across Barbaros’ wrists and filled the chalice with it. He chanted in a strange archaeic tongue and the blood herb infusion within the chalice began to bubble and let off smoke.

 

“What do you intend on doing to him?” Lilith asked with a worried look on her face.

“I shall enter his dreams to see as he sees, to feel as he feels my Queen. This should identify the cause of these nightmares” The shaman replied in a gruff voice which echoed within his large ornate bird mask he was wearing.

“You two, I suggest you restrain him. This is going to be… unpleasant.” The shaman said looking at two of the larger Nephilim who were stood nearby looking at what was happening.

 

The shaman poured the mixture onto Barbaros’ face whilst two of his older brothers held him down. The shaman reached out and placed his hands on Barbaros’ face and then he pushed them deeper into the mixture. His hands merged with the mixture and seemed to meld with Barbaros’ head. Immediately Barbaros began thrashing in pain, the extremity of the pain he was enduring was undeniable. His throws were too much for the two larger Nephilim and Lilith held out her hand and tree roots burst from the ground to restrain him further. The shaman was silent whislt he delved deeper into the mind of Barbaros. Five or so minutes passed and Barbaros had become accustomed to the pain and much more calm although he was still bearing his teeth and snarling wildly. The shaman abruptly removed his hands from the mixture. Although his face was covered by his large mask his shock was evident.

 

“What!? What did you see?!” Lilith demanded, her once calm and worried demeanour had left her now.

“A dark figure, death walking the land, madness incarnate, the cackling of a mad man, whispers in the dark, a mass of swirling blood and murder, blades in the night and the smell of brimstone. This is what I have seen, this is what torments the young one.” The shaman said with worry in his words.

“Where?!” Lilith demanded.

“At the old ruins north of the city. Near the well of sacrifice” He quickly replied.  

“Prepare yourself immediately, we are going to investigate and you are coming with us.” Lilith ordered.

The shaman started to protest but Lilith gave her a glare that paralyzed him with fear.

“Yes my Queen” He replied reluctantly.

“Oh and wake him up, he is coming with us two. He will face his fears or he will face my blade. There are plenty of others who would have his position.

 

Some hours later in the wilds north of the City of Malifaux a violent wind drove its way through the trees, the shadows of the trees danced in the moonlight, they flickered and moved together to form a large gateway. Lilith emerged first which Alraune in hand, the blade sensed her rage and seethed with excitement and the murder to come. The shaman, and a group of smaller Nephilim followed shortly after. Lilith looked around but saw nothing, she sniffed the air around her and listened carefully to the land around her.

“Brimstone… so you’re visions were true.” She said directing her attention to the Shaman.

“They always are my Queen”

“Spread out! Search the area immediately!” Lilith ordered. The smaller Nephilim began to scatter in all directions. As a small group of three Tots ran off in one direction there was a loud bang in the night followed shortly by one of the Tots exploding into a mass of gore and black mist. There was cackling which echoed all around them, the sound was maddening. Some of the Tots began holding their ears and cried out for their mother. A dark figure emerged from the shadows behind Lilith. All that could be seen on this shady figure was tall, slim silhouette of a man with a large top hat and the moonlight glistening off his teeth which had been revealed by a smile most sinister.

“Ello’ deary, I’ve been waiting for you.” The dark figure said now cold and serious. The figure had stopped cackling and a sense of murder filled the air.

“You will suffer a thousand deaths you filthy human!” Lilith screamed as she charged at him unleashing all her rage.

“Ahh, Ahh, Ahh deary, let’s have some fun first” The figure replied in his murderous voice as he melted back into the shadows. Cackling rang out through the night.

 

 

 

Turn 1 – Initiative goes to Lilith

 

Terror Tot 3 (Tots are numbered from left to right 1, 2 & 3) double sprints towards the right flank but get no Masks. Green Belle walks twice towards the center. Tot 1 also double sprints twice but right for the center and gets one mask putting him right in front of Green Belle. Red Belle also double walks towards the center. Barbaros not one for seeing his little brothers and sisters all alone in the dark of night walks 3 times to catch up to his bro and issues a challenge to the undead hussies in the area. Sybelle goes next and walks twice calling Blue Belle to her side who chain activates and walks once to get LoS on Tot 1 and then Lures him right in between herself and the Green Belle and thankfully both Pounces miss. Seeing the undead gang up on her babies Lilith decides to get stuck right in so she walks once to get a better charge vector then goes charging right into the cluster of Belles engaging all three but targeting the Green as its closer. Her first attack hits with Flay for 4 damage, the 2^nd see the first SS of the game being used for a Mask and lands a solid blow for 4 damage killing the Belle and gaining me a card for Bloody Fate. Tot 1 feeds on the corpse thanks to Rapid Growth and I have my first Young Nephilim (Young 1). Seamus doesn’t take too kindly to this and uses Back Alley to reposition, he then walks and fires off a shot at Barbaros dealing 4 damage which was reduced to 3 by armour then to 1 by a SS. The Black Blood Shaman (BBS) walks twice to catch up with Barbaros whilst the Copycat Killer (CCK) uses Mistaken Identity to jump over to Seamus and unloads his gun at Barbaros missing at first but his 2^nd shot lands 3 damage on Barbaros after armour reduces it. With all of Seamus crew activated I go to town on the filthy undead. I start by having the Cherub fly over to the rest of the group in the center followed by Tot 2 who double walks to catch up with Lilith. My newly created Young Nephilim attacks the Blue Belle and hits with Bloody Frenzy dealing 2 damage, with its second attack he lands another solid blow triggering Flush Out and putting 2 damage on the Belle whilst pushing her 4” towards Lilith. Blue Belle stops within 1” of Lilith activating Thirsty Mandrake on the Living Blade for a free attack which hits but the Black Joker decides to show its face and no damage is dealt.

 

End of Turn Score 0-0

 

 

Turn 2 – Initiative goes to Seamus

 

After spending SS for cards and both players spending SS for initiative Seamus wins initiative and sends the CCK off to do his bidding. He uses Mistaken Identity to reposition and then shoots at Barbaros again missing and pushing 4” away. The 2^nd shot goes into the engagement with my Young and Blue Belle, it randomizes onto the Belle but the fates decide no hits today. I was happy about this, you’ll see why soon . The BBS activates and uses Black Blood Pustule on Barbaros triggering Clot to heal him up a little then walks around a wall to stay out of sight from those pesky guns. Seamus activates, focuses and shoots Barbaros who uses a SS for Defensive flips and still suffers 3 Damage after armour. He then uses Live for Pain on Barbaros which fails followed by Arise My Sweet and Green Belle returns to the game. Lilith retaliates by attacking Blue Belle landing 3 damage on the 1^st attack, the 2^nd attack sees the Red Joker for the attack flip, fairly confident this Belles days are numbers I trigger Bloody Fate and swing home for 3 Damage gaining me a card and of course, Tot 2 Grows becoming a Young Nephilim (Young 2). At this point Bete Noir decides there has been enough murder to justify turning up but before she can do anything Lilith swings Alraune at her face for her 3^rd action dealing a massive 6 damage and she escapes by top decking the 13 of Crows to re-bury. Sybelle walks once away from the major scuffle and Shrieks ate the BBS dealing 2 damage and 1 damage from Black Blood on the Cherub (I need to remember that thing doesn’t have Black Blood!!). In a fit of childish rage the Cherub shoots Sybelle passing Terror comfortably and hits triggering Dance of the Wilds dealing 3 Damage but 2 is prevented via SS use to Sybelle, gives her slow and pushes her roughly 3” towards the Turf Marker but just far enough to not be engaging anything. He then shoots her again landing another 3 damage and again triggers Dance of the Wilds to push her right into Lilith’s face. This of course activates Thirsty Mandrake so Lilith tries to swing her sword once again only to fail her Terror check and becomes Paralyzed for turn 3… well shit! Red Belle decides enough is enough now that Lilith isn’t engaging her due to Paralyze and runs for her life towards Sybelles original location and decides to Undress for the BBS which works giving him Slow. Barbaros uses Nimble to reposition then charges the newly summoned Green Belle and hits once for 2 damage but as my Young Nephilim 1 is in the way she can’t be pushed away and he smashes her again for 3 damage then issues his Challenge. Green Belle tries to Undress for Barbaros but he doesn’t care and it fails. Tot 3 makes a mad dash for the enemy’s deployment zone Sprinting twice getting one mask. Young 1 attacks Green Belle twice but misses both times then his new brother Young 2 walks over to sit on a Corpse Marker to block it from LoS so Seamus can’t re-summon Blue Belle. The turn ends here with both players scoring for Turf War.

 

End of Turn Score 1-1 (+1 Lilith Turf War,  +1 Seamus Turf War)

 

 

Turn 3 – Initiative goes to Lilith

 

After suffering some pretty heavy conditions last turn this wasn’t looking great for me but ever the optimist I start with Young 1 who attacks Green Belle and hits with the Blood Frenzy trigger but deals 4 Damage killing the Belle, Young 2 gains Fast through its Thirst for Blood ability. Bete Noir re-appears and Young 1 claws at her but misses. Bete Noir attacks Barbaros with a Flurry. The 1^st attack lands 3 damage and the Severed Spine trigger potentially paralyzing Barbaros but Armour drops 1 damage and a SS drops the remaining 2 rendering the Trigger useless. The 2^nd attack hits with the Groin Strike trigger for 4 damage which is reduced to 3 by armour and then to 2 by my last soulstone. This also causes 1 damage from Black Blood on Bete. The final attack misses altogether. Young 2 charges Sybelle In an attempt to score VP on Murder Protégé but wiffs all his attacks after passing his Terror check. Sybelle who still has Slow from last turn attacks Lilith and misses, she also fails to cast Attend to Personally on Barbaros. The BBS charges the Red Belle hitting her for 1 damage and giving her a Blood Curse for the rest of the game. The second attack also deals 1 damage. Seamus shoots at Barbaros as he is engaged the shot randomizes onto my Young 1 dealing 4 damage to him and another point of damage on Bete due to Black Blood. He then walks away and drops a marker on the center line. He also tries to raise another Belle but this fails. Tot 3 continues his jaunt in the woods of Malifaux and sprints getting a Mask, now that he’s well and truly in the enemy deployment zone and miles from anyone he drops a marker for Breakthrough. The CCK decides he wan’t to be like Seamus so he uses Mistaken Identity to catch up to Seamus and shoots at Barbaros again but it randomizes onto Bete and misses. His second shot randomizes onto Young 1 dealing 5 damage killing my Young and also putting yet another point of Black Blood damage on Bete. Lilith activates to remove Paralyze and then the Red Belle tries to disengage my BBS but forgetting I have Ml 7 on the BBS the attempts both fail. The Cherub goes next and walks once and shoots at the CCK but he flips a Red Joker and it misses. Barbaros looking pretty worse for wear decides to take a Defensive Stance with both actions and stays put. Here endeth the turn and again we both bag points for Turf War.

 

End of Turn Scores 2-2 (+1 Lilith Turf War, +1 Seamus Turf War)

 

(Forgot to take a Picture at the start of Turn 4)

 

Turn 4 – Initiative goes to Lilith

 

Now that she’s back in the fight Lilith it out for blood and oh lawd does she get it! She immediately turns and goes for Sybelle. She passes Terror and misses her first attack with the Black Joker… I try again landing a solid blow for 4 damage and my 3^rd attack also hits for 4 damage. Sybelle is no more. I have a choice to make at this point, let Young 2 Grow or let him take Fast. I want the big guns so he matures via Feed the Brood becoming a Mature Nephilim. Bete Noir is unto her old tricks and once again uses Flurry on Barbaros but misses all three attacks! Barbaros tries to be a smart arse and uses his (2) Bullrush on Bete but I forgot about her Tenebrous Aura which put me on negative flips and it misses… balls! Seamus then laughs as he shoots at the large engagement and randomizes onto Lilith but misses. He then throws a Live for Pain into the group which hits Lilith after randomization dealing 3 damage. He then walks away realizing he spent too many AP and forgot to drop another marker. The Mature Nephilim tries to hit Bete hoping for his Charge Through trigger to get at Seamus but the attack misses. Still gunning for Barbaros the CCK shoots into the engagement and randomizes onto Barbaros (boooo!!) but misses the attack (yay!!!). He then opts to pass with his final action. The BBS still having a go at Red Belle stabs her once dealing 1 damage then misses his final attack. The Red Belle again tries to disengage and fails so she claws at the BBS dealing 1 damage to the BBS and 1 to herself through Black Blood. The Cherub flies towards Seamus the shoots the CCK dealing 1 damage, slow and triggers the Dance of the Wilds to push him away. Tot 3 still on a jolly in the woods sprints not getting a Mask and drops his final marker. The turn ends with me scoring 3 VP for Murder Protégé and 1 for Turf War. Seamus scores nothing.

 

End of Turn Scores 6-2 (+1 Lilith Turf War, +3 Murder Protégé)

 

 

Turn 5 – Initiative goes to Seamus

 

Bete again tries to Flurry Barbaros, the 1^st attack misses, the 2^nd hits but lands a Black Joker for Damage and the 3^rd hits Barbaros for 1 damage after armour leaving him on 1 wound but his Black Blood kills Bete who fails to bury and she’s finally gone for good. Cherub flees for his life whilst Seamus drops a marker on the center line walks then shoots into the engagement once more and randomizes onto Barbaros but misses so he throws Live for Pain into the mix which also lands on Barbaros but again misses. The Mature lets out an almighty roar and charges Red Belle and smashes her to death with one attack. CCK uses Mistaken Identity to catch up to Seamus then walks, he can’t do much else as he is out of range and Slow. Barbaros makes a run for it and walks 3 times to the center to avoid any of Seamus’s own brand punishment. Lilith walks once and takes Defensive Stance +2. The BBS also takes Defensive Stance +2 and finally Tot 3 Sprints twice to regroup with his brothers and sisters. The turn and game end here. I score Turf War and Seamus is too far away to even consider it.

 

End of Turn Scores 7-3 (+1 Lilith Turf War)

 

Final Scores 10-3 to Lilith (+3 Lilith Breakthrough) (+1 Seamus ALITS)

 

 

The battle had been won, many of the surviving Tots had fed well this evening. Many of them had fed so well they’d burst from their skin and grown to a size in only a matter of hours that would take a human years to achieve. The corpses of the walking dead the dark figure had brought with him were in pieces all over the forest floor. Guts hung from trees, shards of bone and viscera were scattered everywhere. It had been a bloodbath and in her rage Lilith had torn them to pieces. The odd arm and leg was still twitching or crawling away as the dark magic that animated that began to fade but they would not get far with Lilith’s ravenous brood in the proximity. Still… the dark figure himself eluded Lilith.

 

“Were are you, you coward?! Face me!!” Lilith screamed into the night air. The mad cackling once again rang out through the night all around her as if taunting her into an even greater fit of rage and anger.  

“Now, now deary. You’ve done well this night. You’ve managed to break all my favourite toys. I shall have to work hard to replace them. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting the Queen of Malifaux to be quite so beautiful. We will have to do something about those anger issues of yours though.” He giggled to himself.

“I will find you and I will personally flay you! Mark my words!” Lilith screamed utterly blinded by rage.

“Watch your back your highness, I’ve got my eyes on you. I’ve always wanted a red head in my collection.” The voice said as it faded into the night. Lilith let out a deafening roar she the voices faded, the sense of murder in the air dissipated and all seemed to be back to normal.

 

Barbaros came down from the ruins holding a large gunshot wound in his gut. He collapsed at Lilith’s feet, blood pouring from his near lifeless body.

“Did I please you mother, have I done as you asked?” Barbaros whispered as he passed out from blood loss.

“Yes my son, you did well this evening.” Lilith said in a calm mothering tone. Her mood had changed like the wind once again.

“Shaman, take him back to my lair and heal his wounds. He has much work to do.”

“Oh course my Queen” the Shaman replied.

Lilith didn’t speak another word, she left her children to feast and had left Barbaros in the care of the shaman. She leaped into the trees and ran off into the night.

 

After Games Thoughts – This was a really fun game. Lots of things went our way, lots of things didn’t. We were constantly battling with our own fate decks to try and not be screwed over. We had a lot of laughs and I learned that in the end Seamus isn’t as scary as I’d always once thought. That damn Bete Noir though! She was a royal pain to deal with and I’ve learned a new found respect for her. We both learnt a lot about our crews and each other’s crews this game. I had decided to dramatically change my tactics with Lilith and overhauled her upgrades to focus on the Growth and manipulation side of the crew. Using the Cherub, and other Nephilim to force my opponents crew to move where I wanted them worked really well but some bad luck on flips prevented it from reaching it’s full potential. I also found the Growth mechanic very easy to get on with and it didn’t distract me from my objectives at all as many have suggested in the past. I’m still not sure on wicked Mistress though, I’ve taken it a few times in the past and never use it. I prefer to save Lilith’s AP for attacks and Tangled Shadows whilst using her crew to feed her stuff to kill via their various triggers and actions. All in all though a very enjoyable game. My next opponent is still yet to be arranged but hopefully it'll be Tara or perhaps one of those filthy Gremlins

 

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the report and narrative. As usual if you have any comments or criticism please feel free to let me know.

 

 

NEXT TIME – Lilith vs. ??????

[Deluge]

Again another great Battle Report, I am especially liking the Pro and Epilogue narrative that you add to the reports makes a nice individual read and builds some rapport with the characters in the crew

[MasterDisaster]

Again another great Battle Report, I am especially liking the Pro and Epilogue narrative that you add to the reports makes a nice individual read and builds some rapport with the characters in the crew

 

Thanks! I find it helps keep me motivated and it's always fun to try and bring your characters to life. I've always seen Malifaux as a story driven game and the narrative element of these reports has been really fun. I'm no J. R. R. Tolkein or anything but so long as you guys enjoy reading my little stories and reports I can walk away happy

[Math Mathonwy]

Very nice battle reports! I also really appreciate the pics - thank you!

If I may make one suggestion, it would be to use paragraph breaks more. Those whole turn descriptions in one paragraph are a bit heavy to read.

[zFiend]

Oh right I still have this to read! Damn it! 

[Gremlin guy]

Hahahah we should totally do that! (what she said.)

Upgrade

Cost 0

Not Again.

Restrictions: this upgrad is automatically included in all games and is not attached to a model.

zFiend gains chatty

zFiend gains the following tactical action

(1) That's what she said

When a model within 36" performs a (2) interact action for Deliver a message, zFiend is placed in base contact with the targeted master and that (2) interact action fails. If zFiend is buried at the time the interact action is declared, zFiend immediately unburied in base contact with the target master. If zFiend is not in play (other than while buried) he is immediately summoned in base contact with target master and all models in play gain the "who summoned zFiend" condition (immunities do not apply): who summoned zFiend: this model must move to a new table until the end of the current round. New Schemes are drawn for this round.

It's a bit long, but I'm not a game designer.

[zFiend]

Who summoned zFiend :D 

[Dirial]

Who summoned zFiend :D

 

Gremlin Guy did, apparently.

[MasterDisaster]

Very nice battle reports! I also really appreciate the pics - thank you!

If I may make one suggestion, it would be to use paragraph breaks more. Those whole turn descriptions in one paragraph are a bit heavy to read.

 

Thanks for the praise and also not a bad idea Math, I'll make sure I do that in my future reports. Just to lessen the load of reading a wall of text. 

[Deluge]

Thanks for the praise and also not a bad idea Math, I'll make sure I do that in my future reports. Just to lessen the load of reading a wall of text. 

When is the next game likely to be?

[MasterDisaster]

Hopefully my next game will be within the next couple of weeks. Ideally next Monday if I can convince our Ophelia player to take on Lilith's seemingly unstoppable winning streak

[zFiend]

Finally read the report! Seamus! Seamus! Seamus!

[MasterDisaster]

Finally read the report! Seamus! Seamus! Seamus!

 

Haha, I knew your response would be something along those lines. In the end I decided to learn from previous mistakes and not go right for his throat. Instead I focused on my VP and beat on Sybelle instead

[zFiend]

Yeah I am kinda pissed that you killed her.

[MasterDisaster]

Yeah I am kinda pissed that you killed her.

 

Didn't just kill her. I f***ed her up!

 

My beloved Lilith needed her revenge and I was gonna make damn sure she got it!

[zFiend]

You're a horrible man.

[Dirial]

You're a horrible man.

 

Yeah, I think you both are in good company.

[zFiend]

Yeah, I think you both are in good company.

Get out of here Guildie.

[MasterDisaster]

You're a horrible man.

 

When I smashed the last few bits of life from her fat bloated undead body I had you in mind... Glorious! 

 

Also... Yes... Yes I am!

[zFiend]

When I smashed the last few bits of life from her fat bloated undead body I had you in mind... Glorious!

Also... Yes... Yes I am!

We should play on Vassal soon. I owe you pain.

[Dirial]

Get out of here Guildie.