Leveticus (w/Malifaux Child!) vs. C. Hoffman

[Hateful Darkblack]

NOTE: This post describes a known suboptimal list for experimentation.

 

So, in Joel Henry and Matt Spooner's excellent new podcast, School of Faux, Joel gives the Chemistry assignment to "play with a Totem you don't normally use."

 

I decided to try a game with Leveticus, not using Hollow Waifs!

 

The results? Severely hampered, of course, but still surprisingly decent!

 

Originally, we were going to play a three-player Story Encounter, but our third had to end early, so we scrapped that game and started over. I was going to do Graveyard Spirit with Path of Bone, then discovered just as game was starting that the Graveyard Spirit didn't have the Undead characteristic as I assumed he would! Oops! So I switched to borrowing my friend's card for the Malifaux Child instead. That initial three-player game didn't go well for me -- the rest of the Crew wasn't set to work well together after the change -- but when we restarted in a two-player game I changed up my Crew to one that worked well.

 

I started with knowledge that I'd be without the Waifs and all the things they give: mobility, durability, free Wd for attack power. So I built a list that would do well anyway.

 

The Strategy is Reckoning, which worked well for me. Reckoning, in my opinion, is the Strategy that means "You're only going to get 1 VP from this Strategy tops the whole game, so takes a bunch of scheme runners and Schemes that work well with that." The Scheme pool was LITS, Distract, Breakthrough, Take Prisoner, and Deliver the Message. I picked Breakthrough (declared) and Distract (undeclared of course).

 

Crews (Mostly My Crew)

 

Here's what I took and why.

 

Leveticus: Of course. His Unmaking ability was a surprisingly good defense, and 

Survivalist: Absolutely essential for keeping Levy alive for so long. The Hard to Kill was helpful once or twice. The positive flip to healing was a constant benefit.

Tally Sheet: Kept me in good card flow the whole game. I don't know why I don't take this on Leveticus more often in Waif-ful games, honestly.

 

Malifaux Child: Wow, the Malifaux Child was really handy! The healing really kept Levy alive. Copying Unmaking was surprisingly powerful, especially when I had a card advantage. And the Malifaux Child actually zipped in to tie up my opponent's Master for a turn at the end of the game, saving me a VP or two. Even the Paired Knives were good for disengaging strikes!

 

Freikorps Librarian: I know from the start that I'd need this model, and built my original crew around the thought. She didn't disappoint. She spent a lot of her time healing up Leveticus, but got an occasional potshot in too. Generally she sat in the middle of my gunline, holding territory.

 

Rusty Alyce: I figured she'd be taking care of my gunline and some buffs if things died. Nope! She ended up being a durable objective-runner to get me important Breakthrough points.

From the Aether: Originally I'd wanted to do a lot of Abomination summoning, for card flow, activation control, and maybe some objective-holding. I didn't end up summoning even one. Ah well.

I Pay Better: This ended up pretty handy a few times, though I suspect I didn't use it to its full extent. Knowing that I'd be hiring a Malifaux Child and Freikorps Librarian, it seemed natural to want to give them Focus.

 

Lazarus: I figured that since I had I Pay Better anyway, I might as well take another Mercenary who works well with Leveticus. It worked well. Lazarus spent most of the game with Fast from the Ashen Core. He took a bunch of shots at Ryle and then Distracted Ryle. Tied up my flank, endured a bunch, and earned me some good VP. I'm happy with this one.

 

Ashes and Dust: Golden as usual. I had originally considered a Desolation Engine to go for more Abomination-summoning, but I'm glad I stuck with A+D. Earned me a bunch of Distract and Breakthrough points, gave Leveticus some much-needed maneuverability (by saccing the A+D to jump to it) and card flow (by saccing the A+D for cards). My only regret is that I didn't take Scramble like I usually do. We had a lot of Severe terrain that slowed me down.

 

I was originally considering a Path of Bone based Crew with Valedictorian, Rotten Belle, and Dead Doxy for some added mobility, but that was partly based on the Graveyard Spirit instead. Without the Graveyard Spirit, I figured it was better to get some Mercenary Synergy, which meant sticking with Outcasts. And Ashes + Dust is a no brainer for Schemes.

 

My opponent (a really strong Guild & Arcanist player) took a C. Hoffman list, with that Upgrade-making Upgrade and maybe another one, Mechanical Attendant, Joss, Ryle, Johana, a Guardian, and a Hunter. I may be missing a few Upgrades and maybe even a model in there somewhere, in which case, my apologies!

 

Overall flow of the game

 

So, as mentioned, it was a Reckoning game, with a bunch of Severe terrain on my side and a bunch of trees on my opponent's side. She took a lot of mobile, tanky models, using Joss to pull C. Hoffman up and then Hoffman to make things murder. Going through my opponent's list beforehand I decided my most important things to kill were the Hunter (since it's got incredible damage and board control power, but not a lot of defense) and Joss (because he can kill Ashen Core so easily and is just so scary.) First turn, I jumped Leveticus over to the A + D and used Unmaking to kill the Hunter.

 

There was a big terrain piece in the middle of the board, which naturally divided the combat into two separate flows. I kind of kept my pieces together in a gunline and let my opponent split up, with one group (Levy, A+D, Malifaux Child, Freikorp Librarian) handling my opponent's main charge (Hunter, Guardian, C. Hoffman, Mechanical Attendant, and Johana) and another nearby group (Rusty Alyce and Lazarus) handling Ryle from the other direction. 

 

Turn Two, C. Hoffman and the Mechanical Attendant got some great shots in on Leveticus. Levy did a little bit of passive damage back when they missed through the Unmade trigger (an ability that seems to reappear back on the card once he doesn't have Waifs). I was scrambling to keep Levy alive, throwing as much healing as my cards would support from Malifaux Child and Freikorp Librarian. Then Levy took his turn. I think I may have Sacced A+D for cards first. Levy got lucky and flipped a Red Joker on damage (with two negative flips, even) against Joss, and finished Joss off with the second AP. With the third AP, Levy was able to kill Mechanical Attendant as well. Between Rebirth and Tally Sheet, that was four cards Drawn in one activation, plus a Reckoning VP. That was probably a big turning point for the game. The rest of the turn I mostly moved up models to take some potshots at Ryle and Distract the Guardian. I didn't reunite the Ashes + Dust this turn, which ended up working out well: Ashen Core made Lazarus fast to help him trudge through the Severe Terrain, and the Dust Storm moved into positive.

 

Turns Three and Four sort of blurred together for me. There was more back and forth with the Guardian and Johana piling on Leveticus and Leveticus soulstone and Defensive Stance and whatnot to stay alive, with lots of Healing and Hard to Kill. Dust Storm did Distract on Hoffman. Lazarus did Distract on Ryle and beat him up a bunch so he would heal instead of disengaging. Rusty Alyce failed to summon some Abominations, took some failed shots at Ryle, then slipped around a building to zip toward the back. Then the Dust Storm killed the Guardian with a Charge, and used the Trigger to push up to the Core and reunite.

 

C. Hoffman, without any Constructs, ran up to punch Leveticus in the face. (I called out "Old Man Fight!" at that point.) Leveticus hit back, but without the Wounds for a Channel or cards for Face of Death, his Death Touch wasn't that scary.

 

Turn Five, my opponent finally killed Leveticus. Johana swept into position and smashed him with a Relic Hammer. I immediately zipped the Malifaux Child into place so that Hoffman couldn't remove Distract or drop Breakthrough Markers. Hoffman, without any nearby Constructs for support, was able to wound but not kill the Malifaux Child.

 

Ashes + Dust moved through the forest on my opponent's side of the board, dropped a Scheme Marker for Breakthrough, then pushed into a Scrap Marker and zipped back to Johana. Rusty Alyce rushed to my opponent's backfield to get the other Scheme Marker for Breakthrough. Lazarus and Ryle stayed in each others' face both hitting each other with the same Hydraulic Fist (go Assimilate!). Ryle would have killed Lazarus in another turn, but I mostly wanted to make sure Ryle couldn't get rid of Distract or drop a Scheme Marker.

 

And that was that! Due to a technicality, my opponent didn't get points for Take Prisoner (she'd declared Take Prisoner on Ashes and Dust, who is kind of immune to it because the resummoned Ashes + Dust is considered a separate model) so I ended up winning 7-0.

 

Conclusion and Thoughts

 

Leveticus is still good without the Hollow Waifs. Not AS good, but he's still got incredible consistent attack power, and a lot of helpful card flow mechanics. He can't jump around anymore, and can't Focus as often, so he ends up more of an Unmaking gun-platform that turns into a tarpit when opponents get close. With Survivalist and two Healers, it took most of my opponent's Crew to destroy Leveticus, which worked out in my favor since that meant my fast objective-runners (A+D and Rusty Alyce) were able to earn VP while everything else was tied up.

 

My opponent played a really strong game. Joss with Nimble was really scary, and if I hadn't killed him it would have gotten bad for me fast. The Mechanical Attendant was surprisingly punchy with that pistol. Hoffman worked well, but didn't have enough objective-runners to get VP. I feel bad that my opponent got shafted on Take Prisoner due to a technicality, but it was an exciting game all along and still quite fun.

 

I felt like every turn, my best move would have still been to do Sanguine Evocations and bring out a Hollow Waif, but I didn't do that because that wasn't the point.

 

If I could change anything, I would have taken Scramble on Ashes and Dust instead of From the Aether on Rusty Alyce. Or maybe replaced Alyce with another Mercenary and maybe an Abomination for card flow.

 

Should you run Leveticus without Hollow Waifs? No. They add defense and maneuverability and offense and defense and everything.

 

Can you run Leveticus without Hollow Waifs? Yes! With Survivalist and enough healers he can still stay alive and have plenty of kick. He's not as powerful as the usual Leveticus Crew, but the card support works nicely and you'll find new synergies and abilities you weren't expecting.

 

I feel like when you play a Master enough, a lot of abilities kind of fade off the card because you never use them. For Leveticus that means especially the Unmade trigger. It's wonderful how changing the game up brings those abilities back onto the card somehow, which is probably good for your overall game.

 

In conclusion, try Leveticus with a Malifaux Child in a casual game! It's a suboptimal choice but fun! It still feels like Leveticus, but less so!

[Dirial]

Very, very interesting!

[Hateful Darkblack]

Thanks! I had fun trying to make a bad idea work!