Big Sewer Punchup (50ss, Wong vs Lady Justice)

[Dogmantra]

I haven't played Malifaux in a while, but I recently went to a new game store in my town where they have a growing Malifaux community. That got me hyped for it again, and by extension the wonderful Astrella.

 

And so we decided to play a game together via Vassal.

 

We set it up, using a premade sewer map (I forget the name, sorry!) which is made up of several smallish rooms with a water river running straight down the middle. The strategy was Reconnoiter. Available schemes were A Line in the Sand, Breakthrough, Assassinate, Make Them Suffer and Set the Trap.

 

I, of course, immediately declared I was playing Gremlins and Astrella picked the Guild. We left it there and gave it a few days to come up with lists.

 

A few days later we come back with full crews. I was going to play the Brewmaster (up to this point I have mostly stuck with Som'er on account of a] he's the best and b] he's got a bigger hat than you) and was looking for some neat models to take with him when I flip past Wong... Now I'm a sucker for magicians and magician themed characters. A big sucker. I love them. And so with Wong as my master, I look through carefully and decide to just take a bunch of rooster riders.

 

Our final crews were:

Wong, Lovely Assistant, 3 Rooster Riders, 2 Survivors and Fingers (important upgrades: Ooo Glowy! and Quality Mash Liquor both on Wong)

VERSUS

Lady Justice, Scales of Justice, The Judge, 2 Death Marshals, a Guild Guard, a Pathfinder and a Watcher. (important upgrade: Implacable on Lady Justice)

 

My very first act on meeting this crew was to ask Astrella to differentiate her Death Marshals and so they were renamed to John Granby and Tom Riley. Meanwhile I was sat there with Rooster Rider 1, Rooster Rider 2 and Magical Glowy Rooster Rider...

 

I win deployment and decide to set up on the left hand side. I separate my forces into four groups, one for each door into the main area. Each one is a model + rooster rider, except one which is both the survivors. Astrella sets up relatively well spread out too, with a little more focus on the centre. The pathfinder sets up riiiiight outside the survivors' door.

 

We both reveal Breakthrough and keep our other scheme secret. Mine is definitely not Spring the Trap.

 

 

TURN ONE

The pesky Guild wins initiative and the Pathfinder's very first act in his (spoiler alert) short life is to drop a clockwork trap slap bang in front of the two survivors, totally blocking their exit. A rooster rider charges and kills him for his insolence. A death in the first turn! This was going to be a bloody game. Around half of the Guild had abilities that let them ignore severe terrain and so most of them made it to the centreline on their first turn. This didn't bode well for me as none of my models could do that (roosters hate sewer water!) and we both had Breakthrough. Little else happened other than one of the Survivors trying to go around the trap via a corridor and one of them trying (and failing) to shoot it to death.

 

TURN TWO

Three major things happened this turn. Firstly, I really start to regret none of my models ignore severe terrain as Wong spends another 2AP just walking. Secondly, the Judge uses Stand for Justice on the Rooster Rider who just killed the Pathfinder. Now I'd say that justice had already been served, but apparently not as the poor defenceless Rooster Rider was slain by the wicked Judge.

 

Thirdly, Lady Justice charges into the bottom room, containing Fingers. He manages to avoid taking too much damage, and pushes himself away with his squeal trigger. He then drops a scheme marker and walks back into range of Lady Justice, placing a second scheme marker.

"Oh dang" says Astrella, "you have Spring the Trap, I should have seen that coming."

"No, these aren't for any reason" I tell her, adamant that my remaining scheme is definitely not Spring the Trap.

"But there's no point otherwise," she says "other than to fake me out"

"Yup, that's why they're there."

 

That was not why they were there. At the end of the turn, I reveal Spring the Trap and score 3 points (2 markers + she had more models than me). Astrella reveals Make them Suffer and scores 1 for killing the Rooster Rider. She also gets 1 from Reconnoiter, and I don't, too many of my models are too near the centre.

 

(side note: this turn the Magical Rooster Rider charged the Lovely Assistant because of damage. What a jerk.)

 

TURN THREE

Fingers, having sprung his trap and done his job, is killed in about two seconds. The Magical Rooster Rider was healed up by Wong and charged at the Judge, leaving him ONE WOUND from death. One of the survivors was boxed up by the naughty Tom Riley.

 

And then, the Lovely Assistant sees and seizes a fantastic opportunity. She uses Crackerjack Timing on the lone Guild Guard in the sewer water. John Granby and the Judge are both juuust in range and both fail their WP check. So now they're both sitting right next to each other. And Wong shoots a lightning blast at them. He does a tiny bit of damage with the first flip and no splash because he got unlucky...

 

Then he flips the Red Joker for his next damage flip and kills all three of them. Things are really coming up Gremlin... other than the Watcher dropping scheme markers in my deployment zone.

 

At the end of the turn, Astrella scores 1 for Make them Suffer.

 

TURN FOUR

This turn is mostly taken up with Rooster Riders trying to get to the Guild deployment zone to drop scheme markers so I don't lose the game. The magical glowy one takes down the Scales of Justice.

 

Astrella only has a couple of models left and doesn't manage to take down the remaining Survivor, but her Watcher keeps dropping scheme markers and it's worrying.

 

At the end of the turn, I score 1 for Reconnoiter.

 

TURN FIVE

It's kind of a slow turn as I try to make sure that my Survivor and Lovely Assistant don't die (thankfully they don't!), and I manage to place two scheme markers in Astrella's deployment zone.

 

Wong can't really do anything useful this turn as he was positioned weirdly to make sure I scored for Reconnoiter. That doesn't stop him from trying and failing to turn the Watcher into a pig.

 

I score 1 for Reconnoiter, and the game end flip is a six, ending the game. We both managed 3 points from Breakthrough. If it had gone on another turn, Lady Justice would have definitely killed either the Survivor or maybe even both the Survivor and Lovely Assistant, and then I would have been in a much worse position.

 

 

 

The final score was Wong 8, Lady Justice 6. A hard-fought game won with the help of a very lucky lightning jump cast. And of course, the obvious superiority of Gremlins.