Casual Battle Report Series

[benjoewoo]

Hi guys, you may have seen my earlier battle reports. I think it would be easier to get through and to avoid clogging to post my future reports in one thread, since most of the reports are just casual games in which my opponents and I are still learning. 

 

For any non-casual games, I might do separate report threads, but just so I'm not clogging up the first page with reports, most will probably be here.

 

The next post will have the first report.

[benjoewoo]

Seamus vs. Rasputina, 35SS

 

Strategy: Turf War

Schemes: Line in the Sand, Distract, Deliver the Message, Murder Protege, Breakthrough 

 

Deployment: Flanking

 

 

Crews:

 

Seamus w/ Sinister Reputation and Mad Haberdasher, Sybelle w/ bleeding tongue and not too banged up, CCK, 2x Rotten Belle, Chiaki the Niece with her specific upgrade (didn't look it up because I never used it...please comment and teach me on my mistake)

 

Rasputina, Ice Golem, Wendigo, 3x Ice Gamin

 

Selected Schemes:

 

Seamus: Line in the Sand (revealed), Murder Protege (revealed, ice golem)

 

Rasputina: Deliver the Message (revealed), Line in the Sand (revealed)

 

TURN 1:

 

This turn saw me going all in on the Ice Golem and paying the price for using resources inefficiently.

 

I won initiative, and chose to have Rasputina go first. He moved ice golem up towards the center of the map.

 

Of importance to this turn is our deployment. With flanking position I won deployment and chose to have Rasputina deploy first. Rasputina had everyone in a huddle at the point closest to the turf marker, with little cover except for a building that was quickly abandoned and a small block with one LoS blocking wall.  I deployed spread around my corner with a nearby mountain, my units just outside 24" from Rasputina so that I would avoid a 3 AP triple cast assuming max range, excluding triggers. Because Rasputina revealed Deliver the message, I put Seamus on top of a building for deployment--there was a building and a mountain set up on opposite sides of the map to allow either player to deploy on top of such as they saw fit.

 

The ice golem thus was now in range of lure, which I immediately did with a belle, succeeding twice in bringing it closer.

 

Rasputina ran a gamin up to the marker.

 

Seamus shot at the golem, and I cheated the flip to get a positive, which netted me severe, doing 6 with Armor 2 from the golem. He used his 3rd ap to walk out of LoS of the golem, but I made a mistake in my measurement and though that Seamus was out of LoS from the gamins but he was not. I should have just shot at the golem again since I had live for pain available.

 

Rasputina ran another gamin up near the marker.

 

CCK tp-ed to Seamus and double shotted ice golem, hitting it once for 2 damage. This was a mistake as I should have moved CCK instead of being greedy.

 

Rasputina ran Wendigo up towards the corner far from my side, getting ready for line in the sand.

 

I charged with Sybelle to engage golem and prevent double blast havoc in my ranks, dealing 1 damage between the two melee attacks.

 

Rasputia ran the last gamin towards the marker, but close enough that she could shoot at Seamus now after walking once.

 

Seeing that Rasputina would shoot Seamus, I decided to avoid letting Golem smash on Sybelle with smash, so I used the other belle to lure ice golem to her, getting 1 damage between pounce and a melee. The golem is at 1 Wd......

 

Rasputina moves and shoots at Seamus, missing the first shot. She shoots again, this time hitting for moderate and triggering shooting again. I incorrectly ruled that she had to hit Seamus first, which allowed him to discard the hat to CCK who also discarded the hat to avoid any damage. With the trigger she shoots again, hitting seamus for 5 and blasting CCK for 4, killing him, and getting the trigger to shoot again. She shoots again, hitting red joker, putting seamus at 1 wd because of hard to kill.

 

Chiaki uses her 0 targeting the golem, succeeding but flipping black joker for damage, so I don't even get the +1 Chi. She charges, and both melees miss.

 

Score: 0:0

 

TURN 2:

 

I win intiative, and have Seamus pick up his hat. I flintlock a gamin, killing it with a cheated severe damage. I summoned a belle and used my last AP to walk out of LoS of the other gamins but within LoS of the golem, who was still engaged so no turret mode for Raspy.

 

I companion-ed a non-summoned belle, who was now within 6" after the Seamus walk, who then double lured a gamin out of range of the turf marker and into a pounce, wihich misses.

 

Golem activates and attempts to kill Chiaki, missing both attacks because of my cheating high cards.

 

I try to lure the golem with the other non-summoned belle, missing pounce and another melee.

 

Wendigo activates and drops a scheme marker, walking further towards the far corner.

 

I activate Sybelle, charging the golem and missing both attacks. T_______T

 

Rasputina moves a gamin and drops a marker. He's now within range of the turf marker

 

I activate my summoned belle to lure the gamin who dropped a marker away from the turf war marker.

 

Rasputina double walks to the marker and shoots at the summoned belle, killing her. She is within range of the turf marker

 

Score 0:0

 

TURN 3:

 

Rasputina wins initiative, and the golem attempts to smash Sybelle. I cheat the red joker, so the attack misses--yay!

 

I immediately activate sybelle and melee the golem for 2, killing it even with armor. The blast does 3 to sybelle, the two belles, and Chiaki. Sybelle moves towards the turf marker, but stays out of range of the nearest gamin for Raspy channel shoot. Sybelle fails to call a belle over.

 

Raspy activates Wendigo, who moves and drops a fourth marker.

 

I activate Seamus, who is no longer in LoS of Raspy's crew, and back alley to the other side of the building, shooting with flintlock and live for pain to kill wendigo and heal for 2 (I get weak damage on both), failing to summon with the 0 action.

 

Raspy moves the gamin that was lured towards the turf marker and now within 12" of sybelle.

 

I activate a belle, who lures the gamin twice out of 12" of Raspy, and now engaged with Sybelle and the belle, who gets a pounce for 1.

 

Raspy moves the other gamin behind the previously mentioned block, so he is now out of LoS from my crew.

 

I use my other belle to lure the gamin away from sybelle and the other belle, getting 3 damage from the pounce and a melee. The gamin now has 3 damage out of 6.

 

Raspy activates, and moves towards the turf marker, but it unable to cast on anything despite the walks.

 

I activate chiaki, who hits the gamin for 1 with a melee--I miss my 0 and I miss the other melee.

 

Score: 3:1, Seamus +3 for murder protege, Raspy +1 for turf war.

 

TURN 4:

 

Raspy wins initiative and the gamin attacks the belle, missing one and hitting black joker for the other. I activate the belle and melee the gamin twice, killing it with a weak and severe damage, dealing 2 to herself, putting her at 3 Wds remaining.

 

Raspy activates the gamin, who moves slightly, essentially passing.

 

I activate sybelle and double walk her just out of range against Raspy, cheating to call the belle with 5 Wds on her over, who companions and moves in range of the turf marker and out of range for Raspy.

 

Raspy activates, throwing up ice pillars and attempting to shoot the belle, missing. She then walks out of range for the turf marker by mistake, as the player understood turf war to work with only 1 model.

 

I activate Chiaki and run her to the marker, putting me in range to score Turf War.

 

The other belle walks up to the pillars.

 

Seamus tps off the building and fails to summon.

 

Score: 4:1, Seamus +1 for Turf War

 

TURN 5:

 

Raspy wins initiative, and she goes to town on Chiaki and the almost dead belle, killing both between two casts and a trigger. She uses the last AP to walk to the turf marker. 

 

I activate Sybelle, moving her into the turf marker range and cheating to call my remaining belle over. 

 

Raspy activates the gamin, moving ever so slightly to stay out of LoS of everyone and staying within Turf Marker range.

 

Seamus activates, summons a doxy, plants a marker, and double walks to be near the turf marker in case of a Turn 6.

 

The doxy pushes belle towards the center line. The belle then walks and plants a second scheme marker while staying within range of the turf marker.

 

Score: 6:5 Seamus +2 for Line in the Sand and Turf War, Raspy +4 for Line in the Sand and Turf War

 

 

End Thoughts:

 

Again, this was a game of learning, mostly for me. With the way I played, I left myself incredibly vulnerable to Raspy's casts. I thought myself too safe with just positioning and went too aggressively on the golem, taking 3 turns to kill him, which denied me points on turf war and the ability to get line in the sand. I banked too much on being able to eliminate the golem turn 1. 

 

My play should have caused a tie game, because Raspy should have stayed within range of the turf marker the turn she made a mistake--doing so would not have likely killed her.

 

Take away lesson: going all in on a unit with Armor +2 makes life incredibly hard and can cost you dearly. I should decided to sacrifice a belle/sybelle to get the kill on golem, which would have freed up moves to lure/kill gamins earlier, get Turf War points, or drop markers for Line in the Sand. 

 

I think my crew choices here were ok. The most questionable choice was Chiaki, who basically did nothing except score for turf war. I picked her up in case Raspy decided to shoot her own golem/gamins to paralyze my people, but that never happened. 

 

What I should have done was drop Chiaki and the bleeding tongue upgrade, pick up Yin and take the unnerving aura upgrade. It would've allowed me to leave yin and sybelle to fight the golem, and likely would have killed the golem a turn earlier. The belles then could have had a field day luring Wendigo/gamins, preventing them from easily dropping all four scheme markers.

 

Seamus' upgrades weren't bad, considering the -2Wp did come into play somewhat, and the heal off live for pain did secure Seamus somewhat. Bag O' Tools seemed to be pretty useless, as Raspy paralyzes people and both distract and deliver the message were in the pool. I didn't want to grab red chapel killer, figuring that the key to winning the game would be having summons over back alley shenanigans.

 

That being said, I made a mistake in thinking the above--I should have taken break through, having Seamus pick off scheme runners--in this case Wendigo and a gamin--before going to drop markers over the course of Turn 4 and 5, which would've secured me better points than line in the sand. I went with it thinking that I might be able to summon better, but unfortunately I wasn't able to summon much, as most of my stones were spent on drawing new cards, as my hands just sucked.

 

My memories of this game are slightly hazy, so if something doesn't quite make sense, please ask and I'll do my best to clarify. As always, comments and criticisms are always welcome, particularly anything I can learn from.

[bertmac]

Not sure cck can use the hat to prevent blast damage from the same attack seamus has used it to prevent damage from, would need a resser player to confirm though.

[zFiend]

Not sure cck can use the hat to prevent blast damage from the same attack seamus has used it to prevent damage from, would need a resser player to confirm though.

He can if the attacker wants to hit Seamus first and cck then. But as the attack and blasts do damage in the order the attacker chooses it never happens that Seamus gets hit first, discards the hat, cck picks it up, gets hit and discards the hat.

[Fetid Strumpet]

A separate point, based on observations of other battle reports, I'm not certain why you never seem to take Red Chapel Killer. To my mind it is sort of necessary to play Seamus well as it is really easy to lose out on a 0 action if there are no corpses in LoS and range or you don't have the cards to raise a belle. Additionally Seamus does a lot of his threat and dmg from being able to pop up in large swaths of the board, though the limitations on Back Ally are punitively harsh as it is VERY difficult to get totally out of LoS of an enemy if they know they want to keep you in LoS to deny that ability, and the more dedicated AP you spend on using it, the worse it is. Red Chapel Killer can help solve many of those issues, and it just surprises me you never seem to take it.

[zFiend]

Red chapel killer is absolutely amazing.

[benjoewoo]

I've tried to play without it to teach myself positioning more. I do really like it, and when I first played I pretty much only used it and sinister rep for getting in, blasting a unit, and tp-ing out after the kill or blasting a second time to hopefully get the kill. If Seamus survived to the next turn I'd finish the unit off and tp out.

 

But, I wanted to play around with summoning because, as I've said in my main seamus Q thread, I'm always concerned about not having good enough melee to compete, and while resilient, my belles are really primarily board manipulation and back up scheme runners. Please let me know if this thought process is a trap: I try to focus on summoning to maintain activation/board advantage in a Seamus crew.

 

I normally summon 1-2 belles a game, often using the first couple stones for it, with the third through fifth stones (usually third/ fourth as I don't leave much for my pool) going to damage prevention flips for Sybelle and Seamus.

[benjoewoo]

Seamus vs. Rasputina, 35SS game

 

Strategy: Reckoning

 

Schemes: A Line in the Sand, Breakthrough, Cursed Object, Body Guard, Plant Evidence

 

Crews:

 

Seamus w/ Mad Haberdasher, Sinister Reputation, Red Chapel Killer, Sybelle with Bleeding Tongue, Yin with Unnerving Aura, CCK, 2x Rotten Belles. Pool of 3.

 

Rasputina w/ Shattered Heart, Child of December, and Cold Nights, Ice Golem with Sub Zero, Wendigo, and 3x Ice Gamins. Pool of 7

 

Deployment: Corner

 

Terrain: There is a mountain on one border of the map straddling what would be the center line in a standard deployment, with a building with ample door way and window space on all four sides on the opposite end. In the middle of the board, 4" from the center, is a hazardous swamp, on the other side of the middle, also 4", a mining ramp leading into a dump zone that's Ht 2. The mountain and large building are Ht 4.

 

Towards the Rasputina corner were a small mountain at Ht 2 and a forest of Ht 2 on the other corner from her.

 

Towards Seamus is a small building of Ht 2 with ample openings to see into/out of. On the other side is a hedge, going roughly 10" and Ht 1.

 

Selected Schemes:

 

Seamus Cursed Object & Breakthrough (revealed)

 

Rasputina A Line in the Sand (revealed) & Breakthrough (revealed)

 

Deployment:

 

Seamus wins deployment, choosing Rasputina to deploy first.

 

Rasputina deployed in the corner with the small mountain, placing her forces all at the edge of her 12" zone with Raspy in the front to maximize turret range.

 

Seamus deploys himself and CCK behind a Belle to block LoS against the mountain on the opposite corner. Sybelle, Yin, and the other Belle deploy behind the small building.

 

 

TURN 1:

 

Raspy stones for cards.

 

Raspy wins initiative and chooses for me to act first. I double walk Yin up  to the unoccupied corner away from Sybelle and the other Belle.

 

Ice Golem runs up, now threatening 32" of the board.

 

I move Sybelle towards the opposite unoccupied corner from Yin, calling the nearby Belle over.

 

One Ice Gamin double walks up.

 

I use the Belle near Seamus to double lure the Golem, who is now out of range for Raspy.

 

Raspy triple walks towards the same corner as Yin, getting in position to shoot at everyone turn 2 while minimizing exposure to lures and my ranged attacks.

 

I activate Seamus, back alley next to the outside of small building, shoot with the .50, get weak damage for 2 after armor, and fire off live for pain for 1 damage after armor.

 

A second Ice Gamin double walks up towards the corner where Sybelle and the Belle are.

 

CCK teleports to Seamus, focuses, and fires at the Goldem, dealing severe for 3, leaving Golem with 4 life.

 

The Wendigo double walks up. towards the Ice Golem.

 

The Belle near Sybelle activates and double lures Wendigo in, getting 1 pounce for 3 damage.

 

The last Ice Gamin double walks up.

 

Score 0:0

 

TURN 2:

 

Raspy stones for cards.

 

Raspy wins initiative and has the Ice Golem move and plant a scheme marker.

 

I have CCK teleport to Seamus, focus, and hit the Ice Golem for severe, killing him. The blow back puts CCk out of Raspy's range even with Ice Gamins for LoS and cast.

 

The Wendigo activates to hit the Belle for 2 damage--one attack misses and the other hits for weak damage.

 

I activate Seamus, who moves, summons a Dead Doxy with my last soul stone, and then shoots at an Ice Gamin with .50, missing as I have terrible cards in my hand. I shoot again with Live for Pain, missing again.

 

An Ice Gamin walks up and plants a scheme marker for Line in the Sand.

 

Sybelle activates, beating on Wendigo to death, triggering the instant kill trigger, causing Raspy to discard two soul stones.

 

The Belle near Sybelle companions and moves away from Sybelle to avoid blast from Raspy, using the second AP to lure already activated gamin over to b2b with the aforementioned hedge.

 

I activate my other Belle and attempt to lure a not yet activated Ice Gamin, failing both times.

 

Raspy activates, shooting Sybelle for weak and triggering to draw a card. Her second Shot hits for moderate, also drawing a card, which I soul stone into a red joker to prevent all the damage. Raspy's third shot hits with the red joker, hitting Sybelle for 9, which I reduce by 3 with soulstone, putting her at 1 Wd left. Raspy triggers to shoot again, which misses this time.

 

The not yet activated, unmolested Ice Gamin moves and plants a scheme marker for Line in the Sand.

 

The last Ice Gamin walks towards the corner he's been running to to plant a fourth scheme marker.

 

I double walk Yin towards Rasputina, putting myself in charge range for next turn.

 

Raspy has no more activations, and I use the Doxy to push Sybelle to relative safety--she's now out of 12" from the closest Ice Gamin and Rasputina is more than 12" away. Doxy's one action is to walk into engagement with the closest Gamin, who I failed to lure.

 

Score: 1:0, +1 Seamus Reckoning

 

TURN 3:

 

Raspy stones for cards.

 

I win initiative, and I activate the belle closest to Sybelle, I lure the Ice Gamin, who I pounce on, missing. The Belle then gives the Ice Gamin a Cursed Object, revealing my second scheme.

 

Raspy activates the Ice Gamin not engaged with anyone, moving and planting a scheme marker.

 

I charge Raspy with Yin, dealing 2 damage between two attacks, triggering the slow trigger.

 

Raspy activates, giving herself and the Ice Gamin engaged with the Doxy Armor +2. She uses her 0 action to hit Yin for 2. She takes 2 damage from Unnerving Aura, putting her at 7 Wds remaining.

 

I activate the Doxy, pushing towards and pushing in the non-engaged Ice Gamin to me. I walk the Doxy to engage the Ice Gamin while staying within engagement of the already engaged Ice Gamin, handing out my second Cursed Object.

 

The Ice Gamin engaged with the Belle attacks it twice, dealing 2 wounds to the Belle between them.

 

I active Sybelle and walk her up, call the Belle that was previously nearest to Seamus, and then walker her again.

 

The last Ice Gamin attempts to hit the Doxy, dealing 2 damage between two attacks.

 

I activate the Belle that was just called over, and double lure the Ice Gamin that just attacked the Belle. The Ice Gamin moves and is now engaged with Sybelle.

 

Since Raspy has no more models, I activate Seamus, who walks to the Ice Gamin, gives it a cursed object, and then uses Red Chapel Killer to discard the Wendigo's corpse and teleport  near the large building after triggering with a tome.

 

CCK double walks and cannot teleport for lack of range to Seamus.

 

Score 2:0 +1 Seamus for Cursed Object--NOTE: When we read Cursed Object, we weren't sure I could remove all of them to get +3 VP in one turn. We went conservative and said I could only remove one at a time.

 

TURN 4:

 

Raspy stones for cards, leaving her with 1 stone.

 

Raspy wins initiative, and activates Raspy. She spends two AP trying to walk away from Yin, failing and taking 4 from Yin's damaging disengaging strikes. Raspy spends her last AP giving herself +2 Armor, using her 0 to attempt to 1k Cut Yin, missing the first attempt by flipping a BJ. Unnerving deals 1 damage after armor, putting Raspy at 2 Wds remaining.

 

I activate Seamus, who plants a scheme marker and walks away to plant a second scheme marker for Breakthrough.

 

We call the game here because it's pretty much clean up for me from here on.

 

END THOUGHTS:

 

At the end point of the game, it's pretty clear that Yin will  kill Raspy or keep her from killing anyone else. The Gamins are all engaged and are basically screwed for removing the Cursed Objects even assuming they kill Sybelle, Belle, and Doxy--I have an extra Belle in case all three of those models die to hand out the object again, and Seamus could always come back to give out more Cursed Objects.

 

I would've scored 3 for Breakthrough, as it was revealed, and Cursed Object was looking to score 3 pretty easily.

 

Raspy would have gotten 3 points for Line in the Sand, as I would be concentrating on Cursed Object rather than remove scheme markers--the two Ice Gamins engaged with the Doxy made it difficult at best to get the Doxy, my model closest to any scheme markers, disengaged to walk and remove any of them.

 

Raspy would not have likely gotten anything for Breakthrough, for the same reason the Cursed Objects wouldn't get removed.

 

I think my crew choices here were pretty solid, along with upgrades. I took the hat because I knew that after killing the Ice Golem, I'd want to throw Seamus at the enemy to draw fire and let my team more easily throw out Cursed Objects with lures and heals on Seamus. It was a security measure I didn't need, but was good to have.

 

Red Chapel Killer let me start getting points for Breakthrough a turn early--but for the teleport near Raspy's deployment zone I would have only dropped two scheme markers by the end of Turn 5, which while it would score me 3 VP because it was revealed, I would have been unable to use Seamus for Turns 4 and 5 vs. just Turn 4.

 

I was lucky, because my hands had roughly 2-3 cards each hand that were 10+, so I was able to cheat appropriately when I really needed the damage, hit, and the one summon for the Doxy.

 

I think what I could have done better was my deployment. I deployed a little more into my zone than I probably should have for fear of Raspy turreting me down with the Ice Golem. I was particularly concerned my Belle near Seamus would die, and even though she failed to lure enemies a whole lot other than the Ice Golem, I didn't want to lose my 18" enemy pull machine for Cursed object. But, I still think it was an ok decision as I was never put into too great of threat from Raspy blast.

 

My opponent was trying to rush out the Ice Gamins and Ice Golem to throw down markers and get to me in order to start paralyzing all my people. I had told him that would work pretty well against me if he could pull it off, because with only 35SS, I didn't want to spend 6/7 SS on a Chiaki for the possibility of paralyze. Plus Chiaki would likely have been blown up by Raspy in the turns before Yin engaged her.

 

I think what he could have done better was spread the Ice Gamins out more. We were essentially converging our forces into one corner, and my summon and early kill on the Ice Golem allowed me to manipulate the battle positions more easily once I got out a Doxy. 

 

The MVP of this game was either Yin or CCK. Yin's engagement with Raspy ensured that for most of the normal game, Raspy would not be able to blast all my people, leaving the fairly weak Ice Gamins to deal with hard to kill Belles and Sybelle. CCK essentially killed the Ice Golem by dealing the most damage, and was insurance for Reckoning in case my models started dying.

 

I gave up getting a lot of points for Reckoning each turn because in a 35SS game there aren't enough models I can use to both kill and interact on. I decided to focus more on scheme running because I knew that once I killed the Ice Golem, I'd move Seamus into Raspy's deployment and run away with dropping markers and handing out objects before he died. I figured that if my interact actions were failing because my opponent was attempting to remove them after disengaging, I'd have plenty of breathing room to just re-engage and hand out more objects. I also figured that getting points on Cursed Object would be pretty hard considering I could only remove one a turn to get my VP. With that, I didn't focus too much on Reckoning and tried to deny my opponent Breakthrough completely while essentially fighting over Cursed Object.

 

As always, comments, tips, and criticisms welcome.

[bertmac]

One thing for your opponent when sybelle hit the wendigo, he only needs to discard two cards or soulstones to not die, as he had already taken 3 wounds i think keeping it alive was a mistake.

[benjoewoo]

Probably. He started the game with 7, and Rasputina wasn't using stones really. If he didn't use the stones, Sybelle would have had an extra action. I'm not sure if that was the correct move, but I know if I had an extra action Sybelle would have had hard cover against Raspy's quad blast.

[Argentbadger]

I really like the style of these battle reports.  You're adding some great thoughts about why you're doing things from your side so I don't have too much to add there.  If I'm being greedy, photos make it much easier to understand the board state each round.

 

Your friend could probably make better use of the Ice Golem.  It's a handy utility piece throwing the Ice Gamin around, and a fantastic damage soak.  Notably in the second turn of your most recent game, the only use out of it seems to have been a dropping a scheme marker.  I can understand if you are focussing Seamus and the Copycat Killer to drop the big chap early with their fantastic weak damage, but in that case your friend needs to position to take advantage of the positioning to either score while your master is busy or kill him off in return.

[benjoewoo]

Thanks! That's something he's been working on because I tend to pick off an "important" unit turn 1 in our games--I'll lure out my target of choices between wendigo and ice golem and kill it. I think he's avoided throwing his own pieces because he doesn't wan't to lose them right away. Against Raspy I don't move my pieces in a clump, so the toss would likely only hit 1-2 models, and would die in short order, providing me a corpse counter for a new belle. 

 

The heart of the recent Raspy battles is that I have non-starter crew models, which is a huge boon for me and detriment to him, as his only expansion models are December Acolytes, which he just got. He doesn't have a real beater other than the golem, who spends most of his time being lured around  so that I can pick at him from range.

 

A new report will be following soon.

[benjoewoo]

Seamus vs. Ramos, 50SS

 

Deployment: Standard

 

Strategy: Squatter's Rights

 

Schemes: ALITS, Assassinate Breakthrough, Murder Protege, Plant Explosives

 

Map: The ancient temple grounds have scattered statues of the Three Kingdoms religions, all spaced approximately equidistantly to allow persons to walk by and pray to the various deities in the garden. Some trees provide shade to visitors, and a marvelous arch stands in the center of this garden.

 

Crews:

 

Seamus w/ Red Chapel Killer and Sinister Reputation, Sybelle with Not Too Banged Up, Yin with Unnerving Aura, Jakuuna Umube with Unnerving Aura, CCK, 2x Rotten Belles, 1x Nurse, and 1x Necropunk

 

Ramos (don't remember upgrades), Joss (don't remember his upgrade), Howard Langstrom (I don't think he had an upgrade), Brass Arachnid, 1x Arachnid Swarm, 2x Steam Arachnids.

 

Selected Schemes:

 

Seamus Breakthrough (revealed), Murder Protege (revealed)

 

Ramos ALITS (revealed), Plant Explosives (not reveald)

 

 

 

Narrative:

 

Ramos was searching the temple area for a new route for his illicit trades. The sewers were mostly adequate, but the dangers in the tunnels, in addition to the aging structures themselves, meant they would not suffice forever, if the next several years. The temple was out of the way, and now long abandoned after the Ten Thunders, who had build the temple as a stronghold of their own, found that the temple had been built over several mass graves, filled with Neverborn and Earth people alike.

 

As his arachnids surveyed the land, Ramos sensed something was amiss, and just managed to avoid the incoming shot from Seamus.

 

A voice came through the night, saying "this temple suits me just nicely, and you're trespassing with your puppets. Tell me, does your boyo want to keep his other arm?" 

 

Ramos looked to Joss, who was starting up the engines in his arm, a hiss of steam and shine of electric flow showing he was ready to make Seamus eat his words.

 

"I have no need for conflict, Seamus! We can discuss an...arrangement," asked Ramos. Of course, no arrangement would ever be reached, he knew, but it was worth keeping up appearances as a reasonable, civilized person.

 

The sound of a flintlock pistol firing rang through to answer.

 

 

 

DEPLOYMENT LAYOUT:

 

I had won initiative, having my Ramos opponent deploy first. He placed the majority of his units near Ramos in a line at the edge of his deployment, including the Brass Arachnid (BA). The Steam Arachnids (SA) and Swarm were deployed towards the other side of the deployment zone.

 

I deployed mostly in a group, with belles having range and line of side over 3 of the squat markers. Sybelle stood off to the side near one of the belles to provide maximum coverage for Not Too Banged Up. Yin and Jakuuna stood near Sybelle, and Seamus and CCK stood behind Yin and Jakuuna. My necropunk was deployed to the opposite end of my deployment zone, as I had plans to keep him out of sight and out of mind.

 

 

 

TURN 1:

 

Ramos Wins initiative, and has me go first. I activate Necropunk, and between leap and double walk, have him in b2b with a squat marker. 

 

Ramos double walks Joss straight towards the center line.

 

I double lure Joss with a Belle. 

 

Ramos activates an SA and double walks up.

 

I double lure Joss with my other Belle.

 

Ramos activates an SA and double walks up.

 

I activate Seamus, who through a small sliver of a gap between Yin and a statute, has LoS on Joss. Saeamus focuses and fires at Joss. The shot hits for severe damage, reduced to 6 after armor. Joss stones and reduces the damage by another 2.

 

Ramos activates the Swarm and moves them up.

 

I activate Jakuuna and walk her up to Joss, putting her within 3" for engagement & auras and out of Joss' reach.

 

Ramos activates and moves behind a statute, unable to get to Joss to provide help, choosing to keep out of LoS of my Belles.

 

I activate Yin and charge Joss--I can't choose to shoot with CCK before doing this as Yin blocked CCK's line of sight to Joss--landing 5 damage between two attacks, reduced to 2 total after armor. Joss is poisoned for 2.

 

Ramos moves the BA to back up Ramos.

 

I activate Sybelle who walks up and melees Joss--I can't charge due to a bit of terrain blocking me. I miss my attack.

 

Ramos moves Howard up.

 

I activate my nurse, who walks around the fight to be behind a statue and have the ability to support the Necropunk if need be and the fight with Joss.

 

Ramos has no further activations, and I double walk CCK towards the SAs and Swarm, knowing they can't attack CCK next turn.

 

Joss takes a poison damage.

 

Score 0:0.

 

TURN 2:

 

Ramos wins initiative, moving an SA up and dropping a scheme marker for ALITS.

 

I activate the Necropunk, claiming a squat marker, leaping to the other one, and claiming it.

 

Ramos activates another SA and charges the Necropunk, killing the Necropunk and itself between the two attacks and a triggered self-destruct.

 

I activate a belle and double lure the Swarm, failing once and succeeding on another. 

 

Ramos activates Howard and claims a squat marker. 

 

I activate the other belle and double lure the Swarm over. 

 

Joss activates, soul stoning the hazardous damage to reduce it from a moderate 2 to 1. He attempts to swing at Sybelle with a flurry, hitting for 6 total damage between missing an attack and my soul stoning to reduce two damage. He dies to the two unnerving auras hitting him.

 

I activate Sybelle and walk over to the Swarm, shrieking at it for 2 after armor. Sybelle fails to call a Belle over.

 

The Swarm activates and charges Sybelle, missing both attacks.

 

I activate Seamus, who walks towards towards the Necropunk corpse, focus fires at the remaining SA, killing it. Seamus summons a Dead Doxy.

 

Ramos activates the BA, giving Howard re-activate and moving in front of the statue hiding Ramos.

 

I active Jakuuna and move her towards the middle squat marker under the arch.

 

Ramos activates, claims a marker and walks towards the fight with the Swarm.

 

I activate Yin, who flights over to the last of two unclaimed squat markers.

 

Ramos activates Howard, who moves towards the center line and drops a scheme marker for ALITS.

 

I activate Doxy and attempt to push the Swarm into Jakuuna, failing even with a focus.

 

CCK double walks past the Doxy.

 

I think my nurse gave Seamus +2 Wk with take your meds, and wasn't in the action.

 

Score: 1:1 +1 Seamus Squatter's Rights, +1 Ramos Squatter's Rights

 

TURN 3:

 

Ramos wins initiative, and activates Ramos first, summoning three SAs from Joss' scrap marker by cheating a Red Joker and stoning for the last book. He moves and defensive stances.

 

I activate the Doxy, pushing Seamus up and double walking towards Ramos' deployment zone.

 

Ramos activates an SA, moving it so that it's between and within 2" of both Sybelle and a belle.

 

I activate Sybelle, swinging at the Swarm, hitting it for 4 damage between two attacks after armor.

 

Ramos activates another SA, moving it next to my other Belle, such that both belles would get hit if Ramos exploded the SAs but they wouldn't hit each other.

 

I activate a Bell, pulling the third SA closer so it'd get caught in the blast. A pounce lands 1 damage after armor. The belle attempts to undress for Ramos, failing.

 

Ramos activates the last SA, hitting a Belle for I think 2 damage.

 

I activate Jakuuna, who claims the center squat marker.

 

Ramos activates the BA and runs it towards the fight, dropping a scheme marker near me.

 

I activate Yin claiming the squat marker that was previously claimed by Ramos. 

 

Ramos activates and blows up two arachnids near by belles, dealing 4 damage to each of them as they can't pass the Df duel. They're at 6 and 4 wounds. He then walks and drops a scheme marker near them. He summons a new SA, which keeps the belles engaged.

 

I activate Seamus, walking to drop a marker and walking to get into position to kill the BA next turn.

 

Ramos activates Howard, who moves towards Ramos to provide back up.

 

I activate CCK, tp to Seamus and walk to provide cover for Seamus next turn.

 

I activate my last belle and am able to lure the swarm over twice, so it'll take damage from any more blast shenanigans next turn.

 

The last SA just passes.

 

My nurse passes essentially because the cards in my hand are terrible.

 

Ramos reveals Plant Explosives, getting 3 points between my two Belles and another model.

 

Score: 2:4. +1 Seamus Squatter's Rights, +3 Ramos Plant Explosives

 

TURN 4:

 

Ramos wins initiative, and activates the SA near the two belles and attacks, putting one Belle at 1 wound remaining and the other at 2 wounds remaining.

 

I activate Yin and charge Ramos, poisoning him for 1, dealing 2 damage to him, and giving him Slow.

 

Ramos activates and blows up his last SA, which kills 1 Belle but not the other, who passes the Df test. He then summons one new SA.

 

I activate Sybelle and melee the Swarm, putting the Swarm at 3 wounds remaining.

 

Ramos activates the Swarm, which finishes off my other Belle and misses Sybelle.

 

I activate Jakuuna and move her towards Ramos.

 

Ramos activates the BA and runs him towards Ramos.

 

I activate Seamus, drop a second marker and back alley to the arch way.

 

Ramos activates Howard and moves him towards Ramos.

 

I activate the Doxy, who pushes towards CCK and shoves CCK towards Seamus. Doxy drops a third scheme marker and walks towards the fight.

 

My nurse passes again essentially, see above for reason .

 

Score: 3:4 +1 Seamus Squatter's Rights

 

TURN 5:

 

Ramos wins initiative (yes, every turn) and activates a swarm to attempt to beat up Sybelle, missing its attack after walking up to Sybelle.

 

I activate Seamus, who focus fires at the BA, dealing 3 damage after armor. Seamus walks towards Ramos.

 

Ramos activates, blowing up the SA near Sybelle, summoning another one, and escaping Yin's disengaging strike. Sybelle survives with 1 wd remaining through my last soul stone prevention flip.

 

I activate Sybelle and smack on the Swarm, putting it at 1 Wd remaining. 

 

Ramos activates the Swarm and attacks Sybelle, missing both attacks.

 

I activate Jakuuna and just walk her to be in range of both Ramos and the Swarm in case of a Turn 6.

 

Howard moves so that he's using Ramos as a buffer between himself and the rest of my crew.

 

I activate CCK and tp him to Seamus, focus firing at the BA and missing.

 

The BA runs towards Ramos.

 

I activate the Doxy and double walk her towards the fight.

 

Ramos activates and blows up his last SA, killing Sybelle. I think he summoned another SA and defensive stanced.

 

I moved YIn to put the new SA and Ramos within Unnerving Aura and engaged with her.

 

The SA walks towards Yin, taking 1 damage from Unnerving.

 

I walk Jakuuna up to the fight to put pretty much everyone in range of her auras.

 

The Swarm moves towards Jakuuna but stays out of range of her auras.

 

I move Nurse towards the back of Yin and Jakuuna so she can medicate people as needed next turn.

 

I flip for a Turn 6, and there is no turn 6.

 

Score 7:5 +4 Seamus Squatter's Rights and Breakthrough, +1 Ramos ALITS

[Erorior]

You did well in keeping up with all the spider who tend to swarm the board when Ramos is around!

 

Also, it's nice that you write each move on a new row since that makes it easier to follow what's going on!

 

Poor Joss! He can usually be quite resilient, but those double auras does a good job in bypassing his Hard to Kill.

If you want to give your opponent some advice, it would be to only hire one Steam Arachnid in the beginning and then kill it with Joss to give double scrap markers and a potential of 6 arachnids! Give someone the upgrade Bleeding Edge Tech and then all arachnids within the aura will regenerate in no time. Repeat if there are no scrap markers around. (When your opponent increases his/her model collection ofcourse!  )

 

Also, he shouldn't have had to stone for a Tome during turn 3 if he used the red joker. It counts as any suite of the player's choice, and therefore it would count as the needed tome.

[Adran]

 

Also, he shouldn't have had to stone for a Tome during turn 3 if he used the red joker. It counts as any suite of the player's choice, and therefore it would count as the needed tome.

 

Yes he does, because to get 3 spiders you need 3 tomes, so one from his Ca, 1 from the red Jpoker, and 1 from the stone he spent.

 

Cheers for the report. Sounds liek a good game. I guess the Ramos play is fairly new, as it looke like a lot of his potential tricks weren't used.

Normally there is a lot more that a reactivating Howard can do rather than just drop a line in the sand marker. And lettign you score 4 for Squatters, whilt he only scored 1.

 

In addition to the suggested scrap generation, I'd generally suggest holding off activating modls liek Joss and Howard till after soem of the belles have been to try and reduce the effect Lure can have on a model. (Alternatively, give one of them re-activate, and push it forwards, nd then if it gets lured, it can still activate if it is lured)

[Erorior]

Yes he does, because to get 3 spiders you need 3 tomes, so one from his Ca, 1 from the red Jpoker, and 1 from the stone he spent.

 

Ah, I see! Sorry, my bad! Carry on!

[benjoewoo]

He could have used the re-activate a little more aggressively, particularly so Howard could have gone and killed some stuff or done more during the game. 

 

I think he re-activated Howard once, because Howarded and the BA ended up separating fairly quickly.

 

I took board position pretty quickly, essentially taking over half of the map by the end of turn 2 and leaving a decent force to contest a third quarter, which meant I would always be fighting to prevent Ramos from contesting the Strategy. The denial very much won me the game, because I got 0 for Murder Protege. 

[benjoewoo]

Now, I'm typing this one up as I wait in line to get amiibo, and my phone screen is significantly smaller than my laptop one, but here goes. Go through and edit for errors and standard holding when I can reach a computer.

Seamus vs. Rasputina, 40SS

DEPLOYMENT: Standard

STRATEGY: Squatter's Rights

SCHEMES: ALITS, Breakthrough, Bodyguard, Cursed Object, and Spring the Trap

CREWS:

Seamus with Bag O' Tools, RCK, and Mad Haberdasher, CCK, Datsue-ba, Shikome, Necropunk, 2x Rotten Belle, pool 3.

Raspy with the one you discard for plus Df, the LoS one, and another I forget, Ice Golem with the one that ends activations in melee, Silent One, December Acolyte, 2x Ice Gamin, pool 6.

SELECTED SCHEMES

Seamus Breakthrough (revealed), Cursed Object (unrevealed)

Rasputina ALITS (revealed), Breakthrough (unrevealed)

MAP LAYOUT:

On both deployment sides there is a fairly long piece of soft cover with an opposing side of hard cover broken buildings with corners blocking Los effectively.

On opposite sides of the center line, there is a building with high roof, and on the opposite side an ice mountain with a sheer wall on one side and thing passage for only people of 30mm size. Two of the squatter markers are placed on the small ice mountain path and on the large building roof. The large building has essentially a tunnel going through as there are two large openings facing each other from deployment to deployment zone.

In the center of be map there is a small building and ice block equidistant from he center of the map, providing hardcover and supporting a bridge that extends over the center point of the map at Ht 2. Between the ice mountain and ice block, which are on the same side of the center line, there is a hazardous area in the pass. One of the closer to center markers is in the middle of this hazardous area. The corresponding marker on the other side sits on top of the roof of the small ice building. There is a small passage between the large and small buildings.

The center marker is under the bridge.

DEPLOYED CREWS:

My opponent wins deployment flip and chooses me to deploy first. I deploy Seamus in a building so that LoS is blocked barring the acolyte delays from shadows on top of the large building or he top of the ice mountain. CCK and a belle are deployed facing the ice mountain near the small trail, though that trail is Ht 2, requiring climbing to get to. Shikome, Datsue-ba, and the other Belle are deployed in the order from left to right to the left of the building Seamus is in. I have LoS across almost the entire map as a result.

Raspy deploys herself, the ice golem, two gamins, and silent one all near the soft cover, with Raspy on top of the soft cover with LoS of most of the map and the rest deployed basically in front of her. December Acolyte (DA) deploys from the shadows at the edge of the tall buding near the scheme marker on top of the building.

NARRATIVE:

Seamus was enjoying his vacation in...where was it? Land of Ice? Aryndelle? He couldn't remember what he marked this area of the Quarantine Zone as, but it was a nice place to visit when the Guild was looking just a little too closely in the not so freezing parts for him and his associates.

The wind picked up, and shape began forming in the snow, turning from soft white snow into deep hues of blue ice.

Seamus recognized these figures--he had fought an ice witch before.

"Leave here! I am taking this place for my order," came the chilly voice of Rasputina, just the ice witch Seamus expected.

The ice figures were normal fare, but Seamus spied a masked woman in the group, and a shadow of white was dancing just within his peripheral vision.

"So you say, poppet, but you're not the only one who's learned something about winter murder."

TURN 1

Raspy wins initiative and has me go first, not seeing the belle with Datsue-ba has LoS and is in range for luring the DA. I am unsure why my opponent deployed there as he had considered deploying out of LoS on the large building roof--I think he intended to activate Raspy early and turret from there. He may also not have seen the belle I deployed with Datsue-ba.

Unfortunately I start with that belle and double lure successfully with double crow triggers on both casts. DA falls and takes 4 damage, putting him to half wounds.

The DA walks forward and shoots at Datsue-ba, missing.

Datsue-ba activates and charges. The first attack misses and I soul stone the second, planning to go for a weigh sins follow up to summon a gaki, only to get snuffed by a red joker flip. I 0 walk Shikome into charge range against DA.

Raspy runs he ice golem towards the marker in the hazardous terrain.

I attempt to 0 with Shikome to give him adversary. I succeed and charge, killing the DA between the two improved attacks.

The silent one runs up the center.

I activate necropunk, having him double walk plus leap onto the large building's roof, putting him in b2b with the squat marker there for next turn.

An ice gamin walks forward. It shoots at Datsue-ba and hits for 2 despite incorporeal.

I activate Seamus, back alley to the ice mountain behind a block of hard cover on the mountain, and focus shoot the Silent One. I get weak, and Silent One triggers Statue with two wounds remaining.

Raspy attempts to shoot Seamus, and focuses the first December's curse to counteract the hard cover I have, hitting for 2 damage. She triggers to draw a card. She shoots again with negative flip and misses the TN despite my flipping lower. She can't cheat, and misses.

I activate my other belle, walk up to maintain hard cover from Raspy turret choices, and lure the ice golem into the hazardous terrain, which deals 1 damage.

The last ice takin double walks the same direction as the other gaming and the Silent One.

I activate CCK, teleport to Seamus, focus, and fire at the ice golem, hitting for 5 after armor on a negative flip . CCK blowback pushes him off the ledge, but it's Ht 2 so he doesn't take damage.

Score 0:0

TURN 2

Raspy wins initiative, and activates Silent One, focuses, and shoots as Seamus, getting a BJ on the damage but throwing up an ice pillar because she succeeded in casting and declaring the trigger. Silent One heals for 2 with her 0.

I activate Datsue-ba and walk up to a wall of the second building and summon a seishin between the two ice gamin to tie them up. She then shoots at the ice golem--should have done it at a gamin to help the seishin do something to the gamin since it's a cast with no pistol--dealing 1 damage and giving him adversary.

The ice golem activates, taking 1 from the terrain, and dropped a scheme marker before moving back to have turret options against my spirits on the other side and Seamus.

I activate CCK, teleport to Seamus, walk up the small path on the ice mountain, and shoot Raspy, dealing 2 because she soul stones a severe prevention from moderate damage. CCK blowback again does no damage.

Raspy activates. She focus and shoots at Datsue-ba, hitting for severe and double blast, which reaches shikome for 4 damages, putting her at half. The triggered second shot fizzles. Raspy moves forwards little, putting her out of LoS with Seamus.

I activate a belle and lure the ice golem and Raspy. Raspy falls off the soft cover but it's Ht 1 so no damage. Ice golem runs back into hazardous terrain but doesn't take damage again.

An ice gamin activates to kill the seishin with two attacks.

I activate Seamus, shoot and kill Silent One. I then walk and claim the squat marker on the small path on the ice mountain.

The second ice gamin walks over to get in position to climb the small building for the squat marker.

I activate Shimome and walk to engage the gamin around a corner of the small building and maintain hard cover from Raspy turret. I hand the gamin a cursed object, revealing my second scheme.

Raspy is out of activations. I use my remaining belle to lure Raspy, moving her up again, and lure he not engaged gamin.

Necropunk claims his squat marker, 0 leaps off the building for now damage and walks into the large building so no one has LoS.

Score 2:0 +2 Seamus squatter's rights and cursed object.

TURN 3

Raspy wins initiative and I stone for cards. Raspy activates the golem, taking 2 from hazardous after armor and claiming the squat marker I lured him on top of, using his remaining AP to walk back to be in maximum turret position.

I activate Shikome and hand the same gamin a cursed object, using my 0 and fail to give adversary against a Red Joker flip, and snake the Gamin for 2 after armor.

The gamin with the object activates and discards a card to improve damage. He kills shikome with two attacks but now cannot take the interact to get rid of the cursed object.

I activate a belle and lure the ice golem back over along with Raspy, moving her up a bit.

The other gamin walks back to the center line and drops a scheme marker.

I activate Seamus and teleport with a book trigger to be next to the small building where Datsue-ba died. A focus shot kills the gamin with severe damage. I summon a new belle with high crow in hand and walk Seamus to the other side of the small building out of LoS from the gamin.

I did not account for ice golem turreting however. He is Ht 3 and the ice block and building are Ht 2, and he was just able to see Seamus, albeit I had hardcover. Focus cast into trigger and third raw cast against hard cover puts Seamus at 3 wounds remaining.

Unfortunately I did not plan this super well and so CCK just double walked literally within 5" of Rasputina to put some threat there.

Necropunk leaps and walks before putting a scheme marker down.

The new belle walks to hide behind the ice block.

Score 4:0 +2 Seamus Squatter's Rights and Cursed Objec

TURN 4

Raspy wins initiative I stone for cards. Between her shooting at Seamus again I'm at 1 wound remaining with hat still on.

I activate Seamus and double walk to the same spot the shikome was and hand the gamin another cursed object, summoning a dead doxy now with high crow in hand.

The gamin attempts to kill Seamus but misses both attacks.

I activate a belle and undress for the golem, then moving towards the center of the map.

Golem walks and attempts to smack CCK but misses because both our hands are pretty awful and I flip better.

I have free reign and a belle removes the scheme marker that would have earned ALITS VP.

Necropunk drops a second marker and hops around.

We call the game because I'm looking at a 10 point game even if he tables me next turn, and he can't make up on the strategy deficit.

 

END THOUGHTS:

 

I was trying new stuff here in Datsue-ba and Shikome. For those following this thread or the Starting Seamus thread I post in, you already know I ask for a lot of advice in these two threads and seek out different things to try in my quest to get better with Seamus. A couple players have mentioned that Datsue-ba is a good henchman for Seamus and Fetid Strumpet brought up the merits of Shikome, so I had to test them out.

 

They worked out decently for me in this game, and further testing is needed to see if I can make them work. Datsue-ba was fairly lack luster this game--she basically contributed tying up a gamin for a turn and let Shikome get into position to kill the DA with a push. Not exactly a great return on my 8 SS investment and losing Not Too Banged Up/Bleeding Tongue, but the seishen summon was a big move and letting Shikome charge was amazing because I had great chances to get the DA kill as a result--I actually had my second charge attack fizzle because I killed the acolyte on the first hit. 

 

I can't complain too much because Datsue-ba drew fire away from my belles and Seamus, and Seamus as you can see did some work in getting me an early squat marker plus netting me the third point in cursed object, in addition to killing a model in 2 out of 4 turns, which allowed me to keep up in the attrition war and eventually win out in model activations by summoning two extra models.

 

I think my crew choices were ok--Shikome happened to work out really well because of the DA kill and ignoring terrain really helped in getting the first cursed object out there--I was able to fly over the chunk of the small building in one move and use my second action to take the interact. If I had a different model I probably could have done the same thing, but it would have been significantly less likely I would have gotten the DA kill turn 1. The Shikome pick just worked well and I was lucky with her, despite a calculated risk with Datsue-ba that just hosed her charge--I didn't cheat the first charge flip with Datsue-ba because I didn't SS for the suit to take Weigh Sins and my opponent cheated a card, so I figured my second hit would go through and I could more efficiently cheat then as my opponent would be down a high card. Of course, bad things happen and he flipped the Red Joker and stopped Datsue-ba from doing anything with her charge at all. 

 

Both belles carried their weight in consistently pulling ice golem so he couldn't be the effective Raspy turret my opponent needed him to be. My opponent found alternatives, and was still able to use ice golem against Seamus, but it greatly hampered him. Also constant hazardous terrain damage plus an actual shot at him put him very low--if a t6 occurred, my CCK would have had a good chance of killing the ice golem and denying the last of two turrets for Raspy.

 

I think my scheme choices were appropriate because I didn't want to play keep away with an enforcer or Datsue-ba--the latter is better in the fray I think and I didn't want to have a larger SS model that I couldn't put into fights. I thought about spring the trap, which was originally why I took the bag, and I hired with Bag figuring that I could pick spring or cursed object and combo with handing out cursed objects and rendering minions insignificant to deny removal. I never needed it, but it was good to have. RCK was a safety measure because I wanted to make sure I had a heavy hitter around to mitigate Raspy's trigger happy casts and live to tell about the fight. Never had an opportunity to use the 0 because it was always better to summon once I was able to get to the corpse markers. The haberdasher was insurance, and it wasn't needed in game really considering Seamus never SS to prevent and had 1 Wd, but a turn 6 would have likely seen the hat go out.

 

I think the map was fairly in my favor as well, given all of the available hard cover and my ability to deny my opponent hard cover with back alley/tp yet keep it for myself. 

 

As always, comments and criticisms welcome.

[benjoewoo]

Seamus vs Lilith 40SS

 

STRATEGY & SCHEMES

 

Reconnoiter & ALITS, Distract, Breakthrough, Bodyguard, Deliver the Message

 

CREWS

 

Seamus w/ Sinister Reputation, RCK, Mad Haberdasher, Sybelle w/ Not Too Banged Up, Yin w/ Unnerving Aura, CCK, 2x Rotten Belles, Nurse, pool of 3

 

Lilith w/ Living Blide and two other upgrades, Barbaros w/ an upgrade, 3x Terror Tots, Cherub, and a Waldgeist pool of 6/7

 

SELECTED SCHEMES

 

Seamus Bodyguard (unrevealed), Breakthrough (revealed)

 

Lilith ALITS (revealed), Deliver the Message (revealed)

 

MAP LAYOUT--CORNER DEPLOYMENT

 

There's a large building in the center with 3 stories, but it's open on half of it so the floors only exist for roughly one corner, such that to 2 of the corners, there are no walls, and for the sides with walls, there are windows granting LoS to some of the outside.

 

There are various small mountains, and a hazardous swamp outside of the building in the center on one of the walled sides.

 

There are random Soul Stone pillars coming out of the ground.

 

DEPLOYMENT

 

Lilith wins deployment, choosing to have me deploy first. I deploy my crew as far forward as possible from a corner facing the building so that there are walls facing me and I am closer to the hazardous swamp. I place Seamus in the back row, so that LoS to Seamus is blocked by a combination of Yin, Sybelle, the two belles, and the nurse. CCK stands next to Seamus, also obscured.

 

Lilith deploys on the opposite corner, with everyone deployed as far forward as possible. Lilith and Barbaros are in the farthest points, with the Cherub flanking Lilith and the tots off to the sides, ready to sprint to different corners.

 

NARRATIVE

 

Seamus was tired. He had recently fought a variety of people in his search for a new secret base, and was disappointed that all the prime real estate was being snatched up. He had prevailed in his encounters, scaring them off, but of course remaining in those locations to wait for further visits from unwanted guests meant he had to leave anyway.

 

This new area had a building that required some tender loving care, but the real draw was the raw Soul Stone spikes laying about, providing an ample supply of magic for his future research and experiments.

 

Yes, this was a good location. Now, just to look around and see what the neighborhood was like.

 

Cries ripped through the night air, and Seamus frowned. Those were the sounds of fledgling nephilim, and where the babies came, the "Mother of Malifaux" followed usually. Seamus loaded his flintlock; there would be blood tonight.

 

TURN 1

 

I win initiative, and choose to have Lilith go first.

 

Lilith springs a tot to the corner of the map that would be facing two walls of the building, failing both times to get a mask. The tot had dashed diagonally so as to be able to drop two 

 

I activate a belle nearby, and am fortunately in range for Lure. I double lure the tot that had double sprinted, and he goes into the hazardous terrain, flipping moderate and taking 2 damage.

 

Lilith sprints another tot to the opposite corner, failing both times to get additional walk actions. This tot took the same general line as the previous tot, sprinting towards the center line close to the outside of the building to get ready for dropping a scheme marker.

 

I activate my other belle, who lures the already lured tot to the edge of the hazardous swamp closest to me. I then lure the just activated tot, because he had also put himself in range. The tot ends up moving essentially to the center line as a result and is outside of the building.

 

The cherub double walks towards the center of the map in the building--he can just walk in next turn as the corner of the building he was going to was open, presenting easy access.

 

I activate nurse and double walk her towards the building so she's behind a wall with no windows, so that no enemy models can get LoS.

 

Lilith activates the last tot and sprints him to the center of the map, failing one sprint and cheating a mask for another. He is now in the building.

 

I activate Seamus and back alley, successfully teleporting to the building near a section of wall with a window looking in. I shoot the tot that's in the hazardous area, killing it, and summoning a Dead Doxy with a stone. I live for pain the tot, missing.

 

Barbaros activates and double walks into the building, dropping a scheme marker.

 

I activate Yin who double walks and is pressed against the wall of the building and LoS is mostly blocked because she's next to a solid wall.

 

Lilith activates and triple walks onto a small mountain towards the still alive tot that was lured by my second belle.

 

I activate the doxy, who 0s Seamus and pushes him back exactly 30mm, using her single ap to walk towards Sybelle.

 

Lillith double walks Waldgeist to the corner the first, now dead terror tot walked to.

 

I activate Sybelle and double walk towards the lured tot on Lilith's side, calling the closer belle over.

 

Lilith has no more models, and I activate CCK, tping to be between Seamus and the building. He can see through the window and double shoots at Barbaros inside, hitting it for 3 after armor between two shots.

 

Score 0:0

 

TURN 2

 

Lilith wins initiative, and moves the cherub up twice, getting to the center of the building.

 

CCK activates and double shoots the cherub, killing it on the second shot. CCK then teleports to the other side of Seamus, putting more than 2" between him and the window.

 

The tot inside the building moves up and drops a scheme marker. He attempts to sprint but fails, and is at the corner of the building opposite Barbaros.

 

I activate the belle further away from Sybelle and double lure the waldgeist, putting him just at the corner of the building, in LoS of Seamus and within Yin's charge range.

 

The waldgeist activates, moving and throwing up trees.

 

I activate Yin and charge the waldgeist, dealing 4 damage between two attacks.

 

Barbaros activates, and charges Yin, who is now visible through a window and within 2" of barbaros through it. He hits for a boat load, but I pass the TN duels to avoid being pushed into the hazardous swamp.

 

I activate Seamus and shoot through the window at the cherub, killing it. I walk to a walled section of the wall, and no one has LoS on Seamus because Yin blocks Waldgeist completely, and Barbaros can't see from his angle through the window. I attempt to Back Alley, and teleport towards the corner of the map the waldgeist is closest to. 

 

Lillith activates and walks to be close to the building, throwing up trees so the belle can no longer see the tot.

 

Sybelle activate sand double walks, calling the closest belle over so she can now see the tot. Sybelle and the belle now occupy a new quadrant.

 

The tot inside activates to drop a scheme marker, walks and attempts to get ready to put down another marker, failing. 

 

I activate my belle, luring the tot outside of the building over once and  failing the second time T___T.

 

I activate my nurse, who walks and then heals Yin to full, paralyzing her.

 

The dead doxy activates, shoving my belle furthest from Sybelle towards the edge of the map so her lures will force units to walk across hazardous terrain, and she double walks towards Sybelle, crossing into that quadrant.

 

Score 1:0 +1 Seamus for Reconnoiter--I score the strategy because I control my quadrant and have more units between Sybelle, doxy, and a belle than the tot in the same quadrant. Lilith, Barbaros, and the tot inside the building are all within 6" of the table center, so they don't count towards Reconnoiter, and Seamus' presence counteracted the Waldgeist.

 

TURN 3

 

Lilith wins intiative and activates Barbaros to attack Yin, dealing 4 damage after two attacks despite mass of viscera. The attempt to push Yin fails. Barbaros takes 1 damage from Unnerving Aura.

 

The belle that was previously lured activates and double lures the waldgeist, luring it into the hazardous terrain for severe damage, dealing 2 after armor. 

 

The waldgeist activates and attempts to do stuff to damage Yin, failing.

 

I activate Sybelle and double walk forward towards the tot outside of the building, calling a belle to be placed in b2b with the scheme marker previously dropped. 

 

I companion the belle, who removes the marker and undresses for Lilith, failing to impress.

 

Lilith activates and charges Sybelle, who is within 3" of a window and within Lilith's Living Blade range post charge. She destroys Sybelle between the two charge attacks and puts my belle at 5 Wds remaining. I stone with Sybelle so that Lilith has to use both charge attacks against her. Lilith 0s belle to be rooted.

 

CCK activates, and through a focused shot, kills the waldgeist through a red joker damage flip. CCK then teleports to Seamus.

 

The tot in the building sprints out of the building, dropping a new scheme marker outside of the building.

 

The nurse goes and re-paralyzes Yin in healing her to full.

 

The other tot charges my belle, missing an attack and getting the black joker on the other.

 

I activate my doxy, who shoves the engaged belle out of Lilith and the tots' engagement ranges, before double walking into the quadrant. The belle takes 3 damage, putting her at 2 Wds remaining.

 

I activate Seamus, who walks to the corpse marker the waldgeist leaves and RCK a back alley near the tot outside the building that did not charge the belle.

 

END THOUGHTS

 

We call it here because I had to go. I would score on the strategy again because doxy and belle were in the quadrant and outnumbered the tot--Lilith was still within 6" of the table center. I also still controlled the quadrant I deployed in, and Seamus was countering the other tot.

 

I was likely going to kill the tot, then RCK + back alley to Lilith's deployment zone and drop markers for breakthrough, which Lilith would be hard pressed to stop without giving up control of the fight near the building.

 

Yin was in a lot of danger, and I was concerned about her dying, but I always clutched crows in hand for nurse to keep her alive, and was planning on eventually moving the doxy over, to 0 yin away, which would let me score 3VP for bodyguard, as Barbaros was only within melee range due to a window.

 

My opponent was unlikely going to deliver a message to Seamus, as I was back alley-ing too far for him to be able to walk to me and deliver a message, including Lilith who I could always lure back away. 

 

Even with ALITs at full points, I was likely to maintain a lead because of scoring twice on the strategy when he didn't, plus scoring at least 2 on both of my schemes.

 

It was a great game, as I have never played a 1v1 against Lilith. She is a beast of a melee, and she was almost able to take out 2 units in one activation. Barbaros is also a beast, and would have killed Yin far earlier if I didn't have a nurse.

 

My MVPs were definitely CCK and the nurse. Nurse made sure I could score on bodyguard, and CCK killed everyone.

 

My memory of this game is slightly hazy because I played several games over the weekend. My opponent was a great sport, and I likely only won because he hadn't considered that he couldn't score with Reconnoiter with so many of his models inside the building.

 

I think my choice of which corner to deploy really gave me an advantage--it kept Lilith from easily reaching my team, and I was able to manipulate LoS so that Seamus could back alley once at a critical moment without RCK.

 

I'm unsure what models would have been better picks--every model carried its weight this match. Upgrade wise, I think I picked well, because I was concerned that Lilith was just going to attempt to kill Seamus early, so the Haberdasher plus Sinister would be there so I could heal back up through lures and Live for Pain.

 

My choice to force Lilith to do a second attack against Sybelle in a charge instead of letting it fizzle is questionable. I did it at the time figuring that it would draw out more cards and potentially draw out a BJ on the attack flip or damage flip, since the RJ was what put Sybelle at 1 in the first place, and I figured I wasn't likely to require stones for Seamus any time soon, and I only needed to prevent 1 damage to survive. Obviously Sybelle didn't survive the charge attack, so the BJ didn't flip, and my gambit just meant I spent a stone for nothing, as there weren't any other actions that mattered much if the BJ came up. I'm unsure if my thought process was sound, and would appreciate some comments/criticisms on this.

 

As always, comments and criticisms welcome. Please let me know especially if I could have played better and where I played incorrectly according to rules.