Bring Out Yer Dead!

[Lizzy Lovecraft]

     I've been losing a lot lately.  It's not completely my fault; I have one regular opponent, and he's definitely more of a critical thinker than I am (he's also a bastard Arcanist).  But I recognize that I sometimes don't think ahead enough, and need to focus.  I tend to get super excited when things go my way, and get sloppy; I also get disappointed when things go bad and can lose focus.

     The strategy I hate most is Reconnoiter.  I don't know why.  As  Rezer player, I can make the hordes for it, but I still find myself struggling.  So I sat down, sipped some scotch, and began thinking through google docs.  This is what I came up with.  Please, if you care enough, give me feed-back of what I might do to improve it, or things to adjust to make the game go more in my favor.  All the models are the ones I own (see signature), so I can't hire too differently,  Please don't troll with mean, snide responses, I'm just looking for helpful/positive feedback.  Thanks.

The Funeral March

50ss Crew

Reconnoiter Strategy

Spread of Decay Scheme

Breakthrough Scheme (Perhaps Bodyguard on M. Sybelle if available)

Nicodem -- 7ss

 +Maniacal Laugh - 1ss

 +Undertaker - 1ss

 +Shadow Embrace - 1ss

Vulture - 3ss

Canine Remains - 4ss

Canine Remains - 4ss

Madame Sybelle - 8ss

 +Not Too Banged Up - 1ss

Mortimer - 9ss

 +My Favorite Shovel - 2ss

 +Corpse Bloat - 2ss

Nurse - 5ss

Rotten Belle - 5ss

 

The idea is to begin first turn finding bones which Nicodem uses to summon more belles.  He then gives Sybelle fast.  The summoned belles all lure the opponent’s meat-heads towards the center of the board if they can.  Sybelle dashes up the closer side of the board, using call belle on the hired belle before she gets out of range.  The hired Belle then lures the nurse towards her and Sybelle, placing her in position to protect Sybelle, and/or screw up a dangerous opponent’s activation.  Any left-over corpse counters should be flown by the vulture to the next estimated stopping point.

 

Turn two see’s Mort and the canines attempting to offer cover for the “funeral procession”, and digging up corpse counters if they can.  Once all the corpse counters have been found, Nicodem gives Sybelle fast again and summons more belles.  If a canine has by chance gone down, he should re-summon one.  The two belles left behind continue to pull the opponent’s models towards one corner of the board.  Sybelle again runs up the flank, stopping long enough to call belle the hired belle again.  The hired belle then lures the Nurse so she can bodyguard Sybelle.  If the opponent is a real prick, this may have to go in reverse order, as the nurse might need to “combat-medic” the main procession before the belle pulls her away.  Again, vulture gets any corpse markers where they need to be, or Nicodem’s eyes and ears where he needs them to cast.  Freshly summoned belles will stay in their quadrant.

 

Turn three is mostly rinse, repeat; if Malifaux was fought in a vacuum!  By now, your opponent has caught on to your sneaky, underhanded rezer tricks, has probably made some solid engagement, whether with your first turn belle tar-pits, or is vulture hunting, and a model or two might be down.  Also by now, you have a good idea of what his/her schemes are.  While trying to stay the course as much as possible, now is the time to make critical adjustments for whatever is going wrong.  Just remember, you want to get your vulture back to eyes and ears range of Nico this turn.  That is the most important thing. 

 

On turn four, continue the “funeral march” of Nico, Sybelle, hired Belle, Nurse as best as possible.  As long as the battle hasn’t totally thrown the Black Joker at you, this should still be mostly possible.  Vulture should go before Nico so he can cast through eyes and ears, because now is the time to repair any damage your opponent might have caused for Reconnoiter and Spread of Decay.  Also, don’t be afraid to make mindless zombies if you notice your opponent is running schemes that need unengaged models.  They may not count for the strategy, but they still tar-pit Outflank and Protect Territory.  By the end of this turn, there should be 2 non-peon models on the three quadrants.  The belles in the opponent’s “non-quadrant” can start pulling enemies out of an adjacent quadrant to deny the points.  Depending on the 2^nd scheme selected, now is the time to start dropping scheme markers if you need to.

 

Turn five is the time to tie up loose ends, for both you and your opponent.  Nico and vulture should continue to refill any fallen ranks, while belles yank enemy models out of any VP gaining positions.  The nurse should either be patching wounds or immobilizing any enemy jerks that think they’re going to take a quadrant back.  She can also throw some speed on an ally that needs to get somewhere quick.

 

The flip is made, it’s below 11, and Nicodem cackles “Mwhaha!”

 

Obviously, in actual game play, none of this works out as planned… Bad Things Happen!
 

 

[nunorod]

Don't mean to be negative :/ but maybe you are thinking too much ahead?

I was thinking about the expression "A plan never survives contact with the enemy", like you said yourself. I still a noob player (in Malifaux) but I realized that one needs a general plan and stick to it only changing if things are really turned around, but it will rarely work as we think because we could loose a major piece earlier then we think etc, and adaptation is needed.

The important thing is staying one step ahead the opponent and not just react to what he does.

My 2 cents

Edited October 15, 2015 by nunorod

[doombladez]

Personally I am not too impressed with Madame Sybelle with Nico, she isn't better than Mortimer as his Henchman and I find taking two Henchmen to be too costly, especially since I always try to get a beatstick in my crew. Not to say she isn't good but she just isn't quite as great as Mortimer. For Reconnoiter Night Terrors are great, and zFiend recommend's summoning the Shikome for Reconnoiter. I also recommend the Nicodem Starting Guide and Tactics thread here if you haven't read it yet, it's great. I also agree with Nunorod that you might be getting a little ahead of yourself with your gameplan there, you want to stay flexible to ensure you can keep up with the demands of the game at hand. Having an idea of what you'll do if X happens, or if Y happens instead is great, and understanding how your crew works together is crucial, but not at the cost of being able to react to the reality of the game at hand. That's just about it off the top of my head, maybe zFiend himself can sneak away from his captivity for a bit and add some advice. One question though, who does your regular opponent usually play? Advice to beat Ramos is gonna be significantly different than how to beat Marcus for example. 

 

[MEGAHORSE]

Toshiro with Retconnier is fun. Have him and a Belle go up one side, Izamu, Nico, and Mortimer with the GY Spirit go up another. Then summon to a third, staying within the bubble. It's easy! Spiderbombs arent scary when you have positives to defense duels!

In addition, I find summoning beatsticks to be to be important, but also taking a tarpit/beatstick is just as important. You need to take the focus from your opponent off Nicodem and Mortimer so they can do their thing. As others have said, dont play your opponent's game (I do this too much with masters outside of Nico. It's a learning process). Nico is one of the easiest I find to force opponents to play his game. Punks and Izamu really scare people, especially with all of those positive flips, healing, and fast. 

[Lizzy Lovecraft]

I pointed out that I understand the game will make my best laid plans come undone, but I do agree with all of you, that the playbook approach has to be taken lightly.  I would also like to point out that only four models are doing any planned work in this;  Mort, the canines, and all the summoned belles are not planned out.  Even the nurse is being shuffled along and still has her actions free to hinder or help.  But loss of the vulture would be horrendous!

Also, Doombladez, I am not personally impressed with Sybelle in general.  For the longest time, she was my only henchman, and now I only hire her when Molly or belles need a taxi service.  Sure, her upgrade trigger to execute is cool, but it's a little tough to deliver.  This is why I've hired Mortimer for this strategy; he's the real henchman of the team.

Also; you're right about missing information, My Union-ed opponent runs Ramos and Ironsides.  Though I just hooked him up with both Arcanist Arsenal Decks 1 & 2, so I expect to see Kearis soon.  I can only throw poison at him for so long before he starts the burning game.

Nicodem is my newest master, and I do love him for exactly the reason Gromgrom says; he can summon for the situation at hand.  "Oxfordian Mage locking up Punk Zombies, summon Belles and pull her out of range, etc..."

I wish I had Izamu!  Soon....

Thanks for the advice, but I must mention that I plan for this to just be a general plan of action.  Maybe some advice to tighten up the odds in my favor.

Thanks...