Looking for Arcanist pointers for first tourney

[Boomstick]

Hey all,

As the title suggests, I'm going to my first tournament this Saturday, and am super excited for it. Should be between 12-20 people, and more of a fun tourney than a super competitive one (suggests bringing very themed crews, we'll be asked quickly explain how the crew works together as well as how it fits together in fluff).

With all that in mind, I'm planning on bringing Ramos as he's been in the shelf since I painted him around the holidays.

So first off, any tips for him? I'll be running him with Joss and Howard, an electric creation, and the Arcane Emissary for condition removal.

But mostly, I'm looking for general tips on tournaments. Specifically, do you have any recommendations on how to play a little more quickly? I don't expect it'll be too terribly short games, but I don't want to lollygag and I have a habit of talking, directly around people I know share my interests.

[Rogue1]

Has the TO published strategy and scheme pools or do you have to go in blind.  As far as Ramos goes it sounds like you have the basic models to go into the game with assuming you have enough spiders to support the summoning.  It's hard to give too much more advice without knowing your model pool.

As far as speeding up play my best advice would be to make sure you are thinking through your next move while your opponent is taking their turn and have at least one branch plan in case their move makes your original plan no longer a good idea.

[Boomstick]

Strats and Schemes will be as follows:

Game 1: Interference, standard deployment. Convict Labor, Exhaust Their Forces, Nuetralize the Leader, Covert Breakthrough, Hunting Party.

Game 2: Turf War, corner deployment. Convict Labor, Frame for Murder, Occupy Their Turf, Exhaust Their Forces, Show of Force.

Game 3: Headhunter, standard deployment. Convict Labor, Search the Ruins, Leave your Mark, Take Prisoner, Show of Force.

As for models, I have the M&SU box, an additional 9 steam arachnids (and they're all magnetized to become swarms), an electric creation, the arcane effigy (just realized I said emissary up top initially), Mech Rider and three of each construct gamin, two gunsmiths, two december acolytes, three hoarcat prides, three oxford mages, Aionus, all along with Kaeris', Colette's, and Mei Feng's boxes.

Good tip on the branch plan. I'm used to chess, so thinking ahead's not a problem, I just have trouble deciding how far. An activation or three sounds like a pretty good idea, wouldn't you say?

[LeperColony]

14 minutes ago, Rogue1 said:

As far as speeding up play my best advice would be to make sure you are thinking through your next move while your opponent is taking their turn and have at least one branch plan in case their move makes your original plan no longer a good idea.

This is great advice for keeping games moving.  It's incredible how uncommon a behavior it is too. 

Being solid on the rules is also a real time saver.  The better you know the basic rules, your crew's special rules, and your opponent's crew's rules, the smoother play will be.  Now, there are so many models in Malifaux, and each one has several special abilities and actions, so nobody can expect you to have memorized everything.  But if you know a particular master is popular in your meta, knowing his or her abilities along with some of the standard models in their crews can be helpful in keeping a lively pace.  And, incidentally, useful for winning too.

[Boomstick]

10 minutes ago, LeperColony said:

 

  But if you know a particular master is popular in your meta, knowing his or her abilities along with some of the standard models in their crews can be helpful in keeping a lively pace.  And, incidentally, useful for winning too.

It is amazing how those two coincide.

You make a lot of good points: I feel pretty confident on the rules, and I'm looking over any I haven't used much. While I haven't played Ramos before, I practically have the cards memorized and theoryfaux'd to death. I'm fairly solid on Gremlins as well, since my roommate plays them.

As for the meta, this is a different store for us (my roommate's going too), so we have no idea what to expect. I'm planning on focusing on the strats and schemes and adapting to my opponents crews as I meet them.

[JoeJones]

I'm going to this tournament as well (Yes, My Master at Game Nite), and I was also thinking that Ramos is my best master for the schemes & strategies.  I had originally thought about taking Rasputina, but I haven't gotten Snow Storm yet, so Raspy would have a harder time of it. I had also considered running Marcus, but I'm not especially effective with him yet. 

Intereference seems to favor Ramos, since he can flood the board with spiders. Turf War is good for Joss & Hank with backup, and headhunter favors mobile melee beaters...like Joss & Hank. I'm most likely going to wing it on the schemes, since I haven't had time to work with the Gaining Grounds schemes much yet. 

One very specific piece of advice for using Ramos in this setting: if you are facing an Arcanist player you think might be running Marcus, take his Under Pressure upgrade since it gives him Counterspell. Trust me on this.

[Rogue1]

Even with counterspell a Marcus player with a couple of high cards and a SS can force the Alpha through.

As far as that tournament setup I personally would feel more confident with Colette in those scenarios.  However running Ramos would work well with any of those.  I like to hire heavy hitters/mech rider and then summon in my smaller constructs.  I would also strongly consider bringing Cassandra with practiced productions as that setup alone can make many marker heavy schemes much easier.

[Sordid Strumpet]

General tips: at the forefront of your mind you want to think about how to achieve schemes and have a few activations that you'll do regardless of what your opponent does. If you plan those out ahead of the game while picking your crew and assigning roles for each model and picking your schemes, then that's one less thing to think about during the game.

To play faster, use the time your opponent thinks to think yourself. And crucially - don't overthink your moves. Each model has about a thousand things it could do, and it would take you a couple of hours to work out which move would be the most perfect. Not overthinking has two advantages - firstly, you learn to optimise the way you analyse a situation.

-Do I need a scheme marker where that model is?

-can itscore me a point for the strat?

-can it prevent my opponent from scoring?

-can it kill something?

You'll probably only have to decide between one or two of the above once you've asked those questions. And then you just go for one of them. The second benefit of making decisions quickly is that you'll make mistakes. You learn better from making mistakes. Imagine the following: you have a tricky situation and deliberate for ten minutes. Then you do a thing and afterwards all you can think about is how you could have done it instead. A few months later when that situation comes up again, because you spent so much time over-analysing what you did, you probably won't remember your actual decision.

If you'd just done a thing and it went wrong, then odds are you'll remember that.

And playing quickly often gives you more time to score later. Time that you wouldn't have had if you'd wasted it earlier on trying to make a decision.

[Mxbedlam]

Get lots of rest the night before. Being clear headed and well rested can make a world of difference. In my Magic playing days I would drive all night to play in tournaments the next morning, by the afternoon my focus was gone and I'd start making a lot of mistakes. The more stamina you can have the better you are going to do overall. Also, for the same reasons make sure you eat well during the day.  Tournament days can be taxing even when you are having fun. 

Also, don't stress. It's a game, have fun. If you lose, figure out what you did afterward. If you get the chance, talk to your opponent and ask them their thoughts on how the game went. Chances are they saw a mistake you made and capitalized on it. Regardless, most people don't win their first tourneys and that's ok. 

Thirdly, don't go adding in any new tech all the sudden right before you play. Stick with tried and true tactics and models. Tournaments are not usually the time to experiment with models you aren't familiar with. Chances are you know the stats and abilities of your favorite models by heart. That will make your decision making stronger and your play time faster. Sure, Golem tossing electric creations can be fun, but that's 10SS on a model or two you might not have ever done anything with and if your opponent disrupts it, you can be left without a plan. 

 

Hope that helps and good luck!

[Boomstick]

Thanks so much for all the constructive input, everyone! I'm even more stoked for tomorrow after considering all of these very sensical tips.

I will be playing a new master, but I've been studying him and he seems pretty straightforward. Plus, as it is a more have-fun, attract-new-gamers tournament, I'm looking at it mostly as rapid-fire practice both with a new crew and against new opponents. Best of luck to all who will be there (or anywhere else, for that matter).

[admiralvorkraft]

Let us know how it goes.

[bertmac]

How did it go?

[JoeJones]

Boomstick24 got best theme for his Green Lantern Corps Ramos crew. I'm not sure how he placed overall in the standings, though. 

I took 2nd with my Ramos crew: Ramos (Arcane Reservoir, Field a Generator, Under Pressure, 5 ss), Joss (Bleeding Edge Tech, Recharge Soulstone), Miss Step (Imbued Energies), Envy (Imbued Energies), and 2 Steam Arachnids.

My first opponent was playing Perdita & her family on a Western street scene. I got shot to pieces, but ended up in a 5-5 draw.

My second opponent was playing Ophelia & her kin in a forest filled with decaying walls. We got into melee, where Miss Step softened the Kin up and Joss finished them. I won 9-7, I believe. 

My third opponent was playing Nicodem. Joss & Envy were able to hold the summoned undead at bay while my spiders ran schemes and Miss Step took the long way around the board to threaten Nicodem. I won the summoners' duel and the game, 8-5.

The overall winner was playing Lady J with all Guild Marshals: the Judge, 3 standard Death Marshals, Miss Terious, and the Lone Marshal. (If my memory serves me correctly.)

The tournament was a lot of fun overall, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

[Mxbedlam]

I played Ramos in 2 rounds of a tournament yesterday. Lost both rounds, one was a very close game 5-4 against the Leveticus Rider list and the other was a 10-6 loss to the Viktorias. Both games I basically gave myself the loss by simple mistakes. In the Levi game, I went for Occupy their Turf at the end of the game and my guys were 9" from the centerline. In the Viks game, I didn't read Convict Labor correctly and tried to use scheme markers that I'd already scored for set up, costing me 2 points overall. Took the same list both times: Ramos (Combat Mech, Field Generator, Under Pressure), Joss (Bleeding Edge, Open Current), Howard Langston (Imbued Energies), Cassandra (Practiced Production) and an Electric Creation.

All in all I went 1-2, was a good first tourney for Arcanists and learned a lot.

[Boomstick]

Sorry for the delay everyone, I've been a little under the weather since after the tournament.

But, as far as the tournament goes, I had a blast (multiple, actually, as Sonnia was one of my opponents)! All three games I faced different crews than I've ever faced before, so lots of new experiences to take in and learn from.

Game 1 was facing Lady J. I mismanaged placement and had a few bad flips when I really wanted not to, but had no help for it. Lady J dive-bombed Hank Langston turn 1 (didn't realize she was *that* fast!) and really hamstrung my aspirations for Hunting Party between that and tying up Joss quickly as well. Luckily the spiders are champs at Exhaust, so pulled that one off great. Lost that one 7-3

Game 2 was against a good player who was trying out Kirai. Facing summoner with a summoner was another new experience, though I was more familiar with her mechanics than I was with Lady J. With Hank and Joss I had a good base for Show of Force as well as Frame for Murder on Hank being a good way to make points in general. We both had the center pretty full throughout the game, so Turf War was nigh impossible to deny. Pulled that one out for the win at 8-7.

Game 3 I was pitted against Sonnia, which hurt a lot the first two turns. Hank was focused down super fast, but I used that as best I could to set up everyone else nicely. Activation control from steam arachnids, as well as us running out of time due to cracking each other up with jokes, is what won me that one. Headhunter, Show of Force, and Search the Ruins lead to a 5-3 win, with Ramos slipping out from the witch hunters' noses and into the night. Totally need a rematch to see how the game would have finished with another turn or two.

As JoeJones mentioned, I did win best themed crew. Ramos is painted up like a Guardian Green Lantern with all the spiders in a vibrant amalgamation of greens to appear like hardlight constructs, and Hank done up as a wounded Kilowog with hardlight claws and spider bits. Joss I decided not to go a GL route, since he just fires so perfectly as another Joss (Whedon) on his path to kill off the next most beloved character he finds.

Overall I came in 6th out of 11 players, and, more importantly, had a great time meeting and playing against great new people and crews!

[Boomstick]

Also, I'll be posting pictures of my crew once I get a few more details just right. I didn't have a ton of time to get them table ready, as my decision to take them was a bit sudden.

[Mxbedlam]

Great results then! The best thing about getting trounced so memorably by Lady J is that next time you will know just how fast she is and it won't happen again! We learn more from lost games then we ever do from games we win. Are there any crew or scheme choices you would retake in hindsight?

[Boomstick]

So true! I've already been studying more Guild-things a bit to better my understanding.

As far as things I would change: I feel the crew itself ran very well and about how I expected it. For the game against Lady J in particular, I would change my deployment/movement during the first turn. Worrying about staying out of the non-scoring center right away lead to my crew getting clumped in one table quarter for too long. If I had sent the first arachnid and the electric creation into the center it would've lead to more central scrap for Ramos to work, meaning it would have been easier to spread across the board throughout the game as needed. If I recall, there was a nice wall slightly to one side that would've blocked Lady J from charging as quickly as well. I guess if I had known more of Lady J's speed I would have taken Convict Labor instead of Hunting Party, considering she and the Judge would be all but guaranteed to at least tie up Hank and Joss.

It would've been nice to be getting more medium-to-high tomes throughout the game as a whole, but they were hiding from me and there's not much I could do about it.

The other games I feel pretty confident about my choices, though on the 3rd game I would have pushed forward with the spiders faster to tie up more things (maybe even Sonnia) while everybody else moved up and/or dropped scheme markers.

[Mxbedlam]

Ramos is a tough choice when hunting party is in the pool. I think that was a specific choice to downplay the power of summoning in general by making it a suited scheme. Anyone who brings in low wound minions is at something of a disadvantage there

[admiralvorkraft]

Lady J also does naughty things to your scrap markers (such as not dropping them when she kills your stuff) so scrap management can become a real headache against her. It's one of the times Ramos' Electrical Fire becomes exceptionally good.