My Morning Side of Malifaux to go with your Coffee and Bagel

[TheJoyInGaming]

So I just got back into Malifaux a few days before the announcement of M3E and surprisingly found myself forced into the awkward position of being down a Master for my Resser crew with Tara leaving us for Outcasts. Naturally, I did the only responsible thing I could and convinced The Wife that I needed to immediately purchase a box of metal Von Schill, a metal Jack Daw, and a plastic box of Molly because *gosh-dang-it if I am dual factioning I am going to do it right! Being the amazing woman she is she agreed that the new models needed testing and so we began a 4 week Shifting Loyalties Campaign using the GG2018 Strats and Schemes.

*Not sure how to spell that but i’m sure I can fake it with a hyphen.

 

Starting Arsenals

 

I chose:

Scion of the Void (8)

Sue (8)

Freikorps Librarian (7)

Void Wretch (4)

Void Wretch (4)

Scramble (1)

Scrip: 3

 

The Wife chose:

Sensei Yu (9)

Mr. Graves (8)

Obsidian Oni (6)

Ten Thunder Brother (5)

Ten Thunder Brother (5)

Equality (1)

Scrip: 1

 

 

Week 1

 

Event: A Sinner’s Prayer

Finished Off model’s flip a card at the end of each encounter that is not cheatable. If a 10+ is flipped the model does not flip for an injury and its owner gains 3 scrip.

 

Game 1

 

Deployment: Standard

Strat: Ours

Schemes: Guarded Treasure (O), Covert Breakthrough (O), Dig Their Graves (TT), Take Prisoner (TT: Sue), Vendetta

 

Outcasts: Scion of the Void, Sue (Scramble), Librarian, Wretch, Wretch

Ten Thunders: Yu, Graves (Equality), Oni, TT Brother, TT Brother

 

Before the first turn even begins I make a very big mistake. You see, The Wife has a habit of lining up her models along the edge of her deployment zone before the game begins and for some reason when deploying my crew I forgot the fact that I was deploying first. So I deploy to counter hers and am shocked when she deploys right after. I have no excuse either because we already had a practice game before this…

 

Turn 1: The Wife advances Yu and the Brothers towards the Wretches on the left most side of the table while I am mucking up the deployment and beginning walks of Scion, the Librarian, and Sue. I am very excited for Scramble on Sue though. Graves throws Oni into Sue and Scion.

 

Turn 2: Scion deletes Oni. Sue shoots Graves and drops a scheme marker. Graves walks towards Sue in the center for retribution. The Librarian drops a scheme marker. Yu and the TT Brothers advance and drop scheme markers as well.  The Wretches cautiously walk towards the center line. No one scores Ours (SPOILER: No one will). I score Guarded Treasure. 1-0.

 

Turn 3: Graves causes Scion to discard a card to bury and then shows Sue the door. I find myself no longer excited by Scramble on Sue as Sue contemplates why he’s hitting himself when he shoots Graves back. The Librarian drops a scheme marker and tries walking through some water to heal Sue’s wounds and wonders why she’s not unimpeded instead… The TT Brothers and Yu begin punching the Wretches much to my bewilderment. The Wretches slow them back after unburying Scion. Scion drops a scheme marker and casts ineffectually at a TT Brother. My markers are about 7.75 inches from each other so no one scores. 1-0.

 

Turn 4: Scion deletes a TT Brother.  A wretch dies to Yu and the TT Brother’s sustained assault, and is Finished Off, and The Wife reveals Dig Their Graves. The Librarian begins her slow walk up the board for Covert Breakthrough. Sue briefly manages to disengage and shoots Graves and in return he shows Sue the door again and pushes him further into isolation. The remaining Wretch slows the last TT Brother. 1-1.

 

Turn 5: The Librarian walks and drops a scheme marker for Covert Breakthrough. Graves shows Sue the door towards the TT deployment zone and the Wretch tries to slow Yu to no effect. Yu pushes Scion so that Scion is too far away to drop a second marker for Covert Breakthrough and drops a scheme marker near the Wretch. Scion is just within range to 0 for her push, disengage, and drop a second scheme marker for CB. The TT Brother kills the Wretch to score Dig Their Graves a second time. The second Wretch is Finished Off as well. After some measuring I realize that Sue is not close enough to walk away from Graves and drop the last scheme marker so I briefly consider having him kill himself to black blood. Ultimately, I decide against this and just try to walk away to no effect. End of turn I reveal Covert Breakthrough for 2 and The Wife reveals Take Prisoner for 3. I lose the game 3-5.

 

Aftermath: No one purchases any skills or equipment though I do purchase the bounty Collect the Ransom. We flip for injuries and The Wife gets lucky and her TT Brother is spared with the weekly event and gains 3 scrip. Her Oni is not so lucky and ends up with -1 Def due to slowed reflexes. I flip for both my Wretches and astonishingly they are both spared and I receive 6 scrip!

 

Total Scrip

Outcasts: 7

Ten Thunders: 8

 

My Morning Side of Malifaux:

My first takeaway is what a joy it is to play this game again, especially with The Wife. I always love playing her even when I lose. The second was that I don’t think I have ever played this badly since being a beginner. Even the terrible mistake with deployment aside I should have remembered the schemes as I could have easily prevented Take Prisoner. As for model and faction differences I really enjoyed Scramble for all of one turn. I believe it is a good upgrade but I don’t think Sue is the right choice for it since he tends to like to do other things with his AP. I think I like the Librarian though I’ll try not to use her as a scheme runner next time. I am used to the Void Wretches and Scion from Resser Tara so I don’t have any new takeaways from them just yet.