M3e Mei Feng Tactica

[NoisyAssassin]

I just split the Undying box with someone; will definitely be trying Minako out once she's built and painted! 

Unrelated, had another game last night, Wedge Explosives vs Nekima. It was brutal, didn't feel like there were a whole lot of options for me. Her crew was faster than me, more maneuverable, and hit WAY harder.  Ended up with a 4-6 loss. I made a few tactical mistakes that might have otherwise led to me getting a 5th point, but my opponent also really should have had another point (he dropped an explosive token on the wrong side of one of his model's bases, making it too close for him to drop another the next turn). I scored 2 for the strat, 1 for Deliver, and 1 for Search (the GG change makes it a lot harder for us to just effortlessly grab this one), while he scored 3 for strat, 2 for Ritual, and 1 for Vendetta. Any tips for playing against Nekima, or other highly mobile, highly aggressive crews? Fighting him was a bad option with Black Blood and how hard he hits, but ignoring him to scheme/strat also wasn't working out (since he could just fly with me + fly + interact to pick up anything I dropped). I opted for a mix of the two, which didn't go great. 

Most satisfying moment of the game though was Mei finally performing well as a beater! After he revealed Vendetta on the Metal Golem with Serena, Mei rail-jumped up to her and attacked 4 times + Freight train to kill her, almost completely stripping his hand in the process. So at least I was able to deny that point. 

[frumpypigskin]

On 10/29/2019 at 5:37 PM, KingCrow said:

Anyone had any luck using Joss with Mei and crew? Joss ignores armor and has a Construct-only Obey. Plus, bring the Mobile Toolkit (which is what I usually do) and you've got another way to give out Power Tokens.

Don't forget Joss doesn't have power converter so can't turn scrap into power tokens... He's not nearly as good without extra tokens so you're looking at taking mobile toolkit as well to get the most out of him and that's getting really expensive...

[Mycellanious]

3 hours ago, NoisyAssassin said:

I just split the Undying box with someone; will definitely be trying Minako out once she's built and painted! 

Unrelated, had another game last night, Wedge Explosives vs Nekima. It was brutal, didn't feel like there were a whole lot of options for me. Her crew was faster than me, more maneuverable, and hit WAY harder.  

The Foundry just really doesnt like Wedge deployment. It messes up their Rail lines, they cant flank around the side, and it alllows the enemy heavy beaters to get in turn 1 when the Foundry really like to dictate the pace of engagement. Place the same pool with a different deployment and im sure it'll be a very different game. 

[DuBlanck]

@Fetid Strumpet@NoisyAssassin Unfortunately, being the Arcanist sub, it's not an easy option for this side of the conversation. I've been really impressed with Minako and the Katashiro the few times I've seen her on the table. I haven't noticed much buzz around Mei on the TT side of things though - presumably  Misaki covers the rapid strike and Shlong the damage output/resilience, or something. Or she wwas never particularly popular in TT in the first place.

@KingCrow @frumpypigskin Joss does have Dynamic Generator to gain a Power Token on a Charge though, so that's two by Turn 2, with buyable triggers to gain more.

I tried Joss out yesterday.

Cursed Idols, Claim Jump(Kang), Vendetta (Survivor Vs Prospector) [Deliver the Message, Hold Up Their Forces, ...something]

Mei, Emberling, Kang, Joss, Rail Worker, Metal Gamin, Survivor, Medical Automaton (Magical Training). Into a fairly standard Parker crew + Ashes & Dust.

The plan was to skew one way, dominating the left Crow spawn, controlling the Mask spawn, and contesting the middle. Kang, backed by Juggernaut heals and the MediBot, chucks an Idol as early as possible and then declares Claim Jump, before bailing out and RTRing in to score the End VP. Mei clears out the Crow spawn and pushes into the middle. Gamin lays track and Rail Worker repositions or slaps people, Survivor splats people and/or fires scrap at them to jump in their face and interfere.

The Rail Worker was there to use the throw set-up discussed earlier in the thread, to prevent the non-RTRs getting left in the dust. Worked a charm, and he moved in to bulk up my blob around one flank's Idol in Turn 2 - I didn't feel like it slowed him down. He then RtR into the central scrum to flip Kang out of engagement and into a scoring position to Reveal Claim Jump, which I don't think I ever would have got otherwise. I stand by my "min 1, max 2" judgement.

Joss is decent - tough, punchy, not as slow as I assumed. Generating two Power Tokens and then cycling them with Power Transfer and his Generator(?) trigger was fine. Expensive, but I think I got my money's worth. Would hire again.

The Survivor was brilliant. Being able to fire Scrap Markers at stuff was dead handy, the Focused damage output is pretty good (especialyl with the shoot again trigger), and it's really nice to have some proper range. Considering a "hire most games" stamp.

The Medical Automaton did almost literally nothing all game, even passively, because I made a series of odd/bad/stupid choices with it. I think it is probably worth trying again, and actually using it this time.

 

I didn't count on A&D being able to use my rails better than I could, doing mad damage, and being ridiculously tough. After the first shock and awe activation from A&D, my plan faltered pretty hard - A&D rushed 20" inches up the board, killed the Survivor (after Reveal VP, fortunately), then next turn rushed another 20" across the board to steal my 'dominated' Crow Idol (thanks to Parker being able to hand out Interacts). That's definitely something to look out for against Outcasts.

[DuBlanck]

I'm still struggling a little with Mei being counter-teched.

Which Factions have the best/most prevalent access to armour-ignoring or reduction-ignoring tech?

[KingCrow]

Had a game with Mei vs Colette this past weekend in a tournament (top table!... but still lost due to last activation Colette burying my scoring model) and realized just how good Sparks is.  I'm sure he's going to be a permanent model to always bring in my Mei Crew.  He stopped the Coryphee duet from dancing back together, thew a bunch of explosives into my own models to then blast back onto the enemy, and all his other shenanigans such as Analyze Weakness and free fast on my constructs. The only downside is that I think he needs to always have Soulstone Cache on him to help protect him since he is squishy. 

Anyone else having some good (or bad) luck with Sparks? 

[Mycellanious]

52 minutes ago, KingCrow said:

free fast on my constructs. 

His bonus action is not restricted to construct only. If there was a non construct you wanted to shield or give fast (Willie, an OOK, or even Sparks himself) you could definitely do so. Just fyi. 

[KingCrow]

13 minutes ago, Mycellanious said:

His bonus action is not restricted to construct only. If there was a non construct you wanted to shield or give fast (Willie, an OOK, or even Sparks himself) you could definitely do so. Just fyi. 

Oh aye, can definitely do that but then it's not for free (armor and shield reduce the damage to zero).  Very good to have the option to use it on anyone tho. 👍

[NoisyAssassin]

Had another game this week; my first Malifaux win!

50ss Mei Feng vs Zipp, Standard Reckoning (2-2). Pool was Outflank (Mei 2), Dig (Mei 2), Assassinate (Zipp 2), Search (Zipp 1), Power Ritual. 

Final Score 6-5

I brought Mei, Forgeling, Kang, Neil, Porkchop, Golem, Gamin, Survivor w/ MT

vs

Zipp, Earl, Mancha Roja, Ashes and Dust, Sue, Gracie, Johana

Pre-game - Things looked pretty nasty going in, as he had strong beaters, some good mobility, and 4! models capable of removing my scrap. He deployed pretty spread out, while I split into 2 groups roughly 11" apart (Mei, Forgeling, Porkchop, Survivor on the left, Kang, Neil, Golem, Gamin on the right). Of special note, Sue deployed far on a flank off by himself, which ended up putting him out of position the first few turns. 

T1 - Lots of moving and positioning. I started setting up rails while my opponent repositioned and focused quite a few models. I ended up with Kang, Neil, and the Golem all rather weirdly out of position trying to avoid giving A&D a good vector on them (d*** that thing is a holy terror against us). Mancha ended up charging the Porkchop and putting 4 damage on it, while Mei alpha-struck Johana, putting her at 1. 

T2 - Here's where things started getting wild. We both cheated 13s for initiative, and I lost on the reflip. Johana wailed on Mei for 4 damage and 3 of my 4 stones, then healed herself 1 by eating my scrap. Mei pulled off some serious shenanigans (2" engagement range plus Gracie nearby made this tricky) with Freight Train and Constant Motion to move away just enough to drop a scheme, then charge back in. She ended up black jokering her last attack's damage, leaving Johana at 1 health and burning 1. But a model burning to death won't score Dig! Luckily the survivor was able to rail walk over to help later, dealing the killing blow (my opponent was confused as s*** about why I kept attacking her when she was about to die, until I revealed the scheme). Gracie brought Mei down to 3 health (and I spent my last stone), then revealed Assassinate. I think there were ~5 moderate damage attacks on negative or double negative flips against her this turn! Kang got into position for Outflank this turn, but the Forgeling failed two disengage moves against A&D to get the other side. Mancha easily killed the Porkchop. Gamin started the process of dropping scheme-scrap pairs for Dig pt2.  (Score is 2-2)

T3 - This turn my opponent failed almost every dual he attempted (helped by a lot of severe defense flips on my end). Mei rail walked the h*** out of dodge to go kill Earl, but unfortunately died to Zipp soon after (scoring reckoning and assassinate). Neil did his thing and killed Sue from full health, getting me my second point of reckoning. Forgeling finally got into position to score Outflank (thanks to a freight train from Mei to push him out of engagement). Golem tried to be tricky and pick up a scheme marker to deny Search, but I learned about Chatty on Zipp (with an empty hand) so he just beat on Mancha a bit. (Score is 5-4)

T4 - A&D killed the Forgeling, Mancha killed the gamin, and Zipp + Gracie managed to bring Neil down to 1 health, then failed to kill him with 2 more attacks (his hand was empty, and I was holding 2-2-Ace). Barely avoided him scoring another surprise point off Reckoning. But with him 3 models down and Zipp not being able to interact, he didn't manage to put down any more scheme markers this turn either. Kang was, by this point, getting bored and lonely all by himself off in his Outlank corner. (Score is 5-4)

T5 - Golem was just barely within range to railwalk over to the flank to replace the dead forgeling (plus eat the scrap for shield). At this point my opponent looked at the board and decided to call it. I had 5 scrap-scheme pairs set down, with the ability to make 1 more, while he had 3 models capable of interacting. He had no schemes down for the second half of Search, and I had a full health tanky model on each side for Outflank. I think it was premature, as he might have been able to take down the golem with Gracie + A&D, or drop 1 scheme with each remaining model, but it would have been dicey whichever route he went for. (Score is 6-5)

Post-game - My rails were really constricted this game, but killing Johana early helped some, and Sue being out of position (and then dead) helped a LOT. By the end only A&D was removing relevant scraps, but there were a few turns where it or Mancha ate a scrap that I really needed. Maybe mitigate by bringing the Mechanical Rider in vs Outcasts (for Ride with Me as an alternate form of mobility)? A few key railwalks still scored me points I otherwise couldn't have gotten, so we can definitely work through even this level of counter-play. The Porkchop was pretty meh again for me. Might go back to the second gamin in its place or rethink how I'm using it, hold it back more. Neil did very well for himself, but almost gave up a point by being kinda squishy. Will maybe finally try him with SS Cache next. Literally all Kang did all game was hand out 2 focus (neither of which won the dual they were used on), walk, and stand at the board edge. While that eventually won me the game, I didn't need a 9ss model to do that!  Survivor did okay again, and I think 1 with Magical Training will continue being a staple in my lists. They haven't wow'd me, but I haven't been disappointed in them like some other Foundry models (Willie, Porkchop, sometimes Kang, sometimes Rail Workers). Finally, once again this was an opponent who had never seen Mei before and wasn't familiar with what her crew can do (other than that they use scrap and jump around). I suspect as my opponents see her more often my chances to surprise score will go down. 

 

[NoisyAssassin]

Nobody else is talking about Mei, so I'll just keep reporting on games!

Mei vs Lady J into Standard Reckoning with Outflank, Dig, Deliver, Search, and Power Ritual

I took a similar list to last time, swapping the porkchop for a gamin and Magical Training on Neil (I know everyone says to go SS Cache, but MT has been amazing on him). Mei, Forgeling, Neil (MT), Kang, Golem, 2x Gamin, Survivor, taking Outflank and Dig. I was up against Lady J (LLC), Scales, Jury, Judge (LLC), DM Recruiter, 2x Domador, taking Deliver and Search.

T1 - set up rail networks, survivor got a good shot to drop a scrap next to Judge and Recruiter who had moved up pretty boldly. Kang jumped over there and took a potshot, then got attacked by Lady J (4 damage after a stone). This ended up setting the direction of the entire game, as Mei then decided on a harebrained scheme to go after J. She jumped up and did a little damage, notably stunning her with Blinded by Iron trigger (literally my first time using it in 7 games). Got the black joker in my opening hand and managed to keep it there all game. 

T2 - this turn was dumb. Just dumb. We both had good hands, which meant SO MANY severes were flying around. I had a lot of deliberation, but stuck to my plan of assassinating J. Kang ended up attacking once and then jumping away to outflank (and stay alive), and one gamin moved to the other flank. Otherwise literally every other AP from my entire crew went into killing Lady J. And it came down to Neil's very last flip, but she finally died (getting me Reckoning and Dig). I don't think my opponent expected me to actually kill her, so she never tried to get away, and models just kept railwalking into the fray. Golem did end up in the Recruiter's box, but he didn't manage to kill anything this turn (Forgeling left on 1 health, so close). He did score a point of deliver. [3-1]

T3 - Neil went early and killed the Jury (who had been exclusively Obeying his own models thus far) with two moderate damages on negative flips (that's Reckoning for me for the turn). Judge failed to one-shot a gamin, and whiffed his second attack, but a Domador managed to blast both the gamin and Forgeling off the board (Reckoning to Lady J). Golem managed to escape the box and killed the Recruiter with Kang's help, but not before he dropped a scheme for Search (I didn't want to leave him hanging around to re-box me, although I now realize you pop back out as soon as he dies, so I should have left him until T4). Remaining gamin running around the flank dropping scraps and schemes. Mei did...something? I think she attacked the Judge, but a Domodor healed him back up. [4-2]

T4 - Neil continued his ramage by killing a Domador, then the rest of the crew turned on the Judge. Once again it came down to the last action that could target him, but he did go down (Reckoning to me). Scales dropped the second scheme marker, but a Magnetism bonus action from the survivor put him in range to move and pick it back up. [5-2]

T5 - at this point he has a Domador stuck on his table half, plus the Scales, while I've only lost Forgeling and a gamin. The store was closing soon, so we eyeballed the board state and figured that I could easily get the second half of both my schemes, while also denying his. Neither of us was going to get another Reckoning point. 

Final Score: 7-2

Post game rambling: I took some big gambles on my Reckoning targets, and with the armor from Lead Lined Coats, and the healing from the Domadors, they both almost didn't pay off. Two of the three games of Reckoning I've played my opponents have been surprised that Henchmen count as two kills, definitely a detail to remember. I'm not sure if my opponent's flips were just mediocre, if his crew didn't synergize quite enough, or if Lady J's crew is just a little lackluster, but it felt like he wasn't able to punish me at all for the frankly absurd number of AP I spent taking down key models. Probably "should" have killed Recruiter T2 and J on T3 (would have been smarter and easier, but in this case it worked heavily in my favor). J herself is mobile and scary, but much less so when she's stunned, and even less when she's dead. I'm not sure I love Reckoning with Mei, but I don't think I hate it either. I do like the second gamin better than the porkchop, especially in Reckoning, probably beacuse I'm less inclined to be reckless with it (literally and figuratively). Survivor continues to be a solid carrier for Magical Training; not an MVP, but he pulled his weight. Kang took quite a few hits on the chin and lived to tell about it, which was very useful this game, but other than eating up AP still wasn't impressive. Neil did his Neil thing, and Magical Training was useful for both the shield and the Counterspell this game. I've got Fuhatsu, Minako Rei (and entourage), Steam Arachnid Swarms, and the Mechanical Rider all on the painting queue, so hopefully I'll be able to try out some new models soon! 

[TeaCrusader]

I adore the rider in Mei's crew, it synergises very well with what she wants to do.

Interesting to hear the breadth of models people are using. Not even tried Neil and have also found Kang really underwhelming. I end up with quite minion heavy crews, but don't go very killy. I love me some Metal Gamins.

Also I have a battle report to share, but since I have already posted it, here's the link.

 

[NoisyAssassin]

Oof, had a brutal game against Von Schtook last night. 

Standard Turf War with Assassinate, Deliver, Breakthrough, Power Ritual, and Claim Jump. Not a great pool of schemes without SS Miners available to me. I grabbed Assassinate and Power, he took Deliver and Breakthrough.

Mei(Diesel Engine), Forgeling, Neil (MT), Golem, Survivor (MT), 2x Gamin, Porkchop, 4ss

vs

Von Schtook, Research Assistant, Student of Sinew, Student of Steel, Valedictorian, Anna Lovelace, Asura Rotten, 6ss?

Pre-game: I knew nothing about Von Schtook or his crew. Plan was to catapult a gamin and a porkchop up one flank for the early power ritual, with most of the rest of the crew up the other side to eventually drop the other corner and score Assassinate. Grabbing Turf markers as convenient.

Game: this one doesn't really warrant a turn-by-turn. T1 he killed Neil in a single activation with the Valedictorian, and summoned a Studet of Viscera, so that was a 16-stone swing. I also learned that Asura + Anna can summon zombie bombs from across the table, which was bad news for my clumped pre-rail deployment. Add on the fact that almost every model has both Armor 1 and Hard to Wound and my goal quickly changed to winning to 2 things: score more than 2-3 points and prevent him from getting the full 8. I succeeded on one of these! By the end of the game, I had managed to score 2 for the strat, 2 for Assassinate (he was incredibly hard to get to between Anna preventing placement, and half his crew eating scrap markers for profit as bonus actions), and 1 for Power Ritual. He managed to score the full 8 though. I ended with Mei, the survivor, and the golem alive, while I had only managed to kill Von Schtook, the research assistant, and one of the summoned zombies. This meant he ended the game with more models than he started with  Overall it was a fun game, but one with a bit of a foregone conclusion, and I hope I don't have to face Transmortis again anytime soon. They just seem to have an answer for everything, especially all the things that we bring.

[falco]

That's thoug. I had similar experience against Kirai, just when I play against crew I know very little about, it's usually my doom.

[DuBlanck]

I still have big trouble with H2W models with Mei - it's rare to take a damage flip on less than one negative, and there aren't a great number of raw damage buffs in the crew.

The Golem is fine, but there's only one of him.

22 hours ago, NoisyAssassin said:

[Transmortis] just seem to have an answer for everything, especially all the things that we bring.

My local Ressur is very excited for them for this reason. And he just loves the Valedictorian for being so rapid, tough and punchy, with the pulse that isn't only marker-clearing but also hand-improving.

[Mycellanious]

4 hours ago, DuBlanck said:

I still have big trouble with H2W models with Mei - it's rare to take a damage flip on less than one negative, and there aren't a great number of raw damage buffs in the crew.

The Golem is fine, but there's only one of him.

My local Ressur is very excited for them for this reason. And he just loves the Valedictorian for being so rapid, tough and punchy, with the pulse that isn't only marker-clearing but also hand-improving.

Yea, HtW counters Focus, not the other way round. But I also think Foundry has some good answers to it.

The golem is a great option because of min 3, but also dont forget that Kang can pretty easily become min 4 if you need it.

Willie can shockwave for 3 damage. 

Mei Feng and Neil are stron multi attackers. Hitting for 2 isnt great, but hitting for 2 dmg 4-6 times is pretty good considering HtW models tend to have low stats. Furthermore, Mei's damage was probably going to be on a negative anyway because of Press the Advantage so you can get those Ram guilt free.

If all else fails, dont forget that Metal Gamin can get a damage track of 3/4/6. I have a highly experimental crew that focuses around giving shielded to Metal Gamin with Deisel Engine for that sweet 3/4/6 with a double positive to damage (charge through + Focus) which I am considering as my answer for when my opponent declares Resser

[Ogid]

Transmortis have H2W, Armor AND extra Wds; min damage 2 won't be enough unless is paired with Analyze Weakness.

I'd avoid Willie, he is very glassy and cost 7... that's a free student for Transmortis. And armor+2 models may also backfire, they have analyze weakness and built in Armor Piercing in the Student of Steel.

It's an OOK, but maybe Joss with Diesel Engine and something to give him Focused? He can get double positive and severe 6 or even 7 with Irreductible damage; enough to make most Transmortis models think twice before going near of him.

[NoisyAssassin]

5 hours ago, Ogid said:

...Joss with Diesel Engine...

Don't forget that anything within 6" of Von Schtook loses any benefits from upgrades. So while that'd be good for picking off loners, it doesn't help going into the main bubble. 

[Ogid]

4 hours ago, NoisyAssassin said:

Don't forget that anything within 6" of Von Schtook loses any benefits from upgrades. So while that'd be good for picking off loners, it doesn't help going into the main bubble. 

That's problematic but fortunatelly Joss is Sz2 with 30mm base and can disengage in his own activation using Transfer Power, then Charge a model inside of the bubble using that model to break LoS with Schtook (so no aura) or charge directly Schtook who has no H2W and with only Focused a moderate/severe can be reach. But I've not played the match up tho; not sure how viable it'd be.

Honestly that crew seems a headache to build against... that combination of defenses require very specific models to deal with efficiently and it also condition the crew building... using models of 7-8SS is probably not a good idea because they are easy enough to kill and give him extra students (and even 5 and 6SS models give him neat models); so what's left is a super tough elite crew to deny summoning (in which case Necropunk and Undergraduates will have free reign to score), maybe mixed with a few 4SS or less models for scheme duty and support.

[NoisyAssassin]

Had our weekly game this week, and it was...pretty ridiculus.

Mei vs Crossroads 7, Plant Explosives and corners. Schemes were Harness (both of us), Detonate (Crossroads), Hold Up, Vendetta (Mei - Survivor vs Envy), Take Prisoner. However, most of that ended up being pretty irrelvant, as my oppoent conceded at the end of turn 2. Turn 1 was pretty standard positioning on both sides, Neil was able to go Reckless to drop the first bomb, but then we got to Mei: the last activation of the turn. She had focus from Kang, railwalked up into range, and used breath of fire with the focus against Sloth. One cheated severe for damage later, and she had done 13 damage across 4 models, which went up to 17 after burning was applied! 

Turn 2 I won initiative and went with the metal golem, who vented steam (within range of 4 different models) then was able to off the rails through 3 models (he passed 1 flip and cheated the other 2), then killed Pride (his leader) with the attack. By the end of the turn the body count also included Greed and Sloth, with Lust at 1 health (and on fire), the effigy at 2, and Gluttony below half.  My gamin had 1 health left and was engaged with Wrath. Mei had a single Sin token, and the Golem had 2 of them, but no casualties and very little incidental damage. I scored a point for Explosives, and had picked up the only marker he managed to drop for it (Lust and Wrath had the other markers). At this point my opponent decided to call it and I can't say that I blame him. Final score likely would have been somewhere in the 7-8 range for me, and 0-1 for him. 

So, aside from Mei absolutely wrecking his crew with the double blast (a trick I'm going to have to remember, as I very seldom use that action with her), Kang finally did well! He hit Greed with min 4 damage (built in ram + ram on the attack), which was exactly enough to kill her after she stoned to prevent damage. I also managed to get focus on more models with his pulse (corner deployment helped with that by making me really bunch up), and his bigger base would have been perfect the next turn for railwalking and dropping a scheme (where the scrap was juuust out of position for a smaller based model to do so). Crossroads felt...very eclectic. Like they were each a tech piece trying to do their own thing; the focus they gave each other for free was nice, but otherwise they didn't feel like they came together as a crew or worked together all that well. I was able to scheme away from Gluttony, cheat away from Pride, stone away from Greed, attack away from Wrath (mostly) so wasn't gaining a whole lot of Sin. Without it, they were pretty mediocre, and everyone being henchmen actually worked against my opponent, as he was leery of using his stones on any given model (for fear that another would need them). One thing I thought of after the game is that Sloth could have used a stone to put Mei on a negative damage flip, preventing the cheat. That would have changed her damage output that turn from 17 to 3!

[nielschr]

What was the list against the Crossroads ?

[DuBlanck]

8 hours ago, NoisyAssassin said:

Mei absolutely wrecking his crew with the double blast (a trick I'm going to have to remember, as I very seldom use that action with her)

I like playing Carlos with Mei for that rason - having two Breathers of Fire in the crew is great, and Carlos can also pop some Pyre markers around to try and get some more Burning out.

Between Mei, Carlos and the Emberling, and the Rail Workers' attack Shovel Faster letting you Stun models with Burning, it can be amazing chip damage and disruption.

Carlos can also scheme run on the refused flank, because he is so mobile and requires little support.

[NoisyAssassin]

@nielschr- my list was Mei, Forgeling, Kang, Neil, Porkchop, Golem, Gamin, Survivor (MT), 4ss. His list was the full Crossroads, plus hodgepodge effigy w/ the upgrade, 6ss. 

@DuBlanck - that's a really interesting idea! I'm planning to move into Colette once the coryphee are released again, and want Carlos for a HH list as well. So once Wyrd gets around to releasing his M3 box I'll get to try him out with Mei.

[NoisyAssassin]

More game reports!

A couple weeks ago played against Von Schtook again. Personal goals were to stop him from scoring 8 points and score at least 2 myself. Final score was 1-4, so I did well on half my goal! I hate that crew and will leave it at that.

But tonight I played against Youko; reckoning on flank deployment. Pool was Harness (both of us), Outflank (me), Search (him), Hold Up, and Take Prisoners. 

I played: Mei, Forgeling, Metal Golem, Willie, Neil Henry w/ SS Cache, Metal Gamin, Rail Worker, Survivor w/ Magical Training, and 6ss

His list was Youko, Chiyo, Hinamatsu, Bill, Huckster, Kunoichi, 2 Geisha, Charm Warder, and 4ss

Neither of us had faced any models the other was fielding before, so we were both a bit unsure of how the game would play out. I split my crew along the two flanks, while he put his in a large bubble slightly off-center. 

T1 - He didn't realize just how far I could project threat, and ended up overextending with Chiyo on one side, and a big group of both Geisha + lured Bill and Hinamatsu in the middle. Willie hit the middle with dynamite, almost killing a Geisha (Youko had to waste an action assisting her to keep her from dying to burning) and making him cheat a couple flips on the others. Metal Golem killed Chiyo and put damage on the Kunoichi with vent steam, Survivor shot the other Geisha (bringing her to 1), Mei lit Hinamatsu on fire, and Neil brought the Charm Warder to 1, then used reckless to focus. In return Hinamatsu carved up Willie, but didn't kill him. Pretty brutal damage output from my crew, and not something my opponent was expecting. 

T2 - I cheated for Initiative, but so did my opponent, so he got to go first with Hinamatsu and kill Willie (scoring reckoning), then engaged and plinked some damage on the Golem. I had considered cheating in a 13 to go first and drop another brutal shockwave, but in the end decided against it. Not sure if it was the right call or not, but it ended up working out. Across the course of an absolutely brutal turn, Neil killed the Charm Warder and Hinamastu, Golem killed Kunoichi and a Geisha and got some incidental damage on Youko, Mei killed the other Geisha and got incidental damage on Youko (plus lit her on fire) then smacked her in the face with the Golem. The Survivor dropped a scheme, and the Gamin, Forgeling, and Rail Worker all moved toward scoring positions. Of all the models I killed, only Hinamatsu managed to activate before dying, which meant he was left with not a lot to work with. Youko had stacked Distracted on Mei and the Golem, Bill smacked the Golem and healed Youko from 2 to 4, and the Huckster ran toward the corner to scheme. Score is 1-1, with us both scoring reckoning but no schemes. 

At this point my opponent conceded, since it was looking very grim for the Qi and Gong. Neil would have been able to railwalk and kill the Huckster with little effort (Forgeling could help if necessary), and Bill and a very wounded Youko were staring down Mei, the Golem, and the Survivor (while standing near a Blown Apart marker to negate the cover from Bodyguard). I was in good shape to score boh schemes as well that turn, while he would have been able to Harness with the Huckster if he had won initiative. Overall it turned out that Youko's crew asks a lot of questions, but Foundry has answers to all of them. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who I could hit and how, between Disguised, negative flips, trying to stay out of Youko's aura, etc, but was still able to put out a pretty gross amount of damage. Both Mei and the Golem had solid stacks (4 and 2 respectively) of Distracted on them T2, but they ended up not really caring between movement duels, focus, stones, and the golem's built in +. I went in thinking about trying to spread damage around (to avoid making later reckoning points too hard to get), but realized that I could hit hard enough for it not to matter. This was also a game where I recognized early in the turn that my opponent had a weak hand (due to some key uncheated flips), and was able to capitalize on that knowledge (plus a string of lucky flips!)

In miscellaneous thoughts, I did get to use the Rail Worker to toss a couple models into better positions, but would have been much better served with a second Gamin to set up a rail line instead. This is my first game using a Worker in a while, and definitely regretted it 😒. SS Cache on Neil was interesting. I used it to stone for armor piercing with focus against Hinamatsu, but ended up flipping a tome anyway. I don't think I would have attacked her if I hadn't been guaranteed the trigger, so psychological value there at least. He wasn't ever attacked, so using it to keep him alive didn't come into play, but it did pay for itself with the two kills he got. One thing I may try in the future is putting it on the Metal Golem. Hugely expensive model at that point, but it could stone for Condensation triggers, and is usually in the thick of things where models are dying. Willie actually impressed me this game, even though he died after a single activation and only severly wounded a single model. If Mei had succeeded on her Freight Train flip and I had then cheated hard for initiative, he could have thrown 2 more shockwaves, each catching 4 models! In the future I'll have to keep an eye out for matchups where he can shine. Finally, I had originally planned to send the Forgeling directly toward the corner to score Outflank, then push outward from there, but saw an opportunity to head more center for an alphastrike. It felt bad to change plans suddenly, and delayed my ability to score any schemes by a turn, but was 100% the right call. Got to remember to stay flexible!

[Zerofiend]

On 6/26/2019 at 8:58 PM, retnab said:

 

• There are several Abilities, Actions, and Triggers that are spread throughout the Foundry (some of which are Foundry-exclusive) and are crucial to how they play, so let’s start by covering those.  Ride the Rails is an Ability shared by every Foundry member and is both very powerful and very restrictive: if the model declares a Walk while within 1” of a Scrap Marker, instead of moving normally they can place in base contact with any other Scrap Marker within 12”!  This can be done even while engaged (and it doesn’t count as a Disengage so the model can still Interact afterwards) and the landing spot does not have to be in line of sight, which makes this a very difficult trick to stop.

I'm sorry, but is this correct? I'm newer but in the rules it says a walk action cannot be used to leave engagement range, otherwise wouldn't flight essentially have the same effect as Ride the Rails in terms of engagement?

[NoisyAssassin]

29 minutes ago, Zerofiend said:

I'm sorry, but is this correct? I'm newer but in the rules it says a walk action cannot be used to leave engagement range, otherwise wouldn't flight essentially have the same effect as Ride the Rails in terms of engagement?

Ride the Rails specifically calls out that it can be done while engaged 😉