Stumbling through the Plague and Land Mines

[TheJoyInGaming]

Hi y'all.

I'm a wyrd-o and decided that the release of the new edition would be a great time for me to start detailing my experiences with Malifaux. Given that I am currently in school with a family size that is quickly expanding, updates may be sporadic and content lacking a unifying theme. My plan is to detail the misadventures between my wife (10T/Arcanist) and I (Outcast). I hope you guys enjoy!

For this first post I will detail our upcoming game on 8/30 between Mei Feng (10T) and Hamelin. I was determined to play Hamelin regardless of scenario as some questions were still nibbling at my thoughts after my first game with him. How many rats do I actually need? How generous do I have to be with Blight? How bad is the Winged Plague really? Why am I so in love with the metal Obedient Wretch?

 

The Scenario

Plant Explosives

Harness the Leyline

Outflank

Vendetta

Claim Jump

Dig Their Graves

 

With this scenarios I flip-flopped between a few different lists, though each one was intended to be built for Harness and Graves. I also wanted to build to try to answer my lingering questions detailed above. Ultimately I decided on the crew here:

 

The Crew

Hamelin

3x Stolen

Hodgepodge Emissary

Obedient Wretch

2x Rat King- Servant of Dark Powers

2x Prospectors

Cache 5

 

Justifying my Build

Hamelin

I gave serious consideration to paying for SoDP as I loathe walking with my Master and this would allow him to try to Lure enemies into the Blight bubble more quickly. The heals are also nice for keeping him around longer. I ultimately decided to forego giving Hamelin the upgrade as I thought it would be better suited on a Rat King. I plan to stack Blight quickly on select models with Lure and stones with priority being the Rail Golem and Mei Feng herself. Hamelin's bonus will be focused into the Rat Kings to try and cripple as many models as early as possible. Though corner case, Injured from his staff will help make the Rat Kings' Terrifying duels harder to pass. 

3x Stolen

The Stolen I plan to use mainly for out-activation and for Hamelin's Agony. One I intend to utilize as a flex piece for the Emmisary's free scheme marker and for opportunistic damage from Vomiting Disease.

Hodgepodge Emissary

I hired the Emissary with the idea that he gives a free marker with no flip and that his trinkets would allow me to get the most out of the Rat Kings before they lose their to damage. Both his Regeneration Trinket and Accomplice/Companion (cannot remember which one it gives) would allow them to deal much more reliable damage through chain attacks with each other or the Wretch and hopefully trigger Spray of Filth.

Obedient Wretch

The metal Wretch is why I bought the crew so she is a mandatory hire. Upon my initial reading of her rules I believed her to be a great assassin model through the combination of Analyze Weakness, Bleeding Disease, and Tummy Aches but I think she operates best as a hard to target flex piece. Tummy Aches works on any opposed duel meaning it works to her benefit defensively as well as with the Disengage action so when she is not being used to soften up or finish key models I will use her to drop scheme markers and explosives.

2x Rat King- Servant of Dark Powers

The Rat Kings are going to be my chief vector of Blight for this game. I intend to missile them up Turn 1 and hopefully kill a model to trigger Spray of Filth. If I see that it is unwise to do so I will instead stack Focus on them. SoDP was given to them for the defensive benefit and healing primarily to keep them above half wounds for that great to damage.

2x Prospectors

I was conflicted on whether or not to bring a Prospector over a Winged Plague as I love having a good concentration of Vermin to take advantage of Hamelin's bonus action. When I evaluate the Prospector though I always expect to get about 3 stones out of them which ultimately persuaded me. Their Appraise action would allow me to better dictate where the Foundry could be Ride the Rails as well as help deny Claim Jump, Harness, and Graves. They can also circumstantially drop 2 scheme markers a turn.

Cohesively, this selection of models allows me great control over my opponent. I have 3 potential sources of Slow (Kings and Emissary), 4 potential movement effects (Hamelin, Emissary, and Prospectors) and 2 sources of Injured (Hamelin and Emissary). In addition, every member of my crew is a pain to try and target for damage. Hamelin has Agony and Soulstones; Stolen have Stealth and Serene Countenance, Obedient Wretch has Stealth, Manipulative, and Tummy Aches; Emissary has Hard to Kill and both him and the Prospectors have Manipulative; and the Rat Kings have Terrifying.

Where my crew is lacking is with consistent damage. I absolutely need to stack Blight on problem models and FAST. If my Rat Kings don't kill above their weight before they die then my crew will lose its bite. In addition, while my crew is a pain to target they are still able to be killed quite effectively by indirect damage such as from Hazardous Terrain, Shockwaves, and Blasts. What's worse is that this weakness of my crew is one easily telegraphed by the design of Hamelin's keyword so there will be plenty of it. It will take good target priority and a little luck for me to win.

 

Well that is enough word vomit from me today. Hopefully none of you readers contracted a disease from reading this and I hope you enjoyed.

Next time I will hopefully detail my wife's crew and the grief it brings.

Have a good day!

 

Edited August 23, 2019 by TheJoyInGaming
Typos and stuff

[admiralvorkraft]

Really good analyses. I questioned the prospectors at first, but Appraise does make them a good tech choice against foundry (theoretically).

[TheJoyInGaming]

Hi all! I am back with my wife's revealed list for our upcoming game!

In response to Hamelin my wife revealed Mei Feng and her crew is the following:

 

The Crew

Mei Feng

Forgeling

Metal Golem- Silent Protector 

Sun Quiang

Willie

Rail Worker

2x Metal Gamin

 

Initial Thoughts

A couple of things come to mind immediately upon seeing her crew:

1. The redundancy of Scrap generation in her crew means that she will have plenty of Scrap for her actions and Ride the Rails. However, none of her crew have good mobility outside of this Scrap dependency. 
2. Between Mei Feng, the Golem, and Willie, her crew has a multitude of ways to damage mine without targeting them. One of them will have to die, and quickly.

Denial Game Plan

It is unlikely that I will be able to clear the area completely of Scrap Markers, and even if the opportunity arises, I think it would be a gross mismanagement of my actions. Though her Scrap affords her great mobility, it is telegraphed, meaning I have a change to respond. I believe that Scrap removal should only be focused on Scrap which would allow her to disengage from my bubble and/or afford her the chance to Plant Explosives.

Scrap in my bubble I am less concerned about for a few reasons. First, I want her models there as them activating in my auras is a passive form of Blight. Second, her Scrap in the bubble can give her VP through the End of Game scoring on Dig Their Graves, but other than that her Scrap does not directly contribute to her winning as Harness and Dig each require scheme markers. Sun Quiang's  can be used to accomplish this, however, it is only once per Turn and I have 4 ways to remove her scheme markers thereafter (Prospectors' Appraise and Rat Kings' Gnaw). 

Her non-direct forms of damage I have a harder time planning around. I think the best plan then is to kill one of her main damage dealers to gain some breathing room. Mei Feng and the Golem seem to be unwise to try and take down early as the former is a Soulstone user and the latter would require to much of an action investment early on. Willie has no real defenses to speak of so he appears to be the best target to take out early on. Explosive 3 will sting my Rat Kings quite a bit though...

I think my best chance at deployment is to deploy Hamelin with his Stolen and Rat Kings between the mid-point and where the centerline meets the table-edge. A Prospector will be closer to the mid-point and the remaining Prospector, the Wretch, and the Emissary I am undecided about. This will allow me a great positional advantage as Hamelin's Lure and the Prospector's pseudo-Lure will allow me to deny Outflank and Claim Jump. I think it unlikely to deny Vendetta's first point, though the second seems more manageable.

Scoring Game Plan

I plan to go for Harness and Dig as I have a few ways to drop Scheme Markers in combat (Emissary, Trinket, Prospectors). Plant Explosives could be the harder to manage though as the models I have that are best suited to scoring it would be my Rat Kings with all of their movement tricks. Unfortunately, they are also my chief source of damage. Accomplice can help mitigate this though as Hamelin can make one move and Plant Explosives and then it can Accomplice and charge back into the fray. I plan to put explosives on both my Kings, 1 Prospector, the Wretch, and Hamelin. The explosive on Hamelin is purely for Denial purposes and will hopefully lure (haha) my wife into charging in. 

That is enough word vomit for today. I can't wait for Friday's game and hope you all enjoyed!

 

[Wyamphri]

A bit of advice, mei fang likes to slingshot golem and do 4 damage (maybe 3) in a line, so avoid bunching up things in lines.

[Jesy Blue]

Do not sleep on the Stolen's ability to make Rats or Rat Kings Fast.

[TheJoyInGaming]

3 hours ago, Jesy Blue said:

Do not sleep on the Stolen's ability to make Rats or Rat Kings Fast.

That was definitely an oversight on my part not mentioning Moldy Cheese. I do plan on making use of it to squeeze every last action I can from my Rat Kings, and circumstantial Rats.

5 hours ago, Wyamphri said:

A bit of advice, mei fang likes to slingshot golem and do 4 damage (maybe 3) in a line, so avoid bunching up things in lines.

Do you mean with Freight Train? I thought it just did that to the first model the Golem made contact with?

[Wyamphri]

1 hour ago, TheJoyInGaming said:

 

Do you mean with Freight Train? I thought it just did that to the first model the Golem made contact with?

Omg, I'm gonna have to talk to someone >.> I'll be honest, I've never read the ability. So every time he used it, it went through multiple models

[Mycellanious]

8 minutes ago, Wyamphri said:

Omg, I'm gonna have to talk to someone >.> I'll be honest, I've never read the ability. So every time he used it, it went through multiple models

You may be mixing two abilities.

Mei's bonus action is Freight Train, which pushes a friendly model and if the push is interrupted the model that stopped it must pass a tn 14 mv duel or suffer damage equal to the pushed model's sz (4 for the golem).

The Metal Golem has an action called Off The Rails "push this model 6" ignoring other models. Enemy models moved through must pass a MV duel (13 i think) or suffer 2 dmg and be placed in contact with the golem. Then, the golem gets to attack something it moved through"

[Wyamphri]

Oh no, I'm talking about Freight train xD that jerk, had me takin 4 damage in a line for like, 3 games now haha 

[Mycellanious]

On 8/28/2019 at 11:23 AM, TheJoyInGaming said:

 

Denial Game Plan

It is unlikely that I will be able to clear the area completely of Scrap Markers, and even if the opportunity arises, I think it would be a gross mismanagement of my actions. Though her Scrap affords her great mobility, it is telegraphed, meaning I have a change to respond. I believe that Scrap removal should only be focused on Scrap which would allow her to disengage from my bubble and/or afford her the chance to Plant Explosives.

 

Tell ur wife that Willie's shockwave has a Mask trigger to push friendly models. Because its an Immediately trigger, you dont have to succeed on the tn. You can drop an ace of masks if you need to. Also tell her that the Railworkers can charge-pnematic toss a relenting friendly to get your models out of engagement. I use that all the time

[Adran]

2 hours ago, Wyamphri said:

Oh no, I'm talking about Freight train xD that jerk, had me takin 4 damage in a line for like, 3 games now haha 

It's always worth looking at your opponents cards, lots of people mis read or confuse 2 abilities. And the fine print often helps work out ways around things. 

[TheJoyInGaming]

Time for the janky Batrep! Sorry if some things are missed. I am typing this up a little later than planned.

As a reminder, the Scenario and Crews:

 

Deployment

Standard

 

The Scenario

*Plant Explosives

Harness the Leyline

Outflank

Vendetta

Claim Jump

Dig Their Graves

 

My Crew (Attacker)

*Hamelin

3x Stolen

Hodgepodge Emissary

*Obedient Wretch

*Rat King- Servant of Dark Powers

*Rat King- Servant of Dark Powers

*Prospector

Prospector

Cache 5

 

Her Crew (Defender)

*Mei Feng

*Forgeling

*Metal Golem- Silent Protector 

Sun Quiang

**Willie

Rail Worker

2x Metal Gamin

 

We both chose Dig Their Graves. I chose Harness the Leyline and she chose Outflank. I deploy Hamelin and the entirety of his crew, save the Prospector without an Explosive, between the left table-edge and the mid-point. My lone Prospector is deployed just past the center-point on the right side. She deploys Mei Feng and the Forgeling near the right table-edge, a single Metal Gamin at about the mid-point, and her Metal Golem and Willie near the left-center. The trio of Sun Quiang, Rail Worker, and the last Gamin were deployed near the left table-edge.

Turn 1

Most of Turn 1 is spent cautiously advancing. Willie shoots a shockwave at one Rat King and the HP Emissary heals him and hands him the Regen Trinket. I wait for the Golem to move and then I use Hamelin to Lure my Wife's Railworker and Willie forward before charging in the Rat Kings with his . Mei Feng rail walks to the left-side. The first Rat King kills Willie, after slowing him, and takes his Explosive and 3 damage while also triggering Spray of Filth to Blight the Golem and Mei Feng. The second hurts the Railworker, who is saved by Sun Quiang, and then walks forward to trigger more Slow duels, which the Sun Quiang fails.

Turn 2

HP Emissary heals the hurt Rat King and gives him the Accomplice Trinket. He then pushes Hamelin with his . Sun Quiang heals the Rail Worker. Hamelin activates and Lures the Emissary forward and has one Rat King do more damage and the other drop an Explosive. A Rat King Accomplices and nibbles on the Golem. Golem activates and pastes the Rat King with a Red Joker. The second Rat King attacks the Railworker, whom Sun Quiang saves again, and then the Rat King walks forward base-to-base with them both, triggering more Slow duels, which the Railworker fails. Mei Feng has had enough of this and kills the second Rat King. The Wretch shoots a Rat out of the Golem and the Forgeling drops an Explosive. The mid-point Prospector removes a Scrap from the center to close the railroad. This is reopened by the Gamin opposite him. Two Stolen reposition and the last meets its Inevitable Fate to create two more Rats.

Score 1-1.

Turn 3

HP Emissary pushes Hamelin to drop a second Scheme Marker near the centerline for Harness and hands him the Accomplice Trinket. He then shoots Mei Feng and gives her slow. Hamelin Lures forward an out of position Gamin and then kills it with Bleeding Disease. He then uses his to have 3 Rats attack the Railworker and the 4th to attack the Golem. Some hits get through so Hamelin then explodes two to refill my hand and kill the Railworker, who is sadly not in range for another Rat. Sun Quiang moves near the Golem to trigger his heal. A Rat activates and fails at nibbling the Golem. Mei Feng attacks Hamelin and Red Jokers the damage which is subsequently reduced to 3 damage with a Soulstone. She then Vent Steams near a Stolen, which later bursts into more Rats. The Golem is trapped between a Rat and a hard place, a concealing/severe pond, so it shambles into the pond further to get closer to escaping and to disallow the Wretch from killing it with Bleeding Disease. A Stolen re-positions. The Forgeling flails ineffectively at the mid-point Prospector. The other Prospector walks forward and drops my second Explosive.

Sadly at this point we have to call it due to exhaustion. We didn't take the time to discuss what the end result would be, but given the large stack of Blight on the Golem (6), and his lowering health, he was not much longer for this world. I also had the Action advantage and would have completed the reveal stage of Harness by the end of Turn 3 so it seemed like I was sure to win.

 

Takeaways

• Two Prospectors seemed a bit much but they did help isolate the Golem from railwalking away and helped stop the Foundry from fleeing to the opposite end of the board. Their Soulstone generation also helped with card cycling and getting each Trigger I needed. Despite the positives I don't think I will end up taking two again though. It is rare to need to Appraise that much and I would rather have another meaningful activation.
• The HP Emissary adds A LOT to this crew. +1 Walk, which I only noticed mid-way through applies to himself as well, helps the Rat Kings extend their threat range significantly as they have a pitiful 0" engagement range and can be made Fast as well. Each Trinket is also very useful to the Rat Kings, though Accomplice seems to be the best for me with how aggressively I like to use them.
• The Wretch was useful solely for her threat rather than any actions taken this game. Tummy Aches is still very powerful and her standing their un-activated did a lot to determine my Wife's activation order as she didn't want to lose her Golem too soon.
• The Stolen were not very impactful, though they shouldn't be at two stones each. I did enjoy sacrificing one for two Rats to set up Turn 3 though. I think they are best thought of as just another resource to fuel the Hamelin rather than as just extra health.
• Hamelin continues to amaze me as ever. All of his actions seem very impactful, though the flexibility of his is what truly impresses me.
• The Rat Kings, specifically with SoDP, are delightfully nasty, though it seems they performed overly well this game even with only two activations each. This seems to be due to a combination of very poor flips from my Wife's deck and strong flips from mine, particularly during Hamelin's activation, however as she always seemed to flip low-weak cards during the Terrifying and Slow Duels and Hamelin would always flip or draw high masks during his Lures to cause more Slow duels. This hand pressure, combined with Sun Quiang's discard, is causing me to temper my expectations for them. That being said, between the multiple the Onslaught Triggers, Fast, and Hamelin's it seems a set-up Hamelin player can squeeze an extra activation's worth of Actions out of each Rat King per Turn. I think this still balances out nicely given that they are the only damage in Hamelin's crew that isn't required to be set up first and that they can be mitigated with hurting them each for 4 wounds.
• Given how well the game was going for me it is hard to comment on the Foundry models. I think taking four models that dropped Scrap was overdoing it (though I also took two Prospectors so what do I know). I was surprised by the movement shenanigans they were able to achieve by railwalking and the Concealment from Vent Steam was a pain in the butt.

What's coming next?

We flipped for next game and the coming Scenario is a tricky one:

Reckoning

Take Prisoner

Breakthrough

Detonate Charges

Outflank

Hold Up Their Forces

 

Originally I was going to declare Von Schill and take 2 Librarians and Engineers to heal and Shield my way to victory but I don't think that is complicated enough for my tastes. I have been Theoryfauxing a denial based Reckoning concept for Hamelin and I think I will give that a shot. My Wife has declared TT Mei Feng so I guess it is a rematch then.

I think I will build for Outflank and Detonate. My working list is:

Hamelin- SoDP

3X Stolen

Nix

The Nothing Beast- SoDP

Rat Catcher- S4H

6X Malifaux Rats

Cache 8

 

Let me know your thoughts and thanks for reading.

Edited September 5, 2019 by TheJoyInGaming

[TheJoyInGaming]

So I decided to stick with my list in the last post and I will explain my reasoning here.

The Scenario

Reckoning- Standard Deployment

Take Prisoner

Breakthrough

Detonate Charges

Outflank

Hold Up Their Forces

 

The Crew

(3) Hamelin- SoDP

3X Stolen

(2) Nix

(1) The Nothing Beast- SoDP

(1) Rat Catcher- S4H

6X Malifaux Rats

Cache 8

 

This crew was chosen based on the idea of using multiple insignificant models during list building to deny my opponent possible Reckoning points. Given that I have only 7 possible points to give up for Reckoning, it will be difficult for my wife to score all 4 points. In addition, she is more restricted on what models she can kill on each Turn. The easiest path for her to score points would be Turn 2-Rat Catcher, Turn 3- Nix, Turn 4- Hamelin. All this of course is assuming she succeeds in scoring each Turn and doesn't table me.

The crew was also designed with the idea of trying to score Detonate and Outflank. I plan position my bubble near one flank and run a model to the opposite late game to score. Detonate seemed to be the easiest Scheme left to build for as I was bringing a Rat Catcher anyways, and Breakthrough just seems to be difficult for the Plagued/Vermin to accomplish at all. I may choose to Take Prisoner based on enemy Crew composition, however, this seems unlikely as the Foundry can be very mobile and I don't like the tension of trying to keep a beater around to punch me.

I intend to use the Nothing Beast as my primary beater for several reasons:

1. He has good numbers. Def/WP 6, Walk 6, Melee 6, and a damage track of 3/4/6 means he should be able to do what he wants, when he wants it.
2. He is Incorporeal and Range 2". Incorporeal means he will not be affected by Vent Steam's Hazardous Terrain and can charge through my wall of Rats. 2" Range means that if I am smart with my Rats I can attack over them at enemy models without reprieve if they have less than a 2" Range.
3. His  actions synergize well with Rats. The Concealment should at least make it a little more difficult to gun down the Rats at range. It also serves to irritate important TT support models like the Tanuki and Sun Quiang as they will have to Concentrate to help allies within his aura. Stutter Time can also be very useful on Rats. Given that I have 4 models that can give my Rats Fast very reliably (Rat Catcher and Stolen), I should be able to use a 5+ of Crows to teleport to them and Heal 2.
4. He is a very good dive buddy for Nix. Nix requires a good investment of Stones and a reliable way to trigger Sweet Taste of Failure to brawl effectively, and the Nothing Beast should be able to reliably trigger SToF. He has good stats and Terrifying 11 to possibly trigger SToF on enemy activations, and during his own he can use Accelerate Time for an enemy only 6" pulse of damage and possible healing. If I really need to I can even use Stutter Time on an enemy and kill them with Time is Meaningless whilst still triggering Nix's heals. Nix's Cruel Disappointment can also situationally help the Nothing Beast with damage mitigation.

Some may be wondering why I did not opt for Benny given that this is a Rat list. The answer is simple: I don't like his sculpt so I don't have the model. As such, I was left with the Rat Catcher (not that I mind ). Soldier for Hire was given to the RC because he can actually make use of all of its abilities. Bounty Hunter could provide more card draw given he can get to a min 4(!) damage track if I am playing the Blight game properly, and Hard to Kill in concert with Rat snack will allow him the chance to heal and draw even more cards (it also can be annoying with the RC's Slow trigger). I don't expect to get any Soulstones from removing any scheme markers but it is there if it comes up. In addition to all of the above, Voracious Rats can help with Rat generation.

My Rats are intended to be a nuisance and get in the way of models for Nix and Nothing Beast to do some work. They can also be used as healing for the Rat Catcher and a source of Blight and chip damage from Hamelin. If called for they can also become a Rat King should Nix or the Nothing Beast get killed so that I still have a damage dealer. This flexibility is powerful, though the decision will have to be a carefully made as this will increase the points I give up for Reckoning by 1.

My Stolen may get their most work done yet as they can help set up a Nothing Beast teleport whilst buffing a Rat, assassinate enemy models with Blight, heal Hamelin, and can kill themselves to replenish my Rats.

Servant of Dark Powers was given to both Hamelin and the Nothing Beast because my preference of Stone use for damage mitigation. Defensively, I like to Stone to prevent spike damage from happening or to mitigate high min damage. Heal 2 on a kill is usually the equivalent of a Stone's use for either so it is easy for the upgrade to pay for itself that. Herald also can prove invaluable for the early Turn aggression I like in my Plague/Vermin list as I can either charge in with the Nothing Beast or Lure them in with Hamelin first to start setting up kills for later Turns. The extra healing option for Hamelin may also allow me the flexibility to kill a Stolen early for more Rats, though that is a decision best left for the game board.

Speaking of the piper, Hamelin is gonna Hamelin. Lure them in, and kill them when they are Blighted up sufficiently.

I really like this concept, though it may be fragile, and I look forward to the game coming soon. Hopefully she doesn't spam Jorogumo...

Have a good day and thanks for reading!

Edited September 9, 2019 by TheJoyInGaming

[TheJoyInGaming]

I'm back (not in black) with my Wife's announced list for this Friday's game:

The Crew

(3) Mei Feng

(1) Forgeling

(1) Metal Golem

(1) Sparks- Trained Ninja

(1) Sun Quaing

(1) Jorogumo

(1) Metal Gamin

Cache 7

 

The Game Plan

...Annnnnd she brought a Jorogumo, though thankfully only A Jorogumo. He was the model I feared most that she could declare against this list because it is a GREAT tech piece against this Crew. Herald for early game pressure, Heal 2 on killing a model (Rats) , 7 WP (Nothing Beast, Hamelin, and Nix all make use of WP attacks), 3/4/6 damage track (High min damage, though I guess Cruel Disappointment could help here), No heal action (Hamelin's Agony and Nix's SToF), and 2" Melee range (No one-way Rat Shield) enable him to resist many of my offensive and defensive tricks. No doubt about it, he is Target #1.

Thankfully he has little in the way of defenses (Df 5 and no damage mitigation) so I do have the opportunity to kill him in a "single" activation if I am lucky. If I can manage to get 2 Blight and 1 wound on him, the Rat Catcher will be able to trigger his min 4 damage attack. If he succeeds twice, we have a dead spider and still have plenty of options for scoring Reckoning remaining. If not, the Jorogumo will likely heal back up with the counter punch, or Sun Quaing. My best bet to set up the kill then is to bait the Gumo into activating first with Hamelin and then hit him with his Staff. This will Blight, Injure, and wound him to set up the Rat Catcher kill, and will also allow less counter play from my Wife to try and save her precious spider. Side Note: Extended Reach may complicate things. I forgot about it when initally writing this section about killing the Jorogumo.

Her only other big hitter seems to be the Metal Golem, and I did not bring the Obedient Wretch, though she is still my fav. I knew this was a possibility and am putting a lot of trust in my Rats to nibble their way to victory against him. His big base will allow more Rats to surround him so their Melee value should be able to hit very reliably. This should allow me to stack Blight on him very well whilst ignoring the most annoying downside of his Armor 2. The one-way Rat wall does not look like it is an option against him unfortunately as though he is only Melee Range 1" he can go through them and kill them en masse. I don't really have a plan for this at this point so hopefully I will manage.

Mei Feng seems to be the last "big" hitter. Ideally I will save her death for Turn 4 for that 3rd sweet Reckoning VP, though she may need to be killed more quickly depending on how much damage she does. My best way to mitigate her seems to be with Hamelin's ability to cancel Triggers with Blight, though this means she would be close to the Stolen and a wounded Hamelin so that may not be the best option.

Sparks I am not the most concerned over as both Nix and the Nothing Beast appear to have the tools to handle his shenanigans. Incorporeal means that they ignore his HT aura and any weak blasts placed back onto them from their own attacks. Bleeding Disease from Nix also doesn't generate any blasts. 

Gamin appears to be an easy Rat kill. So does the Forgeling.

Sun Quiang frustrates me as he gels so nicely with what the Foundry hopes to accomplish anyways. He does appear to be a good target for Take Prisoner though so that Scheme is more appealing to me.

This post was a bit more stream-of-conscious then usual so I offer my apologies readers. 

Hope you have a good day and I cannot wait for our game! 

[TheJoyInGaming]

And here I am to bring in the work week with the results of our rematch!!!

As a reminder:

 

The Scenario

Reckoning- Standard Deployment

Take Prisoner

Breakthrough

Detonate Charges

Outflank

Hold Up Their Forces

 

My Crew

(3) Hamelin- SoDP

3X Stolen

(2) Nix

(1) The Nothing Beast- SoDP

(1) Rat Catcher- S4H

6X Malifaux Rats

Cache 8

 

My Wife's Crew

(3) Mei Feng

(1) Forgeling

(1) Metal Golem

(1) Sparks- Trained Ninja

(1) Sun Quaing

(1) Jorogumo

(1) Metal Gamin

Cache 7

 

Results

This will just be a brief summary of the game that took place rather than a Turn by Turn summary as the others will be. It wasn't the most exciting to write about.

I took Take Prisoner (SQ) and Outflank. She took Breakthrough and Outflank. Her crew divided into 3 groups (1 on each Flank, 1 in the middle). I deployed all of my crew midfield. This game took very long as cautious Walk-Concentrating took up the majority of the Activations from our models. The turning point of the game really came down to 1 Activation on the bottom Turn 2 where Hamelin was trying to Bleeding Disease a 7 Wound, 8 Blight, Jorogumo. Both my Wife and I misplayed Cheating Fate here. I had a hand of 13,13,12,10 and she had a hand of 13,12. I was lower on the initial flip for my first Bleeding Disease and cheated a 12 and she cheated her 13. On the next Bleeding Disease I again had the lower value, so I cheated the 13 and killed the spider. Instead of trying to bait out her high card I should have just bullied my way through both flips with my 13s as the Jorogumo was my biggest threat. Had she not also misplayed her hand, her Jorogumo could have lived and the game could have gone A LOT differently. 

With the spider gone I was free to start picking apart her crew. Hamelin activated first on Turn 3 and lured Mei Feng over to hit her with his Staff and killed the Metal Gamin. Mei Feng got angry and killed 4 Rats and my last 2 Stolen (the Jorogumo killed 1 before he died). This left Mei Feng at Blight 9 and Injured 5, so I could Bleeding Disease her easily to set up the kill for Turn 4. After her actiavation I formed a Rat King who killed her Forgeling. With only 4 models left, one of which was her Master almost guaranteed to die, my Wife conceded. All I had lost were my 3 Stolen and 7 Rats. Game would have likely ended 8-1.

I would normally post my Takeaways now but time constraints prevent me from doing so. I will do so later this week.

Hope you enjoyed reading.

Shalom.

 

[Jesy Blue]

How the hell did you get 8 Blight on Jorogumo and 9 on Mei in 3 turns?

[TheJoyInGaming]

Hamelin Lured the Jorogumo Turn 1 with 3 (+3 Blight). Turn 2 a Rat nibbled him (+1 Blight). Then, Jorogumo activated within range of Diseased and Source of the Contagion (+2 Blight) and killed a Stolen (+1 Blight). Last, Hamelin activated and used Pestilent Tumors (+1 Blight). Total 8.

Turn 2 Mei Feng failed Nix’s Drink Spirit (+1 Blight). Hamelin Lured Mei Feng Turn 3 with 3  (+3 Blight), and then hit her with his Staff (+1 Blight). Mei Feng activated within range of Diseased and Source of the Contagion (+2 Blight) and killed 2 Stolen (+2 Blight).

I don’t like spreading indiscriminate Blight as I feel that makes Hamelin spread himself too thin. It seems best to stack as much as possible on key targets for Bleeding Disease, Coughing Fit, Festering Wounds, and Nix’s . The only exceptions are if I want a few targets for Voracious Rats/Black Death, or to set up for my Obedient Wretch. As such I save my high crows and use my Soulstones to get as much Taint as possible from Lure.

[Jesy Blue]

I could never bring myself to put Stones into more suits, but maybe it's the thing that's holding me back from getting Hamelin to work.  I'll try it next time.

[TheJoyInGaming]

It all depends on what you are trying to do with your Blight and how you’ve built your list for your available Blight Vectors. 

 

Here is the list of effects keyed off of Blight (* Indicates actions that reduce Blight when used):

Blight 0: The Plague Spreads

Blight 1: Tummy Aches, Coughing Fit*, Voracious Rats, Loose Bowels*

Blight 2: Festering Wounds*, Black Death

Blight 3: Vomiting Disease

Blight X: Bleeding Disease

 

Here is the list of Blight vectors (* Indicates actions that give Blight due to the Taint trigger):

Diseased

The Source of the Contagion

Hungry Rats

Pestilent Tumors

Spray of Filth 

Drink Spirit

Spectral Bite*

Claws*

Lure*

The Black Staff

Rusty Trap

Yellow Teeth 

Swarm of Yellow Teeth

 

With how my list was built, my best vectors were the Source of the Contagion, Diseased, and Lure. Assuming that I just Lured for 1, and best case scenario they ended up in range of both TSotC snd Diseased, they would only have 3 Blight if they activated. My Wife’s crew had a few ways to move friendlies out of activation so that wasn’t something I could count on, hence the heavy investment in Lure’s Taint. Stacking this much Blight also allowed me to avoid wasting many actions on attacks which also mitigated the role of her armor and healing. A single Bleeding Disease that could kill in one hit means no counter play, and this allowed me to use my actions to position more thoughtfully to box in models and protect my Rats from blasts longer. Though it did not come into play this game, such a large stack of Blight could have allowed me to mitigate Mei Feng’s ridiculousness with triggers.

I do always use stones for triggers with Hamelin, though usually it is not solely for Taint. I lean towards aggressive Rat King lists as they are very good models and Spray of Filth can stack Blight well. In those lists Skittering Vermin is gold as it helps me maneuver better for various shenanigans, or it could simply add another slow duel.

Edited September 17, 2019 by TheJoyInGaming

[TheJoyInGaming]

That was a longer break than I expected...

Anyways, I am back with my Takeaways, though I am going to discuss some from Hamelin's crew rather than just limit it to models from my last game.

Takeaways- Keyword

Stolen

The Stolen is a very interesting model as so much value is packed into its 1 SS cost. It can help whittle Blighted models down, pad activations, be used as a health pack, and even give Fast to friendly Vermin. Given my growing preference for SoDP on Hamelin, I am trying to test how aggressive I can use these amazing little Totems. If I don't mind one using a Rat as a surfboard, I can technically block off a Table edge from being available in Idols (in Standard Deployment) or I can engage an enemy with its Diseased aura and hope it is annoying enough to be killed and give out more Blight and Rats. Technically speaking, the Stolen is also the only model in the crew that can turn into more SS through the Rat cycle*.  

*(Stolen (1)- 2 Rats (4), 4 Rats (8)- Rat King (7), Rat King (7+)- Rat Catcher (6)) 

Obedient Wretch

I have not been shy at all in describing my love for this model's sculpt, and rules, so I find it interesting then that I am not fitting her into my lists as often as I thought I would. With Hamelin's crew being a position-and-attrition control crew, I need to make sure that every Soulstone counts because even 5 misused stones can end up costing me the game. With all this being said, I have come to the conclusion that her best use, for me, is in being an excellent Vendetta target, assassin, and flex model for helping other models complete other Schemes and Strats. 

To explain my reasoning, I think she is a great Vendetta target because her entire kit seems to be designed for it. She is only 5 stones, meaning that she has a wide range of models to choose from as her target. In addition, her defensive kit of Manipulative, Tummy Aches/Diseased, and Stealth combine with her 2 ranged attacks to allow her to be able to proc Vendetta at range whilst maintaining some modicum of defense from both Melee and Ranged models. She makes a great assassin, especially for Assassinate, because Tummy Aches prevents that pesky business of the enemy using his control hand whilst Bleeding Disease limits Soulstone use to damage prevention. She can also be hard to keep in place since Tummy Aches works on the Disengage action (do remember though that she can't both Disengage and Interact). If I see either Assassinate or Vendetta in the pool from now on I think I will always take her.

Winged Plague

I have discussed the Winged Plague a couple times before in other threads so I will keep this short. Due to the WPs' squishy nature, they are unfit to be the long-distance schemers Hamelin needs. Instead, they seem to best operate as a Scheme-Marker-Alpha-Striker ie a friendly model sets them up by stacking a huge amount of Blight on an enemy model Turn 1, and the WP thereafter spams Festering Wounds to cleanse the model of Blight whilst dropping a load of Scheme markers. This in turn sets up The Plague Spreads which in turn sets up Diseased and Gross Explosion.

A lot of resources have to be used to make this viable, and a lot has to go right to make this all work as you can even mess up this sequence by stacking an odd number of Blight on the target model. In addition, even if it does go correctly you are always doing this at the opportunity cost of expunging the very Blight that powers up the rest of the crew. All this being considered, I don't feel that the Winged Plague are worth hiring when I can either save the Stones for more triggers, or hire a Prospector instead (more on this later). I don't even know if the WP are consistent enough to earn back their 4 Stone cost.

That is it for this post. Sorry for any repeat information. I will cover OOK models next time.

Have a great day!

Shalom!

Edited September 25, 2019 by TheJoyInGaming
Clarity

[Jesy Blue]

I love Stolen!  I miss Horrible Realization from last edition, because the horror of realizing you just killed a child who was being mind controlled was awesome!

Definitely slingshot one of them into the front line.  Sometimes, if I'm feeling froggy, I put Soldier for Hire on the one on throwing into the middle of the scrum, so they have to bother with 2 attacks on a Stolen with Hard to Kill!  It's silly, but so am I.

[TheJoyInGaming]

12 minutes ago, Jesy Blue said:

Definitely slingshot one of them into the front line.  Sometimes, if I'm feeling froggy, I put Soldier for Hire on the one on throwing into the middle of the scrum, so they have to bother with 2 attacks on a Stolen with Hard to Kill!  It's silly, but so am I.

The same thought has crossed my mind to be honest, though I expect it to just be for giggles. Trying to become competent with Hamelin's core mechanics has been keeping me busy enough though so I haven't tried it on the table...yet.

I have also considered putting S4H on the Obedient Wretch too, though that is more for trolling purposes. It would be funny if it turned out to be worth it.

Edited September 20, 2019 by TheJoyInGaming

[TheJoyInGaming]

Takeaways- Non-Keyword

General

I decided to begin this section with a brief description on the inherent opportunity cost of hiring any non-Keyword models into Hamelin's crew. One must always consider the careful balance between hiring Blight vectors, and Blight payoffs, when building Hamelin. Some models, like Nix and Hamelin himself, can act as both a vector and a pay-off model, and as such they can prove to be doubly valuable. Inversely, any OOK models hired are going to contribute neither to the crew's synergies. They will need to both plug significant enough gaps in the crew and contribute enough VPs to warrant this opportunity cost. Personally, I try not to spend more than 10ish SSs on OOK models due to my preference for upgrades and a large Cache. Below are the models that I believe can be worth it.

Prospector (6)

This one may be a bit copy/paste from another thread...

Realistically, I always try to evaluate Prospectors as 3 Stone models when hiring them. This enables me to not be as disappointed if/when they die, and it frees me mentally to not get so preoccupied with Mine Soulstone that I miss out on the Trigger of their action. Viewed at this cost, or even at their actual 6 Stone value, I think they bring a lot more value to the Plagued as a mid-field scheme runner than Hamelin's own WP (see previous posts).

Appraise is a great action for the crew as they have no use for the corpse markers that will naturally Drop from the deaths of Stolen and Rat Kings, though I find I don't need to use it that often. The crew's inherent card draw is usually enough to maintain a strong hand, and I find that Mining Tools and "I've Struck Soulstone!" can be very useful for Hamelin, albeit situational. The former complements Coughing Fit well, and the later complements Lure. Their Manipulative also pairs well with the crew due to the Plague's usual activation advantage. Speaking of, Manipulative is also the single point I have against the Prospector since I am always a little hesitant about hiring a model that can be countered by tech the opponent is already going to be bringing. Then I remember this is basically a 3 Stone model and I feel better. All this being said I don't think I would ever feel the need to bring more than 1.

Arik (11)/ The Nothing Beast (10)

Arik

Arik is entirely a theory-faux pick for the Hamelin crew as I haven't yet had the chance to test him. He does seem to tick all the boxes for filling gaps that the crew needs though. Diving Charge enables him to not be hedged in by Hamelin's Rats, and his possibly built-in pushes, and Gravity Well, can be used to aid with controlling enemy model placement for denial and Blight purposes. He can also have either a Min 3 damage attack (that can ignore armor) or a large shockwave, all of which Hamelin's crew lacks. His main defenses of Armor +2 and SS reduction can also prove to be more reliable as no one in Hamelin's Keyword(s) has access to Armor, though this isn't a given as both Nix and the Rat Catcher do both bring a different form of damage reduction. The biggest reason I view Arik as a good pick though is his Kinetic Amplifier. With this ability you can either deter the most common forms of indirect damage Hamelin's crew is likely to suffer, or you can funnel your excess cards into stacks of Focus for Arik to beat face.

The Nothing Beast

I have only taken the Nothing Beast once, but that single time did convince me that he can be a good consideration for the crew for future games. Good stats, situational self-healing, Terrifying, 2" Melee, and Incorporeal all add up to make a good dive-buddy for Nix as he can help trigger Sweet Taste of Failure more often. He also has a form of ping damage, can help tar-pit enemies with Time is Meaningless, and just generally be a nuisance with Storm of Shadows. You do have to watch out for Irreducible damage though as this could be brought along due to Nix's Incorporeal.

The reason I have listed these models together is because they both compete for similar roles with each other, and with the Rat King. A Rat King can already do a good impression of a Beater model, albeit a squishier one, whilst also maintaining the synergies of Hamelin's crew. Competition is fierce for this role.

I hope you enjoyed the read and have a great day!

Shalom.

[TheJoyInGaming]

Onto the next scenario for Oct 4th!!!

The Scenario

Turf War- Wedge Deployment

Dig Their Graves

Assassinate

Deliver a Message

Breakthrough

Power Ritual

 

So it ended up being declared a Re-rematch... Hamelin vs Mei Feng again. I don't mind this at all as I absolutely adore Hamelin, though I am sure readers may be through with me talking about him, or at the very least him vs. Mei. Originally, it was going to be Von Schill vs Misaki, but I couldn't bare parting from my Plague and my Wife wanted to get a handle on the Foundry so here we are. 

 

My Crew

Hamelin

3X Stolen

Nix

Obedient Wretch

2X Rat Kings- SoDP

Freikorps Engineer

Prospector

To be forthright, this is my first time taking Hamelin into Turf War... hopefully it works out. I want to engage her quickly with my Blight-bubble around one of her TW Markers so Nix can keep it locked down. One Rat King is intended to be a dive buddy with Nix whilst the other I am hoping to have flip one of my Markers Turn 1 and then afterwards go up a flank to start flipping the others. I am trying to use Skittering Vermin here as much as possible so it should be fun. Obedient Wretch was chosen for Assassinate purposes and as another model with Skittering Vermin. Prospector is intended to contribute to, and deny, DTG and give me some more SSs for Hamelin and Nix. Now, to address the elephant in the room...

Freikorps Engineer

So I decided to hire the Engi for 2 main reasons:

1. Tools for the Job 

It is very well documented at this point how much I love investing in additional Suits for Hamelin, be it mores for Taint or mores for Skittering Vermin. The only problem, if you could call it one, is that there are only so many of those Suits in the Fate Deck (15 if you count the RJ). This number is further reduced when you factor in having to at least Tie the opponent, and even more-so when you factor in having to meet Lure's TN. These two Suits are absolute gold to me, and Tools enables me to reuse these precious resources. In addition to the above, Tools allows the Engi to be a self sufficient combat model. Discarding a low  orgives hisbuilt-in Armor piercing or Injured respectively; whilst discarding a (don't need these for Hamelin anyways) can give him a Min 3, 12"  (it seems like it would be nice to have a way to deal some good damage at range without Blight investment).

2. Strengthen Armor

Engi's is great! Assuming he targets himself, he can cycle a card, give himself Shielding +2, and some Focused or Concealment. When combined with Tools this allows him to really spike models down that try to flee from the bubble whilst increasing his defenses (Don't get me wrong; I love Hamelin's literal take on the idea that throwing more bodies at a problem is the best solution, but sometimes I want a model that can actually stick around for a little bit). Strengthen Armor can still be solid even if taken on another model as I am sure my Wife would absolutely love the idea of Nix or a Rat King with Shielding and Focused/Concealment!

(Note: This is sarcasm. My Wife would not actually love Nix or a Rat King with Shielding and Focused/Concealment)

The above two reasons alone are, I think, enough to warrant the Engineer's testing in the Plague crew, but the above isn't even all the Engi brings to this Scenario. His will allow me to more chances to flip TW Markers, and Sabotage will allow me to generate Scheme Markers as a reward for killing my Wife's Constructs (Yay to DTG and Scheme/Strat synergy!) 

I am very excited, as always, for our coming game and I can't wait to destroy my Wife!

Hope you enjoyed reading and that you guys and gals have fun being Outcasts!

Shalom

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by TheJoyInGaming

[TheJoyInGaming]

And here is our coming game for Friday!!!

The Scenario

Turf War- Wedge Deployment

Dig Their Graves

Assassinate

Deliver a Message

Breakthrough

Power Ritual

 

My Crew- Skittering Wretch 
Size: 50 - Pool: 5
Leader:
  Hamelin
Totem(s):
  Stolen
  Stolen 2
  Stolen 3
Hires:
  Nix
  Obedient Wretch
  Freikorps Librarian
  Rat King
    Servant of Dark Powers
  Rat King 2
    Servant of Dark Powers
  Prospector
 

The Wife's Crew- Ten Thunders Parade 
Size: 50 - Pool: 6
Leader:
  Mei Feng
Totem(s):
  Forgeling
Hires:
  Shadow Emissary
  Dawn Serpent
  Sparks LeBlanc
    Trained Ninja
  Survivor
  Metal Gamin
  Metal Gamin 2

I thought about being extra sneaky and taking both Deliver a Message and Assassinate but decided it would not be as funny on the table as it was in Theory-faux so I opted for Assassinate and Dig Their Graves. The Dynamic Duo of Dragons look to be pretty annoying with their access to non-targeting damage whilst their high WP and HTK mean I cannot as easily 1-Shot them with Bleeding Disease. I also cannot tie them down due to Flight and Agile. Despite Bleeding Disease not being as reliable against them I think that it still may be one of my better options against them as it will ignore the Bombs in Yer Belly blasts that other attacks will no doubt generate. If that doesn't work, I can always explode a circumstantial Rat to finish them off. 

Readers may notice a change to my roster in that my Engi has been hitting the books and upgraded herself into a Librarian. Except for maybe the Freikorpsmann themselves, the Librarian is my favorite Freikorps model. I have been looking to use her with my Hamelin for some time but have been waiting until I was more familiar with the Keyword models first. I think she adds a lot to the crew and is worth hiring at 8 stones. She provides a mid-range WP attack that allows for proactive card draw whilst providing blast damage and a good spikey damage track. She provides healing that isn't reliant on killing my other models, and herhas 7 targets in this list already with the chance of generating more. Her Armor and Shielding are also more reliable with Hamelin as they are not as likely to be countered compared to if she were hired with Von Schill. 

The biggest selling point for her to me is Siphon Power. The ability to build in suits for card draw, blast damage, or pulse healing is really good. The ability to do so by draining chaff models that you already want to die is even better, and Hamelin provides that in excess with his Stolen and circumstantial Rats. Chaff aside, both Hamelin and Nix provide good targets for Siphon as Hamelin has an "extra" 15 health he can lose, and Nix can heal the single point of damage lost from Siphon in the very same duel he lost it with Sweet Taste of Failure. 

My gameplan is to have Hamelin and Nix lead a charge into my Wife's crew whilst my Rat Kings go up a flank together. One Rat King will be positioned more mid-flank so that it can attack any models attempting to run away, or redirect towards Hamelin and Nix to provide backup. The Librarian will be healing both Nix and Hamelin whilst re-positioning my minions, and when she is not busy with that she will be making opportunity attacks or helping the Prospector complete Dig. When the Prospector is not completing Dig he will be Appraising to disrupt my Wife's railroad. My lovely Wretch will have to be content with kicking butt and taking names with her primary target being Mei Feng. 

Looking forward to the 4th and I hope you guys have some great games too!

Shalom.

Edited October 2, 2019 by TheJoyInGaming