Dark Sphere Slow Grow League

[S4lt]

Hi All

 

I've started a Slow Grow League on the Dark Sphere Facebook page but also worth mentioning here. If it's of interest, head along the Dark Sphere Malifaux and The Other Side Facebook page and sign up or comment below with your Keyword for the League and crew for this week. 

To start this will be 35ss, Henchman led crews. You will have to pay ss for your Henchmen leaders and I won’t be allowing the helpful hand ability for effigies (not everyone will own an effigy). Henchmen will get 3 AP for this as they are the crew leader. You will be required to declare a keyword at the start of the league and normal rules apply for hiring outside of keyword.
 
For anyone aiming for a dual faction master I will allow henchmen of the same keyword to be hired into either factions.
 
I will update scores every two week you will then run the same crew over the course of the campaign. We will increase build in the following increments 35/40/45/50 with masters being added for free at 45. 

You can change crew composition by up to 15ss between cycles to allow people who want to grow their crews a little quicker.

 
 
Points will be awarded for the following.
 
1 Point per game played (Max 2 per cycle)
 
1 Point for a win
 
1 Point for fully painted crew
 
1 Point for a game played at Dark Sphere
 
1 Point if you’ve never played your opponent before
 
 
Please post your starting list below.
 
Rumour has it there is a lot of clandestine activity of late in the Quarantine zone. You’re leader has despatched their top henchman to lead a crew to investigate.
 
The boss has instructed you to scope out the area, establish a camp and await reinforcements.
On arriving you find other, similar bands of Malifaux’s most notorious mercenaries, villains and general ne’er do wells.
 
 
Mission 1
 
In a bid to scare them off your mission is to break into their camp and blow it up. That’ll teach them…
 
Strat - Plant Explosives, Standard Deployment

 
On arriving, one of your crew recognises that traitor from way back when that nearly cost them their arm. They want revenge…
 
Scheme 1 – Vendetta
 
As fighting breaks out, you realise that your enemy had the exact same idea as you about the explosives, what are the chances? You need to slow them down before they blow up your camp.
 
Scheme 2 – Hold up their forces
 
 
 
Mission 2
 
Well, the whole explosives thing didn’t quite work out as planned and there are more and more crews turning up. Time to stop mucking around with bombs and just claim this area with some good old fashioned violence.
 
 
Strategy – Turf War, Flank Deployment
 
Wait a minute, explosives maybe weren’t the worst idea. Probably went in too big. Maybe if we just blew up one of them it would be… easier?
 
Scheme 1 – Detonate the charges
 
We need a better understanding of what’s going on here, why is there so much activity in the quarantine zone? We need to take one of them in for questioning.
 
Scheme 2 – Take Prisoner
 
 
 
CYCLE 1 WILL RUN FROM 27/08 – 10/09

Edit..
Hey guys a few FAQs occurring already so here are a few edits.

1. Scores are capped at 2 points for each category per cycle but you can play more than twice and still score from them.

For example, a player could play 2 games, lose twice and get 2 points for playing. They could then play a thrid game, win and get 1 point for winning but no additional points for the games.

2. You can change your crew between cycles but I will cap the changes at 15ss difference from the previous week. This will stop bespoke tailoring to the scheme pools and also, it's a slow grow, not a quick change league 🤔

3. You will be required to declare a keyword but can hire outside of it and versatile models as per normal out of keyword hiring rules.

 

Any questions let myself or Tom Skitt know. He is our Henchman @Skitt_Happens

[Skitt_Happens]

Just to note: it's fine to sign up at any point - don't worry if you've missed the start.

[Skitt_Happens]

We're going to go again on this one as life got in the way somewhat before Christmas. As before, the best way to get involved is to join the "Dark Sphere Malifaux and The Other Side" Facebook group. I'll post updates on here if you want to play along at home. You can post your results here too and I'll happily add you into the league tables, but if you win anything I make no guarantees I'll be able to mail prizes to you: depends very much on where you are in the world and how much it will cost me!

The amended rules are:

This will be a league made up of three rounds, each spanning a period of two weeks. Players may play as many games as they wish during that period, although scoring is capped to stop someone laying a hundred games in a week and running away with the league: 1-2 games a round should be plenty.

Each player declares a Keyword upon entering the league. Only models that share the declared Keyword or versatile models of the appropriate faction may be hired. Henchman models that have the applicable Keyword are always considered legal regardless of faction. Note that while a faction must be declared for each game, it is not declared as part of the league. For example, a player declaring ‘Foundry’ for the league may, in round 1 declare Arcanists as their faction and select Kang as their leader even though he is not normally a legal choice for Arcanists, only for Mei Feng. In another game in the same round, that player may decide they want to try out some of the Ten Thunders versatile models and declare Ten Thunders as their faction, as long as they stick to the ‘Foundry’ Keyword.

Each round will apply to games played from the Monday for a period of fourteen days. The Sunday before a round starts, either Rich or I will post a round announcement, including two different game set-ups (strat, schemes, deployment and potentially any special rules we think of that will make the game more hilarious…) a Red game and a Black game. All league games will be played using one of these set-ups: you may either decide with your opponent which game to play or flip a card to determine randomly (Mask, Ram or RJ = Red; Crow, Tome or BJ = Black). Game results are to be posted on the round announcement by the start of the next round or they will not be counted. We will not chase you for results. We don’t have the energy.

Points will be awarded for the following, with no more than 2 points awarded in each category per round:

+1 Point per game played

+1 Point for a win

+1 Point for fully painted crew

+1 Point for a game played at Dark Sphere

+1 Point if you’ve never played your opponent before

There will be some limited prizes.

 

Round One – 13 Jan to 26 Jan:

Encounter Size is 30 Soulstones. Only Henchmen can be chosen as a Crew’s Leader. A Leader's Cost is not treated as 0 when hiring. A Crew’s Soulstone Pool can never exceed 3 (any excess Soulstones are discarded). Players have a maximum hand size of 4. Player Crews must contain exactly 4 models. Leaders have an Action limit of 2 instead of 3. Models cannot be Summoned. If a model would be Summoned, the Summon effect is ignored. The Helping Hand ability listed on Effigy models is ignored.

 

Round Two – 27 Jan to 9 Feb:

Encounter size is 40 Soulstones. Master or Henchman led. A Crew’s Soulstone Pool can never exceed 6 (any excess Soulstones are discarded). Players have a maximum hand size of 5. No more than two Summoned models may be on the board at any one time for each crew. If a model would be Summoned, and the owners crew already has two summoned models on the board, the Summon effect is ignored.

 

Round Three – 10 Feb to 23 Feb:

Encounter size is 50 Soulstones. Master led.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free. Otherwise, please sign up below with your chosen Keyword.

[Skitt_Happens]

SPECIAL KEYWORDS:
Some Keyword crews require multiple Keywords to work as intended, therefore when declaring the following Keywords, the Keyword in parentheses is also considered to be included:
ELITE (Mimic)
ACADEMIC (Elemental)
SOOEY (Pig)
ANCESTOR (Retainer)
In addition, when hiring, if a Henchman is chosen as leader, as long as it has one of those Keywords it is considered to have both.

When a Henchman is leader under the CHIMERA Keyword, they gain the "Beastmaster" rule from Marcus' card.
 

[Skitt_Happens]

SLOW GROW ROUND 1 - 13 JAN TO 26 JAN

RED GAME: "HIGH NOON AT BAD THINGS CORRAL"
The sun beats hot on your shoulders as you twist through the streets of the Quarantine Zone. Ahead, four dark shapes emerge from an alley - your ambush has failed, now it all comes down to who has the fastest trigger!

Deployment: Wedge
Strategy: Plant Explosives
Schemes: Assassinate / Vendetta
Special Rule: VP may be scored on Turn 1 (NB you may still only score 4 VP from the Strat and 2 from each scheme) - yes, this is Henchman Hardcore without the time limit.

BLACK GAME: "RAIDERS OF THE CURSED ARK"
You found it! Only problem is, you didn't find it first. After weeks of meticulous planning and investigation it all comes down to who can loot those powerful artifacts the quickest... Shut your eyes - don't look at them no matter what happens!

Deployment: Flank
Strategy: Cursed Idols
Schemes: Dig Their Graves / Search The Ruins
Special Rule: Idol markers may be used as friendly scheme markers or corpse markers for the purposes of schemes. Each marker may only be used as one or the other and only for one scheme per turn. If a marker would be removed it is not, instead the opponent may place the marker within 3" after VP scoring is complete, if both players would place the same marker at the same time it does not move.

[Skitt_Happens]

SLOW GROW ROUND 2 - 27 JAN TO 9 FEB

 

RED GAME: "RESERVFAUX DOGS"

It was all going so well – your enemy became your friend and combined you were able to pull off the heist of the twentieth century! It was a beautiful ballet of misdirection and cunning genius that even George C Looney would be proud off (George was the individual you met on the train to Malifaux who had been bragging about his infamous crimes). And then that double-crossing son of a Silurid went and… well… double-crossed you. Well now it’s your turn, and you know what they say: “every dog has its dinner…” wait, that’s not right…

Deployment: Corner

Strategy: Reckoning

Schemes: Power Ritual / Take Prisoner / Claim Jump

Special Rule: After deployment, each crew starting with the Attacker places a Loot Token on one of their models. If a model with a Loot Token is killed, the active player must transfer the Loot Token to another model within 2”. If no model is within 2” the active player drops a 30mm Loot Marker in base contact with the killed model before it is removed and the Loot Token is discarded. Any model in base contact with a Loot Token may take an Interact action to remove it and gain a Loot Token. At the end of the game, each crew scores a number of additional VP equal to the number of Loot Tokens currently on their models.

 

BLACK GAME: "ARIK POTTEMER AND THE TURF WAR OF FIRE"

“Okay, Gang, this is it. This is where we are going to build our Empire. This hallowed ground...”

“Err… Boss? This place is *literally* on fire…”

“… So, all we have to do is clear these trespassers off our green and fertile soil.”

“It’s mostly black and steaming.”

“I swear, Jenkins: one more word out of you and you’ll be riding the bullet train to the floor!”

Deployment: Standard

Strategy: Turf War

Schemes: Breakthrough / Hold Up Their Forces / Outflank

Special Rule: All Turf War markers are consider to have an 1” of Hazardous (Burning +1).