Tale of my woes.

[Wyamphri]

16 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

The Parker Henchman has built in armor ignore, as my friend's hinamatsu discovered this week 😧

Completely forgot that haha So used to not having armor in my crews, don't really think about it

[Regelridderen]

1 hour ago, Wyamphri said:

Playing against Parker, Coppelius will drop pretty fast. It won't be hard for him to get a couple focus shots in to put him down. I would suggest Hinamatsu or Rider maybe for speed, killing, and scheming 

That’s funny. I was thinking that of the rider. As C has Terrifying and a decent chance of healing through WP checks. Which also means, he is better prepared for flipping idols. 

[Wyamphri]

10 minutes ago, Regelridderen said:

That’s funny. I was thinking that of the rider. As C has Terrifying and a decent chance of healing through WP checks. Which also means, he is better prepared for flipping idols. 

I was in a similar situation and thought the same thing. Was very sad xD doesn't mean it'll go the same way for you though. 

[Regelridderen]

So I just said goodbye to Parker Barrows, here’s how it went :

Strat : Idols 
Deployment : Wedge

Schemes : Breakthrough, Harness, Outflank, Search, Hold forces.

Terrain : See image, as I’ll be describing the battle from that perspective, forest were concealing, the rivers were hazardous and severe, and everything else was concealing/cover. The river Banks 

Pandora crew deployed on the left side (image) :

Pandora, Poltergeist, Coppelius, Candy, poised to go for the center with a Sorrow hidden on the tip of deployment in the river. Kade, Teddy and another Sorrow were positioned to go across the far bridge.

Parker crew deployed left :

Parker, Doc, Mad Dog, Sue, Rusty Alice, Emissary, Malifaux Child and a Bandidos.

TURN 1

The idol landed in the center, but both sides shuffled on their feet, cautiously approaching, focusing etc. A Bandidos ran to the far bridge and dumped a scheme marker behind the container, while Kade and the two sorrows congregated on the other side. Teddy managed to scale the container to engage the bandit, but he couldn’t land a blow. Alice took up position on the river bank to cover the center and far bridge with her nasty gun.

Then suddenly hell broke lose on the near side, as Mad Dog blasted poor Coppelius down to 1 health. Pandora ran to his aid, while pushing Candy towards the center and give her a mask, but spent too much time moving, so couldn’t deal much damage to mad dog. So also closed in on that flank, and a tough fight were brewing. Parker unleashed a few shells at Candy,

Finally Candy got to do her thing, she Glimpsed the Emissary, and her built-in mask teleported her to be a nuisance to doc, Alice and the Emissary.

Score 0 - 0

TURN 2

I cheated initiative to save Coppelius - luckily, this dropped the idol to the far edge - Octoface charged Mad Dog, landed severe damage and pushed the poor guy into the river. He then darted back past Pandora to lick his wounds, but Sue came in and shot him dead in the back, before lighting up Pandora in the ring of fire. Pandora then brought Mad Dog to his knees in depression, but a Black joker saved his life, but she managed to push Sue into the river as well. While the Poltergeist came in to Support her. Mad Dog himself gave up his activations, and just regenerate a single wound.

Teddy ate the Bandidos and moved further up the bridge, where Rusty Alice started pelting him with bullets using a Malifaux Child for Meat shield. Luckily Kade could move up to him, use Where’s Teddy to heal, and get in front of the bear, so he could get Alice in T3.

A Sorrow jumped into the river and through the idol 3” up, putting it to one wound, and set up for Outflank. The other Sorrow moved towards the center idol.

Score 1 - 0

TURN 3

The idol landed on the near edge. Pandora killed Mad Dog, turned her attention to Parker, with a high crow in hand, she Self Loathed his Stick ‘em up!, gave him slow and pushed him into the river. Meanwhile Sue got out of the river, he reached the idol with a charge and shot the Poltergeist down to 2 health. The Poltergeist charged him back, hit him a couple of times and pushed him back in the river, killing Sue and scoring Outflank.

On the far side, Alice blasted at Teddy, but luckily missed on the final shot, this made Kade mad, he Lured Alice in gave her Slow to throw her in the river, then managed to flip two high masks when attacking her, giving Teddy two free coordinated attacks - she barely survived, then Kade healed up Teddy and himself, before Teddy ate Alice, but fluffed hitting the child.

The Sorrow in the center threw the idol, which made Parker mad, and blew its depressed energy apart.

Score 3 - 0

TURN 4

The idol landed in the center. Poor Parker, Pandora hit him with 3 Self Loathing Stick ‘em Up, draining his hand (this was of course a mistake, since SEU can only hit the same target once) while replenishing my own. Kade then lured him through the hazardous river, where the poor bandit died. The Doc saw his chance and killed off the Poltergeist, denying me a chance to toss the idol.

Teddy ate the child and got across the bridge, where Candy threw a Temper Tantrum pushing the Emissary right into Teddy’s eager claws, and then moved back towards the centre for the waiting idol.

Score 3 - 0

TURN 5

With only the Doc and the engaged Emissary left vs Pandora, Candy, Teddy, Kade and a Sorrow, we skipped the turn and just determined what would happen, Kade would scheme for Harness, so would Pandora while taking up Outflank position, while the final Sorrow would then score Harness and Candy would chuck a third idol.

Final Score 6 - 0

SUMMARY

A great game, I owe my victory to 2” pushes into severe and hazardous terrain from Ht2, which took a big toll on my opponent, both damagewise but more importantly, the cost to his mobility was the deciding factor, giving me control of positioning. The synergy between Kade and Teddy was amazing, the heals, the place’ing tricks, and not to mention the epic coordinated attack lure on Rusty Alice.

I was a bit at odds, whether I should dump a Sorrow for Iggy, and if I should have used the rider instead of Coppelius, but with the terrain, I think I chose right. Iggy because my opponent never achieved scheming, and Coppelius because dumping Mad Dog in the river through a wrench in my opponents strategy, and if I had been a little smarter he could have continued being nasty.

My Sorrows are usually fairly resilient from leeching life, but Corrupted idols is tough on them, but the terrain made them amazing for this game.

 

[Wyamphri]

Glad to see my favorite squid face boy lived! Pandora with all those pushes into that terrain makes her really nasty...poor Parker. Seemed like a rough game for your oopponent 

[Regelridderen]

14 minutes ago, Wyamphri said:

Glad to see my favorite squid face boy lived! Pandora with all those pushes into that terrain makes her really nasty...poor Parker. Seemed like a rough game for your oopponent 

It got to be a bad beating, but so many things could have turned it. If Alice hadn’t black jokered against Teddy, he would have died etc., so the result was pretty one-sided, but it wasn’t a walk in the park.

But definitely the terrain was deciding. A simple stun to push for 1 Fall damage and 1 hazardous damage, and then have that model stuck in severe hazardous terrain was nasty. 

-

Sadly squidboy only made it to T2, where the cowardly Sue shot him in the back. But he managed to push Mad Dog into the River of Death, that he never got out of, so he got a long boiling revenge. 

[Maniacal_cackle]

4 minutes ago, Regelridderen said:

It got to be a bad beating, but so many things could have turned it. If Alice hadn’t black jokered against Teddy, he would have died etc., so the result was pretty one-sided, but it wasn’t a walk in the park.

But definitely the terrain was deciding. A simple stun to push for 1 Fall damage and 1 hazardous damage, and then have that model stuck in severe hazardous terrain was nasty. 

-

Sadly squidboy only made it to T2, where the cowardly Sue shot him in the back. But he managed to push Mad Dog into the River of Death, that he never got out of, so he got a long boiling revenge. 

I love that board in a lot of ways, especially for having canyons (hard to do on a flat board that I use).

How did you handle the canyon walls? I assume they were climbable, could Mad Dog have climbed out?

[Wyamphri]

46 minutes ago, Regelridderen said:

Sadly squidboy only made it to T2, where the cowardly Sue shot him in the back. But he managed to push Mad Dog into the River of Death, that he never got out of, so he got a long boiling revenge. 

😧 oh no! I thought he lived from the shot in the back! Poor Coppelius never gets to live in my games and I was trying to vicariously live through you xD that's what I get for trying to read it at work haha

[Regelridderen]

2 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

I love that board in a lot of ways, especially for having canyons (hard to do on a flat board that I use).

How did you handle the canyon walls? I assume they were climbable, could Mad Dog have climbed out?

The walls were climbable, so it was just 2” of movement. But with the river itself being severe, you spent at least 1 action and one health, just getting out. And when a model landed in the river, I concentrated my fire on it, so it’d end up killing itself trying to do something - Mad Dog had to waste an entire activation on just regenerating in the hope, that he could leave the next turn. 

[Regelridderen]

TOURNAMENT RECAP

So I just returned from a tournament, and wanted to give a quick recap. I didn’t go all woes, as just playing Pandora has made me yearn from my first ‘love’; Dreamer. Although, I actually wanted to solo Seamus to try him out, but didn’t get my Archie done.

So here goes.

First turn was Standard Reckoning vs. Von Schill. I’ve never faced the Freikorps and expected a beating. I went for Assassinate and Baby Kade had a Vendetta vs. a Librarian.

My crew : Pandora - I didn’t want a summoner into Reckoning - Poltergeist, Rider, Teddy, Kade, Candy, Serena.  Vs. Various shills.

It was a whoopin’. I managed to score two Reckoning points, but never got close to the Librarian, and even though Teddy and Kade ended up with Vin Schill himself, my hand never gave them the punch, they needed. Heck, even Pandora died from really poor hands. And my opponent just played better, and were good at using shockwaves to drain what little hand I had.

Second turn was Corner Plant Explosives vs Misaki - another master I’d never faced before. I went for Claim Jump w Serena and Breakthrough

My crew : Dreamer, Chompy, Serena, Coppelius, Widow Weaver, Bandersnatch, 2 Daydreams w Ancient Pact vs a plethora of Ninjas, Samurai and a big turkey-horse.

A great game he was surprised at the speed my spiders, so he sent Yasunori and a paper deamon to catch them in their corner. He killed the widow Weaver, but a summoned stitched and the Bandersnatch ripped the turkey-horse apart, then the paper deamon and the scheme marker it had dropped - this flank, manage to dump 3 bombs.

Misaki causes some mischief with her lightning, before she killed off Coppelius, then after which Dreamer, Serena, an Alp the two Daydreams and Chompy ganged up on her, unfortunately only beating her within an inch of her life, so they continued to kill off the whole Ninja crew apart from the totem, score Claim Jump and dump a couple of explosives. And score breakthrough. Unfortunately we only got to Turn 4, and it ended 6 - 7 to the Ninjas. 

Final game was Flanked Turf War vs Sonnia - finally a familiar face - and I went with Breakthrough and Assassinate.

My crew : Dreamer, Candy, Coppelius, Chompy, 2 Daydreams, Teddy Kade.

A fun game, but unfortunately the day had taken its toll on us, and we only made it to T3, where my opponent were under tons of pressure. Teddy and the Rider had a tough fight - and staggered is horrible vs Where’s Teddy. Chompy tried killing a little sorcerer with no luck for for two rounds without landing a single blow, not even when it disengaged. Candy managed to set Sonnia on fire, and engage her with a daydream and insidious madness. But I messed up my objectives and Candy didn’t show her full potential. Coppelius killed off his totem and fought the peacekeeper. But the score ended 3 - 3.

-

A great day with tons of beatings. Boy did I miss the Poltergeist vs. Misaki. And my poor Coppelius never really proved himself. I found, that I loved Candy and Kade in Dreamer, but I really need some expertise with that crew, if I’m to finish a full 5 rounds - especially since T4 and T5 is when the little boy gets really good.

 

 

[Maniacal_cackle]

1 hour ago, Regelridderen said:

 Chompy tried killing a little sorcerer with no luck for for two rounds without landing a single blow, not even when it disengaged.

Great recap!

One thing I really find with elite dreamer is you need a bit of resource power on turns one/two to compensate for the deck full of weak cards. There are three methods for this:

• Double ancient pact (autotake regardless of matchup for me), which it looks like you were missing this game?
• Stitched doing their cheats - doesn't require resources from your hand, so dealing damage without using your hand is just amazing.
• (Haven't tried this myself), black blood shaman for double focus on key models.

In my experience, without some way to bypass the "6 cards to do everything" issue, turns one and two are just too weak with flipping all your cards off the top of the deck. You really rely on quality cheating those first two rounds, and double pacts increases your hand by 33%!

It is one reason I rarely go out of keyword with him, as I don't really want anything from OOK unless it provides a resource boost, the one weakness of the crew being how resource hungry it is.

Just my thoughts anyway!

Regardless, you did really well for such a mentally draining day and facing two matchups you've never seen before. Misaki wrecked me the one and only time I played her, and I really want a rematch xD

[Maniacal_cackle]

1 hour ago, Regelridderen said:

 

First turn was Standard Reckoning vs. Von Schill. I’ve never faced the Freikorps and expected a beating. I went for Assassinate and Baby Kade had a Vendetta vs. a Librarian.

My crew : Pandora - I didn’t want a summoner into Reckoning - Poltergeist, Rider, Teddy, Kade, Candy, Serena.  Vs. Various shills.

It was a whoopin’. I managed to score two Reckoning points, but never got close to the Librarian, and even though Teddy and Kade ended up with Vin Schill himself, my hand never gave them the punch, they needed. Heck, even Pandora died from really poor hands. And my opponent just played better, and were good at using shockwaves to drain what little hand I had.

This looks like a similar problem, with Teddy and Kade being unable to hit, I wonder how tight your resources were. You had an extremely elite list, which means there would have been a lot of pressure on your hand.

This can be partially addressed by sorrows and candy (free ping damage with no card use), but sorrows are questionable in reckoning.  It was always my number one problem with the crew. You want an elite crew, but don't have the resources to support it.

I never solved that one with Pandora, still don't know how to play her.

I could be totally off base, of course, since I wasn't there. But resource issues are the single biggest challenge for Dreamer and Pandora for me so far (and maybe for Neverborn generally if not playing Lucius or second mastering Zoraida).

[Regelridderen]

8 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

This looks like a similar problem, with Teddy and Kade being unable to hit, I wonder how tight your resources were. You had an extremely elite list, which means there would have been a lot of pressure on your hand.

This can be partially addressed by sorrows and candy (free ping damage with no card use), but sorrows are questionable in reckoning.  It was always my number one problem with the crew. You want an elite crew, but don't have the resources to support it.

I never solved that one with Pandora, still don't know how to play her.

I could be totally off base, of course, since I wasn't there. But resource issues are the single biggest challenge for Dreamer and Pandora for me so far (and maybe for Neverborn generally if not playing Lucius or second mastering Zoraida).

You nailed it. It was a case of too many baskets and not enough eggs

Dumping the rider for a couple of sorrows - or Carver - would have made more sense. I wouldn’t deem Sorrows a liability right away. They’re deceptively resilient, as they escort your beaters, incorporeal and life leech combined with an attention stealing Teddy does a lot. 

[Regelridderen]

8 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Great recap!

One thing I really find with elite dreamer is you need a bit of resource power on turns one/two to compensate for the deck full of weak cards. There are three methods for this:

• Double ancient pact (autotake regardless of matchup for me), which it looks like you were missing this game?
• Stitched doing their cheats - doesn't require resources from your hand, so dealing damage without using your hand is just amazing.
• (Haven't tried this myself), black blood shaman for double focus on key models.

In my experience, without some way to bypass the "6 cards to do everything" issue, turns one and two are just too weak with flipping all your cards off the top of the deck. You really rely on quality cheating those first two rounds, and double pacts increases your hand by 33%!

It is one reason I rarely go out of keyword with him, as I don't really want anything from OOK unless it provides a resource boost, the one weakness of the crew being how resource hungry it is.

Just my thoughts anyway!

Regardless, you did really well for such a mentally draining day and facing two matchups you've never seen before. Misaki wrecked me the one and only time I played her, and I really want a rematch xD

I agree, ancient pact Daydreams are great for cycling your hand - I only took them in the second game. 

I must say, I’m a fan of Candy and Kade/Teddy into Dreamer. Candy will always have a detrimental effect on an opposing crew along with her strong Wp attacks. Kade bringing Lure7, Teddy healing and mobility. So they both enable Dreamer to bring in his Summons. 

I was less a fan of Octoface, and would probably go for Stitched or Insidious some other time to help thinning the deck. Candy can do, what he does and better + her being with a summoner allows her to go last. 

-

And yes Misaki was a blast. I so missed Pandoras Poltergeist vs all those Shadow Markers. And the speed was phenomenal. And the hilarity of hitting her with Adversary nightmare and have four models just stomp her, until she disappeared back into Shadow was so thematic. 

[Regelridderen]

Next up for Pandora will be a couple of games of

Standard Deployment Turf War

Detonate Charges, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump

Which sounds perfect for Pandora. My opponents will be Lucius - who will definitely have some difficulties - and Kaeris, another master I’ve yet to face and knows little of, except that she likes to play around with the Burning condition. 

So, any advice on facing Kaeris will be gladly accepted?

[Maniacal_cackle]

5 hours ago, Regelridderen said:

Next up for Pandora will be a couple of games of

Standard Deployment Turf War

Detonate Charges, Take Prisoner, Vendetta, Assassinate, Claim Jump

Which sounds perfect for Pandora. My opponents will be Lucius - who will definitely have some difficulties - and Kaeris, another master I’ve yet to face and knows little of, except that she likes to play around with the Burning condition. 

So, any advice on facing Kaeris will be gladly accepted?

Kaeris relies on burning, so should be a solid matchup. The models set themselves on fire for utility, so it can be good to be able to strip it away. Might be worth taking condition removal for your own models. Careful, though, her models also just do decent damage, so can splatter things if you're not careful.

Also watch out for burning killing a model at the end of a turn and flipping turf war markers.

Iggy is possibly a trap, since he gives out burning when he attacks, you may find it awkward. But he might be good.

[Nagi21]

1 hour ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Iggy is possibly a trap, since he gives out burning when he attacks, you may find it awkward. But he might be good.

Be mindful that Kaeris's crew is quite good at killing cheap models (6 stones or less).  Iggy is almost certainly a trap as he loses to both SS miners and Mech rider at distance, and the crew itself doesn't particularly need triggers to do their damage. 

[Ogid]

I find Iggy potentially quite good in this match up... not for a frontline role by any means, but to dispel burning + Injured from the backline with EM; those conditions will be noticeable turn after turn.

Something to note is the Poltergeist Telekinesis can remove Pyres (and you may even consider a Changeling to double on that). Third Degree Burns is something to consider when building the crew, Incorporeal models are no longer safe versus her Hazardous (however Incorporeal will deny her the Smolder trigger). Look out for Light Under Their Feet if the Firestarter is included, as it's a good way to set up Detonate Charges or Take Prisioner (and another reason to keep your models with few Burning).

Apart from that the pool looks very good for you. Kaeris is a mobile crew but there isn't a lot of mobility based schemes to take advantage of that, Pandora's crew may deny both the Pyres and her Burning. Serena may be a good choice, her 2'' range is very good to defend points and the healing and condition removal will come in handy.

[Regelridderen]

On 2/15/2020 at 5:36 AM, Maniacal_cackle said:

The Parker Henchman has built in armor ignore, as my friend's hinamatsu discovered this week 😧

Parker and Rusty are two very amazing models. You’ve got no choice but to deal with them, lest they will have a field day and riddle your crew with bullets. Trouble is, you’ll have to get in their field of fire to do so.